April 13th and April 20th- Two letters

April 13th and April 20th- Two Letters in One Post

April 13, 2015

Hey Family and Friends! 

Everything is going fine here in Norfolk.

On Preparation day last Monday we got a bunch of missionaries together to play some basketball.  When we got to the court there was a bunch of African American guys playing there as well so we ended up playing basketball with them and it was a ton of fun.

On Wednesday we had a sweet lesson with a Puerto Rican citizen named Roberto. He told us that he completely changed his life around and put his trust in Christ. After the lesson he told us he wanted to learn some more about Joseph Smith. 

Later that day we went to see Jaime. We have been trying to visit him but we never are able to because he is always so busy with work. The last time we saw him, over two months ago, he was just starting to read the book of Jacob in the Book of Mormon.   Today we were able to talk with him and found out that he is now reading in the book of Moroni.  That was awesome to find out! We just need to find a way to meet up with him more often and get him to church!

The Puerto Rican members in our ward have moved! The Rivera's were so sweet.  Hermano Rivera couldn't find a job so they had to move back to Puerto Rico.  On Thursday we said goodbye to them, and it was so sad.

We also were able to visit Martin and Lani. We haven't been able to see them for a while. Martin still hasn't read the Book of Mormon and he told us that he doesn't really want to read it. He says he's praying to know if its true but he's never going to get an answer from God if he doesn't put effort into reading the Book of Mormon. He told us we could still come over but he isn't going to read the Book of Mormon until he feels like reading it. 

On Friday, we had interviews with President Baker and then we had district meeting right afterwards. It was nice that I didn't have to plan anything for District meeting since we had some senior missionaries do all the trainings.

We were driving from the building back to Norfolk when we got stopped at a red light that was in front of this big park called Mount Trashmore.  All of a sudden Elder Bradshaw saw a member in our ward who one day was active and then didn’t come to church anymore.  We haven't been able to see or get in contact with him. We quickly parked the car and walked on the opposite side of the park so that we "accidently" bumped into him and his family. We were able to talk with him for a couple minutes. It was just a complete miracle to see him there.

On Saturday, we helped the Sabillon family fix their roof. The roof of their trailer had been caving in so my companion, Cesar and I spent a couple of hours tearing the tar off it. It felt good to do some good hard labor.  Afterwards we ate papusas with them.  That in itself made it worth it but of course we were willing to help with or without the papusas.  Saturday night we planned a missionary activity for the branch. We watched a video about Thomas S. Monson’s life.  None of the ward had seen the movie before.  The spirit was super strong during the presentation and everyone said that they liked it. We were given a few referrals afterwards. 

I hope that everyone has a great week!

Love, Elder Cannon

April 20, 2015

Hey Family and Friends!!

President Baker announced that this coming month is going to be called "Miracle May,” in which every companionship in the mission is going to have a baptism. It's going to be hard and it’s going to take a lot of faith and obedience but I'm excited and I know it’s going to come to pass. Our entire mission is fasting on the first Sunday of May to be able to see this happen.

We had exchanges on Wednesday.  I stayed in our area and Elder Bradshaw joined one of the zone leaders in his area. Elder Crump joined me for the day. It was a really sweet day. We talked with a bunch of people and we taught a couple lessons. It was pretty cool because since Elder Crump can't speak Spanish, I was just in there teaching by myself and the lessons went great.

On Friday it was really sad, because we found out that Martin dropped us. He doesn't want to listen to any more lessons from us. Lani still is interested so she said we could come by every so often to teach her.  We aren't really sure if we want to teach her and not Martin. So we are going to ask President Baker about that. Elder Bradshaw and I are just hoping and praying that Martin has a change of heart. 

On Saturday, we performed lots of service. We went over to the Sabillon's to continue to help them fix their roof. Fausto, a Chilango (that's what they call people from Mexico City), who is a family friend, was there helping too. Elder Bradshaw and I have talked to him before and he's really chill. We are going to try to start teaching him. The Sabillon’s cooked Carne Asada for us afterwards, which was so good. Later, we borrowed a lawnmower from one of the members in our branch and mowed the lawn for one of the Hermana's investigators. 

Hope everyone has a great week!

Love, Elder Cannon

April 6, 2015- Conference

April 6, 2015- Conference

Hey family and friends!

I hope everyone had a great Easter and Conference weekend! I love being able to hear from a living prophet and apostles. What they say really is inspired and will help us to continue to walk on the path back to our Heavenly Father. If you didn't get the chance to watch all the sessions of General Conference, watch the rest as soon as possible because all of the sessions were great. 

As District Leader, all of my responsibilities have increased. I had to direct District Meeting on Friday, make some calls Sunday night to the sisters to get all their numbers for the week, and then I had to call the Zone Leaders to report all of the information. But- it’s all good.

It was pretty crazy Tuesday night!  We were talking to a guy from El Salvador at an apartment complex, when off in the distance heard three gunshots. The people who were outside went into their apartments and shut their doors. A couple of minutes later we saw two police cars drive past as they were investigating the incident. 

On Wednesday, we taught five lessons.  Two lessons were about the Restoration. The spirit that is present in those Restoration lessons is so strong and there is no way you can't know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. 

On Friday, I had to direct a District meeting where I basically stood up in the front and talked for an hour and a half. We had a discussion about 2 Nephi 31 and practiced some lesson roleplays. 

On Saturday, we did some service for a member family in our branch. Hermano Trapp is from Provo, Utah.  He didn't serve a Spanish-speaking mission and yet his Spanish is perfect. He said that studying hard and twenty years of practice from being married to his Hispanic wife is what helped him to speak well. It felt great to do some physical labor. We dug a bunch of holes and put up a fence in his yard.  

Saturday and Sunday we watched all the sessions of Conference, three of which I watched in Spanish. Conference was so good. I can't wait to get the Ensign so that I can read them again!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Cannon

March 30, 2015- Good Food and a Surprise

March 30, 2015- Good Food and a Surprise

Hey Familiares y Amigos!

Things are going well here in Norfolk! 

I got to eat some super yummy food this week! I ate mofongo, a famous dish from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.  It consists of fried plantains that are shaped like a ball with meat and spices in the middle. I also ate baliadas for the first time. It is the most famous dish from Honduras. Hondurans are always talking about them.  A baliada is a soft tortilla filled with eggs, beans and cream cheese.  I have to say that baliadas almost rivaled papusas.  They were super good.

On Thursday, I went on exchanges with my zone leader Elder Brown.  His companion came down to Norfolk to teach with my companion Elder Bradshaw. Elder Brown is an English-speaking missionary.  It was really weird to teach in English again.  But the hardest part was saying prayers in English out loud. We went to a potential investigator's house in their area. They hadn't been able to get in contact with him but when Elder Brown and I knocked on his door he answered and let us in. He had a ton of great questions and the spirit was super strong there. The guy had told us at the beginning of the lesson that he was expecting a call from someone. He received a phone call right when Elder Brown was in the middle of reciting the first vision. We had to end the lesson right there because the guy had to leave right then to go somewhere.  It seems that Satan always has something come up when we are reciting the first vision. 

On Saturday, we taught our investigators Osman and Carmina. Osman was busy so we were only able to teach Carmina.  She surprised us when she told us that she had read all the way up to 1 Nephi Chapter 8. It is so awesome when our investigators have been reading and are able to tell you exactly what happened in the chapters that they read.  

For some reason we've had a lot of people this week pulling out the scripture at the end of Revelations to try to prove to us that we can't have the Book of Mormon. On Sunday, we were talking to a man in front of this trailer, when another man came over holding his Bible in his hand.  He immediately started reciting some scriptures in the book of Revelations. In response, Elder Bradshaw and I asked him inspired questions. We were able to steer him away from being so contentious. I asked him to look up Ezekiel chapter 37, where it talks about the Bible and Book of Mormon (the stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph). He read the chapter and then he said that he would look into that, and then he left us alone 

We got our transfer calls on Saturday.  It really surprised me when President Baker told us that Elder Bradshaw and I would be staying together.  This means that I'll be his last companion because this transfer is his last transfer.  Then he said that I was called to be the senior companion and the new district leader. Now I will be a district leader over two Spanish sister missionaries and two English sister missionaries and Elder Bradshaw and I. 

A couple days ago the church has put out a new initiative that is similar to the He is the Gift initiative. This time the message is focused on Christ's resurrection. The mormon.org website has a lot of information about the last week of the Savior's life as well as a bunch of videos that simply and clearly explain some of our beliefs. We have shared the website with a bunch of members and investigators and they loved it. I would definitely encourage all of you to check it out at helives.mormon.org

I hope everyone has a great Easter and General Conference weekend! 

Love,

Elder Cannon

Me in front of Statue of Neptune in Virginia Beach