Three Months This Week!

What the heck? I will have been out for 3 months this week! Time flies.  

First things first. SISTER FIELDS AND I HOLD A MISSION RECORD. Yeah, we're cool. So just in case you were thinking that we don't work hard - WE DO! We have a record for referrals and no one is even close to our number (that's what our referrals sister told us). Wooo! Go us. 

We've been riding bikes a lot too! Almost every other day. We try at least. And of course my bike pedal fell off. 

We contacted so many potential investigators this week. Our appointments kept falling through, which was really frustrating, but at least we found some new people to teach! We were going to teach a potential investigator, but we lost her address and she wasn't answering her phone. We prayed and all I could remember was that she lived on Linn Lane, which is a pretty long street. We looked for apartment complexes on Linn, and no surprise, we found it! It was really awesome. 

We had interviews with President Neider this week as well! While he was interviewing, Sister Neider gave us some really awesome training on The Book of Mormon. It was amazing. She role played reading 1 Nephi 1 with us, and it was so intense and awesome. I love Sister Neider. When I went in to talk with President, he told me that he appreciates how happy I always am. He is the best. He just always makes you feel good about yourself. Sister Neider does too. 

At the end of the training Sister Neider told us all that she wants us to focus more on The Book of Mormon. Then she told us all to, "Testify of The Book of Mormon with power and excitement, like Sister Coltrin." WOAH. It was a nice compliment. 

During the training, Elder Tongi told us about how he lost his backpack. A few days earlier he left it in the parking lot while he was putting his bike on the rack. It had his camera, all his pictures, his good scriptures and everything inside it. They went back to look for it, but it was gone. Sister Neider stopped us all and we prayed that we would be able to find it. No joke- the next morning Elder Rogers and Elder Johnson brought the backpack to morning sports. A homeless man had picked it up and brought it to a member's home. WHAT. THE. HECK. For real!? Crazy! Heavenly Father answers prayers. 

We had a pretty rough week though, other than that. We had a lesson with an investigator that had been passed off to us.  The Sisters that passed him off to us and Sister Fields and I went to dinner together at the investigator's house. He lives with members in the Sister's family ward. It was really obvious that they had all been talking about Sister Fields and I and that they didn't like us... Not sure why. It was pretty upsetting, so we went home and cried on our bedroom floor like babies.  We were really sad. We both went to different rooms to pray. I asked my Heavenly Father to give me a hug. Instantly I just felt so warm, like someone was actually hugging me and was telling me that it was going to be okay. It was a really neat experience. 

We met with Des, who is a less active member in our ward. We love her. She had lost her patriarchal blessing, so we helped her to request a new one. She got it this week and excitedly told us that she feels like Sister Fields and I are in it! It was really cute. 

Some super exciting news, EDER GOT THE PRIESTHOOD YESTERDAY! How cool is that!? We found him street contacting just a little while ago, and now he is so happy and has the Priesthood. Wow. He is awesome. 

OH! And there are a few girls in the family wards that we take to teach lessons with us because they are preparing for missions. Becca is one of them. On Sunday she came up to us and brought us some really cool shell lei's! She and her family just got back from vacation in Hawaii and she thought of us and wanted to bring us something! How sweet. 

Our Singles took a trip to California this weekend. Abraham (aka ABC) texted us and asked us what we wanted from Cali! He is so awesome and he makes sure we are taken care of. We love him! I love when our members randomly text or call us to make sure we are okay, or even to tell us that they are thinking of us. 

We also went on exchanges this week.  It was fun because I got to be with a Sister from my MTC district. Of course all our appointments fell through when she was there, but we must have contacted about 50 potential investigators! 

Our investigators are doing well, but it's been really hard to meet with them. 

Tony: Will be getting baptized within the next few weeks. He is awesome. He definitely feels the Spirit and knows that the church is true. He skips work to go to church and meet with us! It is crazy. We had a really good lesson with him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week. 

Jared: Long story. He isn't our investigator anymore. I'm not sure if he is ready to be baptized. We still pray for him though! 

Dora/Jenny/Melanie: I'm not sure if I told you about these three last week or not. They are so ready! They are friends with some of our members, so they just showed up at church one day and wanted to learn. We haven't been able to meet with them since our first lesson, but hopefully we will be able to soon. The problem is that Melanie is 13 years old... and since we are Singles Ward Sisters, we can't teach her. We are still trying to figure out what to do about that. Also, Jenny only speaks Spanish... So we bring Spanish speaking members to help us out. We asked if they would rather be with Spanish missionaries, but they said no. Dora is great! She is really receptive and feels the Spirit at church. 

Yung/Huey: These are the guys that we taught across the Strip last week. They were supposed to come to church this week, but weren't able to make it. They are really nice though and hopefully we will get to meet with them again this week. 

Analyn: A less active member that we are working with. She is awesome. She fell away for a few years, but wants to come back. We have had really good lessons with her and we really love her. We read scriptures with her last night and challenged her to read the whole Book of Mormon again. 

Fernanda: A recent convert. She is awesome! We met with her and read scriptures. She has really great insights and questions about The Book of Mormon. I love reading with recent converts because they're so focused and receptive to the messages within. 

Edna: Pray for Edna. We visit her quite often, but she doesn't come to church (or leave her house) because of some health issues. 

Adrian and Eder and Karl are as great as ever. We love them so much. They have really strong testimonies and always want to help us out with lessons whenever they can. It is so awesome. 

Transfers are next week! I hope that I get to stay here in Sunrise for a little longer, but we will see. Maybe I should write to President and tell him that for my birthday, I want to stay in Sunrise... hmmmm. 

We have been working really hard. We got 79 referrals last week and have been contacting them and teaching all week! We give people referrals like crazy- hence the mission record :) 

I love you all and hope you are all doing well. Thanks for your prayers and letters of support!

 

Love, Sister Coltrin 

PS.  I caught a lizard in our apartment.  It was awesome!

 

 

"The lizard I caught in our apartment"

 

"Our pet lizard...kidding...we let it go"