Stop by for your hemp experience

Hey yall

Its October time! I'm so pumped. Hopefully it will start to feel like fall here and not be 95 degrees all the time. But I'm just excited for Halloween time. Theres nothing better. 

This week we got a call that we are officially going to be 2 companionships now instead of being in a quad. So Sister Ferris is my official companion now. We spent a good amount of time transferring teachi ng records and redoing schedules. Not the most fun thing I've ever done but oh well.

We got to go to lunch with this super sweet girl we met on campus. Her name is Claire and she has a friend serving a mission in Boise. She's so fun and cute. 

Lisa had her baptismal interview this week! We are so excited for her!

We met with this guy named Octavian who told us that he received an answer from the Holy Spirit that the Book of Mormon isn't true. And we asked him if he read it and prayed about it and he said no so... he's confused I think.

The new Book of Mormon video came out! It was so good. I dont know about yall but my favorite character is Laman. He's great. 

On Saturday we all decided it would be fun to bike in 1st speed and 1st gear. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen and I've never laughed that hard in my entire life. Sister Nielson was pedaling so fast her shoe fell off. I almost peed my pants. 

Also on Saturday, we were invited to a stake youth activity to teach a little thing on family history journals. It was pretty fun! It's interesting working with the youth and being around people that aren't 18-29 but we had fun. 

After that activity, President Joyners daughter Kayla picked us up and took us out to eat. It was so nice. 

Yesterday we thought it was fast Sunday and when we got there we found out it wasn't so we were a little sad about it haha. I loved the video for the new youth program that they showed. It was incredible. After the video, we got up and introduced this member missionary challenge that we came up with and we are pretty excited about it. It's a competition so hopefully that will motivate them to get more involved. We also finally got a dinner calendar going and we had so many people sign up! It was the best moment of my life. 

Sister Ferris and I found this new place to tract yesterday and there was this bulldog statue that looked SO REAL. It took me a while to figure out of it was. Kinda scared me. I should've taken a picture of it but I didn't. Oops. There was also this super creepy elevator there that we went in. We are going to film a movie in there. 

Funny story from this week, we saw all these stickers around campus that said Habbakuk 2:14 on them and all of us except Sister Nielson thought it was from the kharan (I dont know how to spell it but you get the picture). Then Sister Nielson looks up the scripture and I was like how do you have the kharan on your phone?? Turna out Habakkuk is in the bible. Who knew. 

Also we biked by a dentist office that said "stop by for your hemp experience" on the marquee. So dont go there.

I was reading in Helaman this week and there is a verse helaman 3:35 that says 

"Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God."

And I read something that says that humility is not weakness but it is an indication that you know where your true strength lies. And I loved that. Humility seems like a weakness sometimes but it really is just knowing that your strength is in the Lord and not in yourself. 

Hope yall have a great week

Sister Coleman

Pic 1 we are excited for fall!

Pic 2 dinner and a movie 

Pic 3 found out I'm related to bloody Mary 

Flu Shots and Rug Burns!

Lots of fun stuff to report this week!

First off, we found this new way to make biking a lot easier! We decided to play Mario Kart while we are biking. So if you slap a trashcan or mailbox you get a weapon and you can zoom to the front or throw a banana. It's pretty fun.

This week we went out to eat with a recent convert named Mattheus. Theres this place right across the street from the institute called Cali N Titos and they have good tacos. But then on Friday, we were able to go to his ordination. He got the priesthood and a temple recommend and we are so excited for him! His girlfriend came from Utah to be here for it and it was pretty awesome. He's incredible. 

After the ordination, President Joyner went and bought us Cane's. He's an angel honestly. We are our Cane's and watched the new Book of Mormon video!! Who watched it? It's so good I'm so excited for the rest of them. The trailer is incredible I loved that too.

We met this guy Harlis on campus the other day and we were able to have a lesson with him this week. He also brought his two friends Chris and Marquette. They're pretty interesting but they're awesome. 

Lisa is still doing really well. We are getting ready to start planning her baptism! 

We also got to watch the devotional that President Nelson gave at BYU and we loved it. I love how he explains things and I love how inspired he is to talk about the things that he does. My favorite part was when he talked about how God's laws are a reflection of his love. He gives us these laws so that we can progress and become more like him. And that's an expression of love by him. 

The best parts of this week were zone conference and the game!

So zone conference we talked about so many amazing things. We got so many new ideas of how to find people and talk to people. After that conference we went out and hit it hard and we were able to find 13 new people. A miracle honestly. We love zone conference. 

Also at zone conference, we got flu shots! Woot. I was excited I dont want to get sick so. But we had an interesting time getting flu shots. I was waiting with Sister Ferris until she was done with her shot and I look over and this elder gets up from his chair and passes out on the floor. So President Marsh runs over and the elder finally opens his eyes and says "hey president". Poor guy is okay but he has some major rug burn on his face that looks like it hurts pretty bad. 

We also had an elder fly over his handle bars on his bike the other day and break his wrist. He had to have surgery on it to get some screws and things. Bike safety yall. And flu shot safety I guess?

We went on exchanges after zone conference and that was pretty fun. We had Sister Hammons with us and we had a blast. Always love learning from other missionaries. 

And of course. Game day!!! Go dawgs! This Saturday Georgia played Notre Dame and it was a huge game. But it was so fun. 

One of the members, Micah, is in ROTC and they were putting those little pom pom shaker things on every seat in the stadium so he invited us to come help. So guess who got to go in the stadium!! It was so fun. There are a lot of seats in there though haha. We also got to go see where ESPN was set up. Crazy game yall. We stood outside the institute and handed out lemonade and cards which went pretty well but everyone was pretty drunk so I dont think they'll remember it haha. And the dogs won 23-17 so that just made it all the better. 

Something I wanted to tell yall about is something we do in our mission called yellow pad prayer. And really what it is, is a way to receive personal revelation. We have yellow legal pads but you can use any paper you want (just dont tell President Marsh). And we open a prayer like normal, but then you ask for the guidance and questions you have and you leave the prayer open ended and write down the impressions and promptings you receive on the pad. Because as we write them down, we are better able to recognize them, we remember them, and we will act on them. In our prayer we also make what we call perfect boxes. And they are just boxes you can check off for things God wants you to accomplish tomorrow. It's been really helpful for me to be able to really listen to what God is telling me. And after you've done all this you can finish out your prayer. 

Its has been an awesome experience trying to figure out how to do this and receive that revelation from God but it is really helpful. So I would just encourage yall to write down those thoughts and impressions you get as you're praying so that you're able to show God that you will act on those things. 

Mouth Burns!

Alright yall lots of good things happening here. 

We met with this guy named Michael this week. He was referred to us by his friend that is on a mission in the Provo area. He's very interesting. He doesn't believe most of the things we are telling him but he's willing to read and pray. And he came to church yesterday! I think that he enjoyed it. So we are hoping that he will keep putting in that effort. Our second lesson with him we were able to get a member Sophia to come to the lesson with us and she was so helpful and was perfect for the lesson. 

We've been teaching Lisa a lot and she's doing so well. She has so much faith and she is preparing so well for baptism. 

On campus the other day, this guy came up to us and sat down and was trying to soft bash us. It was pretty funny. We shut him down pretty quick because we weren't about to bash with him. 

On Thursday we had exchanges with the Athens 1st sisters! So Sister Witham came here with us and it was really fun! We had english classes while she was here and that was fun as always. I learn way more than the people honestly. English is hard. 

On thursday we got to go to the temple! It was amazing. I love going to the temple. It's especially amazing being able to research my family and do their ordinances for them. That's one thing that I love about this mission is the emphasis on family history.

Let me just tell yall though that I'm glad I didn't have to drive to the temple. Atla ta traffic is so horrible. I would not have made it honestly. 

We had a pretty good lesson with one of our friends named Dele. But he dropped us a couple days ago so oh well. It happens. 

The Lee's from the 1st ward invited us to dinner on Friday and it was a lot of fun. They made super good tacos. I had a lot of them. And they made this chocolate fondue stuff with fruit to dip it in. So yummy. 

Also, our zone is getting zone shirts so that's exciting.

The best part of the week was the game. Georgia played Arkansas state and they won big. The weather was a lot cooler so it was much more enjoyable. This may be hard for you to believe, but my favorite thing is street contacting. I love stopping people in the street and talking to them. At the games, we wait for the light to turn red and we go up to people's cars and give them free lemonade and a pass along card. It's so fun. Also, this radio station sets up across the street from us and gives out free Dr Pepper and I won a free t shirt from them. It was incredible. 

Last Saturday, I burned the top of my mouth on some fried chicken, and it is still super burned. It hurts really bad to eat. So basically, dont get too excited about your chicken. Let it cool down first. That's my lesson for the day. 

Something I've been thinking about this week is how satan gets to us. I was reading Alma 30 about Korihor and its interesting to see the parallels of the things he was saying and the things that are said today. It's the same. So as I read, I saw the ways that Alma was able to deal with Korihor and I've learned a lot from him about how to stay on the path and not let the devil get into our hearts. So I would invite yall to read that and look for those parallels and the things that you can to to resist the temptation. 

Have a great week!

Sister Coleman 

Game Day!

Hey everyone! Another week here in Athens. And a good one at that.

My first question is if there are such a thing as an alive armadillo. We have seen so many smashed ones but not a live one so I think it's a myth honestly. 

We had to drop Shania this week but we feel pretty good about it  one day she may have her heart open to this but she's not ready right now. And that's okay. We will have more time to go out and find those that are ready. 

We met this guy this week that we taught again a few days ago. His name is Dele. He seems pretty open but we aren't super sure if he's interested so I'll keep you posted on that. 

So this saturday was the first home game! Game day is a blast. We invited the other missionaries that are in Athens and we all stood outside the institute and talked to people and handed out lemonade. It was so fun. It was a super hot day but we were excited to be there. 

We walked over to the game and got to see just a little bit of it and hand out cards to people. And they won so go dawgs!

Yesterday was stake conference. We didn't have any of the people we are teaching show up but that's okay. Next sunday. But there were some amazing speakers.

We had interviews after church yesterday with President and Siser Marsh. Those were fun as well. It's nice to get to hang out with other missionaries and learn and laugh together. 

The highlight of this week was Lisa yall. I don't know if I've fully explained how we met her so a little background. So Sister Ferris and I met Lisa tracting probably around a month ago. We knocked on her door and she was really interested in our message so we got her number. We texted her and never got an amswer... so fast forward about 2 weeks. We are texting people about the institute opening social and Sister Trussell suggests that we should text everyone in our area book so we spent an hour and a half texting everyone we could find. And guess who responded? Lisa! 

So she came to the social and was super interested and we were able to set up a time to meet with her and we have met with her a few times. So we felt we should invite her to be baptized last sunday. She said that if she kept feeling the way she was then she definitely would want to be baptized. 

We met with her on wednesday and it was incredible. She said that she had been praying to know if this is true or not. And on campus she ran into one of the members Tucker. She said that they talked for about an hour and he shared with her about his conversion and how he felt the spirit and received his confirmation that it was true. She said that she realized that is how she felt and that this was her answer right here. So she told us that she knows that it's True and she wants to be baptized!!! 

I'm just so happy for her. She has such a light about her and she's so excited to keep progressing and growing in her faith. And this showed me how important members are! It's so important that we follow the promptings of the spirit because we may be the answer to someone's prayer. This will change her life and it's because the spirit was able to work through Tucker. So always try to follow those prompting gs because you never know the impact you could have!

If yall didn't watch President Nelson's birthday celebration you need to. It was incredible. There's no one cuter than him.

I just wanted to share 1 Corinthians 14:33 "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace." Anytime that I'm confused about something or the church seems too complex, I always have to break it down to the basics and think about how God is not the author of confusion. And after I pray I always get that peace and remember that it's not complicated at all

Have a great week

Sister Coleman

Monopoly Deal

Good weeks always. Long week this week but still pretty good. 

Monday we went to Olive Garden with the STLs and it was so good. I haven't had that in a while and it was amazing. We took 14 breadsticks home because we just had to.

We are teaching these 2 guys Tripp and Colton. We got to all 4 be in a lesson with them this week and they are so cool. They have a lot of sincere questions and they are pretty committed to reading the Book of Mormon. 

Things with Lisa have been so great! She's progressing so much already. We were able to get her a ride to church yesterday so she came to that and to branch dinner last night. It's so great. She told us if she keeps feeling the way that she is, she will definitely get baptized so we are so excited for her.

We still have Elena on date to be baptized September 28 so we are going to start planning that here pretty soon!

And this week we got another girl on date for baptism as well! Her name is Mayson. She was a referral and she is just the sweetest person ever. She's so nice and cute and we are excited for her to take this next step.

It's just been a week full of miracles. We have recommitted ourselves to using the Family and Tenples initiative that President Marsh has and so we've been using it with increased vigor and so many miracles. All of the people we have progressing is a miracle. Also, we went to institute this week and 4 people showed up that aren't members. So we got all their information and we are going to meet up with them soon. Like how does that even happen? Turns out one of our members has been killing the member missionary work and invited all of them to come. 

We met with another guy named Alex this week. He was also a referral. He has a couple friends that are on missions and so they invited him to meet with the missionaries. He seems very cool and we are excited to work with him. 

We are still teaching Shania as well. She isn't progressing as much as we had hoped and so we are just praying that she will read the Book of Mormon and sincerely pray about it because thats the only way to know the truth. Hopefully things will go well with her this next week.

We've also been having english classes. It's been pretty fun. It's kind of hard to teach advanced level English but we are figuring it out. We have like 4 or 5 people that come so that's pretty good honestly. 

Every week we do 2 hours of family history. And this week I was able to find some of my ancestors that served missions and read about them. And one of them is Frank Peter Peterson. He was from tiny town of Teasdale,Utah. And he was called to serve in Denver Colorado. He served faithfully but he ended up dying while in the field. He got pneumonia while in Colorado and passed away there. I have loved learning about these ancestors and the hard things that they went through for this church and for me to be where I am now. I can't wait to thank him for his service some day.

Also Sister Trussell got this game called monopoly deal and we play it like every night. It's so fun. 10/10 would recommend.

Saturday was Georgias first football game of the season and they won! Go dogs! 

Trasfers!! We are all staying here at UG. So no transfers for us. 

Something I've been thinking about this week is the power of our testimony. I found a quote that says 

"Simply stated, testimony—real testimony, born of the Spirit and confirmed by the Holy Ghost—changes lives. It changes how you think and what you do. It changes what you say. It affects every priority you set and every choice you make. …

… To bear testimony is ‘to bear witness by the power of the Holy Ghost; to make a solemn declaration of truth based on personal knowledge or belief’. Clear declaration of truth makes a difference in people’s lives. That is what changes hearts. That is what the Holy Ghost can confirm in the hearts of God’s children."

Our testimonys have so much power. It can change hearts and lives. I know that this is true and that every one of you can be an impact on someone by bearing your pure testimony. 

Love always, 

Sister Coleman