TWO Baptisms and.....I have a son!

Elder Coletti's letter 08/29/2016

What an eventful week!  I love all of the changes that happen in the mission.  It truly does test you, and forces you to change, just like the Atonement;)

Me and "my son" Elder Moss (he's a BOSS!)

To start off, I have a new companion!  On Tue. the A.P.'s called and told me that I was going to be a trainer.  I'm sitting here with "my son" right now! His name is Elder Moss and he is a BOSS!;) He is 6'6 just like Elder Anderton! He has been in Taiwan for half a week. He is from Tucson, AZ and his birthday is April 1997.  I am only17 days older than he is.  He went to BYU for a year before serving his mission. He's a vey intelligent individual and picking up the language like a champ!  Love the kid!  I will be with him for the next 3 months in DanFeng.

This week we had two baptisms!  The first one was a Zhang Geng Ming (張耿鳴).  He was found by the other Elders in the District and taught by them.  He then moved into our area.  We finished the lessons with him and he was baptized!  Super cool.

The second one was Yi Guang Xiang (衣廣祥).  He is our Bishop's wife's father.  He is from China and is 80 years old!  He really wanted to be baptized for awhile but he lived in China which is off limits to missionaries.

These two Recent Converts are incredible!  Super strong testimonies and desires to follow Christ.

A little bit of a sad story.  We had another investigator preparing for baptism.  Her name is Wendy.  She was absolutely golden.  No problems and totally willing to obey every commandment.  She mentioned several times that she wanted to get baptized in this church because she knew we had the priesthood authority.  She was supposed to get baptized this last Saturday as well.  But the day of the baptismal service, she didn't show up.  We called her about 50 times but she didn't answer.  Later that day, we visited her.  She wouldn't let us into the house but talked to us over the microphone.  Her husband and his family are all in a different Christian church but they have now all passed away.  The night before her baptism, she had a dream in which her husband was in it, and he led her to a place that had all of her ancestors in there, almost waiting for her.  She interpreted that they didn't want her to get baptized, and that her joining this church would mean that she was leaving them.  Elder Lloyd and I thought about this dream, and we think it means that they are waiting for her to get baptized, so that they can all get baptized through temple work.  We need to find a time to meet with Wendy and help her find the truth.  Keep praying for her.

I was pretty upset about this.  I felt helpless.  I felt like I couldn't do anything to help her.  I didn't know what to do.  I was doubtful.  But on Sunday night we got a call from a Sister named Liya.  We met her a couple of weeks ago.  She seemed insane.  I can't give all of the details, but here a little.  She claimed that she was a Prophet.  She claimed she was the Judo Champ of Taiwan.  She claimed she was possessed by the devil.  As weird as she sounds, I kept getting this prompting that we needed to help her.  She needed the gospel in her life.  We gave her a blessing and commanded the evil spirit inside her to leave.  She seemed better, but we called President about her situation, and he said to leave her alone for a bit.  I still had this feeling that I needed to help her.  She then moved to GaoXiang and we lost contact with her.  I got a call this last Sunday saying that she is meeting with the missionaries in the other area and they are helping her get ready for baptisms in two weeks!  What the freak!  Change is real.  The Atonement is real.

I'm running out of time, but I know that change is real.  Don't ever think it is too late.  It is never too late to change.  Liya was an answer to my prayer.  I was really down about Wendy, but Liya brought me up.  Crazy Prophetess Liya brought me up.  I love you all!

Elder Coletti