Mosiah 4:27

Hello!

How has your week been? Wonderful I hope! We've had a great one. The biggest lesson I learned this week is to pace myself. I LOVE my new companion Hna. Faletau (even though I miss Hna. Romero a ton). And I just love being a missionary and I just feel like time is so short! So I definitely overdid it at the beginning of the week. On Wednesday, our first full day together, we taught 11 lessons and found 7 new investigators of 2 new families to teach! It was my kind of day. We just kept going and going and towards the end of the week my body was like, hold on Hna. Cannon, this is too much for me. So I'll probably sleep most of P-day today to recover from illness and rejuvenate for the coming week. Lesson learned for sure. I just love being a missionary so so much and want to make the most out of every moment. But if I really want to endure to the end well, and can't give it all and then crash. I will be more wise this week.

Two HUGE miracles! Jessica, who was raised athiest for all the 21 years of her life received her answer this week that God exists! It was such a spiritual lesson and she was just crying and said she felt so happy and at peace. She's doing so well, reading the BOM, coming to church, meeting with us twice a week. Awesome. And Zoyla who we've been teaching for a month has been so diligent as well with really seeking answers. We taught the Gospel (faith, repentance, baptism,etc) this week. And in her personal reading she'd happened to read Mormon 8! She learned all on her own from that chapter that little children have no need for baptism. So before we even got there the Lord already prepared her to receive her answer. The spirit was there and she got her answer that the BOM is true and she wants to be baptized! She needs to get married first though. But she's definitely becoming converted!

I don't know if there are sufficient words to describe how much I love being a part of the Lord's work. I don't know why God has been so merciful in my life and given me so much and chosen me to be one of His missionaries, but I am so grateful. I've been given so much, and I just want to share it with everyone! The power of the Atonement has never been more real to me. The Gospel (faith, repentance, making and keeping covenants, receiving and following the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end) is always the way. There is no other way. If any of you are going through something hard, or if you want to be better, or if you need answers, whatever it is, do these things. The Gospel works. It is true. Christ is our Savior. Isn't that amazing? Now, go tell somebody about it!

I love you!

Hna. Cannon

A God of MIRACLES!

WE HAD THE BEST WEEK EVER!!!!

Oh my goodness. I WISH I had time to tell you everything. So pretty much the theme of this week is God is a God of miracles, and He works according to our faith. I have witnessed for myself that that is true.

Pres. Castro has set us with a new goal to raise our faith. To teach 40 lessons a week! That's almost double of what the previous standard was. I LOVE this goal. It raised our vision so much. Yes, you can just teach people all day long! We didn't waste a single moment of this week. The Lord lead us to SO MANY elect of His children!

I wish I could tell you about all of them, but for the sake of time I'll just tell you about Manny. He is dating a less active member who is ready to come back to church and he wants to investigate, so they're taking the lessons together. We taught the Restoration on Thursday and it was one of the best lessons my companion and I have ever taught together. The spirit was so strong. Manny was so into it and loved what he was learning. Jocelinn was in tears. At the end Manny said, "Out of everything else I've learned and heard, I feel that you are teaching me the truth." We visited him two days later and he was sitting on the grass outside with his Book of Mormon. He looked so happy and excited! He told us he'd been reading for 2 hours and just couldn't put it down. He knows it's God's word because He could already feel the change in himself that day. He came to a baptism with us that day and he loved it. We're so excited for him! We feel so honored that the Lord has entrusted us with so many elect children this week.

I have learned so much from Hna. Romero. We needed each other so much this transfer. We both feel so rebuilt. I was a mess at the beginning of this transfer, but she reminded me who I am. She inspired me so much by her example. Now I feel ready to go and to just completely focus on building up the hermanas and everyone in our stewardship. Hna. Romero and I were talking last night and I just got so pumped! We were just talking about everything we've learned and the future of the mission and everything. Apparently I kept dreaming about it because she said I was sleep talking and said, "Let's do it, hermana! We can totally do it! Let's push Satan!" Hahaha. She makes me so excited. I LOVE THIS WORK!

Oh by the way, transfers. I'm staying! And I'm training a new sister training leader. Don't know if I'm ready for that since I'm still so brand new, but I trust in the Lord. I know He wouldn't ask me to do something that I couldn't. This is going to be an awesome transfer. My companion's name is Hna. Faletau, she's from Samoa. And they're sending another set of hermanas to the branch! So they'll be covering the first area I had here, and we'll just be covering the new area we got last transfer. Hna. Prestgard is one of the new hermanas! It will be fun to serve around her again. So we won't get to teach Maria or the Figueroa anymore. But we'll still see them at church.

Speaking of which, Maria got baptized on Friday, and confirmed on Sunday! It was beautiful. She was so prepared. My companion and I sang "Divina Luz" which is "Lead Kindly Light" while and elder played it softly on a guitar for the accompaniment. Maria is amazing!!!!!!!! She's going to do so well.

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Hna. Cannon

Maria's baptism!

With cute little girl in pink: Hola!

With Zoyla and little Giselle

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!