Poquoson!

Hey Mom!

Poquoson is a great area! Geographically it is a lot smaller than my last one, but we still have a car! Well half the time. Every other week we have it, and then the sisters that are in the ward take it the other weeks. So we are literally half car half bike! It makes going to church difficult sometimes because we aren't allowed to ride in the car with the sisters, so the members have to drive us! But they love to do that so that's really nice of them. The area is DEFINITELY a lot wealthier than my last one. It makes finding new investigators a lot harder. But we are working on it! The ward is HUGE! It's twice the size of my last ward! Granted 60% of the ward is active military in the air force. The ward takes in the Langley Air Force base, but we are not allowed to proselyte there. We can't even get on without a member to drive us on! I have decided that if you are in the Poquoson ward you either are stationed here for the Air Force, or you were born and raised here. No one moves to Poquoson! It's pretty southern, and way more country than Newport News. I would say it's like the Washougal equivalent to Vancouver, but not quite. 

The Apartment that I am in now is SOOOOOOOOO much nicer than the last one I was in. The last one was super sketchy! This one is bigger, and the complex is really nice! There are tennis courts and an outdoor basketball court, so we go over there every morning when we work out. 

Did I  not really say much about Elder Nutter? Well he's a good missionary, hard-working. He's from a small town called Salina, Utah, which is an hour south of Manti. He's into theatre and doesn't really like athletics. He's pretty fun to be around and we got along great! Most of the time. 

Elder Hailstone is great. He has been out 4 and a half months, and I am his second companion. Only one more transfer than me! He is from Cedar City, Utah. He likes to sing, and play sports, but he really likes to bake! His family owned a pizza shop in Hurricane, Utah and he worked there. He has made a couple loaves of bread, and I'm not going to lie they are really good! As for missionary work, he's a great missionary. He really wants to be the best he can be. He does love to talk though so sometimes the lessons can get really sidetracked... But we're working on it! We are still learning definitely, and something that I have definitely come to realize is that, it is okay to make mistakes. As long as we try to get better from them. I kinda get mad at myself sometimes when I mess up, but now that we're both so new it makes me have to set an example for how we can learn from our mistakes. We are really excited to work together. 

Elder Hailstone and Elder Collier

That is so crazy that Sister Connell served here! Does she have any referrals for me?? haha!

This sounds like it's going to be a crazy week! I hope it all goes well. December is always a crazy month especially with choir. I hope the concerts go well! I am definitely going to miss performing at the grotto, and I wish I could sing Christ the Apple Tree this year. But I can when I get back. You'll be able to do well! 

National ACDA! I think you have a good shot. You'd use my Junior and Senior year and then this year for the recordings right? There are definitely great recordings that you can use from those years. 

I'm glad Zach and Skyla have gotten settled in. I really hope that they can figure out everything that is wrong. I'm praying for them! 

This week we didn't have a lot of lessons, actually only 4. 2 were with the same family however! The wife is a less active member and the husband is an investigator we are teaching. I am really excited to work with them. They are such a nice family, and she really wants to start coming back to church. And he loves meeting with us! We were able to introduce the Book of Mormon to him, and he read in between our two visits! I was so excited because no one I talk to ever keeps their commitments! He read and really liked it, and then we went over the Plan of Salvation with him. We invited him to continue to pray about what he is reading and hopefully we can get him with a baptismal date this week. 

Sunday was super cool to be in church! This ward actually has a Ward Mission Leader, and let me tell you, that is super nice to have. I didn't have one in my last ward! The Ward is so big though. We also stayed for ward choir after and that was pretty fun. There were a ton of basses, like 10 or 12, and only 2 tenors so I sang tenor. I was told I have a beautiful tenor voice...... haha! Also we had dinner with a family in the ward named the Petersons, and he said he had family that lived in Vancouver but moved to Richland. Do we know any Strongs?

I am super excited to work in this ward, and to be here during this Christmas season. If you haven't seen it yet, the church put out what's called the Christmas Initiative, with a really cool video! Christmas.mormon.org is the website and it is a great way to bring the Spirit of Christmas back into Christmas! And we can all Discover Why a Savior was born! 

The Newport News stake also did this super cool thing called the Night in Bethlehem! It was like the Nativity thing that the Vancouver stakes used to do! They had Nativities set up in the gym, and had groups come and perform in the chapel. And outside they had kids dressed up in a big live nativity with real animals! We got to be there and were able to talk with a lot of people in the area. 

Wow I have a lot to say this week... Also on Friday we are having a mission Christmas Conference! And I am singing at it! I'm really excited. I'm singing "I heard the Bells on Christmas Day" and Elder Weber is going to accompany me. We haven't had a lot of time to practice considering I got transferred, but we are going to make it work.

I don't have a set time for when we will make the Call on Christmas, but we can use Skype or Face time, I don't know which one yet though. I am going to need to talk with the family having us over that night! If we have dinner around 5, maybe I make the call around 6, which would be about 3:00 for you guys! Those are tentative plans though so I will let you know next week!

My ponderizing scripture for this week is Alma 57:21 "Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them."

I know that as I continue to be obedient that the blessings will come. I just have to keep working hard. 

Thank you for all your love and support! I love you so much and I can't wait to hear from you next week. You are doing awesome Mom. Thank you for you selections from your lessons every week too, they are great. 

Good luck this week! Let me know how everything goes. 

I love you!

Elder Collier