Hooray for goals!

(Email from July 8, 2013)

Hi there,

So this was a really great week of self improvement. I am so grateful for the atonement and the Lord's patience with me, and the opportunity I always have to repent and be better every day.

One of our zone goals this transfer is to have one "be" and one "do" goal for each day. Elder Robbins, who visited our mission, told them in a training leader's conference that, "To do without being is self-deception. To be without doing is hypocrisy." I really like that. So every day of this transfer we think of something we want to be for that day, and something we are going to do in order to be that. For example, one day I said I wanted to be a Christlike leader, so I prayed for my companion whenever she opened her mouth. Another day I wanted to be understanding, so I decided to listen with love. Another day I wanted to be faithful, so I decided to set 2 of our investigators with a baptismal date.

I love this way of setting goals, and I invite any of you who so desire to do it as well! It is such a great way to grow every day. I am learning so much from it and this is something I'd really love to continue doing the rest of my life.

Funny story of the week: We were on the way to visit some people and we saw this guy waiting for a ride so we started talking to him. Turns out the English elders visited him last week and he even had a mormon.org card in his wallet. We talked to him about our message and he started asking a lot of questions about what we do. Then he asked, "So do you believe every person you meet or talk to is for a reason?" And I was thinking he's probably putting it together that God's put two sets of missionaries in his life within a week, and maybe we were supposed to meet him that day so he would take them more seriously. So I said, "it's definitely possible." And my companion said, "I think God always puts us in each others paths for a reason." And then he said, "So do you think that reason might be so that I could take you two to a movie tomorrow?" Hahaha. We politely explained that we aren't allowed to do things like that, and we thanked him for his time, and said goodbye. The second we were out of earshot we busted up laughing. It was so funny.

That's all folks,
Hna. Cannon