Week 31 - September 4, 2017

This week was a long one. As much as I love Dom Pedrito, I think it has a curse that makes it so that all of our appoitments fall through. It seems like none of our investigators, recent converts, even members were home this week. But, it gave us a lot of time to knock on many, many, many doors and teach a lot of new people. Many of them seemed to be interested, so I'm excited to work with them, especially as we're having to drop a lot of our old investigators that weren't progressing. That's still one of the hardest parts for me, because it's super easy for me to see the potential of someone. To see how much of a testimony they could have and how their life could change with this gospel. But then they don't want to go to church or be baptized, they don't want to try to reach that potential, and we have to stop visiting them so that we have time to find people who do want to recieve the blessings of this gospel. I think, until I finish my mission, it will always be hard for me to stop teaching someone. Mas a vida de uma missionária é assim. 

I'm really enjoying being with Sister Silva- she's a great missionary, we have a lot in common, and she loves Harry Potter, so obviously I have to like her. Unfortunately, she doesn't like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings because her dad made her watch them so much (another thing we have in common) that she got sick of them, but I'm trying to convince her to give them another chance.

That's about it for this week. Hope all is well back home and that everyone's excited for a new school year!

Sister Coleman

Week 30 - August 27, 2017

Olá família e amigos! Today was transfers again (for some reason that I'm not aware of, this transfer was only 5 weeks instead of 6). Sister N. Souza was transferred, and I received a new companion, Sister Silva. We met about 5 minutes ago, so all I know about her is that she's been out for almost a year and she's from Recife. I am crazy happy that I'll be staying in Dom Pedrito- if I could choose, I'd stay here a good while longer.

This week was super good. We had a family night with a family of investigators; we played a game where, if you lose, everybody else gets to draw on your face with lipstick. We ended up walking home that night with the lipstick still on our face...luckily not many people were on the street and it was dark outside, but the looks from the people that did see us were pretty funny.

For the first (and last) time in my entire mission, I forgot my nametag one day this week. We were rushing early in the morning to catch the bus to go to our district meeting, and I completely forgot to put it on. I know, I'm a terrible missionary. Of course this just happened to be the district meeting that our mission president showed up to as well. I thought I was gonna die- everyone talks about how angry he gets when missionaries break rules, even the smallest ones. But luckily he just joked with me about it and told me to not forget again. 

A cool experience that I had this week: we have a 15 year old investigator, Vitória, who asked was asking us a bunch of questions of what it was like to be a missionary. What we had to leave behind, how we stayed in touch with our families. And then she asked, "Was it hard to go on a mission?" That made me stop and think about all the difficulties I've passed through so far. The pain of saying goodbye to my family at the airport. The many tears at the MTC. The heat and the cold and bugbites and sunburns. The exhaustion at the end of every day. The goodbyes when being transferred. The sadness when you watch people walk away from the blessings of this gospel and the potencial happiness they could have. And yet, with all of that, I didn't have to hesitate to say to her, "No, it wasn't. I know I needed to come here."

That's about it for this week. I'm continuing to LOVE what I'm doing, and hope you're all happy as well.

Sister Coleman

***Note*** 

We just get the photos without any explanation.  I would assume that the pictures of the animals are from when she visited the Bishop's home several weeks ago.  The other sister in her pictures are of Sister Souza, the companion that just got transferred out of the area.  I am assuming the apartment pictures is her current apartment.  You guess is as good as mine on the rest.  But she looks beautiful and sounds so happy!!! - Tiffaney

Week 29 - August 21, 2017

News for this week! A new bishop was called this Sunday in the Dom Pedrito Ward. Bispo Fernando has only been a member for 4 years, but he's a very kind and hard-working man, so we're excited to see how this ward can grow and strengthen with his help. He's also super willing to help with missionary work, which will be great.

This week we had a cool experience with a new investigator. His name is WIlliam, and he's about 17 or 18 years old. At the end of our lesson (the Plan of Salvation), we asked if he had any questions or doubts. He said, "Just one. How do you know all of this is true?" I think that's the first time anyone has asked me that. So of course we went on to talk a little more about our testimonies and how he, too, could know it was true if he prayed and asked. He was like, "Alright, I can do that." So, of course, we're super excited to continue working with him!!

Also, Feliz Aniversário to President Monson! I was reading an article in the Liahona the other day about his life and everything he's done in his callings in the church. It made me realize how much we take it for granted that we have so many people willing to dedicate their entire lives to the cause of the gospel and to service in the church, and of course, how fortunate we are to live in a time with a living prophet. 

In fact, I've been thinking a lot about all the things I've taken for granted as a member of the church. Since I've grown up with the gospel, things like baptism and the Book of Mormon and a living prophet and the blessings of an eternal family- all huge, life-changing things- have always surrounded me, so they felt like ordinary things. I'm eternally grateful for my mission for a million reasons, but one of the greatest being for how it's made me more grateful for the gospel in my life. Meeting more and more people who've never had the opportunity to have these blessings makes me realize how valuable they are. I'm also so humbled to meet the members here in Brazil. The great majority of them are converts, and they don't waste a single day talking about how grateful they are for the missionaries that brought them the gospel and for the blessings they have now because of it. 

So my challenge for all of you today: Think for a moment about how blessed you are. Think about the amount of people who've never even heard of, much less recieved, the blessings that we have as members of the church. And pray that those people can have the opportunity to encounter these blessings.

I love this gospel, and I love my Savior.

Sister Coleman

Week 28 - August 14, 2017

This week we had splits...again! I went to Bagé, a nearby city, to stay with Sister Cirqueira, another Brazilian. She is amazing, and I hope she's my actual companion one day. She also makes the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted in my life, which I will for sure be making frequently when I get home.

This week has also been one of the most rainy so far. In fact the house where I was staying in Bagé lost power while we were sleeping because of the storm, which means I had to take a shower in the dark in freezing cold water....fun times, you guys. When I returned to Dom Pedrito...it was still raining. And has been for days. I don't mind working in the rain, but the problem is that no one seems to leave their house when it's raining (which means much less people go to church), and also no one answers their door, which makes it super hard to visit people. So a large part of our rainy days are spent walking all over the city, knocking on doors (or clapping our hands, in truth), until someone answers and lets us in. Everybody says we're crazy for working in the rain, but the work of the Lord doesn't stop, right?

Hope everyone's enjoying the warm summer weather in the US! 

Love, 

Sister Coleman

Week 27 - August 7, 2017

I am continuing to adore this area and to love my companion, so things are going pretty well. This week a lot of our commitments fell through because almost none of our investigators were home...even though we tried at each house about 3 times this week. But, it's all good, because it gave us the opportunity to knock on a lot of doors and meet a lot of new people, so we have high hopes for this coming week.

This past week we also ate lunch at house of the Bishop, who lives on a farm. So we got to spend some time with horses and sheep and pigs and such, which was pretty cool. 

A little miracle that happened as well: we fasted that we could find someone to help get baptized this transfer, and this Sunday, two members came up to us and gave us references for friends of theirs that they want us to visit- friends that are passing through hard times that are really needing the gospel in their lives. We're super excited to work with these references and hope that they're an answer to our fast (because it's super rare here for members to give out references like that).

As of tomorrow, I will have been out on the mission for 6 MONTHS. That's crazy. Only a year left you guys. But I'm loving every moment and plan to make the most of this next year.

Sister Coleman

Week 26 - July 31, 2017

EU AMO DOM PEDRITOOOOOO!!!!! Seriously guys, this city is awesome. I've already fallen in love with the members and all the investigators here. The town is a lot bigger than São Jeroônimo, so we do a LOT of walking. But maybe that's good, because Dom Pedrito also has the best churros I've ever tasted in my life, so I probably need to walk off a little of the weight :) 

There's a recent convert here, D., who's 12 years old. She has quickly become one of my favorite people in the world. She reminds me a lot of Gillian- probably because she's sassy. Her grandma, C., also a recent convert, asked that we call her Vovó (Grandma), because she has claimed us as her other granddaughters. I'm already dreading saying goodbye to them, and I've only been here a week.

Also, for those you don't know, there's another Sister Coleman in my mission, and she just happened to serve in Dom Pedrito a few months ago. So, of course, everyone who knows her here asks we if we're related.

The apartment here is a lot smaller than the last, but nice and cute none the less. Apparently the outlets have some problems here, though- as in, if you use the wrong outlet, it might start a fire. 

We were supposed to have a baptism this Saturday- a wonderful woman named D., but she's been having some major health problems, so we had to delay it. But we're praying hard that she can recover soon. 

As for Portuguese- guys, I'm feeling great. Yes, there's still a mountain of words I don't know and I'm sure I don't use exactly correct grammar all the time, but studying your butt off and relying on the help of the Lord pays off. One of the members told me this week that, other than my accent, I sounded like a Brazilian. (Yeah, she was probably being overly nice, but it was good to here, anyway). I definitely have a long way to go, though.

Hope everyone is doing great. Amo vocês!

Sister Coleman

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Photos from São Jeroônimo before Sister Coleman was transferred. 

Week 25 - July 24, 2017

Well, friends, it's finally happened: I've been transferred. This morning I left São Jerônimo and arrived in Porto Alegre: I'm still waiting here in Porto Alegre because the bus for my new area, Don Pedrito, won' t leave until later. So, I don't know much about my new area, expect that it's a 7 hour bus ride from here and that it's super cold. My companion in the MTC, Sister Pertab, just finished serving there and says it's a great area, so I'm excited!

I'm feeling super good about going to a new area. It was sad to leave São Jerônimo because I'd been there 4 and a half months and had really grown to love the people....but I'm not gonna lie, it was a hard area. I didn't baptize anyone and the brach was super small, but I learned a lot and I know I needed to start my mission there. There was a good amount of tears (mostly on my part) as I said goodbye to everyone, especially this little 4 year old boy named Lucas who started bawling when I told him I would be leaving, so that was super sad. But I'll come back one day and adopt him.

My companion this last transfer, Sister Riberio, stayed in São Jerônimo, and my new companion is Sister N. Souza. She's from São Paulo and has been on her mission for a year and 2 months. Other than that, I don't know much about her, because we just met about 10 minutes ago, but she seems super cool and I'm excited for what lies ahead.

I want to share an experience that I had on Sunday, because it was one of the biggest miracles I've seen so far on my mission. There's a recent convert in São Jerônimo named V., who's around 80 years old and has a load of health problems. It's hard for him to walk more than a few steps without sitting down after. He owns a horse and a cart, which he normally uses to get to church on Sundays, but this week there was some problem with the cart and he wasn't able to use it. Had we known, we would've tried to find a ride for him, but he didn't tell anyone. Instead, he started walking to church at 6:30 in the morning to get there on time (9 o'clock), using a stick he picked up off the ground to help him walk. For us, it takes about 20 minutes to get from his house to the church, but with his pace it took about an hour and a half. When we went to unlock the chapel in the morning and saw him waiting, I almost cried. That man has more faith and more determination to keep God's commandments than almost anyone I've ever met.

So just remember next time you don't feel like going to church, that it's a lot easier for you because you have two perfectly functioning legs and a car!

I love my mission, I love this gospel, and I love my Savior.

Amo vocês, e estou com saudades de vocês também! 

Sister Coleman