Three Weeks

Monday, August 3, 2015

Singapore preparing for its 50th Anniversary on August 9 - Singapore National Day

Humanitarian Service
Hey everyone!!

Some interesting news - I will be finishing my mission in a tri-companionship!! Elder Pun, a Hong-Kong-Local-moved-to-Vancouver, will join Elder Riddle in finishing my mission. That means we take over Bedok Ward as well as AMK ward, and cover about 40% of the island.

This week was also good. Elder Pun is a welcome addition to our companionship, and covering Bedok and AMK will be a lot of fun. I already have a talk lined up for Bedok next week. haha. Well, it'll be cool to say that I spoke in Singapore on the 50th National Day!

 Elder Riddle and Elder Pun get along really well. Elder Riddle is a good elder and works hard. He has a bright future. We will do our best to set up Elder Pun to the best of our ability for the next transfer. Bedok area, however, doesn't have much going on right now - just a few investigators that 1) can't get baptized for a year plus or 2) can't meet that often. Oh well. There are two great potential candidates who I think could be baptized. Just as a report there. The area and the members are terrific - they love missionaries and from what I can see, they would be really ideal to work with. Bedok has great potential.

Ang Mo Kio is doing alright also - our main progressing investigators continue to press forward. They came to church again this week and accepted the lessons we taught them about the Word of Wisdom. Great!! The struggle to find new investigators is real though, but we are having great experiences every day. We are opening our mouths, but still nothing. That's okay. We've got a couple good potentials we think could go well.

My faith was strengthened this week as I read in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 10. No matter how much opposition, the Lord will definitely push on His own work. Nothing will stop it! We can have the faith of a Hinckley that it will all work out and go forth. That's my belief and testimony. I also had my faith strengthened as I wrote in my journal about some experiences on my mission from around a year ago. The Lord really has blessed us so much. We are SO fortunate to be missionaries and to be members. To be Americans, even. 

I saw a miracle this morning - on the bus to the internet kedai I sat next to Ivan - a Christian who hasn't been baptized yet. I explained that our role here in Singapore is to help people prepare for and be baptized. He said he would be interested in meeting up to understand the process! Got his number and gave him our card. Nice!

Also, a great miracle from Church this week! P, one of the progressing investigators, was called upon to answer a question in Gospel Principles. She said this: "How can we obey, without knowing the whole picture? Well, I think it's like.... Like Nephi!! He couldn't see the whole picture in getting the plates... But he obeyed anyway, and the Lord blessed him to be successful." WHAT. Our jaws dropped and then turned into grins. An amazing moment. She's reading and understanding and benefitting from the Book of Mormon. Incredible.

I'm working hard and trying to maintain motivation. I feel like I'm still doing well. Pushing myself constantly outside of my comfort zone.

This week is Zone Conference and I'll deliver my departing testimony this week!!! Yikes!!! I'll record it and send it to you all later :) Love you!!!


Elder Clay Coleman

Elder C has become quite a letter writer! We treasure these letters

Here is an excerpt from one of his recent letters to his parents:

I'll share a cool insight I had during personal study this week. President Mains challenged us to read the whole Book of Mormon again, marking only and all references to the doctrine of Christ: Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I've learned a ton about repentance this time around – especially on the relationship between repentance and obedience, repentance and humility, etc. very helpful. My insight this week, however, comes from Helaman 5 verse 5: 

"For they [Nephi and Lehi] remembered the words which their father Helaman spake unto them. And these are the words which he spake."

Seems like a pretty unremarkable verse, right? Well, I want to focus on the word "remembered." Alma and other prophets often "stirred the people up to remembrance," they often chastised the people for forgetting the captivity of their fathers or times when the Lord helped/delivered them out of their trouble in the past. The prophets make it seem like forgetting is a major sin – something which the people are responsible for. Contrast that with our use of the word today, when forgetting something is, yes, our own fault, but is largely accidental and not something to chastise someone for. It's the attitude of, "Oops, I'm a dummy, I forgot to do XYZ, my bad… Happens to everyone! Oh well!" Very distinct/different uses in the Scriptures and in today's world. However, Nephi and Lehi this time remember. They actively recall and then quote the words of their father. When I read these words, my mind started thinking, "What did they do to remember?" Then the Spirit brought this answer to my mind: they wrote, and they read. How could they remember their father's words verbatim unless they wrote them down?! And how would they remember his words years later unless they opened up the writings/records and read them? It was really obvious, but profound – remembering in the Scriptures often means reading that which is recorded. So, whenever you see someone forgot God in the Scriptures, just think that he did not remind himself regularly by reading the records of the prophets! This puts new meaning to the words in the Sacrament prayer/baptismal covenants where it says, "we will always remember Him [Christ]." Hmmmm... So, my invitation to you is to associate "remember" with reviewing holy writ, and to recognize that your daily scripture study is a way to keep your baptismal covenant to always remember Christ. Also I would invite you to read over your old notes from general conferences and sacrament meetings, firesides, etc. And find/remember things God told you to do, then do them! You'll be surprised at how much you may or may not have forgotten. :) Can?

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