Two Baptisms!

      Hello everyone!! 

Sorry I haven't been very diligent with these emails. Some amazing things have happened these past few weeks and it's been absolutely amazing!! 

Well, on Sunday and Wednesday we had baptisms! They were both amazing services! 

So Raul got baptized on Sunday after church and his friend flew in from Utah to baptize him. It was a great reunion for the both of them since they haven't seen each other in a long time. 

Frank was baptized on Wednesday! Frank has a great story about deciding to join the church. His family and his wife are members but they hadn't been members for a long time.  After being baptized he shared his story about why he decided to be baptized and how it has changed his life and his family's life!! There wasn't a dry eye in the room.  I had the privilege of Confirming him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  

The ward members here are amazing and I'm so excited to still be here in Brandon!! I basically have 2 weeks left so I'm going to make them count! It's crazy how I'm almost done. 

Thank you to all who have supported me and prayed for me!! Thank you so much!! Have a great week! 

"Nothing will hurt you more in this life then what you don't know." -Elder Holland an Apostle of God 

Elder Cahoon

November 9, 2020- Preparing People For Baptisms!

Hello everyone!

It's getting closer to the end date. I'm a little scared of what is ahead but at least I won't have to do these emails anymore!! 😂 

Well this week was pretty awesome and last week was too!! We still have our friend, Raul, on-date for baptism on the 22nd!! And we just set a man, Frank, on-date for baptism on the 28th!! They both are ready and expecting to get baptized this month!! They are super excited!! It's been great to get to know them and to learn their stories. 

The work is amazing and God is good!! There were transfers this week and I will be finishing my mission in Brandon. That is an answer to many prayers and I'm so happy!! I began my mission in Brandon and I will end it in Brandon!  In missionary lingo- I was born in Brandon and I will die in Brandon.  

Love you all have a great week!! 

Elder Cahoon 

November 2, 2020- Miracle Time!

Ok Folks, miracle time!  We get a call this week from a man, Frank, whom is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He says to us, “Elders, I want to be baptized.”  That was freaking sweet by the way!  His family are members of the church but he hasn’t been baptized.  We had him come to church with us.  We had a lesson after church and we asked him what was different in his life now that made him want to be baptized.  Back story:  a few years ago Frank had set a date to be baptized but he never got baptized.    We wondered what made him his change his mind and desire to be baptized at this time.  He then shared with us that he was on a ladder at his house and he felt an impression from the Holy Spirit that he needed to get baptized and that he needed to get in touch with the Elders.  So he decided to call us. He then proceeded to share with us different experiences he has been having since he has been trying to follow God more.  He said he was kind of at rock bottom and turned to God and told Him he needed His help; that he couldn't do what he was doing anymore.  He told God that he was willing to do whatever the Lord wanted him to do.

So he has felt more peace in his life since allowing the Lord’s Will to direct him.  Frank has been recognizing things he needs to change with his family and with his wife. He apologized to his wife this week for different things he has done and not done.  According to him and his family, this is not like Frank.  He says he is so ready to make changes and to follow God.  

He was wondering about these experiences and what they meant.    We talked about the Holy Spirit and how He guides us in our lives.  We also talked about how Jesus Christ can change us. We read a few scriptures with him.  Frank then stated that he liked having the feeling of the Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit with him all the time but that it went away sometimes. He said, “It just goes away after awhile.  I just hate that.”  So we asked him how he would like it if he could have that feeling with him all the time   He said, “That would be amazing.  I would love that.”  We then asked him if he knew how he could.  “No” he said.  So we read a scripture in the Book of Mormon that talked about being baptized and receiving the GIFT of the Holy Ghost.   After he read it, he looked up and said, “So I need to be baptized and then I can receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We then said, “Yep. You’re exactly right.  You’ll have the Gift of the Holy Ghost; He will be there with you constantly as long as you are obedient to God’s commandments and you do what He says.”  He said, “Wow, I definitely need to be baptized for sure!”  We set a baptismal date with him on November 28!  

It was a really cool experience!  Frank has been making a lot of changes and definitely wants to help his family. He is a really good guy!  We are excited for him and he is pumped!  He has been reading the Book of Mormon and loves it!  We are having a lesson with him tomorrow.  

Miracles happen!  God is real!  God’s work is real!  

Elder Cahoon

General Conference On The Mission Is Awesome!

Hello everyone!! It's Elder Cahoon!  As usual I have some good news and I'm excited to share with y'all my week!! 

So to start off, we started teaching this young man who is my age! He is super cool and really wants to learn more about the Gospel. He asks us all the time when our next meeting is! We are going to be meeting with him tonight and we hope we can soon watch him get baptized!! He is a friend to a some members here!! 

We have another young lady we are teaching who also wants to learn more! She went over to a member's house to watch General Conference and she was there and loved it!! We are excited for  her to be a part of the Young Women's group and participate in the activities. We are excited for her!! 

I loved General Conference! General Conference is a televised (you can also watch it on other electronic devices) church meeting where all the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world can see and hear from the Prophet and Apostles.  It was a great learning time for me.  It helped me have an eternal perspective on things.  One particular lesson that the Spirit taught me was that I needed to have faith over fear and trust in my Heavenly Father.  I need to especially trust that He loves me!   

I hope y'all had a great week and I love you!! Till next time!! 

Elder Cahoon 

I Am Staying In Brandon!

 Hello Eveyone!

Okay so this week was great! I'm just going to jump into it!! 

So on Monday we received a message about a person who went online and requested to meet with us! So we go over to her house and say hi and she is super cool! She is struggling to understand the Bible and doesn't understand why there are so many churches in the world. So we taught her a lesson and took her to the church this weekend and gave her a tour.  We showed her the different rooms, pictures and the Baptismal font. She wants to get baptized and wants to learn more. She will also be joining a family (that are members of the Ward) for General Conference this week!  General Conference is church that is broadcast from Salt Lake City to all the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world. We are able to hear and see the Prophet and Apostles of our church.  

 

We also started teaching this one guy and he is really cool. He just graduated high school and wants to attend a church. His friend is a member and told him about the church and then invited him to go biking. And then that same member friend invited us to go biking so that we could meet him and teach him. So my companion and I went over to his house to chop wood first (which was so fun) and then we went and rode bikes.  After the ride, we invited him to church.  He came to church on Sunday and then said he wanted to learn more! Tomorrow we are going to be having a lesson with him! 

Brandon is awesome and I'm so happy to be here!! So we got transfer calls today and I'm staying in Brandon!!!! I'm so happy! 

Anyways, love you all.  Have a great week!!

Elder Cahoon 

Short Update on Mark, Our Recent Convert

 Hello Everyone!  

This is going to be short!  Brandon has been great! We have been having a lot of fun.  

Mark, the recent convert, is doing great and is excited to receive the Priesthood! 

Hope everyone is doing good have a great week! 

Elder Cahoon

Baptisms And Teaching- What A Great Combination!

 Hello family and friends!

We had a baptism this week!!! Mark got baptized!! 🌊🌊🔥🔥We are so pumped for him! 

We had another lesson with Mark after his baptism and we invited another one of our friends that is interested in the church to join in the lesson.  Mark helped teach him. :)  It was a really cool experience for everyone. 

This week has been really good not only because of the baptism but also due to some really great lessons. We had a lesson with a family we are teaching and we showed them a video from the Book of Mormon videos!  We got a projector and a big screen and watched it on the big screen! 🤙 it was pretty hype because we had drinks and popcorn too!! Also, thanks to the Hurst family for being such an amazing family!! They joined us for the lesson with them and it went really well!! The family is working towards getting baptized and we couldn't be more happy for them!! We are working to get them an official date. 

All has been going really good here in Brandon and I'm loving it!! It's so nice to see all the families again that I met a while ago when I served here!! 

Have a great week! Love you all and hope all has been well with everybody!! 

Elder Cahoon

Seeing Changes In People!

 Dear family and friends!

I don't have much time so here is the breakdown of this week!! So we have one of our friends getting baptized this week! It is Saturday Aug. 30!  He is super excited!! His name is Mark and crazy enough I actually taught him when I was in Tampa.  He moverd to Brandon and then I got transferred to Brandon.  When I got here, the other missionaries told me about him and I was pumped!  I told them I had previously taught him so it was perfect. 😂 I am excited for his baptism!

We also set a baptismal date for another one of our friends this week and that was so amazing!! She has been learning a lot and wanting to read from the Book of Mormon. She is excited to get baptized!! 

We have a lot of people we are working with that are working towards baptism!!  I'm so pumped!  I'm so happy to be back here in Brandon! I love my companions and being in a trio!  It's been a lot of fun here with them so far!! 

Have a great week and I love you all!! 

Elder Cahoon 

Crazy (But Good) News! 8-17-2020

 Hello friends and family!

It's been a while since I have written (don't worry, I have still called my mom on Mondays and Thursdays).  Due to COVID, my mission allows the missionaries to call twice weekly.  To get you up to speed,my companion and I have been teaching people and meeting them at the church for in-person lessons.  We have put a guy on-date for baptism so that is exciting!  We still have video lessons with members and with investigators.  It is fun serving in the Young Single Adult Branch.  

I do have got some crazy news though!!! A couple of days ago, we get a call from some Elders in the District.  They tell us they have a referral for us (the guy they were talking to is 25 years old so we are the Elders in-charge because he is YSA age). They then tell us they needed to have us join them in a lesson! But the kicker was when they said the referral was from a guy they talked to and who said he wants to be baptized!! How cool is that??  That rarely happens and it has happened 2 times to me in the past couple of months! 

So backstory:  the Elders received an online referral from a guy who wants a Book of Mormon. They call him and the man says he already had a Bookk of Mormon, had read 1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, 3 Nephi, 4 Nephi as well as some other books in it.  He had read Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price (another book of scripture we have and use).  He tells the Elders that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and the church is true and he wants to be baptized!! The man is such a genius! hahaha  The guy has a friend that is a member of the church. The member gave him the Book of Mormon and has talked to him about the church and invited him to pray about the Book of Mormon to find out if it was true.  So he studied a ton about our church and took the invitation to pray about it and he knew it was true!  Now he just wants to get baptized and be apart of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!  We did join the lesson and it was the craziest lesson I have been in because he talked about his testimony and testified of many truths!  All of us Elders just had dropped-jaws as he told us his story! 

I have never met anyone so prepared to be baptized in my life!!! So we set a baptismal date for August 30th!! I hope to be able to return for his baptism!

So that is the next crazy news I have to share.  Sadly, I will be leaving the area.  I am being transferred back to Brandon!  This is the area where I began my mission!  I'm excited for that!! I am excited to get back in touch and talk to people that I had known before.  I am looking forward to learning about what they are doing in their life now a little more than a year later.  I have plans!  I haven't told the Hursts yet.  I want to surprise them!  

So the last crazy news I have to share is that I was released as a Zone Leader!  This will be only my 3rd transfer in my entire mission that I don't have any responsibilities! I have been a Zone Leader for over a year.  It will be a weird feeling not having responsibilities but I am looking forward to just being a "regular" missionary. hahaha  

I love you all!  Have a great week!!  I want you to know that miracles happen, God lives and He most certainly loves us! 

Elder Cahoon 

Zone Conference Is Coming Up! 7-20-2020

Hello friends and family!

Well this week was pretty sweet!!  Elder Holloway and I got a referral for a guy who is living out in Lakeland but was the age of a young single adult which is the ward we cover.   He was meeting with missionaries out there and he really enjoyed it. We met with him for the first time yesterday and we set a baptismal date with him!!!! We are super pumped for him. He is going to be baptized the 8th of August! We hope he makes his date!! 

We also have Zone Conference this week and my Zone Leader and I have the opportunity to do a training!!! We are pumped!! We are planning on having an object lesson that is an attention-getter at he beginning of the lesson.    

We have been having good lessons and the work has been moving forward!! God is Good! Love you all have a great week!! 

Elder Cahoon 

Tampa Is Awesome! 7-16-2020

Holy Moly! I Love Tampa! It's been great here!! I love being able to be here in the great area of Tampa and talk to all the young folk! It's been pretty sweet! 

We had a few good lessons with a few of our friends! We also have had a good amount of member lessons! We also were able to make a few videos for our missionary Facebook page!! They are supa good!! 

Anyways it's been a good week and all has been well! I hit my 18 month mark a few days ago and it's pretty crazy!! I'm excited for the next 6 months!! 

Elder Cahoon 

Getting Transferred to a YSA Ward!

Hello everyone! 

These emails just may get shorter and shorter. 😂😂 It's been a good week! Good things are happening in the area! I just found out that I am getting transferred to the Tampa YSA ward and I am gonna be sad to leave!  I will be getting a new companion and new Zone Leader companion.  

I have enjoyed the Zoom Sunday School meetings with the ward members.  Currently, we are teaching a 9 year old boy.  We talked to his father (who is not a member of the church) and he is super cool and is excited to do lessons with us! We are super excited to teach him until we are transferred!  

I know it is short- sorry.  We have to go grocery shopping and then we are going to play some basketball.  Everyone have a great week! Love you all!! 

Elder Cahoon

Sweet Missionary Miracles!

Hello everyone!

Okay so it's been crazy with some sweet miracles! I wish I had the time to tell them to you in full detail!!! Okay so the first sweet, amazing miracle:  we pull up to Taco Bell to get some grub and then we start munching.  We get a call from a random number. We answer the phone and a man asks, "When is your next baptismal service?" So we tell him we are having one on the 20th of this month (which is part of our other miracle that I'm about to explain) but back to the first story.  The man then states that he will call us later to be baptized on that day.  And so we explain to him a little bit of the baptismal process and we figure out his situation. Well this guy wants to improve his relationship with God and wants to be baptized! He called us because a member gave him our number and told him to call us and that's what he was doing!!!  After we hung up with Will, we called the member who sent him to us and the member explained a little more about the situation.  Needless to say, we set up a lesson with both Will and the member on Thursday!  We are really excited for it!!!!  This is a perfect example of the Lord answering my prayers!  I pray everyday in every prayer that I will find people that are ready but ALSO pray that if I don't find them, they will find me.  This is exactly what happened with Will!  This has happened so much in the past months it is unreal! Heavenly Father certainly blesses those who are sincere! 

So now for the 2nd sweet miracle:  the reason we have a baptismal service on the 20th is because we received a call from our Bishop this week and he told us about this family in the Ward that has a 9 year old boy who would like to be baptized!  So we talked to the family and had an awesome lesson this week with him and set a baptismal date for him on the 20th!!  His dad is not a member of the church but he might be interested in talking with use and in learning more about the church!! We are so excited to invite him to the lessons as well!! 

As you can see all is well and much fruit is being produced!! God is preparing people and it's been great to see people come to us for knowledge!! I have said it before but as we have been praying to find people who are ready to be baptized and also praying for them to find us, our prayers have been answered and I know all of yours can be as well!! 

I love all of you!! Have a great week!!! 

Elder Cahoon 

Two Companions and Gulfport

Hello Everyone!

This weekly is going to be short. It's been busy and a little stressful lately. We have gotten a lot of new missionaries lately! I now have 2 companions. I am training both of them.  One of my companions is brand new out of the home MTC and my newest companion is a reassigned missionary.  He previously served in Australia and he is pretty cool he is also 6'8"!!! So y'all ready know we balled up!! 

My trio has moved to Gulfport which is by St. Petersburg.  We are doing zoom meetings to get to know the members and teach people.  I continue to have my weekly video meetings with the Mission President and Stake President.  I love my Mission President so much! I am also loving Elder Thompson- he is a beast!!!  I'm hardly training him- he is basically already trained. We have been enjoying each other!  We live by a preserve and we even saw a Gator this week! That was pretty cool. We balled up today and afterwards it poured rain so that felt great!!  It is hot here in FL! 

Well everyone have a great week and Love you al!!! 

Elder Cahoon

The Parable of Finding The Elect

And it came to pass that Elder Cahoon, Elder Scott and Elder Thurber began to preach the word unto the city of St. Petersburg.  For the people were a more stiffnecked and wicked people. Nevertheless they did impart the word unto them. And as they taught they were cast out. But because of their faith in Christ they went down another time to find those who were ready to be baptized. They called and called and called people. And many people declined their calls. But they did not give up in their trials for they were strong in in faith of their Lord.  As they were thus preaching a phone buzzed and a women desired to learn more about the Gospel and was prepared to hear of the message from the messengers of God!! And thus the messengers of God were exceedingly glad beyond measure!!! And thus ended the week. 

So this week was pretty good!! Mostly because ELDER BEDNAR TALKED TO US!!!!!!! That was so cool!! He is actually super funny!! We did a zoom call meeting with him and got to ask him questions. We learned about meekness and what it truly means. He explained that meekness is having power to obliterate an opponent but you don't do it.  An example is Christ.  As he was being crucified and dying on the cross, he could at any point destroyed those who were torturing him with ease, but He didn't.   He demonstrated meekness. 

It was a great experience to listen to an Apostle!! So other news, Elder Blanchard left and in his place we got Elder Scott! We are still in a trio!  Elder Scott is pretty cool and is goof at break dancing!! He is also one of my District Leaders.  It is kinda nice just being able to talk to him about his District and/or responsibilities without having to make a phone call. 

We have some good lessons planned this week so I'm really excited!! Love all of you and have a great week!! 

Elder Cahoon

Happy Belated Mother's Day!!

Hello, hello again! 

Hope everyone is doing okay! It's been a good one here! We had some fun experiences this week!! 

Today (Monday), we went to a nature reserve and got to see some gators!! It was so cool because we were the first missionaries to have visited there because it is usually closed on Mondays.  Due to COVID, the hours have been changed so my companions and I were able to go.  We also went to an old military base which was sweet!! I love war history so this was super cool for me!  

     

We are going to have Elder Bednar, an Apostle of our church, come and join our mission over a zoom call!!!! I'm so excited for that!!  In more exciting news, we continue to have weekly transfers with new missionaries come into the Tampa Miission!   They have commented that the missionaries in this mission are "obedient, hard working and kind."  

We continue to have lessons with people that are investigating the Restored Church.  We had some great lessons this week via video and we are excited for a few people we are teaching!! I should have a little bit more to say next time!!! 

Love you all!! 

Elder Cahoon

We Are Locking Down On Missionary Work!

Hello and welcome everyone!

In my free time, I have been playing chess with Elder Thurber, one of my companions.  We like to call the games the "Showdowns of the Century: Elder Cahoon vs. Elder Thurber!" Chess is getting intense up in here!! It's been nuts! I have been taking a few good win but Elder Thurber is pretty good! Chess has been quite fun to play! 

Well now that I have talked about our game playing, it is now time to talk about the good stuff from this week!! 

We have some amazing members here in St. Petersburg!!  Not only do they chat with us on video and allow us to teach them through video but they are so great to make sure we have food and other necessities!  A couple of families are consistent with bringing us meals and giving us some good snacks!  It has been so great to have a protein, a vegetable and a fruit all in one meal!  We don't always make that much food for one meal.  We also don't eat a lot of snacks so all of that is so welcomed and enjoyed!!  Well like I said before, we have been doing teaching to many ward families via video calls.  We have read from the scriptures together, shared our feelings about what we have read and discussed what lessons we have learned from the scripture stories! This is a program by our church that is similar to Sunday School and it is called, "Come Follow Me."  I love this program and the lessons have been really fun!!! 

One of our video lessons included a cool guy whom had been taught by previous missionaries.  Well, he got in touch with us and said he wanted to read from the Book of Mormon. So we dropped a copy off to him and got his information so we could video call him.  We had a super good lesson!  We talked about baptism and how Christ requires everyone to be baptized. It was cool to teach him and to read from the Book of Mormon with him. Missionary work is continuing and I am so grateful to be able to share my testimony and do missionary work is a little different way.   

We also got a super crazy call like 25 minutes ago!!  A guy called and asked if he had contacted the St. Petersburg missionaries.  We affirmed we were and then he explained that he would like to come to church. So, apparently this guy was taught a while back by previous missionaries.  The missionaries quit meeting with him but he continued to read from the Book of Mormon.  He has now finished reading the Book of Mormon and wants to come to church!!!!!  So we set up a lesson with him and we are excited for it!!  Do you remember my continued, fervent prayers where I pray for people to find me if I don't find them?   Well, these experiences are definitely answers to my prayers!!  

I also did something this week that was really moving to me.  You know how I have made a couple or videos that I posted to Facebook?  Well, this time, the Assistants to the President, made a video and asked several missionaries to participate.  I was one of those missionaries.  It was really cool.  The video was like an interview and the APs asked me (and the other missionaries) questions.  The catch is that I couldn't respond in words but only could respond through my reactions.  It was really powerful to me. I think one question that struck me the most was about the last day of my mission.  I remember having a confident feeling in my service!  So that will continue to be my goal!!  I'm happy and grateful that I feel confident in the service I have given the Lord since being in Florida thus far and on my very last day of my mission, t want to feel that same wayt!! 

Here is a great scripture I was reminded of this week which I love!! I believe strongly this scripture id true!! 

Mathew 16:25    For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

I have truly found myself as I have lost my life for God's sake (sacrificed the traditional/typical life for the past 17 months)!   

Here is some news of other men and women choosing to lose their life for the Lord:  In the next 6 weeks, The Florida Tampa Mission will receive 180 missionaries!  We will be having transfers weekly for the next 6 weeks as we absorb these servants of God!  This is in response to the Restored Church bringing missionaries home due to COVID and then reassigning them!  Because there will be so many missionaries, the Mission has had to rent cars and rent out hotel/hotel rooms for them!  How crazy is that?  There will be lots of training to be done, I am sure. 

Love you all and have a great week!! Stay safe and continue to pray in faith!! The Lord is with us! 

Elder Cahoon 

A Wonderful Baptism- God Is In Charge Even During The Quarantine!

Hello everybody!!!

It's been a wild one out here! In case you have forgotten, I am in trio with 2 other missionaries in St. Petersburg!  Still doin' missionary work and still lovin' it!!  This week was full of nice surprises and spiritual boosters!! Click on those seat belts and hold on because, as Anakin Skywalker would say, "This is where the fun begins!" 

You will notice in the picture below that my hair is very short.  It is actually too short for the mission and I apologized to President Hollingsworth for cutting it so short.  I usually cut my own hair (and do a good job if I do say so myself).  Well, I grabbed a shorter blade than I had planned and went right down the font of my head without a second thought.  I looked in the mirror and realized what I had done!  After I realized I had grabbed the wrong size, it was too late and I had to finish with that one. hahaha  Thank goodness it will grow- just not fast enough! 

I feel like Crocodile Dundee out here as of late because we have been seeing a lot more gators and I LOVE IT!!!!  I have been waiting to see gators in their natural habitat!  We got even got a video today of one swimming! It was pretty sweet!!   A kid threw a stick into the water and I was so glad because the gator, which was initially just chilling out, swam right to it.  Also, I have become best friends with a few squirrels as well! They do love good snacks! As do I! 

Julio- A Great Example To Me

So that is the fun that we have been having during the quarantine but let's get to the spiritual boost of the week.  It was when Julio got BAPTIZED!!! It was so great to see him make changes, keep commitments and watch his excitement for his baptism build! He was so happy after the Baptism!!  There were only 7 people at this baptism (us 3 Elders, the person baptizing him, his wife, Julio and the Bishop).  We had a video going for others to join in.  We all wore masks so it was hard for people on the video to understand what was being said.  I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.  I just loved being a part of his day!  Julio's wife is already a member so she has been so overjoyed with his faith and level of commitment!  Julio has taught me a lot about true discipleship and commitment!  He gave up coffee on the spot and is willing to live all the commandments!!  He demonstrates such faith!  He wants to become closer to his Father in Heaven and to follow Christ!!  He Is a great example of that!!  I'm grateful for all Julio he has taught me!! 

Julio and The Trio In St. Petersburg

My mom and dad recently sent me a new Bible and I have been studying from Revelations lately.  And it's been amazing!!  Two of my favorite books in the Bible are Isaiah and Revelations!  The reason being is that it takes the Spirit to understand them and it also takes modern-day revelation!!  It's cool to see how the ancient and modern prophets shed so much light on the same subject! 

We Elders have received many online referrals from people wanting to learn about the church!! It's been amazing to have people come to us!! I know the Lord answers prayers and He truly love us!! I personally have been praying in every prayer to find the people ready to be baptized and that if I don't find them, that they will find me!!  Prayer works!!   I know it as I have had my prayers answered!  We have to have faith and effort and then act!!   But I know from experience (and I have shared many of these experiences with you) that as I have faith and act upon that faith I have, Heavenly Father will answer my prayers!!

We continue to have video lessons and teach members and other friends that are investigating the church.  We are staying focused and busy doing the Lord's work. 

Stay safe everyone! I love you all and have a great week!! I'm so grateful to be a missionary at this time and for all the wonderful things I have learned!!! 

Elder Cahoon

Keeping On Keeping On During The Lockdown

Dear friends and family,

It's been amazing! I don't have time so I'm going to make it quick! So Sonia, the lady that I was teaching in my last area, watched all of General Conference and loved it!! She even told her family that she thinks she found God's Church! So that was really cool! 

In my new area, we set a baptismal date for a man we are teaching named Julio! We taught him the word of Wisdom and he was a little reluctant to give up his coffee. He speaks mostly English and after talking to a member who suggested this, we promised him that if he gave up his coffee he would be able to better learn English. After we said that he said, "Okay I'm throwing it all away."  And he did!  He is really excited to be Baptized!! 

Love you all and have a great week!! Thank you everyone for your prayers and support! 

Elder Cahoon

God is Good! He Knows Me, Loves Me and Wants To Help Me!

Hello Family and Friends! 

I am still out here in paradise serving the Lord!  I am loving it even though missionary work is different.  I am having a great time teaching through technology!  I had 5 lessons this week and it was awesome!  This week is transfer week and 50 missionaries from the mission will be returning home.  It is sad to see so many of my friends go home.  I am grateful I am still here!!  I am going to be transferred to St. Petersburg where I will be in a trio (3 missionaries together).  Almost all companionships are trios because of the decreased numbers of missionaries and zero time contacting people on their doors or the streets due to COVID-19.  I will continue to be a Zone Leader in St. Petersburg (which is west of Tampa by the gulf).  I am sad to leave the Lakeland Zone and Davenport area but am looking forward to being in a big city with lots of people- now I just need to be able to get out and meet them!! 

This past weekend I was able to watch the Prophet of my church and other leaders speak to the world (it is called General Conference).  I watched them on TV- how else would they be able to talk to all the people all over the world at the same time?  As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we hve this opportunity 2 times a year! I had an investigator of the church watch Conference as well.  Her name is Sonja and she watched all of the sessions- 10 hours total in 2 days. 

It was such an incredible experience to talk with her afterwards.  She wept as she talked about her feelings with different talks given by various leaders.  She participated in the Hosanna Shout and she said she felt so good!  Her husband, who is also not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints also watched some of it.  As Sonja listened to a particular talk about the Restoration, she better understood why John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ and why he returned to restore the Aaronic Priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery!  She said, “Of course that is why John the Baptist returned to restore the Aaronic Priesthood- he had the keys of baptism.”  These people are rockstars!!  They continue to read the Book of Mormon on their own.  When we call them to discuss it, they are pumped and ready!  They watch the Book of Mormon videos together too!  These are videos that coincide with what they are reading.  They are reenactments of the actual events in the scriptures. They are really cool and well-done!  I invite you to watch them!   

I also had an amazing personal experience where Heavenly Father answered my exact prayer.  Before Conference, I prayed to understand how to better teach about the Priesthood so it would be more clear to people that aren’t members of the church.  Well, in the Saturday night session, Heavenly Father answered that prayer through President Dallin H. Oaks (a counselor to the Prophet)!  It was exactly what I was looking for.  He almost said the exact words I was looking for to explain more clearly!  God is Good!  He knows me, loves me and wants to help me!! 

Remember my companion and set up a Book of Mormon Baseball Challenge for the Zone? Well we had the Tournament today (Monday).  I didn't win but it was fun!  The guy who beat me won it all so I guess that is good. haha   

Even though missionary work looks different, great miracles are happening!!  In fact, this past month, the Tampa Mission had a “Miracle March!!!!”  We had 10 more baptisms than we normally have with limited contact with people!  The Lord is definitely in charge!  We, as missionaries of the Tampa Mission, worked so hard to find people and to rely on the Lord for help in this endeavor!  It was so great to see all the missionaries working in unison – with an eye single to the Glory of God!  He is so anxious to help us when we ask with sincerity and diligently strive to do His will!  Again, God is Good!  He knows me, loves me and wants to help me! 

I love you all! Thank you so much for your support and your emails!!  They really help me!

Elder Cahoon

Another Corona Quarantine Week!

Well hello family and friends! 

This week has been quite interesting! It's been good to be in the apartment at times because I get to learn different things and better my Missionary skills. I'm learning some Spanish so I can talk to people whee Spanish is their first language.  I am learning Spanish phrases to use when I teach them or contact them on the streets or at their houses which is muy Divertido! (Super fun) I was also to memorize more scriptures this week because I have been quarantined in our apartment.  

At MLC- before the Corona Quarantine

We are using technology to stay in contact with people we have been teaching.  We had some good lessons on the phone via video chat! Technology likes to not work sometimes but we get through it! We also had a good lesson with some members and with Joe and Joyce this Sunday! That's was cool! 

I know God cares about each of us even though it seems rough at the moment. I was pretty upset with this whole staying-inside-thing for a day or two (until I adjusted my attitude) but I am learning to enjoy it!  My companion and I have made some videos- go check them out on my Facebook page or my mom's if you haven't yet!  They were pretty fun to make.  I have also been using my time to practice the piano- I know you love that mom.  

 As  Zone Leader, I had an idea that would bring my Zone together.  We are doing the Book of Mormon "Easter Challenge 2020!"  It is called "Book of Mormon Baseball"  Elder Kehl and I made a video and sent it out to the Elders and Sisters in the Zone.  They are to practice this week and then next Monday we are going to have the Tournament!  When I talked with my brothers today via FB messenger, Tyler and I went a couple of rounds with the baseball game.  We tied the first round and the second round Tyler won- that dog. hahaha  Kyle was kind of guessing too.  Trevor wasn't on yet so I will give him a pass.  It was fun battling against my returned-missionary brother! 

The APs and Elder Cahoon

I know God has a purpose and plan for everyone! Stay safe and love all of you!! Have a great week! 

Elder Cahoon