MIRACLES MIRACLES MIRACLES

Holy crap. What a week. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! 

Ok let me hit you with the MIRACLE of the week. So we had a video call way back when with my boy Daniel. This kid is insane. He's like 18 (we think), speaks French doesnt speak Italian or English, and has been taught for like a year now and wants so badly to be baptised and come to church. The problem is he lives 2 hours away by train and has no money and no car. So, We hop on the video call with one of the elders who speaks french and the spirit just hits like a truck. Literally had no idea what they were saying but by the end of the call we were all in tears. The next day, I ended up finding him trains at perfect times to get him to Caserta. We just prayed that his 3 modes of transportation to get him to church would work out. Then Sunday morning comes around and he texts us "posso venire" HE CAN COME TO CHURCH!!! This man has FAITH. holy crap. We picked him up from the train station and the gift of tongues was actin up like crazy. He stayed at church for all 2 hours and then made it safely home. BAPTISMAL INVITE IS COMIN HIS WAAYYYYYY. so so happy and it seriously was all the hand of God. 

It's really cool to take a step back and see the way god works when miracles happen. When I look back, i see my self there and helping, but i also did nothing. It seriously is all the hand of the lord and I just get to be and instrument in his hand ITS SO AWESOME!!!!! 

Also that same day we had one of our cute ladies from English course come to church!!!!!!!!! I never realized how awesome church was until I became a missionary. Don't take church for granted people. It's SO CRAZY LIT FIRE  

OKAY sorry this is a long email but I have to tell you this other crazy story. I was literally walkin down the street reading the good word of good and my restoration pamphlet fell out of my book of mormon. I bent down to pick it up and i hear someone say "that's mine, right? " his hand was literally reaching down for it. I was like what in tarnation is happening. He proceeds to take the restoration pamphlet and say "forse è la mano di Dio" now he's texting it up with the elders about our restored church. LETS GOOOO

Okay one last funny story. So a couple weeks ago we ran into this guy who basically just wanted us to marry his son but we just wanted to teach him about the plan of salvation. I think he got that one mixed up. Language barrier. Anyways, we ran into him the other night and found out hes an artist. Something I've learned is to be a little concerned when you meet an Italian that's an artist. He takes out his phone and tells us he just finished up a painting. He shows us this absolute masterpiece that was actually insane. Then... he proceeds to just show us paintings of all the naked women he's painted. Once again don't ask Italian artists to see their work. It's always naked woman. I accidentally let out a laugh when he showed us the first picture because it caught me so off guard, but only my companion heard me. 

Anyways, this week we dropped our friends Mario and Luigi. Guess they got a little distracted in coconut mall or something and didn't want to take the rainbow road to salvation. Haha get it 

Heres your Spiritual thought for the week. How grateful I am for my knowledge of prayer. How grateful i am to know that I can talk directly to my Heavenly father. Something I've learned about the catholic religion is that they pray to saints because they believe they are not worthy enough to talk to God. But i have a firm knowledge that I can talk to my Heavenly father and he listens and he answers and knows me perfectly. So, I invite you to get on your knees and say a prayer and thank Heavenly father for how awesome he is and how totally awesome his plan for you us. He's a cool guy if you get to know him. 

Once again sorry for the long email I just have so many fun awesome greatness to share!!!!!!

VI VOGLIO BENE 

~ Sorella Raccoon ♡♡♡♡

The picture with the guy is our friend Daniel who came to church!!! 

White Christmas!!

Hello everybody!! I love you all!! Thank you for all your emails and messages. Sorry if I don't respond. I probably started to write you back, but I get distracted really easily. I promise the response will come soon.  

Okay just a quick update from your favorite missionary here in Italy!!

Recently, our mission president talked about having a goal as a mission to have a "white christmas." This goal is that each companionship in the mission will have a baptism or a baptismal date by the end of the month. We want to see white all across the mission from seeing all of our friends on their baptism day!!!!! In order to fulfill this goal as a mission, we all set an alarm and pray together at 1pm every single day, and then we put our faith into action!! We have already seen so many miracles. So, I would like to invite all of my fans out their to join us!! At 1pm every day no matter where you're at, pray with us!! Pray for our friends, and take advantage of that moment to talk with your Heavenly father!! 

We had zone conference this week and it was all focused on the Savior. I LOVED it. Something I took away, was when we talk to people about Christ, we don't talk about him as if he's a principle, we talk about Christ as a person who lives!! Sometimes, especially as a missionary, we can get caught up in just going through the motions and teaching others about our Savior like a script, but Christ LIVES!!! And if we get to know him, it will be so much easier to tell people about him. 

Another thing I loved from conference was getting to know christ. We talked about when you talk to someone, you get to know them. We can do the same with our Savior and with Heavenly father!! Talk with them!! Get to know them and know how they feel about you!!

Last pday i went to Pompei...again...don't go to Pompei more than once. It's not worth it.#Pompeiiscoolbutnotthatcoolitsjustabunchofoldbuildingsandtheresonly3deadbodies

But today I went somewhere even better. WE WENT ICE SKATING!!!!! My dreams came true and i felt SO happy. Then we got gelato even though it was frigid outside. It's always a good time for gelato. I may be poor, but I will find money for gelato. #priorities 

My invite to you all for today is to recognize places where you can feel the spirit. And find places where you can help others feel the spirit. As i meet with people and learn about other religions, it's interesting to notice when the spirit is present and when its not. And I ALWAYS WANT THE SPIRIT TO BE WITH ME!! It is so powerful. The spirit provides a way for us to find and recognize truth. So, head out into this awesome world of ours and go bring the HOLY SPIRIT to people. It's a life changer. Maybe even spread a little bit of that Christmas spirit!!! "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience."

Mythbuster: Fettuccine alfredo does not exist. It is a fraud that Italians put on for Americans. ️

Also italian hot chocolate is so much better than american hot chocolate. 

Okay sorry that was a long one. I never know how I can write all that. BUT I LOVE YOU ALL AND JESUS LOVES YOU!!! FIND OUT WHY AT CHURCHOFJESUSCHRIST.ORG!!!!!!!

God is a God of Miracles!!

GOOD MORNING AMERICA!!! Hey guys, i would like to apologize for my lack of emails sent. I have no excuse other than I was lazy and didn't want to send one.  So many AWESOME things have happened while I was gone so let me miracle SLAP you!!!!! 

We got transfer news and this transfer is thanksgiving, christmas, and new years, so I was a little scared to maybe get a companion I can't hang with or an area that does not like to party. We got transfer calls and I stayed with my compy and in my favorite place of Caserta. I was SO happy when I got that call. Bring on the Festas. MIRACLE #1

Thanksgiving was INSANE. Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Italy, so I thought I would have major FOMO while my family was at the beach (my favorite place without me) but what do you know I had more thanksgiving dinners than I've had in America. Thanksgiving parties with Italians who have no idea why theyre celebrating or what theyre eating are way more fun than Thanksgiving at the beach. MIRACLE #2 I had 3 Thanksgiving parties and everyone of them was filled with Turkey and Pie and GRATITUDE!!!

 I hope EVERYONE was so grateful and told someone that they were grateful for them and most IMPORTANTLY gave thanks to our good God above. Without him, you would not have any of those things you were grateful for. I am grateful for America . I am grateful for my family and I am grateful that I know that my Heavenly father has a plan for me. 

Story time: When teaching english class to some italians, i based my lesson on gratitude. I asked everyone to think of 3 things they are grateful for and they could not repeat what someone else said. They all got wide eyed and started to ask me how in the world that would be possible to think of more things they were grateful for??? Ladies and gentlemen this brought so much sadness to my heart. GOD HAS GIVEN US SO MANY THINGS!!!! WE CAN BE SO GRATEFUL!!! I can't even express to you how much my heart just wanted to burst out to these people and help them realize all the beautiful things God has given them to be grateful for. So please, this week for me, tell everyone you know you're grateful for them, find something to be grateful for every day, and get on your knees every single day and tell your Heavenly father you are grateful for him and grateful for everything he has given you. And we ESPECIALLY need to be grateful in our times of trial. It's life changing, I promise. 

Ok sorry for that epistle. 

MIRACLE #3 Okay so for those that don't know, my area has been in a severe drought. We have not found anyone to teach in a LONG time. It's been rough. So, me and compy knew we had to put our boots on, grab some book of mormons and some shovels and GET TO WORK. Let me tell ya my knees were hurtin from the amount of prayers I was sayin. We would walk in the door at 9pm everyday exhausted from talking, knocking, and walking. BUT THE LORD PROVIDES!!! WE FOUND SOMEONE!!!! We have seen miracles every single day!! And without a doubt we could not have done any of it with out the hand of the lord. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a missionary and I talk about Jesus to everyone, all day, everywhere. I'm saying that because I'm Jolynn Coon and I know that my Heavenly father is SO aware of me and LISTENS to every thought and prayer and sees every action I take. We have so many awesome friends right now and my heart is just so full of joy YAYAYAY!!

Okay heres a mysthbuster for the week. you know this hand motion . Yeah we think italians just use that when they say "pizza." I have now learned that they really only use it when they're mad. Lol Mythbusted.

I love you all SO MUCH!!! Send me an email because I would LOVE to hear about your lives!!!! 

♡Sorella Coon

COOKIES FOR EVERYONE!!!

Hello everyone!!! I honestly do not have alot to write about so let's just get right into it.

Lets start off with Zone conference!!! It was awesome to be with all my cute friends and hear from President and Sister Morris. I sang for Zone Conference. it was TERRIBLE. Lol the nerves got the best of me and i think I laughed half way through the end of the song. I'll just leave the singing to the mormon tabernacle choir. 

I have finally found the best gelato place EVER which happens to be right next to the train station. Thinking back, now i know why i have no more money for the rest of the week. #worthit

We literally ate BREAKFAST FOR DINNER!!! Our favorite American members who feed us every week literally made us a giant American breakfast for dinner with BUTTERMILK SYRUP. tears were shed. #buttermilksyrupwillbeinthecelestialkingdom

We made miracle cookies!!!! We baked about 3 dozen American Chocolate chip cookies to win over all of our friends. It's been going great. #baketoconvert #whodoesntlovefood #ohwejusthappenedtobakethiswholeplateofcookiesforyourfamilythatscrazy

See ya next week!! Ciao!!