Hello Family! This week was so great. One of the better weeks I have had on my mission. Im really happy with how smooth things are going with our responsibilities in the office. Elder manning and I are having a great time and enjoying what we do a lot. This week was great too because Camilla and Rodrigo´s mom accepted to be baptized on the 30th of July! This is such a miracle because she has had an absolute change of heart. Its great to be in lessons with her and teach her the gospel of Christ and for her to be so receptive and willing to do what God wants. So if everything goes well, we´ll be getting in the water by the end of the month!:) Today our ward is having an activity with the new converts and we are all going to the temple! So next week I will send pictures of that. Oh so I was looking at some old copies of the new era here and I absolutely love the page called ´to the point´. Its where they put up a question that we may not know the answer to and then they answer it very directly. It’s a good article because it is very clear about what is right and what is wrong. Its our nature to try to dull things down or not give clear answers about things, but God is not that way. His answers are black and white without any gray. And there aren’t any exceptions or justifications with what or what is not right.
I had an interview President Woodward this week. It went very well. He is a very humble and spiritual man. I get along with him very well. His kids are really funny too. Its so different having kids that come to the office from time to time haha.
Mom in case your wondering, I am now a professional at setting up wood bunk beds. The sister missionaries in this mission are very spoiled bc they all get nice new bunk beds that don’t squeak haha.
Well, that is all I really have to say this week.
Im so grateful for my family and the unity we have. I had to come to Chile to really understand how great a family I have. I love all of you so much and I pray for you everyday. Mom and Dad, you are my best examples and I cannot wait to spend time with you soon. Abby and Sadie you are such faithful amazing sisters, you are also great examples to me. And Brady, im so proud of you for the sacrifices you made to prepare for your mission. im sad I wont see you for 4 years, but I cant wait to see the man you will become in the next 2 years. Have a great week!
Love ColtonTo Clint:
Wow its so weird that brady is gone now too! and its really starting to become more real how much time i have in my mission! i cannot believe how fast time goes! it just is that much more important to make good decisions NOW because our lives go by too fast to procrastinate. ha its very strange writing this email, i feel like its really hard to think of english phrases i used to say haha.thats great youre going to be speaking next week! yes, let me know how it goes. the bishop in my ward is doing something really cool with the assigned talks. he assigns the person to read a certain chapter in the book of mormon and then later write their talk based on what they felt during the chapter. last sunday was 2 nephi 4. i thought of you bc i know that is your favorite chapter. i thinks its mine too. i love the message from nephi and the humility he has to recognize that he is a sinner just like everybody.im thankful for your example dad. i hope you have a great week! im praying for our family.i love you!love colton
Unexpected letter in the middle of the week, July 20, 2016:
Hello Mom and Dad!
i imagine you are wondering why i am writing you on wednesday at 10:30 at night. i just got home from being in the coast all day while a man installed an ADT alarm system in the house of a sister missionary. Anyways, the reason i am writing you isnt the most exciting news. i have to tell you about something that happened today. so we were delivering proselyting materials to missionaries and we passed for el monte. we put the truck in the parking lot and started to put all the stuff into the church, then as we are on our way to san antonio, we realized that someone had stolen our gps, my jacket and backpack. elder mannings camera, and we also stole the cash out of my wallet (50 mil, 80ish dollars) and also elder mannings money. (A few days later Colton wrote): In my backpack, i didnt lose too much. my camera was thankfully in the office yesterday. bad news is i lost my diabetes stuff. i lost 1 mini vile of novalog [insulin] and my bloodtester [he had a back up one back at his apartment] oh and also my sugar shoot for emergencies. dont worry, i dont need another. i still have my scriptures too! the thief was a courteous thief because he searched both our wallets and only took the money and left my chilean ID and credit cards.,so this was not what i had anticipated to happen today. everything is fine, we are alive and nothing was damaged. i guess the worst thing is just knowing that someone got into our truck and stole my things. i think its very interesting that literally yesterday i was reading in the book of mormon in alma 4 where it talks about the pride of people in the church at that time and how they loved their worldly possessions. and then the part i loved the most is in the beginning in verse3 where it talks about the afflictions that were so great that every soul had cause to mourn.....and then later because of their afflictions they were awakened to a remembrance of their duty. what happened to us today was pretty crappy but elder manning and i talked about it a lot today and decided there is no point in being mad about it because that wont change anything. we actually come out on top because even though we made a really dumb mistake, we did not commit any sin, therefore we can follow with our lives and put our faith in Christ and still be happy. So, in a weird way i had a really terrible, but really great day. im frustrated that some man walked away with my stuff, but that really doesnt affect me eternally.
also im writing this letter to say that i have absolutely zero money now....so i will probably need to take money out of my debit card tomorrow. im sorry about that. but hey i love both of you so much and im so thankful to have the gospel in my life because it literally helps us to overcome our trials. im grateful to have the book of mormon too. that is so interesting that i read that yesterday and then i got robbed today. haha. anyways, im going to go to bed now because im tired. i love both of you!
love, Colton
No comments:
Post a Comment