"It's All About Being Cool and Helping Folks"

THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME! We had so much fun, and saw (and heard) lots of funny things. This is officially Sister Smith's last week in the mission, and we get transfer doctrine on Saturday - this transfer has FLOWN by.

Monday was a blast - literally, we went to play laser tag with our district. Sister Smith and I are the only Sisters, but it was still tons of fun. And Sister Smith was the best one, she beat all the Elders (they would never admit that though)! It's a really cool place that some members own, so they let us play there all p-day! It was awesome. After that we went see Meet the Mormons again with the Loveall's! It was great. We learned that we are the only mission that got permission to see it in theaters! Obviously because the Vegas mission is the most important! So that was pretty cool. We got permission before Elder Holland said that there would be no missionaries in theaters, so they let us still go! 

Tuesday was District Meeting. Sister Smith and I had to give a training on Getting our Investigators to Church. Lucky us, one of the AP's was there on exchanges with our ZLs. It was even more awkward since he had just given a training in the past Zone Conference about getting people to church... hahaha. But it turned out great! The rest of the day was just so weird. One lady took us out to lunch... and when we pulled up we not only realized that she was taking us to eat at a buffet in a casino, but that it was out of the mission. We ended up telling President about it and he just laughed and said "it happens". We went over to meet with Amanda and CJ. It started off great, and we were teaching all about the commandments and their importance. Then all of a sudden, his sister came downstairs and was having seizures and abdominal pain, so they called 911 and the ambulance came and took her. So, it was pretty chaotic, and we were all trying to help her and talk to her. Then they took her in the ambulance and left. And then CJ and Amanda turn to us and are like, "so... the commandments." And we just kept teaching them about the commandments, hahahaha. It was NUTS. We had a quick dinner and then taught Orion and Kaycee. That night we were contacting some people, and we met this guy on the street that told us that he and his wife own a nudist colony... it was the strangest thing ever! The great thing about being a missionary is you can ask them all sorts of questions without being a weirdo, so he told us all about his life, and about how they are wicken's. He told us that his house was super themed, and he let us come in to see (had to check to make sure his wife had clothes on, first, hahaha). Their house was like a jungle, there were trees and fairies and all sorts of mystical stuff. It was hilarious! 

Wednesday was good, too! We met a few people and had a few really good lessons! We met with a new guy named Thomas and taught him the Restoration! He loved it, and he loved the idea of the Book of Mormon. During the lesson he was talking about how he wished he could have the first/original copy of the Bible, so it wasn't all distorted - so obviously he loved the idea of it! We got a call from the family that was supposed to feed us, but they were sick with bronchitis, so we had dinner at the Relief Society President's house! She is so sweet and we love her and her family. After dinner we had a lesson with a new investigator named Chris. We were outside talking with him and his member friend, and the member was telling him about the church and how it's all about "being cool and helping folks" hahaha, it was so funny - and yet, true. We talked to him about Heavenly Father and how he loves us and about repentance. It was such a great lesson! The spirit was so strong. We also met with Adrian that night (9 years old) and he and his family are moving up to Spanish Fork - so Sister Smith and I are going to go see them when we are in Utah! Yay! 

Thursday was another interesting day. We had to take the car to pick up the Elder's that owned the car, and then take all of us to the collision center to pick up our car. On the way out to the car in the morning to bring our stuff from the car inside, this super creepy guy came up and started saying really inappropriate things and asking us for our phone number and where we live. We obviously didn't give it to him. After we sort of told him to leave, he stood off a ways and watched us for a while - it was super creepy. Finally after like 10 minutes, he left, and we ran inside to get our stuff to go pick up the Elders. We got our car, and then we went to teach Amanda and CJ about tithing. We came back to finish weekly planning, and we were talking about the creepy guy, and we were kind of joking about him and said, "what if he stalked us, and came and knocked on our door?" AND THEN HE DID. It was crazy! I saw him walk up the sidewalk, and I gasped, and instantly Sister Smith turned around and slammed the blinds shut. He rang the bell and we bolted back to our room, locked the door, and then went in the closet. He kept ringing and wouldn't go away! We called the ZLs and they told us to call 911. So we called 911. The ZLs showed up about 20 minutes later and told us that he left, and then the police came and told us that if we see him again, we need to call them immediately and they will come and arrest him - hahaha, crazy! They said they've had problems with him before. It was so scary, but hilarious! Welcome to North. Later we went to vacuum Sister Plett's house, and had dinner with the Leavitt's and met with Sister Rock again. Great day, hahaha. 

Friday was interviews! It was so fun. Sister Snow talked to us for a while about relieving stress, and then we got to watch Meet the Mormons as a district, haha! It was the 3rd time me and Sister Smith had seen it- and we LOVE it! Before we all left, President told us that they recently went to a regional meeting where Elder Quinton L Cook talked with all the mission presidents in the southwest region. He told us that Elder Cook told them that in all of North America, the southwest region has the highest success in missionary work! President was looking at the charts after that, and of all 21 missions in the SW region, the Nevada Las Vegas Mission has the highest numbers, and has the most success! So, in case you were wondering, I am literally serving in the most successful mission in all of North America! Woo! We also met with Orion and Amanda and CJ. CJ told us of a completely yellow church outfit that he has, complete with top hat - which he brought out for us, of course. We met with Sherry that night and read more of the BOM with her. Kaycee called us during the day to ask us a question, and she got into talking and told us that we are "gospel superheros" hahaha! She is the cutest. Chris texted us that night and unfortunately he got into some anti-mormon stuff about blacks and the priesthood. We are still working on it, but he is pretty unwilling to meet with us now. It's sad. 

Saturday we got to go to a stake activity with Kaycee! The stake hosted this huge Disney production, where performers from broadway came and did tons of Disney songs - it was so much fun! And they were so talented! We had dinner at the Corbally's house - we had chili and it reminded me of home because it seems like Mom almost always makes chili when the missionaries come over. We also found a hilarious CD in our car that was made by missionaries in the Alaska misson! It is so funny. 

Sunday was great, church in both wards. I stayed for sacrament meeting in our second ward, and they had me come up and bear my testimony. I used the "I'm from Holland... Michigan" joke, and, as always, it was a crowd favorite. Hahahah. People love that one, I don't even know why. We had dinner at the Benner's and had steaks as big as my face, and potatoes that were even bigger! Then we raced off to go to the Why I Believe Fireside! It was Sister Smith's last one, and I realized that I only have one more. Yikes. It was a great fireside though, and Orion got to come. We had a great time, and I got to see Sister Robinson! 

I love my mission. I love Vegas and everything here! I love teaching people about the Gospel! I have never been this happy! 

Pray for me this week, please! I'll need all the help I can get as I begin my last transfer of my mission. Eek.

Have a good week! I love you!

 

Love, Sister Coltrin

 

 

 

 

CJ in his top hat

 

 

"Me and the top hat and Mello - the dog with the underbite"

 

 

 

At the Why I Believe Fireside with an investigator

 

This Was A Great Week!

This week was great! 

Monday was p-day and we played at the church for a long time. That night we got to go see the Brown's and teach a new member lesson to the 9-year old, Kawika! Kawika and his brother, Ikaika, are so, so, sooo funny. They're young, but tell us the funniest stories about them at school. We love them! 

Tuesday was district meeting, which was really good. We contacted people, and had dinner that night at one of our Bishop's homes. We had a lesson scheduled with Orion at the church - but his Uncle told us that they were "busy". We had set up a surprise party for Orion because it was his 16th birthday! We had a banner and a cake and everything, it was cute. We decided that we were not letting it go to waste, so we drove over to their house and when Orion came to the door, we yelled Happy Birthday, holding our banner and cake! He had totally forgotten that he was supposed to meet with us that night, and the Uncle came out, and was surprised that we were there, but you could tell that he was happy that we had done something nice for Orion. It was sweet, Orion was so happy. We all ate cake, and sang Happy Birthday, and all that jazz. It was so fun, and before we left, he gave us hugs. He said that no one had done anything for him all day. It was sweet. After that, we got to go over to the Loveall's and do a fun object lesson about praying, reading the scriptures, and going to church. They were so excited to be baptized, Anthony kept talking about it! After that lesson, we went over to see Kaycee. We taught her the Word of Wisdom (while she was holding a bottle of tea... haha). She said it would be hard to give up tea because she loves it, but she would do it! Kaycee is so funny, I love her. She's 11, and you can totally tell! But she loves church and is excited to be baptized. 

On Wednesday we got to go over to see Amanda and CJ and their 9 day old baby, Christopher! HE IS SO CUTE! AND SO SMALL! We walked in, and Amanda was like, "Okay, who wants to hold him first!?" It was a little bit heartbreaking to have to tell her that we are not allowed to hold babies, but we survived. We saw another investigator that night, Sherry and her husband AJ, AJ is getting baptized in December, but Sherry is still unsure. She is studying with her church and loves the Bible, and isn't reading much from the Book of Mormon. We are going to be reading with her a lot. We went and had dinner at a family's home... and their teenage daughter kept making fun of her mom - oh my goodness, it made me feel so bad for anything mean I had ever said to my parents. Sister Smith and I walked out to the car and we were so sad! Renae had an appointment with us, but cancelled it and told us not to pressure her about meeting... so we aren't sure what's going on there, but hopefully everything will be okay. That night we had exchanges, but the sisters were late. They had to go a different route because the road to our apartment was closed because a gunman was on the loose... welcome to North! 

Thursday was exchanges, and I was with Sister Davis here in our wards all day. We got to see a lot of people and teach a lot of lessons, and we street contacted 30 people! We taught Orion about following the Prophet and about the word of wisdom. We got to see Amanda and CJ again and read from the Book of Mormon. CJ's mom was going crazy about us not holding the baby. She really wanted us to... it was sort of awkward. We also got to see a man in our ward who is working on getting re-baptized. He has an awesome story of getting back into the church that he shared with us, and told us that we could help him by coming over and re-teaching him all the lessons. We had ribs for dinner at the Gill's house! They are so awesome and nice. We met again with Sister Rock and then exchanged back. 

Friday was weekly planning, and then we had the Loveall's baptismal interview! We picked up the Elders to bring them to the church, because one of them is sick. They had a few empty water bottles with them, that they filled up at the church... they have no water at their house, so we had to stop somewhere the next day and bring them water. How are you supposed to live on 4 water bottles when you live in the desert and are sick...? But anyways, the interviews were awesome! They both passed and were so excited to be baptized! We quick ran to the Hanna's house and had a 10 minute dinner because we had to go to the Bishop's house for MEET THE MORMONS! The Turner's took us and our investigators to go and see it in a theater (yes, we are allowed to go). It was crazy driving to the West mission, and going to a casino to watch a movie in the theater... hahahah… what an experience as a missionary. We took pictures of it, of course. We LOVED Meet the Mormons! EVERYONE SHOULD GO SEE IT! 

Saturday we had a coordination meeting in the morning, had a lesson with Amanda and CJ, and then got ready for the baptism! It went so well! The spirit was so strong, and it was all just so sweet. Justin was so ready to be baptized and start new, and Anthony was so excited! They both bore their testimonies after, and they were so sweet. We went to their house afterwards for dinner! They both got brand new CTR rings from Justin's wife. We were all so happy!

Church was great! Kaycee sat with us in our first sacrament meeting, and she went up to bear her testimony! She asked me what you do to bear your testimony, and then she wrote out what she wanted to say, and then I went first, and then she bore hers! It was so sweet! And she is only 11! It was great! We went to the other sacrament meeting together so we could both be there when the Loveall's got confirmed. It was a great day!

Today we are going to play laser tag with our district for p-day! We are having such a good time here! I love North! Sister Smith and I have to give a training this week for District Meeting on getting our investigators to church, so let’s hope that goes well.

Happy Birthday to Brenden Murphy this week - love you, B!

Have a great week, everyone!

Love, Sister Coltrin

 

 

Happy Birthday to Orion!

With Sister Coltrin and Sister Smith

 

 

"Sister Smith and I at the Aliante Casino Theater to see Meet the Mormons on opening night!"

 

 

Sister Smith and Sister Coltrin waiting for the movie to begin

 

 

 

"Black widows line the streets at night here. It's gross."

 

 

"Jayden liked taking pictures, here is just one of them."

 

The Loveall's baptism!

Sister Smith, Jayden, Sister Coltrin, Justin, Anthony, Brother Petty, and Elder Wright

 

 

Another Great Week!

Another great week over here in North Las Vegas! Sister Smith and I have a blast and we love our sweet wards and investigators!  

On Monday we all played at the Stake Center for p-day. And our investigator, Amanda, had her baby! Christopher Jay Askin II. We were so excited! That night we got to go and see a recent convert, 9 year old Kawika. He is the sweetest and most Christ-like 9 year old I have ever met! 

Tuesday we were able to have a couple lessons with new people and other investigators! We met with a man named Clenton, who said that he got interested in the church when he went to the job center here and the people were nice and helped him out. He seemed really sold, but his granddaughter did not seem too happy that he was meeting with us - so we will see! We saw Ms. Poole for a few minutes and prayed with her because she had a doctor's appointment the next day. We also got to see Orion, who was a little nervous about getting baptized, so we were able to talk about baptism and show him pictures, and he felt a lot more confident after that. We met with Renae and taught her the Restoration. It was pretty confusing for her, so we are trying to break it down with her now. We also saw Kaycee and Debby. Kaycee is really excited to get baptized later this month, we read the Book of Mormon and talked about keeping God's commandments. She is the cutest. 

Wednesday we had to do weekly planning early because we were super packed this week. So we spent the morning planning and then had lessons later that night. We got to have dinner at the Anderson's and they invited Kaycee, our investigator to come! It was really sweet to have her there. We also got to meet with the Loveall's. Justin and Anthony are getting baptized this weekend and they are really excited! 

Thursday was Zone Training Meeting! We had dinner with Sister Bacod, and then met with Adrian, a 9 year old investigator and read the Book of Mormon. He was so funny, he wanted to read as much as possible. Then we saw the Loveall's again and talked about the 10 commandments and taught Anthony the hand signs for the 10 commandments to help him remember them. He loved it! He does them all the time now. 

Friday, Sister Smith and I got to go to the temple! It was an incredible experience and a perfect day! We took pictures around the temple, and did a session there, and had lunch. I love the temple and am so thankful for it and the chance we have to go there. We got to see the Loveall's again that night, and taught about fasting and tithing. Anthony was still doing the 10 commandment hand signs He is cute. 

Saturday was General Conference! All the missionaries set up camp in the stake center and watched while we took notes and shared food. Conference was so good! After Conference we contacted some people and had dinner and had coordination meeting. 

Sunday's Conference was great too! After Conference, we got to meet with some of our new investigators that we met this week, here's the story: 

So, Sister Smith and I were walking, and we saw this lady about to get out of her car. She was taking a long time, but we felt like we should slow down and wait. So we walked reaaaaally slow so that we could talk to her. We said hello when she finally got out, and she stared at me and my name tag for like, 45 seconds. It was so weird. She just looked up and said, "Come in." We went inside with her and she told us that she and her family had been meeting with the missionaries 20 years ago, and loved church and coming to church, they got married so that they could get baptized, but then had to move really quickly and were never able to get in contact with the missionaries again. She said she thought of the missionaries often, and even showed us pictures of them! It's a miracle that we were able to talk to her! It was so cool! We are meeting with their family now! Her name is Yvonne and her husband is Alex. There were 2 little kids there at the time and they were so funny! We were talking to them, and asked them what they had done that day, and the boy piped up and said, "We be playin'!" Sister Smith and I laughed so hard. 

We saw Renae the night after dinner at the Holly's house. We read over Joseph Smith's testimony with her and talked about Prophets. 

I love North and Sister Smith! Have a great week!

 

Love, Sister Coltrin

 

 

 

 

 

At the Las Vegas Temple

 

 

 

 

At the Las Vegas Temple

"We did our best with a 10 second timer"

 

 

 

 

Sister Coltrin

 

 

 

Sister Coltrin and Sister Smith

 

 

We Are Having A Blast Up Here!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, and again, and again: I love North and Sister Smith. We are having a blast up here! There are so many people to talk to, and it's so nice because we're both "old" missionaries, and we just get to work hard, and I'm so happy!  

Last Monday we stopped by an investigator's house, Lanisha. The Sister's helped her and her family move in right before I got to North. She was so sweet and was so excited to start meeting with us, and to come to church! We are thinking something happened though, because she's avoiding us now, but we are still meeting with her mom - and she is still really excited! We also had to go get our car looked at on p-day, but the benefit to that was taking a mini road trip across the valley, and we got to stop at one of the best chicken places in the world - Raising Cane's! 

Tuesday was District Meeting, as always. We walked around a ton on Tuesday - it was super hot. We got to talk to a ton of people though! We had a lesson with Kaycee and Debby again, and talked about the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and Kaycee decided that she wants to be baptized! She is so cute, in her prayer, she talked about how she wanted to work really hard so that she could be baptized on the 25th of October! Cute little 11 year old. 

Wednesday we had to take our car in again, to bring them the bumper. It was hilarious, but we did, in fact, get our bumper to fit inside our car. Hahaha. One guy was walking his dog, and was like, "Do you girls need some help?" And he told us how we could tilt it to fit it inside. We got to talk to a few less actives that day too, as we were going to see people. We met with CJ and Amanda, too! She loved the Plan of Salvation and talked about how it was "so cool" and "made sense". She is so sweet! We love CJ and Amanda. And we were joking about naming their baby and decided on: CJ2 Nephi Askin. Why not throw Nephi in there, eh? We had a quiet, awkward dinner that night. We got to talk to these two guys on the street for probably half an hour - they were awesome! It was a less active and his friend who is super into the bible. We are meeting with them this week! We talked to them forever about the bible and the Book of Mormon and church and all sorts of stuff. It was really funny too, because they had seen missionaries before, so they actually called us over to talk to them! 

Thursday was fun too. I love Vegas because you talk to a lot of interesting people. We were walking around to see people, and we got to talk to this guy that is a Pastor at his church. He was pretty much just trying to bash us, so we were just nice to him and told him about "Meet the Mormons". After that, he got nice. We also stopped at a former investigator's house. We talked to her for about an hour and she was so excited! She said she had really been pondering things lately, and had lots of questions, and had been praying, and was so happy that we came over. We talked to her about meeting again and helping her prepare to be baptized and she was pumped! We had dinner with some members that were really fun, and after dinner they wanted to take pictures with us, hahah! It was so cute, we went into their living room and took pics - pretty sure their teenage daughter even instagrammed herself with us - can you say "celebrities"? Hahaha. We went and vacuumed for an older lady in our ward that night too. Then our last stop was to see Renae, and we got to talk to her about the struggles that are going on in her life right now. 

Friday was weekly planning. We got to meet with Orion and talk about the Plan of Salvation. For a 15 year old, he had some really good questions to ask. He is excited to be baptized on the 11th. We saw a ton of people that invited us to come back, too. We were having dinner at the Holly's (a family that's in my top 5 here - they are really cool) and as we were leaving, there was a huge storm! We got into our car, but it was raining sheets and sheets, and we couldn't see. So they had us come back into their house to wait it out. From the 10 seconds we were outside going from the car, we were drenched! We dried off and waited for the storm to pass for 20 minutes. As we were driving to pick up a member to come to a lesson with us, a grey mustang pulled up right next to us, and who was it? ADRIAN ALVAREZ OF COURSE! We pulled over to say hi to him for a second! It was so sweet to see him (from Foothills!). Then we had a lesson with Kaycee and Debby again. It was Renae's birthday, too, so we heart attacked her door on the way home! 

Saturday morning we had one ward's coordination meeting, and then met with a lady in our ward. She is AMAZING and is literally the best example of how the Atonement should be used. She was in prison for 6 years, but has totally and completely changed - I would never even think she had done anything wrong! She told us her story, and about her testimony, and how thankful she is for the Savior. It made me really see how change is possible, and how the Atonement is real and works for ALL. We finished weekly planning, had lunch, and got to see a ton of people in the afternoon. We had dinner on our own and then went to the General Women's Broadcast! We had investigators there, and the broadcast was so good! I loved it! We helped clean up afterwards and then had our other ward's coordination meeting. Oh, and you know you've been in Vegas for too long when you walk outside at night and it's 80 degrees and you FREEZE. We were so cold. 

Sunday was the BEST! We went to Hidden Canyon's sacrament meeting - which was the Primary Program! It was really good, and really brought the Spirit. The theme was "Families can be together forever" and at one point, they all stood up and, BY MEMORY, recited the first few paragraphs of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" oh my goodness it was the coolest thing ever. Debby came to church for the first time so she could see Kaycee in the program! It was so sweet! We had TEN investigators at church on Sunday! It was awesome! Both wards had primary programs, and I got to meet a ton of people in both wards. We had dinner that night and then walked around to see people. We talked to as many people as we could to tell them about "Meet the Mormons". 

HEY EVERYONE: Go and see the movie "Meet the Mormons" on October 10th. Please! It's a powerful film about 6 members of our Church across the world, and how their faith in God has blessed their lives and their families.

Have a great week! I love you!

 

Love, Sister Coltrin

 

 

 

 

Our apartment in North

 

"Like the car bumper in our apartment?"

 

 

"What happens when you find a bunch supplies that were left in your new apartment - you make your own pass along cards, of course!"

 

 

 

Nice

 

 

 

"A missionary's GPS - follow the prophet"

 

Welcome to North Las Vegas!

Okay everyone, I LOVE NORTH. I've only been here for a week, but wow, we are so busy all the time and there are so, so, sooo many people to talk to and everyone is so receptive. I love it. It's really hard and really confusing to have 2 wards, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. We have tons of investigators and are meeting tons of new people every day.  

Let’s go back to Foothills for just a second and talk about Monday. So, for my last p-day, our district did the ice bucket challenge... it was really cold (I have a video for when I get home) but luckily you dry out in like 2 seconds here in Vegas. It was pretty funny. I finished packing and Sister Robinson and I cleaned and then we had my last dinner with Jecia, who brought us Cheesecake Factory! It was awesome! We stopped at FHE to say goodbyes and then stopped to say goodbye to Alainya and MJ. It was really sad to leave- I LOVE Foothills and YSA and all the people there that I have met. And I miss my BFF, Sister Robinson like nobody's business! 

Tuesday morning we met at the Viking Chapel and transferred. I got to see Sister Olsen, from Sunrise! She was there helping missionaries bring their stuff to transfers. Then I put my stuff in our car and drove off to North Las Vegas with Sister Smith! 

I LOVE SISTER SMITH! She is from Alberta Canada, went to BYU-I and then UVU, she has long red hair (you can be friends, Dad!), and she is really outgoing. She goes home at the end of this transfer, in 5 weeks. We get along great! She also spent a semester at the BYU-Jerusalem Center! Our area is awesome. It literally borders the West Mission. One side of the street is our area and the other is out of our mission, haha. It's weird.  We have 2 wards - Pelican Creek and Hidden Canyon. It is awesome! We talk to everyone and seriously over half the people we talk to let us come back - it's amazing. 

On Tuesday I met a few of our investigators. We had a lesson with Orion who is 15. His Uncle is in our ward, so he comes to church with him. Orion is a really sweet kid, and is a bit shy, but we can tell that he really is self-motivated, and really has been praying for answers. He is getting baptized on October 11! We also had a returning less active member who called us and said that his wife wanted to meet with us! We met with him and her, CJ and Amanda, and talked about the Restoration. She was really into it and was like, "Woah, that's cool!"  It was cute. She is pregnant, and their baby is due this Friday! She is really excited to get baptized as well, and to raise their baby with the Gospel. She's getting baptized on November 1st, as of now (hopefully the baby permits that). We met them at the church, so I also got to meet a ton of members on my first day there. I also threw up. Typical.  

Wednesday was District Meeting, which was funny, because I've served with a ton of the missionaries in my district already: Elder Tongi, Keogan, Fort, Sister Davis, and Swerd. It's fun and there is another Elder from Michigan, too! Hooray for the mitten state (the REAL mitten state, not Wisconsin - shout out to Sista Robinson :) ). Later we went to see a less active that recently got baptized. He was really solid and was going to do temple baptisms weekly! Then something happened and he just sort of fell. It's really sad, but we'll keep visiting him. And he loves "mormon green jello" so we just bring some to him, and he talks to us every time. We went to visit a potential investigator, and she was sitting out on her front porch with her 16 year old granddaughter, so we got to talk to them for a little bit and pray with them and they told us to come back this week. The granddaughter was really excited about church with girls her age! The woman's name was Ms. Poole, she's an old, southern baptist, and is just so cute! We went to see a less active, Chinese lady and she rambled on and on about the government and kid's acne and pretty much anything but the Gospel. And we couldn't understand her really, so Sister Smith and I just sat there, it was hilarious. Kinda like that one time when we went to get our nails done, and I couldn't understand the lady that was talking to me, so I just ignored her... except I didn't ignore this lady. Hahaha. I got to meet some more of our investigators on Wednesday, too. The Loveall's are a part-member family, so we are teaching the husband and 9-year old son that are not members. They are really excited about the Gospel! Our lessons with them are so sweet. They really understand it and want to be baptized. Justin and Anthony are getting baptized on October 11 and they can't wait!

Thursday we street contacted this really interesting guy who waved us up to his garage to talk to him. Apparently he had met with the missionaries before, but got super offended by a member and will never come back. He was really nice though and loves missionaries. It was weird. We met with a recent convert from Africa, Landji, and his other non-member friends that live with him. They are all from Africa, Gabon and Kenya, and are here in American because they are part of the Circus and were going to perform here in Vegas! They were really cool! We talked about the Book of Mormon and coming to church. We met another investigator named Gilbert, who is older, but is excited about "The Word of God". He was funny. We also went to Sister Bacod's house for dinner and she showed us all the quilt's she is making - she is really talented. She is from Alaska! We vacuumed a lady's house, who has a really bad knee and had surgery on it, and talked with her for a while! She hadn't been to church in a long time, but came this week! Then I met some more investigators - Debby and Kaycee. Debby was a street contact and she had met with missionaries in California before! She knows the gospel is true but is shy and doesn't like to come to church because of that, so we are working on that. Kaycee is her 11 year old daughter, and she is just so funny! We brought a member with us, and Kaycee asked if she was my daughter... hahaha. Kaycee has a part in the primary program that is next week, and she is so excited about it! We are hoping that will get her parents to come to church! 

Friday was weekly planning, which takes FOREVER when you have 2 wards! In the middle of it we got to have lunch with Sister Worthington! She has been home for a long time, but I served around her in Sunrise, and she was Sister Smith's companion in Sunrise! It was really fun to see her again. We had dinner with some really sweet members, and then we had a lesson with another investigator, Renae. We brought someone that is around her age from our ward, and when Renae opened the door, they we're both really surprised! They knew each other! It was awesome and was just what Renae needed. She had been to church once before, but didn't like it, but when this friend invited her to go, she agreed to come for all 3 hours! It was amazing! And she loved it when we taught her about the plan of salvation! Renae is an artist, and draws with pen, it's really cool. When we came out of her lesson, we walked to our car and someone had hit our car. We were in a parking spot, and our bumper was just being held up by our bike rack. Of course they didn't leave a note, and it's a pretty sketchy part of town, especially at night. We had the Elders come and put our bumper in their van and we currently have it sitting in our living room. It's pretty funny. We are getting it fixed today. 

Saturday we met with a less active and struggling member who is going back to the Bahamas for a little while, she is so sweet, and the pastors from her old church are trying to convince her that she doesn't have a testimony of the Church. It's sad. We met with the Loveall's again, had dinner at Sister Jeppson's house - a really sweet returned missionary lady in our ward. We went to contact people that night and walked past this garage that was a full blown man cave - we talked to the guy that was inside it and he said that that was the only space in their house that was completely his, it was insane - complete with TV, chandelier, and popcorn machine. We get to walk so much here, I love it. We talk to so many people! 

Sunday was crazy! We have sacrament for our first ward at 9, then we both go to Sunday school, and halfway through that, Sister Smith went to the other ward's sacrament meeting while I stayed there. Then I went to Relief Society, and then met her after the Sacrament meeting, and we both went to Sunday school again and relief society again. It's confusing! People there are awesome though. There are tons of nice people. There is one man that always brings us snacks to church! He was cool. We met with CJ and Amanda again after church and they brought their friend, Josh! We had a super fast dinner, and then went to the Why I Believe fireside with Kaycee! During the WIB, the recent convert that was speaking was talking about the Elders that taught him, and he was talking about how close they got, and he said, "Yeah, I was seeing them all the time! They'd come over and teach me a few times a week, and then I would see them like, every day! I even took them to a football game!" And everyone gasped, and then looked at the 2 Elders, and then everyone just laughed. The poor guy at the pulpit had no idea why everyone was laughing, but it was so funny. At the end, President got up and was like, "No, I'm not going to rebuke those Elder for going to that sporting event..." Hahahaha.

 

Today is P-day, and we are getting our car fixed, and who knows what else. I love it here. I definitely miss Foothills, and Sister Robinson, but I am really excited to be here to finish my mission. Go North! Have a great week!

 

Love, Sister Coltrin

Sister Robinson and Sister Coltrin after the ice bucket challenge

 

 

 

Sister Smith and Sister Coltrin

 

 

Look...no bumper!

 

 

Transfers!

Well, it's the end of another transfer, and the beginning of a new. It's always so bitter-sweet! On Saturday we found out that Sister Robinson and I aren't going to be companions anymore - SO SAD. She's my best friend and we have had SO much fun together. This week we started making a "highlight reel" and a "blooper reel" list of our time together, and wow, we've just been laughing up a storm. We've had such good times and got a lot of good work done here. So, for my last two transfers (unless I get transferred for my last one... lets hope not) I'll be up in North Las Vegas, back to Vegas, baby! I am so excited! It's the "more humble area" of our mission, so I'm pumped! My companion is Sister Smith. She is from Canada, and actually goes home at the end of this transfer, so I'm her last companion! I'm excited.

This week was a great week! We hung out with one of our members on Monday, and then stopped by FHE and saw a few of our investigators.

Tuesday we saw Joe in the morning, and then we had lunch with one of our members that also cut our hair during lunch. After that we stopped by a referral that we got. It actually wasn't YSA, but we knocked on the door anyways. We went through their gate to their front door, and their fence breaking up their front and back yards had an open dog door. We knocked and then 2 pit bulls came running though the dog door! Needless to say, I was just a tad bit nervous about it. But they came to the door and were SO excited to see us! The lady told us that she wanted us to come back when her whole family was home, so we planned to come back with the Elders that are over that area a different night. It was awesome - and the dogs didn't even jump on us. :) 

We did more contacting that afternoon, and then had a lesson with a less active and his non-member girlfriend. It was really good, she had some questions, so we taught her the Restoration, and she said that it made sense and they said that they would read the Book of Mormon together. We also got to meet with one of our new investigators - Brandon! He is cool, his grandparents are members and kind of push him to join. We taught him the Restoration and he said it made sense and he thought he knew it was true, but unfortunately he had surgery and couldn't make it to church this week. We had dinner with MJ, and then had a lesson about blessings and the Priesthood with Jasmin. She's been really sick this week, and wanted a blessing, so we brought two of our ward members and they gave her a blessing. She thought it was amazing and said she already felt better! It was so sweet.

Wednesday we brought Alainya out with us in the morning, she's so fun :) All our lessons cancelled that day because everyone is sick! It was kind of a bummer, but we still had a good day. We got to go to the Walton's for dinner for my last time. I love the Walton's! Then we got to work in Boulder City for a bit and finish the night there. On the way home, we drove past the park because our ward was meeting there for someone's birthday party - but not just ANY birthday party! There is a girl in our ward named Jill, and every year for her birthday she throws a "JILLO" party (like Jello). So basically everyone brings tons and tons of jello, and pudding, and mushy food, and they have slip 'n' slides of whip cream, and they have a giant food fight and games with it all! It sounds and looks SO COOL!

Thursday we had our last district meeting! We each had our own circle table, and Elder Casagranda brought a huge dragon as a mascot. Yikes, haha. After that we went and did service, and had a few lessons. The coolest lesson was at the end of the night though! We had a pass off lesson, and the Elders came to meet the lady and her family that we met on Tuesday. The whole family was there, and their YSA-aged kids even stopped what they were doing to join in. They talked about how they've been searching and how they are looking for a church to call home. They were so prepared and golden. Oh my goodness. We talked to them for a little bit and prayed, and the Elders set up a time to meet with them again. I hope their kids will go to the YSA ward. They were awesome!

Friday was weekly planning and then we spent time in Boulder City. That night we turned into an apartment complex and there were like 3 fire trucks, 7 police cars, and 2 ambulances! It was crazy. There was a house fire. So we didn't get to meet with our investigator, but woah, it was nuts. We had dinner that night, and oh my gosh - they had the most annoying dog I've ever encountered. It would jump on us like every 3 minutes, and it would scratch us every time, and almost ripped a hole in my shirt. They didn't do anything about it! Sister Robinson and I walked out, and got in the car, and just yelled, "I HATE THAT DOG!" It was so annoying!

Saturday was fun! We were really nervous all day because we didn't know when transfer stuff would come. MJ came out with us from 10-2! It was awesome! I love her! We got to talk to a girl for a while and teach her on her front porch. We were there to see her brother, but he wasn't home. She was sweet! Then we went to have a lesson, but the guy wasn't there, but we street contacted this other guy instead and he was so COOL! He has tons of boats and RV's and cars that he fixes and sells, it was awesome. He talked to us for a long time, about how half his family is Mormon, and just about his life. He said he would love to come to church and activities, he was so nice, and we'll probably start teaching him soon. We also met an old guy that was outside, and he looked at our tags and said, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? You guys are evil!" It was actually hilarious. We laughed for a while after that one. We went and got Dole Whip with the Walton's to say good-bye, and then went to get transfer stuff. We met with Glen and Tonya that night, and had dinner with Alainya and Cody's house. We were moving around and really busy so we didn't have time to process transfers, so when we had a minute to slow down and think, we both just sobbed about not being companions - it was a sight to see. I love Sister Robinson, she's my best friend. It was a great Saturday though!

Sunday was also cool. We had lunch with Adrian, and then smelled like bacon for the rest of the day. Ward Council, Coordination meeting, and then church. Travis Kim, a recent convert, spoke in church for the first time! It was so sweet, and we were so happy! He only got baptized 3 months ago! He also brought his non-member friend to hear him, he is awesome. We had a linger longer, and said goodbye to people, and then had dinner at Heather's house. We had a lesson with Eddie, and he said goodbye to me too. It was so sweet, I said the closing prayer, and at the end, he asked if he could pray too, so we let him, and he prayed for me to be safe in my new area and to find lots of people to help, and all that sort of stuff - it was one of the most tender moments of my mission. So sweet. We also stopped by to say bye to Christine. I love her! I love this place.

Today we are doing a district "ice bucket challenge". It's funny because we hear about it, but really have no idea what it is. But whatever, it's cool.

I'm excited for a new transfer in a new area with a new companion - pray for me!

I love you!

Love, Sister Coltrin

 

 

 

Sister Coltrin, Sister Robinson and the Walton's

 

 

Sister Coltrin, ward mission leaders Ryan and Josh, Sister Robinson

 

 

Sister Robinson, investigator Tonya, Sister Coltrin

 

Sister Coltrin and MJ

 

 

Sister Coltrin and Eddie

 

 

Sister Coltrin and Joe

 

 

​Sister Coltrin and the Camadeco's

 

 

 

Tavin, Kendra, Sister Coltrin and Sister Robinson

 

 

Sister Robinson, Jennifer Duck, Sister Coltrin

 

 

Christine, Duke and Sister Coltrin

 

 

Sister Robinson, Joe and Sister Coltrin

 

 

Happy 21st Birthday!

I can hardly believe that it's already week 6 again. We get transfer stuff on Saturday... Sister Robinson and I are really sad, and are making lists of all the things we have to do together when we get home.  I mean, I guess we could stay together for 3 transfers... but let’s be real, I'm probably getting transferred. Last 2 transfers are going to be crazy!

This week was AWESOME! Hooray for birthday week! Thanks for all the sweet birthday emails!

Monday was great! We had a fun, relaxing P-day. Later that night, Sister Robinson insisted that we stop at FHE for just a little bit, to see if any of our investigators stopped by. We walked in, and when I walked into the gym, everyone came over and sang happy birthday to me! It was so sweet! There were root beer floats, and they made me a giant "C" and all wrote birthday wishes on it! Sister Robinson told them that I collect C’s, and this one is by far my favorite :) After that we got to go and see Maddy and talk to her about doing baptisms at the temple, MJ came with us and invited her to go with her to the temple that Saturday! What a great way to kick off my 21st!

Tuesday was my 21st birthday! Nothing like turning 21 in Vegas... while being a missionary... hahaha. It was awesome though!! We woke up and Sister Robinson made me cute breakfast - pancakes in the shape of a "21" and then smiley face toast, since I love, love, love toast. Then I opened my package from home! It was so fun! We did all our normal stuff, and then at lunch she gave me her present - a "C" necklace! So now we have matching ones (I got her the "J" for her birthday)! We also got to do service and helped Alainya paint her kitchen. It was so fun. We had two lessons, one with Angie, and one with Glen! Also, while we were walking around this one apartment complex, we stopped to talk to this lady. We said hi, and then she looked at us and just said, "Do you bless homes?" and she rushed us into her house! It was awesome! We prayed with her and her cute family, and then left. The Elders are teaching them now! It was a miracle. We had dinner with Amaris that night, who made a special birthday dinner with homemade mashed potatoes and birthday chocolate pie :) It was the best! After dinner they pulled out a huge trunk of jewelry and let Sister Robinson and I choose some! Their grandfather had a jewelry shop and used to trade with Indians, too! So we got some sweet turquoise Indian jewelry! It was so sweet, we love them. It was a GREAT day!

Wednesday we had a really great day, too! We saw a recent convert that no one has seen in months! She came out, on crutches, and told us how she is on bed rest and how much she missed church - she even started crying and was so thankful that we had come. We were glad we caught her awake! She was so sweet, and we were able to get her home teachers to bring her the sacrament on Sunday and give her a blessing. It was amazing! We were going to have dinner at the Walton's, even though they got released, but the Sisters in their ward went there for dinner (we aren't allowed to eat with other missionaries in members homes), so the Walton's texted us after the Sister's left because they wanted to have dessert with us. Haha, I love the Walton's! We got to have real dinner with a less active that night who wanted us to come and teach his girlfriend - it was so good (the dinner) and then got really weird (the lesson). She didn't know we were coming to teach a lesson, and we didn't know that she didn't know... hahaha.

Thursday was exchanges. I stayed here in Foothills with Sister Jenkins and we had a great day! We made the program for Christine's baptism in the beginning of the day. We got to have a lesson with Crystal about prayer - it was hilarious. In the middle of it, she and her mom got into a huge argument about her new boyfriend... don't even know how that came up... but it was hilarious. We had a really awesome lesson with Travis at the park about all the commandments - and Sydney came out to help us. We tried to see one of our investigators that we haven't been able to contact for a while and he was outside! Sister Jenkins started to street contact him, and I was like, "Oh! Hey Alex!" And she turned around and was like, "Do you know him!?" It was awkward. We had a really good lesson with Glen, too! We taught him about the Priesthood and we think he finally gets it. At least a little. We talked about having a modern day Prophet, and he was like, "WOAH." Hahahaha, we laughed for a few minutes about that one. We also got to catch Tonya at the end of the day! Good exchange.

Friday was Zone Training Meeting and Weekly Planning. In between, we got to meet the Lee's for lunch at Wahoo's! It was so fun! I love them.

Saturday we took out a girl that we met when we were getting snow cones!  She was working, but was like, "Sisters! I really want to come out with you!" And gave us her number, yay! So we got to bring her contacting for a little while. Later we went to set up for Christine's baptism and fill the font. Sister Robinson made me kill all the spiders in the font - there were 6! Ew. Christine's baptism was AMAZING. The Spirit was so strong there and she was so ready. She had a "Just got Dunked" theme party after her baptism, complete with Dunkin' Donuts, chocolate chip cookies and oreos to dunk in milk, and chips and dip :)  So cute. That night we went out to Boulder City for dinner with Ian and Jennifer to a cool place called Toto's - super Mexican restaurant and soooo good. Then went to see Joe!

Sunday was great, and interesting... So we started off by going to Christine's confirmation in the Mission Hills Ward. It was so sweet! Then, we had our regular pre-church meetings. Then church was CRAZY. So remember a while back when we had a lesson with some investigators and it got a little crazy and the Elder's had to come and get us out of there? Probably like 2 months ago? Well one of them SHOWED UP AT CHURCH!  I turned around and he was talking to Sister Robinson, in the doorway of the chapel, right before church was starting. I recognized him, and then started to panic because I realized who it was. We took him out to the lobby, and I grabbed one of the Elder's that was also in the hallway, thankfully. We talked to this guy for a second, and he grabbed Sister Robinson's hand and got down to propose! Elder Lee quickly picked him up and was like, "So, man, what's your favorite part about church?" HAHAHAHAHAHA. We all kind of didn't know what to do, and we're pretty sure this guy was drunk, so Sister Robinson and I walked away, and Elder Lee talked to him for a second, and then he walked out of the building. We were shaking! It was so scary, but it was so, so, so funny! Like, SO funny. We got in the car after church and just busted up laughing. Church was great though, and Glen got to come and sent us a text after church telling us how much he loved it! And one of our members made us homemade bread - the best bread I've EVER had! Woo, Sunday funday.

That night we got to go to a special fireside with Travis and his friend Camilo! ALEX BOYE came to do a fireside! It was PACKED! And it was so fun!

Well, that's it for the week - it was an exciting one! We are going to the Downeast Outlet today with a member from our ward, and are just having a relaxed p-day. One more week of the transfer! Crazy!

Have a good week! I love you!

Love, Sister Coltrin

 

 

 

"The giant "C" that everyone in the ward wrote on for my birthday!"

 

"Birthday breakfast from my sweet companion!"

 

Happy 21st Birthday!

"Look mom - I waited until my birthday to open my box."

 

 

 

​"New clothes, yay!"

 

 

Sister Coltrin and Sister Jenkins on exchanges

 

 

 

"Chalkboard I made for Christine's baptism - I know, I'm a pro!"

 

 

 

Sister Robinson, Sister Coltrin, Christine Snachez and Joe Eldridge

Christine's baptism day

 

 

 

Christine's son Duke and Sister Coltrin

 

 

 

 

Rachel, Christine, Sister Coltrin, Sister Robinson, and Jessica at the baptism

"GUESS WHO I SAW AT CHURCH! IT'S EDER!

I taught him a year ago in Temple View!!"

"Yes indeed, that is ALEX BOYE in the flesh! Totally met him.

I was just mad that I wasn't wearing like, 6 scarves. I totally would have had him sign one of them.

(If you don't get the joke, go watch his mormon message where he sings "Have I Done Any Good?" http://www.mormonchannel.org/have-i-done-any-good?v=1708170439001.)"