Snow

E-mail dated: 12/09/13

"Well, this week has been a pretty good one.  We got snow on Thursday and it has stuck through today. They cancelled church on Sunday because there was so much snow.  We share a ward with another set of Elder's and currently their van is broke down, so we woke up early and drove into Charleston to pick them up.  It was Elder Varner's first time driving in the snow or icy conditions, I was lucky to make it out with my life!  I think I had a death grip on the door the whole time!  Since church was cancelled we stayed and shoveled snow with the Westside elder's for the day, we just walked around the neighborhood and shoveled members/ random peoples driveways.  It was pretty fun.  People were surprised when they found out we weren't asking for money.  I found out that Elder Udy's dads birthday was also on Sunday (he is the Elder in the picture) but he is turning 50 something so dad can still pretend like he is young.  Elder Udy is a pretty cool kid, I would love to serve with him if the opportunity came about.  After we finished shoveling snow President wanted to have a special Sacrament meeting for the Elders that were close to the mission office, at the expense of alot of miles we went and it was totally worth it!! President started teaching some pretty deep doctrine the whole time and we were there for like 2 hours. 
It is crazy to think this transfer is half over and Christmas is on the way.  The Brown's invited both sets of Elder's to their house to skype on Christmas day so that should be lots of fun.  I don't know how to do it but I am sure they will show us how. "

Transfer to Sissionville WV

 Elder Thomas & Elder Varner

E-mail:  11/25/13

"  Well the ward here is a bunch of older people, there is 1 young women and 3 young men.  The chapel that we meet in here is a Stake center, so it is weird to be back in a regular size building.  Just the gym is bigger than any of the buildings I have been in so far.  My new companion is Elder Varner.  He is from Henderson NV, he pretty much lives and breathes football.  The apt. is great,  it is really clean and has a washer and dryer. We have a ping pong table which we are putting to good use by mapping out and organizing the area.  I am still the district leader here and am excited to serve in Sissionville."

E-mail: 12/2/13

Thanksgiving was great!  We spent Thanksgiving with a very nice family, but they are way to fancy for me.  We started off with a salad thing then had some fancy appetizers.  I'm just sitting at the table thinking which fork do I use and wondering how I can organize my food to fit more on my plate for the next trip.  I ate way to much and was ready for a nap afterwards.  The food was great but not as good as home though, that's for sure!   Well we got some snow the first of this week. It has been below freezing this whole week, hopefully we will get more snow! We found a couple new investigators this week, 2 of which seem real promising.  One lady has been coming to church for the past 4 weeks and has already read the Book of mormon.  Her only problem is that her daughter is against the church, but hopefully that will change and we could see a baptism after 6 weeks or so.  We haven't ran into any crazy people lately,  I haven't been yelled at lately and am kinda missing it.  I have been studing alot out of 'Jesus the Christ'  and usually learn somethng awesome everytime I read it.  It is probably my favorite book now, except that James E. Talmage is very smart and I can't understand some of the words so I spend alot of time in the dictionary when I read it.  I studied so much about the Atonement, it was pretty great!"  

Leaving Rocky Mount VA

" Some of my favorite people in Rocky Mount, Sister Atkins and her son Jeff".

Elder Thomas& Elder Bovee

Email dated 11/20/13

"Well, we got the news and next week I am transferring to Sissionville WV..  I am going to be pretty close to Charleston.  This week we have been trying to find some new people to teach. We actually hit the standard of excellence last week.  That was pretty cool.  Right now we have 5 people on date, 3 of them are very solid.  So I am bummed because I will miss their baptisms.  Elder Bovee will have to send me pictures.  I will be sad to have to leave Rocky Mount, I really like the members here but will welcome a new adventure."

New address

Colton has been transferred, here is his new address:

6927 Boreman Dr.
Sissionville WV 25312

I know, I know I need to update with letters and pictures and I promise I will...soon.  Keep checkin' back.

District leader/ trainer

Parts of Colton's email dated 8/28/13

"  This has been a great week!  Let's see, on my birthday I was on exchanges in Rocky Mount with one of the Zone leaders.  We had a dinner appt. with a family that turned out to be pretty interesting.  They had just put their dog down that night so we helped bury the dog.  It was definately a one-of-a- kind birthday.  We had transfers this week.  I have been called to be the District leader in Rocky Mount and also training new missionaries..  I am going to be very busy!  Last week a couple in our ward wanted to take us to Roanoke VA for pizza and to see the Roanoke star.  It was pretty cool.  I also went to Charleston WV for MLC- training for leaders in the mission.  President wanted us to set new goals for baptisms for the mission.  Our last goal was 18 it is now 50!"
"  A ward member gave me a suit and it totally fits.  I love it because it's old school. " (complete w/ vest )

Colton's address is still the same:

265 Dent St. Apt. 1
Rocky Mount VA 24151

1st transfer

 

Parts of Colton's letter dated 7/17/13

"  So the big news is here about transfers and... I am going to serve in Rocky Mount VA.  My new companion will be Elder Goulding and I am totally stoked!  I have met him before and we get along real well.  The other Elders in the branch had a baptism.  The Lankford's are a very nice couple and I am so glad they will be part of our branch!  On Saturday we had our first branch social in our new building.  It was a huge success we had 8 non members there and a lot of food.  I am a little bummed that I won't be there for the dedication of the new building that is scheduled for Aug. 11th.  I will miss so many of the families here in Richlands."


Elder Thomas' new address:
265 Dent St Apt.1
Rocky Mount VA 24151

Man on a mission!

 Colton sure does miss driving the 57, he found a pretty close match. 

 Elder Thomas & Elder Colligan

 On the couch:  Elder Fotofili, Elder Colligan, Elder I can't remember (sorry) and in front Elder Vera.  Yellow chair: You know! 

 Not sure why he didn't pick a tree with a bigger trunk.

 He must have liked this yard decoration to send a picture of it.  Funny!

So I was informed by Colton that some of my post titles (ex. Happiness) are to girly and not manly enough.  So from now on, only comments and titles will appear on this blog that are manly.  Judging from the picture above of him sitting in a kids play structure he should definately send more manly pictures!

All is well with Elder Thomas.  His 3 month training is up so he could possibly get transferred today (7/15/13).  I will keep you posted on his address change if there is one.

A letter from the Pres.

Colton's branch President sent out an e-mail with pictures to all the Elders families.  Super thoughtful!  Here are some of his kind words:

"What a wonderful group of missionaries.  They will be future leaders of the church and what leaders they will be.  What wonderful love they have for the people.  They are so willing to assist and serve in any way they can.  We so deeply appreciate how they have been raised and for the testimonies they have.  We love them here and will be sad when they get transferred.  They are doing so well and love the work.  Elder Thomas always has a smile on his face!  I'm sure you love and miss them but we need them here a little while longer."

I love hearing that Colton is happy, his letters express that and obviously it shows on his face!

Happiness

You know Colton is happy if he is wearing his much loved romeo's and a black Delta shirt!  Because of the amount of service that they provide Colton requested more work clothes and his beloved shoes.  Life must be good for him.
Here is a part from his e-mail dated 6/5/13:
"So far no new investigators this week, we still meet with Amos regularly.  Kristy has a baptismal date set but won't meet back with us, we don't know why.  So, this week we have done a lot of service, mostly mowing lawns and digging holes.  Moon, who runs the food pantry took us to his cabin in Bandy, it was pretty cool.  He has 30 acres and 2 ponds stocked with trout.  When we went there, he fed us lunch and we did a little service for him.  We are still focusing on finding, so we visited what is known as "snobs knob".  Elder Colligan was calling it the promised land of Richlands.  But we later found out it is mostly Muslims, one lady claimed she didn't know how to open her door."

Keep the letters coming to Colton, he really appreciates feeling connected to family and friends.

In case you were wondering...

The Elders have proven that it is possible to get a box spring and mattress into a compact car. 

Bike wrecks and gravesites

Colton had his first real bike crash this week.  He was a bit sore and had some road rash but as you can tell from the pictures he and the bike are just fine. The best part about it was that they got to talk to a family after it happened so he claimed it was totally worth it! When he called on mother's day he told us that he had broke his watch.  When we asked how it happened he said that he is known as "the wheelie king" and had crashed into a telephone pole.  Why does that not surprise me?  Good news though, he got a car, it is in the picture above (just kidding, that's a lawnmower).  Let's hope he has better luck driving a car.  His branch Pres. (President Lines) invites them over for dinner regularly.  Colton said he lives on 130 acres has a bunch of horses and a saw mill on his property.  Pres. Lines also found the grave of a lady and the cabin she used to live in on his property.  Interesting and creepy huh!  The new church building is finished so no more meetings in the "annex"(double wide).  Darn, I'm going to miss those stories.

P.S.  The self portrait of him with the horse cracks us up!  Hilarious!

Richlands VA

Colton is still in RichlandsVA and will be until mid July.  These are a few pics he sent this week.  Humble people and humble surroundings is how he describes this little town.  He is still on a bike but was thinking he would get a car this week.  He uses the internet at the library in town which is an old two story house, the computers (which he refers to as 'dinosaurs" because they still have dial up) take forever to receive messages and pictures so if you want to contact him, send him a letter if possible.  The address is in the previous post.  He is referred to by the elderly sisters in the ward as "the farm boy", They always want him to come over to till and plants their gardens.  I imagine he loves doing that!  Our Sunday phone call was wonderful.  He really likes knocking doors but hasn't had much success, hopefully soon. Sunday he had to speak in Sacrament and Elders Quorum then on Tuesday he had to give a talk at zone conference.  He says he is HAPPY and can't believe how fast time is going.  What a blessing!