Sunday, October 3, 2010
Photos from Cabo Verde!
Elder Coleman sent his digital camera memory card home. I don't know what all of the pictures are, but I thought it would be fun for you all to see some of what Elder Coleman has been seeing/doing.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Happy 20th Birth-Week Elder C!!!!!!
We all love you and miss you! Hope you have a fantastic week in Brava!
Love,
Dad, Mom, Whitney, Travis, Sydney, Troy, Connor, Trey, and LUKE!
Love,
Dad, Mom, Whitney, Travis, Sydney, Troy, Connor, Trey, and LUKE!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Letter from Elder C. 9.13.10
well hello there fam.
thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. it doesnt seem like my birthday. and doesnt really seem that important to me. but hey i am getting out of the teen years. man now i gotta act like a man, that aint cool. plus i prolly wont be doing anything but sitting in my house on my bday like we are doing today. because as of right now, we are in the middle of a tropical storm, Julia. she is not very beautiful. hopefully brava doesnt collapse into the ocean. its alright though. we are supposed to go to fogo on wednesday, but i dont think we will if this storm keeps going on. but if i do go, we will pass 6 days there for some trainings and district conference, which is like stake conference. wierd to think that i was in fogo last year during this district conference. time flies.
[we told him that on his birthday, we will be eating all of the foods he doesn't like, so that he won't wish he was there]...
well if you are going to eat food i dont like, dont eat turkey and ham sandwhiches because i eat those like twice a week. haha man its crazy how your taste buds can change. i would much rather eat a ham and cheese sandwhich then flippin rice. and you cant eat tunafish sandwhich either, because i love them. it looks like you are just gonna have to eat veggies. one thing i still HATE! so i hope those veggies make a nice meal for yall haha thats too bad. glad i aint there. haha
the boat ride is only every once and a while. maybe two times every transfer. but it has been more this one because of all the things happening in fogo. the boat holds like 40 or 50 people. its not way small. ok go to the discovery channel and watch i think its called something like worlds most dangerous fishing or something like that. they fish out of a boat identical to the one we ride. check it out.
the only communication we have with other missionaries is when i call the zone leaders every night to tell them i am in the house. every once and a while i will take with my boi elder balls but other than that nothing. we are not supposed to call elders around the mission because "it takes away from the bonding relationship between companionships" psh..
i am moving along. right now i am reading "jesus the christ." that book is HUGE. i would like to finish it but i read it for like an hour and pass maybe 10 15 pages. its crazy. i am understanding alot more about the life of jesus christ though. i love the book. i also love reading the ensigns from general conference man i have those things like memorized. i can pretty much tell you the title of every talk. its sweet. now the hard part, putting what we learn into practice and living the word of God. its the only way we can be changed.
the missionary work is hard on this island. having some good times. but just as i passed through the difficulties of finding people in praia, i am passing through that here. we dont have anyone. 3 investigators right now. but we did have quite a few people in church. it was a pleasing site. plus i am making friends with all of the people. especially this one member who is preparing to go on a mission. he is 20 and walks with us three days a week. alexandro. man he is cool. i dont know if i will miss this island alot when i get transfered but the members for sure i know i will miss. especially the branch president. he loves talking about his mission. every day. every minute. its nice.
i am almost half way through. hopefully it goes fast. i am missing america very much. i love that place so much. you are all lucky you dont have to leave there. enjoy it for me tomorrow on my birthday thats all i can ask. cool. love you very much my family. stay sweet and alwasy remember, we are the Lords people, he is with us and will bless us. continue on in faith. dont give up and one day we will be exalted on high. live so that we can all make it there. "no missing chairs in heaven" i will try my best too!
love,
elder coleman
thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. it doesnt seem like my birthday. and doesnt really seem that important to me. but hey i am getting out of the teen years. man now i gotta act like a man, that aint cool. plus i prolly wont be doing anything but sitting in my house on my bday like we are doing today. because as of right now, we are in the middle of a tropical storm, Julia. she is not very beautiful. hopefully brava doesnt collapse into the ocean. its alright though. we are supposed to go to fogo on wednesday, but i dont think we will if this storm keeps going on. but if i do go, we will pass 6 days there for some trainings and district conference, which is like stake conference. wierd to think that i was in fogo last year during this district conference. time flies.
[we told him that on his birthday, we will be eating all of the foods he doesn't like, so that he won't wish he was there]...
well if you are going to eat food i dont like, dont eat turkey and ham sandwhiches because i eat those like twice a week. haha man its crazy how your taste buds can change. i would much rather eat a ham and cheese sandwhich then flippin rice. and you cant eat tunafish sandwhich either, because i love them. it looks like you are just gonna have to eat veggies. one thing i still HATE! so i hope those veggies make a nice meal for yall haha thats too bad. glad i aint there. haha
the boat ride is only every once and a while. maybe two times every transfer. but it has been more this one because of all the things happening in fogo. the boat holds like 40 or 50 people. its not way small. ok go to the discovery channel and watch i think its called something like worlds most dangerous fishing or something like that. they fish out of a boat identical to the one we ride. check it out.
the only communication we have with other missionaries is when i call the zone leaders every night to tell them i am in the house. every once and a while i will take with my boi elder balls but other than that nothing. we are not supposed to call elders around the mission because "it takes away from the bonding relationship between companionships" psh..
i am moving along. right now i am reading "jesus the christ." that book is HUGE. i would like to finish it but i read it for like an hour and pass maybe 10 15 pages. its crazy. i am understanding alot more about the life of jesus christ though. i love the book. i also love reading the ensigns from general conference man i have those things like memorized. i can pretty much tell you the title of every talk. its sweet. now the hard part, putting what we learn into practice and living the word of God. its the only way we can be changed.
the missionary work is hard on this island. having some good times. but just as i passed through the difficulties of finding people in praia, i am passing through that here. we dont have anyone. 3 investigators right now. but we did have quite a few people in church. it was a pleasing site. plus i am making friends with all of the people. especially this one member who is preparing to go on a mission. he is 20 and walks with us three days a week. alexandro. man he is cool. i dont know if i will miss this island alot when i get transfered but the members for sure i know i will miss. especially the branch president. he loves talking about his mission. every day. every minute. its nice.
i am almost half way through. hopefully it goes fast. i am missing america very much. i love that place so much. you are all lucky you dont have to leave there. enjoy it for me tomorrow on my birthday thats all i can ask. cool. love you very much my family. stay sweet and alwasy remember, we are the Lords people, he is with us and will bless us. continue on in faith. dont give up and one day we will be exalted on high. live so that we can all make it there. "no missing chairs in heaven" i will try my best too!
love,
elder coleman
Monday, September 6, 2010
Letter from Elder C. 9.6.10
hello family,
there aint nothing in the world compared to a mission. everyday is a surprise. everyday is different. everyday i learn. i grow. sometimes its hard. sometimes its fun. sometimes i want to quit and go home. and at other times i dont ever want to leave. its almost unexplainable (is that a word?).
the week was alright. had its ups and downs just like every other week. it wasnt easy but not necissarily hard. it was inspiring but at times disappointing. i feel good. our numbers dont show success during the week. but i feel as though i worked hard. we had two investigators in church, one will be baptized on the 25th of this month. also two less actives came. it was a good turn out. i wont complain this week. nothing to complain about. the Lord was with me this weeek. by my side every step of the way. it was great, discouraging, yes, but still good. i mean, i think i am changing and thats what counts right? i am a better person. definitely still am the crazy old me, but inside i feel different. just as the scriptures teach us that "the vessel must be cleansed from the inside to the outside." i can feel that change taking place. i want to be better. i try to be better. and improve in my daily life. i am FAAARRR from perfect. but i am in the process. our mission president in a conference talked about santification. what is santification? well according to the scriptures we learn that it is "a process in which we become pure through the gospel of Jesus Christ and His atonement." the word that stands out to me is process. life is a process. we go through rough times and smooth times. good and bad. sin and repentance. but everything we do is done in a process. we are here on earth and in the process of gaining eternal life, the greatest gift God has ever offered us. like i have said so many times before...it is not easy, BUT IT IS WORTH IT!!
i still have a long time on my mission. at times it makes me sad, but today it makes me happy. i am willing to serve, at the moment ha. i know this church is true. i dont got no doubts within my body. i have had revelation after revelation given unto me putting a FIRM confirmation that this is God's church here on the earth. the life in brava is getting a little better, day by day. still am washing my clothes by hand, at the moment it is the worst thing about this place. still not a whole lot to eat, but i am falling back into the good old peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. can never go wrong there. healthy and satisfying. me and my companion are getting along better. this part is not easy. but i am trying to just do my best. sometimes its not enough and something he does bugs me but i just have to remember that he has a completely different life style then me. just gotta go with the flow.
it was crazy yesterday. we went to teach this investigator that got deported from america. we knocked on his door, he opened it and a strong smell of weed come blasting into my face. it was nice. he was high. but we still taught him. haha i was teaching about joseph smith and i paused looked at him and he said in english "dang (other word) you really think i can believe that, thats crazy talk man" haha i said nope its true, and you can know. "oh really, how?" haha never thought i would be teaching the gospel to the drunken and drugged but hey gotta do what we gotta do right. overall the week wasnt that bad. i kinda wish i could be at home at this time. sounds like a really fun time with the wedding at all. but hey we gotta make sacrifices in our life. like Jesus taught...we gotta carry our cross too. its alright. i am down with it. i will face anything head on because i know that i have Gods angels lifting me up, guiding me in all directions.
well fam. the time has come to an end one more time. nice talking to ya but i gotta get back to work. maybe sometime we will speak again. love you all. until next week. FICA FIXE O LA!!!!!!! HAHA N PODI PAPIA NHA LINGUA E NHOS KA TA ENTEDI! PERFEITO! TCHAU.
elder c fo rizzle ma nizzle
there aint nothing in the world compared to a mission. everyday is a surprise. everyday is different. everyday i learn. i grow. sometimes its hard. sometimes its fun. sometimes i want to quit and go home. and at other times i dont ever want to leave. its almost unexplainable (is that a word?).
the week was alright. had its ups and downs just like every other week. it wasnt easy but not necissarily hard. it was inspiring but at times disappointing. i feel good. our numbers dont show success during the week. but i feel as though i worked hard. we had two investigators in church, one will be baptized on the 25th of this month. also two less actives came. it was a good turn out. i wont complain this week. nothing to complain about. the Lord was with me this weeek. by my side every step of the way. it was great, discouraging, yes, but still good. i mean, i think i am changing and thats what counts right? i am a better person. definitely still am the crazy old me, but inside i feel different. just as the scriptures teach us that "the vessel must be cleansed from the inside to the outside." i can feel that change taking place. i want to be better. i try to be better. and improve in my daily life. i am FAAARRR from perfect. but i am in the process. our mission president in a conference talked about santification. what is santification? well according to the scriptures we learn that it is "a process in which we become pure through the gospel of Jesus Christ and His atonement." the word that stands out to me is process. life is a process. we go through rough times and smooth times. good and bad. sin and repentance. but everything we do is done in a process. we are here on earth and in the process of gaining eternal life, the greatest gift God has ever offered us. like i have said so many times before...it is not easy, BUT IT IS WORTH IT!!
i still have a long time on my mission. at times it makes me sad, but today it makes me happy. i am willing to serve, at the moment ha. i know this church is true. i dont got no doubts within my body. i have had revelation after revelation given unto me putting a FIRM confirmation that this is God's church here on the earth. the life in brava is getting a little better, day by day. still am washing my clothes by hand, at the moment it is the worst thing about this place. still not a whole lot to eat, but i am falling back into the good old peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. can never go wrong there. healthy and satisfying. me and my companion are getting along better. this part is not easy. but i am trying to just do my best. sometimes its not enough and something he does bugs me but i just have to remember that he has a completely different life style then me. just gotta go with the flow.
it was crazy yesterday. we went to teach this investigator that got deported from america. we knocked on his door, he opened it and a strong smell of weed come blasting into my face. it was nice. he was high. but we still taught him. haha i was teaching about joseph smith and i paused looked at him and he said in english "dang (other word) you really think i can believe that, thats crazy talk man" haha i said nope its true, and you can know. "oh really, how?" haha never thought i would be teaching the gospel to the drunken and drugged but hey gotta do what we gotta do right. overall the week wasnt that bad. i kinda wish i could be at home at this time. sounds like a really fun time with the wedding at all. but hey we gotta make sacrifices in our life. like Jesus taught...we gotta carry our cross too. its alright. i am down with it. i will face anything head on because i know that i have Gods angels lifting me up, guiding me in all directions.
well fam. the time has come to an end one more time. nice talking to ya but i gotta get back to work. maybe sometime we will speak again. love you all. until next week. FICA FIXE O LA!!!!!!! HAHA N PODI PAPIA NHA LINGUA E NHOS KA TA ENTEDI! PERFEITO! TCHAU.
elder c fo rizzle ma nizzle
Monday, August 30, 2010
Letter from Elder C. 8.30.10
whats crack a lackin familia
life is....better. not the best, but better. cant ask for to much more. i decided to just change my attitude and things are getting alot better. on the boat ride back to fogo, there was a giant storm, it was raining. crazy stuff. instead of getting scared or annoyed i just decided to have a good time with it because its not every day you get the chance to ride on a little fisher boat in the middle of the ocean during a rain storm. so i stood on the back of the boat and i just sang my heart out. the boat is way loud so i can sing as loud as i want. it helped. i didnt get sick, eventhough the boat was crashing back and forth, forward and backward. it was awesome i sang everything from eminem to i know my redeemer lives. it was a blast. got to fogo soaking wet, but i didnt even care, just laughed at the whole situation. LEGIT. in fogo we did find motion sickness medicine so that helped on the way back to brava too. so things, as i said, are getting better. still not best.
i forgot to tell you last week but i did get all of your letters before a left praia. so that was awesome. THANKS! :) still havent gotten any packages but they will get here. i hope everything is going well over in L Town. i miss that place like crazy. i wouldnt mind giving up right now and coming back, but i wont. i will keep plugging along.
we are knocking ALOT of doors. its all we do. its hard. but just like the boat ride i just try to make it fun. i knock the door and put a giant smile on my face so when they open the door there is a tall white kid smiling at them. its hilarious. and sometimes i dont talk, i just look at my greeny companion waiting for him to talk. ha, but you gotta live life fun, or life aint worth it. i have been trying to remember one thing that my mtc teacher, brother schlappi said to me, "just have fun knocking doors, it is my favorite thing. its like christmas. every door is a surprise" haha i wish i could have that type of enthusiasm.
there aint alot of food here to eat. but i eat what i got. rice. rice. rice. rice. yummm.....so good.
sunday in brava was horrible. the most disappointing, heartbreaking thing i have ever seen in my life. i taught the elders quorom class, said an opening prayer, passed the sacrament and gave a 25 minute talk. the branch president called me 2 hours before church started to tell me to do this stuff cause he was stuck in fogo. it was awesome. psh.. there was a total of 20 people in church. i think like 5 or 6 adults. there is no order. there church building is a mess. there spirit cant dwell there. i am embarrased to invite people to church there. and i know why everyone almost here in brava is inactive. you just dont feel welcome here, and thats not right. thats not the way the Lord wants it. there is alot to do. alot of work. but we are trying our best. its not easy. and its not going to be easy but i am just pressing forward as best as i can. i am doing my best and i know when i do, i will recieve blessings from God. he is watching over me. i know he loves us and that he lives. we need to put our trust in him and then we can have happiness. real happiness. life is hard. but i really dont think he meant it to be easy. we need to learn. we need to grow. we cant grow or learn if everything is easy. i am grateful for all of you and your support in this journey. we still got one more year to go, but we can do it. it wont be easy. but we will grow from it. i know i am. i am a different person. i am being shaped into something....beautiful. and i am not ashamed of it. president faust said "we cannot convert beyond our own conversion" we first need to be converted in our own hearts before we can expect others to change. i love you family. hope all is well. dont got more time but know that i am ok and God is with us all....AMERICA RULES!!!!!!
elder coleman...the one. the only. the wild.
tchau tchau fo now
life is....better. not the best, but better. cant ask for to much more. i decided to just change my attitude and things are getting alot better. on the boat ride back to fogo, there was a giant storm, it was raining. crazy stuff. instead of getting scared or annoyed i just decided to have a good time with it because its not every day you get the chance to ride on a little fisher boat in the middle of the ocean during a rain storm. so i stood on the back of the boat and i just sang my heart out. the boat is way loud so i can sing as loud as i want. it helped. i didnt get sick, eventhough the boat was crashing back and forth, forward and backward. it was awesome i sang everything from eminem to i know my redeemer lives. it was a blast. got to fogo soaking wet, but i didnt even care, just laughed at the whole situation. LEGIT. in fogo we did find motion sickness medicine so that helped on the way back to brava too. so things, as i said, are getting better. still not best.
i forgot to tell you last week but i did get all of your letters before a left praia. so that was awesome. THANKS! :) still havent gotten any packages but they will get here. i hope everything is going well over in L Town. i miss that place like crazy. i wouldnt mind giving up right now and coming back, but i wont. i will keep plugging along.
we are knocking ALOT of doors. its all we do. its hard. but just like the boat ride i just try to make it fun. i knock the door and put a giant smile on my face so when they open the door there is a tall white kid smiling at them. its hilarious. and sometimes i dont talk, i just look at my greeny companion waiting for him to talk. ha, but you gotta live life fun, or life aint worth it. i have been trying to remember one thing that my mtc teacher, brother schlappi said to me, "just have fun knocking doors, it is my favorite thing. its like christmas. every door is a surprise" haha i wish i could have that type of enthusiasm.
there aint alot of food here to eat. but i eat what i got. rice. rice. rice. rice. yummm.....so good.
sunday in brava was horrible. the most disappointing, heartbreaking thing i have ever seen in my life. i taught the elders quorom class, said an opening prayer, passed the sacrament and gave a 25 minute talk. the branch president called me 2 hours before church started to tell me to do this stuff cause he was stuck in fogo. it was awesome. psh.. there was a total of 20 people in church. i think like 5 or 6 adults. there is no order. there church building is a mess. there spirit cant dwell there. i am embarrased to invite people to church there. and i know why everyone almost here in brava is inactive. you just dont feel welcome here, and thats not right. thats not the way the Lord wants it. there is alot to do. alot of work. but we are trying our best. its not easy. and its not going to be easy but i am just pressing forward as best as i can. i am doing my best and i know when i do, i will recieve blessings from God. he is watching over me. i know he loves us and that he lives. we need to put our trust in him and then we can have happiness. real happiness. life is hard. but i really dont think he meant it to be easy. we need to learn. we need to grow. we cant grow or learn if everything is easy. i am grateful for all of you and your support in this journey. we still got one more year to go, but we can do it. it wont be easy. but we will grow from it. i know i am. i am a different person. i am being shaped into something....beautiful. and i am not ashamed of it. president faust said "we cannot convert beyond our own conversion" we first need to be converted in our own hearts before we can expect others to change. i love you family. hope all is well. dont got more time but know that i am ok and God is with us all....AMERICA RULES!!!!!!
elder coleman...the one. the only. the wild.
tchau tchau fo now
Monday, August 23, 2010
Letter from Elder C. 8.23.10
What up
so i dont really have alot of time to write. there isnt really places here in brava to use internet. we found one place but the internet wasnt working. the owner of the place was nice enough to bring us to his house and let us use his laptop. its kinda wierd how generous some people are. he was just like ya sorry the internet is not up but you can come to my house and use mine real quick. so i will just give you the low down.
brava is tight. thats all there is to it. but that doesnt necisarily mean that i like it. its like a whole new Patim again. the boat ride was ridiculous. one straight hour of swaying back and forth. i got really sick. lost my appetite. which still hasnt come back. i have a feeling i will lose some weight on this island. i am really excited to go back out on the boat again tomorrow to go to zone conference in fogo. it will be aight. there are very few people here in brava, like 6000. but there are only like 25 active members half of them are kids under 12. there is seriously alot of work to do here. its gonna be difficult. i say it like patim again because all we do is knock doors. like yessterday in itself we knocked like 50 doors. dont like it. i thought i was gonna get here and since it has been 2 years with out missionaries all the members were gonna give us like hundreds of references. ha what was i thinking. man i was so wrong. the people really arent super interested here. alot of them speak english because they either have been to america or have family there. so i have been practicing up my english too. as far as food goes. there aint nothing to eat here. i will really miss praia because of the good selection of food. rice everyday dont fly with me. the house is alright except the shower sucks and i have to wash my own clothes by hand. thats cool psh....get that corn out of my face.
welp gotta go before this dude gets mad. oh, my companion is from santo antao. well im outta here. until next week. love elder c dizzle
fica no manso manso
so i dont really have alot of time to write. there isnt really places here in brava to use internet. we found one place but the internet wasnt working. the owner of the place was nice enough to bring us to his house and let us use his laptop. its kinda wierd how generous some people are. he was just like ya sorry the internet is not up but you can come to my house and use mine real quick. so i will just give you the low down.
brava is tight. thats all there is to it. but that doesnt necisarily mean that i like it. its like a whole new Patim again. the boat ride was ridiculous. one straight hour of swaying back and forth. i got really sick. lost my appetite. which still hasnt come back. i have a feeling i will lose some weight on this island. i am really excited to go back out on the boat again tomorrow to go to zone conference in fogo. it will be aight. there are very few people here in brava, like 6000. but there are only like 25 active members half of them are kids under 12. there is seriously alot of work to do here. its gonna be difficult. i say it like patim again because all we do is knock doors. like yessterday in itself we knocked like 50 doors. dont like it. i thought i was gonna get here and since it has been 2 years with out missionaries all the members were gonna give us like hundreds of references. ha what was i thinking. man i was so wrong. the people really arent super interested here. alot of them speak english because they either have been to america or have family there. so i have been practicing up my english too. as far as food goes. there aint nothing to eat here. i will really miss praia because of the good selection of food. rice everyday dont fly with me. the house is alright except the shower sucks and i have to wash my own clothes by hand. thats cool psh....get that corn out of my face.
welp gotta go before this dude gets mad. oh, my companion is from santo antao. well im outta here. until next week. love elder c dizzle
fica no manso manso
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Letter from Elder C. 8.13.10
hey fam,
alright before i say anything else, i just want to tell you where my next area is. THE ISLAND OF BRAVA!!!!!!!! heck ya baby! ok so brava is a small island a little ways from fogo. it has flowers, fruits, its green i hear its just beautiful. the thing is that it has been closed to missionary work for over TWO years! the work was hard there and so president took the missionaries out and for other reasons i guess too. but anyways he has been thinking and wanting to send missionaries back there for about 3 or 4 months.
well your son, brother and grandchild will be opening this island back up! that is sooooo legit, i cannot even tell you. oh wait....thats not it. did i tell you i am training too!!! oh ya haha i am going to train a cape verdean. i am soo pumped. its gonna be the best experience in the entire world. i never would have thought that something so amazing would happen to me. that's the new news and i am stoked. my new companion, elder fortes, doesnt get back to cape verde from the mtc in brazil until the 19 august so i will have to wait for him. that day we will fly to fogo and then take a boat over to BRAVA, which means WILD!! its gonna be sooo sweet i seriously cant even explain it.
i have been in the office in praia for the past 4 months and i miss being among the people. yesterday was my last day there. i left with a light back. i felt like all this stress and anxiety was just lifted off of me. its was a great feeling. the office is going down to two elders now. elder sargent and elder shelhamer. it def was a crazy transfer. lots of crazy things happened but the coolest and craziest is that i get to train, reopen and serve in the best island in the country....BRAVA!
well because i found this out on tuesday i have just been wanting to leave praia so bad. i am super pumped to just get out there on my island! haha anyways this is about the only thing cool that happened to me this week. you know just still here in cape verde chillin, preachin, and tryin to do my best. its aight. so i have been packin up my bags today. its a bit stressful that we can only take 40 pounds. but i am trying to work it out so i can make it over there.
about my area. still hard as ever, but its ok. i mean we had one kid come to church on sunday. it was his first time so that was really tight. i hope he comes this week too. we are going to pass by his house again. i get to stay with elder owens monday, tuesday and wednesday. man i love that kid, he is soo funny! so that will be sweet too.
i dont really have any cool experiences from this week, but more exciting news....I FINISHED MY FIRST JOURNAL LAST NIGHT!!! man i didnt think i was ever going to finish it. but i am really trying to write every day. aint easy sometimes but i am trying. i like the mission. i am finding seriously a new love for the scriptures. i LOVE reading the Book of Mormon more than anything. i read it for like 2 straight hours the other day. i feel like when we read the the Book of Mormon it really brings a shield around us. it's like our day to day protection from the world of evil. we read it everyday and we cannot fall. so i was reading in the Preach My Gospel book the other day and i found this quote by Elder Faust "you cannot convert people beyond your own conversion" its like we can't just walk around everyday expecting to convert or help anyone if we ourselves are not first converted. i know this is why President Hinkley "raised the bar." we need to prepare from a very young age to be ready for the great and difficult journey of a mission. every young man should serve a mission. there is no doubt of that. we learn so much out here to prepare us for the storms of life. life is the hardest thing. just living is not easy. but as we look at what we learn and the way we grow day by day by living the gospel, we see that it is all worth it. because in the end, if we do what is right, we get the biggest present in the world....ETERNAL LIFE!
i am happy. life is good. dont worry about me. i made sloppy joes today. they were good. there aint nothing else to say. keep it real.
so since i am out on brava in the next coming week, its gonna start getting harder to get my mail and junk but it will be tight still. zone conference in fogo will just be like christmas i guess!!! haha i will get everything at once. cool beans. well i am out. stay sweet
C LOVIN'
alright before i say anything else, i just want to tell you where my next area is. THE ISLAND OF BRAVA!!!!!!!! heck ya baby! ok so brava is a small island a little ways from fogo. it has flowers, fruits, its green i hear its just beautiful. the thing is that it has been closed to missionary work for over TWO years! the work was hard there and so president took the missionaries out and for other reasons i guess too. but anyways he has been thinking and wanting to send missionaries back there for about 3 or 4 months.
well your son, brother and grandchild will be opening this island back up! that is sooooo legit, i cannot even tell you. oh wait....thats not it. did i tell you i am training too!!! oh ya haha i am going to train a cape verdean. i am soo pumped. its gonna be the best experience in the entire world. i never would have thought that something so amazing would happen to me. that's the new news and i am stoked. my new companion, elder fortes, doesnt get back to cape verde from the mtc in brazil until the 19 august so i will have to wait for him. that day we will fly to fogo and then take a boat over to BRAVA, which means WILD!! its gonna be sooo sweet i seriously cant even explain it.
i have been in the office in praia for the past 4 months and i miss being among the people. yesterday was my last day there. i left with a light back. i felt like all this stress and anxiety was just lifted off of me. its was a great feeling. the office is going down to two elders now. elder sargent and elder shelhamer. it def was a crazy transfer. lots of crazy things happened but the coolest and craziest is that i get to train, reopen and serve in the best island in the country....BRAVA!
well because i found this out on tuesday i have just been wanting to leave praia so bad. i am super pumped to just get out there on my island! haha anyways this is about the only thing cool that happened to me this week. you know just still here in cape verde chillin, preachin, and tryin to do my best. its aight. so i have been packin up my bags today. its a bit stressful that we can only take 40 pounds. but i am trying to work it out so i can make it over there.
about my area. still hard as ever, but its ok. i mean we had one kid come to church on sunday. it was his first time so that was really tight. i hope he comes this week too. we are going to pass by his house again. i get to stay with elder owens monday, tuesday and wednesday. man i love that kid, he is soo funny! so that will be sweet too.
i dont really have any cool experiences from this week, but more exciting news....I FINISHED MY FIRST JOURNAL LAST NIGHT!!! man i didnt think i was ever going to finish it. but i am really trying to write every day. aint easy sometimes but i am trying. i like the mission. i am finding seriously a new love for the scriptures. i LOVE reading the Book of Mormon more than anything. i read it for like 2 straight hours the other day. i feel like when we read the the Book of Mormon it really brings a shield around us. it's like our day to day protection from the world of evil. we read it everyday and we cannot fall. so i was reading in the Preach My Gospel book the other day and i found this quote by Elder Faust "you cannot convert people beyond your own conversion" its like we can't just walk around everyday expecting to convert or help anyone if we ourselves are not first converted. i know this is why President Hinkley "raised the bar." we need to prepare from a very young age to be ready for the great and difficult journey of a mission. every young man should serve a mission. there is no doubt of that. we learn so much out here to prepare us for the storms of life. life is the hardest thing. just living is not easy. but as we look at what we learn and the way we grow day by day by living the gospel, we see that it is all worth it. because in the end, if we do what is right, we get the biggest present in the world....ETERNAL LIFE!
i am happy. life is good. dont worry about me. i made sloppy joes today. they were good. there aint nothing else to say. keep it real.
so since i am out on brava in the next coming week, its gonna start getting harder to get my mail and junk but it will be tight still. zone conference in fogo will just be like christmas i guess!!! haha i will get everything at once. cool beans. well i am out. stay sweet
C LOVIN'
Friday, July 16, 2010
Letter from Elder C. 7.9.2010
hi fam
manera ki nhos sta? ami sta fixe.
baptism tomorrow! woot woot!! good news no eh? her family are all members too so she actually has a chance of staying active so thats even better! my sunburn has already dissolved. neck peeled a little but it is alot tanner so thats sweet. i am pretty much black.
thats the thing with these people. you cant get them away from there tvs. they are like the most important thing to all of them. when we are walking aroun at like 8 at night thats all you see inside houses. just everyone gathered around the tv. its a sad sight. but i guess thats what the world is coming to right? i love technology, not as much as you, you see! there aint too much new here in cape verde. man it sure seems like time is flying though. i see all these people going home from their missions. and i am like gee wiz it seems like just yesterday you had 5 transfers left. but thats prolly how it is gonna go for me. fast. hopefully. i miss wendys. but i did find some frozen chicken nuggets that taste almost as good as mcdonalds so its not saying much but they taste good to me. and i make some fry sauce. pretty much my favorite meal as of right now. ha thats funny all of you are trying to lose weight. i thought coming out here to africa would help me lose weight, but i can see that isnt the case. it sure is hard to get out of bed at 630 for me. i am not really a morning person. i started waking up so i could do some sit ups, push ups but i like waking up at 7 better. its bad i think. but that extra half hour gives me some good energy to get through the day. although i do take a nap at lunch everyday and am in bed by 1020 every night. who ever thought that. i never even thought about going to bed until 11 or 12 when i was at home. now i cant even keep my eyes open past 1030, maybe its a sign of old age. dad you know what i am talking about :)
life is just normal now. it almost feels like i am going to be doing this for the rest of my life. like this is my life. that i will be here in cape verde for the rest of my years. its been 9 months. at times it feels like it has just been a few days since i left at others it feels as if i left 4 years ago. its crazy. but one day at a time for 15 more months and i will be back home. good stuff. i dont know if there is really anything new thats going on down here but let me think here for a sec.
well i am at the internet cafe and my time is straight up out so i gotta get this sent before i lose it ..l..
love yall
elder coleman
manera ki nhos sta? ami sta fixe.
baptism tomorrow! woot woot!! good news no eh? her family are all members too so she actually has a chance of staying active so thats even better! my sunburn has already dissolved. neck peeled a little but it is alot tanner so thats sweet. i am pretty much black.
thats the thing with these people. you cant get them away from there tvs. they are like the most important thing to all of them. when we are walking aroun at like 8 at night thats all you see inside houses. just everyone gathered around the tv. its a sad sight. but i guess thats what the world is coming to right? i love technology, not as much as you, you see! there aint too much new here in cape verde. man it sure seems like time is flying though. i see all these people going home from their missions. and i am like gee wiz it seems like just yesterday you had 5 transfers left. but thats prolly how it is gonna go for me. fast. hopefully. i miss wendys. but i did find some frozen chicken nuggets that taste almost as good as mcdonalds so its not saying much but they taste good to me. and i make some fry sauce. pretty much my favorite meal as of right now. ha thats funny all of you are trying to lose weight. i thought coming out here to africa would help me lose weight, but i can see that isnt the case. it sure is hard to get out of bed at 630 for me. i am not really a morning person. i started waking up so i could do some sit ups, push ups but i like waking up at 7 better. its bad i think. but that extra half hour gives me some good energy to get through the day. although i do take a nap at lunch everyday and am in bed by 1020 every night. who ever thought that. i never even thought about going to bed until 11 or 12 when i was at home. now i cant even keep my eyes open past 1030, maybe its a sign of old age. dad you know what i am talking about :)
life is just normal now. it almost feels like i am going to be doing this for the rest of my life. like this is my life. that i will be here in cape verde for the rest of my years. its been 9 months. at times it feels like it has just been a few days since i left at others it feels as if i left 4 years ago. its crazy. but one day at a time for 15 more months and i will be back home. good stuff. i dont know if there is really anything new thats going on down here but let me think here for a sec.
well i am at the internet cafe and my time is straight up out so i gotta get this sent before i lose it ..l..
love yall
elder coleman
Letter from Elder C 7.2.2010
hello
i am stayin in the office wit sargent more six weeks. not too excited but it will be aight. we got a few baptisms comin up in july so that will be good. sure has been hard finding new people that want to listen tho. we are working on it though.
we are getting three more american missionaries on this next monday. transfers are really crazy this time around. my good buddy Elder Wardell from bountiful has been AP the two transfers while i have been in the office. everyone thought he was stayin but he is going out to sal to train so that was sad. we have to take people to the airport on monday starting at 4 o clock in the morning so that is gonna be fun! all nighter!!! then we will just be running people around all day. the missionaries get to go to sal and santo antao the two isolated islands so that is gonna be sweet for them. hopefully after these next six weeks i can get out of the office so i dont have to be here in praia for my birthday. but we will see no eh...
the water doesnt always look like that. just every once and a while it turns nasty orange like that. its really gross. its life in the wonderful country of cape verde.
today was a pretty fun p day i guess. we went up to assomada. its bout 45 minutes from praia. there is this huge tree there! and i mean huge. so we climbed up in there got some pics. then we got to take this legit ride in the back of a dump truck. we were going on these really narrow roads of cobblestone that were like half destroyed and he was just hauling up them with us screaming rollin around in the back...good times. then we decided we wanted to go monkey hunting so we went and started climbing this mountain. we asked around and some natives told us in this mountain we could find monkeys so we headed out there. we started hiking, hiking, hiking and we got to the top and only saw one monkey. a new sunburn and one wild monkey, not really sure if it was worth it but i just went along with the rest of the gang. cool stuff. i will prolly be sending of my card here pretty soon. so you can see all this new up to date sweet photos.
after almost 20 years of life i have found out one thing and it is this....
life is like an amusement park, not just one rollercoaster but a whole bunch of them, some times in our lives we are stuck on a wild rollercoaster others are more mild but we just keep ridin them until we barf and that is death.
i am on a wild rollercoaster right now in my life....pray for me so that i dont barf. :)
LOVE YOU ALL!!! MOM I MISS YOUR FOOD SO MUCH, WE WILL HAVE TO FEAST WHEN I GET HOME!!!
TAKE IT EASY,
ELDER COLEMAN
ami n´ ta papia tcheu differente a go então se nhôs ka ta entendi nhôs podi pergunta, ja oubi? n´ ta kré oubi sobre nhôs bidas então nhôs skrebi tcheu kusa pa miml, ta bom então tchao tchao
i am stayin in the office wit sargent more six weeks. not too excited but it will be aight. we got a few baptisms comin up in july so that will be good. sure has been hard finding new people that want to listen tho. we are working on it though.
we are getting three more american missionaries on this next monday. transfers are really crazy this time around. my good buddy Elder Wardell from bountiful has been AP the two transfers while i have been in the office. everyone thought he was stayin but he is going out to sal to train so that was sad. we have to take people to the airport on monday starting at 4 o clock in the morning so that is gonna be fun! all nighter!!! then we will just be running people around all day. the missionaries get to go to sal and santo antao the two isolated islands so that is gonna be sweet for them. hopefully after these next six weeks i can get out of the office so i dont have to be here in praia for my birthday. but we will see no eh...
the water doesnt always look like that. just every once and a while it turns nasty orange like that. its really gross. its life in the wonderful country of cape verde.
today was a pretty fun p day i guess. we went up to assomada. its bout 45 minutes from praia. there is this huge tree there! and i mean huge. so we climbed up in there got some pics. then we got to take this legit ride in the back of a dump truck. we were going on these really narrow roads of cobblestone that were like half destroyed and he was just hauling up them with us screaming rollin around in the back...good times. then we decided we wanted to go monkey hunting so we went and started climbing this mountain. we asked around and some natives told us in this mountain we could find monkeys so we headed out there. we started hiking, hiking, hiking and we got to the top and only saw one monkey. a new sunburn and one wild monkey, not really sure if it was worth it but i just went along with the rest of the gang. cool stuff. i will prolly be sending of my card here pretty soon. so you can see all this new up to date sweet photos.
after almost 20 years of life i have found out one thing and it is this....
life is like an amusement park, not just one rollercoaster but a whole bunch of them, some times in our lives we are stuck on a wild rollercoaster others are more mild but we just keep ridin them until we barf and that is death.
i am on a wild rollercoaster right now in my life....pray for me so that i dont barf. :)
LOVE YOU ALL!!! MOM I MISS YOUR FOOD SO MUCH, WE WILL HAVE TO FEAST WHEN I GET HOME!!!
TAKE IT EASY,
ELDER COLEMAN
ami n´ ta papia tcheu differente a go então se nhôs ka ta entendi nhôs podi pergunta, ja oubi? n´ ta kré oubi sobre nhôs bidas então nhôs skrebi tcheu kusa pa miml, ta bom então tchao tchao
Letter from Elder C 6.25.2010
NHÔS É FAMILIA!
good news i got that little package thing with the memory cards in it. seems like the mail system has been working pretty well lately. so thats good. and yes i did get a letter from amy wright, send my love and gratitude to her and that wonderful family. the world cup is crazy here. it was actually pretty sweet. last friday we were in the barber shop getting our haircuts while USA was playing it was the game they were down 0 2 at half and came back and tied it. we were in there when they scored the second goal and everyone was screaming at eachother. they stopped cutting our hair and were just like yelling back and forth. me and elder sargent were like just sitting there smiling, "yeah thats whats up, america rules again" haha so that was a good experience. i am pretty jealous of you all going to hawaii man you get to go to the paradise islands. i wish my islands were something like paradise, but unfortunetly they are not, AT ALL!
well the week was just normal. nothing to exciting. nothing to bazarre. but just tudo normal. we having been really focusing this last week on finding new investigators because alot of the ones we have now are going to be baptized her pretty soon and we are gonna have nobody to teach. so we have been knocking doors, contacts with everyone. if a person is shy, going on a mission is a good way to get away from that. man i will talk to anyone, anywhere, at anytime now. it dont matter who. i just feel like talking to the whole world. the work has been a little discouraging though. its tough. but it is only possible with the hand of the Lord. i have seen ups and downs on my mission. i like what elder ballard said about missionary work. "if a missionary wants to be successful he can, think baptisms and you willl have baptisms." thats what i have trying to do lately. just try, try and try some more. as President Uctdorf said " try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible, and then that which only seems possible becomes habit and a real part of you." i dont know if i already shared that with you guys. but i love it. well i really dont have much else to tell. just that the missionary life is good and that i miss ya a ton. but i turn that homesickness into hard work. at least i am trying to. President still doesnt have transfers completed yet. but i am almost 95% percent positive that i will be staying right where i am as the secretary. its aight i guess. i will love to stay to see all this baptisms go through. i think we should have 4 or 5 baptisms in the month of july. that will be really sweet.
well i am sorry it was kinda short this week but there is not a ton of new stuff to update you on.
one love
Elder Coleman
Letter from Elder C. 6/18/2010
hows life crackin
i am just chillin ya know. kickin it in the CVP. its aight. so i aint got tcheu (alot) of things to tell ya. it was pretty much just a normal week but there was something hilarious that happened that i will be willing to share and i think yall get a kick out of it.....
one day this week i think it was sunday. we had church, we ate lunch, and then we were going out to proselyte. we were walkin to our area. we hadnt walked that far when this lady stopped us. she had her hand out like she wanted me to shake it. so i did with the intention of making a contact right there, new investigator you know, it was sweet so she started talking. but she was just talking anything, this was crazy stuff! we started kinda laughing ya know because we found this psyco lady on the street rambling about how she prays every day and carries her cross with her whever she goes. she was holding me hand still from when i began shaking it 3 minutes earlier. elder sargent was busting up almost in tears. she was talking softly and then almost satanicly she said something that i didnt understand. she started talking about kissing and so it just got weird. i said we are late. we started walking away and then she said late are ya and started tickling me and then tickled elder sargent. we walked away but she followed us. she was chasing after elder sargent, he was all " run she is coming up fast!" and i looked back and she grabbed him ha he got away. so we just started running full on to get away from this completely pshyco lady. there were people laughing all around us. with looks on their faces like what the crap two church guys in ties running away from an old grandma. we got pretty far away and looked back. there she was still on the corner waving at us. i hope i dont have to see her ever again. comes to find out elder luke and his companion ran into the same lady the same day. we gave her the name of "the crazy tickly lady" so that was an experience if ya ask me! ha
besides that nothing too exciting went down this week. Neusa, that golden investigator is just as golden as ever. she has now taught us the first, second and almost the third lesson. yesterday she taught us about fasting so that was good. i almost wish she could walk and teach with us. we wouldnt even have to say anything during the lessons. that would be sweet. she has a great desire to bring her whole family unto the church as she said at the end of last lesson "i am not a member yet because i have not been baptized, but i feel like a member. i am hoping and praying that i will be able to get my whole family to come to this true church, little by little i know i can do it, right down to my mom who will be the hardes, but with the help of God i know that it can happen!" so that was pretty sweet. we actually started teaching her brother but he will be a little harder because he is a good soccer player and he always has games on sunday so he will have to give that up in order to go to church. but i have FAITH. so as of right now we are having quite a bit of success in our area we have 6 baptisms set up for the 10 of july, and Neusa on the 7 of august. it is awesome. because when i got here, we had a grand total of 2 investigators. one of whom we do not teach anymore because he likes weed, and the other is still coming to church but she needs to move out of her house, she is living with a man who doesnt want to talk with us at all. once she moves out she will be baptized but i dont see that happening any time soon. she doesnt think it is possible. so i am really hoping everything goes through with these baptisms. just like in Patim we are teaching alot of younger boys. like we have 4 with i baptism date who come to church every week, its sweet!
we pretty much had a complete p day today had to run to the airport for a second but no more stuff today. elder balls got transferred to sao vicente. me and elder sargent are getting along well. its good times. alright well i best be going. love yall!
Elder Coleman
i am just chillin ya know. kickin it in the CVP. its aight. so i aint got tcheu (alot) of things to tell ya. it was pretty much just a normal week but there was something hilarious that happened that i will be willing to share and i think yall get a kick out of it.....
one day this week i think it was sunday. we had church, we ate lunch, and then we were going out to proselyte. we were walkin to our area. we hadnt walked that far when this lady stopped us. she had her hand out like she wanted me to shake it. so i did with the intention of making a contact right there, new investigator you know, it was sweet so she started talking. but she was just talking anything, this was crazy stuff! we started kinda laughing ya know because we found this psyco lady on the street rambling about how she prays every day and carries her cross with her whever she goes. she was holding me hand still from when i began shaking it 3 minutes earlier. elder sargent was busting up almost in tears. she was talking softly and then almost satanicly she said something that i didnt understand. she started talking about kissing and so it just got weird. i said we are late. we started walking away and then she said late are ya and started tickling me and then tickled elder sargent. we walked away but she followed us. she was chasing after elder sargent, he was all " run she is coming up fast!" and i looked back and she grabbed him ha he got away. so we just started running full on to get away from this completely pshyco lady. there were people laughing all around us. with looks on their faces like what the crap two church guys in ties running away from an old grandma. we got pretty far away and looked back. there she was still on the corner waving at us. i hope i dont have to see her ever again. comes to find out elder luke and his companion ran into the same lady the same day. we gave her the name of "the crazy tickly lady" so that was an experience if ya ask me! ha
besides that nothing too exciting went down this week. Neusa, that golden investigator is just as golden as ever. she has now taught us the first, second and almost the third lesson. yesterday she taught us about fasting so that was good. i almost wish she could walk and teach with us. we wouldnt even have to say anything during the lessons. that would be sweet. she has a great desire to bring her whole family unto the church as she said at the end of last lesson "i am not a member yet because i have not been baptized, but i feel like a member. i am hoping and praying that i will be able to get my whole family to come to this true church, little by little i know i can do it, right down to my mom who will be the hardes, but with the help of God i know that it can happen!" so that was pretty sweet. we actually started teaching her brother but he will be a little harder because he is a good soccer player and he always has games on sunday so he will have to give that up in order to go to church. but i have FAITH. so as of right now we are having quite a bit of success in our area we have 6 baptisms set up for the 10 of july, and Neusa on the 7 of august. it is awesome. because when i got here, we had a grand total of 2 investigators. one of whom we do not teach anymore because he likes weed, and the other is still coming to church but she needs to move out of her house, she is living with a man who doesnt want to talk with us at all. once she moves out she will be baptized but i dont see that happening any time soon. she doesnt think it is possible. so i am really hoping everything goes through with these baptisms. just like in Patim we are teaching alot of younger boys. like we have 4 with i baptism date who come to church every week, its sweet!
we pretty much had a complete p day today had to run to the airport for a second but no more stuff today. elder balls got transferred to sao vicente. me and elder sargent are getting along well. its good times. alright well i best be going. love yall!
Elder Coleman
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Letter from Elder C. 5.11.2010
sup fam
not much kusa happened this week. it was kind of a harder week. every week has its ups and its downs. the up for this week is.....are you ready.....9 INVESTIGATORS IN CHURCH!!!!! tell me you love me! haha it was really amazing. miracles happen before my eyes everyday. the down for the week is that all those investigators that showed up in church either have problems or we havent been able to talk to them this week. but you know we just keep plugging along. i find it very interesting the way this country works. its almost as if time does not even exist. but time does exist for me, its not alot of time either, its time of only 2 years, which about half of that is gone, to do every thing that God wants me to accomplish here in cape verde.
when times get hard i have to just remember who it is that sent me here. just like in the amazing talk that Pres. eyring gave in preisthood session this last conference. "when times get hard or i get tempted i just say to myself, REMEMBER HIM" oh what a blessing it is that we have to be members of the true church upon this earth. we have the restored church, we have the book of mormon, we have repentance, we have all the saving ordinances we need to gain salvation. to ultimately live with God again. to me, all this is truly a blessing. to serve my mission in cape verde is also a blessing, somedays it doesnt seem like it, but as i try my hardest in the work and remember really who it is that sent me here on these islands, i too feel blessed to be here.
so anyways...
i havent seen much rain here in cape verde yet, but they say the rainy season is coming, but i think its just getting hotter and hotter everyday. the sun burns down to my inner soul it feels like.
people are going crazy over the world cup, not because its the world cup or anything but simply because its soccer. they love their futébol
we have a branch president, who is like a bishop but they still dont have a stake here in cape verde. just branches and districts.
kids that come to church....the majority of the church in cape verde is made up of younger people. but actual kids in my branch prolly a good 30 or 40 that are active.
ever since i got in praia i pretty much well stopped using my contacts. just wear glasses everyday. even if i put new contacts in every day it would hurt. so i gave up on them...
i dont got any cool stories this week. but just one thing thats awesome. the stick shift is coming really well! its only hills that i am having problems with now. so after i conquer them i will pretty much well be pro!!!!!
welp love yall, stay strong, never give up!
Elder Colémon
not much kusa happened this week. it was kind of a harder week. every week has its ups and its downs. the up for this week is.....are you ready.....9 INVESTIGATORS IN CHURCH!!!!! tell me you love me! haha it was really amazing. miracles happen before my eyes everyday. the down for the week is that all those investigators that showed up in church either have problems or we havent been able to talk to them this week. but you know we just keep plugging along. i find it very interesting the way this country works. its almost as if time does not even exist. but time does exist for me, its not alot of time either, its time of only 2 years, which about half of that is gone, to do every thing that God wants me to accomplish here in cape verde.
when times get hard i have to just remember who it is that sent me here. just like in the amazing talk that Pres. eyring gave in preisthood session this last conference. "when times get hard or i get tempted i just say to myself, REMEMBER HIM" oh what a blessing it is that we have to be members of the true church upon this earth. we have the restored church, we have the book of mormon, we have repentance, we have all the saving ordinances we need to gain salvation. to ultimately live with God again. to me, all this is truly a blessing. to serve my mission in cape verde is also a blessing, somedays it doesnt seem like it, but as i try my hardest in the work and remember really who it is that sent me here on these islands, i too feel blessed to be here.
so anyways...
i havent seen much rain here in cape verde yet, but they say the rainy season is coming, but i think its just getting hotter and hotter everyday. the sun burns down to my inner soul it feels like.
people are going crazy over the world cup, not because its the world cup or anything but simply because its soccer. they love their futébol
we have a branch president, who is like a bishop but they still dont have a stake here in cape verde. just branches and districts.
kids that come to church....the majority of the church in cape verde is made up of younger people. but actual kids in my branch prolly a good 30 or 40 that are active.
ever since i got in praia i pretty much well stopped using my contacts. just wear glasses everyday. even if i put new contacts in every day it would hurt. so i gave up on them...
i dont got any cool stories this week. but just one thing thats awesome. the stick shift is coming really well! its only hills that i am having problems with now. so after i conquer them i will pretty much well be pro!!!!!
welp love yall, stay strong, never give up!
Elder Colémon
Letter from Elder C. 5.4.2010
dear family,
if i could explain in words what i feel right now i wouldnt hesitate, but my feelings are simply not describable. something changed in my work and in my life. something big. something that i can never forget. something that is so simple, but definetely changed my life forever. i dont know why it took so long for me to achieve it or where it has been all these 19 almost 20 years of my life. i, for myself have found the secret to life. it wasnt easy. and i know it still wont be easy. but if everyone could feel what i feel, the world would be a different place. without war. without sadness, mourning or frankly anything negative. as i have walked the first 19 years of my life. i have learned. i have fallen. i have stood back up. moved foward. made mistakes. tried to changed. fell again. made more mistakes. never gave up. just kept moving forward. something happened. i found the light of the world for myself. i found our beloved savior jesus christ. i know that he lives. that he died and ressurrected for us. so that we too can live forever. "he is risen", as president monson talked so lovingly about this last confernce. i have no doubt that he is my brother and my redeemer. i always thought i KNEW this. but i have never FELT it like this. AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, I TESTIFY THAT HE LIVES AND THAT HE LOVES US!........
three weeks ago me and elder balls showed up in church with high expectations that we would have plenty of investigators there, because it followed a very hard week of contacts, knocking doors and teaching new people. as the hours of church passed we were sad to see that it was only one investigator that had been coming for several weeks already had showed up in church that day. there was a woman, no older than 25 years old, that we did not recognize. we went up to talk to her, to find out who she was. she said she had heard about our church, and recently being rejected by the catholic church, she decided to give our church a chance. in church that day, there was muched talked about the atonement. she asked if we could come by her house to explain more about that word. we gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet and marked a day with her.....
five days later we went to her house and taught her. it was a normal lesson. we taught about the atonement. marked a next appointment and left.
she didnt come to church sunday...
we went to our next appointment we had with her this last week. i was now with elder sargent. we went to her apartment. we were 20 minutes late. we didnt think anything of it. knocked on her door. she came to the door with a smile on her face. "i have been waiting" she humbly said. we sang. we prayed. elder sargent began to talk. to see if she had remembered anything about the last time we talked. he didnt get any farther than asking her how she was when she cut him off saying, "i read the entire pamphlet, can i read each part and then explain it to you guys?" shocked both of us said, "OF COURSE!" as she began to go through each step of the plan of salvation, explain and then ask questions she had, i grew a greater love for the savior. i gained a personal testimony that he is our savior and that he is preparing those he knows will except the message. i am serving in a country were people have very little schooling, if any. its a great chanllenge to teach these people in portuguese when they grew up speaking creole, a completely different language. not ever had i even DREAMED that we would find an investiagtor such as her. she taught us. it was the most amazing experience ever! there was a great spirit in that room. and ever since i walked out of that lesson i have simply felt different. who would have ever thought something so simple could have such a dramatic change on a person. i cant tell you how greatful i am for this experience.
familia, i love you all very much. i hope that you all can realize, the same way that i did, that christ lives! that he loves us. and because of him all of our past mistakes can be wiped away. just as it is taught in the scriptures, " though it is as scarlet, it can be made white as snow," i testify that this is true, because i have used the atonement in my life. it has changed me. and i know now no matter how hard times get i will always have someone to lift me up.....we are NEVER alone!!!!!
the mission continues to be an experience beyond anything, i am learning and growing so much. i hope that we can all learn from the experiences God places before us, that is my prayer! i am now serving with elder sargent, from black foot idaho. he is an amazing companion and i have loved the first two weeks we have had serving together. he is humble and is helping me become the same way. it is true when we are taught that we can learn from everyone around us, if only we let it happen. i was very grateful for the package i recieved from you. we actually made blueberry pancakes for breakfast this morning, quite delicious if you ask me. we are gonna go buy some chicken to try out some of the other things in the magical box from america. thank you so much for all that you have done and continue to do for me, an imperfect but improving son, brother, brother-in-law, uncle and grandchild. i love you and you are continuely in my prayers.
a wise man once said "if we do four things in our life we shall find happiness in all things....
read your scriptures
say your prayers
go to church
keep the commandments and keep trying"
(that wise man, is me by the way hehe.....)
much love from your elder half way around the earth in the middle of the sea.....
elder coleman
if i could explain in words what i feel right now i wouldnt hesitate, but my feelings are simply not describable. something changed in my work and in my life. something big. something that i can never forget. something that is so simple, but definetely changed my life forever. i dont know why it took so long for me to achieve it or where it has been all these 19 almost 20 years of my life. i, for myself have found the secret to life. it wasnt easy. and i know it still wont be easy. but if everyone could feel what i feel, the world would be a different place. without war. without sadness, mourning or frankly anything negative. as i have walked the first 19 years of my life. i have learned. i have fallen. i have stood back up. moved foward. made mistakes. tried to changed. fell again. made more mistakes. never gave up. just kept moving forward. something happened. i found the light of the world for myself. i found our beloved savior jesus christ. i know that he lives. that he died and ressurrected for us. so that we too can live forever. "he is risen", as president monson talked so lovingly about this last confernce. i have no doubt that he is my brother and my redeemer. i always thought i KNEW this. but i have never FELT it like this. AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, I TESTIFY THAT HE LIVES AND THAT HE LOVES US!........
three weeks ago me and elder balls showed up in church with high expectations that we would have plenty of investigators there, because it followed a very hard week of contacts, knocking doors and teaching new people. as the hours of church passed we were sad to see that it was only one investigator that had been coming for several weeks already had showed up in church that day. there was a woman, no older than 25 years old, that we did not recognize. we went up to talk to her, to find out who she was. she said she had heard about our church, and recently being rejected by the catholic church, she decided to give our church a chance. in church that day, there was muched talked about the atonement. she asked if we could come by her house to explain more about that word. we gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet and marked a day with her.....
five days later we went to her house and taught her. it was a normal lesson. we taught about the atonement. marked a next appointment and left.
she didnt come to church sunday...
we went to our next appointment we had with her this last week. i was now with elder sargent. we went to her apartment. we were 20 minutes late. we didnt think anything of it. knocked on her door. she came to the door with a smile on her face. "i have been waiting" she humbly said. we sang. we prayed. elder sargent began to talk. to see if she had remembered anything about the last time we talked. he didnt get any farther than asking her how she was when she cut him off saying, "i read the entire pamphlet, can i read each part and then explain it to you guys?" shocked both of us said, "OF COURSE!" as she began to go through each step of the plan of salvation, explain and then ask questions she had, i grew a greater love for the savior. i gained a personal testimony that he is our savior and that he is preparing those he knows will except the message. i am serving in a country were people have very little schooling, if any. its a great chanllenge to teach these people in portuguese when they grew up speaking creole, a completely different language. not ever had i even DREAMED that we would find an investiagtor such as her. she taught us. it was the most amazing experience ever! there was a great spirit in that room. and ever since i walked out of that lesson i have simply felt different. who would have ever thought something so simple could have such a dramatic change on a person. i cant tell you how greatful i am for this experience.
familia, i love you all very much. i hope that you all can realize, the same way that i did, that christ lives! that he loves us. and because of him all of our past mistakes can be wiped away. just as it is taught in the scriptures, " though it is as scarlet, it can be made white as snow," i testify that this is true, because i have used the atonement in my life. it has changed me. and i know now no matter how hard times get i will always have someone to lift me up.....we are NEVER alone!!!!!
the mission continues to be an experience beyond anything, i am learning and growing so much. i hope that we can all learn from the experiences God places before us, that is my prayer! i am now serving with elder sargent, from black foot idaho. he is an amazing companion and i have loved the first two weeks we have had serving together. he is humble and is helping me become the same way. it is true when we are taught that we can learn from everyone around us, if only we let it happen. i was very grateful for the package i recieved from you. we actually made blueberry pancakes for breakfast this morning, quite delicious if you ask me. we are gonna go buy some chicken to try out some of the other things in the magical box from america. thank you so much for all that you have done and continue to do for me, an imperfect but improving son, brother, brother-in-law, uncle and grandchild. i love you and you are continuely in my prayers.
a wise man once said "if we do four things in our life we shall find happiness in all things....
read your scriptures
say your prayers
go to church
keep the commandments and keep trying"
(that wise man, is me by the way hehe.....)
much love from your elder half way around the earth in the middle of the sea.....
elder coleman
Monday, May 3, 2010
Letter from Elder C. - 4.30.2010
well hello there familia
so another week has passed by. time is sure moving aint it. before you know it i am gonna be the elder on my knees begging my mish president to let me stay longer.
its been an alright week. we had zone conference that went really well. we are really behind on office work this week so we have had to miss a little bit of prosyliting time...which i dont like at ALL!!! but what can you do right. gotta get done what needs to be done. its life. es bida ha there has not been anything way sweet happening this week to tell yall about. lets see here....i am officially a cape verdean ha i cant talk english. i forgot how. so we found this nigerian in the road and were doing a contact with him so of course we were doing it in english. so i started talking and i was trying my best but portuguese and creole words just kept on coming out and elder balls was laughing his head off. lets just say the contact didnt go so well haha!
alright so we just had a legit p day. we went up to tarrafal with all the elders that work in the office. it was sweet. we climbed through this cave to get to a secret beach. a beach with BLACK SAND!! it was sooo sweet. i wanted to go swimmin so bad though so it was hard. but still a really fun day. plus on the way we saw all these pigs getting cooked. how they do it is just build a fire on the ground and throw the pig in. its so sanitary. ha
on the spiritual side. we are having a lot of success. the other day we were walking down the street there was these two boys 13 and 15 washing a car. i had a really distinct impression to talk to them. so of course i started spitting creole to them. we marked an appointment with them and we are now teaching there entire family the gospel. it is awesome. we work so hard to find families. and we pray to find families. and just because i was trying my hardest to listen to the spirit we found two really awesome investigators and are teaching their family!! its awesome. THIS CHURCH IS TRUE!!! I WILL DIE PREACHING THIS WORD!!! I LOVE THIS PEOPLE AND THE CHANCE I HAVE TO BRING THEM THE TRUTH!!
oh did i mention we had 6 investigators at church!!! yahoo! it went from 0 to 6 in one week. it really made us happy to see that our long hard work is paying off. put two americans together in the middle of the ocean, give them a B.O.M. and without doubt some lives will be saved.
i love yall and want you to know that i have such a strong testimony of this gospel. before i was on the line, sometimes i crossed over to the dark side (ha), but with your help and many others i got out here. and i dont regret it for one second. this is the best experience in the world. i am learning such amazing things about my self and life in general, comes to find out i am a great cook, who would have thought. but i know without a doubt that this is the true church. the joseph smith in fact did see God and Jesus Christ and through the power of God he restored the church again back on this earth. that we have jesus, our redeemer always by our side to help us through life if only we do as Alma directs and put our whole trust in him. the path is dark and life is hard, but with the LIGHT we can do anything, we can walk anywhere. this mission is the hardest thing i have ever done, but it is sooooooo worth it. its seriously LEGIT! its great to be able to change because of difficulties. "by small things great things are brought to pass" by me and my little work that i can put forth amazing things are really happening. i am weak. but God is strong. i always feel him by my side pushing me along. what a great opportunity this is, if you ever talk to any kid wanting or thinking about go on a mission tell him not to worry and JUST GO!! because once you get out here there is no looking back. my testimony has strengthed more than it ever would have back at home working at the golf course ha...
love yall
stay sweet
elder coleman
so another week has passed by. time is sure moving aint it. before you know it i am gonna be the elder on my knees begging my mish president to let me stay longer.
its been an alright week. we had zone conference that went really well. we are really behind on office work this week so we have had to miss a little bit of prosyliting time...which i dont like at ALL!!! but what can you do right. gotta get done what needs to be done. its life. es bida ha there has not been anything way sweet happening this week to tell yall about. lets see here....i am officially a cape verdean ha i cant talk english. i forgot how. so we found this nigerian in the road and were doing a contact with him so of course we were doing it in english. so i started talking and i was trying my best but portuguese and creole words just kept on coming out and elder balls was laughing his head off. lets just say the contact didnt go so well haha!
alright so we just had a legit p day. we went up to tarrafal with all the elders that work in the office. it was sweet. we climbed through this cave to get to a secret beach. a beach with BLACK SAND!! it was sooo sweet. i wanted to go swimmin so bad though so it was hard. but still a really fun day. plus on the way we saw all these pigs getting cooked. how they do it is just build a fire on the ground and throw the pig in. its so sanitary. ha
on the spiritual side. we are having a lot of success. the other day we were walking down the street there was these two boys 13 and 15 washing a car. i had a really distinct impression to talk to them. so of course i started spitting creole to them. we marked an appointment with them and we are now teaching there entire family the gospel. it is awesome. we work so hard to find families. and we pray to find families. and just because i was trying my hardest to listen to the spirit we found two really awesome investigators and are teaching their family!! its awesome. THIS CHURCH IS TRUE!!! I WILL DIE PREACHING THIS WORD!!! I LOVE THIS PEOPLE AND THE CHANCE I HAVE TO BRING THEM THE TRUTH!!
oh did i mention we had 6 investigators at church!!! yahoo! it went from 0 to 6 in one week. it really made us happy to see that our long hard work is paying off. put two americans together in the middle of the ocean, give them a B.O.M. and without doubt some lives will be saved.
i love yall and want you to know that i have such a strong testimony of this gospel. before i was on the line, sometimes i crossed over to the dark side (ha), but with your help and many others i got out here. and i dont regret it for one second. this is the best experience in the world. i am learning such amazing things about my self and life in general, comes to find out i am a great cook, who would have thought. but i know without a doubt that this is the true church. the joseph smith in fact did see God and Jesus Christ and through the power of God he restored the church again back on this earth. that we have jesus, our redeemer always by our side to help us through life if only we do as Alma directs and put our whole trust in him. the path is dark and life is hard, but with the LIGHT we can do anything, we can walk anywhere. this mission is the hardest thing i have ever done, but it is sooooooo worth it. its seriously LEGIT! its great to be able to change because of difficulties. "by small things great things are brought to pass" by me and my little work that i can put forth amazing things are really happening. i am weak. but God is strong. i always feel him by my side pushing me along. what a great opportunity this is, if you ever talk to any kid wanting or thinking about go on a mission tell him not to worry and JUST GO!! because once you get out here there is no looking back. my testimony has strengthed more than it ever would have back at home working at the golf course ha...
love yall
stay sweet
elder coleman
Friday, April 23, 2010
PICTURES!!! Finally...
We got these through email today... there weren't any descriptions attached, so you will have to make up your own story for them :)
And we're back in business...
Okay, so Elder Coleman has been writing home once a week... but I have been slacking in posting his emails. He has been transfered from Fogo to Praia. He is serving with 4 other american missionaries in the mission home. His new companion is Elder Balls from Idaho... Here is his email that he sent today:
what up familia!!!
so i am just chillin here in the mission house on my p day, get to use internet for free....pretty legit if you ask me anyways. it has been a good p day so far. we went to this way sweet store, its like a huge black market called sukapeda (honestly have no idea how to spell it)....i guarntee half the stuff is stolen that they send there. but i bought some sweet things made out of wood there. i will prolly be sending them home some time soon along with my cards with all my incredibly amazing pics. we have had to work a little bit today because we have to run around places for president. i am getting used to the change of the islands, get used to the change of everything by now. the people, the language, the companion, the office everything is going good. i am already speakin creole of praia so i guess thats pretty sweet. the first week they were making fun of me for talking like fogo but now they dont so i must be speakin good. and this one thug that we talked to the other day said that i talk creole way good, so i dont know maybe i am just awesome. i was thinking in one of my lessons the other day while i was teaching, this is what came in my mind.... "do you realize you are speaking another language? wow i really am speaking another language and the people are actually understanding me...thats legit" haha it really is crazy tho that i am communicating with people in the caveman language of creole. so tight...
man all of my friends are leaving. thats sweet. i did get a letter from jourdan. and i also sent a letter of to daniel.
i seriously dont know how many missionaries are in praia but there is more than 20 and there is a couple missionary here, the larsens from centerville. they are awesome. something else happened awesome tho. so we walked in church on sunday and there was this white guy so we went to talk to him. he is from logan he is here to do some water thing. but he was like elder coleman, do you know jim riley? he told me to kick you in the butt and get to work. ha i guess he used to work with jim at his old engineering place. so that was prettty legit too....
MY SHOES MADE IT!!!! that was exciting when i got those, but not as exciting as when i saw the samoa girl scout cookies! oh man i ate those um bez bai!! they def made me smile. so if you want to just keep surprising me with sweet stuff like that, its seriously completely fine with me. maybe gravy packets would be good tho, i am seriously making some killer food lately. i turned into little chef boy r d if you ask me. i made chicken fetticini. i even made the sauce it was so good. i made some chicken with potatoes and gravy. one thing that you guys wont believe but, i make an AMAZING tuna fish sandwhich from scratch! its awesome. i am so cool huh? kuze modi go nhos ka sabi nada go n ta fazi tudo kusa deretu!! but if you want to send fruit snacks those are always awesome. they have a huge store here like wal mart so there is a lot of good stuff. i found peanut butter so you dont have to send that anymore. but it sure saved me in fogo. thanks. and oh we dont have a microwave. so that sucks...
well i think thats all i really have to say. i answered all your questions i think. the baptisms went thru in fogo. three of them. but i just talked to maocha and the one i baptized wont go to church anymore. he said the law of chastity is to hard to keep, because it is so dang easy to break it here. but i told him to get us butt back there to help him out. if i was still there i know for a fact he would still be going. its just really frustrating that i had the area so good and i leave, and it falls apart but really what can i do, now i have the worries of Praia 3, and we are def gonna make this area better. we have already done like 60 contacts within the past week and a half with around 25 new investigators so we are busy to do our best and help anyone that is ready come unto this church. our area is def a more humble part of praia, and our area is huge so i know there is people out there to teach, we just got to have that holy spirit guide us to them. i am still lovin the mission. i am really enjoying being with an american and balls is really tight. we work in the office from 10 until 1, tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. monday its 10 til 1 and 3 til 6. then we proselyte the other hours 3 until 9. friday is p day. saturday we have weekly planning in the morning. sunday we have church so pretty much every day we work at 3 til 9. but monday and friday we start working at 6...make sense...good!!!!
hope you have yourselves a great day.. peace
elder coleman
what up familia!!!
so i am just chillin here in the mission house on my p day, get to use internet for free....pretty legit if you ask me anyways. it has been a good p day so far. we went to this way sweet store, its like a huge black market called sukapeda (honestly have no idea how to spell it)....i guarntee half the stuff is stolen that they send there. but i bought some sweet things made out of wood there. i will prolly be sending them home some time soon along with my cards with all my incredibly amazing pics. we have had to work a little bit today because we have to run around places for president. i am getting used to the change of the islands, get used to the change of everything by now. the people, the language, the companion, the office everything is going good. i am already speakin creole of praia so i guess thats pretty sweet. the first week they were making fun of me for talking like fogo but now they dont so i must be speakin good. and this one thug that we talked to the other day said that i talk creole way good, so i dont know maybe i am just awesome. i was thinking in one of my lessons the other day while i was teaching, this is what came in my mind.... "do you realize you are speaking another language? wow i really am speaking another language and the people are actually understanding me...thats legit" haha it really is crazy tho that i am communicating with people in the caveman language of creole. so tight...
man all of my friends are leaving. thats sweet. i did get a letter from jourdan. and i also sent a letter of to daniel.
i seriously dont know how many missionaries are in praia but there is more than 20 and there is a couple missionary here, the larsens from centerville. they are awesome. something else happened awesome tho. so we walked in church on sunday and there was this white guy so we went to talk to him. he is from logan he is here to do some water thing. but he was like elder coleman, do you know jim riley? he told me to kick you in the butt and get to work. ha i guess he used to work with jim at his old engineering place. so that was prettty legit too....
MY SHOES MADE IT!!!! that was exciting when i got those, but not as exciting as when i saw the samoa girl scout cookies! oh man i ate those um bez bai!! they def made me smile. so if you want to just keep surprising me with sweet stuff like that, its seriously completely fine with me. maybe gravy packets would be good tho, i am seriously making some killer food lately. i turned into little chef boy r d if you ask me. i made chicken fetticini. i even made the sauce it was so good. i made some chicken with potatoes and gravy. one thing that you guys wont believe but, i make an AMAZING tuna fish sandwhich from scratch! its awesome. i am so cool huh? kuze modi go nhos ka sabi nada go n ta fazi tudo kusa deretu!! but if you want to send fruit snacks those are always awesome. they have a huge store here like wal mart so there is a lot of good stuff. i found peanut butter so you dont have to send that anymore. but it sure saved me in fogo. thanks. and oh we dont have a microwave. so that sucks...
well i think thats all i really have to say. i answered all your questions i think. the baptisms went thru in fogo. three of them. but i just talked to maocha and the one i baptized wont go to church anymore. he said the law of chastity is to hard to keep, because it is so dang easy to break it here. but i told him to get us butt back there to help him out. if i was still there i know for a fact he would still be going. its just really frustrating that i had the area so good and i leave, and it falls apart but really what can i do, now i have the worries of Praia 3, and we are def gonna make this area better. we have already done like 60 contacts within the past week and a half with around 25 new investigators so we are busy to do our best and help anyone that is ready come unto this church. our area is def a more humble part of praia, and our area is huge so i know there is people out there to teach, we just got to have that holy spirit guide us to them. i am still lovin the mission. i am really enjoying being with an american and balls is really tight. we work in the office from 10 until 1, tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. monday its 10 til 1 and 3 til 6. then we proselyte the other hours 3 until 9. friday is p day. saturday we have weekly planning in the morning. sunday we have church so pretty much every day we work at 3 til 9. but monday and friday we start working at 6...make sense...good!!!!
hope you have yourselves a great day.. peace
elder coleman
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