Tragic Week. Still Got Hope!!

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

It is so good to write you each week.  I'm so grateful that they give us these iPads to just sit down when we want and write an email.  Dad, feel free to share more experiences from your mission- I would love to hear more!!!!  Well I'm just going to get into this week.  This past week was probably one of the worst weeks of my mission!!!!!!!!😭😭👎🏻😭  Now don't get me wrong- I definitely have found the positives in the week (and there are always good things that happen) but I'm just so glad last week is over with!!!!  The week started off great- we got to do service, my favorite thing!!!!!!!!  We mowed the S's lawn and I got to do their super big hill in their backyard.  It was a great work out with some great pondering time!!!!! I thought a lot about our district because they weren't getting along so well.  It's just a lack of communication and working things out.  No one wants to say anything and that's upsetting to me.  I'm huge on communication and I feel that by talking things out it make things better.  If you just let something upset you and let it fester inside you then you have bad feelings toward the situation or the people.  I've been in trios where there was lack of communication and there were sore feelings.  If they had just talked it out, things would have been better and they would have felt fine sooner.  The same thing goes in any relationship really.  Communication is one of the most important things and should be done constructively and not destructively.  Both people should be willing to tackle the situation together.  I'm still working on my communication skills but I have done a TON better than when I was in high school and first out on my mission!!!!! I still need to be better with my words and how I use them to communicate my feelings and thoughts to others.  I am continuing to learn this skill.  Anyways that was what I was pondering.  

After the lawn/hill mowing, we had splits.  We were going to see an investigator but a parade that we had no idea about totally cut off the only road between Lemoyne and New Cumberland!!!😫😤😫 Soooo... we had to cancel the appointment because there was no way we could get there (we were even stuck trying to get back to our apartment).  Needless to say, it was a very frustrating that night!! I felt bad for the youth who were with us. I apologized to the youth over and over so hopefully they will forgive us!  We spent they entire day trying to set it up, finally got the appointment and WE then had to cancel.  Argghh

Wednesday I got to go on exchanges with an Elder I came out with, Elder Aitken.  It was a fun exchange.  We knocked on a lot of doors.  Thursday was Zone Training.  Elder Aitken was thinking a lot about the training and what was going to happen in it so we didn't talk a whole lot that night.  Zone Training was about church attendance and getting people to church. My companion and I do well with getting the less active members

to church but I haven't had one investigator come to church the whole time I've been here!!!  That's crazy!!!! So I hope we can have at least 1 come out before I leave because we've been trying to find those who are ready!!! I didn't talk too much (which is unusual for me) because I was thinking a lot about how I was doing personally with each question they asked.  I ended the training with reflectiing upon what I was going to improve in the different areas that were talked about!!!🤔  I did a lot of pondering hahaha!!!!!

Training Meeting

Then we did zone service which was fun. I had a great time I just wish
we would've done a zone activity because it always brings the group closer together and the departing missionaries could've shared their testimony at the end.  Oh well, I'm just glad we did something fun so I can't complain too much.  hahaha

Elder Butikofer and I are really good friends!!!!! I'm glad he's my companion!!!!🤗😜🤗 We both like to have fun and work hard!!!!!!!   It is good to have a good friend around when adversity strikes!  right after the training, almost alll of our investigators that we gained this week dropped us!!😟 So instead of 4 we now have only 2 investigators.  It was both confusing and frustrating because we had been working so hard and they were so interested.  So now we have to start from scratch yet again... which is what we did to get all these investigators.  But we will keep trying and working our butts off even more!!!!!! I know this is Gods work and He has a plan and it is His timing.  

The view of Harrisburg

We had some fun service on Saturday- we cleaned up the trash that people threw out of their windows.  We cleaned up all the trash!!!!!!!  We decided to go to an area that you are able to see all of Harrisburg when the unthinkable happened!!!!  My favorite pants got caught in the bike chain and my favorite pair of pants RIPPED!!!!!!!!!!!!!😡😡😡😠😠😤😤😫😫😩😩 ugggh  I was soooo upset!!!!!! They were my favorite pair of pants.  A woman stopped and asked if we needed help.  She was sooooo nice.  She helped us out and we helped her out by giving her a B.O.M.

My favorite pants ripped but I gave away a BOM!

 A good teaching moment occurred.  I told her that even in the times when our favorite things are taken from us (ie. my favorite pants ruined), we can have eternal happiness because God has shown us the way to return and live with Him again.  Then I told her the B.O.M. teaches us about those things and gave her one.  We then took a pic with her.  

Sunday was a great time as we ate at the J's home.  They gave us some helpful advice as we talked about our down week.  I'm grateful for the members!!  I thought a lot of members were going to think that we were just garbage missionaries if we had a bad week but they really help and lift us up!!!!! 

Sorry I'm sending this email out late.  We went to Harrisburg and visited the Capitol.  I have a ton of pictures.  Sooooo neat!!!!!!!!  Anyways I love you guys.  I'm going to work my butt off this week.  Love you.  Take care.  Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

Elder Cahoon the Baboon

The Walking Hills

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

I'm glad Austi won his football game.  Good for you buddy!!!!! Keep pushing and working hard. I love you buddy!!!!!!!!!!! I'm glad you guys are enjoying Farmington and life is good.  I love you guys sooo much!!!!!!! I hope that you guys just keep loving life and doing your absolute best!!!!!

Wow this week was, how do I put this, incredibly packed and filled with a ton of different things!!!!!!! I have a lot to cover and I want to hit it all but it will be difficult to do.  Monday we talked to S who has a twin and they are attending church more so that's great! We saw her and had a great talk with her she mentioned to us hat she didn't know if she has ever received a spiritual witness if the church was true.  We told her that she could know and how she could find out.  We were glad she brought that up and told her we would talk more about it next time we have a lesson with her.  Bro. D suggested that we mention Pres. Ucthdorf's talk. "Fourth Floor, Last Door.  So that is a good talk for anyone to read that might feel the same as S.  Tuesday we made a ton of phone calls to people regarding appointments as well as investigators.  The investigators didn't want to continue meeting with us which was sad because they showed sincere interest.  No worries because we had great things happen that day and this week!!!!!!!!  After the phone calls we headed to Lemoyne, which never is a bad ride; however, Elder Butikofer actually hates bikes and has had a lot of complications with his bike.  We did a ton of bike work on it before we left and we got it fixed, for the time being anyways.  Well we rode but he HATES bikes and  unfortunately for him we have to bike to a lot of our places.  He's still adjusting.  We get to Lemoyne and we're able to pass out 2 B.O.M.s and picked up 1 investigator.  We left him with a B.O.M. and our number and we told him we'd stop by next week around the same time.  He doesn't have a phone so that is hard for contacting.  He made our day and we made his. Then we stopped by another investigator's house.  C's mom answered the door.  We have never met her but she knew exactly who we were.  She is so glad we teaching her son.  She was so kind to us.  We could tell she was a mother because she was asking if we were okay or if we got yelled at by any rude people. hahaha  We talked with her while we brought her groceries in and told her about the B.O.M.  We invited her to read from it with C.  So we picked her up as a new investigator!  We will be meeting with them this Tuesday!!!!!  So we will keep you updated on that!!! 

After talking with her we got to have a sit down lesson with a member from the ward who hasn't made it out in a little while. His name is Brother G.  We have never have gotten to teach him.  We talked about how he can grow closer to God. It was a great lesson and he was interested in talking with us again. We set up another time so that was great!  We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon and to pray regularly.  I'm glad he let us inside to talk.  It was a good time over there!!!! We then rode back to New Cumberland (just a 2 mile trip) and we were able to plan a little more.  We went contacting on the street. We talked to a guy and we asked him how he saw God's hand in his life.  He then tells us this incredible story of a time he was fishing on a river in Africa and how he fell out of his boat into a whirlpool!!!!😱😱 He said he had not seen anyone all day.  But after he fell into the whirlpool, a fisherman passed by and helped him out of the water and saved his life. How amazing is that!?!?!? We then shared with him the scripture from the B.O.M. about Alma and Amulek when they were thrown into a furnace because they were preaching to people that didn't want to hear what they had to say.  We told this guy how God protected Alma and Amulek and likened it to how God protected him.  We testified how God can protect and help each one of us.  We left him with a B.O.M. and he gave us his number.

Then the next day was a crazy adventure!!!!! Some members in our ward needed their lawn mowed and we offered our help.  The husband wasn't home so we couldn't get a ride to their house so we had to bike there.  It was AWFUL!!!!!!!!!!! 😡😤😫 We had to bike up these hills that were sooooo steep!!!!!!! It was just awful.  I biked up- facing the challenge- and I got up all the hills without having to walk.  The hills had such a steep incline.  Pennsylvania hills are just the worst to bike up!!!!!!  It was basically all uphill and we just kept climbing and climbing!!!!!!! So after about 2 hours of biking we finally made it to the house.  We were ready to mow the lawn.  As we go to barn, the lady realizes that her husband took the barn door key with him on his trip to California!!!!!!!!!!😱😭😢😫😱  Sooo we biked all that way all those HILLS!!!!!!!! What it felt like for nothing!!!!!!!!!! We weren't mad at her or him but just at the situation.  Their house is at the bottom of an enourmous hill!!  We were dead beat so we walked up the hill!!  When we got to the top of the hill we looked at each other and we both were like we are not going to get upset! After our change of attitude, we cruised down the hill and it felt soooooo good!!!!!!!!!!!! We were going soooooo fast down that hill and we were like let's go as fast as we can.  We gained so much speed!!!!!!!!!!  

Elder Butikofer and I learned a very important lesson that day!!!!!!!  We learned life is like Pennsylvania hills- trials are hard at times and the there will be hills to climb.  Some will be very steep.  To overcome the trials, it will take effort, hard work, dedication and determination.  Eventually you will conquer the trial and you will be on top of the hill!!!!!!!! Then you can enjoy the wonderful blessing of going down the hill!!!!!!!!!!!!! The downhill is God's mercy and it will feel exhilarating! Another lesson we learned was:  we wouldn't know the wonderful feeling of going downhill (high speed and wind in your hair) if we didn't experience that dreadful, exhausting uphills. So when you feel like life's an uphill battle, just keep pedaling because at the top of that hill you are going to be greeted by a merciful, gracious downhill!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I made up a new quote.  I think it sounds great.  It is "Endure the uphill, so you can enjoy the downhill."  For all those out there going up uphill, just keep pedaling!!!!

 On Thursdayvwe got to see President and Sister Johnson!!!!!!!!!!!  It was wonderful to see them!!!!!!! We got to have interviews with him.  He asked me how I was doing and how you guys were doing. I alwaysvshow him pics of Ty and Hannah and the family.  We had a great training by Sister Johnson on how the natural
man may seem like someone normal and just a part of human nature but that we need to live the higher law of God and do as He asks. She tied it into the parable of the sower and how we are still gaining testimonies and how they take a lifetime to grow.  We just need to continue growing upward and become the beautiful flowers that God created us to be!!!

That night we went on splits with 3 priests- 1 went with Butikofer and the other 2 went with me. So we had a plan to see someone and a back up plan it that didn't work out.  I hate taking tea- ups out if we don't have a set lesson. So we had the plan then last second BOTH plans fell through.  I wasn't very excited about that but we continued to try to contact people.  We saw an open door and talked to this kid and gave him a B.O.M.   AND we picked him up as a new investigator!!!!! So that's 3 investigators this week!  It was fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!🤗👌🏻👍🏻

 We then go to visit E.  She answers the door and she has a gun in her hand!!!!!!!!!!!! The kind of gun she had was the same revolver that Rick Grimes carries in the Walking Dead. 💀 She felt horrible after she realized she just pulled a gun on the missionaries!  I told her she made my week because I can now say that "I GOT A GUN PULLED ON ME ON MY MISSION!!!!!!!"  The priests didn't even realize she was holding a gun so that was pretty funny!!  We then made an appointment to go mow her lawn the next week!!!!!! So service and a gun!!!!!

We were able to see Sister N and had another great lesson with S.  We invited her to read Elder Ucthdorf's talk and have that witness for herself.  Yesterday (Sunday) both Sister N and Janet came to church and stayed the entire 3 hours!  In Priesthood we had a wonderful lesson on charity.  There was some good discussion (probably the best we have had yet).  Sunday night we were able to see SD, his wife and his two kids!!  It was soooo good to see them again!   She made us a delicious cake!  We even were able to talk to SD about religious things.  At first he didn't want to talk about religious things but then he told us it would be okay.  We suggested he watch the conference address of Thomas S. Monson.  He mentioned how he wanted to meet with us again.  I will keep you guys updated on that! 

I love you all.  Have a great week.  Take care.  Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

Elder Cahoon the Baboon

General Conference For Life! #LITO (Love In The Open)

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

This was a pretty eye opening week!!! Not only because of General Conference but this week was a great week of lessons learned and just working hard- it was really a great week!!!!  I am trying to stay busy and always keeping my focus on others.  That's how we do!!! So we started off this week by having dinner with JB.  She is a really sweet mom with 2 kids.  She is kind to the missionaries and she tells us all about what she's doing in her life (whether you want to know or not) hahaha!!!!!!! We had a good discussion as we always do.  She was asking many questions about different church topics.  She also likes to hear what missionaries think about different things.  We had such a fun dinner with her; it's never a dull moment and I love that!!!!!!!! Well as we were finishing up for dinner and helping her clean up, she gets a text from her son who was supposed to take us home.  It said he was calledd into work and couldn't come and get us.  We had an appointment in about 15 min. with someone and they were waiting on us.  They didn't have a cell phone so we couldn't call.  We were 2.2 miles from our apartment and from where the appointment was.  So E. Butikofer and I ran!!!!  It was a good workout.  We looked funny- 2 guys in white shirts and ties- but we did it.  We made it back with time to spare!  It is good to know if I still needed too, I could run 2 miles without stopping.  Thank you walk area!!!!!  It all worked out and we were able to have a great lesson on General Conference and the B.O.M. 

We had a great district meeting this week.  The zone leaders there.  They are cool guys that try get along with everyone.  They chastised the District for not doing a very good job at finding people.  They challenged us to do better.  My companion and I have been trying hard but we will try even harder to find more people.  I liked the ideas they gave us to improve.  it was a good training.  

One thing I absolutely LOVE about Pennsylvania is that everyone is always themselves. I want to be myself in all places!!! Young women should know this quote "stand as witnesses of God, at all times, and in all things and in all places."  That's what I want do as I am striving to be ME!  The people of Pennsylvania are always who they say they are.  They will tell you if they are good at something or not. They will never fake who they truly are.  

Austin that is so sick you got 12 tackles.  I'm so proud of you!!!!!! Keep it up big guy! I'm rooting for you.  I'm your number #1 fan!!!  

Well we watched conference at the Bishop's and it was a great conference weekend!!!! So to answer your question, I did get a great answer to a prayer that I've recently been praying about.  I've really been trying to lose myself in this work; doing my best.  I received an answer regarding those things.  I had a lot of impressions anout things that I need to be better at.  I took a bunch of notes.  My absolute favorite talk was from J. Devin Cornish.  He talked about how we can ALL make it to the Celestial Kingdom if we repent and forsake our sins.  Sometimes I don't feel that I will measure up so it was reassuring I that CAN and WILL be in the presence of our Heavenly Father if I do those things.  Best news in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I liked how simply he stated it.  Now I'm going to share that message/talk with everyone who feels like they aren't deserving of God's love or feel they fall short.  

I love all of you. Have a great week.  Keep smelling the roses and splashing in puddles.  Love you all.  Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

Elder Cahoon the Baboon