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