Week 36 It is all in the attitude.

Wow skyping for Mother's Day was amazing!! It just makes it hard to figure out what to write in so little time!!

I guess I should start with my biggest change. We had our transfer day and I am still here in Beenleigh but Elder Paramore is gone!! We were only together for 6 weeks now is transferred. So today I got to drive him to the temple where all the elders and sisters meet and trade and switch companions. While there I saw Elder Hansen from the MTC again and it looks like I will never see Elder Johnson from the MTC. He got sent up north. haha He is the ZL up there. Good for him but darn, I want to see him. Anyway... all is great in Beenleigh. My new comp is Elder Choi from Korea, Seoul. Haha so now Elder Ahn has a Korean friend. He seems pretty awesome!! He speaks pretty good English already. He just finished getting trained so he is still pretty fresh. He has not had a baptism so I am excited to really work with him and get 2 or 3 in the next few weeks.

Another big thing that was really neat was going to the temple. I have not been in so long now. It has been almost a whole year. So going was so fun!! I forgot like half the stuff but learned so much. It was amazing to really just get out of the world and feel so close to Heavenly Father. The Brisbane temple is beautiful!! It is not huge but it is still great!! When I was sitting in the celestial room I had only been in there for 5-10 minutes and then felt prompted to leave the room. I thought no way man!! It has been so long since I have been in such a holy peaceful place. I am gonna stay a bit longer. Well I made a promise to never deny a prompting so I walked out and right as I did a temple worker said, "Brother we need you right now to do a sealing." There was a family doing their relatives names and they needed one more person to help. So I was able to go into a sealing room and participate in my first sealing. It was so spiritual. I thought wow it won’t be long before I am doing this with my wife. haha no haha That won’t be for awhile. haha just kidding. But still it was amazing to think that there is a family that now is sealed and could be with their family for eternity. This gospel is just so great!!

As for the last two weeks all of our investigators are going great!! Jody canceled her baptism but we talked with her and worked out her concerns and now she is ready and just thinking of a date in the next few weeks. It is so amazing to see a family accept and learn and live the gospel. Even when she canceled and was unsure of the church she never broke the word of wisdom. We also have a man I think I have mentioned from Croatia. I did not know his name at first but I got it at the last lesson. His name is Mathew. He is 70-80 years old and has smoked his whole life. Well, he gave it up just like that and has never looked back!! Now he will be getting baptized on June 10. His daughter is a convert and served a mission and he is living with her and her husband. They have been teaching him and reading from the Book Of Mormon every day. He loves the gospel.

On that note, to all the word of wisdom people, I hate the man who invented cigarettes. Man, are those things nasty!! The smell, the way it makes you look, the cost!! Everybody we see or door knock into smokes and it is just terrible!! I love being able to help people overcome such a stupid thing. Never take that first one. Geez!!

We have an investigator named Tracy who is struggling to give up smoking but we are getting there. She is doing great and we teach her a lesson every day. She has a bit of a fun story though. She is older and has never been married and she met a scammer on Facebook. They talked forever and now he is asking for money but she has none since she smokes. Don’t smoke it makes you sick and poor. Anyway she wanted me to talk to him to find out if he was a scammer or not. Ok so I looked at his Facebook and he is only following old ladies. haha We knew he was a scammer. Soooo... haha shout out to Uncle Tyler. I was talking back and forth to this guy and was like, "Hey Jeff we are on to you. My uncle works for the federal criminal violation department and we are on to you" haha I hope that is a real department. I remember my dad used it one time and I thought I would give it a try. Well it worked and this guy Jeff Smith from Nigeria has not said a word back. haha So I helped a helpless old lady from getting scammed. The mission is just so fun and you never know what will happen.

I can't remember much from last week and the week before. Time is just going by so fast!! I will hit my year mark in a few months. I keep looking back at my year in Luxembourg and how long it felt. It is all in the attitude. I have been so excited to serve and be here and now the time is just going by so fast. I have found that the more happy and positive you are the more enjoyable things are in general.

Well I am so excited to have a new companion and get to work with him. Things are going to be just great!! Next week's email is going to be so fun.

I love you all and hope you have a good week in the hot summer heat over there! haha It is winter over here. I saw my breath the other day but no snow. I got my hopes up but had to just forget it. Usually when it starts to get cold I get really excited for snow but I have to just get excited for cold now. All good, it is better than being really really hot all the time. 

Love,
Elder Cahoon

Week 34 Satan works in crazy ways

Ok well this week was great but full of craziness as always, I wanna focus more on the fun crazy this email and a little bit of spiritual.

We started out the week with another trade off. This time it was me taking the new missionary from Korea. His name is Elder Ahn. I picked him up and was going to see how he is doing, teaching, finding, and adjusting. Well he slept the night and I asked what should we do for our workout. He said go for a run. YES!! I like that one. I am good at it.

So we started our run and got about 10 minutes from the flat. We were running in a grass field and a car had driven through it and created a big rut. Well Elder Ahn was going strong with me and then out of the corner of my eye I saw him fall. I looked back and he was grabbing his ankle. He thought he broke it and it swelled up fast and huge!! We waited a bit to see if he could walk back the 2 or 3 k's home. He made it one foot and then fell. We had no phone and really no way to get him back. So I made the decision to quickly sprint as fast as I could to the flat and only leave him for a second. haha Never leave your comp right? haha I sprinted the whole way home without throwing up!! Good job right? haha Got in the car and drove to go get him. He was alright and we got him back to the flat.

Our mission doctor is great!! He is from A.F. and came and checked in on him. He just tore a ligament and needed a brace. So we got a brace and he just had to ice it the whole day. So my trade off was spent on the couch watching the district videos. I am just a great district leader right!! Breaking my comps ankle his first few weeks out. My first trade off was a big flop!!

Ok another big crazy good thing this time. Jody is coming up to her date this Saturday so at the beginning of the week we had the word of wisdom lesson with her. Coffee is her big weakness!! I thought ahead and bought a huge thing of Milo, Not cousin Milo, it is hot chocolate that every Aussie just loves. When we had the lesson it always feels to them at first like we are taking something away. Well to help her feel better I offered her a deal, my Milo for all her coffee. She did not even take a second guess. She jumped right up, got her coffee and gave all of it to us!! haha She is just the best investigator ever!! Saturday is going to be so great!!

Now my comp and I have a huge thing of coffee in our flat. haha We won't drink it but we thought it would be funny when our mission president inspects our flat and sees it. He is so fun and will have a big laugh about it!!

As for the father of the family, he is still not too interested but we understand where he is coming from. The only lessons that he has sat in on are all the ones that are "rules" you could say, Law of Chastity, Word of Wisdom, Commandments. So to him right now it looks like another church with all these rules. We wanna have him listen to the resto lesson and watch the Joseph Smith movie, that could change all of it. They are a great family, I took some photos with them that you can see, they are the ones with the kids and family. So great!!

My mom asked how it is going with the Thai guy Steven and his partner Ellie. Well to answer you mom, great for them terrible for us. Now I bet you are thinking what the? How is that possible? They are just another great family with two young kids, a two year and a 12 month old. We had a lesson at the door on Wednesday since Steven was not there and there was not a male for us. So we got another day to come back where we could teach them both. Saturday. Now how could it be good for them but bad for us? We came back on Saturday and sat down with them and just talked for a bit. They have known Mormons and elders for 4 years. So things were going well. We were right about to get to Joseph Smith with them in the lesson. The spirit was there. It was so strong. We were about to testify and then we heard the biggest crash and then explosion. Ellie went running to the door, as did I, only to see that a car had crashed right into our car. Satan works in crazy ways to stop the work from progressing you could say. haha

Long story short, it was the kid’s first time driving a car. His dad was in the car. They pulled out of their drive way made it 10 feet down the road and then hit our car. It was parked on the curb and not in the way at all. The kid just stepped on the gas and not the break. Classic newbie mistake. Too bad we have to pay for it.

Ellie was laughing so hard and said, “At least it was you elders and not some crazy guy that would be mad!” Then she laughed and said, “Ha, you are gonna be on push bikes again.” No way!! We put the spare on and our mission office is getting it fixed this week. haha crazy!!

So things are going great!! Tracy also gave up coffee and smoking this week. Things are just going so great!! We had stake conference this weekend and that was so cool to see hundreds of members and families!! I love this gospel so much and I’m so glad it is a part of our lives!!

I have to go, we have interviews with President today. Love you all, have a good one family and friends.

Love,
Elder Cahoon

 

Week 33 Quite the Run

Haha I am so sorry to all those who have to wait to hear from me. Aussies love to put all their holidays on Monday and for 4 weeks in a row.

Time is just flying by!! It feels like April just started and I had my birthday. Now it is May.

My week was just amazing as always!! It started out with just the typical door knocking and we found a great family that we have started teaching. Their names are Steven and I think Ellie. The dad is from Thailand so I can say a few words to him like “hi, how are you” and “do you have some food for me.” haha Elder Bo was good at teaching me.

As our week went on I got a call from our APs. They are the best!! Elder Fukafuka and Jackson are both from Utah but one was born in Tonga. Anyway, they called me on Tuesday and invited me to attend what we call Golden Orientation. This is when they take all the new missionaries that just got here and sorta train them for two days and show them the ropes. Well, I never went to mine since I flew up north right off the bat. So they invited me to come and attend.

They held the training in the chapel next to the temple so I got to spend two whole days seeing and being by the temple. I am so grateful for the temple and cannot wait to go inside in a few weeks.

At the training I was the "oldest" missionary. All those around me had just come. So I got picked on a lot. No in a bad way, but a scary way. President McSwain and the APs would always call on me and have me give my advice. I was ok with that and had heaps of fun trying to help out.

The real scare came when the APs invited me to teach a whole big lesson to President McSwain and his wife. I was pretty nervous. They went pretty hard on me. They pretended to be catholic and really tried to get me on the trinity. I had a strong spirit with me and we ended up having a really good lesson and I set President McSwain on date to get baptized. Haha so fun.

Going to a beginners training after being out for 9 months really helps you pick up on all that you forgot. I was so surprised all the little things that I missed out on or forget. So I learned heaps of stuff that will help me serve.

Quick funny story time now. We stayed there for two days and stayed in a really fancy hotel in the city. That was cool. In the morning our mission does what we call snap gravity. It is a workout that we do to defeat the natural man. It started with a big run from the hotel to the temple. About 4 km away. As we run through the city we stop at all the stoplights and do little workouts like push ups, squats, and ab workouts. I told myself I was going to give it my all. So I did. I was so tired and sore but I kept going.

When we got to the temple we had a quick workout on the grass and then did a big run back to the hotel. Well I was not feeling very well but Elder Jackson challenged me to a race back to the hotel. Come on mate lets go!! We sprinted the whole way and when we were nearing the finish line about 4 blocks away I could not hold it back. As we passed a little outdoor breakfast restaurant I let loose a beast!! As I passed I threw up all over the road and all in front of all the people eating. I kept running though. Elder Jackson passed me and said, “Are you ok?” “Yes keep going”. haha We had the biggest laugh after and it was so funny!!

When we got back to the hotel we showered and went to more training throughout the day.

That was a great time to learn and grow and then I got to apply it the last few days of the week.

Our baptism of the two girls sparked an interest in the mom and she is going under the water the day before mother's day!! She is so excited and when we announced it in church during sacrament she stood up while bishop announced it and told everyone how excited she was. It was pretty funny!! It has been so great to teach her and have her know it is true. She has looked around a bit for the right church and knows now she found it!! It is great!!

Their dad has not taken any interest the whole time until just a few days ago. He sat down with me and really started to ask questions and show an interest!! It gave us a great opportunity to testify how much the gospel will bless your family and help you live a good life. This was his first lesson really and it was on the plan of salvation but just a little part of it. But we felt so prompted to invite him to be baptized. Well he said he had never thought about it but is going to now. His wife is really helping him and the members are so great!!

We had the first counselor invite us over for dinner and also invited the Boyces. That is the family name. Anyway the whole family came and they loved it. We could not really teach the family with a good spirit because the kids were being crazy and causing noise and panic for the parents. Well our bishop showed up at the door unannounced and said he felt prompted to come. Well it worked out amazing. The family got to meet the bishop and the first counselor took the kids out to play. We had an amazing spirit and he will be on date soon. He said he just wants to make sure this is right and not to be rushed. All is well and he will come around with time and fellowship.

Our other big miracle was on trade off with my ZL from AF. He went to AFHS so we had a bit of a rivalry going but overcame our differences and became powerful teachers. We set some amazing plans and then had a member call us up and say, ‘I have nothing today. Can I tag along with you!!“ Haha yes!! It was amazing. He came with us to two people. Elle and Tracy!! Elle was on the verge of crying the whole lesson about family and Gods love for families. She is just a great new investigator. Having a member with us really helped too to get that connection. The big miracle though was our lesson with a new investigator, Tracy. She knows the church really well and loves it. After we had a powerful lesson on Jesus Christ and his love for us to establish a church and prophet she said yes to baptism on June 16. We prayed really hard about this date and it paid off!! That was her birthday!!

I guess I just want to bare testimony on the reality of this gospel and how much God is in charge of this work. So many things have happened that show me that God loves his children and has a plan for them to accept the gospels and as I plan by the spirit and do the Lord's will, miracles happen. I testify that this is the church of Jesus Christ in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. 

Love you all, 

Elder Cahoon

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