A Crazy Week!

So many ups and down this week! We had a hard week, but Sister Robinson and I just laugh so much and have so much fun!

So Monday morning, we hiked Sunrise and I already told you about that last week. The rest of the day we pretty much slept and shopped and went to Family Home Evening. We had dinner with a girl that is newer in the ward and she was so sweet and SO funny!

Tuesday was SO fun. Well, we mostly just contacted people all day and took different members out with us - BUT, in the middle of the day, it started to POUR. Sister Robinson and I were outside and got DRENCHED. Absolutely soaked all the way through, it was SO fun and we were so happy. That night we had a lesson about the Word of Wisdom with 2 of our investigators. Things got a little heated, they didn't like the Word of Wisdom, but they said that they would read the pamphlet and pray about it. After that we went to a fellowshipping activity with our ward that they do every Tuesday night.

Wednesday was district meeting and district lunch. We went to see Joe and then had a lesson with our new investigator Crystal! She is so sweet and she really wants to come to church - she is just stuck on the Trinity. Whenever we talk about it, she starts to Bible bash. I really hope that she'll pray about it. But as for now, she's mostly in it for the social aspect and new friends. That night we had dinner with Bishop and then we went to see a less active that we found while trying to contact a potential. We knocked on a door and the people had just moved out, and the apartment complex cleaning guy was in there fixing the apartment. We talked to him and asked him what his religious beliefs were. He said, "Oh, I guess you could call me a Mormon." We laughed, then told him that we were the missionaries for the Mormon church. He is SO awesome! So we are meeting with him!

Thursday we saw Joe and contacted people in the morning. At 1:30 that afternoon we did exchanges (our Sister Training Leader's companion was sick, so we only did half day exchanges). Sister Robinson went to Boulder City to stay with the sick sister and Sister Stinnett came to be with me! Yes, this is Sister Stinnett from Anthem at Christmas time! We had a really CRAZY day. We saw tons of miracles! So many people opened the door that we hadn't seen before! We street contacted a family that invited us in right there and practically begged us to teach them! They were so nice, they were offering us food and water and were telling us that their house was ours. We talked to them about the Restoration and about church, and then handed them over to the Spanish Sisters. We got stuck in some insane traffic due to a huge accident on the highway.  Then we had another lesson with our two investigators that we tried to teach the word of wisdom to... and it got really crazy.

Right before the lesson, I felt like I should just make sure that the Elders were in the area (it's a pretty sketchy place, and we are always supposed to let them know when we are there). They told us that they were in the park just around the corner. We went into the lesson and it just felt so wrong to be there. We started, and followed up with the Word of Wisdom - if they had prayed or read. There are 2 guys, one is bipolar apparently, and one is schizophrenic. Yeaaaah. It got super heated and the bipolar one was yelling at us about how we can't just come in there and try to change them, and the schizophrenic one was just sitting in absolute silence, and would say one word every 6 minutes. It was crazy. We were SO scared. I texted the Elders to come and knock on the door. I got us to the point where we could leave, and we got up to go, and then he looked at me and yelled, "NO, I HAVE MORE THINGS TO SAY, WE ARE NOT DONE HERE." We froze. I didn't even know what to do, it was so scary. Just then, we saw the Elders running up to the door in their service clothes, oh my gosh, it was instant relief. They came in, everything calmed down (when a huge Samoan guy walks into a place like that, things tend to calm down... hahaha). We left. After we all got to the car, both investigators came running out, trying to apologize - Elder Riley was like, "Just get in your car and go" so we left. We met them at the park a few minutes later to tell them what happened - oh my goodness it was CRAZY! But we're safe and we're never going there again! We exchanged back that night and Sister Robinson was like, "I can't believe I wasn't there!" Hahahaha!!

So yeah, the rest of the week was not too exciting compared to that!  Friday was weekly planning. We had dinner at Alainya's house with Cody and their non-member friend. It was so fun! Sister Robinson and I brought nutella covered oreos for dessert :) Then we went to a ward activity to see the less actives and investigators that we are working with.

Saturday we started the day off with service. We had some lessons that fell through. We contacted potentials all day. Then we went to the Evan's house for Brother Evan's 60th birthday party! IT WAS A BLAST! We had so much fun. They were our dinner appointment that night. We jumped in the bouncy house, had super good food, and got to talk with all our members.

The highlight of Saturday was when the Lee's came down to see me! It was like seeing my own family, I was so happy! I really needed it. I love them so much, it was the highlight of my whole week.

Sunday was church and meetings and the usual.

I love Vegas and the heat and drinking water all the time and being a missionary! I love you all!

Love,
 

Sister Coltrin

 

 

 

 

Sister Robinson, Sister Coltrin and a ward member

Caught in the rain - soaked but happy!

 

 

 

You are never too old for a bouncy house

 

 

 

"Off roading - MOST FUN THING EVER"

 

"Just fist bumping someone's lion lawn decoration."

Happy Fourth of July!!

This has been the longest and one of the best weeks ever! Sister Robinson is seriously the best, we have so much fun, and we just laugh and laugh all day long! All week we were waiting for the 4th of July, which we were way too excited about! WE LOVE AMERICA! Okay, so here is how our week went:

Last Monday, our Bishop and his sweet wife, and two of their cute grandkids picked Sister Robinson and I up at 10 a.m. They wanted to take us to a cute Orchard in North Las Vegas, since we are both from the mid-west and were missing mid-west falls! They drove us the hour long drive there, and as we pulled up, there was a sign that told us that the Orchard was closed on Mondays... of course. We laughed about it and took some pictures.  They took us to Raising Cane's - a really good local chicken place, and then took us home. The girls were so cute on the way back, playing with us and trying to guess our first names. They were interviewing me on everything I had written in my planner, it was so funny. I love the Walton's! We did our normal p-day stuff after we got back, and that night we had THREE investigators at Family Home Evening! It was awesome! At our dinner, we were talking to one of our members and she told us that she went to college in Connecticut. Side note, she loves to plan events and parties and is really good at it. She was telling us about how she ran for student body president there at school, and that during her speech she said, "Hi! I'm Jill, I'm from Vegas, and I like to party!" She then put her face in her palm and told us that that's how she got elected, hahaha, we were DYING!

Tuesday we fasted for one of our less actives. We got to meet with Jason, one of our investigators, who opened up the conversation with, "I hear that you think dark skins are cursed..." oh boy, that was a fun conversation. We contacted people all day and had a ton of members come out with us! We're making new friends. That night we knocked on a former investigator's door, and he came to the door and was super awkward with the door, trying to keep it really closed. I was like, "Haha, are you trying to keep your dog inside?" He laughed and then was like, "Uh, I'm kinda in my underwear." HAHAHAHA SO WEIRD! People, just put clothes on before you come to the door. It was funny. Oh another door we went to, this little kid opened the door, and there were like 8 people asleep on the floor, couches, chairs... it was so creepy, we thought they were dead! Interesting day.

Wednesday was a really long day of contacting potentials. We were a little frustrated. It was hot and we were just being complainers! One guy that answered his door was SO rude to us. He was trying to fight, so we said was that all we could do was to invite him to find answers for himself, and he was like, "Oh, sweetheart, I don't have to, I definitely don't need to" and slammed the door. It was hilarious! We laughed all the way back to the car. We met with Joe and Jason again, and our recent convert Alainya, and a new investigator! We met Crystal the other day while contacting potentials and she and her mom let us in, and we talked with them.  Crystal said that she is looking for something in her life, and better friends, so she said we could come back! It was awesome and she is so sweet. We had dinner at Bishop's that night and then went out with one of our members that night to contact potentials some more, yay!

Thursday was mostly the same... contacting. We called a lot of people that day too! We got to meet with Brian and Stephen that night too (it is SO weird to be teaching a Brian and a Stephen together... I haven't said those names together in like 2 years!). We had dinner with Maddy, our recent convert that night - she is so sweet!

Friday was the BEST FOURTH OF JULY EVER! We treated ourselves to ice cream at Dairy Queen, we went to 5 BBQs that day, and our investigators even came!!! It was awesome! We had sooo much fun with Bishop, the Smith's, the Duck's, Adrian, and the Dow's! At night our district went to the Dow's house to watch the fireworks at Mission Hills Park. They had homemade ice cream and the fireworks were AMAZING! I love fireworks so much! It was the best day ever. We dressed in all red, white, and blue.

Saturday was Zone Training Meeting and we got to meet President and Sister Snow! They are so nice and we love them already! We had our car parked somewhere and we were walking, and when we got back there was a mormon.org card on our car from Elder Thomas and Elder Gilstrap telling us to stay out of their area (which is also our area). That night we were contacting a potential in their apartment complex, so we decided to leave a mormon.org card on their door that said. "We'll see you in Relief Society!" and when I went to tape it to their door, Elder Thomas pulled the door open and screamed, it was SO scary and SO funny, they were home for dinner and we had no idea, hahaha. Funny day.

Sunday was normal, meetings, church, dinner, and contacting people.

This morning we hiked Sunrise Mountain AGAIN!  I haven't done that since I was in Sunrise! It was really fun, really hard, and we went REALLY early. We left at 2:30 a.m! We reached the top for the Sunrise, which was awesome. It is so cool to be able to see the whole valley from the top. I love hiking Sunrise!

I hope you all have a great week! I LOVED the giant letter from the girls at Girls Camp!

Love you!

Love, Sister Coltrin

Sister Coltrin, Travis, and Sister Ena

 

 

Sister Coltrin and Sister Robinson at the orchard

 

 

Sister Coltrin and Sister Robinson with Maddy

 

 

 

Sister Robinson and Sister Coltrin excited for the 4th

 

 

 

 

Happy 4th of July from Sister Robinson and Sister Coltrin

 

 

 

 

Watching fireworks at the Dow's

Sister Robinson, Sister Coltrin, Elder Rogers, Elder Beers, Elder Gilstrap and Elder Thomas

 

 

 

Sister Robinson and Sister Coltrin at the top of Sunrise

 

 

 

 

This is our "Everyone do an Elder Latu pose" picture

 

 

 

 

Our whole District hiking Sunrise

 

A Brand New Transfer

THIS IS GOING TO BE AN AWESOME TRANSFER. We have had the most fun week! Well, not fun, but funny. I love my new companion! I'm probably just going to rave about her all transfer - we have so much fun together. This week has had ups and downs, but it's been a blast!

Okay, so let’s start with Monday. P-day was actually awesome! We had a huge zone BBQ as our last hoorah. It was bitter-sweet. Super fun to be with everyone and have fun, but sad to have to say goodbye. We grilled hotdogs and hamburgers, and the Polynesians made some super good fruit drink with crushed watermelon, pineapple, coconut, and cream. Yuuuuum. We went that night to say Sister Ena's goodbyes, and then had our final goodbye party at Adrian's. So sad. Sister Ena and I were up late that night, packing up her stuff, and writing in people's transfer journals. It was so hard to say goodbye to her, I love Sister Ena!

Tuesday morning was CRAZY. We had to wake up at 5:40 to be in Boulder City for morning sports at 6:00 to give back transfer journals. Then we had to drive all the way out to Vegas to pick up Sister Ena's new car, phone, keys, etc from the Elder's that are getting double transferred out of the Samoan Ward. Then we had to make it back to our house to get her stuff, and get ready, and finish packing, and load up the car. Then we had to pick up a member to be my companion, and then go and drop Sister Ena off with her new companion. It was CRAZY! But on the plus side, I got to see Sister Olsen, who was at the transfer spot dropping off Sister Missionaries! Yay! I took our member home and she helped me clean up our apartment and get things ready for Sister Robinson. We went back to Vegas to meet the Kingman caravan. I got to meet my new companion, Sister Robinson! She is AWESOME! She is from Wisconsin, so right across the lake! We pretty much talk about the Mid-West all the time. She is the youngest of 6, goes to BYU-I for Healthcare Administration, and she just got here from Kingman. She has been out 4 months, was trained by Sister Remund from my MTC district, and then was companions with Sister Arnold who was also in my MTC district! She is SOOOO so funny, we pretty much just laugh all the time. I love Sister Robinson.

That day we unpacked her stuff, stopped by the St. Timothy's ward activity and she got to meet Bishop and Sister Walton. Then we went to a cool little Mexican restaurant with the Taufa family which was super fun! We dropped our investigator, Ken, and then went to have a lesson with Maddy. We brought MJ, one of our members, and at the end of the lesson, Maddy said something about being Chinese, and MJ spoke to her in Chinese! It was so crazy! They just talked in Chinese for like 5 minutes, Sister Robinson and I we're like, "What is going on!?" It was so funny! Talk about insta-BFF's.

I will have to type fast, I'm running out of time!

Wednesday we made transfer goals. Lots of good goals, and then some fun ones. We want to memorize the first vision in Samoan and Chinese, hahaha. And we also want to be healthy... that's started off great (sarcastic). We are totally each others crutch when it comes to dessert. We're working on it... hahaha. That morning we had breakfast at Adrian's and had Oreo pancakes -  SO GOOD. Then had a couple lessons with recent converts! We found out that Travis is going on vacation to Hawaii this week, we totally weren't jealous at all.  We had dinner at the Walton's with Travis and one of our Ward Mission Leader's, then walked around Albertson's trying to find one of our investigator's that has dropped off the face of the Earth. We didn't find him. We had a lesson with Maddy at MJ's house so that they could practice their special musical number for Maddy's baptism (it was in Chinese!).

Thursday was District Meeting. One of the Elder's from my MTC district is my new District Leader! After that we got to go and meet with Jason, one of our newer investigators. That night we had dinner at a recent convert's house with her family. Their missionaries are our Zone Leader's. They were talking about how they saran wrapped their car once, and one thing led to another, and basically we totally plotted out how we could fill their entire car with balloons that night. Soooo, after out lessons, Sister Robinson and I ran to the 99 Cent store and got like 6 packs of balloons. We blew them up in our car until we had about 230 balloons... we were packed in there... Then the plan was that we would park next to the ZLs car (they were teaching a lesson at the recent convert's house) and they were going to unlock their car from the inside of their house. Unfortunately, the ZLs got suspicious, and came outside. Elder McMillian saw us and just yelled, "FAAAAAILURES!" Haha, I was so mad! Suuuuch a bummer. They were so smug. We couldn't let them get away with it, so on the way home we caution taped their door way. Eh, either way, can't go down without a fight.

Friday we had a mega breakthrough with Joe! It was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. He gets it.  He knows he has to make better choices. We were SO happy when we left there. We weekly planned and then had some lessons with recent converts. We also have discovered that Oreos dipped in Nutella are, in fact, one of the most delicious treats known to mankind. We had a really little dinner that night at a member’s house and we were still hungry, so we went to another person's house to get some more food. Yay for 2nd dinner.

I'm skipping a bunch of stuff because I'm out of time, but I have to tell you about the weekend:

We walked most of the day because we are pretty much out of miles - IT WAS SO HOT. SO HOT. But we talked to a BUUUNCH of people. Almost all of our appointments fell through. But we saw so many little miracles! We also got to go to Maddy's baptism, which was amazing!!! It was in Chinese, and Sister Ena came, and Maddy and MJ sang "I am a Child of God" in Chinese, and the whole thing was just amazing.

Sunday was the funniest thing of my life. It started off with my companion melting a hole in my shirt. So, I was in the bathroom, and she was trying to iron one of my shirts, and when I came out, she was in a panic. She looked and me and was like, "HOW WILL I EVER REPAY YOU!?" As she held up my shirt, with a melted hole in it. I laughed soooooo hard!!!!! We were dying! I was seriously on the floor cracking up. She was so worried, but I told her not to worry about it. It was so, so, so, so, so, so, so funny. After that, we got in the car to go to the church for meetings. She opened some lotion in the car, and since it's super hot here, the pressure had built up, and it squirted all over her face. We were dying again. Then we had lunch at Adrian's, he said that all food is free game, so we looked and found a ton of ice cream in the freezer. We opened it and took some, and then he came in and told us that that wasn't his, that it was for a ward party after church and we had eaten it... he took the blame for us.  What a nice guy.  Then we had church, and it was amazing and super inspiring, and exactly what one of our less actives needed to hear. Then for dinner we had grilled cheese - WITH MAC AND CHEESE AND BACON INSIDE. It was soooo good, but we definitely felt it later. We got to see some investigators that night with one of our members, Auria. She was driving us, and we almost got into an accident, and she just yelled, "PRAY!!!!!" It was so funny! Sunday was awesome.

Sister Robinson and I have decided that we are getting real with Charity this transfer, we decided we're going to be the most charitable and loving missionaries in the mission.  Also, we're PUMPED for the 4th of July and are trying to get invited to as many BBQ's as possible. We're going all out.

Hope you had a great week! I love you!

Love, Sister Coltrin

P.S. Sorry, no pictures this week, no time!

 

 

Transfers are Tuesday!

This week has been super great! We have had so many spiritual experiences this week, and have had a lot of fun!

Monday was p-day.  It was pretty normal. We haven't been doing big, extravagant things for p-day lately. 

I don't remember what has happened on each individual day, but we have found a lot of new investigators this week, and have had a lot of fun, and had an amazing baptism! 

About our investigators:

 We found 4 new investigators this week! Almost 6, actually. Kiki and TJ are brother and sister. They were a pass off from the Elders. They are really nice and are both looking for more in their lives. TJ always talks about how he wants to be closer to God, which is so cool! We stopped by a less-active's house, and he wasn't there, but his non-member friends were! We met with 2 of them, one of which is a former investigator, and hopefully we'll get to see them again soon! We also met a couple of potential investigators from our lists that answered their doors! Jason and Elijah. We left a note on Jason's door, which turned out to be his neighbor's door. He got the note form his neighbor and called us back! We went over to meet him and invite him to church, and he was really excited. We are so excited to have found so many people this week! 

We got transfer news, and unfortunately Sister Ena is getting transferred! I only got to be with her for one transfer :( We were super sad. She will be going to the Samoan Ward that covers the whole valley. My new companion will be Sister Robinson. She is from Wisconsin and has been out for just 3 transfers. She's coming up from her first area in Kingman. 

We've had a lot of success this week and have had some amazing lessons! We got to meet with Travis the morning of his baptism, and he was so prepared and so excited. His baptism was AMAZING. The Spirit was so strong there. I got to speak about the Holy Ghost. After he was baptized, he was glowing! He told us that he couldn't even describe how he felt, he felt clean, and so, so happy! The best part was after he was confirmed and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday - he sat back down next to us and said, "I feel so good right now! I'll have to tell you about it after church!" He told us that he literally felt the Spirit come to him, so strongly, and that he just knew that it was with him! It was so sweet - probably one of the coolest things I've had an investigator say. 

We've been meeting with Maddy too, in preparation for her baptism! She is getting baptized this coming Saturday! She is so excited. We met with her on Sunday morning, and she was talking about how she just knows that the church is true, and how she is so excited to be baptized! I love teaching people about the Gospel! It's amazing! 

We just had a Zone BBQ. It was really fun! We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, and the Poly's made some super good drink with watermelon, pineapple, and coconut. 

We had a great week! I will miss my Soa Ena so much. I have loved getting to know and be a part of the Polynesian culture. She will be one of my best friends forever!

 

Have a great week!

 

Love, Sister Coltrin

 

Sister Ena and Sister Coltrin

Saying goodbye to Charlene, Lindsay and Callie

 

Another Exciting Week in Vegas!

We have had some exciting things happen this week! It's been awesome! This is the last week of the transfer, so this Saturday we will know what is going on. Can you believe I only have 4 transfers left? I can't.

Monday was p-day, as always. Pretty boring, nothing too exciting.  We went to have a lesson with a new investigator, but it fell through and he wasn't there. That night we met with Travis. We moved his baptism up to this coming weekend! He is so excited and he is sincerely ready to be baptized. He is amazing and his faith has grown so much. We love Travis!

Tuesday was District Meeting. After that we went to see Joe! We just laugh and laugh and laugh every time we meet with Joe, he is so funny. He is doing really well, he comes to church every week now! It's a miracle, he got Sundays off work! We had dinner with a family in Sister Ena's old area (which is a ward that is in our area). It was really fun to be with them. After dinner, their son pointed out that he had a Python. He proceeded to take it out, and I proceeded to run to the other end of the house. Hahaha. I hate snakes. Why does everyone in Vegas have a snake?!? After a while of them coaxing me to come closer, I finally touched the snake's tail.

We were super busy on Wednesday. We met with Joe, and then one of our recent converts came out with us. We had a lesson with a referral that we received but it fell through. We went to our backups with him, and went to knock on a door. There was super loud music, and a girl answered the door. We asked for the guy we were looking for and she said she didn't think he was home. She went to see (because we asked her to) and then a couple more people came to the door. They were all laughing and being rude, so we just left. Our recent convert was like, "Do you run into a lot of rude people like that?" I was like, oh my gosh, this wasn't even bad! After that, we had a lesson with our investigator Brian, but he also wasn't there. Then we met with Travis! We always meet at the park and it was sooo hot that day! We had dinner at Bishop's house that night and coordination meeting afterwards (which, guess what? ALSO fell through!)

Thursday morning we saw Joe. We got to see Alainya that afternoon! She is so sweet, I love being able to teach her. We went back to see Brian again, and he was there! We taught him the Restoration with one of our members, and it was amazing! The Spirit was really strong, and we could tell that he really understood and felt the Spirit. We did service after that, and helped a member put baseboards in their house. That night, we were parked in a parking lot, texting and calling people back. All of a sudden, like 5 police cars surround our car and turn their lights on. We freaked out, just a little. There were a few homeless people trespassing and causing problems in the field right next to where we were, so they weren't there for us... but it was still a little scary!

Friday was weekly planning, and seeing Joe in the morning. Sister Ena's back was not cooperating, and so she had to lay down for an hour. We contacted people that day, and tried some less actives that we've never met before. We got a couple of return appointments, so that was good! We felt like we should go and see one of our former investigators, Eddie. Before that I felt like we should go a write a sticky note and put it on one of our member's doors. When we walked to her door, we saw this guy going to get his mail. We went to talk to him and he was super nice! We got his info, and got a referral for the Zone Leaders, it was awesome! He seemed really interested, we were glad we went to write a note for our member. When we saw our former investigator, we could tell he was not doing well. He asked if we would meet with him again! It was amazing. That night we had dinner with one of our recent converts, Alan, and Morgan, who is a member in our ward. We had a new member lesson with Alan afterwards, and then we went on exchanges!

Saturday was an amazing day, full of miracles! Our Sister Training Leader's companion had to go home for medical reasons, so she is in a trio now with some other sisters. Sister Ena went with our STL to work in their area, and I got to stay in Foothills for the day with a member. I called Sister Gelabert, so that it would be easier than switching members all day. It was good to be with her! We got to see Joe in the morning, then we got a return appointment from a referral. We went to see Brian again, and invited him to church. We had lunch, and she made me pasta, just like she did when we were in Anthem. We contacted a lot of potentials and referrals! We had a lesson with Travis, and talked about his baptism too! We went out to Boulder City to contact some people, and then got stuck in traffic for 45 minutes on the way back, so Sister Gelabert asked me questions about missions to help her prepare for her mission (she leaves for Kansas in August). We had a quick dinner and then went to see Ken. We haven't seen him in forever! We knocked, and got to talk to him for just a little bit, and scheduled a lesson. He's doing well, and I'm hoping that he has recognized the difference since he hasn't been coming to church.  We contacted a few more people, and then it was time to exchange again.

Sunday morning we had a lesson with Maddy! We set her for baptism on the 28th and she is so excited for it! We had an amazing lesson with her. We are so excited for her. We had meetings, and coordination meeting, and then church. Church was great! Sacrament meeting was alllll about Father's, since it was Father's day. I got a little sad, and may or may not have, but definitely did cry a little bit because I missed my Dad. He is the best. Happy Belated Father's Day! We had a lesson with Travis after church to help him figure out his baptismal program for this week! We had dinner with Jillian, a few appointments, and then crashed after a long, tiring week!

This morning I got to play tennis, finally! It was so fun! P-day, yay. Okay, everyone, have a great week!

Love, Sister Coltrin

Playing tennis in our new mission t shirts

 

 

 

Sister Gelabert and Sister Coltrin reunited for a day

 

 

 

"I touched another snake and didn't even cry that much."

Talofa!

Talofa!

This week has been great! We have been finding new people and have been seeing a lot of miracles in our area! I absolutely love my companion, Sister Ena, we have so much fun together. This week has had ups and downs - with President and Sister Neider leaving in just a few weeks, we are pretty sad, they will be missed. 

Let’s see if I can remember what we did this week! I don't have my planner with me right now, so I have to just go off my memory... so this could be interesting. 

Well, first off, it is starting to get SO hot! You know you're in Vegas when you get in your car at 8:45pm and it's 100 degrees outside. Ugh. And this week we started hitting the 110s. It kind of stinks when you leave your backpack in the car for 20 minutes and all your favorite chapsticks and all the starbursts in your backpack melt... oops. Gross.

Last Monday our District went out to Nelson to the old mines! A member and his family own the mines out there, so we got to go for free. It was super fun! We started off with a tour of their house/museum, and then went through their yards with all this cute, old stuff... All I could think of was how much Sister Murphy would have LOVED it! And then we went through the mines, it was awesome! They are pretty much self air-conditioned, it felt so good. There was a part where the guys turned off all the lights and it was SO dark! I couldn't see my hand in front of my face - and yes, I did try! Our district took a bunch of pictures, including one where 4 of the Elders tried to fit into a small bathtub... yikes. 

Tuesday we had a few lessons. We are still trying to get a hold of Ken, we haven't seen him in a while. We are still meeting with Travis, Maddy, Brian, Joe, Nathan, and our recent converts! We invited Travis and Maddy to be baptized this week and they both accepted! They are so awesome! We met with Travis and taught him the second and third lessons this week, and with Maddy we did the 10 commandments and all that they entail. Joe is doing awesome, he is still coming to church, and he even texted us this week because we hadn't seen him in a few days and he wanted us to come over!

Wednesday we spent the day trying to contact some referrals, and we set up a few appointments for this coming week. In the middle of the day, the Zone Leaders called and asked Sister Ena if her and all the other Poly's in our zone would sing a musical number (for the next day...) so we called them all and we all met at the church and put a song together - it was AWESOME.

On Thursday we had Zone Conference - our last one with President and Sister Neider. It was a super sad day! The Poly's sang their song, a Samoan song and "God Be With You Til We Meet Again" in English and Samoan. We were all crying. I love the Neider's so much.

Friday was a normal day, we had some lessons and contacted people.

Saturday was probably the highlight of the week! We had Zone Training Meeting (and it actually ended on time...)! That night though, was the BEST! There is a member of our ward who had a sister getting married and her reception was that night. He signed up to feed us, and their family wanted us to come (we go to a LOT of Polynesian things, thanks to Sister Ena!). They're Tongan, so needless to say, we had to be there. It was Elder Latu's cousin, so he and Elder Rogers were there as well - sitting at the Bridal Party table. It was hilarious to see this long table of Tongans, and then this one little, white kid, hahaha! The whole thing was SO FUN! There was Tongan food, and we ate with our hands, and they all had their cultural dances, it was a blast! I was laughing the whole time!

Sunday, we had Travis, Maddy, and Brian all at church! We have such an awesome ward, they all fellowship our investigators so well! We love them! We had meetings from 10:30 until church started at 2:00, and then right after church we grabbed some food from our ward linger longer, and headed off to the last "Why I Believe" fireside! The fireside was SOOOO good, and President and Sister Neider spoke at the end to say goodbye. It was sad, again, but still good. I love the “Why I Believe” firesides, plus we get to see like, all the missionaries there! I love that. Tons of my favorite missionaries are leaving this transfer, so I got to say goodbye to them too.

Today is p-day, and we got our hair cut this morning at a member's salon. It was super nice of her! We have been in a water balloon war this afternoon as a zone, and I'm sitting here typing while I'm drenched. Got to get back to the war!

I love you! Ofa Atu!

 

Love, Sister Coltrin

 

 

 

The Mines and the surrounding area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rattle Snakes!

 

 

 

Our District at Zone Conference

 

 

President and Sister Neider with Sister Ena and Sister Coltrin

 

 

"Sister C and the Polys"

 

 

There is a whole pig at the wedding reception!

 

 

"LOOK! I'm practically Tongan."

 

 

 

 

Another Great Week In Vegas

Another great week in Vegas! I love it here. Sorry for the short email, we had to stay in a few days due to sickness (I think President puts all the sick Sisters with me...).

Monday we had p-day, which was actually pretty boring. But we got to go to the Duck's house for a Memorial Day barbeque for dinner! It was fun! We had Family Home Evening after that.

Tuesday our District Meeting was cancelled, due to a sick District Leader. We had a couple of lessons, and then we had to head home to put meatballs in the oven to take to St. Timothy's to feed the homeless! Our ward goes and helps another church to feed the homeless once a month - it's actually really fun! We prepare the food, and then work an assembly line to put food on plates, and then we serve the food! We have a lot of fun there. It was especially cool this time because our investigator, Travis, came to help out! After that we went to the Evan's house for "Taco Night" where a bunch of people from the ward go and have dinner. We got to meet a lot of people in our ward. 

Wednesday we had a lesson with Joe and then lunch with one of our members. Sister Ena started to get really sick - her back was really hurting her (she couldn't walk) and she was coughing up blood. We went home so we could call the mission medical sister, and then Sister Ena took some medicine and napped. It was so sad! I wished I could have helped her. I wasn't feeling great either, with a fever of 102. We had to cancel our plans for the rest of the evening because she was sick. But we did have one lesson with Maddy that night and we taught her about the Word of Wisdom! We love teaching her, she is so receptive, and she is awesome!

Thursday was my ONE YEAR mark! What the heck!? Time flies. We started it off right by having a lesson at 9! We taught Travis a really powerful lesson about the Restoration at the park with Robin. It was incredible! We went to District Meeting after that and then District Lunch. We met with Alainya to do another new member lesson about the Word of Wisdom, and then met with Joe to read the Book of Mormon. He makes us laugh so much whenever we are over there. Sister Ena was feeling sick again after that, so we had to go in for an hour for her to rest. We had dinner at Adrian's that night, and then had a fire and I burned a dress and a skirt in honor of my one year mark! Don't worry, Mom - both the dress and skirt were already ruined and couldn't be worn.  It was such a fun night!

Friday morning we had lessons at 9, 10, 11, and noon! It was an awesome way to start off a Friday! We met with Alan to have his last lesson before his baptism! Then we had a pass off lesson with the Elders and got a new investigator named Brian. He is really receptive, but has some mental handicaps, so we aren't sure how well teaching him will go. We are excited though! We met with Joe and then went to have lunch with the Samoan family. Obviously, I impressed them with all of my Samoan words (the 5 that I know...) hahaha. I love having a poly companion!

Saturday was CRAZY! We were rushing around helping people with baptism things, we had another awesome lesson with Travis and committed him to baptism! We talked about the Plan of Salvation, one of my favorite lessons. It was amazing. We met with a few people and knocked on a few doors. Then we had a quick dinner with Adrian and then went to the baptism!!

Alan's baptism was so sweet. Adrian baptized him and then Alan bore his testimony - which was amazing. This has really changed his life and has helped him a lot. Sister Ena and I both spoke at the baptism. It was a great night!

Sunday was the normal ward council and church routine. We got to have dinner with our Relief Society President, Jillian. We love her! We had a lot of fun there and she is so sweet!

We have been getting a lot of referrals this week, we are being so blessed! Thanks for all the prayers! Our investigators are increasing and are all progressing!

I seriously love it here. I love the people, I love Vegas, I love teaching the Gospel, I love serving.

Have a great week! Ou te alofa ia te oe!

Love, Sister Coltrin

 

 

 

 

Sister Coltrin, Sister Ena and Adrien

 

 

 

The burning of a skirt - a one year mark tradition

 

 

 

Sister Coltrin, Alan, Sister Ena

 

 

 

Alan and Sister Coltrin