Elder Coleman
It sounds like Mike had a really great time being around Elder Coleman during his visit to the mission. This was a great letter! I think it was the longest one he's ever sent home. It's still just a portion of what he sent, but it's good enough to include this much of a portion. Enjoy!!
Well, it all started last Sunday night when Elder Gary J. Coleman flew into Charlotte from Nashville, TN at about 5. We went to the Charlotte South Stake Center to get things all set up for the Fireside for Investigators and Recent Converts and Less-Actives which would be starting at 7:30. All the while we had a few members all hooked up with our investigators to make sure they got there ok and make sure they were all taken care of. We greeted Elder Coleman and President Hobbs at about 7 and talked with the both of them and their wives for a few minutes and then headed into the chapel. The Fireside was amazing, Elder Coleman threw down with the spirit and blasted everyone there with it. He described his experience as a young man with being an active Catholic and then going to Washington St for school and meeting a few Returned Missionaries and becoming friends. He slowly learned about the church and then he met a young lady who later became his wife. They talked about the church often and one thing always stood out to him, was that she had access to more prophets and more scripture than he did, and he wanted more. Finally someone gave him a Book of Mormon and marked 87 Verses in it for him, he read them, Moroni 10:3-5 being the last one and knelt in prayer knowing that if he came to know it was true he would have to give up the Catholic Church and be Baptized in the Church. He prayed and Felt the spirit confirm powerfully that the church was true. He then joined the church and quickly received the Aaronic Priesthood, and moved up in the offices thereof and Very soon was made an Elder. Soon after that the young lady that he was dating told him she would marry him if he took her to the temple, he didn't know anything about it but wanted to do it because he knew it was what the Lord wanted. So he took her to the Temple and Married her. Anyway, he told his whole story and layed it down on the people in attendance, our investigators loved it, and actually, one of our investigators wives wasn't interested in being taught by us, but halfway through the Fireside she showed up and she loved it and we are now going to teach the whole family, Their names are Cary and Tracy. Glenn came too and really felt impressed by the spirit. That was the strongest I’ve felt the spirit at a meeting in a long time. So that went way good for us. We were excited about it.
Monday Morning was an early start at 5:30. We had to wake up early and get going because it takes about 2 hours to get to Winston-Salem where the first Zone Conference was going to be. So we left about 6:30 to get there by 8:30 to make sure the Zone Leaders got it all set up right and so everything would be in order for when Elder Coleman got there with President Hobbs. One of the Sisters had a seizure the night before so she showed up all disoriented not knowing what was going on, so we were dealing with that, giving a blessing, and getting white boards set up and making sure all preparations were made. On top of that, I was conducting the meeting and only had a general outline of what the meeting was going to be, all I knew was that I would be turning the time over to Elder Coleman for instruction. So I was clueless and just kinda got up there and did my thing. Elder Coleman started out with having all the missionaries come up and meet him and shake hands. Then he had Sister Hobbs get up and speak to us which was good, then he had Sister Coleman do that as well and that was good as well. Then he got up and talked about what he had studied that morning, which was Alma 38. He went through the whole chapter and likened it to our mission and what we are doing and taught us that way about studying for the needs of ourselves and our investigators. He then instructed about the Key Indicators and the power of obtaining Names from members and about establishing the church, using many scriptures and sharing personal examples. All the while, he was calling Elder Gillett and I up to do things we didn’t expect. I don’t think I’ve been put on the spot more in my whole life than I was during the course of this mission tour, whoo, it was an experience. It would take way too long to type out all the nitty gritty details of it all so I wont do it now, but I did keep copious notes and I have it all in detail in my journal so maybe I’ll let you read that portion of it at least when I bust out. Which reminds me, my journal is full and I haven’t been able to finish my documentation of it all so I was wondering if you or Travis could send out one of those extra journals I have this week so I can get it all down before I forget it all. Anyway, that one finished, the Sister that had the seizure went to the hospital during the conference so things were hectic. We’ll come back to her later in the week… The Winston-Salem/Greensboro Zone Conference ended at 12. We then had to chow a fast lunch and bust our butts to Hickory, for the Hickory/Asheville Zone conference.
This one started at 2 and was similar, but different in a lot of ways. Elder Coleman didn’t start with his study, but did something else instead. Later he had Elder Gillett and I and President Hobbs get up and think of the toughest doctrinal issue we’ve had to deal with and explain how we dealt with it and resolved it. And had the Missionaries judge how well we did. So I explained an experience I had when I was a young missionary and didn’t know anything, (I still don’t know a whole lot), and an investigator whipped out a stack of Anti-Mormon Literature. One of them was a fat book that had 10,000 changes that had been made in the Book of Mormon since the original 1830 copy. At that time I had never heard that before so I didn’t really say anything, but my companion started haggling with him and as they were talking I looked down at my scriptures sitting on the table and felt the impression come to look at the Title Page of the Book of Mormon, and I read it, and particularly the last sentence stood out to me. So I read that to him and said that it was one thing to have historical or scientific “proof” of something, but it was something far more profound to have spiritual confirmation of what’s true. And I then bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and how I knew by the Power of the Holy Ghost that it was true and that he could come to know by the same power that the book was true despite the anti. So he liked that and built more teaching off of that. He says that hundreds of changes are made every time they come out with a new edition of the scriptures… hahahaha, it’s a good thing we know its true. He is on the Church’s Scripture committee and said they are going through and cleaning up all the references in the topical guide and the Bible Dictionary, and that’s where most of those changes are being made. He also said that one thing doesn’t change and that’s the Doctrine. So, I’m down with it. Once again we were put on the spot, but this time a whole lot more. So that kept us on our toes, he opened up to the scriptures a little more this time too. It was way cool when he did too, he would just teach us the doctrine out of the scriptures, it was amazing. Elder Gillett conducted this Conference. Elder Coleman taught about establishing the church again in this one.
After that one was over we had to bust back to Charlotte to work on the mission stats so we could send them to SLC on time. Usually we do it early Monday morning but since were were driving all over the mission we couldn’t really do it then. The stats have to be sent in Monday too or we’re screwed. Elder Coleman said most Mission Presidents just do it themselves but President Hobbs trusts us to do it for some reason. Anyway, the pressure was on too, because Elder Coleman was having us share our experience at the Fireside with how we had Tracy show up unexpectedly and how we got her name and are now going to start teaching her now, at all the Zone Conferences, but he said to get him some new stories for the Tuesday Zone Conference. Hahaha, he said he didn’t want any 48 hour old junk, hahaha. So not only did we have to do the mission stats accurately but we needed to get some finding in and get some names of people to teach. Luckily when we parked at our apartment, the Lord put someone there for us to talk to and he said he would like to learn more. Hahaha.
Tuesday morning we had another Zone Conference in the Morning. The Zone Leaders were late to get things set up so that added to the stress. But it all worked out ok. I conducted again which was fun with all the funny little quirks to the meeting that Elder Coleman liked to throw in there. He put us on the spot even more this time and kept us busy the whole time. Hahaha, anytime he couldn’t see where we were he would ask, where my Assistants go, oh, there they are, come on up here… hahaha. We weren’t trying to hide in the back, but there wasn’t any seats in the front so we sat on the front side row. So he would always make other people move to have us sit right in front of him. This time he asked us to come up and teach about establishing the church, but he didn’t warn us before hand so this was again, on the spot. Hahaha, that was fun, I was surprised, neither Elder Gillett nor I got nervous but just jumped up and threw some junk down. Hahaha, I was glad he didn’t interject and re-teach anything, hopefully we got it all right. In the first two Zone Conferences he and President Hobbs would close with their remarks. This time, he looked at us and said: “Alright Brethren, its time to wrap this up, come up on the stand with us and bear your testimonies.” So we did and then he and President Hobbs did their thing to close it out. It was a neat experience.
That evening he took us and President and Sister Hobbs out to dinner at the Olive Garden, and did some training with us and just talked to us openly. It was great. The picture of us two with he and his wife with the tan background was just after dinner. He talked to us about our responsibilities as Assistants to President Hobbs and shared with us some ideas for improvement, which were greatly appreciated. President Hobbs invited us to the Priesthood Leadership meeting that was right after dinner and Elder Coleman asked if we would be willing to do some more stuff for him there for that meeting.
For this meeting we were at the Charlotte Central Stake Center, which was filled with Priesthood Leaders from the whole mission, some of whom I recognized from my previous areas. But he had us get up in front of all of them and he asked us questions and had us speak to the Leaders. Hahaha, that was fun, a little more pressure than Zone Conference. But it went well.
A couple things I noticed about him as we spent time with him and got to observe his teaching was that he was very dynamic, very outgoing and enthusiastic. He mixed in humor and doctrine and testimony, and definitely the spirit. Another thing I noticed was that he made us feel needed. He gave us his portable clip microphone, and gave us the responsibility to set it up at each meeting, which is such a small thing, but he trusted us with it and it helped us feel so needed. One other thing was that he taught the missionaries in zone conference, but it almost seemed as if he was directing his teaching at President and Elder Gillett and I. He knew we would remain to instruct, and he would move on to other things, but he taught us so we could teach the missionaries continually. It was incredible. What a great opportunity for me, I really don’t know why I am so lucky, I’m just grateful. I can’t believe how blessed I really am, it drives me crazy because I can’t repay, or I feel so inadequate or any number of other feelings, but gratitude is definitely one of them.
Well, it all started last Sunday night when Elder Gary J. Coleman flew into Charlotte from Nashville, TN at about 5. We went to the Charlotte South Stake Center to get things all set up for the Fireside for Investigators and Recent Converts and Less-Actives which would be starting at 7:30. All the while we had a few members all hooked up with our investigators to make sure they got there ok and make sure they were all taken care of. We greeted Elder Coleman and President Hobbs at about 7 and talked with the both of them and their wives for a few minutes and then headed into the chapel. The Fireside was amazing, Elder Coleman threw down with the spirit and blasted everyone there with it. He described his experience as a young man with being an active Catholic and then going to Washington St for school and meeting a few Returned Missionaries and becoming friends. He slowly learned about the church and then he met a young lady who later became his wife. They talked about the church often and one thing always stood out to him, was that she had access to more prophets and more scripture than he did, and he wanted more. Finally someone gave him a Book of Mormon and marked 87 Verses in it for him, he read them, Moroni 10:3-5 being the last one and knelt in prayer knowing that if he came to know it was true he would have to give up the Catholic Church and be Baptized in the Church. He prayed and Felt the spirit confirm powerfully that the church was true. He then joined the church and quickly received the Aaronic Priesthood, and moved up in the offices thereof and Very soon was made an Elder. Soon after that the young lady that he was dating told him she would marry him if he took her to the temple, he didn't know anything about it but wanted to do it because he knew it was what the Lord wanted. So he took her to the Temple and Married her. Anyway, he told his whole story and layed it down on the people in attendance, our investigators loved it, and actually, one of our investigators wives wasn't interested in being taught by us, but halfway through the Fireside she showed up and she loved it and we are now going to teach the whole family, Their names are Cary and Tracy. Glenn came too and really felt impressed by the spirit. That was the strongest I’ve felt the spirit at a meeting in a long time. So that went way good for us. We were excited about it.
Monday Morning was an early start at 5:30. We had to wake up early and get going because it takes about 2 hours to get to Winston-Salem where the first Zone Conference was going to be. So we left about 6:30 to get there by 8:30 to make sure the Zone Leaders got it all set up right and so everything would be in order for when Elder Coleman got there with President Hobbs. One of the Sisters had a seizure the night before so she showed up all disoriented not knowing what was going on, so we were dealing with that, giving a blessing, and getting white boards set up and making sure all preparations were made. On top of that, I was conducting the meeting and only had a general outline of what the meeting was going to be, all I knew was that I would be turning the time over to Elder Coleman for instruction. So I was clueless and just kinda got up there and did my thing. Elder Coleman started out with having all the missionaries come up and meet him and shake hands. Then he had Sister Hobbs get up and speak to us which was good, then he had Sister Coleman do that as well and that was good as well. Then he got up and talked about what he had studied that morning, which was Alma 38. He went through the whole chapter and likened it to our mission and what we are doing and taught us that way about studying for the needs of ourselves and our investigators. He then instructed about the Key Indicators and the power of obtaining Names from members and about establishing the church, using many scriptures and sharing personal examples. All the while, he was calling Elder Gillett and I up to do things we didn’t expect. I don’t think I’ve been put on the spot more in my whole life than I was during the course of this mission tour, whoo, it was an experience. It would take way too long to type out all the nitty gritty details of it all so I wont do it now, but I did keep copious notes and I have it all in detail in my journal so maybe I’ll let you read that portion of it at least when I bust out. Which reminds me, my journal is full and I haven’t been able to finish my documentation of it all so I was wondering if you or Travis could send out one of those extra journals I have this week so I can get it all down before I forget it all. Anyway, that one finished, the Sister that had the seizure went to the hospital during the conference so things were hectic. We’ll come back to her later in the week… The Winston-Salem/Greensboro Zone Conference ended at 12. We then had to chow a fast lunch and bust our butts to Hickory, for the Hickory/Asheville Zone conference.
This one started at 2 and was similar, but different in a lot of ways. Elder Coleman didn’t start with his study, but did something else instead. Later he had Elder Gillett and I and President Hobbs get up and think of the toughest doctrinal issue we’ve had to deal with and explain how we dealt with it and resolved it. And had the Missionaries judge how well we did. So I explained an experience I had when I was a young missionary and didn’t know anything, (I still don’t know a whole lot), and an investigator whipped out a stack of Anti-Mormon Literature. One of them was a fat book that had 10,000 changes that had been made in the Book of Mormon since the original 1830 copy. At that time I had never heard that before so I didn’t really say anything, but my companion started haggling with him and as they were talking I looked down at my scriptures sitting on the table and felt the impression come to look at the Title Page of the Book of Mormon, and I read it, and particularly the last sentence stood out to me. So I read that to him and said that it was one thing to have historical or scientific “proof” of something, but it was something far more profound to have spiritual confirmation of what’s true. And I then bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and how I knew by the Power of the Holy Ghost that it was true and that he could come to know by the same power that the book was true despite the anti. So he liked that and built more teaching off of that. He says that hundreds of changes are made every time they come out with a new edition of the scriptures… hahahaha, it’s a good thing we know its true. He is on the Church’s Scripture committee and said they are going through and cleaning up all the references in the topical guide and the Bible Dictionary, and that’s where most of those changes are being made. He also said that one thing doesn’t change and that’s the Doctrine. So, I’m down with it. Once again we were put on the spot, but this time a whole lot more. So that kept us on our toes, he opened up to the scriptures a little more this time too. It was way cool when he did too, he would just teach us the doctrine out of the scriptures, it was amazing. Elder Gillett conducted this Conference. Elder Coleman taught about establishing the church again in this one.
After that one was over we had to bust back to Charlotte to work on the mission stats so we could send them to SLC on time. Usually we do it early Monday morning but since were were driving all over the mission we couldn’t really do it then. The stats have to be sent in Monday too or we’re screwed. Elder Coleman said most Mission Presidents just do it themselves but President Hobbs trusts us to do it for some reason. Anyway, the pressure was on too, because Elder Coleman was having us share our experience at the Fireside with how we had Tracy show up unexpectedly and how we got her name and are now going to start teaching her now, at all the Zone Conferences, but he said to get him some new stories for the Tuesday Zone Conference. Hahaha, he said he didn’t want any 48 hour old junk, hahaha. So not only did we have to do the mission stats accurately but we needed to get some finding in and get some names of people to teach. Luckily when we parked at our apartment, the Lord put someone there for us to talk to and he said he would like to learn more. Hahaha.
Tuesday morning we had another Zone Conference in the Morning. The Zone Leaders were late to get things set up so that added to the stress. But it all worked out ok. I conducted again which was fun with all the funny little quirks to the meeting that Elder Coleman liked to throw in there. He put us on the spot even more this time and kept us busy the whole time. Hahaha, anytime he couldn’t see where we were he would ask, where my Assistants go, oh, there they are, come on up here… hahaha. We weren’t trying to hide in the back, but there wasn’t any seats in the front so we sat on the front side row. So he would always make other people move to have us sit right in front of him. This time he asked us to come up and teach about establishing the church, but he didn’t warn us before hand so this was again, on the spot. Hahaha, that was fun, I was surprised, neither Elder Gillett nor I got nervous but just jumped up and threw some junk down. Hahaha, I was glad he didn’t interject and re-teach anything, hopefully we got it all right. In the first two Zone Conferences he and President Hobbs would close with their remarks. This time, he looked at us and said: “Alright Brethren, its time to wrap this up, come up on the stand with us and bear your testimonies.” So we did and then he and President Hobbs did their thing to close it out. It was a neat experience.
That evening he took us and President and Sister Hobbs out to dinner at the Olive Garden, and did some training with us and just talked to us openly. It was great. The picture of us two with he and his wife with the tan background was just after dinner. He talked to us about our responsibilities as Assistants to President Hobbs and shared with us some ideas for improvement, which were greatly appreciated. President Hobbs invited us to the Priesthood Leadership meeting that was right after dinner and Elder Coleman asked if we would be willing to do some more stuff for him there for that meeting.
For this meeting we were at the Charlotte Central Stake Center, which was filled with Priesthood Leaders from the whole mission, some of whom I recognized from my previous areas. But he had us get up in front of all of them and he asked us questions and had us speak to the Leaders. Hahaha, that was fun, a little more pressure than Zone Conference. But it went well.
A couple things I noticed about him as we spent time with him and got to observe his teaching was that he was very dynamic, very outgoing and enthusiastic. He mixed in humor and doctrine and testimony, and definitely the spirit. Another thing I noticed was that he made us feel needed. He gave us his portable clip microphone, and gave us the responsibility to set it up at each meeting, which is such a small thing, but he trusted us with it and it helped us feel so needed. One other thing was that he taught the missionaries in zone conference, but it almost seemed as if he was directing his teaching at President and Elder Gillett and I. He knew we would remain to instruct, and he would move on to other things, but he taught us so we could teach the missionaries continually. It was incredible. What a great opportunity for me, I really don’t know why I am so lucky, I’m just grateful. I can’t believe how blessed I really am, it drives me crazy because I can’t repay, or I feel so inadequate or any number of other feelings, but gratitude is definitely one of them.
posted by Travis at 8:50 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home