April 13, 2015

To my Friends and Family,

What an interesting week. As I look back on the week, we have seen a lot of miracles and have had a lot of amazing experiences. In my new area, everyone is basically fluent at English, which is very bad. Because of that, we don't get a lot of Korean listening practice in and we have to teach in English, which of course is just not fun. Also, there are so many rich people who are also busy, which makes teaching them even harder. Anyway, but it was a good week. Our friend 정재승, is doing very well. He is very interested in his relationship with God and what he can to do have a peaceful and happy life. He seeks for learning and will read and ask questions until he understands perfectly, which is of course lovely for a teacher. 

As some of you know, General Conference was also this week. General Conference is when the living prophets and apostles speak to us and help us understand what we should be doing in order to follow God. Just like in Old Testament and New Testament times, we believe that God calls prophets to help him do his work on the earth. So in this conference, a common pattern that prophets talked about was relying on the Savior, Jesus Christ. They said that the way to do this is to first have faith that He lives and loves us. Faith is an enabling power that helps us overcome the difficulties of the world. Faith leads to hope. Hope is an abiding trust that if we keep God's commandments, one day we will find rest from all of our cares and worries. The hope that we will one day rest allows us to find peace in this life regardless of the struggles we face because we know that we will eventually live with our families in peace. 

As I have served my mission, I have continued to learn the truth of these principles. We can find so much joy and peace in our life as we align our perspective with that of God's. If we look at this life as not an end, but rather as just a step in our existence, we can find peace in our trials and comfort in our sorrows.

Love you all!

한승천 

April 5, 2015: Gangham Style!

To my friends and family,

Yes, I am in the place. Or at least I am close to the place where that thing happened (the Gangnam Style Video). I have still never seen the video and I don't intend to because Koreans hate it. But anyway this was a pretty good week! Moving is always hard because you leave all of your friends and the people you are teaching, but my new area is very nice. The members pay for our meals twice a week and love feeding us. Our church here is also very large and most of the people are fluent in English. It’s kind of annoying because I don't like speaking English, but I sometimes have to because it is rude if you don't at least a little bit.

Anyway so since this week was/is Easter, I will just share a small invitation to all of you. Go watch the “He Lives” video that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has made (on LDS.org). It is very short and explains far better who the Savior is than I would be able to. I’ll just add my brief testimony to all those who have already testified: I know that He lives. I know that He loves all people and that He wants us to all return to Him. I know that by following His teachings we will get closer to Him and have internal peace in this life and in the one to come.

Love you all,

Elder Coleman

March 29, 2015

To my family and friends,

I will be leaving 인천 (that’s not how you spell it in English, but I forgot. Sorry.) and I will be going into the heart of Seoul! I do not have much time to write a long email, but I just wanted to let you all know that I am doing well. This week most of our investigators are in the same boat that they were in last week. They are struggling to receive that personal witness and have their faith grow.

So today relating to this problem I will share a message about how to strengthen faith. Whether you are a missionary, an atheist, or just someone of another religion, I hope my message can apply to you. First of all, Faith is not a principle of weakness or ignorance; it is a principle of power. No matter what your standing is on religion right now, Faith in a God and Faith in Christ can help you overcome challenges. When we have a firm belief in God and Christ, we can know that this life is not the end. We can know that as we do good works and follow God's commandments, we will receive peace and joy in this life and the next. As we continue to study, pray, and follow what God wants us to do, we start to know by our own experience that God is real and we begin to feel that promised Joy and Peace. This knowledge and these feelings do not come all at once, but rather slowly as we continue to follow God's path. My plea for all of you is to try it. Try praying. Try reading God's word or doing service for someone else. You will start to feel that peace and joy and you will know that God is real.

I love you all,

Elder Coleman

March 22, 2015

To my family and friends,

Another wonderful week in the most interesting country in the world. We saw several people this week dressed up in fascinating costumes. I am now at 3 hugs by drunk old men, which is a pretty good number according to the Elders in my home. Anyway, the work is going great and I am totally happy here in Korea.

Today will be a short email, but it will contain one of the most important principles of the gospel. Many people wonder why religion is important, why God is important, and why Christ should matter to them at all. To explain, I will use a scripture. 

“And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:11-12)

 

According to Paul in Hebrews 6, all of us need to have diligence and patience and faith in order to fulfill the promises of God. This diligence, faith, and patience is more commonly referred to as hope. But hope in the religious sense is not the same as a hope that it could rain today. Hope is an unfailing, unwavering assurance that God will fulfill his promises to you. We can have hope in God because he is all powerful, all knowing, and all loving. As we turn to him, follow his commandments, and do our best to live good lives, God WILL keep his promises to us. Whether you are serving a mission right now, working, going through college, or whatever situation you might be in, God understands you perfectly. He knows how to help you and he wants to make you happy. In order to receive his guidance and his peace, we must pray and try our best to understand His will for us. A Book of Mormon prophet named Moroni explains what we should hope for:

40 And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?

 41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise. (Moroni 7:40-41)

I add my testimony to the prophets that this life is not the end. I know that through Christ and his death and resurrection, we will one day live again. Death will have no sting. The grave will have no victory. I know that through Christ all of us will live again and by following his words, we can have hope in this life that one day we will rest from all of our pains.

I love you all,

Elder Coleman

March 15, 2015 성겨사왜버냈어요? (Why do they send missionaries?)

 

To my family and friends,

Today I want to talk about a question that I got from one of our investigators. The culture will be implied in the conversation and everything is going great (we have two investigators that will be baptized soon) so I will not dwell on that.

So this past week we had a lesson with an older man. We thought he had some serious interest, so we invited one of the members to teach with us. Anyway we taught about why prophets are so important and why the restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon are important to him individually. We taught the principle (if any of you have interest in why these ideas are important, let me know and I will explain them in my next email, but for time's sake I will not do it here) and then we shared some scriptures and testified. Right after we finished, I saw the member was very touched as were my companion and I by the teaching we shared. Then the investigator turned to the member and, translated, said something along the lines of "Why do they send these kids to preach this thing?"

In my opinion, it should be obvious why God calls young men to preach his gospel. In Samuel 16:7, The Lord told the prophet to “look not on the height of his stature" when Samuel was choosing the next king. That boy, David, would eventually slay the greatest warrior of the Philistines, Goliath, and eventually go on to become a mighty king. Christ on Earth called fisherman to be his apostles. Moses was a man of slow speech. And in these days, God called a young boy named Joseph Smith to restore his gospel.

Now I suppose the question really is this: Why does God call imperfect men or young men (or young women) to do his work? I will preface this with saying that I am one of the most imperfect people that I know. I could be more diligent, more consecrated, have more faith, and obviously be far more kind. But God doesn't call people who are perfect because there was only ever one (Christ). We are called to go to places where we can't speak the language or where we don't understand the culture because God wants to prove to his people that he is God and he has all power. When Gideon was fighting the Midianites, the Lord commanded him to reduce his army to a fraction of the men that he had. He said that he did this to prove that he was God and that he would fight Israel’s battles. (Judges 7:2-7)

God calls imperfect people to prove that by small and simple means he can bring great things to pass. He doesn't need a fluent Korean speaker to testify and say the simple words "I know God Lives." He doesn't need someone who is eloquent or powerful of speech to say "I know Christ is the Savior." I know that God calls imperfect people to do his work so that the people who will humbly listen to God’s message will know it is from God, not from man.

So with that said, why am I in Korea and why are thousands of missionaries around the world in their respective missions? Because God Lives. Because we know that Christ is the Savior and that he loves all of his children. We sacrifice and try to improve as people and as teachers everyday so that we can share this simple message about Christ.

In the words of Joseph Smith and Sydney Rigdon, “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father— That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.” (D&C 76:22-24)

I believe this testimony and promise to all of the sincere searchers of truth that if you pray and ask God simply and from your heart, he will give you an answer to your prayers. The heavens are not silent. God lives and loves his children. And I know this.

I love you all,

Elder Coleman