Baptisms :)

So great week! Had some baptisms. Life is great. 

Ponderize of the week: But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions. Alma 34:41

Monday was great. We just kinda chilled at home; didn't do much. That night we taught Sandy and Esperant and had a good lesson with them. We went to President Danielsons after that and had a great dinner. I love their food a lot. 

Tuesday we had a great day. We taught Mahala and Elvine and got them all ready for their baptism on Saturday. They were taking care of all their paperwork for their marriage. We taught them about the priesthood and told Mahala that he is going to be getting that really soon. He seemed pretty excited for it. We taught Francisca and get her all excited for her baptism as well. We taught her about the temple because she really wants to go. We taught A less active about his baptismal covenant and he came to church on Sunday! Way cool! We got a referral from Sr Justine, the sister leaving on a mission today, and he was kinda weird. He was hardcore Adventist and was trying to catch us in stuff. Kind of annoying. I'm done with that. We taught Anjara and Marciel about the temple and it was a good lesson. And we taught Odilon and Korinah about what a testimony really is and it went pretty well. 

Wednesday we taught Sandy and Esperant about baptism. They had some questions about the baptism of the Holy Ghost so we explained that and had a great lesson with them. We invited them to be baptized but they still need to think about it is what they said. Then we went and taught Harris, a less active recent convert. He's a cool kid but just isn't coming to church anymore for some reason. It really makes me sad when people stop coming to church. We taught Mamod and patricia. He's the cop. They've been having a lot of problems in their life recently and were really happy to see us. We shared a little message with them and it went great. It's a good thing the gospel of Jesus Christ solves everything. WE taught Egson and Ordance about the Book of Mormon and went over and questions that they had. It went great and the dad really wants to come to church to see what we are all about. We had a talk with Germaine and Augustine. They still aren't married and aren't making a huge effort to do it but they really want to be baptized. Germaine is really against the whole getting married before getting baptized thing. I'm not sure why it's a big deal but we are working with them. 

Thursday we had a pretty good day. We taught Done about the Plan of Salvation and then taught CHristian and Nicolan some less active young adults. They are way cool I just wish they would come to church. Then we went to Mahala and Elvine's wedding! It was great! Then we taught Fanja and Naina and had a great lesson with them. Their 18 year old daughter was back from school in Tana and was way into the teachings it was awesome. They are doing way good. 

Friday we taught everybody one last time before their baptism. We taught Francisca and mahala and Elvine about enduring to the end and made sure they knew that they were following Jesus Christ, not the church, not the missionaries, not President Dimby, but Jesus Christ. It went way well. We then contacted a referral that Honore had for us. It is a way nice family that is actually the sister of Christina, a recent convert. She really wants her husband to quit drinking and she wants it to be peaceful in their home. Very cool people. We taught Njaka again and it actually went a lot better with him. He seems very sincere this time that he was searching for the truth. We taught Anjara and Marciel about the priesthood and it went way well. Then we had a soiree over by the house. 

Saturday was English. WE had a meeting with President Dimby and it went way well. He wants us to help them out with reactivation. We then went and taught a less active YSA that could go on a mission. Way cool kid, kinda quiet. Albertien is his name. Then we taught Emma and then went straight to the baptism. The baptism went great!  There was a great turnout and everything went smooth. The testimonies went great and it was an awesome time. Elder Nelson wasn't feeling good so he went home and Elder Koplin and I went out after the baptism. We taught Voavison in my area first and then went to his area to teach a time. Then I met back up with Elder Jensen and taught another time in our area to a new family. They are cool and are kinda nervous about the Book of Mormon. I'm glad they are, that way they are teachable and we can help them.

Sunday went great. We had a bunch of people. It was mother's day here in Madagascar so there was some bread that was given out to the mothers. There was some extra so they gave them to us haha. Way good though. I got to help with 3 of the confirmations too. Even though we had 6 less investigators at church we still had 15! It was awesome. We had a great day too. We taught Ruffin and got him all set for his baptism on the 11. We got dogged a lot so we ended up doing a lot of tracting. We found some cool people and some interesting people but I'm excited for them. We had an awesome lesson last night though with a new family. Helisoa and Lalaina are the names of the parents and they have 7 kids. Perfect Mormon family right? Well they all came in and took part in the lesson and we had a great lesson with them about the Restoration. The Spirit was way strong and it was awesome. I'm way excited for them! They are great. And then we had another talk with Germaine and Augustine about baptism. Augustine didn't come to church and he only came for the sacrament. We are working with them. 

Well it was a great week. We should have a couple more weddings coming up and some more baptisms coming up here in the next 2 weeks. I'm super excited. I love this work!

Elder Coleman

Another great week :)

Awesome week for the most part. A couple hiccups but nothing to bad.

Ponderize of the week: And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope though the Atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise. Moroni 7:41

Great scripture for why we do the things we do. WE believe what we do because we hope that the Atonement will cleanse us and allow us to dwell with God. We have hope that we will be able to live again through the power of his resurrection. 

Well Monday we played soccer on the beach and that was way fun but super exhausting. We went out that night and taught Sandy and Esperant who are super awesome. Then we went to a soiree in Amparihy's area with a ton of people and it was way fun. I got destroyed by bugs though. My whole arm and both feet were destroyed. 

Tuesday was a great day. We taught a bunch of times and also went to a wedding. We went to Krystal and Nono's wedding which was awesome! Now they can get baptized! We taught Mahala and Alvine about temples and eternal marriage and they loved it! They want to go so bad. They are going to st6art saving up right now so that in a year they can go! And they are conspiring right now to figure out how to get the rest of the family into the church so they can all go to the temple. Way awesome! 

Wednesday was a little interesting. Elder Ulrich got an ingrown toenail and it was hurting him way bad. So we dug it out for him and put him on house arrest for a couple days. So Elder Jensen and I went out and taught 1 time and came back and switched people out so that way all the areas would get worked and not one person had to stay the whole time. I went with Elder Maluleka in their area and had a pretty good day. We came back later that night and Elder Jensen went out and I stayed home with Elder Ulrich. 

Thursday was a good day. We taught Done and got him a baptismal date. He has some problems with drinking and smoking but we got him set to not do it anymore. We had a great lesson with him about baptism and he committed to not go back. We taught Fanja and Naina about the rest of the Plan of Salvation and they loved it. They revealed to us that they had a child that passed away when shes was young and they hope that they will see her again. Well lucky for them, they will. We explained all about it and it was great. We had to go open the church for the landlord to take some pictures of the church. Not really sure why but President Dimby called us and ask us to do it. We taught Lanto and Dorothe that night and did a practice interview with them. They are on date for the 28 but they aren't married yet. There is a little bit of a problem getting the papers they need right now but if they can get married before the 28 they can get baptized! Clara, wants to get baptized whether or not her parents get baptized with her.

Friday I went on a split with Elder Ulrich in his area while Elder Maluleka did baptismal interviews in our area for Francisca and for Mahala and Alvine's family. We had a great day and taught a lot. It was cool to see the other areas here in Fort D. And good news is that they all passed their interviews! We had  a soiree that night at the same family that gave us one on Monday. When we got there, they were watching a church made video called, "Called to Serve" and we walk in right as it shows all the missionaries getting off the plane seeing their families after 2 years. Of course that would be playing right when we go in haha. 

Saturday I had a split with Elder Nelson. He was going to do the baptismal interview for Clara. We had a way good day too. WE had a great lesson on repentance with Done. WE taught Fanja and Naina about faith and repentance. Naina said he was going to come to church too! We taught Rina and Anita about the Sabbath day and they committed to coming to church. We taught a new family that is way cool. We gave them a Book of Mormon. WE went to Lanto and Dorothe and did the interview and she passed! So we are at 6 right now for baptisms on the 28. And if Lanto and Dorothe get married then we will have 9! I'm super stoked! I wasn't feeling super good though after that lesson and so when we went home I just went straight to bed. 

Sunday was good. We had quite a few investigators there but a lot that were supposed to come didn't come. I was really disappointed that Naina didn't come. President Dimby pulled us aside after church and asked what we can do about the priesthood in the branch. We have a lot on record but hardly any come to church. So we are trying to figure out something to help with that. And this whole time I was feeling awful so we got home from church and I tried to sleep it off but it wasn't happening. So Elder Jensen and Elder Koplin went on a split and hit both areas and I stayed home and slept all day. And then I slept all night last night too. I slept for like 16 or 17 hours straight. And I haven't eaten anything since Saturday lunch. But I'm feeling better now. 

This week we have a bunch of baptisms! And I'm way excited for that. This week should be great! I'll take lots of pictures.

Elder Coleman

Families :)

Can't believe that it's already Monday and that I skyped y'all a week ago! Time is just flying by! It's nuts!

Sorry but the ponderize scripture didn't happen this week... But I did spend a lot of time thinking about the Plan of Salvation and God's specific plans for each and every one of us. Also did a lot of Pondering on Diligence. It was a big subject of my studies this past week.

Monday we got dogged by our time with a family. They aren't super interested we feel so I don't think we will go back to them. But we got to go to Danielson's! And we had fried chicken. Fried chicken. It was so good! 

Tuesday was a great day! We took Elder Lenhardt to the airport and picked up Elder Nelson. We caught a lot of people at home too. We caught Francisca at home and had a return missionary help us teach her since he lives right by her. He is super good at English and wants to go to BYU next year. But he was a huge help. Side note: Apparently Razakamandimby is in America right now; in Utah. We caught Yvon and Lala finally! It's been a long time since we caught them. He really wants to come back to church but he works Sunday morning and gets off right at 9. So kind of hard. We are working with him though and he is actually looking for a new job so he can come to church. We taught Dimby a little bit. He had more questions but during the lesson Elder Jensen didn't feel super great so we bounced out of there quick and headed for a bathroom. Well long story short we had to cut our day short starting then. A little rough. A little bad news too. At about 3 in the morning on Tuesday there was a house fire in our neighborhood, just behind the hill by the house. There were about 106 house burned down. Two members houses burned down and their sister didn't make it out of the house and died. She was the only that died. Please keep them in your prayers. It's heartbreaking. They have literally nothing now. The clothes on their backs is all they have. 

Wednesday we had a great day. We caught Sandy and Esperant, a new family and they are awesome. Way into the teachings. We gave them a Book of Mormon and they are way interested in it so that's a good sign. We taught Ruffin about the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom and he's all good on those so he is on track for the baptism on the 11. We got dropped by a Lutheran family. That was interesting. He told us he talked to his pastor about us and the pastor said it was his choice; he can do whatever he likes but that if he wants to leave their church it is a lot of paperwork that he has to fill out. Never heard that one before. Well then we contacted into a huge family that was also Lutheran but they are way cool and super into the teachings. We had a great lesson about the Restoration and it turns out that they had already received a Book of Mormon from some missionaries before and had been taught. That was interesting because they acted like everything we taught was pretty new to them. That night we taught Bertin, a 20 year old guy that is here learning. He's great. We always have great lessons with him. He is very sincere and really just wants to be happy in life. We brought Odillon with us and it was great. Then we taught Germaine and Augustine with Odillon and that went good. Germaine wasn't there so that was kinda lame. 

Thursday went great. We found this guy named Done who has learned a lot before from missionaries but just never got baptized because he couldn't stop drinking. Well we had a good talk with him and we are determined to get him baptized. He'll be great. We did some tracting that day because we had a bunch of times in a row dog us. We walked away from house that had just dogged us and I thought, "Father, where do we need to go?" And right when I thought that Elder Jensen was like hey lets go over this way. So we walked over to this street that we hadn't tracted down yet and all the houses we could see were locked up. We walked down a little ways and knocked on the first house that was open. Well we got let in by an awesome family that loved the Restoration. It was a great lesson and you could tell they felt something. It was awesome! 

Friday we caught Mahala and Elvine and had a great time with them. We talked about their baptism and told Mahala that he has to be done smoking or else they can't get baptized on the 28. They would have to get moved back. He has a strong determination to get free of smoking so that's awesome! Keep him in your prayers! He needs help! We taught Anjara and Marciel about the baptismal covenant and it was great. They are on track to get baptized on the 11 as well. They finally saved up enough money to get married! They should be getting married this week! We had a soiree that night with the other missionaries in the other branch. The members house is right next to the place that caught on fire. It's a way cool story actually. SO this guy is the Elders quorum president in the other branch. So Tuesday morning the fire was raging and it was heading straight for their house. All their neighbors were freaking out. They were grabbing things out of their houses and trying to evacuate but the members wouldn't. They just kept praying that the fire would miss them. They actually locked the door to their house so no one could get in because as people were evacuating their homes, people were coming and stealing all their stuff. SO this member family wasn't scared at all, locked the door to their house and prayed. And as the fire was about to get to their house, the wind changed and blew the fire the other direction and their house didn't get touched. 

Saturday we taught Fanja and Naina. They are awesome. Like beyond great! He is a great guy. A great guy. In the two years I've been in Madagascar, I've never met anyone like this guy. He is just an all around great man. This guy is a stud. He is really interested in the teachings and really wants to come to church. He really wants to know about the church. We had an awesome lesson with him and his wife about the Plan of Salvation. We went back to Aina and Voavison, the family we tracted into on Thursday and gave them a Book of Mormon and talked about it. It was awesome. They love it. The wife told us that she loves our teachings because we want them to ask God if it is true. They are from Fianarantsoa and the husband said that as soon as he saw us he recognized that we were from that church. He's seen the one that's there. And I got to speak a little Betsileo with them so that was fun. We taught Selmann's family how to do an FHE kind of. They've apparently already been doing them every Monday. Super great. And they are always studying the scriptures when we show up. It's super awesome to see. Selmann wanted my tie so I gave it to him. It was our last time of the day anyway. Also there is this epicerie right by his house that is super nice. It sells bread very similar to brownies so I always buy some. Well the lady that runs it loves us. She gave us a bunch of free cookies when we stopped by. Way nice.

Sunday was great! We had tons of people at church including investigators! We had one guy that we contacted into, didn't even teach, show up. Way cool. We stopped by that Lutheran family again and taught them about the Book of Mormon and it went super well. They were very open to it and are super interested in it and want to read it. We went by the guy that came to church and taught his family and they are way cool! He is super interested and read the whole pamphlet! And he is related to Honore so even better. We had an awesome lesson with them and they really want to know about the Book of Mormon. 

We had a lot of really cool families this week and I am excited to see them progress. We've got some baptisms coming up this next week and things are just looking great. Life is great. I've started running in the mornings on the beach and it's awesome. It's way mandreraka though. 

Have a great week everyone!

Elder Coleman

Mother's Day

Well it's been a great week. It's been a quick one too. I can't believe how fast time goes. 

Ponderize of the week is Moses 1:4

So Monday was great. We went out and taught a family that is all women basically. The guy had 7 daughters. It's crazy. We talked with them about the Restoration but they don't seem very interested or very into the teachings so I don't know how many times we are going to go back. But after that, we went to Fr Odillon's house and had a soiree and it was awesome! They are an awesome couple! I asked them about their conversion story and they led each other the gospel and got baptized about 3 years ago and are now married in the temple and have a way cute kid. They are awesome just awesome. It was a very spiritual evening and it went very well. We sang hymns in English too! It was awesome! 

Tuesday we decided to stop by Makaferana and he was home! We taught them about the sacrament but he still has a problem with coming to church because he has to leave town to find work and that means he is gone for a couple weeks at a time. Elder Kopin was not feeling so well this day and so we grabbed some member help and Elder Jensen stayed home with him and Honore came with me. We taught Justin and he seems energetic to learn but won't do the things he needs too to get where he wants to go. Kind of frustrating. We taught Mahala and Alvine and they are doing awesome! Mahala is doing great! He is overcoming his cigarettes! Keep him in your prayers please! They are so close and are on track to get baptized on the 28. Francisca is doing great. Her uncle came and like destroyed our lesson though. He came and started saying weird stuff about stuff and it was just bad. We taught Dimby that night and he had a lot of questions and it basically just comes down to the Book of Mormon with him. He just will not pray about it and ask if it is true. 

Wednesday we had a good day. We did a lot of tracting. We tracted into and taught 3 families that are pretty cool. They have a lot of potential and I am excited to start teaching them this week. Dodi and Sarah are going to get dropped I think. They just aren't willing to progress. It's sad but that is probably what is going to happen this week. Ruffin is awesome. He is progressing really well and is going to get baptized on the 11 of June. 

Thursday we had a good day. We started teaching a lady named Emma that has come to church the past 2 weeks. Well there are some other things involved in this as well but we are hoping to get her baptized soon. Then she can get married and it'll be great. She's really cool and lives right by a member family so we teach her in their house and it is going great. We taught Naina and he is a stud. He is super smart and is so teachable. He really wants to know if the Book of Mormon is true. He's a really just all around good guy and has a nice family. I am way excited for him. He has a lot of potential. We taught Lanto and Dorothe and they are doing great. They should be getting married this week. We went to a soiree with our branch president that night and had some way good pizza that his wife made. His family is so awesome.

Friday was a good day. We were able to catch some less active recent converts and teach them about the sacrament. It was a really good lesson and he really wants to come back to church but works Sunday mornings. We are trying to help him find a solution. We taught Francisca again and had a good lesson with her about repentance. Another family member of hers came in during the lesson but he didn't interrupt or anything so it went well. We taught Anjara and Marciel and had a great lesson about baptism, gift of the holy ghost and the sacrament and how they all link together. It was great! We taught Odillon and Korinah after that and they want to get baptized. They just need a little bit of a push in the right direction so that's what we are trying to do with them right now. We had a soiree in the other area that night and it was super good. They gave me a mountain of rice again and it almost made us late getting home cause it took me so long to down it. 

Saturday was English. We also had a great meeting with President Dimby that morning. We tested out the webcam at the church for the Skype and it didn't work so that was lame. We had to go find a new one. We taught Emma about the Book of Mormon and gave her one. We are going a bit slow with her just to make sure she understands everything super well. We taught this guy named Toby that we tracted into last week before the baptism. It was a good lesson but he still has some doubts about the church. He feels that we put too much emphasis on prophets and not on Christ among other things. But when we bore our testimonies to him I could feel the truthfulness of what we taught and I am excited to keep teaching him. He's a very smart guy. We taught Rina and Anita that night and had a good lesson with them on baptism, confirmation and sacrament. It went way well but they are having a hard time coming to church. We taught Tsoro and Gina and had a great lesson with them. They are having a hard time with the teachings and accepting that they need to change church if the Book of Mormon is true. Elder Jensen and I bore our testimonies so much and it was just awesome. They want to know now and are willing to try to find out if it is true and accepted that they would change if it is true. We had to go set up Skype at the church for Elder Ulrich at this point so we rushed over there and set it up and then went back and taught Selmann's family about Priesthood and Auxiliaries. Then we went back to the church and waited for Elder Ulrich to finish and then locked up. 

Sunday was great as always! I got called out of the blue to pass the sacrament again which I didn't mind but they should have been a little more prepared. They finished the sacrament prayer and when the passers stood up there was only one up there. So a return missionary and I got up there real quick and passed the sacrament. All the teachings and classes went well, branch council went well and we even got a lesson in on the way home with Crystalline and Nono. They have everything ready to get married now! They can get baptized real soon! We were able to catch Ruffin too and teach him about baptism, confirmation and the sacrament. He's awesome. Then we headed back to the church so Elder Jensen could start skyping while I waited a little bit. Skyping was great! Happy Mothers Day Mom! 

Today we don't have much planned but it is also the first day of a new transfer. my last transfer. That's really weird but we have a lot of good things planned this transfer and a lot of baptisms coming up! I also went for a run this morning on the beach. Awesome but way tiring. That sad is brutal. And I'm out of shape. Like way bad. Hopefully I can get into shape before I get back.

Last Planner

Last Day in the Planner

Big fish we saw on the way to church.

Have a great week everyone! 

Elder Coleman

The Power of the Fulness of the Gospel

Seriously a great week! I could not have asked for a better one! It was awesome! We had a ton of awesome miracles happen this week. 

Ponderize scripture of the week: Ether 4:11-12

11 But he that believeth these things which I have spoken, him will I visit with the manifestations of my Spirit, and he shall know and bear record for because of my Spirit he shall know that these things are true; for it persuadeth men to do good.

12 And whatsoever thing persuadeth to do good is of me; for good cometh of none save it be of me. I am the same that leadeth men to all good; he that will not believe my words will not believe me-that I am; and he that will not believe me will not believe the Father who sent me. For behold, I am the Father. I am the light, and the life, and the truth of the world. 

A very cool promise from Christ about the Book of Mormon. This was a great scripture for me this week because it helped me a lot. There were a couple things that happened this week and I was able to take comfort knowing that I know these things are true and that they were made known to me by the Spirit of God and now by some figment of imagination or anything else.

Monday was super fun. We had our soiree with President Danielson canceled and also our appointment with Krystalline fell through. We were able to swing by Willie and his wife though and teach them. They are way cool and I am way excited for them.

Tuesday we had a great day! We were able to teach a ton of people. We taught Francisca and she is doing great! She is on date for the end of May. She's awesome. Already goes to Institute. Way cool. Mahala and Alvine are doing great! We got a plan set up for them to get them moving on getting off of smoking. They aren't down or sad anymore but they are determined to get baptized. And they will. Clorette talked to us though and she didn't want to wait for them and wanted to get baptized on the 30th. So we got that all set up. We went and visited a less active Melchizidek Preisthood holder, Mampionona, and he was in bad shape. He has Asthma pretty bad and was like curled up in the corner of his house when we got there. Doesn't have any money for treatment or anything. We gave him a blessing and invited his wife to learn with us. They actually aren't married but they technically are. We are going to work on them and it's going to be great. 

Wednesday we had a decent day. We had Ruffin teach us the rest of the Plan of Salvation. He's way cool and is on track to get baptized here soon. We tracted into some way cool college kids that night too and had an awesome lesson with them. Elder Jensen and I tried a new teaching approach that was in a talk that I found and it was way cool and worked out great! We also got invited this night to go to a class for potential Elders to teach about the Priesthood. It was a way good meeting. 

Thursday we had a way good district Meeting. I gave the vatsim-panahy about trials and how our trials though hard, push us to a better place, a promised land if you will (Ether 6). We had a great lesson with Pierrot this day. We connected things with him and told him that he should seek for something that is full and not something that is only bits and pieces (that is the Book of Mormon and Bible together and not just the Bible by itself) and it really clicked for him and he is very willing to try and see if our church is a better path for him and his life. It was an awesome lesson. We also taught some way cool investigators that were taught before. We had a great lesson with them and will continue to teach them. We are hoping to get them to progress with us. Oh and we contacted a French guy that has PTSD. He was in the military before. He spoke English to us and it was kinda weird.

Friday morning President dropped by the house at 7 and did interviews with us. It was awesome. I love President. He is great. He loved the picture that I sent him of Mount Carmel Junction. He said it made him homesick haha. We talked about it a little bit. I went on a split in Elder Koplin's area while his companion did the baptismal interview for CLorette. She passed though! I went to a soiree in their area and I got a ton of rice. Seriously a mountain. And I finished it. The little victories.  

Saturday we had a meeting with President Dimby before English class and it was great! We had a good time at English and got some good contacting in in a new are that we hadn't tried yet. Then we had our baptism! There were so many people there! It was an awesome baptismal service and then at the end a sister in the branch opened her mission call and she's going here! She leaves the beginning of June to go to the MTC and then gets here the day I go home... Kinda weird. But we had  a great time that night with Lanto and Dorothe. That morning we met a lady from Fort Worth and she was way nice. 

Sunday was awesome. Nothing else can describe how it went. It was an awesome fast and testimony meeting. Awesome testimonies. Two confirmations. I got to pass the sacrament too! That was kinda fun I haven't done that in awhile! And we had 24 investigators at church... Seriously so awesome! We taught a bunch of cool lessons yesterday too! One guy just like got up and left though during our lesson which was kinda weird. We had an encounter with a French guy too. I said hi to him in French as we were walking past and ended up talking to the guy for a little bit. He was pretty good at English. Well within the first 60 seconds he said that religion is "Stupidity" and that we are wasting our time and our money here because God doesn't exist. I felt very bad for the man. He doesn't even realize. It strengthened my testimony that I know for a surety because He has spoken to me and reached out to me as I have reached out searching for Him. It made me sad to see that one of God's children would deny him without so much as trying to reach out to see if He really is there. It was nice to know that he really is there. We had an interesting lesson that night with those same college students and they had a friend over. She had seen us before and was telling us how hard it is for her to believe that we could have a living prophet. It was a good thing we had prepared to teach them about the Book of Mormon. It was awesome. It was more of a witness to me of the truthfulness of everything that we teach.

Today we went to a lemur park with President and his family called Nahimpoana. It was super cool! I got a ton of pictures and I am trying to upload them all but there might be too many. 

This week I really felt the manifestations of the Spirit that my ponderize scripture spoke of. I saw the power of the fullness of the gospel this week. I know that this work is true and that it changes lives. It's changed mine and it will continue to change all of us. I love this work and I can't believe it is coming to a close. I am so glad I was able to dedicate this part of my life to sharing this gospel. 

Have a great week! 

Elder Coleman

I asked Austin what he has learned about God's love for us..... This was his answer......

I've learned a lot about the love of God for us. It has been the subject of my personal study more then once. I have tried to see them more through God's eyes and have had more of a desire to help them and serve them and bring them the gospel. They are God's children. Christ died for them just as much as he died for you and me. The things they do are very frustrating sometimes. But they need this gospel just as much as we do. If not more.