Email 52: Elder Cannon + Cultures + A Prompting

Sent on January 13, 2013

Helloooooo everyone!! Thanks for all of the emails and the letters this past week! What a crazy, super-fun, hard, glorious week it has been! Come to Redondo baby! I love it here. Bishop Ross is a star. We have six missionaries here (four spanish, two elders two sisters, and me and Elder Cannon) and we are just pumped out of our faces about the work right now! It was a crazzzzzy week. Elder Cannon and I had a lot of things to take care of the first couple of days after transfers so we only got to proselyte like two hours each day and we also had to prepare a zone meeting with the time we had to talk in the car, and then hold the zone meeting on Friday. Somehow though, with all of the other things that happened, we still managed to teach over 30 total lessons in a short week, as well as find new investigators, and see Gods hand in our work! Its just so GLORIOUS!

Elder Cannon is a straight up boss. We didnt have time to take a picture so there will be one coming soon. But he is like 6'4'' and has red hair. He is super in-tune with the spirit. We laugh a lot, and we are extremely focused right now. He is from Pheonix. Clark Dean Cannon. He teaches very well and it is super great to teach with him. He has a great ability to love and be humble. So I am pretty pumped to be with him!

And yes, it was super hard to say goodbye to the Rez last week. I still keep thinking about them all! But guess what!!!! I get to go back to Auburn on Sunday and baptize Veronica! I am so happy. I think Savannah might be still progressing as well and should be baptized there really soon as well! Great stuff!

So, my man Isaac. He came here from Ghana in September and he lives with his daughter Regina and her kids Quincela, Asari, Hannah, and Jeremiah. Bro. Edmiston, the Elders Quorum President in REDONDO has been friends with them for a long time. He has brought Isaac to church the last two weeks and we have a dinner/lesson with the whole family at the Edmistons house this wednesday! And all of them are planning on coming to church next sunday! I love people from Ghana.

Wanna know who else I love? Everyone. Especially Marshallese people. There are a lot of Marshallese here in Redondo. Probably more than any other area in the mission besides the Marshallese branch in Auburn. So Elder Cannon and I get to work with the "Yokwe's!" They are incredible people. Last night we had a big family sitting on the floor with us. Just imagine like 10 marshallese kids singing "I am A Child of God" with you. Thrilling. I love them though and we are going to work our faces off to help them to have the gospel be their numero uno priority. It is hard for Marshallese in a white person ward.

We also had a sweet lesson with some Russians last night. We knocked on the door and we couldn't speak to the guy because they don't speak any english. But the lady waved us in (which never happens with Russians). They just started showing us pictures of their family, it was great. There was like no communication at all. Then she finally asked who we were, and once she associated us with "Mormons" she pointed at her computer and said something about a video. SHe tried to find a video about mormons but couldnt find it. So I asked if I could show her something and she said yes. We went to mormon.org and changed it to Russian and watched russian mormon.org video and they loved it! Then we turned it on Google Translate and typed a little lesson and it wrote it in Russian for them and we set up a time for the Russian Sisters in Seattle (actually President Eaton's daughter) to come and teach them. Nikolai and Valentina. Bless their pure hearts.

Yesterday, we were sitting outside the Bishop's office waiting to have a meeting with him after church (us and the Spanish missionaries) and God just tells me "There is someone outside." So I tell Elder Quackenbush to come with me (quick exchange) and  I just run outside. We look down the street and we see this man so we sprint after him. He was Muslim and didnt even want to talk to us. There is no one else around so we start jogging back to the church. We jog past an inlet to a complex and there is a car driving out. God say's "Thats him." So I turn around and stop the car. He rolls down the window, and it is a beautiful Spanish man. Good thing Elder Quackenbush was with me! We teach a quick three minute lesson through his and he asks Elder Quackenbush to please come back tomorrow night. Holy! I love it when stuff like that happens. There are so many promptings that we get each day that we push aside. We must learn to follow every single one! Then we will be the greatest instrument in God's hands. I still have a LONG way to go but I am getting better!

I can't even explain to you all my excitement to find, teach, and baptize God's children right now. I am not setting any limits on Him anymore. I am going to tell you this and it is going to sound crazy... but Bishop Ross, at the beginning of the year, set a ward goal of 150 convert baptisms. 150! When I first heard this, I was just like, how? My thinking has changed so much though. We have a ward mission plan. It has been inspired by God. God, through priesthood keys, has revealed his expectation of our ward IF we will run the plan the way he has revealed it to us. I cant really explain to you the talks we have had with Bishop Ross, but he has taught me to STOP DOUBTING, REPENT, and HAVE REAL FAITH. I still catch myself doubting sometimes, but this is real! We need to make this happen! So I am working on it.

I love you all so much! Thanks for your love and support! I am just excited to get back out and talk to EVERYONE! Go and do!

Elder Cook