Week 66

October 13, 2014

Wow, yet another week has flown by. Today we had interviews with President Markham, so I'm writing on Monday because tomorrow will be our P-day. Anyway, things are going well here in Comalapa, even though we're still struggling to find investigators.  Six months ago, when I first came to Patzicia, the situation was similar. We were facing a lot of rejection every day without being able to see many results, however, I feel different this time. Instead of becoming depressed and discouraged, I still feel hopefully and excited to work. It's been cool to see how much I've learned and grown in these six months and in my mission.

Being with Elder Fulmer has helped me see that even more. He's the first companion I've had who's younger than me (in real life or in the mission). Like I said last letter, he left the CCM seven weeks ago and is still really struggling with Spanish. It would seem that his last companion, in an effort to be diligent, often cut the hour of language study to be able to have more time to work. As well, being with a gringo makes it harder. Regardless, I’m getting to learn more patience as I help him learn how to speak even the most basic Spanish. He's pilas though, and so it's fun to train him.

Teaching him all I've learned about Spanish, teaching strategies, the mission, etc. has helped me realize just how much I have learned. It’s so strange to think of myself as an experienced older missionary. It's gratifying and humbling at the same time (I mean, I'm not going to lie, it's pretty fun to be walking fast and having your companion run to catch up after having the opposite happen when I was in training). As much as I’ve learned, I know there's still a lot more I can do to improve, but I have the surety that I will be able to achieve it.

Hmmm, a little bit about Comalapa. It's basically like a combination of Patzicia and Zaragoza. Lots of corte (luckily). The streets are narrow and winding and sometimes I have fun imagining that I'm in 19th century London (fun, right?). Our house is great. It has a ton of natural light (in Patzicia all the light in our house came from two different colored fluorescent light bulbs). It's on the second floor right next to the ever busy central park so I feel like I'm in a skyscraper in New York.

A great experience this week. We teach an English class every Thursday and last week we taught our class the Primary song ¨Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.¨  It was pretty hilarious to see all those adults trying to do it as fast as all the primary kids in the states can.

Additionally, we had stake conference this weekend and they showed a video the church made about savoring moments with your family, or something like that. It used a bunch of high speed cameras and slow motion. They showed that and then put on the video the church made for Easter ¨because of Him¨ and they pretty much blew my mind. Man, the Church is just so pilas!

Anyway, I'm loving my mission and can't imagine being anywhere else. Thanks for all your love and support.

Love,

Elder Cannon