7/18/12

This week has been a lot different. I got transfered today so I am now in La Yaguita in Santiago South. I also got a new companion Elder Mandrigas he is from haiti so he speaks french and spanish and I have heard that he speaks a little english, but I still don´t know if he does or not.

Today we got up and ready pretty early then the office elders came and got me they dropped me off at my new house and I cleaned part of it a little then got my stuff settled in. We then went shopping to buy some food in the city at La Sirena. so we were down there and had lunch. Then came home and I cleaned a little more and started to wash my clothes, with a washing machine! And now we are using internet, so I still don´t know much of my area just from what I have seen in the car ride, but there are a lot more trees here then in cien fuegos so I hope that it is cooler. We are on the outskirts of the city I think that we are the last missionaries in this area.

It was pretty hard to leave Cien Fuegos. It was really hard saying goodbye to the members and the converts and investigators. I really hope that I can see them again. I spent a lot of time at the Cabrera´s house. They wanted me to share one final lesson with them. We talked then I shared some scriptures with them and then had to say goodbye. I ended up crying a bit saying goodbye and giving them hugs.

This week we also found a leak in the pipe from our tank on the roof of our house. It was spraying our water all over the house of our neighbors. So we went and bought the stuff to fix it. so that took a little while, but we got it all fixed and glued together. I was pretty happy to know how to do it and so did my companion so together it wasn´t a big deal.

Sara wasn´t baptised on saturday we posponed her date for the 28 of july. So that was a bit sad to have shared so long with her and not be able to see her baptised, but it is enough to know that she is going to be baptised.

So this house has a shower that actually runs so I won´t have to take a bucket shower everyday, which is a bit weird because that has been my shower for so long. They have power on and off so when it is here we have to wash our clothes, but their inversor works when there isn´t power so the fans will work. They also have water most of the time and when it leaves it only leaves for a little usually, who knows with my luck.

Well I hope that you guys have a great week camping. Joshua and Allison it sounds like you guys did great swimming this year, keep it up. I´m glad that rachael and tyler had fun at their camps. I love you all tons!

Con Amor 

Elder Cannon 

7/11/12

Hola Familia,

This week we still don´t have any electricity in the house. So we have been washing by hand which is hard because we don´t have the tablet to scrub your clothes so we have to use a brush, but I use the inside wall of the washer. It makes your arms pretty tired, but I have been thinking alot about what Tom Cruise taught in ¨Far and Away¨, ¨You plung and you scrup and you plung and scrub and you plung and you scrub again and if it still isn´t clean you plung and scrub again.¨ It really works. 

Today we have been cleaning the whole house. We woke up and then we washed the walls and stove and cupboards counters and then the floor. Then we spent the rest of the time hand washing our clothes and sheets.

This week we have a baptism planned. It has been a while we have run into a couple problems with all the baptisms that we had planned, but this weekend we have one. Her name is Sara, she is a friend and reference of Jesus Cabrera. She has been progressing a lot and is involved in relief society going to meetings and going to church. It was really good. We were worried because her work schedule was going to change and she was going to have to work on Sunday, but we promised her if she prayed and talked to her boss she would be able to work something out so that she doesn´t have to work on Sunday. She told us yesterday that her boss changed her schedule and she isn´t going to have to work on sundays. She is really excited about her baptism and has been telling everyone about it. So we are pretty excited for her.

Transfers are next week so that is pretty sad I think that I am probably leaving because I have a lot of time in the area. So it is sad to think that this could be my last week with these members and investigators. So this week was also the last week that I had to teach my district, it went really well. I have learned alot from them from studing and teaching them and also from them teaching me. It has been a really good district.

I met President and his wife we had interviews last week. He has the look of a mission president, he is calm but his words have power and are carried by the spirit. The interview was great, it was a bit weird because it was in english, but really great. His wife is more energetic and is very loving and you can see that she really has charity for the people already. she also interviewed us and asked about our families they are and if they write us and are active in the church. They are very excited and have a lot of energy for the work. I really like them and it is going to be great to get to know them better.

Wow it seems pretty crazy at home with all the fires and girls camp and student council camp. I hope that you can all have fun with all these activities. I´m sorry to hear about the high adventure being canceled, but fishing will be fun. Keep working hard and having a great summer. Joshua and Allison it sounds like you guys are becoming really fast swimmers. I remember when I left and joshua was getting pretty good and allison was starting to swim in the deep end and now you guys are racing and working hard. Keep going and win lots for me. Thats good that Dad has a break from work for a little bit, maybe you can shorten the list of ¨hunny dos¨ that mom has. Well I hope that you all have a great week! I love you all tons!

Con Amor

Elder Cannon

7/4/12

This week was really good.

We have been trying really hard with Mayra and Joel. They went to church a while ago and had a bad experience and we thought that they were never going to come back, but we have been teaching them about the power of fasting and asked them to fast with us to see when they wanted to be married and baptised. So on saturday right before we started our fast they called us and told us that we weren´t going to fast, and that something happened and they aren´t going to be married until they solved this problem. We fasted anyways. On sunday they came to church and they had a much better experience. They also told us that they were fasting and wanted to end the fast together. It was so awesome that they ended up fasting with us. We went and visited them last night and shared with them. We had a really long lesson because their kids were hungry when we got there so we waited. Their two year old ended up looking at the family pictures and thought you guys are really cute. We answered a bunch of questions and shared how we can overcome problems and used the example that as missionaries we have to discuss what is bothering us or we don´t have the spirit with us. Them they just kept asking question and more questions, so we tried our best to answer them and show them how through the scriptures they can find their own answers. At the end of the lesson Joel, the husband that isn´t as receptive, said I am going to be baptised. It was so great, and we opened a new window for him in the way that the scriptures can really relate to him and how he can study them. When we left the house they were hugging at the door telling each other that they love each other and kissed. I felf so great! it was such a spiritual experience!

I had an intercambio with elder Kimball and went to tierra alta. It was really weird it is a richer area but it also has some poor parts. Some of the houses are really big and there are a lot more people who at least know a little bit of english, because they visited the united states the people where I live that lived in the united states are usually deported. There was an area called the hole and it was really nasty. There was a river of sewage and garbage and the people built their houses on the side of the hill. During the exchanged I learned a lot more about my own area. There was a member that told me a lot about the process of the Gansters and the police. It was pretty eye opening even though I live there I now understand what is really going on, and see the blessings that we receive everyday. We talked about this because someone else was murdered on sunday in the area that we were working in that night. It is just a blessing how the Lord protects us.

We still don´t have any power and it is hard when the neighbors have their loud music and you can´t sleep very good without the fan. We have both run out of clean clothes after the exchange my companion brought some clothes to wash there, but I forgot because I was already there. We don´t know when we are going to get power again we keep calling the office elders but they are just slow at doing things. It is a bit annoying. 

Tomorrow we get to meet the new president and we are pretty excited to meet him. We have heard some pretty good things. his wife called my companion yesterday to wish him a happy birthday and she speaks a little but is learning at the end of the call president talked just to make sure he got the message. He said the spanish here is a bit fast but he is getting used to it.

Well I hope that you all have a great 4th of July and that you can see a lot of the family and have a great bbq, wow that sounds really good.. I hope that all the fire stop burning so that I can come home to beautiful mountains. I miss the mountians in utah. Have a great time this week, and I love you all so much.

Con amor

Elder Cannon