Frozen Half to Death

Dear Friends and Family of Sister Coleman,

Sister Coleman really wanted to email this week and tell you how her week went. She so looks forward to emailing! Unfortunately, it just got too cold for her this week and she had to go into hibernation before she froze to death. She will email again when the sun comes out in May.

Just kidding. It's me. Duh. But, like I said, it's SUUUUUUPPPPEEEEERRRRR CCOOOOOOLLLLLLDDDDD!!!! Last week was almost unbearable! Even with 3 pairs of tights, leggings, long johns, 3 shirts and my big winter coat I just about died. Couldn't figure out why I was so cold, and then I remembered that my face was exposed. I think I'm going to buy a ski mask. That'd be a sight to see. A sister missionary with a secret identity. People would only know what I looked like if they agreed to meet with us. I won't tell you how cold it got, but I will say that your 20-30 degrees in Utah sounds like a day at the beach to me right now.

Ok I'm done complaining. I remember praying to get my mission call somewhere cold so I can't complain that I got what I wanted. Sweden may not have great weather, but there're other wonderful treasures here. Like James. Remember a few months ago how I wrote that James is Brice's friend who had soooooo many questions? We've been teaching him for a few months now and yesterday, he decided on a BAPTISMAL DATE!!! We're sooooo happy. Mostly because we know that he's sincere and ready. He's getting baptized January 24 so keep him in your prayers!

We didn't get to teach very much this week because of the holiday but I just remembered that I wanted to tell you about Swedish Christmas!! I told you that the celebrate on Christmas Eve here and we went over to our bishop's house for that. We spent all morning making Christmas candy and dinner and gingerbread cookies and all kinds of yummies. At 3 o'clock we watched "Kalle Anka." Kalle Anka is Swedish for Donald Duck and every year on Christmas Eve, all over Sweden and Finland, they watch an old Disney Christmas montage. It's got parts of Mickey's Christmas Carol and other Disney clips. And they watch it every Christmas Eve at 3.After Kalle Anka we had a traditional Swedish Christmas dinner...Christmas ham, meatballs, potatoes, pickeled herring, boiled eggs...sounds weird, but it was really good! After dinner we got a visit from Tomte (Santa Clause...in Swedish) and Sister Lundén called home. Then we went home and slept! And I talked to you on Christmas so...

New Years was fun! We had district meeting in Västerås and then we came home and tried to start weekly planning. After about an hour of sitting and talking we gave up on planning and put on jeans and took a walk. We visited an investigator family who gave us some firecrackers and that was fun! Then we slid down a snowy hill and had to be home by 9 so...We got woken up at midnight by all the fireworks, but I was sooooo tired so I fell back asleep pretty quick. Friday we just got to relax and then have dinner with a family who lives about an hour away. They're so wonderful!!! The husband drives James to church every week! Saturday we were able to go teach James and then we went out tracting after we got home. We met the most AMAZING new investigator! He came to church yesterday and loved it. We're taking him to YSA family home evening tonight. His name is Juan Carlos and he's so honest and willing to hear more! We also tracted into this family who invited us in to try to prove to us that the Trinity is true doctrine. Everything they said just convinced me more and more of what I know. I'm so grateful for the Gospel and especially for the Book of Mormon. I love you and miss you all so much!

Love,
Syster Coleman (who is not dead or hibernating.)

So Amazing!!!
Dear Family,

It was so freakin' amazing to talk to you on Friday!!!! All day Saturday I was like "I talked to my family last night...I talked to my family last night...I TALKED TO MY FAMILY LAST NIGHT!!!" It made me happy. And that's my biggest news for you all. Pretty sure we talked about anything and everything...These mashed potatoes are so creamy.

So like I said, nothing has really happened in the past 2 days. Last night was kind of fun. We were out trying to visit an investigator and they were sick so we'd decided to go tracting and then the bishop called and asked if we'd like to come over and have some leftover Christmas goodies and give them a little teach. We did NOT want to go tracting so we were like "Ok!" It was really fun. There were like 2 other families there and we gave a little message about setting goals. It is New Years after all! The ward mission leader was there and had a lot to say...like he always does. But it was great. We were able to let them know that our Christmas wish was that they would really get involved in the work. We asked them to think of who they could invite to church, family home evening, activities, you name it. It was a great evening.

Gosh this is a boring email. I don't even have a funny story to tell you. I did read in the Book of Mormon today about the 2000 stripling warriors. Man, they were amazing!!! There are really only a few verses about them, but they're described as being valiant and true in all things. What great examples! I made a goal in my reading this time that I was going to try to figure out how all those war chapters help us come closer to Christ...still trying to figure it out. It's a good thing I had other scriptures to read this morning cause I was feeling a little traumatized after the war.

I'm sorry this is so short. I'll end by bearing my testimony that I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I love it! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that our Heavenly Father loves us. I love you all so much! Happy new year!!

Love,
Sister Coleman