February 20, 2017
First of all, a shout
out to my five-year-old sister Elissa who would do a way better job
fellowshipping some of the friends we are working with right now than I do.
Last night I showed a picture of her after she lost a tooth to B, who is her
same age and has her first loose tooth. They asked is Elissa might ever come on
holiday... Yea, we'll see about that.
Miraculously we were able to get both her and her brother to say prayers for our lesson, and, at the end of the lesson, M asked if he could come to our church on Sunday! That was super awesome, because our church is not the coolest or most fun place for your typical 9-year-old boy to go on Sunday. I'm grateful that the Spirit was able to touch him, too.
As a follow up about the FHE dinner from last Monday, unfortunately, O had car problems and was super sad he couldn't come. So, we were there with the Swiss visitors and a non-member woman who comes to church with her son. The food was great, I tried rabbit and sword fish for the first time. If any of you know how fast I can eat, this time it came back to bite me because I also had a dessert that I thought had included "cherry" but really was "sherry" and by the time my chef companion found out, it was too late.
On Friday we had one of the best lessons ever, with A. We taught the gospel of Christ and it came out like melted butter, totally with the Spirit. He basically invited himself to be baptized and we were so impressed at how the spirit taught him during the pauses. You really can be the smartest person in the world and use every analogy or object lesson to convey a point, but if the Spirit doesn't teach it to them, they will never learn.
The Sabbath day! "The Sabbath is a sign between me and you... That ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." (Exodus 31:13) So the Sabbath is not just a sign we make to the Lord of our obedience. It is also His sign to us that he can sanctify us. I know there is no cleanliness or renewal I can receive on a weekly basis that at all measures up to what I feel during sacrament meeting or on Sunday in general!
Our branch mission
plan is:
1. Be a witness
2. Be a friend
3. Be a
believer.
Ideas for these:
1. Tell someone
"and that's one reason why I love my church!" This week. Invite them
to do something.
2. Contact an
investigator outside of church (you guys probably do this anyway). Do your home
teaching.
3. We are taking a
different spin but if people pray in faith with real intent to have
opportunities to act, it's that simple.
Love,
Anziano Cannon
At the Mosta dome today. This is near our current church. The hope is
that we
expand and build a chapel on the plot of land we own!
February 27, 2017
Saturday was one
of those days you have a couple times in your mission where you have no
scheduled appointments. So we thought and thought and prayed about what we
could do for finding. And then, boom! The idea came. Scriptural horoscopes,
taken from the bible but mainly the Book of Mormon! So that afternoon we found
ourselves handing out "scriptascopes" in Valletta, the capital city,
on one of the craziest holidays of the year called Karnival. The place was
packed with costumed people and floats. But we had a great time and met some
really great people! As a side note, my favorite costume by far were a couple
of young teenage girls who had black, long-sleeved shirts which said
"modest and perfect" in French. I'm glad there are still people like
that outside of our church.
Yesterday O passed his
baptismal interview. He proudly told another non-member friend who comes to
church: "I'm getting baptized on WEDNESDAY and YOU'RE
next!"
The primary was
smaller than it sometimes has been but I was quite impressed. Little M totally
remembered the story of the Tree of Life which we had taught him and his mom using
the illustrated Book of Mormon!
As we got on the bus
to go home from church, I didn't see many people to talk to, and ended up
sitting near a lady who looked asleep. I said hi but she didn't respond. After
my companion and I talked for a couple of minutes, she woke up and told us she
"used to be Mormon". Well, she still is by our standards ha-ha. She
had prayed earlier that day that God would send her someone to heal her. I felt
the pressure of what God has sent us to do but gratitude that, as a missionary,
cool stuff like this happens every day. In a polite way, I said "look lady
we can't do anything for you but the Gospel is the best medicine you could ever
take!" We hope she comes to the baptism on Wednesday. It will be the first baptism in Maltese in a
few years!
This week I have been
thinking about a phrase from the Book of Mormon. I used to think that you had
to come to church on Sunday having repented of all your sins. Then I
would get frustrated when I would do them again the next week. I realize now
that repentance is important, but it often takes much more than just a week. If
we have a "favorite sin", then we aren't fully repentant yet, because
when we are really there, we will have no more desire to do evil. What
a great state to be in!
Love,
Anziano Cannon
Primary
Went to a museum about Malta's military history today. SO. COOL. I feel so much
Malta pride now. The siege against the Knights was built up to be super insane.
Outside the museum, at fort st. Elmo
March 6, 2017
ħsibijiet fuq il-ħobż. That means "thoughts over bread",
which is quite delicious here in Malta I might add.
It was one small step for the branch, and one giant leap for our friend O when he got baptized on Wednesday! There are pros and cons to doing a baptism in a hotel. One pro was the Polish women who were watching from behind the glass wall and who we invited to come in. They didn't speak much English but enjoyed it and in a typical European way took nonsensical pictures of themselves with the papers that had the music lyrics on them. Whatever. The downside was that the hot tub every once in a while, made a ferocious sucking noise and then there was the general atmosphere of being in a sauna. But a baptism is a baptism! He was so happy to finally take the step.
Yesterday was quite fun. We have a new American family with five boys! They actually come from my aunt and uncle’s ward! We were excited to have lots of new faces but then I realized that the Maltese people had gone upstairs and didn't have a teacher since the branch president was gone with his son as he received his endowent. So, we just ran up there and started teaching on the spot (about the gift of the Holy Ghost which O was about to receive). After brother V arrived to take over, we went down stairs where a primary teacher told us she hadn't prepared her lesson so could we please do sharing time instead? Once again, and in a very different language, I feel like the Lord filled our mouths with what to say and to teach the kids about prophets. A third instance of this happening was in sacrament meeting, where my companion and I bore our testimonies in Maltese, English, and Italian to accommodate the needs of our friends who had come.
After church we went to lunch with the P family and H. It was super cool. Being the typical African mother that she is, she made sure her kids behaved well, but I think they did fine by saying things like "this is the best day ever!"
Respect moment of the week goes to D, our member friend from the bus last week. We called her yesterday and the first thing she said was "where are you?" We happened to be in her city so she had us come over immediately. We told her we couldn't be in her house without someone else there but she had no problem, she just set two chairs out in the hallway and sat on the stairs while we talked! It was great!
This week we taught H about fasting, so I had the opportunity to study it a good bit. I think fasting shows us how we are supposed to live. Alma 34:28 explains in depth the scripture "blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy". Often, we think of fasting as a way to magnify our prayers, and I would agree with that. When you are fasting, you are usually involved in activities where you are taking care of others such as paying a fast offering and doing Sabbath day service. Heavenly Father is then more able to answer your prayers to Him. Isaiah 58 also talks about how we should be happy to fast. Fasting shows us how even when we don't have our temporal desires (such as food), we can still be happy if we have a Christ-centered life!
Love,
It was one small step for the branch, and one giant leap for our friend O when he got baptized on Wednesday! There are pros and cons to doing a baptism in a hotel. One pro was the Polish women who were watching from behind the glass wall and who we invited to come in. They didn't speak much English but enjoyed it and in a typical European way took nonsensical pictures of themselves with the papers that had the music lyrics on them. Whatever. The downside was that the hot tub every once in a while, made a ferocious sucking noise and then there was the general atmosphere of being in a sauna. But a baptism is a baptism! He was so happy to finally take the step.
Yesterday was quite fun. We have a new American family with five boys! They actually come from my aunt and uncle’s ward! We were excited to have lots of new faces but then I realized that the Maltese people had gone upstairs and didn't have a teacher since the branch president was gone with his son as he received his endowent. So, we just ran up there and started teaching on the spot (about the gift of the Holy Ghost which O was about to receive). After brother V arrived to take over, we went down stairs where a primary teacher told us she hadn't prepared her lesson so could we please do sharing time instead? Once again, and in a very different language, I feel like the Lord filled our mouths with what to say and to teach the kids about prophets. A third instance of this happening was in sacrament meeting, where my companion and I bore our testimonies in Maltese, English, and Italian to accommodate the needs of our friends who had come.
After church we went to lunch with the P family and H. It was super cool. Being the typical African mother that she is, she made sure her kids behaved well, but I think they did fine by saying things like "this is the best day ever!"
Respect moment of the week goes to D, our member friend from the bus last week. We called her yesterday and the first thing she said was "where are you?" We happened to be in her city so she had us come over immediately. We told her we couldn't be in her house without someone else there but she had no problem, she just set two chairs out in the hallway and sat on the stairs while we talked! It was great!
This week we taught H about fasting, so I had the opportunity to study it a good bit. I think fasting shows us how we are supposed to live. Alma 34:28 explains in depth the scripture "blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy". Often, we think of fasting as a way to magnify our prayers, and I would agree with that. When you are fasting, you are usually involved in activities where you are taking care of others such as paying a fast offering and doing Sabbath day service. Heavenly Father is then more able to answer your prayers to Him. Isaiah 58 also talks about how we should be happy to fast. Fasting shows us how even when we don't have our temporal desires (such as food), we can still be happy if we have a Christ-centered life!
Love,
Anziano Cannon
We actually got to see mass in Maltese!
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