6-30-13

Wow where to start. This week has been really really interesting.

So at the beginning of this week we were traveling with an ex-missionary, who was the office elder when I started the mission and we went up to Constanza the highest area in the mission to find a new house. So that was pretty intense with the really curvy roads and majestic views. We spent most of the day there looking for a new apartment for the missionaries.

Then on Tuesday we had a great meeting with the priesthood leaders of the ward. Lately the ward has been going down hill. We are all trying to work hard to keep things going, but it seems like the harder we try the more things go wrong. So on Tuesday we met and brainstormed Ideas about what we can do to accomplish our goals as a ward. We planned a little and came up with some ideas to bring up in ward conference next week. The main thing that came out of that meeting is that they were excited and had an idea about how we can accomplish and help the ward. Back in February we had an average of about 108 people in sacrament meeting, but lately it has been around 65 people in sacrament meeting. People have been moving away, but others are just going inactive, and we couldn't figure out how to help. So that was a great meeting.

This Sunday which was really good we had a lot of people at church. My companion and I left the house an hour early to go out and find people and try to get them excited about going to church. If we can get them to go they will feel the spirit and then it will be more likely that they will come back on their own. So we went and gave a less active family a ride, and also a Sister from the ward that had surgery, but a couple of her family that are less active also came so it was really great. The excitement had seemed to really get to other people as well because a couple of the other people that the other elders came and some that they just came. So we are starting to see some progress and hopefully after ward council we will have a better idea on how we are going to work together.

This week I also had to go and visit the doctor of the mission. I went to check up on my toe. He didn't operate on it though the way he was twisting my toe nail off and squeezing it sure felt like he was operating on it. He said that it is still just starting, but that it is a lot bigger then normal so if he has to operate he will have to take a lot of the nail. So he told me to try to bend it and ease it so the toe nail grows straight. He also gave me an antibiotic to kill the infection that I have in my toe. So that night I took the first pill. I woke up in the middle of the night and barely made it to the bathroom. It was just straight water. I spent most the morning near the bathroom. I call Hermana Douglas and she call the doctor and he said that that happens and that I needed to eat yogurt to put all the good bacteria back into my body. So I did and with in a couple of hours I was alright. But during those couple of hours I had a couple close calls where it was a miracle that I made it to the bathroom without soiling some of my clothes.  

This week we also had to go down to Santo Domingo again. We went to go and pick up new trucks. I have been working on trying to get the trucks changed since I got in the office. We drove down and ate lunch with a missionary that just finished his mission from our mission. Then we changed the trucks we had 2009 Toyota Hilux, and now we have Isuzu D-Max and they said that it is 2014, but I'm pretty sure that it is 2013 or maybe 2012, but it was new. We took off all the plastic and everything. So that have been really nice so far. It is also Automatic and the ride is a lot smoother.

We also had a ward activity this week and not a lot of people went but it was a really effective activity. The investigators that were there got to know some of the members and we played games and then after we played a little bit of basketball. One of the guys that we played with is a returned missionary that lives in our area. So we talked with him a little bit and he moved into our a little while ago and hasn't been going to church for a while. We asked if we could go by and invited him to church. He came to church and brought his whole family who aren't members and today we are going over there to teach them.

Well I hope that Tyler does great on his Farewell talk! Enjoy your last weeks with him. Have a great week! I love you all tons!

Con Cariño

Elder Cannon

 

6-22-13

So this week was pretty great. So to start off the week I got a call from Santo Domingo with one of my bosses. He we talked for a while about the cars of the mission and he told me that President's car was ready but that there wasn't anyone to bring it up here to Santiago. So I told President and he told me to go and pick it up. He also told me that there was a missionary that is going home this transfer who really wanted to go to the temple so that if we were going to go down there anyways we might as well go to the temple. So Tuesday we went and picked up the car that President was driving and then Wednesday morning we left by 6 to go to Santo Domingo.

It was pretty awesome we were able to go to the temple and Elder Rondon, now Brother Rondon because he finished his mission, he came with us to the temple. So that was really special to be able to finally visit the temple after a really long time. It was really weird while we were on our way to Santo Domingo just the feeling of leaving the mission was really weird. It was like leaving behind a special spirit and there was an empty space inside of me. It was a great trip. We had to wait there for a while because they were still finishing up with President's car on something last minute. We were able to see all my teachers from the MTC here and that was pretty cool. It was nice actually being able to carry on a conversation with them. We then traded the cars and drove back to Santiago. It was a great trip and even more so to be riding in the comforts of President's car, but we did find a problem with the car on the way home. They had replace the windshield but a small part wasn't sealed all the way so when it rained on the way home a tiny bit of water was leaking in, and  you could feel a slight breeze. I was fine with that because that just meant that I had to keep President's car for another day to go and get it fixed.

This week we also had a senior missionary couple come from Santo Domingo. They are moving here so we have been looking for apartments for them. They are from Sandy so maybe you guys would know them. The Wegeners so we spent pretty much all day Tuesday showing them apartments. It was a long day going from apartment to apartment and speaking with them and speaking with the real estate people to try to get them what they want. We finally got something that they really liked on the last apartment that we say. It was a pretty good day because they took us out to lunch at TGI Fridays, which sure beats rice and beans.

So it has been a pretty busy week, but on Monday we went to go and visit the less active family that we have been visiting. We were going there because the wife had asked my companion to talk about alcohol with the husband he has been falling really fast and we have really been trying to help them. So we went there and the husband just blew us off and pretended to be asleep, but that might also have been because he was a bit drunk. We were talking to the wife and she just needed someone to listen to her because it has been really hard for her. She really does have a testimony but this trial is so much for her. She is being so patient and is really trying to keep everything together. She has just started sewing to try to earn some more money especially now that her husband is drinking where as before he wasn't. She wants to get out of the situation because he husband is now trying to get with other ladies, but she doesn't have the financial ability to do that and if she does her husband will just try to find her again. Basically he had decided not to be happy he wants to make it impossible for the rest of the family to be happy. So we just listened her out, which made her feel better. The only thing that we could do was give her a blessing of comfort then we tried to encourage her to keep on reading and praying and then we left.

This week we were also able to do some new contacts. It was raining slightly and we were walking around contacting. It felt great. The majority of the people rejected us but we were able to find a guy that is really interested. We taught him and his son, and we hope that next time we can teach the rest of the family. We also found an older man that seems pretty interested. He can read and he seems to be understanding. It is hard because sometimes you find old people and they either don't know how to read or they really don't understand so it is really hard for them to progress, but he seems pretty interested.

Well I hope that you guys had a blast this last week being Strawberry Days and everything. that is really great about Joshua winning the relay race. I love you guys So much and hope that you have a great week!

Con Cariño

Elder Cannon

6-15-13

Hola Familia,

This week has been pretty good. At the beginning of this week we were traveling quite a bit. We had a Haitian family in our ward that had their visas come so they could go to Canada. Which is really good for them they are super humble and always willing to serve. So we asked for permission if we could help them out and take them to the airport in Puerto Plata. So we had to leave here at 5:30am so that we could get up there and back by 9 because we had a meeting with President. After the meeting we had to go to the other side of the mission to Cotui and finish a contract with an owner. She was pretty upset and trying to say that we hadn't paid her so that she wasn't going to give us the deposit back. So we had to show her some records and then she calmed down.

We have had some more time this week to teach and to try to help out some of the people. This week we went and visited a less active Dante that just moved into our ward, and really wants to change and has come to church two Sundays in a row, but late. So we went and passed by his house and he is really interested. He has had a lot of personal problems, his dad passed away about 2 months ago, and he wants to change his life around. the lesson was great with him he was very open. We had a lesson about the spirit and how we can have the spirit more in our lives so that we can be guided and receive guidance from God. After we shared is when he explained that he really needs to have the spirit more in his life and is really looking for guidance. He told us a little about his life and he has been playing the guitar since he was a kid. He had two star guitars and a double necked guitar that he made with an amp that he also made. He used to play in a rock band for a couple years and now he is trying to change the type of music that he is playing. He played a little bit for us and he is really amazing. He is a super humble guy and is pretty quiet.

He came to the ward missionary activity and so we were able to introduce him to a couple of people and he also plays basketball and so after the activity the young men were playing basketball so we were able to help him and let him play. He has also enrolled in two classes of institute and is really filling his life with really good things. It is really cool to see how excited he is about everything.

We also have an investigator that we contacted a long time ago. In the office we don't have a ton of time to contact and try to find the people that are prepared to accept the gospel so we really have to try to follow the spirit and to try in the small time that we have to find the people that are ready to accept the gospel so we can try to help them progress. We contacted a couple of really good contacts and were working with them for a while but they became really busy and we weren't able to find them in their houses, but one of the contacts we did we weren't able to find but I always thought we needed to pass by, but she was always working. So now we were finally able to find her and to start teaching her. She is really animated to with the things that we are teaching her she is really accepting about everything and is keeping all of her commitments. It has been a bit hard to get her to come to church because she works and hasn't been able to come because of that, but we are hoping that this week or maybe next week she will be able to go to church.

Well I hope that you guys had a great experience with Trek and that you will remember those experiences forever, it is really something special. I love you guys tons and hope you have a great week!

Con Cariño

Eder Cannon

6-9-13

Hola Familia,

This week has been very interesting. This week we had transfers so we were very busy trying to get everything ready. We had some late nights driving home after we finished a move.

We were able to get everything done before the transfers.

It was pretty sad because Elder Rondon, one of my old companions finished his mission. It was nice that I am still in the office so I could be there in the mission home during the testimony meeting that we had the night before he went home. He was a great companion and really funny and it was sad to see him go.

This week in one of the new houses that we set up we didn't have time to take everything out of the boxes and set it all up because we didn't even get home until 10 and if we had set everything up it would have been really late. so we told the Elders that are also in that area to go and set it up for the sisters. Well when the sisters got there on the stove they were missing a clamp on one side of the hose, and they started to cook lunch and gas was leaking out into the room while they were cooking. Then the gas hit the flame and their stove basically exploded. The sister weren't hurt and luckily they had neighbors that helped them quickly get the fire out. So that was a bit of a shock and the sisters were pretty shaken up. One of them had the gym shorts that she was wearing melt right off her, but they were hurt which was a huge blessing.

We are going through a bit of a rough patch here in the office and it all started with the stove that exploded. There are just a lot of houses with things going wrong. There are a couple of houses without water, and a some that didn't have electricity because something happened to the check that we paid with and they couldn't process it, and other houses that have broken doors and they are just telling us now that they don't have security. So we were really busy with all the work in the office and trying to figure how we are going to have time for everything that we have to do and we have to do it all really soon because they are all top priorities. There are also a lot of missionaries losing their cell phones.

We have been trying to help a less active family and this last week he told us that he is tired of fighting and that he is just going to stop for a while and then maybe later he will start again. We tired to talk to him and teach him, but he's mind is just shut and it really doesn't matter what we say because he just says the same thing to every question or comment. so that is a bit tough but we are tying to find a way to help him.

We are also teaching a women who is reading a lot and now her schedule changed and we are able to share with her more. She understands very quickly what we are teaching and reads everything. This week she wasn't able to go to church but we are really going to work to get her to church this next sunday.

Well I hope that you guys had a great first week out from school and that this next week will be even better. I love you all tons!

Con Cariño

Elder Cannon

6-2-13

This week has been pretty crazy with everything that is going on in the office. We are trying to get ready with transfers before this next week. So the beginning of this week we were stuck without supplies to do the moves, they were still in Santo Dominigo. So we started doing moves by taking the stuff out of our house and taking it to another house that is really far away from Santiago.

So we started with Bonao, and that move wasn't very fun because it was raining and we had to take the stuff out of a house in Bonao that is on a third floor and take it to the other house which is on a second floor so, and the tile was all wet and slippery. That took all day Wednesday.

On Thursday it was a holiday here so we really couldn't do anything with the moves and stuff because everything was closed here. So we spent our time doing the office work that we hadn't done during the rest of the week. I also am in charge of the English tests for the latins. So a missionary came in on Thursday to take the test, and as the Proctor I had to sit there and watch him during the whole test. It was so funny! he is a really great, kind guy. but during the English test they were asking him about a whole lot of different things in English and he said that he like video games and they asked him to explain why. " I like to be quiet, and to be silent to hear my mind. But sometimes I want to kill somebody, and shoot them in the head!" It was really funny and then he was trying to be angry at someone and he said, " If you no come by in 20 min I will call you and I will offend you." I was desperately trying not to laugh because it sounds like he is a bit mental or that he has problems, but that is just how his English comes out, in Spanish is really isn't like that.

We were able to do an exchange with the zone leaders from montecristi because they came in for an early morning meeting on Friday, so they went with us to go out and teach. We were able to teach a lot of people between the 4 of us. We have been working with a less active Luis and we have been working with him for a couple of weeks. He has come to church a couple of times but now he is having a couple of challenges, so we have been trying to help him out. He hasn't been coming to church for a couple of weeks, we think it is because he is in discipline so that really makes it tough for him.

The family that has been really struggling we had an activity on Wednesday, which was really sad because we were stuck in Bonao but we heard that it was really good activity and the other missionaries in our ward were able to go. When I went by on Thursday the wife seemed really happy which it has been a long time since I have seen her like that. This Sunday her and her mother both came to church, but the other family that was having a lot of doubts about the book of Mormon because we are always focusing on the book of Mormon and not so much on the bible still haven't come to church, and we are trying to really help them with their testimonies, his wife is really closed about the topic and we really can help them if they aren't willing.

Yesterday we had to do 2 moves that we both really far away so we were really busy yesterday, and it was just exhausting. This week we haven't been sleeping a ton because we get to bed late that then we get up early to get going on everything, and this next week is only going to be more busy because of transfers. I am going to once again stay in the office for another transfer as of now, unless president received more revelation.

Well I love you all and am Happy for you all now that you are out of school and home all the time. I hope that you have a great week in Camp Helaman and everything else that you guys have to do! I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Con Cariño

Elder Cannon

5-26-13

So this week has been a little bit easier but that just means that this next week is going to be harder. We have to prepare the houses for this next transfer, but we don't have materials and so we have talked to President about it and we still don't have the stoves and fridges and desks and stuff so that is just going to make next week really busy moving stuff into the new houses.

So this week we were able to go out and work some more and go to more of the meetings and stuff. So I felt really good really talking and planning with the ward leaders so we are on the same page.

Today I had to give a talk in church. So during the week I planned and prepared my talk and then when we went to church today I left my talk in the house. So I was trying to remember the scriptures and the stuff that I had prepared, but I also had to play the piano and so I did horrible on the piano and then my talk was just alright, it was a little short because I could remember all the stuff that I had, but it wasn't short my much so that was good. I spoke about Talking of Christ.

Yesterday we had a great service project in the Rehabilitation center here in Santiago so we went and cleaned it all up. We had about 80 missionaries there so it was a huge help for them. After that we were able to enjoy a little of out p-day and after we cleaned the trucks we played basketball in the rain. which was a lot of fun.

We were out trying to teach and everything was just falling through all our appointments and we tried calling people and nothing seemed to be happening. So we were just driving around and a thought came to mind to go and visit a family that we had contacted a long time ago and their house was shut and we thought that they might have moved. We went over there and it was open and so we went in and shared a short message with them. We really hadn't planned anything for them because we hadn't even put them in our plans so we just sat and talked for a little and then we started the lesson. At the end of the lesson we invited them to go to church and she said no because it was mother's day, but her 15 year old son Moses said that he wanted to go to church with us. So this morning he came to church with us. They are very Catholic and talked a lot about the catholic church but we think that he had a good experience. It was a bit of a surprise. His mom said no I can commit to do that and he just blurts out I want to go to church with you guys. 

Right after that we were really happy and we called the Lady that we had an appointment with and her Husband answered. We still haven't been able to share with her husband and he told us that she was busy getting her hair done but that we could go by on Monday and share with them both. So that really made us happy.

Well Congratulations on everything with school and piano, and baseball volleyball and dance. I hope you guys have a great week with graduations and temple visits and ordinations! I hope that you have a very special week. I love you all so much!

Con Cariño

Elder Cannon 

5-19-13

So this past two weeks have been pretty crazy. I don't think that I told you when I called you so I'll just tell you now.

So last week we got notified on Tuesday that we had to have all the houses found and set by Friday because the system that we have to ask for the money for the houses was going to be going under a modification period. There were still 4 houses that we had to find and they were on opposite ends of the mission. Tuesday we were stuck the whole day doing a special transfer, so we had just 2 1/2 days to find 4 houses. So my companion and I split up with the assistants to find the houses. I found two houses that day during the exchange, but my companion didn't have any luck he could even get one. So the next day he and I went up there again and all the houses that they had seen and wanted to go back to look at we weren't able to look  at so we basically had to start from scratch up there and look for houses. We found a couple that were even better then the others that they had seen the day before. We were able to find the other two houses and get the money submitted by Friday. Nobody thought that we were going to be able to do it, they were trying to find any other way that we could get it done. My companion and I sat down and we felt calm and sure that we were going to be able to find the houses. We prayed lots and we were really directed in where we should go especially considering the circumstances that we were in and the weather and conditions we were in trying to find the houses. In the rain and flooded streets and in the dark. It was a miracle.

The next Monday we found out that we could still order the money until Wednesday, which was pretty much just a joke by then that we had been going crazy to find the houses by Friday.

On Friday I was a bit sick for the day but it went away pretty fast. I woke up fine and did exercise and then I just ended up using all the toilet paper that we had in the whole house in less then an hour and my companion had to go and buy more. So that wasn't that fun but by the evening I was fine again.

We have had more time to go out and teach this week. We went out on Monday to that family that we have been trying to help read the book of Mormon. When we got there we were just planning to find out why they had stopped reading and try to get them going again. We started the lesson and it felt like a pretty normal lesson to start out with. They were just a little un excited about reading anymore and the more we talked the deeper it got. We started to take the lesson more towards Faith and that direction. Then the mom started to go off. The entire setting of the room changed. Everyone was silent and the situation that they were in finally can into view. It was really bleak. They had lost complete faith that they can change. The mom who was motivating them before has just gotten to her last straw and given in and the whole family seems to be sinking. The spirit in the room seemed like a hundred pound weight on my soul. I was speechless completely lost for words my companion just had his head down. It was silent for a few minutes I finally was able to speak a couple of frail words, but they were definitely inspired, "Can we speak to the parents alone." At that moment the hundred pound weight seemed to turn into a thousand pound weight. My companion just started to cry and to be honest I was pretty close to crying too. A family that we have been trying to help for so long and they we love so much just lost all faith in themselves. I was fervently praying with all my heart to know what I should say, because my companion wasn't going to say anything. We started off with questions, and analyzed trying to see what their needs were, which seemed endless. Then we tried to discern what we could tell them without over whelming them, but enough that it gave them some hope and some light. We started with the communication because there is a huge lack of that especially as a couple. We explained how they should talk every night to express gratitude and then something that they could do better. then we practiced right there. It brought some light back into the lesson, and we saw some hope we are just hoping that they can keep doing that. We finished the lesson with little bit of hope and light. But today they didn't come to church their kids did but they didn't so we are going to try to visit them today and keep trying to help them.

Well I hope that you all have a great week the end of school is right around the corner. congratulations on finishing the AP tests and for Graduation in seminary and in High School!

I love you all!

Con Cariño

Elder Cannon