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!