Rain and Concrete

Hola Familia,

Well this week has been great.  We have had the most incredible experiences and stories.  Also the rainy season has started here, which is the best thing ever haha.  I am so glad for everything that is going on and for all the amazing people that I have met.  We had a couple of hard days but overall everything has turned out all right.  I am so grateful for all the many blessings and the guidance (Spanish version) that the Lord has given me.

Cool story:

On Thursday we were walking around in the afternoon and all of our lessons had fallen through.  We asked ourselves what should we do now.  Out of nowhere we get a call from a less active family telling us that they needed help to make the roof on their house.  So we were like why not haha.  The way people make roofs here is with cement.  It was on the second level and so we had to carry 5 gallon buckets of cement up and down stairs for like 3 hours haha.  It was some pretty hard work but really fun at the same time.  On top of all that it was raining, so even better.  Let me tell you, that after climbing up and down the stairs for like 3 hours I was extremely sore the next day haha.  But we were able to go and teach them the next day.  Now they are coming to church.  How amazing is that?  Just think that through service (Spanish version) we were able to teach them.

Another story:

About a month ago we went to teach a Hermana named Nilda.  She is a great member and has been inactive for sometime now.  But she knows with all her heart that the church is true and so we kept visiting her and visiting her.  Then this past week I know that God touched her heart.  She completely changed.  It was incredible.  At first she didn’t even want to talk with us or let us in to teach her.  On Sunday she invited us to go and eat breakfast.  It is so cool what the gospel can do and how quickly people can change for the better.

Well we also had an interesting lesson with an investigator.  She came to the lesson with no desire to listen to us.  So we started teaching and there was no progress.  We ended up telling her that if she wanted to know the truth (Spanish version) she could learn and know through prayer (Spanish version) and by reading the Book of Mormon (Spanish version).  We just left her with that and so we will see what she says.

Other then that I have been reading a ton about faith (Spanish version) and repentance (Spanish version).  These are the first things that ANYONE has to do to become closer to God.  They are essential.  We have to show our faith through our works.  We also have to love God so much that we are willing to let go of all our errors and sins and repent.  We need to want to change who we are. 

Well I love you all so much and am so grateful for all the many things that you continue to do for me.  I want to challenge each of you to show your faith through your works.

I love you all,

Elder Cooley