What is your VISION for 2016?!

Elder Coletti's Letter 12/28/2015 Week 23

Quick email this week:

 

Merry Christmas to everyone!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  I love you all so much!  Christmas in Taiwan is completely different than in America.  Not as many people take it as serious or think of it as a big deal.  This week my Zone Leader, Elder Casper, started talking to me about a Mission Vision.  He asked me what I wanted to accomplish while I was on my mission.  I honestly didn't know how to answer!  I had never really thought about it.  I just gave him the cliche answers like losing myself in the work, and changing the flaws in me, but it really got me thinking.  This is my challenge for everyone.  Write down a vision of what you want to be and accomplish in your life.  You can break it down into where you want to be in your life in 5, 10, 20 years from now and so on, and so forth.  I promise that if you have a vision for yourself, and then make goals in order to accomplish this vision, you will be blessed!  Pray to our Heavenly Father, and ask him for help with inspiring your vision and for his help as you set appropriate goals. I'm still working on my vision, but just pondering about it has changed, not only the way I think of my mission, but also what I want to accomplish in my life.  I love you all so much it is ridiculous!  Merry Christmas!  New Years is coming up!  Time to make those New Year's Resolutions!;)

 

Elder Coletti

Taiwan, Taipei Mission Christmas Conference

Be sure to check this wonderful video of the Taiwan, Taipei Mission Christmas Conference 2015. 
Look for Elder Coletti doing the HAKA!
http://www.taiwantaipeimission.com/#!Christmas-Mission-Conference/c419/567b99820cf2ee60dd7467c8

Christmas Skype!

We were able to Skype with Elder Coletti tonight! Joey is healthy, happy and just glowing! Absolutely loves his mission! The chance to see Joey's face and hear his voice is the best Christmas gift ever! Our hearts our bursting with gratitude. Missions are awesome! This little boy is now becoming a man and we couldn't be prouder! ‪

Hualien!

Elder Coletti's Letter Dec. 20, 2015 Week 22

This has been a crazy week!  Transfers were this week and everyone in my area thought that I was going to be the one of the four missionaries staying in SanXia.  HA!  Ya right!  We received a call Tuesday night from the Zone Leaders telling us that Elder McClellen (who just finished his mission), Elder Scovel, and Elder Coletti were moving out.  We were all stunned!  We go to the Transfer meeting on Thursday to find out where everyone in the mission is going.  Transfer meetings in Taiwan aren't the same as in other missions.  We go to a church and the 1st floor is dedicated for church/reverant activities and the 3rd floor is dedicated to any kind of activities. While the transfer meeting is going on......it is very loud and crazy!  Just imagine over 100 missionaries freaking out about where they are going and where their friends and previous companions are going.  It was super fun!  During the transfer meeting, my face appears on the big screen next to my new companion, Elder Crawford!  Elder Crawford is so awesome!!  He is one of the kindest people I have ever met!  He is very different from Elder Scovel, although both are great missionaries.  I'm super excited to be serving with Elder Crawford.  We will be serving in Meilun, which is part of Hualien.  Hualien is not in Taipei so I will be leaving the main city!  Hualien is on the east coast of Taiwan.  It is as close to the Pacific Ocean as you can get!  Where I am staying, it is only a 10 minute bike ride to the beach! Hualien is absolutley GORGEOUS! It is notorious around the mission for being the PRETTIEST area in all of Taiwan.  There are a lot of jungles, big tropical trees, and mountains, etc. I'm so happy to be serving here.  When I first heard that I was going to be moving, I was pretty sad. I was not mad at all, but just nervous for change.  We, Elder Scovel and I, had so many investigators that we loved so very much and since we were both leaving, we were worried about them and their progression.  That  night I prayed to my Heavenly Father.  While I was praying I received a confirmation that this was the right thing for me to be doing.  I know that without a doubt SanXia will be in good hands with the new missionaries coming in.  It was about a 3 hour train ride to Hualien.  When I stepped off the train......there was something about the air there.  I was breathing in almost what felt liked satisfaction and anticipation for the next few months I will be serving here.  I know, without a doubt, that God has called me to serve in this area for a specific reason.  This leads me into what I talked about last week on that everything happens for a reason.  I have no idea why I am going to Hualien or why I left SanXia, but I do know that my trust is in the Lord.  Whatever happens is for a specific reason and I will trust his judgement. 

 

I love you all so much. Thank you for all of your amazing examples and support.  Christmas is this coming week and I cannot express how excited I am.  Christmas is the holiday for giving. The time for giving a little bit of yourself in order to see the HUGE smile on other's faces. Why only have this giving spirit during Christmas?  Why only give presents, candy, happiness and service during the Christmas holidays?  Christmas represents our Savior and everything that he gave to us.  However, Christ didn't give only once or so a year.  He gave every second of his life and he freely gave. As I have been a missionary serving other, I have noticed how much I have kept to myself throughout my childhood, how I would rather make myself happy than make others happy and how selfish I have been. The whole point of Christ's gospel is to help others.  We should find joy in making other people happy and helping other people find their purpose in life.  But.... why only have one day a year dedicated to being like Christ and having that "Christmas Spirit".  Is Christ's gospel only a one day thing?  No, not at all.  It is because of Jesus Christ, we can become different at any time and at any place or point in our life.  Jesus didn't care who you were, he was going to give of himself to you.  I want to invite everyone to give of themselves everyday.  Everday should be Christmas. Everyday should be an opportunity to have that "Christmas Spirit", and to help change someone's life.  Radiate that "Christmas Spirit" all year long.  From January 1 to December 31, give of yourself.  Make someone happy. Make a difference.

 

Merry Christmas!  Make everyday, your best day:)

 

Elder Coletti

 

田甜圈長老 

Pengyou or FRIENDS! and NOTICING

Elder Coletti's Letter 12/14/2015 Week 21:

Tuesday Dec. 8, 2015:

Funny story! Elder Scovel and I went to meet with one of our investigators named Gao DiXiong.  I forgot if I have mentioned him before but, he is amazing!  The way we initially found him is an absolute miracle!  We were originally looking for a lady and we couldn't find her. We decided to just start randomly buzzing doorbells.  Gao DiXiong ended up answering one of the doors we buzzed and let us into his house!  He was about 70 years old and looked pretty grumpy.  I was kind of freaking out!  He just lets complete strangers into his house? Who does that? I guess in Taiwan it is normal, but I was still a little bit confused!  It turns out he could hardly speak any Chinese, let alone gospel Chinese (which is pretty complicated to understand).  He only spoke Taiwanese. When we came back another day he was telling us about how he has no friends and he let us in because he wanted to become friends.  Now, every time we go over to his house he just starts to laugh and screams, "朋友 (Pengyou=Friends!)" and then he gives us these giant hugs!  We gave him a Book of Mormon, which at first he said he couldn't read. The next day when we came over he had read all the way to 1 Nephi 19!  He told us how he found his glasses so now he can read!  He was trying to tell us at first that he physically couldn't read.  It was not because he didn't know how to or he didn't want to, but because he couldn't see without his glasses! HAHA:) Sorry I'm going off on Gao DiXiong for a little bit. I just really love him:) We were teaching Gao DiXiong the Plan of Salvation.  It is really hard to teach him because he doesn't understand gospel Chinese, so we brought a member who is fluent in Taiwanese!  We were teaching him and going through the entire lesson with a member translating in Taiwanese so that he could understand. We gave him a mini Plan of Salvation kit to piece it together.  We asked him to do it and he basically just says, "Psh, too easy!"  He starts putting the Plan of Salvation pieces together and it is in this order:  Pre-Earth Life, Spirit World, Earth Life, Birth, Resurrection, Death, Judgement, and then Kingdoms of Glory.  He looks up at us and says, "對不對(duibudui=am I right?!)."  We just look at him and say, "Umm... Close.. but you are born before you come to earth, not after. hahaha!  I love him:)

When missionaries say that time flies in the mission field, they really aren't lying.  It flies! I still remember my first day in the field in San Xia.  I kept asking myself..... what I have gotten myself into?!  What am I even doing here?! How did I get here?! It is now 2 and a half months later and I am still here!  This is the last week before my training with Elder Scovel ends.  We haven't heard any details yet, but I have a feeling that I will be staying in SanXia. Elder Scovel was in SanXia for two transfers before I came.  Elder Scovel has been an amazing "Dad" to me!  He has taught me so much about what it takes to be a successful missionary.  Elder Scovel just recently (Nov. 21) hit his year mark! He is still a really young missionary and I know I will still be seeing my "Dad" around in the future.:) One of my favorite things that Elder Scovel has taught me is that in the mission field, everything happens for a reason.  A certain missionary will get put with a certain companion in a certain area for a certain reason.  I know, without a doubt, that President Jergensen is receiving direct revelation from God on how he should handle each and every transfer, on what each and every individual missionary is in need of and what needs to be done in order to hasten the work in Taiwan.  When Elder Scovel told me this, I started to think about everything that has happened to me here in the mission field.  I've been pondering how we met certain investigators, certain district meetings I attended,  certain sacraments, etc.  Everything has significance in the grand scheme of things. I think that Elder Scovel's wisdom can be used by everybody!  Think about certain people you talk to everyday, certain situations that you find yourself in throughout the day and certain experiences that you have.Then after NOTICING (and I capitalize noticing because part of realizing and recognizing all of the wonderful blessings and miracles that happen in our lives daily is we have to notice),  think about the significance of it in your life.  Think about where you are in your life right now and think about how you got there. Everything happens for a reason and I promise that if we start noticing and recognizing the Lord's hand in our lives, we will be blessed by our Heavenly Father. He truly does loves each and every one of us individually and blesses us more than we can ever comprehend.  He helps us everyday and is constantly with us.  Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives.  Always remember that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  He blessed us yesterday, he will bless us today, and he will bless us forever.

I love you all so much!  Christmas is almost here and now is a perfect time to start noticing Heavenly Father's hand in our lives and recognizing all of the beautiful blessings we have.

Have a wonderful Christmas season!  加油!  聖誕節快樂!

Elder Coletti

田甜圈長老

Stranger Danger......

Elder Coletti's Letter 12/07/2015 Week 20

This week was super insane!  The life of a missionary is never the same and that is one of the things that I absolutely love about it!  Friday and Saturday were absolutely awsome!  I'm only going to talk about these two days because of time and because of significance!  

Friday Dec. 4, 2015:  

To start off the day we had a member pay for our lunch.  We went to an all you can eat meat place, basically like Rodizio Grill.  The only difference was we get to cook the meat!  After that Elder Scovel and I took a 30 minute bike ride up to the mountains to meet with Lu mama.  She was the one took us to lunch and she felt bad that she only fed us meat.  She wanted us to eat healthy as well. She invited us to her house in the mountains.  She has a farm and so we helped her farm for a little bit!  It was super fun!  Then she gave us a bunch of vegetables so that we can become healthy haha!  We rode our bikes back to SanXia and met with this family we met through English Class.  We taught them the first lesson which went really well!!  The highlight of that lesson though was their dog!  It is the cutest dog in the world and it reminded me of my dog Max!  He was just a super cute dog that just wanted to play the whole time!

Saturday Dec. 5, 2015:

Today we experienced an absolute miracle!  Everyday is a miracle! I want everyone to remember that everyday is a gift from God and we should cherish it, but today was a more miraculous miracle!  We were walking to the house of a less actives member, when all of a sudden a car pulls up in front of us.  He asks us where we are going and we tell him to meet with a friend.  He tells us that he'll give us a ride!  I know in America, this would be a total "STRANGER DANGER" kind of a thing, but in Taiwan it is totally normal to give random people rides and to walk into stranger's houses.  So, we hopped into his car and we start talking to him.  It turns out that this man's best friend had died the previous day.  He was telling us that he felt like giving service and helping others today.  He told us that he could tell, just by looking at us, that we are good people.  He then starting talking about how he doesn't understand why there is so much animosity between other religions in the world.  We are all children of God.  It doesn't matter if we are black, yellow, or white!  It doesn't matter if we are Christian, Buddhist, or Hindu.  We are all children of God and we need to love each other for who we are, not for who we aren't.  Elder Scovel and I started telling him that he was exactly right and that God loves us all.  We ended saying thank you friend.  He looked at us and said, "First I let you into my car.  We are now friends.  Then you treated me with respect.  We are now best friends.  Lastly you comforted me when I needed comfort.  Now we are family."  This guy is so awesome!  Afterwards, I looked at Elder Scovel and said, "I thought we were supposed to find people?  What happens when they find us?"  He simply replied, "That's when miracles happen!"

This week was an amazing week!  I've been trying to enjoy everyday and treat it as a gift from God.  A gift for us to forget what happened to us yesterday and to become better today.  Stop worrying about what happened to us in the past.  God's greatest gift for us is the Atonement.  It allows us to overcome what happened to us in the past and to become better in the future.  Like the investigator above said, love one another.  We are all family.  If a man in Taiwan can recognize this, then I know everyone can!  I invite everyone to start enjoying everyday.  Don't look at the negative of what didn't happen, but rather what did happen, and possibly why it happened. Then think about love because in life love is key.  Love one another and enjoy one another because in the end we are all family.  Treat anybody as you would family.  I love you all so very much!!!  Thank you for always supporting me.  It's almost Christmas time!  Time to start preparing for the festivities, but at the same time, don't forget the real purpose of Christmas....Christ.

 我愛你們(I love you all)!!

 一個大家庭(One Big Family)!

Elder Coletti

田甜圈長老

PRO: Pray.Read.Obey

This week was a blast! Each week seems to get better and better here in Taiwan!

Tuesday Nov. 24, 2015:  

 Elder Stevensen, the new member of the Quorum of the Twelve, came to Taiwan and talked to all of the missionaries!  He was here in Taiwan to pick up his son who is serving in Taizhong and is just about done with his mission.  While he is was here, he was able to talk to us, which was AWESOME!  The thing that stuck out the most to me from his talk was about becoming a PRO disciple of God.  In order to become a PRO we need to Pray, Read, and Obey.  It is as simple as that and miracles can happen.  I have been focusing on this principal all week and I can already tell a huge difference!  Pray and put all of your trust in the Lord.  Only then can miracles really happen.  Read in order to more fully understand the gospel of Christ and how we can all apply it to our lives.  Obey in order to truly receive blessings.  God gives us laws/commandments in order to bless us.  If only we will obey, we will be blessed. It really is as simple as that.

Wednesday Nov. 25, 2015:

Funny story!  It was absolutely pouring rain this day!  It was probably the most it has rained since I have been in Taiwan. Elder Scovel and I were biking to the English class we teach, when all of a sudden, Elder Scovel slows down.  So just instinctively, I squeeze the front brakes on my bike.  And...well.... I got tossed! Hahaha:)  The  bike slipped on the sidewalk, and I flew forward.  I fell on to the wet pavement and ended up sliding like 5 yards!  I put my hands in the air so I wouldn't get scratched up or anything.  I slid right in front of Elder Scovel's bike and he shouts, "SAFE!!"  Super funny!  No harm or injury but I felt like Superman for a second and it was super fun! Haha

Thursday Nov. 26, 2015:  

Happy Thanksgiving!  No turkey for us here in Taiwan.  To celebrate thanksgiving, the SanXia Elders decided to go to Shabu Shabu which is basically an all you can eat hot pot place!  Super tasty!  I think I have fallen in love with hot pot.  They are my best friend nowadays.;)

Friday Nov. 27, 2015: 

Elder Brandley and I went to the temple today to help out with baptism's for the dead!  It was so awesome! We began with confirmations. They didn't have pinyin and we couldn't read all of the Chinese characters, so we ended up doing the confirmation in English which was pretty cool for the Taiwanese people we were confirming!  After confirmations, I went and helped in the baptistery.  I helped the person who slides down the names for the person preforming the baptisms to read. I would check off the each name after they were baptized.  It was crazy!  The person who asked me to help him out just starting whisper shouting (not really) at me in Chinese and I totally panicked! It was quite humorous, but  I ended up figuring it out and didn't ruin anybody's salvation.;)

Sunday Nov. 29, 2015:  

Church is so awesome!  The members are just amazing here and I love them. There is this one member whose name is Lu mama.  She pulled out her phone and got onto Facebook.  She asked me who my mom was and so I told her.  Then she started messaging her!  She started telling me to pose for pictures that she could send to my mom.  I was just laughing this whole time!  She is super funny!    On our way back from church, Elder Scovel and I were sitting on the bus.  All of a sudden there came this lady.  She was probably drunk, and Elder Scovel told me he has seen her before and said that she is a little bit crazy.  The entire 30 minute bus ride she was standing right next to me staring at Elder Scovel.  She was standing really close and encroaching into my personal space.  She was touching me this whole time! She all of a sudden says that she was going to go now, and then she just fell on me!  No bus bump or anything...weird.  I helped her up and then helped/ pushed her off of me in a gentle manner.  She left and Elder Scovel asked me if she just fell on me.  And I simply responded, "Wouldn't be the first time someone fell for me.";) Hahaha

I love you all so much!  There are lots or reasons and motivations behind why I want to serve a mission, but every single one of you is a big reason behind why I am serving. You all motivate me to be a better person and to share the love I have for the gospel. I hope that everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving full of turkey, thanks, and more turkey;)  My challenge this week refers back to Elder Stevensen's talk.   I want everyone to become a PRO disciple of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Think about if you are doing what it takes to become a PRO.  Continue to Pray, Read, and Obey, and I promise you will all be blessed!  Thank you all for the kind words!  

你們都是真棒!  我愛你們!

Elder Coletti

田甜圈長老