Hello Everyone!

 

It was very hot out here this week, we drank lots of water and loved riding the bikes haha. We were able to do some fun exchanges at the beginning of the week. I was out in Talladega, where there are so many bugs, and it is country and I was really afraid that I was going to get like 6 ticks my last week out here. I think I am in the clear though. We were able to have some great lessons and learn from some amazing people.

We have some great people that the Lord has led us to here, really! This area is amazing, and has amazing members/ recent converts that are really coming together and becoming great friends. There were a couple people that we wanted at church who didn't come, but I know they will soon! they are prepared.
So there is a man we have been teaching for a while off and on- a member referral, and he came to church on Sunday for the first time in a month. He texted the member who is his friend telling her he really wants to be baptized next week! Say what! Just before that our other main investigator called and said he really wanted to go through with his baptism this upcoming weekend. Sister Butt and I were super excited, and she said "Sister Coleman, how many times have we talked about how we wished someone would call us saying they wanted to be baptized?" A lot I said! And it came true! we were super stoked.

I know that the Lord is hastening his work, I have seen so many miracles, and them coming just because we have asked for them! The full-time missionaries at this time are so lucky to be missionaries, to be tutored and prepared to continue serving the Lord for the rest of their lives. I am so grateful for the time I have had here in Alabama. I really do love these people, and I am grateful that the Lord helped me get out on a mission so I could learn how to be more faithful to Him. I am still not perfect at it, but he gave me so much to learn and work on and I am grateful to keep applying it. I believe in the Restoration of the gospel, I know that Joseph Smith really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and was called to lead us to follow our Savior more closely. I love how the Book of Mormon helps us to understand the Bible better, and to also increase our testimony. I know that missions are not easy, but it has been the best 18 months of my life :) I love you all! See you soon :)

Hermana Coleman

Milagros!

This week was a successful week of re-contacting potentials that we had met in the last couple of weeks. Lots of miracles! One man who works a tire shop who live in Bessemer (40 min away) said that him and his family are moving to Homewood by the end of the month and he wants us to come over to teach/meet them! Wohoo! We also found out where a referral lived by chance and was able to meet a former investigator who lives in that same apartment who had been reading the Book of Mormon off and on, and had been really enjoying it. Then we tried to go give a blessing on this families home that we met last weekend, but they weren't home when we had set the appointment. the next day, I was with one of the English sisters and we were running super late to meet back up with sister butt and her companion, but I felt like we needed to go see if this family was home. The woman was- Amy- and she said come in! she felt bad that she had missed us yesterday and said she was hoping we would come back today (inspiration!) she speaks English and Spanish and so we taught her about what our role was and some basics about the church and all the concerns she had from the church she is going to were answered in what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints could offer her. The spirit was so strong and amazing! We told her we would come back the next day to teach more. So Sister Butt and I went back, and she had done some reading and expressed more concerns on how she really wanted to grow closer to God. She said that she felt close to Him every time we came, and so we invited her to church, told her about the plan of salvation and restoration a bit, and invited her to be baptized. She said YES!!!! Wow we were super stoked. She is a 2nd Ingrid, so prepared and ready. We love her already.

Otis is still doing really well, we did a object lesson about repentance involving brownies and dirt- and how when you repent the Lord will give you a whole new brownie! He got super excited and shared that punch line with everyone before we good. We were proud of him.

Also, Sister Butt met this man one night who wanted to find a church to go to, apparently he came to church (she didn't recognize him because it had been dark) but he CAME! he said he wanted to attend services in English- so that he could learn more English and more about God at the same time. He said that we could bring the English missionaries by this weekend to help explain more. He really like that.

There are amazing people here who are ready! We just have to keep up with the Lord. He really his hastening his work! D&C 88: 73 which says, "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time." Which Elder Holland added, "It's time."

I love you all! Make it a great week.

Puddles and Puddles of Rain!

This week we had "Meet the President" there was 6 zones there (half the mission) so a lot of missionaries! It was a lot of fun, and we got to meet President and Sister Hanks, they are great, have a lot of enthusiasm and amazing testimonies. We are all excited to have them. We did exchanges with the other Birmingham Sisters and I was able to be in a trio! it was fun, I haven't done that for a long time and we biked everywhere! by our last appointment we were all out of it, good thing that person did a great job at talking! We were able to leave an great chapter for her to read 2 Nephi 4- and she really enjoyed it. That day also included teaching Ingrid about baptisms for the dead and having "the armor of God" lesson with Alex and Odalys, which included their younger siblings throwing paper "temptation" rocks at them, it got a little crazy. But was fun! We had a great member lesson with Otis, and he was able to share his testimony in Spanish to an English man at the park who came up to talk to us (we translated for him) It was so neat!

We went by to see a less-active on Thursday, and he wasn't home, but we were able to teach a lesson to his sister-in-law an her friend, and gave her a book of Mormon so that was really neat - the Lord blessed us for staying out before 9! (which can get kinda tricky, but in the summer it is easier). So Friday we went up to Anniston and did exchanges with two English sisters up there. We had a lot of fun, and it was very rainy. YES! I really had been waiting for an all-day rainstorm and it came!! We were soaking wet, even with umbrellas, and we were walking in puddles, my scriptures, shoes and backpack are still wet- thanks to the fact the nothing ever dries in Alabama. So it was great, we were able to meet some people and someone offered us a ride and they were actually looking for a new church! It was so great. Lots of laughing at each other.

Sunday was great, the spirit was really strong in fast and testimony meeting although not a lot of people were there. It really is full of recent converts- and they have great testimonies and are the strength of the branch, it is great. Otis came!! and he stayed for the whole time!! it was a miracle, he really enjoyed it and his friend Zenon also stayed. It was great, great!

I learned a lot about people's agency this week, it was topped off as we had a lesson in gospel principles about it as well. It is amazing how we can teach the principles of the gospel, and the Restoration of the gospel in its simplicity, and people have the ability to interpret it the way they desire and how they are going to accept it into their life. It is very interesting to me. I know that agency is amazing, and we are so lucky to be able to choose to bring more happiness into our lives. I know that this gospel does that, and as we apply it daily, it is the formula for happiness. It will bring someone burdened down and overwhelmed, to have peace and rest. I love it!

"Preach unto them repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ; teach them to humble themselves and to be meek and lowly in heart; teach them to withstand every temptation of the devil, with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. Teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls."

Love you all! Make it a great week.

Love,

Sister Coleman

Fun Fun Week!

 

We had the first part of the week in our area, for the rest of it we were out and about!

Had a fun surprise birthday party from some of the families here in the branch. They were so sweet and very secretive, I got cake everywhere, including up my nose which was fun.

Thursday we were able to go up to Camp Hulaco, a church owned camp where the Birmingham stake has girls camp! 4 of us sisters went with a member and we were asked about a month ago to prepare a workshop for the girls. We had a lot of fun planning on the drive up ( about 90 minutes away) and We each had our parts which included one of the sisters sharing her conversion story (she has been a member for 18 months and is on a mission!!) then one sharing how she studies and prepared for a mission, then I talked about working hard and demonstrated how you clip your skirts to get ready to ride the bicycle, they thought that was great. Then we talked about developing talents and as they do that will prepare them so well to be missionaries! Lots of them had good questions and it was fun being up there and feeling the spirit of girls camp. I love girls camp! so we were very lucky, we got to talk to a lot of sweet girls, it was super fun.

Friday we went to the temple to help translate for baptisms for the dead, I was able to see some of the members from other branches, it was great!!

We were up in Gadsden Alabama and we were able to do double the work there on Saturday. It was fun and we met a lot of people, and this sweet sister from Chile who knows French, Spanish and English, she is very classy and sophisticated and wants to go to the temple so badly. The sisters are going to get things going to help prepare her. She is in her 80's and I just love her!

Sunday was great, we talked a lot about temples and our branch president is amazing. He really does have his heart in this work, wants to be more involved in missionary work, and is trying to get the branch and recent converts more involved too. There is a lot of work to be done, but they are great. I really am so happy in this branch, I am learning a lot from them, and their love and service and kindness. great examples. I am grateful to be meeting so many of the new sisters out here in the field, they are amazing and are fulfilling their purpose by helping others come unto Christ.
I love you all! we are surviving the heat here, but barely, I want it to rain so bad! maybe this week.

Have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Coleman


This is a pictures of a recent convert- Fabiana, her Daughter Emily, and her mother Dirce from Brazil who is investigating the church.

Crazy whirlwind kind of crazy!!

Hello familia!

So today as already been a great day. We went to the Waffle House again (same one i went to a year ago) and I still LOVE it there, the waffles are divine, it was a great start to the week.

We had a family night at the mission home on Monday with the Temple president and his wife there. It was really fun, and the lesson was on recognizing the spirit more, and they told some really neat stories. Also found out that they both went to Weber High and were high school sweethearts. Hmmmm that sounds really familiar?? That was a fun connection.

There are a lots of little details of things that happened this week but, I really just want to share what I have been observing. With these new converts and the ones from the previous year when I was in this area before. Sister Butt and I are just HAPPY when we are around them, they have a light, and are just excited about the gospel and what others to know and to do what they are doing. We had given Paco a Liahona and he had started to read it, his roommate who has never really had much interest in what we've had to say, looked at it and was just kinda flipping through it. All of the sudden one day Paco realized it had gone missing, and that his roommate had taken it and had been reading through all of the talks. SCORE! haha, Paco was on track saying that he was just going to act like he hadn't taken his precious magazine, and we have now formed a plot where we are going to strategically bring over other Liahonas so his roommate and just happen to pick it up and read them. Genius. He is just doing so great, and has a calling and is already trying to help and serve in the church, always says hi to everyone. He is great.

I am grateful towards the end of my mission to see some of these new converts really be converted to the gospel. It is so fun! It is a treat for us to go over to their home and see their excitement. It is an aspect that helps keep us going. There are lots of aspects to the conversion process and I am grateful that I have been able to see them. Things are crazy and busy, and we will be getting a new mission president this weekend. We are excited for the changes and all that will be happening with missionary work. This weekend is temple weekend! We are going to get everyone there! That is our goal!!

Love you all, have a great week!!

Hermana Coleman

Baptism!!!

So Ingrid was baptized this past Saturday and it was amazing!!! She felt so good, and different- she just kinda bounces around everywhere now- we taught her Sunday night and she already has a calling, and is preparing to go to the temple the end of this month. She is so excited- and wants her family to be a part of it. Her family came from Miami to see it, and it was so great! We just love her. Sister Butt was saying how lucky we were to be a part of this- the Lord has been preparing her for so many years, as well as her cousin, we were so lucky to help see this part of the conversion process!!!!!

Paco is still doing really well, he also has a calling, and is learningn so much, has great questions and a very strong testimony.

We were able to go contact some referrals this past week, and were able to meet some great people and get some new investigators whom have potential. All of them are referrals or family members of recent converts/less-actives so that is fun!

It is getting hotter and hotter. It is insane. Also crazy rain storm, umbrellas did nothing for us, it was fun though, we were able to have a lesson with our branch mission leader in his doorway about missionary work!!

We were able to contact some former investigators, and had some funny experiences with that. Surprising ones actually, where I had to eat insanely spicy chicken- been a while since that had to happen- and carbonation is NOT the remedy.

A lot of this week was spent preparing Ingrid, and contacting referrals and formers. It was a lot of fun, and we learned so much! We received 31 new missionaries into the mission on Wednesday and so there is so much more help, and ways that we need to serve them! Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are so organized, it is amazing, and we are loving seeing how amazing things happen when you do it in the Lord's way. He has to be so pleased with all of his missionaries starting their service, I know he is! This is a great work, and I am so happy to be witnessing it. It is historic!!

Love you all!

Sister Coleman

Hello Familia

Hello familia!

Good good week! So Ingrid is going to be getting baptized this Saturday!! She has family coming up from Miami, and she is so excited. We saw her almost every night this week, and even had a temple square sister from Honduras come and meet their family. That was fun. She is learning so much and accepting everything. She loves the conference talks, and was able to share her testimony of living prophets to her in-laws. Sister Butt and I were talking about how we haven't done anything, it is all the Lord, we show up and he teaches her. We love going though because her 2 year old and 1 year old scream "MUCHACHAS!!" when ever we come. Makes us feel loved haha.

Paco is doing really well. He received the priesthood yesterday and he is just so happy. He wants us to come over all the time too. Haha. We are preparing him to go to the temple the 28th of June. He is excited.

We played soccer Friday and we had some investigators from both of the branches to show up, somehow they convinced both Sister Butt and I to play. That was a treat.

A family got baptized in the branch this week! A mom and her two kids, she has two others as well. it was so exciting, she had friends and family come, and we were able to meet some great people and talk to a less-active who she is friends with and hadn't been to church in 15 years! It was a beautiful day.

The Lord has a lot of ready people here, so we are busy with the other missionaries trying to see them, set up appointments and follow-up. There is a lot to do. I was on exchanges this past Saturday and we found some new investigators for their teaching pool. We explained the apostasy like a puzzle- losing some of the pieces and they said it totally made sense. One of them actually has family members who are members of the church. We almost didn't stop to talk to them because we were running late. So glad we did! That is one thing our mission president is pushing, talk to everyone. Trying to get better at that, and not just be in a hurry the whole time. I am always in a hurry and trying to figure out how to do things faster (hmmmm, I wonder where i get that from?) so the Lord is teaching me patience. I think about how much patience the Lord has to have with us, his imperfect servants, and it helps me to have more patience with others, and with the work. It is a work in progress! I love serving here, with these amazing people. I am grateful to be learning from their testimonies and faith, they have amazing faith and I am learning from their examples. Ingrid is just going forward with what she knows to be true, she is amazing! And is such an example to us. I am grateful to be here, experiencing this right now!
Love you all! I know that this gospel is true, and that is changes lives everyday if we let it.

Sister Coleman