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

Hello Everyone

This has been quite the week. So we have pretty much seen Ingrid every day this week (she still likes having us come over, she is amazing) and she accepted a date to be baptized!! She is so prepared, and her cousin has been preparing her for a while now, it was just the right timing. She has amazing questions and we love teaching her. We are crossing our fingers for this weekend!!

We had some great lessons this week teaching about prophets- neat experience. We were on exchanges and I was here with Sister Isaak. We were teaching a recent convert family along with her non-member mom (who speaks portugese) along with another recent convert who speaks english, swedish and portugese. Talk about con-fusing. haha but it was great! we showed two mormon messages- one by President Monson, and the other by Elder Holland. It really related to the family (inspiration- not credited to us at all....) and they loved it and got emotional. They felt something, and we can almost see their testimonies in living prophets start to grow, it is really neat.

Paco is doing well. we are starting to get him pumped up to go to the temple. We found out a couple days ago that Sister butt and I get to go do the translating for the convert spanish baptisms on the 4th friday of June. Score!! Paco and Ingrid will be able to go, so we are so stoked to be there and are going to do everything we can to help them get there.

We had some miracles of member referrals this week. We were just in the right place at the right time (by inspiration of course) and the Lord provided people who he needed us to teach. We are having a lot of adventures and my mind really can't keep up with everything.

Enjoying reading the conference talks lately, and trying to apply them to the circumstances that we are in.

I hope all is well, and I hope that you have an amazing week!!

Love,

Sister Coleman

Good Week!

 

Good week, The weeks keep getting busier and busier, which is a good think! I wouldn't ask for it any other way. We were able to teach some good lessons with our investigators and found some new people who were interested in learning about more. I got to go to a trailer park that i taught people in about 9 months ago. We met a man named Alejandro- and I felt like I new him! He understood the apostosy and said he needed a Bible, we gave in a Book of Mormon instead and said we owuld get the Bible for him later. Lucky him! and Us! He is just so great, and the other sisters have an apointment with him this week. Also re-met another woman, she let us bless her home and said we could come back! She felt the spirit so we hope to keep teaching her.

We were able to teach Alex and Odalys this week, it went really well, the youngest everytime we come over says "Hola Elder Coleman!!" Sister Butt and I die everytime, we keep trying to correct her, but I guess it is cuter that way.

So Paco was baptized! He was nervous all week, but us, the other sisters, and the elders were each able to teach him and help him get ready. The baptism went really well and there were a lot of investigators there.

Ok best part of the week!!!!

So we have been struggling with referrals for a couple weeks now, it is acutally really weird, usually you have 1 or 2 a week but we have had 1 or 2 in like 3 weeks. So we prayed Saturday night for more help to be more aware, and to get a referral! So while we were waiting for Paco to change after his baptism, we were walking down the hall towards the relief society room. This hispanic woman walks around the corner and I ask her if she is a family member of someone because we didn't recognize her. and tells us that she is new here, and that she looked the church up online and came! We just kinda stared at her in shock i think for about 10 seconds, didn't even introduce ourselves, and just asked her if we could take her on a church tour while we waited for he baptism to recommence. WHAT!! We were so excited, apparently she had gone to church twice in Florida with a cousin who is a member and she loved how much she learned, so she wanted to come back! WHAT! So she sat next to the relief society president during church, we talked about hte articles of faith in gospel principles and she loved that and she loved relief society, we set up an appointment with her for Tuesday, and asked if she had a Book of Mormon. She said, oh yeah i was going to ask you if i could have one. WHAT! So yep great Sunday, Heavenly Father totally answered our prayers and gave us a "referral" from Him haha. We are so excited to get to know her better.

Things are going well, looking forward to some meetings and other great things these coming weeks before transfers. Hope you all make it a great week!