12 week mark

January 19, 2013

"So the work is starting to pick up. We set up a Baptism date yesterday (1-18-2013), we have 4 new investigators, and we have taught 7 lessons this week!"

January 28, 2013
"Yesterday (1-27-2013) we had an investigator come to church, that was really good. I think we are getting really close with her becoming a member of the church!"

I am so proud of Cole, and all his dedication to his mission! He is really making so much progress.
Today is his P day, and he says the weather is really nice, and might get up to 70 degrees today!

Dinner with the Holliday's

"Good evening sister Grace. We enjoyed dinner with your son tonight. He is such a delight to have in our home. Our family is looking forward to getting to know him better. We had dinner with the Shilo ward Elders also. So the one with the ukulele is Elder Green and Elder Dazley stands behind him, and Elder Smith in the white shirt standing behind your son is your son's companion.

Thank you for raising such a wonderful son, he is going to do some amazing things out here.

                              Sis. Holliday"

I really appreciate all the wonderful things people have to say about Elder Cole Grace, I know he will bless other people, as well as be blessed by others he comes in contact with on his mission!!! He is so awesome!

Some new updates on Elder Grace

"It's starting to get really cold out here...it's only 15 degrees today, but i think it will get warmer soon."

"I only have 5 more weeks with my trainer, Elder Smith from Idaho, so that is good! We are starting to teach more lessons, and getting into peoples homes, so that's really good as well!"

I have updated Cole, on friends who are leaving for missions soon, and this is his response:

"Wow that's crazy, Riley is going to Berlin Germany! I really miss him!...And Sam Porter is from Texas, so that's cool she gets to go serve in Texas!"

As always Cole would love to receive mail from family and friends!!!!

Its staring to get cold!!!

Cole is still with his trainer, Elder Smith from Idaho. 5 more weeks and Cole will have a new companion!

Cole has been busy with more lessons!  

He has been able to get in to see more people, so he is happy to be teaching 

the gospel!

Apparently the children of Illinois are happy at play!

Cole looks so happy!

It is nice that the Elders are able to have a spa day, 

looks so relaxing!!!

They are on a tight budget, ha!

Cole went to East St. Louis

"Today is my two month mark...it's crazy on how long I have been out.  I'm doing good.  I had so much fun with the companion I had for a day when we went to East St. Louis.  I'm listening to the new Blink album it's really good right now.  So on Saturday it rained all day and my companion and I went and road our bikes for like an  hour and we were soaked.  So we went to a recent converts house and warmed up.  They dried our clothes and gave us hot chocolate.  It was really nice.  We ended up watching the football game the Broncos and the Ravens."

New pictures from Elder Grace

Elder Grace and his Zone..... Cole is in the center standing with his taking back Sunday shirt on!

Your guess is as good as mine, as to what this picture means!

I'd like to say Cole is screaming, or shouting in this photo, ha,ha,ha!

Cole and Elder Smith (Cole's trainer) pumping some iron!

Welcome to the mission field!

Cole with Mission President Clark and Sister Clark. At the St. Louis Temple.

Cole's 1st Saturday in O'fallon, IL.... Not too shabby!

Cole's life in prison, I mean the MTC

Cole's 1st companion, Elder Rymer.

Cole's 1st package to the MTC..... All his favorite snacks!

Cole is bored of the MTC, he is ready to get out into the mission field!!!

How cute is this photo?!!

Some words from Elder Grace on his mission

12/24/12
"This time of season is really hard to try and teach people 'cause everyone is getting ready for the holidays. So everyone says to come back the 2nd week of January."

12/24/12
"So a way cool experience...... My companion and i had someone knock on our door, instead of us knocking on his. We started to teach him. We got him to pray, and after he was done praying he started crying 'cause he felt the spirit so strong! He didn't want to leave because he felt so good."

1/7/13
"I'm still trying to get used to my companion, and get along with him. Its still hard because i am still trying to get in the mode of this missionary life. Its really hard. We are still not having much success, our two top investigators dropped us, and all we are doing is tracking. But on the other hand we found 6 new potential investigators, and have handed out 6 books of Mormon in two days!!"

An email from Sister Clark, Cole's mission president's wife:
12/30/12
"Dear sister Grace,
Your elder is doing great. I think the homesickness is passing! I saw him at the Christmas party and he looked like he was having fun. He's a good looking elder. You can be proud of him!
                                                                      Sincerely,
                                                                                 Sister Clark"

Dinner with the Asay family

So the blog is finally up! 

Cole is still in O'fallon Illinois, he says it is very cold right now. He is in a biking area of his mission, so he rides his bike everywhere. The first Saturday Cole was in O'fallon his companion had a baptism.

Cole was able to help get things ready for the baptism. Now that the holidays are over, Cole is hoping to be able to start teaching the gospel! He did not have much luck speaking with people, because they were so busy with the holidays.

So it is such a small world! in the picture below, Cole is with the Asay family, the husband/father in the picture is Cole's dentists brother! The Asays were so excited to have Cole over to their house for dinner!

Cole would love to hear from all family and friends, please feel free to write anytime to Elder Grace!