"You aren't those Mormons from Utah that marry like 12 wives are you?"

Oct 1, 2012

Dear Family,

First off, could you take a picture of Oscar so that I can show him to people? (I know that is kind of strange, but people have asked me what my dog looks like, and he is kind of hard to explain...)

This week has been crazy. I have gotten behind on my journal, and I am frantically trying to catch up. It hasn't been going the greatest... but I will get there eventually.

We have an investigator, whom I will call S1. She is 14 and has been preparing to be baptized. Her mom isn't super interested. So, we were at District meeting on Tuesday and they counseled us to get the paperwork signed ASAP so that there would be no hang ups. Her mom told us no. That she did not feel her daughter was ready, but that she wanted the daughter to be baptized. We taught her the first half of the Gospel, then, we left for the day. We prayed that the Lord would help us.

  The next day, we got a text saying that S1's mom was going to let her get baptized. We were ecstatic! The Lord had given us the Miracle we had hoped for! So we went over and taught her the remainder of the Gospel, and the Commandments. (I should probably mention that we had been teaching her for about a week and a half and that she had already read from Alma to 3rd Nephi.... She was praying about the Book of Mormon, and when she came to church she said that she felt at home....) Her mom signed the paperwork and we kept thanking the Lord for this gift. We thought everything was just peachy.....

   We went by the next day to teach her the Restoration. While we were in the beginning of the Lesson, the mom gets home from work. (We were teaching her in their front yard)

The mom then says, "I have a question for you." (She didn't seem too happy, either... RED FLAG)

"OK," We answered.

"You aren't those Mormons from Utah that marry like 12 wives are you?" She demanded.

"No." (We thought she was talking about the FLDS people who got busted in TX a couple of years ago, so we started to explain the difference, but she was not in a very good mood, and didn't want to listen.)

She then said, "We are going to have to put a hold on the Baptism for now. I want to find out more." (Apparently, when she mentioned that her daughter was being baptized, her co-workers went nuts. I can understand her concern, and we were really nervous that she would Google, "The Mormon Church," as the first two or three things that would pop up will be official church sites, followed by "The Truth About Mormons.com". We made every attempt to direct her to mormon.org, where her question could be answered properly. Then,we taught about plural marriage, Kind of. (We just pointed out Jacob 2...) We left.

  The next morning (It is now Saturday, and her date is on the 30th, Sunday), I called the District Leader to tell him he did not have to come to her interview. It rang to their Voicemail, and I proceeded to leave a message. Just as I was about to say, "We are not having the interview," S1 sent us a text that read, "My mom is going to let me be baptized!" I was really thankful. To top it off, the District Leader's Voicemail went haywire and did not record our message. We then felt like we should go over to S1's house to talk to her mom, which we did. (S1 lives with her mom, her twin sister, her older sister, and her older sister's girlfriend. Mom is a heavy smoker who has terminal lung cancer and is a heavy drinker, S1's twin also does not have the same father (I didn't know that was possible... but who knows.)  Point being, the home situation isn't the greatest.) We got there and the Lesbian Sister and the Twin Sister started verbally attacking S1 and telling the mom that S1 was not ready to be baptized. S1's mom defended her, kind of. (To make a long story short, we stood there for about thirty minutes watching, (We didn't know how to leave, it was kind of like when you are at a friend's house and their parents start arguing....) S1 had left and the Sisters and the Mom were sitting there arguing. The Spirit told me to offer to say a prayer, which we did. I ended the prayer.

   Dead Silence.

The Spirit Came back, and we had a pretty good remainder of the day. There were no more flip-flops and S1 was baptized yesterday, on her original date. The Lord was definitely at work here. It was great.

 Elder Pace is doing a great job. He has a very strong Testimony and a strong desire to be obedient. We work really well together, and thus far we are great friends, as well as missonary companions.

We were able to teach the 5th Sunday Lesson on Missionary work. It was pretty good.

I cherish all the memories I have from my mission thus far. The hard times have helped me grow. I want to use this next year the best I can.

Elder Burt already sent me a letter. He is doing great!

I love you!

I Know Christ Lives! He loves each one of us. He wants us to succeed at this life! He Atoned for our sins and pains. I love Him, and I want others to come to the same knowledge that I have.

Elder Coles

Dear Colby,

Thank you for writing me an amazing email! I am so excited to hear from you. Are you still making Lego games?

A day for me consists of:

6:30 AM- Wake up and Exercise (Sorry, I put that in reverse order) (Exercise = Run for 20 Minutes, warm up, cool down, Stretch and Plank (2 Minutes)) for 30 Minutes 7:00 AM-8:00 AM- Shower, Shave, Brush Teeth, Part Hair, Put in Contacts, Get Dressed, Eat Breakfast.

8:00AM-9:00AM- Personal Study

9:00AM-10:00AM- Companionship Study

10:00AM-11:00AM- Additional Hour of Companionship Study for Training

11:00AM-9:00PM- Proselyte (Talk to people, Teach People, Baptize People!) We take an hour for Lunch and an Hour for Dinner.

9:00 PM- 9:30PM- Daily Planning

9:30 PM- 10:30PM- Personal Time

10:30 PM- Lights out

Repeat

I hope I could be of some help. You are awesome!

Tell me some stories about how school is going! What Lego sets have you gotten? What have you built recently? Do you like 5th grade? Most important, How do you feel about Jesus Christ? Have you been reading the Book of Mormon?

I love you Colby. Thank you so much for emailing me. You are an awesome Brother!

I know that CHRIST LIVES! He loves you so much.

Elder Brett Coles