Sister Jiang was BAPTIZED!!!

I have some very special news!  江明玥(Jiang Ming Yue) was BAPTIZED!!!  She was so stinking happy.  She was shining like a lightbulb.  Here is a brief conversion story: 

  

 江明玥 (Jiang Ming Yue) had been meeting with the missionaries until she stopped meeting with them or the missionaries had dropped her. While she was in LuZhou, the missionaries were biking by her and she shouted "Jesus loves you!" The missionaries stopped and started to talk to her.  After meeting with the LuZhou missionaries for awhile she decided to suddenly move to BaLi for her job.  So she moved to BaLi and that was when she was referred to Elder Francis and myself. She had been taught all of the lessons before, but we wanted to teach them to get again. It had been along time since she first heard them. We started teaching her and she started coming to church EVERY week! She was great and and she wasn't struggling with anything. But, all of a sudden during a lesson with her, she gets a phone call saying she is fired! The next day she gets a new job in Tianmu and will be working from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. This made it impossible for us to be able to meet with her. We were unable to see her for 10 days straight and we were only able to communicate with her through phone calls. Elder Francis and I were really worried about her and we didn't know what we could do to help her come back to church and receive all of the missionary lessons in preparation for baptism. Elder Francis and I prayed for her and asked the Lord for help. I decided to call her. She answered and told me that she had gotten a new job  and will now be working from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and has Sundays off! It was absolutely perfect for our schedule! She thanked us for never giving up on her and for helping her become this happy. The gospel has changed her and has helped her become a better person. She was able to have all of the missionary lessons and she is now a new member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I know that God was with us during her entire conversion process.  Heavenly Father won't ever give up on us and because of this we are able to change. God helped Sister Jiang find a new job and he helped her enter into his fold. Sister Jiang is so funny! We were a little nervous because she showed up 45 min. late for her confirmation. She was late because she wanted to pick up a cake. The bakery didn't open until 9 and it was 30 min. away. She came, she was baptized and it all worked out;)  After getting baptized she kept saying "I'm reborn! Hey! I'm so clean now, right? Today is my birthday! My new life!" Haha. She's adorable. The members did so well at fellowshipping her and she felt so welcome.

Conversion is real! It is never to late to return to our Heavenly Father, no matter how far away we are.

Elder Coletti

 

Beware of Pride and Father's Day

Elder Coletti's Letter 06/19/2016:

This week we had a really cool zone conference! One of the biggest things that I got from the lessons was being submissive.  We talked about pride, and how it is a poison that leads to all of the other sins in life.  Pride is something that we all have in some way or fashion, but it is something that we can avoid. As long as we are submissive and willing to change, pride can not control us.  As soon as we start caring more about WHO is right, rather than WHAT is right, that is when Satan wins.  If we remove competition, we remove pride.  Be submissive, and be willing to do what is right.  Don't get stuck in pride's wrath.  Love one another, just as Jesus has loved you, and you, and you!  Jesus loved everyone.  When you think about it:  Everything that we are prideful about is a gift from God.  All of our successes, all of our abilities, etc. is a gift that God has given us.  So instead of boasting for ourselves, boast in our Heavenly Father for he is all knowing, all powerful and all loving.  Be willing to change, and submit yourself to your Heavenly Father.  If we can do this, we can avoid Satan's temptation of pride.

 

Thank you for all of the support!  Happy Fathers day to all of you 帥(Shuai) fathers out there!  Just like our father above, our fathers here love us and support us.  Never forget the sacrifices that our fathers make for the benefit of our families!  Thank you Dad for all of the sacrifices that you have made for our family!  I realize now, more than ever, how well you raised me.  Love ya!

Tell your father how much you love them!  Not only your earthly father, but your father in Heaven as well!

Elder Coletti

田甜圈長老

The Dragon Boat Festival

Elder Coletti's Letter 06/12/2016:

This week was so much fun!  The Dragon Boat Festival was going on and it was INSANE, especially here in DanShui. DanShui is a big tourist town, so the festival was a crazy event. There were lots of street performances, lots of Buddhists worshipping idols, firecrackers going off every second, loud music, etc.  It was an experience I will never forget!

Elder Francis and I had lots of miracles happen in the work this week.  We experienced many tender mercies from the Lord.  We met a new investigator named Paul Andres.  He is from Guam and he is studying in Taiwan.  He had a rough background, and ended up leaving his family in Guam to join the Army in America.  He used to be Christian, but had fallen away. He is now starting to realize how he needs to change and find himself.  It truly is a testimony to me that God is preparing people in the world to hear the great plan of happiness.  There are times that we face trials, and we are lost in the darkness.  But as soon as we starting noticing the hand of God in our life, we can unlock the gate that is holding us back.  Paul was in the "Jail Cell" so to speak. He is now realizing that he needs to change, and through this realization, he is changing.

Always look for the hand of God in our lives.  If we look for the home run before the pitch comes in, we will strike out.  Take everything day by day, instant by instant.  By doing so, you will see how much God loves you, and how much he helps you.  Always remember that we are rough stones!  Kind of weird, I know, but think of it like this.  We are born as rough stones, with lots of imperfections.  But as the rain comes down, and as we are grinded down, we become a smooth rock.  Trials mold us and shape us into the people that we need to become, into the people that God NEEDS us to become.  There are so many rocks in the world, that all have different purposes.  Let God shape us, change us, help us.  Look for God's hand, pushing us along towards salvation.

Love you!

Elder Coletti

Staying with Elder Francis!

Hello!  This week was pretty good.  We had transfers and that always makes things crazy.  Crazy for other people that is because I get to stay in DanShui with Elder Francis!  I will be "killing" him which means that I will be his last companion before he goes home in 6 weeks. I'm super excited to be continuing to serve with Elder Francis.  We still have a lot of work to do here. 

This week we had success with some of our investigators. Sister Jiang was able to meet with us a couple times this week and she is getting closer and closer to baptism. We will start the commandment lessons with her this coming week and help her to obey all of them or help her overcome any problems she may have with them.  I learned a really cool lesson from her this week! In a prayer she said with us she thanked God and us for not giving up on her and for helping her through her problems. Previously she had a new job and it was impossible to meet with her. We prayed a lot and we were discussing what we could do to help her. Eventually she got a different job and we are now able to start meeting with her again! There were times when I was a little impatient with her. I felt like there wasn't much left that we could do to help her or that she wasn't doing her part to help herself. But, after she prayed with us and thanked Heavenly Father "for not giving up" on her, it changed my perspective. It really got me thinking about what it means to be converted to the gospel. Conversion can sometimes be a really hard path. Change is hard. As missionaries we think it's super easy to change at times. Sister Jiang has taught me that God will convert investigators according to their own time and his time.  We as missionaries, need to help them get on the boat, but we can't drag them on. They have to follow the Captain first.

There are times when we feel like God is not helping us or things just aren't going our way. Those are the times that God wants us to rely on him and to use the enabling power of the Atonement.  God gives us fear, disappointment and trials to help us learn and grow.  Without struggles and trials we cannot grow and improve.  God loves us more than anything! We just have to realize that, and understand that it is actually a blessing when God gives us trials.  The bigger the trial, the bigger the growth.  Sister Jiang helped me realize that this week.:)

I love you all! Thank you for all of the support!

Elder Coletti

Big Bugs and The 60 Year Celebration of Missionary Work in Taiwan

This had to be the craziest week of my life! So many miracles. So many disasters.  It was eventful, fun and a great week.

On Tuesday Elder Francis and I went finding and we ran into this guy outside of his office on a bike path.  We began talking to him and his coworker. Another one of their coworkers poked her head out and invited us to eat dinner with them.  So, we said yes, went inside and ate some dumplings with them!  We ended up talking to them about the gospel and they said that we could come back next week and teach them some more!  They were so sweet. They invited two white people that they just barely met into their home for dinner!  Taiwanese people are so nice!

Thursday was NUTS!  We were talking to a drunk lady and she could not take her eyes off of Elder Francis because he is just so handsome.  We ended up setting an appointment with her for another time, preferably when she is less drunk;) Twenty minutes later we ran into a man who had just been released from the hospital.  We talked to him for about 4 minutes when all of a sudden he started shouting and fell to the ground.  In the process, he knocked his head on the ground and started to bleed from a cut on his head.  He began having a seizure in which his whole body was shaking and he was foaming from his mouth. We called the police and some other Taiwanese people came and helped. After we left the man that was having the seizure, we saw a GIANT flying beetle that started to chase one of our investigators. The beetle landed on her pants and Elder Francis started to hit the bug with his empty water bottle.  This day was so bizarre!

Saturday was a super sweet day.  There was a big celebration for 60 years of missionary work in Taiwan.  We were able to hear one of the first four missionaries in Taiwan speak, Elder Kitchens. When he left for his mission, he took a bus to California.  He then had a month long boat ride to Hong Kong.  He then waited for 7 months for his visa. After his visa came, him and the four other missionaries made it to Taiwan.  I can't imagine trying to do missionary work with absolutely NOTHING!  No members, no chapel, not even a Chinese Book of Mormon!  I am so grateful for all of the work that has already been done in Taiwan.  It's crazy to think that within 60 years the members in Taiwan went from 0 to 58000+.  I am so grateful for having the opportunity to continue the legacy that has been established here in Taiwan.

Thank you all for taking some time out of your day to read my emails!  I really appreciate it and I love hearing about everybody in the REAL world!;) I love you all!

Elder Coletti