Week 13 - Belleview

Audio recording⤵️⤵️⤵️⤵️⤵️

https://familysearch.org/photos/audio/19477350

CAROL GOT BAPTIZED!!! Thanks again for all your many prayers for her. They really mean a lot to me as well as her. Thanks for being such an amazing support group.

My time with Elder Cortez may be limited this week. Transfers are next week and my training is now over. And it is very unusual to stay with your trainer. Plus Elder Cortez has been here for a very long time. He usually only stays in areas for one or two transfers. But in this area he's been here for four. I have enjoyed my time with Elder Cortez. And I find out on Saturday if for sure if he leaves or not. But as far as I know I may be leaving.

GENERAL CONFERENCE IS UPON US!!!!

Everybody get excited for general conference. Are you ready to hear from a prophet of God on things that we could all try to improve on. Because I know I sure am. The only sad thing is that I have to stay at the church to watch it and the screen that they stream it on a small. Sad. But. I'm most likely just gonna watch it from my iPad. Sooooo yep. GET EXCITED. 

Today's amazing Mormon message of the day is dare to stand alone. It's one of my favorite talks by President Monson. I really enjoy the message trays to both members preparing to go on missions as well as members who stand up for their beliefs. I was prompted to share this with the lady that we've been working with for about two months. She has a hard time coming to church and she felt like she needed to do something different in her current life. This Mormon message gave her the Strength to seek the truth. I've to hope she'll be able to tune in for conference this week. I also hope that you'll be able to tune into conference this weekend. It is very important for us to listen and to learn from the words of the prophets. You would make Elder Coley really happy if you listen to conference this weekend. You know what else makes Elder Coley so happy? All your many emails and letters. I am so grateful for such great friends and family. I love all you guys and I hope they have an amazing week this week. And don't forget about conference.

Love, 

—Elder Coley

D&C 123: 17

Alma 2: 38

Acts 2: 38

2 Corinthians 5: 7

D&C 4: 4

Jacob 3: 2

That a awesome Mormon message about standing up for what means most:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-05-005-dare-to-stand-alone?lang=eng

Week 12 - Belleview

FIRST LISTEN TO THIS WEEKS RECORDINGS!⤵️⤵️
https://familysearch.org/photos/audio/19306528

If you can't hear the the recordings please email me.

If it shoots you off to familysearch.org to hear it then... Good. That's where I download it so that's where you're supposed to be sent to.

I concurred the battle of the cookies!!!! If you've been reading my emails a few emails back I had some trouble cooking the cookies in the oven that we have. But this past week, I did it. I conquered the cookies. And I brought them to district meeting and everybody like them.

Down below there is a man with a sweet hat, I love it very much. I'm quite jealous of it.

Sooooo... The Mormon message of the week is called: "you never know". It's about a single mom who has big plans to meet with her cousin but to many things pop up and get in her way. I highly recommend to watch it if you are down. Or if you feel like your a failure at times. Watch this one if you feel like the world is against you. If you feel overwhelmed at school and you feel like your not accomplishing enough. Watch it. It really stuck me this past week. We shared this to a member. But I knew that it was more for me. The spirit was so.. Strong and I could feel it touch my heart. It was an answer to my prayers. It made me feel like I have made an impact on this ward. And that I am doing my job to the best of my abilities. If you ever feel down make sure to watch this video and it will comfort you. 

Again thank you for all your many prayers and emails. I read each one and I am grateful to know how loved I am. Thanks for being great cheerleaders! Hahaha I hope you all have a great week. 

That Mormon message that will comfort you when you feel like your nothing:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-00-008-you-never-know?lang=eng

love,

—Elder Coley

Alma 2: 28

Mark 9: 23

Alma 1: 31

2 Nephi 33: 10

2 Nephi 31: 19

Ether 12: 24

🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲Lizard counter: 125🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲

Week 11 - Belleview

WHAT AN AUDIO RECORDING!!!!!!!!!!

Yes you heard correct an audio recording. I recorded a little bit of the email today GO LISTEN TO IT BRO!! I mean if you got the time it's 11 minutes long so go listen to it and tell me if you like them!!! Or if you don't. Haha 
(I can't figure out how to add an audio recording to blogger. If you want to hear it, email me and I will send it to you. -Stacy Coley)

BOB ROSS. yes I got to see bob Ross for like 10 sec. The other day. Haha it was nice. There's those non active recent convert that we see and he loves art and painting. So when we knocked on the door bob Ross was on and i was happy. So happy that I had to take a picture of it. #happylittletrees 

Chili. . .

So.....if you know me. Like really know me. Like the way my immediate family knows me. Then you know how much I don't like chili. I think that it smells bad I think that it tastes bad and it looks even worse. It makes me want to gag. Well........ With that being said I have had chili 4 times on my mission already. And I can tell you what. Chili.... If done correctly can be really really good. First off I'm in the south sooooo... Yea it's gotta be good. Next, here they believe that chili should not be a soup. And I agree with them. It should be thick and chunky. With meat and beans. Not soupy watery stuff. So I learned something about myself. I can handle chili. If it is done correctly. So yeah. I bet you weren't expecting a rant on chili today. Hahaha

This weeks awesome video is "rescued by Christ" I just feel like i needed to share this one. Maybe someone really needed to hear it. It's about my good friend George and his lil. Owl named Arthur. He's pretty awesome. So go check it out it super inspirational and just a good time all around. 😁😆😄

I hope that you had an excellent week like I did. And hopefully you enjoyed the voice recording. Hopefully it brought a smile to your face. Hahaha I might be doing more of those in the future. Anyways I'm glad that you read/ listened to this whole thing. Thanks for being an awesome friend. I am absolutely grateful for all your many emails and letters. They really do help. Thank you. 

That awesome Mormon message about George's little owl named Arthur!!!!!:

 https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-008-rescued-by-christ?lang=eng

Love,

—Elder Coley

D&C 50: 41

D&C 42: 14

D&C 44: 2

Moroni 10: 20

Moroni 8: 26

D&C 121: 26

🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲Lizard counter: 115🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲

Week 10 - Belleview

Corvette belt buckles and sketchy sandy roads

Yes, it has been quite a week. But a fun week. 

It all started off with contacting some referrals in Marion oaks. Which is a really weird place. It's a huge suburb but they ran out of money when they built the place so there are houses in really weird places and roads that just go to nothing and none of the roads make sense. It's a weird place. And it's a long way from our house so it kills our miles so we hardly ever go up there. Anyways we were going up to a house and instantly the pavement changed to sand. Which is sketchy because if your car stops in sand. It stops. And you haft to get out and push. So we were going down this "street" more like a quad trail. It was so uneven and there was branches and trees everywhere. I have a picture below. We went along this street for like 20 min. And then we started to see tires on either side of us. Haha, it was scary we started coming up with stories about how people get jumped on this street and they steal their cars and only leave their tires. It was super shady. But that's Florida for ya. 

Oh it was sweet there's this huge flea market right by our house so we went there and did some "contacting" we really just shopped. Although we did run into a less active member and he wants to feed us. so I guess there was a reason to go to the flea market. Anyways we saw a booth that sold belt buckles. And my companion has this sweet belt buckle of a Indian head. I was looking around, and I instantly fell in love in this Corvette. Of course there's a picture of it below. So... I'm pretty stoked about it. 

Cookies.... So... If you are a part of my immediate family you know that I was the king of making cookies. No madder what Emily or Spencer Vickers say. I make the best cookies. Soooo I felt really bad when I totally burnt them... Pic below. Well I didn't completely burn them but this was totally unacceptable to my standards. Soooo... Lesson learned.... My oven get hot quick. I'll keep you posted on the cookie battles. 

Oh some people have been asking about my companion. And yea I really haven't said a whole lot about him. So.... His name is Elder Cortez. And he's like the BEST trainer ever. He's really laid back and he believes in being a friend first then a missionary. One of the lessons that I've learned is you haft to have a person trust you before you can even bring up the gospel. He's a great trainer and he's very supportive in what I share in lessons. He's also a total people person and he teases everyone in the ward. He's a great trainer And I love him. 

Christ works in a strange ways. This has happened soooooo many times on my mission. We went to a gators house and they weren't home so we went to a less actives house or a recent converts house in the area. And that's exactly where we needed to be. Like just this last week. A gator canceled and we went to a less actives house and she was really struggling. She really needed us at that time. We shared the Mormon message "the will of God". Which is probably one of my favorite videos to share. Please go check it out. It will uplift your day and help you. One way that I feel uplifted is when I receive emails from you :) hahaha. I love hearing from you guys thank you for all the mail and emails that I've received from all of you. I'm so grateful for such amazing friends and family. Thank you for your prayers. I love you all very much. 

Love,

—Elder Coley

2 Nephi 31: 20

3 Nephi 32: 18

D&C 112: 13

Alma 13: 27

D&C 109: 22

Jacob 2: 7

That awesome Mormon message. It's like my favorite:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-014-the-will-of-god?lang=eng

🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲Lizard counter: 91🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲🐉🐲

Week 9 - Belleview

Sooooo.... Yeah I am completely positive I am stuck in a soap opera. And I'm playing the role as "missionary 2". No but really I can't believe that this is real life. Let me tell you about my week and you can judge if I could classify as a new hit reality tv show. So this past week one of our progressing investigators went to jail. For pulling a knife on his wife. The wife is currently pregnant with a baby that she isn't 100% sure who the father is. But she came to church this past Sunday so that's good. Another girl that we are teaching is lesbian and she got in a fistfight with her mom this past week. Her mom just got out of rehab and things have settled down a little bit. Oh. And yea after all of this... A hurricane is supposed to hit Florida this week. Yep. I can't believe my life either. But it keeps you on your toes. 

But on the bright side of things we went to the temple with an (investi)gator for a temple tour. It was amazing. Our gator really enjoyed the temple and could really feel the spirt as we walked around and talked about it. As we left our gator told us "you know what.. Maybe I'll let you baptize me" and we said "why just maybe" and she said "because I really want to go inside." I now have a new appreciation for the spirit the resides in the temple.  

While we're on the topic of temples... We have this awesome recent convert that has special needs and he loves minecraft. Soooo..... He created a temple in minecraft. It has been great to see the progress that he's made as we come over. I always Look forward to going over there each week to see what part of the temple he's worked on. I really enjoy teaching about the temple though minecraft who knew that minecraft would be such a great teacher. Hahaha 

Another great thing that happened this week is that we had ten investigators/less actives come to church yesterday. It was awesome and also overwhelming. The ward is also pretty cool because every 5th Sunday they have a linger longer lunch. It's pretty much a potluck lunch after church. But it was nice. It reminded me a lot about the potluck socials we would have in Kansas. 

SPIDERS. So it's been a popular question from home... How big are banana spiders.... So I included one down below. And if you can't judge the size of the spider... Let's just say that the little spider next to it is just over the size of a quarter. #Arachnophobia Hahahaha. Oh and as you might of noticed the lizard counter spiked from 58 to 81... Yeah I saw like 15 lizards at the temple this last week. It was crazy. So....I guess they love to see the temple too.

 Oh and that hurricane..... Yea it's pretty much dead by now which stinks. My companion and I wanted to make t-shirts that said. I survived hurricane Erica. Sooo... Yeah. That's a thing. But I guess we get more rain.... Wahoo..  Oh.... Yes so we serve in Ocala as well which is like the ghetto of my zone soooo.... We see a lot of interesting pimped out prices of trash.... Everything from old buicks to vans and trucks. So.... I included a picture down below of a sweet truck. Hahaha

Oh sweet video of the week.... Lift. If you haven't seen the music video lift..... Do it. I love it.... Just watch it. We show this video a lot to members whenever they feed us. I love the message about service and the message invites a nice spirit into the home. Soooo go check it out. 

Anyways If you read this WHOLE thing then I'm proud. Wow like its a novel. This one was big. But I'd like to say thank you. Thanks for showing an interest into the life of Elder Coley. As always I absolutely love your great letters and emails. They really comfort me when I'm down. Thanks for everything!

Love, 

—Elder Coley

Psalms 27:1

2 Nephi 31:11-12

D&C 42:14

D&C 121:45

Alma 26:27

Moses 1:39

That awesome Mormon message, LIFT:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-05-003-lift?lang=eng

 Lizard count: 81