Hermana Cox's letter... another view of life in Uruguay

Hi family!!!! 

Wow!!! Thank you so much for the letters and pictures!!! It looks like it has been a wonderful week! I am so excited for Nick! He is going to be a great missionary! He will be in my thoughts and prayers! 

Thank you for sending me the pictures and videos. We hope that the Hermana Conference that we are planning will be a good one. 

It has been quite the week!!! It definitely has not been the easiest week I have had on the mission. In fact, we have had many trials. We feel like Satan has been working on us pretty hard from all sides. But I am just glad that I can have these experiences here with Hermana Coon. She is such a great friend. We are so much alike. We are feeling alike all the time. We have had some trials with our health, weather, and with our investigators. However we have been working really hard, and in the end the Lord has blessed us with many miracles! 

As far as our health goes, we are pretty exhausted and I could use even more prayers for my stomach. It has been a hard week for my stomach. And Hermana Coon with her tooth. oh man!!!! It has been quite the adventure. Okay so on Thursday we went to the dentist because her front tooth was loose and President Cook encouraged her to go to the dentist. So we went, he took her tooth out to to look at it, put it back in, told her to go get an xray done and come back next Friday. But on Friday, it was even more loose andon Saturday night as she was brushing her teeth, she turned to me and told me that her tooth fell out!!!! Yeah, crazy!!! She is such a good sport. I wasn´t feeling well, we were exhausted and her tooth fell out! We were a mess!!! We didn´t know whether we should laugh or cry! But she always has such a good attitude. We just weren´t sure what we were going to do for Sunday until we could make it till today to go back to the dentist. 

Hermana Coon put her tooth back in and just had to be really careful when she talked. But it was our turn to teach gospel principles class yesterday about baptism. We began teaching and like normal we were taking turns talking. But her tooth kept falling out as she talked. So, she turned around really fast to pop it back in. After that happened a couple of times, she told the class that she needed to be excused because she had some problems with her tooth and I was left to teach the class. Poor thing!!!! I felt so bad! It was quite the journal entry for her! Afterwards, on eof the investigators in the class told us that she had some awesome glue stuff for teeth that works really well. So we went and picked it up after church from her house and her tooth was able to stay in the rest of the day. And just now, we went to the dentist and it should stay in for a while. It is just difficult because, she doesn´t want them to do anything permanent here, but just permanent enough to stay for another 5 months. So, yeah it has been quite the adventure as far as our health goes. 

It has been getting pretty cold here lately too! On Tuesday it rained pretty hard all day.On Wednesday, we did an intercambio with Hermana Denos and Hermana Johnson. I was with Hermana Denos. It was a great day! Hermana Johnson still has a lot of pain in her knees. But she has such a good attitude. I don´t know how she does it. Hermana Denos is so great! She is a bowl of sunshine. Even though, she struggles a lot with the Spanish, she has such a great love for the people and the work. It reminded me a lot of when I was an oro and how difficult it is at the beginning to learn and understand the language. 

Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we worked really hard to find new people and help them get ready to go to church. In fact, we found a lot of new people to teach this week! We just hope that they will be able to progress. The hardest part is once again being able to find them in their homes to have the second lesson. We committed a lot of people to go to church yesterday, and we did have 3 investigators at church! Santiago went! He is excited to get baptized. But we still need to work out the details of who and where he will be taught because he lives in the other area but comes in our area to stay with his grandma for the weekends. Dahiana also came again. She is so great and last night we had another family night with her and her daughter Antonella. 

The other investigator that we had at church was a miracle that we weren´t really expecting. Okay, so I think last week I told you guys about Gabriella, the less active that came to church last week with her young daughter. Well, we stopped by her house this week and she told us that she had two other sons carlos 14, and Facundo 10. Carlos was baptized but Facundo hasn´t been baptized because the last time that they had gone to church was before he had turned 8. We invited them to come to church and invited her to bring her children as well. 

Saturday night, we sent them a message reminding her to go to church with her sons.Sunday morning, as we were passing by some investigators, we decided to go knock on her door to see if they were going to go. As we were approaching her door, Gabriella and her kids walked out of the door. They were on their way to go to church!!! 

They really enjoyed church. But they were about to leave after the first two classes because she feels uncomfortable because she can´t take the sacrament because she is living with someone. But Hermana Coon asked the boys if they wanted to stay for sacrament meeting and Facundo asked if he could stay. So, he stayed and he liked it a lot. He is so well behaved and really respectful. He really enjoyed church! We stopped by his house after church to be able to invite him to be baptized and put a date with him. When we knocked on the door, no one was there and just when we were about to leave, he came walking up to the house. We sat outside with him and talked to him about baptism and he is now preparing to be baptized on the 9th of August. He is really excited! His baptism will be a great way to help reactivate the whole family and we really want to help Gabriella get married or get separated. We want to work with more incomplete families like them. 

So yep, the Lord has blessed us so much!!! 

Jose Martin is doing really well! He is 23 by the way Dad. And he taught his first class in Young Mens yesterday. Apparently it was about going on dates with members of the opposite sex and standards. haha I don´t know where he learned about that, because we haven´t taught him anything about that. haha but yep. He is doing super well and has an incredible testimony. We are going to have a family night in their house tonight with Hugo, Gissel and the girls and Jose Martin is in charge of the lesson. 

The family de los Santos is also doing really well. Daiana has an admirerer in the ward, his name is Robinson Sosa, and he looks a lot like Micah(16). Richard blessed the sacrament for the first time yesterday, and you could tell he was super proud of himself. He also taught his first young mens class too. They want to have us over for lunch on Saturday. We feel so much love from them. They are so wonderful! 

This week is going to be another great week! On Wednesday, we are going to do an intercambio with some of the Hermanas here in Melo. and then on Friday we have concilio in Montevideo. We are going to start music classes to teach how to lead music and maybe even a little bit of piano. (especially for the young men preparing for missions). We are also going to have a movie night where we are going to show the restoration video. 

So, yep........time is flying fast!!! I love the work!!!!! I love my companion!!! I love our area!!!!! I hope you all have a wonderful week. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!!!! 

Have a wonderful week!!! 

-Hermana Cox :) 

My crazy tooth!

Buenas Días Familia!

¿Como han pasado? How are you all? It is so wonderful to hear from you every week. I look forward each week to receiving your emails! What I cannot believe is that school is starting so soon! We sure do live in a different world here in Uruguay. I am so happy that Annie enjoyed Girls Camp! I love girls camp! Those are some of the best memories! 

We have been super busy and like I have said before, the days go by faster and faster. This past week, we were traveling, this next week we will be traveling. It is such a blessing...the Lord truly blesses us when we are away from our area trying to help other areas. We were in the part of Uruguay this week called "33." (I bet you can look on the map to find it. Its about 1.5 hours from Melo.) We had such a busy and successful day doing an exchange with Hermana Johnson and Hermana Denos in their areas. I always learn so much from these hermanas. It was such a rainy and cold day, but Heavenly Father sure blessed us a ton. We had so many spiritual experiences and witnesses that the Lord was really guiding every one of our steps. One experience I will share was that we found this woman in the street and we began teaching her. The Spirit was so strong. As the wind was blowing and the sprinkling of rain came, we showed her the picture of Christ. We could tell that she has some difficult problems in her life. She began to cry and we testified that everyday we pray for the Lord to help us find people who need the gospel and that the Lord guided us to her. It was a powerful moment.

What is so cool, is hearing a few weeks later is that the people that you helped find during an exchange got baptized! During another exchange/intercambio, an investigator was telling us about a reference, that he was so great and that we needed to contact him. Well, right when we finished talking, guess who knocks on the door!?!? This exact reference! We invited him to be baptized right then and there. He accepted and this week he is getting baptized! It is so exciting to know that we are just small instruments in the hands of the Lord. This is why Hermana Cox and I love to have this calling as Sister Leader Trainers. It is so edifying and we feel so good all the time. We learn so much! I also feel so blessed as we do intercambios with new hermanas who are just learning the language. Hermana Cox and I stayed all amazed of the progress and the blessings that Heavenly Father has blessed us with. Since when did we know and understand spanish? The progress is so small each day...but Heavenly Father has blessed us with the gift of tongues that is for sure.

Well, I have a funny story to tell you...so hold your horses! You guessed it right, its about that silly ol tooth! President received your email, mom and so he called me. We made an appointment to go see the dentist. The super scetchy and super unsanitary south american dentist. He yanks the wiggly tooth out that would have stayed in and then trys to glue it back in. We leave the dentist office and then justo,Saturday night as I am brushing my teeth, my tooth falls out again! 

It was the funniest and most embarassing moment of my life. So here we are, imgaine Hermana Cox and I teaching the Gospel Principles class to all of our new converts. As we are teaching, my tooth just falls out!!! In front of my whole class!!! It was so awful and so funny. We didnt know whether to laugh or to cry, mostly because this week had been a week of some serious blessings and some serious trials with Hermana Cox and her stomach. Needless to say, we are okay. The Lord has heart our prayers and my tooth is safe and Hermana Coxs stomach is okay mas o menos. We are trying to enjoy the most out of these kind of experiences! When will be the next time when I can say that I lost my tooth in South America? haha

What I have really learned this week is that this is the Lords work. He is the boss of it all. We are just little instruments in his hands. Its like the dentist using his instruments to work on my mouth! haha. 

Thanks for your prayers this week and every week. I really love you, I hope you know that. Thank you for being my angels and my examples. xoxo

Until next week,

Hermana Coon

I am in a time warp!

Hello Family,

I honestly cannot believe that summer is almost over for you! Where has the time gone. I think of this all of the time, but I feel like I am in some kind of time warp. Time is just getting faster and faster. I am so glad to hear that my awesome wonderful family is doing so well. I hope Annie has so much fun at girls camp! I loved the pictures that you sent me...what a beautiful family I have. I was seriously laughing out loud at the things that you all wrote me. Thanks for making me laugh! 

I want to give a big shout out THANK YOU to The Wellock Family for sending me a surprise package! Thank you! I so enjoyed the goodies inside. What a kind act. Please tell them I love them and a little thank you note is on its way!

I cant believe Dallin Rollins came home! That was fun to see a picture of him. Give him a big huge hello for me! All of these boys are growing up and are men now! whoa.

While it is hot and humid in Arizona...we are enjoying our winter here! The weather here is beautiful! It really feels like an Arizona winter! I love Melo...we actually traveled to Montevideo a few weeks ago for concilio, the leadership council of the mission, and it was freezing cold! I said a prayer of gratitud to thank Heavenly Father for keeping me in the arizona-winter-like Melo for one change more. You all know how I am about the cold! haha. We have had some wonderful rainstorms this week. Uruguayos are so funny. Its like the rain is acid...they are so scared of the rain. They stop school, work, etc because it is raining. Its so crazy because for us Arizonans, we love the rain! 

I cannot imagine my life without serving a mission. I know I have said it a million times, but I have been changed! Last night, we were making a list of all of the things that we have learned on the mission and one of those is I have learned the power of the Atonement. The gospel changes people and I am seeing that first hand. Life is so wonderful. We are so blessed. It is so rewarding to see our awesome converts changing their lives and to know that the Lord was preparing them to receiving the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know His Atonement is real and as I studied the atonement this week in my personal study, I could help but cry...the spirit touched me because I have really seen the Atonement change lives! Uruguay is my holy land. I love seeing our newly converts magnify their callings and love the gospel so much that they want all of their family, friends, and neighbors to receive it! What is so cool is that the ward is feeling the missionary spirit! We had a great activity this past Saturday to rescatar all of the less actives and inactives in the ward. All of the members met at the church and then we went and visitied these members to rescue them! It was wonderful. 

I am so tired...its a kind of tired that is in my spirit. I am learning to accept the will of the Lord, not my own will. This 18 months is getting shorter and shorter which makes me super sad...I will work hard until the day I leave.

I hope you all know that I love you with my whole heart. Thank you for your examples and support.  Have a spectacular week....!

Hermana Coon

Hermana Cox's letter

Hi family!!!! 

I hope all of you are doing well and had a wonderful week. Thank you thank you for all of the awesome pictures and the wonderful emails!!!! I love you all so much! You all look so great and so big!!!! I can`t believe it! And the house looks great as well! 

I hope you had a wonderful birthday mom! It has been another crazy and exhausting week this week! I am not even sure why because nothing really out of the ordinary happened this week, but Hermana Coon and I are exhausted!!! By the end of the week, we get pretty tired. But we are doing so well! I am so grateful that we are staying together another change. The more time I am with her, the more I realize that we are like twins! She and I are so much alike it is incredible! i feel like she is my twin. We are best friends and we will be best friends forever. 

On Wednesday, we made 12-hour round trip to Montevideo! It was great to see everyone at changes! Hermana Alvarado and Hermana Armijo are now Hermana Viajantes. They are doing super well! And I received my Package!!!! Thank you thank you thank you! I love it all so much and it is all stuff that I can use so thank you!!! I was also able to take out the stuff for the family Figueredo and give it to Hermana Herrera to give to them in Pan de Azùcar. Hermana Armijo is now companions with Hermana Herrera there in Pan de Azùcar. And I also talked with Hermana Hickman! She is so great! And she totally knows Zach and Nicole. In fact, Nicole had her baby shower at their house or something like that. And now, Hermana Hickman is in Pan de Azùcar as well. It is crazy to see how the mission is changing so much! Hermana Asbell, Hermana Hansen, and Hermana Young are all valientes now.....as in this is their last change! I can`t believe how fast the time is flying! Time is going by way too fast!!! 

I love the mission so much!!!! I never want these experiences to end! Hermana Coon is doing pretty well. Her tooth is still hanging in there. It is pretty wiggly though. haha she is a trooper. On Friday, we weren`t feeling so great because I think we drank some bad milk. But we are better now. We are just soooo tired all the time. We feel like old ladies every morning because we are so sore. We have been working really hard this week and we have met a lot of people and have found a lot of new investigators. But, it is super difficult to have a second lesson in their homes. We are meeting and inviting a lot of people to church and to get baptized in the street, but then it is difficult to find them in their homes when we said we would pass by. They are not home or they aren`t really interested. But we are working hard.....and we have a lot of potential investigators. We just kind of feel like we are in a bit of a rut as of the last two weeks compared to last change. But I feel like the Lord is just helping us learn something  and I know that this week will be a week of miracles. If anything, these difficulties are giving me an even greater desire to go out there and find those miracles who are waiting for us! 

The weather here can`t make up it`s mind. One day hot with sunshine and then the next super cold and rainy. Today is one of those nice sunshiny days. But it was really rainy on Friday and when there is rain there is no one in the street. In fact, I think the Uruguayans have a fear of the rain, like it is acid or something, because they don`t go to school and a lot of them don`t go to work. It is crazy! 

Luckily, it wasn`t raining on Sunday. No excuses for these Uruguayans to not go to church!!! We actually did have a lot of miracles this week. We had three investigators at church!!! Dahiana, who isn`t married. But she is doing awesome!!!! In fact, yesterday, we had a family night with her and her recent convert daughter Antonella. It was great! We can really see her testimony growing! Tatiana was another investigator at church! She is 13. And was waiting for us to pass by for her so we could walk to church together. Her mom doesn`t really like churches and I am worried that Tatiana didn`t really like church because none of the Young Women really befriended her. But, we are going to see if we can teach her and help her progress. The other investigator is Santiago. Okay, now this is a crazy story!!! Okay, so you know how Jose Martin went and passed for Damian, the less active? So, Santiago is Damian`s cousin and he came to church with Damian last week. Apparently, it was his first time at church on Sunday and here we thought he was a less active cousin this whole time. So, yesterday, when we passed by to pick up Damian, Damian was in bed and didn`t want to get up, but Santiago was getting dressed and wanted to come with us. As we were walking to church, I was asking him when he got baptized. And he said he didn`t know....as in, he didn`t know if his parents baptized him when he was a baby. But, he told us that he wanted to get baptized in the church. What?!?! So, yeah, he is great and he likes going to church. He is only 12. After church, we went back to his house and we taught him how to pray and invited him to be baptize on the 31st. The hard part is that he lives in the bounds of a different ward, but every weekend he comes to stay with his grandma that lives in our ward. So, it is going to be difficult to teach him and to get in touch with his paretns. But, we will see what happens. But the Lord really has blessed us with many miracles. And even though right now, we may not be able to see all of the results of our work this week, I know that this next week is going to be a week of miracles. On Sunday, there were some less actives that came to church that we had found in the street as well this week so that was exciting! 

Oh yeah...yesterday, I gave a 15 minute talk in church about missionary work. That was a bit nerve racking. I am still not a fan of talking in public let alone in Spanish. haha 

The ward seems to be doing really well. It is on fire because we got a new bishop put in right before I got here. He is a convert and is only 28 years old. His name is Fabian Ibanez. He served his mission in Argentina I think. He got baptized when he was 16 or so. He reminds me a lot of cousin Chad. But he has two little kids and one on the way. He has a great vision and has a lot of energy to work. It is great!!!! 

On Saturday, there was a ward rescue activity where the members met together and then left in pairs to go visit some less actives. I think it turned out well and is going to be a regular type of activity. 

Family de los Santos is doing really well! In fact, they are on fire, wanting to share the gospel with all of their family. Tonight, Richard is going to do a family night and has invited his less active sister that is going through a rough time right now and ivited us to come along. 

Hugo and gissel`s family always have some sort of trial going on in their life. Jocelen has the chicken pox and Hugo as of last Tuesday hasn`t had feeling from his waist down. He had to go to Montevideo and back in an ambulance with Jose Martin because they didnt`know what it was. But he is back at his house now in a wheel chair and he will be recovering soon. All I know is that there are really grateful for Jose Martin right now. Because he is their little errand boy and chef and house cleaner and everything else. Oh man, Jose Martin is so great.....he is our best friend here. Yesterday, he came to church all by himself walking. He has such a great love and passion for the gospel and the work. He is a great example for those young Men. 

Now we just need to find more people like him........Bt yep. that is our week in a nutshell. It wasn`t a super eventful week but we are woking hard and trying to make the most of every moment and leaving the harvest to the Lord. This morning, we had a zone activity. That is why I am emailing a bit later. We played capture the flag as a zone. My companion and I left our activity clothes at the house, so yeah, we were running around in our skirts. haha it was quite entertaining. But yep all is well here in Uruguay! 

I love the mission!!!!! This gospel is incredible!!!! Have a wonderful week! Thank you for all you do!!!! Thanks for being the best family ever!!! You are all in my thoughts and prayers!!!! 

-Hermana Cox :)

Hermana Cox's letter to her family

Hey family!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!! I hope it is a wonderful day.

Okay so as you now know.... We are staying here another change. It really is an answer to our prayers!!! We are so excited!!! Hermana Burbank and Hermana Zelaya are also staying!!! Yeah!!!

It has been a crazy week once again. On Tuesday, we went to zone conference and they told us that that day we were going to have an intercambio, and we didn`t even know until that day. So, Hermana Burbank and I worked together in our area. Her Spanish is coming along great and she is no longer an oro.

I can`t remember if i had already told you guys this last week, but these are the three most common topics of conversation:

1. How awesome jose Martin is!!!

2. How much we didn`t want to get changed (how fast the time is flying)

3. How much we miss fruits and vegatables

Jose Martin accompanied us to go visit a less active young man named damian. He got baptized when he was 14 and now he is 16 and he has a baby that is a year and a half. We went to go visit him and Jose Martin was incredible! He sounded just like a missionary! It was awesome to hear him testify to Damian and be his friend. He bore a powerful testimony to Damian`s evangelica grandma that was there too. He even offered to pass by to pick up Damian on Sunday so they could go to church together. It was great! 

hermana Coon and I have had a very interesting week. It has been a lot like last week, where we just haven`t felt like we have found anyone that was really interested. So, as far as finding goes, it has been another rough week. We have worked super hard this week, we committed so many people to go to church on Sunday, we sent people messages, made phone calls, and even passed by their houses, but we only had one investigator go to church on Sunday. It was Jose Martin`s brother, Diego that was visiting from 33. Like I said before, the most difficult thing about the mission is people`s agency. Thank you for the emails that you guys sent me last week, Mom and Dad. it was exactly what we needed. You are so inspired. But yeah, this whole week has just had a weird feel about it. We have had so many people to go visit and all of our numbers have been some of the highest numbers I have had throughout my whole mission, but for some reason, we felt like we have been walking around aimlessly and working super hard but not really knowing what to do, because none of our investigators really want anything and we didnt` and couldn`t understand why. We have been analizing and thinking about what we can change. Various time throughout the day, we stop in the street to say a prayer to have the spirit guide us to the prepared people that are waiting for us, but day after day it seemed the same. It was very strange. And on Friday, we had some interesting experiences. We couldn`t pinpoint exactly what it was about the day, but we just felt the world and Satan bombarding us from all sides. We could see and feel the power that Satan has in the lives of so many people here. It is sad when we see the way people are living their lives in sin when we have the greatest gift and message of happiness that they could ever experience and they don`t want to accept it. I know that the Lord really does answer our prayers because lately I have been praying to learn and experience all that I need to here on the mission and we have been given these trials. But, my companion and i are not discouraged or sad at all. In fact, we have even more desire to go out and work. We are not discourged or upset, because we know that we are doing all we can and we are doing our best, the rest is left in the hands of the Lord. We are learning to depend on him more and more each day. And we know that there are miracles waiting for us this change!!!!

We prayed for miracles to happen at church this Sunday with people going to church. Unfortunately, it rained on Sunday, and I think the people here are afraid of the rain because many of the people that we committed to come didn`t go. But the Lord showed us an even greater miracle on Sunday. First of all, Jose Martin went and picked up Damian and brought his brother Diego as well.

Also, while we were in sacrament meeting, I was sitting up on the piano bench behind the organ with Hermana Coon. They announed that they were going to extend a few callings. They announced Jose Martin`s name and called him to be the 1st counselor in Young Mens!!!!!! What?!?!?!?! We couldn`t believe it. We had no idea! We immediately started crying. It was awesome! Then, guess what. Richard de Los Santos got called to be 2nd counselor!!!!! We looked at them both and they had the biggest grins!!!! They are so excited to get to work!!! The two of them are exactly what these young men need. They are going to be so great!!!! In fact, they had their first meeting at 10 this morning. They are excited to contribute!!!! We are sooooooo happy for them!!!! They both left church that sunday with their red handbooks and ready to go to work!!! That has definitely made this week worth it.....to see the gospel change their lives. I can`t believe it. We met Jose Martin just a week ago today and he already has a calling in young Mens!!!! 

On Saturday, as we were eating at a recent converts family`s house, Hermana Coon turned to me and said "my tooth is going to fall out". What?!?!! One of the screws from the untensils was in her food and she bit down into it and her fake tooth moved. Well it is still in there but it is loose, so we will see how long it lasts! 

The temperature here has been crazy hot! Yesterday, I was wearing a short sleeve shirt and i was sweating! What?!?! This is winter? Okay, yeah, I can deal with this kind of winter. 

So yep changes are tomorrow! Even though we are not getting changed, Hermana Coon and I will be going to Montevideo tomorrow at 5 in the morning. We are so grateful we don`t have to pack or anything! What a blessing!!!! Last night, after planning, we were anxiously waiting the phone call for the changes. I honestly thought that Hermana Coon would be leaving me. But as we were waiting, we got a message from Richard de los Santos telling us to text them as soon as we knew changes. We got the call and one by one Elder Lambert our district leader, told us that we were staying!!! We were so excited! We immediately sent Jose Martin a message and the Family de Los Santos a message too. We got a message back saying that Richard and his family were so grateful that the Lord had answered their prayers. They told us that they had been fasting so that we would stay. wow!!!!! What faith!!!!!! It is a good thing we are staying!!!! 

The Lord really has answered our prayers!!! 

Well, it is time to go now!!! I figure tomorrow I will finally receive the package!!!! This week I have been feeling really great! I think that that drink has been helping me a ton. and I have been eating a ton of oatmeal. Just in this past week, I think my companion and I have eaten about 2 kilos of oatmeal!!!! It is what we live on! haha Thank you for all you do for me! Thank you for your letters, pictures, and prayers. I love you all!!!! have a wonderful week!!!!! I love this work!!!! 

-Hermana Cox  

hermana Zelaya`s birthday!

 Hey Jill,

I don't know if we told you or not, but Doug likes to send our two missionaries top ten lists and challenges for each week. I am not sure if Katie told you what the challenge is these pictures are referring to so, I am sending it to you. Here it is...

'Are you ready?  Are you ready for “This Weeks Challenge”?

"Often times missionaries don’t get the attention that they deserve or need.  This weeks challenge is designed to fix that and be fun in the process!  You might need the assistance of a Ward member too.  If so, this can assist in Ward relationships with the missionaries.  It is a win-win all the way around."

"This week’s challenge is:

For you and your companion, make and wear superman capes."

Also, here is a couple Top Ten lists that Doug sent to Gabrielle of which you might be interested in as well...The following is a small portion from Doug's letter to Gabrielle following our wonderful visit in Farmington:

"Grant and Jill miss their Hermana almost as much as we do.  I could go on and on about our quick conversation due to the feelings I had the entire time.  They are wonderful people.  If the world was filled with Coon-like people it would be a Heaven on earth."

"I figured there is a Top Ten list in meeting them.  Here goes."

"Words Typically Used to Describe Members of the Coon Family"

10  Loving

9    Accepting

8    Considerate

7    Fun

6    Blessed

5    Cheerful

4    Wonder-Daughter-Raisers (Parents only at this point)

3    Saints

2    Service

1    Disciples

"If there are words to describe them, then there must be the following:"

"Words Rarely Used to Describe Members of the Coon Family"

10  Lethal

9    Vain

8    Contentious (See 3 Nephi 11:29)

7    Grating

6    Hillbilly/Backward (tie)

5    Ornery

4    Offensive

3    Stoic

2    Defensive

1    Tattooed

Silly, I know!! Poor Hermana Coon had no idea what she was in for when she met up with our Gabrielle! Katie is such a good sport to help make Doug's challenge come to fruition! It made his day!!

We are so grateful for your wonderful family!! How thankful we are to have your example and friendship in our life and in the life of our daughter in Uruguay!

We love you!

- The Cox Family

Okay so my companion and I have really been working hard on these challanges that you have given us, Dad. And this week we have proof of one of the challenges that you gave us two weeks ago. I think it proved to be a great success. Tell us what you think!!! I think it might just be our new look!

 

I love my companion!!!

Happy WeeK

Hello!

Hi family! How are you all??? Can I just say that I LOVED getting so many great emails from you! I feel so connected to you now! I will print them all out and read them all afternoon! Seriously thankyou! I cannot believe how fast everyone is growing up! Those pictures from the family reunion AMAZED ME! I cannot believe it! We have a beautiful family! I wish I could respond to each and everyone of your emails! Just know that I love you and that i do read them, think about you, and pray for you!

What a marvelous week it has been. First of all, changes are this week and...HERMANA COX AND I ARE STAYING ANOTHER CHANGE TOGETHER! We have been so nervous all week, but Heavenly Father has heard our fervent prayers...he has also heard the prayers of our sweet converts here. We didnt even know this, but yesterday, The De los Santos Family, our awesome golden family, was fasting so that we could stay here in Melo with them! We cried from happiness last night as we received the call that we were staying. We just know that there are more people for us to meet and to teach here in Melo. Melo has my heart forever and ever.

Probably the most happy feeling in the world is to see your new convert, barely baptized, sharing the gospel with other people. Happy news! Jose Martin and Richard De los Santos, received callings to be the 1st and 2nd counselors in the Young Mens Presidency on Sunday! To say that Hermana Cox and I were happy just doesnt even describe our feelings! The change in them and in their families are huge! I know I say this every week, pero amo la obra misional!

Hermana Cox and I are learning so much together and are having so much fun together. I have never had so much fun with any other companion! I will send you pictures of the fun that we have had. I literally have never laughed so hard in my life! I have learned so much this week. I really think that the Lord is trying our faith...and our patience as we have been searching for new investigators to teach and baptize. We are just craving baptism! But for some reason, our teaching pool is empty! We help other hermanas in their areas find people to baptize, why cant we find anyone in our own area?! We can both agree that we have never worked so hard in our life, but for some reason we are stuck! One day this week, I was so humbled and we were completely brought to our knees pleading for help. Every person that we talked to literally laughed at our face as we were sharing our testimonies of how our message could bless their lives. And they just laughed in our face! The whole reason why we are here and they mocked us! I just could not believe it, nothing like this has every happened in my whole entire mission! We just felt the power of the adversary so strongly. It was super weird.

During personal study, I was just thinking about all these experiences and how so thickly we are in the world. It is so evident. We work with the spirit all day and so we its not with us, we feel empty...and sad. I began reading Elder Hollands talk in the April Conference called The Cost and Blessings of Discipleship. I cried as I read this talk...because it is exactly what we are experiencing right now. I thought about what a rollercoaster the mission is...one minute I feel completely feliz and happy and the next humbled and weak! ..."You will forge unshakable faith, y ou will find safelty against ill winds tha blow, even shafts in the worldwind, and you will feel the rock like strengh of our Redeemer, upon whom if you build your unflagging discipleship, you cannot fail."

I know these words to be true. All the experiences we have are just here to make us stronger. I know that if we have faith and trust in the Lord, we can conquer any trial. 

I love you family, I hope you all know that! Stay strong and immovable always abounding in good works!

Have an excellent week!

Hermana Coon

The picture is of Jose Martin, (by me) and his brother! This was the day he recieved his calling! He is SO AWESOME! Can you notice the difference in his countenace and that of his non member brother? Jose Martin has changed so much!

 Our District!

 Super Sisters!

 We are still together!!

  Cape blowing in the wind...so funny!

 So happy our families met!!!!!

 Popular Uruguayan food! 

 You are going to laugh so hard! I have never laughed so hard in my life! Hermana Coxs dad is so super creative and so he had a challenge for us...and this was it! We cried we were laughing so hard. So priceless! Super sisters!

I love Uruguay

Dear Family,

First of all, before I say anything else, I just want to let you all know that Hermana Cox and I have decided that we are definitely coming back to visit Uruguay in a year or so. Our hearts are here forever! 

HOW FUN THAT YOU MET HERMANA COXS FAMILY!!!!!!!! We were literally screaming from happiness as we saw all the pictures! It was so fun! It was such a treat! We love eachother and we love that our families love eachother! We are like sisters! Please pray that we will never be changed as companions! haha. We will do the Lords will, we just hope that we will be together while doing the Lords will.

What a fun family reunion! I dont really know much that went on, but it sounds like it was a success!

We had such an excellent week which ended in our golden baptism of Jose Martin. It is just amazing to see the change in people. Something that was so cool was to see the Lords hand in his life guiding him to the gospel and guiding him to meet the missionaries. The gospel changes people! He told us that he felt like he has known us before, but its impossible because he has never been to the US and we have never been to Uruguay before. We just know that Hermana Cox, Jose Martin, and I were friends before we came to earth. And it was Hermana Coxs and my responsibility to find him here on earth to bring him the gospel...and we found our heaven friend! We are finding so many of our heaven friends here in Melo. His baptism was so special. The spirit was so strong. He told us that it doesnt matter how hard Satan works, he will never stray from the gospel. Hermana Cox and I go to bed every night, just beaming from happiness. I never thought it was possible to be so happy. 

We had a great intercambio (I dont know what the name is in english..) this Friday with some other great hermanas. We found some awesome people. I worked in my area with another hermana, Hermana Bustos from Chile, and Hermana Cox worked in their area with Hermana Diaz from Peru. Hermana Bustos and I found so many miracles in the pouring rain. Its so fun to know that my journal will be full with crazy experiences in the mission.

Its funny, Hermana Cox and I were talking about the mission yesterday, and before, we always heard of crazy stories happening to missionaries and we never thought that it would happen to us...but it has and is happening! We love the mission and we cry everynight because we never want to leave. This is the change that I have grown and changed the most. Hermana Cox has taught me so much. 

I love you family. Vamo arriba Uruguay! Its our holy land.

Love you,

Hermana Coon

 This week was the baptism of the best convert in the world...JOSE MARTIN!!!! He is the best! I cant wait to tell you more about him and his conversion process! He is our best friend! His uncle, Hugo, aka the funniest man in the world, baptized him. He is a convert too of almost a year!

Thought you would get a kick out of this. She is my twin! We are praying so hard that we will not get changed in 1 week! We dont want to leave eachother!