Hello family and friends!!
Back at it again doing missionary work!! Always a great time for sure!! I love the Florida Tampa Mission! It is a very obedient mission. President Cooper is strict but I love it! I think it makes the Mission better. This week was a great week of Finding and Teaching!! We found some good people and taught some great lessons! The area here is doing great!! Sorry about this but this weekly may be a little short! I already talked to Mom and Dad and I promised Mom I would write but my companion and I are going to downtown Tampa to run the Riverwalk and see the shops and restaurants. I love the city here with the tall buildings, water and many people! South Tampa is a really awesome area! My apartment is pretty sweet too!
So we had some bomb-diggity lessons this week!! I met someone from Aztec, NM- how crazy is that?! We taught her and her son. I love to teach- it is my favorite thing to do on my mission!
I am just super pumped to be here and serve and preach to God's children! I love being able to be that vessel in the Lord's hand!! I enjoy teaching with Elder Lewis. It's cool to teach with someone who knows the Gospel. Our teaching is seamless and the lessons go so smoothly. We had an amazing church tour with Heather and Joe and we showed them the short video about the Restoration!! This was the first time in 10 years Joe has steeped foot into a church. They are doing great!! Joe has had some hard experiences with church in general in the past and he doesn't feel too comfortable just yet with church but he is doing great!! They have been having family prayers more and reading The Book of Mormon together!! It's awesome to see the teachings of Christ influence their lives!! Following Christ really does bring peace!! That's True!
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| Teaching In Tampa |
We also taught David and invited him to be baptized! He has some things going on in his life right now that are hard on him and he wants to read the Book of Mormon more and have the spiritual confirmation before he makes that step! So I was happy to hear he has that desire but needs to find out if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is really Christ's Church restored to the earth!! I'm excited to hear about his reading this week!! We are going to teach him more about Priesthood authority on our next visit.
We have had some other good lessons but those two are the main ones that went really well!! Elder Lewis and I went to down town Tampa this week and it was a blast!! We talked to quite a few people and taught them! We got to see some awesome buildings and the river!! So it was definitely a fun time!! We also gave talks in Sacrament meeting this week about Authority of the Priesthood and the calling of Ancient and Modern Prophets!! It was really cool to share my testimony of the Prophet of today with the church members here!!
I don't know if I have mentioned it but the missionaries in my mission get to listen to and see the Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, next month when he comes to Orlando to speak to the people of the area! To prepare myself for his wonderful and inspiring message, I have read the last talk the Prophet gave at General Conference. I also have an unmarked hard copy of the Book of Mormon that I am saving for the challenge the Prophet will most assuredly give to those that will be there. I am not sure what it is yet but I am ready for it! I also have another hard copy of the Book of Mormon and a hard copy of the Bible (these are not my regular missionary scriptures that I use to read and teach from). I have these copies to specifically study topics and cross reference every scripture I find about the topic. I have begun color coding the various topics and cross referencing the topics in the Book of Mormon to the comparable topics in the Bible. I plan to continue to do this throughout my mission. By the end, I will have devoured the scriptures! I can't believe I have been out for 6 months! Good thing I have 18 more months!!!
I wanted to tell you about how we begin our days. My companion and I get up early and we workout. We also eat healthy. Sometimes we play basketball. I am getting close to dunking. Elder Lewis can dunk and we are about the sane height so I know I can do it. I have gotten better at basketball since I play often with other missionaries. I can sink threes too.
Well I love you all and I'm so grateful for the opportunity we all have to grow our relationship with God and feel of His love in our lives!! Thank you all for the letters and packages!!!
My email address has changed! It is austin.cahoon@missionary.org. Also my address is:
Elder Austin Cahoon
4800 S. Westshore Blvd. #418
Tampa, FL 33611
Have a great week!!
Elder Cahoon
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