Hey y'all...

I can't believe it's already been another week. It seems like just yesterday this week started, and now it's over. Well...technically we're in a new week. Yesterday it was over. Aaaanyway, life's just great. The past little while I've been looking for a soccer jersey from the US world cup team, and couldn't find one anywhere. I bought one of the Real Madrid team, but from the US...nothing. Elder Godoy, an Elder here in Tunja had one that another gringo gave him, and this week he asked me if I wanted it. So I bought it from him, and am now happy as a clam. :) 

If you didn't know, fútbol, or soccer, is basically the most important thing here. If you don't play fútbol, you're not really Colombian. Or Latino, for that matter. I've kind of been getting into the whole soccer thing, and I'm not latino, but I don't play too bad. Haha. We only play once or twice every 6 weeks anyway, but I enjoy it. 

The work is moving forward. :) Diana is getting baptized this week! My  companion is going to baptize her, which is super exit because it'll be his first baptism. :) Be-awesome. She had some doubts about whether to wait or not, because her boyfriend, who's a member, is out of town until who knows when, and she wanted him to baptize her. We talked to her boyfriend this week and he told us he had talked to her, and told her not to wait. He told us to take lots of pictures, but to not postpone it. Para nada. So she'll be baptized between the afternoon session and the priesthood session of conference this Saturday. 

Speaking of Conference!!! I am so stoked for General Conference this year. I read an article about Thomas S. Monson in the Liahona this morning that I loved. It was titled, "Have I done any good in the World Today?" I think. It was in Spanish. Every time I think about President Monson, I think about all of the many things he's done for so many people in this world. He doesn't hesitate for a second to leave the ninety and nine and go after the one. I love President Monson. He's my hero. Oh, and a quote from the article that I loved was by Elder Richard G. Scott. He said, "The Lord had to make President Monson big to fit the size of his heart." It's so true. :)

This week, we commited Pilar to baptism. She's planning on getting baptized in about a month. Around the 28th of April. We had talked to her a lot about baptism, and she never wanted to commit, especially because she didn't think her parents would really support her. But she took the step of faith into the dark, and we're praying hard that the Lord will light her way, and show her where to go. It worries me a little, setting a baptismal date so far off. It worries me because Satan is incredibly cunning. A month is a long time to wait for an ordinance as important as baptism. Satan knows that she can't enter into the presence of God without baptism. He knows that she can't really change her life how she wants without the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and so he'll do everything he can to keep her from getting baptized. Doubts, fears, worries, excuses...just to name a few of the tools Satan uses to keep investigators from following through on their commitments. But with a little faith, a lot of prayer, and some careful teaching and guiding, I know without a doubt that she'll make it. I ask for your prayers as well. She needs them. She needs the gospel, and the only way there is to truly receive it is through the saving ordinance of baptism. 

Well dear family and friends, take care. Stay in school, don't do drugs, you know the drill (Nooo! Not the drill!!!).

I love you all.

-Elder Moscas

P.S. Haaaave yooooouuu....ever ever ever in your long-legged life seen a long-legged sailor with a long-legged wife?

P.P.S. Red eye flashes twice!

P.P.P.S. The fotos are of Elder Godoy and I with some of the youth from the ward. We played Fútbol last Pday. The other is an example of what the doorbells look like a lot of times in high rise apartments... We rang all 13 of them, and only one person came out to talk to us. :)

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Sup?

Hey y'all. Mi querida familia.

Life here in Tunja is great. Cold, wet, with lots of work. :) We've been working a lot with Diana. She's basically a pre-wrapped baptism (Pre-blessed!!). We just need her boyfriend to come back into town so he can baptize her. I hope he comes back before the 31st of March... This week we taught her about the Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, and Tithing. She was already living every one of those laws. Tithing maybe not, but she's not really earning anything, so I guess technically she is. That's life the deaf parrot that repeated every word it heard. ;)

This week we had Zone Conference with President Hacking and the assistants. I enjoyed it a lot. Elder Nuñez is the new assistant, and in my opinion, is doing a lot more than the previous assistants do. It's like that scripture in D&C 121 that talks about the man that gets a little athourity (is that how you spell that? ...autoridad), starts to exercise it in unrighteous ways. Sadly, lots of Zone Leaders or assistants think that because they have their "more important" duties, (maybe I just need a better duty!) they can excuse themself from the work they should be doing. Unlike others, Elder Nuñez has been working hard, and even had a baptism the other week. 

I feel like all of my good mission friends are all leaving. :-/ I can't believe that I've been out so long. Even though I've still got a good ways to go. I still feel like a new missionary. Haha. 

This week I interviewed 4 people from Tunja Sur to be baptized. During the interview, I always ask them who they want to baptize them. One young man, Brandon (12 yrs) said "I want you to baptize me." Haha. I asked him why, and he said, "No sé...me caes bien." So I baptized Brandon on Saturday. It was a really neat experience. There wasn't any gas to heat the water, so we baptized in cold water. Luckily it wasn't that cold. Normally the cold water here in Tunja comes out with little chunks of ice. Haha. jk. We celebrated with cheap hamburgers afterwards. :) 

Training is going well. My son is a very hard worker, like I'm sure I've said before. It seems like they only send the most prepared out into the field nowadays. I remember it took me several weeks to get over the fear of contacting people, and he had it down in a few days. He says it still makes him scared a little, and sometimes he doesn't know what to say, but I think he does it great. 

This work is wonderful. The greatest thing about it is that every day, if I trace my steps carefully, I can see where the Spirit guided us, and how the Lord led us to the people that really needed to hear our message. It's a beautiful experience, really. Every day, my companion and I look back on the day and count our blessings. Yesterday, for example, we took a bus to a really far area to visit some contacts we had made the week before. None of them were home, and we were going to turn back when I remembered the Carreño family, a family of old investigators that an hermano had told us about. We went to their house, and they invited us in. That same visit, we ended up intiving them to baptism. It's just amazing how the Spirit talks to us as missionaries. Sometimes we don't even realize that it was the Spirit speaking until after. Sometimes it's days or weeks after that we realize that we had been guided by the Spirit. It's like the story that Elder Bednar tells about the 20 Marks he gave to Elder Packer in Germany, not really thinking anything of it. Only years and years later did he find out that that money had saved Elder Packer and his wife from a very dangerous situation. It's amazing how the Spirit works. I pray every day that i will be more and more in tune with the Spirit to be able to find and teach those people that are prepared to accept the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Anyway, thanks for all your support. Your emails and letters and Dear Elders and packages full of candy. ;) Even if it's just a post card with a "Hi how's it going," I'm always glad to hear from my family and friends. :) I love you all so much. I hope everything is well, doquier que se encuentran (I think I said that right...). Take luck. I'll probably be back to talk at you all next week.

Love from,

Elder Cannon

P.S. At home sittin' in my favorite nook...

P.P.S. One of the pictures is of my companion and a "pavo real" or royal turkey. Peacock. Hehe. We visited a member who lives super-lejos and she had some pretty amazing animals. The peacock spread it's feathers, so we had to get a picture. :)

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Another week...

Pasado mañana es el dia de Pi. Happy Pie (pi) Day everyone.

This week was very different...and very productive. My son (greenie) is a really hard worker, and came out to the field with a lot of ganas de trabajar. This week we have been talking more with Diana, and we set a baptismal date for the 31st of March. She's going to school here at the UniBoyaca, and has mid terms...or finals or something this week. They call the Parciales. I'm not exactly sure what they are. Tests of some sort. Anyway, we visited with her yesterday and cleared up some doubts. She really has the desire to be baptized, which is wonderful. The only problem is that her parents don't like the church at all, and she goes to Yopal to be with them several times, several months a year. But she accepted the baptismal date for the 31st, and we're going to be working very closely with her so that she'll be able to reach that goal.

Today being Pday, we went to the chapel and played Ping pong. It was a blast! I hadn't played forEVER, so it took me a bit to warm up. Our ward mission leader, who got back from his mission last year, really knows how to play. The other Elders in Tunja, including my companion also play pretty well. I still remember the 100 game tournament that Kristopher and I started before he left for the mish. We got to 60 something games and were tired by that point. We'll have to finish when I get back. :)

Life's good. I'm not really sure what to write. This week we have Zone Conference with the President and the Assistants. That'll be fun. I hope everything is well in Utah. Are things warming up there? It's getting colder here. I think I'm going to buy a sweater soon...

Also I need to buy a soccer jersey from the United States team. Haha. I bought a Colombian one, but the other day, Elder Godoy had one on, and he told me that it was from the USA. I decided that I needed to buy one. Haha. The only thing is, an original jersey costs about 130,000 pesos. About $65. Just a bit expensive...

I'm going to attach some pictures. maybe that'll be more interesting that the things I have to say...

Oh, I remembered something else. This week we had a ward talent show. Myself and a hanful of youth played a version of If you couls Hie to Kolob. Me on the piano and them on the trumpet, trombone, baritone, saxophone, and clarinet. It went well, I think. I enjoyed it, at least. :)

Anyway...take care. I love you all.

-Elder Cannon

P.S. Yesterday I randomly thought of Naughty Ninties by Abbott & Castello. Has anyone seen that lately? Just wondering.

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Hello all.

Sup y'all?

This week was great. I am now officially a father. Padre. Hahaha. In case you're really worried now and don't remember...or if I just didn't tell you, new missionaries aren't "greenies" here, they're hijos. Sons. My son is from Santiago, Chile. He's a very eager missionary, with a lot of anxiety to get out a preach and baptize. He's a very hard worker, which is really good. I talked to my old companion, Elder Ochoa, last Saturday. He left for Peru this morning, and will be coming to Utah at the end of March, beginning of April! You'll have to look him up. :)

The work is going well. We haven't seen Felipe for several weeks now, and we're thinking that his parents just don't want him to listen to us. But we found some other investigators and are working with them. Pilar (female) is a student here at the UPTC. She came to a baptismal service this week and felt really good. She had expressed doubts about "re-baptism" because she had already been baptized as a child and didn't see the need to be baptized again. We explained that for a baptism to be valid it needs 3 things. 1. Sufficient water, 2. An age of accountability, and 3. The proper authority. After the baptism on Saturday, she told us that now she understood why we are baptized at an older age. The young woman that was baptized bore a powerful testimony of why she was baptized and how she felt when she entered and left the font. Pilar told us she understood and yesterday she came to church as well (without us having to go pick her up...). It was great. 

We're also working with Diana. She has a boyfriend in the ward and her other best friend/roommate are members. She's been attending church for about 6 months, on and off, and recently after we helped them move to a new apartment, she expressed the desire to take the lessons and consider a baptism. Yesterday we taught her the Restoration, even though she already knew most of the story. We invited her to be baptized on the 24th of March, and she said she'd think about it. I gave the example of the boys throwing their cap over the wall to motivate themselves to learn to climb it (thanks mom, I use that a lot). If we never commit ourselves, we're just going to keep telling ourselves, "Someday I'll do it." Or "It's so high...I don't think I can." When we commit to something and set a goal with a deadline, we're much more motivated to prepare ourselves for that date. Even still, she said she'd think about it. Which is fine. I don't want to pressure her into being baptized. I want her to be the one that makes the decision, because then she'll be 100% more commited. 

The other investigator we've been working with se llama Angel. He's had a pretty crazy and difficult life. Yesterday when we went to visit him, he started telling us his story. We didn't say a word for about an hour and a half, and just listened. Afterwards, we shared a small message, and let him know that anything he needed, we'd be there for him. It was a neat experience. He asked for our prayers. For him, his children, his wife, etc. We told him he'd definitely be in our prayers. He was also in our fast.

I've really been able to see the results of hard work here in this area. We don't really have the confidence of the members in the north, because of the previous missionaries that were here, but the more we work, and bring investigators to church from our own work, the more they begin to trust in us, and give us their referrals. The more we contact, the more refferals we receive. It's kinda funny how that works, but it's true. 

Today we played futbol with all the missionaries in the zone. It was a blast. We played here in Tunja, which made it all the better. We didn't have to pay for any buses. I'm not that great at futbol, but I enjoy playing. All these latinos are easily 10 times better than me. Haha. But it's fun. 

I'm attaching fotos. Of my son, and of the zone after playing 2 hours of futbol. Enjoy. :)

I hope everything is well. I can't beLIEVE it's already march. Oh, and happy March Forth everyone. Hehe. Next week is Pi day. :) I'm gonna be 20 in a month and a half. How un-freaking-believable is that? :P

Life's good. Take care. Don't do drugs. Don't take candy from strangers. And above all, Do what tastes right.

I love you all,

Elder Joey

P.S. There is no Easter Bunny, there is no Santa Claus, and there is no Queen of England!

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