October 14, 2019

After being in El Paso, TX since June, Elder Coleman is being transferred. He will now be serving in Taos, NM. We joked about him spending the hottest part of the summer in the southern most area, and now he will be going to the northern most area for fall/winter.

He seems happy for this change. He really seems to be doing great! We love being able to video conference with him each week. He has been assigned as a Spanish elder, so he has been working on his language skills. He thinks that may continue into his new area.

Below is his email that he sent last week. As well as photos he just sent.

Hi everybody! Sorry I don't always respond to the emails I get, but it's always awesome to hear from you! I'm doing well. The weather's getting a bit better now. It's actually in the 70°s right now! And it's rained some days, which just seems weird. It's definitely nicer to walk around in the 70°s than in the 90°s and sometimes 100°s, so I'm grateful for that.

I think I've finally decided on what's surprised me most about Texas: just how many different kinds of places there are. Like there's some neighborhoods that seem almost like those in NC (just a bit less green), some places that are just desert with a few houses, and then some places that actually have a lot of farms and a decent amount of green (and mosquitos)! I'd always imagined Texas as a mostly barren desert, so that's been different for sure.

We had Zone Conference this week, where it was officially announced that all the missionaries in El Paso and Las Cruces are learning Spanish. We have an hour each day to study the language and a class on Saturday to practice. So far, it's going alright. I'm able to say some things now, but I often have trouble understanding their response, so that'll take some getting used to before I can actually have conversations. But I know that this will help us bring more people to Christ!

General Conference was really cool! It's awesome to see how the Restoration is ongoing, and how with a living prophet able to recieve revelation, there can constantly be adjustments to help us improve our holiness. And the talks really inspired me! Elder Uchtdorf's especially made me think about how we should see this life as an adventure, and that we need to be acting on this adventure, or else what's the point? We're here to act and not be acted upon, so we have make sure we're always striving to be the best we can be, helping others, and constantly growing closer to Christ. President Nelson's announcement about next Conference being different was cool as well! I feel like I've been slacking a bit in my Book of Mormon study, so now I need to make sure I'm really getting deep into it to be ready for April, and I invite all of you to do the same! The Book of Mormon has precious truths in it from the Gospel of Jesus Christ that needed to be restored, and we should be excited that we have that!

Thanks again for all your emails and letters and things! I hope everything's going well in NC and AZ and wherever else you are!

-Elder Coleman