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