Drugged Dummies

Helloooooo!!!!!!!! Family and Friends!!!!!!!! 

Wow another week in the books.  Let me tell you though, this week was pretty memorable.  I'm excited to tell

you all about it but I'm even more excited for Tyler and Hannah's wedding as well as calling home.  YAY!!!!!!!! I'm soooo pumped!!!!! Will I see Hannah when I call home or not? Will you send the pictures of the wedding as well as pictures of people who took with me (my cutout)!?! Hahaha  

Sister Jenkins is such an awesome lady!!! She reminds me so much of you.  The two people that remind me of you is Sister Johnson (Mission President's wife) and Sister Jenkins.  They are like my substitute moms.  They are the best substitute moms but no one can beat the real mom!!!!!!!!  I love you mommy!!!!!!!!  Dad you and President Johnson are identical. You're both bald and are pretty serious guys (until it's just one on one and
then you're pretty lax and funny).  But let me tell you no one can replace either of  you.  You two are my favorite and you have to deal with me A.K.A. Your crazy, bouncing-off-the-walls son for the rest of eternity hahaha!!!!  That's a looooooong time.  How are you guys going to do it? hahaha  Yo dad, in Wexford (the Sisters' area), there is a die-hard BYU fan.  His name is Brother F.  Ohhhh man you guys would get along just great!!!!!!! I got a picture of his downstairs man cave- it's sweet!!!!  Also I keep forgetting to tell you this.  This is the craziest

BYU Man Cave of a member in Ambridge.  I know Dad is jealous

thing ever. LISTEN UP!!!!!!!!!!  The Bishop of Pitt 4th Ward (which is the other Ward we share our building with) is Chris Hoke!!!!!!!!!!! If you don't know who that is- which Austin you probably don't- let me tell ya. Dad do you know who Chris Hoke is!?!?!?  Make your guesses before I tell you all of you.  I can wait..... (Make your guesses)

Okay so Chris Hoke was a professional football player.  What team did he play for??  The Steelers!!!!!!! Isn't that crazy!?!?!  He's the Bishop of our other ward- that's insane!!!!! I need to take a pic with him.  It's hard because he's in the other Ward and I don't see him unless it's Sunday.  I didn't see him yesterday though.  Google him.  He was a big dude!!  He has slimmed down a lot so now he's just muscle but he's still very big!  I asked him how he got so big he said it took time.  So remember that Austi- it takes time but it will come!!!  So now that you have that knowledge you know that the church is true and God loves football!!!!!!!! Hahaha

I'm excited for you mom that all 4 of your boys have their Eagle Projects completed.  Good for you Austi!  I'm also excited to hear that Quentin L. Cook is coming to Farmington to talk to you guys.  That'll be neat. It will be nice that  Austin and mom get to go together.  I got to see and listen to Elder Holland that one time. I have had the opportunity to see Vern P. Stanfill on my mission and that was cool!!  Wow so many people going on missions.  Let me tell you, girls who go on missions are awesome.  I can hardly believe that around this time I was graduating.  The whole crew was together and it was sooo much fun!!!!  

So do we wanna do skype again? I'll call like 45 min. before so we can get it situated! I will make sure we are prepared so we don't have the disaster we did at Christmas. uggh That will never happen again!! Thanks for the insight about light and darkness mom.  I love that!!!!  Cool concept!  Christ IS the light and the life of the world and when he leaves there is darkness and confusion.  

Well without further ado let me tell you about this week!!!! So I was on exchange in Zelie and we didn't do to much- a lot of people cancelled.  We still did some service and talked to people though.  Elder Schofield and Elder Mink were in Freedom (which is 20 min. away).  Well, while we were away, the craziest thing happened in Ambridge.  The BIGGEST drug bust in AMBRIDGE, PA went down!!!!!!!!  64 bricks of heroin were found- 64 BRICKS!!!!!! The craziest part is that there were 2 kids in the house! 2 KIDS!!!!!!  Dad, tell me is that crazy or what!?!?!? Or have you seen worse?!?!? Our investigator, B, was right across the street when it happened.  She videoed it from the drug house window!  She wasn't able to come to church this week because she was sick.  Last week when we visited her she showed us several things from Ghana and she made us a Ghana dish called Shito.  It was rice and this spice stuff and it was really good! She also showed us this spice mixer and we got to use it.  I have a picture of Elder Schofield and I using it. 

Elder Schofield mixing spices

Elder Cahoon mixing spices

Thursday was a lot of fun as we had interviews with President Johnson.  He asked me how my District was doing and I told him I don't want anyone talking behind anyone's back.  I shared my vision of how I want my district to love each other and be a brotherhood- be like a team!!!  I shared with him about my experience of being on the football team and how much Tyler hated it when people talked behind other people's back and I much I hate it as well.  Those types of feelings can break a team and a District.  President said he loved that.  

Sister Johnson had a good training.  It was really good to see them again!!!!! I love them sooo much!!!!!!!!!!!! We also had dinner with the Jenkins at the super fancy Tresdale Country club again.  I love the Pastabilities- it's so good!!!  I love the Jenkins family! As we were eating, another member family walked in. I didn't know who they were until Bishop Jenkins told me.  As I was waiting in line the member started messing with me and said, "Hey, are you one of those crazy Mormons?" and I said  "Yeah, I'm one of them and we sacrifice goats and practice polygamy.  Do you wanna hear some more?"  They looked at each other- I'm guessing wondering what kind of Mormon I was- then I laughed and said, "Just kidding.  I knew you guys were members."  They all laughed and said oh thank goodness. Hahaha it was pretty funny!!!! 

Now today is a good and sad day because one of the missionaries in my District has a heart condition.  It isn't getting any better and they said that if she doesn't get better by May 2nd she is going to have to go home.  She hasn't shown any improvement.   I had an idea last night. I was up till about 11:30 pondering on what we could do for her.  I had a thought that we needed to get her a gift basket.  I told Elder Schofield and we kept building off each other's ideas.  We got one for her.  I plan to have the whole district give it to her.  I'm so excited!!!!!!!

That's been about it for this week. I love you all.  Take care.  Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

Elder Cahoon the Baboon

The BOM Has Been Placed!!

Helllllo family and friends!!!!!!!!

Wow another week zooming by- how crazy is that!?!?!?!? Well let me tell you this week we actually had a lot of planned lessons and things fall through but nonetheless, it was the best week I've had here.  We didn't teach very much but it was a fantastic week anyway!!!! Sounds like this week has been another week preparing for the wedding.   I'm still very upset!!!!! It's funny I don't even think about it until Pday when you tell me about it.  I'm so excited to hear how it goes and to see pictures of the bride and groom!  Kyle will be there. I'll be the only one not there AGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!  I might just act like I'm sick and have them send me home for medical and then make a miraculous recovery and come back out.  Would you let me do that!?!?!? Jk  Good job Austi for getting your Eagle Project done.  I guess you have to if you want to get your license!!!
Hahaha   No mom we didn't eat with the Js this past week but we are going to eat with them this Thursday! I love that family soooo much!!!!!  Also, did her pictures work that she took!?! I hope they worked- remember I want everyone to take selfies with me! Hahahaha!!!!!  I'm still reading in the New Testament.  I'm in Luke Chapter 13.  I've gotten far but my studies have been harder because I have to prepare for district meeting too as well as prepare lessons for our investigators.  I don't get to my own studies as often but I like being a District Leader.  Speaking of District Leader, I feel like I did a good job with my training during the District Meeting.  The things I didn't do very well at the first time I felt I improved upon.  So I feel I'm getting better and that's good!  For the District training meeting we had the Zone Leaders there.  This week's training was on our purpose as missionaries.  I loved talking about our purpose.  The ZLs had a good training too.  It was how to include members in missionary work.  We also went on exchanges this week.  I went with Elder Masina and
it went well.  We did a lot of personal contacting because all the appointments fell through.  We handed out 3 B.O.M.s to 3 different people!!!!!!!! They weren't too interested; however, it was still good to hand thm out. We did get one person who was interested.  His name was Garrett and he had a family.  I've never started talking about temples when I have met people for the first time but this time I did.  Once I told him how we can be sealed to our families forever (even after we die) and live with them forever, he became more willing to listen just a tad more!!!  We asked if we could come back he said yes.   After Garrett we continued to contact.  As we were heading back to our car we passed this lady and said hi.  As I got in I had the impression I was to talk to her.  Nothing big like YOU NEED TO TALK TO HER but just a little, "Hey. Go talk to her."  I was like okay. We left her with our number and an LDS.org website card.  We said bye and that was it.  It wasn't this huge impression but we just showed her something she could read and come to know if he Gospel was true for herself.  I was happy! Now the highlight of this week was our investigator Balaziah!!!!!!!!!!!!
BALAZIAH!!!!!!!

So Balaziah is our new investigator that we picked up this last week! She is so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! Some background on her:  she is a Headquarters referral that we received.  She had requested a Book of Mormon. She is from Ghana and has only been living here for about 3 years. It is just her and her daughter L who is about 2 years old. She came in contact with the Church through her Brother who lives in Michigan and
her other Brother who lives in Ohio!  Her Brother in Michigan was taught and baptized by the missionaries about a year ago. And her other Brother in Ohio is taking the discussions right now!!!!!!!!!!!!  Balaziah has previously been taking the Discussions from the Jehovah's Witnesses.  She felt confused when talking with them and didn't believe their doctrine about how only a certain number of people make it into heaven.  Well we show up to give her a Book of Mormon.  We were planning on stopping by and teaching a short lesson on the Book of Mormon for like 10 minutes, introducing the Restoration and then setting up another appointment to teach her more.  Well, that obviously was not what Heavenly Father had planned for us!  We went to her house member, Brother S.  Well she was prepared for us to come over!  She cooked us dinner! Haha So we had a surprise dinner appointment!!  Haha Brother S was pretty excited about being able to eat a free dinner that night as well!  During dinner we talked to her about how she came in contact with the church and what she already knew about what we believed.  She said that the missionaries in Ohio that were teaching her brother taught her a little bit and gave her a Restoration Pamphlet when she was visiting him.  So we decided that we needed teach the Restoration to her! So we did just that and she soaked up every word! We explained the first vision to her.  She thought that was so cool.  Then we explained that Joseph Smith received the Priesthood from Peter, James and John.  Again she thought that was just the coolest thing! Then we began to explain that the angel Moroni came and visited Joseph Smith and led him to the plates which he translated which became The Book of Mormon.  She was so excited she wanted to begin reading the Book of
Mormon right away!!  At the end of the lesson she had asked us "How many people make it into heaven?" So we told her we would talk about that in more depth in our next lesson.  We gave her a Plan of Salvation Pamphlet for her to read.  On Thursday we returned for another lesson.  At that lesson we taught about the Plan of Salvation! She was ecstatic!!  We asked her if she had read the pamphlet yet and she said that she read the WHOLE THING!!!  She said before when she was taught about heaven, she was so confused... But then she said that when she read our Plan of Salvation pamphlet, she was just super excited. She said that everything that she read was truth and that she felt that after reading it, she "woke up."  She then began to tell us that we needed to go and share this pamphlet with as many people that we could because this is the coolest thing she had ever heard!!! Hahaha   Don't worry.  We informed her that we spend 24/7 teaching about those pamphlets!! Haha

So on our first visit with Balaziah, we invited her to Church.  She was so excited to come to church that in our second visit on Thursday, she asked about church again.  Well, we got her a ride all set up and got her to Church.  This week for Church it was a little different because it was Stake Conference!! Hahaha  So Balaziah's first week  of Church was Stake Conference.  We asked her afterwards what she thought of it and she was so happy!  She kept saying over and over again that it was so beautiful!!  That she loved all of it and that it was just such a beautiful service!! Haha  She also said that she loved all of our hymns.  The last hymn that we sang was, "God Be With You Till We Meet Again." haha  When we called her on Sunday night she was still singing it she liked it so much!!  So I will keep you updated on her progress.  I just know she is going to improve and progress soooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I love her and her daughter L.  I'm so excited for them!

Well that's pretty much it this week.  Take care.  Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

My new nickname in this area
Elder C-hoon
Elder Cahoon the Baboon

Faith, Flirting, Fast Offerings!

Hello family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So mom to answer your questions: for District Training this past week I did nothing because we had Zone Training which I'll talk about later. I gave my talk yesterday.  So I talked on Sunday about tithing and fast offerings.  My talk went well.  I talked about how if we not only tithe our money but tithe our talents and our time, and sacrifice ourselves, we can do things we didn't know we could.  Here's a line that I love that was in "True To The Faith:"  Remember, that paying tithing is not as much a matter of money as it is a matter of faith" BOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!  How cool is that?? I love that quote sooo much!!!! My training is this Wednesday.  HTBT is "How To Begin Teaching" it's in P.M.G. Chapter 10, first section- it's my favorite section 'cause that's our purpose! Yep. I shared my cookies with my District and yes I liked them and my District liked them as well!!!! Man, Dad has been traveling a lot.  That's sooo cool that Kyle will be in town in 26 days.  I wish I could see him.  That would be great.  I wish I could come back for one day on that special day when Tyler and Hannah get married,  AGGGGGHHHHH It's so frustrating!!!!! Why do I have to miss out on the first wedding that has ever happened in our family?  So sad!

My personal studies are going well.  I really love studying the scriptures.  Ya know I'd have to say my favorite book of scripture is probably the New Testament.  It's just so cool because it contains the account of Christ's life and ministry!!!!! What could be better!?!?!?

Well this week went by very quickly again.  It is now Monday can you believe it!?!?!! It stinks too because I always forget so much that happens during the week that it makes it hard to share with you all I have done in the week. This week went pretty well.  We started out with our service at Old Economy.  Dean was pretty busy because it was opening day and all the kids were there and the workers were up in the trees cutting them down. They were also taking stumps out of the ground- those roots went pretty far down into the ground! Dean was really busy and so to help him out we asked if we could stop by again on Wednesday to help out!  We showed up the next day for Dean ready to work and help him out again! He really did need the help that we were offering so I'm glad we could do that for him. We just continued digging out the stumps and moved the soil from one spot to another. I just love doing service so much- it gets our name out there and it clears my mind.  I find a lot of joy in doing it!

 

Some pretty scary news this week.  One of the sisters in our District has a heart condition and she wasn't feeling too well one day.  She had had a pain in her chest for a few days.  We gave her a blessing but the pain was still there so she went to the ER.  The news from the tests that were run was good.  She's ok but it is just weird that it lasted so long.  She rested the remainder of the week.  I'm glad she didn't try and go out and work because it could have gotten even worse!  We had a District prayer for her over the phone.  I want my District to be like a team, a brotherhood.  I want us to be like brothers and sisters with a deep love and respect for one another.  I want them all to work together in their missionary work so I am going to step up my game as well!!  On Wednesday we taught a lot of lessons.  We taught 5 lessons.  That night we had a lesson with Brother Mc.  Elder Schofield wasn't feeling too well- he had a headache and couldn't really think straight.  As we were teaching Brother Mc, Elder Schofield just stops talking as it was too hard.  I immediately took over.  That's why our companionship is awesome- if I feel sick or can't do something, he can take over and if he feels sick or something, I can take over and neither one of us has to say a word- we just know,  That is why our companionship unity is so strong!!!!!!!!!!!!! Speaking of strong, this week for some reason I was doing 1 handed push-ups.  I told myself I was going to do 10 for each hand.  I did it but the last bit was a struggle.  I was pretty excited.  I felt like Rocky in the movie!!!!!  Just to make sure it wasn't beginners luck, I did them again today!  I was pumped!!!!!!!!!
 

In our Zone Training we talked about things we can improve on in the zone.  It was really awkward in the beginning because they were talking about things that had happened before I got here.  Remember, I was an emergency  transfer.  We then began talking about other things and I kept raising my hand and talking.  The whole Zone Training was basically Elder Schofield, Elder Mink and me talking, everyone else was pretty quiet and didn't want to say anything.  Afterwards we had a Zone activity which is awesome.  Some missionaries don't like the Zone Activity because they think it takes away from missionary work.  I  disagree.  You can still have fun and laugh!  It is good to have a little change from the regular missionary work.  Don't get me wrong, I love it but it is a nice change of pace at times.  When I was in Pittsburgh Zone in McKeesport,  my Zone Leaders hated zone activities.  I believe that as a zone and a district you want to come closer together and I honestly believe Zone and District activities bring us closer together! In the Pitt Zone we didn't know each other at all.  I didn't even know the Sister missionaries in Greensburg and they were our neighboring area!!!!   I didn't even now the names of the missionaries in my Zone. As an emergency transfer here, I didn't know anyone in the zone and they had just had transfers before I got here so I lost even more but the great thing about this activity was that after just one day in Pittsburgh North (my area), I now can name everyone in my zone!!  So if anyone's against Zone activities, I'm going to be very VERY upset!!!!!!  Anyways, that's my rant.  Well after our wonderful zone activity, we had a testimony meeting about General Conference so it was even better!!!!!!! I brought up Mervin B. Arnold's talk.  Some more insight I gained about the sinking ships is that I would be one of the people that would go
immediately and help.  That is just who I am.  But I realized that if I wasn't prepared by having the right tools, I actually wouldn't be a help but that I might also even end up putting my own life at risk.  Sure I can have the best intentions but if I am not prepared then I am just hurting myself and those around me.  I thought that insight helped me a lot!!!!!!!!

That same day we had dinner with the Js.  Mom, I hear you're Facebook friends with her hahahaha!!!!!!!!! She is the sweetest lady.  She reminds me a lot of you mom- lots of energy, always cracking jokes and smiling big!!!!! I actually almost called her mom one time but I dropped my napkin so that was a blessing.  hahaha!!!!!!  Well we had dinner at a super fancy country club in Tresdale (very nice area)!  I also adore their Down Syndrome boy Ty.  I got to sit next to him at dinner and we had so much fun.  He reminds me a lot of Scott if he were a kid!  We talked and laughed.  I just love the J family because they are so nice to us.  I don't even deserve it but they treat us like their own kids and it means the world to me!!!! She took a picture of me and Ty and I had her send it to you to send to Grandma J.  I really want to visit them after the mission and have you guys meet Ty as well as the rest of the family!!!!  This week I met another kid with special needs.  Her name was Ashley we were at McDonald's doing our weekly planning.  I didn't even realize she was special needs at first because she was high-functioning.  Now get this- she was hitting on me! She was asking if I had Facebook and if we could be friends.  She even asked me out on a date. hahaha It was the sweetest thing.  If I was back home I would've set up a date right there and then and took her out on a date.  She was making me blush with all her flirting.  hahaha

This past Sunday we also taught Gospel Principles.  We taught The Restoration.  Then after church, we had this Interfaith gathering where several other churches, along with ours,  gather to talk about their religion.  We went to the Buddhism, Unitarian Universalism, and Bahi Faiths.  I enjoyed all of them.  I love how they teach good morals and such but that's really all they teach.  I respect all religions and it was very interesting to learn about their points of view.  The best part of the evening was when Franklin, a very talented piano player, played the closing song.  He played a song from the Piano Guys and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!  I was smiling the whole time and it was sooooooo dope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was freaking out!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so so so so so so so good!!!!!!!!!!! I wish you could've been there!!!!!!!  While he was playing the Spirit testified again to me that the Church is true!  Well that's about it for this week.  Take care.  I love you all.  Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

Elder Cahoon the Baboon

Service For The Soul

Hello family and friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow another week passes by!!!  I swear it gets shorter and shorter out here but what can you do except keep moving forward!!!!!!! Well hello Dad I'm so glad you wrote me.  I thought you forgot all about your son. Hahahaha jk It was good to hear from you.  I love you Dad!!!

I'm still in Ambridge, PA with the same address and everything.  I have the same companion, Elder Schofield.  I love Elder Schofield- he is so cool and we are buddies!!!!!!!  So I am the District Leader of the Cranberry District.  My District consists of the Cranberry Elders and Sisters and the Wexford sisters. So am over
another set of Elders and 2 groups of Sisters.  Elder Mink is in the set of Cranberry Elders.  I love every second I spend with him.  We are hanging out after the mission 'cause he is the funniest guy ever!!!!!!!!!!!!! So altogether there are 8 of us in my District.  It is so much fun on Pdays when we get together!!!!!!!

I have been asked to speak in church on the importance of tithing and fast offerings. I haven't had a lot of experience with those things thus far in my life but even though I don't know a whole bunch I'm still gonna prepare and do my best! I love talking in church.  It will be different than in the Branch in McKeesport because this is a big Ward.  I enjoyed General Conference.  My 2 favorite talks were by Neil L. Anderson and Mervyn B. Arnold- they were back to back on the Saturday afternoon session.  I liked them both but if I had to choose between the 2 it would be Mervyn B. Arnold's talk because he shared the touching story about the boats.  He told how these 2 boats sank because no one responded on time.  The rescue teams were ready to help but they wanted to find the best solution in the situation.  They were too busy making plans and as a result, the boats sank. Now don't get me wrong.  Making plans and finding the most effective way of doing something is fantastic and is better than just reacting but when the planning gets in the way of immediate support that's when it becomes ineffective. This struck me because me personally I often react to situations without  planning.  So how would this talk change me, you wonder?  Well, my companions have been teaching me how to plan and to do things more effectively.  I have been working on this exact thing. Sometimes I realize I need to stop working behind the scenes and get out there and get to work.  I just need to go like Nephi and do like my favorite scripture states in 1 Nephi 3:7- I will go and do the things which the Lord commands.

I can't believe that Hannah and Tyler are getting married in a month!  It's crazy you were at the photo shoot with Hannah in her wedding dress. aggggghhhh!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe this is happening!!!!! How crazy!  My only request is that my lifesize cutout is in every single photo.  Heck he better be in a selfie with the bride Hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That would be sweet!!!!!

This was my first week teaching/training in District meeting.  It went well I think.  I taught about HTBT.  I definitely have things to improve on.  Elder Schofield is teaching me a lot.  I'm going to take his advice and put it into action next District meeting- which is next Wednesday.  This upcoming Wednesday, we have Zone Training.  No one has any idea who I am because I was an ET (emergency transfer) to this area.

We have been at it again providing service by moving people.  The ward members were the M's.  The dad has all the video game stuff in the WORLD!!! He has like every new game and retro game you could think of. It took two days to move their stuff.  It was great.  I love doing service.  I've gained such a strong testimony of service and helping others and I am applying it to my life. Today for example we were driving home from dinner and there were theses 2 guys trying to push their truck out of the grass and into the driveway. We pull over and help them out.  You know what?  We don't have to help out people.  We don't.  We could go through life and worry about ourselves and never do anything for any other human being- ever!!!  Well how depressing and selfish does that sound? Well, I've learned to find the joy and develop the love for others to where I'm searching for opportunities to serve and help others not to just teach the gospel but to honestly help out God's children, our Brothers and Sisters.  The Savior was always serving others.  He was the most humble, loving servant to mankind.  He spent endless hours and days helping others. No matter the circumstance or situation, He always helped and healed!! I love my Savior and I love helping others.  That is ultimately where my joy comes from. 

I challenge all of you to look for opportunities to serve others.  I can PROMISE you that you will not only heal and strengthen relationships with others but also God will strengthen you.  I Love you all.  I hope you have a great week.  Take care.  Bye!!!!!!!!!! SERVICE SOFTENS HEARTS!!!!!!!!

Elder Cahoon the Baboon
Elder Gronk