Pomised Land

Hello My Precious Family!

What a fun week you have all had in Utah with the wedding of Rebecca and the snow activities. Looks like a blast...I kinda feel like I am missing out on all of the fun, but Melo is definately a new adventure...a new kind of fun, I guess.

Its funny because my companion and I, Hermana Montenegro, came from one of the most difficult areas in the mission to the area that everyone wants to serve in...Gianola, Melo! It is called the "Promised Land" or "La Tierra Prometida" and this week, we have seen why it is called this. Hermana Montenegro and I have had our jaws open with shock everyday. The church building is huge, like a temple on a hill...seriously! We came from a little branch of 50 people and now to a great ward who supports missionary work! The little pueblito in Gianola are so friendly and happy. It doesnt matter if they are members of the church or not, everyone invites us in to their house and they feed us. One day this week, a random lady that we talked to on the street invited us in to her house and she fixed us tortas fritas. (She was actually a very interesting person...she believes she is the "Salvadora" of the world and is going to marry Christ...etc) Yesterday, we had another random family invite us for a second lunch of asado, lamb, etc. One day they will be baptized after they stop smoking. But mom, I think you would die at the animals...purring at our feet as we eat...

I feel like each cambio Heavenly Father is challenging me more and more...training, whitewash,  now a companion who doesnt speak a word of english. I know that it is for my good.

Here is a little bit about my companion...She is from Costa Rica. She is a convert of 2 years and none of her family are members of the church. None of them! And the sad part about it is that her family does not support her. She left for the mission not knowing if she will have a place to live when she comes home. Now that is faith and dedication and testimony! She is a powerhouse. Her mom writes her and a few friends, but no one else. I was thinking that you guys could write her like you did with Hermana Chavez! Her email is mauren.montenegro myldsmail.net. I just cant even imagine not having a supportive family while on the mission because the mission alone is difficult. She loves and misses Hersheys and Nerds and doesnt have hardly any clothes, especially for winter. I worry about her.

Mom, that story is hilarious about the Relief Society lesson and dad, thank you for emailing me my baby blessing. Crazy how closely related those words are to my patriarchal blessing. Amazing. I teared up a bit. James, Annie, Hannah...cant believe the next break for school is summer break! WOW! Time is crusin!

Have a great week and I will talk to you next week!

xoxo

Hermana Coon

I thought you all would get a laugh at this email...I keep receiving handwritten letters in the bolsa and emails from missionaries in other missions. Its actually really creepy and funny at the same time...

 

This is what this elder said...

 

well Hey Katie coon ya you don't know me im just a bored missionary and I looked piano up on Mormon.org and you popped up and you were the cutest girl on there so I was like well whats the worst that can happen she doesn't write back? haha ya that would be pretty bad but the best that could happen is I could find an eternal companion. (awkward) anyways hopefully I can hear from you soon.

 

 

 

(I havent written back...haha.)

So, President Cook! He is great! I met him at changes and he is just a big teddy bear. He has a soft heart and cries a lot. Must be a Type 2, Type 1 secondary. Have fun and work hard! Love it! His wife is so sweet trying to speak spanish...aw.

 

.......

 

Hi Hermana Coon. It was wonderful to meet you this week. We love your enthusiasm and the spirit of dedication you bring to this work. We will see you in a few weeks. Until then, have fun and work hard. (the two go hand in hand). Pres. Cook

Melo, Uruguay

Hi Everyone!

Happy week! Congratulations BECCA! That is so exciting she got married this past week and what a beautiful bride! I received her wedding announcement last week, so I thought of you all on Saturday, the day of her wedding. Looks like you all had a blast.

Big news...changes are this week...and I am leaving Progreso after almost 8 months. My new area is in Melo! 6 hours away from Progreso/Montevideo! Melo is the Promised Land in the mission haha! I am so excited! My companion is Hermana Montenegro from Costa Rica and the funny thing is we are actually roommates right now. We are entering into a whitewash. All I know about Melo is that it is the COLDEST part of Uruguay in the winter! Thermal garments here we come...winter is coming soon...More adventures here we come! 

This week was fantastic. I am seriously in love with this area and I cry thinking about leaving. You know when you put your heart and soul into something everyday, all day, you automatically fall in love with it. This is what has happened to me in Progreso. It is such a difficult area, but I love it. Its been a rough day today saying goodbye to all of the members and young women, and all of our converts, and investigators. All of the memories, good times, hard times, they are all part of me. Some tears shed. I feel like they have all changed my life. Its hard to express in words the feelings that I feel, but I feel really good. I loved the prayer last night with one of our members named Mirta. She prayed that she would do the will of God, but sometimes, she would like to do her own will. And then she prayed and asked Heavenly Father for Hermana Coon to please stay in Progreso. It was the most sweetest prayer.

This week, we helped build a house! Seriously! One of our investigators named Cristian, his house flooded in the last rain storm, so now he is adding on to his concrete house. (Its made out of concrete blocks.) Quite the experience. I can tell ya right now that I will probably never have this experience of building a concrete house ever again. haha. 

Our new mission president is from Idaho Falls, IDAHO! His name is President Cook. I havent met him yet but I know that he will be great. We had a zone conference yesterday and we were introduced to our new mission them "Have I Done Any Good in the World Today." I have such good feelings about this...its about the service and the love...not about numbers. Love it! 

Well family, next week I will be writing you from the opposite part of Uruguay. I cant wait to start this new adventure. I pray the Lord will help us, Hermana Montenegro and I.

I love you!

Hermana Coon

 fotos of going fishing for family home evening!

  building the house!

 Teaching piano lessons after church...love them! 

Hi mom and dad,

I just wanted to write you a quick, private note to tell you both that I love you! I cant believe how fast time is flying. Almost at 9 months! Is the time going fast for you? Thank you for your love and support in everything I do!

Big hug and kiss on the cheek for you both! 

Love, your daughter

Our Gilbert Temple is dedicated!

Hello my dear Family!

WOW! What a week it has been for you all! Our temple is dedicated! What a special experience...the cultural celebration, President Monson! I loved the videos and the pictures that you sent me. It helped me feel a little bit apart of it. As I was watching the video clip of Moroni riding on his horse with all of the flags waving, and seeing our bright temple in the background, I had huge drops of tears in my eyes! What a powerful experience! I have waited my whole life for this temple and I am not even there to be apart of the celebration...but its okay, I feel so happy that our temple is complete!

I cant believe that it is already March! I´ll begin this weeks letter by telling you all a one lined, funny story...

I was proposed to this week. The craziest things happen in Uruguay. Rubia! 

I have really felt the power of the Atonement this week. We were teaching our sweet 16 year old investigator, Mariana, about feasting on the scriptures. She was having a difficult time, knowing for sure that the Book of Mormon is true, not really understanding when she was reading. We had such a powerful lesson with her and we read 3 Nephi 11 about when Christ came to the Americas. We read each verse with her and helped her visualize personally what was really happening, as if she was there when Christ appeared. The Spirit was so strong...the air was as thick as butter and we could cut right through it. We described to her what it would be like see the marks of the nails and to feel them. It was one of those experiences where we dont really remembered what we said...it was the spirit guiding our words about the Atonement, about our Savior, and about the Book of Mormon. I will do anything to one day stand in the presence of my Lord and Savior and thank him for his infinite sacrifice and atonement. As I pray at night, seeking for guidance and inspiration on where to go, what to say, what to do, I know he listens and answers me because I can feel it...

The people here in Uruguay are so special. I know we are all children of our Heavenly Father. 

Thank you for everything. I love you all with my whole heart. The church is true!

Hermana Coon

The Temple!

Hello my Family!

I am so happy that you received my letter/package! yay! I am glad that you liked the videos...something different and fun! Now you pretty much know a little bit of my life and the personality of my oro! She is a blast!

What a fun weekend that you had...snowmobiling for the boys and a girls retreat for the girls! I want to go on a girls retreat! haha. When I get home, we will have to do it again, ok? Glad to hear that you are all healthy and strong again. Wow the temple will be dedicated next week! That is so exciting! I feel like there is so much going on at home!

This week was a good one again! (Well really they are all good ones!) On Tuesday, we went to the temple as a zone. The temple was exquisite and it was a well needed temple trip. I really enjoyed being in the temple again. I havent been to the temple since el CCM in Buenos Aires. You probably remember, but we went every Thursday to the temple in Argentina. It was a treat and 7 months ago in the CCM, I didnt understand anything in spanish! The whole session, I remember, was in spanish and i was lost. But it was a miracle! The whole session on Tuesday, I could understand! It was amazing to see and witness the progression of learning a new language! I can I just say GIFT OF TONGUES! Wow! I thanked by Heavenly Father big time for this blessing. The spirit in the temple is impresionante. I had many memories of being in the temple for my first time and then going with you many times after. I started to cry and the spirit was so strong. In the celestial room I sat and read my patriarchal blessing. In the temple, we feel el amor de Dios aun mas en la vida. He has a perfect plan for his children. Then I walked past the sealing room and tears came to my eyes even more! haha. I know that we are children of God.

That temple day, we fasted, and then were spiritually drained from the temple. My poor comp, Hermana Fuentes and I were drained...emotionally and physically! Funny story...so the next day, Hermana Fuentes couldnt even walk in a straight line, so we decided to find a little spot on the side of the dirt road to take a rest. She instantly fell asleep...her bed in the rocks! I was so tired too, so I closed my eyes. If you can just imagine it...2 sister missionaries sleeping in the road...so funny. It was seriously the story of the Great Samaritan...we had 2 people walk past us on the other side of the road, they didnt really say anything, just looked at us strangely. Then the 3rd person brought us water and made sure we were okay. We were so thankful! The cool thing is...we ended up inviting them to be baptized and putting a baptism date with them and they said yes! How cool! The lord works in mysterious ways, let me tell ya!

Another cool story of the power of the priesthood! We asked our leader misional de la rama, Hermano Sueldo, to give a recent convert a blessing of comfort and after the blessing, he showed us his hands, and he literally felt like his hands were on fire! (and it wasnt because the house was hot and filled with flies,) it was because there is power in the priesthood. A literal power! How cool is that?

One thing that i think is a little difficult about a mission, or about life in general, is submitting to the will of the Lord and trying to understand His will. This is something that I am not very good at, but continually working on. Its a process right? Hermana Fuentes and I spoke in church yesterday about the Spirit and its function. We had the coolest experiences this week as we literally had no food and no money, but what we did have was faith! Faith that the Lord would provide...and He did! Everyday. We would be walking down the street at 8 30pm wandering what we were going to eat for dinner that night because we had no food and then a random man comes up to us and gives us a bag of apples! DINNER! Then Saturday morning, we were thinking the same...What are we going to eat for lunch? (as our stomachs rumbled) No member had signed up to feed us and we had no food in the house. Then, during companionship study, our neighbor and relief society president called us randomly. She asked us if we had food and lunch for the day and we were a little embarassed to tell her no. She was inspired by the Spirit to call us and ask us this! WOW! It was such a powerful experience of the Spirit! We ate a huge lunch with her and her fun family and we didnt go hungry. The Lord always provides!

Glad to hear that you are collecting many healthy recipes for when I get home...I am dying for something healthy. My body is falling apart and the little muscles that I had are nonexistant. Sad but true haha. 

Love you fam. Keep up the awesome work! I love you so much! Have a happy week!

Hermana Coon

 Now you pretty much know a little bit of my life and the personality of my oro! She is a blast!

 Do you like our futbol team??? I DO! The funny thing is...they think I am good at soccer! Never played in my life! They are just nice! haha.

 My LATINAS!

Zona de Las Piedras! I spy Hermana Coon! Love you all!

My LATINAS!

Going to the Temple

Hola Familia!

I am so excited! I am so excited! I want to begin by saying that tomorrow, my zone and I are traveling to the temple to do a session! We are so excited! It has been such a long time, since the CCM, that I have been to the temple. It will be such a special experience!

What a week it has been for you all! Mom you are 1st counselor in the RS! That is so great and fun! You are going to do awesome. Dad, Annie, and Hannah I hope you feel better in your salud! I didnt hear from James this week...hope he is doing good. 

This week was so crazy, busy, and nuts. I cant even remember what happened this week. We are on the go from the minute we wake up at 6 30 to the minute we fall asleep at 10 30. 

We have been praying at thinking of new ways to get ourselves into the homes of these families that live in Villa Felicidad. Over these past 5 changes here in Progreso, my companions and I have tried several different ways, but no success. We always get doors slammed in our faces. But, we began playing with the children in the streets...jump rope, tag, whatever game. This has been a miracle and made such a difference! The children LOVE us and also their parents! When the children bring us to meet their parents, the parents instantly love us and we are able to share the gospel with them. It is amazing! Its just like Alma when he was rejected many times and never wanted to go back, but then the Lord comforted him. Then he went into the city a different way with a different plan. I am thankful for the scriptures that give us answers to our prayers!

Hermana Fuentes and I were laughing today, as we were hanging our wet clothes out on the line outside to dry, about how easy our lives were before the mission and how many things we took for granite...like a dryer! Or how at home, the shower always worked, or how somehow we always had food in the pantry or in the fridge or always had a car to drive us places or carpet! Life was so easy...now its a little bit more difficult because we dont have the necesities that we took for granite. Interesting how much our perspectives have changed. I cannot wait to read my missionary journal with you all when I return home. What a treat that will be!

Yesterday at church I had a very happy thought as I was sitted on the front row...(yes the front row mom! haha) I looked at all our converts, happily sitting in their seats listening to the messages. They had peace written on their faces and I had this feeling of JOY just overcome me. I thought about all of our experiences with each of them and how much we have seen them changed. Then I looked at our investigators who came and even more JOY overcame me. The gospel changes lives. 

I love you ALL! SO MUCH! 

Hermana Coon

oh yes...this is a picture of the food that we eat a lot....greasy, some kind of cheese...i dont even know what it is.. haha. but i do know that it is not healthy. pahaha. 

1. I received your 2 packages that you gave me full of CLOTHES and CHOCOLATE! I died! I LOVE all of my new clothes so much...it feels so good to have new clothes thank you!

And I ate all of the choloate in two days! which is not normal for me! Its like when you dont have your favorite food in so long, you just want to eat it all! Now I am wishing that I didnt eat all of my chocolate because I could really use some right now haha.

2. I dont know about the blog thing. Private would probably be good, but there are so many people who read the blog I think. All lot of missionaries and people who come to the mission have read my blog and know who I am...maybe you can just put up the letters? Your decision...you are in charge of the blog.

3. Grandmas package still hasnt come...did she put pictures of the virgen mary on it? 

Love you!

Rain and more rain!

I recieved a package from grant! Just thought i would share with you the phtos that hermana fuentes took. She is paparatzi, en serio. Te amo mama y papa!

You will laugh at this, but seriously i LOVE latina musica! When I come home I will be listening to latin music and singing in spanish! I only hear it when we are walking through the streets and the typical mexican house belting their music throughout the house or when we are traveling in the buses...Thought you would laugh at this comment!

I HAVE A SURPRISE PACKAGE COMING FOR YOU GUYS! Its a letter but there is something super fun inside! I hope and pray it makes it to you!

Te amo! Give everyone besos for me!

Quierda Familia,

Another week has come and gone! How are you all? I loved all the photos and videos that you sent me! And mom I love the experiences you share with me about the temple tours. I cried! You are a missionary! Thousands of people will be baptized because of our temple! The church is so strong in the states! 

So fun that you check everyday the weather here! It has been crazy! So humid and rainy. It feels like we are literally swimming through the air! I have never been in storms like this before. One afternoon, after a huge storm had ended, we were walking through the streets with our rainboots and rain gear and most of the houses were flooded knee high. It was so sad. They dont have any sewage systems here and so there is no where for the water to go, but inside the houses! This is why the people here seriously fear the rain and storms. They have tin roofs and the rain just beats so loud all night and all day. Wow are we blessed to live where we live with homes that we have. It is so funny because rain, shine, snow, sleek...WE WORK! The people here all know us well and we have people on their motorcycles yelling nicely at us, "What are you doing! You are going to get sick walking in this weather!" We just shrug our shoulders with smiles on our wet faces and say,"Esta bien!" The work of the lord never stops. I just have all these stories with rain this week, but every night, we literally sprint to our home to be in by 9pm in punto. (Sorry I am having such a hard time typing in english, so if some spanish words come out, perdoname!) We literally had the storm chase us. Black skies, almost like a tornado. But the Lord is with us, because as soon as we made in home in punto a las nueve, rain and hail! lots of it! I am living a different experience, seriously, its a crazy life here.

Did you realize that one year ago yesterday, I received my mission call?!

I want to tell you about one of our sweet investigators named Sofia! She is 12 years old. The pictures that I sent with this email are of our Nutella/Dulce de leche party with her and her member friends! Holy cow members are key! Please please please introduce the missionaries to your friends! We had such a great time...she came to church yesterday and little by little is gaining a testimony. Her parents are of the macumba (witchcraft) and she loves the way she feels when she is around us and when she is at church doing what is right. 

I love being a missionary and having the spirit with me at all times, like you said dad in your letter. For example, one evening, we had one hour until we had to be in the house, so we decided to go visit a less active, but as we were walking down the street, I had this distinct thought to turn down this other street to contact a reference that we had received. As we clapped our hands in front of the house, the neighbor came out and said, "HERMANAS! wait right here, I have someone that wants to listen to you!" Hermana Fuentes and I looked at eachother and couldnt believe what we had heard. They invited us in and there sat a sweet woman named Nelida. Mom, she is a total type 1 and I totally thought of you instantly...that you will be just like this sweet spunky grandma when you are a grandma. We are so glad that we listened to the promptings of the spirit because we were able to invite her to be baptized this month. What a blessing! There are people that have waited 70 years to hear the message that we have to share!

I know that this gospel is true and we are so blessed to have it in our lives. Yesterday, my companion and I taught young womens about being in the world and not of the world. Always choose the right! Always do what is right and never falter, just like it says millions of times in the scriptures that if we obey the commandments, then we will be blessed.  

I miss you all everday, but even though I miss you, I know that in a few short months, I will be back home with you all! Thank you for all your prayers...I feel them everyday.

Love you,

Hermana Coon

p.s. we have been asked to tell our parents that we can no longer put our missionary photos on facebook or on blogs. So I must obey. No more photos on the blog! But I will still email you photos every week! xoxo

Hi Grandma!

What a fun week you had! Its fun to hear about everything that you have done! Happy Birthday to GRANDPA! I hope he had a fabulous day. My mom sent me pictures of the kickball game at the park and I cant believe how fast everyone is growing up! My little cousins are HUGE now! I am going to come home super short compared to them! haha. You are a great grandma, grandma. Always planning fun things to do with us. I always think about my "abuela" (you) whenever I talk to this sweet lady in our branch, Hermana Hernandez...She looks a lot like you!

It rained all week...really hard! It has been so humid also. It feels like we are swimming through the air! Quite the experience. Thank you for all you do for me! I love you grandma and grandpa!

Have a great week!

Hermana Coon

Hello Family!

¿Como estas? I love the pictures that you sent me of our beautiful temple! You all look like people out of a magazine all perfect! seriously. What a beautiful family I have. There is only one person missing...me! What great experiences you are having mom as a tour guide! I love the experiences that you wrote me! And Happy Birthday! I thought about you all day! 

I dont even know where to begin...lots of happened. My poor oro and I...haha the week of our baptisms, we had a week full of trials! It was actually quite humorous. All we could do was laugh and pray. I will give you a recap of our week. It all began with the mission goal of 130 baptisms for the month of january...a record in the mission Uruguay. It all began with a huge rain storm. On Pday, we washed our sheets and then hung them outside on the line to dry. All of the sudden the storm came, pouring rain, wetting our sheets soaking wet. That night, we slept on our mattresses, no sheets. That Pday, when we started working, and 4/5 of our investigators who we had planned to be baptizedon Saturday, didnt want to see us.(Which was so weird because they seriously wait all the day long anxious to see us.) The next day, we called our investigator, Mary to see how she was doing. She was really sick so we called to check up on her. She began telling us how she didnt believe in a Christ anymore etc etc. The weather was so hot and humid and everynight we came home literally drenched in water. But it wasnt water, it was sweat! We literally sprinted everywhere to make the best use of our time! That night, the people who own our apartment came and turned our lights off. We didnt have lights and camped out with candles and flashlights on our cell phones. haha and let me tell ya, in Uruguay, with no lights, and giant bugs...its a bit creepy and super hot! It rained all week and Hermana Fuentes and I were either drenched in rain water or sweat water. haha. 

Saturday, the day of the baptisms, none of our investigators were prepared or wanted to, but during companionship study, Hermana Fuentes and I both had a strong impression that we needed to go to Cholos house right this minute, because we felt like he was on his way to his baptism. We dropped everything that we were doing, and bolted 2 miles to his house, praying the whole way. We came to his house, clapped (thats what they do here), and no one was home. There was a lock on the door. We bolted for the route and there was Cholo...happy and waiting for the bus to head to the church for his baptism! We had nothing prepared. We hadnt seen him all week. We quickly called Elder Reay, our district leader, and told him about our miracle and asked him to come to the church for a baptismal interview. It was a miracle.

Our week was so crazy...the craziest week I have ever had in my life. But everynight, we came home completely humbled and completely tired. I know that the Lord gave us strength to push through. I dont know what we would have done without

Its so true that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not easy. Hermana Fuentes and I both could feel the prayers of our families and friends. These prayers literally lifted us up and helped us conquer each day. I know that this is the Lords work. We are just his hands and his mouth.

But there is good news! Our mission goal for the month was 130, but as a mission, we finished the month with 154 baptisms! We exceeded the record in the Uruguay mission! It was really cool because President Monson and the quorum of the twelve even knew about this goal. 

Scripture of the week! DyC 112 10 to 11!

I love you all so much with my whole heart! I cant believe this week I hit 7 months in the mission. The best, hardest, faith building, spiritual, happy 7 months of my life!

Until next week, 

Hermana Coon

Hi mom! I received one of your packages!!! The one with the skirts! I love them so much! it was so fun to wear new clothes finally and to have some cute headbands! I love you thank you so much!

District, P day!