A White Christmas

Pretty much, these past two weeks have been amazing. Arizona rocks. Last Saturday we had Randy&Brandi, and Nancy and Amber's baptisms. That was way cool. Elder Aicher got to come down for that one. It was fun seein him again. Then this past Saturday we got to baptize Keith and Crystal, Angel, Catelyn, Heaven, and Bubba. It rocked. Heavenly Father answers prayers. This Saturday we'll baptize Jared & Doris which I'm way excited for and also Sam's new wife Patricia. This stake is fantastic.
On Christmas morning we got together as a Zone and played Dodgeball and that was a blast. Pretty much I can't wait for New Years morning to be able to play again. I was very sore the next day but it was totally worth it. Elder Poole and I dominated everyone. I accidentally nailed Elder Dalton in the face and I'm not sure if he's forgiven me for that yet... I guess we'll find out Thursday morning.
The Nielsons really went above and beyond for us on Christmas morning, it was way cool. They woke up at 6:30 with us and watched us open our presents and they gave us each new ties and loads of candy and she made us each like a pound of fudge, it's awesome. We're spoiled out of our minds. Thank you very much to everyone who sent me stuff. It was a great Christmas. I hope all yall had a good Christmas too.
We get to go to the temple tomorrow morning with President and Sister Bassett. Pretty excited about that. Then we get to sing tomorrow night at the Christmas Lights. That'll be quality entertainment.
We've been teaching this guy named Bryan the past week and it's been awesome so far. Then yesterday morning we were talking about tithing and we just mentioned how no one in the Church is paid and that it's all volunteer service and it just blew him away. He couldn't believe it. In his own words, 'That's incredible! One of the largest, most successful organizations on the PLANET, and NO ONE is paid? That is of God! That is Christ! That sealed the deal. That's it. I'm gonna be Mormon. I'm Mormon.' It was hilarious. Then we saw him again today and he still couldn't get over it and he says he called 10 people last night to tell them about it. He rocks. I wish everyone would react like that when we taught tithing.
Anyways, things are going amazing overall. We're having a blast and changing the world while we're doing it. I really hope everyone is having as much fun as I am. Being a missionary is amazing.
Have a Happy New Year
-Elder Coffman

Mesa Temple Lights

GET TO STAY IN MARICOPA!!That is the greatest Christmas present I could ask for. I really wanted to stay here. Bad. So me and Elder Dalton will stick around until the end of January. But it gets better. Our district leader, Elder Oakey, is gonna be with Elder Plaine as our Zone Leaders which means they'll be in our Stake. Really excited about that. But it gets better. My MTC companion, Elder Poole, is coming in to the Zone and is gonna be the other District Leader. So we get to rock the house together. Elders Silski and Moa are both staying. Elder Kelly, one of my MTC roommates is coming into the Zone as well as a Sister we came out with, Sister Farr. Pretty much, this is gonna be the greatest transfer ever. Because it gets even better.The only two things I wanted for Christmas was to stay in this area and have a family of 5 to baptize. And it's looking like that's gonna happen. There's no father in the picture, but hey, you can't be too picky when you have a prayer answered. Crystal is the mom and she's set for December 27th along with her oldest daughter Angel(16). Caitlyn(14) definitely knows it's true and loves it and loves meeting with us but says she needs to think about it. Heaven(10) and Bubba(8) I'm sure will follow their mom. So I'm super excited about that. They are awesome. We get to teach them again tonight at 5:00.John, Ray, and Rebecca got baptized Saturday. It was a big deal for all of them. John and Ray have both made huge changes and have had a lot of struggles to be able to make it. But they both finally got over them and got to be baptized on the same day. So that was way cool. It was really neat to be able to work with them and see this happen. Randy and Brandi got married Saturday and they're both set to be baptized on the 20th. Along with Keith, Amber, and hopefully Nancy. So amazing things are happening. I love this area.I love being a missionary.
Hope all yall have a Merry Christmas!

Small world...

So, it's been a fun week. The Christmas Lights started down at the temple. They're a pretty big deal. Our zone got chosen to be there on Opening Night so that was a lot of fun. It's crazy how small the world is though - I met a couple there that he had served in Elkins West Virginia, and she was from Houston Texas. So I thought that was really neat. I also met one of the Nielsons sons at Thanksgiving and he lived in Lake Charles for two years, so he knew Jack Montou and Bishop Baxter and lots of other people. He also served in the Birmingham Alabama mission. I thought was really crazy. So yeah I've met lots of different people with different connections to me and my family. It's been a lot of fun.
Transfers are next week and it's pretty much completely up in the air on if I'm going or staying. I've been here 6 months now and that's the average time to be in an area, but I've also only been with Elder Dalton for one transfer and President doesn't like to rip people away from their dad's so soon. So we'll find out Saturday night.
Kort got baptized Friday night. That was awesome. He is the greatest investigator we've worked with. He's amazing. Pretty much, give him less than two years, and he'll be bishop. Seriously. This guy is intense.
Things are still goin amazing here. Maricopa Stake is awesome.Hope all yall have a Merry Christmas!
-Elder Coffman

bountiful

So this week was pretty much fantastic. On Friday we got 15 referrals on the phone. 15! They just kept coming, one after the other. It was crazy.

Kelly got baptized on Saturday and it was way cool. Then Sunday was awesome. Kelly got confirmed, (received the Holy Ghost). Anthony got to bless the sacrament and the Goforths were there. It was way cool.
Great things are happening in our area and it's already looking possible to split the area again. It only took less than two weeks and we're already back on overload. It rocks. This place is amazing.
Arizona is the greatest.
Hope all yall have a great Thanksgiving.
love,-Elder Coffman

everyday people

Pretty much, being a missionary rocks. Definitely never had more fun in my life.

We had a lady yell at us on the street and accuse us of acosting her. It was really hard to not laugh. We met a gay guy who held the Melchezidek Priesthood and told us he couldn't come to church because he's writing a book. We talked to two guys who were determined that FEMA is going to kill 90% of the population. Two people ran into oncoming traffic to get away from us. One guy was trying to convince Elder Dalton that we were married to 14 year old girls. Another guy tried to hide behind a bus stop and when we talked to him anyway he ran away. One guy started crying when we said hi to him. A kid told me he worshipped satan but he didn't believe in God. I told him that was contradictory and he pushed over a trashcan. There's definitely always plenty of laughs every day. We never run out of those.
So yeah, it is fantastic to be in Mesa Arizona. It is a whole lot more interesting than you would ever think.
-Elder Coffman

So there was a lot of confusion for a day but we got everything worked out and settled. We spent one night with the Giles, but now me and Elder Dalton are back in the Nielsons covering the exact opposite of what we thought. But it's a good thing though, cause now Elder Moa and Elder Silski have tons of work and they're gonna have a lot of baptisms the next few weeks. It is a lot of fun working with them. Things are awesome. Elder Dalton is from Southern California.
Pretty much, the district I came out with from the MTC is owning everyone. Seriously, we are rocking the house. Elder Miner is senior companion, Elder Gomez is District Leader, Elder Silski is pretty much training, and Elder Stewart and Elder Poole are both training AND District Leaders. So we kinda run things around here. It is awesome.
Paul and Anthony both got baptized Saturday. It was really cool. The Area Seventy for the Southwest U.S. was there. That was pretty neat. He lives two houses down from Elders Moa and Silski.
But yeah, Daniel and Francis are both getting baptized this Saturday. And next Saturday Marissa, Tony, Daniel, Kelly, Amber, and Joey will all be baptized too.
So yeah, things are goin fantastic.

Nov. 3

Well, I guess President Bassett thinks I need to be humbled again. I get to train another missionary. Which means Elder Moa is gonna have a brother! How exciting. And what's more exciting is that Elder Silski is coming to this area! I am pumped about that. I don't know if I mentioned him much, but he was in my district in the MTC and he's awesome. He likes baseball so we pretty much clicked from the get-go. He's hilarious too. So I'm excited that him and Elder Moa will be together.
I'm gonna be moving out of the Nielsons which is a little sad. No more biscuits and gravy for me. I'll just be a few streets down though. We'll be living with the Giles family. They have a son that just returned from Spokane, Washington about 5 months ago. For some reason I know tons of Elders from or in that mission. Anyways, he's come out with us a few times and he would hang out with Ty so I know him and that'll be fun. I hear they have dogs too which is a plus, cause me and Bentley are like best friends and I'm not sure what she'll do without me. Hopefully Elder Silski will play with her cause Elder Moa doesnt like her.
But having the area split will be great. Anthony and Paul are both getting baptized on the 8th. And then after that we've got 12 dates set so we'll have a baptism every Saturday through the rest of the year. It'll be awesome.
What's also awesome is that since I'm training, I'll most likely be staying here another 2 transfers. Which will rock. So hopefully I'll be here in Maricopa till January. We'll see.
So that's the news for now. Me and my new son will cover the Vineyard and Mezona wards and Elder Moa and Elder Silski will cover Beverly, Stewart and Westwood.
Hope all yall are doin great.
-Elder Coffman

Oct.27

Super exciting news. We've been so incredibly blessed and had so much work and progress in our area that President Bassett has approved it getting split. Nothing is definite right now and we wont find out about anything until Saturday night, but I really hope and think that Vineyard and Mezona wards will be the eastern area and Stewart/Beverly/Westwood will be the western. Most likely what will happen is Elder Moa and I will be split up as well so the new Elders don't get lost. So I think next transfer I'll have a new companion and be covering the western area. But like I said, nothing's definite. So we'll know this Saturday.
Thank you again to everyone for all the Birthday wishes and packages. Turns out that having a birthday on the mission is fantastic cause you get to celebrate it all week. Cards and packages kept showing up all throughout the week and Brother and Sister Nielson cooked up biscuits and gravy twice for us for breakfast and then sloppy joes for lunch. It was awesome. But hey - today is Mandy's birthday, so Happy Birthday to her.
Hope everyone is doing well. Happy Halloween!
-Elder Coffman

Happy Birthday Elder Andrew Coffman

So pretty much, Saturday was the greatest day ever. Probably because I turned 4.
It started out fantastic because it was like 75 degrees at 10:30 in the mornin so that was amazing. We went and saw Richard to make sure he was all ready for his big day and that started things off good. Then we went and set a baptism date with Anthony so it got even better. On our way home we had an awesome street contact with a young guy that asked us for a Book of Mormon. After lunch we went and taught the Jacksons and their friend was there and was asking tons of awesome questions and said she wanted to know alot more and it rocked. So we picked up two new investigators without trying. And she came to church yesterday so that was way cool. Then we got to teach Buck and that's always fun. He has 15 kids.
We went and finally met Daniel and he's come to church for two weeks now and that's awesome. Then we rushed over to the Stake Center for Brandons baptism and that was way cool. He's a great kid. And right after that we had Richards baptism and Elder Aicher and Elder Gee both came for that so it was like a big fun reunion and everyone was happy and it rocked. Kort came to the baptism too! He's pretty much the greatest investigator ever. But being able to see Richard get baptized was probably the greatest birthday present I could ask for. He'd been waiting a long time for that day. He was pretty happy. So then afterwards we had a minute and Brother Gunnell left us a pizza in the kitchen so we ate that with Brother Uipi and then got to go teach the Goforths. That was way cool. We were about 20 minutes late to our appointment with John after that but it worked out perfect cause he came walking up as we were locking our bikes and Brother McBride knocked on the door as soon as we sat down. So we were all late and it worked out perfect. It really was a great day. The weather stayed fantastic all day long.
It's been an awesome week. Elder Moa is doin way good. We're having a lot of fun. Being a missionary is fantastic.
Hope everyone is doin great and thank you everyone for the Birthday wishes. Love all yall
-Elder Coffman

Oct. 6

Pretty much, this area is amazing. Being a missionary is awesome.
Richard got approval from the First Presidency to get baptized so the whole stake is really pumped about that. He's been waiting for this for months now so he's been through a lot of missionaries so there will be quite a few of us there this Saturday. We're really excited.
Conference was awesome. Pretty excited for the Ensign to come out next month to get read through all those again. We taught a guy named Kort Friday night and invited him to watch just one session and he told us 'Actually I'm planning on watching all 5. I just really feel like there's something there and I want to make sure I don't miss out on anything.' So our jaws dropped and then he asked us to bear our testimonies to him and it was probably the greatest lesson ever. And what's even better is that he really was there for all 5 of them. And we invited Anthony to come to the Sunday morning session and he was there waiting for us in a white shirt and tie. Pretty awesome.
So yeah this area is amazing. President Lewis called President Bassett and pretty much demanded another set of missionaries so we'll probably be getting the area split pretty soon. That will be great.
It'd be tough to say things could be any better.If you haven't gone on a mission, you definitely should.
-Elder Coffman

The Trainer.....

Ever since Elder Moa became my new companion we've had a tough time finding people to feed us dinner. I think once they hear they'll be feeding a Tongan and a Texan they decide to not have us over.
Training is an awesome experience. It really helps you learn patience, humility, and charity - fast. I have to be completely aware of everything I do and say cause it's all he knows about the mission. So it keeps me on my toes.
So far it's been really helpful having a Tongan for a companion (he's actually from Oakland, but his parents are both full Tongan). He got us in the door with a guy last night and they could relate and he used awesome analogies about mangos that helped the guy understand everything. It was way cool. And for some reason on the streets, as soon as people see him, it doesnt matter if they're black, mexican, indian, or polynesian, as soon as they see him they warm up to us and get all happy to see us and want to talk. He is a big happy guy though, so it's probably just his smile.
We've had an awesome week and we've got three people set to be baptized on October 11th. One of them is a 9-year-old that is awesome and a lot of fun to teach. The other two are an older couple that have been pretty astonishing. Quite a turn-around from the first time we sat down with her. What's really cool is that all 3 of them have been from referrals from Richard - who's not even baptized yet. President Bassett did get a reply letter from the Big 3 but it just asked how long he'd been coming to church. So he wrote up another and this time so did President Lewis so we should hear back in about 3 weeks or so. That's really exciting.
So things are goin awesome. Elder Moa is a good guy. I wont lie, it was tough to leave Elder Aicher last Tuesday. But I got to meet my grandpa Elder Olsen, so that was fun. He dies next transfer so we're gonna try hard to get a picture of all four of us (Elders Olsen, Aicher, Coffman and Moa). Pretty rare to have a great-grandson while you're still on your mission, so he's really excited.
Hope yall are doin great
-Elder Coffman

So we got transfer news Saturday night. Elder Aicher has always told me, 'you dont wanna go to Scottsdale. there's no one to teach in Scottsdale. Scottsdale would be horrible. you'll feel like a bad missionary if you go to Scottsdale. I would hate to be in Scottsdale.' So he's gonna go be a Zone Leader in Scottsdale. I'm pretty pumped for him. But even better than Scottsdale. It's Fountain Hills. Scottsdale is ridiculously rich, but Fountain Hills is the richest of the rich. So there are zero humble people there ready to hear the Gospel. But he'll do good. He's awesome. I'll miss him. The stake he's gonna be in is 'the richest stake there is in the world.' That's from President Bassett. I'm pretty sure one persons tithing in that stake could pay for three temples to be built. So I'm pumped for him.
I'll find out who my new companion is tomorrow, so that's exciting. A little scary, but exciting. Elder Aicher says President Bassett loves this area and only sends his favorite missionaries here, so that's promising.

I got a letter from Elder Pogue the other day and that was awesome. Pretty much he sounds like he's owning France. And he made me remember how cool Louisiana is and be proud of my somewhat cajun heritage.

We almost had a Navajo go kamikaze on us. It was hilarious. Elder Aicher said, 'for a minute i really thought we were going to have to fight our way out of there.' We have met some crazy people and had a lot of fun together.
Things are goin awesome. President Lewis (our stake president) is getting frustrated with us cause we can't be in five places at once so i'm pretty sure we're gonna be getting our area split soon. Which will be good.
Hope all yall are doin well.
-Elder Coffman

We got to go to the temple this morning and pretty much it was awesome.

Elder Aicher and I had a missionary photo-shoot the other day. So that was really fun. Transfers are next week and President told Elder Aicher to 'expect change' so we'll see what happens. I'm excited about it.
We had 17 investigators at church sunday. That was pretty much awesome. This area rocks. Hard.
Jep had us over and cooked up some elk for us and made us brownies so that was way cool. We had an awesome discussion and he's still working towards baptism on the 27th so that's extremely exciting.
Things are goin good and life's getting better every day. Being a missionary is awesome.
-Elder Coffman

So, one of the greatest things about Arizona is the sky. Because it pretty much always looks fake. And it rocks. And almost every night there are ridiculous lighting storms. So on the ride home we're completely surrounded by nonstop lightning. It's way cool.
Weldon baptized his daughter Saturday and that was way cool. She asked me to confirm her so that was really exciting.
We had a really good week this week. We went down to the Visitors Center and watched the Joseph Smith movie with Jep. He's made huge progress. HUGE. It's awesome.
Pretty much, things are just goin awesome and Arizona rocks. It's probably the second coolest state there is.
Hope all yall are doin good.
-Elder Coffman
p.s. please dont bash on other religions in testimony meeting. just dont do it. it's not very Christlike.

We had 4 baptisms this past Saturday. It was pretty intense. Kinda stressful but everything worked out and it was awesome.
Oscar is 18 and went on a trip with the young men in the stake. I'm not sure what they did but they went to the San Diego temple at some point on the trip and he said just by walking around the building he could tell there was something different about it. That it was something really special. So when they got back he asked how he could have that feeling back that he had at the temple. Pretty much, he rocks. We taught him in two weeks and he is the coolest kid ever. He's already pumped to go on a mission in a few months. His dad and brother drove all the way here from El Paso for his baptism so that was really cool.
Weldon's wife is a member and he's been comin to church for awhile now. He's a really cool guy and we have had a lot of fun with him. His good friend flew down from California to baptize him which was awesome. Neither of them knew that the other had been investigating the Church. It was way cool. He got the Aaronic Priesthood already and gets to baptize his 8 year old daughter this Saturday.
Patty and her son Alonzo had baptismal dates set about a year ago but neither of them went through. Both her daughters were baptized though and they've been solid, so they were extremely happy for this day to come. Alonzo is only 10 and he is the coolest little kid and is way smart. The first time we met with him Elder Aicher asked him 'Do you know who Joseph Smith is?' and Alonzo looks at him all serious and says 'A prophet of God.' He's awesome.
It's so cool to see the Gospel change peoples lives and bring so much happiness to them.
Things are awesome in Arizona.
-Elder Coffman

One really great thing about missionary work is that you never have time to think about yourself. For two hours in the morning you study how to be a better missionary and better help & teach people. Then you go out all day and help people and teach people nonstop. Then you come in at 9:30 and plan till 10:15 about how you're gonna help and teach people the next day. so by the time we're done planning we've got 15 minutes to brush our teeth, maybe write in our journal, say our prayers and then pass out. Even on Prep-day, you just make sure that you've got everything taken care of so that you dont have to worry about anything during the week. So there's no time to ever think about yourself. It's fantastic. And we're completely seperated from the rest of the world. It's very refreshing. Cause when people do try to tell us about what's going on in the world, it's never anything happy. Like Thursday, Brother Harris says 'Yeah, yall didn't know we're going to war with Russia?' We were both lost. For us, the world consists of Main to 8th and Robson to Dobson. And nothing else matters but missionary work. There's nothing better.It can seem like a sacrifice at first. Cause you have to leave your family, leave your friends, leave the Astros, but then you get out here and it's just non-stop amazingness and happiness and blessings. I've figured out that's how all commandments are. At first it might seem like something difficult, or a sacrifice of sorts, but then once you do it, it's nothing but blessings. Heavenly Father just wants to bless us and see us happy. He knows how we can be happy. A lot of times we think we know a better way, but it definitely always turns out to be wrong.
Stephen got baptized Saturday. It was awesome. He is an amazing story. He knows the Bible better than anyone. So because of that, he's always known that the Church is the most correct out of all the rest of the churches. But there's been little things that bother him and some modern revelation that he had a tough time figuring out. So he's always known that we have the truth but he's never been able to completely accept it. But President Lewis took care of that so Elder Aicher and I got to teach him and participate in his confirmation. It was amazing.
Next Saturday we have 4 baptisms scheduled. Oscar is 18 and awesome and way pumped. Weldon is a funny guy that's married to a member and is gonna get to baptize his little girl the week after, so that's exciting. And then Patty and her son Alonso are set too. Pretty much, it's gonna be an exciting week.
Every week is exciting.
-Elder Coffman

Things are amazing. Life as a missionary is fantastic. Especially here in Mesa. Stephen is getting baptized this saturday which is an amazing deal. 'Pastor Jerry' pretty much just gave him the throw-down and he said 'okay.' it was awesome. It really is an awesome story. He's a way cool guy.
We've also got two more scheduled for Saturday the 30th. Things are going great.
Elder Aicher got hit by a car Saturday. It was hilarious. The poor lady was crying like crazy and we were just laughing and trying to calm her down. She did mess up his tire pretty bad though which is no fun. So we're gonna get that fixed today.
Our haircut lady can't cut our hair today or next monday so pretty much we're just gonna do it ourselves. I'm really excited to see what happens. Everything is going good.
Hope all yall are doin great.-Elder Coffman

So this week was amazing. We set a baptism date with Weldon, and Elder Aicher and I realized that his name is 'well done' so that's one of our favorite phrases now. 'Well done sir.'
Patsy and Jake gave us these amazing handheld fans that light up and mezmorize you. That was probably the coolest thing ever. They are awesome. We set a baptism date with them for the 30th. The Spanish elders set a date with Stephen somehow. Pretty much everyone in the stake thought that was impossible. So President Lewis invited them over for dinner and they gave him the throwdown and so Elder King is going out with a bang. We were way excited to get that news.
We got to go out of our area the other night so that Elder Aicher could do a baptismal interview for the sisters. It was so strange. It was like, 'You mean.... there's people beyond 8th street? .... Really?' it was like being on a different planet. but it was fun.
So, we're supposed to try to bring church members to all of our lessons. And sometimes I'm amazed at how inspired we are for who to invite. We brought Brother Whitezell last night and in the middle of the lesson I was just in awe at how perfect it was that he was there. Neither of us knew anything about his past, but he was the person to be there in that lesson last night. It was intense.
We got news Saturday night that both Elder Aicher and I are staying here in the Maricopa Stake for another 6 weeks. So that is exciting. I really hope I stay here another 3 transfers. It's awesome here.
We went to JambaJuice after we played ultimate this morning and the guy infront of us in line just told the girl at the register, 'I'm paying for all of these guys too.' There were 6 of us. He didnt even ask. It was awesome. Mesa is probably the greatest place to serve a mission. Hope everything is going well for all yall.
-Elder Coffman

So this week ended great. People here in Arizona eat very small portions of meat. It's extremely confusing. But last night we got fed by a young couple and he had barbecued up some ribs. He must've not been from Arizona cause he kept offering more and more and it was fantastic. Probably the greatest dinner so far.
We hiked up this small mountain in the middle of Pheonix this morning. It was a lot of fun. This place is enormous. All the cities just mix together to make one huge city. Pheonix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Glendale, Tempe... it's all just one city. That never ends. And we could see all of it on top of the mountain. It was no Wyndum, but it was cool. And afterwards we went to IHOP and that was fantastic. Our zone is mostly sisters so they all had like half of their plates left so Elder Oakey and I got to have our own personal buffet. It was amazing.
Mail was great this week. I got a postcard from K-mans mom. That was awesome. But it didnt have a return address, so if anyone could help me out with that, I'd like to write her back. And Mandy sent me an awesome package that was awesome. So thank you for that. And to everyone else who sent me some mail. It is always appreciated as a missionary.
Transfers are this coming week. I'm really hoping Elder Aicher and I both stay here. Maricopa stake is awesome. Pretty positive I'll stay, but he's been here over 4 months so we dont know. Elder King is going home next week so if there are any young ladies out there either living in Tennessee or attending OleMiss.... you should look him up. Before Slerra gets to him.
So my helmet is awesome and white. And i just found out that Elder Aicher has Green and Black spray paint. So I am very excited about that. Very. I'm gonna have an awesome Gecko helmet and I'll be ridin down the street and people will stop me and be like 'Hey, you're helmet is amazing. I think I want to learn about what you have to say.' and i'll tell them 'It's not what I have to say, it's what the Lord has to say.' and we'll all do a happy dance.
So Patsy called us up Saturday morning and said she really wanted us to come over and Saturday was the first day in 5 weeks that we had an hour open. That wasn't luck. Neither was taking Brother Bond to go see Alan. That worked out perfectly. Hope all yall are doin well.-Elder Coffman

July 28, 2008

Arizona is awesome. Elder Aicher and I are having a blast and working hard. We're teaching a ton of people. We'll have quite a few baptisms coming up here pretty soon.

Patsy and Jake are the ones that I'm most excited about. They are so cool. Patsy has changed so much just in the few weeks we've been going to see her. She was having a tough time the first night we talked to her and every time we've seen her since then she's had a bigger smile and a brighter spirit. Jake is her 13 year old son and every time we see him he warms up a little to us. It's awesome cause he can see that his mom is happier now so he's more interested in us and Patsy loves the fact that he's asking us questions. So they're both feeding off of each others happiness. It's crazy! But it really is so awesome. We took them down to the Visitors Center this week and that was a great experience. I'm really excited for both of them.

We had a very odd but very awesome lesson on Wednesday. We taught a guy and girl named Max and Kat who live together but aren't married. Kat's husband doesn't want anything to do with us. But Kat was happy to see us and interested in what we had to say. Max was flipping awesome. He's thought a lot about things and come to some amazing conclusions on his own. He's a smart guy. One thing he said was 'I just don't see how a God that created us all and loves us all so much would want to send any of us to a place like hell.' Elder Aicher and I just kinda smiled and said 'We would love to talk about that next time.' It was so cool. Some of the things he said really made me wonder if he wasn't already a member and was just putting us on.

So Elder Aicher is from Idaho and loves potatoes. One day we got fed potatoes as a main course for lunch and it confused me cause I've never eaten a meal without meat. It just didn't make sense. So afterwards I just mentioned something about how I'm not too crazy about potatoes and he looks at me and says 'How can you not like potatoes? That's like saying you don't like girls.' It was hilarious. Some of these Idaho people I've met have funny ideas.

So, things are great and only look to get better. Hope all y'all are doing well.
-Elder Coffman

I got the most amazing compliment last night. It made my entire mission. Already. This lady said that I 'look like a Texan.' and that I 'have a big Texas smile.' Pretty much, that's all i needed. It was awesome.
We got haircuts this morning and it was amazing. The lady that does it is awesome and has a cool son that's 13. he's a fun kid. they had a whole wall upstairs painted with a picture from the book 'where the wild things are' it was so cool. and they had a room with a pingpong table and a pool table and an acoustic guitar so we were hangin out havin a party and it reminded me of Venezuela for a little bit. it was a lot of fun. and she gave us fudge bars. probably the greatest P-Day morning yet.
So we have talked to some awesome people this week. And some very interesting people. It's a lot of fun. We're taking Patsy and her son Jake down to the Visitors Center Tuesday afternoon. That's really exciting. She's awesome.
Well, things are fantastic here in Maricopa. Hope all yall are doin great.-Elder Coffman

hi momma, thanks for the letter. that's awesome that yall got to go see Vai take down Jose Canseco. I heard uncle Dull talkin to dad about that and i was upset i was gonna miss it. so thanks for lettin me know how it went. i'm glad it didnt last long. and that's awesome that yall met Reno Mahe. you remember who he is, right? he played for BYU in 2001 when they almost went undefeated. i'm pretty sure he still returns punts for Phili. that's awesome that he talked to dad about his car. you'll have to find out what the guys name is at Tech, i'm sure Jacob would know him. infact i think he already does. he was telling me about a Tongan guy that he couldn't pronounce his name.
tell elder pingle and elder wallentine hi for me. that's too bad they got poison ivy. it's no fun. yall should get a dog and have it lick it off. that's what i always did. and it works. roxy always took care of mine.
things are going great here. we're teaching a ton of people. we've got two baptisms set up for August 2nd and hopefully we'll have two more before the week's over. we're just gonna plan on stayin at the chapel all day long that day and dunk people all in a row. it'll be fun.
glad you got the pictures, thanks for letting me know. at walmart it's cheaper just to put them all on a CD rather than print them out so in a few weeks after i've taken some more pictures i'll do that and send yall one.

we get to go to the temple once every transfer so we went this morning. it was awesome. the mesa temple is way cool. but yeah, that's why i didnt write yesterday. it's closed on mondays so we switched our P-day to today. but usually you can plan on gettin a letter on mondays. good to hear from you. glad all's well.
love you-Elder Coffman(the obe-one)

So the domination has begun.I'm right here in Mesa for now. Word on the street is that up north is the place to be (Snowflake). But I'm lovin it here. I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure my area is Southwestern Mesa. It's close to the temple and it covers a little bit of actual Downtown Mesa. The area is called the Maricopa Stake. We have 5 different wards to take care of. It's pretty crazy. A lot of work to keep track of 5 different Bishops and Ward Mission Leaders. But we're workin on it. My companion is Elder Aicher from Idaho Falls and he's also the District Leader. So once again, I'm Assistant to the District Leader. It's pretty bom. He's a really cool guy. I like him alot. We're on bikes which is awesome. It really is a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure most people thought that coming to Arizona would be a breeze since there's already so many of us here, but it's definitely just like any other mission. We still go around talking to as many people as we can, knock on doors, and teach people. I'd say the only difference is that we get more honks and waves than usual.

We live with the Nielson Family who at one point were huge but now it's just the two of them and their 19-year-old son. They are awesome. We pretty much live like princes. We have our own room, our own bathroom, and our own study with a massage chair. He made us biscuits and gravy for breakfast the other day and then yesterday she had a whole roast dinner made for us. It was amazing. But it gets better. She heard how excited I got when Elder Aicher informed me that BlueBell ice cream recently came to Arizona so she went out and bought me a half-gallon of mint chocolate chip. Like I said, we live like princes. It is awesome. P.S. that is the greatest news of the century. There is BlueBell in Mesa.

A couple people were asking for my address. The lady at the Mission Home that deals with mail is old and herego somewhat Nazi-ish. She wants all the mail sent to the mission home and then she will forward is to us. So.... that mission home address that I gave yall at the beginning is the one.

We're teaching a lady named Chiquita. Yes. Chiquita. it is awesome. What makes it even better is that her little baby son is named Tooboii. yep. Two-boy, but she is way cool and really interested, it's a lot of fun talking to her. So yeah, that's pretty much the DL for now.

Hey everyone,

We got to hear from Robert D. Hales Tuesday night. It was awesome. Elders Perry, Scott, Holland and Christofferson were all there too. It was intense.Elder Poole and I almost got to meet President Packer. That's a really funny story that i dont have time to tell.

The MTC is a blast. We are having so much fun here. My district is really awesome. We're ready to bust up outta here though. As we say, we're ready to get out there, convert some spirits, dunk some bodies and save some souls. The food is amazing here. I really think they try to fatten us up because most of us are goin to places where they'll lose 30 pounds. The problem is in Mesa we're just gonna get fatter. But the food is so good and they only give us 30 minutes 4 days a week to play sports or excersise. and we missed two of those days this past week. that was not cool. but one of them was to help set up for the Mission Presidents Seminar. So that was actually cool to get to set up for the Prophet and Apostles.

The other day Elder Silski and I threw the baseball around and talked baseball for just a little bit. that was fantastic to get to talk about the Astros. he's a really cool guy. p.s. how are the astros doing? it's pretty amazing... i've actually stopped caring so much... but now that i've thought about it, i'm just curious.

This is some intense and tiring work we're doing. It's awesome. I love it here and I'm super excited to start teaching. Hope all yall are doin well.

Love yall and miss yall-Elder Coffman

the obe one

Ma & Pa,

So it's still my first day, (it's been pretty long), and they told me to write ya'll. I realized I don't know ya'lls zip code. But if you're reading this it means I guessed right. It's been fun so far. They've overloaded us with information so it really feels like we have no clue what's goin on. But they keep tellin us it's okay to feel that way so I guess we'll make it. My companion is Elder Poole from Eagle, ID. He seems like a really cool guy so far, a little quiet but a nice guy. He just got assigned to be our District Leader a few hours ago so I'm excited for him. I was told that unofficially makes me the Assistant DL. I was excited about that until we taked to our Zone leader's (who are going to Athens, Greece), & got overloaded with even more information about our duties & responsibilities. I was assigned as the senior companion. So basically he checks with me & I check with the DL, him. The other two elders in our room are Elder Kelly from Utah & Elder Stewart from Rexburg. You might remember I was talking to him before the mish via Myspace through Megan's sister Whitney. Kinda crazy we ended up in the same room. There are 10 Elders in our district, 8 are going to Mesa, 2 to Singapore. There are 4 districts in our zone. One is going to Greece, one to Armenia, and one to Latvia/Lithuania. I've got to start writing a talk for Sunday so I'm gonna go. Hope ya'll are doin well.

Andrew -the obedient one

MTC address

Elder Coffman may be emailed thru DearElder.com or
reached at this address until July 1st.

Elder Andrew Scott Coffman
MTC Mailbox #122
AZ-Mesa 0701
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

Mission Home Address

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know my mission home address. This will NOT be where I'm living, I'll have a real address wherever I live, but I don't know where that will be and even when I do, I'll move every 6 - 12 weeks.   So this address is kinda like a home-base for me for the next two years.  If you don't know where I'm at, you can send letters here, and I'll get them, it'll just be a little longer than normal. 

Elder Andrew Coffman

Arizona Mesa Mission

6265 N 82nd St

Scottsdale, AZ 85250

so everyone feel free to write me.  anytime. 

The First

Alright everyone, this will be how I communicate with the outer world for the next two years. I'll actually be emailing these posts to my mom and she'll be copying and pasting them onto here for me. Cause she's awesome.  I'll be in the MTC in less than a week. I'll have a limited amount of time once a week to email, so if you email me, I could possibly email you back at some point. I'll put up my email address as soon as I get it. If you write me a letter the old fashioned way, I will definitely write you back. 

I'm off to own Arizona. 

-Elder Coffman