Letter from 1/27/2014

 

Heeeellllllllooooooooooo!

 

What an amazing successful week. We taught 19 lessons! Whooooooh :)

 

Seriously the growth in this area astounds me. Before I arrived the sisters were teaching an average of 8 lessons. Then my first four weeks it was an average of 12 lessons, last week we taught 18 lessons, and this week 19. We're almost to the standard of excellence- 20 lessons a week! :)

 

I'm so excited, we actually have set lessons for people. We now have regulars! We work with about 5 LAs very regularly, 2 recent converts, and an investigater. The rest we work with active members, which is great. The Crowfoot ward seriously is booming. We had two extremely less actives show up to church yesterday, and the other sisters had 3 investigaters come. We have two people getting baptized this Saturday into the ward, so that is extremely exciting.

 

So yesterday I was given the wonderful opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting.....

I was asked to speak on the joys of missionary work haha. Super easy topic so I didn't end up preparing a lot for it- just ended up winging it mostly. It went pretty well- until the second half. When I reached to grab my scriptures out of my case, I dropped my scriptures.... over the pulpit.... Can you say extremely embarrassing? I vaguely remember making a lame joke like "Well I guess God didn't want me to read that scripture" haha but it was a scripture mastery so I ended up just reciting it. Yeah I don't think i'm ever going to live that down.

 

One of the less actives we work with, John, is so great. Hes overcoming an addiction, and has been meeting with the bishop regularly but asked if he could meet with us as well. On sunday he brought a nonmember friend, and when he introduced him, John set up an appt for us to meet with his friend, Denzel for this week. Denzel asked us what we would talk to him about, he looked a little nervous, and so all we said was along the lines of "We'll just get to know you a little bit, find out your relationship with God, and then try to help you improve it." He seemed pretty excited afterwards, so we'll have a new investigter sometime this week :)

 

I la la love serving here in Crowfoot YSA. I love being able to see so much progress. Transfers are next week- but I really feel that me and sister mall are both staying. We will see!

Hope everyone back home had a great week- I know I did. :)

 

Love you!

-Sis. Cannon

Letter as of 01/20/2014

What a great week!

We got 18 lessons this week, which basically never happens in YSA. So far this transfer, we always had 11 or 12 lessons per week. Miracles are happening!

The work here in the Crowfoot ward is booming. The ward has 4 investigators, and my companionship has one of those. AND ALL OF THEM  HAVE BAPTISM DATES! Yes, that's right. We invited James to be baptized, and he said yes! Glory, glory, hallelujah :)

So here's a layout of my week.

Last Monday was zone Pday. We had the "Olympics" and it was soo much  fun. A lot of the games we played were from the show minute to win it.

We played games like having an oreo on your forehead, and you have to get it into your mouth with out using hands or anything. We had crab walk races, volleyball relays, and so much more. Sorry mom, I didn't  take a lot of pictures- I was busy having too much fun! But I did take a few per request :)

 

 

Monday night we take Reno Mulumulu, James less active friend. It was a great lesson,
and now he says he wants to pray if he wants to go on a mission. Obviously he wont be able to leave
immediately, a lot will have to happen before he will be able to go, but I'm so excited for him. This mission is the best thing I've ever  done for myself.

After Reno's lesson we went to FHE, but instead of ice blocking, we ended up teaching this member who was having a very hard time. Her grandmother just passes away the week before, and she just really  wanted to talk. We reiterated to her the wonderful plan of salvation, and i could tell she got a lot out of it. It was a good thing for me to hear as well- especially since Grandma Metcalf isn't doing so well anymore.

 After this, then we went to Maggie's house, a recent convert of three months who is just amazing. She is our top fellowshipper, always wanting to go to lessons with us. She too is preparing to go on a
mission. Yay for more missionaries :)

 Wednesday we were able to start the morning off by going to the temple, and doing a session. I haven't been since November, so it was really great to be able to go. Did you hear that there is another new movie out? We didn't get to see it unfortunately, but maybe soon. After
the session we went to Deseret Book store, where I ran into Sis. Mataitusi! Ah I miss her. She is still serving in the Broadlands ward, so this is her 5th transfer in the Westminster Zone. Crazy.

I was asked to give the training at district meeting, for 20 minutes,  about how missionaries can receive revelation through the book of Mormon. I honestly have no idea what I talked about, but I think it went good? I had a whole lesson planned out, but when after I went to the temple I basically changed everything up. So hopefully people got  something useful out of it :)

Thursday we did some service at a nursing home. We basically are the lunch servers- we take down the residents order for lunch, and refill their drinks and stuff. When there is nothing to do then we get to just sit down and chat with them. I love being able to do this- everyone has such interesting stories. One of my favorites to talk to  is Marian. Everytime I meet her she talks about different careers she's
had. Apparantly she has been a teacher, police officer, nurse, general in the army, in the CIA, and etc. Super sweet lady, if only a little confused :)

 That night we met with Seth and Aly. Both are preparing for missions, and so for part of their preparation, the other sisters in the ward teach them the missionary discussions on Tuesdays, and on Thursdays Seth and Aly teach us the discussions. They are not yet the best of  teachers, buts that's okay. I wish I was able to do this before my mission- its awesome!

Friday morning we had our personal interviews with mission president. He truly is an inspired man, and he is the best. Unfortunately he is finished with his mission in July and so we'll be getting a new
President, which stinks. I'm sure I'll love him, but Pres. Toombs is amazing.

Friday is when we asked James to be baptized. We were planning on  waiting one more lesson, but I just felt really inspired to invite him to be baptized. he said would love to. We were both surprised honestly, but then it sunk in and we were so excited! We are setting him with a  bap date tonight when we see him.

I love serving here in Parker. Its definitely my favorite area so far,
hopefully I'll stay here for a long time. :)

Love Sister Cannon

Hola!

 

What a fantastic week! Life is good here in Parker, CO :)

 

Its been so crazy, I can barely remember the start of the week.

 

On Monday night for FHE, the YSA played crab soccer. (You walk around like a crab and can only use legs to kick.... obviously ha-ha)  Sis. Mall and I were the goalies- you cant very well walk like a crab in skirts... It was super fun! My team lost by one point- I think the other team cheated. :)

 

After Family Home Evening, we went on exchanges with the sister training leaders (STL's). I went with Sis. Blaek to the Clarke Farms ward, and it was a great experience. We tracted into and inactive FLDS. It was super funny. She invited us in, and as she was telling us about her religious background she said "Growing up I wasn't allowed to wear make up or pierce my ears. I remember barely that there were two main churches in my hometown. The one were the good people went to, and the other is a church that broke away from ours way before I was born. But I was young so I don't really remember much." Sis. Blaek and I both looked at each other and realized she is a former Fundamentalist. So that was cool :)

 

We tracted into another guy, and basically  this is what he told us. "You know, not a lot of people know about this, but there is a prophet on the earth. I know it. It just makes sense. That John Smith is from God....." Yes he did say John Smith. ha-ha 

 

On Wednesday we got a new investigator! WHOOOOH. Awesome story about that. 

 

As Sister Mall and I were going through YSA age less actives in other wards, she recognized a name, The Mulumulu's. She realized that this is the family that she grew up with, but lost contact when they moved to Colorado. They have four boys, all YSA age. Alec, Reno, Jordan, Devon.  Ages 21,22,23,24. So we went to visit them, and although its been years since she has seen them, they all recognized her right away. They have been inactive for years. And they had a nonmember friend there, James. We taught them all about Gods Love, and the Atonement, and James wanted to know more about the church. We gave him a book of Mormon, and he said he is excited to read it. We invited them all to Sports Night (Every Thursday night at the church) and James and Reno showed up which is great. Reno came to Church as well, unfortunately the others couldn't make it because they had to work.

 

Thursday we had the best zone meeting I've ever attended. It truly was so powerful and I learned a crazy amount of great stuff :) Something that really stood out to me was when he had the sisters break away from the elders for some training. Sister Burnett, the other STL, talked about Rebekah, and how she drew water for Abrahams servant and his camels. I never thought before how much strength that actually would have taken, her drawing water for multiple camels until they were full. Sis. Burnett talked about how Rebekah already had that strength. God was preparing her until he needed her. In this case it was so the servant knew Rebakah would be the wife for Isaac. Just like God prepares us by having us go through hard things so we will be ready when we are needed.

 

Saturday morning we volunteered at Double T Stables. Its a therapeutic riding program for  kids with disabilities. It was so awesome! We got to lead the horses around and play games with the kids who were riding. Like "basketball" - throwing plastic balls at a barrel. It truly was great seeing the smiles on those little kids faces.

 

 

 

Saturday afternoon was our church's open house. We are in a brand new building, and it was dedicated yesterday. Sis. Mall and I sang in the women's choir, and the prayer lasted for over 5 minutes... This man was very thorough as he dedicated the building. :)

 

Today is p-day and we will be having a special Olympics for our zone. Last week we made t-shirts for our Olympics...

 

 

But yes, I had a great week. Lots of exciting things happening here in CO :)

 

Love Sister Cannon

Letter from 1/6/2014

Its been a good week! :)

 

Cooooold, but good :)

 

We got about four inches of snow this week. Those hand hotties you gave me mom are now my best friend.

 

Yesterday was so productive. We were able to teach two lessons before church, and then after church we went to a members house and taught 4 different lessons at that house. We were originally planning on only teaching one, to Alex, who is the elders quorum president, but he had a lot of member friends over at the same time. So we taught each of them individually, just pulling them to another room. Normally we would teach them all at once obviously, but each of them are working on their own mission plans, and we have a series of lessons that go with each plan, so they all were on different lessons. Then they fed us dinner as well, so we were at that house for over four hours lol.

 

In one of the lessons yesterday we shared a clip off of youtube (the member found it for us, don't worry lol). Its Hollands Missionary Work & The Atonement talk and in the background its a movie of Christ, and the atonement. So powerful- try and find it online. Eyring speaks at the beginning of it if that helps to find the video. Katie, a member that was at the house was talking about the new year. And she said she came to the realization that every day can be a have  "new year" for us with repentance and the atonement. That really stood out to me.

 

I hit 5 months tomorrow as a missionary. Time has gone so fast! I have no clue where it went.

Did you guys do anything fun for the new years? I went to bed at 9am, which was fantastic. :) Our member was disappointed because she wanted to celebrate with us but all we wanted to do was sleep. Totally worth it :)

 

Someone pointed out to me earlier this week that I'm three months shy of being 20, gross I'm getting old, no longer a teenager :(

 

Today for Pday we are spray painting shirts- our zone calls ourselves Parker Nation, and so we are going to decorate shirts saying that. Next week pday we are going to wear the shirts, and have Zone Olympics  which will be super awesome.

 

Remember when we had the member of the seventy, Elder Corbridge, come speak to us I think in November? Well a long time ago he wrote this fantastic talk, titled The Fourth Missionary. Its 30 pages long... but fantastic. It reviles Hollands talks as one of my favorites. Its targeted to missionaries obviously, but can easily be viewed as members. I really encourage you to read it- it pretty much is life changing. Its all about becoming who God wants us to be.

 

Tonight I'm going on exchanges with my sister training leaders. I'll be serving in the clark farms ward for 24 hours. I love exchanges, I always learn so much from the STLs.

 

Hopefully you all have been staying warm- Its like 15 degrees over here.

 

Love you all so much! Have a great week.

 

Love Sister Cannon

 Ok I am a little behind on updates...oops :)

Letter from 12/9/2013

Brrrrrrrrr. What a freezing cold week! Tuesday it snowed about six inches, and since then it really hasn't heated up to more than 20 degrees. Most of the time during the day its about 2 or 3 degrees outside. No bueno!

This is going to be a pretty short letter because I honestly cannot remember much on what happened this past week lol. I think the snow has taken over my mind. 

 

So Tuesday night we borrowed a couple of snow shovels, and went with the elders to clear some houses. It wasn't a lot of fun for me since I didn't have snow boots at the time, so it was super duper cold, but that's okay, the look of appreciation on the elderly people we helped made it all worth it. The next day though I went straight to Kohls so I can get some boots. They were even half off! Score :) 

 

Mom, I got your Christmas tree that you sent me three days ago. Thank you sooo much! I love it :) Now we have one in our study room, and one in my bedroom, so it's perfect. 

 

 

Wednesday at district meeting I gave my first training. Normally our district leader trains us, but he asked me to do it instead. I was really nervous, because you know how much I hate speaking in front of a lot of people, but I think I did pretty good. I was asked to train on how to do daily/weekly planning. At first I thought it was going to be a lame topic, but I talked a lot on how to align our will with His,  and that we need to prayerfully plan, since this is Heavenly Fathers work, and we need to include Him in it. The spirit was really strong in the room, and I think everyone, including myself, took a lot from it. 

 

Today is zone pday, and so all the missionaries are going to go bowling. Hopefully I don't suck too bad and remember some of the things I learned in bowling club freshmen year!

 

Is the house all ready for Christmas? And have you started your baking frenzy yet? Feel free to send some over my way if you want them out of the house :)

 

Love Sister Cannon

Letter as of 12/17/2013 transfers were on 12/16

Hello from Parker CO!

This has been an INSANELY busy week. So by Friday night we taught 29 lessons. I know, its pretty insane.

 And then Saturday morning on the way to the dentists so that  S. Sprague can get a root canal we got a call from Elder Pratt, the housing coordinator for the CDNM, and he told us that in 3 hours he would bring the moving van because we were moving across the city to commerce city. So we had to rush home after the dentist and pack in like 3 seconds. We moved to a super cute apartment in a very ghetto area. :) That took most of the day, so we only were able to teach two lessons Saturday, unfortunately. We normally get like 6 or 7.

 

Saturday night was Transfer Doctrine, and I found out I'm getting transferred to Parker CO. My new companion is S. Mall, and she seriously is the nicest person ever. oh, and I'm serving in the YSA ward :) I asked President if I could get transferred to a small ward, and now I'm covering an entire stake. He sure has a funny sense of humor.. But that's okay I already LOVE it here.

 

We went to FHE last night and everyone is so nice and welcoming. Its so cool to serve people my age, instead of old 70 y/o men. I can tell this is going to be my favorite area and my favorite companion. The area I serve is completely beautiful, not to mention very rich.

 

Some completely amazing news: I GET TO SKYPE HOME ON CHRISTMAS :) :) :) :) Because of the mass amounts of calls/emails from angry moms the missionary committee and President relented and is allowed us to Skype for 40 minutes.  I'm so excited to see everyone! It should be around 11 am MST roughly. I'll have the member coordinate with you later in the week hopefully.

 

I love you all so much and I hope everything is going well back home. :)

Love, Sis. Cannon <3

 

Sister Cannon was very busy on Tuesday so she didn't have time for a lot of writing. We emailed her back after receiving this letter and she had to run for an appointment so we didn't get to "chat" back and fourth through the email like we normally do...

SORRY I HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO UPDATE THE LAST 3 WEEKS, IT WAS COMING UP WITH AN ERROR AND NOT ALLOWING ME TO POST :(  I will add pictures next time since I am once again having issues :(
 

Letter from 12/20/2013

Merry Christmas from Parker, CO!

I cant believe Christmas is in two days, how crazy! 

 

So I absolutely love my new area. Its wonderful :) I love being able to serve people my own age. Its also weird at the same time, but thats okay. Our ward mission leader is only 24, but he looks 18. He is the goofiest kid I've ever met, but has a strong love for the work. Problem is, he has a bajillion "squirrel moments" every time we meet with him.

 

So on Wednesday we had a super awesome Christmas Devotional. It was very interesting- definitely took a different approach. Brother Handy spoke (LDS Employment specialist for like 14 states) He is a archaeologist, and hes gone all over the world digging sites. He gave this amazing presentation on Christ visiting the americas, and how the proof is shown through ancient Mayan artifacts, and how the Book of Mormon goes right along with everything they were uncovering. It was so cool! Which you could have been there :)

 

Saturday night we were asked to sing for the Christmas program on sunday. I love last second invitations. So the sisters in the ward got together, and we sang Picture a Christmas, from the childrens hand book. It actually sounded really good! The angels were definitely helping us out since we had no time to practice.

 

So I think I forgot to mention this last time, but our YSA ward covers two stakes- but the other stake that Sister Mall and I don't cover is actually in the Colorado Springs mission. So the other set of sister missionaries in our ward is from another mission. Its weird, we have to cross mission boundaries all the time, which we normally are not allowed to do. Its really interesting to talk to the "foreign" missionaries- their mission rules are so different from ours. Like they can listen to disney music on Pday, watch disney movies on christmas, at night if their apointments fall through they are not allowed to knock doors, they have to head home and do studies. Its weird- glad i'm in the CDNM!

 

I'm really excited for Christmas. Cant wait to skype everyone :) I love you all soo much, thanks for all the support and the love- definitely felt and appreciated :)

 

Love Sis Cannon

 

 

 

Letter from 12/30/2013

HELLLLLOOOOOOOOO. :)

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas- it was so great to be able to see everyone!

Its been a great week-

 

On Monday for Pday we got permission to watch a movie- so the sisters in the zone gathered together and watched UP :) I forgot how funny that movie was! A lot of missionary jokes in it actually. "Wow its going to take 800 transfers to get home!" (Russell planning on taking the bus from south America back to home- but its funnier when you think missionary transfers) Lol.

 

Christmas was a lot of fun. In the morning we went to a breakfast and the stake presidents house- he fed all the missionaries in the stake. They are the cutest family- they waited to do all their Christmas traditions until we were there with them. So we watched The Nativity, decorated gingerbread cookies, and pigged out on a lot of food, which is always nice.

 

 Directly after breakfast we went to the Cunningham's so that I could Skype you lovely bunch :) I thought it would be weird at first, but it seemed like yesterday that I saw you all. The Cunningham's fed us a good lunch, and then it was S. Mall's turn to Skype home.

 

Then we went to the YSA Christmas dinner- all the people who didn't have family in the area gathered together. The RS President put it together- and it was a lot of fun. We ate too much food, and then played monopoly. Well, me and S. Mall sat on the sidelines and gave helpful hints since we aren't actually allowed to play :)

 

 After that meal we went over to our ward mission leaders house. We spent the evening with him and his family, and our zone leaders who live with them. They are the coolest family- we played jenga and connect 4, and skid around the house in socks since they just waxed their wood floors :)

 

Our district leader is the sweetest. Because we don't get fed dinner hardly ever since we serve in YSA, he called a couple people in his ward to feed us- so don't worry mom we are getting fed :) We are trying to think of something cute to do to repay him- but unfortunately our creative juices aren't flowing.

 

How was everyone's week?

Love you and miss you!

<3 Sis. Cannon