#37 - What a week...

Great week!! Where to begin...

Had some wonderful lessons with Kris this week. She is so ready for baptism!!! On Wednesday we went over and watched the resto movie with her and Justice (her daughter) and we had a lesson on the blessings of the gospel and how she has grown since we first met. Justice was a bit quiet while we spoke but then she interrupted us and said that she really wants to be baptized with her mom on the 30th!! Yay! We had her on date for a few weeks after but she said she wanted to be baptized with her mom!! What a miracle!! We have gone over a few more times this week and they are so happy. Everyone at church loves them!

Jeff is on date for the end of June. He is struggling a bit with what his girl friend will think but he is so solid. When we got there he was watching videos on Mormon.org and already knew about the Plan of Salvation. 

We haven't met with Alberta this week... we aren't sure where she is! And Janet is super sick so keep her in your prayers as well. 

Saturday we went to the temple!!! Ah it was so nice! We went with Chris for his first time! 

Transfers are tomorrow. I am staying! Wallace is out! I am getting Elder Fine. The sisters in my ward are leaving and we aren't getting any more sisters. So we will be taking over all their investigators and their area as well. Lots of work to be done!!! 

These are two of my favorite families ever!!!!

The Griesemer family is so great! haha we were dabbing with them:

they are so fun! she teaches seminary for the high school kids in the basement. the have a son in Utah on a mission.

 went to dinner with elder Wallaces grandparents who served in Uruguay!

 ah i am doing so great! we have so many great things happening!!!! chris and justice have a baptism on Saturday. we have transfers tomorrow. I am staying!! elder wallace is leaving and I am getting elder fine. the sisters in the ward are getting double transferred out and i'm going to be the only set of missionaries here so i get all their gators now :)) we are planning to put 2 of them on date this week and we have another one on date for next month!!! we have had a great week!! 

 Message from Christ... he is awesome!

 going on a night ride! 

Classic!

a member hung their trailer in a tree....

went to a youth hockey game a few weeks back!

Dad,

That is a great privilege to be asked to be interviewed for stake president dad. i am grateful that you are a righteous father. most the people that i visit, in or out of the church, just don't have the blessing of having a good dad. i love you and am thankful for your example in leading our family! 

wow! you will be a high councilman when i come home wont you!? that will be a great calling. i bet your teachers will miss you!

hahahahaha!!! what a day!!! that is kinda funny they always have stories like that. i wish i was there to see it ha.(Ron, Grandpa Coon and Spencer accident coming home from the racetrack)

those are good questions.... president is so funny. i would say it isn't what he says but how he says things. he gives this little laugh and then says something in a high voice. "ha! lets not do that"

my opposition: love for sisters. they are so hard to get a long with! it is such a challenge. The Lord has really tested my patience with the 'stl' companionship in my ward now. luckily transfers are tomorrow and they are both leaving!!!

talk: oh man i cant even pick one!! i loved bednars on the authority and restoration was great! 

#36 - April 18, 2015

Ah wow! The weeks seem to fly by! Another great week is down and another one to come! This Saturday Chris Barclay, who has been called to serve in Cali, is going through the temple and he invited us along! We are so excited to go! It is such a blessing to have a temple here in Indiana! 

We had a really good lesson with a lady who was baptized about 40 years ago and has only been to church a handful of times in her life! Right after she was baptized she was sucked into the horrible anti garbage about the church and never came back. She went to the dentist last week and the dentist told her that she had to get all her teeth pulled immediately.... So the next day they were yanked! She said the reason was because  she didn't floss enough haha! Ever since then I have flossed every single day!! Anyways, the lesson was great. She didn't want to let us in (thank heavens) because of how disgusting her house was so we took a seat on the ground outside. We are trying to help her simplify your life one step at a time. Maybe one day she will get rid a few of her cats because 14 cats is way too much haha. 

On Thursday we went on exchanges with the assistants. Elder Mortensen is a great missionary! He is going home in a week! "The best missionary is the sneaky missionary." Referrals are hard to come by out here but if you want more referrals you have to be sneaky. Not just ask to teach their friends. We want to start to have a game night where the youth can bring their friends to and there we can meet them and hopefully get things rolling! 

Chris is doing great! SHE QUIT SMOKING! We were so excited! We will start to go over more often and keep her motivated and continue to prepare for her date on the 30th! Keep praying for her she is a miracle! 

We also met a man named Jeff last Saturday. He is so awesome! When we went back this week for our second lesson he had looked up some anti junk and had a few questions which we were able to answer. Then he turned to us and said that he also watched a movie about Joseph Smith. Oh boy I thought he was going to bash or something... But it was a movie that the church put out!! He told us that he felt something he never felt before. They were feelings of the spirit!!!! He testified to us that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Wow. Later that lesson we invited him to baptism and he said absolutely!!! We had a church tour with him on Saturday and had a great lesson after. He is so in tune with the spirit it is amazing, he could feel the difference from being at the church and being anywhere else. He is now on date for June 25th. He has great things in store!

President set a goal for us to have a new investigator on date for the month of April and Jeff was an answer to our prayers:)

Sunday I gave a talk in church, it was great! I started by a story about one of our many family adventures of geo cashing and tied it into how we all will make wrong turns in live but we have each been given a spiritual 'gps'. If we check that gps then we will not make wrong turns! But too often when we make a wrong turn instead of turning back (repenting) we will throw out the gps and try to find the geocash on our own. The Lord knows better than us! He has given us a gps to help us so we better use it! Ways to check your gps: daily scripture study, weekly preparation for the sacrament, and every 6 months study general conference! 

We had interviews with President on Friday! He says I will probably stay here in Greenwood:) I am happy with that we have so many people here preparing for baptism. But you never know transfers arent for another week so he might get some mad revelation before then.  

On Saturday we saw some guys over at the ymca playing ball so we went over and had a little beat to teach game in our with shirts:) We got some phone numbers so maybe we will start teaching some of them!

Oh and elder wallaces grandparents came and took us to texas roadhouse for dinner on Tuesday!!:)

Love you all! 

sitting here emailing next to Sister Santiago from Puerto Rico, 

she is funny with her accent.  

 exchanges with Elder Weitzel a few weeks back. 

i drew a pic of how sisters teach :))) hahaha the two words they say most are 'right' and 'wow'

we went to an old theater to help clean it up and we found an alien who wanted the gospel. 

Elder Larsen is the other missionary

 Cloudy days...

 my lunch most days is tuna and eggs with spinach. haha

Look at the "football" milk!

 elder Wallace plays his uke all the time.... don't say anything but it is out of tune most days and so is his voice... 

I tracted into a bear the other day... haha it was carved out of a tree stump!

#35 - Cops, Covenants and Church

We had a multi-zone p-day last week! We had a big sand volleyball tournament in the freezing cold 40 degree weather! It was fun! After we went and played soccer and basketball. 

We have had some interesting tracting experiences the past few weeks. We have been kicked out of 4 neighborhoods in 4 weeks! Haha! That has to be a record or something. Satan sure has some crazy ways to try and slow us down! What is crazy is before we run into the haters we always find a someone we can teach! On Thursdaywe found 2 new investigators in this neighborhood near a recent convert. After we found the people we tracted right into a hater and he was going to call the cops on us... but we talked him into calling President Cleveland instead haha. We have made a little note in the area book so the next set of missionaries don't run into him and get arrested or something haha.

So get this... We found two guys named Robert last week. We went back to them and found out that both their wives are pregnant. One of the Roberts wife is named Brandi. We tracted into another family on Saturday, Brandi and Uriah, and Brandi is pregnant as well! Wow it has been so confusing trying to keep them all straight when we are planning haha. But these 3 families have been huge miracles!

Brandi and Uriah are so awesome! They have 2 sons and one more baby on the way. Neither of them have much background in religion, which is strange because people here are so religious. They have so much potential! We have some high hopes for them.  

We had a great lesson with Chris this last week! She is on date for April 30th. She was out of town last week and most of this week she has been sick. But we taught her on Saturday and she is studying and praying! She is a bit nervous that she won't be prepared, but I know that as she is diligent she will make her date in 3 weeks! Pray for her that she will be ready!! I am so excited for her!  

On Saturday Kelly is getting baptized! Her mom will wait a few more weeks to be baptized herself, but Kelly is so ready! We will take pics of the baptism for you guys!

On Friday I went up to Franklin to interview a boy for baptism. The family was so funny! They fixed us dinner and let me ride their hoover board! AH those things are so sick! I was flying all around their driveway on it:)) when I get home I am going to steal Annies and Hannahs :) He passed the test and was baptized the next day! 

This Thursday we are going on exchanges with the APs again. This will be my second time:) I love going out with them because we always see miracles! The first exchange I ever went on as a missionary was with AP Hackney. I was only 2 weeks out and we found a lady who was so prepared we invited her to be baptized! Haha so I can't wait for Thursday to go out with Elder Mortensen!

Sorry I didn't send any pictures home again this week but I will send them next week I promise! I have a good amount of pictures to send haha. 

Alberta came to church on Sunday! Three weeks in a row! We have been teaching her for almost 5 months now. Her set back for getting baptized has been the priesthood authority and apostasy. She hasn't been able to understand that through Joseph Smith the priesthood was restored, and only our church has the authority to do so. No matter what we said she didn't understand it. We taught her, the members tried getting her to understand, but just couldn't get it. But on Sunday during the gospel principles lesson THE LIGHT BULB IN HER MIND FINALLY CLICKED! She turned to me said, "Wait, so since the apostles of Christ were all killed the priesthood was not on earth until God restored it again through Joseph Smith?" YAY! We then explained how dispensations and apostasies worked (again). It was a miracle! At church we can receive answers to our prayers! We are praying that now she will be baptized by that authority that only our church has :) 

Joe came to mutual! The young men have really clung on to him! We are so happy because for a while there we just felt like he was stagnant but hopefully this will motivate him some more.

We have a relief society activity night on Wednesday night and we are hoping to get all the ladies we teach there! No lie we teach so many ladies! Chris, Aberta, Janet, Gigi, and Karie. Haha it is actually pretty funny how many we have. 

"Remember who you are and what God expects you to become."

"The Lord will make more out of your life than you can on your own."

Love you! 

#34 - My heart if full!

We had so many miracles and blessings this week I don't even know where to begin! Conference was amazing! The week has been so jammed packed with spiritual experiences I hope I can remember a few of them!

Tuesday we went to Franklin, a town 30 minutes away, to help the zone leaders with some service at an old theater that was built in 1920! I felt like I was in the phantom of the opera:) Later that day I went on exchanges with Elder Weitzel and we found two great people! One lady was actually outside her house crying and we quickly jumped off our bike and talked with her. She is super nice and we taught her the plan of salvation. Riding bikes has its perks sometimes! It keeps us fit and we always have a great day.

That day we also met 2 guys who were playing basketball. What people don't realize is as missionaries the only things we do are teach and play ball:) They were very shocked when we beat them 21-9 in our white shirts:)

Wednesday we had a district meeting. I always enjoy having a little game along with my training. Today I trained on how to have companionship unity. You must learn to love your companion! We played a little newly wed game about how well you know your companion. We placed our chairs back to back with our companions chair and had to answer questions about our companion. Some questions were about them personally, some were about their teaching style, and then we had some random ones:) It was a great!

Thursday morning as I woke up I felt the need to fast! So just like in the Best Two Years I waited until my companion was about to eat breakfast before I told him we were going to fast that day haha. What a blessing it was too! I have a testimony of fasting! That night we went on exchanges with Chris, who got his mission call by the way! He is going to Carlsbad, California!! He leaves May 4th!!! Anyways we went out and had 2 suuuper good lessons. One with Janet, who we met last week. She is in her 60s and calls us her ''boys''. We met her two weeks ago as we were tracting in the rain soaking wet. She let us in and ever since we have been really close with her. She is catholic but loves the Book of Mormon and she first told us she would never change but the spirit is working so strong with her. She was seriously sharing her testimony to us about how she has been happier as she has read the Book of Mormon, and when we are here sharing what we love with her. Keep her in your prayers she is changing!

We also went to a guy named Roberts house. He is about 35 years old and has 2 kids and one more on the way. He was in prison about 10 years about but ever since has been looking to find Jesus. We put him on date to be baptized for next month! He has some changing to do but I know through the Atonement he will!

Kelly will be baptized next week! We are super excited for her! Kriss came home from her family reunion and loved conference! She is working on quitting smoking in preparation for her baptism the 30th of this month.

We went out with another priest on Friday. We always see miracles with young men out with us. We went to see a few potential investigators then went tracting after. We met a lady whose mother just passed away in Martinsville the end of last year. And wouldn't ya know, I taught her mother a few times! She broke down crying and really loves us missionaries. She said, "Tell whoever taught you guys that they did a great job. I have nothing but good things to say about you missionaries. You have been a blessing to my family." So I relay that message to you. Thank you mom and dad for teaching me. I love you both.

Promised blessing come to those who live the gospel. Russell M. Nelson teaches, "Keeping divine commandments bring blessings, every time! Breaking divine commandments brings loss of blessings, every time!" We had a less active lesson and the man was struggling to know if these "promised blessings" would ever come. I know they do! He has felt like since he was baptized 3 years ago he just hasn't seen any blessings, but as we sat down with him we were able to help him recognize those blessings. I pray he will continue to count his blessings.

The scripture we ponderized this week was D&C 88:63 "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." I don't think it was coincidence that this week was this scripture. We had the opportunity to apply it with so many people!

Oh and then there was conference!! I have never enjoyed a conference like this one! But that will take me another 45 minutes to write about, I am going to have to make it quick!

There were so many talks that directly applied to our investigators and to myself. I enjoyed Elder Holland when he said, "The Lord blesses those who try." I invite you all to fellowship those who are around you. Open your arms and hearts a little wider. Think about those who need a friend- Elder Rasband. Priesthood is key! It was by priesthood that the worlds were created and it is by priesthood we can preform miracles. Have faith!

Elder Eyring truly hit home for me. Not being home with my family hasn't been too hard for me until conference! I love my family! I am grateful for the work my parents have done in the walls of our home.

Love you! Keep emailing and sending me letters:) james.coon@myldsmail.net

8632 Bison Lake Dr. 

Indianapolis, IN

46227

Mom,

wow! what are the names of the ym? do i know most of them? that is a great idea to have them in our home! you and dad are the perfect example of what a marriage should be! I was watching a face to face with Elder Bednar and his wife with the youth and they talked about how to have a successful marriage. they sounded and acted just like you two! i am blessed to have you as my mom. I love you! keep it up, wrap your arms around those boys and make sure they know they are loved.

we were so happy when elder Uchtdorf talked about that! I was just waiting for him! I love him! every night as we get ready to go to bed we listen to talked from the past general conferences and i love when he gives his plane analogies!

wow! Jamin is a married man huh? well i am happy that he is married before he did anything. he has a good heart. how is he doing in Korea? I'm glad our family was there to support him. wish him the best!!

can you send me pics of dads truck again? that is super sweeet! good job hannah! i will show you some more moves when i get home:)

the trinity is pretty much retarded haha lets be honest! it didn't come about until the 4th and 5th century in the nicene creed! holland has a great talk about it!

keep praying for the investigators we sure can feel your prayers! when i first got here in greenwood we had 1 investigator but we have seen some great miracles as we have been obedient and diligent!

Love,

Elder Coon

Dad,

It was such a  great conference! to be honest it was the first one i stayed awake for all 4 sessions. haha kinda pathetic but i was proud of myself:) every talk was amazing! I felt like each speaker was talking to each of my investigators! I loved all of them Im not sure I can even pick one! Loved Elder Stevenson about how the priesthood is the key to starting your car and driving home! and all the talks about the sacrament. I need to prepared more before hand so it isn't a snackrament but a sacrament (elder riley packer).

Elder Christopherson did a great job on fatherhood. I couldn't help but get teary eyed when I listened to that. I love you dad. I am proud of you and wish to be like you! Thank you for being the provider and protector. I wrote down, "my righteousness is the greatest joy to my father." It is never too soon to prepare for fatherhood!

Loved the story of Elder Nelson. I thought it was funny how normal he spoke about the 2 girls coming to him. He didn't sound too surprised about it! Makes me think how often something like that happens haha!

 We had a great week this week. Found some great people and had some really spiritual experiences. I am praying to teach and baptize a family so if you would like to pray with me that would be great! The priesthood session was so good! Loved Eyring's talk about how we went to his sons mission and met the family his son baptized. That hit home for me. I want to do the same! He also taught how the most important work you do is in the walls of your own home. I thank you and mom for the sacredness of our home. It is a place of peace from the world. 

#33-True Mexican Food

Dear Family and friends,
For the past few weeks I have been on the quest to find true mexican food here in Indiana. I thought it was just the town of Martinsville that had fake mexican food... but I think I am mistaken! The people here don't know what true mexican food is hahah. Each restaurant has bits and parts that are but none of them have the all of it! I almost feel like Joseph Smith when he was looking for the true church! He wanted to know what church was the True Church! Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened. No other scripture hit him so hard. I know that Joseph received an answer to his prayer, and I pray that I can find the restaurant with real mexican food! 

This week we had a huge miracle! On Tuesday we got a phone call from a man who was looking for a Book of Mormon and a Bible. We went over and visited with him. He is from Burmese and had to flee the country to get away from the military. He traveled to a few other countries but couldn't get away so he came here and has been here for about 6 years! We had a great lesson with him! He goes to a Chin christian church but is really interested in the Book of Mormon! We aren't sure how he got our phone number but it was a miracle he called us! It reminds me of the movie The Best Two Years when Elder Calhoun gave his number to the guy. No one ever calls us so when someone does it feels like a miracle! 

Chris went out of town this week but we had a great lesson before she left. WORD OF WISDOM:)))) She has decided to quit smoking! Justice was super happy too because she didn't like it when her mom smoked. They are on a trip to go see family this week but we have been staying in contact keeping her motivated! We keep praying for her! Her date is for April 30th! 

We serve at a food bank every Thursday. This week our job was to pack the bread! We have some pretty good friends there from every different church that help out as well. We always have really good lessons with people there. This week one guy, from the Trinity Life Church was talking to us about the Mormons. He had some questions about the Godhead (of course). I just don't understand where they got the idea that God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost are one body... The believe comes from the Nicene Creed in the 3rd century, not from the scriptures or any prophet or apostle! But it ended with us all huddled around in prayer and it was really cool to see how they pray:)

Kelly is doing well and will be baptized on the 24th! We are still excited for her:)

I am grateful for the my Savior, for His life, ministry, and atonement. I have really been studying the meaning of grace lately. So many people tell us they are saved and that is that! It was by grace and now they do not have to worry! Wow! Sounds easy enough;) But that is only part of it. Grace not only unlocks the gates of heaven, but it also opens the windows of heaven! The Gift of Grace by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf is a great talk about it. Hope you all will take the time to study it. Happy Easter! 

I cannot wait for general conference! Email me your favorite quotes and talks!

Love you all! james.coon@myldsmail.net 

8632 Bison Lake Dr. Indianapolis, Indiana. 46227

 A few months ago I got a spider bite but I am all okay! Only a few side effects like super strength and spiderwebs that come out of my wrists;) 

I popped my tire again this week! Ahhh haha

Rain storm last night!

 Geese are everywhere.....

Our church building in Greenwood, Indiana

 What the streets of greenwood look like. 

That tree smells so good:)

 Sister Banks gave me this jacket when winter started this year and I keep forgetting to show you guys.

 Isn't is so cool!

I made scripture boxes for my scriptures a few months back. they are pretty sweet!

thanks for the package!!!

 Our scripture last week!

Joe! Sorry I was super tired haha but he is a goof.

Happy Easter Elder Coon!

What a great season. I taught the lesson in Teachers Quorum today and laid out the last few days of the Saviors mortality. I enjoy teaching and telling of those few days. They are most eventful and touching. He knows what has to and is going to take place and his closest friends are with him, but don't seem to understand. I always like to go to Talmadge's Jesus the Christ and study what he points out. I learned that the cross was between 1 and 2 feet off of the ground. I always perceived it high like what the artist likes to paint. Anyway, it is always a very touching and thought provoking season. 

What are your plans for Conference? Will you head to the ward building or watch it at a member or investigators house? It will be interesting to see if Pres Monson will be strong enough to make an address. 

As far as home goes, we are missing mom who is up taking care of Cath. It is very lonely without her around. Maybe I will send my letter that I sent mom this morning. It may help you think of some kind and thoughtful things to say. You always do a great job building her up, keep it up. 

We will be taking the Teachers to the temple this Wednesday for baptism's. We have a good young man that is not a baptized member. Any thoughts for what we he can do while we are in the temple. We will take them for ice cream after...

Stay strong James, when you feel you can't do another door or take another rejection, do one more. Then laugh. I would love to be your comp.

I love you,

Dad

Dear Dad,

this week i was thinking of the Saviors last week as well, and i knew that every night this week at dinner you would be teaching our family what happened that day to Him. I am planning on reading Jesus the Christ soon. I started it and got about a 100 pages in but felt like i should restart haha. it is a hard read!

we are trying to set up so we watch the sessions with investigators and LAARC(less actives and recent converts). we are going to have a session with a different family hopefully! i am thinking president Monson will sit in his chair and speak to us. 

she told me she got the letter. she said she loved it! why isn't he baptized yet? hmm not sure about that one. they ask us to do about 12 hours of tracting, 12 hours with members, and 6 hours of service a week. but we have a hard time getting 12 hours of tracting in not because we don't work hard but because it feels like we have so many people to work with! we get about 10. 

Sundays we have church at 1pm, dinner usually at 5. tracting before church is hard because everyone is always asleep! haha but we still do it! 

Elder Coon,

 Did you get your tie?
Mom

Mom,

yes!! thank you so much! not sure when you sent it but i knew you guys were going to send me something haha. i opened it easter morning! i was half expecting a swimsuit because that is what we get every year haha. i love the tie! thank you:) love the letters as well! how does it feel only having 2 girls at home? how is utah? it has been a bit rainy the past two days here and last night was a thunder storm! it was awesome i miss playing in the rain!