September 8, 2014
Happy to Arrive in Virginia
Hi
family and friends,
Wednesday,
September 3, was a crazy day for me. Elder McCall and I woke up at 1:00 in the
morning, or 11 pm Arizona time, so in total I probably had about 3 hours
of sleep. When I weighed my suitcases, I found that one of my suitcases was too
heavy so I had to switch a bunch of things around to make it work. The CCM gave
us a small breakfast of a lunchmeat sandwich and an apple. We left the CCM at
about 2:30 in the morning.
There
were two other hermanas with us who were flying to Dallas and then on to
Washington DC. Our driver walked us through the airport so that we would not
get lost. He dropped the Hermanas off and then found out that he had taken us
to the wrong part of the airport for Delta airlines. So we got back in the van
and went to a different terminal. We got to the Delta terminal to drop off our
baggage only to find out that the Delta counter didn't open up until 4:30 a.m.
We stood there for an hour waiting for it to open.
After we
finally dropped our baggage off we went through the Mexican Security, which
wasn't that strict. All they made me do
was take off my insulin pump so they could put it through the x-ray machine. I
tried to talk them out of it in Spanish, but they wouldn't hear it.
Luckily, my pump is still working fine.
We
got to our flight just to realize that our boarding time wasn't until 7:00 a.m. So
Elder McCall and I sat down and tried to get an hour of sleep, but it was kind
of hard because the chairs were really uncomfortable.
Finally,
they boarded everyone on the plane. Everybody sat down and we waited for 10
minutes. After the wait, the pilot announced that the navigation system wasn't
working and he didn't want to fly over the Caribbean Sea without it. He said he would try to get it fixed but our
flight might be cancelled.
They
loaded everyone off and then people rushed in line back in the airport to try
to change their flights around. Elder McCall and I were worried because neither
of us had been in a situation like this before so we just stood in line. Elder
McCall and I said a prayer because we weren't sure what to do, and we asked
Heavenly Father to either send us someone who knew a little English that could
help us or that somehow everything would work out. Within a minute this Mexican
guy got in line behind us. We started talking to him to see what he was going
to do. He knew English so he talked to us and told us not to worry about it and
that we would figure it out when we got to the front of the line. Elder McCall
and I felt calmer after talking to him.
That guy definitely asked our prayers. When we got to the front of the
line we found out they were able to find a way to fix the plane, however the
plane was going to be delayed and would take off 3 hours late.
We
were able to arrange to get on another connecting flight from Atlanta to
Norfolk, which was scheduled to land around 7:30 p.m. Then, the guy behind us
told the booking agent that since our plane had been delayed, he owed us one free
phone call. I had never heard of that before.
Thank goodness he told that guy that. Elder McCall and I decided to use
our one call to call the mission president. President Baker arranged to
have someone pick us up at our later arrival time. Our
prayers were definitely answered.
After
we landed in Atlanta, we had to go through Customs. Immediately when we stepped
off the plane, they had a bunch of German shepherds smelling for bombs. Each of
us had to stop and let the dog stiff us, and all of our carry on luggage. After
we got through that we presented our passport and answered a few questions from
an officer who looked at our passport. After that we were officially back in
the good ol' US of A!
We
got our luggage and dropped it off again and then went through security again
to be able to get on our other flight. I exempted the body scan since I can’t
go through that with my insulin pump so I got a pat down. I got held back for even longer because when an
officer wiped my hands to do a bomb check for an alarm went off. Then, they
pulled me into a separate room and went through everything in my suitcase and
did a thorough pat down. Finally, when they didn't find anything, they let
me go.
When
we landed in Norfolk, Elder McCall and I found out that our bags
hadn't made the flight and they were still in Atlanta, but one of the
workers for Delta told us that they were going to try to get them to our
hotel by the morning.
We
then drove to a church building in Chesapeake where we met the
other English missionaries who had flown in from Provo. There was one
Spanish Elder who went to Provo because apparently he was already fluent
in Spanish since he had lived in Guatemala the past two years where
his dad worked. We met President and Sister Baker and they seemed like really,
really nice people.
I
had an interview with President Baker and he told me that the fact that I
had diabetes wasn't going to limit where he was going to send me in the mission,
which sounds fine to me! We went to a hotel for the night and the beds were so
comfortable compared to the bed I had been sleeping in the past six weeks
in Mexico City.
Before
I went to bed, I prayed to Heavenly Father and said a specific prayer that both
of my bags would be at the front of the hotel in the morning with all my things
in them still intact.
I
woke up in the morning and went down to the front desk and my bags were there
with everything in them, so my prayer had been answered. Prayer really is an amazing
thing, and I know our Heavenly Father will answer them if it is according to
his will!
We
went to the transfer meeting where we got assigned to our new companion and our
new area. I was assigned to work with Elder Remund. I have been assigned
to Newport News/Hampton Virginia. My area covers the Southern and downtown part
of Newport News and most of Hampton. There
are only 6 people in our district, Elder Remund and me and 4 sisters. Elder
Remund is the district leader. Elder Remund and I cover Hampton and southern
Newport News. Two of the sisters cover the middle of Newport News and northern
Hampton and the other 2 sisters cover the northern part of Newport News. The
area that we are responsible for is really large. There are only a few areas where there are
apartments or town houses in our area. Almost everybody in our area lives in
trailer home parks. I’m sure a lot of
you have heard of Hampton, and yes what you have heard is correct. It really is
a ghetto. It’s nice to have a car and
just be able to drive through the sketchy areas.
After
the meeting my companion took me shopping to get the things I would need for
the rest of the week and then we immediately went to Companionship study where
we talked about the investigators in the area. There are 5 progressing
investigators.
Edwin
and Miriam want to be baptized but they can’t at the moment
because they are not married and they have a son. They are getting married on December 20, and
they will be baptized shortly after that!
Nazario
wants to be baptized as well but he can’t yet because he is not married to his
girlfriend and they have had a child together as well. In addition, he can’t
get married yet because he needs an ID to get married however he was stripped
of his ID when he got caught crossing the border and was put in jail. He also
has a tracking device on his leg. He won’t
be able to be baptized until he gets his legal issues resolved in
late 2015. As a result, he hasn't been
coming to church lately and scheduled appointments with him have been falling
through.
Jeff
is African American, but his wife is from the Caribbean and speaks Spanish. We
are able to teach him in English because he doesn't know Spanish. Jeff is
following the commandments that Elder Remund and his previous companion have
taught him and he wants to be baptized.
The thing that is holding him back is that he has not received an answer
about whether the book of Mormon is true. On a lesson on Thursday night, we
taught him how to pray with a sincere desire and we showed him examples of Book
of Mormon prophets who prayed with a real desire and with faith. He said he
would do that. On Sunday, Elder Remund and I fasted for him that he would
receive an answer. We are having a lesson with him this Thursday and we are
going to ask him if he has received his answer. If he has not received an
answer we are going to ask him to pray right then and after he receives his
answer we will ask him to be baptized.
Jesus
P. has been really sick lately and so he hasn't been able to see the
missionaries. He wants to be baptized as well, but just like Nazario he is
tangled up with legal issues. He has been to jail many times, so Elder Remund
is trying to get him an interview with President Baker. If everything checks
out, then he can be baptized.
The
last investigator is Daniel. Daniel has received some of the lessons from Elder
Remund and his old companion, but recently he has been ignoring the
missionaries. We just may have to let
him go.
Even
though they are mostly English speaker here, we basically only teach Hispanics.
We have two cases where we are teaching two different guys in English because
their wives speak Spanish but other than that all our other lessons are in
Spanish. We have to hunt down the Hispanics in our area because they aren't
really grouped together in any specific area. When we are tracting, and bump
into people that aren't Hispanic, we ask them if they have seen any Hispanics
in their neighborhood. We still mention that we are missionaries and talk to
them. If they seem interested, then we get their information and pass it along
to the English Elders in that area.
There
is one other investigator I want to mention. He wasn't really a progressing
investigator until I came here:
Elias
is from Honduras and has a wife and two daughters. Elder Remund said that he
contacted him in April, but Elias hasn't really been too excited about the lessons
and had been missing scheduled appointments. I had the chance to meet him for a lesson on
Friday. He seemed like such a nice guy. We
taught him the doctrine in 2nd Nephi chapter 31. His family sat in with us too.
It was an amazing lesson and the Spirit was very strong. I think he could feel
it too, as he set up another appointment up with us on Sunday. On Sunday we
taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I taught him the principle of
Baptism and then I asked him, "Seguira el ejemplo de Jesu Cristo al
ser bautizado por alguien que posea la autoridad del Sacerdocio de Dios?" Translated to English I said, "Will you
follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the
priesthood authority of God?" I also asked him if he would prepare
for baptism on October 4. He said yes to both!!! Elder Remund and I are really
excited for him.
I
had a cool experience on Sunday at church. The Latinos have their own small branch
consisting of 70 members so all three meetings are held completely in Spanish. Luckily, I am used to having Sacrament in
Spanish because that is what we did at the CCM for the six weeks that I was
there. Since it was fast Sunday, the branch president asked all the new
missionaries that had gotten transferred in the area to come up to bear their
testimonies. I bore my testimony, in Spanish obviously, and thought I did a
decent job. However, after Sacrament all
the Latinos in our ward kept coming up to me and telling me how impressed they
were with my testimony. They also told
me that my Spanish was really good considering that I have only been in the
field for 4 days.
The
ward missionary in our branch is really cool. His name is Hermano Tucker. He is
Anglo, but he is in our Spanish branch anyway because he can speak fluent
Spanish.
Well,
I am really excited to be here in the field and to serve the Latinos here in
Newport News/Hampton area. I have had an amazing time here so far and I know it’s
going to continue to be amazing. One thing I have learned these past couple of
days is that D&C 18: 15-16 really is true. You experience so much joy as
you bring others to the knowledge of their Savior and Redeemer and to
the restored gospel. Elder Remund has taught me that you must talk to
everyone. No matter where we are or whether the person is Spanish speaking or
not, he talks to them and then gives them a Mormon.org card and asks them to
check it out.
This
really is a glorious work. Talk to everyone next Monday.
-Elder
Cannon
Me with President Baker and Sister Baker
Me with my new companion Elder Remund
