WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!

Hello!

I am going to the Ventura Spanish Zone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SO excited! A few transfers ago they created two completely Spanish zones and I've always wanted to serve there. They even have district and zone meetings in Spanish! I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have loved my time here in Simi. It's been amazing. I feel at peace and that I've fulfilled my purpose here. The only down side is I won't get to be here for our investigator, Mayra's, baptism this Saturday. She was pretty sad about that :( But she is so amazing and will be such an incredible member of the church!!!! I am so excited for her :) :)

President Castro is going home now :( :( :( I will miss him so much!!! He is a huge reason why I was called to this mission. He has changed my life. He has been such a huge influence on who I am now. I have changed so much for the better, and I owe a lot of that to him. I used to be sad that I wouldn't get to end my mission with him, but now I am so grateful that I got to see his example of how to finish a mission the transfer right before I would. He gave us 100% of everything he had right til the finish. He is an Endure to the End, Doctrine of Christ missionary, and I plan to follow his example. I am going to serve with everything I have every day until I am released, and I will continue to do so afterwards! It's never over.

Hna. Romero and I taught this amazing boy, Brandon, and he got baptized last Saturday!!! He is 10 years old, and will be such a great missionary one day. His sister was the first member of their family, and now him. And their dad just started taking the lessons!!!!! Hna. Romero came and visited and got to be there for his baptism!!!!! It was amazing to see her. I got to meet her family too! She is such an incredible example to me.

So here's a miracle! After nightly planning on Friday we were looking through our former investigators section and found someone named Martin that we'd never noticed before. The address was scribbled out and the TR said he was dropped because they couldn't find him. There was only a phone number so we decided to go ahead and call it right then. He answered, we introduced ourselves, then had a 15 min. conversation. He told us that at 7:00 pm (just two hours before) he took a nap. He was simultaneously dreaming and praying that God would guide Him. It was a really spiritual experience for him and when he woke up he felt he wanted to turn his life around. He started calling family members to reconnect with them and rebuild past relationships. He decided to go to an AA meeting at 9:00 pm for additional guidance. At 9:30 pm he stepped out to get some air and received a call from us right then. He said he believes God heard his prayer and sent us to him to guide him in the way he was praying for. He works on Sunday but he asked if we had any classes during the week, which is perfect because we just barely started a BOM study class last Thursday! He's really looking forward to that. God is a god of miracles and uses us to answer each other's prayers. It was such an amazing miracle!

I love you!!!! Have a great week! Go refer your friends to the missionaries! ;)

Hna. Cannon

Brandon's Baptism

Our cute district!!!! Simi Valley!!!

President and Sister Castro. We will miss them so much!!!!!!

Here's mini President Castro. Samuel is so awesome!

And here's mini Sis. Castro! (far left)

 

2 Nephi 2:6-8

Hello!

How are you? I hope you've had a great week.

We had some great exchanges this week! It was nice to be back in our area afterwards. It is always such a blessing to see that when we really dedicate ourselves to serving the sisters, the Lord takes care of our area. And then as soon as we're back, He blesses us with SO many miracles and so many choice people to teach! It's amazing.

This week I've been studying about humility and the Atonement. I have been reading the chapters on the Atonement in Jesus the Christ during lunch and before bed and it has been a huge blessing. It's made it so that He is always on my mind. I can't stop thinking about Him! I feel so edified and enlightened after studying about Him. As I study I also write in my study journal and answer three questions. 1) What did He do? 2) Why did He do it? 3) How can I follow Him? Studying Him this way has made me come to know and understand Him more on such a personal level, yet at the same time He seems even more incomprehensible to me. This past week any time I have had a negative thought, I just think about Him and it goes away. He was the perfect example of humility and love.  I love to study Him in this way. It has had a huge impact on me. I love the Savior!

The more I think about Him, I just can't help but be overwhelmed with gratitude. I can't even comprehend everything He's done and continues to do for us. I am so immensely blessed with the opportunity to share this message every day. I will forever be indebted to Him. I love this work.

I love you!

Hna. Cannon

Exchanges

Exchanges

 

Exchanges

 

Look who came to visit me yesterday! The Ruiz family from Camarillo! I was so surprised!!!!

This is me and Hna. Faletau!

Full Circle

Hello there!

So we've had a very busy week. We had MLC as well as training/president's interviews for all the sisters. So we went around the mission to give the training for the sisters. It was awesome! Definitely a packed week though. We did not have a single day this week without meetings. Plus we had an exchange this week, so Thursday and Saturday were the only days we had to work in our area. It really does test our faith to not get to be with our investigators, but we trust in the Lord that if we take care of His sheep He will take care of ours.

I got to go on an exchange with Hna. Prestgard this week! We were companions for 2 transfers in Solvang. Did I tell you she got transferred to Simi Vally? We serve in the same branch and she covers our old area. It was so amazing to see the power of the Atonement on that exchange. She has changed completely and looked so happy. It was amazing to see that. She told me about an awesome miracle from Solvang!!!!!!!!

Okay so do you remember the story I told you last Thanksgiving how we ate with some members and they had us sit next to their son Judson who was less active and his wife who was a non member? Well they live in Louisiana and we got to talk to them for that whole dinner and it went so well. During the message we shared with the family the spirit was so strong. That's one of a handful of times where I've felt so much like a representative of Jesus Christ. You could tell they were all really feeling the spirit, and the way they looked at us was how I imagine the Nephites looking at the Savior, as if they would bid him to tarry with them a little longer. But we left on time because we wanted to be obedient. I remember that whole day we were really exercising our faith with everyone we talked to, even more than most days. We had a great day but I didn't really see the fruit from it until Hna. Prestgard shared with me yesterday that Judson and his wife had been taking the lessons from the missionaries in Louisiana, and his wife was baptized. I cannot even describe how overjoyed I felt to hear that. I can only imagine what other fruits have come from the seeds we've planted that we just never see. I remember how obedient and faithful we were that day, and the Lord did not forget that. Miracles happen.

Well, that's all for this week. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week :)

Study Preach My Gospel and read your scriptures!!!

Hna. Cannon

Mosiah 2:17

Oh dear family! Hello!

How are you? I hope you are having a fantastic week!

As always, so much to say, so little time.

All I have to say is I am so grateful the Lord allows me to serve Him. It's so funny how at the beginning you think you're doing it to give something back to Him, as if He is the benefactor. But as I have continued in my mission I have seen that I am nothing without serving God. When I don't serve I am not happy and life feels meaningless. Really, He has us serve to bless US, even though the reason we do it is for other people. Food for thought.

We had an amazing miracle with Zoyla this week! She's been progressing really well, has come to know the BOM is true and received her answer that she needs to be baptized. The only thing holding her back is her husband who's not interested at all and she doesn't feel good about going to a different church without him. We met with her yesterday and for the first time she told us she hadn't been reading in the BOM. We thought that was odd so we just read with her where she was, which happened to be 2 Nephi 32, a perfect chapter to discuss with her. Afterwards she told us that the night before she'd had a dream that she was at church and the priests were sacrificing people - cutting off their ears and drinking the people's blood. She said they were going to do that to her and someone told her to run. She saw a light coming through a door so she ran outside of it to escape. Then she saw my companion and I seated at a round table reading the Book of Mormon. She came and sat with us to read, and she felt happy and at peace. She was obviously so frightened by that dream, but she knows that no one else could have given her that dream but God. She said she feels strongly that she needs to come to church with us and see for herself. This dream was such an answer to both our prayers and hers. She's been really praying for guidance, and I've been praying specifically this week that God would put something in her path to help her see the need to come to church and have a desire to do so. It was an amazing miracle! We also talked about how baptism is the door and she agrees. God is a God of miracles! He hears and answers prayers. He works according to our faith.

Also last week we started teaching Mayra, a referral from a member who is dating her. She is the most prepared person I've EVER taught! She has no concerns, already lives the Word of Wisdom, goes to church, reads the BOM. We set her with a baptismal date this week for June 28 and she was so overjoyed that she started crying. She thought she had to wait a year to be baptized, and she was so happy that it could be so soon. The Lord is preparing people!

This is an amazing work.

I love you!

Hna. Cannon