Last post EVER. ...until 2013.

So...I don't know if this will actually be my last post, but it probably will be. I'm turning this blog over to my parents to post my mission emails. This means that I won't be on here to bore you to death for 2 whole years. Isn't that great? Actually, you'll be able to read my emails. So...never mind. I'll still be able to bore you to death. ;)

There was this one time, when I ate a guacamole burger and then went to cross-country practice. That was a bad idea. Guacamole burgers and 4-mile runs don't really go well together. Like, at all. I had a dream last night that I was on my mission. And Elder Sowards, Elder Barry, and Elder Thomas were there. Man, wouldn't it be amazing if we had all been called to the same mission? Haha. That would be so cool! Then again, we might not get much done... Nah, we'd probably convert everyone in the entire mission. Haha.

This is the scripture that I chose to be on my missionary plaque:

Alma 29:9: "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy."

So there you go. I have been waiting for this my entire life. I've been excited about it ever since I could sing "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission." Now it's actually happening! :D Wish me luck, eh? Actually, don't wish me luck. There's no such thing. Maybe...pray for me? I would appreciate it very much. :)

Well, I love you all. God bless and God speed. Choose the right, don't do drugs, stay in school. You know the drill. "Nooo, not the drill!!" ;)

Trust in the Lord.

And have a nice day, eh?

-Elder Joseph Morris Cannon

P.S. I added another page (over on the right) that has my MTC and my Bogota addresses. That's so you can all write me. Because...you're going to write me, right? hehe.

Why did the boy throw his clock out the window?

Because he was a hoser.

Who on earth would really want to see time fly? Doesn't it do that on its own? Like, without chucking things out of windows? I've been waiting to go to the MTC for 5 months, and for the most part, it's felt like it couldn't be going slower. But now that I have 9 days left, time is going way too fast! And, I'm really super-excited to go to the MTC, it just feels like there's too much time and too little to do. Strike that. Reverse it.

I haven't even bought my luggage or finished my immunizations. I still need my vehicle driving record, and a bunch of things for my "small first-aid kit" that's probably going to fill an entire suitcase. Hehe.

I have started writing in my mission journal, and that's really cool. I've never been amazing at keeping a journal, but so far I've been pretty regular with this one. The mission one, that is. Another exciting thing, is that today is my last day at the call center. Hallelujah!!!!!     ...ahem. I really don't hate the job, but...I really do. It's just not an incredibly happy place. That's all. I don't know, maybe there's someone in this world that likes people swearing at them on the phone...it's just not for me.

Well, so y'all know, I know that I have been called of the Lord to preach to the people of Colombia, because that's where He needs me most. I know that it'll be hard, but I, like so many others, will come to call these next 2 years the best of my life. I do hope that the years following will be even better, but I guess I'll just take life one amazing year at a time. Maybe I should try taking it a day at a time. That might be a little easier to manage. Anyway, I hope y'all write me. You'd better. ;) That was random. No...I'm random. Why do elephants paint their toenails red? So they can hide in a cherry tree. Have you ever seen an elephant in a cherry tree? It works pretty well, eh?

I love you all, my family and friends. I'll be praying for you, and I hope that your prayers will go with me as well. This gospel is true. Our Heavenly Father loves us. Jesus Christ did atone for our sins, and made it possible for us to return to live with Him again. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and we will get nearer to Him by reading it and following its teachings. President Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God, and he leads and guides us down the path of righteousness. I love this gospel, and I testify of its truthfulness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

-Joseph Morris Cannon

Word of the day:

Service.

This word has been in my head for the past few days, actually. Not just today. I guess it's something that I'm going to be doing a lot of in the near future. Like, for two years. Honestly though, shouldn't it be something that I do a lot of anyway? Why should I have to fly to Colombia to start serving people?

I'm pretty sure it's not just me that's been thinking it. I've been seeing the word everywhere. For example, I went to delete my facebook account yesterday (which was a very interesting experience, by the way, you should try it out sometime. ;) ), anyway, I was deleting my facebook account, and one of the captcha words I had to type in order to delete my account was "serve." To me, that was kind of just another confirmation that what I was doing was right. I was pretty sure I was going to delete my account some time before I entered the MTC, and that that would be the right thing to do, but I wasn't for sure. Anyway, I was just having a Nike moment and I decided to "Just Do It." Aaaaand, now I kind of feel like I'm just rambling, so I'm going to stop.

Elder Oaks, would you take it away please...



"Perhaps when we face our Maker, we will not be asked, ‘How many positions did you hold?’ but rather, ‘How many people did you help?'"


I love that. This life isn't about bettering ourselves. It's about bettering others. Because as we better others, we will become exactly who our Savior wants us to be. Another time this week when I was thinking about service was at the Provo Temple. In this same talk by Elder Oaks he says, "Hundreds of thousands of faithful members participate in the unselfish service we call “temple work,” which has no motive other than love and service for our fellowmen, living and dead." Of all the blessings in my life, one of the things I am most grateful for is friends that are worthy and willing to attend the temple. I really owe my regular, habitual temple attendance to all of my wonderful friends (some more than others...you know who you are ;) ) who went weekly, or at least a couple times a month. It's something that I had always kind of wanted to start doing, but until my senior year, I had never taken the initiative to make temple attendance a habit. Now, thanks to you all, I don't think I've gone a month without going to the temple at least once since last fall. :)


There is only one thing that bugs me when I go to the temple. Every time I go to the temple, they're up to their ears in young women, but there is a consistent lack of young men. So you young men out there, GO TO THE TEMPLE!!! Get worthy, get a recommend, and GO! It's more than worth it, I promise. There are blessings that come from temple service that you really can't get anywhere else. And just as Elder Oaks said, quoting President Monson, "You can never love the Lord until you serve Him by serving His people." Now, if I remember right, loving the Lord is the first and great commandment, right? So according to President Monson, we can't keep the first and great commandment until we "serve Him by serving His people."


Well, it's past my bedtime, but I just want to say one last thing. Service is not something that we do. It's something that we are. That didn't sound right. In other words, service is not an act. It is an attitude.


I love you all. I hope that this post has helped you as much as it has helped me. I also hope that as you go about your lives, that you will look for people who could use a helping hand. Search for opportunities to serve, and I promise you that you will bring yourself, and hopefully others, closer to the Savior than you have ever been before.


Word of the day: Service


Have a nice day, eh? :)


-Joey

Blessings in Disguise

This weekend has been absolutely insane. It was wonderful, and I really wouldn't have it any other way, it was just a little...crazy.


Friday, like I planned, I went to the Logan and the Vernal Temples. Ogden was closed until today, so I just went to those two. I got to the Logan Temple around 9:30, read my scriptures until a little after 10, and went up to the baptistry. As I was ringing the doorbell, a lady came by and told me the baptistry didn't open until 11. I had an entire hour and nothing to do. I figured I'd have an early lunch, so I found a Subway and had a delish sandwich. After lunch, I still had half an hour before I could go back. So I drove around, and saw a store that said "Movies, Books, Music, Coffee" Well, I wasn't too interested in movies or coffee, but I love bookstores, and music is just a given. So I went inside, and quickly found that it was more "Movies" than anything else. I browsed around in what few books and CD's they had, but got bored pretty quick. They had another section at the back of the store that was kind of just a bunch of random stuff. Shirts, posters, shot glasses, etc. I thought I'd check it out, but after taking one glance at one of the posters, I just left. It was about time to go back to the temple anyway. I got to the temple a little after 11, and kind of just felt...icky. I hadn't done anything bad. I had removed myself from a compromising situation when I felt I needed to, but even though I hadn't sinned necessarily, I still felt...defiled. Impure. I prayed that I would be able to feel the spirit as I went into the Temple, and I did feel a little comforted, so I thought I'd be okay. I walked again up to the baptistry door and rang the doorbell. No one answered, and an older man who was probably a temple worker came up to ring the doorbell as well. They answered that time, and the lady inside asked me what I needed. I told her I was just there to do baptisms, and she said that all of the workers were just getting there, and the baptistry wouldn't open until 12. So I walked back to my car, determined that this time I would spend the next hour preparing for the temple, rather than just kill time and perhaps distance myself from the spirit. I drove around trying to find a place that overlooked the temple, where I could sit and ponder and prepare, but if you've ever been to Logan, you'll probably know that the temple is pretty much the highest thing in the city. There are some mountains to the east, but I couldn't find a way up any of them. I did find a beautiful canyon and a nice park at the entrance though, so I stopped there for a while, and did everything I could to prepare myself to enter into the house of the Lord and to have the spirit with me. When I got back at 12, I felt much more prepared and worthy to enter the temple. 


Blessing: The baptistry didn't open until 2 hours after I wanted to go in. In those two hours I learned a lot about temple preparation. Just because I had a recommend, didn't mean that I was prepared to go to the temple. 


The Logan baptistry is actually quite small. Despite its size, it's a very beautiful place. The work is being done, and the spirit is there. After doing baptisms and confirmations, I started on the looooooong journey to Vernal, Utah. Google maps says that from Logan to Vernal is about 4 hours and 45 minutes. That meant I wouldn't get to Vernal until around 6. 'Nother thing. Google maps also says that the quickest way from Logan to Vernal is through Wyoming. So I began the long drive, starting by going up Logan Canyon. I passed Bear Lake, I went through Wyoming,  two or three national forests, I saw a bunch of deer, antelope, ravens, and 3 bald eagles. Took a few wrong turns, learned some lessons in patience, faith, and prayer, went through Flaming Gorge at sunset, aka the most AMAZING time to go through Flaming Gorge. The sunset would've been absolutely beautiful without being in Flaming Gorge, and Flaming Gorge would've been absolutely beautiful without the sunset. Together, they were just plain freaking awesome. I got to the Vernal Temple at about 5:56 pm. Not bad timing, considering all the...detours I took. The Vernal Temple is really a beautiful building. It's definitely the smallest temple I've ever been to, but it's still very beautiful. So I went up to the baptistry doors and rang the doorbell, not knowing if there was even anyone inside. A temple worker opened the door, and said something to the effect of, "Is this all of you?" or, "Are you the only one?" Well, come to find out, there was a ward scheduled to do baptisms at 6:00 that night. Otherwise, the baptistry wouldn't have been open. So I was able to join the ward and do baptisms and confirmations. 


Blessing: The Logan Temple didn't open until 12, I got lost a number of times on my way to Vernal, and I stopped twice for gas and snacks. I got the the Vernal Temple at the only time that day that the baptistry was open. 


On my way home, I took another wrong turn, but figured out my mistake (before I got all the way to Moab) and got back on the right track. I learned something about myself that I never knew before. I really don't like passing cars in the oncoming lane of traffic. It scares me to death every time, especially in the dark. The drive home was only 3 hours, but after such a long day, I was tired. Luckily, I had my Fritos, honey-roasted peanuts, and a good friend to keep me awake. Well, the drive was pretty uneventful. I didn't fall asleep, I didn't hit any semis head on, I didn't even have to swerve to avoid any deer. As I was coming down Provo canyon however, on the last leg of my journey, a big chunk of ice appeared in my lane. It didn't really appear, it was just dark and I didn't see it until it was too late to miss it. I decided that instead of swerving to avoid it, I'd just place my tires evenly on either side of it and pass right over. Well, I either misjudged how much clearance my car had or how solid the piece of ice was, because I didn't just "pass right over." In fact, I don't think there was much left of that chunk of ice after I hit it. But, my car didn't start making any funny sounds, so I wasn't too worried. I got home around 11, said hi to my parents, and crashed. I really think I would've slept past 12, but I had work at 8, so I was up again at 7:30. I got in the car to head off to work, and it started right up, but when I pushed on the gas, nothing happened (yes, I was in drive, not neutral. :P ). I didn't have time to figure out what was wrong then, 'cause I'd be late for work. So I drove the van and my dad looked at it that day. Come to find out, my transmission started leaking fluid about 15 feet before I pulled up to my house and parked, and every drop had leaked out during the night. 


Blessing: A big chunk of ice ripped a hole in my transmission pan, but I got home safely, and didn't have any car problems. At least, not until after I was home. 


Sometimes things happen in life and we're not sure why. Sometimes we wonder why things don't go the way we want. But our Heavenly Father is there for us. He knows what's right for us, even if it doesn't seem right in the beginning. It may not even seem right in the end, but as long as we trust in His will, He will never lead us astray. There is a quote by President Ezra Taft Benson that says this:

"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace." 

I believe this with all of my heart. He is there for us. We just need to make sure that we are there for Him. 


This wasn't all that happened this weekend, but it was a big chunk of it. There have been many other blessings and miracles to add to this list, but for now...have a nice day. :) 


-Joseph Morris Cannon 

Plan of Happiness. :D

So, today is Sunday, and I'm not usually on the computer on Sunday, but it was a special day, so I thought that I would post. Also, I'm going to be gone on trek until Thursday, so I wanted to get it up here before I forgot it.


Today is Fast Sunday. Not because it goes faster, because...it usually doesn't. Fast Sunday is a happy day. It's a day that we can use to strengthen our testimony in so many different ways. You can bear your testimony in sacrament meeting, you can fast and strengthen it that way, and you can give fast offerings and see the blessings that come from doing so. Fast and testimony meeting in my singles ward goes a little bit like this: Bishopric member: "We'll go until about 5 after the hour" (sits down, and 10 people go up to bear their testimonies). So...pretty much you have to get up there fast, and then we never stop at 5 after the hour. :p I think we ended at 15 after the hour once. Today it was about 20 after. Anyway, long story short, I didn't take the opportunity to bear my testimony in fast and testimony meeting. 


Afterward was Mission Prep. Well, it just so happened that we were talking about testimonies in Mission Prep, so I stood and bore my testimony there. Brother Vanchierrie (our teacher...probably misspelled...you say it Van-cherry.) Anyway, he came up and thanked me for my testimony, and told me that he knew, somehow, that I would get up and bear my testimony. Maybe he can read minds. Or maybe I was just sad that I didn't bear it in sacrament meeting, so I really wanted to when we started talking about the blessings that come from bearing testimony? I don't know. Maybe (most likely :D) he had the spirit, and just could feel that I needed/wanted to. :) I was glad for the second chance I had. Blessings really do come from bearing your testimony. Namely, a stronger testimony. In the Preach My Gospel manual, pg. 198 there is a quote by President Monson that says this: "Regarding one's testimony, remember, that which one willingly shares he keeps, while that which he selfishly keeps he loses..." So, there you go. I would encourage you to bear your testimony as often as you can. It really does help to strengthen your testimony, as well as helping others strengthen theirs.


The title of this post is Plan of Happiness. It's not really an outline or a description of that plan in any way, it's just a manifestation that the name holds true. The Plan of Happiness brings happiness. I am happy today because of that plan. That's why it's the title. I'm happy. :)


I wrote a poem the other day, and I'm going to post it now. It applies, I'm pretty sure. This isn't completely an ADD tangent... :p Okay, here it is:




Home

Familiar, smiling faces
fill the space around me.
Giving peace and comfort
in a world of chaos.

          Holiness to the Lord

Redeeming the dead,
a third of our goal.
Dressed in spotless white,
Baptizing by water and fire.
hands laid on my head,
words spoken, lives changed.

A place of happiness.
A plan of happiness,
In this life and the next.
Standing back and
looking through heaven's eyes.
Seeing the world
the way my Father sees.
A beautiful view 
from the Mountain top.

To stand in holy places
Is to stay close
to the truth. To my family.
To Heavenly Father
and His Son.
To be safe
from the influences
of worldly snares.
Safe
In the arms of His love.

          The House of the Lord

Home.




So, there you go. Hope you liked it. If you didn't, just know that this is a plan of happiness, and that this poem was an attempt to illustrate the happiness, kind of like this post was supposed to do. Did it work? I hope so.


I love the Provo Temple. This last week was the first time in a long time that I had been to that temple. They were doing renovations or some such thing, so it was closed. Every time I go there, it just feels like I'm coming home. I guess that's what inspired my poem. I love the Provo Temple. <3 Like that, see?


This was a happy week.

Today was a happy day.


I hope that y'alls lives are happy, and that maybe I helped to make them more so. I love you all. I am so grateful to have such amazing friends and family. You have all helped me so much in my spiritual progression. This gospel is true. I felt its truthfulness today, as I have many times in the past. The power of the priesthood is real. I had the wonderful opportunity to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood today, and I'm so excited to start using that priesthood to serve and bless those around me. I know that my Savior lives. I am so grateful for his willingness to sacrifice his life for me, and I know that as we strive to keep his commandments and endure to the end, he will have a place for us when we pass from this life to the next. I love the Lord, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.


I love you all. Thank you for all you do. :)


-Joseph Morris Cannon

Grateful...

Do you ever get to that point where you're complaining so much that you start to annoy yourself?

Normally, I don't really complain that much. Well...I like to think that I don't. But these past few days I feel like I've been complaining a lot. Like, there are times when I just want to tell myself to suck it up and stop being such a pansy...

Anyway, whenever I start to feel like this, I find that the best thing to do is to be grateful. For what, you ask? Everything. :)

I am grateful for the wonderful weather we had today. It was a lot warmer than I thought it was going to be. That made Utah Lake much more enjoyable.

I am grateful for my friends. Friends that plan awesome boating activities. Friends that like to go on adventures. Friends that cheer me up when I'm not feeling so amazing. Friends that help me keep my standards. Friends that I look up to. Friends that I just plain love. Thank you, to all of my friends. You have helped me out in more ways than you know.

I am grateful for my family. I honestly don't know where I would be without them. I am grateful for my parents that raised me in a gospel-oriented home, and that have loved and cared for me my whole life. I am grateful for all of my siblings. I don't know what I would do without any one of them.

I am grateful for a car to drive. I am grateful that my parents allow me to drive the car that they bought and that they pay insurance for. I am grateful that it runs well day to day, and that it hasn't had any major problems.

I am grateful for the gospel. This one is big. Like, the biggest on the list. I am grateful that I have known since birth that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and that He atoned for my sins. I am grateful to have been able to grow up in this valley where I have never had to drive more than a few miles to get to church. I am grateful for all of my church leaders that have kept me on the straight and narrow. I am grateful for a living prophet that receives revelation for the church today, and that he leads and guides us where Heavenly Father wants us to go. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. I am eternally grateful for that testimony.

More than anything in this world (or out of it), I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who loves me no matter how imperfect I am.

I am grateful.

-Joseph Morris Cannon