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