HOLA my family!

Hello Family!

YOU MET HERMANA FLORES!!!! The Hermana Flores!!!! I am so happy! I loved to see all of those pictures of you with her! She is definitely one of my cherished friends from the mission. Isnt she so fun!?! 

It has been a fabulous and hot week here in Piriapolis! It is such a different area, with different people, and different climate...it has taken me a while to get use to! haha. But what I do know is that missionary work is the same wherever you go...and there are people so prepared for the gospel. I am grateful to know that the lord is preparing people. Even when I was in Melo last change, I could feel that I was coming here, around Pan de Azucar. I just knew it. I am thankful to be here with sweet Hermana Harvey. I am learning so much everyday.

One of the many things that I am thankful for is the spirit. Without the spirit, we as missionaries, can do nothing. The spirit is the real teacher. 

We have an investigator named Inrique. He is an amazing man whose faith is growing tremendously. The first charla we had with him, he told us that he didnt believe that god listens to his prayers. Over these past couple days we have taught him, and he is receiving answers to his prayers. It is incredible to see the change in people....but its not the kind of change that us as missionaries do, its the spirit. Its the spirit that touches their hearts. He told us that he sees something different in us that he wants to have. He told us that his life has been filled with darkness and he is looking for light. We testified that the Lord guided us to him. He had water in his eyes. I felt the spirit so strongly and I know that the spirit was testifying and testified of our words. Hna Harveys sweet words in spanish are priceless. Learning a language is priceless and I know that Heavenly Father blesses his missionaries with the gift of tongues. It is an incredible experience to experience.

Celsy, is one of our investigators, and during our planning session on Thursday, Hna Harvey and I both had the small thought to text Celsy. We wrote a scripture in the text and told her how much we love her. Come to find out, yesterday, we ere eating with a member, Celsys friend and coworker, who told us just how that text message arrived at the right time. It was the anniversary of Celsys brothers death. Minutes before Celsy received the text, she had commented to the member friend of her brothers death and was needing some uplifting words, then the text message arrived with an uplifting scripture. 

Needless to say, more than ever, I am so thankful for the spirit. 

I just wanted to tell you all that I am so thankful for your righteous desires and examples. Annie mentioned last week that some kids from her school are using bad words and she asked what she should do. Annie, I have thought about this all week long....You are such a great example. Just be yourself and stand up for what is right. People know that you are a member of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints and they know what you stand for. Keep being an example and letting your light shine! You are beautiful!

I have set a goal for myself before the end of the year and I wanted to share it with you all! Maybe you will like to join me in it!?? I want to memorize all of "Jesus is the Christ" before the end of the year. Will you all join me in it? I am starting tomorrow! :)

I love you all! I know Jesus is our Savior. He is the light and life of the world. I am thankful for the scriptures. I love my scriptures with my whole heart. They give such guidance, comfort, and direction to our lives. I, like Nephi, have been born of goodly parents and am forever thankful for the blessing of an eternal family. The gospel is light!

Until next week!

Hermana Coon

Hola from Piriapolis!

How are you all? It sounds like you all have had a good week! It has been a great adventure week here in Piriapolis. Everyday is an adventure when you know nothing about the area, but we begining to not get lost so much. haha. 

I am really enjoying being here in Piriapolis, but I have a huge part of my heart still in Melo! I love Melo with my whole soul! But I then I think, I said that about Progreso when I got to Melo. haha. My love is beginning to grow for this area and the people here too. 

I will first begin by telling you about our cute little widow who rents our house to us. She is adorable! Her name is Rosalia. She bakes baked goodies for us. Sometimes after planning every night we go visit with her in her little grandma home. Last night, I played on her 200 year old piano for her. It was so out of tune, but she loved the music in her home. She has skin as soft as butter and is the most converted person I have ever seen. She shows us pictures of when she was a new wife and mother. Life goes by so fast. She was explaining to us how when she still looks at this pictures, she still has the same emotions. She is incredible. Our home is so beautiful with her beautiful garden.

Piriapolis is so beautiful! It is becoming summer soon, so there are a lot of tourists. Are area is full of summer homes. I was telling my sweet oro that I have not seen houses this beautiful and this big in so long! A lot of the houses are like the houses in Draper, Utah by the temple...huge! Like I said before, I feel like I am a little fish in a big city. It is definitely a different way of working...a different way to soften the peoples hearts to the gospel...I am just thankful that it is not us who are the teachers, its the spirit! haha. 

This week was also Hermana Harveys 20th birthday! I hope she had a good day. It is so hard being away from home when you are brand new in the mission. I remember those days of being an oro. It doesnt feel like that long ago. She is doing so well and I keep telling her that the language will come...it just takes paciencia! Please keep her in your prayers. Uruguay is quite the culture shock! haha. Yesterday we had a birthday lunch at the Flia Corrales home. They are an incredible family. They baked her a special Uruguayo cake, complete with peaches and dulce de leche!

We are seriously seeing miracles in our area. My companion is so blonde and so am I, so we stick out like no other. It is so funny the kind of comments we receive. We leave our house each day, ready to find these miracles that Heavenly Father has prepared. The area book is becoming our best friend. One night, we were searching through the area book, looking for people to find the next day. We found this name, Celsy, and decided to go visit her. The next day at lunch, the members gave us this same reference! We knew it was meant to be, so we contacted Celsy! I could just feel it, that the Lord was guiding us to her home. She is so prepared for the gospel. We have begun teaching her and her testimony is growing little by little. She came to church yesterday and loved it. She is so valient and we hope and pray that the hearts of her husband and 2 sons will be softened to the gospel. I am grateful to the Lord for guiding us to Celsy. We also had Adrianna at church yesterday! She is incredible as well. Her boyfriend, who she is living with, and who is inactive, even served a mission. He doesnt want to get married, but she desperately wants to be baptized and to have an eternal family. Please keep them in your prayers.

I have been reflecting a lot this week on Melo and the experiences that I have had there. It was such an incredible experience that I will never ever forget. I have never witnessed such great miracles like I witnessed in Melo in my whole life. It makes me sad to think that that door of my life and mission has closed. But, I know that Heavenly Father only has greater things in store for us here in Piriapolis. I just hope that we will be worthy instruments in his hands. I only want to do His will.

Bueno familia. I love you all so much. It is just crazy to me how fast time is flying. I just have only a few more months of being a representative of the Lord. It is sad! Lets just enjoy this time while we have it! 

Hermana Coon

 weird to see me in pants, right???

Piriapolis is full of hills! On the top of one very big hill is a cross! We hiked up to that today as a zone. It was so hard, but super fun. The view was breathtaking.  You can see my area from here, the ocean as well.

Greetings from...PIRIAPOLIS!

Dear Family!

Greetings from...PIRIAPOLIS! 

How are you all? It sounds like you all had a great Fall Break! I honestly cannot believe it is fall at home!!! La primavera is in full spring here in Uruguay.

Well, all is well here in Piriapolis. I am now with Hermana Harvey from Orem, Utah! She is the cutest thing, she has such a strong faith and desire to serve the Lord. I like it! It has been such an adventure these past few days working in our whitewash and training. 

I will begin the adventure week by beginning with Tuesday. Saying goodbye to Melo was the hardest thing I have ever done. I left on the 6 hour bus ride to Montevideo at 12 30 am to make it to the mission home and 8am to pick up my oro. We got to our area later that afternoon. It was a long day of traveling.

Piriapolis is beautiful...absolutely beautiful. Our area is right along the beach and we live about 5 blocks from the beach. We live with Rosalia, who is an 80 year old grandma who has been a member for 40 years. She is remarkable. She rents her house to us. She brings us home baked treats to our home, she takes really good care of us. She loves the missionaries and is such a valient, beautiful member of the church. We really are so blessed to live with her, her gardens are beautiful.

The members are so wonderful here. I have never such great food in all of my misson....vegetables, vegetables, vegetables! We have eaten beets everyday this week! It is incredible! Also, everySaturday, there is a farmers market close by the beach and one of our less actives works at the fruit and vegetable stand. She gives us as many fruit and vegetables for free that we want!!!! It is amazing! They even have spinach! I havent seen spinach during my whole mission! haha. This morning, Hermana Harvey and I made a spinach green smoothie. Heaven!

I really like whitewashes. We found Marcos and Rosaura, and Monica and Richard, in a whitewash in Melo when I first got there. There are always miracles! The hermanas left us with nothing, no investigators, directions, nothing. We have been searching through the area book, trying to make good plans. The Lord has guided us so much through our efforts. I just feel like I have to change a little bit of the way I work, especially because my companion doesnt even know a word of spanish. haha. The people here in Piriapolis are not like the people from humble Melo. I feel like I am working in San Diego, California haha. Kinda feel like a little fish in a big sea. I just feel with my whole heart that there are people waiting for the gospel. I feel like with each day, I am just getting closer and closer to Heavenly Father. Thats all I want to do is his will. 

"Ill go where you want me to go dear lord, over mountains or plains or seas." That is my theme song.

I love you all, so very much!!!!!

Hermana Coon

 President and Sister Cook, Hermana Harvey and Hermana Coon

Hermana Harvey! ...my last companion!

 part of our new home...It is beautiful...our tiny home.

 I feel like I am serving in San Diego

I love Hermana Harvey!

Life is Beautiful

Hello Family!

¡Greetings from Melo! 

This will be the last time I can say that "greetings from Melo." I love my Melo with my whole heart. Can you believe it is changes AGAIN!? Why is time going by soooo fast?! Sunday night after conference, I received a call telling my that I am leaving Melo and for my last 2 changes, and I am going to train! I am going to train another oro! Oh my goodness I couldnt believe it. Last night, I found out where I will be serving my last 2 changes. My new area is PIRIAPOLIS! (Which happens to be Hna Coxs first area!) You have got to look it up online to see what it is like! My area is right along the beautiful ocean. It is the most beautiful place in Uruguay, so I have heard. I am beyond excited to train. Those were such fun times training my sweet Hermana Fuentes almost a year ago. I feel blessed that the Lord has enough trust in him to train another one of his valient missionaries. But, I dont think any area will be as beautiful as Melo. I will miss the people of Melo with my whole heart.

Love has been a topic of conversation between Hermana Cox and I. We have shed a few tears because of our separation. We were recalling back to when we got set apart and when we were oros, our first change here in Uruguay. Other missionaries told us that they loved the people so much. I honestly couldnt imagine loving these people. I mean, their culture is SO different, their food, clothes, and even their language! I could not even understand what they were saying! I could not even imagine loving a people so much. I remember praying with all of the energy of my heart the first few months of my mission to love these people of Uruguay. Now I can say that I love them. I really do. Its going to be a super hard day today saying goodbye to my dearest. I feel like a peace of my heart is being ripped out. 

But, I do feel something special for Piriapolis. I know that their are people waiting for the gospel. I feel like it is calling my name. It will be yet another adventure in a whitewash training, but I will love every minute of it. Hermana Cox has such wonderful things to say about this area. President Cook wrote me this message this morning..."I think you will love your final assignment as you share your love, testimony and lessons learned in the mission with someone who will be looking to you for strength at every turn. See you soon. PC" 

Conference was so wonderful, wasnt it? Our sweet investigator Maria del Carmen came. She loved every minute of it and afterwards, she told us that she felt fire in her chest. How blessed we are to have a prophet of God, a guide and a mouthpiece for us. Wasnt that so fun for one of the speakers to be from Uruguay! He is from Minas...my new zone! haha. Rocke came to the conference for all three sessions Saturday. It is so amazing! The members are showing so much love for him. His testimony that he shared the day of his baptism has touched everyones hearts! He has been so blessed physically and spiritually. He came to the conference dressed all nice in his new tie, white shirt, and shoes that the members gave him. The smile on his face was just priceless. For one of the first times in his life, he felt loved and important. Makes me so happy.

I must tell you all and mom, dont be too upset. Hna Cox and I have topped the list for the craziest things that we have eaten. Are you ready???? COWS STOMACH! haha. It was actually the stomach part, but the outer lining of the stomach. Sunday, before conference, we were eating at a members home and out they bring the food. They told us, "Dont worry, hermanas, it is not our next door cat or dog." Hermana Cox and I looked at each other a bit worried. I am sure you can imagine how the story went....haha

I am so grateful for you. I love my family with my whole heart. 

I am so thankful for the many, bounteous blessings that Heavenly Father has blessed us with, Hermana Cox and I as well. I have seen His hand in our lives and especially in my mission. Just as our profeta testified in conference, we are His children and He knows us perfectly and individually. Hna Cox and I have had such a fun time this week, recording all of our Uruguayos testimonys on our cameras. It has been the most rewarding thing and we know that it will be a treasure for the eternities. Just to hear them express that they know that their savior lives and loves them and to hear them bear powerful testimony that this is the true church, and to hear the gratitude in their words for missionaries who found them, makes my heart sing. I have witnessed miracles here in Melo and have been completely changed because of them.

I love you!

Hermana Coon

Rocke, awesome man!

 Our angels!

 Andres´ house! 

 Our sweet hermanas. 

 Mispuros!!!! It is a fruit definitely unheard of in the states! They are so yummy!

Our lider misional del barrio! mission leader I think it the name in english! haha

Hermana Cox's letter to her family

Hi family!!!!

Well it is nice sunny spring morning here in Melo. The time has come for me to say goodbye to my beloved companion and best friend Hermana Coon. On, Sunday night, the assistants called our phone asking her if she would train this next change! I am so excited for her and super jealous of her oro. She has no idea what great experiences are in store for her. The assistants told us that we would knowMonday night where she would be training, along with the rest of the changes. It was nice of them to give us a heads up. But it doesn`t make this any easier. I can`t believe that we have been able to spend these last 4 months together. Oh how I love Hermana Coon! We have been through it all together. I know when I have found a great friend because they make me want to be a better person, and that is exactly what Hermana Coon has done for me. I love her so much and we will be best friends forever! We knew this change was bound to come. Last night, they called us to tell us that Hermana Coon will be training in Piriapolis!!!!! I am so jealous and excited! She will be ending her mission where I started mine. She will be able to meet all of the wonderful people there including Victoria!!!! I am so excited for her. It is the most beautiful place of all of Uruguay! She will be a wonderful trainer! I am staying here!!!! Yeah!!!!!! My companion will be Hermana Ramache. She is from my group but she will be ending with Hermana Coon because she is a latina and they are only in the ccm for 2 weeks. But I think she is from Columbia. I don`t know much about her but I know she is awesome! It is going to be a great change! Hermana Zelaya and Hermana Leiva are both leaving and we will be back to 4 hermanas in the ward again. Hermana Altamirano is staying and her companion will be Hermana Fragapani from Germany. She is Hermana Alvarado`s oro. So, it will be an interesting change. But we are really excited! These goodbyes are difficult though, and I am not even the one saying goodbye. Hermana Coon has changed so many lives here. It is incredible to see how many people are in mounring to see her go. 

It has been a super crazy week! Tuesday morning, we headed out to 33 to do an intercambio with Hermana Johnson and Hermana Denos. I was with Hermana Johnson and poor girl, she is not doing well with her knees. We had to walk at snail`s speed the whole day and even take a few breaks to sit down because the pain was so bad. I don`t know how she does it. She has so much faith and never complains. She has been in area the majority of her mission because it is the smallest area in the mission. She is an incredible teacher and missionary! We are definitely praying for her. 

That night we slept a few hours there and at 3:30 in the morning we took the bus from 33 to Montevideo for concilio. It was once again an incredible concilio! I feel like I am learning so much for the incredible leaders of the mission. Every time I leave, I learn things that I want to apply to be a better missionary and instrument in the Lord`s hands. I was able to accompany two elders singing an arrangement of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. It was fun to play again. 

We made it back to our area late Wednesday night. On Friday, we did another intercambio with Hermana Zelaya and Hermana Leiva. I worked with Hermana Leiva in their area. It was a wonderful intercambio and it reaffirmed my conviction that Gianola really is the promised land. 

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!! Wasn`t that just amazing?!?!?! On the mission, going to the temple and watching general conference are like christmas!!!! It is the best! Oh how I loved conference! We were able to watch it in English. Saturday morning, they played a rebroadcast of the women`s meeting. WOW! So powerful! I went to conference seeking an answer to a specific question in prayer and it was answered word for word what I needed to hear in Pres. Uchtdorf`s talk at the end of the women`s meeting. At the end of his talk, I felt like he was talking directly to me. Incredible how that works. 

Rocky came to all of the session of conference on Saturday. He even went back with one of the members to the Priesthood session at 9 that night. He was wearing church clothes that some members had given to him. He felt so special. He was just beaming. Maria del Carmen also went to the Saturdayafternoon session. We talked to her after and she said that she felt the spirit so strong. She described it as a fire in her chest and a peace and tranquility. She said she felt so great and knows that she needs to get baptized. She is reading more than what we left for her in her Book of Mormon to read. She is progressing really well. And we are hoping that she will be ready for baptism and stop smoking before the 18th. 

Sunday before conference, we ate lunch with the Rodriguez family. They were the ones that gave us lunch on my birthday. We always love eating with them because they give us vegatables and prepare a really nice lunch always. It was Hermana Zelaya and Hermana Leiva`s turn to eat with them, and we were a bit bummed. But they called us Sunday morning telling us that they weren`t going to have time to walk all the way over to their house becuase they live in our area. So, we quickly and gladly told them that we would go for them instead. We ate so nice vegatable soup and then they brought out the plate of food. It was mashed potatoes and then a slab of ......i don`t know what. Their girls asked what it was but they told us to try it first before they would tell us. So we began to eat it and then they told us it was the outside of cow stomach. Mmmmmm. Mmmm. There was a lot of fat in it but the meat part of it was like lamb. Yeah, so that is a write home moment. We usually eat normal food but that was definitely a first........and a last now that I think about it.....At least I hope. I would rather not repeat that meal again. haha 

Well this week, Hermana Herrera, Hermana Schaelling, Hermana Elmont, Hermana Neuffer, Hermana Flores and about 10 other hermanas will be retunring home. I can`t belive how time flies. It blows my mind because they are the group right ahead of me. Where has the time gone? 

The Lord has blessed us immensely in these last 3 changes. No matter what happens no one can take away these incredible experiences that we have had together.I have never experienced such happiness like I have in these last 3 changes. I have seen miracles. I have seen people completely change their lives because of the gospel. I am so grateful to my Father in Heaven for blessing me with the gospel in my life and for blessing me with such a wonderful family and wonderful parents. I was reminded once again in conference, of the wonderful blessings that we have as members of the church. I wouldn`t be where I am today if it were not for the incredible parents that I have that are perfect exmaples of true discipleship. I know that Christ lives. I know that this is His church and that He is directing this work. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I love you all! Have a wonderful week!!!!

-Hermana Cox :)     

A letter from The De Los Santos Family

bueno hermana. llego el dia de su partida .Le quiero expresar mi gratitud y todo lo que han echo por nosotros. Me siento mu triste por su partida pero alegre por todo lo que a echo por mi y mi familia .le agradezco todo todo disculpe la falta de ortografía no soy bueno escribiendo .usted a cambiado mi vida y la de mi familia vamos a seguir firmes en la iglesia .gracias por los regalos por todo el amor que nos han dado no tengo palabras para expresar mi amor asia usted y a la hermana cox .En este momento me siento perdido emocionalmente al saber de su partida. Nuestros deceos son .Que su vida sea muy linda y tenga mucho gozo en su corazón al lado de su familia y futro esposo y sus hijos .Que tenga buen viaje hermana y gran amiga    la extrañaremos mucho chauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

The adventures of the "Supersisters" continues!

Dear Family,

What a beautiful week in every way! Thank you thank you for your love and prayers. It really means a lot to me. I can just feel the love and support from my family. Its so overwhelming. Thank you!

...(oh my goodness, I am having trouble writing in english right now. haha it is taking me a little to think about what I want to say! Never thought that would happen...haha) 

We had such a fun, crazy, and extremly spiritual week...The adventures of the "Supersisters" Hermana Cox y Hermana Coon continue! We began our week, last Monday (pday) by traveling to Acegua, the border of Uruguay and Brazil! It was so awesome...people were talking to us in portuguese and we could understand a little bit of what they were saying. What was really weird is when people began talking to us in spanish...it felt like home. I love the spanish language. What a blessing to be able to understand and speak. We ate our lunch in Acegua and as they Brazilians prepared our food, we tried to talk to them. Dont ask me how we read the menu. Just kidding, portugese and spanish are really similar.

Wednesday was the WEDDING DAY of Monica and Richard! I cant believe how much they have progressed just in these past 6 months when Hermana Montenegro and I found them. After living together for 10 years, they finally decided to marry because they want to follow the Savior and be baptized. It was marvelous. We went to the courthouse to watch their wedding. All we can say is there is nothing like a temple marriage. It doesnt even compare. Hna Cox and I left that wedding completely grateful for the temple and an even stronger desire to be married and sealed in the temple for time and for all eternity. I thought about Jenifer De los Santos. When they got married, four days before they found the gospel, she told Richard that that didnt feel like her wedding, that there had to be more! What she didnt know was the great blessings that would follow. Now, Richard and Jenifer, and, Richard and Monica, will go to the temple in a year and be sealed for time and for all eternity. There is nothing like it. For-ever! Eternidad! 

This week was also wonderful because Gianola had 5 baptisms! Rocke was baptized as well! This baptism was such a testimony to me of the power of the Atonement. Rocke was such a miracle because we found him in the street one day talking with everyone. We invited him to be baptized right then and there and he accepted. It was a struggle to find his poor little house, but we found it. The more we taught him, the more we felt like Heavenly Father had really put him in our path for a reason. He has lived such a sad and lonely life. He has never met his parents, has lived on the streets his whole life, has never gone to school and doesnt know how to read. Now he is 54 years old. rresident Cook came up to Melo to do a special interview with him on Saturday. As he entered into the waters of the baptism, without his neck brace, we saw a filthy Rocke, but as we entered out of the water, completely wet, we met him. "Rocke! Como se siente?!" we asked him. He just had the biggest smile on his face. Its just something that you cant explain. This was a testimony to me that the atonement of jesus christ is real. Even the sinners of all sinners can be clean and forgiven. 

I felt like I needed to be clean as well. I was desperately waiting for sunday to partake of the sacrament and have my "mini bautismo." There is no such thing as a perfect person, or perfect missionary. A mission is a great place in life to see all of your weaknesses. Hna Cox and I pray each day that we may learn the things that we are suppose to learn on the mission. I guess this week I learned even more how much I need to rely on the lord. I felt like Sunday, I was so happy, full of joy, but also, I felt like I had a little carga, or burden. But, as I partook of the sacrament, my weight was lifted off of my shoulders. Everything is made right through the atonement of the Jesus Christ. Then, I looked over at Rocke who was sitting a few seats over take the sacrament. It amazed me, a man who had a past like he has had, is clean. Jesus Christ has already taken care of it. It makes me think of a scripture...D&C 19:16-19.

The baptismal service was so spiritual. President Cook stayed for the service and shared a few thoughts at the end. He is an inspired man. What is so fun was it was Richard and Monicas dream to meet the president of the mission and for him to be at their baptism. The Lords hand was definitely invovled so that President was able to come. He is a special, inspired man that I love dearly. He is so sincere and so close to the spirit. After the baptisms, bishop invited all of the newly members to share their testimonies if they so felt they should. Rocke immediately stood up and began to share his feelings. Rocke was in a moto accident two months ago. This is why he has a broken neck. The paramedics rushed him to the hospital almost dead, but he told us that he saw a light. He told us that he saw Christ and he spoke to him and this is why he is alive today. His miracle life was saved. It was saved so he could have a second chance to know the gospel and to be clean from all of the sins he has commited in his life. The spirit was SO POWERFUL. There was not a dry eye in the whole congregation. 

Heavenly Father has blessed me so much in my mission. The experiences that I have seen and witnessed are indescribable. I will forever be thankful and I know that Heavenly Father gives us weaknesses so we may be humbled and then he will make our weaknesses become strengths. I just hope that I will be a worthy instrument in the hands of the Lord. I love him. 

I love you all! The Christs Atonement changes lives. 

Hermana Coon

brasil and uruguay!

 At the wedding of Monica and Richard!

This is our sweet family! David and Dahaina! We are helping them get married and then get baptized! Someday they will be sealed in the temple!

My sweet convert Mariana!

They are a miracle!!!!

Hermana Cox's letter to her family

we love Hermana Cox!

Hello! How is everyone? I hope all of you have had a wonderful week! I hope you had a great birthday Romney! It sounds like it has been a crazy week for you guys too! Thank you for your letters and your pictures. I love you lots!!! 

This week has gone by sooo fast! I can`t believe it was a week ago that we went to Acegua. We had a really good time. We made our bus and everything. It is about a 1 and 15 minutes away. And while we were on our way, we looked at each other, and thought wait what are we doing? We are going to the border where we have never been before, where pople speak a different language. We don`t have a tour guide, we just up and decided to go just the two of us and got permission from the zone leaders and ta we were on the bus to go to the border. But for some reason we weren`t worried, but we were thinking about how worried our moms would be :) haha but it was really fun. We took lots of pictures on the border. They have a bunch of shops there called free shops where they import things from other countries. They had a lot of perfumes and candy that I haven`t seen for a long time. We just looked around, but we bought lunch and some ice cream there. They speak a weird type of Spanish there. I don`t know if they were speaking straight Portuguese or a type of mix but they could understand our Spanish and we could understand their Portugese. It was really beautiful there. It was fun to look out to Brazil. The whole time I was just wishing that Dad was here with me. Between my Spanish and his Portugese we would have a blast. But yeah, it was a really fun day! 

On Wednesday, Monica and Richard, (Hermana Zelaya and Hermana Leiva`s investiagtors) got married!!!! I don`t know if you remember but Monica is Dahiana`s mom. Anyways, Monica and Richard had been living together for 10 years and Monica`s son died about 6 months ago and the next day, the day when he was burried, Hermana Coon and her companion knocked on their door. (this was back in March or April when Hermana Coon was in the other area). And since then, they have been receiving the lessons and they always give us lunch and rides home in their car. They are so sweet and loving to us! Back in June, they set the date to get married in September so they could get baptized. I remember that day back in June when they told us they set a date, I felt like it was forever away. But it was this last Wednesday. We were able to go to the marriage. All I can say after that experience is that I will never let anything get in the way of my goal of getting married in the temple. Oh the feeling there in that room was awful and it was so cold. They were all making jokes and making light of something so sacred, a marriage. Anyways, nothing compares to the temple and it just reminded me once again of how grateful I am that mom and dad got married in the temple. What  a blessing! I am so grateful for the temple! 

Well this week we have been working with Rocky and Maria del Carmen a lot. We found out last week, that Rocky had a problem with question #4 of the baptism questions, which means that he would need to have a special interview with President Cook or one of his counselors in addition to the normal interview with the zone leaders. This question has to do with legal issues and such. But on Thursday, he was scheduled to have his interview with the zone leaders, because on Friday we were going to have an intercambio in 33. But we passed by Rocky`s house about 5 or 6 times all day long and he was never home. And he doesn`t have a cell phone or anything. So we just had to keep passing by all day. His neighbor told us that he had gone to campaña (country) with his horse or something like that. Anyways, we couldn`t find him all day long. Before going home, we decided to check to see if he was there and he was! He got home after 8 on Thursday night. We decided to cancel our intercambio with 33 so we could help Rocky have his interview on Friday. The zone leaders came the next morning and Rocky had his interview. But apparently, his past was a little bit more complicated than we had thought. Poor guy, he has had a rough life. He doesn`t even know who his parents are. But President Cook came up to Melo on Saturday afternoon and Rocky was able to have an interview with him. He passed the interview and was really excited to have all of his past wiped clean and start a new life through baptism. After his interview, he had to go to a doctor`s appointment. The time for the baptism came, and he still hadn`t returned. We didn`t know what to do. We went and looked for him at his house and he had barely made it home. We had to start the service a half hour late, but he made it! On Saturday, there were 5 baptisms in the ward! It was a powerful baptismal service. There were many people there that were not members and President Cook stayed for the baptisms. Richard de Los Santos baptized Rocky and one of the other investigators. It was an incredible experience. Richard felt so important! The whole afternoon before the baptism, he was praciticing the prayer over and over again. Anyways, it was a super spiritual baptism. My testimony of the atonement has grown so much. It is incredible to see a rough man like Rocky be made completely clean through the atonement of Christ. After his baptism and his confirmation yesterday, he was just beaming. He and Richard also got the priesthood yesterday. Jose Martin was able to ordain one of them yesterday. That was so awesome! But the atonement really is so incredible! I love being able to see people like Richard, Monica, and Rocky totally turn their lives around. 

We have been working with maria del Carmen this week. We have been visiting her with a lot of members and she has been making great progress. We committed her to go to church this week, but she couldn`t come and she had smoked a lot the day before. So that was kind of disappointing. But we are going to try having a lesson in the church with her to see if that helps. 

We are also working with David and Dahiana. Last night, we had a family night with them. David has changed so much and is now  reading the book of Mormon. He is still looking for work and says that once he finds work then they will start thinking about getting married and set a date. We are excited about the progress that they are making.   

Anyways, that is our week in a nut shell. It has been quite the week filled with many humbling experiences. It is interesting how humbling missionary work is. It really is the work of the Lord. It is a unique experience where you are placed face to face with all of your weaknesses. I often have many feelings of inadequacy. I have so much still to learn and become. I am just so grateful for the atonement and that the Lord makes up for our weaknesses and that despite all of the weaknesses I have, the  Lord is allowing me to have these experiences. This is the Lord`s work and I love it!!!! I never want this time to end. Time is going by so fast! 

I am so grateful for each one of you and your prayers and support. This is the Lord`s church and His work! Enjoy conference! I love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

-Hermana Cox :)

Spring is in the AIR...

Hello Loves!

How are you all!?! I am so happy to announce that yesterday was the first day of SPRING here in Uruguay! How happy is that? Its so fun to see the beautiful flowers and the green coming back. It is probably super weird for you all that it is now spring when fall just began at home. 

I will start my letter this week by saying I honestly dont know how we got through this week. I have never lived such a busy, crazy life as I have now. I have never felt so tired. That is the honest truth. We had a fabulous week and Heavenly Father really helped us. 

Hermana Cox and I had our hermanas conference this Saturday! It was so excellent! The theme of the Conference was 3 Nefi 5:13. We prepared and prayed all week that the Spirit would be present. All of our Hermanas travled from 33 and Melo to come...14 of us. We spoke on our pre earth life and the things we did to prepare to be missionaries and the people waiting for us. We showed different videos and then the videos of when the hermanas received their mission calls. It was amazing. Everyone participated and the spirit was so strong. so strong. There was not a dry eye. Then we decided to turn it around...we had talked all about what it is like to be a missionary, but we invited a few of our converts from Melo, Rosaura and Karen to share their conversion story. We changed the perspective. Their testimonies were so powerful. As missionaries, we change generations and generations. Posterity is being changed. Its really remarkable. If we had never decided to serve a mission, these people would have never found the gospel. I am grateful that every one of us listened to those quiet promptings of the spirit to serve a mission. Afterwards, we had a luncheon and ate tacos with all of the hermanas. It was a hit! We know that each one of our hermanas left with a greater desire to work more urgently and diligently. Hay personas esperandolas! I sure love these sisters and I am thankful that they love us too!

A big shout out goes to all of my dedicated young womens leaders! Thank you! Putting together conferences and activities is not an easy task...thank you!

It was also Hermana Coxs birthday this week...the big 2.3.! We had such a good day and I hope she enjoyed it! I am sure thankful that she was born. She is one of my bestest friends. Our sweet converts thru a birthday bash for her too. Uruguayos are the best!

It is super interesting Heavenly Fathers plan. He prepares people in very interesting ways. I sent a picture of one our awesome investigator Rocky. He is excellent. He was in a motorcycle accident in June and broke his neck. He is 55 and is quitting smoking. What will power he has. He usually smokes 20 cigarettes a day, but he is down to 1 a day and this week 0! We were teaching him about the restauracion that other day and we were inviting him to pray to Heavenly Father to know the truth. He then told us that he already knew it was true! "How?" we asked. He told us he knows its true because he can just feel it. We have invited a lot of our converts to participate in the lessons with him. Their testimonies and changes are so powerful and evident. We are so thankful that heavenly father placed rocky in our path. His baptism isthis Saturday along with Monica and Richard! 

Just a minute ago, Hermana Cox and I were sitting on a bench outside soaking in the beautiful sun, reviewing the intercambio that we had this week with some of our hermanas when a man approached us. I could understand a little bit of what he was saying, but it wasnt super clear. He was talking in portugese! We were totally carrying on a conversation with someone speaking portugese to us! How amazing is that. We always find brazilians here in Melo. In fact, in about one hour, we are heading to the border of Uruguay and Brazil. I will learn some words in porguese for you and then teach them to you! ;)

I am thankful everyday to be a missionary. This work is perfect and I am especially thankful to know that our kind and loving heavenly father is in charge. Just like what we taught in our conference, thank you for being the chosen and elect ones to come in this specific time. I love you my family and friends. You mean the world to me.

¡Les Amo!

Hermana Coon

p.s. Mom! I sent you a picture of us with hermana flores! Do you remember we were together in Progreso? She is coming home from her mission in October and has family in Arizona that she is going to visit! She is going to come visit you! She wants to meet my family so bad! So look out for the hermana flores! :) how exciting!!! Love you all!

Our Hermana Cox luncheon

 Our Hermana Cox conference!

 Rocky, our awesome investigator

  Hermana Cox birthday party!

Hermana Cox's letter to her family

Hey family!!!!

How are all of you? Thank you for the wonderful letters and pictures. It looks like the temple celebration was incredible!!! Thank you for everything. Sorry this letter might be a little bit cut short because we are wanting to take advantage of being so close to Brazil and go to Acegua. We are planning to take the 11:30 bus so we are going to have to do this really fast! But yeah, I am hoping to go to the Brazil border today and visit all of the free shops there. We have never been so this will be quite the adventure. 

Anyways, how are all of you? This week has been wonderful and crazy once again. Time is literally flying! I had a wonderful birthday! On Tuesday, Hermana Coon made me a really nice card with pictures of us together. We had lunch with the familia Rodriguez. Francisca and lucia the parents, are both returned missionaries. And they have two girls Ylen and Ysleg. They gave all 6 of us lunch together. We ate a bunch of finger food and then of course they gave us cake! It was really fun. And then that night we had a party at Mabel and Nilo`s house (they are recent converts) and the familia de los Santos came and Rosaura and her husband as well. It was a fun party because we celebrated Mabel`s daughter`s (Veronica`s) birthday as well. Her birthday was the day before mine. It was super fun. Mabel made a giant cake for all of us. it was a fun day and we are still enjoying all of the goodies from the packages you sent. So THANK YOU!!!! 

On Wednesday, we did an intercambio with Hermana Herrera (other Hermana Herrera) and Hermana Louder. Hermana Louder came and worked with me in our area. She is from Orem and Hermanan Rodriguez was her trainer too. She is an incredible missionary! We had an excellent day and found many miracles. 

This week was also so crazy because we organized and had our hermanas conference with all of the hermanas from Melo and 33. We were kind of stressed the whole week having to plan everything and not having time to plan and everything. But it turned out so well! I know that the Lord really helped us cause we really don`t have any free time to plan. But we had it here in the church in Gianola. And we focused the theme on 3 Nephi 5:13. We talked about how we have been prepared long before coming here to serve a mission here in Uruguay at this time. We shared dyc 138:55-56. And the bishop let us use his computer and President Diogo let us use his projector. So, we showed clips from President Monson`s announcement of the age change and Elder Rasband`s talk about the divine call of a missionary. We also showed a few of the Hermanas opening their mission calls. Other hermanas shared their testimonies and we talked about how there are still people waiting for us and that we really have a purpose here. We asked a couple of converts from our ward from past missionaries to share their experiences and how the gospel has blessed their lives. It was such a great conference! The Hermanas in the zone are so amazing! We made some bookmarks for them with the Uruguay flag on it, with the scriputre theme and a little note from us on the back. At the end, we all recited Dyc 4 together. It was so spiritual. I think all of us at least at one point were all crying. We had a little lunch afterwards. We had tacos! Hermana zelaya and Hermana Leiva are angels and made all of the meat and tortillas. And we had lots of vegetables!!! :) It was a really fun morning. 

Later that day on Saturday, our ward had another rescue activity and we did splits with the members to go and visit some less actives. I think it was a great success because there were members that came to church yesterday that we hadn`t seen at church for a long time. The members here are awesome! And we are trying to work harder with the members. 

I think last week I told you guys about our investigator Rocky. Well he is awesome!!!! He is progressing really well and he went to church yesterday!!! And he has a baptismal date set for this coming Saturday! He is so cute and so funny! He always randomly says "thank you" in English to us. He had a motorcycle accident in July and still has to wear his neck brace but man this guy is so sweet and so funny. This week we taught him about the word of wisdom and he went from one day smoking 1 box a day to only 1 or 2 cigarettes the next day! He is incredible! He really likes church. He and Andres sit together during sacrament meeting because they are neighbors and neither of them are super outgoing. haha Andres is doing so well by the way. He goes to church on Sunday every week on time without fail. He is so awesome! Anyways, yep we are really excited for Rocky`s baptism this Saturday. Richard is going to baptize him! :)

We are also helping one of Hermana Ots and Hermana Coon`s old investiagors. Hermana Coon felt that we should go back and visit one of their old investiagators. Her name is Maria del Carmen. She is 60 and smokes about 40 a day. Her daughter died about a year and a half ago. She really wants to change her life around and she went from 40 a day to 35 in two days so she is progressing really well. She wasn`t able to go to church on Sunday because her sister was sick in the hospital and she had to go help her. But, she is amazing and is also preping for baptism on the 11th of October. 

Thank you for all of your prayers! It has been a really great and crazy week! I am so grateful to be a missionary! I love every minute of every day. I am so grateful that despite my many weaknesses, the Lord is allowing me to have these experiences and see His hand in the lives of others. I love this work and I know that this is His work! I love you all so much! And hope you all have a wonderful week! Happy birhtday tomorrow Romney!!!!!! And good luck on your drum competition!!!!! I wish you the best of luck. You will do great!!!! I will be thinking of you! I love you all! I am sending lots of hugs and kisses to all of you! have a wonderful week!!! 

-hermana Cox :)