Samoan Blood

FIRST OFF! EVERYONE! I have a new niece and she is the CUTEST thing!!! Ivy Kate Coon♡ so happy and so obsessed with her. it's been so fun to see my brother and sister in law become parents and fall in love with her. We love you, Ivy!

I hope everyone had a good week and is enjoying the weather cooling down a little bit! It's not hitting the 100°s anymore so we're very grateful we had so many miracles/funny stories this week that it's hard to write about all of them! Here are some of my favorites:

☆ Monday night, Sister Welch had her first real Samoan dinner at mama Tolu's house and it was a RIOT!! Those women were SO funny.

With the Samoan culture, during dinner there is a LOT of food and you're expected to take a serving of each dish and then have at least one more serving of another dish. And then they watch you as you eat to make sure you like it and are eating "enough." You come out VERY stuffed. So that whole day, Sister Welch and I were prepping to have to eat lots haha

We get there and dish up our plates with rice, chicken, fried fish and gravy, chop sewie, rolls, this banana with coconut cream stuff, and chopped up lettuce. It was a lot! But we all begin eating and Sister Welch decides she wants to impress these Samoan women so she ends up filling her first plate, then going back for seconds of almost everything, thirds of one dish, and fourths of something else. (I was so grateful because then all of the attention went on her and I could slide past without eating too much hah). Mama Tolu turns to her and goes, "Do you got a little bit of Samoan Blood in you? You sure are eating!" It was so funny and Sister Welch was so proud!

But as were walking to our car, Sister Welch turns to me and goes "I don't think I've ever eaten more food. I could throw up. But no regrets because I made Mama Tolu proud! That made my whole mission!" Hahaha love her and love those women!

☆ We met an amazing person named Thomas!

Wednesday, we had about 5 minutes left of our night till we had to go home so Sister Welch and I said a quick prayer and after, felt like we should go knock on this person's door who used to be taught by missionaries. So we drive 2 minutes over, walk up to this dark porch, and knocked. This guy opened the door and said the person we were looking for moved 6 months ago but that he would be interested!

That next morning, we met him at the church and had a lesson right on the grass. We taught the Restoration and at the end, gave him a Book of Mormon. He was so touched and got all teary eyed!! "Thank you. This is the nicest thing anyone has done for me." It was honestly a little surprising how sincere and grateful he was for this book. But it's interesting because people can feel a difference with the Book of Mormon. They know it's special. And it is! They truly are words from God and as we read, it will bless our life so much. I told him this was one of the best gifts we could give him. "Wow, thank you."

Then we met with him again on Saturday and gave him a chapel tour. Again, he was just so grateful. At the end we talked about baptism and he said he wasn't ready right now but would think about it!!! He also came to church on Sunday and really liked it. Later that day he texted and said, "The sacrament was beautiful and I've taken the oath. I want to partake next Sunday. "Cheerio" Sisters." 

WHAT?!! Isn't that awesome!! The Lord is good. So keep Thomas in your prayers and I'll keep you updated!

☆ We had a BOMB lesson with Leonard last night too! He sat down and right off the bat said, "okay I want to talk about baptism." It was SO cool!! The Lord really is preparing people to come unto Him.

So after teaching him about what the Holy Ghost is and feels like, we read in Alma 7:14-17. As we got to verse 15, we just stopped and didn't say anything. All of a sudden, Leonard looks up and goes, "woah, I think I just felt the Holy Spirit." Ahhhh it was so cool!!! We invited him to pray about a day to be baptized and he said "Yes I WILL pray about a day." I'm just blown away. So many amazing miracles and people ready for the gospel. So pray for Leonard too!

Alrighty that's a few of the fun stories from this week! I love you lots! I hope you're all doing well. Keep trusting in God! I know He's there for you and LOVES YOU. Talk to you next week!

xoxo sister coon

Pictures:

- we served at Salvation Army giving food to homeless people. A mariachi band played for everyone and there was one lady who was really getting into it. It was so fun and I loved to feel the love God had for all of these children!

- Ivy Kate Coon♡♡♡ isn't she perfect?

- in- n-out with the sisters after interviews with President!!! 

- dinner with Mama Tolu and her Samoan friends

- Yvonne and her grandkids fed us dinner and we were finally able to have a first lesson with her. She has so many questions that I know the gospel will answer. She came to church on Sunday and LOVED it. Said she'll definitely be coming back next week. I just love her so much and hope she'll keep meeting with us. Say lots of prayers for Yvonne!

- the weekly Seui grocery restock

- mutual with the youth!

- Sister Welch and I moved these HEFTY bookshelves out of our friends house