Week 73 We Found Our Groove

Fairdinkum, what a growing week this was for me!! Where to start is my big question!! We had so much happen!!

I guess I will be upfront about my comp and I. Isn't that what everyone wonders back home? Haha well I won’t lie, last transfer was hard and we struggled to get along. But boy I can testily of the power of prayer and being humble. I am not the most humble guy, so I am so grateful for Elder Aspacio’s patience for me. We really hit it off this week. Like I said we really struggled last transfer to get along and have a love for each other. We kept pointing out the bad and not looking for the good. This week we got into a deep chat about how we can grow and look for the good in this companionship. From that day, we have been rock stars!! We still drive each other crazy but with that we have learned to make sacrifices for the other and to really work through our differences. I love it. Last transfer I sorta prayed that we would not be together but then I read a quote, "sometimes God does not change our circumstances because he is trying to change our heart." Wow that hit me hard and changed it all for me!! The way I have looked at things now is amazing!! I have learned a deep principle from every single one of my companions!!

I guess with that being said it’s a new transfer. I am so excited!! We are getting a brand new missionary in the zone and got 2 superstars who have been out for a little over 6 months. They seem so great and they are so ready to work!! Our zone/stake is doing so amazing right now!! The culture of missionary work is changing so much in our wards!!

We have the wonderful opportunity to have a zone meeting every week. The way it lines up with sister and elder we have to do it in a big group so it is not a double date. Right before our zone meeting on Friday we had a big meeting with our Stake President. I love going to meetings to talk about missionary work. There is just a cool spirit. Trying to figure out how we can yoke with his keys and our bishops keys is the funnest!! The meeting went really well. He talked about a lot of great things and how we can help. One of the out comes from it was President Ziesel wants to come to our zone meeting or have a stake member be present. This way they can be heavenly involved and know how to help!!

Well that was Friday and we have our meeting Tuesday. We started to prepare every needful thing for this meeting. I have been really slack on filling out all the paper work and staying up to date or being 100% ready but this was a wake up call to me. I stayed up the whole night from when we got back to the flat catching up on all the reports and paper work. We prepared so much for our meeting and it was just lead by the spirit!!

When the meeting came around we were all ready in suits and pretty dresses for him. We went over our goals for the month and our plans to accomplish them. Man I loved planning now and being on the ball. It was so great!! Everyone was so inspired and our Stake President gave a really good humbling training on how we can work with our ward leaders! This work is really just so amazing!! The way it flows and the way the spirit testifies and works through you is one of the coolest feeling ever!!

We have been having a great week thus far and last week was so great!! For those of you who have read my last two emails about being in two wards I am happy to say that this week I did not fall asleep in any of my church meetings. I was awake and attentive the whole time. We had a really good ward council meeting and have a great proactive Bishop who eats and lives missionary work.

On 26 we had a ward party for Australia Day. Last year I went all out with my Aussie pride so this year I did the same. It was really fun and all the members loved it. Back to this awesome Bishop... At this party he invited all his neighbors to come. We held the party at the church and gave them a tour of the place. It was just so great to see that our Bishop is leading by example on how to do missionary work!! It really got the ward excited to share the Gospel. We are really pushing this month to work with the members and get their help. We are doing ok on our own with finding people to teach but the best way is when the members bring them in.

Beth is still doing great!! We have not been able to meet with her this week because of school and work, but we have kept in contact with her via calling her. She has been reading the Book of Mormon in her spare time and is really excited to meet again and learn more.

Allan was really great this week. The way we are going to get him is through love and the Book of Mormon. We saw him 3 times this week and just had a fun time eating and reading the Book of Mormon. His wife gave a talk at church so he came. Usually he comes but it was a really neat thing to have him come to hear his wife give a talk. I hope it touched his heart!!

Our biggest MIRACLE this week was while finding. We always see the biggest miracles while finding. It started out with a young boy Dontay 17 coming to the door and saying hi. We got chatting. He just moved down from the Northern Territory. That is the bush of Australia. He lived off the land in the middle of the desert!! A lean to for shelter from the sun. He befriended a massive kangaroo, emu, and dingo. For a few years he just lived off the land hunting and serving. He is only 17 so I thought that was just so amazing!! As we chatted a few kids (Brock and Reese. 10 and 6) came out of the house and their Mom. Dontay is living with them to help take care of the kids. His mom is good friends with the Mom there. Lekreesha. haha crazy name. Well in our chatting he talked about doing some things that he was not proud of. I told him hey me too but guess what, we can overcome them. We taught about the atonement and how he can get rid of those feelings. So they invited us back the next day a 4pm

That morning we were trying to get one of the young men to come with us. None were available, then the spirit said bring Mariah... I thought that would be so weird. How could we? She is a YSA girl who has no car and we can’t pick her up. That would be weird to bring her to the lesson. I put the prompting off and we went to Dontay’s at 4. They were home but about to head off to the library. So they invited us back at 7. We thought sweet we are going to be one splits tonight so we can bring one of the Brothers here.

As we continued to door knock that day Elder Aspacio looked at me and said we should bring Mariah. I thought crap!! It was the spirit!! Lets go get her. So we asked if she would be free to come to the lesson at 7. Since we were going to be on splits we would be able to pick her up since the priesthood holder would be driving his car. So we worked it all out and got to Dontay and the family at 7. They were all ready for us and super excited... then I just lost it.

I got companionites if that is a thing. We.... wait I started to teach what we had prepared. Far out I need a comp to help me. I was digging myself a hole. Dontay, since he lived in the middle of nowhere his whole life has no clue who God or Jesus is. Everything I prepared went out the window and I had the priesthood leader with me and a pretty YSA girl all looking at me to teach this lesson that I did not now how to teach. My whole mission I have taught people who know who God is or have a small idea of how it works.

Dontay knew NOTHING!! I was digging myself a grave. It must have looked so funny. The miracle is that they still are interested. Brother Tredray was able to give a really powerful testimony that what I will teach is true and Mariah tied the bow to wrap it up with a powerful testimony too. I don’t know why I needed her, but I know that she needed to be there. That much I do know. I know that we followed the spirit on that and it might have saved the whole thing. Who knows... It was just good to know we did what the Lord needed. We got a return apt for Saturday and this time I will have my comp and a member. It will be very interesting to teach who God is and the love he has for him. It will blow his mind. I am so excited!! They are a golden family. I ended the lesson with teaching about what we do as missionaries and how we help to learn about God. Boy I was a mess, it must have been so funny for everyone.

I want to leave my witness that this is Gods work. Man I love it. I may not do the best at times but I am on a high right now that I will not let down!! The key is to REMEMBER HIM, ( Jesus) what he did for me (you) us... That has been my drive this week. It is so amazing!! We have so much going for us. I am so excited. We just got a new senior couple from Draper Ut and they are ready to go. It was been fun to work with them. This work is really so great I can't say it enough times. I love it.

I love you all, thanks for the love and emails. Have a great week!!

Week 72 Work Hard, Play Hard

Work hard play hard!! Last P-day we had such a fun time. As you can see from the photos we went exploring at low tide at the lagoon by our flat. I really like having P-day in the middle of the week because it gives a nice very needed break in the middle. So we went out and had lunch on the side of the lagoon and then had the great idea to walk out and explore. We ended up getting stuck in really deep mud and catching heap of crabs and even a few puffer fish. All in all it was really fun and we had a great time. Then after we went out and played heaps of different sports. Football, soccer, Frisbee... it ended up being so hot and turn into a photo shoot. It was pretty fun!!

The next day I had the great opportunity to go on a trade off with a new elder!! Elder Waqalevu. He has been out for 3 transfers and is just doing great!! When we started our planning we felt really prompted to look through all the former investigators and follow up with them. It was so inspired!! We jotted down maybe 15 or so names to follow up with and see if they would like to start the lessons again.

Every person we visited invited us in and we got to share a lesson. The first lady had not seen missionaries in 4 years but when she saw us she immediately invited us in. We got to share a crazy lesson on the Plan of Salvation. I think she was on some drugs that day, but none the less we still taught her but what she took in was very different. Reincarnation. It was really fun to explain to her the great plan. She is a very interesting lady but she loves to learn and listen so she will be a great investigator for the elders there.

Everybody that we visited invited us back which usually does not happen. There is one more I thought was really cool. He was an investigator for a few years and then got lost in the paper work. It had been 3 years since the elders saw him. When we knocked the door and he saw us he said, “Shoot, I have not seen you bloaks in forever. Come in!!”

Boy did we hit it off with him. He was just a few years older than us so we really connected when he started to share what he went through with the elders and his life. He is really looking for the truth it is just a matter of learning to recognize it. He taught us the restoration and then we taught how he could know if it was true. It was just a really cool experience.

The trade off was so great and we got so much done for their area. I would have been fine if the day ended like that.

A few weeks ago they were door knocking and found a mom with 4 kids who are not members. Well the mom is a member. We planned to see them at the end of the day. In our companionship study we planned a really good lesson on The Gospel of Jesus Christ with me inviting them to be baptized at the end. The lesson went way better than we expected and I was so excited to invited them. I knew all of them would say yes, so I leaned over to my comp and said, “You do it.” He has never invited someone before. Let alone 4 people at once. He looked so scared but eventually got the words out. And they all jumped for joy and said, "Yes!!" They have come to church twice already and are keen and super solid for baptism.

It was so fun!! We saw so much success on this trade off and it was so fun to watch my comp grow and invite them. He loved it!!

The week was just really good. On Sunday I had the opportunity to give a talk. I loved it. I had done so much to prepare for it even though it was a 5 min talk. The theme for the day was goal setting and how I prepared for my mission. The coolest thing I thought of to explain a goal was imagine you are in the ocean in a row boat with no land in sight, how hard would you row? Now what if you saw an island off in the distance. That is what a goal is like. You will row a lot harder to get there. I thought it was amazing and ground breaking. I got so many comments after on it.

The hardest thing about this area is being in two wards. I spoke in the first ward and then slept in the second. I was trying so hard to stay awake!! I made it through the first speaker but then nodded off in the second talk. I felt so bad but missionary work is so trying and we never get to nap so I took the opportunity.

One man I really need help with in your prayers is Allan. His wife is an active member who is just wonderful. Allan is wonderful. He is not a member but knows all about the Mormons and wants to be one one day. Right now he does not want to commit to a date so we thought we will grow his testimony through Book of Mormon reading. Twice a week we go around and smash out a few chapters with him. Our goal is to get him a testimony so he wants to get baptized. You would think he is a member. Such a great guy!! Keep him in your prayers.

There is so much that has happened in my area and the zone. We have some great sisters who are working with a family who is adopting 7 kids who all want to get baptized. Their mom is in jail and there are multiple fathers who have left with no trace. The family is working on getting the permission for baptism. It is really amazing!! We got to stop by and help them move into a bigger house so they can fit all the kids!! The new house is massive. It was so great to be able to help them and see the love they have for the kids and the church. All the kids are so amazing and have such strong testimonies!

This work just so amazing!! I am so grateful to be apart of it. I wish I could type faster!! There is always so much to say!! This afternoon we are going to meet all the missionaries in my zone to hang out and eat food before we all get transferred this weekend. It will be one last hoorah all together!!

Have a great week.  The church is true, the book is blue, Joseph is the Smith and God is Mormon.

Love,
Elder Cahoon

Week 71 Wednesday P-days Are Weird

I had a pretty great week this week. It is really weird to write on Wednesday and have P-day. It is a good break during the week but it makes it hard to remember what happened and when. So it is a mix of this current week and last week.

Oh boy though, last week we had Brad Wilcox visit our mission. We gathered together to hear him. I have listened to a lot of his talks while we drive in our car. He is the funnest guy and so smart. He takes simple doctrine and breaks it apart and finds the coolest stuff. Our main topic of discussion was “why are we different?” The primary answer is because we are children of God. Well that is true but so is the guy smoking weed or breaking commandments. The real reason we are different is because of the "Birthright" we have. Oh boy that is a fun topic to study. We got so deep into that doctrine and went all the way back to the 12 tribes and how it relates to that. I learned so much and just had the funnest time learning about the gospel. The only thing to complain about was being in a chapel with 250 people and no air conditioning. That was hot but it was so worth it!!

One big thing that happened was the baptism of Paige. She was taught and found right before I got to the area but I got to teach the last lessons. She was so ready though. It was the easiest baptism ever.

She made the program, booked the chapel, got the bishop notified, filled the font. All we had to do was show up. That was pretty cool.

A few weeks ago I shared about a girl named Beth. She chased us down while door knocking to learn more. Well she has been heaps busy with school and work so we have not seen her for a few weeks, this week we were able to see her. It was one of my funnest lessons. We met her in a coffee shop and taught the restoration to her. Before we even started teaching she told us she was a prophet. Boy that was a fun way to start a lesson. It really opened it up to learn and grow. We shared about revelation and how it is personal. The spirit was so strong and you could really see it touching her heart. She would pause and ponder what we said. When we invited her to baptism she took forever to think about it but in the end she said yes!! Our only thing that we will struggle with is getting her to church. With work and anxiety she is a bit nervous to come but she is really keen and ready!! It was so amazing!!

One thing that is pretty hard right now is being in two wards. We have church at 9:00 and 1:00 plus all the meetings attached. We got to church at 7:00 and did not leave until 4:00. It was really the first time that I was not excited to be at church!! In the second ward in sacrament I was struggling so hard to stay awake and ended up falling asleep in one of the talks. I was out hard. Church is so good but I was just so tired.

Well this was a brief quick email but I hope you feel the love of the Lord. He is truly in charge of this work and I love serving as an elder. Have a great week. 

Love,
Elder Cahoon

Weel 70 Great things always happen door knocking

What a week, ups and downs, hot and hot...

I did not think that I would be out on my mission when the prophet died. Oh it was so sad to find out about it. I just felt lost for a little bit. It was a sad way to start out our week after P-day. I remember when President Hinckey died but I was only 8 so it did not mean much. My whole mission I have been testifying to people that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet. Boy do I know that with all my heart!!

It made it quite interesting the first time this week to testify of a prophet when the one that I have been testify of passed away. We know that the next one will be Russell M. Nelson but it just felt weird to say that he passed away.

I know that the Lord is still the leader of the church even if a great prophet passes on. The Lord is still in charge and presses forward. So do we in this work...

My first week here we met a really nice old lady named Dianna. She told us all about her father and how he was a pastor and did so much good. Way back then her father used to have the elders over for tea and converse doctrine with them. Well she remembers how wonderful it was to have them over so at the door she invited us to come back and share a message. We really did not think it was going to go anywhere. She was very persistent on letting us know about her father and his faith. When we came back the spirit was so strong. Some times you just smash a lesson. You really teach a person not a lesson. Well she opened up and we bore a powerful witness of the Restored Gospel on the earth. It lit her face up so much. At the end of the lesson we asked if she came to know if this was true would she get baptized. YES of course she said. It was just beautiful. She is super excited and her husband is on board and wants to hear our message too.

One of the biggest strengths that we have going for us is we get out and go door knocking everyday. Our mission sees miracles happen when we get a lot of contacts. Despite it being the middle of summer over here we have still been able to get out. It is not as hot as my first area up north but it has been 36 consistently and humid. When you walk outside you can feel your skin start to burn. I have put on so much sunscreen but still have been getting rosy cheeks. I don’t know how people live here and deal with this.

Great things always happen door knocking. We started this really big street and straight away a lady asked if we were LDS. We gladly replied yes and she said well I am not interested but I would love for you to come in and pick out a gift from under our Christmas tree. She went on about how much she loved us for what we do and our love for the Savior. It was beautiful to see her love for the Savior as well. I got a cool key chain and some chocolates. It was just amazing though to see a tender mercy from the Lord saying keep going you are doing great!!

Today was our Temple P-day so we got to go to the temple. Oh it was so nice. Just being able to sit in the house of the Lord and relax and see the big picture of why we are here and how important this work was is amazing!! Getting up at 4 am to catch the train was not. But the temple is so worth it. Afterward we had a great time getting interviewed by our Mission President. He was so excited for us and all the wonderful things happening in our zone. Things are really taking off and going great!!

It was so weird today while taking the train, this is the first time I have served around sisters and the elders ditched us on the way back. They did not stay around to wait for everyone to finish. So it was just me and my comp walking with 4 sisters. It felt like I was at mutual or something. It was so funny. They are great sisters who work really hard. This is the best zone right now!!

I hope everyone is having a good time in the cold weather. I love you all.

Elder Cahoon

Week 69 Happy New Year

HAPPY NEW YEARS!! Wow 2018 is here. 2017 was my whole year for being on a mission. It was so weird to think that next year I will be home. It was funny, we had heaps of time new years at the flat so I started to make goals.

Towards the end I was like
Goal: go on a date
Goal: get good grades in college.

It was really weird to think that I will have to do that stuff this year.

Anyway I still am on my mission and am focusing on it. Boy do I love this new area. It was so hard at first to get used to it and overcome missing Gold Coast but I can say I am going to love this area just as much.

It is a poor area compared to Gold Coast so just in the 2 weeks that I have been here we have seen so much success. People love to hear the gospel here. I am covering 2 wards so it makes it tricky trying to figure out who is who and where is where but I know the main roads and can drive around fine right now. The people range from white to islander. Mostly islanders. So we are getting fed a feast every night. The meal calendar is never empty. I hope to put on some weight. Heaps of weight. Haha I am skinny.

My comp is named Elder Aspacio. He is from the Philippines. At first I did not like him and thought he was going to be hard to work with. The first week was hard because of leaving GC and having Elder Lim but that has passed and I am loving being with him now. We have our fun moments and our quiet ones.

We do heaps of finding so I have lots of fun things to write about what happened while we were out. My favorite thing that we do together is come up with a word to say at the door as we knock. We started with A and then B and so on.
A= Aligator
b= Bannana
c= Cockroach
d= dinosaure
e= eggplant
f= farmer

That is as far as we got and boy was it so funny and made door knocking way more fun. We were less awkward at the door and it made for good conversations. Some of the best were, "Hey I saw a huge cockroach on your driveway." The lady said, "Oh no that is not good." She looked so scared.

I said to a lady after she said not interested, "Do you know your plants very well. I was wondering if that was an eggplant tree?" I about lost it in laughter when I said it. It was very obvious that it was a mango tree. haha she must have thought I was so dumb. It was so funny.

Elder Aspcio asked a lady after we talked to her if she knew a farmer. She pondered it for a while and he replied with "the farmer family, we are looking for them." haha I bet this seems really cheesy but man we were having a hay day. It was so funny. Door knocking gets so long and boring some times. It is the same thing every time. This game made it really fun and unique to good conversations.

The biggest miracle we had this week, ok wait we had a few. The coolest one was after a long street of rejection we came to a house that was having a party with a heap of YSA. A kid answered the door and was not interested one bit but we asked if anyone inside was. NO!! Then he shut the door. After moving on to the next house a girl came running out of the house asking if we were the religious people. After she came out and got our attention we started to get to know her and began to teach her about Heavenly Father's love for her. I guess that last week was pretty hard for her and she prayed for help and then we showed up. I felt for her because last week I had a pretty hard one too with exactly the same things she was going through. Anxiety and stress. I talked about how much prayer has helped me and I asked if she thought we were an answer to her prayer. “YES,” she said. It was amazing. We got her number and are going to start teaching her at the chapel. Her name is Beth. She is just wonderful and so prepared.

Another door knocking miracle that happened was while we were playing our game. We were on the word banana and it was Elder Aspacios turn. We knocked into a Filipino and she started to talk with him. While they were conversing in Tagalog I heard the word bananas and he looked at me with the biggest grin. I don’t know what he was saying but he said banana. Haha this lady is named Arlene. She is wonderful too. There was a bench out on her front lawn so she invited us to share a message with her on it. She just moved over and was in contact with the elders over there. Well long amazing story cut short, Elder Aspacios taught her in Tagalog and I taught in basic English and she accepted to be baptized on Feb 17. She was so excited and it was so amazing!!

In this area there are heaps of families that come to church or are sorta less active with 9 to 10 year old kids that are not baptized. We have started to go around to all of them and teach them and their kids.

The Martin family is one in particular. The parents are not active but they love having the elders over. We have seen them a few times this week and on our last visit we talked about the importance of baptism and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After a great lessons their son Kelehn accepted to be baptized on Jan 20.

It has been a week full of miracles. I am so excited to be here and love it so much!!

We had a big meeting called MLC where all the zone leaders get together to be accountable and come up with fun new ideas and plans.

One quick side note was last year in the meeting we set a goal of the ABM 500 for 2017. 500 convert baptisms. Well on December 31 at 5pm we were at 499 with no more planed for the evening.

One of the stake presidents heard about it and felt so sorry that we all worked so hard and came so close. So he grabbed the sister and they started visiting all the families they could with unbaptized children. At 7 pm they found a family that was coming to church and had a 9 year old not baptized. So he and the sister taught a lesson and invited the family and kid to be baptized that night. So at 8 pm new years eve we hit our mission goal of 500 baptisms!!! Haha it was so crazy!!! 

At our big meeting we talked about how to take it to the next level by being accountable and using the stake and ward leaders.

So we came up with a way to be accountable daily to our zone and ward/stake. It involves everyone in the zone having a zone calling and responsibility. It makes our load lighter and gives the missionaries a sense of love and trust.

The callings consist of gathering all contacts for the day. Sending out a fun fact of the day. Scripture text. Diligence points, Member presents at 20 other lessons at 10 and contacts are 1. This means we are measured on what we can control. They are the only numbers that we measure that are not affected by the investigators agency.

This week went amazing for it. Everyone loved it and it has been so fun to see the work hasten. This church is so true and great!!

To end this amazing email I have a fun thing that happened today. We have a senior couple in our zone and they are pretty old. We love them but they are a bit slow and take their time for things. Yesterday in our zone meeting Elder Stokes found out I love tennis. He invited us to play with him today at 7 am. I thought why not. It will be fun to play and beat this old guy!! Well I got one part of that right. I was having the best time playing tennis. I’ve missed it so much. I just loved it. To my surprise I was not that bad but to my greater surprise he was not that bad too. In our warm up I started to see that this guy meant business. During the game he did not hold back. You would not believe how fast this old guy moved. He could hit hard too. It ended up being a really fun match. We did not keep score but he won for sure. I was all over the place. We both loved it so much that we are going to do it every Wednesday morning at 6:30.

What a week it was. So amazing. I love you all so much. Happy New Year. Cheers.

Love,
Elder Cahoon

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