Tew, Coleman T

Yo, my new area is mad hype. I'm in Farmville Beach Town, Puerto Rico. It's crazy! Training is pretty fun. I've enjoyed it a lot, actually. My new companion, Elder Aslami (Salami), he's a beast. He reminds me a lot of myself. It's been a really good time. I'm also living in a 4-man with the elders of Juana Diaz, and it's been the funniest and funnest time of my mission. We live with Elder Rahm and Elder Clegg. And the other night, me and Elder Rahm tried to diagnose Elder Clegg with OCD. In Elder Rahm's own words, "We are correct." Elder Clegg disagrees. I don't really care. If he has OCD, at least our house is clean. Elder Clegg loves the house clean, and he hates cockroaches and spiders, so we are going to buy some fake ones and put them in his bed. He hates the disorganized cabinets, so we have been organizing his organizations into deorganizations, and it's funny. But he also doesn't react, so it's more just funny between me...

This week was absolutely wild. I don't even know what was happening. I have seen a total of like every missionary in the mission, except St. Thomas elders. It's weird because I was on an island isolated from everyone for about 4 and a half months. Then, in one week, I saw almost every missionary in our mission, except Elder Arreaga and Hagen, the two in my district. RIP. It's been one of the most interesting yet good weeks of my life, but just weird at the same time, and just... I don't even know. Fun, I guess, is the word. It's not that I wasn't having fun on Tortola, but Tortola is a different story compared to most missionary life. It was just you and your companion, the smallest branch with just a building above a pizza restaurant. No lines in the street, all the complicated things are gone. Very simple lifestyle, everything you need to survive, nothing more, nothing less. Very content and happy. The missionary work is like go, go, go, go, go, no time for an...

Well... today, I am being transferred back to Puerto Rico. My time in the British Virgin Islands has come to an end, and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to have served here. I have learned so much. I really feel like I became independent in Tortola. As I sit here at the airport and think back on my time here, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to have been able to serve in the Caribbean. I know Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island, but Puerto Rico is kind of like its own thing. Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, the Lesser Antilles, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas—they all are very similar. But Puerto Rico is very different. I am humbled by the experience I had and the situations I was able to see. We have it so well in the States. Even Puerto Rico, compared to Tortola, is an insane difference. These people are living in the most humble situations, and they usually have a smile and are so happy every day. The thing I feel like I learned the most here is how true the gospel is...

Day 537 of the mission... Today, I have decided to state 100 things I am grateful for. Why? Well, this week was tough. Really, really tough. And I mean, like, a lot of letdowns and some really hard letdowns. There were obviously many miracles and good times. It's true that the mission is the hardest thing you'll ever do, the most rewarding and fulfilling thing ever. And I have been pondering that. A lot of my missionary friends have gone home now and finished their mission, and I have been able to talk to them a lot. I find a common theme that they say nothing they have done since has been as fulfilling as a mission or has made them as happy as the mission, and I would have to say I agree. But there are hard times and rough times, and I think that's why it's so fulfilling. Nothing in life has greater opposition and miracles from the Lord. Without the bad, you would never appreciate the good. And so it is as a missionary, the biggest letdowns in the world and the biggest...