Week 37

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Well. It’s been a big week. We had changes on Wednesday and Elder Carcamo left our little area of Jacandas 2 to become a Zone Leader in Amatitlán. Now for a little background. The changes are always read by one of the assistants to President Brough. This time they were read by Elder Huish, a legend in our mission who has been an assistant for 6 months. He is renowned as probably the best missionary in the mission and is known for his ability to ''kill'' on divisions, i.e. walk so rapidly that the other missionary feels like he's going to die.

Anyway, I've often been impressed by how well he teaches and how hard he works as I’ve seen him in zone conferences. Anyway, as I'm sure you can guess when he got to Jacarandas 2 he said, ''Elder Cannon recibe a... this guy.''  Yep, so here I am, working with a missionary who just went from being an assistant to being my companion.  At first I was understandably pretty nervous to have Elder Huish as a companion, but I quickly realized how great of a blessing that is. I'm so excited to learn and improve so much during this change. It's nice to have a companion who's exactly obedient and really works hard in every aspect of the Work.

Immediately we began to see miracles in our area. We've had members give us incredible references, inactive members bringing their unbaptized children to church, and non-members we had never talked to showing up on Sunday. In all, we had 14 investigators attending church this Sunday (although 4 of them showed up after the sacrament, so their attendance didn't count). It really is amazing how much the Lord is helping us to do our part to meet the goal of 400 baptisms. I'm convinced this will be a very successful change. Honestly, I've never loved being a missionary so much. It’s like what I've always imagined my mission would be like.

In all, I'm doing very well and having a lot of success. I feel like the Nephites when Nephi said, (in Helaman I think) ''and nothing, save it were iniquity, could keep them from prospering'' and I'm not going to become an iniquo (wicked person) anytime soon, so I think we're good!

Love, Elder Cannon

My completed abacus. It took a few weeks because I had to modify it to be able to work. It’s pretty cool, although I was slightly disappointed to learn that the magic of an abacus is just doing basic operations one place value at a time. I guess there's probably more complicated stuff you can do that I don't know. 

Hermano Giovanni Flores

Weeks 34, 35 and 36

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Ha, I can't believe that it’s almost the end of February. That is pretty crazy. Time here in the mission doesn’t flow normally. Anyway, yet again not a ton to report about what’s happened during the week. We're working hard, and although we're having a lot of challenges with our investigators, we're really hopeful for February, when as a mission we have a goal to baptize 400. President Brough has already told us how the Adversary will step up his attack as he is aware of this goal. We’ll have more sicknesses, more distractions, more problems with discouragement, etc. It’s kind of scary, but we're ready.

On a side note: Our normal, super nice internet café didn’t actually have internet today, so we had to take the bus to go downtown. As you may remember, one of the things we do in Gmala City Central is always shout a short message after we board the bus and then pass by people’s seats and get their names and addresses. However, we missionaries aren't the only ones who do that. Occasionally there are people selling candy or begging for money, or even every once and a while a crazy preacher (almost as crazy as us). However, today, on the bus ride here, I saw what must have been the best bus contact ever. It was an old, small man who stood at the front of the bus and, after sharing a short message, sang a song about ''our friend Jesus'' while playing on an old, battered accordion. It made us look pretty lame, to tell you the truth.

Also, down here in the Guatemala City Central Mission, Valentine’s day passed without note. I was expecting at least a mission wide dance or something... (Ha-ha, just kidding)

Anyway, the other day I was reading in the Liahona and found a cool article and really impacted me. It was about how on our missionary name tags we have 3 names, the name of our family (our last name), the name of the Church, and the name of Christ. For two years that's who we're representing. Our first name isn't on the badge. In other words, we're not here to represent ourselves. For two years we really don’t have to worry about whether people know how great of missionaries we are, how smart we are, or how our ideas are really the right ones. We just need to worry about what people think of our families, the Church, and of Christ because of our actions. I'm definitely going to have this thought guide what I do here in the mission field. 

Love, Elder Cannon

February 25

Wow, not a lot of time today. Sorry about that. More setbacks with investigators this week, but that's ok since we've got several font-loads of investigators who are progressing towards their baptismal dates in March. As much as it kills me to have dates fall of investigators have problems, I'm willing to do things on the Lord's timetable and can't complain.

I love Doctrine and Covenants because it's so dense with great verses. I feel like I should mark everything I read. Anyway, D&C 123:17: "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power, and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for His arm to be revealed." I love the trust that is implied in this verse. I'm pretty sure that Joseph received it while in Liberty Jail, which makes being able to talk about “cheerfully do[ing] all things that lie in our power" even more incredible. As missionaries, that's what we have to do. That's all we can do, but after all that, we can trust that the Lord will work His purposes, and for me personally, that we as a mission will be able to have 400 baptisms this month.

On a lighter note, I've had the trial of finding a bakery that sells good home-made style donuts for 1 Quetzal each. 12.5 cents a donut makes resisting difficult. Maybe it will help me come back from my mission with some pretty incredible self-control.

Love, Elder Cannon

March 3

Ha, wow, that was a fast transfer. Tomorrow we have yet another change meeting (which is good because they're a ton of fun). My companion will be leaving and I will be staying, which is what we expected. 

This week we had the baptism of Hermano Giovanni Flores. He's probably the investigator that I love the most in our area, so I was really glad to be able to see him progress so well. He's got a great testimony and really understands the principle of repentance.

His baptism is extra interesting because it's the first baptism I've had of an investigator that we found while tracting. We found him as we were knocking on doors one morning last change. It was cool to learn how the Lord placed him in our path. That morning he had left his house to go look for a new place to live and when we found him he was sitting on the sidewalk. We taught him the first lesson right there in the street and he gave us his address (his real address, which is pretty rare). He progressed super rapidly, but it's difficult for him to attend church because of his job. Interestingly, he's the first case I've seen where the husband progresses and the wife doesn't. Usually the women are far more pilas (sorry, but it's true).

Finally, we received some good news today. For the past three weeks our mission has been panicking a little bit because we received the news that for some unknown reason an error had occurred in the Distribution Center and all of Central America would be unable to receive new copies of the Book of Mormon until mid-April. Needless to say, we were beside ourselves with indignation. How are we supposed to help people obtain a testimony of the Restored Gospel without the keystone of our religion? The BOM combined with he Spirit is our most powerful tool and now we had to ration three copies for two months?!?

I was tempted to write a letter after the style of Moroni when he complained to Pahoran about sitting on his throne not giving provisions to his troops while they were out on the front lines dying. Luckily I didn't. Today we received the news that the mission was able to get ahold of a few more boxes so we should have enough to tide us over. That was a close one, but it made me much more grateful for the Book of Mormon. We should never take it for granted.

Love, Elder Cannon

Week 33

February 11, 2014

Well, not a whole lot happened this week. We've had some setbacks with our investigators. Three of them moved this week (not too uncommon here in Guatemala, and much easier when you don't have many possessions).

Yesterday for our district P day we watched "The Other Side of Heaven." I'm not sure how we were allowed to watch that movie. It's a little different than, for example, Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" or Mountain of the Lord's House. Anyway, that movie is far more enjoyable when you're a missionary, although it is rather interesting how he breaks every single rule in the missionary manual that we have now. In all, it made me think about how important it is to love the people.


My mission experience is completely different than his. Often I think that it would be easier to just try to do as much good as possible, rather than worrying about number of contacts, how many lessons in the house of a member we had, etc. Still, if I truly love the people here in Guatemala, all of that will flow naturally out of my efforts to serve them. The numbers will be the result; they should never become the reason. My mission is teaching my many things, and how to love would probably be the most important. I can't be a representative of Christ if I don't love as He loved. Luckily, that love is promised to missionaries and so I can have hope. 

 

Time's up.

 

Love, Elder Cannon

Week 32

February 4, 2014

Antigua! We finally got to go there last P-day. We hardly had anytime at all there since we had to travel and get back in time to do all the things we needed to (like buying groceries), but I loved getting to go. It's a super beautiful city. I'll admit that I felt a little bit strange because there were a bunch of gringos walking around, speaking in English. It made me feel like a tourist too. Anyway, we had about 45 minutes to walk around and check out the market. Then we had a scavenger hunt designed by the zone leaders (admittedly, it might not have been the best idea since we can do a scavenger hunt any P day but were only in Antigua once, however, it was fun). After that we had a half hour more and then had to go back. I'm definitely planning on coming back after my mission and spending a few days there, but that's a ways away.

Anyway, Antigua's so cool because it was the old, colonial capital of Central America. It has cobblestone streets and a bunch of really old, really beautiful Catholic churches. The market is neat because of all the hand made, native clothing and souvenirs. Having to haggle also adds to the excitement.

As far as actual missionary work goes, we've got a goal as a mission to baptize 400 in March. As I have already said, this is a super high goal and so we are all working really hard. This week was special in that we've had a massive increase in the number of our progressing investigators. I've never had so many baptismal possibilities at one time in my entire mission. It's pretty cool how clearly the Lord is preparing the way so that we can meet the goal set by our mission president. The sad thing is that these people will all be baptized in March and there's a pretty high chance that I'll be transferred next change meeting (which is the first Wednesday in March) and not get to see those baptisms. Still, the fact that they're learning about and accepting the gospel is what's most important.

Thanks for all you support! I hope you're all doing well.

Love, Elder Cannon

Some homes and a park in Antigua

A picture in the market and a church

As part of the scavenger hunt we had to get (discretely) pictures of us contacting a Chapin (Guatemalan), a gringo, and a woman in Corte (the traditional dress that indigenous women wear).

Weeks 30 and 31

January 28, 2014

Well, I've had a good week. It almost rained yesterday, which made me very happy (the rainy season stopped in October and it hasn't rained a drop since. Apparently we're gearing up for summer right now). Yesterday, for P day, we went to the central market of Escuintal which was quite an experience. Sadly, the color of my skin makes haggling much harder since they equate gringo with pisto (money). 

In the market I also bought a pair of glasses that don't have any correction. The dirt roads here are normally really dusty and when it's windy it can be pretty difficult to see. Twice I've gotten big pieces of dirt lodged in one of my eyes for more than two hours. After the second time I promised myself that I would start wearing glasses to prevent that from happening again. It's not like anyone here knows that I don't actually wear glasses, so it shouldn't be a problem. 

I really like the culture of missionary ingenuity here in our mission. I've seen some pretty cool inventions or modifications designed to make missionary work easier. The coolest is a heads up time display that my district leader made by cleverly attaching a watch to a backpack. I hope to have come up with a couple of good ones myself before I go home.

Our mission right now is preparing for our goal to have 400 baptisms in March. It's more than we've ever achieved so far and we're working hard and strengthening our faith that we will be able to do it. I’m getting pretty excited to see just how crazy that month is. We're starting to look for new investigators right now so they can be prepared by March.

Anyway, things are going well down here in Jacarandas 2, Escuintla. I've got to go now. Hope you all are doing well.

Elder Cannon

This picture is of my growing collection of church movies (and my incredibly messy desk). Sadly, no one here in the coast has a DVD player so I'm not able to use them very often.

January 23 

Well, it's been a full week. The highlight was the baptism of Hermano Marco Tulio Alvizures! I am amazed every time we visit them by how much the gospel has changed their family. The blessings have so clearly followed each good decision they've taken. In fact, just two days after his baptism, a friend out of the blue offered Hermano Marco a job! He'd been out of work for months (one day we helped them crack open motors to remove the copper wiring in the electromagnets and strip electrical cables of their sheathing so he could sell the metal for a bit of money). 

The baptisms (the woman on the right is a member who lives across the street)

As I mentioned, we went to a park in Amatitlan (not to be confused with Atitlan) for our zone P Day. It was pretty cool because they had a bunch of mini replicas of famous Guatemalan attractions as well as a this-couldn't-be-legal-in-the-USA obstacle course which made me almost feel like I was rock climbing again.

Yesterday we also got to go to a multi-mission (Gmala City South, East, and Central) meeting with Elder Cook and some other General Authorities. It was cool to see the clear differences between the missions. Before the meeting began all the other missionaries in the other missions were talking with friends and walking around while all of our mission was sitting in our seats (and had been for an hour), reading the Book of Mormon and studying D&C 107 to learn about apostles and members of the Quorum of the Seventy. I don't know how President Brough does it, but he really is an incredible leader. Speaking of which, the stats are in and last year our mission had 2266 baptisms! Anyway, Elder Cook said some great things about how we need to love the people we serve, love our companion, love our mission president and his wife, and love the Lord.

Transfers were this week and for the first time in my mission I didn't get to go to the change meeting my companion and I stayed together. I was pretty sad to not be able to go as the change meetings are SO. My dad (as in, my trainer), Elder Lopez, is yet again my zone leader as he just got transferred here to Escuintla. Pretty cool.

Speaking of cool, our zone got put on volcano eruption alert this week. Pacai was pouring lava and smoking, but we didn't get a good eruption. Too bad

Pacai smoking a little bit

Anyway, I hope you are all doing well. I know that the Lord will bless each one of you just as surely as He blessed the Alvizures family as you strive to keep His commandments.

Love, Elder Cannon

Amatitlan

the city of amatitlan

a weird bug

A cool tree

The following pictures were, unfortunately, not posted with the previous weeks letter that described them.  Josh's comments about them were:

I've included a couple of rather poor quality pictures (I took them while riding on the bus back from the Christmas Activity several weeks ago). Sadly, it's impossible to grasp the size of that volcano from the pictures. I have never, ever seen anything so big, anything that takes up such a huge chunk of the sky. It's like something out of a movie (if Mount Doom was that big I'm pretty sure that Sam would never have been able to carry Frodo to the top and the Sauron would have reclaimed the Ring.) Anyway, I really am sorry that there's no way I can send you guys an accurate picture of that volcano. Honestly, I'm sure that it's so big it's throwing off the orbit of the earth (not really).

Week 29

January 13, 2014

Well, I get to write a day early today (normally we have P day on Monday and have our district meeting and time to check our email on Tuesday). The reason is that we're having a Zone P Day and all going to some park that's only open on Tuesday. Sadly, we barely missed out on being able to go to Antigua, which is like the coolest place in all of Central America. Anyway, I'll tell you all how that goes next week. Speaking of which, next week we won't have our time to write emails until Thursday because we have transfers on Tuesday and then a multi-mission conference on Wednesday in which we'll here from Elder Cook! Woo-hoo! All the missionaries are pretty excited.

Not too much has happened this week. we're working hard and miraculously I'm getting somewhat used to the heat here. I've included a couple of rather poor quality pictures (I took them while riding on the bus back from the Christmas Activity several weeks ago). Sadly, it's impossible to grasp the size of that volcano from the pictures. I have never, ever seen anything so big, anything that takes up such a huge chunk of the sky. It's like something out of a movie (if Mount Doom was that big I'm pretty sure that Sam would never have been able to carry Frodo to the top and the Sauron would have reclaimed the Ring.) Anyway, I really am sorry that there's no way I can send you guys an accurate picture of that volcano. Honestly, I'm sure that it's so big it's throwing off the orbit of the earth (not really).

Right now we're teaching an investigator named Daniel. He is a very stereotypical electrical engineer and as much as I relate to him, I've had to exercise a lot of patience with him as he always asks a bunch of questions and makes a bunch of comments, all of which are only barely related to the subject of our lesson. One day we watched the video of John Tanner and he made us pause the movie every minute or so that he could ask questions such as "how did the Kirtland Bank fail." Still, we're working with him and are praying that he can translate his desires to be baptized into action.

Well, that's all for today. Love you all!

Week 28

January 7 2014

Well, this week was pretty tough. I had a raging fever for 5 days, which is kind of cool because it made me feel like some stereotypical explorer who traveled to the jungle and got some weird disease. There is definitely some pretty crazy stuff down here. A few transfers ago, my companion got a fungus which ate the flesh off of the soles of his feet. Pretty intense.

Ok, not much happened this week, but I didn't have time to write a bunch from last week, so here it goes...

Baptism! We baptized a young man named Francisco. He's pilas. We really didn't have to do too much and so there's really not too much to say. It's a great blessing to see another person start on that path to eternal life. I hope he gets sent on a mission to Oregon.

As great as his baptismal service was, it wasn't my favorite experience of the week. Before I describe what happened, I'll start out with some background.

We have a recent convert family who is super, super poor. The husband, Mauricio, is pretty old and just had a major operation. They have several young kids and no fresh water and little food. He just sits in pain all day long in his swelteringly hot casa de lamina with blood oozing from the giant slice in his stomach (which I'm sure will soon be infected). The problem is that they don't really want anything with the church. He only listens to us to ask for money from the church. Anyway, on Sunday my companion and I were talking about what to do with them.  We really had no idea. We couldn't give up and drop the like we would if they were investigators, but when had yet to see any progress from our lessons. 

Anyway, we left to work not knowing what we would do. Later that day we visited another family in our area, the Alvisures Family. The wife is a recent convert and the husband is a non-member and they have 4 young children. They are also super poor. Right now they make and sell tortillas, earning less than 4 dollars each day. With that money, they can buy food for the next day. Basically, their entire family is living hand to mouth every day. I love this family so much. Their lives have been transformed by the gospel beyond anything I have ever seen on my mission. When we first started visiting them, they were having serious marital problems. The husband drank and was abusive. The wife was always crying. One lesson she asked us if it was a sin for her to ask for God to kill her. However, as they have begun to read the Book of Mormon and keep the commandments, they have become so much happier. I've never seen a change so dramatic. They are always so happy now. The husband and wife are like newlyweds. They're always holding hands and joking. They want to learn everything they can about the gospel. Sister Alvisures paid her tithing for the first time this Sunday.

When we arrived that day, the wife told us when we began the lesson that she had something to tell us. She said that she had a dream last night in which an old man, who refused to show her his face, told her that we (the missionaries) would come that day. He told her that near her house lived a family that was suffering a lot. They also were poor and didn't know what to do. He said they didn't want to listen to the missionaries anymore, but needed to hear her testimony and hear how she has been able to keep going despite her challenges. She asked us who this family was because she had never met them. I had goose bumps because she so perfectly described them and where they lived. Needless to say, we took her right away to visit Mauricio and his wife, despite the fact that they live in La Linea (the most dangerous part of our area) and it was night. We just left everything in their house except 10 quetzales and a Book of Mormon and left. Sister Alvisures shared an incredibly powerful testimony which I would say helped her even more than Mauricio. We haven't visited him since, so we don't know what the outcome will be, but it was a great testimony builder for me, that this really is God's work and that he knows me individually, as well as my investigators and converts and that He will help us move His work along.