8/30/12

So this week has been pretty good.

So first of all the missionary that I am training yesterday they anounced that I was going to train Elder Ika, but this morning when they brought the new missionary it was a different Elder. President did a bunch of last minute changes. So now I am trianing Elder Fabian. He is from the domincan republic. He has been a member his whole life. His whole family are members. He likes to draw and read. I am still in La Yaguita and will be here for a while longer for at least 3 months while I train.

We are getting ready for a couple of baptisms that are coming up. They are a bunch of teenagers and are really progressing. some more then others but they are all doing really well. They were able to go to a baptism with us in Bella Vista and are now really excited  for their baptism. We didn't want to pay for the rutas on the way back so we were lucky and a member offered us a ride. So we crammed in, which was really nice of them, but really uncomfortable. 

So we prepared for the hurricane, but when it got here is wasn't bad at all. That day it rained on and off all day and had a nice strong breeze but nothing huge. It was actually pretty nice because it lowered the temperature for a couple of days. It even got down to 79 when we woke up which felt really nice, but it makes the water feel a lot colder. Santiango is a bowl that is surrounded by mountains so there isn't any risk when hurricanes come. Just stronger winds and lots of rain.

So while my companion and I were trying to find this guy that we had contacted in the area that is new and has now street names and only a few houses have numbers. We were walking in a gullish area where the river of garbage runs there, and the houses are more poor. While we were walking on the other side of the gully we saw rats bathing in a stream. It was pretty far so that tells you that they were pretty big if they caught our attention while we were walking so My companion and I threw a couple rocks over there. Lately we have seen a bunch of rats, but it make sense with all the garbage.

The mission is going by extremely fast. It is so weird how fast missionaries are leaving and coming. The time during the mission is on warp speed without anything to slow it down. Weeks are like days, transfers are like a week. It just keeps going faster and faster. So I am trying to enjoy every moment while I can.

I hope that you are all having a great time, and are enjoying school. I love you all tons and hope that you have a great week this coming week!

Con Amor 

Elder Cannon 

8/22/2012

This week has been pretty crazy so I will try my best to tell you everything that has happened.

So first of all I am going to be training this next transfer. I am a bit nervous but also excited. I don´t know if I am going to stay here or go to a new area. I think that I am going to stay here but president told me that he doesn´t know where I will be training. The area is doing great and we are going to have some baptisms this next transfer which will be great because it has been a while since there has been a baptism here a couple of months since a baptism.

This week I got kind of sick of rice or spaghetti switching off everyday for this past transfer. So we bought some beef and I made a roast. I has been a really long time since I have eaten that but it was amazingly good. My companion thought it was really good but wasn´t a huge fan of the skin on the potatoes. I was really nice to have a break from the usually. This week we bought some meat that is going to be better then the one that we ate this week, so I am pretty excited.

We contacted a house this week and it was a really nice older couple that were really paying attention expecially the wife. She looked really interested and we answering the questions, but then a family friend or neighbor joined the lesson. He is a hard core pentecostal cristain. So we were sharing about the apostacy and the restauration. He just wasn´t getting it. He had a really closed mind, we would share  scriptures and he wouldn´t believe us so we bore our testimonies and then presented the book of mormon. He just wouldn´t except that there was more scripture. He just kept saying that if it isn´t in the bible then it is false. It was pretty frustrating he was almost yelling that we were wrong and that this religion was completely false. So I just told him if he didn´t want to take the book and read it then we would just close with a pray and then we left. 

The next pretty funny story. On another contact this guy was there that wanted me to write a letter to him to recommend him for a visa. I told him that i was going to be here for a while and that it probably wouldn´t make a difference. So then he took a picture of us together to show the people at the office where to get a visa that I am his friend. So while we were sharing they saw the pictures that I have of the family in my book of mormon scripture case so they asked if they could see them. They said that you all are really pretty and handsome. Then the guy asked how old rachael is and her name. I told him 16 years old but I wouldn´t tell him her name. He asked me to ask Rachael if she wants to marry him. He is 32 and right now has a wife but they aren´t married so it isn´t a problem, he doesn´t have kids with this wife but with his ex-wife he had kids. I told him that she doesn´t want to get married right now, but he insisted that I ask. By the end of the lesson he was calling me brother-in-law. The lucky thing is that he doesn´t live here he was just visiting a friend. It was really funny. The whole time my companion was just laughing. 

We went to this guy´s house. We had contacted his wife and had a return appointment because we couldn´t teach her alone. So we yelled Hello and the first thing he said when he came out of his house was, ¨which one of you is Joseph Smith?¨ it was really funny. We tried to teach him but he just couldn´t get on subject so he really didn´t understand anything that we said. He kept jumping around from old testament to new testament to what he heard on the radio, so we explained what we could and then left him a pamphlet. 

Today we went to the zoo. It was a pretty long ways we had to ride for about an hour and then walk about 15-20 min. The zoo was pretty small and mostly had birds, but it did have monkeys and two lions. and some elk, lama, two andacondas. it was pretty fun we went as a district so the four of us went out there and then on the way home we bought some food.

I hope that you guys are doing great with school starting and everything. The time is flying by I can´t believe how fast it is going by. I hope that you guys have a great week. I love you all tons! Elder De Leon is at byu so if you want to meet him you could. But I love you all so much and take care.

Con Amor 

Elder Cannon 

8/15/2012

Hola Familia

This week has been pretty good. 

We had a special zone meeting on monday about service and pride. It was reallly great. President and Hermana Douglas came. I had to give a capasitation about pride. We watch the talk from Elder Utchdorf about pride it was really great. Then they gave us a weird green fruit with salt on it. Then on the count of three we all took a big bit. It was a vinagrillo a fruit that they make vinager from. It was really bitter and acidy. Right after that they said now we will hear the special musical number from Elders Taylor, Latu, Spruill and Cannon. So we got up there trying to clear our throats from the juice of the vinagrillo. It turned out pretty good. I sang Melody and then switched to bass for part of it. Hermana Douglas shared some really great stories about service, she is such a servicible person. Then President Douglas shared with us about Love Service and Priesthood and how they are one in the same. It was really good, but went a little long. So afterwards we were looking for a place to eat and the only one that was close was one that looked alright. We ate there and found some rocks in the food, luckly mine didn't have any rocks, I got my share of rocks the other time. 

Friday all of our plans fell through so the whole day we were contacting which is a bit rough. Everyone that we had planned to visit wasn't there. We contacted a bunch of people, most of which weren't interested, but we found one that was really interested. His name is Edison. He is a 16 year old that is really trying to find the truth. He is receiving studies from the bibile from the Jehovas witnesses, which we hope doesn't ruin him. He came to church on Sunday and everything. He really participated in the classes and said that he really like it. Most of the young men know him from school and they are friends. It is looking really good. We are hoping that all of our contacting during this transfer that we found a golden contact so we will see.

We are trying to help a couple of people get married. The Family that we were talking about marriage we haven't been able to visit them. They keep calling and canceling the lessons. Because they live in the other area that we only go to two days out of the week they know when we are there and always call with an excuse. This week we changed days so we will see if we can pass by. Another couple has been together for 24 years and still aren't sure about getting married. We shared with them really directly about being married and how it is a commandment, they said that they would talk about it. The other one is living with her "Husband" but wants to wait a year so that she gets to know him before they get married. It is just a weird costum here that makes it hard for us. We hope that they can get married.

I hope that you all have a great last summer week. This summer sounds like it has been a blast and that you guys did some really fun stuff. Just checking up to see if Joshua is still keeping up the list of good movies that have come out? What are you schedules looking like for this next year? Rachael should be pretty packed but Tyler should have a really free year, and joshua and allison should be enjoying elementry school. Take care and have a blast! I love you all tons!

Con Amor 

Elder Cannon

8/8/12

This week it has been raining on and off. We heard that there was a tropical storm that was passing or something like that.

This week we were sharing with this lady that is really adventist and we were...discussing the sabbath day and which day it sould be. We ended up talking for a long time longer then we espected trying to share scriptures. We ended up with her telling us to pray to find out which day the sabbath day should be because if not we are basically condemned, and us telling her to read the Book of Mormon to find out if it is true. We left and she promised that she would read the Book of Mormon but wants to give us a book to read when we come back to her house.

When we left her house we were walking pretty fast trying to get to the next appointment that we had which was pretty far away. I was trying to fix my umbrella and walk at the same time. I had just about fixed my umbrella when my foot hit what felt like a rock. I just about fell over onto my umbrella which would have broken it. When I looked to see what I had kick. I saw a brown smudge, and further in the road was the remnants of one of the biggest and most dense pile of dog poop that I have seen. My shoe was pretty well nuked the the fresh pile of odor. A lady was walking by was making comments about how bad it smelled and how big of a mess it was. Then was giving me big leaves that I could clean off my shoe a little bit. It was pretty funny afterwards.

This week we have actually had a bunch of people reject us, not on the first visit but when we came back they really didn´t want to listen to us. One lesson we were being pretty persistent trying to get them to take a Book of Mormon. They kept saying well it isn´t the Bible it isn´t the same it isn´t familiar. So we persisted some more and showed them how it could bless their lives. Then the Husband told us that we was baptised when he was eight into our church and that his wife had read the Book of Mormon when she was younger and that they had experienced what it had to offered and that it wasn´t for them. Then afterwards he said that this doesn´t mean that we aren´t brothers or anything like that we can still say Hi to each other it isn´t like as you guys are walking by that we don´t look at their house. We told them that we would still say hello and if they didn´t want it we couldn´t obligate them to take it. So we ended and then left. It is helpful to find out that they aren´t interested from the start instead of visiting and using a bunch of our time just to tell us no. 

We have been coordinating better with the branch and they are trying to help us out more. Last night they were asking us when we were going to visit different investigators because they want to visit them with us. So that was pretty great. We are going to see how it goes. We are also trying to help them more by working with less actives we have three less actives that we are going to work together to try to reactivate them.

Well I´m glad that you guys were about to have such a great time up at Big John´s Flat. Keep working hard. Tell tyler to be careful. Goodluck at the Fair with all your stuff I hope that the cakes rachael is making win and the cookies that joshua is making. Well i love you all tons and hope that you have a great week this next coming week! Good bye!

Con Amor Elder Cannon

8/1/12

Hola Familia

This week has been pretty great. 

So we have been contacting a lot lately, and on sunday a couple of the people that we contacted came to church which was really a surprise. We went and taught them. The one was a guy that many people think is crazy, but when we taught him we found out that he is a bit weird but he understood what we taught him, and asked good questions. The others were a bunch of teenage boys that we just said hello to on saturday night and told them to go to church so they did. We ended finding where they live during the week and shared with them. One of them is really interested he said he wanted to be like us and said that he was going to go to church again on sunday. We were pretty exctied about that. He even came with us to another lesson to one of his friends.

While we were walking in the early afternoon, when it is really hot we were walking up a big hill with the sun beating in our faces. We passed a couple that were cleaning then house. So it looked like they were really busy and we had a couple of people to visit that lived pretty far away. We walked a couple more steps when we both looked at each other and felt like we needed to contact them. So we walked back. He had shared with missionaries a long time ago. His mother had just died three months ago and it has been really hard for him. We taught about the plan of Salvation and he was really interested. At the end of the lesson we asked him if he would say the pray. The only prayer he knew what ¨our Father¨. So we taught him how to pray and he said the pray. While he was praying he started to cry and told us that he felf so much better having talked to us, and asked if we could come back again to his house. So we put another appointment and left. It was pretty amazing that we both felt like we should talk to him, and just to see the results.

While we were cantacting one morning we found a lady that seemed really interested so we set an appointment when her husband would be home. We went to the appointment and found out that he was baptised when he was 14 and was now going to a christian church. We started to share with him and he started to tell us why the church wasn´t true because it is formed on ProphteS not just one, then started naming scriptures where there were more then one prophet in the land. We told him that the apostols are also prophets seers and revalators. He wasn´t very convinced and kept up the arguement. A scripture came to mind in Alma 4:19 So I bore my testimony about how in knew that the church was true I explained how I felt and that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this is the true church. The guy changed he began to think and listen to us. It turned out that we gave him a Book of Mormon. He wouldn´t put another appointment with us because he work isn´t set so he is alway in and out of the house so he doen´t know if he would be home.

We have a family that is really progressing. We talked about marriage and about them getting married. They told us that they have wanted to get married for a while and have been thinking about it. So we were pretty excited about that we have an appointment tonight to go and see them. They told us that they would have a date picked out when we come tonight, we just hope that it is in this transfer so that we can both see it, even if it isn´t it is really exciting.

I am glad that you guys had so much fun camping and that you guys are able to go and stay a couple more days this week. It really is a pretty special place. It sounds like you guys really had a fun time up there. Keep working hard in all that you do and I hope that you are enjoying the last few weeks of your summer vacation. This next school year will be a fun one! Keep up all the hard work.For the list that mom wants: I need another journal I am almost out of pages in this one. I would like some more music that you can sing to ( like Efy or quertet) stuff like that, and if you could put them in mp3 form and put as many as you can on a disk that would be great. Send me a picture of Dad on his mission. if you are going to send shorts make sure they are size 33 around the waist, 32 is a bit tight. I can´t think of anything else right now. I love you guys tons! Have a great week this week!

Con Amor

Elder Cannon

7/25/12

Hola Familia,

This week has been really different. Trying to learn a new area and remember everybodies names including the people that we are contacting everyday. We are doing a lot of contacting. My area has a lot of hills and the majority of these hills are really steep. I think that my legs are going to get bigger while I am here. My companion told me his have gotten bigger from walking the hills. It isn't as big as Cien Fuegos, but we do have another area that is a south of us that we have to walk to twice a week to work out there is takes about a half an hour to walk out there. We walk through some cow fields on trails. It is called La Charca. There is also a huge catholic calimastic center on the hill and there is a huge cement cross that they light up when they have meetings there. There isn't a church here we meet in the second floor of a house. It is pretty small there are two tiny rooms an office and then the main room and a deck. There is only a branch here so there aren't a ton of members. The majority of the houses are made of cinder blocks and there are a couple made of wood, and all the houses that I have been in have a concrete floor at least. 

This week on Sunday we were walking down the main road we were on our way to go and eat lunch at a members house and there were a lot of people drinking. While we were walking there was a pretty crazying looking guy. He was smoking and drinking when all the sudden he put down his drink. There was a lot a talking and some shouting. The guy pulls out a gun and points it at me. He wasn't that far away from me, about 10-15 yards in front of me. Thoughts were flying through my mind. "this guy is going to kill me" "just keep walking and praying" ext. He wasn't meaning to point it at me so when the thought finally registered in his mind that I wasn't the person that he wanted to point the gun at which was a terrifying minute. He pointed it at a different person just as a threat he didn't do anything, but it was a bit scary.

We have a couple really good investigators. There is this really old guy that we are teaching, his name is Tomas. He came to church which was a surprise because he told us that he wasn't going to come. He told us that while he was reading the chapter that we gave him 2 nephi 2 when he was done. A branch fell from the tree into the page so he kept reading and chapter three says branch twice right where the branch fell. So he decided that he needed to go to church because the lord is showing him that this is his church. That was pretty cool, and he is pregressing more and is trying harder to learn and read what we leave him.

The house we finished cleaning it for the most part and are getting back into the schedule of regular missionary life. We are starting to see some changes in the mission with President Douglas. We are pretty excited for this transfer.

This week we went to eat after a zone meeting and we got the usual rice chicken and pigeon peas or beans. I guess I was the unlucky one or something because my food had a bunch of rocks in it so I just about cracked a couple of teeth trying to eat my food, and then the next day it all came out in diarrea, but that only lasted during the morning and then I was good. 

I hope that you all have a great time up at Big John's Flat. Tell everyone that I say hi and hope that they have a great time. It is crazy how fast the time is passing the stores here are getting school stuff ready. So I hope you are all prepared for this coming school year. Enjoy the last few weeks of your summer. I Love you all Tons! Enjoy the cool weather up there!

Con Amor

Elder Cannon