Transfer News

Hello friends,

Hope your week went great:) Hear are a few highlights from my week!

☆ Transfer news: Sister Stevenson and I are staying in Villa Bonita for at least 6 more weeks and another sister is coming., Sister Wallentine. We are going to be a trio! I'm so excited!

☆ Our friend, Ruta, got baptized this week! She's been taking lessons with the elders and we've met her one other time. But about a week ago, we got a call from the elders saying that Ruta had made a special request that we say the prayers at her baptism. We were honored!

In the middle of the baptism, our friend, Tahera who we met a week ago, leaned over to me and asked how she can be baptized and that one day, she wanted to do it. (!!!!!!!) Needless to say, Sister Stevenson and I had a really hard time trying to be reverent. It was a miracle. So we'll keep teaching her and preparing her for baptism.

☆ We put Gary on date!! He has a few things he still has to work on but we set a goal with him to be baptized May 21st:)

☆ Last night, we were knocking a few doors and went to this family's house that had been previously taught by other missionaries. We talked for a minute and they were saying how they were taking the lessons and wanted to be baptized but life got in the way and never did. It was crazy. So we set up a time to come back this week and will begin teaching them! The moms name is Monica and the 9 year old daughter is Aaliyah. So keep them in your prayers! Hopefully we can teach the rest of the family too. 

THE MISSION IS JUST FABULOUS. Literally am just over here LOVING LIFE!

I studied Jacob 2 yesterday and it was SO good. Verse 8 says, "And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul." I love that! The word of God has the power to heal a wounded soul. I know it has mine and it can yours <3

Love you all! Talk to you next week!

xoxo sister coon

Prayers:

- Elizabeth can figure out her living situation

- Gary, Tarah, and Tahera can gain a strong testimony

- we will be able to teach all of Leesa's lessons before this Thursday

- Del Rosario family will come to church!

- we can start teaching Monica and Aaliyah!

Pictures:

- Sister Stevenson and I gettin people to church!!!

- popcorn chicken hehe

- Ruta's baptism

David's Baptism

Happy Easter everyone!!

I hope you all had a great time celebrating Christ's Resurrection. I have loved being able to share the message that Christ lives and that we will all be able to return home to our loving Heavenly Father and be with our families after this life. As Sister Stevenson and I have shared this message, my testimony of Christ has been reaffirmed and strengthened. I know He lives!

This week was David's baptism!! And it was so good! Really stressful leading up to it haha, but really good. An hour before the baptism, we got a call from the brother that was supposed to baptize him saying he couldn't make it anymore. So we had to scramble to find someone who would be available in the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday, talk about stress. Satan was really trying to stop it. But thankfully, an Elder from our district was able to pull through.

After David was baptized and got back into his clothes, he came out and stood in front of the congregation. Fighting back tears he said, "I've been waiting my entire life to do that. I am so grateful. I know this is the Lord's church and I feel the spirit so strongly right now." It was the most powerful and humble testimony I have ever heard. He is amazing.

Some more exciting news, Elizabeth is getting baptized!!! We had a lesson with her and asked her what her concerns were with baptism. She said nothing and that she wanted it! So we invited her to follow Christ and be baptized May 21st. She was so excited!

That's all for this week!

xoxo sister coon

Prayers:

- Elizabeth will get married

- We'll be able to have a spiritual lesson with Gary and Tarah this week

- Sister Stevenson and I can use the Book of Mormon as the converting power more in our lessons

- We can find someone to introduce to Ruby who has been able to overcome smoking and they'll be able to help her

- Elana and Lizzie will want to be baptized!

Pictures:

- my sweet Glenda♡♡♡

- Ruby came to church after not coming for 4 weeks! (Our prayers were answered)

- Elizabeth

- Ruby in the dress I gave her with her dog, Bubbles that she brings everywhere including church haha

- Leesa's following the Word of Wisdom and threw away her tea and coffee as soon as we taught her it!

- David's baptism!

- a huge thing of Thai food

- Easter egg hunt with the Thiriots

- Aunt Laurie and her family was able to visit me!

No Excuses

Hey hey hey!!!

This week was another bomb week!!! Still keeping super busy and loving the work:)

Elizabeth came to church!!! This was the first time she's come in at least 3 months. It's been a struggle getting her there because she has some health problems. But we worked with her all week to rest up and eat good food so she'd be healthy on Sunday. And it worked! Sunday morning came around and we called her at 10:30 and woke her up. She was so tired and was saying how she just wanted to go back to bed, needed to shower, and didn't have enough time to get ready. But were like, "well we'll be at your house in 2 minutes with a dress and we already have a ride scheduled to pick you up so no excuses!!" It was so funny.

She showed up right as church was starting and was looking really nice in my yellow dress! After church, we talked about how she liked it and she was so glad she came. "And I got so many compliments on your dress!" So I just told her she could keep it as a gift. She was so happy! "Now I have no excuses!"

We were walking around Harmon Hills (the sketch apartments that I love so much haha) one evening and there was this lady hanging out in a lawn chair just vibing to some music and drinking. We started talking with her and she was SO funny. She told us how beautiful we were and was so confused that our names were Sisters. Her daughter came out and they started talking about how they need to go to a church and are interested in hearing a message! So we're going to go back this week:) We also met this other family that had a similar story (minus the music and alcohol haha). We're going to start teaching them too!

I know Heavenly Father is preparing people to hear His message. Sister Stevenson says, "the field is white already to harvest"- not brown and ready to plant but white! There are so many people who are ready to accept the gospel, they just haven't heard it yet! The Lord is leading this work. This is His church. It brings so much joy into my life! He has a plan for us and knows what each of us are going through.

Hope you're all doing good! Have a great week!! Love you!

xoxo Sister Coon

Please keep these friends in your prayers this week:)

- David is getting baptized this Wednesday!!

- Leesa (baptism May 11th)

- Gary, Tarah, and Elizabeth will know this is God's church and have the desire to be baptized

- Ruby can get over whatever is happening with her

- Will be able to find people who are prepared to receive the gospel!!!

Pictures!

- a family we were visiting wasn't home so we chalked their sidewalk:)

- Elders with their swords at the spy shop haha

- my comp Sister Stevenson

Leesa is Getting Baptized!!!

LEESA IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!

Happiest day of my life! This was our sixth lesson with her and we were teaching the Plan of Salvation. At the end of it, we asked her if she believed it's true and she was like "I know it's true!" My heart started beating so fast and I knew we needed to invite her to be baptized. I asked her if she wanted this for her life and she was like yes! So I said, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized?" And she said yes!!! 

We were all SO happy and the spirit was so good! She comes home from her honeymoon May 7th so we set her date for May 11th. She is determined to be baptized and said nothing will stop her from this. She knows it's true. I love her so much! And we are helping her fiance who is a returning member with the priesthood so that he can baptize her!

After we left their house, Sister Stevenson and I ran to our car hootin and hollering. It was so fun. The whole night we were on a high. The scripture "...how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!" Is true! I feel so happy as a missionary and I love bringing people to the knowledge of the gospel. I know this is true!

We have been so busy this week and go from one lesson to the next. The best problem to have;)

But one of our lessons had fell through so we were going to do some work on our phone. I had the thought to walk around real quick and street contact instead. So we got out of the car but didn't say a prayer. We quickly paused on the sidewalk and said one. And as soon as we finished, we turned the corner and there were two people outside. They spoke Spanish so Sister Stevenson asked if they knew English. One guy said no but the other said yes and asked if we needed anything. We told him about what we do and he ended up being interested! We set up another time to come back this week.

Then we went down the next street and found another guy rolling a blunt in his car haha. We started talking to him and he ended up wanting to hear what we teach too!!

It was a miracle. God is really putting people in our path and it's amazing to be able to witness. I am so grateful I Iistened to that little prompting because I almost didn't! 

LIFE IS GOOD! I love it. Things are really great right now and I am thankful.

Love you all!! Hope you have a great week. Keep saying your prayers and reading your scriptures. And make sure to listen to your promptings!

xoxo Sister Coon

Prayers:

- LEESA! (Baptism May 11)

- David!! (Baptism April 9)

- Gary will have a desire to be baptized this week. He's seriously has been through 84% of the principles.

- Ruby will go to the Addiction Recovery class this week

- Tarah will also have a desire to be baptized

- all of our other friends

- a miracle!

 Exchanges with Sister Knarr and Sister Calderwood

Transfers

Annette Coon	Mon, Mar 21, 10:47 PM
to me

Hello!

Transfers were this week and I got a new companion, Sister Stevenson! She is a BLESSING! From Minnesota and has been out for 9 months. She is a talker and I am SO grateful for that because I've been deprived of conversation with my companion for the last six weeks.  I had a meeting with President Rodarte and he asked me how I know God loves me. I told him because He sent me Sister Stevenson. God is aware of our needs for sure.

We've worked really hard all week and have been VERY busy. It's been fun introducing Sister Stevenson to the friends because we come out of lessons and she's just blown away at how interested these people are in learning the gospel and how prepared they are. It makes me so proud of them and this area! This area is the promised land! It's the best area!!!

Yesterday during church, 3 people who aren't members, came up to us and asked how they can start taking lessons and learn more about the church. It was crazy! I am seriously so amazed at how God is preparing so many people to come into the gospel.

I studied a talk yesterday and it was so good. "While there are many things worthy of our focus, we learn from Peter’s example the importance of always keeping Christ at the center of our focus. It is only through Christ that we can return to live with God. We rely on the grace of Christ as we strive to become like Him and seek His forgiveness and strengthening power when we fall short." (Look down the Road By Elder Alvin F. Meredith III)

That's all for this week. Sorry it's short but I've got to get back to work! I'm ready for another great week!

Love you!

Sister Coon

Prayers:

- Leesa will continue to progress and we can invite her to be baptized soon!

- Gary and Tarah so they can have a spiritual experience that will strengthen their testimony

- Ruby as she goes to the Addiction Recovery classes

- David's health will continue to be better and he can be baptized on April 9th

- A miracle baptism!

Pictures:

- my district

- Mom, Dad, and Hannah were in Vegas for a soccer tournament and heart attacked my door! It was such a sweet surprise

- Sunsets here aren't as good as AZ but this one was nice!

- The day I met Sister Stevenson

David is Getting Baptized!

This week in the Nevada Las Vegas Mission was great!!

We had Elder Alonzo, an area authority, a special representative of Jesus Christ, come and talk to us for 3 days. It was amazing!!! We learned about listening with love, not teaching people but helping them learn, and using the Book of Mormon to convert. One thing I really loved that he said was when we extend invitations, telling them that this is an invitation from God. As representatives of Jesus Christ, we are not inviting you to do it because we want you to but because God wants you to and he has blessings for you when you do it. So what are you going to do with an invitation from God? Isn't that a cool perspective?!

We got a call last night with some exciting news! I will be staying in my area for another 6 weeks and getting a new companion, Sister Stevenson. A lot of missionaries have been telling me that she is super nice, upbeat, and talkative. I am excited!

Sister Juber is going to Kingman and will be an STL (Sister Training Leader). She already had her bags packed when we got the call and was very grateful to get transferred lol (I was too). She's been in Villa Bonita for 7 months and is ready for a change. This week we made sure to take a bunch of picture with some of our friends that we've been teaching. I'm grateful for the time I've had to learn from her. She's a very obedient missionary and helped me learn what it means to act and speak in a way that shows I am a consecrated representative of Christ.

Last night, we were walking around this neighborhood and there were a group of 10 year old boys running around trying to interview people for a school project. They were wild. When they got up to us, we said they could interview us if we could interview them after. So they started asking us a bunch of random questions like what our favorite color is, our favorite dance move, and then the last question was if pineapple belongs on pizza. Obviously we said yes and they all went crazy and ran away. A few seconds later they came back and we briefly talked to them about God and Jesus Christ. It was good:) After talking, we gave them our numbers and went back to street contacting.

As we were leaving the neighborhood, we looked behind us and they had all followed us running! One boy, Tristan, ran up to our window and scared us so bad. Had us rolling for a good 10 minutes haha.

The missionaries have been teaching this really old frail man named David for about 3 years. He wants SO badly to be baptized. However, he gets sick super easy so he hasn't been able to come to church in person but will watch the meetings over zoom. His baptism is in 3 weeks and the rule was that you have to go to church in person 3 times before you can be baptized. But it wasn't looking like it was going to happen for him. We got special permission and he can get baptized!!!! Such happy news! When we told him this, he started crying saying how he knows God hears his prayers and how thankful he was. It was precious. I love sweet David.

Love you all! Have a great week! 

XOXO Sister Coon

David

Leesa

Gary

Tarah

The district

Faith in Christ

Hello!!

This was another good week! Had lots of lessons with friends and were able to have members come to the majority of them so that's awesome!

We had our first lesson with this young mom named Leesa. She is so sweet! She has 2 boys and is engaged to a member so she's really interested in the church. We gave her her own Book of Mormon and during the lesson, her younger son wanted to hold it but she was very protective of it and didn't want to share it haha. After the closing prayer, she was like "Okay can you guys come every week?! And when is church?" So we gave her all the deetz and she came to church yesterday and was so happy to be there! The Lord has been preparing her for sure!

Update on Ruby: She struggles with a specific WOW issue and would do it all through out the day. But this week she only did it twice the ENTIRE WEEK! IMPROVEMENT! She had a baptismal date but we pushed it back to March 19th.Thank you for your prayers!

We also have been teaching this sweet lady named Sylvia. The first lesson we had, she slipped us a $20 and wouldn't let us give it back to her. It was so funny. And then this week she gave us a whole bunch of lunchables. She's so giving, especially with her situation! She lives at the ghetto apartments and has a bathroom and one other room where she has a little make shift kitchen, TV, tiny table, and then during the day, she puts the beds up on wall. Her daughter and their kids are living with her too. It's small and crowded but she shows so much gratitude. During the lessons, she gets her notepad out and is very engaged. I love Sylvia!

"Faith in Jesus Christ is the greatest power available to us in this life. All things are possible to them that believe." - President Nelson. What a promise! When we have faith in our Savior, things that seem impossible become achievable. Whatever trials we face, having that faith that God has a plan for us and is helping us along, will not only get us through but propel us forward.

I love it! Faith is powerful! What can you do to have more faith? For me this week, I want to focus on being bold with people we come across and not just saying "hi how are you doing?" And keep walking when they don't respond haha. 

I love you guys! Have a great week!

Love Sister Coon 

Keep these friends in your prayers please!

- Ruby!!

- David! He gets really sick easily so pray that he can get healthier to be able to come to church and be baptized on April 9th

- Leesa

- Sylvia

- Gary

We went to Rodigios with the Thiriots and Jo and it was so fun and yummy. I love them!!!

Daisy was fellowship at our lesson with Sylvia. And after the lesson, she was like "let's take a picture so I can send it to the relief society and let them know how fun that was!"

Burning Buildings

Hello friends!!

Hope your week went great! Mine was really good! 

Crazy Vegas story: Friday night, we were walking Harmon Hills, going to see our friend Kimberly and Hugo that we met my first night on the mission. When we got to their apartment, they were sitting outside on camping chairs. They said they've been sitting there for 2 hours because their neighbor was cooking some illegal things and had started a fire in his apartment which burned down his entire house! We turned around and this whole apartment; the kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, were destroyed. Everything was burned, the door had broken off, and the windows were shattered. It was crazy! Thankfully the other apartments weren't effected by the fire!

We were able to do a fast with Ruby yesterday to help her overcome smoking. She is so funny! She brings her pug, Bubbles, to church and usually leaves after Sacrament meeting because the dog needs to go home, but this time she stayed! And after church, we asked her how she liked it and she was like "man! I should've been staying this whole time! That was a great class!" Haha we were like "yeah Ruby! We've been telling you that!" She's so funny. 

Then that evening, we went to her house to break the fast. In the middle of the pray, she goes "hmm amen Lord, amen!" And then stands up and starts doing some other stuff. So Sister Juber and I just looked at each other, giggled a little bit, and quickly ended the prayer. It's so fun teaching Ruby. You never know what to expect.

D&C 88:73 "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time." I know God is hastening His work right now! People are being prepared to hear this message and need the light the gospel brings in their lives. So are we keeping up? Are we sharing the light with others? Because the gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone! And it blesses us so much.

I love being a missionary and having this opportunity to help others find God and bring peace into their life and to be able to strengthen my own testimony! I know this church is true! I love it!

Please keep these friends in your prayers:

- Ruby! So she can stop smoking and be baptized March 12th!!

- David! So his health may get better and he can be baptized April 9th!!

- Antoinette's husband may soften his heart so she can come to church

- Tarah. We invited him to be baptized this week but he is going to pray about it. We have a lesson with him on Wednesday so we will follow up on that! He's been to church 10 times and is so prepared. 

- We can find the people that God has prepared!

I love you all! Thanks for your support and prayers♡

XOXO Sister Coon