Keeping Busy!

 

So my stories for this week. We taught someone on Temple Square! It's typically out of our area and even out of our mission, but since it was a Portuguese investigator, we have a huge area we can cover. Our Spanish area is pretty small but for Portuguese, we cover from Bountiful to Draper. Anyway, we taught her in the North Visitor's Center and she seems really interested. We took her up to see the Christus before we taught her. Then we found out, as we were teaching her, that she's Jewish. But she's really interested and she came to church and loved it. For our second appointment we took Edgard, the guy who got baptized last week, and they really connected on a lot of points. So, for Halloween we aren't allowed to go out and proselyte. Instead, we will get locked in the mission home all evening. Apparently some people dress up as missionaries and just wreak havoc. Also, we are going to the Jordan River temple on Wednesday. I'm pretty excited for that. Well, that's all for this week.

 The Salt Lake City  Temple and Conference Center, taken when I got to spend the day on Temple Square.

 

This is Edgard, my first baptism.

Ramon, my second baptism, along with myself and my two companions--Elder Reiff on the left, Elder Allen on the right.

 

I have a challenge for all of you. I have seen how slow the work can move without the support of the members. But when the members get involved, there are huge blessings for everyone. I challenge all of you to set up a family night with a non-member family. Just invite someone you know from work or everyday life over to your home for dinner and just a social night. Then invite the missionaries to teach your family. So the missionaries won't focus on your friends, but they will be there and here the message the missionaries share and they can make return appointments and get contact info. It's a very non-awkward way of introducing your friends to the missionaries. Anyway, I hope to hear back on what you did.

Adios, MTC!  Hola, SLC East!

Dear Everyone,
I am super excited to be here! So I know it isn't Spain, and it was a little disappointing at first, but I am glad I am here. I am in another tri. With zone leaders. And apparently that's rare. I was told that zone leaders never train. And it's never a trio. But there hasn't been a lot of normal things about my mission so far. Most companionships cover a stake or 2 in our zone. But we cover 2 branches. The Spanish and the Portuguese branch. My companion Elder Reiff is from California and served 15 months in Manaus Brazil, so he speaks fluent Portuguese. Then he got reassigned up here. I don't know how or why that happened. My other companion, Elder Allen is from Kentucky and is Spanish speaking, so he speaks pretty good. Better than me at least. They have both been out for 16 months. I had my first baptism of my mission on Saturday. He's a 26 year old guy from Brazil named Edgard. He was so excited to be baptized. Part of the perks of covering both the Spanish and Portuguese branches is the food. I get to have some pretty good food from both cultures. One of the foods I get a lot of is feijoada, which is beans and rice and some other stuff in it. It's pretty good. It's a Brazilian dish. A challenge I have been having is understanding the Portuguese. I can understand Spanish pretty well, but I only understand 20% of the Portuguese that is spoken. I know that is the gift of the interpretation of tongues though to be able to understand even that much. Sometimes I can understand all of what they say for 5, 10 minutes at a time. I am thankful for all the gifts I have and I am hopeful for my visa, but I wouldn't mind staying here for a little bit longer. Ok, so some fun facts about my mission. It covers from Temple Square to the middle of Wyoming. I am currently serving in Salt Lake/ Holladay area. Our area covers the prophet's house and the building that our Spanish branch is in is also home to the ward of which John Bytheway is bishop. So apparently my companions see him every so often. I haven't yet though. Also, a lot of General Authorities come to talk to the mission, but I haven't been here long enough yet. Anyway, that's it until next time.

I forgot to give my mailing address for at least the next 5 weeks (unless I get my visa, which you will hear about). It's 2625 E Solar Dr, Apt 41, Salt Lake City UT, USA, 84124

Lessons in Humour and Patience--

So I have a pretty funny story to tell. Last P-day, I got a notice from the MTC Travel Office that said I had received my visa and I had to go to the main campus on October 7th at 1pm to pick it up. I also got travel plans saying I am going to fly out on Monday October 14, with one layover in New York on my way to Barcelona. So I got to the main campus on the 7th to collect my visa. I got into the room I was supposed to be in and there were a couple other missionaries going to Spain. Then this guy started talking to us about what we need to do. Apparently, he's appointed by Spain to be a Consul and is also a member of the Church and lives in Orem. So it was nice that I didn't have to go anywhere. He talked to us for about 2 hours about procedure at the airport and other stuff like that. Then he pulled out a stack of passports and started calling out names. He called everyone's name but mine. He then looked at my name tag and said "Elder Coleman! I know your name! You were in an email I got from the Spanish government" So apparently what happened was I got put on a list by the Spain government of missionaries who were approved for their visas, but then they emailed him the next day saying that my name wasn't supposed to be on there and it was just a typo. The Consul said it was the first time this had happened in his 5 years as a Consul for Spain. I was the only one that didn't get their visa that day. So what's going to happen is unless I get my visa in the next 2 days, I will be reassigned next week. Which means I will be staying at the MTC an extra week. Anyway, that's pretty much my news for the past week. Also, I really enjoyed all of the Conference talks this past weekend. I loved hearing the words of the prophet. I hope everyone is well. Talk to you next week, probably from the MTC still.

The Waiting Game Continues....

Dear Everyone,

Next week will be my last P-day here. Well, hopefully. I still don't know what's going to happen. It's pretty likely that I'm going to be reassigned because I haven't gotten my visa yet and I'm supposed to leave in 11 days. I bought a Spain shirt and I'm wearing it as much as I can. I've also been learning to speak Spanish with a Spain accent, even though some of the other missionaries think it's funny. I am just super excited to finally get to go when the time comes. I love the devotionals that they have here. I got to hear from multiple members of the Seventy and the Provo Temple President. And this week, we'll get to hear from the prophet!! Broadcast of course, but I'm still super excited. One of our progressing investigators, Juan, committed to go to General Conference with us. He's not a real investigator of course, but it's still super exciting. We had an ayuno de ingles a couple days ago. It was really tough not speaking English for a whole day, but it really helped me grow. We just got a new district here yesterday, but I haven't really met them yet. I think they're all going to Argentina though. Well that's pretty much all that's happened this week. Oh also I want to bear my testimony about the power of the temple. I love being able to go every week and I have so many questions answered there. It really is God's house on the Earth.

Now let's add people in the photos!

This was my zone when I first arrived.  Many people have come and gone since then.

This is my district as well as the one that came in the week after I did.

These are pictures of my companions and I in front of the Provo Temple. The one on the left is Elder  Clayson. The one on the right is Elder Larsen.

 

Well, that's all, folks!  For now, anyways!  So many exciting adventures happening!  Will Preston get to listen to any awesome talks by famous General Authorities?  Will Preston get his visa and be able to go to Spain?  Will he still be in Provo a week from now?  How much Spanish can he learn in a week?  Does any of it make sense in real life conversations?  Or will it only be good for ordering at Taco Bell?  Will he answer any of the questions people write to him?  Will there ever be sheets on the bed?  Tune in next week to find out!

Here are some more photos of my time in the MTC so far.

                              Here's my first bedroom.  Nice, right?  Home away from home!

And here's my new room!  Much nicer!  Although the bed is still unmade....hmmm.

And a little bit of extra breathing room.

Still No Visa :(

 

Dear Everyone,

Today has been a good week. I am loving my zone, we are very comfortable with each other. I am also starting to enjoy teaching lessons more and I feel my Spanish really improving. This week was our last week of going to the Marriot Center for devotionals. The speaker this week was Don R. Clarke of the Seventy. I wrote down a lot of what he said because it really touched me. It was about having the Spirit with you to direct you where to go and always opening your mouth so you don't miss out on opportunities. Still no news on my visa, however most of my district got theirs this week. But that's a Mexico visa, I hear Spain takes way longer. I'm really loving the letters and DearElders I'm getting. It's honestly what I look forward to most each day. Well, besides teaching. And personal study. I feel like there will be much more to write about when I'm in the field because stuff will be happening and not everything will be the same every day. Even the food is pretty much the same every day. But things don't seem to be going as slow anymore. I feel like everything's speeding up. I'm already over halfway done my stay at the MTC here. Well, unless I don't get my visa in time and they decide to keep me here. People have told me stories of other missionaries they knew that couldn't get their visas and the Church didn't want to reassign them because the visa could come at any time, so they just kept them in the MTC for months. I sure hope that doesn't happen to me. Anyway, that's the update on my life esta semana. Until next week!

Here I am in front of the MTC! 

My Aunt Bobbi and Uncle Eric picked me up from the SLC airport and took me to the MTC.  Thank you!!

More photos to come!