May 4th and May 11th Posts

May 4, 2015- Tortino says "Yes" to baptism

Hey Family and Friends!

Miracle May is on its way!

This week we had an awesome lesson with Tortino! We brought him some old clothes that we found so that he has clothes to wear to church. He was really excited. I tried to teach him how to tie a tie but it didn't go over so well, ha ha. He said he'd just watch a video on You Tube to figure it out. We invited him to be baptized on May 30th and he said yes! He's going to have to go to church for three consecutive Sundays to be able to qualify to be baptized on May 30^th, since he wasn't able to make it to church yesterday because he had work.  

On Saturday, we ate breakfast, lunch and dinner with members of our ward. It was really cool because the McCoy’s, a sweet member family from Newport News, drove here to Norfolk and took us to breakfast.  It was awesome to see them again. In addition, while we were walking on a street in Norfolk, we ran into an Elder who had served in our mission and finished his 2 years in February. Apparently, he's working this summer for a company going door-to-door and selling security systems. He’s basically he's reliving his mission but instead of telling people about the gospel he's telling them about security systems.

On Sunday, I tried the hottest chili that Hispanic people use, which is called Chile Arbol. Apparently, the ghost chili is a little spicier than the Chile Arbol. However, the member made the sauce with chile arbol in such a way that it wasn't super spicy.

I want everyone to know that I have no doubt in my mind that our church is Christ's Church and that he is at its head. He guides His church today through a living prophet and apostles just as he did in ancient times. I know that He restored his church through the prophet Joseph Smith. Every time we teach a lesson about the Restoration and I share the story of the first vision, I feel the spirit witness to me that it is true.  The Book of Mormon is the evidence of the restoration. I know that the Book of Mormon is true as well. Every time I read the Book of Mormon I feel closer to my Savior, Jesus Christ. If there are people out there reading this that aren't sure if all these things are true, or if you are just looking for an answer to any question, go to our Heavenly Father and ask him. We are His children and he doesn't want us to be confused. He wants us to know the truth.

Love, Elder Cannon

May 11, 2015- Transfer Calls

Hey Family and Friends!

Yesterday was definitely the highlight of my week because I got to Skype with my family! It was awesome being able to talk to you! After we Skyped we ate dinner with the Sabillon’s and Martin and Lani. They cooked us some really good Carne Asada. Then we were able to listen in when Jose, one of the Sabillon's sons, Skyped from his mission in Los Angeles.  It was a sweet experience!!

Saturday, we got transfer calls.  I will be staying here in Norfolk. I will continue to be the District Leader.  Elder Garcia will be my new companion.  We are going to be training a new missionary. I interviewed a 9-year-old girl for baptism this week.  It was really hard to interview her because she was really shy and scared. Later that night, our Ward had a Mother's day party that we attended.  Some of the members dressed up as a mariachi band and played some music for the celebration.

Hope everyone has a great week!  Thank you for all the birthday wishes!

Love, Elder Cannon

Teaching Tortino how to tie a tie for church.

Martin is preparing Carne Asada for Mother's Day dinner.

Eating dinner with Martin and Lani and the Sabillon family on Mother's Day

I am helping members with their yard work.

Me with the Mariachi Band

April 27, 2015- Translating a Meeting

April 27, 2015- Translating a Meeting

Dear Family and Friends

This week we taught two lessons to Tortino. We met him a couple of weeks ago as we were walking through a trailer park.  He was standing outside the community’s Laundromat and smoking.  We talked to him and he said we could talk with him sometime, so got his address and phone number.  When we came by again, we couldn't find his trailer.  This week as we were walking through the same trailer park, when we saw a guy walking on the street ahead with a bunch of laundry, when we realized it was Tortino. He recognized us and came over to greet us.  He was super happy to see us, and asked us when we were going to come over to visit him.  We told him that we hadn’t been able to find his trailer so he showed us were it was.  We had an awesome first lesson with him and he thought everything was bien chevere (fabulous). When we came by on Thursday, and he was outside on his porch reading the Book of Mormon! We were able to teach him yesterday as well, and he's really excited about everything. He told us he's going to come to church on Sunday.

On Monday night we had a FHE with Fabricio where we watched a movie called The Testaments. He made us some smoothies with a fruit in it called naranjia, which is a fruit that only grows in the Andes Mountains in Ecuador.  It was really good!

Wednesday, we ate dinner with a member family from Brazil. They were speaking Portuguese to us and we'd speak Spanish back to them. Portuguese and Spanish are similar so you can generally understand each other but some words are so different that they are not even close. It was pretty cool though.

Elder Bradshaw and I are trying to repair our relationship with Martin and Lani, because it has been awkward ever since Martin told us he's not interested in the church anymore. It is sad because we are so close to them.  We had the chance on Thursday to go to work with Martin.  It was tons of fun. We helped him put new flooring in a house in Chesapeake. 

Friday night, one of the English wards invited our branch to eat some tacos with them. The food was pretty good, but tacos made by Chelays (non Latinos) just aren't the same compared to genuine Latino style tacos. There was a talent show afterwards and there was this a funny skit where a couple lip synced a bunch of songs from the 90s.

On Saturday, we helped the Sabillon family tear down some walls in their trailer.  Afterwards they fed us papusas.  Papusas just never get old; they're just too good.

We met some guys from Guatemala who had recently crossed the border.  They told us some crazy stories about crossing the desert for four days without food.  They walked at night and then had to hide in the bushes during the day so that the Border Control helicopters flying around wouldn't see them. I just love hearing people's stories of crossing the border. They are so crazy and they always are cracking jokes when they are telling their tale.

On Sunday, we had Stake Conference.  On Saturday night, there was a special Women's Conference, which included 5 stakes from all over Virginia and North Carolina. A bunch of general authorities came including Bonnie L Oscarson, the YW General President, Linda S. Reeves, the 2nd Counselor in the General Relief Society presidency and the new 2nd counselor in the General Primary presidency. My companion and I were there because we were asked to to translate the meeting into Spanish.  It was a bit awkward being the only males there, but the talks were really good.  

Hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Cannon

Elder Bradshaw, Linda S. Reeves, Me

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