Rough Week!!

Hey Mom! 

I am glad Jonny and Cassidy hung out. Me and Avery think they need to be best friends! And Facebook has been pretty cool. It's nice to teach Elder Ames friend but as far as me posting things it hasn't led to any success. No one has asked any questions. And it sometimes works to keep in contact but a lot of people don't respond. But that's the life of a missionary! I am now the designated driver so I get to drive everywhere so that's fun! The car we have is so much easier to park than the van. Haha!

You're right that it was a kinda rough past couple days. Wednesday was still good we went out to dinner with a former investigator that isn't interested in the church but is still really good friends with elder Ames. He took us out for Elder Ames birthday! He is gonna get baptized one day I know it. He's a great guy and it was really fun! Later that night one of our appointments cancelled but we got to teach Bryson so that was good! 

Thursday we taught Sister Achor again! She is really cool and I'm glad we can help her out. And then we did service at the soup kitchen again which is always fun. The lady that runs it always tells all the people eating there who is helping and she was like "and of course we have the Mormon boys here too!" I thought that was pretty funny. Then that night we had dinner with the Peterson's and then we drove to east liberty to meet the parents of a 10 year old that has been coming to church! They aren't interested in coming to church but they are okay if he wants to be baptized! We aren't gonna rush into anything though because we need to make sure that he actually has a real support system and he isn't just gonna fall away right after being baptized. It is sad but missionaries tend to just rush into that. 

Friday was rough. We found bed bugs so we had to deep clean and fog out our apartment and that took pretty much all day. It was terrible and I have bites all over me. And then our appointment cancelled that night. It was a really rough day. 

Saturday we walked in 90 degree heat for like 8 miles. We are running out of miles in the car so we decided to walk to go see our investigators. It would've been better to bike but my companion hates biking. But walking is good because we are able to talk to more people! I have gotten better at talking to people but I still have a long ways to go. So needless to say we were exhausted at the end of the day and dehydrated. But I appreciated your package! I have gotten over my cold for the most part but it was still good! And thank you for the soup and Mac and cheese! 

Sunday was good! We went back to the church after church to teach a lesson to Bryson and when we got there a couple walked out of the branch presidents office and President Miller said they were interested in the church! So we got to talk to them and we set up an appointment for this Tuesday! So that was good! 

Anyway that was the past couple of days! It was a little rough but I got through it! Thank you for the emails! I love you!

Your son,

Elder Collier 

One Transfer Down!

Hey mom! 

I might need some winter boots soon. Everyone around here has been saying they are due for a really bad winter so that'll be fun! And I would love to get some music for me to sing! 

So it's been awhile since I last emailed and a lot has happened! 

So last Tuesday Jonny came home! That was a rough day to be honest. I really miss him but I'm glad you all get to spend some time together. That day we went to see Christian and we gave him the addiction recovery packet and he was really grateful. He is such a good guy he's just had a really rough life. We invited him to some branch activities coming up and he was excited about that! Hopefully he will get to know some people. He already met brother Franjesevic and that's good. That night we ate dinner at the Peterson's. They are such a cool family. Brother Peterson actually served his mission in Nampa Idaho so I thought that was really cool since half of my MTC district is there now! 

Last Wednesday we had district meeting in Piqua. That was good. It's fun that I get to see Elder Henrie almost once a week. We had lunch with Elder Belnap and Elder Henrie after the meeting. On our way back to Bellefontaine we saw a guy driving his lawnmower in the street pulling another lawnmower behind him... that's Ohio for ya! There is a guy in Bellefontaine that drives his lawnmower everywhere around town. I guess that's one way to get around! Later that day we taught tiffany and Bryson over Facebook. (Bryson is Elder Ames' friend if I haven't mentioned that before)

At Training with his MTC District

Thursday we mainly did service! Which is nice to be in service clothes instead of proselyting clothes haha! We did service at Habitat for Humanity and then taught a lesson to sister Achor and then we did service at the soup kitchen! So that was fun!

Sammy and Elder Henrie

Friday we contacted some former investigators none of them were really interested but that's just the way things go. And then we had weekly planning which is a long process but really helpful if we do it right! We had dinner at the Franjesevic's so that was really fun! They are such a cool family. They have 3 little kids and I gave a pass along card to Lyla and I said "do you know who that is?" And she said "no... Oh its Jesus!!" And she got so excited and it was hilarious. We taught tithing to Bryson that night and that went really well. He is so excited to get baptized and it's so cool! 

Saturday was a little rough. I got sick and I have just felt really weak since then. Nothing really happened on Saturday we did get to talk to tiffany over Facebook, we were gonna have a video chat lesson but she cancelled. She is really stressed right now but I hope we can help her out. She is really cool and we just want to help! We got to see Christian that night and he got a job so he was really excited! I am happy for him, things are starting to get better for him!

Sunday I was still sick but church was good! Sister Dolan brought her friend June to church so we got to meet her and we are actually teaching her tonight so that's really cool! 

Monday I still was not feeling good but i did my best. We contacted some former and potential investigators. We did get some one to add us on Facebook so that's good! 

Yesterday was my 2 month mark! Crazy how fast time has flown by. Honestly the past 6 weeks in the field has gone by twice as fast as the 3 weeks in the MTC haha! Yesterday was pretty good we did service for sister Achor and then we did service at the soup kitchen again! 

And then today so far I got a hair cut! So that was good. And the girl cutting my hair asked if we had multiple wives, so that was fun. I said no we don't and elder Ames said "we get that a lot" it was really funny. 

So that was my week! I'm glad you had a good week! Keep Jonny busy because I'm sure he is really bored. I love you mom thank you for everything!

Your son,

THE Elder Collier 

Another Great Week!

Hey Mom it's been another great week! 

Tuesday we had exchanges with the Zone leaders so I was in Huber Heights all day. I was with Elder Wakely he is way cool. It was a blast and I learned a lot. We found some new investigators and we were able to teach a lesson through Facebook video chat! That was interesting but really cool! 

Wednesday was cool too! We had district meeting and then we went back to Bellefontaine. I finally had the classic "the spirit told me to walk down a street" experience. We were walking and we walked past the street and I got the impression that we needed to knock a certain street but I didn't say anything and we walked past it and then I felt bad for not saying anything so I told Elder Ames and then we turned around and went and knocked it! And then we found Riley who is a new investigator! That's a lesson for me to always listen to the spirit. It was really cool! And then we taught Elder Ames' friend over Facebook video chat! He has a baptism date for November 4th! And President Stratford said that I can Skype into the baptism when Elder Ames baptized him in Utah! 

Thursday I had exchanges and was in Piqua all day with Elder Belnap! Piqua is a great place for street contacting so we did that a lot. We placed 3 copies of the book of Mormon so that was really cool! We did service earlier in the day as well.

Friday we had new missionary follow up training in Columbus! We went back to the Ohio State institute building and had some training there. I went street contacting with Elder Henrie and it was cool to see how much we have grown already. We are way better than our first day haha! And we got a referral for the OSU elders! 

Saturday was kind of a slow day. But we got to use Facebook messenger to answer one of our investigators questions so that was really cool! I'm glad that we can use Facebook now it really helps! Then we went and saw Christian and he is doing a lot better. We are gonna teach him tonight actually! Ohio State was playing that night so we did online proselyting instead of tracting and I'm glad too because Ohio State didn't do too well so we probably would been yelled at hahaha! 

Sunday was good! We had 2 investigators come to church so that was way cool! We didn't do much other than our meetings and dinner appointment. But we did go see some former investigators so that was good and we got a return appointment. 

I love you mom thank you for everything you do! I hope you are all safe with the fires. I'm really scared about them and it makes me really sad thinking about the gorge. 

I love you!

Your son, 

Elder Collier (Sammy not Jonny. Wow that's the last time I have to say that!)

Facebook!!

Hey Mom!

My Facebook Profile Pic!

Facebook is pretty interesting. I can see everything everyone posts and I can see your comments and things that you tag me in but I am not allowed to communicate in any way with anyone unless it is gospel related. So I can't respond to your comments. But Facebook should be a cool way to stay in contact with investigators! My companion's best friend emailes him and told him thay he wants to get baptized so Elder Ames got permission from President Stratford to teach him through Facebook. So we are gonna video chat with him and when Elder Ames goes home he will baptize him! That's super cool and I'm really excited for that! 

Me and My Companion

Of course Woodson left his wallet in my car! He always leaves stuff so it's only fitting that the last time I drove him he left something. I miss those guys. 

This week wasn't very successful. We got straight zeros on our key indicators. But that's okay we just gotta keep working hard. It's just really sad when your investigators commit to come to church and then no one shows up. I'm sure it happens a lot though. 

Tuesday we had lunch with some members at Dominos pizza. That was very very good. We tried to meet with some investigators but no one answered the door and we tried to meet with some less active members but they just yelled at us and said they weren't interested. We did have a lesson with an investigator that night though! That was good. It was with the Poindexters. They are really good people and I enjoy talking to them!

We went to a birthday party for one of the youth in our ward...

...They did face painting!

Wednesday we did service at Habitat for Humanity. We do that once a week usually. That was good! We clean household things that people donate. After that we went tracting and visited some investigators and got to talk to some so that was good! It's always good when people wanna talk to you haha! And we visited a less active member and we had a really good conversation and he invited us back next week! He had some bad experiences with missionaries trying to teach his wife so he hasn't really trusted the missionaries but he trusts us! So hopefully we can teach his wife and then he can start coming back to church! They are super nice and I'm glad they trust us. 

Thursday wasn't that eventful either. We had a lesson with a less active member but the rest of the day we just knocked doors and tried to meet with people. A lot of people don't respond to our texts so we just have to stop by and hope they are home. It's a little frustrating but we are doing our best! 

Friday was zone conference! That was really cool! They taught us how to use Facebook effectively for teaching and we did some other training things. That was really nice to have people that understand you with you for a little bit. And President Stratford is so cool and fun! I am so glad he is my mission President, it is super obvious that he loves all of us. 

Saturday we tried online proselyting for the first time! We found our investigators on Facebook and friend requested them and posted gospel quotes. Facebook will be a lot more effective once we are friends with people. Because that's what is important is that one on one communication and to remind them that we are there to help them! And if they can reach us on Facebook then they will be able to ask questions and we can help them out. That's the goal but it'll take awhile to get there and get used to it. The rest of the day we met with some people and invited them to church and told them about how Facebook is a way we can teach them! Oh also on Saturday we were invited to a birthday party for this less active member's son. That was pretty fun. They wanted to paint our faces which was interesting hahaha! 

Sunday we had meetings and church. We really thought people were gonna be there but they weren't. But church was still really good! I love going to church and getting reenergized and motivated for the next week! The gospel is true and I know it can bless the lives of everyone I talk to! The rest of the day was good! We got to talk to a less active family that had a friend over! He asked us questions and we just had a good conversation with him! 

So that was my week! Sorry it wasn't that eventful, that's just how it is sometimes. But I definitely enjoy it! Even without the success that you want to see in a week it is nice to know that you are doing the Lord's work. It is easy to get frustrated and selfish and want things to be happening right now but I know that as I work hard and have patience the Lord will work through me and He knows way better than me. The past 6 weeks on my mission I have felt Christ's reality and presence probably more than my other 18 years of life. I know without a doubt that He lives and He is our Savior. I know that this is His church and this is His work. I love that feeling! 

I love you Mom! Thank you for everything you do. Good luck with choir this year and everything! 

I love you!

Elder Collier (Sammy not Jonny)