Letter from 12/22

Merry Christmas from Denver!

This week has had a lot of ups and downs. Lets talk about the ups :)

We went to the temple on Tuesday! The last time on my mission, since the temple is closed next month for cleaning. Next time I go to the Temple will be in Seattle :)

We had a mission wide Christmas devotional on Thursday. It was a ton of fun! The first half each zone put on skits for 10-15 each. ours was hilarious! Cant wait to show you when I got home, unfortunately the video size is way to large to attach via email.

Saturday we went to the downtown mall as a zone and sang Christmas hymns for 2 hours. Our voice was so shot by the end of it, but it was so great. We passed out over 200 "He is the Gift" pass along cards to watching passerbys. Great missionary opportunity.

We heard the coolest, most exciting news ever this week. We found out that ELDER DAVID A BEDNAR IS VISITING THE MISSION IN 3 WEEKS.  No biggie :)

Actually, huge biggie. I am so incredibly stoked!! The Colorado Denver South mission will be joining us, so both missions can hear from him. Its going to be so great.

Man, I am so excited to see everyone on Skype in 3 days. President Mendenhall basically gave us permission to talk as long as we want, as long as it doesn't cost our families money. All day talk sesh? I'm in. ;)

 

Shout out to Sister Decramer! Thank you so much for the wonderful Christmas card. It was so great to hear the update about your family, glad all is well :) Cant wait to see everyone when I get home!

 

Love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Cannon

Letter as of 12/15

Bonjour from Denver!

We dropped off S.Brooks at the mission home last night! She fly's home today to see her fam bam. It was so weird being at the mission home, knowing next transfer that'll be me.

This week has been pretty slow, but good all the same. YSA wards around Christmas time is the worst, the work just stops, since everyone goes home for the holidays. Oh well!

We went on exchanges this week! Man, it was soo much fun to be with S. Mata'itusi again. She's a hoot! And a powerhouse for sure. She helped me a lot by giving my new goals for the last leg on my mission. She told me to stop thinking about how soon I go home (63 days!) but that's pretty much impossible lol. Its not like I've stopped working hard, I still am, but I'm just excited to see you all.

Something really cool this past week was that I got a letter from someone I taught in Parker. She was a less active member, but she has been coming regularly these past few months. She wanted to write and tell me that I had such an impact on her coming back to the church. Honestly, looking back at the lessons I had with her, they weren't the most stellar, or spiritual even. But I guess, through the Spirit, I was led to say what she needed to hear. That letter made my entire week. I cant help but reread it all the time, it just makes me so happy.

 I love that I came out on a mission. At times its ridiculously hard, but I know this is where I am needed.

I cant wait to Skype with you! #10moredays

Love you so so so much!

<3 Sister Jessica Cannon

Letter as of 12/8/2014

Hellooooooooooooooo!

I am so grateful that it is Monday. Glad for a fresh start.This has been one tough week haha. 

Every single lesson we had set this week canceled. We managed to teach only 6 lessons this week.. I haven't done that bad since my greenie area. Not the hugest fan of this past week haha. 

I think the only good thing about the week was that we put up a ton of Christmas decorations in our apartment! It looks super cute.  We put up flowers and candles on our table..

 We decorated our front door.  . 

    Oh! And we hung up Christmas stockings with our nametags on the  mantle                                                                                                  

And we found these really cute elfs at the dollar tree haha.

We made a paper tree for our bedroom door, with a countdown to Christmas over it and a chain with 183 links around the apartment.

Its super festive and a bit much, but it makes us happy whenever we look at it, so its totally worth it :)

I'm going on exchanges tomorrow night. Sister Brooks will go to the STL's area, and me and sister harker will stay in Maplewood, with S. Mataitusi. Did I mention that she is my STL? Im so looking forward to exchanges, its going to be a blast to be with her again, even though its only a day.

S.Brooks goes home in 7 days. Ah! That is weird, knowing that I will be the next one to go home after her. Although I am still working as hard as I can, I'm ready to be home. I think its probably especially hard since its the holidays. but I'm kind of just done with the whole experience. I feel bad admitting that, since I've loved my mission, and I have learned and grown so much, but again home seems like a great place to be.

Did you get the chance to watch the Christmas Devotional last night? It was so fantastic! If you haven't gotten the opportunity to watch it yet, you can view it at https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/archive/first-presidencys-christmas-devotional/2014/12?cid=HPSU120714557&lang=eng

 

And!! If you haven't watched He is The Gift, do so now! At: http://www.mormon.org/christmas?cid=HPFR112814529

 

Love you tons! Cant wait to Skype you in 17 days :) :)

Love Sis Cannon

letter as of 12/1/14

Hello from the freezing cold of Colorado!

This week has been so great. I absolutely love both my companions, we have so much fun together, and we work really hard together, which is always a plus.

Major highlights of the week:

--Thanksgiving! Tons of fun. We started the morning with a couple of teaching appointments, and then we went to the Hills family for our first dinner of the day. After stuffing ourselves with food (Haha thanksgiving pun- stuffing) :D we played a few rounds of Uno, then had some pie. 

After that we rushed to our next house, the Johnson's. Luckily the food wasn't ready for a while, so we had the chance to just sit and relax. There were 2 other sets of missionaries there, so it was quite a party. We played apples to apples for a while, then sat down for some yummy food. Man I was so full by this point. 

We ended up not going to our 3rd thanksgiving dinner, because something popped up. We went over the next day though to eat leftovers :)

--Damien got the Priesthood on Sunday!! He asked if we would sit in when he was ordained. So amazing. Afterwards, he asked us if he would be able to serve a mission! :) :) :) He goes into the navy in march, and wont be done till he turns 26. Bishop said possibly, that he would have to get special permission to be able to go on a mission, since its technically after the maximum age. He would be such a powerful missionary. We've brought him to a couple of lessons already, and he does great.

--Hand hotties attack. Man, once those hand hotties you sent me get cold, they turn into perfect missile objects. Me and Sister Brooks are in a war right now, on who can hit the other with the most hand hotties. They are all over the apartment. It kind of hurts, but its so fun it doesn't even matter. You never know when to expect them to be hurling across the air. We do a lot of sneak attacks, like when someone comes out of the bedroom or bathroom hahaha. At night we put a handful near the alarm, so whoever wakes up first and turns off the alarm clock gets to chuck them at the other companions. Its a highly effective way of motivation to get out of bed on time. :)

 

Today's zone pday! We'll be playing chair soccer, which is so much fun, and really competitive. afterwards we are going to the dollar store to buy a lot of Christmas decorations for the apartment. I put up the mini tree from last year, and it looks cute! None of the ornaments broke over the year, so that was pretty impressive. :)

Hope all is well back hope! Don't forget to go to Christmas.Mormon.Org and watch the video! Then repost it to your favorite social media site with #ShareTheGift

Love you!!

Letter from 11/24/2014

Transfers are today! I didn't get transferred, looks like i'll be in this ward till the end of my mission haha. Sister Hoemann left to Straasburg. And this transfer I'll be in a trio, with Sister Harker and Sister Brooks, for three weeks. Sis Brooks goes home on the 15th, so she's with us just for a bit.

 

This week was soooo slow. It was finals week at DU, so basically our entire teaching pool canceled on us so they can study. That was a lot of fun..

So I don't really have a lot to report on :( sorry !

 

Oh! One super awesome thing about this week is that Damien had his interview for receiving the priesthood, he gets the Aaronic prieshood on Sunday! And during the interview he also had his temple interview, he goes to the temple to do baptisms on December 3rd! AND on top of that, he got interviewed to receive his patriarchal blessing! SO COOL. This guy is going to be an amazing member, let me tell you.

 

There is this less active member in the ward who knows how much I love the combo of peanut butter and chocolate. So for me "going away present" she made me a 10lb reeses peanut butter cake! So good! So evil haha. We hate like two slices, and then gave it to the Elders.

 

Today we had to drop another sister off in Parker for transfers. When we were leaving, I saw Sister Mathis, one of my most favorite members of the Dove Valley ward, walking her dogs. We pulled over so I can talk to her for a little bit, it was so good to see her!

 

That's pretty much the highlights of my week. Pretty lame I know.

Love you! Have a wonderful week!

Letter 11/17/2014

Brrrrr, What a crazy, super cold week. A couple days this past week it was in the negatives. :( Luckily we had a ton of appointments and so we didn't have to spend a lot of time outside. Thank goodness!

This week was jam packed with awesomeness. :)

Tuesday we had zone conference. That's where multiple zones/stakes get together and receive trainings from President & Sister Mendenhall, and the assistants. It was up in Westminister, and it was a lot of fun to be back in my greenie area. I was surprised that I remembered how to get around town over there. The Conference was super great. We received a lot of training on the book of Mormon, and also about change. Changing the culture of the mission, changing ourselves, and helping others to change. It was really cool! The focus was a lot on new goals for the year of 2015 in the CDNM. It felt weird- I didn't know how I could contribute to executing those goals since i'll be going home at the beginning of it. But then I decided i'll just have to make that last month and a half the best on my mission.

p-day playing around....

So I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but I have the best zone leaders in the entire mission. E. Law & E. Bambo are the silliest elders I've ever met, but they are spiritual giants. And I've never had zone leaders that just care about us so much before. Both of them are incredibly obsessed with Batman, its kind of a running joke now in the zone.  Me and Sister Hoemann wanted to do something small that would show how much we appreciate them. We thought about heart attacking their car... but that just looks inappropriate and lovey dovey hahaha. So we decided to batman their car! We cut out dozens of paper batman signals and taped it to their car. We wern't there to see their reaction but we heard it was pretty epic. Lots of girlish screams were heard hahaha.

Thursday we found two new investigators! Ryan, and Isabelle. And then we met with this less active named Andrew. We've been trying for months to see him, and he finally reached out to us this week and asked to meet with us! He even came to church. Miracles for sure happen :)

Friday sucked majorly. I woke up in the middle of the night only to discover I was super sick.. From like 1:30 am to 7am it was constant state of grossness. I got a priesthood blessing in the middle of the day, and instantly felt way better. I'm now back to a hundred percent, so that's good!

Saturday we went on exchanges. I stayed in the area, and was with Sister Hoopes for the day. I love her a lot, but its so weird that's she's my STL, she's only been out 9 months haha. Oh well! We still were able to work really well together. We taught 5 lessons Saturday, which is pretty rare in YSA.

Sunday was great as well! We had two investigators, and 4 less actives at church. One of our investigators, another Andrew, we put on bap date for 2 weeks from now. So that's super exciting!

Transfers are next Monday, we find out Saturday night whats happening. I really really really want to get transferred, which is weird because we have so much work here. I just don't want to spend another Christmas in a YSA ward. Next transfer has thanksgiving, Christmas, and new years all in one transfer, and I definitely want to be in a family ward for that. But of course i'll go wherever the Lord needs me. Just maybe a little begrudgingly sometimes :)

Haha, love you tons and tons!

Peace and blessings all :)

Letter as of 11/10/2014

Busy week! But a fantastic one :)

Monday was soo much fun. We played lipstick assassin. We played at the church, but kept all the lights off. The goal to is mark another persons neck with the tube of lipstick. Supposed to look like it was slit. Good thing we know the plan of salvation is real :) But seriously though, the game was pretty intense. My heart was beating really fast! :)

 We had some amazing lessons this week. Its so exciting to see how much the area is progressing. We found a new investigator on Tuesday. Her name is Stephanie. She's super sweet, and attends DU. She's met with missionaries in the past, but felt too rushed, but she wants to give it another go. We talked a little abut baptism, and she said she'd be willing to, if she came to know its true.

On Thursday I got my Trunky call.. Its when the mission office calls and asks what airport I want to fly into. I didn't know what ours is called, so I just told her the big Seattle one haha. Now that I think of it, I think its called something super easy like the Seattle International airport. Oh well, I'm sure she will be able to figure it out. So my ticket is officially bought for me coming home! Super weird to think about that.

On Sunday, Damien was confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Man, there was such a look of happiness and peace on is face. He is going to be such a slid member. He's already asking when he can be a home teacher, so he can help more people. He's pretty legit.

Like I mentioned in previous emails, we have been reading the Book Of Mormon as a companionship. We are already through the war chapters of Alma, can you believe it? Its so crazy how fast we have to read to do the challenge of finishing the BOM in one transfer .

The other day we introduced Katie to the personal progress program. She was baptized in April, and she's in her mid 20s, so she never had the opportunity to do it. She seemed super stoked about it. I'm way excited for her to do it as well, I know it will help her a lot. I'm planning on redoing the program when I get home. Since I finished it so fast, I didn't really get that much out of it, so I want to redo it so I have something to work towards when I get home.

Winter is supposedly going to hit this week. Its been super nice and sunny, only a little chilly lately. But apparently its going to snow tonight. Tomorrow is only going to have a high of 27... Totally not looking forward to that.

I just saw my first body of water since I have been here...

 

Well, that's enough of me blabbering away. Love you tons! Have a great week :)

11/04/2014

As I was looking at the blog, I saw the letter dated in May as only a draft, I guess I forgot to choose publish...so this week , even though it is old news, you get two for the price of one :)

Angie
aka humble mom trying to keep up

Letter as of 5/26/2014

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic week! I cant believe its already week 5 of transfer 7. Where did all the time go?
We found a new investigater this week! His name is David, he's super great. We only had time to teach him the first half of lesson one but it went really well. Cheri has been progressing so incredibly much. Her baptism is set forJune 28th and she's really excited for it. Shes rearranged her work schedule so she can start coming to church every week. Shes already asking if she can have a calling in the ward lol. She said her first prayerthe other night! She was raised saying tbe Lords Prayer and so this was her first nonscripted prayer ever. It seriously was the most heartfelt, honest prayer i have ever heard. It was fantastic :) im so excited for her. I really hope i dont get transferred in two weeks, that would stink. I really dont think i will though, this is Presidents last transfer and i dont think he will change a lot of things before he leaves.
So something fun that i have been doing in my studies is i have a blank copy of the book of mormon, and as im reading the only thing i highlight/circle are the names of Christ. Its amazing to see how often he is mentioned on every page. The average is about 10 per page i've found.
Exchanges with the sister training leaders went fantastic as always. I love exchanges, i always learn so much. Turns out sister boyd is as huge of a harry potter fan as i am. We ended up trying to stump each other with random trivia facts. I totally won. Then we felt bad that we wernt as focused as we could be sowe played book of mormon trivia instead.
Theres this super awesome member family we teach pretty regularly, and there son just came home from a mission.Everytime we teach he always tries telling us better scriptures to share for the principles we teach, or if we share an object lesson he always says he's seen it a hundred times. So annoying.. Kevin, get out! Haha. 
Besides that hiccup its been a super great week. I love serving a mission, i love the Lord, and i love you guys.
-Sister Jessica Cannon

Letter as of 11/03/2014

What up! Best week ever.

DAMIEN GOT BAPTIZED :) Man it was seriously the best baptismal service I have ever been to. The Spirit was so incredibly strong.

Besides Damien, we had two other investigators at church. Both of them went up and shared their testimony in fast&testimony meeting. It definitely made my heart melt.

The work here is exploding. It has been so fun to see, because 4 months ago when I first got here, we had like no work. Miracles are real, that's for sure.

 

Halloween was a ton of fun. Me and S. Hoemann did melting crayon art. I actually like how mine turned out! Then the sisters came over (they actually snuck in through the back door and attacked us with a nerf gun fight) Super duper fun. Just for kicks and giggles we each put on the Harry Potter snuggie (thanks for sending that!!) and acted out spells. Total dorks I know, but what else can we do on Halloween? :)

 

Last night we "heart attacked" a couple of doors. We cut out a bajillioin hearts on colored construction paper and taped them on their doors. I forgot my camera so we didn't get any pictures of it :/ One of the recent converts in the ward, who honestly is my favorite person ever, Katie, texted us late last night and said someone decorated her door and it made her life.

Haha man I love random acts of kindness :)

That's our focus in our companionship this transfer. Something that both of us try and do often is leave WILBYC notes to each other. (Why I Love Being Your Companion) They range from dorky, hilarious things, to something heartfelt. Its really helped us bond which has been a lot of fun.

 

We've been reading the Book of Mormon together as a zone. I can't remember if I told you or not, but the plan is to start and finish the entire book this transfer. We are up to page 266, which is the middle of Alma. its so weird that we are zooming through it so fast, 14 pages a day, but its been great. It helps us to remember to talk about the book of mormon more often when we talk to people on the street. We are supposed to hand out one a day, but we most often forget to haha. Last night we had like 10 minutes till we had to be home, and so we were a little desperate since we hadn't handed one out yet. So the first person I saw, I went up and told him we were giving away free books. Probably not the most spiritual experience, but maybe he'll be curious enough to read it. :D

 

Anywhoosies, love you so so so so so so so so so so much!

<3 Sister Jessica Cannon

Last week we did crayon art on p-day, here is mine....

Letter as of 10/27/14

Major miracles have happened this past week. 

We now have three investigators with a baptism date, all three of them came to church, and we have a surprise baptism that's happening this Sunday! WOAH! 

I thought this day would never come. Damien is a new investigator we started teaching last Monday night. He's been taught in the past by missionaries, but in the wrong ward. SO they just transitioned him to us, and so we've been teaching him like crazy, preparing for his baptism this Sunday. He hadn't been taught any of lessons four or five, which are the commandments, and laws and ordinances. Which covers a lot hehe. Yesterday we taught him the word of wisdom, and the law of chastity. Fun stuff lol. Ha, but in all reality it went really well, and he is so excited about his baptism. And so am I! Its been forever since my last baptism. Things are finally picking up!

Sister Hoemann and I were house sitting and got to play with Blue the bunny...so awesome

Me and S. Hoemann get along great. There hasn't been a single day of our companionship that we don't laugh. Its such a refreshing change. We work super hard together, and its great. She's a rockstar, let me tell ya.

Both of us had to speak in sacrament meeting. They called us early Sunday morning and let us know. They assigned me to speak on my favorite conference talk.. But since I didn't have access to a computer I had to rely on my notes, so it wasn't the best it could have been. Oh well! Got that over and done with. Its only the 3rd time I've had to speak in sacrament meeting, so I think I might be off the hook until I come home. Success! :)

We carved pumkins for p-day last week and here are a few pictures of what we came up with...mine was Harry Potter :) 

Uhhh, other than that its been a pretty normal week. Sorry its not the most epic length.

Love you tons and tons and tons!

Have a swell week!

Much love, Sister Jessica Cannon

Letter as of 10/20/14

Good morning from Denver!

Its been a hard week, not going to lie. But it still astounds me that when everything, and I mean everything, goes wrong, you are still able to feel love from the Lord. Its fantastic.

Basically, in a nut shell, almost every single lesson we had set canceled. Struggles of flaky young single adults haha. And the two investigators we had on baptismal date both dropped us. That was pretty hard to accept, but I guess its not their time. Our teaching pool is back to slim pickings.

Do you remember Cheri, a woman who I taught in Parker, but dropped us two weeks before her baptism because her husband wouldn't let her join the church? I saw her on Sunday! She came to the Denver stake Stake Conference. Turns out she is meeting with missionaries again! Ahhh, that is so wonderful! She says I'm the only missionary she can remember from the past. :) I gave her a Gospel of Jesus Christ footsteps to the celestial kingdom object lesson, and she says she uses it with her grandchildren all the time. It made me so incredibly happy! I total forgot to take a picture with her. Hopefully i'll get to see her again!

 

The good thing is that me and sister Hoemann get along very well. Its been a lot of fun getting to know her, and her weird quirks. Turns out she sleep talks.. but I don't think she believed me when I told her that hahaha.

 

We spent a good while downtown this week, trying to find people to teach. While we were walkin around, we took some pictures next to some of the weird stuff you find in a artsy city. Hence the giant broom, the cows, and the small horse on a large chair. Enjoy.

 

Would it be weird if I asked if you sent me my harry potter snuggie? we have some fun plans for Halloween, but I don't want to have to go out and buy a lot of stuff. :)

Thanks! Your the best haha.

 

Love you all thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much

Peace and blessings!

Sister Jessica Cannon

Letter as of 10/13/2014

Woah. I didn't get transferred! Who woulda thunked it.

My new companion is S. Hoemann, from Missouri. She's been out 10 months. Seems super fun, she's a huge harry potter fan and so we've already geeked out.

So! The weekly update. Chopped off my hair on monday! Still getting some used to. Tuesday I hit my 14 month mark. Super duper crazy. And then on Friday I randomly decided to dye my hair. its a dark mahogany brown. I actually really like it.

We taught so many lessons last week. Being in a trio was the greatest. We dropped off S. Meteer at the mission home last night. She is officially back home in Sacramento.

Man, i'm sorry I just cant think what to write this week. But I just take a lot of pictures! So that must count for something.

I love being a missionary. I truly do. The miracles that i'm able to witness every day makes it worth it. The change i'm able to see in myself and others even more so. Changes are around the corner. New transfer, new companion, new hair cut ;)

 I'm so grateful I took the chance to serve the Lord and go on a mission. Sure at times its ridicously hard, and all I want is to go home and hide under my covers, eating ice cream from the carton, but there are the times where you are just so happy, and at peace. Serving a mission has made my relationship with my heavenly father so much better than I could ever imagine.

I have 4 months left on my mission. And no Dad i'm not counting down the days, just super aware of how short of a time I have left here. Hopefully I am able to make a difference. Its so hard to tell sometimes.

I love you all so so much. Thanks for the support, I couldn't do this without you.

Much love! Sister Jessica Cannon

Letter as of 10/6/2014

What a crazy week!

Starting off with Monday. Zone Pday was such a blast. We played soccer, but halfway through it started hailing like crazy. We kept playing for awhile, but the hail got bigger, to the size of a dime, and it started to really hurt haha. We ended up taking cover, but then decided to play on the playground instead. Hahaha. I have bruises up and down my arms, but all can be healed through the Atonement :)

Tuesday we taught 7 lessons! That literally never happens. We met with Michael Le, and went over his baptism interview questions. He is now preparing for October 26th, which is super exciting. He was set on being baptized the day Christ was resurrected, and he wouldn't change his mind, but a miracle happened and now he wants to be baptized in October. God is good :) After that we had 5 less active lessons that went swell, and then met with Aaron, an active member in the ward who wants to be better at being a missionary to his nonmember girlfriend. He just invited her to take the discussions with us, so hopefully it all works out :)

Wednesday we saw the movie Meet the Mormons! It was soooo good, you definitely have to go see it this weekend. I don't want to ruin any of it, but its a must see. Wednesday we invited our new investigator, Jake, to be baptized, and he said yes! We didn't set him with a bap date, but we will the next time we see him. the work is picking up so incredibly much. I'll be sad to leave next week. Don't know anything for sure. but I feel pretty strongly i'll be getting transferred next week.

Man, General Conference was amazing! I absolutely loved it, and I feel as if I was able to receive a ton of revelation, which is always a plus. I loved the talk that was the 6 steps to spiritual confidence. That, and Hollands talk, were my two favorites.

Yesterday we found a new investigator! Her name is Jessica, (happens to be the first Jessica I've ever taught on my mission, about time haha.) She's twenty, her dad was baptized about 2 years ago, and she just welcomed us right in when we knocked on her door. She too accepted the baptism invitation, so that is super exciting. I feel like she will progress rapidly in the Gospel.

Things here are going really great. Being in a trio this time around has been so much fun, we are just constantly laughing, but we work hard together, which is a plus.

We went to the zoo and had lots of fun.....

Hope everything is going well back home! See you in a short 4 months!

Love Sis Cannon