Zone Conference and TRANSFERS!

At the internet cafe where he emails us. Elder Jackson (who is NOT his companion
but lives in the same house as Elder C) is on the left.

Hello all!!

This week was great and busy. I really had a good time.

On Monday night, both Elder Jackson and I were feeling weighed down a bit with some of the challenges of mission life. Elder Jackson went to bed early with a headache, but couldn't sleep, so he asked me for a priesthood blessing. It turned into a very spiritual experience for both of us. We were both crying by the end, and afterward I was able to testify to him that Heavenly Father truly loves him.

Tuesday and Wednesday was Zone Conference in Singapore, so we packed up and headed across the border to be enlightened and uplifted!! We had a General Authority (a leader in our church) come and teach us, Elder Larry Wilson is his name! Zone Conference was really focused around baptism and the Book of Mormon. It's interesting because Elder Wilson told us if we all read the Book of Mormon more with our investigators and less-actives, all of them would have a much more deep and lasting conversion in the Gospel. I really feel that is the truth!

Anyways, on Wednesday night, the entire mission was in Singapore (because East Malaysia did their Zone Conference on Wednesday and Thursday). I got to see all of the missionaries from my MTC district, all of my friends! It was really so amazing to catch up with them again because I hadn't seen them since October. It was great to feel their love and their support because, truth be told, I had been feeling pretty down. The Lord always helps us out when we ask for it. I know that to be true - most of the time that help comes through other people, and that's why it's so important to serve and love those around us!

After Zone Conference, we got home and began doing some great missionary work. Our area is really taking off and so is the area of the other missionaries in our house. It's been gratifying to see our hard work paying off.

Today is transfer news!... but it's been delayed. I will be sending a later email letting you all know whether I'm moving or staying!!

Malaysia Boleh!

Elder Coleman

Later I got this update from Elder C: "I'm going to Tawau! That's Sabah! The farthest east I can go! Sabah a place all the missionaries hope to serve! Everyone there speaks perfect Malay because the Christians there learn Malay as their first language. Everywhere else, people learn Iban as their first language! WHAT THE HECK--THIS IS NUTS!!! My new companion is Elder Nicholas Lafontaine."

Here is a little excerpt another elder in the mission shared on his blog about what Elder Wilson taught at zone conference: "Elder Larry Wilson told us we have such a unique mission - unlike any other in the world! As I have told you in earlier emails, the church is so young here in Malaysia and we are having to build piece by piece in the jungles of Borneo from the ground up. Elder Wilson mentioned that we are on the very frontier line of the church and comparatively in the history of the church, Malaysia is only in the year 1830 when the church was first organized. In almost every other part of the world, the church has its foundations but here it is still very new." ( excerpt from Elder Lundquist) 

Elder Coleman's new area is Tawau, on the southeastern coast of Sabah.