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