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 :)