You Can Learn A Lot From Other People!

Howdy Family and Friends!! 

Not going to lie these weeklies are getting tiring to write. But I will do them! This week was good as usual!! We had fun times this week!! I am a little bummed because we had to drop some people from our teaching pool because they weren't progressing.  That made me feel kinda sad for sure. 

But the best part about the week! Brother Donaldson, from "The District 2," came to the Mission this week and all the leaders of the Mission (during MLC) got together to talk with him!! This man is crazy smart!! He works in the Mission department and has been studying testing different things in some missions-for example our weekly planning boards that we use.  Remember, our mission is one of the pilot programs for weekly planning.  He taught us about some great ideas about how our mission can improve and bring more people to Christ! It was amazing to listen to him! He taught us some great effective ways to teach using the Book of Mormon and doing different finding in our areas! We are excited to learn and apply them in Lecanto!! 

Church was really good! I love the new program in the church with helping families grow closer. I really like it!! 

Elders Cahoon and Jarett

This next week is going to be really good!! We are going to have some awesome lessons!! I am very excited about it!! One of lessons will be with a sister that we are going to ask her to be baptized.  I am going on exchanges in Tampa with my old companion, Elder Jarrett.  I just love him and am excited to teach with him!  

It's been a great week to study and learn. I studied about the Sabbath and the importance of it. Also studied a little bit about the day of it. There was a man we were teaching who was dead set on the Sabbath being on Saturday. So it was a great study to learn why the Sabbath is on Sunday and just remind myself why and how I need to keep it more holy and what I need to do so that I can always keep it holy, especially when I am not on a mission.  

I love being able to help others come even closer to their Savior Jesus Christ! I know that Christ lives and God's purpose is to help us in our lives! Pretty sweet!

I love all of you! Thank you for your prayers! Have a great week! 

Elder Cahoon 

Working Hard So The Lord Can Make It Happen!

Aloha como esta la Familia? Hello Family and Friends! Hope all of y'all are doing great!! This week was pretty sweet! We have some good things happening around here! Gotta love those miracles!! 

Okay well to start off the week we had some fun service at the college that we did! And the great part is we were with a guy named Brenden! Brenden is a non member and he is being taught by the other Lecanto Elders. We have done lots of things with him on our preparation days.  His best friend is a member and he also does lots of stuff with us.  Well, Brenden came with us to do the service and he drove us there! He has been hanging out with us even when his best friend doesn't come along and loves being around us! We love him too- he is a pretty cool guy! Brenden's family attends another church but  they are good friends with a family that are members of the church. Brenden went home this past week and told his parents he wanted to learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and wanted to meet with the missionaries so we could teach him more.  Well, since he lives in my area, my companion and I will be teaching him!  We are so excited! 

We were able to have some sweet lessons this week! I feel like most of these lessons we have had have been really good! It's awesome when people have a real desire to learn! It's amazing to see them light up when the spirit hits them! We taught this one lady about baptism and she has a desire to change and better her relationship with God. 

So,,, now for the awesome miracle for the week!  I felt like I needed to go on an exchange with a District Leader in our Zone.  So my companion, Elder Hatch, went with the companion of the District Leader.  Elder Hatch and the other Elder stayed in his area and I took the DL to my area.  Well, Elder Hatch and the Elder had a dinner with these 2 Grandmas and their niece. They thought that all the people were members of the church but one of the Grandmothers was not. The non-member grandma's name is JoAnne. While eating dinner, Joanne asked "How do I go about joining the church?" The Elders were astonished! They talked with her about our purpose as missionaries and talked about baptism and how, as missionaries, we help people get baptized. JoAnne already knows about the Word of Wisdom and has already stopped drinking coffee so she can be baptized!! And JoAnne lives in our area!!  So we are super stoked!! We are going to be meeting with her this week and setting a baptismal date with her!!  

We had a big change this past transfer in the Zone. Elder Lewis (my Zone Leader companion) and I have some good exchanges planned for this week with various missionaries! We are really excited for those!  As a ZL companionship we are going to be setting new goals so even more good changes are going to be happening.   

I really enjoy my daily personal scripture study.  I love studying the scriptures and learning from them! The Spirit, combined with the scriptures, is the best thing in this world! I love being able to read from the Book of Mormon especially! I have learned so much about the Book of Mormon over the course of my mission and I love it so much!! The Holy Ghost has testified to me that the Book of Mormon is true. I know this for myself and I don't rely on anyone else's story or testimony. This knowledge is my own. I feel a true sorrow for those that don't read the Book of Mormon because it has forever changed my life! 

Love all of you and thank you for your support and prayers!! I appreciate all of your letters and emails!! Have a great week!!! 

Elder Cahoon

Transfers are here and I'm staying!!!!

Hhheeeeeellllllllooooooooo!!! 

Hello to all those who are reading this!! Well it's been a great week! We had some great lessons this week! It was a great time! Well. it we got news for the transfers! I AM STAYING!!!! Elder Hatch and I are staying!!! We are super pumped!! I can't believe it because I have moved often and gotten a new companion almost every transfer since I came out in January!.  Elder Lewis, my past companion from South Tampa. is coming up in the Ocala area!! He is going to be a Zone Leader with me!!! Super pumped about that!!! It is nice to be able to serve with previous companions.  This week I was with another previous companion when I got to go on exchanges with Elder Leavitt (an AP).  As a Zone Leader, we get to go on exchanges with one of the Assistants to the President (AP) just like I go on exchanges with District Leaders.  For those who don't know, there are 2 APs in the mission.  They are the right-hand Elders to the Mission President- helping him with transfers, trainings, new missionaries and any other thing a Mission President needs.  

We had some awesome miracles happen here this week!! We were able to get into some houses this week on contact!! It's was awesome!! We taught this one lady and this one guy about the purpose of life and how we can find truth in our lives. It's always great to teach on contact! We also had a member yesterday bring a non-member to church!! It was awesome to meet him and we were able to get his contact info! Hopefully we will be able to go by sometime this week! 

We also followed up with Arthur! He is the guy we taught the 45 min restoration to. He has been reading and has been really enjoying it!! He loves the story of Nephi! We talked about the purpose of the Book of Mormon and how it can bless us and our families! We also discussed how families can be together forever! He was very excited about learning more about that!! He has a family so this principle was very important to him.  

For our preparation day today we went to a trampoline jump place!! It was super fun!! And guess what??!! I learned how to do a back flip!!!!! I never really learned how to do that so it was super cool to learn that today!!  I am learning a lot of new things on my mission! lol  There were 4 of us elders and a member of the ward that is kinda young and a friend.  We  were the only ones in there so it was fun to run around and do whatever we wanted inside! No one got hurt so no worries there. 

I get to have personal scripture study every morning. Lately, I have been studying the beginning of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon! I love King Benjamin and his amazing teachings about the Savior! I love his desire to teach and help others to come into Christ! 

I love all of you and thank you for your support and prayers!! I really appreciate them!! Thank you to all those who have sent me letters and emails!!! Have a great week and search for and love the Lord with all of your heart, might, mind and strength!! Onward and Upward!! 

Elder Cahoon 

This Week Went By So Fast!!

"Bravo six going dark."- Captain Price 

Hello there mates!! It was a good week!! 

Now the funny story behind why I chose the quote. So in Elders Quorum (Sunday class for all the men in my church that are 18 years old and over) we discussed how we should make  sacrifices to come closer to God.  I can't remember the comments leading up to one of the men's comments but this one old guy blurted out, "If that happens, the Millennials will need counseling."  After he said that, I leaned over to the young man next to me and whispered, "This guy doesn't even know what's it's like to play Call of Duty!"  He thought that was hilarious and we just started busting out laughing! I thought it was kinda funny.

See The Frog??

Well this week was pretty sweet!! We have had a good time! It went by so fast, I don't even know what all has happened!  We do have some cool people we are teaching! The converts continue to be awesome!  We also have been increasing our teaching pool and that is pretty sweet!  The Ward has been praying for our success and for us to find people.  Miracles have come because of their efforts and faithfulness (and ours)!  We have been getting into so many doors!!     

Last week we found Arthur!  We knocked on his door and he was excited to hear what we had to say!  We ended up teaching him a 45 minute lesson on the Restoration of the Gospel.  He said "This is so cool!  I have never heard any of this before!"  We left a Book of Mormon with him with an invitation to read from it.  Well, we have had a good follow-up lesson with Arthur this week!  He was so excited to read the Book of Mormon and he has been reading it and loving it!! We are going to see him again tomorrow! 

Part of my responsibilities as Zone Leader are going out with the District Leaders and learning how I can help them help their districts.  I really enjoy this responsibility!  

We had a fun game night party at the church this week! It was pretty fun we played "Attack Uno"!! It was a great time and we had some non-members there so it was good to fellowship!! It's been great to be here in the Lecanto Ward!! Transfers are coming up and I'm a little scared I'm going to leave this area!  I haven't stayed in any area for long so that is why I think that.   

Also we just got done going through some caves here in the area!! They were waaaay cool!!

Cave Opening

What a great week I have had!  I love being able to serve the Lord!! Some random guy was talking to me and he asked me how I knew the Book of Mormon was true. I explained to him how have studied and prayed to God and asked Him if Joseph Smith saw Him and Jesus Christ.  I told him that I received an answer from Him that He (God) did appear to Joseph Smith and Joseph did in fact translate the writings in the gold plates which were then printed to make the Book of Mormon.  I truly know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's restored kingdom on the Earth. That is the truth and it has blessed my life to know that! 

My Future Wife and I Reading Scriptures!

Love you all and have a great week!! Also thank you for all of your support and emails and letters!!!  

Thanks Trevor For Sending These!

  

  

Elder Cahoon