Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, I'm going to apologize in advance. I feel as though this is going to be a really long letter. It's just that so many amazing things happened this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll try to be brief.
Okay, so this week basically exemplified all that is wonderful about being a missionary. There were so many tender mercies and moments that made me step back and say, "Wow. This is why I'm a missionary." First is about Juan. He's the investigator who's married to a member. We found out he's on parole right now so he can't get baptized for 3 years, but we're still working with him. On Monday we didn't have an appointment but we were in the area so we decided to stop by. We ended up having such an awesome lesson where the spirit was very strong. He told us he is so glad we came today because he was feeling really depressed and having such a hard time. He said he was so grateful we came over and brought the spirit into his home. He said that is what he needs most right now.
Second story: Hna. Ruiz (Esmeralda's mom) bore her testimony in Relief Society. She talked about how she'd left the church for a while and didn't know if she'd ever come back. She said her life was dark and her family was struggling - her situation seemed hopeless. Then she pointed to us and said it was because of two sister missionaries that didn't give up on us, that loved us and always visited even when we were busy, and gave us the push we needed. Because of those sisters I am here today, and I am never going to leave again. Then she proceeded to bare her testimony of missionary work.
Third story: We were trying to contact a referral but they weren't home. While walking back to the car this white lady was waving at us and we were like, "white people live in this neighborhood?" Haha, we'd never seen one before. She ended up being a member and an RM and told us about how she's been trying to share the gospel with her next door neighbor. Their daughters (age 7) are friends and her daughter, Penny, has been inviting her to primary. The member, Marny, said she wants to fellowship them more but it's hard because she doesn't speak Spanish. So she said to her daughter Penny, "Do you want to go next door with the missionaries and invite your friends to church? You can do it, be brave." 7-year-old Penny quickly agreed and we went and talked to them. I thought it was so cool that she's already instilling the spirit of missionary work in her 7-year-old daughter. It was awesome. Oh, and the member, Marny, ended up being Taylor Day's cousin! Just in case any of you reading this know her, she's a friend of mine from BYU. Cool!
Fourth story: We were having dinner with a member and after words she was telling us how grateful she is to have us in her home, and that whenever we need food to come straight there, and even if they're busy they will always make time for us. She said, "I know I am serving God when I give you food. Because for us, you represent the greatest joy of our lives. What is so precious to us and has been the greatest blessing. Las quiero mucho." We also got to teach her how to use the familysearch.org and now she can do all the temple work for her family! I am SO glad they made us learn how to do that before our missions. It is such a useful skill that people really need help with!
Fifth story (I know there's a lot, hope you don't mind!): We were teaching our last lesson with Jenny - we taught with the elders there to transition her from us to them (which was a little sad but it went really well). One of the elders asked her a question about faith and her desire to progress. She started to say, and then a couple of tears rolled down her cheeks as she explained that it was seeing how much faith the missionaries have. How we give everything for this gospel. It inspires her to want to change her life so she too, can develop that level of faith. Her words were so touching and inspiring and motivating.
All of those happened in one week! Sorry if that was way too much to read, but I just wanted to tell you about it. All of those experiences were just so... I don't know the word. They really helped us refocus on a strong sense of purpose, why it is that we're out here. We were able to see a lot of fruits from the work that we do. It was so rewarding, because sometimes you work and work and work and it doesn't seem like anything's happening. But this week was incredible. Being a missionary is amazing. Every hard day is completely worth it for weeks like this.
In other news, Hna. Corniea and I are having a lot of fun working with members! My first two transfers most of the time we just tracted - which can be effective but sometimes it seems like you're not getting anywhere. We're trying a lot of new things like having FHE's with members and investigators, working with visiting teaching to less active sisters, and teaching the Young Women about missionary work. A lot of these are probably no-brainers, but they're things I hadn't learned before. So Hna. Corniea, both being still fairly new, are trying to figure things out and be more creative. It's much more fun and seems to be more effective. We're really excited!
I love study time in the morning, and I feel like the Lord is just enlightening my mind so much. I thought to myself, "I'm so grateful to know the truth! I'm so glad I was raised in the church and understand all this stuff." And then I got this overwhelming feeling that I need to continually increase my abilities as a teacher so I can help people come to know these truths as well. I hope I can help enlighten people's minds and help them to feel hungry for the gospel just as I feel. That's what we do, and it's great, but we need to continually work to be more effective teachers.
Short story long, THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME. Being a missionary is incredible. I love it. There's nothing better I could be doing.
I love you so much! I hope you are having an awesome week too!
Hna. Cannon
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