Cole's Mission: Christmas in July

If your Christmas package came, go ahead and open it!

I called President Lopez and talked to him about Elder Rillorta. I didn't give any specifics, because if I would have the repentance would have been forced and the process would have been much harder. Unforced repentance is much easier to receive forgiveness rather than you got caught and forced to repen. So President called him and they talked. From what I gathered, President told him to be extremely careful and all that. My companion still denies that he was watching it and it was only a pop-up, but I can only believe what I saw. Oh well! I can't judge him because we all sin. I just have to trust that he did what he needed to do.

On Tuesday I went out and worked with one of the APs. It went really well. He told me I am the most skilled at the language of any American he has seen and that I was the ONLY zone leader that asked him how I could improve my skills as a missionary. He said it showed that I was really humble (can you believe that????) and it made a good impression on him.

The only problem this week was the dang rash! It didn't go away, so I spent Wednesday through Friday in the Institute. On Friday, President Lopez joined us for companion study. I thought it went great, but at the end President just leveled us with things we can do better. He was cutting us down to nothing! Oh well, I just need to take it in stride. He doesn't give us a lot of compliments, just ways of improving!

I also got a new companion. President is putting four missionaries in Bata now and then adding two sister missionaries on July 31. My new companion is Elder Iloa and he is from Tonga. I love him! He is so humble and has a great spirit. He doesn't speak English very well and it is funny because he will ramble on about something, then just start laughing hysterically. I have no idea what he is saying, but it is awesome! The first thing he said to me was, "Elder, if you aren't exactly obedient, we will have problems!" He has the deepest voice ever, so it was pretty scary!!!! I am going to have fun with him.

Anyways, that is pretty much it for the week. I will do my best to continue to stay positive. I love you all so much and I hope you enjoy your gifts!