My Mission is An Amazing Place

(Love Sister Tina's t-shirt!!)

Hello all! 

This week was fantastic. Earlier, we headed out to Kota Kinabalu via kapal terbang - or airplane! Yep, in order to get to Zone Meeting (smaller than Zone Conference, only for missionaries in Sabah), we have to fly. So how was your mission again?? Hahah, just kidding, but seriously life is so great out here. The mission is just an amazing place.

We left Monday for Kota Kinabalu and then came back Tuesday night - so we had only 5 days of missionary work this week. But we did some quality work, which is awesome!

On Wednesday, we had a teenager named Jason who is preparing for his mission follow us to visit two less active members, which were great lessons. Getting members to go with us on visits is really important! And it does a lot more to encourage people and help them feel love than the missionaries can do on their own.

Thursday, we had a way cool experience. So. Elder LaFontaine and I promised we would try and schedule as many appointments as possible with less-active members, and in our free time, spend it doing contacting. So, we did! We went to a kampung (little village) and tried to find Christians. We spent about 45 minutes going around - then rain hit. Elder LaFontaine had the impression to stay where we were until the rain stopped rather than just toughing it out and going home. (We had already knocked on all the homes in the area that were Christian.) So, we waited. When the rain stopped, we started walking again, then met a teenager walking with a wheelbarrow. He was Christian, and said he would love to meet with us! Our contacting was worth it. So the next day, Friday, we set up an appointment, then headed over with Sister Tina (whom we were inspired to bring with us rather than a member who was a more logical choice). It turned out Sister Tina comes from a town in Indonesia right next to this new family's home! The lesson went great, and they want to meet this upcoming week as well! So. We decided to spend our time doing some contacting, then built a relationship with a member. We feel really good about the family, and that's mainly based on their relationship with Sister Tina.

On Saturday I met a less active who is fluent in Spanish and spent my time attempting to habla con ella! It was pretty bad, and I ended up using more Malay instead of Spanish, even though I was trying to use Spanish. Oh well, I guess I will learn una otra vez cuando yo vengo a casa en dos anos :)

Sunday was great, we had more people at church and had a great time reading the Book of Mormon with some members. It's funny - if people read the Book of Mormon with an open heart, they WILL get a testimony of it. It's guaranteed, and God promises it!! So, what Elder Wilson encouraged us to do, is read the Book of Mormon with those that have forgotten their testimonies a bit!! Then they will regain them with strength. It's true, and we are working on doing that with investigators!! :) 

Elder LaFontaine

Anyways, life is great here with Elder LaFontaine, who is way fun and funny. He wears a pair of transition glasses, which I kacau (tease) him about sometimes (hey, I wore them when I was a kid), but other than that he's a guy I'm going to be friends with for a long time.

For those of you who email me, thank you so much. I was terrible at writing before my mission, so I don't really deserve to get your emails. But I love talking to and hearing from you all!! Remember God loves you more than you can imagine!!

Malaysia Boleh,

Elder Clay Coleman

(P-day adventures this week included biawak hunting--the thing was about 40 lbs! The members will help them cook it and they will eat it for dinner!)

(Gotta have a little fun as a missionary! Haha Hipster indeed!)

(At Christmas I sent him a bunch of packets of his favorite sauce...he's loving them with the Malaysian fried chicken!)

That golden sauce

(It's a jungle out there!)

(Yikes! The ants are huge! And look at the mildew on the backpack...that's what 90% humidity does!)

Tawau is Para, Para, Paradise!

Hello all! 

I'm writing you from Tawau, Sabah. That's basically one of the farthest places away (in my mission boundaries) from Johor Bahru, where I was last serving! It's absolutely paradise.

Earlier this week I said goodbye to all of the many members in Johor Bahru, many of whom I have come to love! I visited them all and shared a short message with them before taking pictures and saying goodbyes. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have served there, but I am also grateful that I have now moved on to a new chapter in my mission. Tawau baby!!!

I flew from Singapore to Kuala Lampur to Tawau! I got up at 5:00 AM and didn't arrive in Tawau until 6:00 PM. I had to cross the border from JB to Singapore, which involved two taxi and two bus rides - all while bringing my bike in a bike box! It was a 12-hour travel day that involved lots of expensive taxis! Also, I had to lug around that bike and my VERY full suitcase for the first 4 hours, so that was crazy!! 

My new companion is Elder LaFontaine, a great guy from Michigan! He is 21 and has been serving for nearly a full year. He will hit his 1-Year mark while we are companions! Exciting! He is an engineering major and a lot of fun to be around. I am really grateful for him, and we hit it off. The only problem I can foresee in our companionship is that we both talk so much, and enjoy a good conversation, we might lose track of time occasionally! Haha only kidding! I have a really great feeling about this transfer.

Tawau is an amazing place. Because it is in Sabah, every one speaks pure, clean Malay. Listening to it is just amazing. SO clear! I didn't realize how mushed up Malay in Johor was until I came here. I'm still working on flushing out some bad slang from West Malaysia that entered my vocabulary.

Tawau is a city, but a tiny one at that! It is a city next to the water, and it is really quite beautiful. The church is RIGHT on the water front (see photos below). I feel like I'm in paradise!! The missionaries live in an apartment and just ride bikes everywhere, but it's only about 4-6 miles a day. I have begun to use the speedometer my dad sent me for Christmas, which has been way fun! I've gone about 20 miles since I've been here. (In his last area, he would bike 20 miles a day!) The branch is about 40-50 active members, with plenty of people who were once baptized but no longer attend. So we've got plenty of work to do there, but I also think this area is ripe for the expansion of new investigators! Our two main investigators are both moving, so we gotta find some new ones, haha.

You'll be seeing some crazy pictures over the next little while, so get excited you people back at home! I just realized that my mission is actually going to be wandering around jungles and visiting people in shacks - who have pet MONKEYS. I love it. I'm so blessed.

Talk to you all next week!

Malaysia Boleh!

Elder Clay Coleman

The church building in Tawau

The view from the church -- literally just across the street from the building

A huge monitor lizard...apparently the locals kill and eat them.

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.

FIrst Baptism

The best day! 1/4/14

 Well hello there and Happy New Year!

I realized that 2014 was the one year I am going to spend in its entirety on missionary work and I realized that was weird yet fantastically simple as well. Feeling great!

I hope everyone back home had an incredible New Year and has set some goals for this upcoming year! That's really important!

This week was a good week. Elder Cook and I did some solid work, and we feel that the work here has really taken a step forward because of it!

We found some new people to teach! Here is a quick bio for each of them: 

An Indonesian lady named A___, who is very Christian. We taught her twice last week, and when she gains a personal witness about the Book of Mormon, we think she will be rock solid, especially because she has a bunch of Mormon friends.

H___, a Tamil (Indian) kid who is relatively unsure about any religion - like most Hindu-born people, he thinks every religion goes to their own concept of Heaven after this life, so the only thing you can do wrong is switch! But, his heart was opened to Christianity because his ex-girlfriend was Christian, which is wonderful, and now we are teaching him. He is really cool!

Y___ who apparently is pretty golden! She had an amazing lesson Sunday night with Elder Cook and our district leader, Elder Allen. We feel really great about her!

Also, perhaps the most exciting thing of this week was that Erika was baptized! She was my first investigator to take that huge step, and I felt so full and happy as a result. I really feel so blessed to have helped her change her life and enter the Church. Seriously, what more could you want from life?! I had the opportunity to baptize her, and the Spirit that flooded the room was amazing when she was immersed and brought back out of the water. Life is just so great!!

For any of you who feel like you might be getting worn down, just keep your thoughts in prayer and always push forward! Here's a silly cliche that has really been holding me up lately: 

"When life gets too hard to stand, kneel."

I love it. I testify that if you turn to prayer, you will be lifted up. We've got to get broken down before we can get lifted up, right? So just push on and move forward with faith.

Love you all! This Church is really Jesus Christ's church on the earth, and I wish I could help everyone I know come to realize that.

Have a great week!

Malaysiah Boleh!

Elder Coleman

Happy New Year

With his Christmas gifts--small things that made him happy, like the Chick Fil-A sauce :)

We LOVED getting to "see" our elder on Christmas day!! 

Hello all!!

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! And that it was more Christmas-y than mine! Don't think I'm complaining, I think Christmas traditions over here are hilarious, but it's definitely weird not being home!

I got to Skype home for the first time on Christmas, which was so great! Anyone who knows our family knows we are a talkative, lively bunch, so the hour I had to chat with them vanished like smoke! It was amazing nonetheless. Really makes you appreciate your family even more when you're not with them for Christmas!!

This week was interesting, as my companion Elder Cook got really sick and was essentially bedridden the whole week! The poor guy. I kasihan him a lot (pity in Malay, but that's how the Elders here talk hahaha). Luckily, we did exchanges with other missionaries a couple of times so I was still able to get out to my area!

We started an English Class out here! That's been fun and we hope that our members can start bringing their friends in weeks to come! hahahah So funny though. Malaysians cannot, not even to save their lives, correctly pronounce the "th" sound. There's no similar sound in Malay or Iban and it's so funny to watch them try to say it.

So. Christmas in Malaysia. People just jalan-jalan, or walk/stroll/travel around, going from house to house, eating random people's food! Even M u s l i m people get into it and jalan! hahahah it is so funny! So, after a delicious meal at the Senior Couple's home of ham and rolls and green beans (SO GOOD), we went to 4 houses and ate a full plate or two at each of them! I ate a chicken foot, more rice and noodles (mi [pronounced 'me'] in Malay) than I want to remember, and some REALLY REALLY REALLY gross meat that was claimed to be babi hutan - or wild boar. Literally, it had the taste of... well, poop! It was SO GROSS. Whatever! You only serve once lah!

Anyways, I've just been so blessed that I haven't gotten sick. I'm really grateful for that. Oh, and I gave another talk in sacrament meeting! In Malay! Such good times.

Love you all! Please keep giving service to be like Christ! :) I'm trying to, so give it a shot! Happy New Year!

Malaysia Boleh,

Elder Coleman

His much-loved advent calendar...every day he got to open a note from a family member or friend.
He says it was a treasure!

Before he opened his gifts! I don't know what time it was but knowing him, it was EARLY! :)

With Santa! aka President Schollenberger at the branch Christmas party

The Kota Masai Branch

Christmas in Malaysia

Fun at the Masai Branch Christmas beach party! (Photos courtesy of President Schollenberger)

Well, Merry Christmas from Malaysia!

I'm doing just swell out here! Life on the other side of the world just couldn't get better. I realized yesterday that this is going to be the most un-Christmas Christmas ever, but whatever. It's hot here, and no one decorates with Christmas lights, or anything like that, so it's not much of a Christmas! I still have a giant Christmas box to open from home though, and talking to my family (!!!!) is going to be awesome, so that will make things seem a little bit more like Christmas. It's tough because in JB, my city, the vast majority of people are I s l a m, and that just makes it hard to see anything Christmas-y out here. But, occasionally the grocery store near our house plays Taylor Swift Christmas music! Totally can hahaha so life is still great!

Erika is on track to be baptized on January 4. I'm really excited for her, and it will be my first investigator to be baptized! It is such a huge blessing to have seen her progress. When we first started with her, she had a hard time praying, and didn't really feel comfortable doing that, but in our lesson yesterday, she volunteered to do the opening prayer! She's really doing remarkably well and we feel very good about her.

Everything out here is going great. I really have gotten pretty close with Elder Jackson, who lives in the same house as me. He is a brilliant guy and really helps me out whenever I need it!

This week we had Christmas Conference and got to watch the Christmas Devotional in Singapore! Because I am in one of the Singapore Zones, even though I'm in Malaysia, I only saw those serving in Singapore. I'm like the only missionary from my group of MTC missionaries in the Singapore Mission in West Malaysia or Singapore! Yikes! I miss them all haha but I feel like I'll be seeing them soon.

Keep up life back at home everyone and try to be like Christ for me! :) do a good turn daily and think of Jesus! :) Love you all!

Malaysia Boleh!

Elder Coleman

Ps hahaha the Malay word for the week: responsibility . It's epic: tanggungjawap. To make some one responsible, or give them responsibility, is mempertanggungjawapkan. SO GREAT.

Lunch at the beach party -- chicken heads and feet! 

(Here's a link to a blog post by Elder C's district president with all the details of the Christmas beach party, including the technique the Malaysians use to eat chicken feet!)

In the middle of a speed eating game! That's why everyone is watching him!

The Gift of Tongues is a Thing!

Elder Coleman and his companion with their investigator Erika and some of her family
(she's on the left with her hands on the little boy)

 Hello everyone!

Okay, I know, I missed last week's update and I'm sorry!! I had to run quickly and didn't have time to get a long email in. This week I hope makes up for it!!

My new companion, Elder Cook, is from Kaysville, Utah, and was serving in Bintulu before he came over to Johor Bahru with me. He has definitely got a good work ethic, and I think that's awesome! I'm thinking we are going to do some great work together. 

This week has been great showing the new Elder around and introducing him to the members. I have been praying ever since I began my mission to obtain the Gift of Tongues, essentially the ability to speak other languages through a gift of the Spirit. I have had some awesome progression in the Malay language since I began, but in the last week, the language seems to have clicked. When Elder Adams left, a missionary with some of the best bahasa in the entire mission, I really needed to improve if I wanted to understand things said to me. I prayed harder and got some major help. It's been so cool. I seem to be able to understand most things spoken to me now. I'm going to try and keep up everything that I've been doing to make sure I still can improve and receive help from the Lord!

We had some awesome lessons this week with Erika. She is so enthusiastic about the gospel and is really accepting everything we've taught her. In fact, we moved up her baptismal date two weeks to January 4th! It's been so cool seeing her progress and also feeling the Spirit so strongly in our lessons. In one of our recent lessons, I nearly started crying because the Spirit was so strong! Man! So great.

My companion and I are really working on finding others to teach right now, and one of the major other things we do is help people who have stopped coming to church every week refind their commitment and come back into the fold. That is what Christ did, right? :)

   

Okay, something that I love about Malay, one of the greatest things about the language in my opinion. You can get really creative with what you say with it. In Malay, there is a suffix (which sometimes comes with a prefix but don't worry about it) that makes me laugh like every day. The suffix is "-kan". Check this out. It essentially means to "___-ify" something. 

Example: Jatuh means to fall, but the word "jatuhkan" means to knock something over! Or to fall-ify something. or.... Kalah means to lose, but kalahkan means to defeat, or to lose-ify someone! hahahahh Is that not epic?!?!? I mean that's just genius! If it doesn't make sense, I'll have plenty of time to attempt to explain it when I get back in a couple of years :)

Alright, I love you all! You're all in my thoughts and prayers!

Malaysia Boleh!

Elder Coleman

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