Elder Cole Noel- Peru Lima Central Mission: August 17, 2015

Hey Cole,
I'm on! Sorry it's been ruff. You never know what it's really like until you are there. Remember you are just starting out, you have a a lot to learn. Trust your comp because he probably knows a lot. Don't worry about numbers. Love you!

Mom

ok! thanks mom i know your right. im just gonna give these next two years to the lord. i feel like i have gone through a change this week that normally takes missionarys months. at first i prayed so much more help. i would cry sometimes because we would be in meetings and i didnt know what to do. famliys would laugh at us. people would reject the message. none of our investigators showed up. but then i read a talk entitled the 4th missionary. i decided that im done feeling that way. im giving these next two years to the lord. alot of stuff happens during a mission but ive realized this isnt my mission its gods. Moses 1:37 i can do this i know i can. time flies when you forget yourself and go to work.

Thank you so much for that email dad. The beginning of the week was really hard. every night around the same time i felt satin working on me so much. i just wanted to go back to the cuarto and just stay there. i think i am getting to this point but rn its weird.. I see all these missionarys say they LOVE there mission. they dont want to go home and i just keep thinking when im gonna get to that point... its just really hard. and also i think i came into the mission with way to high expectations. i thought they baptized like a ton but thats not the case. alot of missoinarys have like 13 and are happy with it. i feel like i can have more but i know thats not a measurement of success on a mission. im just gonnna give it all to god for these next months. i love you dad. lemme know if you can get back on.

-Elder Noel

Cole,

It’s hard, I know. We get all pumped in mission prep and really pumped up at the MTC, then we hit the field and wonder if we’ve been told a "lie.” It’s kind of like a coach who gets his team all hyped up in the locker room. Everyone his jumping up and down, yelling and ready to roll some heads. They run on to the field fist pumping and yelling and it all goes away the minute the opposing team hits them in the mouth. Then the work begins. Don’t get me wrong, we need to be pumped up about the work, but just remember that you are in the first quarter. You just left the locker room. Strap it on and get to work. Play each play with all you have. Don’t worry about the last play or the next play, just the one you are executing right now. If you do that, the end of the game will take care of itself. Did you know that Neil Saban, Alabama, won’t even let his players look at the scoreboard or talk about the other team. It’s because if we do what we are supposed to do during the “game,” the score will work itself out and is what it is. Just do what you are supposed to do. Take it play by play. Don’t worry other missionaries or what they say about loving their mission, etc. It’s your mission, not theirs. Just buckle down. You’ll do great. Soon you’ll be entering the second quarter before you know it. Sorry about he sports metaphors, but they seem to work in our family.

Love, Dad.

thank you so much dad i really needed that. its time to work. im doing this for the lord. thats it thats final. im giving this to him. i feel like i have gone through a change this first weeks that some missionarys take along time! Im lucky but still struggling i will always remember this letter. thanks dad! Its weird because at the beginnning of the week all i prayed for was help. please help me. but throughout the week that changed. all i could say was, father im doing fine. im struggling but doing fine. help our investigators. i think once my attitude of that changed i was able to find happiness throughout the day

-Elder Noel