I Fear No Man

She decided to get baptized!!

Singapore has delicious food! 

Including some American staples!

Hello everyone!!

In my third to last week, we had A GREAT time. We had our first Zone Conference with President Simmons, and we can really feel the energy and the vision of the mission. He's doing a really swell job, and I'm personally excited for things to keep heading upwards.

Additionally, before Zone Conference we had an epic Badminton Tournament with quite a few of the missionaries from West Malaysia and Singapore. It was way fun!!! And, turns out, I've gotten mcuh better at Badminton. Elder Riddle is pretty good, too, and we teamed up to destroy!! We won the winners bracket of the tournament and placed tied for first at the end of the day. It was a lot of fun, and it's cool to see myself progress since my days in Tawau, the first time I tried picking up a racket. :D

Zone Conference was also great because I was able to deliver my dying/departing testimony. (Missionaries refer to the end of a mission as dying.)  I made some jokes but talked about how I loved my mission. Even though it wasn't the 'ideal' mission course I would've planned out, I can see how inspired it was and how each area and companion was who I needed to be with. I loved my mission!! I'm still loving my mission. So I offered three tips to the other missionaries as to how they can love their missions, too: 

1) LOVE YOUR MISSION (or for you back at home, LIFE) FOR WHAT IT IS. You won't always be pleased with the situations you're in, or the callings you do or don't get, the disappointments and success, but if you can learn to be content and happy with what the Lord gives you, and try to change what you CAN change, and accept what you can't, you will love your mission! Love it for what it is.

2) Recognize that you're just a TOOL!!!.... in the hands of the Lord. This isn't your work - this is God's work. You can do miracles. It's not "I can do all things through Christ" it's "Christ can do all things through ME!" Be humble, recognize you're just a tool and go to work, and watch God work wonders through your words and actions. 

3) LET OTHERS CHANGE! I changed a lot from the beginning of my mission - i thought I was going to come and be the missionary the Lord was thankful for, but I humbled up really fast. However, it did take time - and my actions before I changed made it difficult for others to accept who i was becoming. That was the hardest part about my change - the fact that others wouldn't let me change. 

I hope other missionaries benefitted from it!!

Also, some TERRIFIC news!! I've been wearing a tie for the last 3 months in an effort to show God I was really dedicated to help someone get baptized. I was given this challenge by a member named Kevin Koh. It helped me focus my desires and efforts over the past several weeks, and I wore it every day until I baptized someone / Someone I taught got baptized. It didn't look possible, but now P is looking forward to being baptized August 22 - my last Saturday in the mission field!!! Wow!!! I'm SO excited. The best part? She didn't do this for me, she did it because she felt it was right after she prayed about it. Woooo!!

So. I'm sure you're wondering about the title of this post. Why? In the Zone Conference, President Simmons trained us about the talk "Which Way Do You Face" from October 2014 General Conference and the principle of fearing God more than man. He shared a clip from a talk by President Uchtdorf about a missionary he nicknamed "Elder Strong". He was an amazizng missionary and worked his hardest, speaking with everyone day in and day out. What motivated him to do that work? Elder Strong's habitual response, "I fear no man." As I've been working over the last couple days, I've been seeking to apply the same thing - I, Elder Coleman, fear no man. And so for the remaining days (16 until I'm home), I will do my absolute best to make this happen.

Shout out to my father JonnyCC for serving an honorable mission back in the 80s and changing people's lives in the Dominican Republic. He and my mom were there this week and visited people my dad had helped teach and baptize. I can only hope my service will have a bit of the impact his did. At the end of the day though - if we serve with all our heart, might, mind and strength, we are just enabling God to do what HE needs to do, so we can't be prideful about it at all! And I'm grateful for my dad teaching me that lesson as he shared his mission experiences with me.

Love you all!! See you soon!!!

Elder Clay Coleman

Love the youth of AMK ward!