Spreading Goodness in Guatemala!: 2015

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Last Post!!

Hi everyone!!
I'm no longer able to keep up on Jennesa and Spencer's mission blogs! I decided I'm going to put the time into just making a digital book for their missions. I'm sorry for those of you who read this blog! If you would like to get on their email lists, you will receive all of their pictures and letters that I put on this blog...so you won't miss out on anything!! :-) (Email your address to lcoleman1@gmail.com and we will add you to their lists!!) Thanks for all your support for our missionaries! It truly is a sacrifice that brings forth such blessings! We feel so grateful!
All our love,
Jennifer

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Week #9 -- Familias! (Families) Conferencia de Estaca! (Stake Conference) NO HAY EXCUSES! (no excuses)

Sept. 22, 2015:

Photos: #1 -- Me and Elder Marte in the street right after it rained (it flooded)! Love the rainy season!! :) #2 -- My study area in our old apartment

WOOOO! COMO ESTAN LOS PERSONAS QUIEN YO AMOMUCHO!!??!! (How is everyone that I love so much??!!)

This week has been hard, but so good tambien (too)! This week the bar was raised for the norma de excelence de nuevos investigatorescon fechas fijas (mission standard of excellence for having new investigators with set dates)! It is now 16 per week. It was 12. It is hard, but with faith we find the ovejas (sheep/prepared people) who God wants us to and we avoid those many many cabras (goats/not prepared people). This week we found a family of a couple with a little boy and they are great! They have a problem with going to church, but If we keep meeting with them, they will change! It is hard because EVERYONE works on Domingo (Sunday) because they need to feed their families! So, the truly faithful investigators (investigators) assist (attend) church! Please pray for these people:

1. Gloria Hernandez (She came to church for the first time this week!! She has 3 kids one is on a mission (left 2 weeks ago) and one is married (member) then a 12 year old, who isn't a member either. She is so ready to be baptized! She just needs to come to church 2 more times! :)

2. Also pray for her son, Ronaldo, to listen to us!

3. Then Andres Lopez. He told us yesterday that it would be better to wait one more week, so he is going to be baptized the first week of Oct. Pray that he has the courage to tell his dad and join the church!

4. Also, we met a man named Gerson Cutzal. He has been a drunk for a looong time, but we were talking to him and he almost was baptized a while back, but he kept drinking... He told us that he hadn't drank for 4 days and he wants to stop. then he accepted the 11th of Oct. to be baptized! We met with him again later and He said that He hasn't drank since! He is awesome! Pray that he will have the strength to resist the temptation to tomar (drink)!

5. Also pray for that family I talked about above! Alicia, Doroteo, y David.

6. Then, Marvin Mendosa, who should get baptized this Domingo! Thanks!! :)

It has rained pretty much every day this week and I got a sore throat for a few days. I'm just getting over it, but I couldn't really talk, for a day.. haha, it was a struggle.. My voice has been super squeaky for a few days.. haha.

This Saturday and Sunday we had Conferencia de Estaca (stake conference) and Elder Ochoa (from the 70) and it was awesome!

Oh, we have to move again.. haha. so fun.. it is just hard because our preparation day is taken and we barely have time to buy food for the week.. paciencia (patience)!

Oh, I had another nuevo meeting (new missionary meeting/training) and it was good to see all the nuevos (new missionaries) again! The mission is raising the bar and we are going to change the mission! I'm excited to change and work hard! We can only listen to music from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir now, though... haha. oh well.

This week was hard, but I'm trying to work hard for God!

I love you all! Your prayers are appreciated! :)

Love,

Elder Coleman

2 meses! WOO! Mission life!

Sept. 15, 2015:

Familia y Amigos!

I forgot last week to wish my sis happy b day, so.. happy b day sis! love ya!

This week was very hard and exausting, but it was awesome!

I think I forgot to say that we moved casas last week and are in this huge house now! it is so nice!

My spanish is slowly progressing and I am getting better every day! We work hard every day and we love to joke around on the streets. Apropriately of course.. haha.

We are teaching a guy who is 17 years old, Andres Lopez. He is the novio of a member and he is doing great! In our last lesson with him, he said the closing prayer and said that he knows this church is true, but he needs help making this decision because his dad is SUPER catolica... It is hard, but he will do it!

I have loved feeling the spirit guide me and I love feeling what to say or where to go or who to talk to. It is such a great feeling to have the spirit guide EVERYTHING I do! After I wrote last week, I went on Divisions with one of the zone leaders for 24 hours and we worked sooo hard! it was awesome! We were trying to find this one reference, but we couldn't, so E. Wilkes paused and said, ''where is the family we are supposed to find? We kept working and Then we found this man with 2 kids and taught this AMAZING and spiritual lesson. They accepted to be baptized!

It was great!

Oh, my relationship with my comp is much better! I've been working to change and It is slowly improving! ONe day, we decided that he would only speak english to me and I would only speak spanish to him, and we were walking down the street, when he yelled at a guy ''whassup bro!?!'' we went up to the man and E. Marte spoke in English and I translated the message to spanish. It was soo funny! We did it on a bus one day too, but He wanted me to do the English. It was hard to say things I say 50 times a day in spanish in english. haha.

This week has been hard, but it has been good! ONe frustrating thing was that this Saturday we worked really hard to find new investigators and to get our others to church the next day, but only 3 came.. Frustrating...

I love it here, though! I have so much to tell, but I don´'t have time! I LOVE you all and I love hearing from you! Pray for the people in Guatemala to soften their hearts! :)

Funny: We have started to just yell at people in the streets more.. haha. so fun. We yell baseball plays all of the time too, because He loves baseball. Awsome!

Love you!

Love,

Elder Coleman :)))))))

Week #1 -- Distrito Lucas! Tasty food y (and) Headaches.. jaja (ha ha)

July 27, 2015:

Mi Familia y Amigos!! :)

Como Esta Usted!?! :)

Well, this first week traveling to, and in the CCM (MTC) has been an adventure!

I left on Tuesday night and flew to LAX. (In SLC there were about 10 other missionaries with me) I met about 34 other missionaries there and we waited for a while to board our flight to Guatemala City. (It was delayed for about an hour) then during the flight, we made an emergency stop in Mexico City for someone having medical problems. It was pretty crazy. We sat in the airplane for another 2 hours at the Mexico airport then we finally flew to Guatemala City!! :) We ended up being about 4 hours late.. haha.

Then we took a few busses to the CCM (MTC), through Guatemala City and we were all just so pumped!! :) We arrived and we got packets with info and our plaques in them! :) It was so awesome to put on my mission plaque (name tag) for the first time! :) Then we were assigned rooms, beds and districts. It is pretty exciting to start out! Well, even though we were all beat, we started up classes. I still didn't know who my companion was. Our teachers are Hermano (Brother) Garcia y Hermana (Sister) Giron. They are both so great and they push us very hard, which is good.

Español (Spanish) pretty much was one of the most stressful things ever for the first 4 days.. haha. We have been taught sooo much, and I wasn't remembering it very well so I was getting frustrated and stressed out. I kept getting mad at myself and it obviously wasn't helping me out at all.. We had to memorize the Objetivo Misional (Missionary's Purpose) y Invitación Bautizado (Batismal Invitation) y Primero Visión (First Vision) this past week and I was stressing hard core.. Well, on Domingo (Sunday, right? haha), we had a ton of amazing firesides/devotionals and the very last on was on Perseverar hasta el fin (endure to the end). I felt like God had this devotional just for me. I was struggling with Español (Spanish) and I was getting down on myself and I was not improving because I was so stressed about the language... but this devotional helped me gain mas fe (more faith) and It helped me see that If I have fe (faith) and if I just work hard and trust in the Lord, then the Español will come. It was an amazing spiritual experience and I felt el Espíritu Santo (the Holy Ghost) so much! :)

Oh, mi compañero (companion) is Elder Cope and he is from Draper, Utah. He was pretty quiet the first few days, but he has opened up and I enjoy being compañeros with him. :) We taught a lesson to an investigador named Ana (all in Español) on Friday and It was super rough... Mi compañero (My companion) wouldn't talk unless it was completely written down and I grabbed the wrong notebook... I grabbed my gramática (grammar) notebook instead of my plan de lección (lesson plan) notebook... ay ay ay... It was pretty bad and she turned us down to pray and to come to church... haha, it was a learning experience, though, because the next day, we taught her again and even though we didn't have enough time to prepare and finish our Plan de lección (lesson plan), it went much better and she accepted to come to church, leer a capitulo in de LDM (read a chapter in the Book of Mormon), and she said the closing oración (prayer) in our lección (lesson)! The español (Spanish) was still rough, but it went much better overall. :)

Oh, on my flight to LAX, I sat alone with an older guy. his name was Erv. He was a cool guy who had traveled all over the world and we talked for a while. Then I was prompted to ask him if I could practice teaching a lección (lesson) to him, but he declined.. It was cool to see that I had courage to ask him! :) Being a missionary is so great! :)

I always tell the latinos during lunch that I only know un poco español then i say poco el poco! :) just like my awesome sis Hermana Coleman, in Peru, always says! The language will come poco el poco!

The food is muy excelente! (very excellent!) :) I'm pretty sure that I've gained some weight alrieady, but I bet I'll lose it out in the field. haha. They have a gourmet chef just for the missionaries and he is muy bueno! (very good) :) haha, I love it. There is also tons of Ice cream which is delicioso! (delicious!) :) Just know that I am eating well here! :) Also, during meals, we are supposed to solo hablo espanol (only speak Spanish), so I try to sit by the latinos (Latins) and chapines (Elders from Guatemala) every meal. They are all so hilarious! haha I love them all! :)

Oh, and guess what? Elder Hunter Jensen, Elder Brayden Lott, and Elder Jake Foster are all here with me! They've been here much longer, but it is so fun to be with them! the CCM (MTC) is small (about 130 missionaries) so I see them every meal and all over the place. :) Oh, and the weird part is... Elder Foster is one of the Zone leaders in the CCM... haha, didn't see that coming. JK. He is still crazy, but he has said some great testimonies during the devotionals. :)

Oh, they gave pretty much every new Elder a super short haircut, pretty much just a buzz, but we all have super short hair and mine is just a puff ball right now... haha. gotta love it!

I've been super tired, and I've fallen asleep a few times in leccions (lessons) and devotionals, but I'm working hard and I'm doing well! :)

Oh, my distrito loves to play basketball during deportes (sports) time and it is the best! gotta love it. :) even though I'm probably the worst,, haha.

Oh, our districto (district) leader is Elder Anderson from Washington, Mom, the kid that we saw on facebook. He is a good guy! :)

The CCM (MTC) Presidente is awesome! Presidente Cox is super great, and he is so great at pumping everyone up! it is so great! I love him!

My district is super great too! We are district Lucas and we have so much fun and study a ton too! :) We always joke around and have so much fun! :) Sometimes we lay in our beds and talk for a while after bed time.. I know, it isn't the best, but it was fun! haha :)

Oh, mi companero (my companion) told me that I was sleep talking a few nights ago and I was speaking espanol! :) haha, I'm always thinking about it! crazy...

Oh, we were able to go to the temple today and it was a great experience! :) I'm excited to see what else P-day has in store for us! haha.

Well, I've thought about all of you so much and I love you all!! :) You are all in my prayers and I would love it if you could keep me in yours!

Adios! :)

Love,

Elder Coleman :)

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

He made it to Guatemala!!

July 22, 2015:

Hey Mom and Dad!! :) I made it here safely, our flights were delayed and we had to stop in Mexico City for an emergency medical stop, so we arrived 4 hours late. haha. I am alive and well! I can't write any more until P day though. I love you all and I am so grateful for all of you! I miss you guys already! haha We ate lunch and I learned some words from the Latinos. I am so excited and I am going to love it here! I also saw Elder Brayden Lott and Elder Hunter Jenson (In Jennesa's grade)! I'm excited to learn some Spanish!! I'm pretty tired and I only slept one hour during the flight, but I studies PMG and scriptures and wrote in my journal, so It was good time. I dozed off many times though.. haha. well, I need to go! The church is true, and know that I love you very much! :)

Love, Elder Coleman!!!! :)

P.S. Dad, I am sore from the run.. haha. Love ya!

(He and Landon ran to Elephant rock the morning before he left! The sore muscles would help him remember this memory and how much his Dad loves him!!) :-)

Surprise gift picture after he got to his gate!!

Some sweet angels were travelling to pick up their son in Guatemala, and took this of all the missionaries going to Guatemala!! So fun to get a picture of him--even if it was 10 minutes after we said goodbye to him!! :-)

Saturday, September 12, 2015

The Setting Apart!

July 20, 2015:

It was an emotional and spiritual night--so full of love! What a blessing to have this son and a family to share life with!!

Fun pictures after that wonderful experience!!

Spencer & Caden!! Spencer & Hunter!! Spencer & Bree!!

Spencer & Jarrett! Spencer & Mom! Spencer & Dad!

It was sooo cute! Jarrett never will wear his suit coat. But, tonight, he went up and put it on so he could look like Spencer! Sweet, huh! This is what he looked like quickly afterwards!

(Church pants come off and he's ready to play!!)

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

The Airport!!!

July 21, 2015:

Spencer was so cute! He had heard a rumor that everyone who enters the Guatemalan MTC gets their hair buzzed. He asked me to give him one last haircut just a little bit shorter, because he didn't want to get one because his hair was too long. If they buzzed everyone, that would be a funny story...but he definitely didn't want one because he wasn't obedient! Just another example of his great desire to be obedient!

He will be an incredible missionary because of this!!

We left for the airport at about 7:30pm. It was definitely surreal to be at this point!!

Watching him check in and do everything was just so amazing! He has grown up so much---

and will grow up even more in these next two years!!

He's got the whole crew with him for moral support!!

Check in complete, now it's time to head up stairs!!

He wore his "wardie" tie!

Signed by Matt, Parker, and Taylor...they all have one like it that they can wear to feel the support of everyone else out serving their missions, too!