Christmas in Paradise!

Hello family and friends!

"Christmas Christmas time is here" - Alvin and the Chipmunks. It's Christmas-time baby!!! Elder Ferry and I have been celebrating it up!! We have been bumpin' to Christmas Music and have been having a blast! I just love Christmas music!  It truly is the most wonderful time of the year!  Merry Christmas to all of you!! This week was jam-packed full of some super amazing stuff!! 

One day this week we were trying to figure out where were going to go.  I wanted to go an area and Elder Ferry wanted to go to a different area.  I didn't let my pride get in the way and told E. Ferry we would go to his area.  Well, he was definitely inspired!  We biked down to the area, thinking we were going to meet up with a family that the previous missionaries had been teaching but unfortunately they had moved.  As we were leaving on our bikes, we saw some other guys outside.  We stopped and talked to them and a guy named, Eric, introduced himself.  He was outside a house moving a mattress with his brother-in-law (who happens to be a member) and we got to talking with both of them and we were able to get to know Eric a little. We couldn't stay long because we had an appointment to get to so we asked if we could come back in 30 minutes and visit some more and they said, "Yes!"  Well, we went back... we ended up teaching him the entire Restoration and about the Book of Mormon! We gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read a section of it.  They happened to be Spanish but spoke English so we were able to teach them. :)  But because they are Spanish and it was close to dinner, the family made enough for us and invited us to stay and eat!  It was soo good!  Elder Ferry and I went back later in the week and taught Eric some more!  He had great questions about the Book of Mormon.  We invited him to church and he is excited to come!   So the inspired part is this...  Eric's mother (the one who cooked us dinner) had contacted the Spanish speaking Elders and left a message asking them to come by and visit with her son, Eric.  Well, the Spanish speaking Elders didn't get the message because they were at the Temple that day.  BUT that was the same day we biked past their house and stopped to talk with him!  When we went inside his home and introduced ourselves to his mom, the mom thought we were the Spanish speaking Elders and that we were there because we had gotten her message!  We told her that were not the Spanish Elders but that we felt inspired to come to this area!  The mom was amazed at how the Lord works miracles!  I testify that the Lord knows each one of us. He hears our prayers and knows our desires!  He answers them- sometimes by using others that are worthy and listening to the Holy Spirit!  Elder Ferry was indeed inspired! 

As missionaries in the Florida Tampa Mission, we are only able to go to the temple 2 times a year.  We go to the Orlando Temple because there is not a temple in the Tampa Mission boundaries.  Well, this week was our week to go!!  I had a great time! The weather was beautiful!  I learned a few more things after I went (the temple is a wonderful place to receive revelation).  It was great to see my mission buddies!!   I also ran into Logan as I was leaving the Temple!  Logan is a 19 year old from Lecanto (I have talked about him before).  He loved hanging out with the missionaries.  His best friend was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He was a good kid but not really interested in the Gospel or going on a mission. While I was serving in Lecanto, his desire to serve a mission increased and prepared himself to go on a mission and he received his mission call to the Philippines!  Well, as I was leaving the Temple, his family was entering the temple so he could take out his endowment and we ran into each other!  How awesome it was to see him!  President Hollingsworth, my Mission President, was trying to get all the missionaries outside for pictures so we could leave.  I went to him and asked if I could stay for a minute and talk to him (I quickly explained who he was).  Pres. Hollingworth gave me permission to stay and visit with him and his family for a bit!  It was great!  After that, I had a missionary meeting and I learned a lot from it!  A couple of days later, I had a Zone Training with the Elders in my Zone.  I taught/trained on the importance of daily planning and how to be better at it.   

We had a lesson with a part-member family this week and we set a baptismal date with the husband who's name is Steve! He married a recent convert not too long ago and had met with the previous missionaries a few times. We have continued to see him and have since invited him to be baptized- and he said yes!  At the conclusion of the lesson, he said the closing prayer and it was very powerful! He has a lot of love for his new family and I'm excited to see him grow as a father and a Priesthood Holder! 

Okay, so a crazy miracle that just happened about 1 hour ago!!! Elder Ferry and I were playing some pool at our apartment complex and these three kids came up to us.  They had been playing basketball in the other room and they had previously seen us around the complex because they live here too.  E. Ferry and I just have our regular clothes on with our name tags (no dress pants, white shirt and tie known as proselyting clothes).  Well, they asked, "Are you guys Mormon missionaries?" And we said, "Yes!"  One of the kids then went on to say that he and his family used to go to our church and they have been wanting to come back!  We talked to him for a sec and then offered to play basketball with all of them! So we played basketball with Wilfredo, Christopher and Sergio. It was super fun. Two of them are in High school and the other one looked like he should have been in high school but was an 8th grader. They schooled us- we are terrible! haha  After playing some basketball they said they wanted to introduce us to their mom that adopted them! So we went over to meet her and the other family and they were so awesome! The mom is Spanish and she was in the middle of making lunch.  When she saw us and after we introduced ourselves, she piled more food on the stove for us!  While we waited for lunch, we visited with the family and got to know them more! Three of them want to get baptized!!!  We will work on the others but Elder Ferry and I are going to be teaching them and they are already planning on coming to church this Sunday!  We also invited them to Steve's baptism on January 4th! They are super excited to learn more and be baptized!! They said they want to be a part of a church where they can be involved.  We told them that was perfect because there is a lot of involvement in our church!  We told them about Bishops (similar to Pastors) and how they don't get paid.  We told them that as missionaries, we don't get paid.  They couldn't believe it! hahaha  They do have some materials they got from the other missionaries from the past! We are so excited about them!! 

Elder Ferry and I have been practicing basketball because a bunch of non-members and members get together at the church to play on a regular basis.  It is a good opportunity to talk with people that aren't members.  Well, E. Ferry and I got wrecked the last time we played because we aren't very good!  Elder Lewis, my Zone Leader Companion in the Ocala Zone, is a legend here!  He is a really good bball player. 

The members in the ward have been so great to us!  They have definitely made sure we have not been forgotten or gone hungry or in need of something during this Christmas week!  We got a huge box filled with candy, ties, food and toiletry items!  They have also given us gift cards to places around town so we can eat.  It has been wonderful! They have been wonderful!!  It was really appreciated by both me and Elder Ferry! 

Merry Christmas to all of you and if you haven't seen "The Christ Child" video, check it out on LightTheWorld.org! It's super awesome and will help bring Christ into your Christmas and into your families! Love you all and have a great week!!! 

Elder Cahoon

Presents (ties) from a Ward Member

The Disney Ward

Dear family and friends,

I'm sorry I just don't have time today to write much of an email.  Sorry about that. My mom can fill you in what we talked about this morning. I am doing well and I am enjoying the area!

Elder Cahoon

Well.. I guess I will fill everyone in on the short conversation I had with Elder Cahoon this morning.  This is Susan, by the way. 

He continues to be a Zone Leader- for 9 sets of missionaries.  He thinks his "companion is cool."  Elder Ferry is from Utah.  Elder Cahoon's Zone Leader companion is in another companionship.  The Mission President decided to not have Zone Leaders be in companionships this transfer.  His ZL companion use to be the Assistant to the President (I can't remember his name).  E. Cahoon thinks he "is a beast."  He is a hard worker and E. Cahoon plans to learn all he can from him because he only has 1 transfer before he goes home.  Elder Cahoon has a "sweet apartment and activity center."  The activity center had huge ceilings and floor to ceiling windows.  There was a pool just outside the windows with tall palm trees around it.  Cary and I wondered if he was on a mission or on a vacation.  It is a very different feel than Lecanto.  He said, "I am definitely in the city again."

He had a "great lesson" this week and is exctied to meet with him again.  I can't remember the specifics but E. Cahoon is thinking he is close to getting him on date for baptism.  "Time to get the baptisms going!" 

He went to the Ward's Christmas party this weekend.  A nice ward member posted a picture of E. Cahoon and E. Ferry and said, "Elder Cahoon and Elder Ferry got to meet the real Santa! (A sweet member of our ward, who has been Santa at Disney Springs for decades)."   That is one of the pictures that I attached. How cool is that?  E. Cahoon says that everyone in the Ward is affiliated with Disney at some level.  His Ward is the eastern-most part of the mission and is very close to Orlando.  He said people that go to Disney World and then go to church o Sunday, will often come to his Ward.  "It is known as the Disney Ward."  There are about 300 people in the Ward.  "It is huge!" 

He said that he had a great birthday.  He was so surprised when he got a call from Sister Hurst letting him know she was going to take him and his companion to dinner at Cracker Barrel and she was bringing a Key Lime Pie and her kids with her!  He loved it!  He has learned to love Key Lime Pie since being in Florida! 

Thanks for all your support and he loves all of you!  He hopes to have more time to write next week! 

I Got Transferred!

Hello family and friends!

To start this off I am going to say I'm sorry. I just don't have time today to write a nice detailed weekly email. The reason being is because I am getting transferred! And I have to pack up. I am leaving the Lecanto area. 😔 I am a little sad and I am very grateful I was able to serve in this area!  will miss so many people!  But I am excited to see what else I can do in an another part of Florida! I am leaving to go to the Davenport area! And my companion will be Elder Ferry! So I'm excited to meet him. 

Elders Cahoon and Hatch's last photo

An awesome experience this week:  we watched the new Christ Child video with a Part-Member family. It was very powerful.  The son of the member and I got to talk for a little bit after the video. I felt prompted to ask if he would like to join the church and why he hasn't yet. He said he would like to join the church and would like to come to church. He is an older man and has a young family of his own. The missionaries here will be meeting with him later on in the week!! Hopefully it goes well! 

Thank you for all that you have done for me and I love you all!! Have a great week! 

Elder Cahoon 

p.s. update:  This is Susan btw.  Elder Cahoon's birthday was this week (12/12).  Because he was in a new area, with people he wasn't familiar with, a Sister from his first area that really loves him (Sister Hurst) drove an hour, with her kids, to surprise him on his birthday and take him a Key Lime pie (complete with Birthday song) and take him and his companion to dinner!   How awesome is that??!!  It made me and Cary feel so great to know that even though he was in a different area with people he didn't know, familiar and loving people made a big effort to recognize him on his birthday!!

Baptism!!

Hello family and friends!

Cali's Baptism!

BAPTISM!!! We had a great baptism for our friend Cali! She is the sister of a member.  I am not sure if you remember me talking about her.  The member had asked her to meet with us and if she didn't want to meet anymore, her sister wouldn't say anything else to her. Well, after our first lesson she asked us back and then the rest is history!  She is doing great!  The baptism was super good and the Spirit was very strong.  Sadly, we didn't have any investigators come.  One of our investigators, Melanie, texted us that morning and told us that another Manager had quit the night before and so she was going to have to do a double shift and she wasn't going  to be there.  Satan stinks!!  Poor Melanie, she is trying so hard to do all the right things. She was so excited to attend the baptism.  However, she is persevering and she is pumped to learn more and more. This week was pretty good! We had some great lessons this week and I wish I was motivated to write in detail about them but I'm not. However, I will still right a few words and rehearse a few moments of the week.

So to start off, we had a super good first lesson with Jose! Last week we showed him the Christ Child video and he loved it! So this week we had a lesson on the Restoration and finding his own answers. It went great and he is excited to learn more! 

We also had 2 lessons with Melanie and she is doing great but sadly Satan has been working his terrible work on her. She has been trying so hard to get off on Sundays so she can come to church.  A new Manager was just hired and things were looking good but now one of the other Managers quit so she is back to square one.  She also has had other things take place in her life that have made it harder on her. She has been reading and praying a lot and she is now reading somewhere in Alma 26. She is very strong and has been loving the Book of Mormon! We are excited to see her grow! We would really appreciate prayers on her behalf- please pray to help Melanie if you can. She could use some help. 

We had a great lesson with a woman named Debbie. She is awesome! We were able to talk to her about the Plan of Salvation, The Book of Mormon and receiving personal answers from God. She has been wanting to know where her mom has been. Her mother passed away a few years and it's been really hard on her. So it was cool to help her find those answers to her questions. She was so happy to hear about the Plan of Salvation.  She said, "Why have I not heard of this before?  This is so wonderful!"  

As you can tell we had some pretty amazing lessons this week!  We continue to teach Rosemary and she is doing really well and is anxiously anticipating her baptism this month!  What a blessing it is to see my brothers and sisters accept the message of the Gospel and begin a change in their lives!  This is the best part of missionary work!

We had a great Thanksgiving and we even went to Cali's parents house and ate with them. We also had a fried Turkey which was SUPER GOOD!! 

Have a great week and thank you for your help and support! 

Elder Cahoon

Change Is Good!

Hello family and friends!! 

My "Brother"- Elder Cox trained us both!

Thank you to all those that sent me packages and gifts! The Institute YSAs sent me a package with lots of letters and it was really great!  What a surprise!  It was very kind of everyone who sent somethingl!! It's been a really good week and full of spiritual experiences!! 

We had some great lessons this week and it's been amazing to see our friends progress and live the Gospel in their lives!! So to start off this week, we had a great lesson with one of our friends Rosemary! We have had a few lessons with her and this week we set a baptismal date with her! She is going to be baptized December 21st! She is super excited! We had a lesson at one of the member's house and taught her about the covenant of baptism and what the blessings are- it was really good! 

We also had a great lesson (first lesson) with this guy named Jose! He was invited over to a dinner by a member couple and we got invited as well. We had a great dinner and afterwards we showed him the trailer video for "The Christ Child" (which is a new video about the Savior's birth!).  And he loved it!! We asked if we could come over to his house later in the week and show him and his family the full video and he said we could!! So we went over and showed him and his wife the video. They loved it and the Spirit was so strong! We talked to them about what our purpose was as missionaries and taught them about the Book of Mormon! He was super pumped to read it and Tuesday we are going over to have our first official lesson with them! They said they would love to learn more and that they were very interested!! So I'm excited to see what this next lesson will be like! 

We had some other great lessons as well!! But I won't go in depth with those. The other super-cool experience was an Area Seventy came to the mission and taught us about a few different things! An Area Seventy is a man that has a high position in the church that is over a specific area and is there to help all of the members in his area.  Well, this Area Seventy came to help out us missionaries in the Tampa Mission.  It was really cool! We talked about councils and how councils are so important in missionary work.  He talked to us about how as missionaries we need to always be counseling- with each other in companionships, in Districts, in Zones and in the Wards we serve in! So with that we are going to have a change in our mission! We have split Zone Leaders right now and it's going to change so that Zone Leaders will be companions! For example, as you know, I am a Zone Leader and my companion is Elder Hatch.  My Zone Leader companion is in another part of our Zone and has a different companion.  We try to counsel together as much as possible but it can be difficult because we are separated.  As a result of the Conference with the Area Seventy, the next transfer (Dec. 10) the Zone Leaders will be put together in companionships.  I'm pretty pumped about that! It should be good for the mission! There are going to be a lot of movement this next transfer with all these changes! 

Have a great week.  Love you all and hopefully everyone is doing great!! Thank you again for the packages and gifts!! 

Elder Cahoon

The Nights Are Cold But The Missionary Work Is Red Hot

Hello family and friends!

Alright, this week I will put a little more effort into this letter! And this week was super good so lots to talk about as well!! You would think that in Florida in wouldn't get that cold but man this November it's been pretty chilly! I had to wear a sweater this week- kinda crazy but it's so much better than being crazy hot and sweating a ton! It's only going to be this cold for a few weeks I guess and then it starts to warm back up some time in December. 

To start the week off we had an exchange with some other Elders in Ocala and it was super fun! We set a baptismal date with someone we were teaching over in their area and we had some great lessons with people! Me and the this one Elder stayed up late talking about some things that we have learned from the scriptures about the Plan of Salvation. It was fun to go deep into God's Eternal Plan. I like talking about that stuff! 

We also had a great lesson with Melanie about keeping the Sabbath Day holy and teaching her family! She desires to help her children progress in the Gospel but she isn't sure how to do that. So we took the opportunity to teach her about family prayer and family scripture study along with some other things! She is doing great and we are excited to see her this week! She has been praying about getting Sundays off and as a result of he prayers, at work they are now training a new Manager that should hopefully be able to take over on Sundays! So, in a few weeks Melanie will be able to come to church!!! We are so excited as is she! It has been great to see people exercise faith in Christ and see how their lives change from it! This is one of my favorite things about serving a mission! 

In addition to setting a baptismal date with someone in another area, we also set a baptismal date for one of our friends here in this area that we are teaching!!! She is so excited! She is the sister of a convert who was baptized 2 years ago in Tampa! The sister of the girl we are teaching (whose name is Cali) to take the missionary lessons and talk with us. She told Cali to take 2 lessons, and if she didn't want to continue, that she didn't have to and could tell the missionaries to stop coming by.  Well, we had our two lessons and Cali wanted to continue meeting with us and learning!  She said she felt different when we taught her and she began coming to church.  She has been having a great time enjoying church and has made some new friends there! She has also been having some really cool personal experiences with prayer! She explained that once she started doing what we asked her to do, her life started to change for the better! She is happier then ever before and is so excited to learn more and more! 

We also had a cool experience with a guy named Hector this week! We had actually stopped teaching Hector 2 weeks ago because he wasn't setting any up appointments with us. Sunday, he came to church out of the blue and we had no idea he was coming!!! He just randomly showed up and Elder Hatch saw him first and hit me in the arm when he saw him!  We weren't able to go and sit by him because he was in the front and we were more towards that back of the chapel.  We talked with him after Sacrament meeting and he stayed for Sunday School as well.  It was awesome to see him and he said he had a great time! We set up a time to stop by and see him this week and he is pretty excited to see us! It's going to be a great lesson! 

I have been reading in 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon lately and it's been great! That part of  the Book of Mormon is where Jesus Christ comes and shows Himself to the ancient Americans.  It is really an amazing book of scripture!  Christ taught the people in that land about His Doctrine and how we all must have faith and repent so that we can be baptized in Christ's name. Baptism is so important in this life; without baptism by proper authority, the forgiving power of Christ's sacrifice has no power or influence in someone's life. How grateful I am for the knowledge I have of the Doctrine of Christ and for the Book of Mormon which teaches these things so simply. I know it to be true!! 

Thank you all for everything and for the support and love you give me!!! I really do appreciate it!! Have a great week!! 

Elder Cahoon

Happy Veteran's Day!

This one is going to be short ladies and gents. I'm just not feeling it right now. hahaha  I want to begin by giving a shout out to my brother, Tyler- HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAN!!   I love you!  

This week was super good! We had a lot of wonderful tender mercies and had some SWEET lessons! It was a pretty fun week! 

So we had some great exchanges and I got to go down to Tampa! It was great! I went on exchanges with the new Assistant to the President (he was in my first trio with Elder Cox and I when I was out only 6 weeks).  I loved being in Tampa again- there were people everywhere walking around and we got to talk to a lot of them! I honestly miss that. Out here in the sticks (I love being out here too though) we don't get all those people just walking around. 

But Lecanto is doing great!! We had a super good lesson with Melanie this week! We talked about her reading of the Book of Mormon and she is already in Mosiah 11!! She is killing the reading! Every time we go over, she has read more and has a long list of questions written down on paper.  She keeps her paper beside her while she reads and writes down anything she doesn't understand or is confusing to her.  We LOVE it!!   When we get to her house, she pulls out her paper and I am like, "Ok. Let's go.  Let's get into it!"  We go down the list and answer all of her questions!  She said she loves reading The Book of Mormon because she feels so good while she is readying it and she feels so much more joy during the time reading than she does when she is going about her day.  We asked her why she was having those feelings and she said "Oh it's definitely the Holy Ghost." We also asked, "How do you think you can have those feelings more in your life?"  She replied with a shockingly perfect answer. She said, "I need to continue to read and pray and go to church so I can get baptized and so I can get my family to the Temple!" Elder Hatch and I were so shocked! We testified to her that what she said was true and we promised her she would be able to feel the Spirit more in her life if she did those things! We also told her that she could have the Holy Ghost with her all the time once she is baptized because she will have the Gift of The Holy Ghost.  She is so full of faith and wants to come to church so badly so she is working on getting off of work on Sundays. 

I went on an exchanges to another area with Elder Martinez who is from Mexico and doesn't speak much English.  He serves all over the Zone, working with Spanish-speaking families/people only).  He is a great Elder and I really love him!  We went into a p home and the family was from Mexico.  They were speaking Spanish and since I only know a little bit, I didn't understand what they were saying.  All of a sudden, Elder Martinez asks me if I want to eat and I say, "sure."  Well, we sit down and I began to eat and then I ask them, "Is this carne asada?"  They affirmed it was.  For those who don't know, carne asada is my FAVORITE!  The food was delicious!  Along with the carne asada, I had some deeelicious beans and the best spicy guac I have ever had!  I could have eaten a ton but we had to go so we didn't get to stay and keep eating.  I enjoyed it though! hahaha    The family wasn't interested in talking much about the church but they sure were nice and enjoyed having us join them for dinner! 

Elder Hatch and I have been really busy since we are the only elders now in the area.  We had 6 people at church on Sunday.  It was so great!  The members are so awesome to befriend and talk to them too!  We had some other lessons this week that I don't have time to get into but they went really great as well!! 

Just know I'm doing great and it's been super fun over here! I love all of you and thank you all for everything! Have a great week!

Elder Cahoon 

This Elder is NOT naughty! Maybe he should get coal in his stocking this Christmas! lol

 

The Miracles Keep Coming!

Well howdy there family and friends! 

This is HUGE!

Hope all y'all are doing good! It's been great to hear about the your lives and all the fun things that are going on. I will have to say I am probably having more fun though! It's been a great week! A lot of tender mercies from the Lord! 

Soooo to start off this week, Elder Hatch and I fasted for some of the people we are teaching. Melanie is the young mother with 3 kids (I say young because we are in a ward of older people). She is doing amazing! We had a church activity, Octoberfest, this week and she brought her kids and it was a blast!  It was a chili cookoff and trunk-or-treating.  They had a lot of fun!  We had a great lesson this week with them about Repentance and the Atonement of Christ. We decided to teach about the Atonement because she told us she was trying to stop smoking.  We haven't even talked to her about this or taught her about the Word of Wisdom.  She just feels like she shouldn't smoke anymore because she doesn't feel like she feels the Spirit when she does.  She continues to be consistent in her reading and she is reading in 2 Nephi right now! Her husband likes to read the Book of Mormon with us but doesn't really read on his own at this time.  He says he feels so good when we read together and when we are in his home.   

We also met this really cool guy when we were out tracting this week! When we knocked on his door, he came out; he had a bunch of tattoos and was big and a scruffy-looking guy.  He also wasn't very happy to see us. I immediately thought, "I have to say something about his tattoos or else he will throw us off the porch."  I saw a Joker tattoo and began talking about it.  We talked about superheros and the different villains for about 3 minutes. He then told us he used to go to church but he hates Christians and he doesn't believe in God. We continued to talk with him but turned the conversation to spiritual things.  We talked for like 30 more minutes on his door step! Toward the end of the conversation, we asked him if he would just pray 1 time.  He said he would try praying but just 1 time! So we were pumped!  We then left.  Two days go by and I feel prompted to go back to see him.  We return and knock on his door again. 

He was there and came out and talked with us about his prayer!  He did it!  He said he would and he did! :)  He said it felt weird and he probably wouldn't do it again.  But then something happened. I don't know what we said to him to make him open up so much but after about 10 minutes, this guy just opened up to us and told us all about his life and why he hates Christians so much.  After that, we asked him if we could go into his home and talk with him.  He immediately let us in!   About 5 minutes after we walked into his home, his wife walked into the room where we were. She is a strong believer and is a Baptist. She looked surprised and asked, "Who are you guys?"  We, of course, responded happily, "We are the missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!"  Her eyes got HUGE!  She was so astonished that her husband let in Christian missionaries! She kept saying, "I can't believe you're in my home right now."  Well, she joined us for a few minutes and we taught them both about the pre-mortal existence- where we existed before we came here to earth. The guy thought it was really cool and his wife was really interested in that.  She asked where that is found in the Bible and we told her.  We all turned to the scripture and read it together.  We then taught them more about God's plan- about judgment and the after-life.  We had him read a verse from the Book of Mormon and after he read he was quiet and sat with his head down, looking at the Book of Mormon. He then said "I am taking this book."  Elder Hatch and I were taken aback by his response.  We then had him read Alma 32:28.  It's a great verse and chapter about gaining a testimony of truth! We will be following up with him tomorrow! We are very excited!  This experience was a miracle for sure.  It also reminds me (and hopefully you) that you follow-up on all promptings!   

The Terrific Twosome!

We received transfer orders this week and we found out that we were staying in Lecanto and we will be continue to serve together!!  Yippee!!  We also received word that Elder Hatch and I will be taking over the whole ward here! The Lecanto Ward where I serve previously had two sets of Elders because it was such a large area.  President is kicking the others out (hahaha) and having us take over the whole area- which is a whole county!!  Super crazy!! We are excited to receive some awesome people though! I will also continue to serve as the Zone Leader.  

I had an interview with President Hollingsworth this week.  It was wonderful.  I love him so much!  I wore the flowered tie that you got me Mom.  We just love our new converts!  JoAnne, the lady that just got baptized, got me and Elder Hatch ties! That was really nice of her!!  The tie goes with the suit you sent me, Mom.  I wore the tie with my suit on Sunday.  Thanks for the package by the way.  

I have gotten asked many times during my mission how I know the church is true.  I have told them my story of how I didn't rely on what my parents taught me.  Heck, I didn't believe what they said sometimes.  I read the scriptures; I tried to keep the commandments the best I could so I could have the Spirit with me.  I knew the Spirit would testify the truth to me and I learned how He talked to me as I listened to Him and acted on the promptings I felt.  This was a process.  I prayed specifically to know certain things and my prayers were answered because I came to know FOR MYSELF that the Book of Mormon is true and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth today. I love my testimony.  I love that I know for myself and that I don't need to rely on anyone's testimony/experiences to know this.  

I love you all and I'm so grateful for all of your help and for your prayers for me!! Have a great week!!! 

Elder Cahoon  

Trying To Be Like Alma

This week was awesome!! Bringing people to Christ! What a blast! And hello family and friends! Y'all are the best! I appreciate all the support! And man this week was a good one! 

So we had the baptism for our friend JoAnne- she is so great! We had an awesome week with her.  We had a dinner appointment with her but I wasn't able to go because I was on exchanges in Ocala with another missionary from my Zone.  But it was wonderful to meet with her this week.  And it was great to see her be baptized! She is so happy! There was also another baptism by the other missionaries.  How great is that?!  There were some people that showed up for the baptisms that were not members of the Church! They had a wonderful time! Hopefully we will see them again! 

We had some super good lessons with Justin and Melanie! They are the ones who we gave the Book of Mormon to and helped them bring in groceries! We had 3 lessons with them this week and they was amazing! Melanie is reading in 1 Nephi chapter 19! She wrote down a bunch of questions for us. It was so cool!  For our second lesson, we taught about the Restoration and then third lesson we went over the Plan of Salvation and eternal families! She was so excited! She said "If I find out this is true I am going to be baptized and I'm going to the Temple!" She is so great! We talked to her about receiving personal revelation and what the Spirit is and how to feel His promptings.  She has such sincere prayers! We are excited to see them progress! 

In my personal studies, I have been studying some super good things lately. The cool thing about the Holy Ghost is that He helps you to understand so many things at a deeper level. It's amazing the things I'm learning that I wasn't able to understand before! 

I have been reading in Alma and I absolutely love it!  Alma is such a beast Missionary! Sometimes I wonder what the old prophets from the Book of Mormon and Bible would be like in this day and age.  What would they do and say if they were knocking on doors like us missionaries today. It's kinda funny to imagine.  Also, it would be way cool to have Alma as my companion! Maybe one day! 

Well I love you all and it's been a great week.  Hopefully you have a great week coming up! Love y'all!! 

Caving with Missionaries

Elder Cahoon 

Missionaries staying with us

A Super Saturday For a Beautiful Baptism with a Wonderful Woman!

Hello Family and Friends! 

It's Elder Cahoon! I'm still out here! 😂 I'm probably becoming a distant memory but, no worries I it has been great out here! This week was awesome!! It was full of some fun times and some great lessons learned for good ole Elder Cahoon! We did some good service around here as well! Love doing service! It's pretty awesome! 

Thumbs Up For Service!

As for our service opportunities, we helped out at a local charity center here. We stocked some food in fridges and helped move boxes for them! The people of the Center love the missionaries because previous missionaries have gone there and helped.  We also helped make food and then serve it to the young men and young women in the Ward! They were going on a Temple trip and we got to serve them lunch/dinner before they left! 

As for a missionary learning experience, I went on am exchange this week with a missionary who is from Mexico!! His name is Elder Martinez! He is super cool! We talked a lot about Mexico and he taught me some good Spanish! I then taught him some Mandarin! I know a small bit of Spanish and I am trying to learn some Mandarin- just because I think it would be cool to know some phrases! 

As for the best missionary experiences, JoAnne is doing great and we are so excited for her to be baptized THIS SATURDAY! We had some great lessons this week and we read a little bit of the Book of Mormon with her!  She is also super excited to her Baptism! She no longer drinks caffeinated coffee so we took her some Tang to help her through this change.  She loves Tang so she loved our gift!  She has her baptism interview on Wednesday.  We have some great things planned this week for her Baptism on Saturday! 

We also had a really cool miracle this week! So a few weeks ago I stopped by a house and a woman answered the door.  She told us to come back because her husband might be interested in talking to us.  Well, it didn't seem like she was really interested but I decided I would go back when I was in the area again.  Well, this week E. Hatch and I were in the area and I told him we needed to stop by.  When went to their house, the husband and wife were taking groceries into their house.  We knew that was the perfect opportunity to help so we help them take the groceries into their home.  We talked for about 10 min about life and where they were from and how long they have lived in the area.  They were really cool.  We then talked to Justin (the husband) about what missionaries do.  We asked him if he knew anything about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He said no but that "I have been to a bunch of different churches.  I'm just trying to find the truth."  Oh yeah!  My companion and I got pretty giddy after he said that!  We told him we would love to talk to him more about the church.  We asked him if he knew anything about the Book of Mormon.  He said no.  So we asked if we could read the first chapter with him and his wife.  He excitedly said yes!  Before we began reading with him we told him we would be reading about a family.  We likened Lehi's family to his family so he could understand that Lehi's family is like his family (all of our families really)- there is love, there are disagreements, sometimes you don't understand the actions of other family members, along with a lot of other similarities.  They loved reading the first chapter of Nephi with us!  It was super cool to have them recognize the Spirit as we talked to them!  We should be seeing them Tuesday afternoon so we are really excited! 

We asked them how much they could read before we met again and they said 2 chapters.  So we committed them to reading Nephi 2 and 3 and told them what they would be reading about- receiving revelation from God, how the family responds to revelation from God, family arguments and how to respond to disagreements and contention.  I love teaching about the Book of Mormon in this way.  Introducing the Book of Mormon this way is what we learned in Zone Conference and I have been able to implement this type of teaching a couple of different times so far.  

There is a cool, young ward member that hangs with us and his name is Logan.  He just received his mission call and will be serving in the same mission as Sam Lucas!  He will be going to Rio!  I told him about the crazy miracle Elder Lucas had with his baptism!  He leaves in February.  I think he should be there before Elder Lucas leaves!  I Love you all and I'm so grateful for your prayers and support! Have a great week! 

Elder Cahoon

Lovin' Mission Life!

Personal Scripture Study Rocks! 

Our Zone Is Rocking! This Week Was Rocking!

Dear Family and Friends,

What a great week it has been this week!! The Zone is blowing up baby!!! It's been great! So we have 7 Companionships in the our Zone and we have 8 baptismal dates set!! So I'm pretty excited!! We (my companion and I) also set a baptismal date with one of our friends we have been teaching!! She is awesome!! Her name is JoAnne and she is so excited to be baptized! 

The Zone has been doing great and we have been seeing great success and miracles! It's been good to see so much success because the Wards here were in my Zone have come from different parts of other missions.  In other words, the Tampa Mission absorbed some parts of the surrounding missions of Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale.  Some areas in the Zone were struggling some but we have been working really hard and now all areas are doing well!  The Wards in all areas are working with us and it is so great to see! 

We had some amazing lessons with JoAnne this week! We had a great lesson where we set the Baptismal date and also taught her about prayer! We talked about the nature of God and how he has asked us to pray and how we can have a 2 way communication with Him. It was awesome to hear her prayer after the lesson! She has been praying everyday since and has been seeing the difference in her life. We had an awesome lesson on the Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost and it was so powerful! We had a recent convert to the lesson to share her expienence and it went amazing!! She has been recognizing the Spirit more and more! We are very excited to see her Baptism! 

We had a fun Zone Activity today- we played Volleyball and carved pumpkins! So that was pretty fun! I carved a Dragon Ball Z character into the pumpkin! It turned out better than I expected! 

I also loved General Conference!! It was amazing!! The Apostles today are such a huge blessing to our lives!! I loved how they talked a lot about Joy! I know pure joy comes from following Christ and His commandments!! We talked to a Baptist guy this week about modern-day Prophets and Apostles. It was fun to teach him doctrine. I love being about to teach the true Gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Thank you so much for your support and prayers!! They are working and I really appreciate them! Have a great week and I love all of you!!! 

Elder Cahoon