Hey Mom!

I'm doing great! Man, Sammy was ordained an Elder. That is so cool. It's times like this that remind you that religion is reality. It's really easy to get distracted with things in this world, but Sammy just got made an Elder, and that's a pretty big thing! It makes you realize how important the Gospel of Jesus Christ really is. I didn't know it myself I don't think until on my mission. But now I just love being able to tell others about it, because it is real! And i know that it is true. Please tell me when he gets his call! I'm seriously so excited to know where he is getting assigned to labor. 

I had no idea that Jill was leaving on a mission! that's pretty cool! And That's crazy that Taylor Bradford came home because she left like a week after I did... So weird! Sammy is seriously going to be such a good missionary. If I could do it this long, he's going to have no problem at all.

I'm glad that Choir tour ended up being super fun! That was always one of the highlights of the year for me. That's so weird that no Colliers will be on those tours anymore though! 

When Quentin L. Cook came to our mission we all got to shake hands with him which was super cool! We only had two hours with him cause he had a busy day, but it was super cool. 

This week was a pretty good week! We found 3 new investigators that we are pretty excited about! That was definitely the highlight. Most of the people we have found have been through tracting which is something we're trying to fix... (every time we get a referral from the ward it goes to the other Elders... its' been kinda funny haha!) but those investigators we found are pretty solid! One of them are a Mother and her daughter, and the mother actually grew up in a Part-member family! It was pretty cool that we found her! All her Mom's family are members of the church, and she knew exactly who we were when she opened the door! It took a few weeks to have lesson, but we had one and it was a GREAT lesson. She felt the Spirit for sure. It was heartbreaking when she couldn't make it to church though! It's alright. She'll get there. I'm just happy that the work is starting to pick up more, because now we can have the ward come with us to lessons! I love serving here in New Bern. 

I can't think of much else going on! We haven't been able to have a lesson with that family we taught in a while... They've been super busy. But we're trying! And our investigator that came to Stake conference was super busy all this week too. But at least we have investigators! haha! I'm so glad that work is paying off. I mean, it was already, but I'm really starting to see the work here progress a ton. 

My ponderizing scripture this week is Alma 29:1. "O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a  voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!" I put myself into this verse every time I read it. I feel just as Alma did! I want to just share this message with everyone I can because I KNOW for sure that Jesus Christ lives and that the Book of Mormon is true. And that means that This church is true. Everything about it. This really is the work of the Lord. 

Thank you so much Mom! You sound like you are doing great as always. I hope you have a great week this week. I love you so much! 

Elder Collier

We Had An Apostle Come to Our Mission!

Hey Mom!

This week was super good! The weather has been great. A little hot because of the humidity and being on bikes but it's been totally worth it. It doesn't surprise me that we're getting thunderstorms though! They come and go a lot. I'm sorry it's been raining! Sometimes I enjoy when it starts raining I really enjoy it because it reminds me of home haha! But it's so much easier to proselyte in the sun because people are just outside. 

I hope things get easier with what's going on with Grandma. I'm sorry that that is happening. I still am praying every night for her.

This week was super fun though because we had a Mission Conference on Saturday! It was the first time since I've been on my mission that the entire mission gathered in one location for a meeting. We had it because Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the 12 came to speak to us! It was honestly such a humbling experience. I can say I know for certain now that he is an Apostle of Jesus Christ. He and his wife both addressed us and they just answered so many questions that I had that I came to the meeting with. Then afterward it was just super cool because we were able to have lunch with the entire mission and I was able to see a ton of my old companions and other missionary friends that I've made. It was just such a sweet experience. We all met up in Virginia Beach. It was so fun! And it was even more special because it was Easter Weekend. 

Then the next day we had Stake Conference and the whole stake met here in New Bern at a large convention center. A member of the Seventy came and presided at that meeting and that was super cool as well. It was a pretty good meeting. But super cool, WE HAD AN INVESTIGATOR AT STAKE CONFERENCE. It has been so long since we've had an investigator at church, and Ashley came! It was super cool to help her get there. She really liked it! she had a few questions, but we're going to help her for sure. We think she really wants to be apart of a church. 

I can't think of anything else really out of the ordinary that happened this week. I've just been so tired the past few days... That's just something I've gotten used to. We're still just out and about trying to find new investigators. 

My ponderizing scripture this week is Luke 24:46-47 and it's something I learned from Elder Cook, "And said unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Of all the things that the risen Savior could have taught the disciples after His Resurrection, in each Gospel, and in the beginning of the book of Acts, He tells them to go forth and preach the gospel. So Missionary work was something that is super important to the Savior. And I get the chance every day to testify of Him! That He broke the bands of death, and is the keeper of the Gate of sin. The reality of this calling becomes more and more real every day I'm here. I love it!

I'm so excited for Sammy to get his call!! That is going to be awesome to find out where he's going. My official guess is my mission! It's going to happen! 

But anyway things are going really great out here. I love it so much. Thank you for all that you do! I hope you have a great time in Seattle this week on tour! 

I love you so much mom. Have a great week this week!

Love you,

Elder Collier

Another Week Down!

Hey Mom!

My week was pretty good this week! It was a little slower because we had to go to Portsmouth one day, and then plan and run our Zone Meeting a few days later, but it ended up being really great. I love getting the chance to uplift and serve the missionaries in the Zone. It's the best feeling in the world to see them just taking notes because they are really listening to what the Spirit is telling them. 

I have had so many answers to prayers this week it has been so cool. When you sincerely ask God, and you really study it out in your mind and do your part, your prayer is answered. And sometimes, it's not and that just means He trusts us to make the decision! But I've decided to make a conscious decision to follow Elder Rasband's counsel and to act on the first prompting that you get. But it's really cool because sometimes the thoughts and feelings that you get do not feel like promptings, but then when you act on it (a lot of times in faith) you can see the immediate fruit from it! Like the other day, we were biking down the street, and a dog started to follow us, and after two intersections in the neighborhood I thought it would be a good idea to turn around a lead it back to where it came from! So we turned around, and the owner called it back, and we talked to him and found out that he works for a member of the church and he talks to him all the time about the church!! It was pretty crazy. The man wasn't interested in meeting with us, but we just told him to talk to us boss and tell him that he met us. And even though I was sad that he wasn't interested, I knew that I acted on a prompting! So act on promptings, even the little ones!

We started to teach a family this week!!! That was another answer to prayer. We are excited about them. They are a young couple and have 4 kids under 8. we had a pretty good lesson with them last time, and we hope to continue to help them. It was just so cool to see the Spirit work on them in that lesson. And we have found a few other potential family's as well. Slowly but surely the work is going to progress in this area. But we really think that this is in part to praying with Real intent, and saving our miles by biking in different parts of our area!

I feel like that's about it for this week... There wasn't a lot that I can remember off the top of my head. But it sounds like y'all had a fun Spring Break and I'm happy for ya! I'm glad that it was a fun trip. 

My ponderizing scripture is Mosiah 16:9 getting ready for Easter this upcoming Sunday, "He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death." I talked about the Prince of Peace video last week, but this is what I know to be true! Jesus Christ is the light and life of the world, and He was resurrected so that there will be no more death. We will all live again after this life. 

Thank you so much for all that you do Mom! I really do love you and appreciate all that you do for me. And I absolutely love being here. 

I hope you have a great week this week, and hopefully I will write more this next week as well! I love you! 

Elder Collier

General Conference and #princeofpeace

Hey Mom!

Yeah I got the Debit cards you sent! The first one worked so I'm not sure why they sent another one... Am I good to cut that one up too? 

I'm super happy to stay in New Bern! Transfers are a hassle sometimes haha! I'm just glad I get to stay with Elder Shill and in this zone. Most of our zone stayed the same too so that's super good because we get to keep working with them all! 

General Conference was SO GOOD this time! I mean, it's really good every time, but there were just so many good talks this time around. Some of my favorites were by Elder Rasband, and a member of the Seventy, Elder Palmer gave a great one that I just loved. And Elder Cook's talk was super good too! But there were a ton of other really good ones too. I got so many answers to questions. But what Elder Rasband said about acting on the first prompting has really stuck with me and I definitely need to do that better! What were some of your favorite talks?

I'm guess that Harrison and Jenni will have a boy! 

And that's so cool that Carson got his mission call! 

So this week was pretty good. I'm glad that Elder Shill and I are staying together because we just seem to work really together. I'm a little upset that we aren't really teaching anyone at all because I feel like we would work super well in those lessons, but that's okay! Finding I guess is something that I need to work on right now because we have had very few investigators. 

On thursday we had some extra miles left in the month so we just drove around and contacted everyone that we had met to invite them to watch General Conference! I'm not sure how much good it did, but it was fun to just testify of living Apostles and a living Prophet on the Earth! We seriously have the greatest message in the entire world. It's all true!

Friday was a super tough day but I had a super cool experience that I want to share. We were having a super tough day on Friday. Appointment after appointment fell though, and all throughout the week up until friday had been the same. I was feeling super discouraged... We had just gotten dropped by the investigators that we found that we thought were super solid and that was just heartbreaking. I feel like I truly love these people so it just pains me to see them no longer interested in the Gospel. Because I just KNOW how much it will help them. But anyway, all through out that day people weren't interested, appointments fell through, and people telling us to not come back. Elder Shill and I decided to go watch the new Easter video that came out (which if you haven't watched it yet, please watch it because it's very good). It really just made me appreciate all that the Savior did for us. Elder Shill said that we needed to tell everyone about it, so we went to the downtown of New Bern and it was really busy on a Friday night at about 8! We were able to talk to a lot of people. But in my head, I really just didn't want to do it, because with all the rejection we had faced I was honestly kinda scared which definitely isn't like me anymore. (now after President Uchtdorf's talk I know where those feelings were coming from). But even through out the whole hour we were there, Elder Shill would start a conversation and people would be happy and take the card, and I would try to talk with someone and they wouldn't be interested and would tell us to go away. It was getting to me pretty bad! But I knew we needed to stay there. So I just kept trying. And finally at about 8:50, I tried one more time (even though every other person had rejected) and they were SUPER cool. We started talking and we found out that they had actually been investigators a few months ago and the missionaries stopped going by! It was definitely a blessing of perseverance. Now I know for sure that Diligence Brings blessings. It was super cool! And if you haven't seen the new video please go watch it! https://www.mormon.org 

My ponderizing scripture this week goes along with General Conference! It's D&C 1:38 "What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and thought he heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." I know that we can receive revelation through the inspiring messages in General Conference! 

But I think that's about it for this week! We are still trying to find new investigators... so we're pressing forward! I'm just grateful I know whom I serve. Jesus Christ stands at the head of this Church with Living Prophets and Apostles on the earth today. Jesus Christ is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace. 

I love you so much mom! I hope you enjoy your time in Utah with everyone! Have a fantastic week this week! Also thank you for letting me know about Grandma. She is in my prayers every night, along with all of y'all. 

The church is true!

I love you...

Elder Collier