A week of miracles!

Hey!

 

Sorry I forgot to tell you we had zone conference yesterday, so P-day is on Tuesday this week. Guess what they announced? We're allowed to email friends and extended family now! This is a change that's happening world wide. So if anybody wants to email me you are welcome to at amanda.cannon@myldsmail.net. However, we only have an hour on the computer once a week to write our families, the mission president, and everyone else. So I can't promise I will have time to respond to the emails right when I get them, but you are welcome to send a quick message if you like! Please include your mailing address if you want me to write back to you, unless I end up having time to email you back.

 

Okay. This week was truly a week of miracles! Honestly, the Lord has blessed us so much. There are far too many stories to tell than could fit in this email. I will tell you one though.

 

My companion gave this guy Roger (20 years old) a Book of Mormon 3 months ago and he seemed really interested. They've gone back a to his house a ton and he's never been home, they didn't even think he lived there anymore. We went last Tuesday to visit his mom and he answered the door! He was like, hey guys, long time no see! We got to teach the whole restoration and he loved it. He told us he carries the Book of Mormon every where and even tells people about it when it comes up. And get this, he's been smoking a pack a day for the last 5 years and two months ago decided to quit cold turkey! He has so much self control. We haven't even taught him the word of wisdom! It's amazing to see the Lord working with people. The Holy Ghost testifies to people of truth and what they need to do - sometimes before we even bring it up. Towards the end of the discussion he started asking about missionary work and was saying it's something he'd like to do! It's amazing. We're teaching him again tonight.

 

On Saturday we had 5 teaching appointments scheduled and every single one of them fell through. But that day we found 5 new investigators just from knocking on doors! And not just people who said we could come back, people who have really had the spirit testify to them of the truthfulness of our words. People who are ready to hear the gospel. It was just crazy how even though all of our appointments fell through, we still got to teach 5 people who accepted.

 

I also got to take part in a 40 day fast the ward is doing. They have a different member of the ward fast each day so the ward can have more baptisms. How awesome is that! It not only shows the great faith of the ward members, but their understanding of the importance of and the role of missionary work. People over here understand it more than I ever did as a member in Utah. One of the apostles said that full-time missionary work should be focused on teaching and baptizing, finding should be up to the members. We need to help members of the church catch the vision of missionary work! What if every member shared the gospel with just one friend each month? What if they did it every week? Honestly whatever you can do will help. We need to tell our brothers and sisters on this earth about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! It is the only thing that will bring them peace and joy in this life and eternal life in the world to come. One missionary was telling me about one of his investigators that he brought to the single's ward, and one of the ward members was his friend, and he never even knew. He said to his friend, "You knew about this all this time and you never told me?" People need the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They need to feel the peace and cleanliness that can come from repenting of their sins. They need to know how they can live with their families forever. They just don't know where to find it. But we do. And if they don't realize the importance of it right now, we do! Help them understand. Help them see what they need. Be a friend to all.

 

Anyway, that 40 day fast was an amazing experience. We saw a lot of miracles that day. I love how much faith the members have and how much they understand that we need to do our part to help bring people to Christ. Missionary work is so central to this church.

 

I wish I had time to tell you about the other miracles we've had this week. Apparently this is a low baptizing area of the mission and it is hard to find people to teach, but we've found so many new investigators this week! When we are diligent and have faith, the Lord really helps us do his work.

 

Okay so zone conference was awesome. We learned about what it is to be a good steward over the things the Lord has entrusted to us: temporal items, our time, and what he holds most precious and sacred - His children. The only thing that is truly ours is our agency. Everything else belongs to the Lord. We need to use that agency to take care of the things the Lord has entrusted to us. That is critical not only for missionary work, but for everyone. I'd like to challenge you all to think about that this week. What has the Lord entrusted to you? How can you exercise your agency to take good care of those things? Jesus Christ suffered for our sins. He bled from every pore and died for us. How can we ever thank Him? Words will never be enough. We can never repay Him, but we can show our gratitude by our actions.

 

I love you all. I love the Lord. I am so grateful to be a part of his work.

 

Hermana Cannon