Week 3: August 6, 2014
This week went by really quickly. The
night after my first Preparation day, which was last Wednesday, it started
pouring like crazy. I have never seen it rain so hard in my life. About halfway
through the storm, my companion and I, and the other two elders in our district
who share the apartment with us, remembered that we left our windows open. So
Elder M and I rushed back to our apartment while getting soaked in the process
and found that our room was soaking wet and the floor had a couple inches of
water on it. It was the same case for our fellow district members as their
floor was soaking wet too. Luckily, nothing important got wet so that was a
relief. It never fails to rain here in Mexico City every night at around 6 pm.
It pours for about an hour or two and then just stops. During the mornings and
evenings it is really comfortable. During the middle of the day it varies.
Sometimes its really hot but normally it actually feels really nice outside.
Triggered by a thought from Elder S,
one of the elders in our district, I had the inspirational idea to have our
district study the scriptures every night during the time of personal study. I
assigned someone to pick their favorite scripture and just read up about it the
night before and then plan to discuss it with the district the following night.
These discussions have been the highlight of every day for the past week as the
Spirit has been so strong in the room. From discussing a scripture selection
for almost an hour or more, I really have learned how to study the scriptures,
and I have learned so much about our Savior, faith, the purpose of trials and
more. Following our first discussion, I thanked Elder S for sparking my idea.
He responded to me by saying, "It
wasn´t my idea, it was your inspired idea." What he said hit me really hard because I
realized that I had received revelation for my whole district and I didn´t even
realize it. Our district needed these extremely spiritual discussions and the
Lord knew it, he prompted me, and as a result our whole district’s testimonies
have definitely grown. So for everyone back home, when you receive either
personal revelation or revelation for your calling, immediately act on it
because it can really bless the lives of others.
On July 31, my companion Elder M got
extremely sick. He caught the same illness that I have had for the past week
and a half, but it hit him really hard. So when Elder M woke up feeling really
sick, I gave him a Priesthood blessing. He then went to sleep after that and he
slept in until 3 p.m. that day. I ended up just staying in our apartment and
studying the scriptures and Spanish while he slept. When he woke up, he felt so
much better. He was still sick, but he was able to get up and we were able to
go back to class. Before I left on my mission, my Stake President told me in my
setting apart blessing that if I was worthy I would bless people and heal
them. It was amazing to see that
blessing that my Stake President gave me was fulfilled.
The frequency of our classes has
started to pick up now. We have classes the whole morning and then we have
classes all evening long. After spending so much time in class six days a week,
plus trying to study the language during my free time, I have been really tired
lately. I have been improving my Spanish speaking this week. I love being able
to talk to Latinos around campus. I try to talk to them whether they are
missionaries that are sharing our apartment or working here at the CCM. It’s
just really cool to talk to the Latinos and see how their life is different and
similar to mine. I am definitely
starting to develop a love for the Latino people. I can still understand the language much
better than I can speak it.
About two nights ago, one of the Elders
in my district who shares an apartment with me and my companion came into our
room. He was struggling with some issues that were troubling him. He came in
and talked to me and Elder M for almost two hours (until midnight). Elder M and
I tried to answer him the best we could. I could definitely feel the Spirit
directing me and Elder M and on what to say and I really feel like we answered
his questions. We bore our testimonies and I think that really helped him.
Another issue that concerned him is that he has a condition where he has a
seizure for about a second or two almost every day. He has to take medicine to
try to lessen the seizures. He only has a year’s worth of medication and
apparently when he runs out he runs out because his parents can’t afford any
more. He is really scared about what is going to happen when he runs out. Elder
M and I bore our testimonies that the Lord would provide a way. We then asked
him if we could give him a blessing for all the things that were bothering him.
Just then, Elder S’s companion, woke up and came into our room. He told us he
felt like he had to wake up for something but he wasn’t sure why. Both Elder M
and I knew that he was supposed to give the blessing. When he gave the blessing
it was amazing because he blessed Elder S exactly with the things Elder S
needed to hear, and his companion wasn’t even in the room while we were
talking. It was definitely inspiration from the Lord and it was amazing to
experience it.
Our Latino Elders who were sharing the
apartment with us left on Monday. It was really sad for me and my other 3
roommates because we all had grown so close to them. We exchanged contact
information so hopefully we can stay in touch. Today our two new Latino Elders
arrived. They are both both from Mexico. The other four guys in our district
live next door, and one of their new Latino Elders is from Salo Paulo Brazil.
He is a really super cool kid. He knows Portuguese not Spanish but since the
two languages are similar, we can understand each other. How many people can
say they have talked to someone who speaks Portuguese and is from Brazil? I
can!!!
Today we went to the Mexico City
temple. On our way there it was really humbling to see the living conditions of
the Mexico City citizens. The crazy thing is these people are in the middle
class and their standard of living is very meager compared to the middle class
in America. It just makes me really grateful for the blessings that I have. We
got to walk around the temple grounds, but the temple was closed so we weren´t
allowed to go in which was too bad but it was a really neat experience anyway.
Talk to everyone next week!
Love,
Elder Cannon
