kathryn.coon@myldsmail.net

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

BLESSINGS!

Hi Family!

I sure love you all! We cant thank you enough for all of your prayers because......

....HERMANA COX AND I ARE STAYING IN MELO FOR ANOTHER 6 WEEKS! 

I honestly cannot believe it. It is such a miracle. I will talk about the whole experience a little bit later, but I just wanted to announce that GREAT news! WE ARE SO HAPPY! and so is everyone here in Melo! Another 6 weeks with my best friend!

What a crazy week it has been! It sounds like you had a great birthday, dad! loved those photos that you sent of the girls pampering you. How funny! James, WAY TO GO on starting on the varsity football team and completing your eagle project! That is way awesome. I love to see pictures...everyone is growing up so fast. You look so tall, buff, and tan! I always show everyone here pictures of my family and they always tell me what a beautiful family I have...like a model family haha. Congrats mom on your calling. You are going to be excellent! Keep me updated on how it goes!

So I will begin this weeks letter by telling you how much I LOVE heavenly father. Really what I have learned on the mission is that he loves every one of his children so much! Hermana Cox and I went to bed last night completely on an adrenaline high! haha. We have been so worried about changes all week. The thought of us leaving our promised land, leaving our queridos, and leaving eachother was just unbearable. As we were waiting for the call to come last night, we were almost in tears because we were so nervous. La Familia De Los Santos was even fasting again for us and we had a lot of people praying that we would stay. They have so much faith....because the Lord has us here another 6 weeks! Its actually pretty funny because my mission is super unique. I only have 2 areas and I have 5 changes in each area. That is super abnormal. As our district leader, Elder Allen, told us that we were staying together, Hermana Cox and I cried and hugged and jumped up and down. It feels so good that our will is the lords will. Its his work. It was super fun as I was talking to the assistants over the phone this morning in one of our meetings. He told me that Gianola is pretty much famous in the mission. The Lord is blessing this promised land immensely. We are living the dream! I feel so grateful to my Heavenly Father.

We had another wonderful week filled with intercambios, lots of the work, and lots of food covered in mayonaise! haha just kidding. I will tell you a scary but funny experience that happened to us. I am sure as you imagine, South America has a ton of dogs! Everywhere there are dogs! Some are super scary too. I have never had any problems...until Tuesday. We were contacted a house, clapping at the door, and all of a sudden, this huge dog comes out. Its locked behind the house, so we thought we were safe, but no! It starts going crazy and barking and jumping. Hermana Cox kind of hold on to eachother a bit frightened. But then, the dog breaks the gate and starts booking it full force at us. (Now I am sure that you are picturing this scene in your head.) Picture the two of us, running, trying to protect one another. Trying to get away from this dog. I have never been so scared in my life. Just as we try to get away, the dog takes a bite. I was in complete shock, and really thought that the dog bit me! I look down at my skirt that my old companion Hermana Herrera made for me, and there was a huge hole! The dog almost bit my leg. Hermana Cox and I didnt know what to do...whether to laugh or to cry! (That tends to happen a lot. haha) We literally have angels protecting us. I know that to be truer than true.

Really, my heart just goes out in gratitude daily. We had a beautiful Sunday. I honestly thought that it would be my last Sunday here in Melo. It was stake conference...a few general authorites broadcasted a conference for Paraguay and for Uruguay. From our ward in Gianola, we had 5 of our recent converts recieve the Melquisdec Priesthood!!!! Richard, Jose Martin, Marcos, Nilo, and Jesus! I have never felt so much joy in all of my life. I really have no words and it brings me to tears each time I remember experiences like these. I thought, "Man, if I left Melo right now, I would die happy." This was the payoff to see all of my favorite Uruguayos receive the higher priesthood. Hermana Cox and I were in the room as each and everyone of them were ordained the priesthood. The spirit was so thick, you could cut the air with a knife. Everyone could feel it. We felt so proud. Afterwards we made sure to take pictures. This converts feel so much of a tight nit. Jennifer De los Santos was crying to me after church, telling me how touched she feels. She said before, they had never had any friends, but now they have more friends than they have ever had in their life. The pictures are from afterwards. I just love how they embrace eachother so tightly. Jenifer told me how special they feel and all of the blessings they have received. She told me that they will never fall away from the church. It has changed their lives forever. We ate dinner con la familia de los santos last night and Richard was telling us all about what he has studied on the priesthood. Is this the same man????! This was the same man who was doubting being baptized the week of his baptism! I am in awe. He is a completely different man! I know that the gospel is true. and it changes lives. As I type this, tears fill my eyes. I should end this because tears are probably filling your eyes!
our people! the best converts in the world!

Sunday, stake conferece when 6 of our recent converts in our ward receive the melquesidec priesthood! 


 Richard and Jenifer De Los Santos
daiana de los santos



I dont know where we will be in one year, but Hermana Cox and I will do everything we possibly can to return back to Uruguay so we can go to through the temple for the first time with our converts. I know that the Lord will provide a way. 

I really really love you family dear. Thank you for everything. I miss you a lot, but know that one day we will be back together again. Keep working hard and keep having your standards high. I just got Hannahs letter today and on the letter she wrote, "P.S. I am still in the VL club!" Hermana Cox and I got a kick out of that. Way to go you guys. Way to be virtuous in a world that is not. Way to live in the world but not be of the world. James...you rock! Good job for keeping your standards high!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Coon

 After a long day on our feet!
heart attacking doors!
 our awesome district!
 do you remember hermana montenegro!? I did an intercambio in my old area this week and one of our sweet families that we baptized their teenage daughters had this picture hanging up on their wall of us two. To see us everyday, they have this picture framed on their wall. How cute is that? I just wanted to share that with you. so cute!
 My darling hat my sweet grandma knitted me, to keep me warm!
Our sweet familia Rosa! This was the day the dog almost bit me...but bit a hole in my skirt instead. That was a close one!


Hermana Coxes letter to her family!
Hi family!!!!

I have never been so nervous for changes like I was for this one! Yesterday was a pretty long day, anticipating the possible changes! Honestly, I just knew in my mind that Hermana Coon would be leaving. It only made sense. She has been here for 4 changes already and after sending a message to president about how much she would love to stay and end her mission here in the promised land of Gianola together, he sent her a message saying that she still had more mountains to climb. Yeah......we thought all hope was lost. We thought we were gonners! 

Well, last night at about 9:15. Our district leader called us and told us he had the news of the changes. I felt so sick to my stomach. I honestly hadn`t felt these same nerves since I got my mission call. I was so worried. He told us that Hermana Zelaya is staying and Hermana Burbank will be leaving. And then he said both of our names and said we would be leaving. And our hearts just sank, I thought great they are going to whitewash us out :( But then he said just kidding. Hermana Cox and Hermana Coon se quedan!!!! We are staying!!!!! We immediately jumped out screamed, hugged and cried! I had never been so happy in my life!!!!! What a miracle! We had all odds going against us! The Lord really listened and answered our prayers and the prayers of the family de los santos! The fasted for us again! They have such great faith. That was a wonderful opportunity to call them up after we heard the news to tell them that we are staying another 6 weeks! Honestly we are in shock. Last night, it took us a while to fall asleep because we were just so giddy! I feel like the luckiest missionary in the world to be here in the promised land of the mission with my very best friend. 

In my letter last week to president, I was expressing my gratitude to be here in such a special place and he sent me this:

Uruguay is a special place. Gianola is a special place. You are a special daughter of God. Can you see the picture? PC

He is so wonderful! I honestly can`t believe it. I know that the Lord has more in store for us here. I get to be with Hermana Coon for 4 and a half months......until after general conference. Also, Gianola is getting 2 more hermanas. There are going to be 6 in our ward!!!! The two new hermanas will be living with us. They are from Chile and Honduras I think. And then Hermana Zelaya and her new companion who is also Latina, will be living in an apartment, the elders old house, outside of our area. This morning we had a meeting with the zone leaders and we split Gianola B into two areas. So our area Gianola A won`t be changed at all. WE are sooooo excited!!!! Gianola is going to explode!!!!! And we are excited to welcome in two new hermanas into our zone!!!! It is going to be a wonderful change!!!! I am just so grateful that this is the Lord`s will. He is in control. I feel like this is the pay off of all of the hard companions and hard experiences that I have had in my whole mission. Each change in my mission has been better than the last. But the Lord knows that it can`t get better than where I am and who I am with now!  Somebody pinch me.......I am dreaming!!!! 

This week has been great!!!! We are seeing great progress with Cinthya and Andres. We are not going to do the noche blanca tonight. But they have their baptisms scheduled for this Friday! So please, keep them in your prayers. Benjamin`s parents make it really difficult to teach him, because he doesn`t know what to believe. But we are going to see what we can do to help him. 

On Tuesday, we had a pretty scary experience. We were contacting a house and we knew that there was a big scary dog there but we saw that the fence was closed so we weren`t too worried. . . .   yeah you can see where this is going. .. . So we clapped the house and the dog with its fierce teeth, stuck his head through the fence and was barking at us. Well the gate of the fence moved and the dog and us realized at the same time that it wasn`t locked but it was left open. Immediately, my heart dropped and the dog came jetting right for us with its horribly fierce teeth. We grabbed each other, scearmed and tried to get away. But the dog was so fast and went straight for Hermana coon`s leg. Hermana Coon looked at me and in the heat of the moment, said "it bit me!!!!". The dog immediately left and the dog didn`t really bite her leg but she had a huge tear in her skirt where the dog tried to bite her leg. It was a miracle that that tear wasn`t her leg! On my mission, I haven`t really had any problems with dogs. But that was definitely a miracle. We know angels were protecting us. 

We did two intercambios this week that went really well. We saw a lot of miracles. And we didn`t have time to do the Hermanas Conference with everything that has been going on. But this weekend we had stake conferece. It was a broadcast that I think was sent to Paraguay as well. It was awesome! Andres went too! The best part is that Richard de los Santos (by the way you guys should write him on facebook if you have time), Jose Martin, Nilo, Jesus, and Marcos all received the melquisedec priesthood. They are all converts from Gianola!!!! We were able to be in the room when they all got ordained. That was definitely a highlight from my mission. The spirit was so strong in that room. You could cut it with a knife! Richard was the first one to receive it. And afterward, you could just tell he felt so overwhelmed with the spirit. In fact, he and Jenifer had tears in their eyes. And Jose Martin was ordained to be an elder as well by his uncle, Hugo. It was incredible!!!! Wow!!!! They have come so far. In fact, last night, we had dinner with the Family de los santos and he was telling about how he felt when he got ordained. He said it felt so different from when he got the aaronic. It was a feeling of overwhelming power and he is so excited to serve and share and study to be worthy of this power. Jenifer also talked about how when they prayed as a family, she could feel the difference in their home. I can`t believe it!!!! They are incredible!!!! They have come so far!!!!! They love the gospel and they love each other. In fact, that foto that I sent you guys is the group of all of our favorite people ( all of the converts from our ward) They all love and support each other. It is incredible!!!! What a great way to end the change!!!!

We are still quite exhausted every single day. But we are so happy! Luckily, I haven`t had problems with my stomach this week. But I have been having some foot pain. But yep. . . we are doing well and we are sooooo happy if you haven`t noticed!!!!  

Well, today is Hugo`s birthday! So, we are going to go over there to celebrate with them and help Hermana Zelaya and Hermana Burbank get packed up. We are so grateful we don`t have to pack or say goodbye. But as you can tell, we are floating on clouds. Tomorrow, we will be going to Montevideo for changes without suitcases!!! Thank goodness. Saturday, it is our turn to the capilla abierta (open house) in our church building! We are so excited!!! We are hoping to have a lot of success because we are getting a lot of the members involved. I can`t belive how fast time is flying!!!!! 

I hope you have a wonderful birthday McKay!!!!! I will be thinking of you on your special day!!!!!!   

Thank you for your prayers and your letters and pictures!!!! I love you all so much!!!! 

I hope you have a wonderful week!!!!!!!! Talk to you on Monday!

-Hermana Cox



Monday, August 18, 2014

Hermana Cox's letter

Hola a todos!!!!!

How are all of you doing? Thank you for your prayers, letters, and pictures!!!! I love you all so much! I hope all of you have had a wonderful week! 

This week seriously has been the fastest week of my mission yet! I can`t believe it is pday again. The weeks go by so fast! I seriously can`t believe that changes are next week. I swear it was just recently that Hermana Coon and I were celebrating because we were going to have another 6 weeks here together. I honestly can`t believe it. I am emailing a bit later today because we just had a zone activity. We all got together and played handball at the stake center. It was really fun. Before we went outside to play, the Elders were playing with the ball inside the gym and broke a window. haha but other than that, it was a really fun activity. 

It has been a really great week! Ever since Wednesday, I have been feeling really well so that has been a wonderful blessing! On Monday, we had a family night with a less active family. We used one of the object lessons that we found in the new era. It went really well and we committed them to go to church. But they didn`t come :(But we are going to keep working with them. 

Tuesday was a great day as well! We had a family night at the stake president`s house. We made tacos and invited Facundo and his family and some other recent converts. It was a great activity. And the Stake president`s wife has a cello that she is starting to learn. So, I was able to play a bit of the cello while we were there too. That was a treat. No one has a cello here! 

On Wednesday morning, we headed out to 33 to do an intercambio with Hermana Flores and Hermana Vazques. That was really great! I was with Hermana Flores. She will be a valiente next change (meaning last change is her last change). We worked really hard and had a great day. They have some really great investigators but there is no place that compares to Gianola. I don`t know what it is, but even Centenario is so different. The people are so different. They are so friendly and willling to stop and listen in Gianola. It is easy to invite people in the street to be baptized and have them accept. 33 is not quite as easy. But we still had a really good day. 

Thursday, we had to get everything ready for Facundo`s baptism on Thursday. We were a bit worried because when we went by his house about an hour before his interview that day, he wasn`t there! We were worried that the grandma got involved again, but luckily he showed up to his house about 20 minutes later and had a very wonderful interview at the church. Facundo is super smart and super mature. In fact, our district leader Elder Micah Allen (Layton, Utah - by the way he goes home the same day I do) said that that was one of the best interviews he has ever done. He said that he could see that Facundo was super prepared. 

oh haha I almost forgot....... On Thursday morning, while we were doing our weekly planning, we were kind of cold and we had our electric heater going and the other Hermanas were running theirs in the other room, and we heard a big boom and then the power went out. Yep.....we blew a circut. We tried to go flip the breaker and when we turned it back on, we could see sparks and flames behind the light switch where we heard the boom. So yeah, we decided we had better just leave it off and call someone. Luckily, Elder Burnett was going to be coming the next day and he is an electrician and he was able to fix it, but it was a crazy 24 hours without power. haha 

Friday was a crazy day! We were running around getting everything ready for the baptism. We couldn`t wash the baptism clothes because our power wasn`t working so we had to call a member and take the clothes over to her to be washed. And then we had complications getting the keys to the baptismal font and the day of the baptism, our ward mission leader backed out on us because he was sick and his wife did too and she was supposed to give a talk! Everything was going crazy!!!! 

But luckily, it all worked out great!!!! And it was an incredible experience! Jose Martin was so excited to baptize. You could tell that he felt really cool to be able to baptize. I ended up giving one of the talks and then when it came time for Facundo to be baptized. I realized that we hadn`t made sure that Jose Martin knew what to do. We didn`t know if he even knew the prayer or how to hold Facundo`s hands or anything. As they went to font, we kind of asked him, "do you know what to do?". And he just responded like "oh I will make it up". We were a bit nervous. But we watched and he baptized Facundo like he had baptized a million times before. I couldn`t believe it. He had all the confidence in the world and it was a beautiful experience. He said the prayer perfectly and knew exactly how to help Facundo lower into the water and come right back up. And then they hugged in the font. It was so cute! It was one of the best moments of my mission! 

On Saturday, we didn`t have much time in our area either. It was Jose martin`s birthday. And so, when we were studying in the morning, we decided to call him and sing him happy birthday in English. He loved it. Then later for lunch, he invited us over to eat. We ate the sausage sandwiches that we ate before the mission remember? Yeah, anyways we gave him a big happy birthday sign and we gave him a little alfajor with a candle in it and we sang to him. Afterwards, he told us that that was the first time that anyone had ever given him a cake or a card or had sang to him on his birthday! Can you believe that? It was a really fun day. Afterward, we had to run over to the church in Colon for a open house. Remember like the one I did when I was with Hermana Rodriguez. There were a lot of people helping out there, so we ended up being the ones outside waving people down to invite them to come in. It was fun and I was able to see Ignacio. He was a super hard investigator that Hermana Alvarado and I found in Centenario. He and his brother ended up getting baptized. He already has his patriarchal blessing and is now preparing to go on a mission. It was great to talk with him and hear about his conversion experience. Pretty incredible!!!!

On Sunday, we had 3 investigators at church!!!! (Cintia, Benjamin, and Miyal) Cintia came again even though her mom couldn`t come and she is super shy. Benjamin is a 13 year old young man that we found in the street the week before.He is friends with one of the members in the ward. And we finally found his house this week. His mom knows a lot about the bible and used to be a jehova`s witness, so she is pretty hard, but she wants her son to learn more. So, we asked Benjamin`s friend, Ylen if she would pass by for him on SUnday, and he came with her!!!! Miyal is a boy that stopped us in the street and asked us what time church was and if he could come. So that was a miracle and he came and so we are going to see if we can teach him too. Andres was going to come, but he had a bad headache. We haven`t had a chance to teach him this week, but we will see what we can do. So as of right now, our most firm investigators are Cintia, Benjamin, and Andres. 

Our zone is planning a noche blanca where we plan a baptismal service for all of our prepared investigators together. It will be for the 26th. The night before changes. So we will be working with these three so they can get baptized that night. 

After church on Sunday, we did the music class again. It was a great hit. And afterward, everyone wanted to stick around for the charla we had with Benjamin. 

This week is going to go by so fast, I just know it!!!!! We will be doing some intercambios on Wednesday and Friday. And on Saturday morning we will be doing our hermanas conference.Saturday and SUnday is stake conferece ( a broadcast from Salt Lake). So yep, it is going to be a crazy week!!!!! 


I have to go now!!!! But I love you lots!!!! Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. Know that you are always in mine! Have a great week!!!!! I will talk to you next Tuesday!!!! 

-Hermana Cox   













Melo has my heart!

Hello Family!

Here we are again...another week has come and gone. What an excellent week it has been at home and here in Uruguay! Congrats mom on your new calling...you will be perfect for it! WOW our ward had a baptism!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so cool!!!!!!! I dont even remember that last time our ward had a baptism. I feel like you all have the missionary spirit. That is so awesome! I am so happy that Richard wrote you. I honestly would give my life for them. Hermana Cox and I are helping him with his goal. This past week, we made him flash cards with a bunch of english words to learn and he is practicing them. I cant wait for the day they step foot in the States. And I do know Hermana Schaelling really well. She is a sister trainer leader too. She is hilarious and works in the area of the temple right now. We are actually "sisters" in the mission because we have the same "mom." (Trainer) 

Happy Birthday this week, dad! I hope you have a fantastic day. Remember that one year when we put the "HONK its my dads birthday" on your license plate?! I love you, papi! 

I was also just talking to Hermana Cox about what our lives will be like in 1 year...wow 1 year. I dont know where I will be in 1 year, but in 1 year, James will be on his MISSION! I honestly cannot believe that. Life will be so different when I get home. You will be a great missionary, bro! I hope you go somewhere spanish speaking! :)

We had an amazing baptism this week! It was such a miracle. We are really focusing ourselves on incomplete families. This past Friday was Facundos baptism! And the best part of all was that Jose Martin baptized him. It was so spiritual. Jose Martin baptized him like he had done it a million times before. Hna Cox and I like almost cried as he put his hand to the square. Just complete joy. Just to think of the change in our dear Jose Martin is just marvelous. Jose Martin was beaming with joy and sweet little Facundo was so happy. Bringing one soul to Christ at a time...

This past week, our ward of Gianola went to the temple. A lot of our sweet converts went for the first time. Its quite the sacrifice to go. We live about 6 hours away from the temple and people dont have money to go very often. But when they do, they really sacrifice a lot of what they have. I think of us at home...we are so blessed to have a temple within walking distance. Rosaura did her family history and awesome Marcos did the work for his grandparents. Rosaura wasnt able to go because of health issues, but she told me yesterday at church all about her spiritual experiences as she knew that her parents had accepted the gospel. It was so powerful. I cannot believe how converted they have become to the gospel. It makes me so happy. The gospel is so true! Even Diana De los Santos went to the temple for the first time. I am craving the temple.

I have attached a picture of Jose Martin and Marcos! Do you remember the awesome story of how we found Marcos? These are the 2 best converts, ever, right here! I love their happy faces so much. The change in both of them is so big. They are both solid...rock solid. Marcos is going to begin his mission papers soon. The Lord has blessed him with a wonderful job to save for his mission. He wants to leave in April, just one year after his baptism. He is a miracle. I am such a fan of these boys.

All is well here in Melo. We are freaking out a little bit at just how fast time is flying! 
Cambios are next week!!!!! I will only do the will of the Lord, but I never want to leave Melo. 

Thanks for your prayers for Hermana Cox. She was pretty much free of pain this week. It was such a blessing. I love you with my whole heart.

Hermana Coon
 Marcos and Jose Martin
Jose Martins birthday! 


Monday, August 11, 2014

Hermana Cox's letter

Hi family!!!! 

Wow it is already the 11th of August! What is happening! The time is going by so fast! How was your week? Thank you for your emails and pictures! I love you all sooooo much! I am so proud of each of you and all of the wonderful things you are doing at home right now. Keep it up! And thank you Max for your wonderful letter. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I got it last week at district meeting and was able to read it first thing today! And your Spanish is awesome! It will be so fun to talk to you in Spanish! Keep up all of the great work you are doing! Looking at those mountains in the background of those pictures you sent, makes our home look like a magical place that doesn`t exist in this world. We really do live in a beautiful place! 

So, wow yep.....it has been yet another crazy but great week!! It really is like a rollercoaster every day of every week! The hardest thing this week was my health.The week before I felt great but this week I had the most pain I have had in my whole mission. And usually it goes away after a day or two, but I had pain from Monday to Friday. But I have been keeping in contact with Hermana Cook about it. So all is well. I don`t want you to worry back there at home. But yeah, I have been thinking a lot about what you said about it being due to exhaustion. And the more I think about it, the more I think that it very well could be and for some reason my body wants to take out this stress and exhaustion on my digestive system. Walking 8 -12 miles every day, sprinting at least a mile home every night, going going going every single day for the last 14 months without stopping. . . yeah. that could be it. Honestly, I have never been so tired and exhausted in my life. haha  All I know is that I could sleep for at least 2 weeks straight! Even though there is so much to do and we are going going going without stopping every single day, I have decided that I am going to try to chill at least mentally. haha but yep all is well. I will keep you posted on how this week goes. 

Even though I haven`t felt all that great this week, I have loved every single day this week! It really has been a wonderful week and the Lord is blessing us so much! I never want these experiences to end!!!!On Tuesday, we celebrated Hermana Coon`s birthday! I hope she had a great day. We ate lunch at the stake president`s house and his wife made tacos and lemon pie to celebrate! Then that night, we were going to go visit the Family de los Santos to teach them. But little did Hermana Coon know that I had invited some members and recent converts to join us in a party at there house. So, when we got to their house that night, they had the house decorated with balloons and had food and cake and everything. I think she felt a lot of love, which she should. She has changed countless lives here in Melo. She demonstrates so much love that people can`t help but love her back. I hope that someday I can have that same kind of charity for everyone I meet. I am learning so much from Hermana Coon every single day. I love her so much!!!! The Lord knew exactly what i needed when he let me be her companion! 

On Thursday, we went to 33 to have a multi zone conference. President and Hermana Cook came with the assistants. It was wonderful!!! I learned so much.It was a wonderful experience. And it was fun to  see all of the Hermanas that we work with all together. 

On Friday, we did an intercambio with Hermana Smouse and Hermana Eddington. I went and worked in their area with hermana Smouse. They have been having a hard time in their area trying to pick up the pieces of messes that past Hermanas had left. But we had a really good day and were able to find more people to teach. 

We have found a lot of miracles in our area this week. The Lord has blessed us greatly with more and more investigators that really are going to progress. In fact, yesterday, we had 3 great investigators at church! 

So, Facundo`s baptism was scheduled for Saturday and everything was ready to go. While I was goneon Friday, Hermana Coon and Hermana Eddington even went to Facundo`s house to practice the interview questions with him and everything. Saturday morning came, and we passed by his house to remind him of his interview, and his grandma was at his house and told us that he couldn`t get baptized that day because his mom was really sick and had been in the hospital the night before and wouldn`t be able to attend the baptism and Facundo didn`t want to get baptized without his mom being there. So, there wasn`t much that we could do. But we called his mom and rescheduled his baptism for this Friday at 6. So, all is well. Facundo still went to the baptism because the other Hermanas had a couple of investigators that were getting baptized too and he went to church by himself yesterday. He is great and really excited for his baptism. 

We haven`t been able to teach Andres this week due to his work schedule, but we have kept in contact with him through text and phone calls. Well, actually, it is more like he is keeping in contact with us. He even called and texted us to ask us what time church was at again. And he came for the second time in a row by himself. At first, I thought that he was a type of snake.haha But no, I really think he can feel the spirit and knows that the gospel is going to bless his life. We finally had the chance to teach him yesterday after church. He is super quiet and doesn`t really respond much when we ask him questions. but he wants to get baptized and he has a lot of potencial. So we are going to keep working with him. As far as church attendance is concerned, he could get baptized this Saturday, but I think we are going to plan it for the 23rd so he can be well prepared. 

We talk with everyone that we see in the street, and this week we found a less active, Maria that got baptized when she was 11 and hasn`t been back for over 30 years.She was with her 14 year old daughter Cintia who has never once been to church. We testified of how the gospel is what they need in their lives and we invited cintia to get baptized. We have had some really powerful lessons with them and they were really excited to go to church. We passed by for them on Sunday and they were both up and waiting for us. Cintia is really quiet. I hope that she had a good experience. 

Jennifer de los Santos gave a super powerful talk at the baptism on Saturday about the holy ghost. Gladys, Richard`s mom, came to church yesterday for the first time in a few years! we heart attacked her door this week and the family de los santos door too. Jose Martin told us that the bishop talked to him about getting the melchezidec priesthood at the end of the month at stake conference! 

Yesterday, we had our official first music class. It went well. We had about 15 youth there. We taught them how to lead. 

Well it is about time for me to go. Just know how much I love each of you and how much I love this work!!!! I know that this is the Lord`s work. I hope you all have a wonderful week. You are always in my thoughts and prayers!!!! 

Love you lots!!!!! 

-Hermana Cox




Otro gran dia en la mision Montevideo, Uruguay!

Hello Family!

What a treat it is every week to read your letters! I love them! I only have time to skim through them and then I print them out a read them in depth when I get home. Felicitaciones for Nikis parents!!!! They received their mission call to the best mission in the world!!!! I cant wait to see them! 

Also, dad, I felt the spirit so strongly while reading your letter. What I would do to have a fathers blessing from my dad! As I read your blessing to me, I really felt like you were here with me at this very moment. Thank you for that tenderness and for thinking of me, I love you. That blessing was just what I needed.

Wow what a whirlwind of a week it has been! What a FUN birthday week! My birthday consisted of 3 cakes, 1 pie, cute gifts, and my favorite Uruguayos! I will send you pictures of all of the festivities. It was such a great day, definitely a birthday to remember. I woke up with Hermana Cox and the other sweet hermanas in our home singing happy birthday holding a cake they made the night before that I had no idea about. We ate lunch with the stake president and his wife, la familia Diogo. They are so special to me. They know that we love and miss our mexican food, so Hermana Diogo made homemade tortillas and we had tacos with their vegetables from their garden! Then she made a yummy lemon pie. It was such a treat a fun little birthday lunch. We worked all day and then I thought we were going to eat some cute just us and our sweet familia de los santos, but NO! I walked around the corner and saw their home filled with pink balloons and food and people! They threw me a party for my birthday!  Seriously it was the best thing in the world. All of my favorite Uruguayos and stellar converts in one room. I have never felt so much happiness. These latinos love to celebrate their birthdays! I will show you pictures to show you. It was wonderful! Time is going by so fast...my heart will ache to leave them someday soon.

Mom and dad, I just want to send a big huge shout out to you. Thank you for always having family prayer, even when I didnt really quite know the importance of it. Thank you. Its so interesting the things we learn on our missions. Our sweet converts, Mabel and Nilo, were having marriage problems this past week. All Hermana Cox and I could do was bear testimony of the importance of family prayer and scripture study. Us two have talked about this a lot this week...we both are just so grateful for stellar families. I always remember dad as bishop telling us about those families who prayed together, stayed together. It is so true. After our lesson with Mabel and Nilo, we all kneeled together and offered a prayer. We commited them to pray as family every night. Do you know what? They are more in love than ever! It has been amazing to see. This has caused me a lot to reflect on what I want for my future family. The future is clear on what I want...Thank you for your great examples!

Yesterday, Hermana Cox and I had our very first music class with the youth of the ward! It was quite the success! We had about 15 youth there and we taught them how to lead music! Also, our sweet Jenifer De los Santos gave her very first talk in a baptism this Saturday! She talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost. I told her about the 3 things that a talk must have...(as said by dad) 1. a scripture 2. an experience and 3. your testimony. The spirit was so strong as she was bearing testimony about the change she has seen in her life and in her families life. I JUST LOVE THEM! They will be leaders in the church. How fun that they contacted you on facebook. Richard watches my mission call video a million times a day, says Jenifer. They love our family. This week, Richard began learning english! haha. He found a program on youtube, an english class. He is bound and determined to learn english, get his visa, and come visit us in the states. He says that one day he will knock on our door just like we did to him.

We are so exhausted and happy. I feel so blessed to have Hermana Cox by my side, to experience all of these wonderful experiences together. We cant wait until our girls trip with our moms. 

I love you so much. I can feel his love everyday. I honestly can feel him on everyside of me, because I could not do this without him. He lives! I love this country of Uruguay! Hope you all have a fantastic week...enjoy every minute of it!

Love, 
Hermana Coon


Hermana Diogo with my yummy lemon pie! Que divino!
We had a conference with Pres and Hermana Cook 33. We love Hermana Cook!
What cute hermanas we have! What a yummy birthday cake too!
 Do you like my birthday dress? I do!
The best companion in the world!
Hermana Cox and Me!
Look at the candle more like firecracker!


the cake and jenifer!
Familia de los Santos


mabel and nilo and veronica!

All our awesome converts and friends!

He is going to receive the melquisedec priesthood soon!!!!

Tortas fritas soaked in fat! Dahiana is a cute type 1. She adores us! We love her!
Last night, we had a "tortas fritas" party. Our sweet less active, Dahiana, taught us how to make them. Lets just say I need an intestine cleanse when I go home. She is a doll!