September 8th Snippet

I caught a virus this week and have been sick the past 4 days, and it has sucked. Elder Terry has not able to do much because I've mostly slept. I'll be trying to use the counsel dad gave me in his letter about praying for a miracle in this area. We need one and I'd love to see this area explode before I get transferred. The Lord can work through us to make amazing things happen. We've been teaching one young lady a lot lately. She is an investigator that has (had) a boyfriend who was a member and in the military. She has now ended that relationship. She found out that he wanted to marry her just so he could get extra money while he is in Iraq. The good news is she still wants to meet with us and have us teach her. She says that we have made things so much better for her. This past week we taught her the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity and she has committed to live both of them. She has surprised us because at first we felt she was just doing this to please her boyfriend, But when she came to church a week or so ago, she said that she felt at home. She wants to come back as much as possible. Also she told her friend that she chose the Mormon faith because it just makes sense to her. She has been a Christian since she was 5 and only now feels she has found what she needs. We hope she wants to continue with the discussions. They will be opening up a new area and changing the district a little bit. We probably won't be having the Zone leaders in our district anymore, but will have Winston 1st Ward with their Elders and Sisters. Its hard to not think about transfers. I just have to remember I have the Lord to help me and that things will be fine.
I love you all,
Elder Colton

Memories of my First Area

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August 11, 2000

Dear Family,
Happy birthday Christian, now you are an official adult ready or not. Its crazy that you are 18 and I am 21. Time passes so quickly. I hope by now you received your birthday card. Eat some of mom's banana cream pie for me!
This week has been a little crazy. We spent the first few days seeing people in the ward to say goodbye in case one of us got transferred. We were able to get some pictures for you so you can see some of the people that we associate with. Tuesday night we were at a member's home for dinner. We were eating their special family burgers that are super huge; like almost a pound and a half of meat on a bun. While we were there President Hobbs called and Elder Brown said he would call him back once we got home. We finished eating, shared a message and then we left. We called the President and Elder Brown has been called to be a Zone Leader! He wasn't expecting it at all. He has only 4 and a half months left on his mission and thought that he would be done with responsibility after training me, but the Lord had other ideas. Elder Brown packed up Wednesday and then we left for transfers on Thursday, We got to Statesville and saw that Elder Brown would be Zone Leader with Elder McKee. That means that he is Zone leader for our Zone, and he will still be in my District. It's great that he will still be close b. Sister Astle and Sister Wolfensberger (we share the car with them)are still are in the same place. We all get along great. Elder Terry is my new companion, he is from Cedar City. He was also trained by Elder Brown. He has been out a year and seems to have things going all right. I hope that we both can do well in this area and serve the Lord. Nothing else really has happened. We will be helping a family move into their new home tomorrow. That is about the biggest thing that will happen. I'll keep you posted on anything else and look forward to your next letters. I love you guys. Thanks for everything!
Love Elder Colton

First Letter for August 2008

One thing I wanted to share was an experience this past week. It was a big morale boost! We went up to Lewisville to go on a team with Bro W. and his son. We had planned to go see Bro B. who is a very shy, very kind and loving person. Earlier that day we had tried to see a woman who had ordered a "Lamb of God" DVD. We were trying to see how she liked it and if she would be interested in us teaching her. When we went over she said that she didn't have time. We could smell alcohol on her breath and felt like we shouldn't go back. When we found out that Bro W. was bringing his son, (his son is 19, might possibly go on a mission don't know for sure) we decided that we should go on splits. We decided that I would go with the son and Elder Brown would go with Bro W. I said we might as well give the potential investigator another try. We had told her that we would try and make it back that night if we could. So I would take our car to go meet her, and then Elder Brown would go to see Bro B. with Bro W. Once they got there we split up. His son is a cool kid. He is into video games and that sort of thing, so we were able to talk about it as we drove to the appointment. Once we got there I told him what we knew about the investigator. She lives with her boyfriend and had a father who was a minister. She says she wants to get back to church. We got there and she was anxiously waiting for us. She had been expecting us earlier and was worried that we wouldn't show up. I had to run the visit since I was the missionary, that was nerve wracking! It was seriously the first time I had done that. We started with prayer and it didn't go like a typical lesson because we talked for a little bit first. We found out that she had 3 brothers in prison, 1 brother that had passed away from from cancer, and both her parents were dead. She felt like she had no where to go. Her relationship with her boyfriend had gone downhill. She didn't know why she was still here on Earth and she admitted to us that she has a drinking problem; she had been drinking before we got there. I don't remember all of what I said, I taught her about the Atonement. I told her that Christ knew what she was going through. I admitted that I never had been in her situation like hers, but that I have had struggles of my own. I know I have gift of the Atonement and I can turn all of my worries and problems to him and he can take them away. I bore testimony of that and told her that Christ had not and will not give up on her, because he loves her so much. What was said brought her to tears. I was in awe of what had just happened, and still am. I asked her to read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet that we have and to pray to know if what is in there is true. The pamphlet talks about eternal families. She said that she would and was very insistent that we come back to see her. She walked us to our car and then we left. I hope that Bro. W's son was touched by the visit and maybe give him a little bit more of a desire to serve. Since then we have called her once, and she couldn't see us that day. She hadn't read the pamphlet, so we reminded her to read it. We told her that we would call her again later to set up a time again to see her. More may come from her if she will follow that commitment to read the pamphlet. If she does that will tell us that she is willing to change her life for the better. So that was a good experience one of the few that I have had so far on my mission. I have a feeling that its going to be like this. Most missionary work is not going to be a ton of success stories. There is a chance that more will happen with her, but that isn't up to me. And it may be awhile before I have another experience like that.
Thanks for you letters, they mean so much to me. I love you-Elder Colton

The Rolling Stone

A kidney stone,
A thing so small
Is hardly worth a mention.
Unless your trying to pass the thing
It quickly gets your attention!!
There is a cure
I promise you
That this is not a joke;
Puree a bunch of broccoli
And chase it with a liter of Coke!

If only this little ditty had been true for Elder Colton. The last ten days for him have been filled with pain, a hospital stay and a test of his patience. Here is his account of what happened.

I thought that you would like to know exactly what happened past week. It started on the 4th. I had a little bit of pain in my lower abdomen. I spoke with a sister who is a nurse in the ward and she thought that it might just be a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection). She brought over some Cranberry juice and she said to "drink a lot." Then on Monday I had a big shot of pain. And it was really lingering so that made me worried. I called Dr. Dawson our Mission Doctor. He told me to rush to the ER just in case it was something serious. We went, I was seen and it was determined that I might have a UTI, so they gave me an antibiotic. The next day we went around doing other stuff and I had really no issues. The next day was really our first bike day after P-day and we rode a lot. We rode just about 10 miles. We stopped at a few places and took pictures as well as a little bit of tracting. One of our appointments was at the Stricklands. They are the older couple that we love to visit. Brother Strickland is in his 80s and seems to be doing rather well for his age. He welcomed us in and we sat down and started to talk. Then the pain started to rush in again. A little bit in my left kidney but not so bad to worry me. I hoped it would go away. As I tried to shift my legs back and forth, the pain just kept getting worse and worse. The more I moved, the worse I felt. I tapped Elder Brown on the arm and asked for the phone. I ran into the bathroom and laid on the ground. I put my feet up on the tub to try and have my legs elevated to get more blood flow there because I hoped that would fix it. I called Dr. Dawson and eventually he understood that I was in a lot of pain. He said that he would call the Hospital and get a Urologist to see me once we got there. So I gingerly walked out of the bathroom into the living room. I told the Stricklands that I needed to get to the hospital. They rushed us in the car and we were out on our way to Wake Forrest Baptist. I got to the ER and it was a waiting game. I sat there waiting and thinking I was going to die from the unrelenting pain. They finally called me back and got my information. As I talked with them the pain suddenly disappeared, which made me nervous. I was worried that they would think I was faking it or something. I was there for about an hour until they finally saw me. I was glad the pain had left me. I don't know what I would have done if it was still there. A Nurse Practitioner saw me and she checked everything again (oh what fun it is! NOT!) and she thought that it could possibly be a Kidney Stone. I'm thinking "heck no! You're crazy!" They scheduled a CT scan and I went in and got scanned. The results came back, and as luck would have it I had a stone. 5 mm to be exact. It looked like it was close enough to pass on its own. They told me I had been through the worst part of the pain. They gave me some pain meds and said that I should just drink a lot and it would pass within a few days. So they sent me home. I slept alright that night. The next morning we had Zone Conference and it was a really good meeting. I was still in a little pain but I went and tried to have a good attitude. I met with President Hobbs afterwards, a great visit. As we got into the Zone Leaders car to head home the pain came back. This time with a vengeance! It was a direct line of pain. It felt like something was tightening the grip. I prayed it would quit. But as soon as we got to the apartment, I told them to turn around and get me to the hospital. I got into the ER again and had to wait. That was the longest hour of waiting I think I've ever been through. No matter what I did the pain kept aching and aching. Finally after 3 days of visits to the ER, I got to see the team of Urologists. They examined me, and decided to admit me. They hoped that the stone would pass, if not then they would go in and remove it surgically. As I was waiting to get into my room, the pain shot up again. Luckily I only waited 15 minutes to get a shot of morphine. That got rid of the pain! I got up into my room and basically sat there for 2 days. The next morning they went in and removed it. Thankfully I was put under! I went home Friday afternoon. Elder Brown and our Zone Leaders were so supportive, this was hard for me. I knew I was hindering the work, I really felt awful. I still ache in my kidney but other than that I'm alright. I will have a follow up with the Urologist once the lab finishes analyzing the stone. I'll find out what to do to prevent any future stones. I'm glad that we have the car this week so I can still work on recovering. It means a lot to have all of your prayers and your love and support. I'll keep my fingers crossed that there won't be anymore hospital visits and everything continues to more forward. I love you guys and hope to hear from you soon!
I love you,
Elder Colton

An unusual sound...

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A tidbit from the field June 30 2008

Here is a snippet from Elder Colton's last letter:
I really can feel all the prayers offered in my behalf. There have been a few times when I could have been in danger and been protected. I want to share was something that happened on Saturday. We went back to see a guy who had asked to see us 2 Monday's ago. He is a minister of sorts. He went to school to study the Bible. We had seen him Thursday of this past week. Our visit ended quickly because we had another appointment to get to. We felt bad that we had left him before we had answered his questions. So we called him back the next day and set up an appointment to see him on Saturday.When we got to the appointment he had a bunch of notes with scriptures laid out to use to try and convince us that we were wrong. He told us that we don't understand at all the Gift that Christ gave us by offering his life. He said that he never felt pressure or felt that he had to try and be better because he was already saved by Christ. He asked me "Don't you want that? It makes it so easy." I bore my testimony to him of the Savior and of the truthfulness of the Gospel. He had already made up his mind that our message wasn't for him. As I was getting my things together in preparation to leave, the Spirit whispered to me "Jordan, you're doing the right thing". That was all I needed. It was such a strength to reassure me that the Lord is with me. Elder Brown said afterwards he could tell that he had spent a lot of time at Anti-Mormon websites. We don't think we will be seeing him again. He just wants to bash with us.
I don't know the scriptures as well as I think I should, but I have the spirit with me and a testimony. I am thankful for the experiences I have had in my life that have confirmed to me that Jesus Christ is my Savior. He provided a way for me to return to him. He wants me to be like him, and I am working towards that goal. He will make up the difference in any area that I lack.
We are having a special fast in our ward this Sunday for the missionary effort. It would be great if you could also remember this in your fast too.