Elder Colton

Elder Colton

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Elder Colton is Famous!!!

Look for Elder Colton from 1:49-2:15. He's pretty much a big deal now.
http://kutv.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_5522.shtml

Missionary Work is Not Just for Missionaries

Hola mi familia y mis amigos,

Just so everyone knows you can send me letters again.  My new address is:

429 N Wall Street,
Salt Lake City, UT 84103

I'll be staying the Utah Salt Lake City Mission and I'm still with my same companion, Elder Martinez from Tennessee.  On Thursday our new mission president and his wife, President and Sister Hansen, will arrive from the Missionary Training Center in Provo.  We're ready and excited for him to get here.  

Two exciting parts of the past week:
On Saturday, Hermano Martinez was baptized.  He is the last member of his family and all they talk about now is being sealed in the Temple as soon as he is ready.  Pictures will be coming in the future but I lost my memory card thing so not this week.

Second, (and this is directed mostly towards members of our church).
That broadcast was incredible.  It was world changing.  How often do we get the chance to hear four Apostles and the Prophet speak in the same gathering?  And what they said is so true, and we have a great example of that. 

Two weeks ago, Elder Martinez was walking though and apartment complex with another missionary and knocked on a door of a family who we knew were Hispanic.  The mom politely told us she wasn't interested so he left.  

Later that night I was in the same area and stopped to talk a family who we already knew who are members of our church.  The wife mentioned that she has just visited a Hispanic Family (the Vargas Family) downstairs with Sister Garbett, another women from our church.  And what do you know?...its the same family Elder Martinez had met.  Sister Garbett had met the mom of the family, Sandra,  as she was walking home from church.  They hit it off and starting talking about religion.  Sandra had been part of the Jehovah Witnesses but felt it was missing something so she and some of her kids stopped going.  

Sister Garbett invited her over for a lesson with us and you can imagine Elder Martinez surprise when he we realized it was the same woman.  

That is the difference between members helping missionaries, and missionaries helping members.  We, as missionaries, are bad at finding people to teach because people assume this is our "job" and they don't feel as comfortable inviting total strangers as they would feel with a friend.  And that makes sense.  Few people will trust two random 20ish year olds as much as they will trust a normal friend, who then in turns invites them to meet with missionaries.  So just start inviting. Invite people to church.  Invite them to Family Home Evening.  Invite them to meet with missionaries. Expect your friends and family to say "no." Most of them will. Make it easy for them to say "no."  If you do that, the ones that say "yes" will do so because they have genuine questions or truly want to seek after the truth and feel this is where they will find it.  


Love ya'll,
-Elder Colton

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

How to Quit Smoking. For Free.

Hola mi familia y mis amigos,

A wonderful, wonderful week.

But first, a little side-note.  For the next month or so I wouldn't send me any letters.  We're going to be moving into a new house and our mission office is also changing address, so I would just send anything as an email at brandon.colton@myldsmail.net.

Elder Endicott and I traveled up to Layton this past week for these two people: Jose and Susana.  

Jose and his wife met each other in a rather odd way: he was a mechanic fixing her car.  She went back after a week to find out why he hadn't called and one of the other mechanics told her he was sick.  She got his address and went out to get her keys.  When she got there he was in bed dying (not figuratively, but days away from death).  She knew he had no-one helping him so she sort of adopted him and took him in.  Then he never left :)  Then he got baptized three years later.  Now they are going to be married in the Temple in a year or so.  Woohoo.

Susana comes from a family of mostly members of our church (they all were baptized about 30 years ago).  But she smoked a pack a day since she was 17 so accepting the gospel and being baptized was never an option she felt she had (aka...this: http://mormon.org/commandments and click the "Word of Wisdom" tab). But her best friend, Hermana Camacho, invited her over for an english class and we happened to stop by at the same time.  We promised her in the name of Jesus Christ that through her faith, the priesthood power of God, and a stop-smoking lesson we teach, she would be able to quit.  So...in a week, she quit.  Forty-two years after her first cigarette, she quit for good.  For two months she hasn't touched a cigarette.  Her life has forever been changed. No more habits keeping her from being free.  (She nearly kissed us when she saw us arrive at the baptism).

This gospel is about changing people: good people into better people, and bad people into good people.  That is why I always want my friends and family to accept it and be baptized.  You're always welcome to say no (scout's honor it won't hurt my feelings).  But if you ever wonder why I want you to be baptized, it's because of that.  Because I know without a doubt it will make you happier and it will make your family happier. 

And believe it or not...they don't even pay us to say this type of stuff.  We pay to be out here with our own money (or that of family or friends).  We do it because we love it.  We do it because its true.  I do it because I personally know its true and comes of God and because I love Christ much.  He is our Savior and all He and Heavenly Father (aka...God) want to do it bless us.  They have no desire except to bless us and help us return to them because they love us so much (aka...charity).  

Love ya'll,
-Elder Colton

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

"The Gospel is about Serving and Helping"


Hola mi familia y mis amigos,
 
Right now we are struggling to find new people to teach.  We've had some great experiences recently, but nothing that has led to new people to teach.  We're going to focus this week on serving the members of the branch (congregation) and help them recognize that the Gospel is about serving and helping your friends and family grow their faith and finding more happiness in their life.
 
Please pray that we will find new people to share this Gospel with.
 
Love ya'll,
-Elder Colton

Friday, June 7, 2013

Busy with the Work

Hola mi familia y mis amigos,

Well, a lot has happened in the past week.  But unfortunately for you all, I spent most of my time emailing my family and other people this week so I have no time left.  Next week you'll hopefully get more.

Love ya'll,
-Elder Colton

Monday, June 3, 2013

"The Church is True"

Hola mi familia y mis amigos,

Well...quite a bit has changed over the past week.  Last week my mission president called and said we were getting a new missionaries from the MTC (Missionary Training Center) a few weeks early and that I would be training him.  His name is Elder Martinez and he's from Nashville, Tennessee. My old companion, Elder Andrus, was moved to a new area.  

And Elder Martinez had a great experience to start off his mission, because on Saturday, Elizeth was baptized.  I didn't really meet her during my first two weeks here, but she has been going to church for the past few weeks and had made so many changes in her life.  During her preparation interview, she explained that she used to live quite a crazy life and in her own words, used to always "behave bad."  She's now a single mom with three boys (2,4, and 6).  Each of the three should be contained in a mental asylum because of how crazy they are (though if you ask my Mom I may have been worse when I was a kid).  

Elizeth explained that she always wanted to baptize her sons but things would always keep her from doing it (moving, getting sick, along with a billion other reasons).  It's rare to find three hispanic boys who aren't baptized Catholic way before they are they ages these three are now.  As she talked, she realized that she had been prepared for this moment many years ago.  That it wasn't something that just happened a few months ago, but rather something God has prepared her for her entire life (and beyond).  That she didn't baptize her sons because she deep down knew it was needed.  She now has hope for the future and wants to stick with this change.  Her best friend was baptized a few months ago and now the two of them are preparing to  go to the Temple for the first time together. 

The Church is true.  

Love ya'll,
-Elder Colton