Incredible miracles & missionaries

This week has been awesome. We got to go to the temple three times in three days. It was fantastic. We went with four zones wednesday, four more thursday, and then friday we got to go up to SNOWFLAKE!! to go with Payson and Snowflake zones. It was freezing up there - below 10 degrees that morning. The fountain was frozen. But it was amazing. I love Snowflake so much. It was a lot of fun to see all of the missionaries in the mission in three days. It was good to check up with the new ones and see how they're doin. Seems like missionaries get better and better each transfer.
We are seeing so many incredible miracles. I love being a missionary. Our mission set a goal to have 200 baptisms this transfer, so to help out Elder Diaz and I were praying to be able to find a new investigator that was prepared to be baptized before the year's over. On Sunday a guy showed up at church and said he was almost baptized a few years ago and he wants to meet with us. We taught him that Tuesday and set a date with him for the 19th. He's awesome. Last week Elders Gomez and Crook called us up and said they had a girl they had taught and she needed to be coming to our singles ward. So we taught her and she's incredibly prepared and going to be baptized on the 26th. So many miracles happening all over the mission. It's amazing to see the way the Lord answers prayers. Right now we're three weeks into the transfer and have had 65 with 193 dates set. It's gonna be an exciting Christmas.
Elder Diaz is a great companion. We have a lot of fun together. He's really helping me out in a lot of ways.
The Maywalds in Snowflake got baptized on Sunday. I was jealous I didn't get to be there for it, but I'm way happy for them. Hopefully when I come back to Snowflake next fall for the Learys sealing the Maywalds will be getting ready to go as well.
Things have never been busier, and I've never been more exhausted, but I'm loving every minute of it.
Have a great week!

Assistant President......Assistant to the President

Well, turns out everyone was right....I am getting transferred to Scottsdale. I've actually already been down there for three days. Luckily President let me come back up here for the weekend for Sister Leary's baptism. I'm super bummed to leave Snowflake. It has been incredible here.

Sister Leary's baptism was awesome. The spirit was way strong and she looked so happy. It's been a lot of fun workin with them and seeing the progress that she has made.

There's a lot of people in Snowflake that I'm gonna miss very much.

With my new assignment my letters probably won't be as consistent and maybe not as frequent. My new companion is Elder Diaz and I'm really excited about that. He's an incredible missionary. Nine months ago he came on exchanges with me and Elder Keir in Superstition Zone and ever since then I've wanted to be companions with him. Now I get the chance. Being in a trio for a few days with him and Elder Woolf was a blast. It was like a spiritual party every day. Friday morning we taught seminary class and did some way fun things with Abinadi and King Noah.

This is a bittersweet transfer for me. I'm excited for the things that are ahead for me and I know there's a lot more good to come, but I don't know if anywhere could be better than this place. I only got to be here for 4 months. Elder Stewart is replacing me. He was my roomate in the MTC. So both of us will most likely finish our missions in these areas. I'm gonna push for my last 6 weeks to be in downtown Phoenix on bike. That is my dream. Other than Snowflake.

I appreciate everyones love and support and I'm grateful to everyone that has helped me get to where I am in my life right now. Especially my family.

I hope all ya'll have a great week.

Love, Elder Coffman

never want to leave.......

Snowflake is still the Celestial Kingdom on earth.

Sean's baptism was fantastic. The Romero family came and they came to church on Sunday. That was amazing.

We had some wonderful experiences with Elder Diaz on exchanges Monday. He's an incredible missionary. We wer able to set a baptism date with Sister Leary for the 13th of November and then later that night we set a date with Frank for the 14th. It was an amazing day. Wonderful things continue to happen here. I love Snowflake and never want to leave.

Well, I'm a standin on a corner in Winslow AZ.......

Snowflake is amazing. Richard's baptism was a great experience. His wife and brother both came to support him, so that was good. He's an awesome guy. He's very gifted on the piano.

Sean's baptism is going to be Thursday night. A lot of people in Snowflake know about this one so it'll be fun. His mom has been praying for this for six months now. She's really happy about it.

We've been working with a less-active part-member family named the Leary's for a while now. She has MS so that's been keeping them from coming to church much. She accepts everything that we ask her to do though. She stopped drinking coffee, she pays tithing, and reads the Book of Mormon. They've been to church two weeks in a row now, so we're really excited for them. She has a completely different countenance about her now, it's awesome. Her husband told us afterward that it was the first time he'd been to church in over 40 years.

Todd, a super analytical guy we've been teaching, accepted a baptismal date Saturday night. Teaching him has been a lot different, it's sometimes frustrating, but fun at the same time. He's a really nice guy and great to talk to. It'll be Nov. 21st, the week Elder Pebley leaves, so it'll be kind of a bummer, but good for my new companion.

There is just a ton of good things happening around here. I'm hopin to stay in Snowflake for another three months.

Elders interior decorate with ties

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes. Being 21 is a pretty strange feeling. I'm still not sure what to think. I always assumed this would be on of those big milestones, but I still feel about the same as I did at 17. Maybe I've matured a little bit while on the mission. I'm way glad I get to spend my birthday in Snowflake though, that's for sure. I love it here. The Flake family is going to have us over to celebrate and they're pretty much the coolest family in town, so we're excited about that.

We went down to the Valley for Zone Leader Council Sunday night and got to stay with the Assistants again. They're awesome. It was on of the best meeting I've been to on my mission, but I think that every transfer.

I love small town high school football, we know the big receiver Rocky Beatty pretty well from one of our wards. President Bassett said we could watch the big game Friday night as a birthday present to me. It kinda stinks as a missionary, cause there's nothing to do on Friday nights. Literally, the entire town shuts down, no one is home, and no one is on the streets. So we might watch some of it from the truck. Go Lobos!

When we got back to our place last night we found Elder Moa and Elder Hadley had left us a fun surprise.........

Andrews baptism got changed to this Saturday so more of his family could be there. He's an incredibly smart kid. We've got three more baptisms set for the 24th. Sean is opening up to us more and making more progress. Richard was making comments and contributing in class on Sunday, so that was really exciting. The Maywalds are back on track and set for Dec. 6th when their father returns from Iraq. I love Snowflake. There is so much goodness here.

I think Elder Pebley and I will be together for a 4th transfer. So we will be together for his birthday, Thanksgiving, the Maywalds baptism, the Lobos in the playoffs, and Christmas! It'd be a party.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Conference, World Series of the Missionary world

Snowflake continues to be the Celestial Kingdom of the mission. I absolutely love this place and the people here. It's just a way better spirit in this town than down in the valley. We are not jealous at all of the missionaries down there. Things continue to move upward since the Fireside two weeks ago. It was a huge turning point for the area. We are seeing more and more miracles every day.
October is looking to be a fantastic month. Andrew is set to get baptized this Saturday. Richard and Frank are both shooting for the 24th. Sam and Brandy will be getting married that same day and then Brandy will be baptized the next week on the 31st and Sean has decided that he needs to be baptized too, so he might be on the 17th.
Conference was fantastic. It's like the World Series of the missionary world. I can't wait to get a copy of Elder Hollands talk and just show that to everyone we teach and let him do all the work and we'll just do the baptizing. He is awesome. He's definitely done quite a bit of missionary work in his life because every single one of his talks addresses major concerns that people have. He rocks. And Elder Perry always helps us out, his talk was way good.
Hope everyone else is doing great.
Love y'all,
Elder Coffman

Preach unto every creature........

Andrew with his 'pet' scorpion and the coyote

Coyote hunt with Elder Woolf

Being a missionary is fantastic. We got to drive down to Payson Sunday night to pick up Elder Woolf for exchanges. On the way back up between Heber and Snowflake, we caught a coyote and threw it in the back of his van. We skinned it this morning and we are going to make some scripture cases out of the hide. It was a blast. We had a lot of fun with Elder Woolf coming up here.

We went to the temple as a zone this morning and that's always a good thing. Both the Greasewood and Sanders Elders were able to set baptism dates with people that we had found while I was on exchanges with them last week. So that was fantastic to hear about. It's so good to see missionaries make changes and grow and progress. I love it. We're really blessed to be working here in the Snowflake Zone.

Things are going great! I love you all.

Sep 9, 2009

Ho man, has it been an amazing two weeks. We got to go on exchanges to the reservation twice. I went with Greasewood the first time and Sanders just yesterday. It was a blast both times. I love it up there. We've got some good Elders in our zone. We had some awesome experiences both times. We haven't really been in our area at all the past two weeks and it continues cause we're driving down to Payson tonight for Zone Conference. But it's good. I love being busy.

I've been learning so much the past two weeks. Being a missionary rocks.

The Guardians

We've had some amazing things happen. Snowflake is wonderful. The members here rock. They all have a desire to share the Gospel and they all do it! We're seeing a ton of miracles because of that.
We got transfer news on Saturday night and many of our missionaries are leaving. Elder Richins is going to Superstition Zone which is excititng. Elder Harris is gonna go be a zone leader in Papago. Elder Moa's new companion is Elder Hadley which is cool. Elder Smith is going to the Kimball Zone.
It's always scary when they leave. You wonder if you did everthing you could to help them. You worry about how they'll do in their next area. One blessing is that you know if you did mess up they'll still have good leaders in their next zone to take care of them. I can't imagine what President Bassett feels like when missionaries leave the mission. At the same time, it's always super exciting to get brand new missionaries. Both Elder Harrison and Elder Gilbert are gonna be training this transfer so I'm happy for them.
Also some exciting news, Elder Silski is gonna be the Zone leader in Payson to replace Elder funderburk. I love Elder Silski. Seems like he's followed me around my whole mission. I'm way grateful for it though, he's amazing.
Elder Keir had to go home today. Poor guy. He'll definitely be missed. Everyone in the whole mission knows Elder Keir. He's a legend. It's way sad all these missionaries I've looked up to my whole mission are gone now.
Elder Pebley and I are having a blast right now. I think we might be together for another 3 months. That would be awesome.

Teaching the Laurels.....

Pretty much, I'm in love with Snowflake. This town is awesome. There is so much good here. We saw a ton of miracles this week. It was great. Elder Pebley and I are havin a whole lot of fun.

We had an interesting experience this weekend. Saturday evening we got a call from a sister in the 8th ward who asked if we would be willing to teach the Laurels on Sunday. At first I was pretty apprehensive and was about to say no....just because they're 17-18yr old girls.......we're 20yr old guys who are missionaries....it seemed weird to me and the lesson wasn't even about missionary work. It was about scripture study. But Elder Pebley said 'we'll do it.' So we did it. It turned out to be a way good opportunity. It was a great lesson we had with them. They were some impressive girls and we were able to just talk with them and help resolve their concerns just like with any other lesson we teach throughout the week. I hope and I feel like they have a greater love for and desire to read the scriptures now. Then, afterwards one of the girls came up to us and told us she wanted us to go talk with her cousin and her brother, so that rocked.

We were able to teach a lot more this week than last and a lot of great things are in the works. Many great things are already happening. Snowflake is amazing. There are great people here. I love it.

Aug 12, 2009 Amazing week

Amazing week this week. The Nelson girls got baptized on Saturday. Bishop Johnson is awesome. First ward has exploded because of him. He rocks. The other miracle we saw in his ward this week was with a guy named Trent. We taught him Sunday night then went back Friday night and he told us his wife had left him that week. He was pretty broken up about it. But then on Sunday, he showed up to church twenty minutes early. It was awesome! We got to teach him again last night and we set a baptizm date with him for September 12th. He's a good guy. I'm really excited for him.

We had Elder Diaz with us yesterday. He's amazing. I don't know if I ever mentioned he's an Assistant now. He helped us a lot with our Spanish. He put Elder Pebley on the spot in the middle of a lesson to teach the First Vision. It was great. I was super impressed. We learned so much from him, he rocks. We talked to a lady Christina at the end of the night who truned us down three times but kept talking to us, and finally she said we could come by. It was way cool.

We drove all the way up to Greasewood for some baptismal interviews. That was a treat. I also went on exchanges with Elder Richins this week. He and Elder Harrison are in Taylor and they are buckets of fun. He's a really funny Elder. I'll be sad if he leaves.

We're havin a lot of fun. Elder Coffman

August 8, 09

The Gardners got baptized on Saturday. It was awesome. The Spirit was way strong. They're definitely a special family.

The Maywalds have postponed theirs because their Dad is in Iraq and wants to be there for it. Definitely a good thin, just a little sad, cause he won't be back until December. We'll do whatever's best for the family.

We're working with another guy right now named Robert, he's a lot of fun. He asks great questions and has a desire to do what's right. We had to push his baptism date back but it should still be within the next 2 or 3 weeks. He's a great guy. People are genuinely nice in this town. I really love it.

Things are going pretty good so far. I'm really enjoying Snowflake. We got to go to the temple this morning and that was nice. Ever since I first got my call and I looked up the Snowflake temple I've wanted to go. It was really neat. The Payson zone all drove up to come with us as well. I was really glad to see Elder Funderburk one last time. He's an awesome missionary. I mentioned him a while back when we were both in Superstition and we went on exchanges. In 6 months he went from Jr. Companion to Sr. Zone Leader. Just a way good Elder. He has to leave at the end of this transfer.

Lots of good stuff, Love yall Elder Coffman

This place rocks.

Northern Arizona is amazing. I absolutely love it up here. I probably had one of the best weeks of my mission this past week.

I went on exchanges with the Elders in Holbrook yesterday and we had a blast. It's a crazy place out there. I found out that the movie 'Cars' was based on that town. So, that was fun. A dog peed on Elder Dodge and we saw an antelope, those things are cool.

They celebrate Pioneer Days pretty big up here, so there were a ton of people in town over the weekend. We got to walk through the parade and talk to people and hand out pamphlets and pass along cards. They had a big rodeo and there were a lot of people there to teach as well. Then after the rodeo they had the sweetest fireworks I've ever seen in my life. It rocked. It was kind of a bummer cause we couldn't talk to or teach while they were going on, but it was fun to watch them.

There are two families set to be baptized on the 1st. Yes, there are actual families up here. Whole families, with a mom, a dad, and kids. They all live together. It's incredible. And people are nice! I love small towns.

Also, some super fun news- President just put Elder Pebley and I over all the Spanish work in the zone. Pretty crazy. But pretty exciting. So now we get to teach all the people that speak Spanish in Heber, Snowflake, Taylor, & Holbrook. Our area just got a lot bigger.

This place rocks.

So many good things.......

So many good things. I'm really gonna miss Apache Junction and Elder Gomez and all the good people there. It was sad to leave, especially with all the great things that are starting to happen. But, I am super excited to be here in Snowflake. It's AWESOME. I'm with Elder Pebley from Rupert, Idaho. He is a way good missionary. He was Elder Moa's companion in the MTC and he was in Superstition Zone when I first went out there so we knew each other before. It's fantastic up here, it's about a 3 hour drive north of the valley so we had lots of time to bond in the truck on the way up. I don't know why I'm so blessed to have all these amazing opportunities. It was starting to be consistently 115 degrees in AJ and right now here in Snowflake it's about 90. So we are super happy about that. It gets even better too - Elder Moa got sent up here with me. He's in the next area to ours so we get to see him too. So many good things.

Elder Gomez' new companion is Elder Mace from Houston Texas. I was so excited to hear that. He's gonna love it in AJ.

Elder Aicher went home yesterday morning. Way sad day. Poor guy.

I'm so incredibly excited to be here in Snowflake.

I love bein' a missionary........

So many good things going on right now. I love being a missionary.

We set a date with Donaldo and Nancy's daughter Roxanne for July 25th and they're all super excited and we're excited for them.

Teresa is getting baptized this Saturday! The Johnson's have been awesome at helping her out. They rock.

Sister Denee invited her neighbor to church and we got to teach her on Monday - that was awesome. I wish more people did that with their neighbors. It's not as hard as people think it is.

We got to celebrate Brother Harrolds birthday and the 4th of July with them for a few minutes this week and that's always a party. I love that family.

Elder Gomez and I are having a blast. I really enjoy serving with him, he's awesome. We have a lot of fun together. Time goes by way too fast when you're having fun and doing good things. I can't believe how long I've been in Arizona. I'm so glad I still have a full year left. I don't know why they only let us stay for two years. There's just too much work to be done and not enough time.

Miracles are happening.....

Frankie got baptized on Saturday! That was so much fun, he's such an awesome kid.

This week Brother Johnson invited his whole family to church to see him be sustained as the new Bishop. The miracle we saw this week is a lady named Teresa his wife's cousin. She felt the spirit and knew the gospel was true and wanted to be a part of it. So we met with her on Thursday, set a date for baptism July 11th. She came to Frankies baptism and came back to church on Sunday and then we taught her again on Monday. She's awesome.

Another great miracle that happened just yesterday: a family of 9 moved into the Signal Butte Ward and had been meeting with missionaries before they moved. The son and daughter that are old enough both want to be baptized and the father wants the whole family to start going to church. It's awesome. So many good things happening. I love this area.

The members here are really starting to catch on and step up to the plate and do some good things. It's exciting to see and I can't wait to see what happens in the next few months in this stake.

My great big mission family

1.Elder Paiz - my grandson

2. Elder Moa - my son

3. Elder Aicher- my Dad

4. Me - the son

5. Elder Stoker - an uncle

6. Elder Tolman-little brother

Elder Dalton is missing, he's another son

Fun in the sun

the Harrold family

It's been a great week here in AJ, we've had some great experiences.

We were trying to get in touch with a lady that met with missionaries two years ago. Her daughter answered the door and we were talking to her and she said, "I don't think my Mom would be interested, but I really would." She has a boyfriend that's getting ready to serve a mission and she's been talking with missionaries on mormon.org and she's been reading from the Book of Mormon. I asked her what she thought of it and she said, ' I LOVE it!" She said she'd been planning on being baptized when she turns 18. It was one of the greatest things we've had happen in this area. It rocked. I'm so excited for her and to see how things turn out.

At church on Sunday, after Sunday School we were talking with an investigator, Robert, and he asked us what happens when you're baptized. So we talked to him about the covenant you make and what a blessing it is and asked him if it was something he'd been thinking about. He said 'Yeah, I think I would really like that." So we set a date right there for the 11th. It was awesome. He asked us, 'is there someone I need to get in contact with?' that was funny.

In the Ocotillo ward we had a missionary return home from serving in Brazil. He was an Assistant, so we're super excited to have him in the ward. We also had a new Bishop called and we're really hoping he'll call a ward mission leader for us. That would be nice.

So, Elder Gomez & I are havin some fun in the sun in AJ, AZ.

One Year Mark.......

Howdy momma, thank you so much for the pictures. That was a lot of fun to see. I'm glad the family had fun together.

We've been having some fun here in AJ. We talked to these two sisters the other day that have 12 kids all together and both want to come to church and asked for a Book of Mormon. That was super exciting.

Hope all's well in Houston.

Love-Elder Coffman

Gonna be a big brother.......

Good news from the top guy: I'm gonna be a big brother!I'm way psyched about that. Elder Aicher is training again for his last transfer. So much goodness, my family just keeps getting bigger.
But somethin kinda crazy, he wont be here for another two weeks. I guess there's some sort of flu thing going on at the MTC and they're not letting any missionaries out right now. Pretty intense it sounds like. It's put us in a stressful spot cause Elder Silski is training this transfer too, so we're sort of scrambling to find a temporary companion for the next two weeks - by tomorrow morning. Seems a little strange that they would freeze all the MTC missionaries just cause a few of them have the flu.
But good stuff's happenin here in ApacheJunction. Me and Elder Gomez are havin a blast.

Can't you read the signs.......

hey momma, these pictures are from Elder Gomez's camera, so they're huge. sorry about that. You're definitely right, it's sad that no one keeps the sabbath holy anymore. What's way sad is that people in the church don't either. It feels like it's become acceptable to miss church every other sunday cause they say they 'have' to work. They used to kill people that didn't keep the sabbath holy. I guess they did a lot of things different in the old testament.
Well right now we've got two people set to be baptized on june 13th. sometimes it feels like the leadership in this stake doesn't want us to baptize anyone. it's a struggle. things are definitely different out here.
but Elder gomez & I are still having a lot of fun together.
hope you make time to study the scriptures this week. life isn't fun without it.
love you momma,
-Elder Coffman(the obe-one)

forget yourself and go to work.....

"Work as hard as you can, give it everything you have, all day every day, for two years. Nothing else is acceptable."-Elder Poole
That was my companions mindset in the MTC. He was correct. Elder Gomez and I have been running nonstop the whole time we've been together. Just like Gordon B. Hinckley's dad said, 'Forget yourself and go to work.' We've left everything behind us and done nothing but focus on our purpose as missionaries. It's been amazing. I've never been more tired in my life, but I've never felt better. What's awesome is the only time I feel weighed down and tired is if we take a minute to eat lunch and we're not out working. The days that we don't take lunch are way better cause you dont have those 30 minutes of down time. Those can ruin you for the day if you let them.
President taught us about sacrifice last transfer at zone conference. So this transfer we're putting it to the test. We've sacrificed all of our wants and desires and done nothing but serve the Lord. And it works.
If you're ever tired, discouraged, stressed, or sad, go out and talk to someone about the restored Gospel. It makes everything better. D&C 84:80

not even close to the person I was last June....

We are wiped. It's been a lot of fun this past week. But we haven't had any sleep at all. We couldn't get to bed before 11:30 any night and we had to be awake at 5:30 every morning. It's been pretty draining. But it's been awesome.

I got to be with Elder Porter and Elder Young for two days, they are amazing missionaries. They taught me so much. I told President that they should come take our place as zone leaders. They were intense. The next round I got to be with Elder Duren and Elder Jenkins. That was also an eye-opening experience for me. They are powerful teachers, the spirit was way strong in every lesson we had. I saw a lot of my old self in Elder Jenkins. I was amazed at how much I've changed. I knew I had learned and grown, but to actually see the old me and to see the difference was incredible. I'm not even close to same person I was last June. It's no wonder young men are so strongly encouraged to serve a mission. There is absolutely nothing better that we could be doing right now. I've gained more experience, more knowledge, more skills, more happiness, more work ethic, and more satisfaction and fulfillment than twenty years in college could have given me. And all the amazing people I've met and the things I've learned from each of them. About life, and about how the world really works. We see and hear lots of things that normal kids our age wouldn't see or hear. Before my mission I had everything planned out how I wanted it to happen. I knew what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be and when I wanted it to happen. I've come to realize that I don't care about any of that anymore. It's not important at all. It's all up to the Lord anyway. Whatever He wants for me is what's going to happen, as long as I let it. I don't understand how anyone could call this a sacrifice. This has been the most amazing experience of my life.
This training blitz has changed my mission. There's so many things that we're going to improve and work on. I'm way excited to get back to work in our area and start doing these things that we've been learning.
Monday and Tuesday we had all four generations of my family there. I think I forgot to mention I became a grandpa this transfer. Elder Moa is training Elder Paiz. So he brought the posterity tie and we had Elder Aicher, me, Elder Moa and Elder Paiz all together. It was pretty neat.And what's crazy is Elder Gomez and Elder Paiz knew each other before the mission. They're both from South Jordan. All these connections all throughout the mission.
AND we found out that Elder Burke - the older missionary that runs the Visitors Center with his wife - was companions with Quentin L. Cook on his mission. And they were the assistants when Jefferey R. Holland came into the mission. That was crazy to find out. Elder Burke turned into a celebrity over night.
I hope everyone has an awesome week.
-Elder Coffman

It's been a fun week.....

It's been a fun week. Hardly any sleep, but a whole lot of fun. President Bassett came out with us yesterday, and that was a blast. He bought us dinner at Filibertos. That rocked. He's awesome.
Our mission is undertaking what's called a 'Training Blitz.' It's pretty sweet. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it. We're gonna be out with other missionaries in their areas for the next few days. We're excited. Elder Gomez gets to go to Maricopa tomorrow. I'm super jealous. I asked President if we could switch places and he just laughed. But it's really gonna bring a lot of good change to the mission.
Elder Gomez is a lot of fun. He wants to work hard, so we get along great. We've had some good laughs together already.
I heard through the grapevine that Alex Zachary is going to Madagascar. That is AWESOME! If anyone could get me his address I would love to write him.
Hope everyone's doing good!
-Elder Coffman

Lesson learned: change is good

Lesson learned this week:

If you're blessed to learn something new that will bring even more happiness into your life, and you fail to act on it, you will not only miss out on what you could have had, but you will move backwards in your progression.
When we're given the opportunity to learn something and we realize that it's a good thing, if we don't change something and act, we forget it. A shorter way to say this would be: Apply what you learn.
Examples:

I learned for myself that I needed to come on a mission. I was extremely content with where I was in life. If I hadn't come, I would've still been happy, but I would have missed out on all of these amazing experiences and people I've met and how much I've changed. I am a million times better of a person now than I was last June, because I realized I needed to act on the answer that I got.
Two people we've been teaching have received a spiritual witness that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth in its fulness. Neither of them have decided to act on that answer they got. They are content with where they are at, and see no need to DO something about the knowledge they now have. Because of this attitude, they are beginning to slide backwards in their spiritual progression.
It is so important to act on the answers we receive to our prayers, and to apply the things we learn from the scriptures in our daily lives. If we're not moving forward, we're falling backwards.
"And now if you believe all these things see that ye do them." -Mosiah 4:10

Elder Keir is going to Paradise Valley. He's going to be training a new missionary and whitewashing an area. That will be a really neat experience for him. I'm excited for him. I'll miss him a lot. We have had a lot of fun together.
My new companion is going to be Elder Gomez. We were in the MTC together, so it's pretty exciting.
We're losing a lot of our best missionaries this transfer. Elder Diaz is going to be a zone leader in Pioneer. Elder Wood is going to be a zone leader in Scottsdale. Elder Keir is leaving. Elder Simmons is going home. Elder Stewart is going to be a zone leader in Papago. I'm a little concerned because all of the leadership in the zone is leaving except for me. But luckily Elder Funderburke is staying and he's going to be the new district leader for the Salt River District, and Elder Silski is coming to be the District leader for the Alta Mesa district. I'm way excited to have both of them. And Elder Gomez is a great missionary, so we'll work well together.
Lots of change coming, but change is a good thing.

Love yall
-Elder Coffman

What a wonderful week

What a wonderful week. Hearing from Christ's living prophets and apostles is one of the greatest opportunities we have on this earth. It truly was an amazing experience. Elder Jefferey R. Hollands talk was one of the most impactful along with Elder David A. Bednar and Elder L. Tom Perry. We are so blessed to live in the days we do with such amazing technology. I hope everyone takes advantage of that and listens to their talks as much as they can.
Elder Wilford Anderson was called to be in the 2nd quorum of the Seventy. He was our Area Authority for the Southwest US. and he lived two streets down from me in the Maricopa Stake. I've talked to him quite a few times, so it's crazy to think that he is in the Seventy now. His son Matt was mentioned in the Young Men Presidency's talk. He is a really good kid. He would always come out and teach with us. And he would always tell us stories about his days in Mexico. He loved it. He wants to be a missionary so bad. He would go out with a box of Book of Mormons into the streets of Mexico when we was 14 years old, handing them out to people and telling them to read from it and pray about it. Amazing young man.
We have the wonderful blessing of the Easter Pagaent here in Mesa. Every year, for two weeks before Easter, there is a huge live preformance of Christs life and the Atonement completely free for everyone to come and see. It is phenomenal. There were about 7,000 people there every night this year. It is such a great way to share the Gospel with people. Being on the temple grounds is an amazing experience by itself, so to already feel the Spirit so strong and then to see the Pagaent is awesome. People can't see it without knowing that there is something special there. It's one of the best ways to bring the happiness and joy that we have to our friends and neighbors. That's the whole reason it's put on. The First Presidency is in charge of it, and they make it clear that they do it so that we can bring our friends. That's why they do everything like that. None of it is for us - it's so that we can share what we have with others. Christ never did anything for Himself. All He did was share His Gospel with everyone He met. We all need to be more like Him.
Nicco was baptized on Saturday. He is an incredible kid. He taught me so much just in the three weeks we've known him. He is so much further ahead in life than I was when I was 17. After his baptism, he came up to us and asked - 'So what's my next step in life?' And then it got even better, his younger brother came over to us and asked us about certain things that Christ said and what they meant. We were so happy. We're gonna see him again Monday night to answer more of his questions. So that rocked. It was one of the best baptisms I've seen on my mission. It was so powerful, his dad and grandparents were crying. It was beautiful.
Later that day we taught Ken and he told us that he had received a spiritual confirmation that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It was so good to hear. It's so true, all you have to do is read from it and pray about it - and you'll know. You know that Christ's Gospel has been restored to the earth. There is nothing more important than knowing that. I hope everyone takes the time to do that.
I love you all.
-Elder Coffman

To The Bat Cave.......

We had an awesome morning. For our zone activity this transfer we asked Sister Roberts in the Boulder Mountain ward to take us to the infamous 'Bat Caves' - and it was amazing. It's on the other side of the Superstition Mountains, so we got to go off-roading in our little Corolla for 30 minutes then we got to hike for about an hour to get up to the cave. It was awesome. It was pretty scary inside, it was pitch black and smelled terrible and there was bats flyin around everywhere. Luckily no one got pooped on, but there was quite a bit of guano all over the place. So while we were in the back they all flew out to the front, so then when we came back out to the mouth of the cave, they were all hangin out right there. It was crazy. Way fun.
Bryan and Ashley Swenson got baptized on saturday. That was a way cool experience. They were both so happy and excited and just shining. So much different from when I left. It was awesome. They are an incredible story. We brought Nikko - he's a cool kid that's getting baptized on the 11th.
We've got another really neat experience going on right now, we've been working with a less-active lady Sister Andrus for the past few weeks. When I first got here, her daughter Lexi would leave as soon as we came in. And over the past two months she's gradually warmed up to us and now she makes us spaghetti and cupcakes every time we go over. And she comes to church with her two little boys every Sunday. That has been a really fun change to watch. But it's even cooler - Lexi married a nonmember a few years ago, and he's in the military. Right now he's posted up in Washington, but when he came down for a few weeks we met him and talked with him a little bit. So now he's meeting with the missionaries up in Washington and he'll call Lexi and ask her all his questions, so she'll ask us and we get to teach her. It's been fun. The missionaries that are teaching him called us for some reason and we found out that one of them is from Arizona, and his sister is in one of the wards we cover. Small world.
It's been a way fun week. We pretty much never sleep, and we're never in our area. But Heavenly Father still blesses us and somehow we continue to find people. We've been so unbelievably busy this transfer. I love bein a missionary. We have so much goin on and so many people calling us and so much to do, we didn't get to bed before midnight once this week, and every morning we have to wake up earlier than 6:30 cause we have more things to do. We literally work nonstop. I don't think people realize that. This is all we do. We get 6 hours on Mondays to go shopping, do our laundry, wash our car, and write home. Then we go right back to work. And once every six weeks we get to do something cool together as a zone, like go to the bat caves. The best part is, we're all paying to be out here, so it makes us work even harder. And the Easter Pageant is starting tomorrow night, so we're gonna have everything we've already been doing, plus being down there twice a week for 5 hours a night. It really is wonderful, we never have any time to think about ourselves. And if we ever do, we feel way selfish. So we usually go out and work harder.
I absolutely love being a missionary.

learning from others

We have some incredible missionaries in this zone. We've been going on exchanges like crazy and I have learned so much from each one of them. It's amazing the different things that you pick up from different people.
Elder Funderburke helped me really understand what it's all about and why it's so important to work as hard as we can. He is incredible. And such a fun elder. I think he has the most desire that I've ever seen in a missionary. We had a blast in his area.
Elder Diaz came to our area and we worked in a trio for a day and we were blown away by the power that he has in teaching. He is amazing. He is all about being better today than he was yesterday and always, constantly striving to improve. He's got so much heart, and wants so bad to be the best he can be. I have a lot of respect for him.
We also learned from another elder why it's so vital to be worthy, and the impact that that has on the work and how crucial it is to have your focus on Christ. If you're not truly out here serving Him with ALL of your heart, might, mind, and strength, you won't be effective at all.
It's amazing the things we can learn from other people. We talked this morning about how there's no worldly reason that this work should go forth. We take 20 year old boys and have them go teach people about Jesus Christ for two years. Then as soon as they've gotten a decent handle on things and know what they're doing, they're sent back home and new ones come in that are clueless. There is absolutely no way that that business model would succeed in any other line of work. And even beyond missionaries, with Bishops and Stake Presidents, and all the other leaders of the church, there's no drive for power or money. Because there is none of that. No one is paid, and no one gets to tell other people what to do. Heavenly Father is all about unity. So why does it still function and move forward? The only answer is because it's not the work of men. This is truly the work of God.