"I Have A Migraine!"

Hello!

The subject line is an inside joke between Elder Johnson and I that we never want to forget. Y'all probably won't think it's funny. Let's just say that there were no migraines involved and the person that thought they had a migraine simply said they were overreacting. 

So the past few days have been so great! Some of the best of my mission. Elder Johnson is a stud and we have been doing well together. We served in the same district on campus about a year ago so we were already friends and it has been great to companions. 

Here's a few highlights of the week! On Saturday we got to teach a couple that I dearly love. Their names are Gary and Sherry.We had lost contact with them because they have been so busy but when we stopped by they were so excited to see us and let us right in. They are so great and they are willing to learn. A funny thing was that since I'm friends with them on Facebook, Sherry said "I have seen your mom's posts of you on Facebook and let me just say, you are her world. She love you so much and is so proud of you." I thought that was really cool. I am thankful that I have loving and supportive Mom! It's also cool that we have facebook now so people recognize that we are real people that truly care about what we are doing. 

On Sunday I got to sing in church! It was great! I sang an arrangement of "Hark all ye Nations" and "I hope they call me on a mission" some of the young men sung too. It was really awesome. I'm thankful I had the opportunity to do that. 

Also on Sunday night we had an amazing miracle. We had some pretty good plans for the day but then the Lord changed it up on us. Our dinner cancelled and another family had us over so we were in a different place at a different time of the day than we originally planned. We ended up working this one area in the evening that we had originally planned working in the afternoon. We knocked on this door and this lady answered that doesn't speak English at all. But she has an app on her phone that let's you talk into it and then it translates right then so we communicated that way. When we told her that we were missionaries she let us right in! She is from Venezuela and has been here for a little bit. She had to flee her country because of all the terrible things happening there. She was telling us all the terrible things she has had go through and I was blown away. We shared Alma 7:11-13 with her and the spirit touched her heart. She really opened up and she said that right before we knocked on her door she was talking to her family on the phone and telling them all the terrible things and was about to start crying. But we were able to bring her hope to her life. It was amazing! She wants a copy of the Book of Mormon in Spanish so we are gonna bring her that tonight. I'm so glad we were led to her. The Lord's hand is truly in this work and he will always lead us to those that are prepared to receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the message we share "is the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul" (Jacob 2:8). It definitely healed her wounded soul last night. 

I love you mom! Thank you for all you do. 

Your son, 

Elder Collier 

Bisquit's Babysitter!

Hello!

It's been another good week here in Dublin. I feel a lot better now than I did last week. I was sick for most of the week but I'm fine now! I feel great. 

There were zone conferences up in the northern zones last week so Elder Smoot and I were in charge of watching President and Sister Stratford's dog Biscuit! We only live 15 minutes away from the mission home so that was our assignment. Since we are the closest zone leaders to the mission home we are basically the assistants to the assistants haha! President and the mission office ask us to run a lot of errands. It's fun though. We stayed the night in the mission home Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night. It was a lot of fun. Friday I got sicker again so it was pretty rough but Biscuit could tell that I wasn't feeling well so she came over to comfort me. It was adorable haha. I still love Rushmore more though!

We had a lot of success over Facebook this week. We were able find this guy on the other side of Columbus. He is so cool. He is from Liberia! We were messaging him and talked to him about the Book of Mormon and he wanted one! The missionaries that are in his area went over to deliver it and turns out he has a best friend still in Liberia that's a member of the Church! He was excited to finally meet missionaries and get a Book of Mormon and he said he wants to be baptized! He had the missionaries take a video of him holding the Book of Mormon and telling his friend from Liberia and he sent it to him. It was definitely a miracle!

Yesterday I was able to attend the YSA ward again. One of the people we are teaching wanted to try out the YSA ward in Columbus. I asked my buddy Mason who I taught when I was there to give all of us a ride down there. It was so good to see him again. First time in almost a year since I've seen him. I love that kid. I got to see a lot of people I knew from campus. And I got to see two of my previous companions that are serving there now! Elder Morse and Elder Madsen. They are studs. Elder Morse and I served on campus together and so it was funny that people saw us there together again.

Well, those are the highlights of the week! I know that living the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings enduring peace and Joy into our lives.

I love you so much Mom! Thanks for the birthday package! 

Your son, 

Elder Collier

Sister Collier's Homecoming!

Hello!

As you can tell from the subject line, I hit my 18 month mark this week. Can you believe that? Who was I 18 months ago? I don't even know. But I am thankful for these past 18 months and I am thankful for 6 more.

This week has been a really good one! We had two exchanges and we got hit by a snow storm that canceled church! I woke up and it was -4 degrees this morning. That is really cold.

On Tuesday I went on an exchange with Elder Brinkerhoff who is one of my best friends in the mission. It was a good time. We spent the day in Powell which is the town just north of us where the mission home is and the mission office. Him and his companion, Elder Hepler, are the Assistants to President Stratford. They do a lot of office work and other stuff. On our exchange we had to stop at the office to pick up a car that they were going to be taking up to the Kirtland Zone the next day. Well, when we got there there was a change of plans! They needed to get the Worthington Elders car to take up to Kirtland and give them the car that they had at the office. That was gonna be a simple fix we would just call the Worthington Elders and have them drive to Powell and do a switcharoo. But when we called them we found out that they were on exchanges and one of them accidentally took the car keys with him to Marysville so the Worthington Elders didn't have access to the car. So Elder Brinkerhoff and I drove 30 minutes to Marysville (even though we were only there for a few minutes it was nice to be back in Marysville!) to pick up the car keys and then 45 minutes to Worthington to give them to the Worthington Elders and then 15 minutes back to Powell! It was quite the drive haha! When we saw the Elders in Marysville we realized that there were 4 Elders talking and all 4 of us were serving in different areas😂 that hardly ever happens! So we had to get a picture haha! Anyway, after that whole ordeal we had to transport the car that was going up to Kirtland to the Powell Elders apartment so they could just wake up the next morning and drive up to Kirtland. So Elder Brinkerhoff and I drove different cars to their apartment! It was the first time in 18 months that I have driven a car alone and I'm not gonna lie, it was super nice. I just prayed out loud the whole drive. It felt good. The rest of the day in Powell was good too! We had some awesome lessons in the evening and I even met the Collier's! They are recent converts in the Powell ward. It was cool to meet them!

Elder Rawson and I went on exchanges together on Wednesday. This is his third transfer out and he is such a stud. Plus he is a lax bro so we get along great haha! We had such a good lesson in the evening with someone we are teaching in Dublin. It finally clicked for him that if he wants to find out if the church is true then he needs to live the commandments! He committed himself to live the Word of Wisdom. It was awesome.

This weekend was pretty crazy with all the snow and the freezing temperatures but it is all good! It is finally winter over here. It makes life interesting haha! 

I'm doing pretty well! I have had a lot of answers to my prayers lately and I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father that listens to us and communicates to us. He is invested in our lives and wants us to be happy! 

Love you Mom! Thanks for everything. You're the best. 

Your son, 

Elder Collier 

We Got Snow!!!

Hello! 

This week was a really busy week. We had exchanges on Tuesday and Wednesday, interviews on Thursday with President Stratford and I conducted 3 baptismal interviews throughout the week too! It was really busy. 

I had a great time up in the Clearfork and Mansfield areas on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Clearfork Elders taught us how to use Facebook more effectively because that is how they found a family that got baptized this weekend. When Elder Smoot and I applied what we learned from them we immediately experienced miracles. One of which was meeting a lady named Angela over Facebook. She lives in the Newark, Ohio area. We were able to talk to her and we found out she was in the hospital. So we sent the Elders in Newark over there to visit her. They were able to comfort her and they taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She was so thankful for the visit and she even said that it was the start of a new beginning for her. It was amazing!

Our exchange with Mansfield Elders was great as well. I got to spend the day with Elder Day who has only been on his mission for 3 weeks. It really doesn't seem like it! All throughout the day I totally forgot that he is brand new. He is such a great missionary. The next day we got up and needed to drive down to Delaware, Ohio for a district council and for interviews with President and to conduct a baptismal interview. When we were ready to leave we started our car and it wouldn't start! So that resulted in us going on a wild search to find someone with jumper cables. We were finally able to jump our car and we were only 30 minutes late to the district council. And the baptismal interview went really well! I was thankful I had the opportunity to interview Martin. He inspires me!

On Saturday we got lots and lots of snow. Finally! It is the first snowfall since November. It was fun to play in the snow a little bit. And even though it was freezing cold we were able to meet a new friend named Gary. He invited us over to his house the next day. So yesterday we were able to teach him and his wife. It was a wonderful experience and I already love both of them a lot. 

This week has been really tough. Probably the hardest week of my mission. I have been sick all week and there's been other challenges that have been thrown at us. But the Lord has blessed us immensely. I am thankful that Jesus Christ loves each of us and is willing to help us along our journey to change and become better. I have a long way to go but I am thankful that He still loves me. 

I love you mom! Thanks for everything. 

Your son, 

Elder Collier 

Happy New Year!

Hello! 

I haven't written an email for the blog since last year! (Those jokes will never get old)

This week we said goodbye to Elder Olsen. On January 2nd we woke up at 5:00 and got ready and dropped him off at the mission home and President and Sister Stratford took him to the airport! It was sad to say goodbye to him but I'm sure he is really happy with his family. Elder Smoot and I have been having a good time with it just being us. He's a good guy. That same day we come back to the mission home at 9:30 for MLC. I really enjoy MLC. Plus I got to see Elder McInnes again! That was good. I've missed that guy. 

On Thursday I got to go on an exchange with Elder Oettli! Yep, he's a district leader in the same zone as me again! It was fun to go on another exchange with him. We were able to deliver a Book of Mormon to this guy that speaks Spanish and refer him to the Spanish Elders. Hopefully it all works out for him to be taught. 

On Saturday we went on another exchange. I went to Polaris with Elder Reed. Elder Smoot got to go with my previous companion Elder Johnson. I was sad I couldn't go with him but I was very happy to see him! I've missed the guy! Elder Reed and I had a great day. We tracted this apartment complex and we weren't having hardly any success. But the last 2 doors we knocked on we were able to teach the message of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the doorstep! It was a really great experience. The Lord blesses us when we put in the effort and show our faith. 

On Sunday night Elder Smoot and I were able to find 3 new people to teach. We talked to sooooooo many people last night and hardly anyone wanted to talk to us. It was really discouraging. But then the Lord blessed us at the very end and we were able to find 3 people that were prepared by the Lord to teach! It was great!

Well that's about it! Next week should be more exciting. We have a really busy one planned so stay tuned! 

I love you Mom! 

Your son, 

Elder Collier 

Back to Marysville!

Hellooooo!

It has been a good week in Dublin. It is a lot more mellow than Youngstown but it is still a ton of fun. We have had a great week. Here are some of the highlights.

So we started teaching a deaf lady this week! She is so prepared to receive the restored Gospel. She has been searching for it for 25 years! Her Dad was a member of the church and taught her when she was young but the mom didn't want anything to do with the church. They split up when she was young but she remembered the things her dad taught her. She was doing family history one day and she found out that a ton of her ancestors were pioneers that came to Utah from Kirtland! It finally clicked for her that the church her dad belonged to and the one she was looking for was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. We have a missionary in our district named Elder Thomas that is basically fluent in sign language and he interprets for us. When we were teaching the first lesson we got through the first couple points and she stopped us and asked "is this called the restoration?" And we pulled out a pamphlet and showed her what it said and she responded "this is it! This is what my father taught me." It was such a cool experience. She accepted a date to be baptized and is now working with us toward that goal. She is the best. The Lord has been preparing her for quite a long time. I am thankful for the opportunity I have to teach her. 

Another great thing about this week was that I got to go back to Marysville for a day!! I went on an exchange with Elder Barnson. I love Elder Barnson, he's a stud. When I found out he was gonna be in Marysville I was so happy to know that Marysville was in good hands. The day was great. It felt like I was coming home. We had some great experiences and we even got in contact with a lady that I had met when I was serving in Marysville and set up a return appointment. The best part of the day was in he evening. I completely surprised three recent converts. Joan and Paul I had taught when I was in Marysville and Annette was baptized right before I got to Marysville but I was really close with her. They were all so surprised when I knocked on their door!! I didn't tell any of them that I was in Dublin and that I could come back to Marysville. When we went by Paul He answered the door and he said "they let you come back huh?" With a big grin on his face and I gave him a big hug. It was a good moment. We read the Book of Mormon with him just like the good old days. I've missed my buddy Paul. 

It has been a really good week and I am excited for another one. 

I love you Mom! Thanks for everything. 

Your son, 

Elder Collier 

Goodbye Youngstown

Helloooo

A Very Rushmore Christmas!

Well, it is transfer week and I found out last night that I am being transferred. I am heading back down to the Columbus area! I will be serving in Dublin, Ohio. Dublin and Youngstown are sooooo different. Dublin is a very wealthy area. It will be really interesting but I am excited. I am happy to go back home to Columbus where I belong haha! My new companion will be Elder Smoot who I came out with. This is the first time we have served near each other though. It should be good! The best part about going to Dublin is that I will be going on exchanges to Marysville!!! Elder Smoot and I will be Zone Leaders of the Columbus North Zone and Marysville is still a District Leader area so we will go on exchanges there. I am so excited to see Paul again. And everyone else I love in Marysville. It is going to be awesome. 

This week has been a really good one! We had a big half mission conference on Thursday with the four northern zones. We did a service project where we made blankets, we played a lot of fun games, listened to some people speak, had a christmas dinner and watched an end of the year slideshow. It was really awesome. It has really been a great year. It is crazy that I have lived in Ohio for all of 2018! Time really flies. I have made the best friends ever out here and have had the best experiences. At the conference I got to see my really good friends and two of my past companions! Elder Morse and Elder Madsen. 

Newell K. Whitney Store in Kirkland, Ohio

On Saturday we went up to Kirtland! It was my first time going up there. it was me, Elder McInnes, Tyler & Amanda & their two daughters, Mike (Another recent convert), Sister Fellows (who said she is friends with Zach on facebook for some reason haha) and Brother Thibideau. It was such a cool experience. Kirtland is such a special place. The spirit was definitely present. Being in places where God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared was incredible. I know that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet called by God to restore Christ's church on the earth!! One of Tyler & Amanda's daughters said "I feel really good here" when we first got to the Kirtland Historic Sites. It was great to hear that she was feeling the Spirit!! 

I sang in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday!! It was really fun. I am glad I got to chance to do that. It is always a good time doing that. 

Well, that's all to report on this week! I am excited for the chance to serve in Dublin and I am excited for Christmas! And my P day is on Monday again this next week and will be until transfers! Love you, Mom!

Your son,

Elder Collier