even the winds and seas obey Him

Dear Family,
This week was great. I hope I can write an okay letter for y'all today because I have a headache caused by the evil rain. It has been Raining like mad. I wish I could relate all the funny events of this week...but my head hurts so you'll have to wait 'til i'm home. ...i'll give you some.. On Saturday, was Tianchi's Baptism. WELL, it was storming like crazy. The Elders picked us up. We had to run to the car....I was holding a vase of flowers and shielding a framed picture under my shirt...Well the wind was blowing so hard...the flowers were starting to disintegrate ( luckily they came out okay)....and I didn't have an extra hand to open the car so I was stuck!! After being beaten up by the evil rain, Elder Taylor opened my door from the inside. So, we get to the church; little do I know that my planner fell into a nearby puddle, which I didn't find 'til later, and it was a gonner. So the power goes out at the church for a while, I'm freaking out, Tianchi forgets to bring an extra shirt and leaves in a huge storm to go get one, one of the speakers gets sick so I have to come up with something, there's no pianist available to play (she's on vacation) so we have to do it(the piano is part electronic and has some songs that it can play by itself)....etc.....etc....etc Although flickering at times, the power remains on. The program begins. The first speaker finishes, and Tianchi gets up and bears his testimony. The Spirits fills the room and every heart. I am smiling and filled with peace and joy. I hear him speak of things I did not even know He understood. It is serene. We all move into where the font is, and Tyrell & Tianchi step into the water. As our little Tianchi is baptized, I am filled. There is so much happiness, there is so much hope. Tianchi is so bright and so good. He comes into the room and it is my turn to speak. Somehow I am given the words. The program ends and everyone is joyous. It amazes me what the Lord can do even in the middle of a great storm. "What manner of man is this that even the winds and seas obey Him?" He calmed the tempest for just a few precious moments. Perhaps so He could watch His little Tianchi come unto Him.
I love you,
Sister Colvin

Today today work with a will today today your duties fulfill, prepare for tomorrow by working toda

Family,
Hi.........how's it going......................................................................................................................................?.............................. :) So anyways this week, fall semester started back up. So, there were lots of people.. YEAH!!!!! We also met with the Chancellor of Troy U. I guess he is incharge of all Troy U. in the world. People kept asking us if we were nervous to meet him. Honestly, I was not nervous....until people kept asking if I was. I was thinking, well maybe I should be nervous...Ha ha ha It went really well, we were escorted in by some man ( he then watched us by the door the whole time). The Chencellor's office was really nice. It was what I'd imagine the queen of England to have...no joke... but instead we met a guy with white hair.
Apparently he is planning on running for governor or some big office of somekind. He was really nice. We just told him who we were and what we do etc etc.
Anyways lots happened this week. I feel the Lord has continued on in my training. He is training me to be the servant that He needs me to be for the rest of my life. I learn so many lessons at such a rapid speed that I am surprised by each. It is so good;He makes our missions and our lives full, useful and purpose-filled.
There is a quote that says something like, anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to run around shouting he's been robbed. It goes on to say that life is filled with delays, sidetracks, and setbacks interrupted only briefly by beautiful valleys and vistas; we just have to thank the Lord for the ride.
It amazes me how many people fool themselves into thinking life is all supposed to be happy & easy. Actually, no it is not. It would be a waste. Quoting Elder Holland, "Salvation is not a cheap experience". I am thoroughly convinced that if in our lives we only experienced happy smiles, rainbows, and butterflies, we would be sorrowfully disappointed at the end. Perhaps we would say, " That's all He thought that I could handle?" Sad day. When we are brought through the furnace of affliction, we have great reason to rejoice: first in knowing that He approves of us & knows we are strong enough to endure it, second in knowing we will be more fit for the Kingdom, and third remembering that our Savior suffered at a magnitude that we actually will not have to.
Thank you for being a loving member of my family. I hope there was something that I might have said that helped you with what you were feeling today. I love you, love Sister colvin Ps; Gab & Sarah thanks for writing!

hey congrats on the office ! That is so cool!!
I love you guys. Mom said that Kaden was amonth old already..holy moses! Time goes by fast.

Troy U

Hi everyone!
This week was certainly eventful. Actually there were some really rough patches. I wanted to share one experience that happened earlier this week:
We were invited by one of our friends to attend the sort of welcome party for the new international students(on campus) that arrived. So, we went and met some really good people. While we were talking to a Nepalese girl that I had met before, a middle-aged woman(staff member) came by with the strangest look on her face and gave us an even more strange, "hello". I got a really weird vibe from her. So anyways, a bit later, we had just gotten some food and were greeted by a guy from the Netherlands who started asking us lots of questions. Well, we gave him a Passalong card because it had our number on it.
Suddenly that same woman from before swooped in and in a VERY angry tone told us we "cannot be giving out tracts here. This is a state university"......after we said "okay" about 4 or five times she repeated in saying. "do you understand me?!" about twice! Holy Cow, she was scary. We went somewhere else in the room (in all honesty to get away from her). I decided to talk to a guy standing by the garbage can. He was from Nepal also. We obviously weren't handing anything more out but just finished saying "nice to meet you" when another staff member came up to us. This man looked about 30, high fashion( i know, weird), and an obvious fake-bake (that means fake tan for anyone who doesn't know). He said, "Where are you ladies from?" My companion said, "Utah". Then the man said, " Well that's not quite international and ...NOT very interesting." He scoffed at my mentioning Arizona. He then said something to the effect of " we know what you're trying to do here......this is a private party.....and you need to leave." We informed him that we had been invited, but he still insisted that we leave.
So we left and did our walk of shame into the sunset....very dramatic. It was such a weird feeling to be treated like that and to be looked at like that. It caused me to think of the rejection that the Savior experienced. How strange it would have been to see people treat the Messiah, the most pure and gentle lamb with such horrid anger and evil hate. As we walked away, we noticed the sunset was a most beautiful scene. We knew it was Heavenly Father showing us He loves us and wanting us to feel better. It was kind of an awesome feeling being part of the same truth that was rejected in days long ago and that will always be rejected as long as evil fights against good.

Heavenly Father is always with us, all of us. At the hardest part of the week. He brought so many GREAT things to pass. I received a letter that day. It had been delayed on its arrival and came exactly when I needed it. Thank you to who sent it. Heavenly Father even controls the mail!! Isn't that Great!!!!
Everything is going to be wonderful! I know that rain always comes before the brightest sunlight! Still He allows little pockets of light to poke through the clouds :)
I love you all. A woman who could use any prayers this week is Robin. Please pray for her!
I hope to hear from all of you this week.
Love Sister Colvin

real quick

Hey everyone,
I didn't get the blessed opportunity to write yesterday because circumstances did not allow. However, we were granted permission to do so today.
Well anyways, to answer mom's questions from last time Andy is an investigator I wrote about a few weeks ago. & Tyrell is one the YSA's on campus that helps us out with missionary work.
Life is still good. Today I am so tired for some reason; I'm having difficulty thinking correctly. So obviously this letter will be quite prone to randomness.
ANyways, our baptism went really well on Saturday. Andy & Tianchi came. Tianchi will be baptized on the 23rd....so pray for him...Also pray for Andy. I found out this week why God has us teaching so many men. We had a lesson with Andy at the Ryan's & the Elders were there. I've noticed that for some reason that sometimes when men start talking together, it can can become a sort of debate. I don't think they mean to, I'm just saying that certain men cannot be taught by elders & I can more easily see the role that sisters play ( just as certain women cannot be taught by sisters).....anyhow so everyone please pray for Andy. He grew up in hard circumstances that caused him to become "tough" and because of that it is difficult for him to put on humility. In all my life, I have never been so directed to an individual over & over. Please do make it a point to pray for him.

Also please pray for us to find more of His prepared people. We believe in prayer and its miraculous abilities. Thank you for what you do offer up to Him in my and our behalf.

gotta go bye-sister colvin