Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Week 75, 76 and 77

December 16, 2014

This has been the craziest week I've had in my entire mission, and it didn't help that to top it all off I've got a kidney stone. More on that later though...

Anyway, changes: There have been a lot of changes this week.  At change meeting I got sent to Antigua, as a zone leader in a trio of gringos. We were in that trio for a full 24 hours until we had some emergency changes, then some more changes and both of the other elders left. Now I'm with Elder Alarcon (from Peru) and we are here in Antigua but now absolutely nothing of the area, since the two elders that were here before both left. Anyway, I'm loving it. I was so happy to be sent to Antigua. I thought that there was absolutely no chance I'd stay in the mountains yet again, but it happened and I'm very excited about it. Now I know all the zones in the mountains and Antigua is far different than the other two (Sololá and Chimaltenango). We're not actually in Antigua; we're in a couple of small towns by San Lucas, which is the richest area in the mission. I loved teaching the humble people of my other areas, who often lived in houses made of corrugated steel or mud bricks, but it's cool to also get the chance to teach investigators who have university degrees and show up to church in their own cars. Speaking of which, I had a very surreal moment of Sunday when in Sacrament Meeting they announced the first hymn and everyone pulled out their tablets or smart phones. This area does make me a little baggier than Patzicia or Compalapa. One day we didn't even walk! Four different people took us around in their cars all day.

The one downside this week has been that I've kept feeling really sick. We finally went to the doctor yesterday, for our P-day (another baggy moment because we went to the capital and saw places such as Quiznos, Bagel Factory, and DQ). I felt a special connection with you Mom, as I got an ultrasound in the maternity ward of the hospital. Still, things are going well and I should be feeling better in not too long. Speaking of all this, you know you're a missionary when you have no hesitation about calling the mission nurse, a female missionary of your same age, to tell her there's blood in your urine. Life is just a little different here.

As far as our miracle for the week, it would have to be the family that we had attending for the first time this Sunday. We've been teaching the mom, two daughters, and their 6 year old son (the father doesn't live with them) and all of them attended on Sunday. The ward did a superb job at fellowshipping them immediately (just minutes after they walked in, a young woman sat down without any prompting from us next to one of the daughters to teach her how to sing the hymns, and the bishop pulled the mom aside and talked with her for several minutes. He's going to visit her with us this Thursday. The biggest miracle perhaps was that the son, who is one of the craziest, most spoiled little kids I've ever met, actually had a great experience in church. The family commented that as they have been listening to us, they've been much happier and they've stopped quarreling. It always surprises me the Gospel's power to change our lives. I mean, this family hasn't even made that many changes. They just attended church once and are reading the Book of Mormon, but already it's blessing them. I guess I just don't know what it's like to not have that Spirit since I was blessed to be born in a very strong, gospel centered home. Seeing those changes in others motivates me to work even hard to find the people who will make these changes.

Anyway, I'm super happy to be in my new area, I love all the missionaries here in the zone and it will be fun to serve in a new way now.  I hope you all have a great Christmas and think about what Christ really wants you to give Him as a gift.

Love, Elder Cannon



December 23, 2014

Merry Christmas to all! Well, almost. But I'm excited. Christmas here is so different, but a great experience nonetheless. Anyway...

One of my favorite experiences from last week happened on Saturday. We visited a house to have a second visit with a man we had taught a few days earlier. He wasn't there, but we taught the 19 year old that answered the door. During the lesson, I was able to strongly feel the Spirit as I shared the First Vision. As we were ending the lesson he seemed almost agitated and asked us where he could find those words we had recited. He said that they had really impacted him. We then explained to him how he could receive the answer that this message is true through the Holy Ghost, through feelings of peace and happiness. He interrupted and said that that was what he was feeling in that very moment. It was incredible to see how he reacted to feeling the Spirit for what may very well have been the very first time. He was almost shivering because of all the emotion. As we left his house, still wrapped up in thought about the experience we had just had, my companion contacted a family. They committed themselves very firmly to attend church the next day and right then a lady with two young children across the street motioned for me to come over and talk to her. I thought that she was a snake [a woman who likes to flirt with missionaries], but it was a day of miracles and she immediately asked us where our church was.  She said that she was looking for a church so that her children could grow up as they should. My companion and I almost couldn't handle it. These miracles had gotten to the point where people who had been prepared by the Lord were literally coming up to us in the street to ask to go to church. In fact, for three days straight I've felt like Elder Alarcon and I have been on fire. We've given some incredible lesson and found some incredible new investigators. Elder Alarcon is definitely pushing me to work harder than ever. As he comes from Sololá, which is just pure hills, he's been killing me a bit as we fly around all of Santa Lucia. In all, I'm loving my time here and am very excited about the great things that will happen in our area.

Another interesting experience occurred when we were teaching Alicia and her daughter (the family I wrote about last week that is super intelligent). We had planned to leave them the reading assignment of Mormon 7, which talks about how if you believe in the Bible you will believe in the BOM because it's also God's word; however, something happened and I marked Mormon 6, which is the chapter that talks about the final battle between the Nephites and Lamanites and how all the Nephites are killed. That was kind of embarrassing... But somehow Alicia still managed to find some nuggets of spiritual wisdom and highlighted a bunch of important points.

Finally. I can finally say that I'm a real missionary since last week I took a shower for the first time using a couple of those little bags of purified water that they sell in the tiendas to drink. We didn't have any water pressure that day so taking what was basically a sponge bath was our only option. Good times...

Christmas should be good this year. We'll be spending Christmas Eve with the other four missionaries in San Lucas in the house of our stake president.

Well, love you all and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. I'll eat some tamales for you!

Elder Cannon



What I scored from Paiz, the Walmart owned super market where we shop. Yep, I'm making fruit smoothies, just like I used to. I also got edamame and some multi-grain pancakes (normally I just use the regular mix and add a bunch of flax or wheat germ.)



December 30, 2014

Well, Feliz Navidad a todos. This was a very tiring, but very fulfilling week (for various reasons I now have 2 weeks without a P-day and have been getting very little sleep. On Sunday we didn't go to bed until 12:00 AM, and with a very busy, very full week I’ll have to choose what I'm going to write about. Well, first of all, I loved getting to call home. It made me so grateful for my family, which I love so much. It made me realize yet again how blessed I am. My companion, who is a convert of two years, had a very different call. Most of his family aren't members and instead of getting a nice 40 minutes to chat with his loved ones, he had to endure 40 minutes of them attempting to convince him of why what he was doing is a waste of time. It's hard enough to be a missionary as it is, but with opposition like that... wow.

Anyway, moving on to subjects that aren't quite as heavy, it was shocking to see how much my brothers have all grown. Honestly, if I had to guess, I might have mistaken each brother for the brother older than him. The world has become a very different place since I left 18 months ago...

As far as what we did for Christmas Eve (which is the day that's celebrated here in Gmala), in the morning we did a zone service project and painted the house of a recent convert in our area. It was fun because I love all the missionaries in the zone so much. Then we worked as normal until the evening, when we had a couple of lessons a.k.a. dinners with some recent converts and less active members and then finally at 9:00 we went to the house of our stake president to eat yet another dinner and hang out until 12:30. In all we had three dinners and three very different Guatemalan Christmas experiences. In the first dinner we ate tamales and drank hot chocolate (the traditional Christmas Eve meal) with a very poor family who humbly shared all that they had with us. We then went with an incredibly well off family where we ate tamales, hot chocolate, and ponche (a great fruit drink), but this time at an elegantly set table with beautiful decorations, fine china dishes, etc. Finally, we went with the stake president (along with the sister missionaries in San Lucas) and had a very North American Christmas dinner. Needless to say, by that time I was completely stuffed, but had to keep eating as the family gave me food that I haven't eaten in 18 months. Like a full leg of ham, this really good grape, apple, raisin, and marshmallow salad, cherry cheese cake, Martinelli's, etc. The next day was the first time I've ever woken up feeling completely full. I feel like I talk a lot about food in these letters, but it’s kind of a big thing for missionaries, so sorry. Anyway, it was a very interesting experience to feel the same Christmas Spirit in such different situations. It helped me see how Christmas, or more appropriately, Christ, is for everyone, everywhere, in every time. 

Also, on Sunday we got to see the baptism of Alicia Avalos, and her daughters Marcela and Paola. It's been so incredible to witness her conversion and how the Gospel has changed yet another family. Since we're in San Lucas, where every member has an iPad or smart phone, one of the missionaries who was here last change but finished his mission two weeks ago, was also able to see the baptismal service via Skype. The Spirit was very strong and Alicia started crying during one of the special musical numbers (yes, one of the musical numbers, as in, there were multiple. I've never been in a ward that's so pilas.) Normally we have to organize everything but this time we did nothing more than bring the investigator.

And speaking of great ward support, Sunday we ate with the stake president yet again. More homemade bread and great food, including brownies and ice cream and root beer, with Sunday Pandora playing in the background… feeling baggy.

In our own area we are constantly amazed by how generous our Heavenly Father is in constantly pouring out miracles on us. For example, a week ago a woman contacted us in the street, asking where our church was. She is a single mother and wants to help her children learn to keep the commandments and have faith. We started to teach her and invited her to church. She has been very positive and has kept her commitments; the only challenge for her was to attend church. She works every day in a super market in San Lucas beginning at 9:00 AM. This Sunday she came to church for about 45 minutes since our services start at 8:00 AM and then went to work. My companion and I were happy, but also worried because as of next Sunday our services will start at 10:00, thus making it impossible for her to attend. However, yesterday we learned that she was just fired from her job. She is worried about how she will provided for her children, but we can all see the hand of God in helping her to attend every Sunday from now on. I commented to my companion that is almost seems like God really wants her to be baptized or something. We really are quite happy to be working here at this time and are excited to see even more miracles.


Merry Christmas yet again and a Happy New Year,

Love,

Elder Cannon


One of my beloved tamales


Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Weeks 72, 73 and 74

November 25, 2014
Well, I don't have a ton of time today to write since... well, it's a long story, and like I said, I don't have much time. Anyway, this had been a super crazy week. The highlight was probably the zone conference we had last Wednesday. It was in my beloved Patzicia. I was almost crying when I got off the bus and was able to walk those so familiar streets. The assistants were scrambling to find some keys to the sound system so I even got to go help them talk to some of the members I knew. It was a bunch of fun. I also learned that Alejandro and Ronal (the two men in the familia Gamez Hernandez that I baptized on my last day in Zaragoza) both have the Melchizedec priesthood now and Alejandro will probably soon be called to be the Elders' Quorum president. I love that family so much. 

This week has also been a struggle as we've had to deal with many setbacks and discouragements. On Saturday and Sunday I was super sick. The nurse thought that I might have appendicitis. I started taking some medication and I feel a bit better now, so I think that it was probably just a GI infection, but man, that was not fun. For the first time in my mission, the nurse gave me permission to stay home; however, it was cool to see how much I have changed as a missionary. At the beginning of my mission I probably would have been somewhat glad to get a chance to nap and recover, but now I just can't imagine letting that time go by without working. I decided to work as normal and a few minutes after leaving the house I felt much better. It was a cool testimony to me about how the Lord really will bless and sustain us as we do His work. He requires that we show forth the faith in walking out the door, but then He can do the rest.

Despite all the challenges, I am so grateful to be a missionary. 

Love,

Elder Cannon


Lake Atitlan


My companion and me


My name badge is starting to fade


Lake Atitlan = Waters of Mormon? At least for Arnold Friedberg it does.



Tostadas with instant mashed potatoes, lentils, soy meat sausage that I made, 
and a little bit of queso seco (cheese).


December 2, 2014
The highlight of this week was certainly the baptism of Daisy Morales, our little miracle here in Compalapa. We've really been working hard with her and have been so happy to finally have a progressing investigator to teach. However, as always happens, as her baptismal date got closer the Enemy started to put more obstacles in her way, the biggest of which was that her dad decided to no longer give her permission to be baptized. However, we were able to see the power of faith as we kept praying and working with her and finally saw the miracle on Friday when her dad gave her permission to be baptized. It's been such a privilege to teach her. I don't think I've ever had a convert quite as pilas or as quickly and deeply converted. It shows the power of the gospel and the Holy Ghost.

I've felt somewhat discouraged as quite a few times this week I've felt the Spirit give me some pretty strong chicote about things that I should improve. One thing that I realized I most need to change is that I need to be more humble. Yesterday, during our zone P day, I had a powerful conversation with some other missionaries about humility. I'm always obedient and diligent and have been blessed with many gifts and talents, but I realize that if I try to do everything myself, solve all the problems I have, just push forward and work as hard as I can on my own, I'm not being humble. Just as it says in the BOM, if we trust in our own strength we will be left to our own strength. It's only when we recognize how weak we really are and how much we need the Lord that He can guide us. He can do so much more with us than we can, but unless we recognize our own dependency on Him we will just be able to meet the requirements, not work miracles. How to actually put that into practice I'm still not sure....

As far as Thanksgiving goes, I spent pretty much all that day traveling to the capital to go see a doctor about my mysterious appendicitis like pain I was having (we're still not sure what it was). We did eat a very late lunch at McDonalds which was a rather disgraceful attempt at Thanksgiving, but I guess that day is about more than eating lots of turkey, mashed potatoes and pie. I really am grateful for the incredible amount of blessings I've been given, especially this chance to be a missionary. It’s awesome.

Anything else... let's see... Hmmm, I feel like this email is kind of boring. Sorry about that. You win some and you lose some.

Love,

Elder Cannon


-The portable baptismal font

-baptism!


-Fernando, a crazy grandpa who we teach and who I love a ton. He was baptized several months ago but hasn't been confirmed since he keeps drinking.

-Near the church. When I came to the mountains in April they were planting corn, when I left Patzicia they were harvesting elotes (corn on the cob) and now they're starting to harvest maiz (for tortillas)


-Walking to church (the stove was to heat up the font for Daisy so the cold water didn't make her sick)


December 9, 2014
Well, yet again we're at the end of the changes. Yesterday we learned that they're closing our area. Poor Compalapa won't have missionaries anymore. It shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did seeing as how I did tell President Markham that I thought that this branch didn't deserve to have missionaries because of all the disunity that there was among the members. Still, I'm sad though. I've grown to love Compalapa and all the people here. Here in Compalapa I have learned and grown a lot, especially in love, patience, diligence, and humility. Sometimes the Enemy makes it difficult for me to see my progress, but I know that I'm a better missionary and person now than I was when I arrived here. I'm grateful for all the miracles, especially the baptism that we had.

I've enjoyed training Elder Mendieta. It's certainly been a trial of my patience and humility, but it's taught me a lot, and it's certainly cool to see him adopting so many of my habits as a missionary. He is quite pilas. I don't think I ever mentioned this, but he's my third companion who is a convert. He came on his mission when he had 1 year 3 months as a member, just like Elder Gonzalez, my last companion. The scary part is that that means he was baptized when he was in the MTC! That puts things into perspective.

In other news this week, we didn't get to see the Christmas Devotional! I was so bummed to miss it for the first time in years. We couldn't find any investigators or converts to watch it with, so we didn't have permission. We gamely set out to knock on doors, hoping that the Lord didn't want us to watch the devotional because there was someone who really needed to listen to us. However, we knocked on doors for almost 2 hours in the freezing cold (man, it has gotten incredibly cold) and not a single person let us teach them. As President Brough would have said, "What a blessing!"

Also, even here in Gmala, the church is really pushing this "He is the Gift" initiative. You should all look up the video. I really love it and we've had some real miracles in using it to get references. I'm not sure if I like this or "Because of Him" more, but I suppose that it doesn't really matter.

Anyway, we'll see what change meeting brings tomorrow,

Love,

Elder Cannon


 Districto Compalapa. A lot smaller than my last one, but I still love it. From right to left, my companion, me, Hna. ArgĂĽlles, and Hna. Oliphant.  Yep, as in, the Hobbit name for MĂ»makil. When I asked her about it she said that no, she's never seen LOTR, but plenty of people have told her about her name. Hearing that I wasn't the first one to comment on it renewed my faith in humanity.


 A member and his recent convert daughter. They don't speak Spanish very well but the dad is studying English and loves saying "happy church!"


"With joy ye shall draw water out of the wells of salvation" I love that scripture.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Week 71

November 18, 2014
Things have been difficult here in Complapa; however, the Lord did bless us with a great miracle this week. Wednesday we visited a member named Hermana Cony, she's super pilas and has hired a young woman named Daisy to help her clean and cook. Daisy said she'd like to listen to us (the missionaries) and sure enough, she was the miracle we'd been praying for.

Daisy is probably the smartest person I've ever taught on my mission. There's nothing quite as satisfying as having an investigator truly understand dispensations, apostasy, authority, and the need for the Restoration. Just like Preach my Gospel says, it is easier for investigators to receive the answer that this message is true when they actually understand it.

Anyway, we left Daisy with all the normal commitments to read the pamphlet, attend church, and pray and ask God if this is true. Two days later we visited her again. She had prayed and had received a very clear answer through feelings of peace and security, just like we had promised her she would. Completely on her own, she had then asked her dad for permission to be baptized and he had consented!  It was a cool testimony builder for me that is really is almost easy for anyone with faith, real intent, and a sincere heart to ask God is this message is true and receive the answer that it is through the Holy Ghost. Sometimes we have to fight to help investigators find their answers, but those who are truly ready don't have any problems in receiving it.

Since she was so pilas we decided to leave her a whole chapter in the Book of Mormon to read. I asked her if she would prefer to read in 2 Nephi 31 about the Gospel of Jesus Christ or in 3 Nephi 11 about Christ's visitation to the Americas. She said simply that both sounded important so she'd read both. She did, that very night. It's been a reminder to me to never lose hope. Even if things are rather difficult, this is the Lord's work and he is in control. He's preparing the people as it says in Alma 16:16, He's prepared us (D&C 138:56) and we just need to be diligent and obedient and have faith.

I can't believe it's already mid-November. This is insane. When's Thanksgiving? I'm not sure. We've been singing Christmas hymns in our district meetings since April. That's one of the perks about being district leader, getting to select the hymns. Things have been starting to get cold here in Comalapa, like, really cold. Not just the cold I felt when I left the coast to go to Patzicia, but like, real cold that makes you think it should be snowing. Still, I’m loving it and am enjoying being a missionary more than I ever thought I would.

Love,

Elder Cannon




The picture is of Elder Mendieta and me last night. Supposedly the rainy season has ended and so I had stopped taking around my rain jacket. However, it started pouring and so we did what any good Guatemalan would do and went to the nearest tienda and bought a couple yards of ¨nilo.¨ We then spent the next hour contacting in the central park of Comalapa. It was pretty fun. The sad thing is that those plastic sheets (which cost about $0.30) kept me drier than my high tech jacket which probably cost 100 times as much.




Also, the Ammon statue in the park of Comalapa. Get it? The arms? Well, I thought it was pretty funny...



The second half of the mural at the entrance of Compala, this part is of the Guerrilla, the Gautemalan civil war 30 years ago or so. pretty violent, but the stories that members tell of occasionally about what they lived in that time are pretty grim as well. It's something here that the people certainly haven't forgotten.











Pictures of daily life



















Modern day










Indigineous life beginning to mix with Western culture. The paintings of the Guatemalans dreaming of modern conviniences are my favorite in the mural