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