Come on Eileen... I mean Irene!

Yes, hurricane Irene made a MASSIVE stop here in the backeast. That was quite the interesting experience! Natural disaster NUMBER 2!!! What a good time to be serving here in the backeast! All last week, we were receiving texts on what to do to prepare for the hurricane to come. We were told to stock up on water, flashlights, food, gas, etc. The grocery stores were ridiculous! People were freaking out acting like the world is going to end! COME ON PEOPLE! The thing I did notice, was that as we were walking through the grocery store, I had a smile on my face. I thought to myself, I am smiling, why? Its because I know that no matter what happens, whatever natural disaster comes our way, the gospel brings a peace that blocks all of that fear away. I love the gospel and how I felt peace the entire week. John 14:27.

Sunday was intense, there was a lot of rain and wind of course; I have never seen so much rain in my life! But I think we got the easiest part of the storm, we live on the second floor, so we didn't have any flooding either. Our power didn't go out, no windows broke, so we had it pretty easy. I am sure all of you know a lot more than I do about the storm! We don't know much out here with what is going on which is nice I guess.

So on to the exciting news of the past week. We will first start with my companion. When my companion was 2 years old, they found that she had a brain tumor. When they went to remove it, she had a stroke, so she has a hard time moving the left side of her body. As you can imagine, walking isn't some normal thing for her. She only has use in one hand, and everyday things that seem easy for us are not for her. Sister Halverson has never been able to run which is hard because her entire family runs marathons, iron man, any race you can think of. So every morning I go running, and one day Sister Halverson came to me and said, "Sister Cannon, I want to be able to run. I want to say I can run a mile." So, of course I thought this was great, but wondered how we would make it work. We started out slow, running 2 minutes, walking 2 minutes and went from there. So one morning we didn't have much time, so I said, "Lets just see how far you can run without stopping." To my surprise, she ran 15 minutes! Every day from there, she continued to add on to that, and I am proud to say last Wednesday, Sister Halverson ran a mile!!!!!! It was the most exciting day! I felt like a proud parent when she made it to the mile mark from our apartment. I filmed the whole thing and took pictures! (See attached.)

On Saturday, we got a text from an elder saying that he was with a bunch of people from Torrington (my first area) and they were stopping in Oxford for dinner on their way back from the temple! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, I got to see the TILLINGHASTS and the ZEINERS from TORRINGTON!!!!! I cannot even tell you how happy I was. My smile was the size of the hurricane. It is amazing to think of these wonderful people I meet on my mission and although I am only with them for a matter of months, they become my family out here. I got to talk with them for a little bit, and I just was so happy. Words cannot express how happy I was talking with them.

I feel like I have so much to say, but this email is already a novel. So I will end with 2 cool spiritual moments this past week. First we will start with L. A family invited us and her over for a family home evening this past week and we taught the lesson on service. I remember having the impression to teach about service, but I didn't really know why. While preparing, nothing was coming to me, and I almost changed the topic, but decided to stick with it, and finally ideas came. So as we were teaching the lesson, it went well, but I didn't feel like it was anything special. As we were driving home, Lauren said to us, "I just loved tonight. That lesson was INCREDIBLE! I was in tears the entire lesson, because it was exactly what I needed to hear. My whole life I have been told not to serve people who don't deserve or appreciate it and here you are telling me that we should serve everyone! I have always agreed with that but wondered why I was taught differently. I love how I can get answers and feel the spirit!" The Lord truly blessed us as we were instruments in His hands.

Last story. So we have been meeting with this less active and the first thing she says to us when we go into her house is, "my sister is trying to shove the church down my throat! I am not going to go back if she keeps doing this! She is pushing me further and further away!" Great. Perfect start to a lesson. We had planned to teach her something, but as we started talking to her and about the death of her son, I was prompted to teach her about the Atonement, and how Christ has gone through everything we go through. The spirit was so incredibly strong, and I could see the wheels turning in her head and how it all made sense. This is what she needed to hear. After the lesson, I felt impressed to ask her if she wanted the spirit back in her life, so I did. She sat there for a minute, and finally, she looked up and said. "Yes, I do." We asked her to come to church and she said yes. It was incredible.

We had many people lined up to come to church yesterday, but because of the hurricane, church was cancelled. LAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had such a great week, too bad it couldn't end with church! Hopefully these people will have the same desire this next week.

SO MUCH IS HAPPENING HERE AND I LOVE IT!!!! We are being so blessed.

Love you all!

Love, Elizabeth

TAWANDA!!

Blasted Mosquitos!!

So we got a call saying a member from the Rhode Island stake wants to know what it is like to go on a mission, so she is coming to spend 4 days with us this week to see what it is like! I think it will be fun, and interesting I guess. It is funny, because every area I have been in, on the second transfer we get a third sister in the mix. It is always fun to be in a trio for a little bit.

Every week we give service at this church that gives food to people who need it, and B comes with her saxophone every week and plays. So, I got on the piano and played the similar hymns we both knew and everyone loved it! It was so cool! Anyway, that is what the picture is of. I found it interesting how many hymns are in our hymn book that were in her hymn book.

So Sister Halverson and I were running one morning and came up to sutton ave and people were lined all across the sides cheering us on. Yes, I was a bit confused, so we ran to the sidewalk and asked this guy what was going on. He said it was the "Pin Mass Race" or something like that and that Lance Armstrong was going to be riding through any minute. Well, I never thought anyone famous would ride through our little town of Oxford! So we sat ourselves down and waited.. and waited... and realized we needed to go get ready so we had to leave... Sad day, but I guess he rode through after we left! Pretty cool stuff.

Lauren is doing amazing! She is still on for this Saturday, and she is so excited to get baptized! She absolutely loves everything about the church and wants to be involved in everything! It is so great when someone is ready for the gospel, the Lord blesses them with hearing it. SHe got together with an old friend and told him about the gospel, and now he is interested! So great!!

So the other night I got a text from Manchester saying that Sister Jacob broke her foot playing speed ball and that she has to go home for surgery. So I tried calling and they didn't answer so I figured they were joking. NOPE! She was at the hospital when I called so there was no service. I found out she was being serious when they stopped at our apartment before transfers and I saw her foot wrapped up in a cast. I instantly started crying haha. It was really hard saying see ya to sister jacob because I wasn't planning on her leaving. It was terrible! It is amazing how close I get to the people I meet out here on my mission. I love the people out here.

Have a great week!

Love, Elizabeth

TAWANDA

Ya Lucky Ya Didn't Break Ya Leg!

So we got a call saying a member from the Rhode Island stake wants to know what it is like to go on a mission, so she is coming to spend 4 days with us this week to see what it is like! I think it will be fun, and interesting I guess. It is funny, because every area I have been in, on the second transfer we get a third sister in the mix. It is always fun to be in a trio for a little bit.

Every week we give service at this church that gives food to people who need it, and Br comes with her saxophone every week and plays. So, I got on the piano and played the similar hymns we both knew and everyone loved it! It was so cool! Anyway, that is what the picture is of. I found it interesting how many hymns are in our hymn book that were in her hymn book.

So Sister Halverson and I were running one morning and came up to sutton ave and people were lined all across the sides cheering us on. Yes, I was a bit confused, so we ran to the sidewalk and asked this guy what was going on. He said it was the "Pin Mass Race" or something like that and that Lance Armstrong was going to be riding through any minute. Well, I never thought anyone famous would ride through our little town of Oxford! So we sat ourselves down and waited.. and waited... and realized we needed to go get ready so we had to leave... Sad day, but I guess he rode through after we left! Pretty cool stuff.

L is doing amazing! She is still on for this Saturday, and she is so excited to get baptized! She absolutely loves everything about the church and wants to be involved in everything! It is so great when someone is ready for the gospel, the Lord blesses them with hearing it. SHe got together with an old friend and told him about the gospel, and now he is interested! So great!!

So the other night I got a text from Manchester saying that Sister Jacob broke her foot playing speed ball and that she has to go home for surgery. So I tried calling and they didn't answer so I figured they were joking. NOPE! She was at the hospital when I called so there was no service. I found out she was being serious when they stopped at our apartment before transfers and I saw her foot wrapped up in a cast. I instantly started crying haha. It was really hard saying see ya to sister jacob because I wasn't planning on her leaving. It was terrible! It is amazing how close I get to the people I meet out here on my mission. I love the people out here.

Have a great week!

Love, Elizabeth

TAWANDA

She Said I Think I'm Going to Boston!...again

I am still trying to get used to this "switch p-days for transfers" thing. It is funny how many little adjustments happen when a mission is merged. So, as you can tell, p-days are on wednesdays for the last week of the transfer. And, I am staying in Oxford, no surprise there. My companion is also staying, and by the end of this transfer, she will have been in this area for a year. Crazy.

This past week was absolutely incredible. It is amazing how the Lord continues to just pour out blessings in this area and for us.

We will start with Saturday. I was SO BLESSED to be able to go to Boston again and be able to go to the TEMPLE!! It has been almost a year since I have gone, so I seriously was so happy to go! We spent the whole day in Boston, and then ended with a session in the temple. The city was great, we were able to spend it with Sister Allen and Sister Dixon. But the most amazing part was being able to leave the crazy city and go to the temple. The second I walked through the doors, there was an instant peace that came over me. I have had so much on my mind, and to be able to go to the temple and just leave the world behind was incredible. I love the answers that are received in the Lord's home. We were able to see P, a recent convert from CT, receive his endowment and that is amazing to see. Needless to say, I had an INCREDIBLE weekend.

So the coolest story of the week is about L. We received a text last week from a member who went on a business trip and talked with a colleague about the church and she needs to be contacted asap. So we call her and she says, "I want to meet with you soon! I am VERY interested and I will be at church on Sunday!" Wow, when has that ever happened? So Sunday comes and we meet her and she is just so happy to be there. Her eyes were glued to the speaker the entire meeting and she even commented in class. After church, she said how much she loved it, and can't wait to meet with us the next day. So we met with her monday, and she knew EVERYTHING. When she was on this business trip, a bunch of byu students were there and someone asked them why they believe what they believe and this overwhelming feeling came over her and she didn't know what it was. So she told him what had happened and how she had felt so lost lately and didn't know what her purpose in life is. So he taught her for the next ten days about everything. She prayed about it, and received her answer that it was true. So we reviewed the first lesson with her and she loves it. She told us she wants to get baptized on the 20th of august. Done and Done! It is amazing how the Lord has a plan for each person, and I get to see that out here. She is so happy and is so grateful that she has found the truth. I love it!

Last thing, ever since P baptism she has had no problem taking off her prosthetic leg. How interesting. BUT, her actual leg was hurting, and V looked at it to see it was all black and had a huge cut in it. So they took her to the doctor to see what was wrong, and the doctor seemed extremely worried and told V if it got worse by Monday to bring her in immediately. So that was Saturday, and on Sunday, she received the Holy Ghost and a blessing. That night, they went to look at her leg and it was white as snow, and the pain was gone. It has been incredible to see the faith of their family and since her blessing of being healed and her baptism, the Lord has kept His promise and done just that. I love this gospel and the truthfulness of it!

Have a great week!

Love, Elizabeth

TAWANDA!!