Boldly Testifying

Some pics from his last week with Elder Misa

Hello President Mains!

Another crazy week jam packed full of miracles.

This week Elder Hansen and I really put into action the answer to my question during the mission tour. I asked Elder Funk about planning appointments, and he brought it to my attention that there is a definite distinction between planning and scheduling. Scheduling is sometimes out of our control as our investigators may not have anytime to meet, but we can still make plans of what to teach them if the Lord grants that we can meet them!! So we did a very thorough weekly planning session and saw some miracle appointments as a result. That was cool.

This week I really gained a testimony of a certain line from Preach My Gospel. It says in the weekly planning section, "Prayerfully identify members and investigators to ask for referrals." Well, Elder Hansen and I decided to kneel down and pray right then and there. We asked, and after the prayer listened for an answer. I had the thought to visit an older single lady in our branch named T. Single... so it seemed!! I really did't understand why we should go to visit her, assuming she has no one to refer. Turns out she is a widow who stays at her unbaptized son's home whose wife is also not a member, and her sister also lives with her who also has not yet be baptized. I was shocked to see that her family was quite big and that none of them had joined the church. Then, I asked T (the member) how long it had been since the missionaries had been to visit her and she said THREE YEARS!! So Elder Hansen and I both learned that 1) when PMG says to prayerfully do something, you should probably do it with a prayer; and 2) that we have a great opportunity to help this family come into the restored Church of Jesus Christ. So we were very blessed this week.

Elder Hansen and I will become close friends. I think this transfer is going to be really good. Another cool experience was when an investigator told us that she got anti'ed this week by her uncle (who is a pastor) BUT when she prayed about it, she got a feeling to just "continue." Then we taught her the restoration and when we explained clearly about this church being God's church, she really just understood and though she had been baptized in a different church, she said she would be baptized again!! Pretty cool.

Oh, and the coolest thing that happened this week - Elder Hansen and I (along with member present Elder Chan who is the Area Seventy) were invited to share a message with a bunch of head pastors from a church here in Klang. We went to an investigator's house and they were out visiting their flock and just so happened to be on the night that I scheduled an appointment with the couple. Well, it was insane. We racked our brain and kept offering silent prayers as to what we should share with them, and both Elder Hansen and I kept getting the same thought: the Restoration of the Gospel. So we shook our heads and went with it. Though we had been companions for barely 24 hours, we taught the entire lesson in unity. The Spirit was so strong. We were 100% being led by Spirit. We testified boldly of the Prophet Joseph Smith and taught his First Vision in his own words. We proclaimed to men of great wisdom and knowledge of the Bible that God speaks again to men on earth through a living day prophet. We shared the message and invited them to pray for themselves. The best part of all, as Elder Chan noticed - before we began, the pastors said "You share first, then we will share a message!" Well, after we shared, they shrunk at the notion of sharing. Elder Chan was so stoked and repeatedly said that we had confounded them with the truth. They couldn't respond because they had just heard the truth!!!

Here's what Elder Hansen had to say about it:

"Eventually the head Pastor said 'Why don't you share something, then we can share something with you' thinking that two 20 year-olds had nothing on his years of study and ministry. So my comp and I said a quick prayer asking what we should teach because we didn't want it to turn into a fight. Well. we both got "teach the truth." So we start teaching the Restoration. It was awesome. Keep in mind that this was the first lesson with us two as comps and we threw down. I've never felt the Spirit in a lesson like that before. We were teaching in unity, boldly testifying. We, well the Spirit, taught it so simple and truthfully. The Spirit was strong when my comp bore testimony that God talks to man today through a living prophet. It was incredible. I felt like an 1800's missionary, standing on a soap box and declaring the truth. And then you have a Seventy there to add his witness. Cool. So we sit down and they were just wide eyed. Couldn't believe what they had just heard. We sat down and said ok you can share your message now and they said 'No thank you.' Haha through the meek and humble shall God confound the wise. They were speechless."

Wow. Well lots of good stuff is happening and hopefully many seeds are being planted for future growth as well.

Love you, President!! Have a great week!

Elder Coleman