Let's Gooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Sylvester and Jennifer...two of the very best! 

Elder Stewart with Jimbun

Dear Mom and Dad:

In Malaysia, white people are a hot commodity haha. Everywhere we go, we get stared at. Our area is called Permai Jaya, which is in a set of flats and some terrace housing that's reasonably new. There are tons of less actives in our area - the branch's main attendance comes from the sisters missionaries' area. The people in our area have almost always seen us before, so we're not a huge surprise to them, but they still stare at us hahaha. Some of the people in our area are nice to us, but most know that we are from a Christian church and that we want to teach them or something, so they usually just wave us off. It's absolutely best when we talk to them - their faces are so priceless when they realize that we can speak Malay and even a little bit of Iban. The Iban people are just such a simple people, and at their churches, all the pastors have to say to turn them against us is "don't meet with the two white guys in white shirts and ties, they're from a sesat (lost, misled, false) church." And then people won't even give us the time of day! So new people or referrals are absolutely essential if we want to find people to teach.  Service is hard to come by in Malaysia--the people are generally so shy they don't let us do anything to help them!!! Foreigners are considered a higher social class than the elderly, so it's pretty sad that I can't just help people as they need it!!

Sylvester and Jennifer are one of the active couples in our branch - they are seriously the best. Their family is this: Sylvester 46, Jennifer 35, Evander (18), Patrick (17), Allister (16), Roger (11), Olivia (10), and Lukas (5). They're the BESTTTTTTTTTT, baptized 2 years ago. I love them so much and I feel closest to home when I'm in their home. Plus Sylvester's mustache is amazing. They always talk about how their lives have been changed forever because of the gospel. Sylvester apparently used to be a terrible drunkard, not nice to his kids, and their family was just not happy - now Sylvester is the most patient and loving man I know here!! They just give me the burning desire to find and teach and baptize a family so that their lives can be completely changed forever for good. Ahh!!

I don't have enough time to send more about the rest of the branch, but we usually hit 90 people at Church on Sundays. Our main investigator is Jimbun, the kindof scruffy looking guy in the pictures, but we have tons of good potential from Amazing August and things that could turn out. The blessings of the Lord are starting to flow - this week could be a HUGE week.

Elder Stewart and I are going to be carrying the zone in this transfer. The Miri Zone is in a bit of an interesting spot, with 4/10 missionaries having served for less than 4 or so months and another 3/10 going home by the end of the transfer. It's going to be a hard-working next 6 weeks. Let's gooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

More info next week!!! Love you two! You are the best!!!

Malaysia boleh!

Elder Clay Coleman

(From Clay's mom: I don't know where they are but it almost looks like an an American bakery called I'm Taken? Hahaha)

I love Sylvester's mustache!

Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel

Elder C's branch president Benedict Ingkon sent me these fun photos on Saturday night. So grateful for good men to mentor and watch over our missionary! Elder C is wearing a hand beaded tie a member in his branch makes. Awesome!

Visiting 16 Stevens Road in Singapore, where Clay lived as a child

A fruit fest! (Left to right) Rambutan, durian, cat's eye or longan, and mangosteen!  

Hello everybody!

This week was a good one. This entire transfer (past six weeks) was a good one. Unfortunately, they both seem to go way too quickly. Way too fast. This transfer I'm staying in Miri with Elder Stewart - and in this transfer I hit my year mark. THAT'S WEIRD. It really just seems like yesterday I was home. Weird, weird, weird. Ah, it's all good. The mission is the best. If you're not out yet, just get excited!

This last week, I went to Singapore for Mission Leadership Conference! MLC was a great experience. I really enjoyed learning together and seeing all the other Zone Leaders - including several from my MTC group, Elder Chang and Elder Allen. Elder Hays, my brother, (meaning he was trained by Elder C's trainer) was also there. The conference was way good, and the Spirit was definitely there. I love being in meetings when I get personal revelation from the Spirit that has nothing to do with the topic at hand - those thoughts with specific things I can do to improve really give me a testimony of the Spirit and personal revelation. I know the Lord knows us. That's a fact!

Another cool thing, I went back to my house where my family lived in Singapore! So many memories flooded my mind--it was nuts. I was really excited hahaha I probably was acting about as old as I was when I lived there!! (which was 5-8 years old)

Miri 2 Permai Jaya area is the area of the Zone Leaders here in Miri. Our area definitely has potential, but it's taking quite a bit of effort. Nothing like a bit of hard work to get things going. We are continuing to receive referrals and friends from the members in Miri. This week our zone followed up on 15 referrals from our branch members! Even our branch president is getting involved! He talked to a coworker and his BOSS about the gospel. Pretty cool. So we are starting to see things go. We met a member's brother last week, and we taught him again this week - he committed for church next week! We will work with him and strive to get him there. We definitely feel our area could be doing better, so Elder Stewart and I are dedicated to working until the Lord sees fit to bless us with success. 

Just put your shoulder to the wheel and push along every one! Here's a great lesson my mom shared with me a few weeks ago: "Work, chained to its outcome, is misery. The action, not the fruit, is your business." (Adam S. Miller, in "Letters to a Young Mormon") Whether that's missionary work, school, jobs, working with people - you do what and everything you can, and then everything else will work out.

Love you all!!

Malaysiah Boleh!

Elder Clay Coleman

(From Clay's mom: I have to share this special request Elder Coleman asked of me...if you knew how stinky and disgusting most non-Asians find durian fruit, you will know how HILARRRIOUSSS this request is!!!)

Mom! It's DURIANNNNNNNNN SEASON and that makes me really happy. All the members are inviting us over and giving us this amazing fruit!! It's seriously the best.

However, in the United States, there is a disappointing lack of this precious commodity (hahahah I don't know why I'm talking like a fool. :) But there isn't durian / it's extremely difficult to find at home. So I have this idea of bringing home durian seeds and planting them somewhere near our home. :) But I need someone to get in contact with the LAX import specialist and ask if a special permit is required, if it's feasible to get one, etc.

I will love you forever if you do this for me and it works out :)))) Then we have unlimited durian at home! 

Delicious durian!!

San Ching Tian Chinese Temple in Miri -- can you spot Elder C? 

AMAZING AUGUST in FULL SWING!

Every member got a handmade missionary tag as part of the launch of Amazing August

(note from Elder C's mom: I just love the enthusiasm and energy these elders put into this effort! Heartwarming!)

Hello everybody!

Amazing August is in full swing, and we feel the members are ready to go go GO! We're stoked on life.

As some of you know, our prophet President Monson focused a ton last year about how members and missionaries need to be working together in a way they haven't been in the past. hasteningthework.lds.org is evidence of this! Well, in the Singapore Mission, we know members are key. Without the members in missionary work, we're like Brazil without Neymar and we get smashed 1-7 every day!!! But with the members, we're Germany. hahaha So! We've been working hard to get members involved in helping us share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with their friends and share the blessings we enjoy so readily.

In Miri, we just did a similar thing to Miracle May, like what Sabah Zone did to enlist the members to help with missionary work - and essentially what Elder Yang and I did in Tawau a few months ago. This time we called it Amazing August - and we felt it really helped. In Malaysia, the church isn't that strong yet (we're working on it), so sometimes the missionaries are asked to teach the classes at church. Well, if we're gonna be teaching anyways, we might as well teach them about missionary work, right? So we grouped all the men and women and youth together and went over the Why of missionary work for the first 30 minutes, then perhaps the most important thing, the WHO of missionary work! We are the teachers as the full-time missionaries, and the members are the ones who can find for us the best people to teach. So we let them know not only are they needed on the team, they ARE the team! Without them, we can't be successful.

Then, we split up into smaller groups and talked about the How of Missionary work, about how the members can share the gospel in a casual way, testifying about experiences and blessings, not doctrine, etc! The members seemed pretty excited and ready to go get out there and do missionary work. Lastly, we defined success - opening our mouths to our friends and families, not having them eventually get baptized, though that of course is the eventual goal. (If any other missionaries reading this wanted to implement this in their own area, you could probably do an epic fireside and share it like that.)

The second the meeting was over, a member walked up to us, told us he wanted us to teach his brother, and then proceeded to bring us to his store right then after church! The brother is interested in learning, and we have another appointment with him tomorrow. We feel really good! Literally, immediate results.

It seems that the prophet is right on - right now IS the time to get missionaries and members to work together.

Elder Stewart and I are working well together and feel pretty good that our area can eventually grow and progress! We have now received a ton of referrals as a result of this Amazing August (especially from our awesome youth) and we have hoped and prayed and fasted that the referrals will be prepared!!! So we have faith that's going to happen.

The work goes forward and God is always with us! I know Christ lives, and He loves us and stands at the door knocking. His love is unfailing. He doesn't care about what we've done or where we've been, only that we are willing to walk with Him in the future.

Malaysia Boleh!!

Love you all!


Elder Clay Coleman

One more photo from Brendon's baptism last week. Love that kid!

Preparing for Amazing August!!

11 year-old Brendon was baptized! I got to confirm him a member of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and give him the gift of the Holy Ghost. Awesome!

The sweetest kid! Future missionary!

Brendon was baptized by his neighbor and good friend, Patrick

Hello all!

A good end to a good week!

Today we spent the day celebrating Hari Raya!! The end of the fasting month of Ramadan.... so we just ate and ate and ate and ate from 10 to 4:30 pm. 6 houses eating.... yummmmmmmmmmmmy that's basically celebration here. Just eating hahaha

Weekly highlight: Brendan anak Linang was baptized and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost - following Christ's instruction to be born of water and of the Spirit. He's the ripe old age of 11 years old. He really has a desire to do good and follow Christ, and I hope that someday he will serve a mission! He's a good friend of mine. I love the kid! We had been teaching him for the past couple weeks. 

This upcoming week, we will be presenting Amazing August - Miri's version of Miracle May. So get ready baby! It's Amazing August! We're stoked. Get readdddddddddy for the miracles to start coming again! It's also a great time to start learning about why everyone's joining this crazy church if you haven't yet, or to help the missionaries in your ward. It's Amazing August. Start praying for people you can help the missionaries teach!!

Elder Stewart and I are working hard and can't wait to see the Lord work with the members as they get motivated and pumped to share the gospel! This really works. I just heard from Elder Yang additional news about Tawau - in the past 3 months, they baptized 10 people and have even more on the way and more potential!! So this approach really works. The members are the key to missionary work!!! It's a fact!

I know this is the work of God on the earth and He heads this work!! I'm grateful to be a part of it, and I know as I work with the Lord, He can accomplish miracles through me and my imperfect efforts.

Love you all!

Elder Clay Coleman

The LDS chapel in Miri

The Rain Didn't Stand a Chance

P-day excursion --  HAHAHAHAHA

Miri Crocodile Farm--we fed the crocs by hand!

Hello!

Great week! 

Elder Stewart and I got out there and did tons of good work. It was a weird week, which included going to a shopping mall and advertising about Family History, but it was great!

Major highlight and unforgettable experience. So cool. God is real.

This week the Assistants to the President came on splits (to work with us) in Miri. In most missions, they just drive over, but in ours, they take not one, but two flights. #singaporemishbaby Anyways, we were at a member's house, asking them to follow us, and then the worst possible thing happened. It started raining. There's rain, and then there's Malaysian rain - it's a whole different beast. Rain takes out all the desire from Malaysians to do anything. Eg, if it rains on Sunday morning, no one comes to church. If you call them and ask why, they'll just say "Elder, it's raining." And this was some strong rain - even for Malaysia. 

So we were just talking on the way over to their house about all these stories when people asked God for a miracle, and God stopped or moved the rain/changed the weather. We decided to get the whole family to kneel down and pray together. The rain is pounding all the while. We prayed that God would move the rain so we could visit Sister P who has been less active and hadn't gone to church in 4 years or so. THE SECOND I STARTED SPEAKING THOSE WORDS in the prayer, the rain started decreasing - almost imperceptibly, but it started to change. It continued throughout the prayer - and by the time we said amen, it was almost done. 5 minutes later, it was a slight drizzle. The members were stunned. Their minds were blown. One of them was like "Elder, you stopped the rain! You did it!" And I replied, "No no no no no. It wasn't me doing anything - it was God! It was all God!" We left, had an amazing lesson with Sister P- and then she came for the first time in years to church this Sunday. Such a miracle. I was amazed, the members were amazed, and it was cool to see that I was needed to go do missionary work with members - so much so that the rain didn't stand a chance!!

Love you all!! I know that though all churches bring people to God, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only one that has the actual priesthood authority of God, and that's why Mormons believe so strongly in sharing our church and religion!

Malaysia boleh!

Love,

Elder Clay Coleman

A little treat from home! Chick Fil-A sauce!

Ummm...I guess this is their only way to transport things??? 

Gorgeous Miri sunset

My Whole Desire

With the Sylvester family 

LOVE this Malaysian food!

Hello hello!

This was a good week. Elder Stewart and I got out and worked hard. We spent as much time as we could out of the house talking to people. As a Zone Leader, if I'm asking the missionaries under my stewardship to work hard, I've got to be a good example for them. We felt like we did our best this week. We have a whole ton of potential in our area!! We work in Miri 2, in an area called Permy Jaya. Elder Stewart and I have been saying we're gonna work with the Lord until Permy Jaya is the new Sibu Jaya! Hahahaha So we're feeling motivated and dedicated to the work. We've got an investigator going to be baptized in two weeks. So excited!!

Elder Stewart and I are becoming good friends. We were meant to be companions!! He's got 3 sisters and no brothers - just like me! He works hard and is pretty funny. He is way dynamic and Iban people love him! He's kind of famous in our mission. We're hopeful that everything we do together will have a long lasting impact in Miri here. He's transitioning well into his role as Zone Leader and is a very hard worker. It's a great dynamic to be in a companionship where you treat each other as equals - it really allows you to both contribute a great deal to the work. 

This week I had an experience that reminded me of the importance of families. I was at Brother Sylvester's house - one of the best members here in Miri - and we were gathering to say a prayer before we started to eat, when I just looked around and saw the light of the gospel in all their faces. They just laughed and smiled and the love of the family was so visible. It felt like our family back at home. I began to tear up. While we were praying, I was pouring out my heart that I can find a family just like this and change their lives with the gospel. That's my whole desire - to allow families to have the love and good feelings that we have in our family and that exists in Brother Sylvester and Sister Jennifer's family. That's my whole desire! To bring them unto Christ so they can be happy!

Missionary work is just the best. It's so great. In Miri, we only teach the native people, called Ibans. They don't learn Malay as their first language, and so they don't always understand what we say to them. People often just stare at us and say "orang putih!" (White people). They're all 'Christian', but about 40% of people only go to church and don't understand what Christianity actually is...and the rest don't even go! So we teach people with limited Christian backgrounds, which makes for interesting lessons. In their churches, the pastors say "Run away from the two white kids in white shirts and ties." And sometimes they do! hahaha But even so, these people are so nice and generous. They are so willing to serve us or give us water or something, even though they often don't care a bit about what we have to say to them. hahaha I love my mission.

Usually, we try to have the members of the church in Miri bring their friends to us. They can testify that we aren't sketchy people, but that we're just good guys and that what we bring can change their lives!! So that works pretty effectively - but we work on teaching them how to tell their friends the gospel will bring them great joy and happiness. The Mormon people here, though they are just as poor and in the same situations as everyone else, are so happy and so content in their lives. They walk around with smiles, while a lot of people walk around looking less than happy. It's just a little difference, but something that strengthens my desire to share the gospel with these people.

The branch is working on getting home teaching going. I regret being a pain about it when I was a teenager - I am now trying to get these Iban people to do it!! hahahaha So interesting to literally be building the church on my mission. 

Malaysia Boleh!

Love you all!

Elder Coleman

SO great to see my "son" Elder Yang at Zone Conference a couple of weeks ago

The Work Goes On!

Goodbye to Elder Bodhaine

P-day adventures

It was a thrill for me to meet so many of Elder Coleman's fellow missionaries in the Singapore mission

Hey everyone! 

Well! Usually I send this message to my mom before I send it out to all of you, but it's weird because she was within 750 miles of Miri! Momma Coleman hit up Singapore on her way to Tokyo to meet jonnycc. So she was wayyyyyy close to me. And met all my missionary friends currently serving in Singapore! So weird to get some pictures of her with them. (Mom, feel free to include some.)

So this past week, Elder Bodhaine went home. He served a great mission and worked hard. It was interesting to watch as this hard-working elder finished his service for the Lord and returned home. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes! Definitely not ready to come home, let alone think about it. Good thing I have 14 months left. :)

So! My new companion is Elder Stewart and he came to Miri this past week. He has been serving for a year and a half already, and so we feel we're going to do a ton of great work together. We got out right away and have been trying to go as hard as we can. We're excited to see what is going to happen in Miri together!

A couple of awesome experiences this week. The first one came on Wednesday, after we dropped off Elder Bodhaine at the airport - I had no companion! So I went out to my area, and after visiting with some members, I had a 16 year-old member named Patrick follow me to an appointment along with his little brother and their friend, who is an investigator but wanted to follow to visit some less-actives! Hahaha We were a funny group going around.

Anyways, earlier that day, I felt like I should visit this man D and his family - some investigators - but then when I called, he said that he had no time to meet! But I still had this feeling I should go to his house. So I wasn't going to argue with a prompting like that! I just said okay! So I led Patrick and the other to D's home - and when we got there, Patrick and the kids started walking to another home. Suddenly, I remembered that Sister P, a less-active woman whose husband just recently died and whom I had never met, apparently lived right near there. I instantly recognized that she was the reason we went to D's home and so we went up there and knocked - she let us in and began to tell us about how hard her circumstances were. Her heart was opened and we were able to teach directly to her heart. It was a great lesson, and we feel that she really might come back to church. Even if she decides not to, I know that I did all I could and followed the Spirit to do the Lord's work. 

I know that the Lord is ever aware of us and will use those around us to meet our needs. He is ALWAYS aware and anxious to help us out!

Another funny experience. I tricked my new companion by having my branch president, or leader of my congregation, act like a brand new investigator. He was just priceless. President Augustine told my companion that he was looking for the truth, that he thinks it makes sense for God to send us more scripture. Elder Stewart was getting so excited! He was like "Man, these guys are gold!!" We also threw in little things that didn't make sense until afterwards. While pretending to get to know each other, President guessed my age and was like "You're 19." and I said "Wow, it's like you already knew!" Then I totally 'guessed' his age correctly at 39. So funny.

The work goes on! I know the Lord is with every missionary around the world and He sends His Spirit to guide and direct us. 

Malaysia Boleh!

Love you all!

Elder Coleman

Elder Coleman's new companion, Elder Stewart (photo from his mom's FB page)

Elder Johnson (in the center) was Elder Coleman's zone leader back in Tawau and one of Clay's favorites.
His grandmother and Elder Coleman's grandmother are friends from their teen years in Mississippi

This is me with Sister Bourgeois, who is a cousin of one of Elder Coleman's high school classmates. Sister B actually attended the Tesoro high school graduation when Clay graduated. Small world!! She has such a darling, funny personality as it shines through in her missionary blog. Loved her!