Pictures!

Amanda says she didn't have time for writing a nice letter this week (she had to respond to a bunch of my questions about registering for BYU, etc.), so she sent several pictures instead :) Enjoy!

Hey look! Mom, remember when we were extras in the Esther movie? I found me!

In a lighter moment

I hope I get to tell you this story one day ... pretty cool.

Ronald Reagan Library

Look at the USUPER tall elder!!!!! He is 7'3"!!!!!!!!!!

It's a Miracle

Hello! Hope you all are doing well!

So we had another great week of being missionaries! I love being a missionary. I love being a missionary. I love being a missionary. I love being a missionary. I love being a missionary. I love being a missionary. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! Seriously. There is nothing better that has happened in my life up to this point. This is why.

I love what I've been learning this week about enduring to the end. I love to endure well. It is not enough for me to just hang in there. I could just coast along but that doesn't satisfy me. I expect more out of myself and so does the Lord. I want to lay everything I have and all that I am upon the altar of sacrifice. I do not want to hold anything back. To me, that is what it is to truly endure to the end. I want to endure well each day, not simply doing what missionaries do, but really living each day of my mission as a gift of gratitude to the Lord. I only want to give Him my very best. I feel that I entered the realm of grace a long time ago - meaning I exceeded my own strength long ago and it is only by the power of grace that I can press forward. In order to continue to grow in my capacity, rather than be satisfied with the minimum, I have really seen how the only way to do that is by feasting on the words of Christ each and every day. I love to study His word. It is so delicious to me. I love the feeling of treasuring up His word, and then receiving the words to speak in the very moment that I am ministering to one of His children.

We had such an incredible miracle this week with a woman named Zoyla. Her friend who's a member referred us to her. We had our first lesson with her last week. She was interested but was already really happy in life and in her church, so she didn't see a huge need to change. But she let us set a return appointment nonetheless. She lives with her husband, Hector and her 3 year old daughter Giselle. When we came back for the second appointment she had read all of the Restoration pamphlet and had begun the Book of Mormon. She loved it and said it was beautiful. It looked like she had been eating it up. Her first question was, does God really forgive us of our sins? She then opened up to us and told us of a sin she had committed just two days before. She seemed so anxious, and described to us the deep pain she felt in her heart. She was encompassed by guilt and didn't know how to be freed from it. She was so repentant. She just wanted to be clean. The experience that followed was one of the most powerful experiences of my mission. I just held her hand and testified to her of the power of Christ's Atonement. I felt the love of the Savior and His healing power flowing from me to her. I truly felt like a representative of Jesus Christ. I felt as He did when He felt virtue flow out of Him to heal the woman who had an issue of blood. I felt so much love for this woman. She smiled and said she didn't feel the pain in her heart anymore. It was a beautiful experience.

I know the power of Christ's Atonement is real. He wants all of us to come to Him and give Him our burdens. He wants so badly to carry them for us so we don't have to. His love for us is infinite. There is so much joy and peace in store for us if we will just repent. Never wait. Repent every day. I know the Savior lives. I see evidence of that every day. His gospel is true and it is powerful. We all have the incredible blessing and responsibility to share it with everyone.

I love you!

Hna. Cannon

Opposition in All Things

Hello! So, this has been an exciting week.

 

We've definitely seen how there's opposition in all things. Last week was INCREDIBLE with so much going on, so of course the adversary will work super hard on us the week immediately after. I love my companion so much and we are really helping each other fight the adversary.

 

I see the Lord's hand as well as the adversary's hand every day. Every day we must choose who we'll listen more to.

 

I learned something this week about the Atonement and Stewardship. In order to help the hermanas we have stewardship over, we have to go through things in order to know how to succor them. That is the only way. For the Savior to know how to succor us, the only possible way was for Him to suffer the Atonement. He is the Steward over the whole entire earth - all mankind. He had to go through a lot of suffering. So when we have our mini trials and sufferings, we can know that's the price we must pay if we want to be a steward. If we want to truly make a difference in the Lord's kingdom, we have to be willing to pay that price. I see now why we have to go through a lot in our missions. I'm grateful to be found worthy to pay that small price.

 

This week we have found SO many elect people! Preach My Gospel tells us to pray to recognize the people the Lord is preparing to receive the gospel, and boy did we recognize them! Holy cow. You will not believe these people. And how many of them we've found! It was insane. I wish I had time to tell you each individual story. Since I don't, I will just tell you their names: Claudia, Jessica, William, Fabiola, Mariela, Armando, and Petra.

 

In order to fight of the adversary I've really been seeking the Lord's approval. If I just have the peace of knowing I'm doing His will and He is pleased with me, I can handle anything else the enemy tries to throw at me. Last night I was praying to feel that, and the promise in our mission call letter came to my mind, "As you serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, the Lord will lead you to those He is preparing to be baptized." It was an eye opener from the Lord. It was like Him telling me, "I have led you to all these incredible people because I know you are giving me all you have. I am proud of you. Stop worrying about what the adversary tries to tell you." That brought me so much peace. I feel great! Now that I know the Lord is pleased I feel like I can go forward with that confidence, optimism, and enthusiasm.

 

I'm excited for another great week! I hope you are too! I love you!

Hna. Cannon

This Life is a Time to Prepare

Hello hello!

This has been the craziest week ever. There is so much to tell you and no time!

First of all, E. Russell M. Nelson, who is the head apostle over missionary work for the whole world, came and visited our mission on Saturday. We've been preparing for it for weeks. I've been repenting like never before to prepare for his visit. We all got to go up and shake his hand. It was such a powerful experience. With the mission being a microcosm for life, I had a huge sensation of preparing to meet my maker. It was an incredible feeling to feel completely clean and prepared to meet him. I want to live every day of my life that way. I always want to be prepared to meet God. I know E. Nelson and the quorum of the 12 are apostles of the Lord. I am so grateful that Christ's church has been restored to the earth today! I am so grateful to serve in the Lord's kingdom. It's the best way to become like him. E. Nelson gave us such great counsel specific to our mission. It was amazing.

I went to my first Mission Leadership Counsel (MLC) on Tuesday and it was incredible! Holy cow. I left feeling so edified. Pres. Castro is amazing. No wonder our mission is so awesome if they're always edifying so profoundly the leaders like that. I want to help pass on the legacy and the culture of this mission that Pres. Castro has established. Our influence is huge. We all have the responsibility of being leaders and representing Christ for each other. I want to live every day of the rest of my mission to uplift others and inspire them to be obedient. It's the only way we can be happy and fulfill our purpose.

Some things I took away from this week are that I always want the Lord to know He can count on me. If He needs a task to be done, I want Him to know I am always prepared and willing to serve Him. I want to always retain in remembrance who I am and what I am doing. The Lord is hastening His work - so is the adversary. There is not a day that goes by that I don't feel both the strength of the Lord and attacks from the adversary. We all need to recognize the influence of each of them every day. What side will we fight for? We make that choice with every decision throughout the day. Will we be exactly obedient or just "try?" Will we take the time to reach out to those around us, or be so focused on our own lives that we ended up losing them? I know the Book of Mormon is true. It has been the main tool in my own conversion. There is such converting power in it's pages. We cannot afford to not study the BOM each and every day. Satan wants our souls - we need to be converted and build upon the rock of our Redeemer through edifying study each day, or else we will not have the strength to fight him off.

I love the Lord. I love serving Him. I wouldn't trade a moment of it for anything.

I love my family so much. I want to be with you forever! I am grateful for the time I have to help others work to obtain that blessing.

Have a great week!

Hna. Cannon

This is my BEAUTIFUL companion, Hna. Romero! I love her SO much. I've known her my whole mission and am so grateful to serve with her. Her whole family are converts - they joined the church when she was 15 and she is from San Diego. This is her last transfer :( :(

MY LITTLE SISTER IS GOING TO CHILE!!!!!!!!!!!

I am SO EXCITED for Sarah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is going to be an INCREDIBLE missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Goodness. That is all that is on my mind right now. HOLY COW!!!!!!! I am freaking out over here. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Okay okay. Trying to calm down. I know I need to tell you about my week. but OH MY GOODNESS!

Whew. Okay.

Well, this has been a great week! I have the BEST companion ever. Hna. Romero is from Mexico City and her family lives in San Diego. I've known her my whole mission because I've always served around her. And this is her last transfer! She is teaching me so much wisdom. She is basically building me up again from the ground up. I am so so grateful for her. She is such a strength to me right now. With this new assignment I've definitely felt really inadequate. We go to all these meetings with these incredible missionaries and I'm like, why am I invited to these? Haha. But she's helping me a lot to just kick out the adversary and trust in the Lord.

It's been fun getting the new half of our area figured out. There's tons of recent converts and none of them have had the new member lessons. So we're going to focus on strengthening them - the branch mission leader and branch missionaries are helping us teach them all. There's a ton. And we're still working with our investigators in our regular area from before, trying to help the Figueroa family and Maria be baptized this transfer. Other people who we're helping progress towards baptism are Josue, Brandon, and Ruben. And Sabdi we hope!

SARAH IS GOING TO BE A MISSIONARY!

Okay sorry. That's really all I can think about right now. I practically screamed when I read that and all the missionaries here at the family history center were cheering.

That is all I can really say at the moment. Sarah, being a missionary is the best decision you will make up to this point in your life! You will never regret it. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Family I love all of you!

Hna. Cannon

Pozole is my favorite

This is Maria!

The Lord's Hand In All Things

Family!

Hello! How are you? I am great. So, transfers are tomorrow! I am staying and going to be covering two areas! Which is crazy because I've also been assigned to be a Sister Training Leader - which means we'll be going on exchanges all the time so not be in our area as much. I'm excited! The work is going so well in the branch, honestly I thought we'd be getting another set of missionaries rather than losing one. It will be crazy covering 2/3 of Simi Valley. This area is so ready to harvest. The work is so so busy. So many prepared people EVERYWHERE, all the time. It's amazing!

With this new assignment I feel really humbled and that I now understand all the trials of these last two transfers. Everything the Lord puts in our path prepares us for something greater. The Lord's hand in it is so evident. Some of the lessons I've learned are humility, love and obedience, putting your companion first, the importance of relationships, submissiveness, open mindedness, and confidence in the Lord. I also feel I have a greater understanding of the purpose of missionary work. I feel a lot of peace about everything that has happened. I am so grateful for the counsel of my leaders - especially the leaders of the church who spoke to us this weekend, who sacrifice so much to know the will of the Lord and always guide and direct us, strengthen us, and love us.

Speaking of which, how AMAZING was General Conference?? There is no denying that those men and women are called of God. I know the quality of the experience we have depends a lot more on our preparation than it does on theirs. It really enriches the experience so much when we come prepared. Every single one of my questions was answered. There were even whole talks devoted to those topics. Amazing! I am so grateful for their counsel. Here's some things I loved:

- The message of living gratitude as a way of life - and how it makes life so much sweeter. I'm already seeing the blessings coming from that.

- Love should always flow from righteousness. We can't really love without being obedient, or be obedient without loving - as it's the first commandment.

- I liked how they said listening and understanding is more important than who is more right. 

- Letting your faith show. Be bold. Stand up for righteousness.

- The perspective of eternity - the 4 minutes. It is a lot like a mission.

- I also loved what they said about the whirlwinds. We should see them for what they are, and how they're making our roots stronger. It helped me strengthen my resolve to do so and to not let the whirlwinds beat me down.

So I'm really excited for this transfer! It's going to be great. I'm so grateful for how merciful the Lord is and how he shapes me and changes me. He sees our full potential and helps us along the way to reach it.

Also, Maria is still just as amazing! She is so faithful. She pretty much spent the whole day with us on Saturday. She went to the morning session of Conference, then went to lunch with us and some members, then she went to work for most the day, then she got together with us and some members and our other investigator Ana to rewatch the RS broadcast because they missed it. It was so good, again! Maria said during the video she was thinking about how her daughter and granddaughter and part of the church and making steps and covenants and how she wants to be part of it. Soon enough! I'm sure she'll get baptized this month. She's doing great.

The Figueroa family still needs a lot of prayers. They're so ready for baptism. They're amazing. The husband is ready, but the wife doesn't feel ready. She is though. We're reading from the BOM with her and trying to help her grow her faith so she can feel ready to take that leap of faith.

Also here's two fun member missionary success stories!:

-We had dinner with the Garcia family, and their friends stopped by with her kids. It was great! We talked to them and shared a message after. We watched a Mormon Message and talked about conference. Their friend said she liked it and wants to learn more and get involved! The family invited her to have lunch with them the next day and watch conference in their home. Yay!

-We went to lunch with some members and Maria between General Conference sessions on Saturday. One of the members saw a for sale sign on a car and she's looking to buy one so she went out to talk to the man while we were eating. She came back and asked for a Restoration pamphlet. We gave her one with our contact information on the back. Then she came back for a pen and paper and went out again. When she returned she told us the man selling the car has a nephew who's on a mission. She said she told him about Joseph Smith and General Conference! She gave him them pamphlet and he said he'd read it. She shared her testimony and invited him to pray to know for himself. And then she got his number for us! She's amazing.

We can all find those opportunities to share the gospel! I loved E. Ballard's talk. It's so important to follow up, to make Preach My Gospel a part of all of our lives, to pray for missionary opportunities, and to set goals.

I love you so much and am so grateful for all your support! I have the best family in the whole wide world. Thank you for always being there for me.

Con amor,

Hna. Cannon

Suffer The Children

Hello! How are you?

So yesterday we got to do sharing time for all the primary kids and talk about how they can be missionaries now! It was the funnest thing ever. They are SO smart! I can't even believe this generation. And all their answers were, "We can go on a mission!" "We can share the gospel!" "We can invite our friends to church!" When I was in primary we just said we should read our scriptures and pray. I love how they Lord hastening his work is just flowing to all parts of the church. Just imagine what the church will be like in a few more years! Amazing.

Maria is doing so well! She's coming to church each week and reading the Book of Mormon just about every day. She loves it. She has tons of questions and loves the stories. She loves coming to all the activities and getting involved with the sisters. She told us that last Sunday she was sad after church and even cried. We were like, Oh no, why? As she described her feelings she realized that she loves church so much and loves to feel the spirit there, and when she leaves she is so sad because she doesn't have that spirit any more. It was so sweet. We talked about how when she's baptized she can have that spirit with her always, and she's really looking forward to that. She's going to do it when her daughter comes to visit.

The Figueroa family is amazing. We love them. Venancio passed his baptismal interview! He's ready to go. But Ana decided to postpone her interview. She says she doesn't feel ready. They were going to get baptized yesterday. So they are going to wait. We are praying for them a lot. We were sad, but they are so chosen, elect, and just amazing that we know everything will be okay. We know it will work out for them. And we're definitely coming back when they all get sealed some day :)

Also, that Relief Society Broadcast was the best one I've ever seen. I loved it so much. Mom, Cassie, Sarah, Cali I felt so close to you during that! Especially mom at that part when they said to smile at your mother - I smiled at you :) I felt so united with all the sisters of the church. We have such an important purpose here. I loved the message of love. I cannot put into words how real the battle we are in seems to me. And God wants us to fight this battle with love. He is not asking much, just that we love one another. Such a powerful message. That is what we need. I LOVE YOU!

Dad, I love you too!!!! :) :) :)

Well, pictures speak louder than words. So I'm going to send as many as I can.

Have an AMAZING General Conference weekend! I am so excited. We have a living prophet and 12 apostles. And they are going to speak to US. Very worth every moment of preparation to hear their words. 

With love,

Hna. Cannon

Exchanges!

They had us be judges for the "Hunger Games" for mutual. Super fun. Our investigator Sabdi came!!