Sick and tired of being sick and tired...

There's a song by...Candle? Or maybe that's the name of the song. "I took a ride on a February morning..." I've been kinda sick this week. I'm all better now, but for a few days there, I wasn't feeling too great. I guess there always has to be an oposition though, right? The good thing is that I wasn't too sick to not work, so we've baptized almost all of Bogota by now. 

Actually we haven't baptized anyone. But we received 5 or 6 amazing referrals this week, and have 3 already comitted to be baptized. Awesome. One is Sebastian. He's the nephew of a member in the ward, and is 12 years old. He's a really awesome kid. His mom, Marcela, is really neat as well, but she has something holding her back. We're not sure what...

The other referrals we've been teaching are Gloria and Santiago. Mother and son. We visited them 4 or 5 times this week. They're awesome. they both accepted the baptismal date, and came to church yesterday, and have really enjoyed learning about the church. Hopefully they keep at it. The only thing every investigator needs is the humility to get on their knees and ask God if the church is true. 

This week, they released our bishop and called a new one. It's the second time that's happened to me on the mission. We're going to miss our bishop, but the new bishop is really excited to get working, and has agreed to accompany us to appointments at least once a week. He's a really great guy. 

Anyway. life's good. Any prayers sent our way will be greatly appreciated. I love you all. Say hi to Utah for me. :) 

Con amor,

Elder Cannon

P.S. "Somebody turn the lights on. Somebody tell me how long..."

P.P.S. Today were cambios. We're staying here. Elder Salazar, my old comp is going to train. And Valenzuela is training AGAIN! I'm going to have 4 grandsons. Haha. :)

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Fwd: Week of awesomeness.

So. This week was basically the greatest week of planning EVER. We made about a bajillion plans to get everyone excited about missionary work and such. We put up a poster in the Church that...well...I'll attach a photo. You'll just have to see for yourselves. Oh...the translation is this: "LET US GIVE YOU A HAND. As full-time missionaries, we are ready, willing and willing (prestos is like willing and ready and available...all in one) to teach the gospel. Please, introduce us to your friends. (See D&C 18:16). 

Everyone was laughing about it. We put it right above our "Caja de referencias" which is an awesome little box we made for people to put referrals' names and information in. Also we made posters for ward FHE's we're going to do, and also for a missionary training we're going to be doing as well. 

So basically we're going to baptize the entire area. ;) This Sunday, we received 4 referrals, and were able to teach every single one of them the same day. We're already starting to see the blessings of good planning and hard work. 

That's basically all you need as a missionary. But one really important thing is the follow up. If you make plans, and then never go through with them, or if you receive a referral from a member and then never contact or teach them, then what's the point? 

There isn't one. 

Ay...la misión, la misión. I love the mish. Lots of hard work, but it's so rewarding. Love it. 

I hope everything is going well back at the ranch. I mean. At home. I just remembered about that book called "Meanwhile, back at the ranch..." Classic. 

Love y'all. Take luck. 

Elder Cannon

P.S. The other foto is of the awesome new tie you got me for christmas, and of Elder Bogdan, my awesome gringo friend that's going home on Friday. He's from Houston. 

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Baptisms are my fav.

So, Wilson got baptized!!! Happy day. 

He really was just super-prepared from day 1. He's an amazing person, and the ward (especially the YSA) has been really good about supporting him and being his friend and taking him to activities and such. :) Awesome. I'll attach pics. 

Today we played futbol again. It's kind of a common thing when the entire zone is just Elders. We love the sisters a lot, but they don't usually like to play futbol, so we have to be more creative about our activities. But when there's just Elders, there's not much else we like to do. Haha. Well, that's not entirely true, it's just a really easy, cheap, and fun activity. We also ate delicious BBQ. Which is...different than in the states, but still delish. 

We're still working with Alvaro, but he got sick and we couldn't get ahold of him all week. So, hopefully he's doing alright. We are praying for him every day, so I think he'll be okay. 

So, life's been really good. I can't complain. It's not too cold, not too hot, until the sun comes out (2600 meters...it burns here). 

I basically love being a missionary. It's the greatest. :) 

So, take care, and I'll talk at you all again next week. :) 

Elder Joey

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Sup?

So, the year's end came and went, and here we are again...with 12 whole months ahead of us to accomplish all of our new year's resolutions. I talked about new year's resolutions in District Mtg. on Wednesday. It went well, I think. There are only 4 of us in our district. 2 companionships, so it's never incredibly exciting, but they're all good elders. Elder Salazar (my last comp) is now part of my district. Jaja. Fun stuff. Along with his companion, Elder Stokes, from Draper, Utah. :)

Anyway, life's been good. Wilson passed his baptismal interview. He's so ready. My companion and I were both talking about the fact that we as missionaries do very little. Our job is basically to just find prepared investigators, invite them to be baptized, and then teach them the doctrines of the Gospel. That's basically all we've done with Wilson. The ward has been really good about fellowshipping him, so he's felt right at home. He's excited to be baptized. :)

Alvaro has still been struggling with the Word of Wisdom...he's had a big alcohol problem, and is having a really hard time. We've been trying to help him, being there for him, and calling him every day just to make sure he's doing okay. We need to find a friend for him. That can be there for him when we can't. That can support him and love him even when he fails... He has a baptismal date for the 19th of this month, so we're working hard so that he can make it to that date. It's gonna take a lot of effort on his part and ours, but I know it's possible. Sin duda.

So, that's basically what we've been doing. We got to go to the temple today, which was wonderful, as always. It's so amazing to have a temple on 2 huge streets in the middle of a city of over 6 million people, and you go inside, and all you can hear is the organ music, softly playing. It's a wonderful place to go and just feel the Spirit and receive answers to prayers. :) It's also wonderful because there's a distribution center, and my journal had about 15 pages left. So I'm good for another while again. And I also bought a DVD of Family Home Evening videos. Videos that I haven't seen in forEVER. The one about the guy that puts the snake in his shirt, and the one about the water pump, and the touch of the master's hand. Those are awesome videos. :)

Well, the fam, I'm about out of time. I love you all tons. Hope y'all have an amazing week. :)

-Elder Cannon

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