April 20, 2015

This week was a crazy week. On Monday not much happened after I emailed you then on Tuesday we went to the Christian Kitchen and peeled potatoes with what seemed to be a rock with a handle for 1.5 hours...it was a potato peeler but it was just so dull that it was like a rock. Oh and when we got back from our run we thought we had locked ourselves out because Elder Burgess only had a key to the back door but we left the chain on it so we were sure we couldn't get in but then he was like Im going to go try my key in the front door so we prayed and then he went and tried and then a couple seconds later I heard him undoing the chain to the door so that was definitely a miracle. 

But then after that I studied Alma 42 which was a super cool chapter that I used to teach people all day long so you guys should go check it out. We have a legit new Investigator that builds his own guns and he had already started reading the BOM and D&C when we met him and he has a member friend that he emails all the time so that is pretty cool. He almost converted in college but then he broke up with his girlfriend who was a member and now he started emailing her again and will probably be baptized in a month or so which is legit. 

Wednesday we did the Christian Kitchen again and this time shredded a half frozen Boston Butt that was donated which was super hard and cold but it got done. Then we went and had Curry Chicken with Auntie Vivian like we do every Wednesday, it is all good. She is awesome and it is super good and she is actually one of our few progressing investigators. 

Then Thursday all we did was get stuck in mud pretty much...we tried digging ourselves out for 6 hours straight with a freaking golf club and some sticks but finally at about 8 we called for help...Dad always said to be a problem solver so I was doing my best and trying all sorts of things but then the Zone Leaders and Elder Burgess made us call a member for help or I would have been digging there all night. It was actually pretty cool because the member brought a non member with them (her dad) to pull us out because it was his truck that we used...Oh and can't forget the creepy cemetery that kept calling us pretty much the whole time and it was just full of babies...It was quite the experience. 

Then on Friday we just planned and then cut out some huge bushes with terrible trimmers so that made me super sore but then she took us out to eat so that was nice. Then Saturday we helped the American Red Cross install fire alarms from 9-2 so that was a super long day but it was pretty fun. Kinda awkward cause we got paired with a set of Sisters but whatever I guess...The zone leaders put us with them because they knew we would be most mature about it is what they claimed.

Then on Sunday we had a crazy time at church...our Recent Convert hates her husband and says things have gone downhill tons since she was baptized but Satan always makes that happen. Then we had a blow up in Sunday school class because it turned into a bunch of former baptists hooping and hollering and so Elder Burgess got up and straightened them out which made a member super mad because she doesn't understand the gospel quite yet. Then we had a guy start puking in Sacrament and he has been having a lot of health issues so they called an ambulance and rushed him to the ER. 

Then after church we had to stay in Tifton for a few hours because of all the Tornado watches and stuff that were going on and we watched one almost form but it was just the clouds spinning and it never turned into one all the way but it was still kinda scary. Then we got home and I made dinner and made 2 peach cobblers to take to the member and her dad for helping us out of the mud so it was a pretty crazy and busy day and a very eventful and tiring week but it was still good. I am excited to see what happens this week. I miss you guys and love you guys tons. Talk to you next week! Love Elder Cobler 

April 13, 2015

So this week was pretty good but not much really happened so this email will probably be pretty short. First fishing was pretty good for Elder Burgess. It was his first time fishing without his dad and he only fished once with his dad so I had to help him a bit but he caught 2 tiny little bream. If you are wondering what that is it is a tiny little fish about 6-8 inches long and they have spikey fins and you can't really eat anything off of them. 

Tuesday was pretty good but we mostly just worked in the blistering heat all day helping Miss Register clean her pool and cleaning out briars all out of her plants. 

Then on Wednesday Auntie Vivian fed us curry chicken like she usually does and then we went to correlation. Oh and before we ate we helped one of Miss Register's old lady friends plunge her toilet so that was pretty gross. 

On Thursday we had a zone training meeting and I finally finished my quest. It says "Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land" 24 times in the BoM and it says it tons of other times too in different ways so after I finish reading the BoM through just plain not searching for stuff then I will go back and highlight every time it talks about keeping commandments. 

Then on Thursday after the meeting I didn't really feel good. I did feel good enough to work on Saturday and that was lots of fun because we went and did a bunch of different magic tricks with some of Auntie Vivian's relatives and last time we taught one of the little boys how to make it look like he was sticking a pencil up his nose and then he did it at school and got in trouble because the teacher thought he was actually putting it up his nose so that was pretty funny. 

To add something kinda spiritual I am going to give you guys some quotes that I heard in the last 6 weeks that I wrote in the back of my planner. the first one is from President Cottle at the last transfer meeting when he said "If you aren't happy, repent!" and that is what he talked about in his weekly email to us today too. Then the other one is "Christ changes man and changed man changes the world" but I don't remember where that one came from. Well hope you guys have a good week! Love you guys and Miss you!

Love Elder Cobler

April 6, 2015

Well General Conference was pretty awesome. On Tuesday and Wednesday I got stuck on exchanges with the new greenie on exchanges but it was alright cause he isn't like most greenies that are afraid to talk to people. Instead he talks to everyone and everything and all the time too so that was a plus. 

It was kinda sad on Tuesday though because we had to give a lady in an old folks home a blessing and it was really scary and hard because when I went to give her the blessing the first thing I felt prompted to do was tell her that she will rest from her cares and sorrows soon and that she won't have to suffer anymore so that was super hard and I had to fight with the spirit on that one cause I didn't want to be the one to tell her that. 

After that pretty much all we did the rest of the week was invite people to conference and I made some cool little invitations that we printed photos of and cut up. I made 80 of them and almost gave all of them away in 3 days so that was pretty exciting even though nobody showed up. 

Hmmm...April Fools with a greenie...good thing I have a good heart and didn't do too much to him. he did most of the stuff to himself so everything he went through was because of him. Oh and on Tuesday I almost flipped over my handle bars because we took an investigator a piece of cake for her bday and I was riding one handed and so I had to slam on my front brake when a car crossed in front of us but it was all good. 

Then not much else happened except for conference. I think my favorite things talked about in conference were the stories that people talked about. My 2 favorites were the ones from Elder Holland about the boys rock climbing and from Elder Clayton who talked about the girl in the plane crash. I love when they teach from stories like that and turn them into a kind of parable and teach as the Savior did. It is so powerful and helps us get the answers we truly need and are ready for. Love you guys and miss you. Love Elder Cobler

March 30, 2015

So this week was awesome! Pday all we did was clean our car so that was boring...But then on Tuesday we had zone conference all day and that was awesome!! Zone conference is always so motivational, uplifting and inspirational. My favorite part was when a missionary in Tifton that only has about 2 months left of his mission shared his testimony for his last zone conference. When missionaries go home we refer to it as dying and it was super cool when he said that he had been struggling recently with going home but then he realized that while missionaries may die, or go home, Disciples never die. So that is my favorite little quote right now. Disciples Never Die. It is cool because there is so much extra meaning to it. You can look at it in the missionary sense or the bigger sense because we know that we will all be resurrected and literally none of us will ever die because Jesus Christ overcame all death for us Spiritually and Physically. 

Then Wednesday was awesome because Sister Williams got interviewed and she was super duper excited for her baptism. That was also the day we decided I was going to baptize her with help from Elder Herzog. Oh and on Wednesday I made Navajo tacos which tasted really good but made us super sick. I deep fried some stretched out Rhodes rolls then made chili by mixing spaghetti sauce, southwest seasoning, and a can of black and a can of pinto beans and it made some pretty legit chili even though it sounds weird it was super good. You will get pictures of it soon cause we forgot so when I make it again with the greenie on exchanges I will take pics for my food log. 

Thursday was a super good day cause we biked 9.3 miles to Ocilla. Then we biked from there to Irwinville which was  another 9.3 miles but we didn't make it all the way there because it was pouring rain and so the member that was feeding us ribs came and picked us up. It was super fun though even though at one point Elder Burgess was a good mile or so behind me. Then on Friday we helped a member move out and he gave each of us 25$ to eat at Ruby Tuesday and then we went to Harvey's to grab some quick gum and talked to the guy stocking shelves for like 45 minutes so that was super cool. 

Then Saturday we had the baptism which was super cool and after we used our gift cards to celebrate! I got Steak and Lobster that was super good. Then on Sunday we had Church and went home teaching with a member and then it was bed time and we fixed the treadmill. Oh and then last night we think somebody tried to break into our house around 1 or 2 but we don't really have anything to steal so we don't really care and we are going to Tifton tonight to stay so it is all good.

Love Elder Cobler

March 23, 2015

So we started off the week with bowling for P-day and that was super fun. On Tuesday we had a District meeting and I had a bunch of cool and fun little activities planned but then I felt prompted not to do them and for us to just share our testimonies for district meeting so that is exactly what we did. It was super powerful and a cool meeting so we ended it at that. Then we went to lunch and started our exchange. 

I went up to Fitz with Elder Herzog who is from Pleasant Grove and that was super fun. He used to be their best sprinter but he only did track his senior year so it is kinda nice being able to talk to somebody that at least ran a little bit. We had an awesome exchange. We kicked it off by visiting an investigator while she was at work and her and her daughter loved that so that was fun. Then we went home and I made the corned beef for St. Patty's Day. I forgot to take a picture though...I am going to start taking pics of my food to show how good of a cook I am becoming. 

Then we went and taught a few lessons that were super powerful. We had a really cool experience teaching Tiffany. We decided to just read the first 19 verses of Moroni 7 with her...well actually we planned on reading the whole chapter but then she had company come at the end of verse 19 and as soon as we read verse 19 before her company came we both felt like we should stop so then Heavenly Father forced us to stop by making company come over. After the lesson the spirit helped us both know that what we shared with Tiffany was exactly what she needed to hear and it was one of the strongest spiritual impressions I have had like that for a long time so that was pretty cool. 

Then we went home and I cooked some more freaking awesome food. This time it was sweet and sour chicken over rice. Then we went back and I worked Elder Herzog to death. It was a super good exchange and we got tons done. Thursday nothing super exciting happened and same for most of the rest of the week except for I ran the 5k and church was super good and has been the past 2 times. It has been exactly what I needed to hear and learn about so that was awesome and it was really motivating so that was cool. No investigators came to church this week but we do have Sis. Williams getting baptized next week so I guess that is pretty cool. It was a super good week for the most part and hope to have another good one this next week.

March 16, 2015

On Monday we didn't do much. It was just a normal p-day except we taught our new neighbor at night. Tuesday we went and saw a few people and that was pretty good cause Nick and Kristen might actually start progressing as well as Miss Betty. Nick wants us to make him a calendar with everything he needs to be taught and everything on it so maybe that will help. Miss betty...we almost dropped her but then we saved it and she taught us about the Restoration which was really cool cause now she can truly say that she knows the Book of Mormon is true and now she just needs to leave her church which is going to be the hard part. Wednesday we just taught all day and we were super busy and then we went and taught Sister Williams about keeping the Sabbath day holy and coming to all of church but she still didn't come this Sunday so that was kinda frustrating but she will still be baptized so it will be alright. 

Thursday was pretty good but it was kinda sketchy because I had to give a training to the whole zone but it was still pretty good. our Zone Training meeting was really good though and then all 24 of us went out to a buffet and ate dinner together so that was pretty fun. When we got back home we saw a couple people and then headed in. Oh and we found out that one of our investigators has a grandson that just got baptized in Fort Lauderdale. Her son called her to get approval thinking that our investigator/his mom would get upset with him but then she was super excited because she loves the church. She will probably be baptized soon. 

Then on Friday I put my photoshop skills to use and made a new map for our area all day and that sucked and we did that on Saturday night too which was no fun either. Saturday day we went and saw a few people but nothing super exciting happened other than Miss Betty complimenting us on how good we looked. It was cause of my new Sperry's :) 

Basically Just regular visits. Sunday was pretty good. church was awesome. We talked about making choices in Sacrament and then we talked a bunch about Jesus Christ in the other 2 classes. After church we thought our dinner appointment cancelled and then we went and made a bunch of food at the ZL's house and then at like 1 she called and asked if we were coming or not  so we hustled over there and had to eat again cause she made tons and tons of food like it was Thanksgiving or something and she made us eat tons of desserts too. Then she brought over an apple Cobbler after we thought we were done and tried to get us to eat that and none of us would have if Elder Herzog, the new ZL, wouldn't have piled it on our plates for us. We were pretty miserable after that. then we headed home and took our supper hour to let our stomachs rest and then we tried to teach 6 people in 1.5 hours but we only taught 3...oh well. It was a pretty good week. We are super busy right now and we are going to have to start dropping people because we don't have time to go see people. Well talk to you next week! Miss you! Love Elder Cobler