Greetings, earthlings...

This week has gone by really fast. It seems like just a week ago I was emailing y'all. 

Hehe...that was almost funny.

Aaanyway, life's good. I'm loving this whole "inspired music" thing. Basically my favorite thing ever. I just hope the missionaries don't abuse it. That's what happened last time, and they got rid of music. 

We've been working with a few people this week that are progressing a lot. Johana and Edward, and Johana's sister, Diana. They came to church this Sunday, and had a lot of questions. We're have an appointment with them tomorrow, so I hope everything goes well. We're planning on commiting them to baptism. :) I love commiting people to baptism. Basically my favorite part of the mission. Always one of the times I feel the spirit the most. 

Another investigator we have is named Rocío. She's a single mom who has a lot of faith in Jesus Christ. She also came to church yesterday, and broought her two children. She's been really interested in everything we've taught her, and has been reading the Book of Mormon as well. That just means that if she prays in faith, she'll get an answer soon. There's a part of Preach My Gospel that says to have faith in the promise in Moroni 10:3-5. Starting the mission out, I don't think I had so much faith. But now...I really can't deny the fact (because that's exactly what it is) that when someone reads, ponders and prays with faith, they will receive an answer. It's just that simple. :) D&C 82:10 says it all. The Lord is literally bound when we do what He says. :) 

So, life is wonderful. Lots of rain, and cold, but that's the kind of weather I love. My companion is from the coast, so he's freezing to death...poor guy. I'm loving this weather. 

Out of time. Love y'all. Keep reading and praying and going to the temple. :) 

-Elder Moscas

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Música Inspirada. :D

Hey Family!!!

This week the President has made it official. We can listen to "Inspired music" now. Yay! I love music. So I went and downloaded a bunch of music from the Conference website. I love the Tabernacle Choir. President said that any music from the church, or members (that is inspired) or classical music is okay. :) So...I looked around and found a little USB stereo...boom box thing, and they're super cheap. So I think I'll buy one. Much easier than trying to use CD's, and much cheaper than an ipod. :) Just plug in a USB with mp3 files, and enjoy. ;)

This week, Experanza was baptized!!! Yay!!! I was so happy for her. I had the priveledge of baptizing her. The water wasn't even cold. Have y'all seen the video about John Tanner? How he's healed by the missionaries, and is baptized that same night. What faith. Absolutely incredible. Esperanza is doing better with reading the Book of Mormon, but she still struggles with consistency sometimes. But I really have begun to see a change in her. I love how the gospel does that. It just changes people's lives. :) 

Today we went to the gold museum here in Bogota. it was pretty neat. I'll attach some fotos for y'all. Tomorrow, Hna Galvis (the sister in my district that I knew from Cucuta) has a birthday tomorrow. Then my son has his on the 26th. So tomorrow after our district meeting we're going to eat cake. Ice cream isn't really a birthday thing here. You just have to eat it when you have the ganas. But a birthday without cake would be apostasy. ;)

Let's see...what else happened this week? We had 6 investigators in church on Sunday. That was neat. Jessica, a new investigator came. I was so excited. Tonight we have an appointment with her and her "husband". I hope everything goes well. 

Oh...I never explained why I'm writing today and not yesterday. It's because the gold museum doesn't open on Monday, so we changed our Pday to today. Now you know.

Life's good. Still working with my son and such. Things are going well. :)

If you have any questions, let me know. I might be able to answer them. Y tal vez tendré las ganas. ;) jaja. 

Love y'all. Take luck and care when you have it.

-Elder Cannon

P.S. The second picture is outside the gold museum. Some Colombian ladies dressed in typical...what would you call that...old school attire? Hehe. Fun stuff. 

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Why hello there.

Hello all. 

How are you? I'm doing well. A little wet this week, but my paraguas and my zapatos are still in good shape, so I'm not too bad. A little cold as well, but not nearly as cold as my companion. I actually have been enjoying it. He's been apenas aguantando. Jaja. 

Esperanza had her baptismal interview, and passed! The only thing that worries me is that she hasn't really been reading the Book of Mormon very much. She's read a little on her own...but very little. So we've been working with her almost every day this passed week trying to help her understand the importance of reading the Book of Mormon on her own. Samantha is still in the Unión libre status, so we commited her to talk with her boyfriend about marriage. We put a date for the 4th of August. So they'd get married the 3rd, and baptized the 4th. We're praying lots that it'll happen. :) 

Our other investigators are good. We've received a lot of new referrals lately, and last week they actually released our bishop and called a new one. He's really excited and ready to work and help us in any way he can, so that'll be really nice. We had Ward Council this week and everyone had a lot of good ideas that we're going to start doing this week. We're going to give talks in Sacrament mtg. next Sunday about Missionary work, so hopefully it all goes well. 

Training is going well. My son is powerful, but sometimes he talks a lot and doesn't let me talk at all. I was the opposite. I didn't talk very much at all starting out. Now I talk just fine, but I only say as much as I need to. I guess I feel sometimes like because I don't fight for time, I never get a word in. When teaching should be more of a shared experience. "By the mouth of two or three witnesses shall all my words be established." But he's still learning, so no worries. We've still got a while to go before the training is over. 

So...life's good. They've said that our new President might let us listen to music. That would be wonderful. I mean, I'm fine without it, but music is...kind of a big part of my life. So I like it when I can listen to it. :) Tab Choir, I love you.

Anyway, I hope everything is wonderful there in Utah, or Idaho...or wherever y'all are. :) Love y'all a ton. 

-Elder Cannon

P.S. Y'all remember Camila from Cúcuta? She called me Saturday night and said that she was in Bogotá and wanted to come to visit. So Sunday she came to our chapel! it was so good to see her again, and hear how everything/everyone is doing. I really hope I can be here when she gets sealed to her husband next March. Anyway...that was a fun surprise. :) 

P.P.S. The other foto is of me and the other Elder Cannon in the mission. He's from Brigham City and is descendent of George Q.

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Weekly Letter: July 9, 2012

I'm running out of titles for my emails. I need to be more creative. Jeje.

Anyway...life's good. I'm still training. I'll be training for a few months. Things are going well. Our investigators are progressing and such. My life is gooood.

Um. Yeah. So, we're working with Esperanza and Samantha. They're both sisters, and their mom and 3 of their sisters are already members. I don't know how much I told y'all about them. They both had babies about a month ago. One is named Juan Felipe and the other is named Sarai. So, their baptismal date is the 21st of July. In just 2 weeks! This week we need to teach them the commandments, so that they can be interviewed this Saturday or Sunday and be baptized next week. The only problem is that Samantha still has a pareja...novio...no sé que, and in order to be baptized, she either has to break up with him or get married. So...we're praying that we'll be able to get that all worked out. Esperanza is all good to go. I think she just needs a stronger testimony of the book of mormon. She hasn't really read much of it...if any. So I think we're going to read with her, and re commit her to read and pray. The good thing is that she really likes the church, and wants to give a good example to her daughter when she grows up. 

Another investigator that we've been working with is named Jessica. Or Yessica. I'm not sure which. A lot of the time they use a Y to make a J sound. Yeison, Yeimy, Yanet, etc. Kind of funny. But whatev's. Jessica is golden. From the first time we met her, she wanted to read the book of mormon, and some to church. She couldn't come yesterday, because she had to care for her sobrino, but this next week, we're going to pray really hard, and do everything in our power so that she will come to church. This last time we talked with her, she asked us about baptism (it helps when we assign them to read chapters like 3 Nephi 11 or 2 Nephi 31. That way they're already thinking about it). So we explained some things, and she commited to be baptized on the 4th of August. But like every good Colombian, she lives in unión libre. Le toca casarse o separarse, o no puede bautizarse. So we're working on that. At least she knows now, so she can make a decision about what she wants to do. 

We're also working with Alejandra. Her husband is a member, but he's been inactive ever since he came back from his mission early, 6 or 7 years ago... She's really interested, and tiene ganas de asistir, but he's kind of lazy...and not as interested in coming back to church. He always says he's going to come, and says that they'll all come together, and then Sunday rolls around, and they don't show. :-/ Lástima. So we're praying really hard for both of them. He's working a lot, and has fallen into some bad habits with the influence of his work friends and such...so hopefully he comes to and realizes that this really is what he wants. Because he knows it's true. He just doesn't want to do anything about it. 

So...that's about it with our investigators. Carmen is doing wonderful. She recently started on her personal progress, and has been really faithful and has learned and grown a lot these past few weeks. It helps a lot that her aunt is such a faithful member that knows so much about the scriptures and the gospel. (Ahem. Members: When you're present in the conversion of an investigator, that investigator is 200% more likely to be baptized and then remain faithful in the church afterward). 

Anyway, my life in a nutshell. 

The nut was more...walnut size. Not coconut size. I don't really like coconut. Never did. 

Take care, y'all. Love ya.

-Elder Cannon

P.S. Strawberry's my favorite!

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Happy 4th of JULY!!!!!!!

Happy fourth everyone!!!

I'm sorry I couldn't write yesterday. It's really hard to find time on a day that's not Pday. But here I am, writing y'all again. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful day, eating delicious barbecue and watching fireworks and such. Last year I got to see the fireworks, because I was in the MTC and they gave us all permission to watch them. Basically the coolest day of the MTC. Haha. Then they gave us ice cream and sent us to bed. This year, so far only the Sister missionaries in my district have wished me a happy 4th. We'll see if anyone else remembers. Like last year for Thanksgiving, one person wished me a happy Thanksgiving the whole day. And she gave us scrambled eggs for dinner to celebrate. :P But I guess that's all just a part of living in another country. I'm kind of excited to see how the 20th is going to be, because that's their independance day. 

So...the work goes ever onward. It's never easy, but it's always wonderful to be able to see the results of this marvelous work. We talked with Carmen on Monday, and she's doing great. We watched the Joseph Smith movie, which they had never seen, and they all loved it. It's such a powerful movie. 

Lately we've been working with a family that's only part-member. We're working specifically with two single mothers, Samantha and Esperanza. They both gave birth to their babies about a month ago, and have been really interested in learning and coming to church. We commited them to be baptized on the 21st of July. I hope everything turns out all right. Apart from them, we have some other investigators, but they don't progress much. Lots of times they don't come to church, or they don't read or pray. Those 3 things are essential to receiving an answer to a prayer about the church or the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith. 

Anyway, life is wonderful. Again, I wish you all a happy 4th of July, and hope that all your wildest dreams come true.

Love,

Elder Joey

P.S. Just follow your heart. That's what I do.

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Hey y'all. :)

Life has been pretty good. Different...but good. Life with a new missionary is always exciting. It's just really neat to be able to take all of their knowledge and work it into skills to find and teach and baptize. :) 

Sorry we didn't have much time last week...and today we have even less, because my companion forgot his password, and we had to go to the apartment again to find it. I'm thinking that we're going to finish up tomorrow...when there's more time. We have an appointment today at 6.

My son is incredible. I don't remember if I told you about him...maybe not at all. His name is Elder Numa, from Barranquilla, Colombia. He's been a member for less than 2 years, and I'm pretty sure he knows more church doctrine than I do. Haha. He has an amazing memory, and he's always quoting prophets and such from his memory. He's a cool guy. I'll attach a picture. Today we went to the temple, which I love being able to do, being here in Bogota. 

So...I have to go now. I'll write more tomorrow, I promise. Take care, y'all. I love you. :)

-Elder Cannon

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