On The Way Out!

It's weird how fast these past 6 weeks have gone by. I thought 6 weeks would be an eternity but thankfully it's not. The language is still coming along but I can usually say what I want to now but it's still kinda kicking my butt on the comprehension side.

I'll start at last Friday since nothing really happened after I emailed on Thursday. First, we made a contract that we all signed to go for the next 10 days with as little English as possible. Yeah it worked for the first day and we haven't done it at all since but it helped that first day anyway! Elder Pinson taught our best lessons ever too! We stayed focused on the topics, felt the spirit, and could understand what he was saying and respond to it so it was super awesome! Also, I memorized the missionary purpose in Malagasy which is good too I guess. If you are wondering what that is, it's on the first page of chapter 1 in PMG. 

All of our zone left earlier this week so we had our last foty sabotsy (soccer Saturday) with them and that was way fun. I'll miss them though they were cool. Sunday, there was a farewell devotional kind of thing for our zone that was leaving and that was pretty cool. Maybe I should tell you who is in our zone. We have all the off the wall mission. We have Eastern Europe, Madagascar, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The Eastern Europe missionaries left a few weeks ago and this was all the Indo/Malay guys. Anyway, yeah it was good and I ended up saying the closing prayer in sacrament. I asked if I could do it in Malagasy but they wouldn't let me. Our devotional that night was super cool too. Some missionaries were called up to share their conversion stories and that was awesome. 

Monday was great haha. We did a bunch of review on the language and stuff and that was good. But the best part was gym. We were playing basketball (and by we I mean my district was and a couple of us were playing volleyball haha) but Elder Hammer went to save a ball from going out of bounds and nailed his elbow on the fire alarm. It took a chunk out of his elbow and set off the fire alarm haha it was so funny. Now he can say he pulled the fire alarm in the MTC.

The last 2 days weren't anything super special. We just taught lessons and learned more Malagasy. But I did get to host Kason so that was fun. And we got new Armenians and Indonesians in yesterday.

Ok mom, here's what you've been waiting for:

British Airways 5095 Salt Lake to Dallas, Leave 1:30pm Arrive 5:05pm

British Airways 1521 Dallas to Heathrow, Leave 8:05pm Arrive 11:15am Aug 19

British Airways 55 Heathrow to J-berg Leave 7:10pm Arrive 7:10am Aug 20

South African Airways 8252 J-berg to Tana Leave 10:00am Arrive 2:10pm

I'm not sure if that is local time or here but yeah. I leave here at 8:30 monday morning. So I'm not sure when I'll call.

I think that's all for now. Veloma fianakaviako!

Yeah everything is honestly going good! I did get a haircut TODAY so chill. Tell Whitni if you see her soon that I think it's really weird that she's married for the record. And that's really funny what she said. 

I am very anxious to get there even though I've heard the stories that our teachers have told us. Not a single solid bowel movement in two years. Yeah that'll be rough. The language is coming pretty well I think. I'm already speaking it better then I ever did Spanish haha. I randomly throw in Spanish words into the mix though. Once I start thinking of English I get everything haha. Everyone from Kanab is doing great up here as far as I know. They all seem to be doing well. I'm not sure how well the picture thing will work out. I usually only see them in passing but Merrill does have the same dinner time and gym time as me so we'll see I guess. I'm glad Jarrin is liking scouts. Hopefully he'll stay that way for awhile anyway. 

Thanks for telling me about Arizona. When did this happen? Let me know how she's doing. Teague would too. I'm praying for her to recover quickly. Don't worry I won't let this distract me. Malagasy is hard enough without distractions but I am concerned so keep me updated at least until I leave the MTC. 

Tiako ianao (Love ya)

Elder Coleman

P.S. you better not be touching my pillows.

Us saying goodbye to our teachers. The last one is Elder Koplin taking a selfie with my camera.

Tender Mercy 2!

Austin was able to be Kason's host!  Linsey sent me these great pictures.  

Busy Week

So this week was pretty fun! I forgot to mention in last weeks email that I ran into President Nally outside of our classroom and shook his hand! He's the MTC president so that was cool.

Elder Pinson and I took our suits to get dry cleaned on Thursday and since we only have one suit they guarantee one day and it's done but they didn't so I didn't have a suit for Sunday which was awful. I explained to the Branch President though and he understood. It happens a lot I guess. I saw Hayden on Sunday! I walked into the devotional and there he was! He gave me the hug from you and then we got a picture so you'll have to get it from Suzanne. The devotional was the BYU president and I don't remember what he talked about but I did take notes so I did pay attention. We've been teaching more lessons. We're up to like 2 everyday! So we're pretty booked that way. The devotional on Tuesday was good too. It was an ex-general authority and he talked about the temple and why we go before we go on our missions. so that was cool. You've already heard this but I did get to host Merrill on Wednesday and that was a neat experience. I waited at the top of the hill watching the gate for like 20 minutes cause I knew he was coming in soon. If it wasn't for the Kanab Cowboy hat in the windshield, I wouldn't have seen it probably. He seemed a little overwhelmed but that's pretty natural. I haven't seen him since but I'm sure I will soon. We are supposed to get our flight itinerary today so we'll knowwhere we are going and how long all the layovers are. I don't know of anything I'll need you to send to Madagascar but I'm sure I'll have to send stuff home to get the weight right so probably that stuff. I will be hosting this next Wednesday too so I'll try to get Kason. I don't have any idea what car he'll be driving or what time so you'll have to help me on that. Nothing really all that different is going on this week. Next week is our last week in the MTC though. Let me know what time you'd like me to call from the airport. I'm sure we'll be there super early so I'll need to know a time. Arizona finally emailed me! I'm glad you got on her case. She may be asking you for my address so she can send me a letter. She's moved out already so you may have to text her it or something I don't know. I hope everything's going ok! I'll let you know the flight plan next week probably.

Elder Coleman

I forgot to tell you that I taught a lesson on Monday over Skype. It was to a Malagasy that lives in J-berg right now. She used to live in Provo and she is orignally from Madagascar. It was difficult to do because the internet was crappy and she talked really fast. Also, her kid was making lots of noise so it was even harder to understand her. But it went alright I think. We taught about our favorite scriptures and asked her to share hers. We invited her to read the scriptures and to read them with her family.

Austin and his friend Brooks Rigtrup.  Brooks is going to New Jersey.

Austin and his district.

Austin and his district

Austin and elders from his district

Tender Mercy!

Got these awesome pictures and email today from the Terrys!

Hi!

It was so fun to see Elder Coleman today! He really did look so happy. He said, "Welcome to the MTC." I asked him to say it in Malagasy and he did. He is such a neat young man! I think the smile on Merrill's face says how happy he was to have Austin be his host. He knew it would be a possibility, but we really didn't know if it would work out!  A tender mercy for all of us!  Love our boys!

Halfway at the MTC!

I'm pretty sure I am allergic to one. Remember I took that one and broke out in hives so I had to get a different one that I'm on right now? Yeah I need to know what that was like ASAP. But anyway, this past week was pretty good. Nothing too exciting happens in here. I did not get to host yesterday so I did not see Hayden and I have not seen Mark yet. I'll see Hayden at devotionals though. The west campus comes over here for those. I'll probably see Mark today and I'm not too worried about it. I'll be able to see him pretty easily. I get to host next Wednesday though! And we may also be hosting the Wednesday after too! So I might be hosting for Kason and Taylor and will be for sure with Merrill. If you happen to see any of the Terrys find out for me what time they check in. Or not. It could always just be a surprise. 

The missionary mom float looked fun! That's awesome that you had so many moms turn up for it! We didn't do anything special for pioneer day. It was our P-day but the temple was closed so we didn't get to go to that. We got to see some fireworks though over the top of the buildings though. But other than that it was a normal P-day.

I'm good on hangers, shorts and socks. I don't need anything I don't think. Not yet anyway. I'm sure I'll find something after I'm done emailing. 

We had very good devotionals this week. The first one, on Sunday, was a guy in the missionary department and he was super funny. I can't remember his name though. On Tuesday we had John Groberg, the guy from The Other Side of Heaven. Like he is the guy the movie was made after. He played clips during the devotional from the movie and talked about remembering that exact situation. He told us other stories from it too. His subject was testimony. It was awesome. I have notes on it but I don't have them with me right now. I'm doing laundry right now so I didn't bring anything with me. I sang in the choir for that one though. I didn't get to last week. There is a rumor going around that next Tuesday is going to be a General Authority. They had Neil L Anderson the day before I came in and haven't had one since but they had like a general authority every week before that. They take a vacation in July I think so since next Tuesday will be August, there's a good chance. 

The language is coming along still. I can teach lessons so much better now that I can kind of talk to people. I'm already way better at Malagasy than I was at Spanish. And I took 2 years of Spanish. Just goes to show, the gift of tongues is a real thing. We have TRC tonight which is basically where we teach a home teaching lesson to a member that speaks Malagasy. We sit in this special room with a camera in it and our teachers record it and watch it while it's going on. After, we get to watch and evaluate how we did. We didn't get to do it last week so we'll see how it goes.

It's crazy that I'm already half way done. Our half way mark was on Tuesday. Three weeks from now I'll be in Madagascar. I think the phone will be the better option to call home with. I can buy phone cards here on campus but I still think the phone will be better. 

Fun story of the week: I scored another goal in soccer! Two of them actually. One on them and one on my own team. Yeah it was embarassing. It wasn't my fault though. It was really the goalies. I blocked a pass with my chest and the ball bounced/rolled into the goal very slowly. You could see it coming from a mile away. And, on saturday, we were playing soccer and I totally rocked this Australian elder. I felt really bad. My arm hit him in the nose when we were both going for the ball and I gave him a bloody nose. He said it was alright though and his Australian accent was awesome so I got over it pretty quick. Let McKenna  know too that I talked to this Elder from England the other day and he has a super cool accent. He's going to France which I thought was kind of weird. He came all the way over here to go all the way back over there. And we have a Sister in my zone that is from Australia and she has a pretty cool accent too. 

Sorry if I didn't answer all of your questions. I can never remember everything you tell me in the letters. It'll be better once you are forced to send me emails in Madagascar. Our teachers have told us some interesting stuff about Madagascar. I'll tell you about it next week though haha. Or I'll write a letter and send it I don't know haha. Just have Grandma email me. I don't get too many so I'd have plenty of time to answer her. Speaking of which, get after Arizona next time you see her. She hasn't wrote me yet and she promised. Tell her I'm mad at her haha.

Talk to you next week! Veloma!

Elder Coleman

Oh yeah another fun story. We were teaching one of our investigators about faith in Jesus Christ and we invited him to be baptized. No big deal right? He thought about it for a minute and said yes. Then it got super awkward and there was an awkward silence for like 15 seconds and then I just busted up. I have no idea why! It was the wierdest thing! Everyone started laughing haha it was bad. 

So i don't need a new garment top I think. The same thing happened to Elder Hammer and he just washed it again and it came out. But if you already bought it or sent it thats fine I can use it anyway. I could also use a little alarm clock and a shoe polishing kit. I don't know why I didn't think of those things before I came out but that's how it is I guess.

And I still haven't gained any weight! I weighed myself the other day and I was 138. If I can't gain weight in the MTC I don't think I ever will. It's stupid.

The other day we did exchanges for teaching a lesson and I ended up in a trio with Elder Koplin and Elder Ahlstrom. It actually went pretty well although it was really weird teaching in a trio. We managed though and our investigator/teacher said it was an awesome lesson. 

Fahendrena (Wisdom)

OK first, yes mom i did hear about the South Africa TV/Radio thing. Some guys came into our class the other day and talked to our teachers about so we might be on it but I don't know. Good to hear that Grandma and Grandpa made it back ok. I'm sure their trip waqs awesome! I still kinda wish i could've gone! 

SO about my companion, he is not a convert, his dad is the bishop in his ward and he is from Ermo? ( not sure if that's how it's spelled) South Carolina. He had two older brothers who served missions, one in Ogden and one in Idaho. I did get all your packages and they were awesome! The elders say thanks for the cookies. I dished them out yesterday and everybody loved them. The food is starting to get to me I think. like i said, Jeremiah 4:19... the struggle is real. So far I don't think there's anything else i need. I pretty well off so far. I saw the movie at the temple last week with the saratov approach guy in it. so that was neat. We didn't get to go this morning though because of Pioneer day so that's a bummer. how was your float today by the way? It's weird being at the MTC over a holiday that i'm used to being at, if that makes sense. 

Our lessons are going pretty good. We are doing way better with teaching with the spirit and it helps immensely. especially with the language. It's a good thing I have Elder Pinson too, because during our lesson on the Word of Wisdom i could not remember the word for wisdom worth my life! It's Fahendrena by the way haha. One lesson this week stood out particularly to me. We were teaching Rakoto (our teacher's alter ego) and we were just sharing our favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon. The whole time I've been here though I've been struggling with why I'm speaking Malagasy. I felt frustrated and that I could do a way better job with Englilsh. I had been praying for help to understand. Anyway, During this lesson, I shared my scripture, Alma 7:11-13 and tried my best to explain why it was important to me. I attempted to share the story of Uncle Wade with him and I could kind of do it but not really. Anyway, the Spirit was really strong and stuff and I finished and Elder Pinson started to do his and I just knew. It was like a voice spoke it into my head that this is where I was supposed to be and I was supposed to preach the gospel in Malagasy. I knew it without a doubt. After that lesson, the teachers let us teach in English and after that, they told us that they think we are way better teachers in Malagasy than in English. It's not that we suck or anything it's just that the spirit testifies of truth so strongly through our broken Malagasy, way better than what we could do in English.

Hadin left Tuesday morning, Putter left Wednesday and, Brooks Rigtrup came in yesterday! I didn't even know he was coming in! It was awesome to see him! I may be able to host next week. We think we can sign up so I'm trying to get our district leader to sign us up. The Spanish speajking missionaries go to the west campus but i think they report to this campus so I could get Hayden but it'll be hard. If not, I'll see him at devotionals and stuff. Fun story of the week, Elder Pinson and I got locked out of our room the other day. And I didn't have shoes or my nametag so that was fun.

Talk to you guys next week! Veloma fianakaviako! Tiako ianareo! (Goodbye Family. I love y'all)

Elder Coleman

P.S. Did you get my letter? I sent one on Monday and i don't know if you've gotten it or not.
Oh and I totally scored in MTC soccer the other day. I should just quit this mission stuff and go pro! Oh and I need to know like today what medication I was allergic to. No pressure or anything

Provo Temple and my distict L to R Front: Elder Pinson, Me, Elder Covey, Elder Koplin, Elder Reich, Elder Hammer. Back: Elder Morse, Elder Delbar, Elder Ahlstrom, Elder Rasmussen, Elder Johnson, Elder Schroedter, and Elder Tavo. Fun fact, Elder Tavo is from Vanuatu some islands in the South Pacific. He was supposed to come in with the last group. I don't know what happened there though. He's 21.

Missionary Plaque