Elder Colton Price

Here are parts from several of Colton’s letters.

I just want to tell everyone that I am having AN AWESOME TIME HERE IN THE FIELD!!!! The work is great and I am trying to become the "fourth missionary". It is a talk that gives the different types of missionaries and puts them into four different categories with the fourth being the best one. It is actually harder than you think, but easier to maintain once you become. I am learning Charity, personal accountability, and consecration to the Lord. In essence, all we have to give is our heart and our will, He has given us everything else that we could give back to Him.

I am teaching everything that I have learned over the years. There is not a single day that goes by that a past experience doesn't help me share my testimony or teach a principle. All of these experiences are then rolled into the 5 lessons in Preach My Gospel. The lesson that we teach most often is the Restoration (lesson 1, no surprise there) :) and the other lessons just come in as we continue to teach people. We break a lot of the lessons into parts for different investigators since no one progresses exactly the same.

The investigators here are progressing SUPER well. We had another baptism on Saturday. Sister Townsend was baptized by Elder Smith, and I had the opportunity to confirm her on Sunday. It was pretty nerve racking. :)

So let us begin with yesterday (Sunday). I was in the apartment with my companion after planning not so patiently awaiting transfer calls. I was decently nervous because we should have been called at around 9:40-9:55, however the call didn't come until about 10:20! So my companion is leaving to be district leader somewhere else, and I am staying in Huntington...Training!! I AM SO NERVOUS! I haven’t even finished my training technically. So I am really excited about this and I will be in Huntington for the next 3 months more than likely. :)

Teaching is going well this transfer as well. My companion and I taught a total of 102 lessons this transfer! We have been EXTREMELY busy.
So, my companion is named Elder Callister; he is from Kaysville and he is a really funny 18 year old just like me. he is so much fun to be companions with. He is so much like one of my friends back home it isn't funny! He even talks like them. Elder Callister is a really solid missionary, and I am not even remotely disappointed that he is my companion. His attitude towards life makes it really easy to be relaxed and comfortable around him. I am not as stressed out as I thought I would be, but I can't seem to turn my brain off anymore, which has actually turned out to be a real help.

Earlier last week I asked Heavenly Father to help me with my memory and with my ability to lead; He answers prayers. I can't seem to stop thinking about investigators, members, plans, and back up plans. Its kinda like the "be careful what you ask for" joke.

I know that Heavenly Father prepares us for special assignments in this life--there are no accidents. If Heavenly Father can take the time to put a star in a precise orbit so that it would give light on the night of Christ's birth, then He must definitely take even more time and care to place us in a precise orbit in life where we can illuminate the dark places of the world.

I know that this is the true church, that Jesus is the Christ, and that the Book of Mormon is the true doctrine of Christ. I love Heavenly Father and I love Christ. I love my family and am so grateful for the prayers and support.

There is nothing quite like missionary work. It’s fun, hard, demanding, rewarding, exasperating, and comforting all at the same time. I recently had a change of heart. I am now focused completely on the work. You would think that putting everything that I am/was on the shelf for two years would be demanding or not worth it. I am here to promise that the very moment that I completely submitted to the will of my Father in Heaven I felt a calm and loving feeling come over me. Heavenly Father recognizes our sacrifices, and the more we put on the altar to sacrifice, the more He is willing to bless us with true joy.

I absolutely love this work! I love the people, the place, and the time that I have been called to this work.

There is a high chance that I will end up in the Cincinnati Ohio mission...I might train Zach Beckman. Wouldn't that just be awesome! Tell him I said hi. :)

PS I have officially had one of those moments as a missionary where I know that the Lord protects me. This very Very VERY angry man answered his door...we left quickly. :)

We were mostly worried that he would throw something at the car, you know, the important, irreplaceable part of missionary work ;)

To Close with a testimony

I know that God lives. I have not had a single experience that leads to this conclusion, rather I was blessed to always know in my heart that He is there, just behind the veil. Jesus Christ lives. He knows us just as much as Heavenly Father does. He and Father, and the Holy Ghost are one in purpose, knowledge, and action. Christ has done for me what no other being could--He prepared the way for me to return to my Heavenly Parents and Heavenly Family. In doing this He prepared a way for me to start my own Heavenly Spiritual Family just as my Father in Heaven has done with us. Just as the knowledge that God lives, I cannot pick just one experience that made me know. But know I do. My calling is to testify of the divinity of Christ to all the corners of the earth. Right now I have been called especially to Indiana, but you are within the sphere of my influence and to you I shall testify as well. He lives. He forgives. He loves.

In the name of my Master, Savior, and Redeemer--Jesus Christ,

Amen.