Week 32 Big Reunion

WOW!!! This week was just the best!! A few weeks ago I said President Nelson was coming. Well it was Elder Neilson from the seventy. Just as good though.

To start out we had to drive to the biggest chapel in the mission, only 20 minutes away down the highway. When we got there it was the funniest sight. The parking lot was just full of the same looking white Toyota Corollas. haha quite the sight. For the first time in 8 months I saw my MTC comp Elder Hansen. I also saw Sister Day. It was the best reunion ever!! We went on and on at lunch and had the best time. Everyone is doing so well and we are powerful missionaries now.

This conference was just with half the mission. The other half did it the next day. Anyway it was the most powerful spiritual experience every so far on the mission. Elder Neilson is just a crack up but still can invite the strongest spirit in after cracking a joke. He gave the best training on repentance. It was amazing and really helped us see a new way to teach it to our investigators.

Sometimes we can make it seem all scary, like you did a bad thing, well we all do "bad' things sometimes. Repenting is a way to feel at peace. It is not there to make us feel bad but to pick us up so we can grow. It was amazing!!

We also got a training about Ammon and his adventure Alma 17-17. I want to focus on this for a sec.

He is the ones that served the king. He told the king he would like to live with the lamanites until the day he dies. The king thought great here is my daughter for you to wife. Ammon said no I will be thy servant. So he served. As he did he was feeding the sheep and some people came and scared them away. Long story short he cut off their arms. After that he went and tended to the horses.

Our training was on Ammon and how he loved the people he served. Well I took it another way. Ammon worked hard to cut off arms and serve the king. Just as I serve hard to serve the Lord. Well after a hard day of door knocking or lessons do we as elders toss in the towel or do continue to serve even after we have done some hard work?

As we door knocked this big street it took two hours and we did the whole thing with little success. My comp was done and ready to head to a dinner. We still had 15 or so minutes so I said let's be like Ammon and keep going. There were a few houses just around the corner. So we went and because we were loyal until the very end we got 2 wonderful families to teach. I learned it does not take that much more effort to see a miracle. It just takes those few more doors or a little bit more. Later on in the week we had a different experience. We door knocked for a few hours and had heaps of lessons at the door. A few new investigators and 7 people gave a day and time to come back! We thought we did so well and we were ready to be done. We thought hey we gave it our all and did amazing. Well we still had 20 minutes to go and thought let's serve until the very end. Well nothing happened but we learned hard work. It felt good to come home at the end of the day and have our comp prayer saying we gave it our all.

As the district leader I am the one who conducts baptism interview for those in my district. Well I had to conduct my first interview. I was so scared. I went over and over the questions and found scriptures to help use to give my love and explanation. Well when it began I just loved it. The spirit was so strong and I was scared to figure out how I would know if this man was ready and worth to get baptized. Well the spirit is just the best companion. I felt so much love and peace and thought that Tyson was ready. So on Friday this week he got baptized and he gave a powerful testimony.

This week was just so great with the spirit and learning and growing. One funny thing that happened was at the big mission training. I knew Elder Hansen was going to be there so I brought my big camera to take a good picture of us together. Well it is a really nice camera and it got passed around from elder to elder for each to use and take pictures. In the end the APs told me they would need to borrow it for the week. They ended up taking it and taking all the pictures of the mission training. They loved it and I pretty much did not see it all day. They want to take it and have it. It was pretty funny. We got all lined up for a big mission picture and when everyone was ready Elder Fukafuka the AP yelled out, “Cahoon, get your camera.” It was pretty funny. I eventually got it back and enjoyed all the funny pictures everyone took. 

Well have a good one.

Love,

Elder Cahoon

Week 31 New Area

Ah so little time to write so much this week. We email at the library and only get an hour. So here we go. We also have missionaries close by so we actually do things on P-day. I hope I don’t forget anything.

Wow ok, I am in Beenliegh and it is amazing!! I feel like I am in heaven. We have a ward of about 250 active members and 200 inactive. So we have heaps!!! Way different from Ayr and Charters.

I have been here a week now and all I can say is the church is true. This ward is just like back home and this area is wonderful. It is a bit small compared to a big city or town but it is huge for me coming from a small area.

The success this week was just amazing. We have a town called Yarribilba that is about 20 minutes from us and it is a gold mine. Right as I got here it was the first place we went and they have had heaps of good things come out of that town so far. About 10 families live there that are members and it is just great!! 

We had a huge miracle this week!! Karrlaie and Kodie got baptized. They are two young girls 14 and 13 who they found door knocking last transfer and this week we finished the lessons and they were all ready. Long story short they got baptized and at the baptism the mom asked how she could get baptized two. The parents didn’t really believe all that much but support the girls. Well now the mom is way interested and will get baptized in 2 or 3 weeks.

The Lord is blessing me so much right now and I am in heaven. When I left T-ville it was 38 degrees C. I had a great flight but it felt weird being all alone with no comp. Like really weird and I was a bit scared. The plane was a bit empty but I managed to contact two people and give them cards. It was pretty weird to do it without a comp. Getting off the plane was the worlds greatest thing. It was 18 degrees outside and so cold. Well not Utah cold but Aussie cold. I had never felt this way before. It was amazing. I had my comp pick me up with two other elders and they took me to the temple to grab our car. I am still driving. Anyway I saw the temple for the first time just for two seconds and then we drove to our area.

We are in Beenliegh. It is pretty small and got flooded last week in the cyclone. Like the whole town was under water. Most of the people's houses went under or cars went under. The flat we are in is on a huge hill and I guess the elders could not get out because the water came right up to their drive way. The whole road and town was a river and people were using boats to travel around for a bit. So there is heaps of water damage in the town right now.

My comp is Elder Paramore from Samoa. He is just great!!! Really good teacher but just needs to follow more mission rules. He is great though. We are getting along so well and really smashing our area. It is great!!

My district is really cool. All the elders are awesome!! We have two comps in our district with me being the third. It is a bit small but wonderful. There is heaps of work to do though to get them inspired and back to work. At our first district meeting the numbers were so low it was scary. What did they do all week? So we are really gonna struggle to pick things back up and get people to work. This week has been a bit better. The numbers doubled from one companionship and they are going great!!

So I don’t know what else to say. There is just so much!! The place seems so great and wonderful and I am really excited. Sorry this was short but I will slowly get there and let you know everything.

I guess one last thing. We have a ward mission leader who is the bomb. Always calling and updating us and getting dinners and members to come to lessons. He is an islander. Oh on that note like everybody here is from some sort of island or New Zealand. True bro!! haha They are the best. I thought I was getting fed well up north. Well, I have yet to go to bed without a meal from a member. We have someone every night that has us over and gives us a feed. Not just any feed, it is a feast!! So much chicken and food and veggies. I used to hate veggies but now I love them. Crazy right!! I am definitely going to get fat in this area. It is great!!

The people here are just so nice and caring and they watch out for us. My new favorite people are islanders. Their accent is the best and the way they talk and joke and live life is so good and funny. Everyone is just a crack up and so nice.

So going to church was great!! When everyone started to sing it sounded so amazing and I felt such a strong spirit. It ran just like a Utah church with young men, primary, elder's quorum. Man elders quorum was just like home where everyone tries to pull the best joke or be really funny. In sacrament they called me up by surprise to give my testimony. I got up and said, “Wow this is a bit scary, I just came from a place where there were only 10 members.” They all got a good laugh and I got to share my testimony with them.

I want to share it here too. I want you all to know that this church is amazing. It truly does bless our lives and help us in so many ways. I can see so clearly now that God loves us each so much and blesses us so greatly. He is always watching over and helping us. He has also given us a prophet to guide us. Through him He can run his church and help guide us and show that love. I know that Joseph Smith is and was a true prophet and that through him and his question we are able to see and feel the love that God has for us and not only seal things here on earth but also in heaven. I know this church is true and I love it in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

I hope this email was enough for you all. Thanks and love you.

Elder Cahoon  

Week 30 Saying Goodbye

It finally happened!! I got a transfer call. I am outa here!! It only took 8 months and 3 companions. What a cool experience to have been there for so long and a blessing to help everybody. But honestly I was sick of it.

These last 2-3 weeks I have had some fun cleaning up and keeping busy but when we had to start doing mission work again it was (this sounds terrible) horrible. We just don’t have anything to do at night or during parts of the day. Haha it is only a small town so this week it was a matter of enduring to the end. With it being small I have literally done it all. Knocked every door, seen every member, less active, inactive and all their mates. I love everyone so much especially the members in both areas but I hit a point this week when I was just done. Done with the area, people, doors. haha It is a great place but after 8 months it just starts to get boring or routine like. So I was so excited for the call.

My new area is called Beenleigh and it is in Coomera. My zone leader is an elder from American Fork High School named Christensen. I thought that was cool since I sorta know him. I am the new District Leader for the Beenleigh district. I am a bit nervous but excited to set a good example and help the missionaries in my district. Poor Elder Bo is staying in Ayr/Charters and is getting a golden missionary. So there will be a guy just like me who comes up here to his first area in the outback. Elder Bo is on his last transfer and a bit trunky right now so of course the Lord sent him a golden. haha He is gonna love it.

I am so excited to go down south. So I think today, Monday for me and Sunday for my family we will all be on an airplane. haha I leave today at 4:50 and fly to Brisbane and get picked up and go to the big drop off and pick up zone! I am so excited to see all the elders and sisters and all my friends from the mtc. Today is going to be so much fun.

I guess as for our week it was a bit slow. We did not have much to do in Charters but keep trying anyways. Like I said when 6:00 rolls around we usually have nothing to do. But one night we decided to follow up with Phil. He is a good potential. He was home and so were his 3 kids and wife. She was making dinner but the rest of the family came and sat in and really listened, asked questions, and loved it. Even all the kids. They are 8, 9, 10 so all could get baptized. Sorta sad to leave them since they are now all super awesome!! But Beenleigh will be good for me. We just taught them a pretty basic lesson but they just loved it and wanted to know more!!! So great!!

Since it was the end of the transfer we had to do a deep clean for 4 hours in out flat. It really needed it and we absolutely smashed it. We got down and dirty and really made that flat cleaner than it has ever been. I did the living room and the bedroom, Sweeping, vacuuming, them moping. Elder Bo tackled the kitchen and bathroom. All was great and we have a really clean flat for the new guy that is coming.

Our car was due for a service about 9,000 km ago but we never had a day that lined up and worked. We kept running into problems. We got caught in a cyclone, lost our motor pass... it goes on and on but this week we finally got it done. The car was going great but it needed new oil, tires, air filter and the alignment needed to get fixed. Other than that the car was in tip top shape and now it is even better.

Really not much happened this week, which is pretty sad. At the end of the week when we found out I was getting transferred the Vailalos had us over for dinner. They are one of the greatest families in the world. The dad has really changed his life around and became a great example for his family. I speak very highly of him and his family right now. They have taken such good care of me and given me so much love. Since I was in Ayr for my b-day they had us over for a little b-day dinner and we had such a great time with them. They got me the coolest gift ever!!! They gave me a legit NRL Cowboy’s jersey!! The Cowboys are a rugby team in Townsville and they are a really good team. Everybody wears uniforms and shirts and stuff and now on p-day I can join them haha. I will miss them so much. Their two boys are just the best!! They are so nice and helpful to everyone and so fun to hang out with. They are a great family and I wish you all could meet them.

I had my last day of church in Charters and we watched General Conference. Wow was it just so great this year!! I never thought I would enjoy watching conference on a Saturday but I just could not get enough. I hope everyone else enjoyed it too.

So on Sunday we watched it and then took goodbye photos with everyone and then drove to Ayr as they finished watching the next session. So I got to say goodbye to everyone there too.

The Yips will be greatly missed in Ayr. There was never a Sunday in Ayr that I went hungry. Or any day that we had dinner with them. They are such a fun couple to hang around with. We spent many p days with them. Brother Yip is the cop and it was great to learn about that and hear all his stories.

The weirdest goodbye was definitely Sam and Mauri. I have not really ever talked about Mauri. Since we have not seen her in awhile. She was the one that told us this was a bunch of crap but then heard the lesson and felt the spirit and now fully believes in all of it. Great right!!

So she was at Sam's house as we said goodbye. I got some pictures of Sam. He is the scary looking one with a beard. What a guy. He threw away all his tobacco and coffee in preparation for his baptism date coming up. So great!!

I was able to bear my testimony to him and say goodbye and then it got weird. haha Mauri wanted to have us give a quick lesson about who we are and what we do while she filmed the whole thing to post on Facebook and spread the word. I was unsure but we checked our handbook and it does not say anything. So I guess if you want to see me in action look up Mauri. Haha I will be on Facebook with Elder Bo teaching Sam about the Word of Wisdom in like 40 seconds. I guess we will see if anyone takes notice and if we get a referral from them. haha all went well and I said my goodbyes to everyone.

My only complaint now is I get 23kg to take with me on the plane. That is like 50 pounds. Well, I have accumulated a study journal that weighs a ton and all this stuff so I am stressing to see what I can and cannot take down with me. All will be fine though.

Sorry for the short boring email. I gotta go catch a plane right now. Next week should be a good email since I will have a new area to talk about for the first time ever!! Oh, my comps name is Elder Paramore. I think when I first see him I will say, "Hey can I have some more power." haha Love you all, thanks for the prayers and love! 

Elder Cahoon

Week 29 Cyclone Clean Up Week

#1 I am ok again.

#2 Funnest week ever!!

Ok wow I don't even know where to start. I guess with the so called cyclone. As you know we got evacuated to T-ville and had fun there cleaning and preparing. The storm ended up going down south more so t-ville did not get much at all. My mom wanted me to describe it. Imagine going out and flying a kite. That is how bad it was!! haha it totally missed us but hit Ayr and Bowen pretty good.

When the road was cleared from rubbish and trees we were able to drive down but had to watch out for water flooding the road from all the rain. All was well though and we were able to make it to Ayr without a problem.

Ayr got hit but did not take the bulk of the storm. They said they only got 100kph winds and 20 mills of rain. So it was not terrible at all. Everyone still was prepared for the worst. I have never seen a whole town just disappear into houses and be all blocked up. It was cool. But anyway the storm did some damage. Lots of trees had fallen over and there were leaves and stuff everywhere in yards. Only little stuff though (not like Bowen)

When we got to Ayr President Mayers sent us on a whole heap of mini missions. First, we had to go check up on the chapel to see if the roof was there and if it was all right. So we went around and picked up all the trees and things and made a pile. While living in the chapel for four months I found a way up onto the roof so I was really able to give it a good look over and it was fine too.

From there we were sent to all the active members to make sure they were alright and safe. Everyone was good and just cleaning up the little they had in their yard. Pretty much all the members got away without too much damage. Our branch President took his family far away so they would be safe and he sorta lives in a forest like we do. President Mayers sent us there to see if his house was ok and to check it like we checked the chapel. He was all good but had heaps of trees and leaves and branches all over. It was a mess. Side note to Jake my little bro. You would have hated it. It was like a Cahoon spring clean but Dad did not have the chainsaw, mother nature did and she went nuts. haha

The rest of the day we went around to all of the names on our branch list. Inactive, part members, everyone. Since it really was not that bad in Ayr everyone was fine. All the people were ok and just needed help cleaning up little things in their yard. I was having a great time and my new gloves came in so handy. Shout out to my mom for being the best and sending them right in time!! As the day came to a close we thought what was left of the storm was over. Oh so while we were working it was blowing around 20-25 kph. So it was a lot more windy than kite flying weather. On that note there was a member by the beach and when we finished helping we walked over to the beach and it was really blowing. I took some awesome pictures trying to walk in it and me standing sideways.

The storm, from what we could see on the radar from members was still going strong in Bowen but coming to an end. It made a quick up draft or loop or something that day and hit us at the end of the day. Literally right as we finished the storm started.

So now I can really give some detail of what being in a cyclone is like. The part that hit us was maybe a f1 or less but still crazy!! I found that sweet camera and it has a great mic on it so in the videos you can really hear what the wind sounded like. As we sat in our flat looking out it was raining harder than I have ever seen. Buckets of water coming out of the sky. The rain also did not fall straight down but sideways from all the wind. As it hit the ground or a roof it would blow away in the wind. My dad would have had a hay day trying to go out and windsurf. If you have even been with us at a beach while we windsurf it feels like that but 10 times more wind and super constant. It was pretty cool but only lasted an hour. We got 52 millimeters of rain just like that. So when we hopped in our car to see all the damage and flooding we could not believe it. Our chapel courtyard was under water and totally flooded. So was the road that runs outside of our flat.

I could not believe how much water was just around on the ground. It was like a really big flash flood in southern Utah but in a small city. So there were homes that got flooded and all the parks and fields were just full of water. I took some videos as we drove around to see it all. It was so crazy to be in just such a little part of the storm. It did knock out power in Home Hill but Ayr was fine and we suffered no damage except from flooding.

You may remember the big bridge I have talked about that goes from Ayr to Home Hill. Well the river is usually empty or has a creek of water flowing down the side. Well that day all the water from the cyclone started to fill the river up. The river itself has a bank or goes down 10 meters or 32 feet. So it is a deep river that is usually not flowing. Well as we drove across it the river was about 3 meters 9 feet from going over this bridge. Look up pictures of it empty and then full. It is quite the sight. It is the Burdekin Bridge in Ayr. Imagine a 32 foot wave of water coming down and filling this river over night. There were huge trees that were just floating along like nothing had happened. It was amazing that that much water could just come really out of nowhere. Bowen and down south got 800 to 1000 millimeters of water. That is 40 inches of rain in just one storm. So you can imagine how much water was coming down this river!!!!

There is a spot under the bridge that you can drive to and get out and be right on the bank of the river. So we went to see how close it was to flooding over and it still had a ways to go before that would happen. As we were looking I started to slip and slide down into the river. There was mud from the rain and we were on a slope. So with my camera high above my head I fell into the Burdekin and took a little bath. No don't worry about me being swept away. Under the bridge there is lots of vegetation and a yeti so I just stood up and crawled back up the back. In one of the pictures that is why I have mud all over my butt.

The next day we went around again to see if there was stuff to help with and was busy the day going around doing the same things we did the day we got to Ayr. The real fun began when we tried to make our trek down to Bowen where we taught and baptized Sipa.

President Mayers called and told us to go to the store to grab those big size D batteries that nobody uses. Well every store was all sold out but we managed to find 2 that we could bring down. I also thought we should grab some water to bring down to the members since it gets shut off in the storm. So after that fun little adventure to find some we started to drive down to Bowen. There was a police roadblock and they were not letting anybody through. Not even people with big diesel generators and heaps of fuel. So when we pulled up President Mayers told us to say "We are official representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. We want to go check on the members in the area down there and bring them water and batteries." We also told him we had our own food and water and would be back to Ayr that afternoon. He without a thought said ok go through. hahaha What a crazy cool miracle!!!

As we drove down to Bowen we began to see how bad a cyclone could be. Ayr was nothing. The closer and closer we got the realization kicked in on how nasty these monsters are. If a tree (huge tree) was not tipped over the bark was stripped clean off the tree and left it naked. The roads you could tell had over a few meters of water on them and some parts still had water. The rivers were still flooded and going strong. It was so cool to see but so sad at the same time.

As you drive into Bowen from Ayr there is a little tiny one-man airport for a skydiving company. As we pulled into Bowen and passed this little airport I thought I was going to die. There were so many Black Hawk Helicopters flying all around and Chinooks taking off and landing. We stopped and took some cool videos and photos and I was in heaven!!! The whole day they just flew over along with lots of non-military ones like my favorite AS350 B3 and Robinsons 22 and 44. I’m such a nerd. haha love them. So as I worked I was so happy not just because I was helping but also because I was seeing so many helis and living a dream. I will get back to the coolest part about the helis after I talk about Bowen.

So as we pulled into town I want you to imagine that every tree in Hidden Oaks had fallen over and if we had power lines imagine them all tangled up. It was a bad sight. Some houses were missing roofs, fences were gone, the streets were full of mud and sand from the floods. It was bad. We made it to the Branch president's house and he has huge palm trees tipped over and a river going through his front yard. It was a mess. Again Jake, you would have hated it. There were so many trees to drag over into a big pile. As you looked down the road everyone just pulled all the trees and bushes and rubbish into big piles and the city council comes around with a big wood chipper and shreds it all.

So once we knew that all the members were ok we began to just move tree after tree and palm leaf or banana tree and banana tree to the front yard into a big pile. I took lots of pictures of all the damage and carnage from the storm. Mother nature hit them hard. As we drove we saw a house that was boarded up that said F off Debbie. haha The whole town was just destroyed. It looked like they had every electrician in Bowen trying to get the power lines fixed for power. This whole town went from being fully functional to destroyed and non functional in a day.

The funnest part about the whole thing was just driving to each member and seeing all the damage it caused. I felt so bad that I really could not do much to help. We asked around in Ayr if anyone had a chainsaw we could borrow but no one did. All we could do was pick up the small trees and stuff since we could not cut anything. It still was fun to give a helping hand.

At the end of the day we drove back to Ayr and had a wonderful sleep. The next morning Sam called us. He calls us every day now. But this time he asked if we could help him real quick. We were about to leave down to Bowen again but stopped by to see what we could do. He collects beer cans from all of his friends and stores them up so he can recycle them and get money. So he had about 20 big bags of these beer cans sitting in front of his unit. The recycle place can’t accept them if there is trash in the bags with the cans. So he had us take out these nasty old cans with beer still in some of them and put them into clean bags. It was so nasty. There was so much rubbish in them like rotten break, weeds, old food, basically trash. Our job was to stick our hand in it and pull out the beer cans. It was terrible but we did it. We had a quick lesson with him to since we have not done any mission work for a week now. We still try to contact people as we work but it is hard. So we went from having the biggest numbers in our area to a whole bunch of zeros!! haha We were still doing work, just not mission work. It was a bad week in that sense but a good one since we served.

So we went back to Bowen that day and they had their water turned on but still no electricity. We continued to go around moving all the trees and rubbish into big piles. Way better then picking up beer cans in rotten food. The day was a good one full of lots of work. There were still helicopters everywhere so I was just so happy to be doing all the work. At the end of day two in Bowen the town was coming back to life. I have never seen so many people help each other and be nice to everyone. Slowly the town came back. There were also heaps of military guys going around helping too. So we saw heaps of the cool military cars too. It is weird to just think that the world does not ever stop. People go back to work and clean up and then it goes back to normal. So by the end of the day we were not needed. Power was going to get turned on that night so things were just chipper.

As we were driving through town to go home I saw an AS350 B3 Helicopter sitting right off the side of the road in a field. It was closer than all the others since it was on the ground. I got out to take a picture of it. There was a fence that went around this little field. So I could get close but not too close. After taking some really cool pictures the pilot came out from around the corner and came up to me and said, “You like it?” I said, “Boy do I ever. I know it is a AS350 B3. It is my favorite.” She was surprised that I knew the model and asked one of the coolest questions ever!!! " DO YOU WANT TO GO LOOK INSIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" haha YESSS!!!!!! So I hopped the fence and she let me sit right in the pilot's seat!! She came around into the copilot's seat and started telling me about it. I surprised her again and started telling her about it. I said this is my favorite one. I know everything about it. Man it was so cool. She was so nice and loved helis just as much as me and asked the next greatest question of all time. " Do you wanna start it up??????!!!!!" haha No way!!!!!!!! This is a dream!!!! So we started pushing all the buttons and getting ready. She did most of it but I was right there in the pilot's seat!!! We got just to the point before the engine turns over and the jet goes shhhhhhhh ...whosh So it did not turn on on but the electronics were all on and ready to go and we got to play around and see them work. I thought last week seeing a Huey takeoff was cool but this week I got to sit in my favorite one and play around it in!!!! haha So blessed for putting in hard work right. I take it that the Lord is showing me I should be a pilot when I get home. Right? haha

I also did not waste the opportunity to share the gospel. While sitting in a AS350 B3 I contacted this lady from Canada living in Australia for the summer. She has a really good Mormon friend back home in Canada and the friend’s son is serving out somewhere. So it was cool to share more with her and give her a better understanding. We had a great conversation about the gospel and it was right in a helicopter!! What a dream come true!!! Man, how cool is that!!!!! What a great day helping serve and also seeing helis while contacting in one.

The rest of our week was really boring. We finished cleaning and got back to Ayr. I turned 19 on Sunday, one day before my twin sister did so now I am the older twin. haha. We had church since we don't get conference live and I got to bear my testimony on my birthday and also teach gospel principles and priesthood. How great right? haha I actually enjoyed it and had a good time.

I also pulled off one of the best April fools jokes of all time. I called our Zone Leaders and told them while we were doing service a lady came up to us and said, “You are Mormons right. I want to learn more.” We made up that she was from Rockhampton (where the ZL are) and she was in Bowen helping family. We made it sound like she was really good and a solid investigator. When they asked for her name we spelled it for them. A...P...R...I... and then they started to say oh her name better not be April. haha We said it was truly her name and then could not hold in the laughter when we said her last name was Fools. hahahahahaha it was so funny!! We were all dying of laughter. Cause come on, how good was that?!! It was a classic. The zone leaders got me back though the next day on my birthday. They said they had a gift for me. I fell right into their hands. They said they wanted me to give the zone training this Tuesday. haha So we are even now but I am excited to give it. It is on goal setting and I have found some great stuff to share and motivate everyone. It is gonna be great!!

Wow, what a crazy week this was!! Thanks for all the prays for my safety. I think you all prayed too hard since the storm missed us. Thanks anyway for the love and prayers. They really do work and help. I am ready to get back into real missionary work this last week of the transfer. I am dying to know if I will be transferred or not. Because honestly I love this area but I am so sick of it. I am ready to go to a new area and leave this small little place. Eight months in one area is pretty good but I think I am done!! So hopefully next week I will have good news but I might not email since I will be on a plane going to my new area. Hopefully. haha Love you all, be safe.

Elder Cahoon