Porcelain cow, Last district meeting for this transfer, and the most spiritual baptism and experience of my life

I got to go on divisions (splits) this week with Elder Florence again and while we were contacting people in the streets, we found the most random porcelain cow just sitting on the sidewalk so of course we stopped and took pictures with it.

On Thursday we ended up having our last district meeting together because next week we have the Zone conference and then it´s transfer week so we bought a cake and took pictures at the very end.

Okay now for the amazing spiritual experience I had. So the sister missionaries who we share a ward with had a baptism this Saturday @11:00 am and they asked me if I would do the ordinance so of course I accepted. The only thing was with this baptism it was special because the man is a paraplegic and has to use a motorized wheel chair to get around. So Pedro Gutierrez and I both baptized him. Vanderlei Garcia de Abreu is the man´s name and what we did was Pedro held him in his arms and went into the water and then I followed. I said the prayer and then we both (Pedro and I) baptized him together in our arms. I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life as i did during that baptismal service. I teared up probably 3 different times and just seeing how Vanderlei looked after the baptism was something i also will never forget. Pedro then put Vanderlei in my arms and I carried him out of the font so that he could get changed out of his wet clothes. Absolutely will never forget that experience.

Got another package from the Russos this week.  These always help make an already good day even better 😊

Since I'm in charge of making name tags for the mission elders and sisters, it allows to take the occaisional liberty and make up tags that don't get used but will be a souvenir:

Spiritual Thought from my studies this week:
Alma 26:26-31

26 But behold, my beloved brethren, we came into the wilderness not with the intent to destroy our brethren, but with the intent that perhaps we might save some few of their souls.
27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.
28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.
29 And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their synagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been stoned, and taken and bound with strong cords, and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of God we have been delivered again.
30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.
31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us.

As missionaries and children of God, we all only want what´s best for our spiritual brothers and sisters. As we look forth, and look back on the fruits  of our labors, we can truly find peace and joy in the work and the instruments we have been in the harvesting of the Lord´s vineyard. If we strive daily to become better accustomed to the trials and the tests the Lord puts in our path, we will have a different mindset as to why the Lord has put these trials in our paths and like Christ says in Ether 12:27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Humility is the key. Humility and meekness are what draw us closer to God. Once we learn to develop these attributes of Christ, coupled with charity, our entire mindset changes on everything. Instead of asking "Why is this happening Lord?" we can be like Nephi when he was asked by the Lord to build a boat and answer "How Lord?" Nephi didn´t complain because he had no idea how to even construct a ship, but rather humbled himself and trusted in the Lord and asked him how he would be able to complete the task. Through humble and sincere prayer, the Lord will show us all our weaknesses and the manner in which we can overcome them so that we may be able to look back on the fruits of our labors and know for a fact that we have done all we can do and that our Heavenly Father is content with our progression and our diligence as workers in his vineyard.

Have a great week.  I love and miss everyone!

Elder Connor deCocq

New Camera, Miracles....and John Cena as a Scorpion??

Hola Familia y Amigos,

Let´s see, this week we had some splits with the assistants, got to do a lot of work out in the field and not so much of the daily office routine stuff.

Elder Berges and me being random

Hermana Coca brought me some pakcages this week also from my family so of course we took a picture with her. I am so grateful for these amazing Bolivian friends in Utah who take their time to bring me packages from my family.

Spiritual part to bring everything back into perspective.

So during our exchange this week with Elder Florence, we had a really awesome encounter with a very humble family. I felt the need to go towards a certain area of his area (because we were working in his area for the day) and we went that way. We then saw a lady who was sweeping up trash and stuff in her front yard so Elder Florence began talking to her and we asked if we could help her and then if we could share a message with them. The lady and her 3 kids (8 yrs old, 6 yrs old and 1 yr old) sat down and listened to us and we began talking about The Plan of Salvation with them but the spirit guided me to another topic in the middle of that lesson. We began teaching them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the 5 steps we can take to align ourselves with the path that leads us back to our Heavenly Father again. I then invited them to prepare to be baptized on the 18th of August and they humbly and willingly accepted this goal as a family. To see how excited the 8 year old boy was when we talked about how families can be together forever, I just new without a shadow of a doubt that the spirit had led us to that family and that they as a family are going to be striving towards that goal together.

We had a meeting with our ward mission leader on tuesday for his wife´s birthday and also talked about the work, and I was just so happy this week. Like the entire week was just amazing and our ward mission leader ( Kolbin Limón) asked me why i was so happy and smiling and my answer was simple, " Some people work at bank´s, and some people work as policemen, but my job is to be a representative of Jesus Christ for 2 years and to help others become closer with Him. Why wouldn´t I be happy?" There is no better work and no better time than that of a missionary. As much as I still am the same ol´ Connor as I was before I left to serve the mission, there truly is no other joy in this world than that of being a missionary and being able to bless the lives of so many people.

And, back to the random...

Zero explanation...

So this picture is very random, but basically summed up in the US when you
are in a shady neighborhood you see a pair of old shoes tied together and flung
 over the power lines....well I, after seeing this, I'm pretty sure I'm in the super
 boonies now because they have plastic bags filled with juice flung 
over the power lines here. Noice....

I can´t explain what this is or what is going on other than
I now firmly believe in evolution because of this.
>>John Cenaaaaa!!

New Bolivian money (Left) and old (right)

Pretty sure we got lost...

Elder Florence next to a Nebraska License plate...
I told him to pose and that´s all I got...Noice x2

Bye for now, everyone......Viva Bolivia

Elder Connor Ryan deCocq

Elder 'Cocq', Festivals, & Shovels and Pencils

So this week was literally full of craziness as per usual hahahhahaha. Every week here in the offices brings some new twist to the mission that we have to adapt to and ultimately makes life super interesting. For example on Monday last week Elder Gutierrez came in from Tarija and stayed with us for a solid 4 days to get his paperwork/VISA stuff ready to head off to Brazil to serve his mission. He ended up staying with us for those 4 days and was in a trio with us also. Not only did i get to go and stand in basically DMV sized lines for 4 hours, but i also get to pose as being a Lawyer a lot in order to get stuff done for the missionaries here. Just flash my plaque and everything thinks I´m official....nice.

We had a baptism this week as well for Sheila Mangayari Sorando! She has been listening to the missionaries for a very long time (close to 4 years) and we asked her why she has been coming to church for so long and why she hadn´t decided to get baptized sooner and her response was "Well, nobody before ever convinced that the church was true. I just never got that confirming feeling, but now I do." Her family doesn´t have a whole lot of money and she is a very humble person. Her Uncle Henry is also listening to the lessons but has a disease that effects his ability to walk so he has to go to treatments a lot and also has to use crutches to get around places. But I am super happy for Sheila and i know her example she is setting for the rest of her family will ultimately help them all be united in the gospel some day and enter into the waters of baptism as well. (see foto from baptism) Cleaning the church was pretty great also before the baptism...Here in Bolivia the plumbing is terrible so you can´t throw toilet paper in the toilet (go figure right) so you just throw it in the trash bins and we had the lovely opportunity of cleaning that mess up hahahahahahahahaha.

If you are reading this via email, click here to see the video

On Friday we had a stake wide Festival de Danza which was super awesome! All the 5 wards in our Stake all did a different dance based on the different cultures of Bolivia. We had a TON of investigators come to the activity and all loved it a ton! One of our investigators brought her whole family and kids and parents! It´s amazing how little activities like that can bring communities and people together.

Met some street hippies who made me a twisted metal desk thing with my name "Elder Cocq" on it... close enough. Could´ve been worse hahahahha.

Been studying up lately also for the District meeting I´m giving next thursday and it has really helped me understand the importance of being instruments in the Lord´s hands. What exactly is an instrument? In - Stru - Ment : a thing used in pursuing an aim or policy; a means.

  So, how can we liken ourselves unto the Sons of Mosiah and Alma the younger from chapter 28 of Mosiah? The Sons of Mosiah and Alma the Younger began to persecute the church and sought to destroy the reputation of the church by any means necessary i.e lying, deceit, stealing away the hearts of the people, etc. But as we know, Heavenly Father loves all of his children equally. Despite the wrong we may do at times, His arms are ALWAYS outstretched waiting for us to come back into His fold. Just as Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, going in contrary to what the Lord had commanded them to do, through a repentance process, they too were able to be faithful and diligent instruments in the hands of the Lord. As for the sons of Mosiah and Alma, they too after an Angel of the Lord had appeared to them, they too were converted into instruments of the Lord.
    35 And they traveled throughout all the land of Zarahemla, and among all the people who were under the reign of king Mosiah, zealously striving to repair all the injuries which they had done to the church, confessing all their sins, and publishing all the things which they had seen, and explaining the prophecies and the scriptures to all who desired to hear them.
    36 And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer.
    37 And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth.

We too, just as the Lord has showed us in the past, can become Instruments in the hands of Him, if we so desire. But always remember that a shovel is great for digging holes in the hands of a worker and a pencil is a strong utensil in the hands of a skilled writer, but the shovel nor the pencil have any use without the hands. We too at times may be very knowledgeable in the gospel, or may have an arsenal of scriptures at our disposal, but if we don´t live worthy of the guidance (the hands) of the Lord in our teaching or in our lives in general, what good does any of it do? What good does that shovel or that pencil do if the worker never shows up to work or that writer never starts writing? Absolutely nothing. Always, always, always strive to be worthy of the Master and his ability to use us as useful instruments in His hands.​

I'm now a true Boliviano.  Got me some Tire and Nail sandals

First transfer down in the Mission Office, CRAZY WEEK

** Dad Note - I'm late in getting this out this out for Elder deCocq this week.  We've been on vacation, but we did connect with him on Monday from a library in Kanab, Utah

Hola Family and Friends,

Life has been loco choco lately with all of transfer week and getting the new missionaries and taking the old ones to the airport, but I am alive and not dead.  Transfers are not just Mondays....they go on all week and at all hours 😱

Here are some pictures of how I am living life lately.  Got to be chefs in the Mission President's home when the new missionary arrivals got here:

Sorry, no journal pics this week.

I did get to meet Elder Coca from the Santa Cruz North Mission.  His parents and mine have gotten to friends back in Utah.  He is awesome and I hope we can hang out when we get back home.  He came out on the mission the same time as me.

Hey, how about this......10 months in the mish this week!  Its gone so fast.

We are out here grinding daily, with all the craziness we still have a lot of people progressing in the gospel and coming closer to Christ.
Been studying a lot of Mosiah recently in the Book of Mormon and how much of a hero Abinadi is too me and how much I can have the same faith as he had.

Studying the teachings of Jesus and how he taught have truly been my main fountains of inspiration and teaching better to the people and not just spouting of information.

Quote of the week:
If I could be any pan flute from Bolivia, I would definitly be a zampoña   - Elder Berges
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0f-X-j4k6I

Love,
Elder Connor Ryan deCocq