GRATEFUL...

We said good-bye to 21 missionaries.  What a tender mercy it is to be able to say hello to 22 more! We also had four short-term (six week) missionaries join us for a transfer.  

It is an inspirational experience to see how the hand of the Lord guides the "trainers" that are called and paired with each "trainee."  

The meeting when the trainees and trainers are introduced is one of energy and anticipation.  Everyone is quiet.  The trainers on one side of the chapel the trainees on the other.  The elders and sisters anxiously sneak peaks over to the other side wondering which missionary will be their companion. When the great "reveal" is made by the Assistant it's a beautiful thing.   Eyes meet eyes, spirit touches spirit a warm handshake or a gentle hug are exchanged.  Then the Holy Spirit helps them feel an immediate unity and bond.  It's a wonderful thing to be part of.

   Above is from Coles Mission President about Trainer selection. 

1st pic newest missionaries in the ANGELES MISSION !  And Cole and his trainer from Samoa!

Cole sent a very short letter stating that there was not a lot of damage from the Typhoon in his area, just loss of power.  Sent several pics including Rats as big as cats, cute goats and he catches frogs and eats them... yum.

Coles First letter from his first area!!

Hey My first area is called padapada, its really cool, its mostly rice fields and farmers and everyone is sooo nice even though i cant understand them and they cant understand me its still very cool.my companions name is elder tuifalasai, he is from somoa, hes way cool. he is prety much fluent in Tagalog so he has helped me allot, this area is very pretty. it is flat but that's ok. i guess this is a slower area because people are much more spread out than in the city, my apartment is pretty nice. we have airconn and a heated shower so that it great. we watched general conf yesterday, it was real good. It seemed like Elder Christofferson was talking about me cus he told a story about a youth in his ward and how he couldn't ski on Sundays or somthing? haha ya i donno thats pretty much all, heres some pics, and you dont need to send a cord because the card reader you sent has a cord attached that works so its all good.

love you guys 

Elder Arnold has left the MTC!!

Hello all!

 Elder Arnold has finally left the MTC!  We hope to hear from him soon!   He can now speak simple TAGALOG and is excited to get out into the field to learn more .
  He has not adjusted very well to the heat and humidity.  He said it is hard to talk to people because he feels like " They are just staring at my sweaty face."
  Cole is overwhelmed by the amount of poverty he has seen.   He has had scary experiences in "Squatter areas" caves and tunnels.   He thinks it's "way Cool" that he was almost  killed. I guess squatters were yelling things at him that he could not understand, but his Filipino companion could understand and told him to keep walking and don't  look at them.  I will post future letters from him.
  Some of the photos he has sent are of snails as big as his palm.  A super cool cemetery, new friends and some of the beautiful country.