YESTERDAY WE HAD A SURPRISE BAPTISM

Nothing is really new here. We are just going to work hard. Last week of work, so I need to make it count. I pray that I can make this week memorable. We will see what happens.

Yesterday we had a surprise baptism. His name is Alfredo. He is the brother of Raul, the first guy we baptized here in Coloso. It was my last baptism and one of the best baptismal services I´ve experienced. The Spirit was soo strong. I loved it.

Tell everyone that I love them and we´ll see each other soon.

Baptizing Five People this Saturday

All is going well over here in Acapulco. We are going to have a busy week. We are going to be baptizing five people this Saturday! It will be two couples and another guy. We are really excited for all of them. The work keeps going forward!

So will I be registering at home that day then, the 13 of June? Plus could you talk to someone to help me plan for what I will take. I am soo confused by all this. It´s a whole new system.

I love you Mom. I can´t wait to come home to a gluten free home. Quick note, what does that mean that we wont be eating?

Things are Going Amazing Here

-- Things keep going amazingly here. I´m loving it. We are preparing for another baptism this weekend. It´s for a little girl, Naomi. She comes from an incomplete, inactive family. We were going about a normal day when one of our investigators gave us a note with a name and number. She then explained that it´s from a person who wants us to come by and baptize her daughter. We don´t find people, they find us.
This past week I also went to a leadership conference. It was a great spiritual building experience. I want to do the best I possible can in life, to live up to my full potential. It´s interesting that after studying the doctrine of Christ things seem to just fall into place. Soo simple, but soo powerful and life changing.
It´s interesting to see that I only have five more weeks left. It doesn´t seem real. I don´t feel like I´m going to be ending soo soon. I´m excited to come home and nervous at the same time. I´m soo used to this life style now, I´ve kind of forgotten real life. I know everything will work out, but I´m still nervous. Oh well, I´ll cross that bridge when I get there.

We Are Going to Have So Much Fun!!!

So I found out that this will be my last area. We received changes yesterday and I´m staying and I´m with the same comp, Elder Olsen. We are going to have so much fun. Our goal for the month of May is eight baptisms. We are really excited for that and we can achieve it. All is good in the work, this week we wont baptize but the following week we will. We have a leadership training this week so I will be going to Cuernavaca for two days. That should be fun. I´ll get to see some friends for the last time. I have a feeling that this time will fly by. It always does. I don´t have my flight plans yet. I know that they made them and that I will leave the 13 of June, but the timing, I´m not sure. I probably wont get home till Wednesday night. When is Caity´s graduation, will I be able to make it?

I had an amazing experience last night. We were doing some weekly planning in our apartment when my comp and heard our neighbor yell my name, she´s a member. She asked if we could do her a favor. We said yes of course. One of our converts was over at her house with his brother; they are about the age of me and Caleb. The brother wasn´t a member and he wanted to listen to us. He commented how he had noticed a big change in his brother. We started teaching; we talked about how we are children of God and that He loves us, that we can talk to him through prayer. At the end of the lesson, of about ten mins, we invited him to pray. He prayed then started to cry, the Spirit was overwhelming. Our convert went over and gave his brother a hug. Then his brother asked what he needed to do to be baptized, he now is working toward May 19 to be baptized. I love this! There is no greater joy in the whole wide world.

We Do Not Doubt, for Our Mothers Knew it

 It´s soo true what you said about Christ. It reminded me of what our mission president always teaches us; that each and everyone of us should have a personal experience with Christ through His Atonement, teachings, or whatever it may be. I have done that on my mission and it has made the biggest difference in my testimony. If you haven´t read Jesus the Christ, amazing book.
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> Everything is good here we baptized again this week. I don´t remember if I told you this in my letter. But his name is Juan Gomez. He has the biggest desire to serve God that I have ever seen in any person! We had a small short program, but the Spirit was soo strong; I loved it!
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> We are going to be focusing a lot this week in finding more people to teach, people that can be baptized soon. Because my time is winding down. It´s soo hard to believe that has gone by soo fast. I don´t have any regrets so that´s been the best for me.
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> If you do me a favor, that in this next month you could keep your eyes out for full time work during the summer for me. Thanks Mom.
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> I love you Mom. You have been the greatest example to me. Like it says in the scriptures "We do not doubt, for our mothers knew it."
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> Love you Mom!
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> Elder Cameron Coon

ALL IS GOOD IN MEXICO

 All is good in Mexico. We baptized this last week and completed a family. That was amazing! We are also going to  be baptizing another person this Sunday. He has been so prepared to get baptized! He came from California, only based on the feeling that there is something here for him. He has been looking for the truth, just hasn´t been able to find it. He actually contacted us and from the beginning has wanted to be baptized. It will be for this Sunday at 5p.m.
As for the sleeping arrangements you would be surprised what someone could used to doing. I´ll just be that more grateful for my own when I get home. 
Senioritices, I remember those good ol days. When I was a senior about three years ago. Time really flies by sometimes. That´s weird to think that Caity and I will be going to school together. Question is the truck still in good condition or will I need to buy a new car or something?
I had interviews with President Spannaus today. He basically told to work hard and enjoy these last two months of my mission. I have accepted the fact that I will be home in two months. Oh well, had to get over that hurtle. Things are good though, I can talk about home and still be focused, it hasn´t bee that big of a deal for me.

We baptized again this week.

So it looks like you all had your fun. Love that sunshine, I do to. Next time Grandma has a mariachi, I will sing in it for her. I think I could do that. So what was the best part of the trip or the party?

Everything is good here. We baptized again this week. She is part of an incomplete family and she has a really strong testimony. It´s interesting to see that the week of baptism things seem to fall apart, but she did what few people do and that was overcome her difficulties. Now she has a strong testimony and is ready to keep moving forward. I love this church.

As for earthquakes, I´m beginning to believe that they are all rumors, because I haven´t felt a single one of them. But we are getting our 72 hr kit ready, just to be prepared. I´m such a good eagle scout.

Lets see what is there to report on...... i really can´t think of anything else. I´m just trying to do all that I can to get the most out of these last two months that are going to fly by. Time always does when you´re having fun. My comp and I are good, the ward loves us and is working hard with us, we´re baptizing, it´s the best thing that could happen to a missionary. I think what I need to do better is recognize more of the blessing that are going on so I can tell more of them to you guys. I´ll work on that.

General Conference was a Blast

This past General Conference was a blast. I love General Conference as a missionary, it seems you really start to understand everything. It´s fun listening to things and picking out the big meaning behind the talks or being able to see clearly the message they want to convey. It´s also nice because it´s good break time. It was also cool hearing that my mission president will now be an area authority. We all knew it was going to happen.

We baptized again this week. It was a mother and her son. Women and children are always more receptive to the spirit. We have been working hard. I did splits with one companionship to see how they are doing and have my comp help them get more investigators, he´s really good at that. So with the sister who was baptized, we had a lesson with her on wednesday and she told us she didn´t want to be baptized. We didn´t know why. We started talking, trying to figure out her doubt, and after an hour we found out why. She was afraid she would have to give up dancing. We when found out we only smiled and told her you can still dance, there is nothing wrong with that. There are some many religions here with such strict rules some people are really lost. She was one of them. But that was all cleared up and she was baptized. Love those moments.

This week my comp and I are going to Cuernavaca for a special leadership councel with all the district and zone leaders. This is the first times that I´ve heard of one of these here. So we will see how this will go.



Love your son,

Elder Cameron Coon

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY

So as for finding my comp`s back pack. What we did was right after church we went to a busy intersection with paper saying missing backpack and reward. The funny part was that know one could understand the letters or even see the message. My comp was asking everyone about it or every taxi drivers, over 20. It`s like New York with taxis. Then about half an hour later this kid in a taxi calls me over I head over and in the passenger seat is the driver of the other car, he didn`t want us to see his taxi number. I got the backpack, gave it to my comp, he gave the guy 200 pesos, like 18 dollars. and the only thing that he was missing was deck of cards, and usb converter. But he got all his scriptures back, his camera and his three 4g memory cards. He was very lucky. We use the cards to do magic, to help us teach.
Everything went well this week. We baptized another couple. As you can see in the pictures. They were references from members and they are really strong, the people we baptized. We are really excited for them. They are a tender mercy from the Lord. We didn`t have to do anything get them baptized. They were ready. I love being a missionary.
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THE LORD IS TRULY BLESSING US HERE

This last week was a good week. We had a lot of baptismal interviews, so that means our district is baptizing. We are excited about that. We are just trying to keep it that way. My comp and I are getting along great. We really don´t have any problems. Sure we may but heads a little, but that happens with everyone. But we actually have a lot in common; even the our first names.
> We are still trying to gain more of the confidence of the members. That will come over time. We have been doing Family Home Evenings, every night; and I never thought I would say this, but I´m tired of eating. They give us soo much food here! It´s nuts! I might come home fatter. I hope not.
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> The Lord is truly blessing us here. This past Sunday we had 6 people attend church. Some of them we haven´t even taught yet, people just show up. It´s amazing! We have a few baptisms planned for the end of March and we are trying to make some other things happen. We need to get some good lessons in and things will go better. Most of the time we can´t share somethingin depth because we don´t have enough time or people come in and interrupt us. So we are working on this.
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I HAVE AN AMAZING WARD

All is going well here in Acapulco. I have an amazing ward. I have never seen a ward so interested in missionary work. They are always talking about it and are involved in it. How is the home ward doing with missionary work is it big, or just so so?

So It looks like Caity will be going to school before me. I wont be going till January. At least I´m pretty sure of that. If I remember right I have to go full time on my full track before I can switch to fast track and go year round. But she will have fun, good time for her to grow alone and see what she is made of. I say that in a good way, I think that came out right.

I´m doing good Mom, thanks for asking. We are working hard. We are still trying to get to know the area and the members a little bit better. We just need to turn it on and get as much done as we can. We both have lots of experience as missionaries so we could get a lot done. So we are excited to see what we can do.

We had Zone Conference this past Thursday. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how to use is better, being a more diligent missionary, how to work with members, and we studied an Elder Bednar"s talk that he gave in the MTC, about how we can become Preach My Gospel missionaries. If you haven´tread Preach My Gospel, Mom, I would highly recommend it.

 

Elder Cameron Coon

The Ward is Amazing

So I´m not doing so much camping now. Things are a lot better. We spent about three days cleaning our apartment. It was that dirty, but with a broom, water, and Clorox, all is possible. When I get the pictures from my comp I´ll send you the before and after pictures. You´ll love them.

The ward is amazing. I´ve never had people welcome us like this ward does. We get to church and one sister gives us milk and donates money, then two other sisters gave us two sandwiches to eat. We were just blown away. I couldn´t believe it! Then this ward gives so many references, it´s amazing! Those always work better. Knocking doors makes fun experiences, but member references get baptized. I would highly recommend giving references to the missionaries in the ward. This week we're going to try and visit as many members as we can to get to know everyone and show them that we are hard working, spiritual missionaries.

Me and my comp are doing great. He is actually taller than me too. He has 18 months in the mission and I have 20. We are way excited to be working together. We also knew each other in Igaula. So we already knew who each other was. We are also district leaders together for the same district. I never had that happen before.

As you can tell we went to the beach and we played volleyball with a bunch of other missionaries. I got way sunburned, but a small sacrifice to play on the Acapulco beach.

IM BACK IN ACAPULCO

I got Transfered, I`m back in Acapulco! This time I`m not near the beach, I`m actualy pretty far from it. My comp and I both got to the area at the same time. So we are trying to figure everything out. My new comp is Elder Olsen, he`s from Nevada. He has two months less than me. So this is interesting. Two elders with lots of experience or so we like to think.

The area were I`m at is called Coloso. I`m excited to see how everything will work out.

My last week in Chilpancingo was good. Not a whole lot happened, because there was a giant parade, so everyone was focused in that. When it was the day of the parade, we hardly found anyone to teach. But there was one cool thing that happened, when we came down from the hill to see the parade or to try to get to the other side, to get to the branch activity, we found an old investigator. We hadn`t visited him for over a month, then he found us. He told us he wanted to talk again. That everything was going better. It sounded like everything was going to work out for his baptism.

The one picture is of me with cake on my face. Before I left, the family that you also see, had a cake for me. There is a tradition here that if it`s your cake, you have to take a bite of it, and normaly shove your face in it. So I went for the bite and they all shove my face in it. I took out about half the cake. I cake all over my face and all up my nose. It was a fun farewall.

Also the branch president, President Olguin wanted me to tell you thank you for him. Something about your raising an excelent missioary who helped him a lot. He expresses his deepest amounts of gratitude.

I can`t think of a whole lot right now. I just have going through my mind how I`m going to make these next few days work. Lets just say that were we are living at has greatly humbled me. So we will see how things turn out. I am all right, don`t worry too much about that. I have been through way worse. I like to think of it as camping. You will see in next weeks pictures.

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I Am Doing Great!

I am doing great! I love my area. It´s a little tougher but I wouldn´t have it any other way. Our baptism fell through. What happened is this. She is 20 years old, she still lives with her family and her family is very Catholic. When her dad found out about the baptism, he wasn´t happy at all. He told that if she was to get baptized she would have to move out and forget that she ever had parents. So she didn´t get baptized. We are going to hold off on that. The good part is that if she can get through, she will become a really strong member in the church. That´s a problem here, people get baptized, but they don´t have a strong testimony. So when problems come up they stop coming to church. We have seen that a lot in our area.
With a new month coming up though, we are excited to see what is going to happen. I pray that I will still be here. But I really don´t know. This next week we will find out the transfers. I may be going or staying. It´s weird to think I have only three transfers left and then I´m on my way home. I feel like I just started and that I still have a lot to learn.
I know that I said that I don´t want to talk about home, but I do have a question about that. Are you coming to get me or am I going to be coming home alone? The Secretaries will be asking me that here soon. I need an answer if you can by this next week. Everything is good with my comp. He is helping me a lot become a strong teacher in the lessons. I guess the best way to explain it is to stay focused and make sure we get things done.
The branch keeps going. Sometimes I don´t know how sometimes, but it does. We have such few members sometimes. Last Sunday there wasn´t any priesthood holders, except for me, my comp, and the branch pres. My comp was playing the piano, I broke the bread. Then he came over to help me bless it, then we passed the sacrament to everyone, me and him. Never had that happen before. You learn a lot of things on the mission. I think if that happened to me when I started I would have freaked out. But now I´m the experienced, all knowing, 20 months missionary. I know it all. That´s me trying to be funny if you couldn´t pick up on that. I´m going to be ready though to work in church organization when I get back though. I have studied that so much to make sure we are doing things right. I love my area.
I´m studying as much as I can and trying to always become a better missionary. Time is coming down and it seems more real everyday.

We Have a Baptism this Week

So what happened to Caleb, had some problem with his diabetes? I´ll be praying for him. That crazy kid.
Don´t worry, I haven´t been chased out by anyone again. That was a crazy mission experience.
All is going good right now. Elder Smith are going to be working really hard this week to try and find more people to teach. We need to find more people that have been prepared by God. We are finding people, but some we lose as fast as we find them. We are really going to focus as well in getting people to church. That´s another problem that we have been having. No one wants to go to church. But I think that´s were ever you are serving. So we are going to be working on that.
We also have a baptism this week. Her name is Ariadna. She has come to English classes before, that´s how we found her. We started teaching her and since the beginning she has been progressing on her own; it´s amazing to see. We are to have her services this Sat.
Tell everyone I love them for me.
I love you Mom. Thank you for everything.
Love your son,
Elder Cameron Coon

Cameron turns 21 on January 4th

Thank you for the Happy Birthday. I am excited to see what this year holds for me. My time is limited now. It´s more real now that I won't be a missionary Forever. When I started that´s what I thought. But it´s not true. Dang it. Oh well. I´ll just have to work even harder now. I don´t want to have any regrets. I want to give it all I have.

Things have been moving kind of slow for us. We have been having trouble getting baptisms. We are teaching but we aren´t finding the people who have been prepared in the process. We are doing a lot of sowing and not enough reaping. I know I shouldn´t complain about that, but I want to baptize more people!

Everything is good with my comp. It was a little rough at first, getting in tune with one another sometimes takes a little bit of time. But we are way good now. Elder Smith is teaching me a lot. When he teaches he is really clear and direct. Something I still need to improve on.

New Years was fun we visited about three families. I ate so much. For about the second half of the day I ate. Just eating, walking a little, then eating more with another family. Soo much Food. We had alot of fun.

 
I love you Mom. Thank you for everything. I could never have asked for a better mother than you. Thanks Mom.

Love your son,