Good Stuff

Last P day was so fun. We went over to the Lee's house and they have a huge paintball course in the trees behind their house so our whole zone went and we shot marshmallows covered in flour at each other. It was seriously so fun. Then we went over to the stake presidents house to talk about our focus for this transfer and we got to sit by a campfire and roast marshmallows. I was so happy that's one of my favorite things to do. 

I went on exchanges with Sister Witham this week. That was a blast. I love her a lot. 

We had some pretty good lessons with Michael and Brian. They are both doing well. 

We went put to eat a few times this week. We went to Chic Fil A for lunch. And then one of the institute teachers gave us a gift card to Subway and we went there. Then Sister Ashby wanted to go to subway again for her one month so we did that too. I love eating out. 

We met a fun girl this week that asked us to pray for her dog. So we prayed with her and she told us shes a satanist so we didn't teach her but she seemed nice. 

We also had interviews with the mission President on thursday. That went pretty well. Always love getting to see them. 

I saw a cotton field this week! I dont know why it's so exciting but I've never seen one and it was pretty cool. 

Also, this couple that is serving as service missionaries in the branch, the Haycocks, took us to Cracker Barrel! I was so excited. It was so delicious and the Haycocks are so nice. 

We had a conference call on Friday with the other YSA missionaries to get ideas on how to find people. It was nice to hear all their ideas. There are a lot of YSA wards it seems like. 

On Saturday and Sunday they had this activity where they had all of the high schoolers that are thinking of coming to UGA come and tour Athens and the institute. So there were a lot of extra people at church on sunday.  And I had to talk but it went okay. 

We had a lesson with Elena yesterday and that went really well. We love Elena and it was nice to get to talk with her since the other sisters usually do her lessons.

I gave a talk about the power of prayer on Sunday and so that's what I've been thinking about a lot lately. And one story that I love from the Book of Mormon is the story of Enos. My favorite verses are:

"And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.

5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.

6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.

7 And I said: Lord, how is it done?

8 And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole."

I just love how he cried to the Lord with all his might and with all sincerity. And because of his unwavering faith, he received an answer and was able to receive a remission of his sins. Everytime I read this story I feel the spirit so strong testify to me that there is so much we can all learn from Enos.

Well I hope that yall have a great week! 

Sister Coleman

Pic 1 Sister Ferris and I roasting our marshmallows in our matching shirts

Pic 2 Subway

Pic 3 Cracker Barrel with Sister Haycock

Soaked

It has been a long week! Really good week but super long. 

So on Monday before FHE, we had a lesson with Michael. He told us he didn't want to meet anymore and dropped us. It was pretty sad. But then yesterday, he showed up at church! And he said that he had a change of heart and wants to continue meeting with us! We were very excited!

Transfers this week! Sister Nielson left us and Sister Trussell got her trainee Sister Ashby! It's been fun having her here!

We've had a few member dinners this week that were awesome. I'm so grateful that they are feeding us it's been amazing. 

There was these people that set up across the street from the institute and were having this tent revival thing. They were praying for 50 hours or something. It was really crazy. People thought it was our church that was doing it and we were like uh no sorry. 

Bikes were a weakness again this week haha. My chain fell off and then I got it back on and it fell off again so it took us a while to get that working again. And then once we did, I tipped over on my bike haha. Then, Sister Ashby's bike lock fell off her bike so we went looking for that and we finally found it thank goodness. Fun stuff. 

Game day on Saturday! It was so cold. Like so cold. It was raining all day long amd it was like 50 degrees. We were all soaked from biking around in the rain and them we stood outside for hours handing out hot chocolate to people going to the game. We thankfully had a tent up though so we weren't getting more wet. 

We also went to Canes for an early 5 months celebration for Sister Ferris. We love Canes. 

Yesterday was such a great day! The speakers we had and our Sunday school teacher all did amazing and the spirit was so strong in there. 

Some thing that I loved from Come Follow Me this week was Phillipians 4:7-8

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

I love how when we think on these righteous things, we will be filled with the peace of God. And the peace of God is not the same as the peace we fill because its peace that passes all our understanding. And that is something that I strive to qualify for everyday. 

Anyway, I hope yall have a great week! 

Sister Coleman

Who's staying and who's going

We had our last district council with Sister Hoffman on Tuesday! She's going home! We are so sad but so excited for her. We are excited to see who our new STL will be. 

We got fed everyday this week and it was amazing. They just bring us pizza hut or chic fil a but I love it. They're so amazing for getting us food when they're in college. 

We had a pretty cool experience on Saturday. We felt like we should go to this apartment complex that we had just been to the might before and knock the remaining 4 or 5 doors. So we went back and we knocked on this girls door. Her name is Bella. And she tells us that she has suffered a hard loss recently. We told her that we know that families will be together forever and that she will see them again. She said that she is so glad that we knocked on her door and that we were able to share this message with her. I don't think she's super interested but I know that we were able to help her in her time of need and that's really what matters. 

We found out about transfers! Sister Nielson is leaving and Sister Trussell is going to be training! Sister Nielson is getting switched to Spanish and is opening a new area so its pretty exciting stuff. Sister Ferris and I are staying together! Woot! We are so happy.

The Senior STLs also came and put sticky notes in our apartment and it was very cute. 

This week Sister Ferris and I have really been studying Christlike attributes and specifically charity. And we came across this scripture that we really loved. Its Ephesians 4:32 and it says

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you."

And I love this scripture because it says that we need to be charitable because Christ is so charitable towards us. Even when we don't deserve it. So how important it is for us to be kind and forgiving and charitable. So I hope you all can pray for that gift of charity because it is something that will help all of us be more Christlike. 

Not a lot happened this week so sorry if its shorter than usual. But I hope yall have a great week!

Pic 1 my bff Sister Ferris that staying with me another transfer!

Pic 2 we got free lemonade

Pic 3 and 5the tree that owns itself. This is like one of the famous landmarks in Athens. Some guy owned this tree and in his will he left the ownership of the tree to the tree so it wouldn't get torn down. 

Pic 4 on the bus literally always 

Bashes and baptisms

Action packed week yall. So many things. 

First off. Thursday was my 3 months! Crazy stuff. In about a week I'll be done training so that's pretty wild. Time is going by fast. 

We've had a couple lessons with Michael this week. He's doing pretty well and we are excited for him. He came to FHE and even asked to be added to our member missionary challenge. So that's fun! 

We had exchanges with the STLs this week. I stayed here with Sister Hoffman and it was a blast as always. I love her.

We had a sisters conference on wednesday. So all the sister in the mission got together and we just uplifted each other and heard some great messages. It was in Roswell which is like 2 ish hours away so it was an all day thing but it was very fun.

We finally got our dinner calendar up and running and we got to have dinner with one of our members that is like a chef. He made us homemade chicken alfredo and it was soooo good. 

We had a few bashes this week on accident. This guy we have taught a couple lessons to just went on the internet and was looking up stuff to bash us on and it was pretty bad. We had a very short lesson thank goodness. We tried to meet with another guy we are teaching but he brought a friend with him that took over the lesson and bashed the whole time. We also met this lady on a bench who said she wasn't religious but then just started bashing us about random things. She said we should probably look into other religions because she wants to see us in heaven. Lol.

And then of course Lisa was baptized on Friday! And it was so stressful. So we asked the sisters in Oconee to fill up the font for us since it's their building. So we are on our way to set things up and Oconee called and says that the font isn't filling up because the water isn't working. They had maintenance person there and the bishop and so they were trying to fix it. So then we get another call. Our mission president and his wife are coming to the baptism. So then we were really panicked. Oconee called us back and says the font is not going to work. They said we might have to start filling it with buckets. So we get there and the bishop is calling everyone he knows trying to find a pool or a creek for her to get baptized in. We finally get word from President Joyner that the stake center is free so he hustles over to fill the font and we are calling everyone we know telling them that the baptism was going to be pushed back an hour. We finally got there and let everyone know and the baptism went really well. She looked amazing and she was so happy and gave a beautiful testimony. So that was Sister Ferris and I first baptism. But we are happy. She came to watch conference yesterday and she said she wasn't even nervous about her tests she has this week because she had such an amazing weekend with her baptism. 

Then of course we had conference! President Joyner asked us what our favorite drink was and he brought is each a 12 pack of our favorite drink. It was so amazing. And Conference was amazing. I really loved the new temples announced. And all the talks were so incredible. Something that I really noticed was how they talked a lot about keeping our covenants and it really stood out to me. We make these promises to God that we are going to keep the commandments and be good people and he expects us to keep these promises. Because when we do, we are given so many blessings. We are given way more than we may think we are giving up. I just love thinking about how I can better honor the covenants that I have made with my Heavenly Father. 

Pic 1 and 2 we got awards at the sisters conference. It was a toast instead of a roast that's why they look like bread  mine was world traveler. 

Pic 3 me with uga

Pic 4 just spreading the gospel

Pic 5 Sister Ferris and I stop by this fountain and close our eyes and pretend we are on the Pirates of the Carribean ride.