Pictures and a Poem

This week was pretty cool! The family I told you about last week all have baptismal dates set now! It's been awesome to be able to work with them! But most of all see how good Kaneohe 3rd ward treats our investigators when they come to church! They are all really friendly and welcome them so much. Most the people that we bring want to come back just because of how friendly they are. Other than that I'm just continuing to try and work my hardest everyday and be a better instrument for the lord.

The top picture is So'o! We helped him saturday and after service he invited us to his fire dance show! So that was an awesome night haha!

Then we went on a hike this mornig with a recent convert and her friend! So that was fun!

This week my companion got sick.. So sadly I was stuck in my pad all week going crazy.. haha he's feeling better now so we're able to go work again! All is well and happy late Easter! Hope your Easter was filled with much love and centered around Jesus Christ
and family. For that was the day he broke the bands of physical and
spiritual death so we may all have the chance to live again.

I found a Poem that really touched me while I was stuck in my house haha but here it is!!

The alarm bell rings at 6:30, I stumble to my feet
I grab my companions bedding and pull off his sheets

A groan fills the room, is it already time to arise?
It seems like just a second ago, I was able to shut my eyes
The morning activities follow- study, prayer and such
When it's time to leave the apartment, you feel you haven't accomplished much

"We have a super day planned,"
My comp. says with a grin
I lowly utter a faithless breath,
"Yeah, if anyone lets us in."

With the word of God and my faithful Schwinn, we ride off in the street prepared to
Face another day of humidity and heat
It's 9:30 in the evening, the day is almost through
My champion and I are riding home not accomplishing what we thought to do

We ride up to the mailbox, hoping to receive a lot
Only to look inside and hear my echo reverberate "air Box"
We go up to our apartment, the day is now complete
The only thing to show for our work is a case of blistery feet

It's past 10:30 p.m. My companion is fast asleep,
Silence engulfs me all about and I begin to weep
In the midst of sadness, I kneel down to pray
I need to talk to father, but I'm not sure what to say

"Oh, Father" I begin, "What happened to us today?
I thought we'd teach somebody, but everyone was away
My hands, my aching hands- worn, hurt and beat;
If our area was any smaller, we'd have knocked every street"

"Why on missions are the days so much alike?
The only difference about today was the flat tire on my bike
Will you send some cooler weather? The heat is killing me
I sweat so bad, it gets in my eyes, it's very hard to see"

"Why do I have to wear a helmet, isn't your protection enough?
People always laugh at me, and call me stupid stuff
Please send us investigators so I may give them what they lack
I want to give them Books of Mormon, the weight of them hurts my back"

"And what about my family: They don't have much to say
I'm sick of not hearing from home day after day after day
Oh Father, Why am I here am I just wasting time?
Sometimes I just want to go home, I'm sorry but that's on my mind"

"My companion, Heavenly Father, what are you giving me?"
The way he rides his bicycle, I don't think he can see
Now you have it, I can't go on, I don't know what to do
That, my Father in Heaven, is the prayer I have for you"

My prayer now finished, I stand up, then jump right into bed
I need my rest for tomorrow, we have another long day ahead
Sleep start to overtake me, I seem to drift away
Then it seems a vision takes me to another time in another day

I'm standing alone on the hill. The view is very nice
A man walks to wards me and says, "My name is Jesus Christ"
Tears of joy well up inside, I fall down to His feet
"Arise," He states, "Follow me to the shade. You and I need to speak"

My attention's towards my Savior, total and complete
He says, "Your mission is similar of what happened to me
I understand how you feel, I know what you're going through
In fact, it would be fair to say I've felt the same as you"

"I even know how you felt when no one listened to you
At times I felt not quite sure what else I could do
I know you don't like to ride a bicycle, for you a car would be sweet
Just remember the donkey I rode wasn't equipped with 21 speeds"

"I understand you don't like sweating, in fact it's something you hate
I remember when I sweat blood from ev’ry pore, oh the agony was great!
I see you don't like your companion- you'd rather have someone else-
I once had a companion named Judas who sold my life for wealth"

"It's hard to wear a helmet and have people make fun of you
I remember when they put thorns on my head and called me King of the Jews
So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack
I recall how heavy the cross was when they slammed it on my back"

"Your hands hurt from tracting and knocking on doors all day
I guess when they pounded nails into mine, I ached in a similar way
It's hard not to hear from home when your family's not there to see
I lost communication on the cross and cried, "Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

"We have a lot in common, but there's a difference between us you see
I endured to the end and finished my mission, so follow and do like me"
He embraced me with His arms and His light filled me with His love
With tears in my eyes I watched as He went back to the Father above

I stood with awe and wonder when a beep rang in my head
I listened and heard the alarm, then realized I was in my bed
My companion let out a groan, "6:30 already, no way!"
I sat up and said, "Come on, I'll even carry your scriptures today!"

No matter what we go through,
When we feel we can't take more
Just stop and think about Jesus Christ,
He's been there before!

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week.

 Love Elder Collings

Birthday Blessings

A lot happened this week! Wednesday I dropped off Elder M at the airport, he got transferred to Maui! Then we waited at the airport for my companion who came out with me from the MTC! He was in the same group as me. He started his mission in Kauai, and got transferred to Kaneohe with me. It's pretty funny! I've been in Kaneohe longer than anyone now so I'm kinda the grandpa in the zone! The end of this transfer I'll hit 6 months!! Crazy to think about haha.. 

Elder K is from Blackfoot Idaho, he is a really funny and goofy kid! He isn't very excited about riding bikes because we have to go up so many hills.. But I think he'll grow to love it like I do haha! 

Well, the day I picked up Elder K we went back and I showed him the area!  I introduced him to some of our members and investigators! Later that night when I said my nightly prayer, I prayed that we would start to see some success.. I was a little down because of how hard I've been working, and haven't really felt all the fruits of my labor! So the next day we woke up and just started doing our daily routine of seeing the less actives and knocking on doors! Around lunch time we went to go catch a bus to get to the other part of our area! We heard someone yell "Elders!!" I turned around and I didn't see anyone, so we just kept talking.. a couple of minutes later the guy who had yelled came over and asked us if we were busy! So I said, "Of course not, how can we help you?" He told us he is an inactive member, and he wants his kids to get baptized! That was the best birthday present I could've ever asked for!  We talked with him and he said he needs to start coming back to church, and he wants to take the lessons etc..  I was already super excited but I didn't want to get my hopes up until I could actually have a sit down with him, or until he came to church! Well that Sunday he and his whole family came to church and told us how excited they are! It really strengthened my testimony of not only that Heavenly Father answers our prayers, but more so that he blesses us in our faithful and diligent labors.

I love you all, and thank you so much for all the Birthday emails! I really do appreciate it dearly!

Love you all! 

Elder Collings 

Fun new contact

This week was awesome! We had a big Zone flood after Zone conference to help some sister missionaries find more people to teach! Me and another elder (Elder B) went and just did some door knocking. After about two hours of people slamming doors we had one girl who came and talked with us! She said she was really busy and she had to go, so we left her on her way. A couple houses down me and Elder B both had the feeling that we needed to go back and give her a Book of Mormon! So we went back to the house a second time and she just came outside, and after we introduced the Book of Mormon, she asked us to teach her about our church! So we taught the Restoration and Elder B taught her about the first vision! After he finished, she told us that she felt so at peace and calm when he taught her about the first vision, and that it felt like a poem. I explained to her how the Spirit works, and that the Spirit told her that this message is true! She got really happy and is going to progress towards baptism! I'm sorry that I don't get to teach her because we were helping the sisters. But they will get to help her along the path now.  I'm still super excited, and it strengthened my testimony of the power of the restoration.  I can't wait to see how she progresses! We got to go to the temple today as well! That's why I didn't write yesterday! But it's always a blessing to be able to go and do a session. The Spirit is so strong, and it just relieves all of the stress that builds up! Transfers are this coming week! So I'll let you know if anything exciting happens! I'm hoping that I get to stay in Kaneohe but I'll be happy wherever the Lord sends me. 
Answers to a couple of questions:

Have you had any baptisms? I've had One baptism! Melody!
How many people have you seen re-activated? I have seen a lot of people reactivated.. I can't think of a number off the top of my head! But a couple families I've grow really close to.
What have you learned from your mission president and mission mom? I've learned to try and be the most obedient missionary I know I can be! That's what they always strive for.
Do the members help you with missionary work? We have lots of members I help us! we get a lot of referrals from them to go visit, and teach the lessons too!

Have you gained any more weight? I have gained 5 Pounds is all! I weigh 175.. But I've lost a lot of muscle haha!

What do you like best about your mission?  My favorite part is working with the less active family's right now! They have been one of the best blessings on my mission.

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!!

 Love Elder Collings

 The view never gets old!

Lizard on my ear! 

February 16th

That's crazy that you're moving out of your house! Who is going to move into the house? And where are you going to put everything? But I've been able to see the blessing from taking that step and following Christ so much in my own life on my mission so I wanted to share :) I'm so glad it helped you, mom. How excited are you that it's getting closer to leaving on your mission? :) That's awesome! 

I like Jason Killian a lot! That will be exciting to go home to him as the Stake President! 

I did a ton of service last week and we are trying to get a multi congregational Easter devotional so I've spent a couple of days looking for pastors who are interested! It was nice to hear from you and I love you! Hope your week isn't too stressful trying to pack everything haha! 

Love Elder Collings

With God, all things are possible

 I'm in a pill box on the top of a mountain! it was pretty cool. The picture above is on top of where I was in this picture

Not much happened this week, but we are just continuing to teach our investigators and get them ready for baptism. 

Over the past few weeks since we have bikes now, my companion has lost close to 10 pounds! I'm sure it's because it's still pretty hot and humid over here. But it's been awesome because a ton of people will pick us up and give us rides even if they aren't members. So it's actually helped us to be able to teach a little bit more :) 

I found a scripture that I really like referring to. It's the story of the rich young man who asked Jesus how he will be able to make it into the kingdom of heaven.. Jesus told him to simply follow all the commandments.. and the rich young man said that he already does that! So Jesus told him to leave all his riches behind and pick up his cross and follow him. The rich young man didn't like that and got sad and walked away... Jesus then told the disciples following him that for that man it would be harder for him to make it into the kingdom of heaven than a camel to fit through the eye of a needle. The disciples asked how can we just leave everything and still provide for our families and survive? And Jesus told them "For man it is impossible, but not with God. With God, all things are possible." This transfer I'm going to try to focus on that quote and further put my faith in the Lord, and be as selfless as I can.  I know if I rely on the Lord I'll be able to be further converted to the gospel and also Will be able to convert others. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Collings

More Pictures

A visit from Elder Holland

 So last week we did service for almost half the week! We went to a lady named "Auntie D" and she is very disabled and can't move.. and she has been running out of money because the tenants renting out her apartment weren't paying their rent and that's her only income! She couldn't do anything about it because she is bed bound. They finally got the tenants out from the house and they had pretty much destroyed it! 

One of our members called us up and we helped this whole week to renovate it! Now the church is renting it out to some sister missionaries!! Which gets me into my next story haha! 

We had transfers last week and they brought in new sisters to take over the Kaneohe 4th ward. I'm only in the 3rd ward now! But since the sister missionaries have to have a car.. we had to give them our car. So now I'm on a bike hahha!! It's awesome though, I love riding it around! Everyone always honks their horns and waves at us. 

When Elder Holland came it was amazing! I got to see him two days in a row, because we had a meeting with all the missionaries, and then on Sunday we had a special stake conference with him as well! He was super funny!! At the missionary meeting, he told us he wanted to shake all of our hands and wanted us to tell him our name and where we are from. So we all lined up 1 by 1 and shook his hand! And he just left it at that.. about half way through his talk he paused and said elders and sisters... I didn't really care about your names or where you're from.. I already forgot them anyway.. But what I did want to do is interview you! And lucky for you, you all passed. hahaha!! It was insane!! 

Part of his talk was him telling us about what makes him  the most sad.. and he said that when he sees a less active RM he can't stand it. And after that he started yelling at us and said "YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO GO BACK TO WHO YOU WERE BEFORE YOUR MISSION! YOU LITERALLY DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT!" Then he started talking about all the covenants we made etc.. But needless to say I don't think anyone in the Hawaii Honolulu mission is going to be less active now.. hahaha! It scared me half to death!!!! 

Other than that I have just been doing my best to be the best servant of the Lord I can be!! I love you and hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Collings. 

PS/Happy late birthday mom!!!! I have a card I'm going to send home soon!!!! :):)  Love you! Glad you're doing better.