Monday, March 27, 2017

Week 28 Preparing for the cyclone

I AM OK... for now...
So now let me explain. There is a huge cyclone and it is coming right at me!! Her name is Debbie and she is a huge class 4 almost a class 5 and that is the worst you can get and she is coming right at me. So before I talk about my week let me talk about this for a sec.

Ok so we found out about it on Friday but it was not big or a threat yet... Well Sunday came and we went to church and the members were in a panic. We don’t have phone, internet, or a way to know about it. So Debbie got big and changed course and is coming right at Ayr. The eye is going to go right over our flat. Scary!!

President McSwain called on Sunday after church and said that they have started to evacuate Ayr. So he told us to get our things and go to T-ville. It is still going to hit hard in T-ville but not as bad as Ayr. So we are safe in T-ville right now and it is pretty windy but not bad yet. I will sorta have to be quick emailing because we have to get back to our flat before it is too bad to go outside. We have been briefed and were able to shop and get ready. The power is for sure going to go out so we have all the right food you could say so we should be fine.

Today (Monday) we had to go around and help all the members get ready and do service so it is sorta late right now in Australia but we had a great day of service helping people out. When we left Ayr on Sunday it was windy but not bad. You could say it was really good kite flying weather. Right now in T-ville it is getting a bit more then a kite breeze so things are getting exciting and picking up. What a crazy start to the week and a great way to end the last week.

On that note I will try and give you my words before I get blown away in the wind. haha I will be safe.

Our week was really good. Ayr is just amazing and everyone is doing so amazing!! After our crazy start to get in the flat it got a lot better. We had so many people to follow up with and see and teach and make into investigators. So we were driving all over town trying to catch people at the right time and set appointments to come back and see them.

I guess I will start off with as my mom said "the girl" And to answer mom and all of you real quick “the girl” is that really pretty one. So we stopped by this week at the time that she said we could come back. She was home but no one else was. So we asked if we could just have the lesson outside. She said yes and we sorta got to know her. The basics like her age 17 religion Catholic and she likes to dance. I sorta got really nervous when we sat down and just jumped right into the lesson. We were also on trade off on that day so Elder Paulino was with me and was just as shocked as I was the first time. I talked really fast I guess and it was a good lesson but I am 100% for sure that she knew we were nervous. So funny. But it must have gone well because we are going back next time we can get to Ayr to share more. So all in all it was pretty good.

Even though we were in Ayr on Thursday we had to go to a funeral in Charters for the Lowrey’s son. Elder Redd was the one conducting and did a great job. He was so bold and read the chapters in Alma regarding where we go after this life. Even that sinners go to prison. Everybody in the room, about 350 people were all sinners and going to spirit prison. But he taught that just like down here as (then pointed to us) these missionaries go out there are ones in prison. It was great!! It was a pretty good funeral. I did not like the language though. So many people saying the F word and cursing and using foul language. That part was just terrible. It made we want to leave or get up and yell at some people to shut it and have some respect.

We used the opportunity in Charters to see Angus. We really just went to see how he was doing. We went over the commandments and then he told us he was struggling with a thing. We got really personal and I cried while testifying and the spirit was so strong. He is back on track and going amazing. Their marriage in on track and ready to go. We just need to, well they need to pick the day. I do not think I will still be here but it is just so great to see him embrace the gospel. It is so great to see him going down the right path now. We thought we were going to struggle with this problem but it is all good now so it was amazing to have the spirit work with him and us.

Ayr like I said is going great. When we had trade off we found two amazing people who became awesome investigators. We found them just through door knocking. One is named Jenelle and she has two kids who are 9 and 11 and want to learn also so it is great to have them to teach now. She wants a church that will practice what they preach and really do what Christ would do. So #1 she liked that our name badges have his name on them too.

Sam is also doing great!! We went over everyday and started the stop smoking program. He is having a hard time giving them up but really wants to try so things are looking up for him. He never looks like he is listening but then will ask a deep question or figure something out and get so excited. He just loves to learn about God and how he can be better and do what He wants. With the cyclone coming he and all of our investigators were busy preparing for the storm so they did not make it to church but I think it is a pretty good excuse to have to prepare. Right now it is a big thing to come to church so we are understanding that they want to prepare.

With the storm coming it is going to give us a huge opportunity to help people and do service. I am way excited for that. My mom sent my birthday package and it had a nice pair of gloves so it is perfect timing. Just goes to show that moms are the best and the spirit is real!!

On Saturday we had nothing going on so T-ville gave us a call and the sisters here. Sister McCall and Sister Campbell had a baptism. So we drove over and got to help participate in it. It was a beautiful baptism and for the song to close they had the missionaries get up and sing A Child's Prayer. I never thought that I was going to enjoy singing at a baptism but I enjoyed it so much. It was what I would call beautiful but then again I think highly of my own voice when I sing but there could be glass breaking as I do. Hopefully everyone else enjoyed it. haha

As we drove back we saw the coolest helicopter. For those of you who know me I wanna fly so bad and always look up at them when they go over. So seeing this really cool big one was awesome!! I did not think it could have gotten better. But it did. The Lord blesses us. Right as we got to Ayr the T-ville search and recuse copter was landing so we saw it land. We thought it would be wise to do our study in the car so we could see it take off. Hahah we were using our time wisely. On that note we did really study and prepared one of the best lesson we have ever done for Sam and the lesson was great!!

I got some cool pictures of it and then when it took off I lost it. I was so excited and just thrilled to be so close to a big Huey!! It was so loud and when they turned the jet engine on I was about to faint!! It was amazing. There were about 10 little kids watching and I was probably being one of the biggest kids of them all. I just love helicopters so much. But I had to remember I was not here to watch helis so we went finding as soon as it was gone and we finished studying. So cool though.

It has just been so great to be on a mission and really understand the gospel and start to really learn and apply it in my own life. It is twice as much fun when you help other people do the same thing. We have been able to listen to talks by John Bytheway in our driving all over. Yes he is nuts and very bad at making a good joke but if you ever listen to him look past the crazy weird dude and his message helps so much and makes things so clear.

This week we are still running into the problem of finding "new" people to talk to. I guess it is not hard to re knock the street but we just run into the same people and they have not changed yet. So hopefully our efforts will reward the next few missionary's that come to the area.

We get to email our mission president each week and this last week I lost it and told him I am sick of driving and have knocked all the houses. I am defiantly feeling a transfer coming this next week. I love my area so much and hope to come back some day in the future. The people are so great and I have loved getting to know everybody. Even just the members like the Yips. They are just the best and we hang out with them so much on P days and eat with them heaps. It is so fun to talk with them and fight over whose country is better. Last week Brother Yip wore the best American T shirt ever. It was just the American flag. He got me good though. I tried to say the pledge of allegiance and I hate to say but I don’t know some of the words. Neither does Elder Pugsley when I asked him. Haha it has been too long.

I have talked a bit about the trade off. Well I am a driver and our Dl is a driver so we are never together but it is still fun to be with Elder Paulino. He is great and we saw so many amazing miracles from it. While finding we ran into a man whose wife was a Mormon but passed away. He pulled out all this LDS related stuff and talked so highly of the missionaries. So it was great to find him. Now we are going to see what is holding him back. We are always so blessed when we trade off. It was great.

We always try and have our fun as you always hear me talk about. I have a motto right now. Work really hard and have fun!! It has been so great!! On this trade off me and Elder Paulino wanted to do something really funny. My b-day is coming up so I got a package and my mom sent balloons. So we filled them up with water and wrote on a piece of paper. 2 for us, 2 for you. get rid of things you don’t want wet. If you accept pick yours up." The balloons were big party balloons not your little ones. So we went to our drop off spot which is exactly half way between Ayr and T-ville on a little dirt road. We made sure to get there first and set up. They had the note and their two and we hid in a bush. As they pulled up they saw the note and were very hesitant and slow. Long story short they accepted our fight and we ran and ambushed them. I threw mine right at Elder Bo and it hit him right in the face but did not pop!! Unbelievable!! Elder Pugsley got hit too but was not wet. I was smart and wore running shoes and I ran up the road so fast as they both had their balloons. Elder Paulino is a bit slow and they got him!! haha one popped on his face and the other his back. He was drenched in water but we were all laughing and having a good time. The memories we make are just priceless and so fun.

I swore up and down when I was a kid that when I grew up and could decide if I wanted a flu shot or not I would not get one. I hate needles and as you know I pasted out when I had my blood test a few months ago. So yes I hate needles and swore never to get a flu shot when it was my choice. Well the Zone Leaders called and asked if we wanted one. I remembered all the times that I said I would never say yes but that word came out of my mouth. So some time in the next few weeks I will be going in for a self inflected flu shot. It is terrible being a responsible adult.

We are not expecting to much to happen this week with the cyclone hitting. We are praying that everyone will be ok and that it will open up the opportunity to help and get new people to teach. Mostly we will be on clean up all week but if anything fun happens you can bet I will let you know.

Thanks for all the love and support. I love this work so much and hope you like to hear about how I enjoy it and make it fun.

Thanks for the love,

Elder Cahoon











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