Monday, August 24, 2015

Tupun Gatu

Dear Family: 

They say that "Tupungato" comes from the phrase "Tupun Gatu", some native tongue way of saying "Vista de Estrellas" or "Sight of the stars". So, for those of you who were wondering, no, it doesn`t have anything to do with cats. :) 

And, it looks like Hermana Cannon`s gonna continue on in her star sightings for a little longer. :) In other wards, transfers are here! And we`re sticking around for a while. But, my companion Hermana Dutra is going to San Juan! And the other two hermanas in the ward also will be transferred to other areas, so they`re going to be washing this area again! Pretty crazy, because they have a baptism coming up, and a wedding too, this friday! So we`ll see how that goes... they`re pretty sad to be going, and I`m a little sad that everyone is leaving me, but that`s just how it goes I guess. I`m super exciting to be sticking around a little longer. I love this area! :D

And my new companion is Hermana King, from Georgia! We met just after the MTC because we traveled to Argentina together. She`s super great, I`m way excited. It`s just going to be weird to have a gringa companion... haha 

Well, this week once again was pretty slow. We`ve been doing lots of finding activities, and a little less active visiting as well, which has been good. On saturday we had a Noche de Rama or Branch Chapel Evening (instead of FHE? haha something like that) it went well. Not a whole lot of people came, but we watched Finding Faith in Christ (Yes, I do tell everyone that Aunt Vida is in it every time we watch it. :D) did an activity, and had some refreshments. The best part was at the end when the less active we`ve been visiting showed up with her husband and two kids! And what made it even better was when they showed up yesterday to church too! So happy. 

It`s kind of interesting, because a while ago hermana Dutra and I were teaching a lesson about family history, and she said something really interesting. She said, "doing family history work is the same as doing missionary work, for those on the other side of the veil". And, I guess it`s probably obvious and everyone else in the world already had that realization, but it just kind of hit me. Because everyone knows the mission isn`t just about the numbers and the baptisms, and I love working with the less actives, and I always say that reactivating is just the same as baptizing, and gives just as much joy as well! But sometimes it still is a little sad to not be in one of those "baptizing lots and lots" missions. However, when Hermana Dutra mentioned that, I realized something. A couple summers ago I had the goal to go to the temple, and was able to do baptisms for the dead every week. Well, guess what? Those are baptisms! Maybe I haven`t been able to sit down with every person and help them read their scriptures and recognize the spirit, hear their first offered prayers, and sit next to them in church, but I was able to perform that saving ordinance for them, that hopefully they will accept. And someday I`ll be able to see them, and talk with them, and share my testimony with them. And how great our joy will be! 

I guess just some food for thought. This gospel is true, in every aspect, I know it, and I love it. And when we do all we can with the talents, resources, and opportunities that God is forever sending our way, even if it means being just a little toy boat in a bathtub, we can someday find that eternal joy with Him, Christ, and our family and friends. 

Hermana Cannon

p.s. The pictures are me and all the sisters saying goodbye to Elder Inca, our zone leader, who goes home this week! Viva Peru! :) The other one is a bill of a thousand pesos I found in a member`s house. It`s from way-back-when and is useless now, but still pretty cool! I asked how much it was worth back then, and how much now and all that, but Hna Gonzalez didn`t know. :( Bummer. Oh well, Argentina History anyway! :) 

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Nuthin Much (1 more photo)

1 more photo.

Nuthin Much

dear family: 

well the shift key is sticky on this keyboard...as well as a few other keys, so forgive the typos, eh? 

if I could sum this week up in a song it would have to be this one (hey, all you barney fans, let me hear your best singing voices!) "if all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops, oh what an argentina it would be!" 

...yeah anway, it was raining basically every day this week. so, the obra misional was a little difficult, and we didn`t get to see a whole lot of people. :( 

We did have the chance to meet with a less active family one day, and that went over really well. We were just walking down the street, trying to contact a referral I think, and we passed their house. I got that familiar feeling that we should knock, and at first i ignored it, but then i was like, hello! what am i doing? haha so we turned around and knocked so we did, and they let us in! they sat down the whole family, and we taught the plan of salvation. i pulled out my map of the plan of salvation, (the one i sent a foto to you mom, that i made in uspallata? that one.) and we went through all the steps. it was a good lesson, but the best part was that they came to the activity on saturday! i attatched a picture. :) 

As for the investigators, we`ve just got one for now. Macarena hasn`t been able to meet with us, so we might stop going for a while. sometimes that happens. she`s really great, but I don`t know if now is her time. no worries. we`ll be back. :) 

in other news, we`re right now working with an investigator named Daniel. I don`t know if i talked about him before. he`s the brother in law of our mission leader. the sister of our mission leader`s name is Cintia, and she recently had a baby, and was back in the hospital for a while because she had an infection from the birth. it was a pretty grave experience, and afterward they came to chruch, her, her boyfriend, their twins, and the baby. anyway, the mission leader`s dad has been working a lot with him, and he`s really great! He wants to be baptized, he told us, but he`s worried because he knows that he needs to stop smoking first, and doesn`t know if he can, so  we`ll be helping him with that. the good news is that this week we saw the mission leader`s dad in the chruch when we passed by, and we stopped by to talk to him. he told us that just that week he had gone with daniel to do some paperwork so that he and cintia can get married!!!!!!!!!!! WE`re so excited!!!!! It was really sweet because he told us that lots of missionaries had tried to visit with cintia and daniel, and no one had been able to visit with them. he said, thank you so much for getting into their home and teaching them. so, lots of prayers for him would be appriciated! he works a lot, so more than anything we just need to find a time when we can meet with him. 

Well, that`s about it for this week. the activity was really great too, it was like a carnival thing with lots of different games and prizes, and we made a picture frame for fun too. 

love you all! Have a good week! 

Hermana Cannon

Dear Framily (1 more photo)


[This email was originally sent on Aug 3]
1 more photo.


Dear Framily


[This email was originally sent on Aug 3]

Hey everyone! 

This week went pretty great! We had our Counsil meeting at the beginning of the week, and some great lessons the rest of the week! 

We`re working right now with an investigator named Macarena. (Yes, I do sing the song every time I say her name. :) ) And she has a baptisimal date! September 5! We`re super excited, and she`s really great. Just started reading the book of mormon and praying too. The next step with her is meeting with her boyfriend, because, well, they need to get married. The cool thing is that she was the one who asked about it before we even told her. Because the sister of her husband is a less active who we`re working with as well, and she was explaining a couple things to them, including the fact that they`ll have to get married if she wants to be baptized. So she was asking about that and we started to talk a little about the law of chastity. We set up a meeting with her and Jose, but they had to cancel, so we`ll keep trying. 

We also had a great Restoration lesson with Gladis, and that was great! We`re not sure if she`s going to continue taking the lessons, because she`s pretty involved in the Evangalist church, but we`ll see how things go. 

Sorry for the short email, here`s some pictures. Enjoy! 

Hermana Cannon

Forgive This Title (2 more photos)

2 more photos.  This email was originally sent on July 27


Forgive This Title

[This email was sent July 27] 

Dear Family: 

Wow! This week felt like a month! So much happened! Where to even begin? 

First of all, thanks for the prayers and faith! I feel good as new! I can talk and sing, and the only remains of my cold is a little bit of a sore throat in the mornings. Wahoo! The bad news is that my companion came down with a cold. :( It´s not too bad, and we´re just hoping it doesn´t get worse. Some prayers for her would be great as well. :) 

So, it seems like forever since I´ve told you all about the investigators here, huh? Okay, here we go. 

Remember I told you about Janet and Diego? Well the sad thing is that one day we went to their house, and Janet´s mom answered the door, Gladys. she told us they weren´t home and we´d have to come back another day. Being the good missionaries we are, we took the opportunity to talk to Gladys instead. She didn´t want us to go in, so we showed her the video of "gracias a que el vive" that I had recorded on my camera, and talked with her about it. She was really touched, and asked that we come to her house a few streets down and teach her more. The sad thing is that while we were sharing the video, Hna Matamoros saw Diego and Janet inside, hiding from us. :( So, for now, they´re not ready. The good news is that we´ve continued teaching Gladys, and she´s progressing! We left a pamphlet for her to read, and she read it. Also, the first time we invited her to pray, she recited the catholic prayer, "Padre Nuestro". And yesterday when we visited, she offered to say the opening prayer, and she did it perfectly! Pretty exciting. 

We also are teaching a new investigator named Daniel. His girlfriend Cyntia is a less active, and Cyntia´s brother is the branch mission leader here in Tupungato. We met Daniel first because he came to church with his girlfriend and their three kids. (we´ll be talking later about Law of Chastity. a popular lesson plan here in...the world). In gospel principles class the topic was baptism, and Cynthia was able to bear a powerful testimony to him of baptism. That week we went to visit them in their house, and he told us that he really enjoyed the meeting, and had the desire to be baptised! WAHOO! We invited him to be baptised in August, and that´s when he shared about his cigarrette addiction. He´s been smoking for fifteen years, and has tried to stop many times. He shared his love for his family and kids and his desire to be a better example for them. So basically he doesn´t want to commit to baptism because he knows he needs to quit smoking first, and he knows it will take some time. So we´re going to be helping him with that, and more than anything help him know how Christ can help him, so he can quit smoking and be baptized. Exciting changes coming up! 

Well, those are a few people we´re working with. Oh, this week we had an activity in the church, a Locro. Locro is a soup they make here in Argentina, and it was my first time trying it. Therés a foto, you can kind of see it there. From what they explained and what I tasted it has corn, beans, pork, and pig skin. It was actually super good! Just that the pig skin basically tasted like eating straight fat, so that´s exciting. 

Also a few pictures of me and hermana dutra, me and some members in the ward with their crochet and mate, and the snow in the mountains. I´m still hoping and praying for snow down here, but I think it´s just gonna stay up there in the cordillera. :( Oh well. 

Have a great week! Love you all! 

Hermana Cannon

Monday, August 10, 2015

Prayers Answered

Hey Family! 

This week was interesting. This transfer with hermana Dutra we`ve been really trying to be more straightforward with our investigators and sort through them to find the ones who are really "de oro" and those who just want to hear "algo bonito" every once in a while. It`s been a little hard for me to stop visiting so many people. But the reality is that although most of them have lots of potential, they were all only able to meet with us once a week or once every two weeks. And it`s understandable with their studdies or work, and the fact that maybe they`re not even at home very much, but the reality is that to really make the necessary changes in their life to be able to be baptized, it all starts with the little things. Reading the scriptures, praying, and coming to church. And really, life will always be busy, and if they`re not willing to make time for those important things now, they won`t leave time for these necessary things after baptism either. 

Also turns out that this week we met with a lot more less actives than we did investigators. Which was great as well, and we had some really good lessons. 

Yesterday the mission president and his wife came to our branch! It was kind of a surprise to walk into relief society and see Hermana Goates sitting there flipping through her ipad. "Sorpresa!" It was funny. They`re super great, I love them. 

Also yesterday I had a really neat experience. So I play the piano--I say piano con cariño, really it`s a dinky keyboard--every sacrament meeting, and it`s just kind of shoved in the corner at the front of the room where the only plug is, right? It`s also super quiet, even at full volume, but I guess the important thing is that the corister can hear the tune at least, and kind of tug everyone else along to follow him. Anyway, so we do the opening hymns, and announcements, and then move to the Sacrament. The little deacon passes the sacrament to all the sacerdocio on the stand in the correct order and everything, then passes to the corister and the speakers, and then gets off the stand to help out the other deacons who are passing to the congregation. Or in otherwards, he skipped me! I kind of started to panic a little bit. I didn`t really know what to do, and I was going through all the options. Wave and try and get the attention of the deacons, or run to the back of the room to catch him as he passes to the last ones, stand up to the pulpit and announce that I`ve been missed or, just not take the sacrament. Anyway, as they finish and walk to the preists before the prayer on the water, I get the attention of the corister, "A mi no me dieron!" Then he motions to the bishop, and in the end send a deacon over. As we continue on through the meeting, I started to ponder. When was the last time I missed the sacrament? And I realized that there have been very few times in my life where I had. Even the days when I had to work I would attend the early church meeting to at least partake of the sacrament. And I was just filled with such a peace and gratitude for this sacred ordinance. I thought of all the less actives we had visited this week, and how much they were missing! It seems like something so small, but really, it`s so special and so necessary to make the weekly effort to repent, to be a little better, to renew the covenants we`ve made, to remember who Christ is and what He did for us personally. 

I`m so grateful to have had the gospel be a part of my life for all of my life, and so grateful for the things I`ve learned on this journey of the mission, and life in general, and so grateful for the little oportunities God gives us to keep changing and repenting so that someday we can live with Him again. I`m so grateful to be able to share my testimony with everyone and everyone I can, so that they too can feel and have what I have. 

Thanks for all your letters and love! Have a great week! 

Hermana Cannon

p.s. We went to Mansano again, but this time, look what we found! SNOW!!! Definitely a prayer answered. And for the record, it was incredible packing snow. Perfectly wet and thick. Sigh. Just made me miss my utah snow all the more!