#24 - January 25, 2016- I smell like SMOKE!

You know it was a good week when every night we came home smelling like smoke! We worked so hard this week! Found some great people and taught some great lessons! 

I am leaving Martinsville! After 6 months in one area hahaha! That is a very long time! (DRUM ROLE PLEASE) I'm going to Greenwood!! That is not very far away and it is a great area! I gave a talk yesterday in church and I told the whole ward that I won't be very far away so I will expect them to come take me to lunch every once in a while haha. I will be in Greenwood first ward:) It is the nice part of the city! I will stay district leader but will have more missionaries in my district. Sounds like fun! I think I live in an apartment complex that has a gym too! So pumped:) Can't wait to get to work! I leaving tomorrow! But I will sure miss the Martinsville ward.

We had a world wide missionary conference! Teach repentance and baptize converts! Elder Anderson taught us that we should have  the Savior on our lips at all time. Just like my dad always tells me, Elder Anderson said if you don't know what to say then testify! "Because of the Restoration we know more about the Savior than any one else." Elder Bednar taught on how we as missionaries are the Holy Ghosts instrument! We need to be worthy vessels by being obedient, the Holy Ghost is a teacher, testifier, and converter. In 2 Nephi 33:1 it teaches us that we can bring it UNTO their heart, but the Holy Ghost brings it UNTO their heart. They will need a mighty change of heart that will only come from the Holy Ghost. 

Did you know that it raises the percentage of baptisms by more than fifty percent if members are involved in the teaching process!? Not only there at the lessons, but also if they make friends with them! I encourage everyone to ask the missionaries in their ward who they can meet! Invite the investigators to FHE, a game night, dinner, or something! 

Have a great week!! I know I will :)

Love, Elder Coon

"Faith is a principle of action and power"--Elder Bednar

 Bro and Sister Stumph. They teach the gospel principles class. Great family. The had 12 kids! Holy Cow! He goes on exchanges with us a lot!

 That is Brother Lillywhite... jerk haha and Brother Hubbard! I love him! HAHA he is hilarious! Him and his puppy dog eyes;) such a good guy!

 we made a super healthy and groooooss smoothie!! hahaha

 our faces haha i was gagging so hard!! but got it down:)

 This is Larry! he is the mail man who is out every day no matter the weather:) kinda like us haha

This dude is hilarious!!! He never wears a shirt! Sadly he put one on for the camera. But he claimed to be praying one day and looked up to see God and Jesus! wow! I want that to happen!

 Alice!! She is great! Keep her in your prayers. She has cancer again. But we have been helping her a lot! We will stay in contact.

 This is Linda Taylor. She has some anxiety problems but has a great heart!

Bishop! He is a great bishop even with his frizzy hair:)))Nikki! We always talk outside even when it is freezing cold haha and she never

 wears a jacket haha. 

 Vance was just baptized a month or so ago! He is a great member.

 Brother and Sister McCormick! Brother McCormick isn't baptized (yet!!) but we have been working with him for a while.

 Some of the kids in the ward! We take Noah on exchanges every Sunday. He will be a great missionary one day. Kami is the girl. She is so sweet.

 This is the Vaught family! 

And their cousins the Vaughts. haha everyone here is related:)

Chuck! His family is Jared and Jonie. 

Paula!! hahah She is a nice lady.:)))

 Justin Montgomery. He is a goof who is so proud of his beard hahaha. 

Met Crystal and Scott last week. They are so smart in the bible and really picked our brains! But the are loving the Book of Mormon! They want to adopt a few kids because 3 of 4 of theirs are out of the house.

The great and abominable church here in Martinsville is called Hoosier Harvest hahaha.

 We made pancakes and eggs and ham yesterday for breakfast! So good:) Sister Banks gave us all the food! She is the best I love her. She is the one who has the farm we go to for fresh eggs, and where I cut my leg. She takes such good care of us! I hope one day you can meet her. She has the biggest heart for her missionaries.

when your investigator doesn't answer the door, 

you make her a snowman with a note on it:)

 everyone here dresses a goose!!

people are so weird here! they put fake 

animals in their yard hahaha

the Piersons! They make some good dinners. Great family! They foster kids. Right now they are fostering James.

Less active named Angie. We go by every once in a while and get a good lesson out of her. She really likes us!

#23 - Chocolate milk day...MLK

This is Charley. he was an investigator but after we taught him the word of wisdom he decided it wasn't for him... 

so sad! you don't see it in the pic but he is holding a cigarette haha great guy though!!! 

A false church we found walking down the street. It doesn't look like the true church to me!

Sorry I didn't get to email yesterday it was a holiday! I sure enjoyed some chocolate milk:) I hope everyone is doing well! This week was a great week! We found 12 new investigators and we put 2 more families on a baptismal date! The first family is the Cash family. They are a great christian family. The mom has been baptized 4 times haha! She told us when the preacher started to make them feel guilty and then ask who wanted to be baptized she would raise her hand. She just wanted to make sure she would make it to heaven! She felt comforted knowing that the sacrament renewed those covenants and she truly only needs to be baptised once with the priesthood authority. We laughed for a good five minutes about that. They are such a good family and the church would help them so much! We took President Hilton, a counselor of the mission president, to their house Tuesday night and taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong. Thank you for all your prayers with the work! It is a great blessing.

The other family is Kristie and Cindy. Cindy is the grandma and Kristie is a single mom. They have been searching for a church but have been turned away by all the false churches haha. They are on date for February 20th. They love the Book of Mormon! I love the desire these two families have. I know that we receive answers to our prayers when we have a sincere desire. Joseph Smith's experience is a classic example of this. He not only wanted to know which church was right, but what is to be done. He was determined to act on his answer. 

While President Hilton was with us on Tuesday night he mentioned a man who he was suppose to interview for baptism a year ago. We didn't know anything about him. We called up the missionary, who is home now, who was teaching this man. Apparently Tony backed out the week of his baptism! So he directed us to his house and guess what!? We had a great lesson with him! He still has his Book of Mormon on his desk with all the pamphlets! What a miracle! He has been waiting to talk with missionaries for a while. Super exciting!

It is bitter cold!! I don't think I would ever live here because it is so cold and there is barely any snow! If I were to live somewhere this cold I think there should atleast be snow to play in haha. Only one more week here in Martinsville. I love this place but am so excited to start a new challenge! 

I read a great talk on prayers this week. It is called Ask in Faith by Elder David A. Bednar. I would encourage each of you to read it!! What a great talk! Something that I started to do was download talks onto a flashdrive and while we are driving we listen to these talks. It is a great way to study. 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/04/ask-in-faith?lang=eng --- This is a link to the talk 

Have a great week love you all! 

Elder Coon

 This is our investigator Nickelle

it was soooo cold that day!

 This guy who drives this car is hilarious.

Everyone reps a confederate flag around here.

#22 - Miracles in the snow. Coffee tastes worse than it smells!

Wow it is cold! The beginning of the week we were wearing short sleeves and then all of a sudden there was a huge storm and we are wearing huge jackets haha. What a great week we have had!

Tuesday we had district exchanges. I went into Elder Quicks area and worked with him. We went to visit a potential investigator and guess what!? She was one of my investigators a few months ago!! Haha! I guess that is what happens when you stay in a small town for 6 months! She loved to see us again. We taught her a great restoration lesson and now she is on date for baptism! That night I got a call from the mission office telling me my grandpa was in town and would like to take me to lunch!!! 

Wednesday we went to the temple! There are so many blessings that come from going to the temple. I challenge everyone to go as much as possible. Now looking back I see how going to the temple weekly helped me as I went through the trials of high school! After we headed to Bloomington for a zone meeting. Grandpa Dayley took us to lunch afterward! It was great to see him! Reminded me of how much I love my family. He told us stories of how on his mission in South Africa he would go tracting and teach the people. We had a good laugh.

I have been thinking a lot about a conference we had a last month with Elder Nash from the 70. Elder Nash is an inspired man! He taught us that "to have faith is to expect." Elder Clark and I have been very obedient and I have faith that when we are exactly obedient we will see miracles. This weekend I have been praying so hard that we will see miracles. We have been expecting to see miracles! And my faith has been strengthened!

Yesterday church was canceled because of the snow and ice. We didn't know until that night but apparently it got down to about 10 degrees yesterday! Oh shoot that is cold! We went out at 10 am to work. Our car was grounded because of the ice so we went on foot! The lady we went to see did not answer the door. As we were walking away we noticed an old folks home a few blocks away and decided to stop in to see if we could help! We walked in and met a worker there. We told her that we are missionaries and wanted to help out! She almost started to cry right there. Apparently they were praying all morning to be able to have church! She let us in and let us teach all the old people and people in physical therapy!! She asked if we wanted any hot chocolate too! But instead of bringing us hot chocolate she accidentally gave us coffee... it was a shock!! Hahaha we both took a sip of it thinking it was hot chocolate but quickly realized it wasn't... oops haha. It was the thought that counts I guess! I am so thankful that we could find them! We will be visiting them every Sunday to teach them! 

Afterward we went on our way and began tracting. We met a young man who is in high school and working 3 jobs trying to provide for his family. His dad passed away a few months ago and so he has been left to fending for himself and family. He is a great guy! I also shoveled snow off a lady's driveway. It was the first time I have ever done that and definitely not the last lol.

Last night we saw so many miracles. We had a lesson with a lady named Torie Tumie. There is a story behind her. So she used to meet with Elder Weitzel and Elder Tanner about 8 months ago but stopped meeting with them after a while. I was on an exchange with Elder Weitzel 2 weeks ago and we were visiting some of his old investigators, and she was one of them. 2 days after I met her was New Years. She prayed to God that she could have a fresh start and begin a new life. That night her house caught on fire! Luckily no one was hurt but she was comforted and knew that God had answered her prayer! Whaa!? The very next day her and her kids were trying to clean up and salvage anything that wasn't burned. And guess who shows up!? Me and Elder Clark! We helped her clean her whole house! She told us last night when we went and saw her that when when showed up to help that she knew God was watching out for her! She told us that we were her answer to her prayers! We had a great lesson with her and I am so grateful that we could be used as an instrument in the Lords hands.

That is not even all! Last night we also had a lesson with the Cash family again. We had one of the best lessons that I have ever had. The spirit was the teacher! I can't even remember half the things I said! I even got a little emotional haha (that doesn't happen very often). I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God just as theBible is. I challenge you to read it! And after you read, pray to God and ask with all of your heart to know if it is true. Even if you have already prayed and already know it is! Do it again! I know that He will answer you. It is crucial that you have a testimony of this gospel because that testimony will lead you to find happiness and peace in your life. You will have a burning desire to share what you know and what has blessed you with the people around you!

There we many other miracles but I have to head out soon. Thank you for all your prayers. I hope everyone has a great week! Happy Birthday Hannah!!

Don't be a stranga email me at james.coon@myldsmail.net or send me a letter at 1441 S. Marion St. Marinsville, Indiana 46151 :)

We were able to go to the temple this week:)

My Dad bought a car in Detroit, Michigan and drove it home. Indiana just happened to be on his way back home to Arizona. Grandpa met Elder Coon at a zone conference in Bloomington, IN and took Elder Coon and Elder Clark to lunch at Longhorn steakhouse. What a great day! Thanks Dad.

#21 - Happy New Year!

On Monday we gave our second church tour of all time. When we give tours we go through a few pictures in the church, show them the chapel, and have a lesson next to the baptismal font. I love them because we don't have any distractions like we would have at their house. We gave it to a lady named Linda. The spirit is so strong when we give these tours! When we leave the distractions behind and give the Lord our time to feel the Spirit we will grow closer to Him and the struggles of life will become easier. Our investigator Mike, and all the others, tell us how busy their life is but the truth is when you set your priorities straight, with the Lord and your family first, life will fall into place. Mike is learning that as we are meeting with him and his family. I like to use an analogy. When you put a ping pong ball in a cup and fill it to the top with rice, everything will fit nicely! But when you try and put the rice in the cup then the ball on top it will not fit. When we focus on scripture study, going to church, fulfilling your callings, PRAYING, and the Lord, the crazy life that we all live will will become more manageable and you will feel the peace and love that your Father has for you. 

Thursday night we went to a party at the church with some other missionaries and the senior couple missionaries. Elder and Sister Strong are so cool! They had some fun games set up and made us dinner with chocolate covered strawberries that were pretty dang good:) 

We had our Pday on the new years day instead of Monday this week. We played basketball at the stake center with a bunch on missionaries! It was probably the best ball I've played since I have been out!

These pictures are from a house that we knocked into this week. It is the oldest house in Martinsville! The people are catholic and weren't very interested but we before they could shut the door we started talking with them about their house decorations that we could see from the porch. They opened up to us and let us inside to see the rest of their house! It was so cool! They had books of Indian history with dog sleds and swords and deer and moose heads mounted all over their walls! They love Indians! Lucky for us we have history of the Indians in the Book of Mormon! They opened up to us and we taught a great lesson about it. Hopefully it will spark their interest!

We had a lesson with the Cash family Saturday night. They are a great family! We found them in the area book and have had much success with them! We taught them the Plan of Salvation. It was like they were glued to us as we brought the Spirit into their nice home. Their grandma just moved in with them and will be living with them for a few months. She wasn't on the same boat as the rest of the family haha. After we taught about the Kingdoms of Glory she went on a bit of a rant about how we don't know this and it doesn't say this in the scriptures. I just smiled at her and turned to 1 Corinthians 15 where it talks about this. Once she finished her little rant I simply read verses 40-42 and testified that the Lord has a place for all his children. We read a few other verses where it talks about the after life and had a great conversation with them! The situation could have ended in contention but we turned it into a great learning experience! We invited to pray as a family to know if these things are true. I know that the Spirit of God will testify to them these things  are true, just like the spirit has taught me. 

I love my Savior and this gospel. I am thankful for seminary where I could learn of these scriptures. I would challenge everyone to take seminary serious! The scripture masteries will help you so much in the future!! It seems unimportant but when you are in a situation where someone wants you to find a scripture to back up you belief you will be so thankful you know it!

Elder Coon

Me and my friend Eltin

  the Martintucky crews playing ball. Elder Clark, Elder Coon, 

Elder Quick, and Elder Palmer

we played a nurf war with elder clarks new nerf guns! 

 here is the day we got bedbugs:)

 lost at uno...

We knocked into the oldest house in martinsville! The people are catholic and weren't very interested but we before they could shut the door we started complimenting them on their house decorations that we could see from the porch. They opened up to us and let us inside to see the rest of their house! It was so cool! Here are some pictures of it. They love Indians! Lucky for us we have history of the Indians in the Book of Mormon! They opened up to us and we taught a great lesson about it. Hopefully it will spark their interest!

I think I would look fly if I went tracting in them wouldn't you?

 I bought some basketball shoes! We play some good ball on Mondays and I have trashed my running shoes... haha surprising right? So I got these shoes so I can run faster and jump higher like the kid from the Sandlot movie:) They were on sale for $35 dollars!! Steal! They were usually more than 100 bucks so that is good!