Happy 21st Birthday to Me!

Well, on my birthday, I wanted to make a list of 21 things I am grateful for!

1) I am Grateful to know we have a Saviour who loves each of us individually and knows each of us by name!
2) I am grateful for the plan of salvation for knowing that even if some of make mistakes God has a plan for ALL His children--that makes me so happy!
3) Temple covenants and sealings: the power to seal me to my family forever! I am so happy I get to be with all of you that I love for eternity
4) I am grateful for how living the Gospel and going to church keep families so strong and close together . . . even though sometimes they fall out, the feeling is still strong!
5) For the priesthood power! The same power that our Father used to create the Earth, to heal and counsel and to bless.
6) The blessing of tithing and how living this law can open the windows of heaven if we give willingly!
7) The Family Proclamation, and how it directs us in how we should raise and how to keep our families stable, given through revelation
8) The living prophets and apostles! They who lead this church are called and inspired of God, and I know it!
9) The gift of the Holy Ghost: how it can personally benefit us and others! To receive and share gifts that the Spirit gives us is wonderful!
10) The Atonement, which can cleanse even the vilest of sinners! It can pierce all darkness and cause within our heart a cleanliness that can surpass all understanding and all feeling! For its wonderful effect on body, heart, soul and mind . . . it's truly a blessing that I cannot believe or fully understand, but can partake of weekly (even daily) as I counsel with my Father in Heaven.
11) The Word of Wisdom to keep us healthy, clean, and pure! To keep our bodies, which are temples, sacred and clean
12) The Book of Mormon, for how it changes people's hearts, and helps them to feel of the Saviour's love for each of us personally! For how many (who have been martyred because they would not deny the truth) bear witness of its truth and divinity. I love this book, and hold it dear to my heart
13) Home teaching, which has taught me so much and has helped me realize how important a good home teacher can be. For the opportunity to see God's children return to his fold by love unfeigned, and recognizing that someone really cares about them
14) The Scouting Program, which taught me leadership skills and responsibilities that have help me and also many others I have seen! I am grateful for the programs and the blessings that come from the youth
15) Baptism: to be able to understand how important baptism is and the proper way to baptize
16) For Prayer: understanding how to pray, and how our prayers truly show our love for our Saviour, and God our Father! The blessings I have seen as I have prayed, and also as I been the recipient of so many prayers in my behalf has changed my life!
17) True friends, like Josh Kunde and Travis Empey and Joel Guthrie and James Steffler and Corey Powell . . . all those who have been such wonderful examples to me and who have encouraged me daily! I am so grateful the friendship and that trust that can be built when we are all striving to be like our all powerful Master
18) For Bishops and Stake Presidents, for how they truly know and can discern the feelings and thoughts of our hearts and minds. I am grateful for their guidance and counsel--it blesses me so much to know that someone really does care. To have someone to look to and who can counsel with the Lord makes repentance so much more meaningful and also a blessing.
19) For my brother and my sisters! They all have taught me. Sometimes I can be a terror and someone that they wanted to hit, someone who complained all the time and someone who made mistakes many times and continued to but they put up with me. My brother Everett, who I love dearly for the great example he has been to me throughout my whole life. He helped me endure trials and really trained me how to be a leader and how to do a job right. And for my wonderful sisters: I am so blessed that my Father in Heaven would bless me with 6 beautiful and wonderful sisters who mean the world to me! My sisters are the best big sisters on earth and they are a blessing from God. I love you all dearly!
20) For my Mother, the sacrifice and the heartaches I have seen her endure: 6 girl teenagers and 2 smelly boys would drive anyone crazy, but my mother had the patience, endurance, faith, and desire like no one I have ever met! My mother is the best mum on earth and I am grateful God allowed me to be born to such a wonderful and beautiful mum! She has stuck by my side through through all my dilemmas as they came. She was always there when I had no one else to turn to, and she would hold me and call me her baby even to the day I left her hands and came on a mission. After that last hug, it felt like a lifetime had separated us, as I stepped through that security check and was looking through the glass! My mum is the best because she is full of love, kindness, tenderness, and gentleness! She has all the Christlike attributes, and charity (hands down) has been her defining trait since the day I was born! I love you, MUM!
21) For my Father whom I love dearly, who has always showed me how hard work and persistence really pay off! My Dad is one who does not get down . . . or when he does get down, he does it on his knees. He always asks God to help him, and showed me that obedience to God's commandments is truly what sets us free! The only time I can recall my dad crying is when he and my mother would weep for me and my brother and my sisters: that is TRUE LOVE, that is a True Father! I am grateful that my Heavenly Father would give me an earthly Father who (in my opinion) resembles my Heavenly Father. I love him dearly, and I can't wait to see him again. I feel so weak without my Father's hand to lift me up, to help me when I need help, and to counsel with me on the most important subjects.
God loves us, and he sent me to my family for a reason: I know this is true and I want you all to know I love you dearly.

I have a strong testimony and now that I am 21 I feel like I am a little older and a little wiser, but still the kid at heart that I was 2 years ago! Things have changed--my attitude and outlook has changed, but I am still the same brother and still the same nephew, cousin, uncle and friend that I was 2 years ago (hopefully a little wiser and a little more in tune).

God loves each of you and I do as well! Thank you for all you do, in the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN!

The Day of the Seekers

Wow, what a week! What a joy, a happiness, a fire within all the missionaries! This week we were blessed in our area to take 2 of God's children down into the waters of baptism! It was wonderful, and I loved it!


Elie Wong from Malaysia and Adrian Poponete from Romania! Adrian has read more than half of The Book of Mormon in about 2 weeks! And Elie, bless her, has read loads in English and has (in the short 3 weeks we had with her) found out that God answers prayers and that God cares about all of His children!


I feel so blessed to have been able to serve here in the Reading Zone--we have truly been blessed from on high. I can't explain the feeling, the change, the power that has come. I really am learning so much! Elder Gardner and I can feel the spirit of love and unity as we teach. This last week, we taught a girl named Ana, and we said a prayer with her and talked and extended a date for the 5th of February. She lives in Reading area, but she accepted! We talked to her on Sunday and she wants us to baptize her, and the other missionaries to give talks--we are both so excited!

I feel it took so long for me to begin to understand missionary work, but I feel it is just by sincere love, sharing what you know is completely true, and also by diligently focusing on each child as a child of God (and remembering to always keep a smile on your face). These things have blessed my life, and I know they can bless each of our lives as we seek for help to share the Gospel.


The Day of the Seekers has come! People want to know about God, because people are struggling. It's a new year and people are sincerely seeking for truth. At the baptism, we had a lady come with one of the members--her name is Andrea and she was so sweet. We invited her to church, and she came--it was wonderful. We are seeing her tonight for a family home evening with a member and I can't wait!


I am so happy right now and I can't even explain it! Like I said, I feel so close to my Saviour and I really do love Him! I feel like trials are bombarding, but I am using all my skills to battle them. Satan is real as we learn from Joseph's experience: when things are going the best, that's when the MOST opposition will come.


People are sincerely seeking--you and I can reach out and lift those people who stand in need! This is my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.


Love you all,
ELDER COON

New Companion!

Moves has come and gone, and the sense and the feeling of the missionary work is really settling in! I'm becoming a missionary. It's funny--it takes two years to become a missionary but somewhere and some point you realize your divine importance, you catch a glow/blaze/fire that was not there before. You feel old in the mission--your bones get a little achy, and you can see age in your face from day 1 to the end. Really, a few weeks and I'll be home: WOW!

We received moves calls, and Elder Peay got called to be an AP! Now I have to take over an area again, and I also am training the new Zone Leader who was a district leader, so I know the Lord calls us in our weakness! But, that's when we are pliable and able to bear the load and increase and expand our knowledge.

Last night, I had the opportunity to work with my new companion. He interviewed our investigator for a baptismal date for this weekend, and Adrian passed! Ellie has her interview on Thursday (tomorrow), and I'm looking forward to that! I can't wait to see how things pan out--I can't believe how much we are blessed!

Last night we went on exchanges in the Readings area. We extended a date on the first teach with a girl named Ana. We spoke a little Portuguese to her, and she opened up like never before! She accepted a date as we followed the promptings of the Spirit, and now she is preparing for the 5th of February!

We have 2 baptisms this Saturday and I can feel the work load just becoming a fruitful basket: a living well springing up into everlasting life, as the scriptures explain. As I read King Benjamin's words in Mosiah, and as I experience the feelings of complete loneliness and confusion with Mormon and Moroni . . . I know this church is true! I have felt the Lord work through me this week like never before--I feel a new power a new sense of awakening! I know that if i can share this Gospel with everyone I talk to that people will listen! The fear and doubts of talking to people have gone--it's natural now, and I can feel more a sense of fear and doubt when I don't speak up.

I love this Gospel. My new companion is going to be great, and a great Zone Leader as well! The Lord will qualify who he calls. I love when the question is asked "Unto what are ye ordained?" and Christ answers, "To become even As I AM."

I really know this church is true. I can't tell you enough how much I love you all and pray for you! I hope all of you receive the blessings you are looking for, and find the happiness you seek! I have a burning testimony of this church, I know its true! I have seen the Lord's hand in all my doings, and I know it is through obedience and through faith!

Your prayers, and your willingness to write and to keep in contact mean the world to me! I will do anything I can to bless your lives, and I know this church is true! I leave you these things in the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN!

LOVE,

ELDER COON

New Year and New Goals

A new year has come and it's going so fast already! Where to start? How 'bout with a bit of comedy?


We were contacting when Elder Peay said: "I have to pee," so we went ahead and traveled around the corner up the street to our flat to go use the toilet. We got in the elevator (now, when I get in an elevator I will usually push my companion, or I will jump, or you know--the little childish things you never grow tired of). This time, I went in and I hit the door and the elevator stopped! At this point, I'm laughing as my companion is flipping out cause he needs to use the toilet! I continue to laugh at him, and finally we hit the alarm button and call for maintenance to come--they told us it would be 1 1/2 hours. I laughed even more as my companion is getting furious, "Elder Coon, I have to pee so bad and I'm stuck for one hour or more in here--its not funny!" So I said, "OH YE OF LITTLE FAITH" Then he got upset and jumped and the elevator slowly went down and the door opened!


Now that, my friends, was a miracle. Faith was applied even though we were laughing and having a joke and he was mad. We came out only 15 minutes later!

Things have been great--the work is going forward, even though we're still having a hard time teaching people who speak no English whatsoever. The Lord I feel is closer than ever before. Even if I feel like a failure sometimes or feel bad, I feel closer to my Saviour then I ever have been before and I love it. I do not want to lose this feeling and I pray it does not leave as I prepare my return back to the HOLY LAND :).

I am thankful for all of your prayers. I am thankful for a Father in Heaven who loves me for who I am, and I am thankful for friends and family who do all they can to make me smile! Thanks again, and know that I love you all dearly!


"How sweet the joy this sentence gives: All is well, All is well!!!

Love,
Elder Coon

ELDER COON

Happy New Year!

It finally arrived! That time of the year when we get to speak to loved ones! It was crazy--by the time I got off the phone, I felt like I had been at home with everyone. The voices, the kids shouting, Chandler crying, and Everett getting choked up on the phone. The greatest of all was being able to share my testimony and thoughts with each of you individually, I really loved it.
As I approach these last few months, the urgency of the call comes with greater force. I feel as though time won't stand still. It's running and before I realize it, I will be home!
This last week, we had the opportunity to bring another great daughter of God to the fold. The snow cancelled her baptism on Saturday, so 2 days before Christmas we got to see her baptized, and on Sunday she asked me to confirm her. It's such a humbling experience to take part in these saving ordinances. I loved it, and indeed it was a white Christmas, not filled with snow but with the whiteness and cleanliness of baptism.
I will be home soon, and I will continue to share the Gospel! Mark my words, I will never end my missionary service!
I am so happy, and I thank you all for your love and support. You all mean the world to me, and I hope you realize that! I pray for all of you and wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Love,
ELDER ELI JACOB COON

PS- MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL THIS NEW YEAR

Christmas Week

Well, it's Christmas week! This last week, I felt like it was not Christmas. The days went on and the week went by and no snow? Finally, on Thursday morning, we woke up and studied, and I was with Elder Wright (the 6'7" AP) and it started to blizzard! In 10 minutes everything (which was covered with dirt and sludge and all sorts of disgusting things) was covered by a blanket of white! The dirt and sludge was all covered with this clear, clean, fresh look. It reminds me of the Saviour--He came to this earth full of sin, hate, and wickedness. But he descended below all things and He gave His life for us all. He gave us that clean white blanket: the ability to repent and be clean.

We can and will be cleansed this season if we turn to that God who gave us life. Outside my window, I see now that the earth again took its course--a little sunshine and grit thrown on the roads makes the most horrible brown scum on the earth. It's like sin was released after seconds of purity. In life we are imperfect, and we have continually repent. Satan rings his bells and calls all the demons out--all of them try to work there cunning and crafty plans from just billboards and music and activities on a Sunday. He is on the attack constantly and we must be ready. The whiteness I pray for this new year is that blanket of Repentance which allows all to enter into the rest of their Father in Heaven.

I know God loves us all, and I love you all! I have a very simple testimony and that is I know this church is true! I went to the temple this last week and I prayed as I sat in the celestial room. I feel so much peace as I enter into the temple and I know you all can. I prayed strongly for each one of my family members. I love you all so much--I pray all of you realize what a huge blessing this church is. I pray for each of you daily. I know that families can be sealed forever and for all eternity. I pray God blesses you and your families this Christmas. I feel so happy because during this time of year, people's hearts (which are hard and cold a lot of the time) focus on love! They feel the joy that comes from charity.

I really know God loves and answers prayers, as I have seen it countless times in my life. May the Lord bless each of you.

Love,
Elder Coon