3.3.2014

Hi family,

Things are so great out here in little kitty land.  we have a baptism date!  I am so excited its not until the end of march but he's really prepared.  He's been searching for something in his life but he didn't know what and he told us that he can feel the full spirit when he is at the church as opposed to all the other churchs he's been to he can only feel it partly.  He couldn't go to chruch on sunday though because he lost his credit card and had no gas in his card. He was really upset he couldn't go but he's coming next week for sure!  Also we are teaching this family, a mom and her 9 year old daughter.  They were taught about 5 years ago and went to church a lot.  But never were baptized.  So we've been teaching them for about a month and a half and they finally came to church! and the mom was crying during church and she said she will definitely be back.  So we are hoping for a date with them at the end of march.  and then to start teaching the rest of her family.  she is so sweet, she works at a bakery and then brings us back bread and cookies every time we teach.  Also our land lord and his wife made us a really nice dinner last night.  it was soo good.  Nice to actually eat a real meal!  Umm also we had like 3 people this week tell us they know the book of mormon is true and this is Christ's restored  church.  So that was a miracle! we've been teaching this one lady for awhile and the missionaries have been teaching her off and on for years.  Her husband is a Jehovahs Witness and she's kind of skeptical but this week she told us she was really praying and she knows the book of mormon is true.  we were shocked because we were about to drop her as investigators but it was a miracle! anyways  i have to go.  we are going to go to brimstone fortress today and do some sight seeing! so ttyl! 

xoxo from the caribean! ps. mom i never got the package its at the office still.  hopefully someone will bring it out soon. 

love you all bye!

2.24.14

Dear Family,

This was a really good week!  We taught 31 lessons this week, and our goal is to get up to 50 lessons a week soon so we are working towards it.  The beginning of the week went really well, we taught a lot of investigators.  But on Friday, Sister Watkins shared with me a story the shared in the mtc when she was there of a sister missionary in Argentina who went into an area that hadn't had any baptisms for a long long time, and in a month or two she was baptizing 250 people.  So the mission president shadowed her to see what she was doing, and then wrote down some key points.  So we had a motivation change after that and are trying to apply the points.  She just constantly had the companionship of the Holy Ghost.  So we are doing a heart purifying challenge so we can have the constant companionship also.  So after our newly found motivation on Friday, we have had so much success!  Friday was so good.  We were truly guided to each place by the Holy Ghost.  And our lessons went really well.  Then on Saturday we found an old contact, we taught him a short lesson and he asked us if he could be baptized ASAP!! And Sunday we had 6 investigators at church!!!! 6!!! It was such a miracle.  So we are really doing well, and trying our best to give all of our heart, might, mind and strength to the Lord.  So it's only going to be better from here!  Sunday we decided to knock on some doors, the first door no success.  But the second, the man came out and said he was almost baptized 6 years ago and he said he was really excited to start taking the lessons again.  So we have a lot of faith and miracles are coming in St. Kitts :)  

It sounds like you are all doing well HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GRANDMA!!  Looks like you guys had a fun time.  And I'm jealous of all your bike riding!  We dont ride bikes anymore so i miss it! Anyways we LOVE the picture of us.  SO ADORBS! haha our theme pic.
 

Well thank you all for your love and support!! I hope everyone has a great week!  St. kitts is still the most beautiful place!

Love Sister Cole

2.17.2014

Hello family!  So this was kind of a crazy week!  For the first half of the week i was by myself :( haha My companion sister Rivas left early Tuesday Morning and then until i could get with a member in the afternoon i was just by myself doing my studies haha it was weird.  So Sister Watkins was supposed to come that night but she got stuck in St. Thomas so i slept by myself at the apartment haha. it was crazy!  But i was fine, just a little lonely.  Then the next day she didn't come in until 10:30 at night, so I just spent the last two days organizing the area book and fun things like that.  I watched a lot of conference talks too!  haha Then she finally came!  So so crazy that we are from san fran together.  She came to my 4 year old safari birthday party!! So find the picture for me and send it so we can make it our theme picture!! haha Anyways we only had like half a week but we got a lot done!  Lots of contacting and we have 3 baptismal dates right now.  Two of them didn't come to church though :(  so we are really working with them but i know they are going to be baptized they are great!  And she's really progressing.  So pray for my investigators pleaseee!  We need miracles in St. Kitts!! But i know that we are going to work really hard here so I am excited for the next few months! This week we found so many Dominican contacts.  Sister Watkins was really praying to be in Puerto Rico and have a spanish companion to learn spanish.  But the Lord wanted us here together haha so instead we just meet lots of Dominicans!  The Lord answers prayers in funny ways.  But its good because i need to brush up on my spanish!  well anways.. nothing else is really new.  St. kitts is still beautiful and warm.  Looks like the run was really fun!  I'm tots jealous!! And Zions sounds like a fun time too.  its fun to hear all of our ancestors histories!  Well maybe i will try to send pictures? haha i will try. 

lots of love from the carribean
xoxo

sister cole

2.10.14

Hello family!!!

well i don't have much time to write because im trying to figure out stuff for byu  but...

Renee was baptized!!!!! asjdf alskdjf ;l yay!!!  It was seriously the CRAZIEST week ever.  Everything was so against her getting baptized.  Everyday was like a crazy new obstacle trying to stop her from being baptized to the point we almost cancelled.  It was 7:15 on thursday night and the baptism was supposed to be at 7:30 and we still weren't sure if it was going to happen.  But we kept praying and on our way to the baptism we were driving and we saw her and her daughter in their church clothes walking to the chapel. It really was a miracle it was so crazy! And then on sunday morning she told us that she told her sister in jamaica that she was baptized and she said she was baptized a few weeks ago too!  and they were talking about which church and she was baptized in the church!!!! they realized it was the same because of the Book of Mormon!! Renee was so excited she was like NO WAY only my church has the Book of Mormon!! Heavenly Father is really preparing her family. 

anyways sorry i don't have any time but crazy news.. Im training again.. and I'm training....sister watkins!! the craziest huh?!  I'm really excited!! anyways i have to go but i finally sent some pictures haha .  and ps lice is gone no worries.  i got rid of it ASAP!   k g2g loves byeee

1.27.2014

Dear Family,

This was a good week here in St. Kitts.  We taught a lot of lessons.  We made it a goal to teach when we find, and find when we teach and we really taught a lot of lessons while finding!  We’re teaching an old investigator and her family that the missionaries taught four years ago.  We taught her the restoration and after she told us that for the first time she understood it!  She said she never understood it before and I guess that’s why she never followed through with her baptism date.  She works at a bakery and  the lady that works with her also used to visit with the missionaries.  She  told us that they were trying to read the book of Mormon together at work!  Our 17 year old investigator, told us that this week he felt like he received the sign he was looking for to  know if the Book of Mormon is true and now he is praying about his baptism.  We are really excited for him, because we know he will really help his grandma be active in the church and bring the rest of his family also.  We found an inactive member who is muslim this week.  At first she tried to tell us she was muslim and tried to get rid of us.  Then we asked her about her baptism and how she felt and she told us the feelings she felt.  We testified about Christ and invited her to feel Christ in her life again.  She agreed to taking the missionary lessons again.  It was really special to see how reminding someone of the feelings of their conversion can really change everything.  We also spoke with a less active member whose 3 children were never baptized but they all like church.  They just live in a different village so it was hard for them to get to church.  We spoke with the Relief Society President and we are in the making of a plan to help get them to church on Sundays! We have a lot of potential people, so we have lots of work to do!!  

The island is great though.  Very beautiful.  I feel like Im in paradise.  And yes there are lots of monkeys and some people keep them as pets.  Apparently the French brought them over from Africa a long time ago for pets haha.  I saw a baby one in a diaper the other day haha.  The locals like to show them to the tourists for money.  I'm learning the history of the island, aparently there are supposed to be like 450 shipwrecks, but only like 50 are found.  So thats cool.  The french and British and Spanish fought a lot over the island.  Christopher Columbus obviously claimed it and named it St. Christopher.  but they call it St. Kitts for short.  There are lots of sugar cane plantations. 

Anyways I think Elder Cornish of the 70 is coming here this weekend so that should be really cool! 

It sounds like its still really cold over there!  Crazy, I think i will freeze when i get back its so warm and sunny here!  I didn't know that Jo Jo played the flute?! Thats fun.  And good job to ally on 3rd in 4a thats so awesome!! I hope everyone is feeling better this next week! 

 This week I've been really studying about the  Bible and the Abrahamic covenant, it's interesting to note that The Bible never talks about the fulfillment of the greatest promised blessings the Joseph and His house.  Why would the Lord mention these great promised blessings but then not fulfill them?  That is why we have to Book of Mormon, the record of this fulfillment!  

Hope you are all reading the Book of Mormon!  

Love Sister Cole 

1.20.2014

Dear Family,
I am so glad that grandpa's hip surgrey went well.  And I hope grandma and grandpa are doing alright and recovering now.  And Chito too!  Anyways this week was good.  I feel like the days go by  a lot slower here.  Because the people here talk so much less than the puerto ricans haha.  So the lessons are so much shorter so we do a lot more contacting.  But we've found a few people to teach from contacting so we hope that will go well.  We taught a lady and her family like 3 weeks ago and then they moved and we lost contact.  But we got a referral from the church office because a lady went to mormon.org and requested the missionaries, and it turns out its the same lady!  So we are excited because that means she has real interest.  So we are going to  visit her on Tuesday.  We've had some crazy lessons this week with people who really know the bible.  So its really keeping my companion and I on our toes.  But we are very grateful for the spirit because there is no other way we would've been able to survive those lessons.  But we have return appointments with both of them so we are excited, but a little nervous haha.  The culture here is so different from Puerto Rico, so its taking me awhile to get used to.  I'm not used to people asking me if Bob Marley was a prophet haha. But I'm learning. We had a really good lesson on Wednesday night with an old investigator.  All we did was watch the restoration and at the end she was crying and she said she knew how powerful the book of mormon is and she wants to be baptized.  But then when we saw her on saturday she was acting all weird and she didn't come to church, so we are kind of upset about that.  But we know that she will pull through!   We have a lot of people with potential and who will talk to us, so we just need to keep working with them.  We have a young guy, 17 years old, who is really progressing. He's just waiting for his answer.  But we know he will be baptized soon!!  He came to church on Sunday for the first time.
Thats about all the updates for our area!
My companion and I are doing really well except for the fact  that food here is so expensive!  Haha so we live off of cereal and oatmeal.  Besides that everything is good.  Last P-day we chilled at the restaurant at the beach at the Marriot haha. Just living the high life over here in St. Kitts.
love from the carribean
sister cole

1.13. 2014 (10 month mark!)

This has been one of the best weeks of my mission.  It was so full of ups and downs.  I truly felt like the Lord was guiding us every step of this week.  Just before or after something amazing would happen, there was a a stumbling block.  My testimony of this work has been strengthened because I can see how Satan is truly trying to stop what we are doing.  We have two really strong investigators right now.  One of them is a 16 year old girl.  Her older brother is a member and she's been coming to church off and on for awhile.  We taught her the plan of salvation, and as part of her personal progress book, her and a member had to explain it to the young womens.  She was so excited all week to share it in church and was really studying and preparing to teach it.  This assignment really helped her have motivation to go to church and work on her personal progress! The other one is a grandson of a less active member.  He truly has a desire to know the truth and committed to be baptized when he recieves an answer.  We also found an old investigator in the streets this week who was going to be baptized but then moved.  We found out she literally moved into the house behind us.  Heavenly Father has truly been guiding us to the right people and I have never felt so certain that I am the Lord's representative here in St. Kitts.

Anyways not anything else is new.  Today I've been out for 10 months which has gone by way tooo fast.  I will try to send pictures haha i say that every week.  But i will try.  Thats so crazy that Aubrees parents are coming here! I hope that we run into them!  And tell grandpa good luck with his surgery i will be praying for him.  and congrats to andy!  that is so exciting!  

anyways loves from the carribean!

sister cole

Left Side: Atlantic || Right Side: Caribbean