July 2nd 2008

From: nick coats
To: KCoats5150@aol.com
Subject: july 2nd
Date: Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:39:00 +0000

Mom
every thing is still going really well here. just the same old same old. im glad
that everything is going good at home. im glad ty had fun at camp. hopefully he
continues to go to some of those church activities. arien im glad that u got all
moved into the new room. i actually really like my new place also. i cant
believe ty and jud baught that car. you need to send me some pictures of it. the
safari has been a good car but terrible gas millege. the gas here is a little
bit cheaper than in town but not by much. thats good to know that your leg is
doing good. im sure that working on your feet all day doesnt really help. i know
that it will slowly get better. the weather is is pretty nice. its there colder
months but it is still right up around 60 almost every day. the humidty isnt to
bad but it is differnt than being in preston. i get a nice fat dirt ring around
my collar almost every day. the language is coming along good. this past week i
have kinda felt that i hit a wall but that is normal cause i learned a lot the
first week. the prosoliting is this friday. its gonna be awesome! all the
missionarys say that it is the funnest thing to do in the mtc. im excited for
it. im sending a few pictures home today by mail. let me know when u get them.
the traffic here is crazy!! the roads are so narrow and everyone drives100 mph.
when we came home from the temple today there was a guy driving a work truck
with a big box on the back that just decided to park and run into a shop and
grab some food. our bus driver laid on his horn and the guy just waved and sat
down to eat. it was pretty funny. we sat there for a good 5 minutes then
everybody was honking, so some one just came out, got in his truck and backed it
out of the way. there are a lot of people on motorcycles also and they cruise in
and out of traffic just honking there horns to let people know that they are
coming through. its madness! im hoping that i dont have to drive when im out in
the field. it seem crazy that i have been out almost a month alredy. going buy
fast. i cant wait to get to my actual area int he feild. i love u. tell every
one hi for me. keep sending the pictures but dont bother sending more of that
dog..... she sickens me. jk. i love u guys and your always in my prayers.

Elder Coats

June 25th 2008

From: nick coats
To: kcoats5150@aol.com
Subject: june 25
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:07:20 +0000

family-
everything is going great here still. im learning so much! the language is
slowly coming to me more and more each day. i can understand quite a bit. cant
speak it all that well still but it is coming along. my p-day is every wednesday
and it is better for u to send me e-mails cause i just check them every p-day.
there is a little place called mr. cheneys cookies where we go and pay 2 rais
for an hour on the computer wich is about a dollar 20 or so, so its not to bad.
every other night we get to have gym to run around for a while and im really
glad for that cause we sit a lot. my knee is feeling better than it every has
right now and i hope it continues that way. i know that im being blessed for
what im doing. the one elder that was flying with me by the name of groosbeck is
actually related to luke groosbeck that we know from town. kinda crazy how small
the world is. my companion elder halgren is a really good kid. he really helps
me to focus on my studies and keep up. all of my roomates are all studs. we have
two brazilian roomates and the rest are americans. there is six of us to a room.
the room is really nice though. my one roomate reminds me a lot of ty, elder
gardner. he is way funny and he likes to make every one laugh and he is good at
it. it would of been nice to get away from the smart alik remarks that ty always
had but elder gardner took off right where ty left me... jk. i got my first
taste of brazilian guacomole and it is amazing. and it was just cafeteria
guacomole. i ate so much that my roomates had to deal with me for the whole
week! you know what i mean. hey did any one go to the fathers day derby... how
was it... im really glad that jud is doing so well. when i get home he will be
done with all of this and me and him could maybe earn some big bucks together
some where. arien how is the room coming along. dont make it all girly and what
not. and keep your juuicy watermelon talk out of that room also. the laundry
thing is a piece of cake so far. its all free at the mtc and it puts the soap in
on its own so its all good till i get into the field i guess. dad u can do what
u want with my car. take it out and drive it every once in a while. i know u
want to. next week we get to go prosoliting in down town sao paulo. its gonna
be sweet. im working on my street contact so i can know what im gonna so to
these crazy brazilians. every thing is going good. tell everyone hi and tell
grandma and loyal my news. maybe just forward all my mail to my friends. love u
guys.

Elder Coats

First E-mail homen 6-18-08

family

i made it to the mtc. everything is going good. the city of sao paulo is huge! the mtc is really nice and everyone makes u feel really welcome. i was able to take the blue dot off my tag today which means i have finished a whole week! i have learned a lot in the first week! almost to much for my abilities. no its all good, i can now pray, bear my testimony, and start a small sonversation in portugese. today was my first p day and i was glad for that. we spend a lot of time in the classroom leaning the language and doctrine, so it feels good to be out of the hot class room sitting in a chair for most of the day. im glad for the gold bond powder cuase i have no butt and its chafing from sitting in those chairs. im having a good time though. my district is a really good group of guys we have a lot of fun. my companheiro is really quiet and a little akward but he keeps me focused on my studys so it working out good. we are slowly becoming friends. we had a fun experience today trying to send some letters out and the lady just went off in portugese and we had no idea what she was saying....it was pretty funny. we get to go out on our own with out companheiros on p day. we got to go to the campinas temple today also and that was really good. really pretty temple. the brazilian people are very friendly and willing to help us with the language. so arien how is your room coming along? we have devotionals a few times a week that we all go to and most of them are good. i do feel the spirit quite often. sometimes more than others. i think ive gained a little weight....we eat a lot of food in the mtc and the food is pretty good. beans and ricde is always a side dish for lunch and dinner. the language is quite a bit different from spanish but it is pretty cool to hear them talk. all in all everything is going really good. i hope everything is good at home

Elder Coats

All in this together!

When we got home from the airport, Nick called and said he'd made it to Texas, where he would be laying over until his flight to Brazil was ready. He told us that in Salt Lake a father of one of the other missionaries had taken some pictures of all the missionaries going to Brazil and had e-mailed them to the parents. It was so nice to see Nick with other missionaries!


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: davidfonda@comcast.net
To:kristal_shepherd@hotmail.com;tdjensen@integrity.com;mhousley@beyondbb.com;rosiemgl@gmail.com;tmfarnsworth84@yahoo.com;lbstephenson100@msn.com;paulagroesbeck@hotmail.com;mhalgren@yahoo.com;kcoats5150@aol.com;lilliancampbell@hotmail.com;t.grow@mchsi.com;me;;Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:33:21 +0000
Subject: Your sons at the SLC airport

Hello,
We had the opportunity today to go with our missionary son past security to the gate to see him off to Brazil. We took several photos and I thought you might like to have them. By the time they left, there were a total of 14 missionaries and they all looked happy and excited. We anticipated just seeing those who were going to serve in the Belem Brazil mission with my son, but were please to see missionaries going to missions all over Brazil.

As missionaries or groups of missionaries found their way to gate A1, they immediately migrated to each other. It was fun to overhear their initial conversations which all went the same humorous way:

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Brazil,"

"Yeah, so are all of us. Where in Brazil?"

Then they would share their calls and find others who were going to their same mission. They looked great. They looked strong. They looked happy to be where they were and with each other. Good luck to all of them. I have 16 pictures and for size reasons I will attempt to send 4 at a time in four separate e-mails.

Regards, David FondaElder Brandon Fonda - Belem Brazil, June 2008-2010

The Hard Part

Gram, Ty, Me, Elder Coats, Jud at the airport
Everyone always told my mom that we were so lucky we didn't have to go to the MTC, but I think saying goodbye is saying goodbye, no matter where you are.

Mom lined us up to take our last photo of the four of us together. Two whole years...we will be so lonely for him. We have all always been so close, and we have always had a special way of using humor and jokes to become closer.

As we rode in the van to the airport, he kept taking very deep breaths and wiping off his sweaty palms on his pants. But when we arrived we saw lots of missionaries there. As we would walk by them, they would shout out to Nick, "Hey! Where you goin?" when Nick would say Brazil, it made us all breathe a little easier when they would reply, "Me too! See ya in a minute!" Just to know he wouldn't be alone was so comforting to all of us!

Saying Goodbye

The morning of June 10, 2008, we woke up early to take our brother Elder Nick Coats, to the airport to begin his journey of being a missionary for The Churh of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Brazil Curitiba Mission.

We were all a little nervous to let him go, and you could feel it that morning. Nick was nervous too; but after spending some time in the bathroom and drinking a half a bottle of Peptobismol (our family's favorite pink drink that cures all) he was ready to go.