5 Days!

This has been a great week! Most of the Elders in my district left, but there were 4 here, and now there are 3.  They are going to Argentina and the MTC won't reassign them because the visas are coming, but coming slowly, so they just wait everyday to see if they are going to get called to the travel office....they are being good sports though. I don't go to their class anymore, since there are only 3 elders it didn't make sense because I couldn't teach with just one of them, so it would've been 4 of us teaching, so I moved to the sisters district.  4 of us sisters and 3 elders.  I have enjoyed it and have learned some great things there.  I have my moments where I am super focused, and then moments where we are just chatting, but about good things so that is how we justify it i guess.  We have watched some good videos though- a lot of the ones on the youth.lds.org website- they are great and help bring the spirit.  But the exciting, crazy, awesome thing is that I am leaving on TUESDAY!!!! I report to the travel office at 4 am- nice and early, then my flight leaves from SLC at 7:00am, I go to Georgia and then have 45 minutes to get on a plane to ALABAMA! I can't believe I am actually going, I am getting super excited and the missionaries from there- I just met one from Georgia- said that in Alabama the accent is super thick- she said I am going to love it. I am pretty sure I will! (Another reason for my excited mood is that it is such a nice day today and we have been out in the sun throughout the day to day writing letters, it feels so good and is nice to be outside instead of cooped up in the classroom all day). The District president said that since I am going out in the middle of the transfer, instead of having some orientation things I might just meet my trainer and get put right into the work- kinda scary but I am sure my trainer will be great so I am not worried.  Since I am not feeling any of the same pain the doctors and MTC are going to clear me to leave so this is great news as well. We have had some neat experiences this week with teaching.  It has been fun and good for me to teach with the Hermanas- another reason I went to the new district. So With the Elders we had been teaching an investigator Ivalesse- so she knew that I was sick and we had become pretty good friends from my lessons with her before (we taught her twice a week- she is an investigator and when we teach her we act like we are in Venezuela). So the Hermanas teach her too- and so I wasn't going to go teach with them on Tuesday night because 4 people is a lot to try and teach- but I decided to go. It was so exciting to see her and she asked me how I was doing and what happened- I told her the story and said that I was grateful because I learned a lot from it.  She asked- you are God's missionary- why would he allow you to become sick? Then I started talking about how God gives us these types of things to help us- but we don't have to do it alone, and I talked about how I felt the Savior's help through the whole thing.  I asked if she had ever felt this- and she said that she hadn't really, because she believes that he is her Savior but that he doesn't know her and how could he do all that he did for people he doesn't know. then Hermana Hortin shared a great scripture in Alma 7- how the savior knows all our trials, sicknesses and infirmities- super applicable. THEN my companion Hermana Goodfellow testified of the Atonement of Jesus Christ- how is helps us through everything, how he knows her, and how he loves her and that Christ loves her as well (Ivaleese)- it was so powerful and she was being herself and testifying from her heart what she knew to be true and Ivaleese started crying and the spirit was there it was amazing! We explained that the feeling was the Holy Ghost- the Spirit of God and how she can have that through baptism in Christ's church.  We asked her to be baptized, but she said she already had been and was confused, but we had to leave so we told her we would talk more about it next time. We decided it was a good thing to commit  her to that so she could connect the feeling she had with being baptized in this church.  We were so happy that night, that even with four of us we were able to all work together, testify, share scriptures and help clarify things to bring the spirit into the lesson and affect the investigator and show them the love of God and the feeling of the Holy Ghost that they have access to. So neat! That is what we will get to do as missionaries.  Elder Oaks came this week to devotional (awesome) and he talked about teaching by the Holy Ghost- how that is the only thing that will change the heart of the people- they won't remember a lot of what we say- but if we are being obedient, and worthy to have the spirit with us, we can bring that into our lessons and change peoples lives.  I am so grateful for experiences like these here, give us a glimpse of types of experiences we will have in the field. I am super grateful for the MTC, for everything that happened here, and that I am almost ready and able to go out into the field.  With the Lord's help and a positive attitude and hard work what needs to happen will happen, and I am excited to finally see the people of the deep south! Hope everyone is doing well- Espanol is going well, I am trying to practice more and it is helping. Make it a great week and next time I talk to you I will be in Alabama.
Les Quiero!
Hermana Coleman

Wild Wild Week!

So this week has been pretty wild as one of my roommates would put it- it is my new favorite word of the month- as most of you know I passed a kidney stone.  We call it the inconspicuous stone- mostly because that is exactly what it is. I spent a lot of time in the Sick bay in the MTC health clinic, got one CT scan where there was no stone but three days later there was  a 3mm stone when I got a CT scan at the ER, also had a procedure on Tuesday to remove the stone, and it was not there.  Guess I passed it , (I was super drugged up and the last 5 days were pretty hazy) After I had the procedure I was feeling more myself and I attribute it to 2 bags of IV fluid- i was pretty dehydrated. 

This experience was exactly what I needed, the three Hermanas who took care of my needs, and all of my Elders needed it I know.  I know I will still continue to learn more from this experience but I felt the spirit and God's love for me throughout the whole thing, I was never alone, nor did I feel alone.  The Hermanas were so great to me, they took care of me every second and made sure I was receiving the best treatment and were part of the reason I actually went to the hospital and received the treatment I needed- they all took turns going out "into the real world" with me and we had fun experiences meeting a cute little girl in the Rite Aid pharmacy, having security guards wheel me out of the residence hall (and I knew them from before...a little awkward) more security guards coming in to let me use their phones to call the doctor- and the Hermanas brought me three meals a day for 10 days!! I am so grateful for them and it taught me so much about love and charity- they have only known me for a month but were with me through it all. Through this experience I was able to receive three blessings- if I hadn't been the one going through this I would have thought it was a little excessive- but all three of those blessings were completely different and what I needed at that time.  Three different Elders each had a turn to give me a blessing and have the opportunity to speak through God to help me have comfort and peace- I know that all of them needed to have that opportunity and it strengthened all of our testimonies on the power of the priesthood. The last blessing I had was Sunday night and I was really out of it- and the whole branch and more missionaries were fasting for me and it was just a neat experience- I was so grateful for the Elders who organized the fast, and that they all did it, I felt their love so much and they all have strengthened my testimony in faith in Jesus Christ and love for others.  During that blessing the Elders got permission to come into the Sisters residence hall to give me the blessing- they had been asking me the weeks before how ours looked and wanted to see pictures, so they were all pretty pleased that they actually got to see them- oh the things that make you excited here.
I am now going to be leaving the MTC on the 27th- so just two weeks later than originally planned- I am completely fine with this, I have almost spent two weeks out of commission and I know that this is my time to make up for it.  4 of the Elders in my district are still here waiting for visas to Argentina- 4 have left. So I will now be in the district with all of the sisters so 4 of us sisters and 3 Elders- I will finally get to teach with an Hermana! So it will be great. I am so grateful for all the prayers from those back home- I felt them- and for all of the help I received here, especially from the branch presidency as well- even though this was a really hard thing we could all see the Lord's hand in it which is the only way I was able to endure it.  I am grateful for the simplicity of this gospel, I am grateful for all the people here that have shown me how to love here, I know that because of this experience all of us who participated will be going out into the mission field learning a big lesson already- with many more to come. I am so grateful for the love of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ- this is the thing that will get us through hard things and when we emulate this love we will help others get through hard things.  This is my testimony and I KNOW it is true. I love you all! I am really improving and hoping to me back fully on my feet by next Monday. Make it a great week!

Hermana Coleman

 

 P.S. I have seen Sister Christensen!!!!!! Twice today actually, her and her companions sat by us at breakfast- it was SO great to see her- she is doing super well- her companion seems super sweet and she looks like a cute perfect sister missionary- having a kidney stone made it worth it to see her- it was so happy!
 

Family and Friends

Dear Family and Friends,
This week was a great week, I am officially down to the less than two week mark until I leave....crazy!  We get our travel plans tomorrow for the time we need to be in the travel office and what time our flight leaves any everything, I can't believe it, it is so exciting.  At times I feel like I am ready to get out there and at times I don't but I don't think anyone is ever really truly ready, because the field will be the biggest learning experience of all. I have seen Sister Wright a couple of times which has been really fun, she seems to be doing great and settling right in to the swing of things. Last Sunday I watched the Mountain of the Lord which is a movie about Willford Woodruff and the building and dedicating of the Salt Lake City temple, really great movie I enjoyed it!  On Tuesday we had devotional, and we all came in to the gym to watch it and it kept not showing who was going to be speaking that night at the fireside, which equals an apostle (as the missionaries say). All of our district was either on the 1,2,3, or 4th row, so pretty close and we were all thinking on who it would be and about five minutes before the speaker came in, the door opened as someone was coming through and I saw Elder Holland talking! I got super excited and one of my Elders next to me refused to let me tell him who it was, the other one wanted me to tell him and he made me tell him like 3 times because he didn't believe me....and do a pinky promise- which sold the deal haha.  Anyway it was a GREAT talk, he is very passionate and tells it like it is which was really good to here.  He told us that we needed to come back with at least one convert on our mission....ourselves, which we hear a lot and is so good to be reminded of.  He also talked about how our greatest conversion tool is going to be the Book of Mormon- and how if the investigator can get a strong testimony of the book of Mormon- they will stay that much stronger within the church the rest of their lives.  It is the missionaries job to figure out what part they need, how they need it, and how to approach it- which is the fun part- and challenging- but once you figure out what rings for that investigator you feel so good! I had an experience this week with that- I was having a hard time connecting with one of our investigators, I really didn't know how to approach what he needed, and as a companionship we hadn't really figured him out.  So I had been praying for a week to help me understand what he needed and how I can better relate to him and find a better way to connect with him.  Our teachers had been giving us advice on letting them tell you about their experience at church, with prayer, with the Book of Mormon- and then apply what you teach to that.  So he started talking about love and charity and how he had learned about that at church the last Sunday, and he really liked that.  One of the Elders pulled up a scripture about Charity, and referenced Christ in it- so I started asking about how Christ showed Charity in his life, and then started applying charity and love for others to the investigator- James- life and he started talking and talking about service and how it is so important to him.  After that lesson I just felt like even though I hadn't prepared a lesson on charity, or really thought about it, I was able to see that, that was an important thing to him, applied it to the gospel and to his life to show him that he has it.  And off of that you can talk about how the Savior can help him become even more charitable and give him more ways to serve others and become a better person by serving others- which applies to me, and my companions and everyone.  We can all through the example of Jesus Christ love others more, we can serve others more through his example.  If we ask him to help us love more he will, if we ask him for more service opportunities he will give them.  It is amazing how teaching a lesson trying to help an investigator, helps you so much more as well- D&C 50:22 and the learner and the teacher are both edified together.  That is how you know you are affecting people you are teaching- is when you are both edified, the spirit is teaching you both at the same time.  As I have been teaching and thinking about the example of Jesus Christ, my teacher pointed out something that really hit me- Christ did us the greatest service of all- he Atoned for us so that we could make it through this life and live with our Heavenly Father again.  That is the greatest service, most selfless service for all mankind ever given.  It is amazing how in any part of our lives we can apply the atonement- and I am learning that every day.  I really am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ- and for his example of service that he has given to me, which every day makes me want to get outside of myself and try to serve through the example of Jesus Christ- he is our ultimate example and I am grateful for Him.  This experience is stretching me, and humbling me and making me approach things in new ways everyday- always making me think- which is such a good thing.  I am grateful to be here and for all the support- I love you all!  Make it great week!

Hermana Coleman

P.S. Read 3 Nephi 18 - about the sacrament and the example of Jesus Christ- if it isn't 18 it is 19....haha I read it this morning- So good!