Twenty One Thoughts

Before we get into the real deep nitty gritty, let's just...

Aaaaaand we're back! Thanks for joining us ladies and gentlemen once again, for another episode of Emily add n. It's been a great 18 months of mission emails and pictures, and I really feel like we've been through a lot together. I mean, remember that one time when that cat gave birth during a lesson? 

...Did I not send that story into the blogging universe? Hmm. True story though. 

So, FAQs, blah blah blah, I feel like I'm adjusting well, yes I miss the mission, I'm working, planning on school in the fall, and I'm not allergic to peach fuzz. 

GREAT! On to the good stuff. First, an official notice. 

Please take a moment to breath in deeply and let the celebration relax from your system as the mood of this blog is about to change drastically, and we'll need your full and deep attention. Thank you. ~Blog Mood Safety Committee

Four years ago on the eve of my sixteenth birthday, I sat on my bed contemplating the meaning of this great event. Sixteen. What an accomplishment. What excitement. What exotic adventures lay ahead. Driving, dating, and...I guess that's basically it. But wow, was I excited. I felt like Samwise Gamgee, passing the farthest stalk in the cornfield of my life and leaving my childhood Shire behind. I felt the need to do something. Like Neil Armstrong, place my flag down before taking this small step and simultaneously giant leap. So, like in all important moments of inspiration, I snatched up a paper and pen, and started to write. 

I wrote myself a letter. I included thoughts, goals, fears, habits, pet peeves, advice, drawings, jokes, whatever tickled my fancy. Then I signed it, folded it into thirds, labeled it, and threw it in the box under my bed to open up the following year on my seventeenth birthday. 

The following year in I want to say late March or early April I just so happened to clean out the box under my bed, and I came across the letter labeled, "Do not open until at least 2012, February the sixteenth! Thank you." I remember reading the label over like five times before realizing that the date had past, and I was allowed to open it. I couldn't believe that in the course of just one year, I had forgotten not only that I had written the letter, but half the stuff that I even had said, and how much I really had changed during the year. There were opinions I had changed, worries that had long faded away, and excitements that had long since downgraded on my importance list. Probably much less due to the metaphorical cornfield I had left behind, and more due to the fact that a year is actually a long time. Sure it's full of months, days, hours, and seconds. But more importantly it's full of experiences, feelings, lessons, and moments.

So I wrote myself another letter, as I had promised myself in the first, to open up the next year. Then I've done it every year since so that today I have five letters, plus the sixth that I'll seal up for next year. #gettingaroundtoit

So as I, twenty one year old Emilyn, sit down with a few leftover pages from an old college notebook to write personal epistle number six, I'll share twenty one points from my past letters.

Emilyn at 15: Sixteenth Birthday, for Emilyn at 17

1. Ideas of things to do while breathing helium: Tell stories, try to go really low and see what happens, stand on your head and talk, rap Justin Bieber.

2. I think about boys too much, though perhaps that is normal. 

3. I get up in the mornings at 5:45 to read scriptures

4. Spend time with God by serving Him, reading his holy word, and speaking to Him. 

Emilyn at 16: Seventeenth Birthday, for Emilyn at 18

5. I like pencils more than pens

6. I LOVE how straight my teeth are now that I've had braces for a while and HATE how I can't floss them every day.

7. Personal goal: try to talk to other people by asking them about themselves. 

8. I enjoy driving everywhere but the freeway. 

9. I have a bruise on my chin from when Joe and Tage were spinning James around by his hands and feet, then I tried to jump over him when Charity came running around and we slammed into each other. 

Emilyn at 17: Eighteenth Birthday, For Emilyn at 19

10. Being aggressive is necessary and sometimes the best answer. Working at Wendys definitely taught me that. Although being gentle is great, things get done more efficiently when you are aggressive. 

11. Be prepared and don't blow off the stuff that isn't staring you in the face. you'll never get anywhere without preparing first and getting things done on time. 

12. You got your braces off this past year and pearly whites suit you quite well if you do say so yourself. 

13. Remember, you need food more than clothes.

Emilyn at 18: Nineteenth Birthday, For Emilyn at 20

14. You love english and writing. Especially on your blog. And it's dang good and dang funny. 

15. You just took a long break to play Jet-Pack Joyride because, frankly, this letter is HARD WORK.

16. You know, they say at 19 you know just about everything about the world. So have you learned something about the universe, or anything that I won't know in a week from now? Most likely. 

17. Humility. It's pretty essential for important relationship aspects including listening, being aware of others' feelings, being aware of others' problems/needs, and being thoughtful and kind. 

18. To be serving a mission and focusing my whole life on Christ's church and building Zion... It's going to be amazing. I can't even imagine the good it will do for my life, for my future family. I am so excited! 

Emilyn at 19: 20th Birthday, For Emilyn at 21

19. So I hear it's pretty hard to be home the first little while. How ya doin kid? Ya got a job? A boy? A plan for your life? You using your agenda? Daily prayers? Scripture study? Hey, don't you forget all those little things. Ever. You got to stay spiritually in shape. You've finished the marathon, but that doesn't mean you stop practicing, or you'll lose that manso spiritual six-pack you spent a year and a half working on.

20. You're gonna make mistakes. The mission didn't make you perfect. 

21. And for point number twenty on, I found some returned missionary advice I had given myself, which I will share with all of you. 

1. Watch the RM. It happens to everyone. There are other RMs out there going through the same...whatever it is you're going through. It's a process!
2. Chill out. That doesn't mean sit around on your behind playing candy crush and taking siestas. Go find someone to watch a movie with. Play a game. Read a book. Go sight seeing in Salt Lake. To the Zoo. To the temple. Call up your buddies and have a party! Forget yourself and go have a day! Make happiness happen. 
3. Be spiritual. Just cuz you're home doesn't mean you have to stop being spiritual. In fact, please don't.You can't. Can't afford to. read your scriptures! Pray for like 25 minutes! Go to the temple! Attend institute, church, get a calling. I don't know. Oh, and don't pack Preach my Gospel away. Keep livin' it bro! 
4. Get busy. Get a job, figure out schooling, try out for a play, sing a song, play the guitar, but mostly GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! Don't sit around idle letting Satan in. 
5. Enjoy it. Yes, you worked your whole mission to find joy in every moment, don't stop now! There's plenty to be grateful for, to work for, to live, and to love there with your family, friends, and even strangers. Don't let those moments pass by! Ether 7:27 "And there were no more wars in the days of Shule; and he remembered the great things that the Lord had done for his fathers in bringing them across the great deep into the promised land; wherefore he did execute judgment in righteousness all his days." Remember the great things God helped you do in Argentina. He continues on in that work, the work of you. So you stick to him, okay? 

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this little moment spent in the thoughts of my past. It's been a blast. A past blast. 

...Okay, we're getting punny, so that's my cue to wrap things up. 

I'll just end with a quote that I composed in my study journal. Yes, I am going to quote myself. Actually it will be an edited paraphrase because I wrote it about this mission, but I'm going to edit it to be about just life in general, also I don't remember the exact wording. But I guess if i'm saying it now it's still technically a quote and not a paraphrase since it's still me saying it. But then again I'm paraphrasing a former quote... *drowns in the sea of political correctness and technicalities.  

"The more times you say that [life] goes fast, the faster [life] will go. But cherish and fill every moment, and [life] will last you to the eternity."

The Last Melon

Dearest Family: 

If I´m not mistaken, this will be my last email. I might have a little time next monday to write, but I´m not sure. This Sunday afternoon I´ll be saying goodbye to my hermosa Justo Daract and treking the 6 hour bus ride to Mendoza. Then Monday we´ll have a mini p-day and then a couple workshops for the after-misison life, and finish off with the cena with the president and his wife. Then Teusday morning it´s the plane! It still doesn´t feel real. I´m really going to be focusing this week in making use of every minute, so it doesn´t go by too fast. 

So, back to work while the work´s there to do! 

This week we met with Juan a couple times. What happened is that apparently the whole time he was coming to chruch and taking the lessons without letting his mom know, but last week his mom found out. He´s 45, so he can make his own decisions for his life, it´s fine, but it´s still hard for him to go against his mom. He keeps coming to church and taking the lessons, but it´s just a little concern he has that might be effecting his decision to be baptized. We keep plugging along. Really, once he recognizes that he has his answer everything else will come so easily. So we just have to keep teaching him and giving him situations in which the spirit can testify that this is true until he recognizes it. It´s a slow process, but we just have to trust in God and encourage Juan to keep going. 

Other than that, not a whole lot happened this week. It´s interesting how the weeks change from one to the other. Last week we found a ton of new people, with lots of potential. This week we found very few. But the most important thing is that we can teach and testify in every situation. Even if they don´t accept the gospel, hearing a truth of the gospel, even if it´s just a few sentences, is God showing His love for His children. It´s still a win. And that´s the love that God has. Even in the face of those who reject Him, who don´t believe, who won´t come to Him, he sends little examples of His love. Every effort in the work of the Lord is a successful one. 

Well, I don´t really know what to say, I don´t feel too inspired right now... but if this is my last letter I should probably write something inspiring. Luckily, this week I wrote my Carta de Mayordomia for my last interview with the president. So I´ll share some parts from that. :) 

What I had hoped to achieve on the mission is explained quite nicely to Joseph Smith Sr. in Doctrine and Covenants section four which is to fully and completely dedicate every part of me to each area, companion, ward, and investigator. And although I can comfortably say there were many instances in which I felt I served God well and made him proud, I would say even perfect missionaries are described more accurately by King Benjamin in Mosiah 2:21 as "unprofitable servants". Although my intent was to give, I have not room enough to receive the blessings and achievements the mission has allowed me. The missionary life in Argentina taught me to how plan and how to set goals, added a second language to my vocabulary, and gave me an undying love for another country and culture. Working with companions, investigators, and church leaders, I was able to practice speaking boldly, turning outward more often than inward, not becoming as quickly frustrated with the simple things, and expressing love and care in more than just my way. The countless spiritual experiences provided many moments of self reflection in which I discovered who I am, who I want to be, and how far I have to go to become the sculpture God has had in mind from the beginning. The mission strengthened in enormous amounts my knowledge of and relationship with my Heavenly Father by teaching me to really converse in prayer, to recognize and follow the Holy Ghost, to keep my covenants, to find the balance in my love and fear of God, and to pay my spiritual debts. And finally, the most dear, the mission gave me a greater appreciation for my Savior and a new vision of how to more fully follow Him. I was given eighteen months to serve God, and in the end the mission will serve me every day and on into eternity.

My testimony, of course, matured drastically on the mission, not only in the "what" but in the "why" and the "how" of what I know. I know that God is our Father in Heaven. He loves. He listens. He watches. He cares. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who not only taught and lived the one true gospel, but with His blood He paved the path to exaltation. And He lives. His work continues. He is with us every step of the way to understand, to forgive, to teach, to comfort, to cheer, to rescue, and to save. I know that this is His church and its simple fullness. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet called and lead by God to bring these truths to us, God´s children. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It testifies of Christ, and contains the answers to the soul. I know that God has a plan for us—a plan in action. I know that through this plan Satan is defeated and exaltation is possible. I know it is the only possible way to God, and if we accept Christ´s invitation to follow Him in faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, it is possible. I know God leads us today through our living and beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, in every aspect. I don't doubt because I can´t afford to doubt, and everything I learn in life, all I hear and see and experience only adds to this testimony of faith until that day when I can stand face to face with my Savior Jesus Christ and bear my witness that I know. 

And as I pass the eighteen-month goal line of this spiritual marathon and savor my last sister missionary breaths, I´ve decided what I would wish as a heading for my RM gravestone, "Invited others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end". Not to say I did so perfectly, nor that my going home marks the end of my efforts in this purpose, but only because I hope the sum total of these months in which God allowed me a fulltime part in his work and glory have had some miniscule effect in the eternal life of at least one soul aside from my own. I´m really going to miss not just being able to teach, but also to show, to love, to experience, to tutor, guide, and to accompany these of God´s children on their journey to Christ. And even in this short year and a half my merciful God has showed me countless joyous fruits as evidence of what He has done with me as a tool in His hands, of which I savor, and in which I glory. And in the words of a fellow missionary (shout out to Hermana Millett!), simple and profound, "The mission has truly saved me."

Love you all! Can´t wait to see you next week! 

Hermana Cannon 

The Last Melon

More pictures!

Here I am, This is me

Dear Family:

Don´t know why that Spirit song came into my head... but there you go. 

So this week! It was super great. The worldwide missionary meeting was incredible! We got to hear from various speakers, and my favorite was Elder Bednar. He talked about how as missionaries we can teach more with the spirit. Because as missionaries we can´t take the spirit into the hearts of the investigators, we can only bring it unto the heart. And if we can get it as close as we can to them, then their choice is whether or not to open their heart and let it in. Lots of good stuff. Super cool, and I was super glad to have been able to participate in it! 

This week we taught a ton of lessons, and found lots of new people, so that was great. My favorite parts of this week was a lesson with had with a less active who has been through the temple, Graciela. It was just after the missionary meeting, so we were super spiritually pumped. And the lesson just happened to be the first vision. It was super powerful. It´s just the best feeling when as a missionary you can really open your heart and mouth and just let God fill it. Miricles always happen, and it´s a lot less stressful because you don´t have to worry about messing up, since God is in control. Super neat. 

Also this week we were finally able to meet with Juan. It was a great lesson, and we made some interesting discoveries. He has his answer! But he still doesn´t recognize it. He was able to kneel and pray, asking all the specific questions we gave him, (was joseph smith a prophet? Should I be baptized?) and he said, he felt the Holy Ghost very strongly. Peace, surity, strength. Sent from God. So, isn´t that your answer? we told him. But he doesn´t think so. He´s still waiting for something else. Sigh. Sometimes it´s frustrating, because he´s so close! He even bore his testimony in the lesson about how the book of mormon and the bible go togther, and should be one. But he doesn´t seem to know that he knows it. 

One thing I did learn, is that God really has patience for his children. Because even though Juan doesn´t recognize it, God keeps sending him peace, and communicating with him. In the lessons, God is always there guiding the lessons. And it´s comforting to know that even when I may loose my patience with him sometimes, God never does and never will. 

Welp, I guess that´s about it. The work hastens forward! Have a great week! 

Hermana Cannon

p.s. we went bike riding last p-day. super fun! 

Here I am, This is me

 

More pictures

Some more pics! 

More pictures

Some more pics!