Weekly Email

April 29, 2019

We had some fun family nights this week, one of the pictures is attached. We also worked a lot on our secret coding project which is always fun. We're pretty much done with Version 1 of 5! 

We were in a lesson with this 6 year old kid that started reciting all of the planets as well as their composition and size. We doubted him when he said that the earth has a radius of about 6,000 Km... We were wrong and the kid was right; didn't miss it by a kilometer. So our mission should be pleased that a kindergartner is smarter than the office agents 

We talked to one of our friends about making the decision to change now, and we shared the words of Amulek in Alma 34 when he admonished the Zoramites to "not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end." We must remember that "now is the time and the day of [our] salvation. This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." As the living prophet in our day Russell M. Nelson taught 3 weeks ago, we must choose now to do a little better and be a little better every day.

Elder Coleman

Weekly Email

April 10, 2019

Friends and Family,

Lots of coding this past week and a half. It was really nice to go to the temple today and take a little bit of a break. Back to the modern grind though...

Last week I wrote a little bit about faith, and how many people believe in Jesus Christ, yet when trials come they often doubt their confidence that He can actually make a difference in their life. This past week, we felt that we were supposed to share a certain message with someone, but as we were teaching I started to fear that our friend would be offended or react in a bad way. As I thought about this, I remembered the words of the Savior: "How is it that you have no faith?" I figured I should probably trust Him, and the lesson went really well. Later that day, we were hitting what seemed like an unmovable wall with our coding project, and we were getting worried that it was not going to be possible. Again, the same thought came to my head: "How is it that you have no faith?"

The past week I spoke of an experience where a man asked us to open the Book of Mormon randomly and he would read something that would help him. In that experience, I doubted for a moment that it was possible. Last week it was doubt, this week it was fear. We know from the scriptures that doubt and fear are two very common feelings that are faith destroying. This is why the Savior admonished us to "look unto me in every thought. Doubt not. Fear not." It is why Peter began to sink after he feared the wind and the waves, and Christ gently said, "O ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt."

Although many of us say we have faith, we often have doubts or fear when our trust in God is put to the test. We feel that we don’t believe enough to make miracles occur, and in doing so we forget that the Savior taught his apostles: "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." I know that we will never be let down whenever we put our trust in God. 

Weekly Email

April 1, 2019

Friends and Family,

Last week on Monday we went to Toledo and I bought a sword. Pictures included.

I made spanish empanadas this week (empanadas but with Spaniard things like chorizo). They're not a thing, but they were super good. We also ate with a lady that we're teaching who's from Paraguay. She said she was bringing out the soup, and brought out these little cakes; I was super confused and was just waiting for the soup. Apparently they call these egg omlet cake things "soup".

We found a really awesome girl on Facebook this week. She was really interested in learning more, and hasn't stopped talking to us since Wednesday; too bad she lives on the other side of Madrid so other missionaries will have to visit her. We did find a Catholic Priest on Facebook that lives right next to us, and we went out to a pastry shop and talked a little bit. We were also calling random people in our phone, and we called this dude that was taught by missionaries for several years, and he told us he wanted to meet the next day. We went to his house and he was such a jolly old Spanish dude. He showed us around his house, fed us some sweets, and talked with us a lot about his beliefs and such. He wanted to test the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon by opening it up to a random verse and start reading to see if it helped him. We did. And it did. Never doubt the power of the word of God.

On Sunday right before sacrament meeting I was asked to give a short talk during the meeting. I had been thinking a lot about the high expectations that many of feel, and how many people feel that they always fall short. I talked about the need to do everything within our power, but not to feel down when we don't do everything. It made me think of a conference talk my mission President recommended I read by Lawrence Corbridge. He said:

"The Lord’s way is not hard. Life is hard, not the gospel. 'There is an opposition in all things,' everywhere, for everyone. Life is hard for all of us, but life is also simple. We have only two choices. We can either follow the Lord and be endowed with His power and have peace, light, strength, knowledge, confidence, love, and joy, or we can go some other way, any other way, whatever other way, and go it alone—without His support, without His power, without guidance, in darkness, turmoil, doubt, grief, and despair. And I ask, which way is easier? Life is hard, but life is simple. Get on the path and never, ever give up. You never give up. You just keep on going. You don’t quit, and you will make it." (Read the full talk at https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/the-way?lang=eng)

There are winners and there are quitters. Regardless of how long it takes us to overcome our personal weaknesses, if we endure to the end while trying our best, if we finish the race, we will be winners. If we don't make it, it won't be because we're "not good enough". It will be because we gave up and stopped trying to become better. "Don't quit, and you will make it."

Elder Coleman

Pic1 - Sword
Pic2 - Toledo
Pic3-5 - cute dogs