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 
London
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