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!

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

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