This is it!

From Feb 16, 2016

Man, I don't even know how to start the LAST email of my mission. THE LAST EMAIL!!!!! So crazy. It has been SUCH a ride. An amazing one. :) There has been a little bit of everything. The highest of highs, lowest of lows, and everything in between. And all of it being sacred, carrying the name of Christ. It took me a while to make the decision to serve, but I couldn't feel more rescued now that I have. I thought I knew before, but I know so much more now who my Savior is. And for that I will always be grateful.

We're seeing lots of progress in Pamela right now which is amazing. We taught about the Word of Wisdom and helped her make some goals to stop drinking coffee. She was worried about not having enough energy in the mornings to work without it, so we read the promise in D&C 89 that said she would run and not be weary, walk and not faint. We promised her that and I felt the power of our authority as we said it. 

We also taught Elinore! She's a new investigator from last week. She's German so we got her a Book of Mormon in German, and teach her in Spanish. She's still kind of unsure about everything but we're hoping to see some progress in her this week. :) 

We've also had a lot of really cool experiences contacting this week. We're contacting EVERYONEEEEEEE. That's one of the goals I've had during pretty much my whole mission haha but something I really want to focus on for my last little bit here. We actually ran into a lady we had contacted a couple days before who was a Jehovah's Witness that didn't really want to hear anything. But then we saw her in the park and she was all the sudden super receptive and accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon! So we're gonna stop by to teach her this week. 

I love you guys so much. I'll see you soon!! 

Hermana Cannon II

1. went back to ñuñoa last week and got to see Jaime! 

 

 

2. It's me. Hermana CANNON. 

 

 

3. Chile 

Christ is the Light

From Feb 9, 2016

Heyyy!!!!!!

It's my second to last P-day ever as a missionary and that is just INSANE!!!! Soooo crazy. It still doesn't seem real. It probably won't even seem real until I get on the plane!! haha. So it's just been crazy realizing how little time I really have left. Huge mix of emotions. Now I understand returned missionaries a little better I think haha. But yeah I've felt it all. Sad to leave, excited to see all your beautiful faces again :D, anxiety about life haha, not knowing how to say goodbye to these people, sadness about having to leave such a sacred mantle, excited to apply everything I've been learning when I get home, anxious to know what path God wants me to take in life like what to study, etc, exploring what it means to represent Christ without a name tag, and soooo much more. It's been really good. I feel better about it now haha. Last transfer all I felt was fear and anxiety and sadness haha but now I feel a lot better--a lot more prepared and just happy and content about finishing one of the most amazing adventures of my life and moving on to the next one. :) It's been so amazing and I feel like life will just keep getting better from here. 

Miracles from this week!

So we contacted a lady on the street last week named Paulina. She was verrrry Catholic and didn't really want to make an appointment with us but said that if she just happened to be home one day and we passed by, she would let us in. So we decided to pass by yesterday and she was there! We taught her about the Restoration and she was sooooo different from the day we contacted her. We have no idea what happened but she was just so much more open and receptive. So that was a miracle! And we now have a new investigator FINALLY. It has been so hard to find new investigators lately so that was just a huge miracle. Afterwards Hna. Maxfield and I realized that it is probably because we did a combined fast with our district last Sunday specifically fasting that our investigators can progress towards baptism and that we can find new investigators since it was a common challenge among our district and zone. So we did that and have really seen the blessings of it!

We also had a really great lesson with Monica this week. We tried planning for her but for some reason we just weren't sure exactly what she was going to need. So we just said a prayer before and trusted that the spirit would let us know what to say. So then we started the lesson going over the chapter she read in the Book of Mormon which was 2 Nephi 31 about baptism. She said what stood out most to her was the importance of being baptized in water, by immersion and that that was clear for her now. But then she went on to say that when it comes to baptism for her, it was a no. 

....

All we could do was pray and listen and just pray some more that God would help us know what to say. She talked about how it would just be really hard for her because she would feel like she was abandoning her Catholic roots. Then the spirit just led us to share our testimonies with her. Then I asked her if she had prayed to know the Book of Mormon was true and she said no, she hadn't. So we talked about how vital that would be for her, to really pray and ask with a sincere heart and real intent and she nodded and we could tell she understood. She said she would do it. 

It was so intense! But calm at the same time. If I've learned one thing since being out here it is the importance of the spirit. The spirit is everything. Nothing happens in lessons where we don't have the spirit. So it's been a fun journey exploring that and trying to figure out how to connect to the spirit and how to recognize it. It's such a vital skill not only for missionary work but just for pretty much everything in life. So I will be forever grateful for having been able to dedicate so much time to trying to figure out how he works. I hope to have him with me the rest of my life. :)

Something cool also happened yesterday during zone conference. We did this little activity where we all had to write down on a scrap of paper 1 fear, and 1 thing we didn't like doing. As I pondered that, I thought of my regular fears... the ones that I still had throughout the majority of my mission, and then all the sudden I realized I wasn't afraid of them anymore. I pictured each fear and then thought, "oh wait, I have the temple. I'm not afraid of that anymore," or, "oh wait, I have the iron rod. I'm not afraid of that anymore." It was a pretty sacred experience for me. If there's one thing I've really learned about the gospel since being out here is that it dispels all fear. I've really learned and experienced that where there is faith, there is no room for fear. Just like how light dispels the darkness. And Christ is the light. And I can see now how vital that truth is going to be for the rest of my life. A verse from a song that I'm writing right now goes "and even though I've fallen hard before, you've picked me up and dust me off... I never really knew myself before, but I never lost the sight of my Savior." Something like that. Kind of illustrates what I've been thinking about lately about the importance of having Christ at the center. It doesn't matter what happened in the past, who we were, or what trials might be coming in the future... Christ will always be our Savior. And as we look to that, our sight is filled with light. Nothing else, just light. Just Him. And that saves us. 

Love you guys soooooo much. Hope you have the best week ever! :) Next week will be my last P-day and then I'll see you AT HOME! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! hahaha. Love you sooooo much. 

xoxo

Hermana Cannon II   

crazy life!

From Feb 2, 2016

 

Hey family and friends!

Soooooo another great and crazy week! Soooo crazy. Despite the fact I only have like 3 weeks left here I still had to renew my visa because it was expired and they don't let you go home if it's not updated haha. So we had to spend a good chunk of two days this week doing crazy visa stuff. Soooo glad that's over haha. But the visa place is the best place to contact people because they are all foreigners and are usually more receptive. We had like 3 people come up to us first to ask about the church before we even got the chance to say anything haha. But it was cool getting to meet all those people while we were sitting waiting in line for like 3 hours. We met a less active family there who wanted their daughter of 9 years old to be baptized and to visit with the missionaries again so we got down their information and are gonna send the missionaries over. We also met a young guy who was selling hot dogs outside who stopped us in the street and asked how he could get a visit from the missionaries. So even though we had to be outside of our area for like almost a full day, we still got lots of proselyting done which was exciting and a miracle. :) 

What else. Oh yeah! It was finally my turn to go to the "self-sufficiency" meeting since I'm going home this transfer!!! Sooooo werid. Everyone calls it the trunky meeting haha. I'm actually going home the same day as one of the APs and we see each other every week for district meeting since he is in my zone and he always makes sure to give me the current count down of how many weeks, days, and hours we have left til we go home haha. Its pretty hilarious. And then he reassures me he's not trunky he just likes playing trunky. Surrrrrrrrrre haha. Whatever he says. 

I also had a really great interview with President this week. We talked a little bit about faith and the future and he said something that really stuck with me. It was a quote: "Regret is looking backward, worry is looking forwards, but faith is looking up." I loved that. It put to rest a lot of worries and anxiety and things like that that missionaries sometimes feel when they are approaching the end. He said it is something we have to apply the rest of our lives, since being a full-time missionary won't be the last calling the Lord gives me. I found a lot of comfort in that. I've been trying to reflect on my mission these past couple days and really try and solidify the key lessons and experiences that have made me who I am today. I still have lots of time left to think about it though which is good because I still don't have my thoughts all together. But I'm excited to see what lessons and things I'll be able to recall and realize how those things have changed me. Something I remembered today that really marked my mission was my first interview in the field with President Wright when he helped me remember that our only reason for serving the mission should be love of God and love of Jesus Christ. That is something that has really changed me and helped me become who I am today. At least I think I'm different haha. Its kind of hard to measure progress when you can't really get an outside view of yourself. But I feel a stronger relationship with my Savior so I think that's a good indicator of change. I've seen that a lot, not just in myself but in other people too, that the closer we get to the Savior, the more we change and progress. It is amazing. It is redeeming. He shows us that we were made for something greater. He shows us our potential and gives us the strength to make progress towards achieving it that comes from his love. His love is so great. That's something else I've learned a lot about out here. How great the transforming power of Christ's love is. There was a time with President Wright when we were doing a deep study of Christ´s atonement as a mission and in that time I really grew to love and cherish and use it a lot more than I had before. That's why scripture study is so important because the only way we can get access to these things is if we learn about them and then apply them. So the importance of scripture study is also something I've really learned. Like seriously where was I before the mission?? haha. I feel like I knew like nothing about the gospel before haha. Another reason I feel redeemed by coming out here. I dunno where I would be right now without the mission and with everything I've learned. These things are good not just for one lifetime but for eternity. I can't wait to apply these things to real life when I get home! haha. It'll be like entering into the same old battle but realizing that I had this amazing bullet proof invincible armor in the closet the whole time that I wasn't even using just because I didn't know how to put it on. But now I do! haha. So life will be good. 

Anyways. :) Update on lessons. Naomi and Nicolas are progressing. Monica is progressing. Pamela came to church again. Rubens daughter is now participating more in the lessons and actually came to an FHE we had in the chapel! Our English class this week was AWESOME. We had a couple new people show up and they all really liked it and learned a lot! They said they would come again next week and bring their friends so hopefully we get lots of new investigators that way. :) It'll be good. 

So yeah. Life is crazy. Oh yeah I also registered for classes this week for spring term so that's crazy! haha. So don't worry mom and dad I have that all under control. ;) I'm being all responsible and stuff. 

I love you guys lots and lots. Pray for me! Finishing the mission is weird cause you just don't know how to feel haha. IT's the weirdest mix of emotions EVER. Also I'll pray for you guys of course. :) As always. 

xoxo

Hermana Cannon II

1. Aida got baptized this week! You haven't heard me talk about her because she's an investigator from the elders in our ward. But we've gotten to be really good friends with her too. We've been to her house a couple times on P-days and she does our nails haha. She also gave me new shoes because all of mine are destroyed. :)

 

 

2. Us with some sisters today for Pday! We ate a yummy lunch all together in our apartment. We made chicken curry. We are skilled.   

 

 

Temple!

From Jan 26, 2016

Hey everyone! :D

Lots of great things this week. :)

Yesterday, after walking around contacting people for a while, our feet started hurting so we decided we'd sit down for a while and make some phone calls. So then we go up to the closest bench where a cute little old lady was sitting. We asked her how she was doing and then she just started to cry and told us about how her sister had just died a week ago. We talked to her for a while and bore our testimonies of the afterlife and the resurrection. I've had a few really special experiences that always come to mind when I bare my testimony of those things so I love it whenever I get the chance to. It almost seemed like a dream as the conversation kept unfolding. She just kept saying how grateful she was that God had sent us to her in that moment when she felt so alone and in need. We ended up going up to her apartment with her and taught her a little bit more about the plan of salvation, baptism, and the temple, and the blessings we receive from making and keeping covenants. She said she's not sure about baptism but that she'll think about it and hopes that we can continue to visit her. 

Hermana Maxfield and I just walked away with a certain reverence afterwards as we replayed in our minds what had happened and tried to record in our hearts how we felt about it. There's something eternal about becoming an instrument in God's hands. It's almost like you get a flash back to the pre-mortal life and can see exactly where you're fitting into the eternal scheme of things. And on top of being interesting, that eternal perspective is so vital to our well-being, and I've really seen that from being out here. Having an eternal perspective gives us the strength, endurance, and orientation we need to not give up what we want most, for what we want in the moment. I have a testimony that temptation will never be too blinding if, by going to the temple regularly, we can maintain our spiritual "bird's eye view." Going to the temple reminds us of our eternal goals which gives us the strength to go back and confront the world again without falling. And the spirit we feel there reminds us that someday, everything we do to live the gospel and keep our covenants will all be worth it. Hna. Maxfield and I actually got to go to the temple today, and that it was I felt. 

I've seen out here how easy it can be for us to lose that eternal perspective if we stop doing those simple things... praying, reading the scriptures, taking the sacrament, and going to the temple. I can see how vital those simple things are and how drastically they can change the course of a life. I've seen it in the lives of faithful converts, as well as those who were once faithful and have since left the path. We may not realize it in the moment, but those simple things are the baby steps that lead us to our eternal destination. 

Also Monica is progressing and has now come to church and is reading the Book of Mormon so pray for her! :) 

love you guys so much!

xoxo

Hermana Cannon II  

1. We also went to the temple with Fabiola last Saturday for her first time doing baptisms!

 

 

2. Me and Hna. Maxfield from the temple today :)

Hi :D

Hey fam! :D

I love you guys.

Anyways. :)

So this week was awesome. Things keep happening that let me know that Hna. Maxfield and I are together for a reason and are in this sector for a reason. We've been seeing God's hand a lot these past few days. 

First there's Gretchen. She's a member who stopped coming to church a while ago and we've been trying to meet with her for like 3 months but whenever we would make an appointment, something would always come up. So finally this week we got to meet her in person and have an actual lesson! We called to invite her to church and she came and we actually got to meet her there. Then later that day we went to her house for the appointment. 

After getting to know her a little bit, we said a prayer and then asked her to tell us a little bit about her story--what did she believe, What is it that made her stop coming, etc etc. As she shared her story the spirit kept testifying to me how important it was that I hear her story now, at this point in my life. The lesson was really filled with the spirit. There were many silences as we tried to figure out what God wanted us to say, and what came to both Hna. Maxfield and I was just to express how much God loved her. We felt it so strong and she did too. She started to cry and thanked us for sharing that with her. 

We also had a really special lesson with Monica this week. We hadn't gotten to see her for almost two weeks because she went on vacation so when we got there we were all super excited to see each other :D. She had committed to read the Book of Mormon the week before but then told us she hadn't read haha so we read with her. As we testified of the Book of Mormon, covenants, and eternal families the spirit filled up the room. She said she knew that what we were saying was true because when we spoke, she felt that it was the spirit speaking rather than us.   

My testimony of prayer also grew this week. I was just having a terrible day and just felt super inadequate/unprepared/spiritually unconnected haha and I didn't know what to do because we were about to go to an appointment so I just went and prayed for a while. After that I felt a lot better and I felt that God was telling me that everything would be okay and that he'd be there for me no matter what happens, today, tomorrow, or 10 years in the future. I've just been learning to trust in him, especially with the time winding down towards me coming home (because AH WHAT IS LIFE IDK WHAT LIFE IS). Haha. So every time I feel anxiety or anything about the future, I just pray and he reminds me to trust Him. And I do so everything will be fine. :) 

Well I love you guys. Lots and lots. Have the best week ever :D

Hna Cannon II

1. Hello. It's me. From our apartment window in Las Condes. 

Last transfer!

So we got transfer calls this morning and I'm staying here with Hermana Maxfield!!!! We get to finish together and we're SO EXCITED!!!! But the elders from our ward both got transferred out so we'll miss them but they're sending the zone leaders out here so we're excited about that! It'll be a really great transfer we're so excited :D :D 

Pamela came to church on Sunday which was a miracle! I think I told you guys about her last week, how she was the less active member we found who lived in our building and who said she would come back this week?? yeah her haha. And she did! She came back this week! So that was amazing to see. 

Jorge and Jessica from Ñuñoa also came to our ward this week so it was super fun to see them! They told me they had a surprise for me outside so told me to close my eyes. When we got outside I opened my eyes and standing there was Jorge Vilches and Jaime!!! Two of the recent converts from Ñuñoa I got to teach. It was sooooo good to see them again. It brought back so many memories of miracles and gave me so much hope for these weeks we have ahead of us. 

We're still looking for new investigators which is always a challenge over here but we started an English class and Fabiola (recent convert from last month) is putting it all over Facebook and is inviting all the people from her work so we're really excited about that! Hopefully we'll be able to meet lots of new people through that. :D 

Our mission also just called two sister missionaries to be the Sister Training Leaders over all the Sisters in the mission so they'll be kind of like the Sister APs! So that's cool :D Hermana Maxfield and I were watching the district yesterday and I actually totally called that that was gonna happen in our mission too and I even guessed which sisters they would be haha. So basically I'm psychic. 

So right now we're also teaching a man named Roberto. Maybe I mentioned him before not sure though. But he is married to a member and so all of his in-laws are members and his daughters. We've been visiting him off and on during the whole time I've been in this ward and the missionaries before us too. He started off having a lot of doubts and things but we've seen a lot of progress in him that we're really excited about. The lesson last time got a little of track last time and kind of turned into something more philosophical. So then we read some of Christ's words from 3 Nephi 11 and it was amazing how that brought the spirit back and put us on track again. Another experience to show me the power of the scriptures. We testified of the simplicity of the gospel and everything seemed to clarify. It was beautiful. 

I'm realizing more and more everyday how important is to be rooted in Christ. That's pretty much all I was thinking about during personal study this morning. It's crazy how different I feel when I'm rooted in Christ versus in something or someone else. We might even be focusing on something good, but its just not the same as focusing on Christ. There's a spirit that goes along with that that I felt during my prayer afterwards that just felt eternal. There's no other way to describe it. I knew it would always be there. When we don't feel it, its always because we were the ones to leave it for a while. And when we come back we realize that. We feel it and its undeniable.

Love you guys so so so much :D

Sending allllll my love,

Hermana Cannon II

1. Us at the temple with Ruben who is investigating :D

 

2. Me with the awesome Ñuñoa converts at church on Sunday!
3. No explanation needed. (Cheetah jammies for Christmas, from home.)
 

Hello!

From Sarah's letter dated January 5, 2016

 

Hey people :D

We have walked SOOOO much this week!!! It's been crazy. In Chile it's super common for people to go on a 1 or 2 month long vacation for the summer so that is just GREAT for us missionaries haha. Idk if you guys remember Monica?? We've been teaching her for about a month and had a really amazing lesson with her this last week. We read the introduction to The Book of Mormon with her and got to explain again a little bit about the Restoration. I love teaching because that's when my testimony grows the most because of how strong the spirit can get. We saw the wheels turning in her mind and thanks to her spiritually receptive heart she commited to read The Book of Mormon without us even asking her to. Then she told us she was leaving on vacation for the month haha so that was a bummer. At least she'll have lots of time to read. :)

Oh yeah another reason why the lesson was so special was because that morning during personal study, I decided to pray again to ask if The Book of Mormon was true and if this was really the restored gospel. I think it was the first time I felt something right there, directly after praying. It felt like a wave of warm peace that started at my head and then just covered my whole body. I just sat there, glowing for a while and the words came to me that felt like a nodding head saying, "it's true."

That was the spirit we brought with us to the lesson which I think was also communicated to Monica.

Things like this remind me that what we're doing is so much bigger than ourselves... We passed by some pictures of the universe when passing by an astronomy lab in our area this week and it made me feel sooooo tiny. I've also found that feeling small is a really great way to cure anxiety haha. Our worries and troubles just somehow seem to shrink when we put the universe next to them. And then we think, "My God, how great thou art".

He is great. :)

We also started teaching a woman this week named Pamela. We contacted her in our elevator one day in our apartment building and as she was leaving, kind of just blurted out that she was actually a member of the church but had since stopped going. She gave us her apartment number and said we could come back later. So this week, after having all our plans fall through for the day, we both felt like it would be a good time to stop by. Turns out it was all meant to be because when we stepped out of the elevator, she was just leaving her room to take her laundry down to the washers. She was super surprised haha but you could tell she was happy to see us.

We ended up teaching about repentance, redemption, and forgiveness. Hna. Maxfield and I both shared some really personal experiences about those things. She had expressed to us how she always felt that the gospel was true, but somehow just fell away without really knowing why. She had gotten into drinking a little bit and a few other things and said she doubted whether or not she would be able to come back. I think the path looks far away sometimes because we forget that Christ will pick us up to bring us back wherever we are. We don't have to do any of it alone. We just have to take his hand.

She said she would come back this Sunday. :) It's been years.

I love you guys so much and think of you everyday. :)

Prayers, hugs, and love,

Hermana Cannon II

1. We climb a hill for P-day today as a zone! We sang hymns and had a testimony meeting up there. It was awesome. :)

2. Because we're buff.
 

3. Las Condes zone and the beautiful view and the nasty smog