This New Transfer Is So Awesome Already!

This new transfer is so awesome already...

Okay, I'm going to rewind to the beginning of the week which was last transfer. So, Sister Sneidere, Sister Cummings and I were still companions. On Tuesday morning we got a call from one of Sister Cumming’s investigators that hasn't called in over 3 weeks. On our way to his apartment, we were talking to some guy at the mail boxes. All of a sudden a lady ran around the corner in a panic and said, "Are you girls from a church!? I need your help! Come, come pray with me." We were like, uh you BET we'll come pray with you. She was talking so, sooo fast and half in Spanish, so it was really hard to understand her. We instantly knew that she needed a blessing. So while she was telling me her crazy story Sister Cummings and Sister Sneidere went and called the Spanish Elders in that area. What I got from her story?  She lives with 3 drug addicts and her roommates/friends were high and did a bunch of satanic, scary stuff in her house. They drew weird signs all over the walls and floor and furniture. The house was so messed up. I'm pretty sure she was involved too, but I'm not positive. Basically she was panicking because she was getting evicted on top of being scared about all the satanic stuff. The Elders listened to her story and gave her a blessing. Her sister was there too, and she was normal and told us that her sister is crazy. So, we helped her move all of her stuff out of her house- beds, dressers, couches and all. We put it all in a member’s truck and unloaded it at u-haul. It took three trips and three storage units, And FIVE HOURS. In skirts and suits. So yeah people, missionaries are awesome. She was really thankful and she came to church. Crazy experience. 

Well, that 5 hour street contact made us late in dropping Sister Sneidere off at the mission office for departing missionary stuff. It was okay though. I told President and Sister Neider that I was really sorry for getting her there so late (literally hours late...) and we told them what happened. They were so happy about it! They told us they were proud that we stuck it out and helped. Later, Sister Neider was walking past us and she said, "Sisters, I am just so proud of you!" It was pretty awesome. 

The rest of Tuesday and most of Wednesday, Sister Cummings and I were companions! It was really fun to be with her since we were in the same MTC district. Later on Wednesday we went back to the mission office to pick up our companions, and that is when I met my new companion, Sister Fields! She is from Oregon and has been out for 5 months. She has been serving in Lake Havasu. We are both loud and talk a lot, so we get along great and we have a lot of fun together. She has such a strong testimony.  I love her. 

We went to Institute on Wednesday night, like always. We got a few of our less actives to come and all our investigators, so that was awesome. 

Thursday was really awesome though. In the morning we got to go and explore mormon.org. Everyone in the whole world should visit that website because it is awesome. Sister Fields and my goal this transfer is to get to know mormon.org so that we will be the first sisters in our mission that get iPads. We also street contacted in the morning and then decided to go and visit some less actives. There is a girl that has been on our list to visit for a while, but we felt really strongly that we should visit her that day. We drove all the way out to her house, which is basically at the end of our area. We knocked on the door and her Dad seemed really excited to see us, he was more than happy to welcome us in. He called Des out to talk to us. We told her that we were trying to visit every member in our ward, and that we didn't know who she was so we wanted to stop by and meet her. She seemed happy that we were there- that someone actually cared enough to drive out to see her. She was instantly connected to us. She opened up to us and we were able to help her and bring the Spirit into her life again. It was amazing and so spiritual. She has had a really rough past and was really hurting from that. We talked to her and we were able to help her to recognize how her Heavenly Father could help her get rid of her past. She was crying and we could tell that she really just wanted peace and comfort. We invited her to go to a stake YSA activity that was on Friday and to church on Sunday. She said she would go, but that she wanted to go buy some modest clothing first (which she did). She asked if she could have a copy of The Book of Mormon because she had lost hers. When Sister Fields and I walked out the door, we calmly fist bumped, and then ran to the car so that we could scream because we were so happy. She went to the activity AND to church. We came over the next day too and she was really happy when we got there. We talked to her more and she prayed for the first time in a long time! Not only that, but she stopped us from leaving so that she could hug us :) 

Friday was cool, but I don't remember anything that really stuck out.  Sister Fields and I had a really awesome conversation about the Plan of Salvation and about our lives. 

Saturday was long. We helped serve at the Pioneer-day breakfast, which was a lot of fun. All the missionaries in our zone were there, so that made it even more fun.  Then Sister Fields and I rushed to the stake center to get ready for Shelby's baptism. We started to fill the font and set up chairs- and then we got a phone call from the East Sisters. Shelby's dad got mad at her and started telling her a whole bunch of anti-mormon stuff. She was upset and thought that she had rushed into it too fast (uhhhhh, she has been investigating since she was in 9th grade and she is 21 now... that's not very fast). So she wants to wait and look around in other churches. We were really sad for her. Hopefully she remembers the spirit that she has felt when she goes to church. 

But, on the other hand, KARL got baptized on Saturday night! He had asked me to speak at his baptism, so I spoke on the Holy Ghost. It was an amazing experience. He was so ready to be baptized and you could tell that he was so, so happy. Guess what else! He wants to serve a mission! He talks about it a lot and tells us that he is saving up money to go. He is awesome! 

On Sunday we got a really weird text from Cristal saying that she couldn't study with us anymore or come to church. We obviously called her right away... she said that she was struggling with some things and didn't feel worthy enough to come to church. We reminded her about repentance and told her that church would be the best place for her if she is feeling down! She came but left during sacrament meeting. Des came to church though and so did our investigators. That was really great. 

We went into the Priesthood class and explained that we need people to sign up to go to lessons with us (lots do but we just felt like we should announce it). We got sooo many people that signed up to help. 

That night Cristal wanted to meet with us, so we went to the church to talk to her and one of our members came with us. It was a really awesome lesson. We talked to her about thinking positively and about getting rid of our negative thoughts. We are going to go to her house and help clean her room and put up of pictures of Christ and the temple, so that she has a little oasis to go to when the environment in her house is bad. Cristal needs prayers. 

Adrian and Eder are getting baptized this coming Sunday! Ah! Finally! We are so beyond excited about it. 

This morning we hiked Sunrise Mountain again. We woke up at 3:30 a.m. It was the Spanish districts turn to go hiking, but our zone leaders told Sister Fields and I that we could go with them. So we did, and it was really fun. We went up a lot faster this time and we went to a higher peak of the mountain to watch the sunrise. It was awesome! We could see the whole valley, the strip, and the Temple. We had a lot of fun. 

Today, Sister Fields and I are planning on sleeping as much as possible. Then we have Family Home Evening with our ward, and hopefully we will get some of our investigators and less actives there. 

Pray that we find a bunch of new people this week. We are working really hard. We set high goals for this transfer. 

I hope you all have a good week! I love you and miss you!


Love, Sister Coltrin
 

 

Sister Coltrin, Karl, Sister Fields

(and no we did not match on purpose)

 

Elder Howe, Elder Konshuk, Danny, Karl, Karl's mom. Sister Coltrin, Sister Fields

 

 

Two Months Already?!?

My first transfer ends tomorrow, can you even believe it? I have been serving for two months... It feels like I just got here! At least I'm sort of used to the heat now. No, I take that back. I'll never be used to it. 

 

I will be dropping off my sweet companion, Sister Sneidere, at the mission office tomorrow afternoon. It will be a sad goodbye. We have had a lot of fun together and have seen so many miracles. 

This week has been so beyond crazy. At first, being in a trio was basically the worst thing in the entire world. Covering two areas was so hard and fitting our schedules together was nearly impossible. There were tears and a couple of arguments... But in the end, we worked it out and it ended up being great. What a blessing. I love Sister Sneidere and Sister Cummings. 

So, last week we when we went to walk around the temple with investigators, we went to get frozen yogurt with them and some members afterwards. One of our members jokingly asked me if I liked fruit - since my entire fro yo cup was basically filled with only fresh fruit. Long story short, they ended up watching us go home and found where we live.  We got a knock on the door one night while we were planning (which, let me tell you, is way scary when you're a missionary and NO ONE ever knocks on your door... isn't knocking on doors OUR job?) and after freaking out a little bit, we opened the door to one of our members with a huge bag of fresh fruit for us! It was awesome! A few days later, we got another knock at the door and Eric was there yet again, but with cookies n’ cream ice cream. We love it. 

On Tuesday morning we had one of the coolest experiences. We were running around our apartment complex. We were almost done, but I felt prompted to go around one area just one more time. We ran through this area and saw a guy getting out of his car - smoking, and holding a just opened beer can (remember that it is 7 in the morning...). I looked at him, smiled, and waved. We kept running, and then at the same time, we all stopped, looked at each other, and turned around. We went over to talk to him. We explained who we were, since we weren't wearing our name tags, and he dropped his cigarette and put it out. We asked him if we could stop by to share a really important message. He threw his full beer can away. He started to cry. He said that he has hit rock bottom and he had been praying for help. He knew that it was no coincidence that we had been running past him and happened to stop and talk to him. He was very interested in having us come to teach him. It was incredible. The Spirit was so strong, we knew it, and we knew that he knew it. We stopped by his apartment later (when we actually looked like missionaries) to drop off pamphlets and a Book of Mormon. He gave us his number and told us that he would check his schedule to see when we could meet. We are so excited about him! He is so prepared to hear the Gospel. It was amazing that he could recognize right away that we were representatives of Jesus Christ. His name is Ismael, so pray that he remembers the feeling that he had when we met him! 

On Tuesday night, we had a lesson with a guy that used to play for Montana State's football team. So I guess that might be cool? Maybe Carson will think it is cool. 

We went contacting for a few hours one day, and I stopped to talk to someone at a bus stop. I talked to him for a little bit and he told me that I was really exuberant... okay…I thought it was funny. 

Ohhhhh and by the way... My dear, sweet, "tech-pro" parents... maybe you should make sure the CD works before you brag about being so "tech-savy" and send it to me... I laughed so hard when I put the CD in our car and it came out with "ERROR" on the screen. In my head I thought, "Of course". 

More good news- Eder decided that he will be baptized, no matter what his girlfriend says! Wooooooo! Goodness gracious, we were so frustrated with her and we've never even met her. I'm sure she's great.  Eder is in California on vacation right now and will be baptized within a few weeks. 

Another miracle happened this week! We taught Adrian about fasting and tithing. He was like, "What the heck!? Sisters! Why didn't you teach me about this earlier!? I could have been fasting to find a new job the whole time!"  It was awesome. We all decided that we would fast the next day, and lo and behold, he has a job in which he doesn't have to work on Sundays. Now he can go to church in our ward and he can be baptized on August 3rd. We are super excited about it. 

Shelby is great, she is getting baptized on the 27th. She has basically been a member for a few years, she just hasn't been baptized. Which reminds me, someone needs to send me Brenda's email address, I have been thinking about her a lot lately. 

Did I tell you about Karl last week? Well, we have an investigator named Karl, we got him from the Spanish elders. We've pretty much taught him all the lessons and he looooves the Gospel. He has such a strong testimony already and he is thinking about going on a mission! What the!? Love that guy. After one of his lessons this week, he asked if we were busy and if he could take us all out to dinner at In N Out. It was awesome. Are you jealous about In N Out, Mom?

So I'm not really sure what's up with Nevada. Why does all the crazy weather and record-breaking heat happen to me? Not only have we had record-breaking heat but we had the craaaaziest storms that I have ever seen. Serious lightning. Like, crazy lightning. There were flash floods and super strong winds. All our members texted me and told me to make sure I was safe driving in the storm. We were on our way to stop by Edna's house to see her. Of course there were flash floods, and we had to have Eric and Abraham (from our YSA ward) come and get us with their trucks. The water was so high! Power lines were down and lots of the street lights and traffic lights were out. 

We had another "movie night" at the church and watched “Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration”. The stake auxiliary guy was really mean to me when I asked him to help, soooo we called our stake president who gave us the key to the aux closet. We got some Elders to help us and we got it set up on our own. In the words of Elder Meyers, "Yeah, we don't need some punk to help us!" More people came than last time! It was good. Our members stole my camera after it and took selfies. They are sooo so funny, I will have to send a few.

Since it is the end of the transfer, and my companion is "departing" (going back to Temple Square), I got to go to the temple again. It was awesome! I love going to the temple. Mom and Dad- if you can, you should come and pick me up when I am going home. You can come to the temple here and I can show you cool stuff and everything. Some of the missionaries had their parents there and it was cool. 

We got our transfer documents on Saturday... I was really nervous, buuuuut: I get to stay in Sunrise! Yay! And still in my Temple View YSA ward! I was so happy and relieved. My companion will be Sister Fields. 

President and Sister Neider are the cutest. Sister Neider already knows my name. We have seen and talked to them quite a bit this week since we are in a trio and needed permission for quite a bit of stuff. President Neider knows my name too…we have a little joke because it was so, so hard for him to remember. He would always shake my hand and say “Ohhhhh no. I know I'll remember it this time." He called me once and said, "HI SISTER COLTRIN... see, I got it!" hahaha. 

We had some hard news on Sunday. Cristal, one of our recent converts, came up to talk to me and told me that she really needed to talk to the employment specialist. I asked her what was up and she said that she really needs a job. I told her that we would get working on it. She tuned to me and said, "Sister Coltrin, there's another reason why I need a job so bad." I looked at her, and she started to tear up and she explained to me that she went to the doctor and she needs a new heart. Wow. That hit me so hard. We hugged each other and cried. She said she knew about the Plan of Salvation but she didn't want to die yet. My heart was aching. I would give her my own heart if I could. Please, please, keep Cristal in your prayers. 

We had a really, really, really awesome experience this morning. Since it is our last P-Day together, our district (which is the Sunrise Mountain District) decided that we wanted to hike Sunrise Mountain to see the sunrise. Yes, we did wake up at 3:30 in the morning, and yes we did hike for 2 hours to get to the top. It was so awesome. We had so much fun, and although it was hard, it was worth it. Sister Cummings, Elder Rogers, Elder Lovell, and I led the way the whole time. We would hike far and then stop to throw rocks or play in mud or something until the others would catch up.  We got to the top though! It was so nice…there were actually cooler breezes up high.  I was in heaven. I will send some pictures. It was so, so fun, and so worth waking up at 3:30. 

Well, that's pretty much it. Being a missionary is awesome. I love helping people and serving. I love witnessing people accept the Gospel and change their lives for the better. I love Sunrise. 

Love and miss you! 

Love, Sister Coltrin 

PS. Best quote of the week: Sister Sneidere- "When I'm at Temple Square, I like working in the center with the 3-D maps. Lots of people talk to me there. Usually it's just to ask where the bathroom is." Hahaha.

 

3:30 a.m.  Sister Sneidere, Sister Coltrin, Sister Bohling

The trio:  Sister Cummings, Sister Coltrin, Sister Sneidere

The entire Sunrise Mountain District

Sister Sneidere, Sister Bohling, Sister Hall, Sister Coltrin

Sister Coltrin at the top of Sunrise Mountain

The sunrise on Sunrise Mountain

 

 

Time Flies

 

 

The end of the transfer is near and I have no idea how that happened... Didn't I just get here!? The transfer ends next week, and I will be so sad to send my dear, sweet companion back to Temple Square. We have agreed to act like it isn't coming. Too sad. Shawn, James, and Blake will have to go find her for me.  

I am really hoping that I will stay in Sunrise, in the YSA ward. I love this ward and the people that we teach! Sister Sneidere thinks I will stay. I hope she is right! 

So last Monday, we had a birthday party for our P-day. Two of our missionaries, Sister Bohling and Elder Vaiaoga had birthdays! We had a pinata and everything, it was great.  There was a lot of cake there, so naturally, Sister Sneidere has been eating it for every meal- all week. She loves sweets. 

One of the mountains that is near us, Mount Charleston, has been on fire for a while. The smoke blankets the entire city. It has cleared up, but it was sooo bad. We would smell smoke when we turned the air conditioning up! Gross. It made reaaaally cool sunsets though. 

Tuesday was our leadership training with President and Sister Neider and the AP's. It was realllllly good. It was NINE HOURS LONG though. 

We were able to meet with Edna (one of our recent converts) this week. She is the cutest. She loves us and always makes sure we are taken care of. If she could, she would have us over to dinner every night. We were about to leave her house when a door opened and her little siblings, Freddy (10) and Leslie (5) came out. They saw us, gasped, and ran to us. It was the sweetest thing. They love us. And we really love them. They love when we come and talk about church. It's so cool that little kids can know when something is good - like the gospel. 

On Wednesday, the 11th, we went on exchanges. It was free slurpee day and 7-11's are literally on every single corner here... so naturally we got 3 free slurpees. I was with Sister Lake for the day in Paradise. Improperly named city, but whatever. Sunrise is the best! We had appointments literally every hour of the day, it was awesome. We met with one of their investigators who basically told us that he is God... so that was a fun lesson. Exchanges were good and I learned a lot of new stuff. I was telling Sister Lake about how Sister Sneidere and I are obsessed with learning Spanish. We were contacting and met a guy that spoke only a little English, so she pointed to me and said, "Oh, well she speaks some Spanish!" Haaaaa, thanks Sister Lake. I was able to tell him who we were, what we were doing, and if he would like one of our cards. We set up an appointment. So, I guess I'm pretty cool. He sang us a song on his guitar afterwards and it was pretty funny. 

By the way, Dad, you think you have it bad having to speak about the Law of Chastity at church? Try teaching it to your investigators who don't want to follow it and continue to tell you why they don't... Yeah. 

On Thursday, we took some investigators and recent converts and less actives (Eder, Edna, a new investigator named Carl, and a less active that Eder brought named Ariam) around the temple and talked about the temple. We had one of our members, Eric, there with us which was really helpful. When we were walking back to the church through the temple parking lot, I saw a license plate that said "BYUFAN" and took a picture with it, of course. 

Earlier that night, one of our members brought us Olive Garden and ate with us... her name is Karina Wilberg. Her sister is serving in the Lansing Michigan mission! Karina says to find her and feed her. There is another Elder that is serving in Lansing that is from here - Elder Congor. I met his family this week and his sister is in my singles ward. 

Mom, you're going to be so proud. We organized our area book and our member list this week.  Finally. We actually know what is in there! And it isn't all stuff from 2009!   It took a long time, but it was definitely worth it. 

We met with Edna again for dinner and we watched Finding Faith in Christ with her. We watched it in Spanish (since she understands more in Spanish). It was really weird to hear all that in a different language. Sister Sneidere looked at me and whispered "Woah! Jesus speaks Spanish!"… I laughed so hard. 

It turns out that Eder didn't end up getting baptized this week. He knows he wants to, and he will, he just wants family and girlfriend support first. Ugh. It turns out that he did end up getting support from his family this week though! What a blessing. But his girlfriend is the problem now. What the heck! And she lives all the way in Germany! We were not very happy with her, hahaha. But, he will get it figured out. He knows the gospel is important. Pray for him though, please. 

Yesterday, Sunday, we had meetings and church. We also went to the Spanish ward's sacrament meeting at night because our investigator, Adrian, was only able to make it to that - his very first time at church! We were so excited. We got to go out of our area for it. One of our members brought us dinner to the Spanish ward - homemade lasagna, and it was soooo good. We pretty much ate the whole thing while standing in the church kitchen. He drove us back to our car in the back of his pickup truck…that was really fun.

We eat dinner with members probably 4 or 5 times a week. They are so great! We get fed by our ward and a family ward (since our singles don't really have the money to feed us). We eat with some of our Elders at member's homes a lot. Oh and just a little recommendation, if you haven't put apple pie spice on oatmeal yet, just take my advice and do it. You can thank me later. 

Then, on Sunday night, we had a little surprise...

One of the sister's in the zone next to ours got her visa to Brazil. So her companion, Sister Cummings- who was from my MTC district, is now in a trio with us. We drove them to the mission office late last night (I say "late" being a missionary, so it was really only like 8:30). We got to visit with President and Sister Neider for a little bit - I love them so much. They are so great and loving and kind. We got home at like 10:45 with our new companion. She will be with us for the rest of the transfer... and now we have to cover both areas. I am still undecided about this…It's cool but it's crowded. So yeah, I'm a trio! 

Thanks for the bag and the package mom! The bag is awesome. It fits everything a lot better. We were at leadership training and Sister Hall (a Hawaiian sister from my district) told me, "Hey cute bag! It looks like a diaper bag." hahahah. So now we call it my diaper bag. 

I'm doing well and I love it here. I have the entire Restoration video memorized. I finally know our mission’s third verse to "Called to Serve" and Temple Square's third verse, since Sister Sneidere sings it all the time, and our many recitations that we have to memorize in our mission. 

We got permission to go to the temple with our recent converts to do baptisms! We are really excited and will go probably this week. We are also taking zone pictures at the temple – a member offered to take them for us. 

We got a few new investigators this week! Carl and Shelby. We are working with a lot of less actives too that are ready to come back. 

I seriously love it here. I love Sunrise, and I love my district, and I love my companion (or, companions), and I love our members and investigators and the Temple View ward. 

Love and miss you!

 

Love, Sister Coltrin

 

 

 

Taking full advantage of free slurpee day!

 

 

 

 

 

Every Week is Pretty Awesome

Hello!  

This has been a pretty awesome week. But lets be honest, every week is pretty awesome. 

First of all, Mom, I live on Nellis, between Bonanza and Stewart, in an apartment complex called "Oasis Springs". Dad told me that you were dying to stalk me... Also, speaking of that, we saw the Google maps car the other day! So if you see a silver 2012 Chevy Malibu with a bike rack on the back driving on Bonanza east towards the temple, that's us. 

On Monday, we had P-Day and then went to dinner with some of our singles, Araceli and Vianney. Araceli is the one who texted you the pictures of me and Sister Sneidere. After dinner we taught Family Home Evening for our singles ward. We taught about member missionary work and had it be like a mini MTC. We challenged them to invite their friends to come to our "movie night" and watch Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. Hooray for new finding ideas because it's too hot to street contact.  It was 122 earlier this week. 

Speaking of that, we went out one day in the morning from 10-12...we didn't realize how hot it was. We got a looooot of sun, which means cool tan lines... At the end, Sister Sneidere was like "Wow, I'm feeling chills! This is so cool!" I was like, uh yeah, that means we have to go inside. We stopped at a gas station and got water. 

Also, Abraham is the one who sent you pictures and a video on the 4th of July. Yes, of course I wore my "4th of July outfit".  No worries though, because I was also able to wear green earrings with my 4th of July outfit for green Thursday with Carson. I'm cool. 

4th of July was really fun! We were supposed to be in at 6 p.m.  So we went to a member's house from the family ward and had dinner.  They have a 15 year old boy and he came downstairs wearing all brown.  He said "you all are dressed in red, white, and blue, and I'm here wearing brown, for good 'ol American soil." I died of laughter and thought "oh my gosh, it's like Dad and his Christmas tie" hahahahha.  Then we came home and planned and then we got to watch movies. So we watched The Best Two Years and 17 Miracles. Sister had never seen TB2Y's before and she was laughing so hard, it was cute. 

She is so funny, she doesn't always get the American sayings right, so we just laugh and make some joke about her being Latvian. We get a lot of street contacts because we pretend like she can’t pick up social cues to go away because she is foreign, haha. 

Since this is a super Hispanic area, we get a lot of Hispanic food, and we have discovered that they have some suuuuper great drinks, like sandia, horchata, and jamaica. Sandia is my favorite. It's basically like drinking a watermelon. Literally. Sooooo good.

So, as you know, we do morning sports everyday. Whenever a round of a game starts (like when we kick off for knacke or frisbee or something) the Polynesians always yell "FOR _____" and the home place of whoever is kicking it off. For me they never yell "FOR MICHIGAN" they just yell "FOR BYU". 

I got letters from Andrea, Kevin, Heather, and their girls, Lauren, and Sister Moffitt! It was awesome, thanks! 

This week we got to go and do service. At first I was suuuuper hesitant because we were going to a horse farm, and well, we all know how that went the last time I did service at a horse farm... but it was SOOOOO fun. We got to wash little ponies! And walk them on the streets!  It took 3 Elders, Sister Sneidere and myself to keep the ponies locked down so we could put water on them and scrub them down. It was probably hilarious to watch. It took forever, but was really fun.

It rained this week!!!!!!! It never rains here! It was pouring and we had a ton of flash flood warnings. So cool and so fun. And I saw the most beautiful sunset that I have ever seen in my entire life, the sun was bright red and the sky was purple. I didn't have my camera, of course. 

We live right next to a Taco Bell. One day we were pulling out of our apartment complex and the Taco Bell was roped off and there were like 10 police cars there. Later we found out that there was a dead body found behind Taco Bell! So sketchy. 

OKAY - Lenny got baptized on Sunday! Yay, finally! He was so happy and it was great. We are getting really good at planning baptisms, AND GUESS WHAT ELSE! Eder was there and we were talking to him and he said that he wanted to pick the topic for our lesson on Tuesday - so we asked what he wanted to talk about, and he said "baptism". He has been thinking of a baptismal date this whole week, of when he thinks he will be ready. Anddddd... Eder is being baptized this coming Saturday!!! He is literally the perfect investigator. We found him 3 weeks ago on the street and he is being baptized this week. We are so excited. He is so ready and so willing to follow anything Heavenly Father wants him to do. 

We are still meeting with Adrian as well, and he wants to be baptized soon as well! The problem is that he is a security guard only on the weekends, so he works every Sunday. Pray that he gets Sundays off, or finds a new job. 

Thanks for all the support and the letters and emails. I love you and miss you! 

Love,  Sister Coltrin 

PS. Mom and Dad, I am laughing so so hard about all the tooth-ache stuff.

 

Sister Coltrin, Lenny, and Sister Sneidere

 

Walking...

and washing little ponies.

Festive 4th of July outfits

 

 

Ten Trillion Degrees and Two Baptisms

Let's just start off by saying it is like ten trillion degrees here. Well, not literally, but it is 120... so that's basically the same thing. It was 100 degrees at 6:00 this morning!  

Sugar-free Popsicle’s are my new obsession. They keep you cool and are pretty much the best. If we are at home, I eat popsicles all the time. 

Even with the heat, this week was amazing. Sister Sneidere and I were able to witness so many miracles. 

Our first baptisms were on Saturday and we had 2 investigators there (our third had to work a lot this week, so we are postponing his baptism). 

So I think I told you a little bit about Edna, one of our investigators that was getting baptized on Saturday. Her parents are very against her learning about the gospel. Whenever we have appointments with her, her parents make sure she isn't home. When it's Sunday, they offer to give her a ride to church and they take her somewhere else instead. It has been quite a struggle to say the least. Her Mom would always pretend to be really nice to us, but she really disliked us. We went to their door one day and Edna wasn't home, so we left a note and our phone number on a card with her Mom to give to Edna. We checked back later that night and finally Edna was home- and she told us that her Mom had said we had never come to visit. Her Mom had given her little brother a Jehovah's Witness pamphlet to give to Edna and told her that it was from us... uhhhhh.  So she was working really hard to keep us away from Edna. 

On Saturday, the baptism was all set up, and our other investigator Cristal was there ready to be baptized. Except, of course, Edna was missing. We tried calling her, and her brother, and her family and we sent someone to her house - it was a MESS. We finally talked to her brother and he said that her Mom and Dad were going to drop her off at the baptism. We panicked, because in the past her parents would just take her somewhere else. We were really upset. 

The baptism started and during the first talk, Edna and HER ENTIRE FAMILY walked in. It was a miracle. Literally. We got her changed, and then Cristal and Edna were both baptized. Cristal had to go under 5 times because her foot kept coming up. 

Then we had them each share their testimonies. Cristal had written it down, but instead, she gave it straight from her heart and it was really awesome. Then Edna got up.  She said she was going to share her's in Spanish because her parents only speak Spanish. So there was an Elder, Elder Alvarez, who was sitting behind us and he translated for us. Edna said that a long time ago she tried to commit suicide. She tried three times. And then the missionaries (Elder Alvarez and Elder Slick) came and started to teach her family. She said she felt really good when they would read the scriptures and pray. Even though her family discontinued their visits with the missionaries, Edna wanted to learn more. She talked about how she had a really strong connection with the missionaries, but when the sister's (us) started teaching her, it built her up so much and she was able to connect with us even more. She has done everything that she can to learn about the church, despite the efforts of her family, and she bore testimony to them that she knows without a doubt that it is true.

The Spirit was so strong. Her family was crying. They felt it too, we know it. 

Afterwards, one of our members, Abraham, came and talked to us for a few minutes. He explained that the night before the baptism, he was dropping Edna off from a YSA activity. He is Hispanic, so he stopped in and talked with the parents. He answered their questions and explained the importance of what Edna was doing until 2:00 in the morning! He said he had been talking to them for most of that day, trying to get them to come, and helping them. We started crying again.  We were amazed! It really was a miracle that he was able to help them, we were so grateful. 

While everyone was talking and having refreshments after the baptism, Edna's parents invited us to come to their home after to have dinner! Her mom hugged us and kissed our cheeks.  She likes us now. We went there, with Abraham as well, and taught them about the Restoration.   A little side note, for dinner we had some sort of soup that had meat in it, and it turns out that the "meat" was skin from a pig... so I guess I've eaten something weird now. 

Edna's family came to her confirmation at church the next day. They are so great. Her little brother and sister looooove us. Her sister, Leslie, drew me a picture of her mom and me and wrote, "I love Mom and Sister Coltrin". 

Anyways - the baptism was AMAZING. Heavenly Father really does answer prayers. 

So for the rest of the week… Well, earlier last week at morning sports we were playing "crazy ball" which is basically kickball but there are 5 bases and they are scattered all over the gym. I was running from one corner of the gym to the other and Elder Tongi (an Elder from Tonga) was running from the opposite side to the other corner. Basically, we were both running full speed and were watching where the ball was going. We met in the middle, ran into each other, and BOTH of us fell down. I was mostly just mad that they threw the ball at me and I was out!  The whole left side of my body is bruised and hurts and I hit my head on him and the floor. But it was so funny. 

Another day, we were playing ultimate Frisbee outside and I was running for it and well, dove onto the cement (we're pretty intense...). Both my hands are bruised, so it hurts to touch anything and whole left leg is bruised and I can't kneel to pray, so I sort of crouch, and Sister Sneidere always makes fun of me. Funnnnnnny. 

On the way home from sports, there was a little puppy in the road and we stopped to try and help it. Eventually, everyone had stopped their cars and we were all chasing the puppy in the middle of the road to try and save it from being hit by a car. 

Sister Sneidere and I are obsessed with learning languages. We wish we could speak Spanish so bad! There are so many Hispanics here. I started reading the BOM in Spanish, so hopefully I can learn a little.

We got to go to the Temple on Friday! It was amazing and so beautiful! I got to see my whole MTC district, and it was so awesome. It was like a mini "family" reunion. 

We had a mission heat warning the other day - it was crazy hot! Up in the 120's. When it was 8:30 at night the words, "It's ONLY 104 degrees," came out of my mouth. I didn't think that would ever happen. 

Our investigators are doing okay: 

Eder: Eder is amazing. He loves coming to church related things. He has made good friends here and he asks them church questions all the time. He meets with us a lot and he is really progressing quickly. We are hoping and praying that he starts to recognize that the "good feelings" that he has are the Spirit. I think he is waiting for some big huge confirmation from the Spirit. 

Tony and Adrian: They work a lot, so it is hard to meet with them. Adrian texted us and told us that he still reads the BOM everyday. We are meeting with them this week and they both still seem really interested. 

Lenny: Lenny will hopefully be baptized next week. He was supposed to be baptized on Saturday, but he just got another job, so he works basically all the time except Sunday. 

The work is going well. We try and street contact a lot. We try to get our members involved a lot.  I love it!

 

I love you and miss you!

 

Love, Sister Coltrin

 

 

 

 

Edna and her family

 

 

 

Cristal's mother, Sister Coltrin, Cristal, Sister Sneidere