Helllooooo!

This has been such a crazy and awesome week filled with every emotion on the planet.

So a few weeks ago, we met a man named Patricio (baptized 2 years ago) in the street (not sure if I'm mentioned him before). He was drunk the day we met him and it was kind of scary haha. But anyways we have seen an INCREDIBLE change in him. He has now quit drinking and wants to quit smoking too. There was a HUGE difference of the light in his eyes when he became sober. I love teaching him. :) 

Sara didn't come to church this week :(. Pleeeease pray for her. She's struggling a lot with being able to forgive. 

We had a new investigator come to church this week!! Her name is Paula :) We've taught her twice and are going again on Wednesday! She's super sincere in her love of Christ and is a really spiritual person. She stayed for all three hours and said she loved the whole thing. :) 

So I had like another awesome epiphany this week. This morning actually. I've been trying to develop charity lately, so I started studying Christ's life. Gosh I can't even explain it in an email haha. But I basically just realized that Christ is completely self-sufficient and literally doesn't need anyone or anything or any of us... he didn't even need human experience to reach perfection. He already reached that level before birth. But He willingly left that status in heaven to come down to Earth and fall below the lowest of lowes.... to be esteemed as nothing... to be rejected... hated, misunderstood, mocked... because he knew that some would believe. And that was worth it for Him because He loves each and everyone of us more than we can ever love Him. Incredible right?? It was a hugely humbling experience. And all of that just because of a good study sesh. :) >>>not just for missionaries *hint hint.* Also I know all of that probably already sounds familiar to a lot of you, but I swear I uncovered a new layer of understanding but I just can't explain it and that's super frustrating haha. Just go and study His life yourself and you'll know what I mean. Maybe you'll feel what I felt. Do it do it do it!!

So yeah its been a great week. :) Learning lots. Loving lots. 

Love you all so so much!

Hasta pronto!

Hermana Cannon II

Oops no time!

Love you all!

Learned a lot this week about patience and how to keep working hard even when you're tired! We started teaching a new investigator this week and are seeing a lot of progress in others and in less active members that have started coming back to Christ.

LOVE THIS WORK. Sorry I don't have the time to express how much i do!! And I love you all!!

Hna Cannon II

Miraclesssss!!!

Ahhh this was such an awesome week!! 

Okay so we've been working a lot with a less active member named Sara. Things started off pretty closed off and a little cold, but with time she started opening up a little more and even started inviting us to lunch! So we've been having lunch with her for like 2 months, but it's still been a little hard to teach her. Then we had the idea to bring a member, Elinor, with us to visit her. First you have to know Elinor.... she is SO LOVABLE AND LOVING. She just has so much love in her it's ridiculous. She's from Venezuela :D. Anyways, we brought her with us with the thought that she could be a friend for Sara to help her feel comfortable with coming to church. It was a great lesson and they totally hit it off. This was like 2 weeks ago. Then last week, Sara invited us to have lunch with her twice! So we did. :) And then another day we saw her in front of her house and started talking about how she had gotten a hair cut and it looked so good etc etc and how I had been wanting a haircut etc etc and then she was like hey my sister can cut your hair real fast if you want! And I was like OH MY GOSH YES. I wasn't even that excited to get my haircut, I was just excited that she was finally letting us meet her sisters!!!!! You see, they have a really difficult relationship and in the past, when we have passed my Sara's house, she has never ever let us in if her sisters were home. And we've been wanting to teach them too because they have also stopped coming to church. SO IT WAS TOTALLY A MIRACLE THAT SHE OFFERED HER SISTER TO CUT MY HAIR. And yes she did cut my hair. XD She cut it like way shorter than I wanted hahaha. It's all good. Hair grows. BUT YEAH. And thats not all!!! We taught her again the next day and asked her if she would come to church with us that Sunday. She said no. haha. Like a flat out no. Not a surprising answer, but still a bummer. But then guess what happened that following Sunday.... SHE CAME TO CHURCH. SARA CAME TO CHURCH!!!!! Sara, who we have been working with for like over three months, finally came to church. :) I wanted to cry. My companion did haha.

Also equally exciting... another less active member named Mireya came back to church yesterday too after not coming for over a year!!!!! She told us that one of the reasons she doesn't come is because she has to cook lunch for everyone Sunday mornings (lunch is a huge deal here). So we were like, no problem! We'll come over Saturday night to help you cook!!! So we did! But she already had everything ready haha!!! So we taught her a lesson instead. :) Even better. And then she cameeeee!!!! It was equally exciting but less of a surprise because she told us she was going to come. :)

So yeah!!! It's incredibly fulfilling to see people come closer to Christ. I love being a missionary. Hard days and all. 

And I love you all!! THANK YOU so much for the package you sent with Jorge!! I love it so much!!! Oh and I gave the package of Twizzlers to the family and they absolutely loved it. Said they wanted to save it forever and eat it as slowly as possible haha. THANK YOU SO MUCH. And Happy birthday to my mommio!!!!! I love you!!! 

xoxo

Hna Cannon II

Brain of Mush!!

I dunno whether to title this Merry Christmas or Happy New Year or Happy Anniversary for Cassie and Wade or Happy Birthday for Mom!!! Haha so I just went with brain of mush because that's always a good summary for the week.

Hollyyyyy Christmas!!! It was SO AMAZING talking to the fam for Christmas. It was like I never left home. You guys feel closer than ever. :) THANK YOU for being an amazing family. XD

We had an awesome Christmas here in Santiago! It was blazing hot haha. But it was cool because our President let us have P-day that day instead of the Monday before, but still gave us time to write our families last week, as you know haha. So we just hung out in the Pension and then went and had lunch with the Familia Navarro until I called you guys. 

We had a great lesson with Ana this week. She's so awesome. We were walking with her one day in the Feria (outside market where all the neighbors get together and just sell whatever they have) and we met her neighbor, Patricia. We started talking to her about the gospel and asked if it would be okay if we came by one day to teach her. We also invited her to church and Ana chimed in and said "I go too!!" Soo awesome that she is open to sharing that with her neighbors. But yeah we've almost taught her all the lessons. But she still doesn't have a baptismal date because she told us she wants to let us know when she is ready. :) Oh and she invited us to have lunch at her house yesterday which makes her doubly awesome. XD

A less active member's dad passed away this week super unexpectedly. They are still investigating who did it, but someone bashed him in the head on the street with some type of metal and he ended up passing away a few days later. The family is la Familia Miranda but the daughter, Nelly, is the one struggling the most. Prayers please!

We started teaching a really cute old man, also named Jorge. He already knows a ton about Joseph Smith and already has a testimony, so I think the lessons will go by relatively quickly.... we're hoping that he will accept a baptismal date this week. :) He's sooooo cute. 

Hermana Phillips got changed!! (one of my the sisters i live with) It was super unexpected. She just finished getting trained, and now will be a trainer as well! Crazyyyyy. She's do awesome but I'm gonna miss living with her sooooo much. 

Love you all!! Have an awesome week. :) 

xoxo

Hna Cannon II

Christmas!

This was an awesome weeeeeek! Our ward had a nice sacrament meeting with lots of musical numbers and Christmas'yness (even though its blazing hot). Then we went to an old folks home and sang hymns for them. One of the cute old guys that lives there is named Jaime. He's really sensitive and just about everything makes him cry, but then he also laughs really easily. I've met him twice now because we went there to visit him earlier in the week with a member. I prayed with him a few days ago and that made him cry too. He's darling. Make me remember to be SO GRATEFUL for my health.... my ability to walk, dress myself, shop for myself.... all the basic things that we take for granted, because there are a lot of people who just can't do those things anymore and that must be aggrevating after living so many years enjoying those capabilities. 

Today we had a Christmas devotional which was sooooo awesome. I think I have the best mission president in the world. I always leave the meetings edified, without fail. And he goes home in 6 months which I'm gonna be really sad for. :( But anyways the devotional was AWESOME. All about Christ. The whole devotional was based around one scripture in the Bible that says "do you understand the condescension of God?" not sure if that is the right wording in English. But yeah we just spent the whole time marveling at the willingness of Jesus Christ to leave behind all His titles, worlds, and glory, to become a little child. And He did it in a heart beat. It wasn't hard for Him at all to leave all of that behind... even though He was about to enter a life full of incomprehensible suffering. But He loves us THAT MUCH that His attitude was--no problem! This is what I've been waiting for! And when we understand that love and friendship that he feels for us, we never want to be far away from Him (or in other words, we lose the desire to sin) and before we know it, we've developed a new perspective on life, find it easier to love, easier to forgive, and find service more satisfying. And we're just happier without knowing why. :)

I love you guys so much :) awwww feeling sentimental hahaha. For reals though. Also pleeeease find out how to accept the gift that God has given you--eternal life through Jesus Christ. 

Have an awesome Christmas. :)

All my love,

Hermana Cannon II