May 20th, 2013

Alex and Odalys were baptized!!!! The Elders were great in helping them get ready this past week, it was a joint effort which helps so much. The baptism went well and there were about 8 investigators there. Que milagro! What a miracle. The spirit was strong during the talks. Odalys was so nervous, but it nice when things happen fast because you don't have enough time to think too much about it. She has so much potential- only being 9 but you can see that she has a great future ahead of her. She is so sweet.

We are still teaching Paco with the other sisters and the Elders. He never knows who is coming to teach him haha, but he always updates us on what happened in the lesson if we were not there. He is excited and has so many good questions, we taught him last night and he had a friend with him! He is already being a missionary, and wanting others to receive an answer as he has. His grandpa was a member and you can't help but think he is helping him as well.

We were able to do service with one of our investigators this past week- he needed glasses so he could read the book of mormon better (along with other things of course, but we feel like that is the main reason haha) so that was fun. He and two others also come to english class that we hold on hour before church starts on Sundays. He loves the feelings he gets when he is taught and when he comes to church. He knows he needs to be baptized, so we are trying to help him set some goals. He is great.

Sister Butt and I got eaten alive in Talladega this week, we were on exchanges out there and I had a bug biting me every  minute. But we found out some info on less-active members so it made it worth it! We have had some fun experiences with sisters who are getting ready to leave on their missions, it is so exciting!!

Things are just moving right along, and I am just trying to keep up. Sister Butt and I just have to take a step back and laugh sometimes or talk about how we have no idea what we are doing and then the Lord just helps us move forward and tells us what to do. It is a miracle really. He is so involved in this work, and there are so many connections, or random people that you have met before that the Lord puts in your path (just as both Grandma Coleman and Grandma Tanner mentioned in their e-mails) It makes missionary work and life more fun and it keeps us on our toes, right? We are just trying to keep up with the plans the Lord has!

Love you all!

Sister Coleman

Hills, rain, mud and bugs!

We had a good week this week. Started off with teaching Alex and Odalys- we taught them about the gospel of jesus christ, which included having all the kids walking around with rocks in their shoes to teach them about sin (thank you primary book) it was a fun lesson. Then we were able to go see a family about 30 minutes away who just had a baby. we hadn't really discussed what we were going to teach about at all (which is not normal....most the time haha) and so we were saying the prayer and the first thought that came into my mind was Family Home Evening. So Sister Butt and i talked about the importance and blessings of doing that, and then their son Diego (11 years old) started asking about missionary work, so we showed him the white handbook and talked about things we did. It got him excited. We challenged them to do FHE and said that the missionaries could help them to get started doing ti weekly. After the lesson Sister Butt said that lesson was so inspired, that is the same thing that came into my mind during the prayer! that made us happy.

We taught another lesson to Alex and Odalys, they are excited to be baptized, and have been waiting for this for a while!

Friday and Saturday were the days for randomly running into less-actives. We met one from the english ward and we were able to have a lesson about the importance of church and how it would bless her life to come. it went well. (turns out she lives right below us.....who knew) also saturday we randomly tracted into a less-actives door and found a former investigator which was really funny. We will be trying to see them this week.

Friday the Elders went to teach Paco and they were able to help him see that he is ready to be baptized!! He told them that the Lord told him that he should be baptized in 2 weeks. May 26th it is! We taught him the next day and he is really excited and happy. He has lots of questions and amazing stories. He teaches us a lot too.

Saturday was a crazy biking day- hence the title of this e-mail. We went over this rocky short cut twice, and ended up talking to people on the way and got eaten by bugs and attacked by ants on a giant ant hill we didn't notice as we were locking our bikes up. It was crazy. We were just meeting people, inviting people to church, offering blessings, and we had made some mother's day notes for members and investigators. It was fun. Oh and to top it off it started pouring rain! good good day. We got home and I realized that my muscles were not screaming at me!! first time EVER and i feel like i am starting to finally conquer the bike.

We were able to teach gospel principles yesterday during church, and it helped me to realize what amazing, dedicated members we have. The branch president does so much, but he is always wanting to help, and participate in the lessons, and share his strong testimony. I look up to their family a lot and, he being a convert himself, has such a strong, solid testimony. I am grateful to be learning from them and all of the members sweet testimonies and desire to learn. I hope everyone is doing well, and continues to share their testimony, example, and happiness with all those around you. It helps!!
Love ya!

Sister Coleman

MILAGROS!

Okay so this has been a great week. Tuesday was Sister Sherwins last day here which was weird, we taught some lessons and less-actives and were able to do some service, so that was good. It was sad to see her go, but she taught me so much and I am grateful that I had a week with her, it was exactly what was needed to help push the work forward. So now I am companions with Sister Butt, she is great and is a whiz at Spanish- but really, she is. Also, we are still living with 2 other sisters, so there are currently 6 of us serving in the branch, and I get to serve with one of the elders i served with in Lorna, it will be a great/fun transfer.

So all four of us are teaching this man named Paco- he is amazing and is so ready to be baptized. We had two lessons with him this week, and he said he has a desire to be baptized, he just thinks may 11th is a little soon, he saw a baptism in the english ward yesterday and said he will pray, so we will see what happens. Faith!! He grandpa was a member and he is so humble and really likes church a lot. We are trying to help him get more friends. It was his birthday on Saturday and so we made him cookies and sang him happy birthday after the lesson. It was fun!

We are also teaching the mother of one of the recent converts- she is from Brazil!! it is crazy trying to teach in Spanish to a Portuguese woman. Her daughter speaks Portuguese and 2 members have come with us and the elders so that is helping a lot. She is really liking the book of Mormon and enjoys church!

Ok so biggest miracle EVER, i am so excited. Okay so yesterday we were sitting and waiting for relief society to start- and I leaned over to Maria Reyes (one of the recent converts who got baptized when i was here a year ago) and i asked if we could come to her house to practice teaching the lessons to her kids. She has 4 kids, two old enough(one boy and one girl) to be baptized and two not. The two oldest are not baptized because the father wouldn't give them permission. (complicated) So ever since Maria was baptized the missionaries had been trying to help her two kids be baptized but it wasn't working out. anyway......She said yes we could come and said, "Oh hermana! I was talking to their dad this morning and he has finally given them permission to be baptized!" WHAT!! She was so happy, and we were so happy and one of her kids- Odalys and I have always gotten along, and she is so sweet and maria said that she wanted us to come teach her the lessons!!!!!!! So. Excited. I think i kind of startled Sister Butt, but she is excited as well. So we are teaching them to night at a family night and are inviting her and her brother to be baptized on May 19th- we talked with the branch president and he thinks that it will be perfect. Wow. Wasn't expecting that, the Lord blesses his members and wants families to be together!! So neat and I feel so blessed to be able to serve her again among these great families and watch them grow as they accept and act upon the Lord's teachings. He is doing it all, softening hearts, growing testimonies, and blessing people, we just get to witness it and be changed as well! I love it!!
Well I love you all, i hope you have a great week!!!

Altadena!

So it is so great to be back in Altadena. At church on Sunday it was great to see the recent converts who are doing so well, and they have grown so much in the gospel. They have a little bit more confidence and great things are happening for them! The sisters have been teaching english class to some hispanic men, and have recently started teaching them the lessons. They are reading the Book of Mormon and have come to church 3 times already! They called us this week and had us come to their restaurant (where they work) and they gave us amazing food! We also talked to some of the workers, and them and had a lot of fun. The next day we taught one of them at the park, he had been reading and it was bothering him how he could change from the religion he had grown up in. We testified to him that it would only add to what he had already learned! As we read 2 Nephi 31 with him, the spirit came really strong, and we simply taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He said he didn't want to committ to a date yet, but that he is praying about it, and he said he wants to be a part of what we are a part of, he feels so good! He is amazing, very humble and teachable, we are excited for him and know the Lord will bless him.

We were able to go on 3 exchanges this weekend, it was crazy! Sister Sherwin is leaving this week (transfers :( ) and so we were able to do a lot of things in a short amount of time, to figure out the best way to help the Sisters. We went to Pratville, Leeds, and up to Northport! We learned a lot in all of the areas and it was a fun road trip (missionary road trip) and we had amazing experiences learning from these sisters. I was able to see some old investigators in Northport, and see how they are progessing to help Bobbie be baptized this weekend. Lots of things are going to be happening this week, so I am grateful that everything is so busy, it helps you learn so much more.

I loved being in the branch on Sunday, they have such strong testimonies, and the spirit was very strong. It is amazing that even though there weren't more than 12 people in relef society, we all learned so much and were able to hear about how one of the members had finally taken her mothers name to the temple and did baptisms, confirmation, intitories and endowment- all in one night. She was so happy and helped get others excited about family history work. I love you all! I hope you have a great week!!

Hello Family!

 

So great week, very very busy but it has been amazing! First off, I have been 2/3 of the way transferred into a new area, today!! and best part about it is that it is Altadena where I served when i first came to Alabama. I feel very blessed. It is a great Spanish branch full of amazing members and recent converts and lots of hills- yep good thing I started biking in Northport or else we would be in big trouble.

So fast forward to last week, we had a fun zone activity which involved burgers and water balloons.

Tuesday we taught a lady named Jennifer, She had read, and had questions about 1 Nephi 1. she is great and the spirit is so strong in her lessons, we taught her again Friday about baptism and first part of plan of salvation, she wants to be with her parents again whom have already passed on.

Wednesday the large print book of Mormon we ordered for Martha finally came, so one of our appointments that night fell through so we decided to go give it to her and teach her how to use it. She was so excited, and was feeling better (after the blessing the elders gave her the day before because she had poor health) and had questions about peace and comfort and forgiveness, so we taught her how to look up scriptures and turns out one of the Elders gave her a reading assignment the day before and as we looked at it again it was about peace and comfort- that really increased her faith. We taught her Friday about the Word of Wisdom and she loved it, committed to it and said she would be at church. the only thing holding her back from being baptized is that she doesn't want to leave her church (40 year member) which is understandable! But we promised her blessings and she said she is going to keep praying.

Debbie is doing great, cutting down on tea and coffee still, and she knows she needs to be baptized, she needs to come to church at least two more times, so we read 3 Nephi 11 with her and promised her if she came to church, work would go better for her. She committed to come. Great lesson wither, her, we love her! she is so sweet, and really pumped up one of the YSA's here to really want to go on a mission, it was great.

We taught some fun member lessons this week, it really is a great ward and I was so sad to leave, i love watching their examples and they have a great love for the gospel. It was neat how we could teach to their needs, but how their questions helped us to. We had fun.

Sunday was AMAZING! Bobbie, Debbie and Martha all came to church!! Sister Nyland and I were half shocked half beaming, it was pretty great, members sat by all of them and continued to welcome them. Debbie had to leave after sacrament to go to work, but she texted us at work saying she had had the best day at work since she moved here! Martha participated in class and enjoyed church even more than the first time she came. It was great. Bobbie said that she doesn't have a for sure answer but she is willing to take a step into the dark to be baptized- so as of now she is preparing for the 5th! So exciting. The Lord is working- some days I don't feel like I can do that much good that day, or appointments fall through, or lessons don't go super well, but when you look at the big picture, you can see the Lord is blessing and inspiring his children to repent, and if she just ask them, they will repent and feel the difference afterwards. It is so neat. I am so grateful for all the new missionaries, it is changing the mission field! 60 new sisters in the next 3 transfers!! Crazy, you can feel this buzz out here, and it is amazing how between October conference and now it has just kind of been building up and now it is exploding. It is a great time to be a full-time missionary and a member missionary!

Make it a great week!!