#29 - The field is white and so are these people

We had a zone conference Wednesday and it was all about working with the members. President is going to push church tours again. We are going to give them to every member of the ward and to their friends! Next district meeting he wants DLs to train on working with members. Funny because that is literally what I taught on last week. 

We are teaching a family!!! They are so solid and the best part is the dad knows all about the church!! He has had a friend since grade school who is mormon. He really likes how the church is family oriented and how everyone is so happy. He is very knowledgeable and already has a great friend who has been a good example to him all his life. They are golden! Their names are Adam and Amy but I sometimes get them mixed up with Adam and Eve..

Thank you for all your prayers. We have seen so many miracles this week! On Thursday while tracting we felt like we needed to go finding in another area. We decided it was best to pray about it. We felt we should tract an apartment complex just down the street. It is a pretty big area but one building stuck out more than any of the others to us. The second door we knocked was a guy named Der'rel! He is sweet! He is from Georgia and said he went to church down there. We taught him about the resto and he loved it. We asked why he wasn't baptized into the church and to our surprise he said he had been!!!? WHAT? We were a bit taken back haha. Apparently his family didn't want him to and it was hard on him. He moved here a few months ago and lost contact with the church. I am so thankful that we were able to follow the spirit as it led us to him! And the funniest part is a few doors down a lady came out yelling at us and saying other mean things to us. She made sure we were kicked out. Apparently there is no soliciting in the complex :) 

Yesterday was a great day as well! Actually every day on the mission is great but on Sunday we had some very good experiences. Before church we went out tracting and talked with some strange people. It seems that these weirdos all live together on one street together haha. Many of them tried to bash with us but none of them came off conquerer:) We passed the sacrament in church! And the primary needed Elder Wallace to play the piano for them so I got to sing along with the kids in primary haha. After church we visited a family and gave a blessing to the mom who is on chemotherapy. The gospel is so true. I know that God loves all his children and is aware of each and every one of us. We also gave the sacrament to another lady in the old peoples home. 

For dinner last night we had dinner with the Nunokawa family! They are from Japan!! They taught me some words so if we ever run into Japanese people we can say some things haha. They have 3 little boys who speak Japanese and bits of english and 2 girls. That was the best meal I have had out here! They are such good cooks!!! I love that family!

Have a good week!! Love you all :)

Elder Coon

My week summed up in one pic haha

 #antimormonliterature 

Seems like someone always has a flat tire... 

 My knee doesn't bother me but mom wanted a pic 
so here you go! 

Sweet scar if you ask me:)

 Elder Reece is from northern Utah!
 He is a convert of 2 years. What a stud!

At zone conference, bathroom pic. I'm with my homie.. 
elder newey :) Everyone out here has the same suit.... hahaha 

Hello James,

I was just perusing through an old email from Katie and thought you would relate to what she is talking about, without the lice.

I had a very spiritual experience this week on Thursday at the 2 mission conference in Malvin, Montevideo. It was absolutely amazing. I sat on the very front row right in front of the speaker, Elder Christensen, and soaked up every word. I felt like he was specifically talking to me! Everything that I have been praying about and pondering about these last couple of days he spoke about! He spoke about how the mission is not about preaching the góspel, it is about cleaning our lives. Everytime we teach and testifiy, every time we search and search for people prepared and ready to receive the góspel, the spirit is cleaning us. That is what causes a change of heart.....it is the spirit. It is the process of teaching, baptizing, and testifiying that strengthens us. I know that to be true. He spoke about the difference between charity and love. Love is feelings, but charity is when you sacrifice. You cant have charity without sacrificing. Doctrine and Covenants 138:12 13. We have to suffer through challenges and trials in order to refine us. It is part of the mission. It was amazing as I reflected upon my mission and all of the many experiences that I have blessed to experience. The good and the hard ones. These are what strengthens our testimonies and makes us become the person that our Heavenly Father wants us to be. I was suppose to get piojos, lice, for something. Heavenly Father wanted to teach me something. I am just in that refining processes. I cant wait for James to experience this so soon! The mission is the best. I hope as I walk off of that plane in a few weeks, you will see a different person because I hope that I am not the same Katie Coon that I was when I left almost 18 months ago. I have been put throught the refiners fire here on my mission and I have felt the spirit work within me. That is what changes people. I love my mission. so much.

Love you family with all my heart. I know this góspel is true. What a blessing it is to have such a faithful and stalwart family! Until next week, Hermama Coon

Dad

Dear Mom,

oh boy.... hahaha that pic is hilarious! dad you look normal.... hahaha your pants are going to be ruined :)

the package was awesome!!!!! love the bread:))) i savor every bite haha. haven't been able to eat the granola yet but when we go shopping today I'm getting some yogurt so i cant wait! love the protein balls too! i eat eggs and toast with a green protein shake. i blend up spinach and other gross stuff in it too haha. i tried the zoom but i didn't like it plain haha i have to go get honey or brown sugar maybe that will help the taste. yes! send me some easy recipes!! for lunch i usually eat tuna and eggs or something. lately we have been getting leftovers from ward/zone meetings so i have been eating well! 

lorch hahaha he is a goober. good guy! he doesn't workout or anything so if Ian doesn't mind that I'm sure they would be good. but tell bishop keller that i expect Ian to get swole so dont let that stop him! 

ahhhh so frustrating alberta isn't coming to church.... she is reading and meeting with us but no church. she actually didn't even meet with us this week so its been tough. cheri is ignoring us. we cant get a hold of her and she wont open her door. we haven't had a gator at church. I'm pretty upset about that ha. sometimes it feels like since the only time members see us is at church they judge how good we are by if we get people to church. we have been working so hard but it just doesn't show at church. we did have some great miracles this week tho!!! please keep praying that we can get someone to church! 

elder wallace is a great guy! we go out and work hard! not that fast of a walker haha. not like elder clark! he speed walks! i would have to half jog to keep up with him haha but it was efficient! wallace likes basketball so once a week to workout we go play. we went running this morning! he likes to run just not lifting. we have some good laughs!! his grandparents served in Uruguay! they came home in October! see if Katie knows the Wallaces.

You will be great! i cant remember their names. it is rhetts older bros wife's parents haha. just have fun!

#28 - Life in the big city...

Dear family,

The weather has been soo nice this week! This week we had some great experiences! For some reason we ran into a good amount bashers who wanted to argue... but we all know we don't have the spirit if we are contentious! I just think it is so funny what some people think about the church. We only can get to heaven through Jesus Christ. It is by grace we are saved:) We have been working really hard with our less actives and part member families in the ward. There are so many! Most of them were offended years ago and are just holding on to the experience. Our members are doing great too! They are reaching out to them and we are all working together to make them feel welcome again. Tonight we are having a family home evening at the church with some members, less actives, and investigators. It is going to be great!

We are working with our investigator Alberta with the priesthood and baptism. She expressed her concern that she isn't sure our church is the only one who can baptize with the authority. Besides that she loves the gospel! She is almost done with the Isaiah chapters of 2 Nephi!! Next step is for her to come to church! AHHHH! We have been praying so hard that she will take that step because everything will make more sense for her! 

We had district meeting on Wednesday. The sisters couldn't come so it was just us and Larsen and Weitzel. I will have to send a pic of the crew soon!

Last night we had a zone popcorn night at Elder and Sister Cox's house! We have a fun zone! Serving in the city is fun because we can get together as a zone more! 

We have done lots of finding this week. So many people here are catholic! We found a whole lot of people and hopefully they will be home when they say they will so we can meet them again!

The zone leaders tracted into a girl last week who lives in our area who wants to be a missionary and said yes to a baptism invitation! We haven't been able to get a hold of her so hopefully this week we can meet her! 

Talk to you all later! We are now heading to the store to go shopping for fooood and then going to church to ball up:)

Love,

Elder Coon

its a bit dark but there are flags from all around the world.Feeding the ducks :) The weather is so nice!!

Riding my bike and egg helmet that came with it hahaha! So after i got a flat on my bike a few weeks ago I went on exchanges with Elder Larsen and they had a spare bike so they gave it to me! It is suuuuper nice! When missionaries go home sometimes they leave their bikes so I am glad i didn't buy one because now I have 2 bikes haha.

 My weights only go to about 140lbs. haha

#27 - Missionary Work and Miracles

We were in Indy 3rds apartment this week and guess what!? They had a bench press in the apartment with a few weights!! They didn't want them so I took them:) What a tender mercy! Now I have a little weight set! #timetogetswole hahaha. With the weights I took from the Martinsville apartment and theirs now I have a good amount of weight to workout with!

We went on exchanges this week with the zone leaders. Elder Larsen is a stud!! He is from Logan Utah! Great guy. We had a blast! Met a black guy named Darrel. I'm pretty sure he is Paul George's cousin! That dude is huge! My inner black came out when we started to talk to him. "Ah wassup dawg?" Hah just messing:)

Brother Kaptain always brings out the new missionaries to a place called White Castle. It is like McDonald's step sister... So greasy and gross!! He buys 40 sliders and the new missionary has to eat as many as they can! The most anyone has eaten is 20!! There was one in Martinsville and we would always die when a member brought us it. We are going this week and I am not excited!

Cheri, Tom, Alberta, and John all didn't make it to church this week. We wish they could have came! For some reason none of our investigators were answering their phones and doors... It has been a struggle.

Every Saturday morning we go on splits with the ward leaders. It is called shoulder to shoulder. I went out with Bishop Swenney on Saturday. We went to a less actives house and she was making breakfast! So we joined them haha! Sweet!

Missionary work brings so much joy! It is kind of like the fall of Adam and Eve. 2 Nephi 2:25 teaches us that, "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." In other words in order to know what happiness is you must experience sadness and pain. We teach that to investigators all the time, and this week we learned it for ourselves haha. When I was being trained, Elder Redmond would tell me how in the winter people would either talk to you through the window and tell you to go away, or ignore you! I never believed him! Hahah but it is the darnest thing because he was right! Even our investigators! So the struggle is real! But it is a new week and it will get warmer again I hear! I am just grateful I know how to ride a bike with no hands:)

We have a car part time, so on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday we drive and the weekend we ride bikes. But last Thursday for some reason our car wouldn't start so we decided to ride bikes in the snow. We must have rode about 5 miles when all of a sudden my tire went flat! Haha wouldn't ya know! So we walked the rest of the day. We could not be stopped from working! The quote of the day was, "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven." As we were walking our bikes home that night I couldn't help but feel proud to know I am a representative of Jesus Christ. The Saviors example gives me strength to press on. Even when it is cold, snowing, and no one opens the door we will stand tall and keep going because we know someone here in Greenwood is prepared for the blessings of the gospel. "Missionary work is not easy because salvation isn't cheap." I am so grateful for a living prophet, for the priesthood that has been restored, and for a loving God who wants us to have joy. I am grateful the Lord loves me enough to cut me down.

LOVE YOU ALL! 

Elder Coon

These are one of my favorite talks. They really hit home for me this week:

#26 - ET phone home...

Dear Dad,   

great job with those rejections! haha id say im about 40 for 60 on my rejection rate haha. but about 50% on new investigator/first contact ratio! that is really good! we have 11 new gators with 21 first contact lessons. killing it!

no dog bites or near misses this week for us haha. it sure is humbling for me to wear a bike helmet tho haha. i remember in martinsville a few months back while i was in a trio we tract into a lady who lived in her pastors house. we taught her a few times and i remember that last lesson we had with her we taught restoration and emphasized priesthood authority. hahahhaha tbh it was one of the worst lessons i have ever taught! but it gives us a good laugh now looking back.:)) she couldn't understand the whole apostasy and need for a restoration. she didn't understand why it was needed to be baptized by authority. we tried to explain why but she didn't get it so we finally told her that her pastor has no authority. anyone can go online and pay $15 dollars and take a little class and be called a minister! hahaha she didn't like that. she didn't want us coming back haha. made us laugh so hard tho!

those are the best memories when we would go on an adventure! you guys will have a blast! send me plenty of vids and pics!!

Dear Mom,

greenwood isn't so green right now haha its winter! hey send me some bread:)

I cant wait for Annie to get her blessing! they are so powerful! We have a senior comp in my ward. they are the Cox's. He is a patriarch and gave a talk on them a few weeks back! He told us that p blessings are living scriptures in our lives. they are a road map! Just like the scriptures as we read them new things will stick out to us that didn't before. that part of my blessing is so powerful. every time i read it i cant help but study that part. 1. remember to pray 2. remember to stay on the Lord's territory 3. avoid temptation and then I will be sustained and supported!  



Dear family and friends,

Great week! We have had some good laughs all week! We were at one of the less actives in the ward for a lesson on Wednesday night teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and in particularly the second step, repentance! Not sure how but she managed to get on the topic of aliens. Apparently there are many other creatures on other planets that look like ET. How does she know this!? Because she has seen them! Wow hopefully they visit me soon. 

Anyways... We have some great investigators! Cheri and her son Tom want to be baptized! They are on date for March 12th. Cheri is so funny. Whenever one of us shares a testimony she stops us and asks for everyone in the room to share a testimony! It is so important that we are teaching with the spirit! I wish they came to church yesterday! It was such a good testimony meeting! Our ward is great! We also are meeting with Alberta. She is on fire! She has read all the way to 2 Nephi 6! Next week they will come to church! We have been praying that they will.

We had a miracle the other day. While the Zone Leaders were on exchanges they accidentally tracted into our area and met a man named John. His wife is less active and he wants to take the lessons! The Lord works in mysterious ways. John has met many missionaries in the past but for some reason has never been interested until now! What a tender mercy for us. 

This week I am learning how important it is to have the spirit at all times! We must follow it. We cannot be an instrument for the Lord if we do not have it. Without the Spirit, we shall not teach! "The Holy Ghost inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity. It is a comforter, and a witness bearer, it brings things past to our remembrance, leads us into all truth, and shows us of things to come; we believe that no man can know that Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost. It invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being." (Parley P Pratt). I invite you to strive for the companionship the the Holy Ghost. D&C 11:12-13

When you have the spirit:
You feel happy and calm, you feel full of light, your mind is clear, you feel generous, no one can offend you, you are forgiving and kind, you feel confident in what you do, you are glad when others succeed, you bring out the best and say the best of others, you feel like praying and reading the scriptures, you wish you could keep all the Lord's commandments.

When you do not have the spirit; or when Satan is prompting you
You feel unhappy, depressed, confused, and frustrated, you feel empty, hollow, and cold inside, you feel selfish, possessive, and self centered, you are always on the defensive, you are easily discouraged, you are envious of what others do and of what they have, you are critical or judge others, you feel unworthy, you don't want to pray or read the scriptures, and you find the commandments restrictive.

Tomorrow morning we signed up to work in the bishops storehouse! Can't wait! We have also been working at a food bank every Thursday! Service is a great way to find teaching opportunities! That is how Ammon did it!

Love you all.

Email me! james.coon@myldsmail.net

#25 - Sharp missionaries don't have excuses!

 My view from my apartment. The missionaries before me moved into it so it is really nice!

 My face when we had to ride bikes. Haha I didn't want to but it turned out to be a great day! 

There are so many Asians here in Greenwood!

 I am going to order a Chin name tag!!

 Kitchen

My study desk

Maingalarpar kyanaw mateswaytway (Hello my friends)!! My first week in Greenwood has been great! We have ran into a few families from Myanmar and sometimes hand signs can only do so much hahaha! They actually speak a language called Chin I think. The problem is that the Book of Mormon hasn't even been translated in Chin yet! They are really nice though! Claymond is a junior in high school and he translates what we say to the rest of his family. We have ordered some Chin name tags so hopefully they come soon! So in the meantime hopefully we can learn a few words in Chin:) 

We have started the "Amulek Approach" with the members here in our ward. It is a way for them to start having missionary opportunities with their friends, family, work associates, and neighbors! It is all based on the story of Alma and Amulek! The first step is to pray and fast. Then you make a list of every nonmember you know and as the week goes by you narrow the list down to a few people. Then they pray specifically for them and do everything they can to become good friends. They can have dinner with them, have a game night, take them some treats, etc. The goal is for them to have a lesson at the members house with us! It has been working great so far! 

On Wednesday we got a headquarter referral for a person named Malcolm. Usually HQ referrals aren't very solid but this family is awesome! We met his sister Cheri and she is loving the Book of Mormon. She told us that she will come to church with us next week and wants to be baptized. 

I have a new district now! I have the Zone Leaders and the Franklin Sisters. Elder Weitzel moved from the Bloomington zone to the Franklin zone with me! Him and Elder Larsen are great!! I also have Sisters Gregerson and Wilkinson. I've never really been around sisters my whole mission let alone have them in my district hahaha but they sound nice so I am excited to work with them.

Our zone had a popcorn and game night last night at Elder and Sister Cox's house. They are from St George. 

Elder Tanner Wallace is my new companion from Twin Falls Idaho. I am thankful for his work ethic and teaching skills! I am still all turned around here and get lost when I drive haha so it is a blessing that he know his way around here. The members are super sweet! We had dinner with the Captians last night. He is the one that called me to give a talk haha. They purposely would mess up our names. They called me Can, Cox, new guy, haha but they are really funny.

Yesterday I gave a talk in church and passed the sacrament:) I spoke on the importance of the Holy Ghost in the conversion process. He is the source of our personal testimony and conversion. It is through the power of the Holy Ghost we are sanctified as we repent. "Without the aid of the Holy Ghost, a person… would have but very little power to change his mind… and to walk in newness of life." -Elder Orson Pratt. It is necessary for us as members to have the Holy Ghost! If we expect to be powerful tools for our Lord we must be living righteously and have the constant companion. The promised blessing in D&C 100:5-6 brings me great comfort. This is the Lords work, may we all work as a worthy vessel and do our part in bringing forth this great work.

Happy Birthday mom, I love you. Time seems to fly by out here! All I seem to have time for is missionary work haha sorry I couldn't write you a letter but I will send one soon. i hope you have a good birthday! Did you go anywhere to get free food? remember when we would go out and get lunch my senior year? That was a great memory. Since I've come out I have really come to appreciate how much you do for me and our family! It really is a talent! A lot of missionaries out here never learned to do simple things, like clean up and having manners. I am so thankful that you taught me how to do that! 

We got permission to go to a part members hockey game!! IT WAS SICK! I wish I played!

Sister Hansen, Sister Fenn(from Mesa and went west wood), and Elder Wallace in the computer lab! They are the sisters that are in the ward and the Sister Training Leaders. They are going home in 5 weeks so you will have to meet sister Fenn when she comes home!!!

front door

Living room...

look at those weighs and bikes

Dear Dad,

 when mission cars are grounded usually it is because the weather is too bad to drive in so we have to walk or ride bikes. no prez just says not to drive until the roads are clear again. goals of my district. we have our first d-meeting Wednesday but i want us to focus on the less active, recent converts, and members. they are where the success will be found! that is what the world wide missionary conference was focused on. we had 42 lesson last week, which is about average for me, but elder wallace, my comp, said thats the most lessons he has ever taught in a week! holy dang! this area hasn't had many hard working elders lately but we are ready to kill it! elder wallace is a great missionary! very clean! great teacher! i love it! i didn't know how hard it was to train a new missionary until i wasn't ha if that makes sense. we work really well together.

that is a great object lesson haha do you think I'd be allowed to do the airplane ride? We will challenge the ward to do that!

 That is one massive dog!

 The Potters...

 The P-day crew. We had so much fun last transfer playing basketball. Elder Weitzel, Zubeck, Coon, Clark, Moli, Quick, Palmer. On the ground is Hullinger, and Freeman.

Wesley!