1 Tree 2 Missionaries 3 Miracles

The Legend of Lemonye

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

Mom I'm so grateful that you and the family were able to go to the game- that is so sweet!!!!!!!! Tyler and Hannah seem great together.  Just from the emails I get I'm so happy for them.  I'm glad they are enjoying each other's and married life.  After you are sealed, you have to have hope for the best and press forward in faith that your marriage will work out as you both put Christ first.  AUSTIN!!!!!!!!!!! Dude, can't wait to go on a trip with you!  Heck yea!!!!!!!!!!!! That would be soooo sweet!!!!!!!  We have 2 years to catch up on!!!!!!! I love you all sooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow what an amazing week it has been- sooooo much fun!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to tell you all about it!!!!! So this week started off great.  Last Monday we were driving back from the chapel at Camp Hill where we have our P-day activities when we saw these 2 ladies trying to haul some stuff from one end of the sidewalk to the other.  Now remember we were in a car and we were like, "We need to go help them."  So we jump out of the car and we help the ladies move their stuff.  After we helped them they were telling us what they were talking about. Guess what they told us??  They had just been talking about how nice it would be if 2 Mormon boys would help them!?!? Can you believe that!?!?!?!?  Then 2 Mormon missionary boys jumped out of a car and helped them!  That blew my mind!  Heavenly Father really does place us in people's paths and knows each and every 1 of his children.  That was such an amazing moment!  On Tuesday, we went out and tried a few potentials around the
area.  We were able to talk to this guy named Bob (he was selling his car out in his front yard).  We talked to him about different cars that he has owned (he has owned lots of

muscles cars).  We began to talk to him about family.  He believes that there are people living on the other side that they aren't dead and he believes that there is an after-life. We talked about the after-life and told him he could learn more by meeting with us.  He was interested so we got his information and left him with ours so that was exciting!!!! We saw a few other people then we headed over to S's house (another investigator).  We had previously left a B.O.M. with him.  He had given it to his dad so we gave him another one.  We're excited to see what his dad thinks of it!!!! We even got to teach him a little bit.   He wants to be act more like the Savior in his everyday life.  We challenged him to read in the B.O.M. and to take Moroni's promise- that is read the B.O.M. and then pray with a sincere heart to know if it is true!

Almost Pennsylvania Chainsaw Massacre

We also were able to help one of our investigators all day.  We helped him cut down his really tall pine tree.  For those who are reading this letter- DO NOT DO WHAT I DID!!!!!!  We obtained an extension ladder from a ward member and he was willing to come out with us to cut down about a 30-35 ft. pine tree to about 7 ft.  Because it was tall and skinny, was difficult to get the ladder steady as we set it up against the tree trunk.  We also only had 2 hatchets and no chainsaw so that made it even more difficult!!!! We begin cutting the limbs down with a hatchet and we keep getting higher and higher.  We started this project around 10:45am and by the time we were at the top of the ladder, it  was around 3:00pm.  It was a ton of work just to get to that point.  We kept cutting with the hatchet but we weren't getting very far  because the branches up higher were thicker. Then the guy's neighbor gets home from work and he offers his chainsaw.  No one there except me has ever operated a chainsaw not were they going to climb a 15 ft. wobbly ladder with one so as you can imagine stepped up to the plate! That was pretty scary- not going to lie it was pretty frightening!!!!'😬😬   I start climbing up this ladder with the chainsaw (I'm pretty high up a little less than eye level with the 2 story homes).  I was pretty shaky but I started cutting with the chainsaw and it wasn't too bad.  I was cutting it right where I needed to!!!! So that's good!!!!!!!! Then all of a sudden the chainsaw kicks back out of the tree!!!😱  I manage to fling it around the top of my head while I'm still holding the trigger .  The chainsaw is on full blast; spinning like crazy!!! I swing it down right by my leg and it's on its top speed!!!!😬😁 OMGOSH!!!!!! That was too close and too scary!!!!!!!!!!!! (miracle #1) Yet we were so close to finishing I couldn't stop.  I began to cut the right side of the tree with the chainsaw so it wouldn't fall back on top of me or the house.  That was difficult because it was a right hand Chainsaw and I needed to switch hands and use my left! So that's what I do.  I start cutting the tree and it's almost cut down when another scary thing happens.  I cut too far into the tree and the tree lays down on the chainsaw! Uh oh!!!  So now that chainsaw is stuck in the tree and the tree is ready to come down QUICK!!!!! So I took immediate action and with my right arm I pushed on the tree with all my might in hopes it will fall the opposite direction of me and the house yikes!!!!!!! A miracle occurs!  The whole top part of the tree begins to fall in the opposite

Timber!

direction! (miracle #2).  The chainsaw was still stuck in the tree however, so as the tree was falling, I grab the chainsaw in mid air!!!!  (miracle #3).  It was terrifyingly spectacular!!!!!!!!   No one got hurt and nothing was damaged!!!!!!!! So I'm okay mom.  I know that was super dumb and I'm sorry to scare you.  I mean I was scared!!!!!! I learned my lesson.  God loves me and he will protect me but he won't protect stupidity! So I will not risk my life like that again!!!!! Promise!!!!  After that I get off that ladder and we cut that part that had fallen into 2 sections.  At the end of the day there were total of 5 or 6 people that witnessed my amazing victory.  I will not be doing that again that's for sure but I can say that I did it!!!!! So now I'm a legend in Lemoyne!!!!! Yea I'm a pretty big deal if you didn't already know by now hahaha!!!!!!!!! 

Zone Conference- Sister Nelson and la famille

We also had Zone Training this week.  My Zone, Altoona, is the biggest zone and there were 2 other zones that joined us.  That is a HUGE Zone Conference!!!! So many missionaries- it's great!!!!! I got to see my last companion, Elder Cuthbert!!!!!  I sat next to Elder Pirzadeh during the meeting and it was great!!!!! I love Sister Johnson's trainings because they are always so heart-felt and it is easy to apply the teachings into my life.  I even emailed her story to myself because it meant a lot to me!!!!! President's of course was great.  He just wants us to do the best we can.  He isn't looking for perfection but he wants us to build upon what we already know! I think his goal is to help build us up and if we are struggling.  We got to talk to a lot of missionaries afterwards and that's always one of the best parts.  He joke around and have a break- it is refreshing.  The car ride there and back was loads of fun- just talking the whole time as we go along.  I'm really becoming like you mom, aren't I?  I remember of road trips you were always talking with dad,- either talking or sleeping hahaha!!!!! I feel bad for you though mom.  I always remember us kids standing around while you were talking, pulling on you, saying, "Let's go mom."  Now I love to talk with people like that!  That night after Zone Conference, we ate dinner at Bishop's and that is always so much fun!!!!   We had to hurry out after dinner as we had an appointment with N.  We've been trying to see him ever since I've been here and we've never gotten to see him but we finally did!!  We talked for about 15 min. 

One last miracle this week-  The next day we were walking to Brother D's and we see this African American family sitting on their porch.  We say hello and they tell us they don't speak very good English and I had a thought... **(So a few weeks ago we saw this African American riding his bike on the road and I was with Elder Cuthbert.  We said hello and he stopped and talked to us.  He didn't speak very good English but he spoke French! His name was Moses.  I was trying to use my French that I didn't know and it wasn't going very well; however, we did leave him with a B.O.M. He was very nice and we told him where the church was).  **So back to the story-- I ask the dad, "Do you have a son named Moses?"  He says " Moses?  I go get Moses."  So I was like no way this is not happening!!! Well he walks out with a kid who's 8 years old and I was like this isn't Moses.  Moses was 19 not 8.  I was a little bummed when all of a sudden Moses himself walked outside!!!!!!!!!!! It was the same Moses we talked to briefly on the street a few weeks ago! How amazing is that???!!!!!!!  So we talked and he even grabbed the B.O.M. we gave him.  So it was such an incredible experience!!!!!!!

Ok. So one more great thing that happened this week- we got to have a sit down lesson with N and his wife T.  N is the one where we have been doing a ton of service for.  We've never been able to teach his wife, T.  So it's true- service softens hearts!!!!!!!! It was so wonderful to be able to talk to both of them and it was a great lesson!!!! 

So this week was just full of miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you all.  Have a great week!  Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

Elder Cahoon the Baboon

Temple Times

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

Wow what a crazy week it has been.  It was just absolute fun and change all around!!!!!!! It was weird last Monday cause that was our last P-day as our district. 😰😢 Sister Kwasney and Elder Cuthbert and Elder Wilson were all getting transferred so that was pretty sad; however, we had some sweet people coming.  It's Sister Smith from my last district!!! I was her first District Leader!!! It's so cool to serve in the same area with her again.  Then I got my new companion, Elder Butikofer.  He is from San Diego, California, he's 19 and has been out for 4.5 months.  He came straight outta Pittsburgh!!  He played soccer and did pole vault in high school!  We have fun together.  He's such a chill guy.  We get along great. We bought some shirts today that are matching.  I'll send you a picture!!! He just love to joke around.  He also is my youngest companion I've had on the mission.  It's really weird cause I've only had older companions.  

We had dinner with Bishop H and his family.  We had such a fun time with them!!! Bishop is such a funny guy and is really sarcastic so pretty much 90% of what he says is all sarcastic.  Sister H is 90% serious.  It's really funny how they interact.  They are always sharing with us how much they love each other.  When I get married I just want to joke around with my wife and have fun!!!!!  They are teaching me a little about marriage and how you can admit your faults and mistakes to one another.  Misatakes are going to happen because we aren't perfect but learning from them is how we learn and grow and develop better, more Christ-like attributes.  When we were over at dinner Bishope asked us if we had any concerns. I was telling him how I am pretty forgetful.  I was asking him what to do about that.  He told me what he does and it was such a great idea, I decided to do it as well!  He told me he has a little notebook that he keeps with him so if he has to accomplish a task or needs a reminder or even gets any good thought, he immediately
whips out his little notebook and writes it in!!  That night I got me a small notebook and I used it throughout this week.  It fits perfectly in my pocket protector and whenever I get a thought or I learn about someone needing something, I write it right in immediately.  This week has been great as I was able to remember a lot more!  

I wrote a scripture on the front that I thought fit perfectly.  Isaiah 55:6- it says "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:"  Basically that scripture is saying that Heavenly Father has given us his Spirit and when it's near, we need to do all we can to follow it's promptings.  I have loved carrying around my Inspiration Journal (that's what I'm calling it).  It has been a great tool.  I am going to use it for the remainder of my mission but also when I get back home.   

On transfer day and we got assignments that we were either staying for the day doing service or we were teaching people.  We were in 3 groups and only 1 did all service.  So guess which group I was in!?!?!? That's right BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😆😆😆 I was in the group doing service all day!!!!! It's as if God really knows that I love doing service and helping people out.  It's absolutely the best spiritual medicine out there!!!!!! If I could just do service
day and night I would never want to come home I'd be out here for the rest of my life!!!!! We did some cleaning and scrubbed off the stains on the chairs in this other church's basement.  We talked to a lot of workers that were very polite! Then we went and moved mulch for an older lady in the Altoona Ward.  A lot of fun and a lot of hard work!!!! How great it was to help people out- it's truly such a blessing! 

On our way back to our District, Sister Kelly & Sister Smith were able to ride with us.  It was great to reconnect and talk about old times. At Distict Meeting the following day, we all met our new district leader- Elder Lundberg.  I came out with him. So 3 people in our district came out together and it's all Elders!!! We all are pretty tight with each other!!! We talked about how we are going to make this General Conference a spiritual, uplifting experience.   We wrote down a question and goal for ourselves and for our District.  

So shout out to my brother Kyle.  Happy birthday Kyle!!!!!!!!!!! I love you so much man.  You mean a ton to me!!! You were such a good brother growing up.  You always taught me so many life lessons and always took an interest in my life! It was so good to talk and see you on Mother's Day!  I love you man!!!!!!!!! 

Another thing I want to talk about is the Youth Temple Celebration for the dedication of Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple!  The temple dedication and the youth celebration was really neat.  It reminded me a lot of the Dance Festival that was done in Washington- remember that mom?   It was at Mckenzie Stadium and Kyle performed.  Remember the Quinns were there too?  Anyways the temple celebration was a lot of fun and very patriotic.  The temple dedication was the first one I've ever seen.  It was really great!!!!!! I thought many things were neat but my favorite was when they put the mortar in the cornerstone.  It was pretty spectacular! I'm so glad I went.  If you guys get a chance to go to a temple dedication you should go.  It's pretty cool!

So now for the Q and A.  It's getting a little cooler but it's still pretty warm.  I would like some more mail from peopl.  I understand life's busy but even just a quick, "Hey, glad you're still alive" is just as good!!!!  Yea my toenail is a ton better after the surgery.  Sorry I couldn't hold out the rest of my time out here.  That's crazy that Kyle Reynold is going on a mission!  Good for him.  I hope he enjoys it.  I love you Uncle Scott!!!!! You are such a good friend.  I love the times we went to the movies.  I'm so glad you wanted to go with me! We better go see a ton of movies when I get back!!!!!  Sadly, we got an email from the D family saying he wanted to discontinue meeting with us.  That was sad but we haven't lost faith.  We still email him and keep in contact.  He is still one my best friends!!!! One thing I have learned is that I need to slow things down and help my companion to better understand things in this area.  I was taking it too fast.  I need to help him understand what we are doing, who we are seeing and why we're seeing them. 

I love you all.  Have a great week.  Everyone wants me to play volleyball so I got to cut this short.  Love you all.  Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

Elder Cahoon the Baboon

Transfer week.

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

This week we received news that my companion is getting a leadership position. So even though he gets the call from Pres. Johnson he can't tell me until we get transfer boards sent out to us on Saturday night.  I didn't want to be that companion that bugs him for the rest of the day about the call because that's just straight annoying!!!! So I'm actually going to start at the end of the week 'cause we were pretty sure he was getting transferred so it will tell you what we did this week!! He's going to be a Zone leader in Altoona.  He's pretty excited- he's been a zone leader before and he enjoys it.  We don't view leadership as a sense of accomplishment or that person is a successful missionary or an obedient missionary or someone better than anyone else. The reason people have leadership positions is so they can learn and grow as well as strengthen, help and serve others.  You can learn and grow and serve in so many different capacities.  So where you are is where God needs you to be. I'm going to be leading out the area here in Lewisberry.  My new companion will be my youngest companion I have had on my mission thus far.  I have 6 companions already home!!!!! How crazy is that!?!?!? I don't know the name of my companion because on the transfer boards it's cut off! hahaha!!!!!!! So I'll update you more about him next week!!!!!! 

I had the opportunity this week to go on exchanges and I was able to go with Elder Wilson and it was a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Exchanges are always sooo much fun!!!! So what we did was one of my favorites! We got to do service!!!!! We started off helping D pull weeds.  He is an older gentleman and he had some stories and was making us laugh!!! You just can't be working without having fun- it's just not worth it.  At first we were just pulling the weeds and complaining about the heat and humidity and not really talking too much to him. Then I was like "No, you know what? I'm going to engage in conversation and talk to this guy."  We started talking about his life and ours and had some good conversation.  Then we started joking around with each other and before you knew it time started flying by!  We were having a blast!!!!!!  He was telling us some hilarious stories (we heard a lot of funny stories this week). 

We met a blind sister in the Camp Hill Ward who spells your name out in Braille and sticks it on your name badge.  It looks sweet- I'll send a picture of that!!! Her name is Sister L.  She's a very sweet, loving woman who absolutely adores missionaries!!!! We had a really amazing experience one night that helped me to better see the effect we can have on people.  We were doing some street contacting and talked to many different people.  Everyone we talked to (besides one gentleman) accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and that was a HUGE thing!  Out here in Pennsylvania not too many people really are willing to take the things we offer to them.  Not many people take the time to stop and listen or even talk to you for just a minute.  So for them to take it and ask questions like "What is this book?"  "Where is your church?" "What do you believe?" was a miracle in and of itself.  I wanted to hug them and say, "Thanks for asking sincere questions!"  So that night was a miracle!  We made an effort to talk with EVERYONE! 

The last people we met had a huge impact on me.  So these 2 guys are sitting down and we start talking to them.  One of the guys is a talker and just starts going off about all sorts of things. Soon we bring around to the topic of religion.  They got so excited!  They jumped up and gave us a high five and were shouting and whopping!  They then told us their story:  they were brothers and came from Russia many years ago.  However they could only speak Russian when they moved to America.  They didn't have a religion and their parents didn't believe in religion so they hadn't learned anything growing up.  Years went by and they began to search for religion.  They hoped that religion could help them be better people and help them learn to provide for themselves better (they grew up without much food and in very low income areas).  They said just surviving was a challenge day by day.  They wanted a better life than what they had experienced so they decided to discover it for themselves.  They joined many different religions and learned different things but they said it never felt right.  At some point, they said they were introduced to this thing called Christianity all based around a guy named Jesus Christ. They didn't know who he was.  They learn more about HIm and they told us they have seen Christ help them in their lives.  They are now able to make ends meets and all what the good they have seen in their life is because of this person called Jesus.  They told us that they have learned that Jesus taught good principles and morals that we should strive to live by if we want to be good people. Their story was very inspiring to me!  Those brothers were so excited to talk about Jesus; I was trying to match their excitement!!! So I'll need to work on that! They had crazy Russian names that we couldn't pronounce so they told us to call them "Sam" and "Jim."

During the street contacting we handed out 4 book of Mormons in 1 hour- that's unheard of!!!!!! I was shocked!!!!!!!! My goal was to pass out 1 Book of Mormon.  After that exchange I had a different attitude.  I decided was going to work on talking with even more people.  I want to be a light to Pennsylvania- showing them there is a better way to live by coming to know of Jesus Christ!  So we've been looking to talk to more people and really put ourselves out there more!!!!!! It's been working really well! Something I've done my whole mission is wave and smile to everyone no matter if their in a car, on the street or on a building.   This world is so full of negativity and I want to help bring positivity and help brighten someone's day.  

We had District meeting this week.  We all went out to get frozen yogurt afterwards.  It was fun hanging out with everyone and talking about the good things happening in our District. The highlight of the week was when we got to see SD and his family.  It was such a treat!  Going over there with Elder Cuthbert one last time was pretty sad because we've been through a lot with the D family.  We absolutely love them sooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!! We had such a great lesson with them.  

I love you guys.  Hope you have a great week.  Take care.  Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

Elder Cahoon the Baboon

Labor Day Email

Hello Family and Friends!!

Wow can you believe it's already Monday?  It's hard to believe that it's that time of the week again.  It's going by pretty quick it's so weird!!!  So this week a lot of memorable stuff happened- funny stuff, spiritual stuff and altogether it was a great week!!!! So we had dinner at Bishop's house- he is so wonderful and great! We got to see all of his sons wedding photos.  It made me think a lot aboout Tyler and his wedding.  I am looking forward to seeing all his pictures when I get home.  It's crazy how many people are getting

married!!!!!  After dinner we went back home to pack for exchanges with the zone leaders. The Elder I went on exchanges with was an Elder I served near in my first area.  His name is Elder Renteria.  He's a quiet guy but really listens to what you have to say.  He has some funny 1 liners!!!!  So we did a lot of biking and got to see some new faces I've never seen before.  Something we are striving to do as a mission is finding and sharing with people  ALL the time!!!!!!  So even when you say hi to someone we need to share the news in every situation and try to relate everything to the message of Jesus Christ!  We stopped by the W family and they let us in.  Because they were both heading to work we didn't stay too long.  As we were biking around we were trying to find a few potentials.  We got to talk to a great guy named Jim and his neighbor, Beth.  He was building a wheel chair ramp for Beth's husband who will soon be in a wheel chair.  We offered our help but he pretty much had it.  He was an engineer so we probably would've screwed the ramp if we were working on it!  He told us he went to the Philadelphia Temple and that he loved it.  He thought the building was absolutely beautiful.  We gave him and his neighbor our number so hopefully they'll give us a call!!!!!!  We also saw this great guy named John.  He was willing to talk openly with us without getting turned off because we are missionaries.  He didn't get nasty towards us after finding out we were missionaries and he took everything we offered.  We left him with a B.O.M. and a pamphlet and our number.  He told us he would read them.  It was just really neat to see him respond so nicely and not get offended when we offered the stuff.  What we offer people isn't threatening at all; we just provide the tools for them so they can use them in discovering for themselves if the B.O.M. is true and to learn that God did restore the good news here upon the earth.  He even showed us his garage where he restored antique cars!!!!!!!!!!!!  He had all the parts to restore them, he just needed the space.  We offered our help and told him we were willing to clear the garage out for him.  

He told us he'd give us a call so hopefully he will use us.  

We saw S again and had a great lesson with him.  We got to see his family twice this week yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  He has 2 boys and his wife is from Japan.  The kids speak both English
and Japenese.  Te only word I know is Segoi which means "great."  The kids are all full of energy and they showed us their toys.  We pretended we were zombies and the 2 boys were cutting at us with their mine craft swords and toys hahaha!!!!!  It was really funny!!!!! E made us the best desert I've ever had.  She is an amazing cook and we had a great time with the kids.  The lesson went really well. The spirit is always so strong in those lessons.  We shared Joseph's first vision and it really hit home with S.  

We did some service this week too.  You know that always makes my week!  Oh I also forgot to tell you but I got my ingrown toenail removed on each foot.  I forgot to tell you in my last email.  Last night we ate dinner at the O's.  She told me how you showed the picture you sent with people at church.  I thought that was pretty funny.  You will have to Facebook friend her.  He son reminds me a lot of Austin.  

Miracles are happening.  Transfers are coming and I'm just trying to show as much love as possible.  I love you guys.  Keep up the good work this week.  I just love everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love you.  Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

Elder Cahoon the Baboon