Hola todos!
Well I finally made it to Alabama! I LOVE IT HERE it is so beautiful, so many trees, all the houses are these southern type houses, or cute little cottages. Oh my gosh it is great. We have to ride over a hill to get to one of our areas and when you get to the top you can see the Birmingham sky rise- BEAUTIFUL- it is so great. I am in Homewood- a little suburb about 10 minutes outside of the city. We live in an apartment of four sisters, all Spanish speaking. Sister Schroppel is the other new sister- a transfer ahead of me, and the other two have been here for 7-9 months. We have a lot of fun and are meeting lots of people. So as all of you know my mission is a bike mission. We have a car but we are only allotted a certain amount of miles each week so we bike mostly to our areas. First day of the bike was Wednesday- and the bike totally conquered me. That is what I get for not exercising for almost 3 weeks in the MTC. Wow it was crazy- my companion told me that our area has the most hills in the mission so I would get used to it and all the areas would be easier after this one! We have a main area that we cover but we have certain investigators in different complexes all over the area so we focus our time there. We met the President of the Branch on Thursday night and he is great- he has a great little family and it was fun to meet them- We asked him if there was anything we could do for him, he said you both can give a talk on Easter Sunday! Here we go! Pray for me haha :). Each day is getting better with understanding more and more Spanish. It is still hard to get out what I want to say but they understand me, so I've just got to keep practicing :). Friday we did a joint branch activity- a talent night- we had food and a lot of the missionaries shared different talents- and we got some of the members to do this as well. There were some investigators there so that was great- I am just trying to distinguish who the members are and who the investigators are- it will come. Saturday and Sunday we watched conference at the chapel- Saturday a member from out of town took 8 of us missionaries to lunch- super nice of him! Sunday was great to, the other sisters had an investigator come so that was neat to see. Conference was so great! It is funny that because now I am on the mission so much of that conference applied to the mission for me- so I learned a lot and hope all of you did as well! I really am beginning to love the people here- we are focused on them and getting to know them and I really just want what is best for them and their family even though I have only met them two or three times. We committed a woman- Kathy to baptism yesterday!! She said if she comes to know it is true she will be baptized- I almost started crying, it was so great there was such a sweet spirit as we explained the power of God and talked about Joseph Smith's first prayer- I held up my little picture book for a visual- it was great. Another great story- the sisters ran into a man named Jose before I got here- we went to pass him and his sister was there so we talked to her for a bit and got to know her. Last night we stopped by again and Jose wasn't there but she was and 3 of Jose's friends. We started talking about the gospel and we found out that she had studied with the missionaries a long time ago, and two weeks ago missionaries knocked on her and her fiancé's door in Las Vegas- then we came by this week, and apparently her finances daughter has just started reading the book of Mormon and was telling Victoria and her dad how great it was......I was so surprised!!!! This is the Lord's work - it is amazing- and so I took some time to explain to her how we use both the Book of Mormon and the Bible- we need them both and the difference between the two. Super neat- such a sweet lady- I already feel like we have been friends for months but it has been for 4 days. Lots of little miracles happen each day- it is amazing the people you meet and run into when you don't expect it- even though people who you were supposed to meet with are not home, there is always someone to talk to right near by- this is why they say talk to everyone- you never know who is ready. I feel the Lord strengthen me each day when I need it- I have never prayed so much in my life, but I feel like every day and in each moment he is helping me. I already feel a great love for the people here and this language- there are so many people that believe in Christ and just need to know of how much more they can have, and what a stronger relationship the gospel can offer to them. I am not an expert in the mission field- I don't think I ever will be, but it is teaching me so much and helping me serve others more than myself that I could never be more grateful to be learning it out here. The Gospel is so simple, we can learn and grow through it principle by principle, and there is always so much more to learn and apply in to your life because we are always changing, growing and experiencing new things in life that is why we need to keep studying! The Book of Mormon really does have such power for every situation in life. I have been realizing this more and more in my studies and it is amazing. I am grateful for the words of conference- they are modern day scripture for us, and like Elder Anderson said, continue to pray and study out the things you learned in conference to see how they can apply to your life- especially over the next 6 months. Step by step we can apply things and when we can look back on our progress it will be amazing how much was made step by step, day by day. Take it a little bit at a time and great things will happen. I love this gospel- I am so grateful for the Savior and his patience and perfect love he has for all of us. He is here with us every step of the way and can truly bless our lives and change them to become more like him if we ask. I know this is true. Make it a great week and I love you all!
Hermana Coleman
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