STRANGERS & DARK HOUSES

Hello!

 

This week is full of miracles and fun memories! Here ya go:)

☆ Missions are honestly so crazy haha. Random strangers just let us into their houses and tell us all about their lives. It's so wild. Haha but I love it.

On Monday last week, we were walking in a neighborhood and stopped this guy as he was getting out of his car. He looked so confused why we were even talking to him but after introducing ourselves, he told us he wasn't interested. We asked if he knew anyone who would be interested in a message of peace and hope but he didn't say anything. So we kept walking and tried talking to his neighbor but she wasn't interested either haha. All of a sudden he goes, "wait! My mom might be interested!" So we follow him to the front door and this little old Vietnamese lady comes to the door. "Hey mom, I brought you some friends." Her: "how you know me?!" Son: "They're here because of your depression. God sent them."

She bows her head real low and then puts out her hand for me to grab it. So I hold her hand and then she goes, "come." And pulls me into this dark house! Sister Long and I were so apprehensive. But we ended up talking with her (more like she ended up talking to us) for an hour telling us all about her life and how people tried to kill her by giving her the covid shot. It was quite the experience. 

That next day she called us and said, "I love youuuuu! I miss youuu! My depression no go away but I so happy to talk to youuuu!" Oh my goodness, Kimmie, we love you too. 

☆ I have a new companion, Sister Long!!! I love her so much and we have so much fun together. Catch us dying laughing at every little thing. It's the best. ALSO! She was trained by the same person so we've been able to bond A LOT over that haha. God knew what he was doing when he put us together. One time, an Elder found out that we were companions and he just looked at us and was like "No way. That's a powerhouse right there." Haha :)

☆ Sister Long had her first experience with a Samoan dinner! Again, a very memorable experience haha. They had SO much food for us to eat so we filled up our plates and chowed down. After a time, we asked if there's anything we could do for them. The mom looks Sister Long dead in the eyes and says, "eat more." Then like 10 minutes later, she said it again. Poor Sister Long ate so much food that night but they never said anything to me! It's so funny because it seems like I can just slip by without being told to eat more food. By the end of the dinner, I went to grab some more and she goes, "oh no. You don't have to!" Hahaha #blessed. Sister Long was so mad about it haha.

But tonight we have dinner with Mama Tolu so wish us luck haha.

☆ Yvonne is progressing so much!!! We did a temple walk with her and she went to a "Why I Believe" devotional. At the end of it she said, "I know this is all true! This makes sense!" She's reading 4 chapters a day from the Book of Mormon and just rocking it!!! I love her. But sadly she's moving out of the mission at the end of next month so we'll see what happens :(

Pictures!

- introducing Sister Long to our adopted family

- the powerhouse companionship

- kiddos!

- Yvonne's temple walk

- lesson in Roger V's garage

- tour of the history of the church in Samoa

- dinner with Kimmie (this is another funny story haha)

- Sister Long's first Samoan dinner!

- Subway with the sisters

Here's a few friends to keep in your prayers:

- Yvonne

- Theresa

- Treasa

- Roger F

- Paris family

- Luis

Thank you!!! I love you!

Sister Coon

Sister Welch and Sister Coon

My last week with Sister Welch (10/4 - 10/10) It was a good two transfers together! I love her lots!

- we went to the temple with Ave!!! 

- mission meeting with Elder Pieper

- 

- Sly fam

- Gray & Lizzie

- Yvonne came to church for the 3rd time in a row!

- sweet Bobbie (she reminds me of my Glenda from my last area)

9 Months!!!

Hello friends and family!!

It's been a second since I've written a weekly but I HIT MY 9 MONTHS!!! Isn't that crazy?! It's gone by wayyyyy too fast and I don't want this to end! I LOVE life as a missionary and am so grateful for the many people I get to meet and help bring closer to Jesus Christ, including myself. It's just SO GOOD!

A few things I've learned so far:

- so much more about my Heavenly Father. I love Him! As my friend Arthur would say, "God is good! All the time." He truly is our Father in Heaven who loves us perfectly and has the best plan. It's been amazing to meet these random people that we're teaching, from the ward, or just on the street, and feel so much love for them. And it's just a portion of the love that God has. He is good.

- The Atonement of Jesus Christ. This is powerful and real. Through the Atonement, we can change. We can heal. We can have lasting joy! I'm so grateful for my Savior.

- The Book of Mormon. I LOVE THIS BOOK! Oh it's just so good and I love reading it and sharing this gem with people everyday!

- live the gospel -> blessings

- work hard, be obedient, and make life fun!!!

Alma 26:36

"Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land."

This is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true!! I'm so grateful for the next 9 months I have left to share it!

Sister Coon

Meet Sister Welch July 25, 2022 (out of order)

Talofa friends!

This week was SO good!!! I LOVE LIFE AND I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! God is amazing and this gospel is TRUE!

☆ Everyone meet my new companion, Sister Welch! She is the best and I love her so much. This was her first week in the mission field and oh my, was it memorable!! For the first 3 days, we had back to back lessons and it was really busy. So many of the lessons though were just FILLED with the spirit. We were both able to testify boldly of the truth and the spirit was powerful. I love it and i love seeing people be able to recognize that spirit too! Sister Welch is such an amazing missionary and I know this is going to be a good transfer.

☆ We had a lesson with our favorite, Ave!!! She has been listening to the Book of Mormon this week and says she can't stop. She loves it so much. We were able to talk about baptism and she said how when she first started meeting with us, she was so afraid of what her family and friends were going to say/do if she got baptized. But now, all she cares about is what God thinks of her. We read in Enos and she and the fellowship began to cry! It was amazing. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes! She's going to pray about a day!! God is truly changing hearts.

☆ American flag Roger came to church yesterday and LOVED it. The whole time he was telling people how "Sister Coon saved me" lol. He feels very grateful but I keep telling him it was God. We invited him to pray about a day to be baptized and he was so excited!

☆ the Cabrera's are getting baptized, August 5th!

☆ Eddie is getting baptized, August 13th!

The work of the Lord is moving along so fast and people are just ready to accept the gospel. I really am just in awe.

☆ We gave talks yesterday in church about the temple and they went really well! One guy came up to us after, shook our hands, put his hand on his heart, and with tears in his eyes, said "temples" and then he got choked up and walked away. It was so special and I'm grateful to see that the spirit was able to touch someone's heart.

☆ Our car is in the shop this week and Sister Welch doesn't have a bike yet so everyone be looking out for some good miracles in my email next week because I'm sure we'll see lots. Wish us luck #walkingmode lol

Okay love you all!!! Have a wonderful week and know that I love you but more importantly, God loves you!!!

xoxo sister coon

Pictures!!

(Monday night Sister Thomsen said bye to lots of people so we were able to get pictures with some friends we're teaching/members)

- paris family

- jackie & veronica

- cabrera family

- letuli family

- OUR GIRL AVE

- picking up our brand new missionaries!

- district council 

- pioneer day celebration! such a party!!

- the Samoan's did cultural dances at the celebration and it was amazing!

- I love my Samoan family♡

- this was after we had a lesson at a Samoan's home. They did NOT leave you empty handed. Literally, our fridge is stocked FULL with food. They're the best

New Leadership Assignment

04 Aug 2022

 

New Leadership Assignment

 

Dear Family of Sister Coon,

 

It is an honor to serve with your wonderful daughter in the Nevada Las Vegas Mission. I am pleased to inform you that she has been assigned to be a Trainer of a new missionary. This is a trusted position in a mission and comes to those who have demonstrated obedience and devotion. As a role model, she will provide leadership to other missionaries in her assigned areas.

 

Sister Coon is a sincere and dedicated missionary, truly worthy in every aspect to be the Savior's representative. I extend my appreciation to you for raising such a faithful daughter and sharing her with us.

 

May you and your family experience the sweet spirit and wonderful blessings that our Heavenly Father reserves for those who are called and set apart to serve Him and the Savior in His vineyard.

With all my love and gratitude,

President Rodarte and Sister Rodarte

RIP Thomas

TALOFA!!!

This week was great!! Lots of fun things! We had Zone Conference, the temple, exchanges, and a sick day (rip Sister Welch)

☆ update with Thomas from last week: he's become a "Do Not Contact" in areabook after sending us some inappropriate texts:( so that's a bummer but the Lord is still watching out for him and us 

☆ Yvonne and her 3 grandkids came to church again this week and loved it! She shared in Relief society how she's seen so many signs and knows that this is where she is supposed to be. The night before, she was invited to go to a party where she knew there was going to be alcohol but she told them no because she wanted to be sure that she could go to church that next day. She is amazing!!! And we've only had 2 lessons with her! She is so prepared and I just love her so much!!

☆ One night, we got to a dinner appointment but they had been super busy so they hadn't even started fixing dinner yet. So we asked if it would be okay if we came back in 20 minutes and did a few other things until then. When we got to the car, we saw that our friend, Arthur who was on date 3 transfers ago but we had lost all contact with him, texted us! We gave him a call and he was able to give us a little update with his life. I felt prompted to read Alma 7:14-15 with him and we ended up setting him on date! It was a miracle!! He started crying and the spirit was just so good. It's crazy to see how even not having dinner on time is apart of God's plan haha. God is good! #PRAY4ARTHUR

That's a few gems from this week here in Vegas!!! I love you all! Make sure you're preparing to get some spiritual POWER from general conference this weekend. I'm excited!!! Have a wonderful week♡ Talk to you later!

Tofa Soifua

Sister Coon

Letter from Meg February 2022- first week

Okay since I know now that that feeling is not foreign to you.. I’ll share a quick story. About 2-3 months into my mission I got in a deep slump bc I missed my family sooo much (aren’t we so blessed to have such amazing families??) and just worried about them for silly reasons. Satan knew my weakness and he played on them hard. One night a month or so after the “depressive time” of missing my fam started and after a couple blessings/MANY prayers,, I was praying repeatedly for my family one night.. at about 2 in the morning I said yet another prayer (worrying about something) and the loudest voice I have ever heard, not my own, just said to me “where is your faith?” Now, I’ve never had a prompting like that again or even since, but one thing was clear to me in that moment.. God was in control and I needed to trust Him. I soon fell asleep and then next morning I found myself thinking about that experience. I came across the story of Peter reaching to the savior on the water as he was sinking and felt a familiar feeling to what I imagine Peter felt in that moment. So, when the water around me felt so stormy, I had two choices! Keep sinking or just reach harder toward the savior. Obviously, this was just a trial i needed to draw closer to my Heavenly Father and Jesus and may not be totally accurate for how you feel some days, but the principle is the same. Pray pray pray and reach harder toward the savior.. serve your companion (my trainer always made my bed for me in the morning and at first i thought it was her chastising me for not making it quick enough but after a while i would just say “thank you” and she beamed with satisfaction.. she was just being kind.) be submissive, be obedient, etc. The lord will never leave you in the dark for long.:) 

I’ll be honest, most of my mission I felt like 18 months would go by so slow and like you said it was daunting! But the days turn into weeks and the weeks into months and before you know it you’ll be forever changed and moving to another wonderful part of your life. 

You have so much to offer Las Vegas sister Coon! If you need to cry, but all means cry. I sure did. (And still do today;)) But when your done, say a prayer for strength and get back to it. The Lord will provide for your weakness. 

Love you so much! Have the very best week!

Meggers 

Ps. If your comp isn’t a morning person, that’s okay. Usually that just means she doesn’t want to talk/be energetic. (I was a little like that at first in the mission.. type 2s). Make her bed, make her breakfast, write her a short note/affirmation and leave it in her scriptures before studies.. maybe not every day but occasionally can go a long way:) just because she’s training you/your the “junior” comp does not mean she does not need YOU too.:) 

Love you. 

Hi cute sister Coon!!

It’s late-ish and I’m getting sleeppyy but I couldn’t let tonight pass without writing a short email to let you know I’ve thought of you bunches of times this week. 

Knowing you, you are thriving and everything is fantastic but if part of you feels like 18 months will be long just know you aren’t alone. Days can be long but weeks are fast and filled with sooo much light and love as I’m sure you have already experienced. 

Love and serve your companion, work hard, be obedient, and rely on the Lord and His spirit. You are 100% doing the best work and the best thing for your life at this time. :) 

Im so proud of you and anxious to hear about all the deets of your week!!! Comp, area, mission president, etc. So many great things happening!

Love you so much!!

Meggers 

Your fam was in town to ski this weekend. Fun to have them! Also some tiny baby feet..:) I switched to the nicu this week and I’m getting trained there and there are some tiny tiny babies. Very fun!