#3- Finding people who need jesus all day every day

This week went by so fast!! We went to Indiana University on Monday for exchanges with the zone leaders. They are so funny. Elder Mo is from China and Elder Powers is from Washington. We had a sleep over Monday night and Tuesday night. All day Tuesday we contacted college kids! We met a guy from Africa who just moved here a few weeks ago. We taught him about how God loves us all and about families. He was so interested. They met with him the next day and he wants to be baptized! The people on campus are so different than in my little small town haha.

Thursday was zone conference. We practiced the first vision and inviting to baptism. Wow that was inspired because on friday I said both of those in a lesson!! Our goal is for each area to have atleast one baptism a transfer. Pshh at this rate we will kill it ;) I set a personal goal to have confidence in the lessons and be consistent in scripture study and obedience. Those who have the most success are consistent and confident.

We met with our investigators Peggy and Pete. We have them set to be baptized September 12! We gave them a Book of Mormon on Wednesday after our baptism.Thursday we stopped by to see how they were and they testified to us the truth of it!! Their testimonies are so strong. Its funny because as they were telling us this they were smoking hahaha. Thats ok we are teaching them about that tomorrow :) Everyone here smokes hah I have been praying that we wont get cancer! Don't worry Mom I hold my breath!

Friday was so full of miracles! The AP's came to Martinsville to go out teaching with us. It isnt usualy they do that, and if they do its usually with zone leaders, but I guess we are the exception! They are so powerful! I went out with Elder Hackney and Elder Goobler went with Redmond. Hackney is 18 months out. We had a blast talking to all the crazy people here. They dont get out much, so when they do they make sure to work hard. At the end of the day we were one lesson short from our goal. We decided to pray for one last lesson before we went home. The very next door we knocked on was an 89 year old lady who was so happy to see us! Her name is Betty:) We taught her about the restoration. She told us how every night she talks with God as she lays in bed. Nobody stays with her and only the nurses visit. She said she gets lonely in her house all alone but she knows God always will listen to her. We had an amazing lesson! We are taught to invite everyone to baptism in the first lesson, so thats what I did! SHE SAID YES! That experience has strengthened my testimony so much.  

We also teach this family with the second cutest little girls ever. I say second because my sisters are the cutest:) They are 7,9, and 12 years old. They play baseball and basketball! On friday they invited us to come to wiffleball with them. The key to getting in with the parents is getting the kids to like you!! All the neighborhood kids like to follow us around ha we are trying to meet all their parents this week.

Yesterday we decided we needed to go visit and old man the missionaries were teaching last transfer. He is what we call an eternigator, or an eternal investigator haha. Dennis is an old man who loves his dogs. Most these people have animals and it smells up their house so bad! But he still is a good guy. He was so excited to see us. He said he read all the pamplets we left him and some scriptures and says he believes it! His heart has been softened and wants to be baptized! We set a date for September 12th. Hopefully in the next few week we get some new members!

I am reading a book called How to Be an Extra-Ordinary Missionary. It was talking about the different way to go about teaching and how Aaron and Ammon both did it. In Alma 21:4 Aaron "first began to preach" and was shortly after cast into prison. Alma 17:25 Ammon started by serving the king. Eventually because of his faithful service Ammon had the opportunity to preach. Extraordinary missionaries want to preach and love to preach, but that is only part of their calling. I was "called to serve". As we serve our friends they will be open to hear the gospel! I love the things we learn from reading the scriptures.

we are making gains with our burritos and salmon haha

Happy Birthday Dad! I hope you had a great day. You are the best. How are you? How is work? Are you still going to the gym? How is the new car? When are you buying a new vette?? haha

 We have so many great memories together. I have so many fun memories of us on the skii lift, and at the lake, and on our dirt bikes, and going hunting, and our trips to the race track, in alaska, snowmobiling, etc. Those experiences with you are my fondest memories in life.

You have taught me to work hard. The past few weeks I have reverted to our experiences every summer laying grass, cleaning houses, digging holes for trees, going to the dump, etc. I tell myself if I could do all those things at age 12 I can do this! Thank you for working so hard provide for our family. You have always pushed me to set goals and become a better man. I love you!  Happy birthday :)

pic one: is a convert who was excommunicated 50 years ago and we were able to help bring her back!

pic two is of my zone;) one big fun happy fam

Pictures from the farm

Letter from the mission office!

Dear Brother & Sister Coon,

Attached is Elder Coon and his new companion, Elder Redmond.  They have been assigned to the Martinsville 1.2 area, and his address is:

1439 S Marion Street
Martinsville, IN 46151
USA

You can send mail directly to him or to the Mission Office, address is below.  He will be at this location for at least 12 weeks.  After the 12-week period, please send mail to the Mission Office.

We are excited to have Elder Coon join us in the best mission in the world!

Sister Anderson

#3 -These hoosiers are crazy! August 17, 2015

I don't even know where to begin! The mtc was great and I have made it to Indianapolis safely! My mission president is so cool. He is seriously the most inspired man ive met. My companion is Elder Redmond from Ireland! Its so funny because I am starting to pick up on his accent. I have started to catch myself speaking like him haha! Im getting an Irish accent! He loves to workout and work hard! My prayers were all answered! We have had so much success this week! We are in Martinsville. I hear that is where the kkk started. That's the only thing I really know except that it is full of rednecks haha. So many crazy stories to tell!

We wake up at 5:30 for the gym. Our gym is so cool! Its like something off a movie. Its always foggy in the morning when we leave. There is a cop car in the ally behind the gym most mornings. We have to walk through this long dark hallway to the door. We are usually the only ones in there. We get home and go into studies until 10. Then we go out and serve or go to a farm. The farm is a blast because we get to feed the animals and chase the sheep:) We get all of our eggs there. Luckily I am the only one who likes eggs so I get all of them #gainz. Then we go home and proselyte until dark.

The Standard of Excellence is 22 lessons a week. Me and Elder Redmond taught 46 lessons this week! I think he said that is a record. It has been so spiritual and sooo fun. We committed our investigators Peggy and Pete to baptism :) was nice. I was able to bear my testimony in sacrament. I talked about service and challenged everyone to get to know their neighbors and serve them. We are fed by the members most nights, but besides that they aren't very helpful. That is my goal. To get the ward members involved!!

So I have learned that the guys who don't wear shirts are usually crazy. That doesn't mean we wont talk with them, just that we need to be prepared for anything haha. Its hard because most of the men here are shirtless. And almost everyone is smoking! We talked to a man the other day that believed he owned the whole American continent and he thought he was an Indian... but he was whiter than me.

I am still learning to love the people. This guy one day was waving us down so we walked over and he wanted us to buy his shoes. We told him we don't have money but would love to share a message about Jesus Christ. He started yelling at us so we let him be. After we were walking down the street and some dude got out of his car and ran over to us asking if we were "God workers" haha and then handed us a coke! so nice! we went to the homeless man selling his shoes and we gave him the soda. Just trying to be Christ like! The man yelled at us again saying he only drinks diet hahaha! Oh well we tried!

I am getting better at the lessons. It is coming together really well. I love this gospel! It is so true! I gave a blessing to a lady who had 3 loved ones die recently and is going through a really tough time. The spirit was so strong. I am so to be blessed to be a mouth piece for the Lord. Each day I am becoming better. These next two years will determine my life, so I better do my best! I love my family! Hope you are all surviving!

1441 s marion st is my address for the next 11 week.
ps...mom! what is the barn drink that dad drinks?? I need some bc im not getting enough greens! can you send me some please??

This is my desk in my new apartment in Indiana!

#2 - Arriving in Indianapolis! August 10, 2015

 He is such a handsome missionary!

#1 - Safe in Indiana!!

Your son, Elder James Dallin Coon, arrived safely in Indiana.  It was a pleasure to meet and welcome him to the mission.  He has a solid testimony of the gospel and is excited to be doing the Lord’s work.  Sister Cleveland and I look forward to serving with your son during this special time in his life.

I know Elder Coon will appreciate letters from home, but I discourage phone calls or visits except for emergency situations, and with prior coordination with me.  I recommend that you send all mail and packages to the office.  We will forward items to your son's apartment address.  For your information, due to postal regulations, packages can only be forwarded when they are sent Priority or First Class mail.

Sister Cleveland and I will love, care for, and watch over Elder Coon as if he were our own son.  Thank you for the love and support you have given, and will give him on his mission.

Sincerely,

Steven C. Cleveland
Mission President

week 1 - first letter from the MTC

August 5, 2015

Family today is pday! So much has happened this week its hard to begin. My companion is named Elder Harston. He is from Washington and lives in the Federal Way Mission. He is a hard worker and pretty strict. Its good for me because he keeps the schedule for us. No real problems with him:) We work together good in meetings with investigators. He is really good at knowing the facts about the doctrine of Jesus Christ and recognizing the spirit. We compliment each other well.

The first week was so crazy! It is amazing how one week can change me so fast. Thursday night we met with President Goodman. He met with everyone in the zone for a few minutes and then gave us all callings. I guess he felt the need to make me the zone leader haha. It is so much work but is such a blessing because we get to serve and pray for every missionary in the zone, it pushes me to be a better leader, and I have the opportunity to bear my testimony to them every night at the zone prayer at night. It is a lot of pressure because now I am a veteran mtc missionary and the new elders and sisters look to us for help.

We are teaching (some are fake) investigators for practice. We teach a man named Andrew. He has a hard life but he has started praying to Heavenly Father and reading the scriptures and its really helping him. We also teach a guy named Steven Bush but he isn't open to us. Our first lesson with him was so humbling. Not everyone is a golden investigator haha. But we are praying that he will soften his heart to the message we bring.

The spirit is so great here. Sunday night we had a devotional with Sister Sheri Dew and a talk from Elder Bednar. What a talk! He talked about the Character of Christ. The natural man looks inward for ways to help himself, but if we want to have a better like and be a disciple of Christ we must turn out and look to help others. This mission is not for me. I am not here to do what I want, I am here to be a disciple of the Lord and to do what He would do. When you lose yourself in the service of others, then will you find yourself. We must be converted to the gospel and consistently live true to what we know.

Alma chapter 53 has been in my mind this week. I love the story of the stripling warriors! They were all young men. They were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity. They were taught by their mothers to trust in God. Of those 2,000 young men none of the died.They were prepared just as we, 18 year old servants of the Lord have been. And because we have the power of God we will never fail! I cant wait to get out in the field! We leave on Monday morning at 3 am and get to Indiana around 3pm.

love,
Elder Coon

ps.. 
the food is gross but im happy to say that the do have a small gym :)
and i love to get dear elder letters!
i dont know how to send pics.....

How is life with only 2 kids? Im having a blast here! no worries im not getting home sick. I miss everyone at home but i dont want to leave! the food isnt that good and its a long day when your hungry haha but its ok! i lost 5 pounds but there is a gym and i work hard to get swole;) The weights only go to 75 lbs but it will do the job :) my comp and i run everywhere we go to burn some energy. we live on the fourth floor the furthest building away hahhaa

 My first haircut from someone other than my mom!

Junk food... #nasty...

on the plane

Here is a  picture of James and Scottie flying to provo! They look happy and excited to start their new missionary life! 

Saying our goodbye at the airport... July 29, 3015

 Tender... James is the best brother. He is so much fun to be around. If James is with you, you are having a party. His little sisters are so proud of him. We are really going to miss him!

 I love this strong embrace between Grant and James. Melts me heart.

 I didn't realize this was my last hug. I didn't want to let go. I am proud of my son. It is bitter sweet. A little bitter and a lot sweet. I think sadness comes from all the memories of life and how fast childhood goes. I love my only son. He has a huge part of my heart!

 Some friends came to the airport, Kade, Rhett, James, Chandler and Riley. All these young men have their mission calls and will be leaving within a month of each other. Riley is next in 2 weeks.

 It's official... he is leaving for his mission!

 Jill Brown & Jill Coon. Our boys have been good friends since 2nd grade. Scottie and James flew to the MTC together on the same plane. What a blessing to have a close friend on the same plane. Jill and I have a mother cry session for just a few minutes!  Proud of our boys!

 Now that James is gone.. we have adopted Riley as our brother for 2 more weeks! He is such a great friend. He actually feels like a son. Happy Riley is fun to be around. Driving home.... now what do we do?

Farewell and open house party