Mission Tour

The Mission Tour with Elder Evans was a great experience.  It was good to see President and Sister Lopez again.  It was great to feel the spirit and feel the "flood" of personal revelation.  The two things I want to share were my impressions on the Law of Consecration and the "you get what you go for" speech by Elder Evans.

The Law of Consecration really hit me hard, so this week I studied it a lot.  My studies took me to the story of Amulek who literally gave up everything he had and all he had worked for to be Alma's companion.  The amount of faith that would take is unbelievable to me.  When I think about it, yes, I did give up some things to come on a mission, but all the things I put on hold for two years were given to me by God.  I came on my mission thinking I was paying Him back for all the blessings He has given me, but I am still WAYYYYY in debt--He keeps blessing me!  So, it really should have never been a question on whether I was coming on a mission or not!  I have made a resolve that however and wherever I am needed, my future family and I will do whatever Heavenly Father asks of us.  There are just too many blessings to be gained by obeying his commandments.

On the last part of the training by Elder Evans, he very emphatically beated into our minds the "you get what you go for" way of finding investigators.  I feel like that was pretty important!  When a special witness of the Lord says that five different times, I think it is best that I listen.  So, that is what we are going to do.  I have already found four of the biggest houses in our area and I told Elder Estevez that we will talk to those people this week--whether he wants to or not!  I never thought of things the way Elder Evans did.  It really was a great eye opening experience for me.

Another thing that I realized this week is how scared I was of changing.  I told Melissa that I wasn't going to change on my mission, and for the longest time I tried to fight it. The truth is, my mission is changing me, but not in bad ways.  I am the best I have ever been right now.  Without the decision to come on a mission, I don't know what would have happened to me.  I know now that everything I do will be for the good of my family and for our Heavenly Father.  I didn't realize how selfish I was, but when you are put into a situation where you think about other people 24/7, that changes.  I can already say that when I step off that plane at the end of two years, I won't be the same Colton James.  I will be about 100x better.  I cannot explain how thankful I am for this decision I made.  It isn't easy--not a single thing about it is, but it is so worth it.

In case you couldn't tell, this was a great week!  I miss you all like crazy, but right now I'm just living the Law of Consecration and blessings will come!

Always one who wants to be the "center" of attention!

All 100 missionaries in the Bacolod, Philippines Mission

Mission Tour Luncheon photo that President Lopez posted.
Cole is the one standing up (in case you couldn't tell)