Weeks 84, 85, 86 and 87

Feb 17, 2015

Well, happy Valentine's Day. Here it's called el Dia de Cariño (the day of affection) but in a spiritual thought in zone training last week, one of the missionaries tried to sell it as el Dia de Caridad (the day of charity). It was a nice reminder about the pure love of Christ, which we all could use more of, and gave us a holiday that we could actually celebrate. 

Wow, there have been lots of problems in the zone this week. Lots of problems. It literally is quite tiring. For three days in a row we've been getting to bed around 11:30, which is pretty unusual given that we always have to be sleeping at 10:30. Still, it’s cool how much love the Lord gives us for the missionaries under our stewardship, or in our flock, you could say. The frustrating thing is that I feel like we hardly ever have time to really work in our own area. As far as our investigators go, I feel like we have had pretty much zero progress in this last week. It's discouraging because I know that we have to give the example in baptizing every week, but we haven't baptized since January. That's not just sad for us, that's even more sad for those people who haven't been able to be cleansed from their sins as they make that essential covenant with God. Oh well, we keep working.

We have become great friends with a family that owns the best bakery in all of our area. Last week, after buoying our daily dinner of bread to eat as we walk, they gave me 1 Quetzal more than they should have in exchange for the Q10 bill I paid them with. I realized what had happened when we were a block and a half away, but we returned to give them back what is the equivalent of 13 cents. They then gave us a couple of pounds of free bread and sent us on our way with plenty of "que les vaya bien's" It was a fun experience and made them love us and us love them even more. 

Anyway, I was thinking yesterday about what the Lord has taught me in each of the areas that I've had. In hindsight, it seems so easy to see the hand of the Lord in every area, in every companion, etc. As I have progressed in the mission, the Lord has taught me humility (in Escuintla), patience and charity (in Patzicia), diligence (Comalapa), and now, here in San Lucas 3, I feel like I have the opportunity to put all those lessons together and become a truly consecrated missionary who has the constant companionship of the Spirit. Obviously, I still have very far to progress in all of those virtues, but I am so grateful for the time the Lord has given me to be a missionary because I know that I wouldn't be able to have that progress if I weren't here. Throughout my time I have also learned to have so much more love. I wasn't a very loving person before, but now I feel so much love for the people, for the culture, for my investigators and converts, for the other missionaries, and of course, much more love for the Lord. But seriously, I never want to leave the mission. I could definitely hide in some backwoods aldeas and the assistants would never find me. I'm thinking about somewhere around Zaragoza...

As always, this area continues to provide me with things I haven't done or tried since I entered the mission field (e.g. Jolly Ranchers, root beer floats, etc.). My favorite this week was when I got to use President Markham's iPhone 6 to send a text message to the Stake president in Chimal. We were returning from a meeting from him but got stuck in the Sunday afternoon traffic in Antigua (best thing ever since we spent in total two hours with him just asking him questions). He handed me his phone and told me to send the message. He asked "do you know how to use it? Oh... of course you do..." The truth was though, it took a bit for me to figure out how to do it again. The experience was something of an adrenaline rush though. 

Love you all,

Elder Cannon

Feb 24, 2015

Wow, this week has been one of the most tiring since my training. On Saturday we were on divisions (long story) and one of the elders asked me "Elder Cannon, are you tired?" I said that yes, I could hardly stay awake, to which he replied, "Yeah, I can see it in your eyes." That day Elder Alarcon and I spent so long traveling, contacting bus after bus. At the end of the day we had 208 contacts, 104 contacts each. I sure am getting to know Antigua well, as well as all of its surrounding cities. Speaking of which, Guatemalan geography has finally clicked for me. In all my mission I've been traveling around Guatemala, in the coast, city, and mountains, and pretty much everywhere you can see at least one, if not several, of the major volcanoes (Fuego, Agua, and Pacaya). For whatever reason though, it's always been hard for me to be able to orient everything well in my head as I've been in areas in very different position to the volcanoes. However, in our area there's a place where we went that finally helped to see how it all fits together, how if I drop down between Agua and Fuego I'll get to Escuintla, or if I drop down the mountains on the opposite side of Agua I'll get to Villa Nueva and the Capital. I'm realizing as I explain all this that it really isn't interesting at all unless you've been traveling around these places for a couple years. Let's just say that it was a pretty cool realization for me.

Moving on... Now I'm not sure what to write about because I'm afraid it will just turn out to be something else that's only significant to me... Oh well, too bad...

I realized this week that one of the things that I most love about being a leader is having more opportunities to get to serve my fellow missionaries. I often think about how much love the Lord gives us for those we serve. Even if it means that we have to sacrifice time working in our own area (and man, our time has been very limited this week), it really is a blessing to be able to have these opportunities to serve the other missionaries, opportunities which the majority of other missionaries don't have. For instance, in this week I installed a water heater for some very grateful sister missionaries who had been taking cold showers for several weeks, moved two sets of sisters and one set of elders to new houses, and had to negotiate a rent contract with a very crazy land lady.  After battling with her and all of us getting angry, we left and said a prayer and then the Spirit softened her heart and I (my companion, yet again, was in divisions) found out that she was actually a BYU alumni, along with all her family, became her sincere friend and was able to please both parties in fixing the contract. It was a cool lesson in how the Lord's way is always better and how important it is to love and the power of the Spirit.  We also did several baptismal interviews all over the zone, and quite a few other things. 

One quick thought that our bishop gave to us on Sunday (this ward is so pilas! We sat in on a ward council and were stunned yet again. Later we asked him what he did to be able to get a ward where all members, not just the bishop and his counselors, do exactly what they should), anyway, he said that if we want the companionship of the Spirit, we have to be willing to pay the price.

Love,

Elder Cannon

March 3, 2015

I really don't know what to write about this week. I'm not sure where it all went. I feel tired though, so I assume that I was working quite a bit. This week was a tiring week. One night all I had energy to eat for dinner was a half pint of vanilla ice cream that I had left in the freezer. We've really been fighting to get the Work moving here in our area. Things have been pretty slow mainly because we haven't had much time to work. It's been disappointing and frustrating, but I've definitely come to learn that if we're doing all we can, we really don't have to worry, we can have peace and know we're doing the Lord's will.

Actually, now that I think about it, even though we're not having a lot of success with our investigators right now, we are very blessed in that our converts are doing quite well. On Sunday, in fast and testimony meeting, Marcela, the oldest daughter of Alicia Avalos (the family we baptized at the end of December), bore her testimony. She said that she had no idea why she did, she just felt something inside of her telling her to do it. Her younger sister Paula is the president of the beehives class in her ward and both are completing their Personal Progress. Alicia is listening to the BOM on tape every day as she drives to work and is participating very actively in all the welfare classes the ward is offering.

That reminds me of something. Thursday we visited them and after the lesson it became apparent that Marcela was very stressed about her math homework that was due the next day. After all was said and done, we spent two more hours there as I taught her how to factor binomials. It was a great experience for me and an excellent opportunity to serve. That is one talent that I never thought I would be able to use on my mission, but sure enough, it looks like I finally got the chance. I now know a bunch of math vocab in Spanish, which is a plus.

In other news, my childhood fear of dogs has returned. Lately my companion and I have had several pretty much near death experiences with some very aggressive dogs. There are always packs of wild dogs roaming the streets and I used to walk through them without hesitation. No longer. I think that the most dangerous part about the mountains of Guatemala isn't the crime or strange diseases, but the wild dogs and buses that are honestly very skillfully driven twice as fast as any sane person would. 

Love you all,

Elder Cannon

PS I included a picture of me using a mecapal, a strap that Guatemalans use to carry heavy things. They really are pretty ingenious. Still though, after carrying just a couple of these huge 100 lbs. bags of sand up a hill, my companion and I were pretty dead.

March 10, 2015

It was a good week, even though things are still moving slowly as far as the Work is concerned in our area. However, I have continued to feel the Spirit more and more. It's really indescribable, but I feel like I'm finally starting to see some progress on that front. I've for so long wanted to have the guide of the Spirit and now as I’ve been trying to sanctify myself, I really have had results. It feels so good to have that constant companionship. I can see now why President Hinckley (at least I think it was him), said that our having the Holy Ghost is more important than almost anything else in this life. Of course, along with the Holy Ghost's presence inevitably comes spiritual chicote about things that I still need to improve, but even that feels good because it gives me hope that I'll be able to progress even more now that I know what I need to do.

For our zone P day on Monday we watched a compilation of many of the videos the Church has made about the life of Christ. It was interesting because the style was so different. The videos were very quiet and subdued, not a lot of music, movement, or dialogue. At first it was almost a little bit boring, but then I realized how much chance that gave to the Spirit to teach us. When the movie ended, I felt so full of the Spirit that I felt like I could do miracles just like the apostles in the time of Christ. It's such a great privilege to be a personal representative of Him. I know this is His work.

This week we witnessed a cool miracle. We were visiting an investigator for the third time and who had attended church last Sunday. She explained to us how she had had a dream three months ago that two gringos came to her and told her that they would come and sow because they said that the field was ready and had already been prepared. She watched as the vegetables grew and became very beautiful and delicious. She then told us that she felt that she felt that we were the meaning of that dream. The Spirit testified to us that yes, the Lord had prepared her to receive this message and that we had been guided there to plant it and in time it would bear plenty of fruit.

Well, time's about up. I'm off to do divisions with the assistants for the first time in all my mission. I'll be going to Boca del Monte with Elder Hintze. Should be super fun. Adios!

Elder Cannon

PS Here's a picture of our weekly planning. How we got into a situation so unconducive to revelation is a long story, involving having to move the hermanas yet again? We finished our weekly planning on the balcony above a super busy intersection, sitting on a of pile of tires, wrapped in a blanket and a sister's sweater. It was interesting. We're getting quite proficient at moving. My companion and I are thinking about starting a company. I also fixed yet another shower head. This time I had to take out some of the piping and put in new (with Teflon tape and everything). If the moving company doesn't work out I'll become a plumber.

I have never cut up so much fruit with a knife so small in all my life. 

Only in Guatemala can you buy 20 lbs. of fruit for just a few dollars.

Everyone was in agreement that a pancake taco with Nutella, a 

banana, and whipped cream was so good it was a sin.

Also the food we bought and made this morning for the zone for zone training. I have a bunch of extra money from my time in Patzy and Comalapa (since there was nowhere to spend it) and despite my best efforts, I haven't been going though it as fast as I should. We went a little overboard and made breakfast for everyone.

Week 83

February 10, 2015

Well, another super short week, though this one was a little difficult.

I felt like my efforts to spiritually progress diminished somewhat and therefore I did not enjoy the companionship of the Holy Ghost as much as I would have liked. It can be very discouraging and tiring to keep dealing with the same problems and weaknesses again and again without seeming to make much progress. I guess that's because we really can't do it on our own, we have to rely on the Atonement of Christ in order to become like Him. We just need to keep pushing forward doing the things He's asked of us, trusting that one day we will become like Him. Still, though, it can be very hard for me at times.  But I am always grateful for the great experiences that the Lord gives us that let us keep pushing forward with hope, such as today, when I could feel the Spirit strongly testify through my companion and me during the talks we gave on becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. I truly desire to reach the highest level of discipleship and be able to say that he is truly my friend. I know that He wants to be mine.

Anyway, we also had a very Guatemalan experience this Saturday when all of a sudden all the missionaries started to call us. A few minutes later we found out why, as huge clouds of ash began to fall in our area. Apparently, the Volcan de Fuego (or maybe it was Pacaya), both of which are right next to Antigua, had erupted more violently than usual (I say than usual because it is erupting every day). Anyway, the ash that started to rain down wasn't the soft, fluffy volcanic ash that I have always imagined, it was very fine, but very hard sand and rocks. Wow, just with being outside for a few seconds my eyes started to burn with all the irritation and my throat started to get irritated. Luckily, it stopped after an hour, but we're still shanking dust out of our hair and trying to sweep and the little rocks out of the house. Experiences like these make me so glad that I was called here to Guatemala. I mean, c'mon, how cool is that?

Well, that'll be it for now, we've got sheep to divide from the goats,

Love,

Elder Cannon

Week 78, 79, 80, 81, 82

February 3, 2015

Well, yet another week. It's scary how fast time is passing. Changes are tomorrow and I will only have three changes left in the field. I feel like Elizabeth in Pirates of the Caribbean 2 when the Kraken grabs her ankle with one of its tentacles and drags her "kicking and screaming" to the edge of the boat until she is rescued. Kind of a weird image, I know, but it's the one that best fits how I feel. 

This week was a little bit discouraging because of some disobedience that was going on in the zone. I did get my first real experience with the gift of discernment though, as we were dealing with all these problems. I think for the first time I began to understand why being a bishop could be so difficult. It's hard to have people you love lie and try to hide their sins. It's so disappointing.

The Work is going well in our area. It's neat to see how the Lord blesses us and we still have a very large pool of investigators to teach despite the relatively little time we spend working there. 

Changes are tomorrow. My companion and I will stay together. Elder Mendieta will be training though! I'll be a grandpa! Also, in the zone we have eight companionships, not counting us. Of those eight, four are sisters and of those four, there will be a sister finishing her mission in each area. In each of those areas, her companion will be training a new missionary fresh from the CCM. In all, we will have 7 newbies in the zone. It'll be a crazy change, but it'll be fun. New missionaries have a really great spirit.

Well, time's up yet again. Time to go find some lunch.

Love,

Elder Cannon

January 27, 2015

Not a lot of time today, so this'll be a quick letter. De todos modos [Anyway], there's not too much to report anyway. We had our weekly share of miracles and blessings, my favorites were a couple of days in which I felt an increased sensitivity to the Spirit, something I have been striving for quite a while. It would seem like this whole process of purification/sanctification is having some effect. For example, last Tuesday I was on divisions and went to the area of one of the district leaders, Elder Henriquez. We visited a recent convert of about a week, Jesus, and his older sister, Jessica (who has incredible desires to be baptized). 

That night we had the miracle of being able to teach her boyfriend with whom she was living and already had one daughter. We taught him lesson one as normal but then started to talk about the law of chastity and why he had to marry Jessica or stop living with her. Ha, I have never had a lesson quite as cool as what happened that night. The Spirit was so strong and we started to give him chicote (reprimand him) so hard. Often when I give chicote I feel frustrated or angry but this time the Spirit was guiding us as we tore into him. It was an incredible experience. I think one thing I've come to learn on my mission is how Heavenly Father feels when men mistreat His daughters.  From what I've seen in situations like this and caring for the sisters in my district or zone, I can tell that, wow, it's something serious. After the lesson my companion and I were both super pumped up and practically ran home, not just because it was so late. Then, we suddenly felt exhausted from the Spirit we had felt and forgot most of what we had said.

Well, that's all folks. See you next week.

January 20, 2015

Well, the rapidity with which the weeks fly by has ceased to surprise me. I feel like all I have to do now is close my eyes, count to ten, and then it's a new week. Time has been going by especially quickly because we've been so busy. One day last week we didn't even work in our area at all. We were running around Antigua and San Lucas all day long. Speaking of which, there are some really weird gringos in Antigua and I am really awkward contacting in English. Part of the fun of that day was getting some more medical tests done (tests of a nature that I will not include here in order to respect the dignity of my calling). Good news! I passed my kidney stone! Bad news! I've still got whatever I contracted in Patzicia. I would love to see a graph of the time I have in the mission compared with the number of times I have called the nurse. My bet would be that 90% of her calls are from the missionaries that are in their first month in the field or their last 8 months. 

This area has been full of "this is the first time I've done, seen, eaten, etc. this in the last 18 months. For example, yesterday was the first time I relaxed in a massage chair in probably a couple of years. On Sunday we were waiting for a family to finish making lunch and the husband started playing around on the piano to entertain us, first time I've listened to that in 18 months. The list goes on and on. This is such a different world that Comapala or Patzy. 

Hmmm, this letter hasn't been very spiritual. I will say that we have been continuing to have a bunch of miracles. We're teaching a lot of people who are really passing through some pretty intense trials. There's one man in particular named Luis. We visited him for the second time yesterday. The sisters in Antigua contacted him as he and his wife were sitting in the park crying after learning that their daughter was just thrown in jail. Luis said they appeared out of nowhere like angels. In our first visit he seemed so thirsty for all the knowledge we could give him. He so sincerely desired to know, as he asked us, how he could draw closer to God in this trial. It's always so cool to see the peace and joy the gospel brings. All we taught him was the Restoration, but when we went back yesterday he kept saying how he could feel more peace now, how he was sleeping better, and praying more. The challenge for him will be church attendance. He is dying to go, and bring all his family, but Sunday mornings are the only time they can visit their daughter and bring her food and clothing. We’ll be praying for a miracle with him.

Anyway, love you all,

Elder Cannon

The baptism of Isabel

The views from our house

The view from my window as I study every morning.

January 13, 2015

It was a great week as we were able to see the Lord work many miracles and clear the obstacles so that we can help many of God's children enter the waters of baptism. On Sunday we had the baptism of Isabel, a single mother who has passed through many hardships in her life. We met her when she contacted us, saying that she wanted to help her 5 year old son, Jefferson, to learn to andar en los caminos de Dios. She was working on Sundays, but just in time she was fired in a merciful act by God to help her to do what was really important, attend church and be baptized. This week we also had two other women attending whose husbands had just left them that week. The ward has also been an incredible blessing for us. I have never seen leaders and members work so hard and follow so exactly the guidelines found in Manual 2.

Personally, I have really been trying to purify myself and be more receptive to the Spirit. I think that has been one of the major challenges of my mission, how to follow the guide of the Spirit. I can work hard and be obedient, but the true miracles always come through the Spirit. This is one things I really admire in my companion. He has a great portion of the Spirit and is a great example to me.

The weirdest moment of this week is when the stake president asked us to go and inspect the mattresses that the sisters here in San Lucas were sleeping on. They were using the mattresses the elders had been sleeping on and apparently there were a bunch of fleas (something very common here in the mountains) and stains of a rather displeasing nature. We went and minutely inspected each mattress, smelling all of them to make sure they were adequate for the hermanas. Sure enough, there were two that we needed to replace. That moment when were smelling the first mattress is probably one of the memories of my mission that I will keep for all my life. It was priceless.

As far as pictures goes, I've included the photo of the baptism of Alicia and her daughters. They're doing really well and are continuing to progress very rapidly. It sure is a big difference in teaching her, a university professor, and teaching people who can't even read (which isn't as common in this area as it was in Comalapa or Patzy, but it does happen). Hopefully I'll be able to get you guys a pictures of the baptism of Isabel. The internet cafe we're at right now has so many viruses that I think I'm starting to get sick (ok, that was pretty bad. I will confess and forsake.).

 In all, I am loving my time here in San Lucas 3 so much. This is an incredible area, my favorite that I've ever had (although I do hold a special love Patzy and Zaragoza for other reasons).

Love,

Elder Cannon

PS yes, the shirts that the Alicia and Paola are wearing are immodest. That was rather embarrassing. They said they would bring their own white shirts and that was what they would find...

January 6, 2015

Well, Happy New Year! Wow, I can't believe that it is 2015. New Year’s Eve was passed as it always is in Gmala, with an incredible amount of fireworks that are illegal in the US. It felt like we were being attacked by aliens or something. Pretty exciting. 

It is unbelievable though. 2014 has just flown by. This was an excellent week and we have seen many miracles in our area and in the zone. Honestly, everyday as we work we are blessed with so many miracles that it really is a sacrifice when we have to leave our area to do some errand like baptismal interviews. Yeah, we've been running a lot of errands recently. To be honest, I'm not even sure what to write about this week because it wouldn't be very interesting to anyone else. Mostly, I'm just kicking myself for not having brought my memory card for my camera. It got a pretty tough virus and I finally found someone who would fix it. The problem is that the virus changed the name of all the pictures so now I have to go through thousands of pictures by hand and change the name of each one so that it ends in .jpg so they can be seen. The point is that I should have brought it today but I didn't know that I would have time to work of it. Now there's something interesting for you all.

Well, today we did have an excellent zone training on sanctification (i.e. justification is being clean from sin, all obedient missionaries will be clean when they come back, but sanctification is being free from sin, comes as we entregar nuestro corazon a Dios, something like yielding our heart to God. For example, of the ten lepers, all ten were justified because they obeyed, but only one was sanctified. The result of sanctification is the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, Power in la obra misional, and being an instrument in the Lord's hands. For a long time I've seen very pilas missionaries who work hard and have success, but I've also seen other missionaries who are pilas but have something more, they seem to exude the Spirit. They just have to open their mouth and the Spirit fills the room. For so long I've wanted that but haven't know how to have the companionship of the Spirit to that extent. I've realized that a large part of that is this process of sanctification, trading our desires and thoughts or God's. I guess this shouldn't really have been put in parentheses, but asi es).

In all, I'm loving my time in San Lucas 3. I love this area, I love my companion, I love being a missionary, I love Guatemala and I love its people. I'm so happy to be able to bring them the Restored Gospel.

Love,

Elder Cannon

Christmas Eve, which we spent in the house of the stake president (the most pilas stake president I've ever met) along with the hermanas in San Lucas. Yeah, that's a giant leg of pork. 

 A supermarket that is in San Lucas.  The only other one in all the mission is in the area of the mission secretaries and assistants. Paiz is incredible, a little slice of heaven. It has things that I haven't seen in 18 months and since it's so upscale, we're even allowed to buy things like grapes, strawberries, lettuce, pork, and fish there, foods which otherwise are banned in the mission because they're so often contaminated. I did get a little baggy when I saw that they had our classic Sunday morning breakfast.

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

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. Argülles, and Hna. Oliphant.  Yep, as in, the Hobbit name for Mûmakil. 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.