LEG HAIR UPDATE

Leg hair - Why do I even have hair on my legs? I literally hate it so much. It literally just has negative aspects of it. 1. It's hideous, makes me look like Bigfoot. 2. It doesn't have that nice feeling when you get into a blanket and your legs are all smooth. 3. My tan doesn't look as bueno because I have hair shading my legs, oof. 4. It gets pulled by my socks. 5. It gets pulled by me when I'm bored, lol.

Anyway, what had happened was I was reshaving my sock line because, you know, my socks keep pulling my freaking leg hair, and it's absolutely horrible. It is worse than shots. I would rather have a shot in my arm than have my leg hairs pulled out by socks. It's literally awful. Like, what is Stance thinking? Back to the story, my leg hair obviously was growing again, so I needed to reshave my sock line. But then, I had motivation finally to shave my whole legs again because I felt like not being weird again and only having a bald sock line. So I start shaving, and then I get lazy again, lol. I only did one leg, and I love it. It is like my brain, so chaotic. I don't know how I would live if I had OCD. Everything my ADHD makes me do would drive an OCD person insane, bahahaha. I can't wait till I get a companion with major OCD. They are going to want to kill me, hahahahhahaheheheheh.

Staying on the topic of hair, man I miss my long hair. I talk about it literally so much, but I literally loved it so much. It's the one thing in life that's materialistic that I am seemingly to miss and care about. As I've been in MTC these last three weeks, I have learned and grown so, so much, and I love who I am becoming. I am so happy, and my focus is so good. I was having a conversation with Elder Topham about life and MTC, and I started to realize how much I agreed with him when he was saying the only materialistic thing that mattered anymore to him was his AirPods. And I started thinking about it for me, and to me, it was my long hair, lol. But the point I'm trying to get to is that as I was pondering these three weeks in MTC, I was looking at who I was becoming and what my focus and goals were. And they're not on myself and looking good with good outfits and not caring about what I think about myself and what others think about me. I was feeling the Savior's love a lot in that moment and thinking about what truly matters in life. And I've come to this conclusion, and here's why.

(Not in order of what's better than something or what's more important. The order is based on what I thought of first!)

PEOPLE/relationships - People truly matter in life because you need them for growth, love, to learn to love, and have love. You need people for experiences and happiness. You need to meet people and learn from them. You get to experience people's views and their different experiences, and it teaches you a lot and can give you new perspectives. And they give you memories.

MEMORIES & EXPERIENCES - Memories are also super important in life, I've decided. Memories and experiences are what make you, they shape you as a person and cause you to become who you are and what you are. Memories and experiences are the only thing no one can take from you. They're the only thing you can take with you from this life to heaven and from this life to eternal life. Memories and experiences are the only thing that stays with you for eternity.

GOD AND JESUS CHRIST - It's so cliché, but it's true. They truly are the most important things we can have in this life. Because this life is a test to return to them, and when they are our focus and we have them top of mind, we become better people and truly create love and memories with people. God and Jesus Christ made us who we are. They gave us a body, and they gave us all these experiences. When we are focused on God and the Savior, our focus turns from selfishness to selflessness. We become selfless and love one another, serve, create memories, focus on the important, and become like them. When you're focused on them, you become like them. You truly do become what you focus on. So focus on the Savior, and you'll start to become like him. Focus on the bad or negative, you will have a negative attitude. Focus on anxiety, you will become anxious. You feel what you focus on!

LOVE - (Kindness as well, but I feel like they are the same thing.) Love is super important, loving God and loving people. It's so important. Feeling love when you are sad brings you peace and comfort. Extending love when someone's sad makes you feel good. I can't tell you how many times I wish I would have been nice to people and showed love. Love causes you to feel good and be happy. If I would have just showed love, how would I have felt, and how would the situation turn out?

My list of the important things in life are:

Love

Memories and experiences

God and Jesus Christ

People/relationships (this also includes family)

That is what I have come to figure out while being in the home MTC. While I've been in home MTC, my views on life and the world are changing. I'm loving more, I'm feeling more love, I'm creating relationships with teachers and my district. Some of the best people I have ever met. My focus is on God and Jesus Christ. I feel selfless and am starting to become humble and loving. I'm creating memories and experiences with amazing people and at and having an amazing experience. My spiritual growth and mental growth are going at a rapid speed, not my physical though, lol. I hate working out, still scrawny, bahahaha.

Experiences going on that I want to share: A cool little experience I had with God this week! Okay, so I have a testimony that I got last summer. Lots of you have heard that story, and if you haven't and want to, email me, and I will share it with you. Anyways, on Sunday, I went to my grandparents' church, and I kept having this super strong feeling to get up and bear my testimony to all these people who haven't heard it. And I was nervous because I love talking to people, but public speaking is different. It still makes me nervous because I haven't done it enough for me to be comfortable with it. (When I get home, don't worry, I will be a pro.) Anyways, I was super nervous, and as I got up there, I just felt the spirit take over my talking. I don't even remember what I said, but I was up there for like 10 minutes, lol. The spirit truly used me as a tool to those people. I testify that, and I know it made evident after the sacrament meeting. I had all these people come up to me, and with genuine sincerity, I could feel the truth in their words. It wasn't just them being nice. I could feel the sincerity. They all used these words at the end, "Thanks for sharing that. It was truly powerful," which stood out to me. How they all said that "it was truly powerful" kept making me think of what the spirit was telling these people. There was a lady who told me she hadn't been to church since COVID and had only been doing online. She told me she had this strong desire to go to church today and feel the spirit there, and she told me she knows it was because of my testimony, which was awesome! She needed to hear and be reminded of the true message of forgiveness Christ offers. Anyways, Sunday night, right before I was going to say my personal prayers, I had this overwhelming feeling of gratitude for my testimony, and I had this desire to thank God for it and Jesus Christ for His redeeming love. I ended up getting an answer right away, and it was a thought put into my head by a voice that wasn't mine: "How Firm a Foundation." And I immediately went and listened to that hymn. It was very powerful, but the more meaningful thing to me is my reply, "Why did you give me a hymn? I don't get it." I got another thought, "Look at the related scriptures." So, I looked and clicked on Helaman 5:12: "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation (Testimony), that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation wherewith if men build, they cannot fall." One thing that stood out to me is that, again, I have never really studied this scripture, just like my experience with 2 Nephi 2, so I know it was an answer from God. It was also cool that it was saying if your testimony is on the foundation of Christ, nothing can drag you down, which is cool because my testimony is based on His Atonement and repentance. Christ, my foundation of my testimony, is Christ. And like it said at the end of the scripture, "Because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation wherewith if men build, they cannot fall." Because of my testimony of Christ, I will always be able to not fall because of my faith. Satan cannot cast me down. Obviously, I am human and can fall into temptation again. It's not saying I am immune because of that experience. What I think I'm getting out of it is that my testimony of Christ will always bring me back, and I will not fall when the day of judgment comes. I also think it's true in present moments too. When I have temptation or doubt or fear (Satan's storms) and I pray, every time I get the answer immediately, 2 Nephi 2, and instantly I am back to Christ, and temptations, doubt, fear, etc., are gone. So, I love that my testimony is on Christ and built upon Christ because truthfully, that's the only foundation we can have that will be strong enough. We can't be the foolish man and build our house upon the sand. We need the rock, our Redeemer, our brother, our friend, our loving Savior.

Español funny mess-ups and stories this week - with it being week 4 technically for MTC Monday, we are now like full Spanish, which is very confusing for me. Anyways, when she's telling us all this, she goes, "Good luck, Elder Tew!" Baahahha, she knows I'm bad, and my teacher was bullying me, lol.

Also, we had a workshop, and I am becoming really good amigos with the instructor (shout out Hermano Alarcon, he's a homie). Anyways, he made me say the closing prayer, and right before I was saying that I'm bad at Spanish, and so I prayed, and he goes, "You're half Latino," and I meant to say, "No, mi es muy gringo," which is like, "I'm a white guy," and I said "guapo," so he's like, "You're half Latino," and I go, "No, I am handsome," lolllll.

Also, my district had to teach another pair of companions in the district the lesson in Spanish, and me (Elder Putnam) and Elder Topham and my companion Elder Wiesler wasted 7 minutes of our 20-minute lesson playing an opening hymn, lol.

This week was a very spiritual growth, not much funny entertainment, but I'm happy for it. It was very good to spiritually grow. I can't wait to get to the field though, then I can have entertaining stories. But write me, I miss you all. Love, Elder ColemanThree.

Sending lots of long hair pics this week, rip my hair and also my leg hair, hehehe, and a photo of my mission fits, and a video of the seven-minute hymn, hahahh.