Stuff

Hiya!!! We have had a great week! We have tried an new strategy.
Whoever is holding the Book of Mormon stops someone and then we
switch. We have had a great week! I loved All the emails!
The house they filmed for Bruce Wayne's house is outside Leighton buzzard!
We took a pic!

I love my ward, my companion, my district! My whole life!
We have seen many miracles this week! We found 6 new investigators!
Whohoo! Life is good!

Look up the Mormon green eggs and ham story about Brother Lurch.

Sorry this is such a rubbish email, we made music videos with the
district all day and ran out of time.

We worked hard this week. Never have felt so good and so tired. I love
Sister Phillips. Went on an exchange with sister Rodriguez and it was
so fun. I love you so much! The book is blue! The church is true!!

I loved Daddy's account of the Hun!

Love, Sis Coleman

Joy in His Kingdom

Hiya! Ya'alrigh?

I'm al'righ! I recieved the GREATEST compliment this week from the lovely Mander family. 

This is how the conversation went: 

Sis Mander: 'Where are you from?' 

Me: 'I'm from this reeally exotic place called Utah.'

Sis Mander: 'No. You're joking!'

Me: 'I'm from Utah.'

Sis Mander: 'I lived in Utah for a couple of years and you do not sound like you are from Utah. You have been Anglicised my friend.' 

Me: 'YES!'

haha:) Since pointing this out to me, and because my companion is from Utah, I have noticed I am a bit English. I don't have a full blown accent or anything, but my vowels and my 't's and my grammar are just a bit more English then they were. I am quite pleased with that ;).

This week was so great! Sister Phillips is great! She is working so so hard. She is a great missionary :). yup. We worked hard this week :). Lots of ill investigators or dropped us or rescheduled appointments so we did lots of OYMing( opening your mouth )  and a bit of tracting around less actives and such. I feel pleased with our week.

Miracle: Went to contact a man from our area book and he has moved, we told the man that did live there that we were sharing a message about Eternal families and how you can know it through prayer and left him with a pass-a-long card. Well, he texted us that night and says he wants to meet! Please pray he wont have to work a night shift on Saturday so he can come to church on Sunday :)

Cool experience this week:
We realized Saturday night that it was fast sunday, and we wanted to fast as a companionship. We had been out tracting and it was late. We were sitting on a brick fence/wall and we really counseled together on what we should fast for. We said a short prayer sitting there and asked Heavenly Father what we should fast for. We both felt the spirit really warm in our hearts and decided we should fast for the pass-along card/texted us later guy.  So we decided to start our fast, but we didn't want to just stand or sit, we really wanted to kneel. There was no good place, but we went behind a bush in someone's driveway and knelt in the gravel to pray and start our fast. I don't know if it really made a difference to Heavenly Father if we knelt or not, but I definitly felt more commited to do what I had prayed for. And felt more humble and ready to do whatever He would have me do. :)

We had a mission wide conference yesterday about Member Missionary Work and it was brilliant.  I'm excited to be a missionary at home because of all of the things he taught us. It actually comforts me that this feeling doesn't have to end at 18 months. I wanted to share them with you and invite you to try some of these Ideas of sharing the gospel with our friends:

1. Decouple your friendship from the invitation. Before inviting them to learn about the church you can say, 'I want you to promise me that if you're not interested, you'll say no. Do you promise?' then you can ask 'Would you like to learn about what makes mormons tick?'...etc

2. Invite non-member friends to help you in your calling. Brother Clayton Christensen shared several stories of asking friends to help him teach a class, teach young mens, asked for their point of view on a sacrament talk and then invited them to come hear it, help in hosting a relief society activity or making something for a service project, just asking friends for help in fulfilling your calling. Brilliant. And they feel the spirit while they help. :) 

3. Setting a date. Set a date with the Lord of when to find a friend to invite to meet with the missionaries. And then go to work :) Miracles follow fasting and praying about finding someone by that date.

So I don't really want anything for Christmas. Please don't send me clothes or anything because I will have to carry it around. What I would like is this: Would all of you consider these ideas and invite a friend to learn about the church, or invite a friend to help you in your calling, or set a date of when you will invite someone and do it? Will you share the gospel with someone in some way and then tell me about it for Christmas?? What better gift could we give the Lord? Feel free to ask the missionaries near you for help, for ideas. Maybe you could share a Christmas video or message on a friend's wall or invite someone to dinner with your family, or take them a gift about the Saviour. Will you all do that?

I promise as you do this, you will be filled with the joy of missionary work. They don't have to say yes or be baptised, Success in missionary work comes in the inviting. The spirit of missionary work comes in the inviting. and it feels so good. People do not get offended when they know you are sincere in loving them. So I know I'm asking this as a gift for me, but really I'm hoping this will be a gift for you. Because it is the best feeling in the world to have the peace in your heart knowing that the Saviour can count on you to help.

"15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!  16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!
 17 Behold, you have my gospel before you, and my rock, and my salvation.
 18 Ask the Father in my name in faith, believing that you shall receive, and you shall have the Holy Ghost, which manifesteth all things which are expedient unto the children of men."
I know you can do it! This is really the only way I can think of to help you understand how wonderful this mission has been.

And I know it can happen in UTAH! 

Experience: IN High School, IN UTAH, I became really good friends with a girl in my Wildlife Biology class. We always sat by each other and chatted. Then she was in my seminary class. One day I asked her if she would say the opening prayer and she whispered to me, 'I can't, i'm not a member'. I was SO surprised. I whispered to her that she could still say the prayer if she wanted to, but if she didn't then that was fine too. She told me later that she was meeting with the missionaries because her other friend had introduced her to them. We became really great friends and even did our final project in Biology together. A couple months later, she asked me if I would say the opening prayer at her baptism. I was delighted. I have never,  to this day, felt the spirit more strongly than I did that day at her baptism. It was powerful. She was my friend and I was overjoyed to see her join. and in the program I was Chole.

YOU CAN DO IT TOO! :) 

I love you all! 

Please email me if you have more questions or if you want some more ideas or if you are worried about this idea!

LOOOOVVE,

Sister CHOLE Coleman

Hold To The Rod

Sis. Coleman and Sis. Phillips

Elder Clayton Christensen visit

Last day with Sis. Obley

There can be miracles.

So here we walk. Everywhere. We don't have funds for infrequent buses
so we walk. My feet are so Dagum tired haha. But it's good cause I
fall asleep immediately. It's fun. We are just working hard. Right now
Heavenly Father is teaching me how to be diligent. It feels good when
I have a diligent day :).

Investigators: they are gone. M- has been ill, B- is in Thailand
and S- have disappeared. But it's all good. I learned in Colchester
that there are phases of teaching and not teaching so right now I'm
just enjoying the finding and visiting less actives and members. I
love this ward.

Miracle: we were contacting a potential investigator from our area
book, she wasn't home, but we decided to talk to a lady sitting
outside of the flat. She had two tattoos of angels with names and we
asked her about them. She said they were for her step mom and her son
who had died. We asked her if she believes in eternal families. She
did. We testified to her about eternal marriage and the temple and the
fact that we CAN be together with our families forever. We asked her
if a temple marriage was something she would want to work for. She
said yes! We taught a bit more about baptism and church and I told her
about the Make-a-Wish foundation because of a congenital disease her
daughter has. Then we asked if there was anyone we could pray for. She
asked us to pray for her brother----long story short--- sister Obley
is friends with her brother on Facebook! She stopped him on the street
last transfer. As we were preparing to leave I got an impression to
give her a Book of Mormon. I hesitated because I knew we would have to
take more of her time to explain it, but we did it anyway. As we
showed it to her she said, 'I know that book! My parents use to be
visited by missionaries when I was a little girl. We would read it
together and go to church. They even gave me a blessing.' She
explained that her father loved the elders as his sons and when they
went home they stopped learning. She gave us the address of her dad to
contact him again. We gave her the Book of Mormon and assigned Alma 40
for her to read before we see her again on Friday!
God is good!!! The church is true! The Book of Mormon is true!!

I love you all!!
Love, sister Coleman

The field is white

Border of England London Mission and England London South  Mission 

The London Eye
The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London.

You're a wizard Sis. Coleman

This is just the best week ever.

1st. Harry Potter. Its all real. Harry is a wizard.  I looked in the Mirror of Erised and saw myself at Harry Potter Studios so I know it really works. I almost cried. Coolest thing: Most of the things I thought were animated in the films were actually animatronic. machines and such. it was sweet. I knocked on #4 privet drive with a Book of Mormon. They weren't in, but I sent them a Pass-a-long card by Owl. It was so great. I flew on a broom and in Mr. Weasleys car and I rode the Hogwarts Express. The floor of the great hall is real stone from a castle. Snape's costume is actually navy blue not black because under theatre lights black looks dusty. His hair also has blue streaks. When they first filmed they used real candles floating in the great hall but the wax dripped on the actors so they animated them. life is great.

Miracle week! !

We found 3 families this week!

N and M : have two kids. They want to be sealed. This is the lady from last week. She is GREAT. They asked us to come back and teach them again.

N and T : We knocked on Nikkies door back in July and haven't been able to see her since. Knocked on Thursday and she invited us in. She read the Plan of Salvation Pamphlet and she agrees with it! She thought it made so much sense! Her son came in while we were teaching and said his friend was telling him about what happens after we die with kingdoms and such.-turns out he is friends with one of the young women in the ward-Hannah Cracroft. She is helping us teach him.

S- Fund her on Saturday.  We taught her about eternal families she was really interested. she has 4 kids and the youngest is 3 months. ADORABLE. She wants to learn more and come to church. 

MIRACLES!

M- is still really ill. We put paper hearts on his door the other day and it just made him so happy. He was really touched. I talked to an 88 year old man the other day who flew airplanes in WW2. Old English people are SO COOL because they were right in the middle of WW2.

It is transfers this week. Sister Obley is leaving :(. We have had just the most amazing transfer. We both have cried. I will be follow up training Sister Phillips from Utah. 

 Do you have to pay when packages are delivered to the Mission home?  or only to your flat?  Do you have to pay for the DHL packages or just the US mail packages?  I don't know.  i think just when it's a big one? it isn't safe to have packages delivered to our flat.

Red phone booth, do they have working phones in them?   YES. but. they STINK. They smell like a urinated cat. at least the Leighton Buzzard ones.

This is what I have learned this transfer: faith + diligence= miracles. I am really learning about diligence. It is all coming together. I am happy. :) The summer is pretty much gone. it is raining pretty much every day now so I have pulled out my boots and my jumpers and such. One of the blessings of tracting in the rain is that people take pity on you and invite you in :). and you get to sing and jump in puddles :). I love my whole LIFE! i CAN DO anything Good! Better! with Jesus Christ!

Also I am so grateful for Heavenly Father. He is so amazing. He gave us a way that we can just talk to him when ever we want. He just lets us do that. I love Him. God is good. with diligence and faith Truth will Prevail! 

I loooooOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOve YOU! 

love, 

Sister Coleman

Tripping

Hiya! 

I keep tripping. Like everyday. I actually fell to the pavement a couple days ago. I don't know if it's my shoes or if Im just tired. 

Today I cooked chicken and potatoes and later we are going to pick blackberries (they are EVERYWHERE).I love Sister Obley. She has been out for 3 months. She is so funny. We just have a blast. 

We are teaching 3 really solid people right now:

M- 54, english, has been in a wheelchair his whole life. He was taught by missionaries 10 years ago. He stopped us and asked about the book of mormon. He has a baptismal date at the end of september. He is really ill right now with penemonia. So we haven't been able to teach him. Please pray that he will heal.

B- 20-30s, english, He was the one that defended us from the Sherem/Korihor Guy. He has so many brilliant questions. He is going on holiday soon so we are talking about a baptismal date in October. Please pray he will know the Book of Mormon is true. 

S- 24, English. He is the boyfriend of a recent convert. He believes the church is true but his family doesn't want him to get baptised. We've only taught him one lesson. Please pray we can get an appointment with him. 


I just love this ward. We have been really trying to earn the trust of the members and we were blessed. I wanted to get to know the YWs president and Sis Obley wanted to get to know one of the nursery leaders, and we got to church and they were short on teachers for nursery and YW's so we split and I was able to teach the YW's class and Sis Obley went into nursery! It was a miracle. I just love this ward so so so much. It really is the promised land. 

We had zone conference with President Stevens. It was so so good. We also read a Sacrament talk. I learned that the Holy Ghost is the power that cleanses us. We make the covenant, and perform the ordinance and then we recommit to the covenant and perform the ordinance of the sacrament and the Holy Ghost cleanses us. TA DA! So cool.

We love the rain. We jump in puddles. Life is great.

Becoming

Hiya!
I learned something about myself this week. It happened when I
took the 'Christ-like Attributes' evaluation. I use to think I had a
Faith problem. So I worked and prayed to try and build my faith. But
then it didn't seem like anything was happening, so I thought 'oh, I
must have a hope problem.' So I worked on hope. But then I discovered
something. I don't have a problem with either of those. I have a
patience problem. Haha.

From Preach My Gospel: 'Patience is the capacity to endure delay,
trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated,
or anxious. It is the ability to do God’s will and accept His timing.
When you are patient, you hold up under pressure and are able to face
adversity calmly and hopefully. Patience is related to hope and
faith--you must wait for the Lord’s promised blessings to be
fulfilled.'

Hahahahaha... Ya. I have a patience problem. But I'm working on it ;).
(It's taking ages hahahahaha).

But I totally do this. Whenever I don't get the perfect answer (when
my perfectionist hermione granger self starts to act up) I start to
feel frustrated and anxious. I allow myself to feel discouraged and I
doubt myself. But if I can just hold on to that faith and hope I
worked so diligently to build, and be patient, I know that I will see
all the promised blessings be fulfilled xx.

This was a great week. We have a couple people who are progressing
towards baptism. I met another Korihor who tried to stop a potential
investigator from talking to us, but TRUTH PREVAILED and the potential
investigator ended up defending us (I feel like it was an alma and
amulek moment). I can't wait to see how this young man ends up for
there to have been SO much opposition to us talking to him.

I just love Sister Obley. We have heaps of fun ;). We saw miracles
here this week. But more importantly, I have noticed a softening in
all of you. In each email, you all have had softening experiences this
week. We are all changing and becoming. Which is crazy because one of
us is in England and two others in Africa and the others in the
U.S.A.. But we are all spiritually growing and changing and it is
amazing to see. Heavenly Father really is teaching our family line
upon line and precept upon precept. I can't wait to meet you all xxx.

Love,
Sister Coleman

The Promised Land

The Promised Land.

Talofa lava

This has been the most wonderful week of my mission. I just feel so happy. I love my companion ( She is from New Zealand but originally from Samoa) we just have so much fun. She is teaching me so so much about the work. We live in a little village called Leighton Buzzard a little ways from Aylesbury which is where the chapel is. The ward members are so so lovely. I just love my whole life. Our flat is gorgeous and our view is just full of trees which reminds me of the cabin and brings me joy. I'm just so happy and we are working hard. 

Sis. Obley and Sis. Coleman

Miracle: We were walking to go see a member when Sister Obley and I both had a prompting to stop the man walking towards us. We did and had a short conversation with him but he had to hurry off to work. As we turned around, a man in a wheelchair (who had gone past us while we were chatting) came up to us. And he asked us about the Book of Mormon. He said he had seen us talking to the other man and had wondered if we were Mormon. He wanted to know how the Book of Mormon worked with the Bible. We answered his question and then testified of the Book of Mormon and read 2 Nephi 25:26 with him. He invited us to come over and teach him on Tuesday!! What a miracle!!! 

We are teaching a woman from China who doesn't speak any English. NONE. Our lesson was us typing on Google translate and her reading it. I was able to use some of the Chinese Sister Chou taught me to help the lesson along. It was amazing how powerful we could feel the Holy Ghost even though none of us were really speaking!  The lady we are teaching has been baptized in a different church and communicating about priesthood authority has been quite difficult. We got permission from the AP's to call sister Chou and set up a facetime lesson with her :). 

The other day I felt prompted to study Alma 30 and Mosiah 24. As I read Alma 30 I noticed that Korihor (the anti-Christ) used the same strategies of demeaning other's faith as the devil does today. He told the people they were foolish and deranged in their minds to believe in Jesus Christ. I noticed that the way the Chief-Judge responded was not to argue but to 'answer him nothing' and send him to talk to the prophet. When Alma sees him he just testifies and invites him to change but he chooses not to. - When I was reading Mosiah 23-24 I noticed that it perfectly answers the question, 'Why do bad things happen to good people?'. Answer 1 is that people have agency to make choices and we can be affected by those ,but I loved answer 2 more. Answer 2 is that sometimes Heavenly Father allows things to happen to us to 'try our patience and faith'. and then if we turn to him for help during our struggle he will strengthen us that we may 'bear up our burdens with ease'. The result of this is that we can stand as witnesses of God thereafter. 

Experience:  We were out tracting and the first door we knocked on I barely said ,'Hi! We are missionaries!...' when the lady began to yell (and she really yelled) that if Jesus existed the world wouldn't be so horrible. And told us not to ever come back.  Then she slammed the door. As we walked away she opened the door again and yelled at us that we were deluded for believing in Christ. She then slammed the door a second time. If this had happened to me 3 months ago I probably would have felt really shaken but I just felt so sorry for this poor lady! She must have just had the most terrible day! Sister Obley and I carried on and hummed some hymns. The last door we knocked on that day was a family that just found out that the Dad had a cancerous brain tumor. They wanted to know why that would happen. Sister Obley and I were able to read some of Mosiah 24 with them and testify that if we turn to Heavenly Father in our hard times he really will strengthen us. It was so cool to see how Heavenly Father had prepared us for the experiences we had that day. He really is in the details of our lives <3 . 

I love the rain. I have jumped in a few puddles :) 

He lives. Jesus Christ is real. He loves us. I have felt his love. He is in the details of our lives. 

I love You all!! 

oute alofa ia te outou uma. 

love, 

Sister Coleman

Questions from Mum:

Have you ridden a double decker bus yet? hahaha Yes. Almost every day.   Which level?  I love riding on top but it depends on how full the bus is and the companion (Sister Wai didn't like riding on top). Here in Aylesbury we walk almost everywhere.  

I am really curious how a transfer works?  Do you travel to the new area by yourself? No I travel with my companion and meet either at Hyde Park chapel or at a train station and then switch.  Do you figure out the route by yourself? Yes :).

Daddy mentioned your email about some training you lead?  Every week we have a district meeting. Different missionaries give the trainings at the District Leaders request. Sometimes we will have a 'district lunch' and find a cheap food place. 

Are there sister missionaries in London proper?  or only Elders? I think I heard a rumor that only elders serve in the city. ---The only sisters in London are the Visitor Centre sisters and the London North Sister Training Leaders. 

Will you be able to go to the Harry Potter area on a P-Day? Yes!!! And We are going to Wicked in London!! :D

Is there one ward in your new area? Yes. 

Is the new area more rural? Yes. 

We are on the top floor of our flat. I can hear birds when I wake up. It smells like rain. Our dishes have red flowers on them. and yaa....

I went to a Canal Festival and asked about the boats in a way Penny Lee Tippets Coleman would have :)