Keeping our Vision Up

This was some of the fruit of the 3 transfers I spent in Miri. With more on the way. So blessed.

This week Elder Coleman didn't have a lot of time to write an update, but he did share this email he sent to his Mission President. The missionaries write their mission presidents every week, and Clay has a tradition of sharing a joke in those emails. Says he wants to lift President Mains' spirits. If Clay doesn't include a joke, President Mains will ask him for one :) Elder Coleman found out today that he will be getting a new companion, Elder Thomas Parker.

Hello President.

Excited for Elder Parker to come here. Hopefully we can take this area to the next level. The Sabah Zone is relatively intact after transfers. We are excited. 

This week was okay. The Assistants came and went on splits with us this week - and Elder Lundquist and I did some good finding. I was pleased because we really needed that in our area. This area is pretty difficult, but we're trying to work hard and keep our vision up. We hope that as we work hard and diligently, Heavenly Father will help us out. We really need those blessings.

Elder Ormsby got pretty sick this week, and couldn't go out to work. I went out with Elder Jensen and Elder Allen this week. Elder Allen is a fantastic missionary--his teaching skills are incredible. I learn from him every time I go out with him. Elder Jensen is also great; it's fun to be working with someone from my MTC group. My companion is feeling better today.

A cool experience this week: While Elder Lundquist and I were going around, we met a really nice 

M u s l i m man. Pretty nice guy. We talked to him for about ten minutes, and right before we were going to say goodbye, Elder Lundquist asked him if he knew any Christian people - the man replied he knew thousands and proceeded to give me three phone numbers. I called them this week, and after I reported back to him, he sent me three more numbers. He told us to call them and tell them he sent me. Pretty cool and that wouldn't have happened without Elder Lundquist. So he's doing a good job!

Joke of the Week: What did one hat say to another? I'll stay here, you go on ahead!

This week: Why did Beethoven sell his chickens? Next Monday!

Elder Clay Coleman

Hard But #WorthIt

Hello everyone!! 

It was a good week out here. Missionary work is hard but way worth it. There's nothing like doing something you know that you can't do alone!! You can be a tool in the hands of the Lord, and you can facilitate huge things to happen, but without Him and His help, you can do nothing. It's nice to know the Lord can accept your imperfect efforts and still bless the lives of people trying to find truth through you.

It's definitely rainy season out here!! We are working in and often through rain. It's just part of the gig though. We get wet like every day. Thank goodness for showers at the end of the day.

This week, we had a bunch of blessings. We found a family through a former investigator, and we had an appointment to teach them last week which we felt wayy good about, but then it fell through. So this time we felt a little hesitant - but we got the appointment this week. We met them, and after teaching about the Book of Mormon, and how we believe that prophets of God lived in America. They explained that they understood the story but "sama ada itu benar ke tidak" (whether it's true or not) is the question. I love it when people say that. It makes me know they really think about and are considering the ramifications of what we are teaching. We then show them this verse from the Book of Mormon: 

Moroni 10:3-5 

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. 

We teach them that if they want to know it's true, they must read the Book of Mormon and pray. I bore my testimony that the Book of Mormon brings me to closer to Jesus Christ and that it will do the same for them, and that I read and prayed and know it's true. So did Elder Ormsby and Alana, the member that followed us. They committed to read. So exciting!!!

So yeah. That was good. We feel that as we are more and more diligent, and working to concentrate our efforts in ways that will produce the most fruit. Pretty important. 

Another good thing that happened this week is that Sister Win, a member here in Kota Kinabalu, who is stoked to do missionary work, invited a good friend of hers from school to go to church with her. He accepted and I met him there. I sat next to him at church and helped him understand about the sacrament and stuff. He could be a new investigator this week! I'm calling him tomorrow to see how.

And, last of all, we taught a lesson to a long time member's husband, who is Chinese and never wanted to join, and he was saying to us that if he can understand what we teach, he will be baptized tomorrow. He's a boss and a way awesome guy. He has helped the church tons over the years, but has never joined!! So we are excited for him.

Love you all!! I know Jesus is the Christ and that He just wants us to come unto Him and be blessed by following what He has asked us to do! I rejoice that I am able to try to bring people unto Him by inviting them to change their lives. There's nothing better. I love you all!!

Malaysia Boleh!

Elder Clay Coleman

Working and Waiting

Clay's mom: So happy to find this photo on Elder Lloyd's blog--what an innovative way to improvise a net!

The missionary work in Kota Kinabalu is really hard... Our area isn't ideal and most people (if they want to meet) will only meet once or twice because they're all so busy! So it's been a difficult week, but we're still working hard. I think that good stuff is on the way! There really isn't that much to report from this week. Just went out and worked.... Hahahaha sorry this week was just biasa! Lots of appointments fell through. Good week at church though! 81 people came! But yeah. Just waiting for the blessings to come!! Working hard, that's it. Hahaha boring sangat hahaha My mind immediately tries to describe everything in Malay now--that's an interesting development? 

Malaysia Boleh!

Love you all!

Elder Clay Coleman

The Malaysian People are the BEST!

A photo from a couple of weeks ago

Another good week! Again, the weeks fly by here so fast. 

This week I hit the point of no return - the one year left mark. Next year, October 6, I will be home.... So every day for the rest of my mission is the last of that date on my mission!!! Bleh. Not such an exciting prospect. Whatever. Just gotta work harder because now everything is the last time!! 

This week was good! Again, we're in the building phase of the area, so nothing revolutionary, but we feel good things are coming. A cool experience this week though - my companion and I went into the Samsonite suitcase shop on P-day to check out a new suitcase for me (mine is broken), and then the guys in the shop started talking to us. After explaining we were Christians, and missionaries, we gave them a little run down of the restoration of the gospel - and both of the guys were super excited to learn! We met one of them the following day, and when I finish writing this email, we are going to go meet him again today!! Hernandes is his name (don't ask). We feel great about his potential.

This week, Elder Ormsby and I gave a training at Zone meeting to the entire Sabah zone (16 missionaries). It was a great meeting and we felt the training we delivered was definitely what the Lord wanted us to convey to the Zone. The missionaries all received it well too - further evidence the Lord gave us His stamp of approval. We also filled in for the APs for New Missionary Training in Kota Kinabalu this week, which was fun, and then had interviews on Friday. The week concluded with General Conference!! It was amazing!

I'm really grateful to be in Malaysia. The people here are just the best. I consider them to be some of my best friends. I really wish I could stay here for longer than just two years. And I'm so grateful to be laboring among them to help them obtain eternal life. Nothing better than this.

Malaysia Boleh!

Love you all!!

Elder Clay Coleman

Looks like they have a bit of fun on their visa trips to Singapore :)

Active Patience

Trimming weeds!

Hello Everyone!! 

This is Elder Coleman from Kota Kinabalu. :) Sorry I didn't get a great email out last week.

Sabah is one of the most beautiful places on this earth. I'm literally in paradise. I'm so blessed to be here. It's a great place and a great time of my mission.

Elder Ormsby and I are working hard here, and though we've got a long way to go, we feel confident we can work with the Lord to find those people that will help build up the kingdom! We're out here working every day and waiting for those blessings to come upon us.

This week wasn't particularly the BEST week in terms of visible success, but we feel things are shifting to help us out! Slowly but surely we're feeling things change. 

The biggest positive of this week was that Win, who just got baptized 3 months ago here, introduced us to her younger brother. We had a fantastic lesson with D___, and he's got some GREAT potential. He told us that he didn't understand who Jesus Christ was - a prophet, or the Son of God? We taught and testified that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, distinct from God the Father. He told us "everything was now clear" but he had been confused about that his WHOLE LIFE. It was pretty cool. After that, his heart was open to learn and absorb what we taught, and he was so excited to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Pretty awesome.

Good things are happening!! Slowly but surely. One of the days this week, I had the impression to open up the binder of talks my parents have been sending me throughout my mission. I stopped at a talk by Neal A. Maxwell about Patience. It really applied well to my situation here in KK - we need to work hard here with patience. I often think that patience is associated with a passive feeling!! Same with the word "endure," as in "enduring to the end." I learned that it takes a much more than just passive patience. We need to work diligently, proactively, then keep our faith patiently! We work hard - and though results are not immediately noticed, we need to keep working hard and stay faithful. They will come according to our patience and faith! So that's what we need to do here in KK. Work hard, and even though things don't immediately work out, keep going in patience. 

I love you all! God can do His work, and He will do it through us! As long as we work hard and stay strong, we will become instruments in His hands to accomplish great things.

Malaysia Boleh!

Love,

Elder Coleman

Last week Elder Stewart baptized Fillomena (one of the many investigators we had been teaching together in Miri
--she was a referral from Florena, her friend pictured here) MEMBERS MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE TO MISSIONARY WORK

Transition week...from Miri to Kota Kinabalu

Hated to leave this kid and his family. Love the Sylvesters!

Goodbye texts from members 

Such a privilege to serve these people

Gotta love the Malaysian youth!

I really grew to love these people

Hard to leave these awesome families

Families are what make this work worth it

My new companion in Kota Kinabalu, Elder Ormsby

Hey!

So this week...It was pretty sad to leave Miri. I loved so many people there. Several people cried as I left...it's amazing to know how much they love us as missionaries - and the best bit is that we really really really love them, too!!

In Miri, the work was going amazing...this week Elder Stewart (my last comp) just baptized 8 people he and I taught together. They got baptized on Saturday after I left on Wednesday and then confirmed yesterday. So cool to hear about it. They all called me and just talked about how much they missed me. Eight others are going to be baptized soon. I'll send some photos next week. So great.

Compare that with... Kota Kinabalu or KK for short. It's one of the greatest places in the whole mission. Everyone wants to go to KK. It's the promised land. I'm so grateful to be back in Sabah (the place with the best Malay) and to be working here. The only issue - when I arrived they had no investigators in the area. Literally none. So my new companion and I are trying to work more with the members and get things here going. The Lord is really with us!!! We already found 1 new investigator in the 4 days since I've been here. Literally, the Lord just placed her in our path.

So overall I'm really excited to serve here in Kota Kinabalu. I know it's going to be amazing. I really have great feelings about the direction and feel of the work here. My new companion, Elder Ormsby, is from Provo, Utah and is half Kiwi (New Zealander). He played rugby at BYU and is a big guy! He's also good friends with Elder Stewart. Elder Ormsby and I have already hit it off and feel great - and I really think that, though we are working with just one investigator right now, there are great things coming to Kota Kinabalu 2nd Branch. I hope I can stay here for a while and see the work get turned up.

I'm also so excited to be here in Sabah because I will be able to go visit Tawau! There's really nothing that compares to going back to see all those members who mean so much to me.

The mission is having some visa problems for missionaries coming in and out of Malaysia, so we're getting Skyped in to Mission Leadership Conference.... lololol no going to Singapore for us!! My visa is fine but the rest of the Zone has been given 30 days to get out of Malaysia, maybe for good...who knows....no one knows yet... Elder Harr was supposed to replace me in Miri, but he got held overnight at Immigration and now he's staying in Singapore. So Elder Plazier replaced me in Miri. Crazy stuff. Keep the missionaries in your prayers!

Malaysia Boleh!

Love,

Elder Clay Coleman

Funny picture that sums me up because ​I'm energetic and moving all the time!​ Hahahaha

Transfers, Baby!

Zone Conference in Singapore = MTC district reunion one year later! (just missing Elder Chang who is in a different zone)

The work goes forward!

Going to miss the Sylvesters so much

Email exchange with Elder Coleman this week:

Elder C: Transfers, baby! SO STOKED!

Me: When do you think you will hear? And just know that I love so many missionaries there that I'd love to hear where your friends are going as well!

Elder C: Already know where I'm going :) 

Me: Where??? 

Elder C: Sorry, my internet just crashed! Perfect timing hahaha

Me: Why are you keeping us in suspense?

Elder C: KOTA KINABALU ZONE LEADER WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MOM KK is the BEST!! It's hard missionary work and my area is going to be way hard, but I can do all hard things because I'm just the tool in the hands of the LORD!!! 

Me: Wait! Was that your former zone when you lived in Tawau?

Elder C: YESSS I GET TO GO VISIT TAWAU. And now I'll be in KK--the "promised land" of Bahasa skills!! And just in general! It's amazing!!

Me: What's happening in Miri?

Elder C: Elder Harr is replacing me AGAIN!! (He replaced Elder C. in Tawau, as well.)  He's becoming Miri ZL with Elder Stewart! He's going to baptize the 14 people we have on date here!!!! hahahah But I don't mind!! I know the Lord does what He sees fit! Just glad I could be a part of it! 7 people getting baptized this week!!! 

Me: Who is your new companion?

Elder C: Elder Ormsby. He's been serving as a Zone Leader in Kota Kinabalu since the last transfer, so I will join him. I've never interacted with him during my whole mission. I'm just going to go in and be as humble as possible and try to learn as much as I can from him. SO STOKED!!

So great to see friends at Zone Conference!

Zone Conference September 2014

While in Singapore I got my hands on one of these...the new iPhone 6

Journal entry from my year mark (11 September 2014)

Wow. Great personal study today. There's too much to LEARN, and I'm just scratching the surface of it all on my mission.

Today, I started my study with a single sentence, a quotation from scripture, found in Mosiah 5:2: "No more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually." I had been pondering how I could root any and every desire or tendency to sin - in other words, how to repent completely! Preach My Gospel defines repentance as changing our thoughts, desires, beliefs, habits and behaviors, and bringing them in line with God's will. To lose my desire to sin! To put off and overcome the natural man! And so I thought of the above line from Mosiah. For the past hour, I studied this topic, and I have learned a TON. Here are some of the things I discovered/connected, or that the Spirit taught me.

Mosiah 5:2 also states "the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent... has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts." That mighty change of heart is what makes us lose our carnal natures and to put on Christ-like attributes. That same phrase is used by Alma the Younger, who truly did experience a mighty change, forsaking his old church-destroying self as one of the "vilest of sinners" and becoming a powerful prophet, a mighty tool in the hands of the Lord. He asks, "And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have you been spiritually born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye ex[erienced this mighty change in your hearts?" (Alma 5:14). It seems that the "mighty change of heart" is a synonym of being "born of God". We must undergo a change that is so dramatic, to compare our old natural self to our new spiritual being would show a stark contrast - as if we have been born anew.

Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, discusses baptism as a symbol of being born again, being born of God. In the 6th chapter of Romans, he explains "we are buried with Him [Christ] by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). Baptism buries our old, sinful self, and we come up a new man (or woman), this being born of Christ.

But now, after being born again, how do we "walk in newness of life"? How do we ensure the mighty change of heart takes place and forever alters our behaviors? After all, Paul writes, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin [or at least should be], live any longer therein?" (Romans 6:1-2). What is necessary to touch our souls enough to forever change us?

Again, Alma the Younger offers us the answer. Immediately after repenting in his death-like sleep/vision thing, he bids those around him "to be of good comfort: for, said he, I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; [Sounds to me like he has forsaken his old self] behold, I am born of the Spirit (!!!)" (Mosiah 27:25). That state of righteousness must be the same circumstances when we have "no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually" (Mosiah 5:2 again)!

How is it done? By being "born of the Spirit". Again, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ is HUGE! Here I learned another of His many roles: to work in the hearts of men until they put off the natural man and the desures thereof! The Holy Spirit will bring us access to the changing power and grace of the Atonement of Christ. Look for further evidence of this in the following verses: (Focus on "Spirit", "spiritual", etc)

- Mosiah 3:19    - Mosiah 5:2,7    - Mosiah 27:24-26    - Romans 8:1-9    - Alma 22:15    

- Alma 36:23-24    - Moses 6:65    - Moroni 8:26    - 1 Peter 1:22-23.

Truly, it is the Spirit that will work in us to bring this mighty change of heart. Indeed, we cannot be born of God or expereince the mighty change of heart unless we are filled with the Holy Ghost! Christ sends Him to change and mold us anew. But how can we allow / cause the Spirit to do so? Look for the common thread in these verses.

- Mosiah 4:1-3    - Alma 22:15-16    - Moroni 8:26

We must maintain "diligence unto prayer" (Moroni 8:26) which will allow the Holy Spirit of Christ to work within us and change our very natures. Through prayer, we have access to the grace of Jesus Christ, which will change our hearts and dispositions. Through prayer, Christ can send His Spirit to "make weak things become strong unto [us]" (Ether 12:27). BEAST.

"Don't you know leopards can't change their spots?" - "I don't work with leopards, I work with MEN, and men change every day."

Elder Clay Coleman