New Area: DanShui/Tamsui New Companion: Elder Francis

Hello!  Lots of changes going on again. I have been transferred to DanShui/Tamsui which is a part of Taipei.  DanShui is the most north you can go in Taiwan. 

 We have the ocean in our area, in fact everywhere you look you can see the ocean and it is absolutely gorgeous.  It is the ocean area between China and Taiwan.  We have a GIANT area.  It is probably the biggest area I have had so far.  Our area includes BaLi, DanShui, ShiMen, JingShan, and some other place by there within the Tamsui District.  Lots of biking!

We are always biking on the coast of the ocean and Taiwan.  It is really pretty!  DanShui is also a big tourist attraction.  Lots of people come here because it is close to the ocean and because it has lots of cool shops.

My new companion is an Elder by the name of Elder Francis.  He has been on his mission for nearly 2 years and will be going home in July (in 2 transfers:12 weeks).  I am super excited to have the opportunity to learn from a seasoned veteran in the mission field!  Elder Francis is an EXTRAORDINARY teacher and I am super excited to learn his secrets;)

This area is beaming with the Spirit.  I am super excited to serve here and to serve with Elder Francis!  Love you all!  Nothing to crazy happened.  Lots of change and so I am still adjusting.

Elder Coletti

Anticipating a Transfer

Elder Coletti's Letter 04/18/2016:

Hello everybody! I had a great week!   We met with a lot of investigators and they have really started to take the next step in their conversion.  I learned a really cool lesson this week about agency.  We  have been blessed with the ability to choose.....free agency.  We can choose right, or we can choose wrong.  We met with a lot of investigators that have recently decided to choose the right!  Their decision to choose the right has  taught me a very valuable lesson about missionary work.  We are called to "harvest the field of white".  The field of WHITE, not to harvest the field of brown.  We are called to find the prepared, and the main way to discern that is by commitments.  If they are keeping their commitments they are progressing.  We want to teach repentance and baptize converts.  By investigators keeping their commitments, they are repenting, and they are converting themselves to the Lord.

Big news:  Elder Alder got a call from the APs last night and was told that he will be training this next transfer.  I'm so excited for Elder Alder!  He is going to be an awesome "daddy"!;)  However, what this means for me is that I will be transferring again:)   I won't know any details until tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow morning we will be told where the Lord wants me to serve and who will be my new companion. I'm not worried.  I will go wherever the Lord sends me and work with who ever he wants me to serve with. The Lord is in charge.  I'm super excited for the future!

Thank you all for the love and support!  I want to invite everyone to keep obeying all of the commandments of our father in heaven.  Keep praying and reading the Book of Mormon everyday.  If you will keep doing this you will become a more converted disciple of God.  Feast daily upon the word!

I love you all!

Elder Coletti

Happy Birthday Elder Coletti!

Elder Coletti's Letter this week:

Happy Birthday Elder Coletti!

This week was full of meetings.  We had Zone Meeting, Interviews with President Jergensen, and then Conference Saturday and Sunday. We watched Conference a week later because it had to be translated into Chinese. Conference was super good this year!  I really enjoyed Elder Holland's talk about how we will be blessed, even when we fail, as long as we tried our best.  His words always have so much weight on my heart.

I read something this week called "The Riccardi Letter" and it was absolutely unbelievable.  It is about a trainee's perspective being trained by an Elder Riccardi.  Elder Riccardi was an Italian who was converted only two years previously.  It gives really good perspective on what a mission is like, and how success is measured for a missionary.

Thank you all for the support!  I love you all so much.  Keep trying to improve.  But when you fail, know that you are already being blessed!  Just trust and rely on God!

Love you!

Elder Coletti

It's never too late to change

Elder Coletti's Group Letter 04/02/2016

This week was amazing. I could feel the hand of the Lord in so many things this week. It really is amazing how applicable the gospel is.  No matter who you are or what challenges you face in life, the gospel will help! We have a Less Active (LA) family that we have been working with recently.  I don't what happened, but the oldest son (family of 4, with 2 sons) has had a complete change of heart. Elder Alder was telling me that before I got there, he was totally Anti-Mormon, He didn't want anything to do with the church. This week something changed, something  was so much different! He helped us Peike (a Peike is a lesson with a member present) with countless lessons, half of which we didn't even asked him too! He then convinced his girlfriend to start taking lessons with us so she can learn more about the gospel. The Lord works through people in so many ways.

A phrase that I've noticed myself saying a lot lately is: "It's never too late to change." I don't know why, but it has popped in my head countless times this week in teaching situations. This LA (forgot to say his name, it's CaoFang) has changed so much, and it has taught me that it's true. This gospel is always here for you, no matter where you are. It truly is never too late to change.  CaoFang went from Anti-Mormon to "Let's make everyone a Mormon" within a month.

My grandpa has a quote that he would tell me all the time. It's "if you always do what you've always done, you'll never become what you could've been." This quote has been really driving me lately. I don't always want to do what I've always done.  I want to be better and do better.

This week truly was amazing! Elder Alder is an awesome missionary and has taught me so much about how to be an obedient and effective missionary. We are both super excited with this last week's efforts and excited for the coming weeks!

I want to thank everyone for being so awesome!  For this week, I want to invite everyone to think of the quote my Grandpa has always said to me: "If you always do what you've always done, you'll never become what you could have been."  We can apply it to our lives  The point of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to allow us to become better.  To reach our full potential.  But "if you keep doing the things we've always done", you won't grow.  You won't progress.  We can always try to be better and to do better.  It's never too late for change.  Change is a good thing!  Without change, we wouldn't be able to "become what we could've been."  Follow the example that CaoFang has set for us.  He was in the dark, but he has found the light and it has been a beautiful thing to watch!

Cool scripture:  1 Nephi 17: 13 which says, "And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led."

We are all going to have our personal wilderness and  it may seem like we are lost.  It may seem like we don't know where to go sometimes.  But, if we will follow the Saviors teaching and follow his commandments, he will show us the light that will lead us to our promised land.  We all have our personal promised lands, and it is exclusively ours as long as we are willing to change, as long as we are willing to try to be better and do better.  We can become what God intended us to be.

Have a wonderful week!  Remember:  It's never too late to change!

Elder Coletti

Pride

Elder Coletti's Group Letter 03/27/2016

It is crazy how God works sometimes. This week had been a  little bit of a struggle for me with personal problems, etc. I seemed to be really frustrated with everyone around me for no good reason. I had no idea why I was mad, I just was. On Sunday night, March 27, it finally hit me what was wrong. My pride had gotten in the way. I was being way too arrogant with my companion, and the area. A good portion of the week, I felt like people were doing me wrong, when all along I was the one in the wrong. Elder Alder and I were in a lesson with a member, and we started talking about our conversion stories. I was born in the church, and so I started talking about my Grandparent's (on the mom's side) and my Father's conversion story, because they are all converts to the church. As I was telling their story, the Spirit completely overwhelmed me! Such big sacrifices were made for the better of our family.  After sharing their conversion story, that was when the Spirit testified to me the truth of this church.  It helped me realize how arrogant I was being. How I wasn't serving with the right intentions.  I had been serving with a little bit more selfish intentions honestly.  It also helped me realize how lucky I am that I didn't have to go searching too far to find the truth. I went back to the apartment and started to read my family's conversion stories that they had sent with me when I first left on my mission. I hadn't read them in a while. My goodness, they hit me hard!  I read about how my Grandma fought for her life and ended up finding the truth through it.  How my Grandpa sacrificed his former life in order to support his family in a better situation.  How two of my Uncle's served missions and how it has influenced and blessed their entire families.  How my Father was in the dark, but found the light.  How my Mother's example raised my family beyond our time on earth.  These are amazing conversion stories and yet I feel as if I didn't really know them personally, nor the impact they had on me!  After reading all of these stories, I know without a doubt that this church was true.  There is no way that these stories are just random events!  They all happened for a specific reason, and that is because our Heavenly Father has the perfect plan for each and every one of us.  We may not realize it at times, but he knows us better than anyone.  I learned a valuable lesson about the Spirit of God, and how it works in strange ways. My initial concern was that I was upset, and I didn't know why. Within a 30 minute window, I was able to not only resolve my pride, but I was able to distinguish that I had a deeper concern than I initially had thought I had.  I became humbled and learned an extremely valuable lesson about families,the impact of a mission, and that God loves us so much. We all have weaknesses, but through God's mercy, he exposes our weaknesses in order for them to become our strengths.  And through our strengths, God can make miracles happen.  I want everyone to learn about their own families personal conversion stories.  Learn about how it has impacted you personally and affected where you are today.  Without your families sacrifices, where would you be today?  Would you be as blessed?  Would you be as happy?  I know for a fact I wouldn't!  God has blessed me beyond my realization!  God puts us on these crazy journeys and in specific situations to help us gain our own personal testimony.  But through our own personal testimony building experiences, we can help build someone else's testimony.  Never be afraid to share your testimony with someone.

I love you all so much!  Have a wonderful week!

Elder Coletti