Still a Party in Johnstown!

Hey Mom! 

Transfers are tomorrow and the transfer calls came last night! Elder Johnson and I are staying in Johnstown and I am now the district leader... pretty wild. I wasn't expecting that. A little nervous about it.  But I am excited for the new opportunity and I know the Lord will help me! Hopefully district meetings go well! 

Tour sounds like it was a lot of fun! Flying sounds like it would be way better haha! 

Of course Patrick called you mom... haha. I'll have to email him about that. He's gonna be such a great missionary. And so is Allie!

This week has been so hot and so humid! Really crazy. Again, I don't really remember what happened this week but I will give the highlights! 

On Thursday we had a really awesome lesson with a lady named Linda. She was referred to us by a member of the ward that lives in her apartment complex. It was cool because she said that she really appreciated the member because she knew that there was another Christian living in the apartment complex and that made her feel better. It is great that he has been able to set that example! The lesson went really well and we will be meeting with her again soon. She is excited to read the Book of Mormon. 

On Saturday we got caught in a crazy rainstorm while walking to a lesson. The lesson wasn't for sure going to happen because the guy we were gonna meet with just said "yeah we can talk if I'm home then" but we still wanted to get there so we walked there in the rain! When we got there we were absolutely soaked. We knocked on the door and the guy answered and he said "don't you have anything better to do than walking around in the rain?" And we thought he was upset with us so we said "well, we told you we were going to be here at this time so we wanted to keep our word. We can come back another time when we are more dry if you want." And he responded "no, I don't mind the rain!" So he stood outside in the pouring rain and talked with us! Such a cool guy. We really gained his trust by still showing up in the rain I feel like. 

Memorial day was really cool! We went up to Croton and attended their memorial day ceremony. We talked with people there and it was awesome. We took a walk to the cemetery with everyone in the community too. We are slowly working our way into that tight knit community. After that we went to AJ Moarefdoust's graduation party! We were able to get to know a few of his friends for a little bit. Its cool when members invite us to things like that so we can meet their friends. When I was growing up I never even thought to invite missionaries over when we were having activities. But it goes a long way for them to show up for a few minutes to get to know friends. I would invite you to do something like that! After that we went to a barbecue a member was having and met a bunch more friends of members! We got to know one of them super well and built a relationship and now we are going to start teaching him. Working with members truly is the best way to find people to teach. 

That was the highlights of the week! I'm excited to have another transfer in Johnstown and in this ward. This ward is seriously the best. And it should be fun to learn how to be a district leader! 

I love you so much Mom! Have a great week. And let me know if you have any missionary experiences!

Your son, 

Elder Collier

The Johnstown Legend

Hey Mom! 

It was so great to talk with you all on Mother's day! It was a blast. I love you all so much! I hope you had a great Mother's day. I forgot to tell you when we were talking (I should've written it in my Field Notes!) But I am singing in church this week! I'm pretty excited about that. I haven't sang in sacrament meeting on my mission except in a ward choir. I am singing Savior Redeemer of My Soul. I am glad you liked the video of me singing that Sister Moarefdoust sent! 

 It is so crazy that Jonny is getting married so soon! I am really excited for him though. And I'm glad you caught the dates for Trek, I wouldn't want to come home without you at the airport! Haha!

So a few wild things happened since I talked to you! We have had two great days! 

On Monday we had a great day! We met with this lady that evening that we have been having a hard time getting a hold of. She is super awesome though. We finally got to meet with her and she told us that she gets a really peaceful feeling every time she reads the Book of Mormon. We testified to her that that ismthe Holy Ghost and she was like "I guess I'm being told to read on!" It was a really awesome discussion. I'm really excited for her. We also basketball contacted some people that evening. I love that. We got to hand out a Book of Mormon after too. 

On Tuesday we had a huge miracle. We were on exchanges. We doubled in Johnstown. So I was with Elder Dooley and Elder Johnson was with Elder Watkins but we were all in Johnstown. It was a blast. Anyway, there is this girl that is sometimes referred to as the Johnstown Legend. About 2 years ago two Elders taught this girl and had a very spiritual experience with her where she gained a testimony right then that the Book of Mormon was true. And then she dropped off the face of the earth. No one has seen her since. Missionaries have tried by the apartment so many times and no one even answers. But on Tuesday Elder Dooley and I were walking in Johnstown talking to people and we didn't even have in our plans to try by this person. We walked past her apartment complex though and I got the feeling to go try by her (even though we have tried by multiple times) we turn the corner and she is sitting outside her apartment!! We were able to talk to her and she was about to go to work so we set up a time to meet. It was wild. We finally found the Johnstown Legend. Hopefully she doesn't disappear this time around. And we also talked with another guy in the apartment complex that we are going to be meeting with now! It was awesome to be led there by the Spirit. The rest of the exchange was great too. Elder Dooley is a great missionary. 

That's been the past few days! Miracles are happening in Johnstown. I love it here. GO JOHNNIES! 

I love you so much Mom!

Your son, 

Elder Collier 

Happy Early Mother's Day!

Hey Mom!

I can't believe Mother's Day is on Sunday! I am so excited to Skype with you! Does 3:30 my time work for you? That would be 12:30 your time. No one signed up to feed us on Mother's day so we will just call at the church after church is over. And I am okay with Zach and Harrison joining too! 

That is so crazy that Marit and Chandler are married now! And Brittany too. People are growing up. Too bad I wasn't there to give Chandler a jumping high five after the wedding. That's what me and him would do on the sideline every time he scored a goal my sophomore year haha! 

When is Jonny getting married again?  Oh and tell Jonny that a bunch of ladies that go to the Johnstown Independent Baptist Church are excited for his wedding. We help out at the food pantry there every Monday and we walk in on Monday and one lady asked when the wedding was because I've talked about it before haha. They love us it's great. 

Well my week was good! 

Thursday was great! We had district meeting and interviews with President Stratford. I love interviews. President Stratford is the best. I really hope I don't leave the mission. (We will find out about that next transfer by the way). After all that we went on exchanges! I spent the day in Johnstown with Elder Watkins the district leader. He came out a transfer before me and he spent the first 6 months of his mission on campus (I got there right when he got transferred out) so it was fun to talk about campus a little bit. We both had crazy stories to share it was great. He is a great missionary and I learned a lot from him! It was a great day. We had dinner with the Moarefdousts that evening too so that was fun. It's fun to talk to them about Vancouver haha! They are great members, I love them!

Friday we exchanged back and then had weekly planning and had two lessons that day which were really great. Nothing super exciting happened.

Saturday was a normal Saturday except the ward activity that night was a blast! It was the fundraiser for the youth and they had an auction! With a real auctioneer from West Virginia! It was wild. I didnt think it was possible for someone to actually talk that fast. A cake sold for 160 bucks. Crazy! The lady we do service for at the thrift store made a basket to auction off so that was really cool. She helped the youth out!

Sunday was good as always. While sitting in testimony meeting I felt the spirit so strong and I felt an overwhelming gratitude for the members of this ward. I was able to go up and bear my testimony and thank all of them for all they do to help the Missionary work here. I love this ward so much. 

Monday and Tuesday we didn't have anything too exciting happen. Just regular missionary days. We did meet an awesome guy yesterday though named Mike that we are going to start meeting with! I'm excited for that. 

It was a good week! I am so excited to call you on Sunday and talk more about it! I love you Mom! Talk to you soon! 

Your son,

Elder Collier 

The Weather Is Finally Nice!

Hey Mom! 

That's so exciting that the Men won State! I am so happy for them. And that is so exciting that Jonny and Emily are home. Also I want to see a picture of Rushmore! I think he looks so funny when his hair gets cut. 

This week was good! All the days kinda blended together so I won't go from day to day. I'll just talk about the highlights! 

We were low on miles for the end of the Month so we were walking a lot. But that was fun because we got to talk to some cool people on the street! We were walking to an investigator's house and we talked to this guy named Vince on the street. He has been struggling with life lately but we were able to testify of Jesus Christ and the hope that He brings. 

We met with this older man named Robert this week. He is neighbors with some members. He is a really awesome man. He was telling us that he has been to Salt Lake City! And he said he has even sang with the Mormon tabernacle choir. He said that he watched them rehearse one day and they were singing a song he knew so he decided to sing along so he can say he sang with them. When he said that I couldn't help but think about Mr Iverson singing with the Mormon Tabernacle choir when we watched them rehearse. That was so funny. 

We met this guy named Jared this week. One of the nicest guys I have ever met. We were tracting this street and people weren't being very nice. I was getting discouraged and honestly wanted to quit (now I know for sure that was Satan telling me to quit) but we kept going and we knocked on Jared's door. It was only the second time on my mission that someone we knocked into let us in and let us teach. That was really cool. He was so nice and he has a 3 year old son that was so funny. He really wanted to show us his coin collection and so we got to see it after we were done talking with Jared. That was pretty fun. 

We got to do service for a library in Croton yesterday. The librarian is the one that gave us a bunch of bread that one day. There are zero members in Croton. Doing service at the library there is the best way for us to be known in the community and people will know that we are normal people. We are going to have faith that teaching opportunities will come from that. I'm sure they will. 

Our investigator Ash came to church on Sunday! She really loved it. She even brought her Boyfriend so that was cool! The work in Johnstown is tough but it is coming along! 

I love you Mom! Thank you for sending the pants and stuff! I will still be in Johnstown on Mother's day. Transfers are on May 31st. 

Your son,

Elder Collier