BEST WEEK OF MY MISSION

THIS WAS THE BEST WEEK OF MY MISSION SO FAR.  Last week, a whole new family was found and came to church. This week, we taught them twice and they came again. They're going to be baptized. This week, we found 3 more families through referrals. We are being blessed out of our minds!!! Soooo stoked!

Also our investigator J was baptized! Life is good! AHHHHHHHH!

Malaysia Boleh!!

Love,

Elder Clay Coleman

LASER TAG--preparation day fun with the Miri Zone (guess who won hahaha)

Mission Learnings and Perspective

Elder C loves serving in Miri!

Sister Hawea finished her mission recently and went back home to New Zealand.
Elder C describes her as a really, really great missionary and will miss working with her.

A mission is all about the people!!

(A friend of Elder C's who is preparing to leave on a mission asked if he would answer a few questions for her. This may be my favorite mission email yet :)

Why did you choose to go on a mission?

A mission has always been part of my plan - but the key thing that motivated and still motivates me is that I have been given so very, very much. I know God has been so merciful to me, blessing me with a loving family and the Gospel, and has given me so many opportunities to learn and grow. I think this desire to offer myself to bless others for just two years is why I chose to go and stay on a mission. 

How has your mission changed you?

The biggest thing I have learned on my mission is what real humility is. Usually we think of humility as the opposite of thinking we're better than other people - but I have also learned that a major bit of humility is giving the glory to the Lord. He's the one who touches people's hearts through our words and efforts, and He's the one who lifts our weakness and turns it into strength. Being humble and realizing you never ought to compare yourself to others, but you need to give the credit to the Lord and be willing to accept what He sees fit to give and inflict upon you. That's been a huge change for me.

What is serving a mission all about?

It's all about the people! The people the people the people and love for them. The second you worry about yourself and what people think of you, or desire to achieve mission leadership, or you try to get baptisms to lift yourself up or to make yourself important, that's the second the Lord withdraws His power and help. Instead, focus on loving these people and bringing them to Christ through the Gospel. The Gospel will bring any person greater peace and happiness - that's a guarantee! So that's what it's all about. Loving the people and praying mightily and fervently for the charity needed to love the people better and also the power to bring this amazing message to their hearts!!

How does Christ play a role in your life as a missionary?

Without Him, it's all useless! He's the one who makes everything possible. I learned last week just how crucial it was to have His grace to work with and work through us! That was something that I didn't fully understand - but we really can't do it without His help! It's funny - we try to do this work to demonstrate our love for Christ / to pay Him back in some way, but without His blessings, we can't do it - so basically we're just useless hahaha.

If you could tell all the people preparing for missions one thing what would it be?

Get in the habit of daily personal scripture study!! Every day. That's the biggest thing that most missionaries have to learn!! Just get in the habit and then there's no difference. Also, don't go too hard in the MTC. It's a ridiculous place and doesn't have that much of a connection with the field. Don't go too hard in there.

What would you tell someone who doesn't want to serve a mission?

You'll never regret serving. All the things you learn out here are amazing. Daily personal study, depending on the Lord, learning to pray, learning to be patient, the benefits of actually having a legitimate sleep schedule, working in behalf of someone else - not to mention becoming buds with some of the sickest people in the most random places and seeing the world / different parts of the country - it's awesome. You'll never hurt as much as you do while working as a missionary, but you'll never have as much joy either in the service of the Lord.

What's your favorite part about being a missionary?

Missionary work is the best because of all the people you get to meet and all the lives you can hopefully touch. You're probably not going to be a game-changing missionary for your whole mission, but you can be a great missionary for those people you teach! You can make a contribution, and little by little, you can help the church progress. You can be satisfied with the work you do as you love and give it your all. There's nothing like going home after a long, exhausting day and feeling dead but knowing that you did all you could. This work is the best. You also do ridiculous things that you're not expected to do at any other time in your life - eg riding your bike through torrential downpours! hahaha

What's the hardest part of being a missionary?

Dealing with a lack of success. That's something that can cut to the core. That's something that really has been difficult for me to deal with - what if i'm not helping enough people, time's always pressing on, I'll have wasted my mission, etc. But the thing that helped me work through that is making sure that I'm keeping the right standards of success for my calling as a missionary. Understanding the limits of my job description, in a way. I'm not out here to baptize - that's basing my success off of someone else's agency/ ability to choose. I'm out here to do EVERYTHING I POSSIBLY CAN to help people be baptized - which includes getting the Spirit, working with members, etc and then I can know I did what the Lord asked and have faith He will grant unto me the success that He wants me to have. Then, according to your faith, He will do just that!

What have you learned on your mission that will affect your life?

Personal scripture study and to focus on the needs of other people. I've talked already about the first one, but really putting others first and not thinking about myself all the time is a huge thing for me. By thinking of others before myself, I'm more motivated to work and be diligent and be selfless and Christlike. When it's all me me me, there's none of that. I know that will help me be a better son, brother, friend, and (one day) husband.

What did you learn while in the MTC?

Malay! And beyond that not as much as I wish - mostly about Preach My Gospel ch. 1 My Purpose. If I could go back, I would change how intense I went there. The white handbook is great, a book of blessings - but you can't force anyone around you to follow it!! Just make your personal decision to be obedient, and then stay true to it, and love those around you whether or not they follow the rules.

Do you feel your call was inspired?

100%. I know that the Lord's hand is in my call and is still involved in each of the companions I work with. The Lord is involved in the details, and if we pray for that to be shown to us, we can see it as well.

Getting soaked to the skin while riding bikes-- all in a day's missionary work!

Preparation day fun

Elder C loved working with these amazing sisters in his zone. What a jump shot!

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