JumpShotUSA--Pennsylvania

Helloooo! 

This week has been pretty good. It has flown by like crazy. Again, there's so much stuff that has happened but I'll give you some of the highlights! 

Zone Conference was on Thursday! I had the opportunity to conduct this zone conference. I was a little nervous but it turned out great. It was combined with the Kirtland Zone and Elder Morse is one of the Zone Leaders of that zone so that was fun to lead the conference together. Elder Dixon and I gave a training and it went really well. I am thankful that the Lord has blessed me with courage and the ability to speak in front of people lately. Here is a really strange thing I have learned about myself since being on my mission:  I am the most comfortable teaching when I have a chalkboard or whiteboard that I can write on. Almost all my training as a district leader involved me writing on the chalkboard or whiteboard and this training contained that as well. It's a little weird haha! By far my favorite park of missionary work is teaching. More specifically teaching the Gosepl of Christ right out of the scriptures. The scriptures are the best! 

Anyway, the rest of the week was good as well. We went on exchanges with the Alliance Elders on Friday. I was with Elder Hooper who has only been out for a few weeks. He is a great missionary though. I was super impressed. He is gonna do great on his mission. We spent the day in Sharon, PA. We found a really awesome person to teach that day and we are excited to teach her. And then... the moment you've all be waiting for... I made another jumpshot on this JumpShotUSA tour. Pennsylvania is now checked off the list! For those keeping track back home that is jumpshot #11! Life is good. 

On Sunday we had the opportunity to stop by Letricia. She ordered a bible on Mormon.org. She is the best. She has been studying our beliefs online and knows a lot. She is super smart. She has a really good memory. We were able to teach her about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she loved it and was so excited to read the Book of Mormon. We met with her again on Tuesday. She had already read up to Alma chapter 18. That is almost half of the Book of Mormon! She read that in two days! And she understands it all super well. We were blown away. And she was telling us that she believes it is true! We are meeting with her again on Friday and we are expecting her to be finished with the whole book by then. That was such a sweet miracle. Letricia is the best. 

We have also been spending time on Youngstown State's campus which is a blast. I love being on a campus again. We have met some really great people. Go Penguins!

I just want to end by saying that I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of God. I know that Jesus Christ is my savior and without Him I could not do this work. Without Him life would be pointless because we would have no way of living with our Father in Heaven again. I am thankful for His Grace and Mercy. He has saved me and continues to save me each day. 

I love you Mom! Have a great week! 

Your son, 

Elder Collier

JumpShot USA--West Virginia

What a week it has been. It has been one to remember for sure. I love this area and Elder Dixon and I get along great. Miracles have occurred this week I know this is the Lord's work. 

Here are a few of the highlights: 

We were able to go to the temple with Mike Spoljaric on Saturday! He was baptized on August 19th (The Saturday before I got here) and it was his first time going to the temple to do baptisms. It was a really awesome experience. We drove 3 hours to Columbus with him and Brother Thibideau. It was a great experience. It's actually the farthest away from home Mike has ever been. He was able to be baptized and confirmed for his father. He was so happy and so were we! 

On Monday we went on exchanges with the Elders in the Lisbon South area. Elder Dixon and I both went down there for the day. I was with Elder Loutzenhiser who is the district leader of the Lisbon district. He's from Idaho and is very similar to me. His first name is even Samuel!  It was a really great day! It was pouring down rain all day and we walked everywhere so we were absolutely soaked but it was so much fun. We spent most of the day in Chester, West Virginia. We found 2 new people to teach who are super awesome and I made a jumpshot in West Virginia!! That's 10 states down... I'm a 5th of the way to my JumpShotUSA goal. I promise that I was more concerned about the people we were talking with that day. But making a jumpshot in West Virginia is pretty darn cool. The day was so great until the end. We got picked up by Elder Dixon and Elder Robinson at the McDonald's in Chester so we could head back to the apartment and we got into the car and then someone backed into us. Broke our taillight and dented our back bumper. It's not terrible but it was just pretty annoying. 

Yesterday we had a really busy day with appointments and doing a bunch of reports. And then the accident report that we had to fill out took a huge chunk of our time too so that was irritating. We didn't have any finding time whatsoever. But then at 9:20 we got a call from Brother Thibideau and he was with his best friend Steve and he had just given him a copy ofnthe Book of Mormon. We were able to talk to Steve a little bit and he told us he wants to be baptized! We set up a time to meet with him. We are so excited. This really is the Lord's work. We cannot do this on our own. There's just way too many things to do and not enough time but the Lord will always provide. Really neat. 

Well, that's all the exciting stuff for the week! Tomorrow we have zone conference so that will be a lot of fun. Thanks for all you do Mom! You're the best! I love you!!!

Your son, 

Elder Collier

No Time To Catch My Breath

Hey Mom! 

This week has been insanely busy. We have had so many teaching appointments, exchanges, administrative stuff and hardly any time to find people to teach. But the Lord has helped us so much in this area! 

So this week has been way too crazy to share every experience but I'll share a few.  

On Wednesday we had the opportunity to have all the missionaries in the Ashtablua district go to the Warren Elders' area in the evening from 6-9 to help them find more people to teach. Some members of the ward got involved as well and we were able to go on splits to cover more ground as well as having the people we find have am immediate fellowshipper. I was able to go with this guy named Isaac who is 20 years old. We took off and went to a oretty sketchy part of their area. We talked to people on the streets, tried by potentials and even knocked an entire street but had no luck. It was time to head back so we started walking back to the car. We passed by this sketchy bar and a car pulled up next to us and this guy asked what we were doing. I explained and asked if he would like to talked to us. He said that he would love to! So he pulled over into the parking lot of the bar and talked with us. We ended up teaching him the message of the restoration and he was so excited to read the Book of Mormon. It was such a sweet miracle to end the evening! 

Friday we had a pretty packed day. We only had time in the morning to go finding. So we went out and started walking around Niles planning on knocking doors in a specific area. We walked down the street and the first person we talked to wanted to have a study with us! So we walked with him to the closest dunkin donuts and taught him about the Book of Mormon and it went well! He is also a rapper but that is a story for another day. In the evening we had the chance to go to the hospital in Sharon, PA to meet with someone thst is being taught by some missionaries in the Pittsburgh Mission. She was admitted into the hospital in our area. We were able to go read the Book of Mormon with hee and give her a blessing. It was a very special experience. She is awesome. 

On Monday we had exchanges with the Assistants. We woke up early Monday morning and drive 3 hours to Powell, Ohio and spent the day there with them. I was with Elder Hepler who is 6' 9". Sadly we didn't get a picture... But I definitely looked extra short next to him. Anyway, we had a great day! The last door we knocked on was at 8:15 at night and the family let us right in and we were able to teach them the message of the restoration. It was a really neat experience and they are so prepared to receive the gospel! The next day we woke up early and drove to different universities in our zone to talk to administrators to get permission to proselyte on campus. Let me just say this: I am extremely impressed with Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA. They were very helpful and respectful and let us know what we could or could not do to teach out to students. And all the employees and students were very kind. Overall, I am very impressed with that college. And then after we got back to our area yesterday we had 3 lessons and then were back home. Life is crazy. 

Well, that was pretty much my week. It was extremely busy. But great! 

I love you mom! Thank you for everything. 

Your son, 

Elder Collier