Light and Darkness

October 31, 2016

Hey everyone!

This email will be super fast because I am not getting to email until super late at night! So anyway this week was pretty fun! We had a lot of time to just talk to people on the street and visit some of our friends who were baptized recently.  So for my message this week, I have to give a little bit of background. Because of some of the lessons that we taught this week I felt the desire to study the creation a little bit more in detail than I have in the past. And because of that, I started to study the concept of light. To start I will share a scripture.

 24 That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

 25 And again, verily I say unto you, and I say it that you may know the truth, that you may chase darkness from among you;

When the world was first created, there was darkness. The natural state of our lives and this world has been and is still darkness. So, we should not be surprised when things seem bleak for a time. Anyway, as this scripture says, God and Jesus Christ are our light. As we start to follow them, we grow in light until one day we will be as bright as they are. However, not only must we grow in light, we must also be able to chase the darkness from among us. For each of us that is different. For some it may be depression or a medical issue. Others discouragement or doubt. The method to chase the darkness away is not always the same, but we can always receive revelation for how we can do it as we sincerely look to the Lord, and the light of the Lord. I testify and I know that darkness may be natural. But it is not inevitable. Doubt can be replaced by faith. Despair can be conquered by hope. Love can overcome hate. And darkness will always yield to the light.

I love you all,

Elder Coleman

Diligence and Patience

October 23, 2016

Hey everyone!

I have no time today to send something super long and this letter will actually be short so sorry about it haha. We had a good week and the highlight was for sure seeing Elder Bednar (an Apostle) coming to our mission and teaching us.  I learned a lot of great stuff from that!

Anyway so for my brief message I will share a scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants.

 17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

A lot of us (me included) have problems with patience. Patience with others, situations, and ourselves. Especially those of us who like to do things without other people's help are very susceptible to this. Other people may have a more difficult time with doing all things within our power. As we seek to be diligent and do all that we can do, we can then wait patiently with perfect faith that things will work out for our good in God's timing. We should also work and wait cheerfully, for if we don't life will never be enjoyable to us. I love this work in Korea and I am so happy to be supported and loved by all of you.

Have a great week!

Elder Coleman

Hope and Motivation

October 16, 2016

To my friends and family,

This week was a super fast one. We had a ton of time to meet people, teach, and find people on the street. So it was a great week! The time where I have to spend the least amount of time in the house are always the best weeks, not because they are the easiest but because they are the most rewarding. Since I have to get to a bathhouse and go sit in a hot tub for the next two hours I will be brief in this email (yea, our mission can do that).

I have a friend that I saw for the last time this week. He is in the hospital and he is getting transferred to another hospital next week that is far away, so I will not get to see him again. He is about 40 years old and he has been paralyzed on one side for about 3 years now. When we meet with him, we try to share with him the message of the gospel, things like the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and all of these things that are unique to our religion, but the longer I have taught him the more I have realized that these things aren't really important if we forget where they point us. Of course all things in our church point towards Christ; specifically how we can find joy, peace, and eventually salvation through his name. When I taught this man this week and invited him to learn more about our church when he moved, he said that he just didn't have the motivation or the faith to do it. It was definitely one of the sadder days of my mission, seeing someone that you have tried so hard to love and to serve, in the end decide to stop studying the gospel. 

This situation prompted me to think about my own experiences with the gospel and why and how I have found the motivation to do what I do. I found my answer in the Bible.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

The reason why all of us are willing to pass through temporary sorrow is because we have the hope that the dawn will eventually break, or that we will eventually get out of the dark tunnel and into the light. I don't know why this man and other people like him suffer so much, and people like me and my family are blessed so much. I don't know why we lose family members and friends when they are young, or why there is so much sorrow in this world. But I do know that there will come a day when Christ will come again. And in that day there will be no more death, sorrow or crying. he will individually wipe away the tears from our eyes, succor us in our individual trials. I testify that having a hope for this day can support anyone in the midst of these trials of faith. I love you all and I pray for you all often by name.

Elder Coleman