Fred and George, BYU buddies and Christmas Eve in a Stable

Hiya! 

So this week are Transfers!! ah!!  Sister Griffith has been called to Ipswich as a Sister Training Leader. This means she is basically equivalent to a Zone Leader and goes on exchanges with the sisters in her zone.  

When Sister Wen and I were on an exchange, she came to Canterbury and sister Griffith went to the London North area. 

I am staying in Canterbury (YAY!) and my new companion is........ SISTER ANDERSEN! And we know each other from BYU! We were in the same YSA ward and I basically lived in her apartment because Camille Duncan (I was her Visiting Teacher) and I were with each other ALL the time. I'm really excited. She has been out on her mission 12 weeks and she is going to follow up train me. YAY! Good times. I'm sad that Sister Griffith and I are parting but it was going to happen next transfer anyway because that's when she goes home. So its okay. but we both cried.

There are two little fruit flies that hang out in our bedroom. At first we thought there was just one and we named him George. When we figured out that they had been tricking us and there were two, we had to name George's brother Fred. So Fred and George are our mischevious little flies. They usually leave us alone until we are sitting on our beds and then they fly right into our faces. They're so cute. Fred must have a few horcruxes because I'm sure we've killed him at least twice ;). But mostly we only ever see one of them at a time. 

Sister Griffith and I have great companionship unity. On several occasions we aribitrarily say the same word at the same time or start singing the same song. We are so cool. ;)

"G" is our investigator and he is doing great! Right now he is home for the holidays so we are giving him Facebook lessons and he is also getting lessons from the Sisters in the London South Mission.

On Christmas Eve, we went to help Brother Gili lay down tiles in his kitchen, but his Mother-in-law Bobby, was sick and needed to go to the hospital, so we went to the hospital with them. After that we went to go see Faggs (found out her name is Margaret Hadden but she has gone by Faggs

Margaret ( Faggs )

Chick Soup Ingredients from the Elders

her whole life). She bought us Kentucky Fried Chicken. We ate and laughed (Elder Wu, Elder Mongelli, and Elder and Sister Jones were there as well) and talked. Faggs gave us Christmas gifts of beautiful cashmere scarves and some warm, warm socks. She loves penguins, so we gave her a little toy penguin which at first she thought was an owl. So she named it owl haha. Now Owl the penguin sits by her bed :). We sang Christmas Carols and then Sister Griffith and I left to go have Christmas Eve Dinner and Caroling with Sister Collis (Choir conductor and Relief Society President). She lives outside of Faversham on a beautiful little farm. She lives in the Stables (converted to a house), her neighbor lives in the coach house and another family lives in the barn. THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL. absolutely gorgeous. Small, but gorgeous. Sister Griffith and I sang Carol of Joy, Silent Night, and O Holy Night for all of the neighbors in the barn home. They offered us wine and were so confused when we said, actually can we just have water? haha. But it was wonderful. After that we went to Sister Collis's house (the stables) and had some finger food and conversation with her neighbor John. (WE SPENT CHRISTMAS EVE IN A STABLE! how much better can it get???). Sister Collis knows the Forgotten Carols so we talked and talked about that. It was a lovely evening.

On Christmas we watched Frozen at the Potters, had a wonderful roast dinner, then went to the Burgesses and watched Frozen again. On Boxing day we went shopping (well Elder Mongelli went shopping haha) and then we went to Sister Scotts and ate yummy curry while we watched Tangled, FROZEN, and Despicable Me 1 and 2. A LOT OF MOVIES. but it was good. It was raining pretty hard on the way home and some puddles were jumped in, and the Elders lost their phone. So they had to go back and search. They found it in a puddle, but it was fine :).

Oh how grateful I am that God gave his son. That The creater of the earth would be humble enough to come and dwell on earth, especially to a stable. He gave his life so we can return home to our Father in Heaven. Oh how I love my Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Miracles:

On Saturday we planned to go visit a less active family in Whistable and our back up plan was to visit another  member. Went to the first and no answer, went to the second, and she was home! . She was baptised last year but has had some depression which is why she hasn't been out to church. We were able to have a lovely visit with her and her mom  (not a member), and we got a return appointment! YAY! So now we get to teach "V"! After we visited with them we went to the Whistable Library to have a Facebook lesson with "G" We shared D&C 122 with him. It helped him with some of the anger he has towards God about hard things that have happened to him. He really wants to be ready to be baptised at the end of January. He is truly great.

 Truth Will Prevail! Happy Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Love, Sister Coleman

Water Buffalo Cheese, 300 Cards and singing to the Lord Mayor of Canterbury

  Last Monday Elder Mongelli cooked a REAL Italian meal for our district of missionaries. It was very interesting. It included pasta and salami and Italian Water Buffalo Cheese!  (As you may have guessed I was fascinated by the water buffalo cheese.) It was like normal cheese on the outside but the inside was more like cottage cheese. Search google for pictures :) it was strange in a good way and I was slightly afraid of it :).

On Wednesday we had Zone Conference/Christmas conference. Where 3 zones meet at the Mission Home. President gave a posh training on the Atonement. One of the things I learned was why in the "12 days of Christmas song" there are Two Turtle Doves. During the time when Jesus was born, it was customary for the parents to sacrifice a lamb for a new born baby. (Which is why Mary and Joseph went to the temple.) But in the case of the family not being able to afford a lamb, two turtle doves were an acceptable substitute. Mary and Joseph did not have much in money and could only afford two doves for Jesus. How amazing and ironic that for Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, there was not a lamb to be slain.

I received  one large yellow envelope and one brown box for Christmas- is this what I was suppose to get? The Box was rather jingly inside :) Sister Griffith took the customs labels so I couldn't read what was inside :).  Sis. Griffith and I had to have help carrying the packages through the tube station and to my flat. Couldn't have done it without them. Thanks mama :) 

I love LOVE LOVE my christmas cards and letters! They make me so happy. Also thank you for the stamps, you know me so well. :) Abby's letter had me laughing out loud. I love you all. So excited to see and talk to you on Christmas!

Is there anything else I can pray for? How is Bethie? How is Nate and Abby? How are you? How is Daddy? I love you!

 I am really great. My clothes are warm (thank you so much for all of your wisdom with the wool). My Coat is great. my shoes are great. I am going to get fat because all of the sweets. They are so, so amazing and I have trouble saying no (especially to the chocolate). I have red peppers and cucumbers and green apples in my fridge. :)

At Zone Conference we had a white elephant exchange I gave a chocolate Gruffalo,

and I got .... A HAIR DRYER! Miracles!! So I don't have to buy one and it is a British one and its amazing :).

I had my first Exchange this week with Sister Wen, my Sister Training Leader. She is from Liverpool and is awesome. It started out a little rough because I learned I had been doing certain things incorrectly and we ran over time, and we had to take out some rubbish that was gross, and I was just ashamed and embarrassed. But then we did a companionship inventory right before we went to bed where we told each other 2 things we liked about the other and 1 thing that the other person didn't know about yourself. And that fixed things. The next morning we got straight to work. Sister Wen taught me how to plan more effectively, we planned for our lesson with Gerry and we decided to give away 50 cards for the Christmas Truce event on Sunday. Our lesson went great! We taught Gerry Lesson 3, The Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we first met Gerry he told us he was an atheist, but now he really wants a relationship with Heavenly Father. He has been praying on his own, and in our lesson HE GAVE THE OPENING PRAYER! YAY! He did great! At the end of our lesson I asked Gerry if he would be baptized. He said that he wanted to pray about it. Sister Wen, who is so cool and so bold, straight up said, "What do you think Heavenly Father is going to say?"

G: "He's going to say yes."

Sister Wen, "Exactly. He's not going to change his gospel and say you don't have to be baptized. So Gerry will you prepare to be baptized on the 25th of January?"

Gerry was worried about being ready and we discussed with him that we would make sure he was ready and that if when the day came that he needed another week, we could give him the time he needs. So he said YES. YAYAYAYAY!! .

Gerry is awesome. He is going home for the holidays. We are going to teach him over Facebook for a month till he gets back :).

We had an Epic Christmas Event called "The Christmas Truce" which was a remembrance of the Christmas 100 years ago when German and English WW1 soldiers had a truce on Christmas day and played a game of football together (soccer for y'all americans).  They sang Christmas carols from the trenches to each other. We were given special pass along cards to invite people to the event and on Saturday we decided we were going to get rid of all the cards we had left. So we went to town center and Sister Griffith and I sang, and the elders passed out cards. We gave away 300 cards in 1.5 hours. SO AWESOME. Many people tried to give us money for our singing, but we would say no and hand them the card/invitation to the event.

The Concert went great! The missionary choir came and sang, and the stake choir sang, and I had a solo. :) We had 350 people come to the event including the Canterbury Lord Mayor who personally complimented me on my solo. ahhhh! It was a great missionary opportunity. Music has a power all its own. When we were singing on town center, we sang the Christmas hymns, and the crowd that passed by us would get quieter and listen. That doesn't happen for most street performers. Music that testifies of Christ has power.

We are starting a new initiative in my stake where we missionaries share a message on the 1st and 3rd Sundays in Relief Society class and Priesthood class.  Then we ask the members if they can give an hour or two in the coming month to go out teaching with us. I felt so strongly that we should share the message of the restoration. http://www.mormon.org/beliefs/joseph-smith

Joseph's experience has power. I read Josephs account and then taught them. The first word that God spoke to man in hundreds of years was, "Joseph". He knew who Joseph was, He knows who we are and He loves us. Then, He gave Joseph the answer to all of His problems, "This is my Beloved Son, Hear Him." Jesus Christ is the answer to ALL of life's problems. His Atonement overcomes ALL things. Because of Him regrets become relief, guilt becomes peace, and sorrow can become joy. I know that He lives. I celebrate Christmas because of Easter. He lives. He loves me. He loves you. He loves every single one of us. And He is waiting for us to come unto him, accept and embrace Him. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is God's Church.

I love you all! He is the Gift!

Love,

Sister Coleman

My Flat

Sis. Griffith in the flat.

Sister Wen 

White Cliffs of Dover , chicken soup and miracles

Hiya! How are you? How is Christmas coming along? :)

You should all go listen/read Elder Christofferson's talk from the Christmas Devotional 

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/first-presidency-christmas-devotional-celebrates-birth-jesus-christ

. IT IS GREAT. One thing he said that really struck me was, "If Jesus needed certain experiences (Atonement), why shouldn't we also need experiences to make us who we are." or something like that. meaning that Christ had to do hard things and so do we. Elder Christofferson says it way better than I. He is the second to last speaker. 

Friday was so great. We went in the morning to help Sister Potter set up the cultural hall for the Ward Christmas Party. This involved drilling holes in the cement to hang wires and drapes. But it was fun! at 11:00 we left because we had an appointment with "Janet". We had no idea who she was. Janet texted us on Thursday saying she wanted us to come see her. What the what? We couldnt figure out who she was and how she had our number. Sister G had at some point copied her information into her planner, but we had no memory of meeting her and couldn't find her info in the area book. We went to meet her not knowing what to expect. We got to her house, and Janet gave us Christmas gifts, baked goods, and tells us that she wants to come to church. WHAT!? Apparently the sisters a couple months ago really helped Janet through some hard times and Janet remembers how good she felt when they taught her the gospel. So Janet is awesome. We had planned to visit with her for an hour but we only talked for a few minutes. Our back up plan was to go visit our investigator Jackie (It was so tempting to forget the back up plan and go to the library to email something for the Zone Leaders, but I decided to test out that our back up plan was just as meant to be as our original plan) so we called Jackie (she didn't answer) and we decided to go see if she was there. And she was! We were able to visit with her and give her a short lesson.  Heavenly Father was in charge of us :).

We went to the White Cliffs of Dover on Monday. They are white because they are made of chalk! They look out over the English channel which is 22 miles wide. We could see France! We hiked around and took pictures, it was so so fun.

So, once upon a time Sister Griffith was sick. We asked the elders to bring us a can of chicken noodle soup that I could cook for her. They brought us a raw chicken leg, a couple of carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, and salt wrapped in tin foil. SO FUNNY and rather sweet haha. So, I cooked chicken soup for the first time in my life and wrestled with a raw chicken leg. It was great :)

Thank you thank you for the Forgotten Carols!! They bring me so much joy! And thanks for the camera charger! What a blessing in my life! The camera cord didn't fit in the camera, but I have sent some pics from Sis. G's camera :).

 We met with Faggs again this week and I found out that her leg stump's name is Borris. And when she goes to the Doctor they say, "Oh here comes Borris!" hahaha Most epic leg ever! I love Faggs so so much. Some of my Christmas plans have changed, but on Christmas Eve I am helping a member put up kitchen tiles, then going to see Faggs, then Hanging out with the Relief Society President and going caroling to her neighbors! On Christmas day I am going to the Potters! YAY! and then to a part member family.  On Boxing Day we are going shopping and then to Sister Scotts.

What time do you want me to face time you on Christmas?

I haven't gotten the white envelope. Was it to the mission home or my flat?

I for reals am going to get fat. I am addicted to the chocolate. its so bad. It's a problem.

I'm so happy. I love being a missionary. I love Christmas. I love you all! 

love, 

Sister Coleman

Courage , Cheerfulness, Resolution

Hiyah!

Quote from the London Tube station during World War II:

"YOUR COURAGE

YOUR CHEERFULNESS

YOUR RESOLUTION

WILL BRING US VICTORY."

Applies pretty well to missionary work doesn't it?

This week has been very unusual. We  had so many meetings and then Sister Griffith got sick so we haven't done a lot of work. Sister G. keeps telling me that its okay and that we were where we were suppose to be. But I still feel guilty. I dont think I have enough faith to make miracles happen so I'm working on it through hard core study of the Book of Mormon and some very intimate prayers. Its hard but good. Also I have been being a total thermometer. When things are good I've been happy when the slightest bad things have happened I've been discouraged. Where is my strength? Where is my courage to be happy even when things in life dont go my way? Why can't I be more like Nephi who had courage to do what was good even when everything was hard? The pioneers that walked thousands of miles, that were starving, and sick, and cold still managed to sing "All is Well" every night before they let themselves sleep.  I have a lot to learn. But I'm grateful that I"m realizing my ignorance so soon so that I can repent (change) and become a faithful person throughout my mission.

Funny story: We were on a bus (per norm) and a university student (big black guy) sat down by Sister Griffith. She, trying to start a conversation with him, complimented the pen that he had stuck in his mouth. He looked at her quizzically and then ignored her the rest of the ride. We got off the bus and I made a comment to Sister Griffith about how the guy she was sitting next to was smoking an E-cigarette. Oh the laughter that followed! She thought his cigarette was a pen!! haha!

We visited a beautiful woman on Tuesday. Her name is Faggs. She is REALLY old. But sooo sassy and with it. She doesn't have legs so she doesnt come to church. but we visit her every week. Bethie ,I just want you to come take care of her every day of your life! She is so wonderful. Faggs has been visited by the missionaries for about 30 years (since she lost her legs) and she has an Atlas that every missionary that has ever visited her has signed, drawn mormon jokes, and written notes to her. The Utah page is CRAZY full. But I signed it:). I got Faggs to tell me a little about her life and her life is a total book. A movie.

She was 9 years old and living in India (even though she is English, because her father owned a trading business) when WWII broke out. So they stayed in india and her brothers fought in the war. She came back to the UK when she was a teenager and lived here for several years. Her brother's best friend started courting her, they would go to dances every weekend and to see "the pictures". Faggs played tennis and walked to church miles away. When her husband Tom was trying to propose, they were at a dance dancing and he kept muttering, "should I do it now or later." (meaning before he graduated school or not). and Faggs the sassmaster that she is, said ,"Well it depends on how much you want it". :) SOOOOOOO CUTE. they got married, started having kids, and then when She was 25 she got Osteosarcoma. They didn't have chemo, only radiation, and she is lucky to have lived. She lost both legs. But she is still so happy. She finds joy in life. and makes me laugh. I love her so much. 

We had Zone Meeting  tuesday morning where I was asked to bear my testimony. I said that I am on a mission because I truly believe there are people that I knew in the Pre-Mortal life that knew they were being born into a family that didnt have the gospel and I knew I was being born with the gospel. And they begged me to find them. To bring the gospel to them. Because we all chose Jesus Christ before this life. I believe that everyone can chose Jesus Christ again.  ------------------------------

Your questions for me.

How do you listen to music?  - We listen to music with this cool electronic thingy that can play music through USB and cd

Please tell me you got a charger for your camera??- Nope. Cant find the right store in Canterbury.

  You get up at what time?  Then?  What do you eat for breakfast?  Did your flat have a blanket? Pillow?  How big is your mailbox?

-Wake up at 6:29am every day. exercise, get dressed, eat breakfast of porridge or cereal (Cherrios mostly), personal study, companion study, and then we are out the door! My flat has pillows and blankets :) Mailbox is just a slot in the door.

I got Nater's letter!! It made me so so so happy! I have been tickling my stuffed animals to see if they too are ticklish but no results yet ;)

How do you get to London for the training?  Bus?  And that big oval/round building with people standing infront of it for a mission picture.  What is that building?

-We get to London via a high speed train. Takes about 50 minutes. I MAY HAVE MADE A STOP AT KINGS CROSS ... :) :) The building is the Royal Albert Hall.

Did the lady record Carol of Joy?  If not its ok.  You can give them my email if someone ever does( to email it to me.

-We did get a recording but its too long to email. I will have to mail you a thumbdrive :)

I love you all! Your emails about your day to day stuff make me so happy! Daddy's emails make me cry but its happy cry  :) Please don't ever stop :)

Cheers!

Sister Coleman

Sister Missionaries with Pres. & Sis. Jordan Royal Albert Hall 

Tuesday we had a mission wide conference (meaning all of the England London Missionaries met at the Hyde Chapel in London) because Elder Cook of the 12 apostles came and spoke! Did you know that Elder Cook and Elder HOLLAND were Missionary companions in the England Mission!!! WHAT!?  Its amazing. I also shook Elder Cooks hand!

He talked about building faith in ourselves so we can build faith in others. And how when we teach, having faith and the Holy Ghost, the people we teach will be able to feel it and build upon it for themselves. Greater faith leads to greater success. Just like the woman with the issue of blood, we have to draw near to Christ with faith in order to see miracles. I know these things are true. :) I love you

Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows and the Potters

So there is a Potter family in my ward. the Potters. in my ward. SOOOOO COOL. They are awesome and we are spending Christmas Eve with them!! YAY!

 I made my first ever pumpkin pies all by myself for Thanksgiving. They turned out great but I did drop half of one on the ground... :)

All of the English YSA ( Young Single Adults ) came to Thanksgiving and were totally freaked out by the sweet potatoes with marshmallows on them.  hahaha  Most of them who tried it ate it as dessert because they couldnt handle having sweet and savory flavors at the same time hahaha. It was awesome!

 Saturday Sister Griffith, Elder Mongelli, Elder Wu, and I decided to go' Banner Finding' at town center (diagon alley) in Canterbury. We set up a banner that had mormon.org etc and a picture of Christ on it. Sister G and I sang Christmas songs and Hymns while the elders talked to people on the street. Our goal was to find 4 new investigators with this activity. We didnt even get one. BOOM so disappointing. We sang for so long and so loud our throats were raw. At one point a little English Girl in a sleeping beauty dress approached us and we sang Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer with her. We were starving after this so we got Mcdonalds and then went to get our stuff from the chapel. We were expecting another appointment to come meet us there but he' hosed 'us (didnt show up UK English) . so went outside the chapel to street contact/OYM (open your mouth). We didnt get anyone to stop and talk with us for awhile but then we stopped one man and he said he had seen us singing at town center. We talked for him for about an hour he told us that our singing had been beautiful and he could tell it was straight from our hearts and from Christ. TOTALLY made my day. Even if we didn't get any more investigators, if we succeeded in helping people feel the love of the Saviour we suceeded.

We met a girl,' A', taught her the first lesson, she came to church, and she is planning to get baptized in January! YAY! Please pray for her. Please pray that we will find the people who are searching for the truth.

The Church has launched a really cool initiative for December. It is called HEistheGift. It is a 3 minute film about why Jesus Christ is the focus of Christmas. It is beautiful and wonderful and inspired. I love it. watch it here: christmas.mormon.org

We missionaries have been given special he is the gift pass along cards for this initiative. On December 7 the Church has bought out all the ads on the homescreen of Youtube. There will also be Time Square displays. The goal is to #SharetheGift. Help people discover Christ, embrace Christ, and share their beliefs. Christ is Christmas. Everyone EVERYONE needs to know. Its great. Life is great. Sister Griffith is great. Missionary Work is hard and sometimes disappointing but the church is true. Every single person on this earth can find out for themselves that the church is true. Through faith, scripture study, and diligent prayer. Every one can know. One of the ways I am seeking to Discover and Embrace the Gift is through reading the four Gospels before Christmas.

Oh I LOVE my sheepy linens they are LOVELY and make me laugh. ALSO. There are laundry dryer sheets in all of my clothes and now ALL around my apartment haha.

The biggest struggle of my life are the sinks. In England, there isn't just one faucet. There are two. One has hot water and the other cold. So when you want to wash your hands you either burn your hands, freeze them, try and go a back and forth thing, or (what you are suppose to do but I think its germy) is plug up the sink and let it fill up with water and then wash your hands in the basin. UGH. hahaha but its fine really. The struggle is real. So are the cobblestones. I trip on them ALL the time. I swear everytime I do all the Englishmen are thinking, OH there's an American! haha but its funny. and Sis G and I laugh about it.

Mailing address:

30 London Road

Canterbury, Kent

CT28LN

How you got to Canterbury:

So I got off the plane, and was met by Elder Davis who is a Senior Missionary from England. We drove through London to the Hyde Park Chapel/Visitors Center/Mission office where we were all day in meetings, interviews, and even street contacting (this is when I seriously COULD NOT keep my eyes open). Then I met Sister Griffith. We hauled all my luggage and the large one without a handle through the tube to a long distance train where Brother and Sister Jones met us and took us to our flat (9:00 pm). Then I crashed. :)

Where do you eat dinner? lunch?:

I have only been fed by the ward once. We are trying to build up our relationships with the ward so this can happen more often and we can teach more lessons (and get more referrals from them.) So usually sister Griffith and I make something for ourselves or we go buy something. We ate at Subway the other day and McDonalds. :)

Impressions of Pres and Sis Jordan?:

They are scary. ;) but really you dont mess with the Jordans. They are very Professional and Buisness like which is good. I havent had any personal interactions with them yet but im okay with it :)

Future recordings of you singing!!!! :

Sister Griffith and I are singing Carol of Joy this Wednesday at the Ward Relief Society Christmas Party. I will ask someone to record it:)

ALSO. I can totally listen to good wholesome music. Forgotten Carols PLEASE!! Also have you ever listened to "The Lamb of God"? it is kind of like the Messiah but just the last week of Christ's life. IT IS BEAUTIFUL. listen to it.

How are you? What are you up to? What did you do this week? What are your plans this week? I love you all! Im out of time!

I havent sent pictures because I think I left my camera charger/cord at the MTC. hopefully buying a new one this week from the shop!

love you!

LOVE,

Sister Coleman