It's not so much "whatever that means." It's whoever...

"Dear Elder Cannon: you are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Colombia Bogota North Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months...You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language... "


Monday, June 10, 2013

The last melon...

So...before I begin. my keyboard is lamesauce and the left shift doesn't work. Nor does the exclamation point, or the tab key. Gotta love internet cafes. 

This week was really hard. I don't know if God just wants me to come home all polished and shiny from all of this refiner's fire business...but we've worked every day, all day, and had almost no lessons. Well, compared to the number of lessons we normally have. It's been pretty hard, and we were kind of discouraged, but there's really only one thing a missionar can do in this kind of situation. "Endure it well." It's not just enduring...you have to endure it well. Give everything you've got, and if that's not enough, then just trust that the Lord is in control, and if things don't go the way we want them to, at least we know we've been diligent and obedient. 

We are still working with Elsa and the other married couple, Carlos and Monica. They've all got a baptismal date for the 22nd of June. hopefully my companion doesn't get transferred, so he can be there and send me pictures. They're all really prepared people. Ready and willing to make and keep commitments and covenants with God. 

I honestly can't believe my mission is coming to a close. Y'all are probably bored of always hearing something in my emails about how time goes by so fast. I just don't feel like 2 years have already come and gone. but here we are. 2 years later. I can honestly say that i'm a completely different person than when I came out here. Yeah, i guess some things are still the same, but i've learned more than I ever thought i could in 2 years. it's a great blessing, being able to serve a mission. i wouldn't trade these 2 years of missionary service for anything in the world.

This church is true. i don't have any doubt in my mind that God and jesus Christ appeared to joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove, that spring morning in 1820. i wasn't there to see it, but I believe it will all my heart.

Thank you, family, for everything. All of your love and support. i honest to goodnessly couldn't have done this without you. :)

Elder Cannon.

P.S. A llama?? He's supposed to be dead!!!



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Thursday, June 6, 2013

Joey is coming home!

Joey is coming home! He will return Saturday, June 15. He will be
speaking in church on Sunday, June 23 at 1pm. We'll have a lunch
afterwards as well.

Sunday, June 23, 1:00 PM
56 East 600 North
LINDON, UTAH 84042

Monday, June 3, 2013

'Nother picture.

I think only one picture got through. Here's the other one. 




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June...

That reminds me of a Jonny Depp movie. Benny and June. It's a good one. 

This week was amazing. We found some incredible investigators, and they are progressing so fast, we can hardly keep up with them. Elsa is one. She was a referral from some members in the ward. She came to church, and absolutely loved it. Before our first appointment, she had already read the first half of the gospel principles book, and after the first and before the second, she read the introduction and the 2 chapters of the Book of Mormon we left her, plus the pamphlet of the restoration. We invited her to be baptized, and she almost didn't let my companion finish the sentence before she had accepted. Haha. :) She's amazing. One of those "No assembly required" kinds of investigators. :) 

We had the baptism of our amazing investigator, José Jaramillo. He has a daughter that lives in Salt Lake, and has been a member for a while, and he finally made the decision to be baptized himself. :) I'll be sure to send pictures. 

Speaking of pictures. After 6 months of being in Bogota (plus 5 months last year) I finally went to Monserrate! It's basically just a really big hill where you can see almost all of Bogotá. And there's a church on top. We took a ton of awesomely epic pictures, so I'll attach some. If my computer lets me. 



...I don't know if that worked. Hope so. 

Anyway, life is great. :) Just paddling the old knew. :) 

Love y'all. :)

Elder Cannon



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Monday, May 27, 2013

You never think this song is gonna end, but it is. In 3...2...1...

Who knows what that's from? I'll give a cookie to anyone who can guess. Haha. 

So, this week was fun. It was my first week in my new zone and with my new companion. He's a great Elder. A hard worker, and an obedient missionary as well. 

I don't think I really have much to say...we've working with a lot of awesome investigators. Just teaching and getting them all ready for baptism. Not much else to report. I feel kinf of lame that this is so short...but I don't really have much to say. My companion was sick for a few days this week, because we got wet a couple of days with the terrible rain. I didn't get sick, but I think it's probably because I've already been sick like 4 times this year, so I'm a little more immune. 

Yay. 

Then we had interviews with President. Only he didn't interview me, because he had already interviewed me in Dorado. 

This is just getting more and more exciting. I think I'm just going to quit while I'm behind. 

The work is going awesome. We're just working our tails off, finding, teaching, baptizing. That's what this work is all about. :) 

Anyway. Love you all. :) Take care. Happy Memorial Day.

Love,
Elder Cannon

P.D. My computer is being lame again, so I can't send pictures. Lo siento. 



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Monday, May 20, 2013

Psych!!!

Hey everyone. 

So...remember how I was all excited that they didn't transfer me for my last transfer in the mission? Well...they did. 

This weekend there were several Colombian Elders in the mission that got their visa to Argentina, and they had to adjust the mission a little. So I only had 2 weeks with Elder Zapata, and now I'm with Elder Meneses, from Ecuador! :) Chévere. 

So...not much else to report. Some of the members were really confused and sad that they transferred us, but that's how transfers always are. They told us today at 2 in the afternoon, and at 4:30, I was already here. My companion is on his way to Yopal. 

Most of all, I know that if I'm here in this ward, then here is exactly where the Lord needs me. It's a comforting thought, really. I'm just ready to hit the ground running and work as hard as I can. 

I'm out of time, because we had to buy groceries and only have a few minutes to write. 

I love you all! Hope you have a great week. :) 

Elder Cannon

P.S. Not sure why, but my email won't let me attach a picture. Only put it here. Hope it sends. It's of me and Elder Zapata today in the bus terminal. 




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Monday, May 13, 2013

Happy Mother's Day!!! ...again. :)

Yesterday I got to talk to my wonderful mother and the rest of my amazing family! :) Qué bien. It was so good to see all of you. Even though I hardly recognize any of you. Haha. You've all changed a lot. But you're all still as amazing and wonderful as ever. Obviously. You're related to me. Hehe...

That was almost funny. In a sarcastic, (not at all prideful) kind of a way. 

Moving on. It was kind of cool to be able to skype from am iPhone. Definitely a first. Even though a lot of Colombians are pretty high-tech these days, technology is still pretty expensive here. If it's not the phone itself, it's the data plan or the internet, etc... But our ward is pretty cool that way. There are always people with their smart phone or their tablet at church, reading the scriptures or giving a talk from there. Kinda fun. :) Just makes me laugh that I used to think Colombia was a 3rd world country. Nada que ver. It's like in that one movie where they show a jungle, and the little title at the bottom "Bogotá, Colombia." Hahaha. Bogotá is a city with 8 million people. Más o menos. ...nice try.

Anyway, tangent. Sorry. En fin, it was just wonderful to see and talk to all you guys. :) 

I don't know if I told you much about my new comp. He's from Argentina. Buenos Aires. But not the city. He's from the province. He's been on the mission for a little less than a year, and is a hard worker. We're going to start tomorrow (I hate saying that. But we really can't today...), contacting everyone and their dog. We'll probably end up contacting more dogs than people, but hey. Maybe at least some will listen to us. ;) My companion says he's afraid to contact. We'll fix that real quick. :) Haha. The only way to get rid of a fear is to confront it. As in, we're going to be contacting all day tomorrow. Hahaha. ;) Well, until 6pm, because we can't tract after 6. 

The mission is going really well. I love it so much. And am going to miss it. Así que, voy a aprovechar mientras todavía estoy aquí. 

It's also been really cool to have the Assistants living with us. They're two really hard workers, and have inspired me to work even harder and take my obedience one step farther. :) Also it's cool because one is Elder Guajardo, who was in my district in Tunja, and the other is Elder Raines, the other Elder that I came down to Colombia with. Basically awesome. It's also awesome because they wash their dishes, and clean up after themselves, etc. Couldn't ask for better house-mates. 

Anyway, thanks for all your prayers and support. This week, we're going to focus on having 10 new investigators. That's the mission goal that President set, so we're going to do our best to reach that goal. "Do or do not. There is no try."

Love y'all. :) 

Elder Cannon

P.S. Here's a foto of some tea we found for sale this week. It's made of cocain. Cool, right? Hehe...



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