Dear Family,
It has been a crazy week. Winston was baptized on
Saturday! Yay wow. i can't even believe it. We have been teaching
him since February! He has been slowly progressing for the past 6
months! I still remember the first time we met him. He was in the
street we were contacting, and we went over and talked to him. He was a
little hesitant to give us his number because he said the missionaries used to
visit with him before and they said the new ones would come by when they were
transferred and no one ever did. That was probably 10 years ago.
Finally we got his number and we tried to make an appointment and the first few
fell through. Then we taught him and the first lesson we had, we talked
about baptism and he told us his desire to be baptized. The spirit was so
strong. Ever since then its been an uphill battle, but he was able to
overcome all of his challenges and be baptized. He was so excited on
Saturday. He put on the jumper and said with the biggest smile on his
face, "I feel like an angel". When he was baptized, he came up
out of the water saying Thank you Lord. Oh thank you Lord. haha it was so
cute. We are so happy for him. The spirit was so sweet at his
baptism. I am so grateful that I can witness life changes like his and
see how only true happiness comes from Jesus Christ.
Well, I bet you are all so anxious to know where I am
going. We have been so anxious all week, just waiting for the phone call.
So.. here's the news.....
I AM STAYING IN ST. KITTS!!! and..... SISTER HOWELL IS MY
COMPANION. WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW. i've been speechless for the past 3 days.
WOW. i can't even believe it. Sister Howell and I again together. How
cute is that? We started our mission together, without trainers, training
each other in Manati and now we are ending it together in St. Kitts...
and...... we get to work a little bit in Nevis. Where there have never
been Sister Missionaries before. Nevis is a group of 6 members.
They closed it because it wasn't big enough. Then when President Boucher
and the APs came here we all went over to Nevis to go check out
everything. It was a really spiritual experience. The members are 2
nevasians, that are probably in their 70s and 4 Dominicans, 2 who are new
converts as of this year. When we went over there, President talked to
the group leader, the one from nevis and his wife. The first thing his
wife said to President Boucher was "Where are my missionaries?" haha
She was putting up a fight! It was so sweet though because because of
their prayers the Lord is considering putting missionaries out there
again. So they are going to try to put Elders out there next transfer to
get the group up to 10 missionaries. In the meanwhile, Sister Howell and I will
be here in St. Kitts and a little in Nevis filling in the gap. The senior
couple for St. Kitts doesn't come until September and neither do the
Elders. So we will just be here for 4 weeks and then fly back to Puerto
Rico together and then the couple will come a few days later. Our main
focus is still here in St. Kitts. And we have a few progressing
investigators that I really want to focus on and baptize while we are
here. And then go to church and Nevis and get the work started and
support them there. So wow. Sister Howell and I have a lot of work
to do in these next 4 weeks but I am so excited. Obviously the Lord has a
special purpose for the two of us being together.
It will be so sad to say goodbye to Sister Watkins. She
really is my best friend. But I know that the time is right and I am so
excited for what the Lord has in store for her in Puerto Rico. She will
be in Mayaguez with a Sister from Mexico so she is really excited. So we
are just going to enjoy our last p day together and then Sister Howell flies in
tomorrow and sister watkins flies out on Wednesday. Transfers are always
so bitter sweet. But I know that this is the Lord's plan.
The crazy part is that about a month ago, Sister Watkins and I
were talking about what could happen for transfers and for some reason I just
kept saying how crazy would it be if Sister Howell and I were companions
again. That would be so crazy. I bet its going to happen. And then
I forgot about it for awhile. Then as transfers approached, no matter how
excited i was to go back to Puerto Rico I just couldn't picture myself
there. When we went back for the conference, I just didn't feel like it
was my area any more and I didnt feel like it was right. So it was kind
of hard for me to wrap my head around going back. Even though I love it
and I miss the people and the culture and Spanish, it just didn't feel
right. Awhile ago I was kind of freaking out about my spanish and how I
really haven't learned it very well since I was only speaking spanish for 8
months. But about a few days before President came, I started to feel
better about it and I realized that I would have lots more opportunities to
learn spanish later. So in my interview with President he asked how I
would feel about not brushing up on my spanish before I went home, and I was
ready to tell him that I would go wherever the Lord needed me and that I didn't
come here to learn spanish. So... that was a humbling experience.
Im not sure I know too many rms that went spanish speaking and didn't come back
speaking spanish haha. But I know that Heavenly Father will give me
opportunities to continue learning spanish later on. Anyways so when we got the
call that Sister Howell was coming and I would be staying here. I
couldn't even believe it. It really is amazing how the spirit prepares us
for what is ahead. I couldn't be happier with transfers though. I
know that this is the perfect thing for me and it is where I am needed and I
can really finish strong here.
Anyways enough about transfers..haha... That is so fun that you
all went to lake powell. I'm jealous. Sounds like a lot of
fun. I hope everyone is getting prepared for me to come home.... ie.
gathering up the remnants of my things that have been scattered around the
country ;) haha. Well, I hope everyone has a great week and shout out to
Lauren! Happy Birthday!!!!!! I love you!
Love,
Sister
Cole
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