STAYING IN SHAPE: EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL FITNESS

Hi family!!  I haven’t heard anything about my visa, but I think it’s going to arrive soon because I felt a prompting yesterday and also we are going to have a trio with Elder Smith and me.  So I think this means President Sagers thinks I am going to leave soon.  But I don’t know.  It doesn’t matter much to me where I serve because I know I am here in Texas for a reason.  I am here to serve God and my brothers and sisters that don’t have this great blessing which we already have as members of the only true Church upon the face of the Earth.  Well…my other companions have been Elder Driggs and Elder Collins (they were with me in Weatherford for just two weeks) and Elder Hansen (just three days in Mineralwells).  Generally, I only teach in Spanish, but sometimes we find English speaking people or parent’s kids who don’t speak Spanish well so we teach a little in English.  This week went really well.  We already have 10 new investigators who are families.  This Gospel is so important for families.  I have seen many blessings for families from others through this Gospel.  This last Saturday we had two baptisms.  One was for Leslie P.  Her parents were baptized 3/3/12, but she was afraid so she wasn’t baptized, but Saturday she was baptized.  The other baptism was actually from the sister missionaries, but I performed the baptism!!  It was really cool.  It reminded me of when we did baptisms for the dead jaja but it was really good.  I received the packages with the clothes. I am taking a lot of pictures and I am going to try to send a CD with the pictures.  And my bike is really good now.  Thanks.

Mother, congratulations on your new job. I love you a lot (: 


Stephen, thanks a lot for the talks and the music!  I was reading the Liahona while I was exercising but now I’m listening to the talks.  They are really good!!!  And thanks for the advice.  Nunca se dé por vencido (never give up).  I sent Alma a letter last week.  What you told me is going to help a lot.  I am studying the language every day…well, some days we don’t have time, but my companion and I are trying.  Also, we are going to have an Elder from Mexico so we are going to speak more.  We are trying to speak Spanish all the time, and it is really good.

Michelle!!  What a crazy week you had!  jaja I laughed when I read the part when you said the car crashed, that it was pretty cool jaja I hope all is well (:

Daddy, this is really cool with Abraham.  I wish I had paid more attention in seminary because I learned this, but I can’t remember it.  But I already knew about Isaac and Ishmael and this is why the Muslims don’t like the Jews.  But it is really good.  Thanks.  I hope everything is well.

Also, this week I realized that we are very different from other religions.  What happened was that Elder Smith and I were in companionship study and suddenly we had Jehovah Witnesses come up.  They really bug me because there are a lot of them and they always want to fight with us.  But I wanted a challenge, so I talked to them a little.  I realized that they weren’t there for love, for Christ, or for the benefit of my brothers and sisters.  They were there for pride and to deceive us.  I could feel a strange spirit.  At first, they didn’t know I was a missionary of Jesus Christ, but when they found out, they just wanted to fight with me.  Jaja it was really fun to talk with them and I remembered what Mother said: “I need to be more emotionally in shape” and “I kept my cool” and I used the Spirit to testify.  I love this work because I can teach with charity and with the Spirit.  It is really good…but the Jehovah Witnesses are really stubborn, but they are still my brothers and I love them. I love you family and may God bless you all!!!

Fort Worth Baptism 3-2012

Flat Tires, Punched Appointments and Pink Laundry: Everything has a Purpose

Dear Family & Friends -

Below is Elder Coffman's latest email.  If you didn't already hear, last week while doing his laundry David put a red towel in with his whites!  Needless to say, they all turned PINK!   The remedies we sent didn't work and Sister Sagers was working with him also - with no luck.   So a lesson was learned and looking back, it will be a good mission story.  Thanks so much to the Parkinson's and their generous help in replacing those items!   Thanks also to Anne and the suggestions and support.

Also, as you'll read below, Stephen jumped right on the request for hymns and talks in Spanish and we're mailing those out today.

Have a great week and take care.

Love,

The Coffman Family

Fort Worth Snow? Yep - 2/12/12

OK, I’m going to write in Spanish (: jaja I like Spanish more than English.  But thanks for the advice on the clothes.   I can send the shirts.  This week was hard because we had a lot of problems with our bikes.  We were riding on our bikes to our appointment and suddenly, my bike tire had a flat so we couldn’t get to some of the appointments and we had to walk.  It was really slow, but we stilled tried to work.  We bought new tires from Wal-Mart, but that one already had holes and we had to walk more and it was so slow.  Finally, a member helped us with the bikes but even so, our numbers weren’t very good.  It was very slow and many of our investigators “punched” in our appointments.  “Punched” means they weren’t there for our appointment.  But this made me realize that the numbers aren’t so important.  They are important, but we still had many good lessons and we had immeasurable success growing individually, just like our investigators.  I learned, like Stephen said, that everything has a purpose because we had some opportunities since we had problems with our bikes.  I was reading the talks from last general conference and there are a lot of good talks, but the one that especially called my attention was the talk about missionary work.  It was given in the Priesthood session.  It says that every returned missionary should look at his/her mission experience and realize how the mission helped him/her.  By doing this, we will use these things that helped us for our own wellbeing and also that of our families.  So, papá (Daddy) and Stephen, read this talk because I know that I can’t understand it completely, but look back over your missions and you are going to have many blessings from your mission.

Mother, thanks for the advice about my clothes.  Good job with your phlebotomy class.  I am always going to pray for you (: I liked it when I saw the words “pink shirts” in pink jaja it was really funny.  But I’m really grateful for our families and I always tell our investigators that this is one of the most important things to me, that I know without a doubt I can live with my family forever with my Heavenly Father.  God has given us all the things we need to return, but He doesn’t want us to do it alone.  That’s why we have a family.  I love you Mother.

Michelle!!!!  Little trickster!!!! jajaja jk but what is open mike night?  Is it during school or what?  But you can sing really well.  Don’t be afraid hermanita (little sister) (:  I know it is important not to judge others also.  This is the Work of Jesus Christ because He knows everything we do with a perfect knowledge.  I love you hermanita.  Do you still want to serve a mission? Bye.

Papá (Daddy), that’s really good for Parker.  And that is really funny about Russ also.  I never thought he would say something good about BYU, but he did it jaja and muchos nosotros!!!! wowow gluton jaja but we don’t do anything besides the Work on p-days.  We just write and clean and other such things.  I don’t like p-days a lot.  I just like working.  But I know they are necessary.  You can see these videos in lds.org also.  I like it a lot.  And good job with the Book of Mormon.  That’s a great blessing in our lives and we should delight in the scriptures like Nephi.  I love you.

¡Hermanito!  How are you doing?  I am going to send Alma a letter this week.  And I have a testimony that God has a plan for every one of His children because I have seen a lot of miracles that happen by means of things which are, seemingly, coincidences.  I love this work and thanks for your advice.  Maybe you could send me more music in Spanish, like Hymns, etc... and CDs with general conference talks in Spanish because I need to hear the language.  That’s that hardest part for me.  Sometimes I can’t understand what people are saying.  I am trying to watch movies about the Restoration, etc… in Spanish, but it’s hard.  Especially with women and children jaja but what helped you with this? Bye.

I'M ON THE LORD'S TIME

Well i'm just gonna write in english becuase i was hearing that it's taking a while to translate. jaja well i'm assuming you haven't received my letter about the clothes yet..well when you do,  tell me if there is anythiing i can do or if i just need to buy new ones. that's great that y'all have been reading those scriptures. they really are amazing. i have found new things in the scriptures everyday that can apply to my life, or to the lives of my investigators. and i love the
simplicity of the gospel as well. it's amazing how deep you can get into it if you want to. great job on doing these things as a family. i was reading a talk this week in language study about how satan is trying to work at destroying the family because he knows that the future of the church is going to be michelle, stephen, me, cameron, brock, and all the other youth. try doing everything possible to strengthen the family(: i always tell the investigators that one of my most favorite things about the gospel is the fact that it blesses families so much and that we can live together forever like the song we sang before i left. I really appreciate all the support i am getting from all of you. it's really nice to know that i've got people praying for me.


Mother: I don't think i'll be able to get on that website for the pictures because it's not authorized by the president.  and i'll get some pictures on the bike. i've only crashed 7 times(; jaja and i never wear my helmet!!!!! (sj mc) and thanks for sending those things for me. if they ever ask why they're getting emails from you, just tell them that i can't communicate via email with anyone besides my fam and mission president and that obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings milagros. te amo mucho mama (miracles.  I love you a lot Mother).

I'm on the Lords time now and from 6:30 in the morning to 10:30 at night, i'm a consecrated missionary. God's blessed me with so much that it's the least i can do. i've got enough to worry about with investigators, comp. less actives, etc. Once again thank you for being so great all the time. there's a scripture in nefi that talks about how Jesus loves us more than mothers, and it's hard to believe that after knowing all you have done for me. thankyou for having such a big impact on my life. i love you mother(:

(Stephen’s note – the above was in written mostly in English and copied and pasted; the following was in Spanish)

Michelle!!  Wow!!!!! Your Spanish is really good!!!  It sounds better than my Spanish!  That’s really good.  Did you write it or did you use Google to write it?  Well, good job on your dance.  It is really important that you have friends who share your standards.  I’ve seen a lot of problems here in Texas that result from part member homes.  But I know you already know this.  I just love you and I hope you’re happy and I know this gospel is the only way to be happy.  I love your advice.  Life is hard at times, but everything happens for a reason.  God knows everything.  We have to have patience with everything and have the wisdom to know we can grow from this experience.  I love you hermanita(: 

P.S. Did you see the thing in Mother’s part? ;)

Hermanito, thanks for your advice.  It’s true.  I need to gain the member’s confidence.  And the only way to do it is to work very hard.  That’s what I love about missionary work.  I love to work.  It is really good.  I love the fact that when I’m working, doing everything I can do, God is going to help me.  I know I need His help all the time.  Thanks a lot.

Papá, I don’t have much time to write you, but that was really funny!  Jaja I love the Beverly Hill Billies jajaja and I need to treat all people like my brothers and sisters.  Thanks for everything.(: And it’s really cool that we can relate anything in the world to the gospel.  Because God doesn’t give us anything that is temporal.  Everything is spiritual.  I love you papá.  

First Baptism in Ft. Worth in which Elder C participated

 

¡HOLA! FROM ARLINGTON TEXAS

Just when you think Elder C couldn't be more positive and enthusiastic, he tops his previous week's message with an even more exuberant proclamation of his love for missionary work and the Gospel!  He continues to write/speak in Spanish, so here's the translation:

His current direct address is:

Elder David Coffman

2106 Wilcrest Dr #227
Arlington, TX 76010

Study, Study, Study

¡Hola!  I received the package from the Lloyd family about three weeks ago  and I received everything.  I don’t have many pictures, but I took some at the baptismal services.  Don’t worry Mother jajaja I am going to use the CDs now and in Mexico, but I don’t have enough pictures to send them now.  I can attach pictures to the emails, but I always forget my camera when I write the email.  It is hard sometimes to take a lot of pictures because we are always on our bikes and there is not a lot to take pictures of.  But whenever something special happened, I always took a picture.  I hope Anne feels better.  Tell her to be careful!  And that sounds really fun that you two, Ali and Anne were able to get yogurt.  And where did Michelle get the Ravens jersey?  I like it jaja  The baptism we had was with Rasalio and Emilio Pérez.  I didn’t baptize them.  I man from Florida did it.  It was fun because he doesn’t speak Spanish so when he said the baptismal prayer, he said it in a heavy white boy (guero) accent jaja It was so funny!  But it was really good.  They are going to endure to the end!  I know it! jaja Do you know what it means to endure to the end?  I think this week all of you should learn more about the Doctrine of Christ.  It is really simple, but still very important.

Tell Elder Parkinson that in the field we can’t send emails to anyone except our families and to the mission president.  We don’t have a branch, but our stake is in Arlington.  And good job with your Spanish also.  Tell him the field is amazing and that I love to teach real people.  It’s a lot better than the MTC.

Mother, good job on your exam!   And tell Ali that she looks beautiful!  And that I love her muchisisisisisisisisísimo! jaja

Michelle, you can send the baby voice to Ali if you want. (: I don’t know when I am going to México, but I hope I go in about two or three weeks.  I like Texas, but México is better.  When I tell investigators I am waiting for a visa to Mérida they always tell me “¡Aaaaaahhhhhh el Yucatán!  How beautiful!  There is a beach and it’s not dangerous like the rest of México.”  I’m really excited to go there, but while I’m here in Texas, I am going to work very hard to save souls here! jaja

¡Hermanito!  I love your advice!  Thank you so much!  Actually, I was thinking in the saying no se dé por vencido (never give up) and I realized we can do it through the Atonement.  It’s really cool! jaja I decided that when I get back from my mission, I am always going to study the scriptures like I’m doing it now because they are so important.  It seems to me this week every scripture that I read talked about hope, charity and faith.  They are so important but charity is the most important.  I know this.  It is really cool.  I love reading Ether 12 and Alma 32 and Moroni 7.  They are really good.  And also Helaman 5.  Thank you so much for everything.  I still have not written Alma, but I’m going to do it maybe today.  Tell her I am sorry because I have been really busy.  But I want to speak Spanish with you always after my mission jaja Is that ok?  Bye.

 Also, little brother, how can I better utilize the members in the ward?  It’s hard here...what did you do in your mission?  See ya later and never give up!  Ever!!  May God bless you family!

(Stephen’s note – the following was mostly in English so I copied and pasted – the translated parts are italicized)

And now i'd like to share something i learned yesterday. We were learning about the plan of what we need to "put on the alter" when we go on a mission and one of those things was negative thoughts. negative thoughts are in the adversary's territory. we don't need to be negative about anything or  have a bad attitude about anything becuse no matter what happens, our lord, savior, y redentor jesucristo siempre esta aqui con nosotros. yo se eso. (and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, is always there with us.  I know this.) alma 7 i think verse 11 says what he suffered for. read around and find it, but keep in mind that la expiacion es infinita (the Atonement is infinite). christ suffered everything for us so we wouldn't have to if we repent. but if we don't, then we will have to suffer like he did ( d&C 19 16-19 i think) then in juan (John) 16:33, it says something really good. read it as well. i don't have my scriptures with me right now, but when i read it i felt real good and i want to share that with you. also remember to always remember to have faith, hope, and charity. read in preach my gospel what it says about those 3 things in the chapter about developing christ like attributes. try and do these things for family night(: adios y les quiero (bye and I love you)!

Arlington - home of the Dallas Cowboys!

Elder C and Elder Rushton

The Heart of the MTC 

FROM THE MTC

Sorry for posting, but one of Elder Coffman's blog managers has an affection for pigs and couldn't resist posting this photo. The pig is a memory "stick".

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - 2/25/12

As always, Elder Coffman's messages are written in Spanish. Thankfully, his brother can translate. 

¡Hola familia!  Yesterday was my first day in Arlington.  I still don’t know when I am going to Mérida, but hopefully soon!  I have no idea, it could be this week, in a month, or maybe in six months, but it doesn’t matter.  I will serve wherever I may be.  And that is so cool with Cameron!  I’m really happy and proud of him.  Tell him that a mission is hard sometimes, but the blessings that you can receive are better!  I had two baptisms Saturday and they were amazing!  It is a little sad because they have more family that is going to be baptized, but I’m not going to see it.  Also, I gave the Priesthood in Spanish!  I didn’t have any idea what to say when I was giving the blessing, but it was good jaja and it was really cool.  I gave it to Juan Cuevas and he is really funny jaja well, I love you familia!

Mother, how are you?  Good job on your phlebotomy!  I knew you could do it! jaja and I don’t know when I will be at the Cowboy’s stadium, but if I go, I will take a lot of pictures.  Here in the mission field, I am not taking as many pictures as in the MTC, but I still have good pictures.  So, Uncle Mark is living in Utah now?  I am going to pray for your class.  I do it every night!   Well, bye!  I love you.

Michelle, that is really funny what happened with Ali!  jajaja I love you too!  And how are you liking wrestling?  And training george is really good, but remember always that Millcreek is better than Mueller Park!  jaja Oh, and don’t send the thing in your telephone when I was using my baby voice to Ali because that would be super embarrassing! jajaja sj

Daddy, thanks for transcribing my letters jaja I hope you are well.  Every time I teach a child, I think of when you told me I need to make jokes with kids and that has helped me a lot.  I love you and thanks for everything.

Hermanito, I no longer have your twin as a companion.  Now I have Elder Smith and he also speaks really good Spanish.  I forgot last time, but good job on your piano at USU!  Have you heard anything else from that?  I know I have to focus on my mission.  The only time when it is hard is when I receive letters and packages and other such things.  But the rest of the time it is really easy for me since my Spanish is not very good and I have to focus on it and also on learning more about the Gospel.  I love the Gospel because it is simple, but at the same time essential.  Also, I love the saying no se dé por vencido (never give up)!  jaja Well, I am going to try to write better in my journal, and also in my letters.  Thanks for everything!

Send this message to Elder Jordan Parkinson because I can’t send emails to other people.

(Stephen’s note – he wrote the following messages mostly in English – so I just copied and pasted)

elder parkinson como estas? estoy muy bien! the field is great! out
here is basically like the flatlands in btown sino no hay montanas
aqui. i was in a place called mineral wells and now i'm in arlington.
and once you get out to the field, yo willl learn so much more spanish
then the mtc! it's also great to be able to teach real people. i love
it. this work right now is my passion and i'm still working towards
gaining that true charity for the people, but everyday it is getting
better. the best advice i could give you is to do all you can to
develop those feelings for everyone you meet. but yeah the field is
great and i'm excited for when you'll be out here! when do you leave?


con carnino, elder coffman



Also, send this to Elder Monson Welch

Hey elder$$

I'm doing great out here! i'm just waiting for my visa in
texas and almost everyone has an accent like Joel jajaja pero it's
great and i hope you're doing good as well. and i miss the fc and i
hope you're not too cold in michigan or however you spell it haha
buenas suerte con su mision!

MINERAL WELLS, TEXAS 2/10/12 - 2/14/12

Elder Coffman's letters are a bit out of order, so the previous post actually occurred AFTER this information. This is his first letter sent from the field -- Mineral Wells, Texas, part of the Fort Worth Mission.

Hi family! I arrived at TX just fine! Hopefully you got the email from the president with the picture!! I really like it here. I’m in a town called Mineral Wells. I will be leaving to another town on Tuesday called Weatherford. It will be hard to leave this area because I already feel attached! We have had some really good lessons so far. I had my first contact right out the airport! It was crazy, but fun. I then went to the mission president’s wife’s house and we had pancakes and homemade syrup! It was great! Then we went out to Mineral wells.

My comp’s name is elder Hansen. He is from Idaho. He is my trainer. Oh yeah I almost forgot to tell you. I remember how much I love BBQ food here! We are going to have brisket here tomorrow and I’m so excited! That’s one of the reasons I love the summer I’m just so excited to get good BBQ food! And I had totally forgotten about it while I was in the MTC. The first night we had a really good lesson with a less active member who hasn’t been to church for a year. He spoke Spanish, but liked English better and my companion doesn’t speak Spanish (I have been teaching him a little Spanish though) so we just taught him in English. He said he didn’t know what it was we said, but we made it so he would go to church Sunday and loved it!  It was so exciting.

I’ve had so many good experiences. So far I’ve only been out for a couple of days. It’s so much better out here because they are real people and I love making their lives better. The area is really poor though. Most houses are welfare and are either run down shacks, trailers, or little houses. The people are really nice though. I love it out here. I still can’t wait to see Mexico though. It’ll be hard to leave, because I already feel so attached, but I know I’ll love it in Mexico too.

My p-days are on Monday, but in Mineral Wells the library is closed on Monday so I won’t be able to email until next week in Weatherford. I almost had a chance to go to Arlington in which there are a ton of different churches out here. It’s like the same amount of church buildings as Utah, except all of them are different faiths. Some of them are just different faiths because they are on different streets. Like the South Side Church of Christ and the Sixth Avenue Church of Christ.  Apparently they hate each other and are going to have a war someday even though they are the same religion. It’s crazy ha ha! Well, I love all you guys and I will email you next week.  I can’t check email until then, so I won’t know what you sent me. What is Daddy’s email address? Oh yeah and it snowed out here! I never thought I would see it but it did.

Well, adios!

PS, I think I’m kind of getting a TX accent yawl ha-ha the funniest hearing Mexicans with TX accents - but I’m getting one!

Adios