SJ Week 8 – 4th of July – Elder Tate Cannon

Happy 4th everyone! Fireworks are very illegal here in San Jose, but there were still plenty haha. It was a fun day. It’s been a great week! We had a lot of cool things happen and felt the Spirit often.

On Wednesday, we got to meet our mission president! President and Sister Smith from Queen Creek, Arizona! They’re awesome! Sister Smith is so sweet and genuine, and President Smith is so spiritual and kind. We had an outdoor get-to-know-you meeting, at the biggest chapel I’ve ever seen in my whole life. They are also here with their 15 year old son, Sterling, who is such a sweet kid. I’m excited to work with them for the next few months!

On Thursday, we had another service project as a zone bagging frozen chicken. That was fun, you get covered in bloody chicken water so it’s a party.

On Friday, I had my first Mission Leadership Conference in this mission and that went well! Sadly, it was just over Zoom but it was still good to hear more from President Smith. I’m excited for when we can do them in person haha.

On Saturday, we had a good 4th of July! We had a Zone Training Meeting that went super well. The two sister training leaders are going home and the other Zone Leader is getting transferred, so it was sad saying goodbye to them. I’m now here as the only leader who has been a zone leader before so that’s gonna be fun this week! Lots of things to learn how to organize and do. We ate ice cream and celebrated Elder Pokipala’s birthday, who will be famous like 10 years from now. Technically another illegal meeting against county laws haha, but as we were finishing, a GIANT protest walked by outside with everyone in black, holding signs and yelling. So that was pretty fun and interesting to see.

On Sunday, we had an in-person Sacrament meeting as a zone which was so cool. The last time I had that many people in a Sacrament meeting, I was in Argentina. Pretty crazy how much has changed, but I’m so grateful for all of the things I’ve been able to learn and experience. I’m happy :)Other than that, nothing too crazy this week! We’ve heard that Coronavirus cases are going up, so we are trying to take advantage of going outside the little that we still can haha. Hopefully everything ends up working out.

I love you all and I’m grateful for every single one of you. Please let me know if there’s ever anything that you need. I love my Savior and I know that He lives and loves you. Now, knowing that, what’re you gonna do about it?