Be A Sniper Rifle 8/10/15

Moroni statue at the Hill Cumorah

I got another phone call from Trevor's Bishop this week!  He is so kind.  He told me that he was taking Trevor, E. Tengberg, and some recent converts to the temple this weekend.  They are going to the Palmyra Temple!!  Then they were going to the Hill Cumorah and the Sacred Grove!!  I could hardly get to sleep that night!  In Trevor's mission, the missionaries can only go to the temple if they take recent converts with them.  Trevor visited those places with our family last year but we did not go inside the temple- I am so jealous! haha
Susan


                                                                Hey family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Palmyra Temple- notice the beautiful glass on the doors.

Man your week has been busy and all at the last minute. Now I know that's not how mom works so something's going on!?!?!?😉😉 I am so glad to hear those Sundays are more family centered.  Just remember that if it invites the spirit it's a great activity!!! Austin is playing the piano WOW!! I never would've believed it if anyone else told me. I just hope you're doing it because you want to and not because you're forced to!!! It means so much more when you do something that you want to do.  You just have to find that desire to do it- that's the hard part!😉 lol!!!! Man, Alex is already home.  That's so weird. I felt like he just went out! Which means my mission is gonna fly by!!!!! :(  Nooooooooo I wanna stay out here like Alma and serve for 14 years!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Tengberg always tells me "Elder Cahoon you're never going home!" so that helps me feel better! AUSTIN YOU WENT TO A CHURCH DANCE!?!?!?  Now that I don't believe! How many times did you dance? I bet those dances stink now that I'm not there to show everyone up and impress all the ladies Hahahahaha!!!!!!!!!! Austin keep it up in 2 a days.  Mom says you are doing great and you come home and mow the lawn and the Shields' too- that's awesome!

Well Mom wants me to tell you, Austin, how you can better prepare for a mission and how to teach.  Well first off there's a lot that you can't learn until you actually get out into the mission field and explaining that would confuse you terribly. But what you can do is prepare spiritually by reading your scriptures and knowing them!!! That is key because you can't go into a lesson and not share a scripture.  Scriptures are revelations given to man from God and without scriptures we wouldn't know anything!! So study your scriptures and pray!  In the mission there isn't a event that happens without a prayer.  Prayer is how we gain that relationship with Heavenly Father.  There's a quote that Brother Gladden recited a lot.  He said "if you want to talk to Heavenly Father, pray; if you want Him to talk to you, read his word!" (Scriptures).  This is the most important thing you can do to prepare for a mission. This week I've been working really hard on

1st edition copy of the Book of Mormon -
located at the Visitor's Center in Palmyra, New York

incorporating the scriptures in our lessons.  This Wednesday we went on exchanges and I was with Elder Miller and Elder Tengberg was actually with my MTC companion, Elder Richens!!!!!  We are all in the same district!!!!!!!   :) :) Anyways we start going to our lessons in Bradford and I was struggling to find a scripture to use in those lessons.  We went to see our last person for the night (he was a referral and his name was "B"). We met him for the first time, talked and  even had a lesson.  At the end, his fiancé came out and we handed her a Book of Mormon.  She said nope I don't believe in your church. I asked her if she ever was involved with the church; she said no.  Then a scripture I remembered came to my mind (Moroni 10:4) and after I read that and offered them the B.O.M. again, they accepted! So use scriptures!!!!!!!! :) :) :) Hahahaha I'm still working on that.  Using scriptures has been the hardest thing for me being out here on my mission. But if you have faith in Jesus Christ and pray and do what He asks, He will help you and He will bless you!

This week has been a lot of learning (as every week is) but this week I worked on a phrase Elder Tengberg made up for me:  it's SHUT UP and listen!  Now what that means is I'm a talker- I love to talk- but I don't leave enough room for the spirit to talk so I need to always ponder what I'm going to say.  Next, I need to listen to what the Spirit tells me to say and say it because I am the Lord's mouthpiece.  The Spirit teaches 100% of the lesson and I teach none of it! Another
phrase is- be a sniper rifle and not an AK47 when asking questions!  So don't ask questions that are all over the place or ask question after question like an interrogation but be a sniper rifle- low fire rate and precise.  Not very many questions but ones that will pierce their  hearts to their very soul and cause them to think and ponder for themselves.
Because 1 inspired question does so much more than a barrage of questions. I applied both in a lesson (also in Bradford).  We were teaching a less active, "E"- he is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!  He really has a desire to know these things are true! I remember asking him a just a few questions.  He really opened up to us about his life and the things he has done to change them. We then talked about forgiveness and a change of heart and we used the scripture 2 Nephi 2:6-8.  That really touched him and he was willing to forgive himself and that was such a neat experience!

Also President Johnson called me and Elder Tengberg specifically.  This has never happened to Elder Tengberg on the mission before until now but President Johnson called and he said the Bishop just called him and told him what a fantastic job we both were doing.  He said he gets a lot of negative calls from Bishops but he never gets positive ones so he was truly grateful.  He sincerely thanked us for our hard work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:) :) :) :) :) That was so Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! Also in District meeting this was a way cool experience- we were talking about our fears.  Most everyone's was talking to people.  Elder Tengberg said, "That's not Elder Cahoon's" and then he shared an experience where he was checking his iPad while we were walking, he looks over and doesn't see me and starts looking around- I was already talking to someone about the gospel!  Every one seemed really impressed. So for a few minutes everyone was asking how I get the courage.  Even a missionary who's been out 19 months said "How do you do that!?!"   So I said, "Look at everyone like they ARE your brothers and sisters and view them as Heavenly Father does- full of love and charity.  Be bold but not overbearing.  So that is what happened this week!!!!!!!!

I love you all BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️


Elder Cahoon the Baboon