Happy Bump Week!!

Dear Family,
Can you believe this week is my 6 month out anniversary already? Time has passed at an uneven pace, some weeks so slow and others fly by. I am not the same person I was when I entered the MTC. I'm being refined in ways I wouldn't have if I had not served a mission. I have met people I will never forget. And my testimony of the Restored Gospel has intensified as I share it with the people here.
The work here is still going well. We went on an exchange with the Zone Leaders. We met with a woman named Janet. We taught her the first lesson, and she seemed to really listen. Afterward she told us she would love to come to church. Sadly she didn't make it this week. We will be calling her and see what is going on. On Saturday we taught another investigator the first lesson, he pretty much knows it all. He just doesn't realize it yet. We enjoy meeting with him and love his outgoing personality.
This week we also went to the "Trick or Trunk" for our ward. Thanks for sending out my make up kit. It was fun to use my "skillz" from my techie days and make up some of the kids. One of the girls won a prize for the witch I did for her. I "gave" Elder Severson a black eye, and it looked real. While we were there I got to visit with Brother Skinner from the Tanglewood Ward. His sister in law is in our ward and they had come up to visit her. He told me the the best news. Christa was baptized on Thursday. I was so happy for her. And thankful that I was able to teach her before I was transferred. I was a little sad that I couldn't have been there, and have been given special permission to write and congratulate her. I am so happy for her choice to be baptized.
The weather is getting colder here, especially in the mornings. I'll need to have you send out some of my hoodies and thermals. Everyone has warned me how I'll be chilled to the bone.
I'm keeping Papa in my prayers, hopefully he will be home soon. He has been so brave through this trial.
Thanks for all of your prayers, I feel them and they keep me strong. I love you all.
Elder Colton

No snow here...

(the view back home in Utah)

Wow that is crazy that it snowed. It is starting to get colder around here too. We turned on the furnace this morning for the first time. Elder Severson has been feeling sick and has a cold. I gave him some of my Vitamin C. I think that will help him get over the cold quicker.
I am thankful to hear that the transplant was successful for Papa. And its awesome how everything has gone so well for Greg too. I got a letter from Papa on Friday telling me that he was going into surgery that day. I've prayed for him that he would be able to recover well, and its good to hear that he is. It's a blessing that he is getting color back. I really hope that there isn't any rejection or infection. (Elder Colton's grandfather received a kidney from his son Greg last week.) I hope that you guys enjoy your break. It is fall break here too for some of the kids.
This week has been busy. We went to Dr. Kinney's office and he checked out our eyes for free. (he is the high priest group leader) and it was good to get a check-up. Then we met with an investigator. He is a really nice guy, but has told missionaries before that he is not investigating the church. He just likes to have us come over. Kind of like an investigator in my last area. Oh I got to use my tile laying and cutting skills this week. Brother Dawson our ward mission leader is re-doing his house and he was laying tile in the bathroom. I was able to help him. Thanks dad for the experience with that :) We are still trying to get in contact with our investigator who had a baptismal date for this weekend. He has been out of town. We had to push the date back to the 1st of November. We will be trying to see him again this week. He has been remodeling his house and we have offered to help him, but he hasn't taken us up on it yet.
One other thing. This morning Elder Severson got a call from the mission office saying that his date to go home has been bumped up. He is now going home on the 5th of December. President Hobbs will be going to a Mission President conference the next week, so they are pushing transfers back a week. Makes me kind of sad because he is an awesome companion. We ate with the couple who got married last week. He is such an outgoing and cool guy. His wife is friendly and they love to feed us and talk with us. It will be so awesome to see him get baptized. Well that is about it for this week. Nothing else too exciting has happened. Just a lot of work and also just chugging along each day. I love you guys and hope that things are still going well for all of you :)

Love Elder Colton

Happy Birthday Dad!!

I hope you had a great birthday and you know I love you and appreciate your example to me. I'm sure you loved mom's famous banana cream pie.
Yeah General Conference was great! I was able to watch all of the sessions. It is set up like our church buildings back home. I'm looking forward getting the next Ensign so I can read up on the talks and study. I felt a lot of the talks were centered on my concerns, I was thankful to listen to the counsel of our leaders.
Yeah it is so green here, a lot like when we were in Pennsylvania. I love it, its such an amazing thing to see when we are out driving around. So many shades of green, not like Utah. We are FULL car in this area(hooray!) and it really is the only way that we can effectively get around. Our ward and mission boundaries are all of Rockingham County. It would just be too much to try and bike to places. No one else yet has asked to be baptized, but we did see a couple married this past week. He has been going to church for almost 2 years. He should be a quick one to teach the lessons to and get baptized now that he is married. That was the onething that was holding them back. They had their ceremony in the Magistrates office. Elder Severson and I were some of the witnesses. We have dinner at their house tomorrow so we will be asking about teaching him and setting a date to be baptized. Cool stuff! Well that is my update for now.
I love the Gospel, and am so thankful to be serving a mission!
Love, Elder Colton

People and Places to Remember

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For Brynley...

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Most of you know that I have 3 younger brothers and one sister who is the youngest child in our family. Her name is Brynley. She is all girl; she loves to have her hair and nails done and she has a genuine talent for dance. She has taken ballet since she was 3. Its been a real switch too having a little sister after my 3 brothers. We have Barbies and Hannah Montana in the house after years of Mutant Ninja Turtles and Legos. She loves our family. EVERYONE in our large family with all the aunts and uncles and cousins. Besides all of the pink and glitter she has brought to our family a deeper sense of love and the reality of Heavenly Father's love for all of His children. She has a lot of faith in the power of the Priesthood and never hesitates to ask for a blessing when she feels sick or sad. She loves to sing the "gospel songs" as she calls them, especially "I Am A Child of God" and "Called to Serve" She also likes the music that her big brothers like, especially Death Cab For Cutie and ColdPlay. Brynley has brought a lot of "extras" with her, you see she was born with Trisomy 21, more commonly called Down Syndrome. This means that she has an extra chromosome on her 21st chromosome.

Sometimes it is hard knowing that Brynley will grow up in a world that is not always accepting of differences or kind to people who have disabilities. If people would take the time to get to know someone who has a disability they would find out that they are some of the greatest people they will ever meet. Being around Brynley changes your perception on life, you see how she lives each day to its fullest, laughing and being care free. Then I realize that this is how we should all live our lives. I don’t think my sister will ever realize the impact she has had on my life, but I know I would not be the person I am today without her.

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month, and I hope that when you might meet or see someone with Down Syndrome don't be afraid to say hi. You can never have too many friends!!

Thanks Brynley, you are such a wonderful and inspiring little sister.
I love you Brynley!!

Happy Autumn!!

Dear Family,
I got transferred!! I am now in Eden. This is where Elder Brown trained Elder Terry. So my first two companions have been here before. I had to speak this past Sunday. I shared my story of how I got here on my mission, and how the Lord has prepared a way for me to get here. It was crazy  after I gave my talk. The 2nd speaker began and he was talking away and all of the sudden a little kid pulled the Fire Alarm. Everything started to go crazy, and the spirit just zipped out of the room. It was funny, but it kind of disrupted everything. I'm glad that it didn't happen when I spoke because I felt like I needed to share my story with the ward. It was funny that I had to speak. They had prepared for the Elder I replaced to speak. He thought he wasn't going to be transferred, but he was. Elder Severson (my new companion) was kind enough to tell me on the drive up to Eden, that I was going to speak on Sunday.  On Saturday went to the Ward mission leader's home and did some service for him by burning a bunch of stuff. Then we went that evening with them to Riverfest. Its a yearly event here. It was a lot of fun and I really am liking this new area. We haven't had a chance to teach a lot yet, but I'm sure that we will this week. We have 2 investigators with baptismal dates and the work seems to be growing here. I really like Elder Severson. He has it set up where we go to the YMCA each day to work out in the morning. That will be awesome so I can stay in shape since this area is full car! WOO! I love that. I might actually get to drive later on this transfer too, so that is just awesome! I have a feeling that I'll be teaching a lot more in this area than we did in Tanglewood. Hopefully I'll start to get the feel of what it really is like to be a missionary teaching and that sort of thing. And not spend so much time just waiting to see if anyone is home and being disapointed to not find anyone there.
I know that the Lord loves me and that he really does care about me. He isn't giving up on me. I just sometimes give up on myself. I feel that things are starting to get better. I'm seeing myself start to really grow in just the few days that I have been here. We have some awesome members here and I espeically have come to love the Dawsons. Sister Dawson said that she might be giving y'all a call. She loves to stay in contact with missionaries families. Really good people here. Its a very small ward. I think only 150 people or so and they are very close knit. I think that it'll be way good. Well I have to get going . Thanks so much for everything. I love you

Elder Colton.

September 15 2008

Hi Family!
We still haven't had a chance to get into the really rural areas just because we are limited in our miles. But we did get to go to some places that usually don't get to go. We met with a less active member. He said that we could come in and watch what he was watching or leave. He said it was about how religion came about and that it would be interesting for us to see. We declined his offer to come in. He said he would write down the name of the show and we could look it up later. We could hear the show explaining how The Apostles are like the 12 Zodiak signs and that Christ is the ultimate Zodiak and on and on. He came back and gave us the name and we said that we would see him later. It was weird! I don't even remember what it was called now. That was probably the most eventful thing we did this past week. We both had a stomach flu that we were getting over so we didn't get to accomplish a lot. We were in Courtney, North Carolina this week. That is a part of our area and we had a Media Refferal out there. Sadly she isn't receptive at the moment, I'm sure missionaries can try her again later. We as well are praying for a miracle in this area. Our investigator is still doing great. She called us on Sunday and said that she is ok. She wanted to know if I was getting transfered or not. I told her to call on Wednesday and that is when we would know. We find out tomorrow night if I do or not. Thanks for praying for her. It really has been amazing to see her change in such a short time. Her personality has started to show and that she is really feeling happier about herself and how her life is going. We pray that she stays committed. Things are still rolling along here in the mission. We are on bikes this week and I hope that things won't be too hot. It is starting to get cooler, but not as cool as I would like. Probably by then it will start getting too cold. I hear that it chills you to the bone out here when it gets to winter time. We will have to see when that happens. Well I have to get going. Thanks so much for all that you do, I love you.
Love Elder Colton