The New Sherriff Is In Town

Friday, Nov 1, 2013

Dear Family,

Sister Ames and I want you to know that your missionary has arrived safely in Texas. 

We look forward to serving together in accomplishing the Lord’s work.  We hope that

you enjoy the attached picture of your missionary as well as knowing that the missionaries are in good hands here as they are in the Lord’s service.  They arrived on Tuesday and we took them to the Mission Home where we had a good Texas Barbeque meal and then a testimony meeting.  We went to a local Ward Building for some training and a personal interview with President Ames.

Wednesday morning we had more training followed by a meeting with their first Mission Field companion.  That afternoon your missionary began working in the field and he looks great.

Your missionary’s first assignment will be in Denton.  He will be serving with

Elder Long.

Their apartment address is:

1610 E. McKinney St. #1704

Denton, TX 76209

Your missionary will email on Monday which is their preparation day.  They are always

happy to hear from you.  Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Ames

Summary of CCM

Alright, basically my summary of the CCM is this.

I did a supah cute job. I smiled and giggled all week every week and drank milk as often as I could. My cage soccer team is #1, I spoke Spanish todos los dias and I am  ready to become the new sheriff of Fort Worth. That is all. 

The last few days of the CCM.

 The District

 These are my district and my huge poly morning teacher.

Our Halloween party from the package you sent us.We got a little weird last night glowsticks, glowrings, and glowteeth.

My last pic with Hermana Maxfield (friend from High School) before saying goodbye! 

My Testimony Has Learned Spanish Along With the Rest of Me!

Most of Coleman's letter is responding to these questions that I asked him and also responds to Leena telling a boy in her class that she loves him and he said he loves her:

So, how is the fruit launching going?  And the “challenges”?  I hope you had a good week and learned a lot.  Here are a few questions to answer:

*What were you doing at 2:00 yesterday?

*How are your “conversions” going with your fake investigators?

*How is your companion?

*Any diarrhea this week?

*Did you see Megan before she left?

*What is the best spiritual moment of the week?

*What is the funniest thing you did?

*Who have you learned the most from?

*Best email/story from one of your friends?

*Best surprise?

*How has your testimony grown?

*Are you excited for Texas?

*How is your Spanish coming?

Haha, the time has flown, and also not flown at all. It crawls but flies, its redonk. I did get that package so thank you so much!! Haha, we are stoked for our Halloween party on Sunday, its gonna get real weird here. That is a pretty crazy story haha, the package did somehow get here safe and sound though, which is sweet.

Haha, Leena's Boify needs ta back off haha at least for 2 years until I can give him an interview. Haha, too bad about D's game, those are the worst. Sounds like everyone was doing their own little thing at home haha, as usual.

Haha, of course you told the Missionaries my life story, just like everyone you meet haha. The fruit launching is really good, it gets some fun into the boring days. No more challenges, one of our teacher's got mad at us, so those stopped.

2pm yesterday was real weird. more about that later. Why specifically then haha?

The "investigators" are going good, I am kinda sick of teaching fake ones, I just want to talk to real people.

My comp is the same haha, no differences this week.

No diarrhea, just average. Everyday I eat special K with a sliced up banana, and some yogurt for breakfast, so I guess that keeps me regular or something.

I did see Megan, I talked to her for a little while before she left so that was good, I have some pictures.

We do this cool thing where everyone writes down a question they have and then we randomly open up the BoM randomly and read like 10 verses and everyone's question is answered.

I can't really remember what was the funniest, my district gets real weird sometimes and we all have fun all the days, so maybe everything.. (sorry for the cop out, but you can't do anything about it haha).

My teachers are really great, and they teach me a lot, but I love to talk to the Native Latinos and so we can learn how to talk like a normal person instead of a missionary robot.

Probably the best thing I have received in email was this quote about football, "So if you forgot the football rules, here they are: Basically, there's three grabbers, three taggers, five twig runners, and a player at Whackbat. Center tagger lights a pine cone and chucks it over the basket and the whack-batter tries to hit the cedar stick off the cross rock. Then the twig runners dash back and forth until the pine cone burns out and the umpire calls hotbox. Finally, you count up however many score-downs it adds up to and divide that by nine." Hahaha, I died when I got that. 

There is a great group email going, but not a ton of stories haha, just little jokes and that kind of mischief.

My testimony has learned Spanish along with the rest of me, and I dont know how to give it or pray in English anymore it is weird.

Um Am I excited for TEXAS?!? Do you have to ask?? HAha, yes, I decided the first thing I am going to do  is eat all the crappy fast food I can find in the airport.

Spanish is awesome, I can understand a ton. On the way to the temple I sat next to a native and talked to him the whole way, it was way chill.

I have to get back on the email Sunday and Monday, so you'll hear from me then.

Love ya'll,

Cole

 Last Photo Op with Cousin Megan!!

 The Elder in the middle has emailed Eliza!!  Cole showed him her picture and he is a teacher at the CCM!

Our teacher made the rules for the computers, so I am on the posters in every lab forever, its pretty cool.

"One of the guys in my district is way good at drawing, so I snuck the caption in there haha." Rough Translation: Do not erase, Jesus is watching!

 These are some of the ballin natives i love to talk to.

Cole's friend from Brighton, Makenzie Maxfied.

Follow up email to questions about his week:

Friday- So my class in the morning was pretty yucky, but then the Afternoon was way awesome. There were like 100,000,000 fireworks that went off at 5 am so I was way tired all day.

Saturday- More Fireworks at 5, it sounds like world war three, supes hard to stay awake all day.

Sunday- More fireworks, I said goodbye to Megan.

Monday- Nothing Happened. Haha, like literally nothing.

Tuesday- Today was super frustrating. Let the story begin... So our district has a goal to only speak Spanish all day, no English words. there are 10 people, 8 elders who all live in the same house, and 2 hermanas. All the dudes have done 100% Spanish like 6 times, but the hermanas wouldn't do it. It was so frustrating, so when they didn't do it, we all walked out the door and were kinda yelling about it (we are competitive haha don't judge) and they could hear, so everyone was pretty mad at each other and there was a lot of contention. I also sat next to Makenzie Maxfield at the devotional.

Wednesday- Our teacher that we set the goal with made us talk about how we were all pissed at each other, so that took like 4 hours and pretty much everyone was crying and sniffling and whatnot. It was weird.

Thursday- AKA today, I went to the temple, talked to a native on the bus the whole way. It was sweet to go to the temple because I could understand almost everything in Spanish they were saying.

There's a new Sherriff in Town at the Mexico CCM

Ummm, hi guyys.

This week was pretty fun. I got the package the day after P-Day last week, so it was absolutely NUTZ! Thank you so much haha, I can't begin to describe how crazy everyone went, we were absolutely going ape. I got the pictures and they are great! Haha everyone was jealous of Leena's apple thing. Well, lets see... wild fun adventurous things this week, there are a few. I threw up this week, but we will get to that later.

T- 1 1/2 weeks till I get to Texas. I am gonna be kinda sad when I leave this place, because I basically run it. Pretty much, there is a new sheriff in town. But, when I get to Texas, I might actually be a sheriff, so that would be cool too.

I am learning a lot of stuff about teaching and how to ask the right kind of questions, and all that mischief. It is interesting because everything I learn about the gospel is in Spanish, so that is pretty cool. For the last 2 days, I haven't spoken any English, so it is kinda hard to write this right now haha. The CCM is pretty cool, it is huge and pretty and whatnot. I don't know what is the most surprising thing about it though. Every day just blends into each other, so I don't really have a ton to say about individual days here.

The weather is good here, it reminds me of spring in Utah. It is pretty cold in the mornings, and Hot in the afternoons always. It doesn't rain anymore here, I guess that ended with hurricane season. I have been making a list in my head of things I will want when I get to Texas, and I will send it to you  later probably haha. Probably don't send anything here anymore, even letters. The mail is way too slow haha. I started a big group email with all the mission buds, it is pretty great to hear from everyone so I am happy with that. Probably start giving people my Texas address i think.

Tell G-Pa happy B-day for me, I'm sad I missed it. But it sounds like the U gave him a present by beating Stanford haha that is insane, it is sucky that I missed that too.

I realized this week that I am gonna be in Texas for Halloween, so that will be great I think. I am so excited to get back into the States.

Alright, now for the wild fun adventurous things:

We fashioned a slingshot out of some old banana peels and garbage scraps. JK they gave us exercise bands, but we launch some fruits almost everyday. Pics later.

We play a game called what are the odds, basically people have to do dumb stuff: 

Elder Lunt had to eat only peanut butter for a whole day,

Elder Samuelson had to wear mismatched everything, suit with pants, 2 different shoes, the whole deal

Elder Cude had to eat as much peanut butter as he could in 1 minute so then he threw up, also he had to eat a spider, and he has to bark at the Hermanas whenever they talk to him

Elder Shirley has to talk in Spanish only for 2 days, and shave his head.

Elder Murphey has to email his ex and say romintical things.

Elder Shill has to shave his head.

Elder Jorganson had to dance through every door on Sunday.

I had to drink 10 cups of milk for breakfast. I made it through 9 1/2 in like 20 minutes, and then 9 1/2 made it out my my mouth in roughly 8 seconds. It was funnot.

Well, until next week you guys, peace on the streetz.

Love,

Cole

 This must be Elder Cude - poor guy!

Cole's district. They are becoming good friends!!

 They are playing the game "Mafia" - not having a spiritual moment.

I wonder where Cole got the idea to do this?

Week 3 Y'alls

Hey guys. It's crazy, I can't believe that it is already the third week. I swear I was in here writing home to you guys just yesterday. I guess the saying is true, days are weeks and weeks are days. I went to the temple again, and it was cool, hard in Spanish but cool haha.

 I don't really know what to say about my week, it was the same as last week I guess. Just pretty average haha. My teachers are really cool, I like them a lot. My morning teacher is this huge poly guy that lived in Utah and used to climb a lot, so I talk about that with him sometimes, and our afternoon teacher is a guy from Mexico that is way fun but super strict. I am not making life long friends with anyone here haha, but the guys in my district are cool. They are a bunch of high school grads, so I am the mature one sometimes (definitely not all the time. Or even most of the time.)

 I am learning a lot of Spanish and I can pretty much go a whole day saying no English words, so that's cool I guess. I always forget to take pics, but fair's fair because you don't send me any either haha. Tuesday was my exact halfway point in the CCM, so that was really crazy to think of. My comp is the same, but I guess it is whatever. I am becoming patienter, little by little by little.

 I miss America a lot every day, and I can't wait to make it into Texas. The first thing I'm going to do is get as much American crap fast food and shove it all into my face. That is cool that you guys are in San Diego, I bet it is fun there. I remember when I was the "oldest" after Nate moved out. Tell Liza not to worry, you will re-ignore her soon enough haha. 

Conference was really cool haha, I never thought I would write that sentence. I liked it a lot and took notes and whatnot. I am the only person in my district going to Fort Worth. In fact, I am the only person I know of in the entire CCM (800+ people) that is going there. My comp is going to Dallas, there are 3 going to El Salvador, 2 to St. George, and 1 to Cali. It was super weird to not go to priesthood with Dad, it didn't feel real haha. I definitely miss the Outback tradition, that was the best. 

Well, until next week, do good and keep the famdamily together.

Love,

Cole

His favorite place!  Ha ha!!

This is the "butterfly" for Leena!

Makin My Momma Proud

This week I listed some questions in my letter to Coleman and told him a story that I heard at General Relief Society Meeting, so his letter responds to some of those things.  

Hey Famdamily,

This week was good. The saying here is that the Days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. I definitely feel that way, the days are long but i cant believe it is P-Day already. It is so crazy. Here we go

1. Still no diarrhea. I actually took some stool softener pills on a dare, but i am still regular as ever.

2. The best food was these things i called chicken circles. Pretty self descriptive. The worst meal was some mystery meat, and we got there late so there was nothing else to eat. I was digging around in there and i found some hair, a ton of gristle, ligaments, veins, and literally leaves from outside were in the meat. So that was gross. Most of the time there is cereal stations so if the food looks gross i eat cereal and fruit. A lot of fruit. I have had a banana with almost every meal, a ton of apples, and they have a pear apple hybrid that is pretty good.

3. The Spanish is good. I can pray and bear my testimony fluently. I speak a lot of Spanish during the day, like 60% of the time. It is hard but i think i am learning fast. I know a lot more than i did when i left, so that is cool. The best advice i have heard is not to get frustrated at how much i don't know, but to be happy about how much I've learned.

4. I try to speak as much Spanish as i can, but if i don't know the word or how to say it, i will talk English.

5. My comp is... frustrating. We are all learning together, but i am used to learning fast and screwing around after that but now i kinda have to help my comp learn. We are "teaching" investigators that are our teachers. Sometimes my companion will start talking and he doesn't know that much Spanish so he will say things like "jesus crist played for our sins" or something and i have to hold in a laugh. I kept a timer of the amount of time i spent waiting for him in one day and it was 55 minutes and 8 seconds. In one day. so that was hard, patience i guess i don't know.

6. Megan is great, i talk to her all the time, and i see McKenzie Maxfield a lot too so that is great.

7. there is not a whole lot more to take pictures of.. every day is the same haha but i will send all the ones i can

8. No, the mail here is way slow, i guess it takes like 2-3 weeks for a letter and 5-6 for a package to get down here, but I'm emailing some people.

9. Yeah, it is pretty fun most of the time. Learning Spanish is fun sometimes, and my district is pretty cool. Nothing like the ol crew back home, but better than some of the other ones I've seen. Nobody really gets my sense of humor here... so that sucks. but most of the time it is great.

That mountain story is true haha, i am used to going up and then down and then up, instead of going slow with the rest of the people. I freaking miss hiking, and the mountains, and nature so bad. I miss chaos, everything here is so structured. But whenever I think it is hard and it sucks and its just way too sweaty or i hate these stupid clothes, i can always feel that this is where i am supposed to be. I do miss alone Cole time though. That is hard to have a companion. 

My district are mostly 18 year old guys, straight out of high school. It is super weird to say this, but i fell like i am way more mature than them haha, never thought i would say that. My throat always kinda hurts because i am not used to having to talk so much haha.  

Mom, you're getting old haha. don't worry, it happens though. That's sad about Dads aunt. All i want to do out here is make my momma proud haha. I love and miss everyone in the family, and also everyone else. Well, I'm off to go do the lords work.

Love,

Cole  (These photos are of the beautiful Mexico CCM)