P.S.

¡¡¡Feliz Día de Amor y Amistad!!! 

...here they celebrate it in September, not February. 

Love y'all. :) 

Aloha.

Hey all. 

It's Monday again. That means I get to come here to internet and talk at y'all for an hour. Today, you're in luck, because I've got less than an hour. Haha. 

This week was really neat. We had an amazing conference with President Andelin, and he's changing lots of old habits and ways in the Bogota Colombia North Mission. This week, he did away with the contacts. Before, we had a goal to do 70 contacts on the street every week, as a minimum. This week he put a different goal. 10 new investigators a week, minimum. Wow. I actually really like this goal, even though it's a little bit high for what our mission is doing on average. With the goal of contacts, a lot of missionaries were contacting just to contact, and not to find new people to teach. So, we are now trying to find 10 new investigators every week, whether it be contacting on the street, asking for referrals, etc. It's a much better focus. 

Nicolás was interviewed yesterday, and passed! :) He's such a cool little guy. I'm so glad he's following his mother's footsteps. He'll be baptized this Saturday at 6pm. You're all invited, if you want to come. Capilla La Campiña, Estaca Suba, Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Colombia. ;) It'll be wonderful. Now all we need is his older sister Lina to get baptized. She's been attending a Christian church, and has lots of friends there...but her friends aren't a very good influence on her. We're hoping that her heart will soften a little and that we'll be able to start teaching her as well. 

We've also been working a lot with Jorge. He's been progressing...little by little, but has had some problems obeying the word of wisdom and the Sabbath day. They're just things that the average Colombian doesn't follow. Hopefully (we're crossing our fingers and praying really hard), he'll have his baptismal interview this week, so he can be baptized next week. 

Anyway, life's been pretty awesome. We went to the famous Chapinero's to buy ties today. They only cost about $4 each! The coolest thing is that the owner already knows the elders, because they come from all over Bogota to buy ties at his store. :) I'll attach a picture, so you can see. :) 

This is the last week of the transfer. I can't believe it's gone by so fast. ¿Qué será mi destino...?

Welp, that's all for now, folks.

-Elder Joey

P.S. Don't drink that racist coffee...

This week...

...was pretty average. I guess I'm just getting used to this ward. Which probably means they're going to transfer me soon. 3 transfers is the most I've ever been in one area. We'll have to see if that changes. I know missionaries that were 5 transfers in one area. My old companion Elder Romero went back to Cucuta, and by the time he finishes there, he'll have been a total of 1 year in Cucuta. Haha. Crazy. I think they're going to give him a calling on the stake high counsel. ;)

Anyway, we've been trying really hard to get the members more involved in the work and such. It's kind of tough when they're not used to giving references or accompanying us to lessons and such. But we've been sharing lots of messages after lunch and with random members every day about missionary work and how important the members are. chapter 9 or PMG talks all about that. And Chapter 13. President Hinckley says that people think that missionary work is just giving out pamphlets. But everyone who is familiar with the work knows that there's a better way, and that way is through the members. True dat. When members give us references, the investigators already have a friend in the church, and when we're not there to answer their questions, the member can. They can bring them to church, sit with them in the mtgs, etc. They are an incredible support to the investigators, and to the missionaries.

This week, we've been teaching Nicolás, Sister Rocío's son. He kind of has an attention problem. We've had to get creative and find new and interesting ways to teach the lessons...because if they last for more than 7 minutes and 34 seconds, he loses interest. The good thing is that he just loves his mom so much, and wants to follow her example. He's kind of a spaz, but just like every little child, he's just humble and innocent and ready to enter the fold of God. :)

Also, Sister Galvis...that I met in Cucuta as a future missionary, and then again here as a missionary, left for her mission in Puerto Rico this week! So here's a picture of the "farewell." We sang "Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos" and took pictures, and then she was off to the airport. 

Other than that...not much has happened. We have zone conference this week with President Andelin. That ought to be interesting. He's been changing a lot of things here in the mission, and although some changes might be difficult to cope with, they're all changes for the better. Because he's the one authorized by God to receive revelation for this mission. 

So life's good. :) I'm happy, and things are going well. There are lots of new investigators, like the Diaz family, and Leidy and Jhork. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. They make a big difference in my life and in the lives of our investigators. 

Love y'all. Peace out.

Elder Cannon

P.S. The other picture I'm attaching is of the monster sandwich I made and ate for lunch today. Subway exists here, and is even pretty close to home, but this was much cheaper. :)

P.P.S. Why read words when you could just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?

It's fun to stay at the...

YMCA!!!

...so pretty much the coolest thing happened this week. We moved. Yeah! Por fin. The apartment we were in had been a missionary apartment for like 5 years, and it was...really needing some fixing up. So we changed apartments. We are now, officially living in the coolest missionary apartment in the entire mission. Haha. It's bigger, nicer, newer, has wood floors and carpet, a balcony...sigh. Love it. :) I don't have pics...but I'll send some when I can.

The other cool thing that happened was that Rocío was baptized! Yay. :) I do have pics of that...so I'm attaching one. It was really neat, because it was the same day that we were working with the newbies from the MTC. It was their first day in the field, and tomorrow they leave the MTC for the mission field. I got to work with one from Paraguay and another from Peru. So they got a first hand experience at everything wonderful that happens on the mish. :) It was a cool day. Now the cool thing is that Rocío's son, Nicolás wants to be baptized. He's the little guy there in the picture. He's...9 years old, if I'm not wrong. So this week we're going to be teaching him.

Today we had a zone activity where we played fútbol, ninja, "have you ever?" and cooked lunch to eat. It was loads of fun. We're only 12 missionaries in our zone, so we're really tight. Like...close together. All friends. :) It's cool. I bought socks to play soccer. I hadn't bought any socks before today. The ones I brought...because white socks I haven't used very much...have lasted me until now. But now they're pretty much dying, so I bought new ones.

My life is basically average. I got a haircut today. I've officially decided that getting a haircut is the best way to lose weight. I feel so light and care free without all that hair.

I'm so weird. I'm gonna go now...before I bore you all to death.

3 more weeks in this cambio. That's the only sad thing...I might not get to enjoy the new apartment as much as I would have liked...hehe. Ah well.

Anyway, life's good.

Love y'all, take care. Pray for me. Even though I know you already do, and I'm really, really grateful. :) Thanks a ton.

Chao,
Elder Cannon

P.S. Unicorns I love them, unicorns I love them...