Hi!

What a great day we had on Christmas and what made it even more better was that I got to talk to you, see you, and hear your voices! I feel like it was a dream, you are right...the hour went by so fast...it doesnt feel like we actually talked...but we did! And it was so FUN! Only 5 more months until we get to talk again! 

Mom and dad, how fun that you are in Kansas for Scotts wedding! Congrats Scott and Shelby! How beautiful. Give everyone and Katie a huge hug for me. Its so weird that it is so cold there, especially since today is so hot in Uruguay! The sweating never stops! Neither do the cockroaches!

So to begin my letter this week I want to describe to you 2 different meals that we ate this week...Ready?!

Numero Uno...We ate lunch at this sweet hermanas house, Soñia. Soñia is a recent convert and she has 5 cats and 2 dogs. Before lunch she showed us her Adam and Eve garden and her animals. We were all super hungry, sat down to eat, and she loaded each of us up a plate of pasta and tuco, and chicken legs. The whole plate was loaded with food. We began eating and as I was looking closely into my food, I noticed that my whole chicken leg was covered in....HAIR! CAT HAIR!!! I died. "Come, Come" she said to me, which means EAT! EAT! "Bueno," I said. "Oh hermana, que rico! Muchas gracias!" Then she loaded us up another huge plate full of cat hair. Lovely!

Numero Dos...I cant just tell scary stories, I must tell the good too! On Saturday Hermana Fuentes and I ate at our sweet Hermana Olgitas house. We cleaned her house first, and then she fed us. The food was SO GOOD! Probably the best I have had. She fed us wheat rice! So healthy and it brought me back to my glory days of being healthy. haha. Wow! Also, a funny thing that they feed us here is something called, Agua con gas. Its like water, but it has fizzes like soda, but it doesnt taste like soda! It is the weirdest thing. In the afternoon, we die of thirst and we just ask anyone for a drink of water, but they either give us agua con gas or koolaid. 

Uruguay has such funny traditions...Look up "mate" if you get a chance!

I absolutely love Progreso. I am going to cry when I have to leave! The good thing about being here for so long is that I feel like I know everyone in this town! Carlos at the supermercado, the neighbors, all the people that we have talked to over these past months. And its so fun because I feel the people here are starting to have a special connection with me and my companions. We get honks, we get waves, and holas all day long. Everyone knows us and knows what and who we represent. It is so fun! I love the people, the members, my converts! ahhh! My heart!

I am growing a strong testimony of the power of investigators attending church. Wow if they have enough faith to attend church, they will be baptized. There are so many people who make excuses not to come to church, but yesterday, for example, we had one of our investigators come to church...his name is Gabriel and Gabriel doesnt believe that Heavenly Father listens to his prayers and he feels alone. He has a lot of doubts. We waited for him, along with others of our investigators. He came to church with such a hard heart, wearing all black, and an attitude of not wanting to be here, but by the end of the meeting, Gabriels heart had softened, he started smiling, and he was actually happy! He was listening so intently to the speakers and when we taught the lesson in Sunday School about the priesthood and Joseph Smith, his eyes were filled with agua! Tears! The spirit was so strong and wow each day my testimony is strengthened by the happiness that this gospel can bring into peoples lives.What is even more fun is the reaction of my sweet oro, Hermana Fuentes. I am glad and grateful that we are receiving so many blessings from Heavenly Father. We are learning together and she helps me so much with my spanish.

Dad, I love how you write me and tell me that these things I am learning and my testimony will bless my own family one day. Comments like those bring tears to my eyes that in the near future, I will have my own family to raise in the gospel! 

I love you family! Stay strong..Time is going by so quick!

¡Te Amo!

Hermana Coon

 Do you like my Uruguay Santa hat?! Our zone bought them!

 I took these pictures this morning! I made this headband..and no makeup! Mom could you send me some cute headbands and fabric? It so hot and I never wear my hair down, I need something cute! haha

Also, I would LOVE some new skirts and shirts. I have no clothes for summer. I dont know the size of my waist, but I think its the same as when I left....

Also, my shoes for proseltying are about dead. They dont sell good walking shoes here. I can feel all the rocks and pebbles beneath my feet all day. haha my feet are getting some good callases! You should see my tan line too. wicked sweet!

But anywho...have a fun day today! I Love you mom and dad! xoxo Besitos!

Feliz Navidad mi familia!

I can hardly believe that I get to see your faces and hear your voices in 2 days! I am so excited, I can hardly wait! We are going to skype around 1, 1 30...no se what time this is at home for you all.

What a week of MIRACLES it has been. I actually just typed up a whole wonderful email, but the computer just deleted all of my words, so i will try to write quickly with the time I have left.

I want to tell you about my ORO! Hermana Fuentes from Guatemala! I love being a trainer! It is the absolute best. These oros come fresh into the mission field with such animo and excitement for the work. It is a breath of fresh air. The first thing that Hermana Fuentes did when she saw me was she gave me a million bear hugs and told me that her dad always told her that she is going to have a North American for her trainer! The second thing she asked me was, "How many people are we going to baptize this change?" I asked her what she thought, and she said 9! and i said OK! So we are going to baptize 9 people this cambio! haha love her energy and goals.

We have seen so many miracles this week and everynight, we come home and I kneel to pray and my heart is just full of gratitude for these many many blessings that we have received. The Lord is aware of our area, our needs, and He is preparing people for the gospel. I know it. I want to share with you a quick experience. It is interesting how the spirit works. I am loving learning how it works. We were walking past a house and we saw this woman and her two grandchildren. We walked a little bit past it, and then both my companion and I looked at eachother and said, "Necesitamos hablar con ella." And thats what we did. We began talking with her and I felt like we should talk about the plan of salvation with her. I asked her if she wanted to be with her family for eternity and she said Si! We began teaching her how we CAN be with our families forever. Water filled her eyes as she told us that she didnt believe in the resurrection. The spirit was so strong as we were teaching and sharing our testimonies. She was listening so intently. We felt like Alma and Amulek teaching with power and authority! I remember looking at her two grandchildren, toddlers and telling her that she has a beautiful family and it would be so unfair to live this life and not have a hope to see your beautiful family again. Our message is a message of peace and of joy and I KNOW that Heavenly Father has a plan for you and that you can be together FOREVER with your family. By the end of the lesson, we were all crying. We invited her to be baptized and she said YES or SI! We walked away from that charla so full of gratitude. We walked a few steps away from her house, knelt down on the ground covered in rocks and pebbles and probably dog poop and offered a prayer of gratitude to Heavenly Father because we know that all of these blessings come from him. We are just the mouthpieces to bring people unto Him. We have had experiences like this everyday. My sweet Oro keeps telling me, "I AM SO HAPPY!" Its true. 

One day we were running home in order to make it home in time at 9pm. As we were running through the shortcut, we were singing, "Called to Serve" in spanish. These words filled my heart with joy and we felt like we were running on clouds of happiness. haha cheesy, but true.

I love this gospel, family. Thank you for your support. I am so happy and even though it is really difficult being so far away from you, I know that this is what I am suppose to be doing with my life right now. The church is true. I am seeing this gospel of Jesus Christ change lives. And its changed my life.

I love you. See you in a few days!

Hermana Coon

  me accompanying the youth choir in the branch where I am serving! 

 Friends from the CCM! I dont know if you recognize them, but I love them! Hermana Gines and Hermana Benson! We are at the Christmas Conference!

Almost Christmas!

Hello Family! I love you!

Its almost Christmas!!! I am so excited to talk to you over skype on Christmas Day! But first, I have to tell you something very exciting!...

...Changes are this week, and last night our district leader called to tell us about changes and...I am going to be a TRAINER! I have the great opportunity to train an "oro" who is fresh out of the CCM! It just felt like I was an oro a little while ago and had my own trainer! I AM SO EXCITED!!!! and mostly humbled that Heavenly Father has this trust in me. My area is still in Progreso! This will be my 4th cambio in Progreso! Today at 1pm I am heading to Montevideo to meet my oro and then tomorrow is our big Christmas dinner and program with the entire mission. 

This week has been crazy....

21 mosquito bites...on my face...only on my face, thats not even counting the rest of my body!

2 hospital visits

10 hours total of traveling to different conferences and trainings

It was a good week!

I have seen miracles this week, family. Miracles with the language, miracles with the health of my companion, etc. The great promise of the Lord is that he promises to put words in your mouth when you need to speak and teach. Looking back on this week, I have felt your prayers immensely, more than ever. I know that the Lord hears and answers every prayer. There are so many people here in this world that dont pray to Heavenly Father. They dont even know how to pray! We, as missionaries, have the great opportunity to teach them how to pray, to testify that they have a Heavenly Father who loves them more than they can ever imagine, and that they are literally children of God. They have self worth! 

Christmas Day I will be calling you on skype. I am pretty sure that my companion and I will go to a members house who has skype and we will use their account. I dont know what time exactly...so be on skype all day long. haha. Everything will work out just fine. If Grandma and Grandpa Dayley and Grandpa Coon want to come they can too! I just dont know what time our skyping session is going to be. I cant wait to see your faces! What is your skype account? coolcoons? I dont remember!

Sounds like you all are having a great Christmas season. So fun that Jake Packer and all these boys are coming home from their missions now. Such good times. Annie, good job on your piano recital...you are awesome! Thanks for your sweet emails. James, looking BUFF! WOW YOU ARE A MAN! Hannah, your hair is so blonde and pretty! Mom and Dad, you are awesome. So proud of my missionaries! Keep it up!

I love you! Families are forever! See you in 8 days!

Love,

Hermana Coon

 My district and Hermana Chavez!

 I almost cried when I saw this American Flag! Land of the free, home of the brave!

Having lunch at members home!

FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS JAMES!!!!! 17!!!!

Feliz Cumpleaños a ti! Espero que tu tienes un cumpleaños muy muy muy divertido! I cant believe that you are seventeen already! I woke up this morning and one of my first thoughts were...its JAMES BIRTHDAY TODAY! I love you hermano! Have a great day today! Eat some chocolate cake for me! And wow you look so buff in all of the pictures! You are growing up so fast. I like the way you do your hair too! jaja.

Thank you so much for all of the video diaries! It made me feel like I was there in person. Sounds like you all had such a great Thanksgiving in Utah. I am so thankful for your emails...I opened my email and saw a whole bunch of emails from Jessie, Sister Beagley, Elder Boyd, and loads of other people. Thank you! Jessie sent me some of her maternity pictures and I about died! They turned out so cute! She is the cutest pregnant wife! I cant wait to see pictures of this cute Weston! And congrats to Scott and Becca! That is such great news about their engagements! I am so happy for them! 

It has been such an AWESOME and BUSY week! Saturday was the baptism of Monica, Carlos, and Angel! What a wonderful day. They were so excited. It was so rewarding for me to watch them be baptized and confirmed. The joy that I had and have is so indescribable. I am reminded of the scripture in DyC 18. After Monica was baptized I gave her the biggest hug for probably 20 seconds. She had the biggest smile on her face and a light in her eyes. The first thing she said to me was,"Somos Hermanas!" "We are SISTERS!" Its so true, no? Bringing people unto Christ, one person at a time. 

The church is true! Live it, love it, share it! I love you all to the moon and back x100000000!

Hermana Coon

 Queens of Progreso! 

My Christmas package came!!! Hermana Chavez and I were so excited! THank you so much for sending a package for hermana chavez. She was so touched by your thoughtfulness, she about cried and told me that no one has ever done something like this for her before. We had fun this morning sportin our aprons. And I ate all of the DARK chocolate that you sent me. Now I wish I hadnt eaten it all because I want some more haha! It was so good. I read you letters this morning also and I loved them all! Thank you for the scrapbook stuff, my scrapbook will be so cute! Hope these pictures make you smile! We are in our kitchen!

...AND I LOVE THE CLOTHES YOU SENT ME! SO CUTE!!!!! Thank you!!!! I love you!