The Spirit of Christ(mas)!

Such a fun time to be a missionary! I love how there's no hustle and bustle and it's all just 100% about Christ. This is one of the most meaningful Christmas's I've had. I love this time of year. I love the special opportunity I have to teach and testify of the Savior as we celebrate him. Speaking of which, I get to call you! When should I call? It can be any time between like 3:00 and 9:00 your time. Let me know!

This week I've re-learned the lesson of forgetting myself and going to work. I've really seen how the greatest happiness comes when you just lose yourself in the Lord's service. I love helping others, especially when I'm having a hard time. (Like spending 7 hours in the dentist chair getting root canals :)

I love the example the members here give of Christlike service. They give so freely of themselves. It's amazing. There are so many true followers of Jesus Christ in our church. They've helped Carl out so much. We moved him into his new house this week! It's a miracle that he found one so soon and in his price range. After that he had no more money - so the members have been so generous in providing him with food and other household essentials to get by for the month. I'm sure they'll get him and Woody some Christmas gifts as well. They are amazing. It has touched Carl's heart so much and helped him to feel part of the church.

Especially during Christmas time, I think about how much the Lord gives us. He really gives us everything - right down to the words to speak. He did that many times for me this past week. Yesterday the other hermanas' awesome investigator Eric came to church! He is amazing, and speaks only Spanish. And I got to translate sacrament meeting for him! I've never translated in real time before, so that was a really neat experience. Then after the opening prayer in gospel principles we found out we were teaching the lesson. (The ward mission leader and ward missionaries usually rotate). We jumped up and were excited for the opportunity. The Lord filled our mouths with the words to speak. The spirit was so powerful. The prospect of doing something like that used to terrify me. It's really fun to see how much I've grown and changed. When we rely on the Lord, we can do anything!

Have a great week!

Hna. Cannon

p.s. from Vida: Amanda had to get a 2nd root canal this week! Pray for her speedy recovery :)

Be like Nephi!

Hello family! I love you!

I have learned so much this week. I know God answers prayers. I cannot begin to tell you all of the experiences I have had this week of Him doing so. One day, He changed my heart in an instant. Another day I was seeking revelation for one of our investigators, and He answered me immediately through the scriptures. My testimony of that truth has grown so much this week.

I want to be like Nephi. He has been such an example to me in my mission. I read Mosiah 10:13 this week. I learned that when we are faithful, the Lord answers our prayers, and calls upon us to be leaders. It struck me a lot this week that the Lord needs me to be a leader. I have been in the mission longer than anyone in my district, and it really struck me this week that they are looking to me as an example. They are watching, and noticing what I do. It is my responsibility to make sure what they see will inspire them to be better. We are all representatives of Jesus Christ. Not only for our areas, but for each other. There were so many solid missionaries I looked up to at the beginning of my mission, that really influenced who I am as a missionary now. I realized it is time for me to be that for other missionaries. It's definitely another opportunity for growth.

I want to tell you about this incredible elder. If any of you have doubts about the capacities of 18-year-old missionaries, let the example of Elder Lee change your mind. He began his mission when I got here to Solvang. He was trained for 6 weeks, then began training a new missionary immediately after. His 3rd transfer he and that new missionary trained each other for the 2nd half of the 12 week program. On top of that, for the last half of the transfer they had a 3rd missionary join their companionship. Now, Elder Lee's 4th transfer in the mission, he is our district leader! This elder is incredible. He has had so much expected of him at so early in his mission, and he has excelled. He is so humble, relies on the Lord, loves those he serves. He is a true representative of Jesus Christ. That just strengthens my testimony so much of this being the Lord's work. He chooses the weak and simple, but when we rely on him, we can make miracles happen.

I LOVE seeing this work roll forth! It is my favorite thing. My very favorite thing. Ever.

Hna. Cannon

 

Last P-day with Hermanas Wright and Bartschi.

My district

 

Happy December!

Hello sweet family and friends!

This week I've learned a lot about grace. It is something you cannot fully understand until experiencing it for yourself. It is by grace that we are saved after all we can do (2 Nephi 25:23). If we want to experience Christ's grace, the atonement, miracles, we have to push ourselves beyond our own capacity. That is the only way. That is when those miracles come. This week there were a few days where my strength was completely depleted, and I knew it would be impossible for me to press forward on my own. I plead for grace, and was carried to be able to do things I did not have the strength to do. I know that it is in the realm of grace that we can make a difference, because it is not us making the difference. The way to do that is to push beyond our own capacities.

Super happy thing I love: seeing Dane bless the sacrament every week. He is growing so much! His prayers and comments have become so much more sincere and focused. He's doing well in his calling and continues to come to church activities and all 3 hours of the block. He came up to me after church yesterday and said, "Today I felt the spirit twice!" Haha. So sweet.

Thanksgiving was great! I loved having a whole day to focus purely on thanking God for everything He has given us. Such a good holiday. We have so much to be grateful for! I love gratitude. It helps me so much to conquer things. That day we anticipated that nobody would really want to talk to us, and most investigators wouldn't want to meet. So we prepared brief Thanksgiving messages that could lead into the Restoration. We were so excited. People weren't as receptive as we would have hoped, but we feel like we did our part. And the Lord blessed us with miracles for it. We were able to meet with Carl that day and it was a miracle that we were able to get a member last minute to come teach him at the church with us. Another miracle was when we had Thanksgiving dinner with some members. Their less active son and non-member daughter in law came from Louisiana. They were smart and seated us right next to them. It was way natural and the perfect situation and we got to talk to her about her religious background and our message for most of the dinner conversation. We were able to give her 2 pamphlets and she said she's thinking about contacting the missionaries back in Louisiana! Then the dinner message went so well. It was perfect. The family was super grateful.

Time just ran out! I love you!

Hna. Cannon

I like to look for rainbows :)

Hello!

Thank you so much for your love and prayers. I can feel them. We need them out here! Things are going well. Lots of ups and downs but that is the nature of this work.

We had a rainy week here in Solvang, and at the end Connie was baptized and confirmed! It went so well. SO many people came. She is the sweetest lady ever. I hope you all get to meet her someday. She said she will visit me in Utah one day so I hope so!

Georgi's husband, Dennis agreed to take the lessons this week! We are so excited for them. During Connie's confirmation he was tearing up. When the spirit touches hearts, hearts are changed. So excited to see that happen for him!

We had Zone Conference this week and it was amazing as usual. Sis. Castro gave this wonderful talk about the first miracle Christ performed, turning water into wine (John 2). When He did that, he turned it into the best wine. Wine that would have taken 30 years for a man to make, he made in an instant. In the same way, Christ can work miracles in us. We can take years to overcome weaknesses and accomplish feats on our own, or we can come unto Christ and be perfected in Him, and He can change us to the best of wine in an instant. I have definitely seen this on my mission. Alone we can do so little, but I am amazed at what I can accomplish through Christ, who strengthens me.

I love this work. I know it's the work of the Lord because there's no way we could do all we do and be all we are if it wasn't. We almost lost one investigator and one returning member this week due to the influence of the adversary. He is cunning. I really got to see firsthand this week how he works. But we just have to recognize it, and not pay him heed. In these critical moments with these two different situations, the Lord filled our mouths with the right words to speak at the right moment, and that made all the difference. We have to be prepared at every instant. You never know when the Lord will need to use you. Always be ready!

Hna. Cannon

Connie's baptism

Please keep the prayers coming :)

Hello dear sweet family and all of you wonderful people who read these letters,

Well, I am learning a lot this week. The Lord has blessed me with many trials that are teaching me to be more hopeful, optimistic, patient, selfless, and compassionate.

A happy thing: Connie is getting baptized this weekend! That is a huge miracle, and if you bring just one soul, how great is your joy. That is a huge thing to be happy about. Connie is amazing. I am so proud of her.

Trials are important experiences. It is very hard to grow when we're not tested. It is only through those experiences that we see the atonement at work. I testify that the atonement is real. The things we do out here would be impossible without it. I know Christ is my Savior. I know He is directing this work. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's kingdom.
Yesterday I felt the cleansing, redeeming, enabling power of the atonement as I partook of the sacrament, and was renewed through the church services in the Lord's house. The spirit and the power there is undeniable. When all of this is true - what else matters? It is worth every sacrifice. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the one light that never goes dim. It is the one thing I can always rely on. I have experienced it's power. I will never stop fighting to make sure everyone I come into contact with has the chance to know that for themselves. No matter how much Satan tries to deter me, I will not step down.

It is an honor to have the opportunity to make my small contribution to building the Lord's kingdom. It is all worth it.

Hna. Cannon


p.s. by Vida: we just heard the other day from Amanda's mission president that Amanda will be having to get a root canal soon. Please pray for her that it will go smoothly!!

Miracle Family!

Hello!

How are you all doing? Shout out to Cassie who's birthday is this week! Happy Birthday!

So, we just had one of the hugest miracles of my mission this past week, no big deal. Alma and Abran were referred to us from the Lompoc Spanish unit. We went over this week to give Abran a blessing, who has been suffering from cancer since February. After the blessing we opened our eyes and both Alma and Abran were sobbing. The spirit was so powerful. The 2 men who gave the blessing felt such a special connection with them and vice versa. Abran was just saying, "gracias...gracias..." between his tears. He said he couldn't express his gratitude fully for what they'd done for him, and what we'd done in bringing them and teaching the gospel. The lesson that followed was one of the most powerful lessons of my mission. I know the Lord was filling my mouth. The words I spoke were not my own. The spirit was so strong. We pointed out the spirit to them and they recognized it, and knew the holy ghost was testifying to them of truth. We talked about authority and what it all means. By the end, they said they believe this really is Jesus Christ's one and only true church, and they need to be baptized into it. We talked about temples and they know they want to be sealed as a family. We gave them a picture of the Salt Lake temple and they said they want to go there and be sealed, and they want us to be there after our missions. I've never seen someone develop such a powerful testimony after only 2 lessons. We also talked a lot about faith, and how they need to nourish their faith by keeping their commitments. We went back a few days later to teach the plan of salvation to the whole family, and the youngest son was really interested and asked good questions. Between Tuesday and Saturday Alma had been reading the Book of Mormon at every spare moment. She was so captivated by it. She holds it in her lap while she drives and reads it at red lights, as well as during her lunch breaks. They are such an incredible miracle family. We are so excited for them!

Also One night this week we had a dinner and they didn't know they were feeding us, so they sent us to the restaurant where the mom works. We were on our way over when we got a call from a member that said, are you coming? I have dinner for you! We thought, oh no, we mixed up the dinners! So we rushed over there, but it turns out both members were mistaken. We were indeed scheduled with the first. But the dinner we went to, the member's non-member daughter ended up being there and we were able to teach her the restoration! She said she believed Joseph Smith was a prophet! That was exciting. The member told us afterwards that it must have been meant to be. Yay!

I love you!!!!

Hna. Cannon

All the cool things!

Hello hello!

Okay so want to hear some miracles?

Our investigator Connie was praying this week to know Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that's what the Sunday school lesson was on! So she took that for her answer. She is so solid and is doing everything she can to know for herself that these things are true. She is so excited for her baptism on Nov. 23 and wants to do everything she can to prepare!

We've had 3 lessons with Alisa. She said she's knows that what we teach her is true. She said she's never had anyone explain things to her like that. She said it makes perfect sense and feels so right. She said in half an hour we answered questions she has had her whole life. She said she could see herself being very happy in our church. We've already seen improvements and changes in her. She said she would be baptized this weekend if she didn't have to give up smoking and coffee. Haha. Do any of you know of ways to help people quit smoking? We are trying to help 3 people quit right now.

I know I always talk about Georgi, but she is seriously the most amazing woman. She was so close to death this past week. She was bit by a brown recluse spider 20 years ago and survived, and is suffering from a compromised immune system ever since. So just about everything is wrong with her body. She almost passed away on Thursday night - that was so scary. But she STILL came to church! She said she is not letting anything keep her away this time. She taught us to use her Epipen in case anything happened at church. So faithful. She bore such a powerful testimony about how it's been a hard journey but she is back to stay. She testified of how we are an army of Christian soldiers, and we need to band together to bring those who have gone astray back home where they belong. She encouraged us all to reach out to them, call them, invite them to things, pray for them - and how that made all the difference for her. Incredible.

Alma - a referral from a member in the Lompoc Spanish branch. (Spanish! Yay!) We had one lesson with her and she was golden. She already believes prophets are essential and understands their role. She is looking for the truth. We asked how she can know who the prophet is and she said she can pray and God will reveal it to her, that the Holy Ghost teaches all truth. (So cool she already knew that!) She had already been reading from the Book of Mormon and had two experiences of it answering her prayers, so from what she has seen she believes it is true, but is going to continue to investigate further. When someone is that in tune with the spirit, I don't doubt they will come to accept the gospel. So cool!

We got an Arabic Book of Mormon for our investigator Louis from Syria. He read the whole thing in two days! Communication is hard, and he works so much so it's hard to meet, but he wants to keep learning. We're hoping to get some translation things going, and have Lds.org and mormon.org pulled up in Arabic while we teach him. Fun!

People are awesome. Everyone is amazing. Holy cow.

Have a good week!

Hna. Cannon