Monday, November 14, 2016

Week 9 -- Driving on the left side



No pictures for this week. My camera died so I will be getting one today. It was such a crazy week full of so much love and fun. I wish I had my camera.

It started out in Townsville. An hour drive from Ary. We stayed there because the elders there were having problems and one needed to go to a new area.

We were with them for P-Day and went ice-skating. It was really fun!! The rink was not cooled by frozen pipes but rather the whole building was a freezer. You could see your breath and I had goose bumps. It was like being back in Utah weather. We were the only ones there and I was the only one that could skate, so I gave everyone else a lesson. It was great. All 4 of us were doing really good. Every once in awhile one of us would fall and we would all just start laughing so hard. They played music from all my favorite bands while we were there. Coldplay, M83. It was so weird to listen to them since I have not heard them for a while.

The Townsville elders ended up staying so they took us to Ayr on Tuesday after a district meeting.

We went around to say hello to all the investigators because on Wednesday the Townsville Elders came and brought us back to go to a training given by our mission president. He came up north to visit us and to give interviews. He is so amazing and such a good president. He really helped me understand things better and how to teach people more clearly.

We showed up to the chapel before President to clean and prepare for him. I waited at the door to greet him and when he drove up I walked out to shake his hand. He got out of the car and tossed me the keys. "Elder this is your new car!!!!" haha what???? He brought us up a car, so now I am driving and loving it. It is not that hard on the other side. I am pretty used to it from biking on the left side for so long now. So driving was easy to pick up on. I am always really careful still. But now we can drive to Charters Towers and all the little towns in our area that are too far to bike to. It is so fun!!!

We meet with an investigator named Maria and she has been having the J.W's teach her but when we came over she said she knew what we are teaching is true and she told the J.W's to stop teaching her. We could not believe it. We had been gone for two weeks but she still knows this is true. It is amazing the power that the spirit has on people. Later that week she came with us to a dinner appointment at the Yipp’s home. The Yipps are helping us teach her. We have gone through the plan and tonight it was the restoration. Brother and Sister Yipp both served missions so they are great to have with us when we teach. Maria is wonderful. She always asks question and wants to really understand what we are teaching. She loves it and really understands and it makes sense to her. She is going to pray to see if Joseph Smith was a true prophet and when we asked if she would be baptized by the proper authority she said YES!! She was baptized in another church but knows that this baptism will really count. IT IS SO GREAT!!!

While she is doing great, Steven is falling away. He has stopped having us come over and told us he will be going back to jail in December. Sooooo..... we dropped him and his B date. That was really sad.

I had the funnest miracle this week. Going back and forth between two areas it is easy to forget something in one area and not have it for two weeks. This week it was the soap. So I was going to have to go a full week without body soap. I was mad but dealt with it. Well, the next day we visited the Ellies. We re-activated them. When we were leaving she wanted to show me some soap that she bought. She was having me smell it and then said, “Here, take some.” She gave me a bunch of really fancy soap. I just started to laugh so hard and told her I forgot my soap and this was a miracle. She loved it and we had a good laugh. It was so great!! The Lord really does watch out for his children and loves them. I didn't even pray to "magically" get soap. But yet Heavenly Father took care of me.

When President came we stayed in Townsville overnight. The assistants came over too. We had 6 missionaries in a flat that can barley hold 4. It was so fun. We all slept on the ground and talked and laughed. I actually know one of the assistance. I knew his sister from Lincoln Academy. He went there too but was 4 grades ahead of me. So fun!! They told me what a blessing it was for me to be a greenie here. I guess I am the first missionary to be trained in the northern zone. They only send the best up here and it is rare to have a newbie come up here. I thought wow that is cool. I don't mean to brag or anything. The assistants said it is a sign that I will be going big places and most likely be a trainer when I am done being trained and definitely a leader later on. I felt so blessed to have them say that to me. I feel like I have to work really hard to prepare myself for the things to come. I love it so much! Being a missionary has brought me so much joy and I have had some of the best time of my life.

One fun thing I did this week was showering in the rain. It stared to rain really hard again when were getting ready for bed. I usually shower every night but this night I grabbed my towel and soap and ran out in my undies to the back yard. It was raining so hard that I literally took a shower in the rain. It felt so good. Nice and cold. I just started to laugh about what I was doing. Being a missionary you have moments where you just love what you do so much and the joy that come from it. It was a really good shower and I felt so refreshed.

We cannot have any pets as missionaries but I am currently kinda breaking that rule right now. There is a cockroach that is always crawling on our table when we go to cook so I caught him and put him in a little container. At first it was to see how long he would last with no food but he just kept going and then we felt bad so we made a hole to give him food. He looked lonely so we also caught him a gecko to play with. They get along just perfectly. haha so if you have any good names let me know.

With the car we were able to visit some less active members in a nearby town. They did not know that there was a church here and are going to start to come back. So that was really awesome to visit them. There are lots more like them in others little towns that we are going to visit tomorrow. Having a car is such a blessing and has helped us in so many ways to hasten the work.

Anyway, it is so fun to email and let you know all the things that are going on. I love you all and hope all is well. I challenge all of you reading this to invite the missionaries in your area over for dinner and get to know them. It is such a blessing to eat with members and get to know them. So get to work.

Love, 
Elder Cahoon

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