Week 13 (and unsent letter from week 12)

Sorry about the lack of an email last week. I was trying to upload a bunch of pictures before my time ran out and apparently I cut it too close. That just means you get two this week. ¡Que suerte!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

¡Buenas! Another great week that's flown by. Several notable events this week. First and most importantly: another baptism last Sunday! It was of Hermano Oscar, the man we married that week. He's going to be a great leader in the church and we are working now to baptize his family. My companion baptized him and he has asked that I confirm him and give him the gift of the Holy Ghost. I'm definitely a little nervous about doing that, and it means that I have to listen perfectly to the Spirit for what to say, be able to say it in Spanish (speaking to him in the "tu" form, not the "usted" that I always use, all in front of the entire ward. However, I'm confident that the Lord will help me as I carry out His work of blessing His children. Actually, with regards to the baptism, the three companionships in our ward all baptized this Sunday, and all baptized middle age men who had been investigating the church for a year or more "eternal investigators." Each one had a challenge that was miraculously resolved so they all could be baptized that day. It was great to see them all finally take that step.

Next update: on Monday we got a call from our Zone leaders (who had themselves just received a call from President Brough, our mission president), that I will stay in Villa Canales this transfer but my companion will leave. I was glad I got to stay, but disappointed that my companion had to leave. We've really been working well together. This means that I have to know all of our area to show it to my new companion when the transfers occur, tomorrow. Also, it's made me realize how sad it is to leave an area, saying goodbye to all your investigators and converts, knowing you'll never see them again (most likely). That really is the missionary life.

This week was also included my first dia de independencia in Guatemala. All of Central America and Mexico celebrate their independence on September 15. The night before tons of youth travel to Antigua (the old capital) and light a torch there. They then run all the way back to their towns bearing the "light of liberty." It is actually a really cool tradition. The people here are so proud of their country and went crazy that night. They played loud music from huge speakers in the street, lit off fire crackers, and danced on the top of buses as they were in motion (which I think is considered slightly risky even in Guatemala, where traffic safety is unheard of). There were also several couples dancing in the streets (some marimba dance that looked a bit like Cha Cha). Seeing that definitely made me miss BYU and my social dance classes. It also made me realize that after two years of walking hunched over to increase my speed my slightly, the nice posture that I worked too hard to develop will be gone. Ha-ha." Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven" is what I have to remember.

Last P day our Zone hiked a mountain in our area, El Cerro. It was actually pretty fun; although it reminded me a lot of Oregon (there were even evergreen trees! I hadn't seen those in months). Honestly, when we returned to the camping area where the trail began, with the smell of campfire smoke in the air, pine trees all around, and nice clean dirt paths, and I kept expecting to see our family's giant tent sitting somewhere in the forest. I've included some pictures because we could see all of our area from the top.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

This week was the Reunion de los Cambios (transfer meeting). It was actually really fun to be able to go, see all my friends from my group in the CCM, and buy a bunch of ties for 5 Quetzales (62.5 cents) each. I also got to see all the new missionaries who just left the CCM. It feels like forever ago that I was in their shoes and yet I also can't believe how quickly the time has flown by. Our group of nuevos [new missionaries] was primarily elders, but this group had 17 sister missionaries (all but one are from the US) and 7 elders. 

Actually, one things my family might be interested to know is that a few days ago I was reading in Our Heritage, one of the books approved for missionaries and I learned that George Q. Cannon was the General Authority (I believe he was 1st councilor at the time, although I don't remember to which prophet) to announce that sisters were able to serve missions. I'm sure he's glad with the impressive influx of sisters in the field in the past year or so.

Anyway, in the meeting Elder Lopez was called to be a Zone Leader in Villa Nueva and I received my new companion, Elder Diaz, from Honduras. He's actually almost done with his mission and just finished serving as a secretary in the mission office. I knew we'd get along when he walked into our house the first night and was rather disgusted by how dirty it was. After 6 weeks of waiting, we finally had the all P Day long cleaning party I've been waiting for. I still don't like to let my food touch anything in the house and obviously we still wear our sandals everywhere, but it's a huge improvement. 

Ok, it's a little difficult to concentrate right now because a few computers away from me someone (not a missionary obviously,) is watching The Avengers in Spanish with the speakers at full volume. That's actually one of the things I've really missed, watching movies. In the market and in stands along the street they sell tons of pirated movies. I saw the LOTR Trilogy in one disc for just a few Quetzales. They don't even have to be good movies, I still miss them. But, as with all the other sacrifices I'm making (of which not seeing movies for two years is relatively insignificant), it's definitely worth it. This is the only chance I will have to so completely dedicate all my might, mind, and strength to the Lord. 

Week 12

[There is no official blog update this week from Josh but here is an excerpt from a letter he sent to his parents.]

I'm finding ways to eat more healthy and perhaps even stay within my budget.  As far as spiritual experiences go, the main thing has just been the mantle of a missionary. It's incredible how much I have been blessed to be able to do what I am doing. To do things like shout in buses, live in such unsanitary conditions, and have absolutely no personal time. Often 15 minutes to get ready for bed, write in my journal, and eat and prepare dinner.

Also, it's incredible how often I feel the spirit, especially during personal study. I have never been so hungry to read the scriptures. I absolutely devour them.  And Jesus the Christ is incredible. I've never loved the video Finding Faith in Christ as much as I do now. Incredible.

The joy I have here in the mission is also directly related to how hard I work. On days when I'm working and teaching all day, I'm incredibly happy.  When I'm not, I miss home, feel tired, etc. The Lord blesses those who serve him. I want others to be able to enjoy the same blessing of growing up in the gospel that I have had.

The hard thing about my ward is that the lack of deep roots in the gospel is readily apparent to someone from the US.  Sacrament meeting always starts 15-20 minutes late and once we had 4 cell phones go off during the sacrament alone. One day we had so many confirmations and the meeting started so late that there was only 7 minutes left for the speakers. Our ward really is incredibly strong.

Love Elder Josh Cannon

Our appartment

Hiking "El Cerro"

To the right of my ear is the chapel.  Above my head is where we live.  Our area is from
my companions rightear all the way to the right and past the end of the picture.

Week 11

Ok, so I started out September with a pretty great week. On Saturday, I attended my first wedding in the field. We (missionaries in general) had been teaching the husband, Hermano Oscar; for almost a year. However, he wasn't married to his wife and she didn't want to have anything to do with the church  She refused to marry him just so he could be baptized.  However, we went in to teach him a week ago and she had had a miraculous change of heart and actually listened to our lesson and agreed to marry Oscar. It was a very quiet service. Just their family, the lawyer, and us in their house, but it was very rewarding. I've included (hopefully) a few pictures.

As I have already written, I have fulfilled several of my lifelong dreams already by getting to wade through a thoroughly flooded street and seeing a volcano erupt. This week I added a few more things to that list.

The first occurred a few days ago. We were walking and it began to rain pretty hard. We then began to hear thunder getting closer and closer. Before long, it was louder and closer than I have ever heard in my life. Finally, there was one clap of thunder that was so close and the rumor later that day was that it struck in the same park that we were in at the time. I couldn't believe how loud and sharp it was. Not at all like the low rumbling I normally hear. It was actually fairly terrifying at the time, although now I'm just thrilled that I could be so close to a lightning strike (don't worry mom and dad, I'm pretty sure I was quite safe.)  There was a bunch of other tall buildings and trees around and there wasn't much more we could have done anyway.

The second experience was even better. We were sitting, teaching a lesson, when I felt a few vibrations in the floor. I thought that someone was pounding on the wall next door, but a few seconds later the ground began to shake even more. I always imagined earthquakes as just shaking the ground back and forth, but actually the ground was moving in all directions. It was way cooler than I ever imagined. I can see how even a relatively small earthquake that doesn't cause much damage can make it impossible to walk. Anyway, the earthquake lasted for a solid 32 seconds but didn't do much more than cause the TV to rock back and forth and make my day.

Week 10

Buenas tardes everyone! I've had a good week. Not a lot to report though. The time really flies when you're working hard. Anyway, today I'll write a little about the weather here because it really is incredible.

 It's generally about 70 degrees or so. I always wear my short sleeve dress shirts and am almost never too hot or too cold. I love the rain and we get a ton here.  Nothing is better that hearing the rain pound on a steel roof and feeling the fresh air.

Because it's always such a comfortable temperature, I don't have to worry about the rain making me feel cold, although I do have to worry about ensuring that my scriptures, the most valuable possession I have now, stay dry. It really is perfect down here.

Everything is so incredibly lush and green. Already I'm dreading returning to the U.S. in two years where the climate isn't nearly as favorable. I guess this is one of the many blessings I've received because of my choice to serve a mission. Two years in paradise.

Adios, 

Elder Cannon

Week 9

Tuesday, 8/27/13

AHHH!!! Baptisms!!!

Definitely the highlight of the week.  (Although I have to admit that I enjoyed when, at the end of one of our lessons, we asked a man we had just found and taught the first lesson to give the closing prayer. He blessed us with what literally was a 15 minute long prayer. My companion heroically didn´t even crack a grin during the entire thing. I had a much more difficult time and was thinking of what I would do if he just never stopped. You can´t imagine how long a 15 minute prayer is until you experienced one).

Anyway, this Sunday the ward we were assigned to had a total of 13 baptisms. 9 were from a different companionship and 4 were our investigators (well, technically 3 since one of them was only 8 years old and so doesn’t count as an investigator baptism).

Two of our three investigators (and the 8 year old) were children of Brother and Sister Orillana, who we recently reactivated.  As they came back to the Church their children wanted to be baptized as well. My companion and I were thrilled to learn that, after working with the bishop for a week or so, the father was able to perform the baptisms of his three children. Our third baptism was of Sister Garcia, the wife of a member who had been inactive since he was 11. They´re both super nice and I was so happy to see them gain a testimony of the gospel and for her to decide to get baptized.  (The circumstances that led to her making that decision really were miracles, but I don´t have time to explain them all now). What made it even more special was that I was able to be the one to baptize her! I had never baptized anyone before, but the feeling I had when I helped her make that covenant made all my hard work over the past few weeks worth it.

Ok, so talked about the end result of our work (well, it´s not the end, but it´s an important step), I´ll write a little about what we do to achieve it. One of the principles of the Guatemala central mission is ¨Hay urgencia en la obra¨ (there is urgency in the work). We are always doing everything we can to find and teach as many people as possible. As I´ve already said, we rarely sleep in until 6¨30, in fact, this week we got up as early as 4¨00 in the morning. We also usually don’t get back to our house until just before 9¨30. Then we plan for half an hour and then I have to update the area book with everything we did that day for another 15 minutes.

During the day we go to the house of a member named Hermana Luz to eat lunch for 20 to 30 minutes but we skip dinner because the evening is the most efficient time for proselyting. In other words, the 15 minutes I have before I go to bed are all I have to eat dinner. Ordinarily, I´d never be able to work that hard for that long without eating dinner, but the Lord blesses me with the ability to do it.

We also talk with everyone. One of the most interesting ways in which we do this is when we ride on busses.  When we climb aboard the bus one of us goes directly to the back while the other stays at the front.  When the bus begins driving again the missionary in the front stands up, trying to hang onto the railings on the ceiling (the bus drivers go at ridiculous speeds on super windy roads so keeping your balance is difficult) and at the top of his voice (we often have to shout so we can be heard) teaches and testifies about a principle and then we pass by everyone´s seats and ask them for their directions [to their homes]. If they want to hear more, we visit them when we´re in the neighborhood. Definitely something I would have found a little uncomfortable before my mission but I’m used to it now. It’s actually kind of fun

Anyway, we´re working incredibly hard but as I said, it´s all worth it as we see our investigators progress.

Thanks for all your support!

Elder Cannon

Week 8

Buenos Dias everyone!

Man, that was a fast week. When you´re working hard the time really does fly by. Ok, once again, time is limited, so I´ll focus this email on describing my mission.

There are three main areas in my mission, mountains (mostly around Lake Atitlan), city (the smaller towns on the south east side of Gmala City), and the Coast.  Each has 3 or 4 zones.  Currently I’m in the city area (Villa Canales is a suburb of El Frutal, which is near Gmala City).  City is a great place to be born (start you mission), because the coast is incredibly hot and the mountains are, well, very mountainous and the elders who have been there for a while are able to absolutely fly up the steepest hills.  

Each area has it´s own very unique culture.  In fact, even just around Lake Atitlan the culture is incredibly diverse.  Around the lake shore are many indigenous towns, each with their own language and customs. One district there, Santiago Atitlan, is unique because the indigenous people living there speak very little Spanish. Because of that, the elders who serve there have to learn their language (I don´t know how to spell it but it sounds like soo-too-heel), and stay there for at least 7 months. After I´ve become fluent in Spanish, I would love to be one of the elders who gets to go serve there).

Hopefully my mom will be able to post some of the pictures I sent.  They hardly do Guatemala justice, but we´re only allowed to take pictures on P day and even then we have to do it very discretely. 

A few other highlights of the week:  Seeing a huge volcano incredibly close to us erupt for an hour or so. It was night so we could very easily see the geyser of lava spurting out.  Also, a torrential rainstorm that flooded the town. To cross the street we had to walk through a river of muddy water up to my knees.

By the way, mail here is pretty slow. It takes 6 weeks for a letter to get from Villa Canales to the US. We can only pick up incoming letters every transfer meeting, when the secretaries distribute al the letters that have arrived to the mission home. In other words, don´t be offended if I don´t respond to your letters for a very, very long time.

Thanks for all your prayers and support!  Serving a mission is hard, but I´m so grateful for the opportunity!  From the little I´ve experienced already, I can understand why these are my ¨best two years¨

Rice, beans, marijuana

 



 

Gmala temple

 

 Josh's Street

 

 Josh's Street

 

Josh's house

 

 

Week 7

[Editor's note: Josh missed writing last week.  In the MTC he wrote on Wednesday and in the field they write on Tuesday.  As he transferred on Wednesday, he missed both opportunities.]


Ok, things just got real. One week ago today I left the comfort, luxury, and safety of the CCM for the real mission field. Those first two days were probably the hardest of my life.  My mission president, President Brough, is awesome. His two main points of emphasis are that missionaries in the Gmala City Central mission are exactly obedient and work HARD. I was worried that I would find that my mission wasn´t this way, but he quickly put those fears to rest. Clearly, his policies are working. My mission is the currently the highest baptizing in Central America and in the top five in the world.  In June we had 344 baptisms. 

 Anyway, as I was saying, the first two days were incredibly difficult. One of our mottos is "there is urgency in the work." Because of this, we always speed walk everywhere we go, so that we don’t waste any time. Also, we almost always get back at 920 in the night because we schedule an appointment just before 9 so we can work for longer. We also normally get up at 530 (actually, the second day we got up at 500) so we can begin working earlier in the morning. The first day, after all our orientation meetings in the mission home, all the new missionaries went out to work. We were all paired up with a missionary who has been in the field for some time. I was with one of the Assistants to the President who only had one day left in the field. We practically ran up and down hills all day. Our efforts paid off though; even though we were only out for half a day, we taught 12 lessons and made a bunch of contacts. Still, by the time we went back to the place we were staying for the night I was absolutely wiped. It was nice to see that the other new missionaries were just as red faced and completely soaked in sweat.

The next morning we were off to transfer meeting where I was assigned my first area and companion, Villa Canales (a small town a ways outside of Gmala city) and Elder Lopez respectively.  He´s a great missionary and works equally hard.  Life here in Villa Canales is so different. The poverty is absolutely unbelievable. We go tracting everyday through shanty towns made of corrugated steel.  The streets are full of garbage. There are dogs everywhere here. Not nice dogs like in the US, but disease ridden ones that have to eat whatever scraps they can find. Apparently one of the reasons why were not allowed to eat any street food is because often the dogs in the street are killed and used as a cheap substitute for chicken or beef. Needless to say, I am totally ok with that rule.  One of the most revealing moments for me was when we left the poorer part of our area and went to teach in what is literally a gated community. Everything seemed so clean and nice, then I realized that it was still far poorer that the poorest part of Medford. I never fully realized just how blessed I was (and still am). Ethan, Seth, and Adam, I hope you guys never complain to mom about anything, because we´ve got nothing to complain about. 

One of my ongoing adventures is my war against the cockroaches in the house I’m staying in. There is a huge nest in my bed. The first night when I flipped my mattress over, there were so many cockroaches that there were cockroaches climbing on top of other cockroaches. 

Even though it´s hard here, I´m so grateful that I have the chance to serve a mission in the Gmala central mission. I love spending all day teaching about the gospel. The spirit is so strong. It really is incredible. Hopefully I didn't sound like I was complaining, because I really do love it here. Just know that we are all more blessed than we realize.

Josh with President and Sister Brough

Three generations:  My trainer on my right, and his trainer on my left.

These are some pictures of my district right before we went to the temple for the last time and right before our teacher Hermano Cuque left for BYU.  You can see that another elder is in the process of stealing my name tag. I must say, i got pretty good at snagging both the pocket and suit name tags of other elders. Sadly, in the field that game probably isn´t appropriate anymore. I still instinctively reach for my tag whenever anyone walks behind me so that they don't steal it.  Probably not the best habit.