This transfer has already
started out great! I've learned a lot and have grown a lot in the last 6 weeks.
I'm thankful for the experiences I've had and for the things I've learned.
Monday was just a normal P-day,
nothing that memorable happened. We said
goodbye to some members and investigators with Sister Nichols, but that was
about it.
On Tuesday, we had transfers!
In the morning we went to the mission office and dropped off Sister Nichols to
her new companion, and we got Sister Stinnet, who is Sister Cummings new
companion! We love her so much already. We can tell we are all going to get
along really well. We moved all their stuff back to their apartment (since we
had moved it to mine) and they got settled in. We contacted a few people, and
then it was time to go to the mission office to meet the new missionaries! We
all went into the relief society room and listened to President Neider for a
bit. Then, one by one, he told us our companionships. My new companion is
Sister Julie Harrison! She is 19 years old and is from North-Central
Florida ! She went to BYU-I for a year before coming out here. She
is the youngest of 5 kids. She is super smart and is hard working and is super
fun. I love her already! And she even joins me when I sing in the car (take
that, Mom and Dad!). We are great friends already and I am so excited to be
with her! It was really funny because before transfers we got the pictures and
list of the new missionaries and Sister Cummings picked that Sister Harrison
would be my companion. She was so proud.
We moved in that night, had
dinner at Bishop's house, and contacted some people. We got to know each other
and just laughed and talked! I love Sister Harrison!
On Wednesday we went to new
missionary training all day. It was really awesome and I felt way more
confident about training a new missionary than before. After our meeting, we
met with our 9-year-old investigator, Avery. We taught her about the Plan of
Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Since she was raised in the church,
all of this is really just review and she practically teaches us. It's awesome!
Her Dad is less active and he has been getting involved. The spirit is so
strong there. He cried in our lesson this week when we were taking about
feeling the Spirit! We are hoping that he will start coming back to church!
After that we had dinner in the
guarded community in our area. I had never been in there before - you
have to have an appointment! The houses in there were CRAZY huge! They all had
5 garages and huge front doors and huge fountains and were like 6 stories high.
Oh my gosh. It was like the DeVos house - but bigger and a whole neighborhood
of them!!!! I am not even kidding.
Thursday was Thanksgiving, so
we dropped off cookies to all the "Do Not Contact" people in our ward,
did service, and other things that wouldn't get too in the way of families
spending time together. That night we went to the Gorman-Payne's house. They
had lots of family over for dinner and we had a lot of fun with them! They had
super good food (even if it wasn't Dad's famous Thanksgiving potatoes). After
dinner they have a tradition of decorating gingerbread houses to welcome Christmas
in! It was a lot of fun, and Sister Harrison and I built a gingerbread Temple
On Friday morning we got a call
from Avery's Dad. He told us that all their family was in town this weekend and
that he knew it was super last minute, but could Avery's baptism be that night.
We paused for a second, and then I said, "Well, let us call a few people,
and we'll make it happen!" So the whole day was spent scrambling to call
people and reserve the building and getting keys to the building and finding
out who was doing what on the program and finding someone to conduct and
welcome her into the ward- which was not easy, because everyone was out of town,
and our Bishop went to Mexico
On Saturday morning we went to
get hot chocolate with Missy, Ben, and Devan. Missy is so awesome and has such
a strong testimony. I am so impressed that, despite her parents, she stays so
strong. She has a strong desire to be baptized and will do whatever it takes to
have that. I love her.
Sister Cummings and Sister
Stinnet had lunch with us. We also did some service that day and helped clean
the church with our ward. Other than that, we just spent time contacting people
and trying to find people to teach!
On Sunday we had fast and testimony meeting and Sister Harrison was asked to share her testimony. Missy was able to come to church! We had dinner with the Lee's, who just moved to the condos above the outdoor mall here - it made me want to move to the houses above the shops in downtown Holland, it was so cute and fun! We had a great time with them. They have a daughter serving in
There was a Christmas concert
in our stake center, so we went to catch the end of it, and I got to see Miss
McDade! She had come to the concert and brought Sister Harrison and I Christmas
presents. She is so sweet. I love her. And I miss Karina! I wish she had been
there too, but hopefully I will see them both soon!
That was about it for us this
week. We are excited about the transfer and about being companions with each
other.
We have a lot of cool new ideas
to find people here! Pray that they work :)
Thanks for everything and I love you!
Love, Sister Coltrin
Sister Coltrin working on the gingerbread Temple.
Sister Harrison and Sister Coltrin with their gingerbread temple.
Sister Harrison, Missy, and Sister Coltrin
Sister Coltrin, Avery, and Sister Harrison at the baptism
No comments:
Post a Comment