This is from a couple of Josh's recent letters. He gets released on October 20, and will tour the country for a week before returning home. If you haven't heard, we're having a welcome home party for him on October 30. Check his Facebook or email him for info.
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got an email from tanner (elder jackson) today. he's probably getting on a plane by now, today is his release date. lot of good friends i've made serving a mission. for example, elder hatch gets home 3 weeks after i do. then we party. then we go up to BYU together. maybe i can hitch a ride with him/him with me. that'd be good. we want to go to rocky point for new year's, him, me, and elder hunsaker. YOU all went right after i LEFT! you don't get to come!
elder rees is my replacement. he isn't too thrilled about the assignment (honestly, who would be?), but he's more than able to take up my mantle.
i could have watched GC by now, but there's been too much to do. it's online, after all. and we have it on DVD. but we'll watch it on saturday and sunday, 10-12, 1-3, 6-8, 10-12, 1-3.
i am very ready for that party. i just hope that i won't be too tired to stand when it comes. but will jet lag be that bad for us then? i mean, it's a 12 hour gain in time, and 29 hours travel, so...only a 17 hour net difference! no problem.
so i've been researching into the SRT some more, especially the audition process, and i've been getting super anxious because it seemed like i had to audition with an instrument or with classical voice, neither of which i felt i would be prepared for, especially because the vocal audition had a huge pre-screening process starting in december. i emailed ron simpson (the SRT degree coordinator), and he wasn't very helpful, just said that scheduling would be difficult with classical voice, and say hi to elder schmutz for me (i guess he's in e. schmutz's parents' ward). i finally emailed main office of the school of music, pleading for help and details. they said that, for SRT there is a 'contemporary voice' option, which is to sing parts of 2 songs withing 3 minutes, of whatever style you choose. contrasting or not, blues, country, broadway, classical, whatever. and, of course, pass the aural skills exam. i can do both of those things! hooray! my life goals might just not be smushed before they begin to be realized! i feel much more comfortable now.
i think that monday afternoon i might actually have some busywork, closing my personal bank account and such. whatever, we'll work things out. i did hear good things about the botanical gardens.

no need to disappear during my parties anymore.

NO CLOSET SPACE?!? you mean i'm STILL going to be living out of suitcases?! AUGH! oh well, just promise me a glitter-free bed, and i'll be ok.
india news? not really. i heard that the stock market is collapsing throughout the world, and that the US is about to use its Bailout plan. eek. scary. have we lost much? hope not!
ok, i'ma get going, and let me know if you have any last minute questions or issues. i can't think of any last-minute walmart items, just bring stuff you think i or the other missionaries might like.

ok love you bye!
josh



hi mom and dad!
i'm currently writing to you with two fingers tied together - my left index and middle fingers, to be precise. why, you ask? what a silly question! it's obvious that i was sharpening knives in the kitchen with a neat little sharpening tool left behind by some of the departing missionaries when a slip-oops-ow later i have a cut between my middle and ring fingers! duh! so i quickly improvised a bandage, and wrapped it once around my index and middle fingers, then around my index and ring fingers. but not before i cleaned the cut and applied neosporin. it's good to be an eagle scout. that sharpening tool WORKS though, i didn't even feel the cut! that happened this morning.
hehehe, i like to play with photoshop. as evidence of this, i'll attach a weird looking something i made a few days ago. it's fun. i might have to buy photoshop at the BYU bookstore, for no other reason than goofing off. scratch that, no more goofing off...well, maybe a LITTLE could be allowed.
elder nixon. if he isn't an energetic and bright-eyed missionary, i've never met one. he's currently in Hyderabad being trained by Elder Tyler. his grandma knows Elder Bartlett's grandma too, and Elder Nixon read E. Bartlett's blog which his parents had been making from his emails. i hope you understood that, cus i'm not gonna fix it.
we'll watch GenCon the week after, all sessions. so it'll be the sunday before i see you. alright, no more chance of avoiding the travel talk, let's get to it. tell me the exact itinerary, please, i.e. when you arrive in delhi, what you're doing when, when you arrive in bangalore, what hotels we're staying in, how we're travelling, what exactly we're DOING in the places we go, what our transportation will be in the cities, and all those details. that would put my mind at great ease. president nichols talked to me yesterday, asking if you'll be in town in time for the fireside. i affirmed, and he said that, since you'll be here on monday, he can interview me in the afternoon, let me go with you, and we can get ourselves to the fireside at night. then tuesday onwards, we're free. sounds good? good. i request that we all go bowling with the missionaries in my batch (your treat, naturally) on tuesday. don't worry, it's just 100 rupees ($2.50) per game per person. and then lunch. you'll like elder hunsaker (his dad is super trunky - he has two big bowls of marbles, and every day his son is away he moves a marble from one bowl to the other. i'm glad you both aren't like that).
i'm not worried about rain, but you never know what will happen. i have an umbrella for me, so if you want to bring a couple of those tiny collapsible ones, that would be ok.
ooo man you just pushed my iPod button. do i have any requests? do i ever! i'm attaching a spreadsheet of the bands that i would like to listen to most. i could only remember about 30. hm, isn't that a lot? whatever. we can use the iPod the whole time we're here - they sell ipod chargers for indian voltage pretty much everywhere. as for books, i told meg that i'd like two - the last harry potter and stephen king's Wolves of the Calla. that's it!
i think you ought topost about a gathering on LJ and facebook, i think on facebook they're called "events," but meg will know more about that. jen has sent me an email or two lately, sounds like she's more than happy to get people together (i'm fine with that), but i don't think that we shouldn't tell more people in other ways. if you know what i mean. i am prepared to be a strung-out basket case for the party, and i wouldn't have it any other way. i just hope that i don't pass out.
HEY CHANGE OF SUBJECT are we having a christmas party with the davises? i hope so!
sorry that there isn't anything missionaryish to report, nothing much doing in that area. we sometimes go teaching in the evenings with the zone leaders, but not often. the only item worthy of note is that elder rees is coming to bangalore to be companion to me and elder valluri. ugh, i hate threesomes. i don't think he's too excited to come into the office, either, but we'll see what happens.
well, the newbies are supposed to come to the office soon, they're at orientation and breakfast at the mission home at the moment. i hope things go well, but i expect that it'll be a madhouse like last time. oh well.
see you soon
josh

So, send Josh an email and wish him Happy Birthday! Do it right now! (It's already September 12th in India!) He reads his email every day, so send it, already!


eldercannon@myldsmail.net

(The preceding was a parental-paid announcement)



Back to our regularly scheduled emails from Josh:

9/3/08
Happy Ganesha Festival!!!
it's that time of year when all the Ganesh lovers take enormous statues of Ganesh, paint them in beautiful colors, wrap garlands around them, and then throw them in the river! yay! hindus are weird, but cool in their extravagance. no pictures of it this year, cus there haven't been so many statues here. last year in hyderabad it was nuts. they closed down the big main road because that's where everyone was parading their ganeshas. in bangalore, it's a little less extreme.
i think that i have stumbled upon the greatest invention yet to reach mankind. it happened one morning as i was making breakfast (german pancakes, mmm), and i thought "hey, there should be some kind of a topping for this!" no maple syrup available. so, i looked through the fridge anything i could use, but all i saw was some sugar and a kool-aid flavor packet. and then the gears in my mind started turning. i put the sugar and kool-aid packet into a saucepan and covered it with water, then set it to boil. as the mixture entered the soft ball stage, i took it off the burner and poured it into a bowl, then into the fridge. soon i had, you guessed it, KOOL-AID SYRUP! the most delicious topping known to man! put it on pancakes, waffles, ice cream, pie, even donuts! or just enjoy a spoonful! you can feel it rotting your teeth! mmm, rotten teeth...i'm not sure, but i THINK i may have gone insane. hm.
since it's p-day, we have some free time today. and the assistants are in town. what does that mean? RISK, that's what it means. i started teaching elder valluri how to play last night so he'd be ready. we have to remind him of the rules and basic strategy occasionally, but he's done amazingly well for the first time. i mean, hey, he took over australia and most of asia. he's the one in blue, i'm green (i had europe, but couldn't hold it), ivie's white - been holed up in south america for ages, and hatch is red. he got africa, good for him. we two were struggling for a while. good time pass.
we heard a little about the storm going to louisianna, but no details. that's good that there wasn't as much damage as katrina.
we don't teach single sisters. same rules, same provisions have to be made to teach women.we typically would bring a male church member, but it's better if the father of the home is present.
i noticed that the parcel you sent left from california on the 31st of august, but there hasn't been any updates since then. i assume that if it left that long ago, it would've reached india by now. unless the plane went to china or something. whatever. looking forward to that one.
yeah, i know elder tyler. he's in hyderabad right now. good guy.
basically president nichols answered elder krishnan's question to elder christofferson. he said that if dating publicly would cause excitement and problems in the branch, then they shouldn't date publicly. india is still in a transition period, and this generation will have to deal with this problem one way or the other. it's a little sad, because none of the indian elders (or members, for that matter), know how to start a relationship with another person. they just think "ok, i like that person, we should get married." they totally skip the getting-to-know-you part and try to arrange their own marriage. those are called 'love marriages,' when the couple chooses their own partner. otherwise it's 'arranged.' i am VERY glad i'm not in that culture.
yeah, facebook is pretty keen. that's how i found all my old elementary school friends from new jersey. i've said it before and i'll say it again, "the internet will keep us together!"
hm, i'm a little bit at a loss for what to say. we don't get out much these days, lot of new responsibilities and work to do, but we usually get a decent number of referrals from the other missionaries for our area to keep our evenings and weekends busy. not much in the way of investigator success, though.
i don't think you need an immunization record to get here. nobody else in the office thinks you do, so don't worry about it. i recommend this, though: only one bag per person (plus one carry-on), and don't let ANYONE touch your bags at the airport. i said that before, but just remember it.
well, interviews tomorrow and zone conference friday, should be a good one. i'ma get off so the assistants can email their families. have a good week, and try to get me those photos (you can zip them if you want)!
love you,
josh


8/26/08
hi mom and dad,
yeah, i thought i told you earlier about prakash and sangeetha. they'd been coming to church for the last 4 or so months, and kept having their baptismal date pushed back for one reason or another. eventually we found out that they just didn't understand what baptism was! so we started from the beginning with them, brought a member to most every lesson for light translation, and they finally got it. they're great, i confirmed prakash on sunday, he was super happy. they're very faithful people.
i'm gonna have a lot of people to hang out with. but tyson might not be one of them. apparently, and i heard this from one elder gibbons, who visited from hong kong a few weeks ago to train some of the couples, tyson is finishing his mission in a couple weeks, staying in mesa for a short time, then going to hong kong to stay with his parents until they finish their mission! whenever someone comes through from h.k. i ask them about tyson's parents, they're working in the family history center. strange the way you can get news these days. but i'll chill with colin - he's home october 14ish, sandy's home (but in japan i think), devin is at byu, tim is home, it'll be pretty much just like before. weird.
i'll call nathan tonight. even if something goes wrong, our plan B can be nathan's beach house. that's a free fallback, so no worries.
you know, i thought about the laptop question a while ago, and as i thought, i kept coming back to macbook. macbook macbook macbook. i don't think i need the pro version. i admit that i haven't exactly checked the whole market out, and there might be a better windows machine that fits me, but i'm willing to try a mac product. also, the iPhones cost exactly as much in india as they do in the states. however, 200 dollars in the US has much less value than 8000 rupees, though they are the same cost. by the way, does my ipod still work? i need to assemble an action item list for stuff i need to get - job, car, computer, phone, girlfriend uh i mean what? about how much are hunk of junk cars going for these days? should i wait until i'm in utah to buy one, or do you think i can get one in arizona that'll make it on the drive up?
so, we met an Apostle yesterday. the missionaries actually had 2 hours alone with him, his wife, president nichols, his wife, and elder hallstrom, and his wife. p+s nichols bore their testimonies, e+s hallstrom spoke to us, sister christofferson spoke, and then elder christofferson basically just opened the floor for questions. pres. nichols prefaced this with some advice, basically: don't ask stupid questions. so sister linton asked about his experience with prophets, elder linton asked why we have to be so socially and politically careful in india (which elder hallstrom answered, not elder christofferson), elder krishnan asked what the indian RMs should do to date and find a spouse since even in the branches courting is not socially acceptable, and elder ivie asked what was the most important thing to do once you return from your mission. and i asked elder christofferson a question. i mean, i wouldn't have been able to live with myself if i had to think, "i met an apostle, and i had a chance to ask him a question, bit i DIDN'T" for the rest of my life. that just didn't sit right with me. so i asked him something that'd been on my mind for a while in a somewhat roundabout way. and he gave a somewhat roundabout answer. fair. i said "Elder Holland said in General Conference that we have an open canon of scripture, evidenced by the Book of Mormon, and that's what sets us apart from the rest of christianity. And, while it's clear that we're open to modern revelation, what about new ancient scripture? Is it likely that we will be given more ancient scripture in these days?" he answered much as i expected, but not really as i hoped. he mentioned the scripture it talks about in 2 nephi about the lost tribes and their scripture coming forth, but that it sounds like that would be more during the building of Zion and gathering of Israel. i had thought about the sealed portion of the golden plates, but he didn't mention those. he continued by talking about inspired reinterpretation of writted scripture as our more common form of revelation. he used an example of the Quorums of Seventy. he said, and i didn't know this, that recently in the church there were no seventies, only a kind of presidency of seventy, which was seven men ordained to the office, but there was no body, so to speak. but he said that, as the church grew and a demand arose for more leadership, Seventy became a quorum, and then two quorums, and now it's 8 with the possibility of increase. side note - i read about the seventy once, and found that there may be as many quorums of seventy so as to allow for 144,000 men ordained as Seventies to be the final witnesses of Christ who will preach the gospel to the world one last time, immediately prior to the second coming. anyway, elder christofferson said it was possible that some of us missionaries would serve as Seventies. so that's cool.
that package should come just in time. i hope there's nothing expensive in it. save that kinda stuff for when i can enjoy it! would you email me some photos of the house? like the rooms that have changed, like the game room and such? i never saw the 'new' TV, after all.
hahaha, yeah, that's supposedly india's first medal in about 50 years. oh, india, you just don't encourage your citizens to be athletes, do you?
alright, i'm gonna write to megan now, this turned out to be a long one today. lot to write about, after all.
have a good week, i love you,
josh

Attention, friends of Josh. Josh will be returning from India October 29th, and will speak in church to report on his mission at 9am, November 9. Church is at 1550 N Val Vista. All are welcome to come.

Now, to the recent letters and pictures:

August 13
hi mom and dad,
gah, stop teasing me about grant! i can't wait to see him as it is! haha, i'm excited for that, to be sure. you think they'll have another kid in the near future, or space them out a little more?
mmm, snowbird.
i've also been a bit under the weather, starting sunday morning. kind of a throat cold. i'm drinking orange juice and sucking on Strepsils, the leading throat lozenge brand. the orange flavor is good, but the honey and lemon is far better. not like you needed to know that.
so...i bought a big knife the other day. i had noticed that all the butcher shops use these huge honkin cleavers to cut up their meat, and i coveted. so, i had our bangalore service agent Shankar keep an eye out for one while he was in the city. a couple hours and 150 rupees later, i had a big honkin knife! it's been my project for my free time at home - i heat treated it with our gas stove, finished the steel with some wax, wrapped a nylon strap around the handle and fused it over a flame, and gave it a nice edge with my leatherman's file. i'm debating whether i should grind and polish the surface or just leave it black. we'll see. it's nice to have a side project now and then.
now it's time for the maddening news. we didn't go to hyderabad. we are not going to hyderabad. president nichols cancelled our trip and took the phones to the zone conference without us. i'm pretty unhappy. looks like i'll never see hyderabad or my converts there again. grrr.
on a happier note, Elder D. Todd Christofferson is coming to india in a couple weeks and is meeting the missionaries in hyderabad and bangalore.
i got an email from colin the other day, he'll be back on october 14, and tyson should be home in 3 weeks or so. that will be good fun. i also got a letter from elder jackson (my mtc companion) in delhi, he'll be back on october 8th. i might get an apartment with him in provo, who knows?
i'll call nathan tonight about the hotel. 23rd, 24th, and 25th were the nights, right?
yeah, i heard that the olympics were going on. i don't really care so much, though. heh, i don't think that india has won a gold medal for 50 years.
the terrain here is not flat. slopes and valleys and hills and such are pretty common.
i can't think if i have any other news. got a haircut this morning, elder muthabathula is going home next week (and i'll probably go to the release fireside, too, cus there won't be a companion for me), and my birthday is in a month. can you send one more parcel for me? put some of those teeth whitening strips in there, i sorely need that. and make sure that you update my livejournal, colin said that he printed out the year and a half of my mission and read it at home. except he said it hadn't been updated in weeks! i sent a bunch of pictures last week, put those up, if you please!
i'll send you a photo of my big knife, just so you can see it. i gotta give it a wicked name, like El Cortero. we'll see.
have a good week, time is clipping by pretty quickly, i'm soon to be on my LAST COMPANION. eek!
love
josh

August 6
hi mom and dad,
camelot? i have no idea what you mean by that, but it's raining at the moment. it stops and starts, rarely for more than an hour at a time during the day, and sometimes through the night.
we're going to hyderabad in about 2 weeks. it'll be good, i'm making sure the assistants are giving us plenty of time before the conference so i can see my converts.
elder fowler (former assistant and current boyfriend of courtney scurr, a classmate of mine from mountain view) just went home last night, along with elders labrum, jenkins, rostum, and jackson (different jackson). the new assistant is elder hatch, the one from scottsdale. he and i are pretty good friends, he's going to BYU also, we might stay together. he goes home 3 weeks after me, so we'll likely chill in AZ along with elder hunsaker. it's a good crew, in my thinking.
i feel ashamed yet excited to dress like a missionary for halloween...
one thing i HAVEN'T missed is the scorpions. ick.
yeah, annoying about the bombs. though, looking at what little damage they've caused, i would only consider them to be fire crackers. we weren't affected at all besides the cell signals being down for a couple hours.
haven't really taught many new people lately. there is one new family who was referred to us, except the referral wasn't for the father, it was for the 12 year old son, Prem Kumar, who's pretty much the only member of the family who has a grasp of english. we meet with him and his cousin's family, who also doesn't speak english much. not only that, but the members who DO understand english don't understand my accent, so my companion does most of the teaching. i haven't had a language problem in teaching since i was in hyderabad. that makes me pretty lucky, i reckon.
hm, i think tyson is supposed to either get home soon or already be home. i'm not sure how you could figure out how to contact him. i remember that his mother's name is Janice, maybe you could find Janice Smith in the phonebook in mesa? there should only be about a dozen or so ;)
have fun in vegas, mom, and have fun at home, dad. i'm having fun in india!
love
josh

July 23
Hi mom and dad,
it continues to rain here in bangalore. thankfully, it never rains during the day - only at night, and after 9 o'clock, at that. right after we get home! so it's pretty cool. we get blackouts occasionally, but not more than once a night for maybe an hour. we just had zone conference yesterday, last conference for a lot of missionaries. elders fowler, jackson, jenkins, rostrum, brimley, and muthabathula are all going home within 6 weeks, so some of them got a bit emotional. lot of elders going home soon...
well, i'm pretty mad about not going to hyderabad. at least, that's what i WOULD say if there hadn't certain circumstances arisen in the last 48 hours. since i'm basically in charge of the new cell phones (distribution, tracking, etc.), they all have to be given out. if i had it my way, we would send them all out by courier service, but president nichols doesn't like that idea. he wants them to be delivered at zone conferences. SO, yesterday i gave bangalore their phones, and the chennai elders are here in BLR for a combined ZC, so they're getting their phones today, and, next month, i'll fly to hyderabad with pres nichols and the assistants to give the phones out to the elders serving in hyderabad and vizak at their combined zone conference. that means that i'll be able to meet almost all of my converts while i'm there if i orchestrate things right. and if i can do that, then i can assent to leaving hyderabad out of the travel arrangements in october. sometimes these things have a way of working out. regarding goa, i called brother chowgule on saturday, he said he'd be fine with having us over, he'd just have to check the dates out - it's his father's beach house actually, so they let visiting friends and family come stay. i'll call him back tonight.
but honestly, there isn't a whole lot to do in bangalore. and what did you have in mind for mumbai? maybe we can take elder hunsaker out to eat sometime while we're there; they won't fly out until the 22nd. we'll figure it out. i've made him promise to set me up with a date for a halloween party. i got it all figure out: we arrive on the 29th, i get released either that night or the next day, go to the temple on the 30th, and party on the 31st! hooray!
hmmm, i can watch good movies and books? nice! maybe you oughta put some music onto my ipod and bring that along too... ;) we'll see.
alright, i have some stuff to do here, have a great week, and see if you can slip some teeth-whitening strips into those letters from the primary kids. that'd be nice.
love
josh

And now, some pictures:

Every missionary should attend Resurrection School!


These are the ones who are running the mission!?


Yes, this is food of some sort....


And you thought a regular Rubik's cube was hard!

Hi all,

nope, we don't take care of the branch here. the leadership in bangalore is so amazingly strong that it's astounding. the branch president has 2 great counselors, elder's quorum and relief society are nicely organized, the young men/young women have high attendance, and the home teaching program is doing great. they don't really need us here as much as they did in goa.

i told you that Elder Christofferson is coming to Bangalore and Hyderabad on the 22nd of august, didn't i? why is he coming? heck if i know. in fact, Elder Christofferson doesn't even have anything to do with the Asia Area - that's Elder Oaks' assignment. so why him and why now, i have no idea. but i do know that the last time an Apostle came to india, they split the mission...

aw, i'm sad to hear that about spirograph. i need it (sooner or later, and i like sooner) to experiment with, and eventually make cover art for another album i'll be putting together - "Autospirography". if you can find a decent old school version on eBay or something, that'd be sufficient. if not, i'll name the next album "Sincerely,". and wait until later to make Autospirography. if you're wondering how to pronounce that word, it's the same as 'autobiography.' just a side project i've had in the back of my mind for a while.

ugh, GLITTER. i still have nightmares where i can't get it off me. not really, but i do hate glitter. it gets EVERYWHERE and can't be cleaned!
am i gonna be staying in the guest room? i'm ok with that.

if you make a package, take care that you don't put in any foodstuff that will get everywhere. rule of thumb: if you take the food item and drop it on the kitchen floor it breaks and spills everywhere, it is not fit to be sent. for example, a BIG BAG OF SKITTLES passes the test. a jar of almonds or caramel sauce, however, does not. and, if possible, pack the food items inside other things to prevent against rat attacks. for example, you could pack a BIG BAG OF SKITTLES inside some SOCKS or T-SHIRTS. but i don't really need t-shirts. hey, i bought the SWEETEST new track jacket the other day. it's sky blue, and doesn't have any markings or lettering on it except for on the left breast, where it has the Converse All-Star logo stitched in white with a red stitched star. 200 rupees (approx 5 bucks), totally worth it. that was my good buy of the week.

i think we're going bowling with the other missionaries again today. should be fun. i'ma buy a new watch, too, so i might withdraw from my wells fargo account also. my old watch got so old and busted that it just fell off my wrist.

aw man, federer lost? sad day.

alright, as soon as you get news from President Evans, let me know. see if you can get the history of phone releases from him, cus i don't really know how they used to do it or when/why it was discontinued. that'd be a nice thing for the trip.

elder abbott just got released, and his mom and little brother came to get him. they're off touring now, looks like it's gonna be fun!

did you know any Sandholtz's in New Jersey. he's one of the new missionaries who just arrived. he just came from spanish fork, so i need to get more information from him. the 5 newbies are at orientation at the mission home right now.

ok, i'm hungry.
have a good week, sorry i don't have photos again, i need to get new rechargeable batteries for my camera.

oh yeah, and the Lintons took the bangalore missionaries out to eat at the new mcdonald's down the street for the 4th of july. it was great, until we realized that they had reserved a huge section of the restaurant for just the 8 of us. and then when we found out that elder linton had photocopied patriotic songs out of the hymnbook and had us sing 'my country tis of thee' and 'the star spangled banner' and 'america the beautiful.' i didn't mind everyone in mcdonald's staring at us, though, the food was delicious!
happy independence day!
Josh

hey Dad,
i forgot to ask you yesterday - do you think there would be any possibility of being released by our Stake President when you come to India? I heard of things like that in the past, but that it was discouraged/discontinued or something. what more do you know about it? this isn't about swimming or going to movies so much, i'm mostly just concerned for one thing: the plane ride home. if i can't watch videos or read any books, i think i'll die somewhere over africa. if you could ask around on sunday and let me know what you find out, that'd be super. thanks!
josh

Burning of the pants - 18 month mark!


( Last pictures from Goa! )

June 3
hey mom and dad,
regarding the office! i do like the office, don't get me wrong. it's fun to do the administrative work and to get in the middle of the mission, but i'm a little down because this will be my last area, making a grand total of four for my mission. not like that's a bad thing, but it's a little bit of a case of what i call "endgame blues," where when you're playing a video game, you get all the way through, get all the secrets, do everything right and get ready for the final boss, then stop playing before you beat the final boss. i did that a lot. why? because whether you win or lose, the game is over.
but besides that, everything is great. i like bangalore a lot, especially the branch. the youth in the branch are great, they love to help the missionaries out, we're teaching a lot of lessons to investigators with members present, and we had 5 investigators come to church on sunday, 1 of whom has a baptismal date. not many elders in the office do much in the way of baptising. i will, though.
2 elders in the office, the assistants are here most of the time, too, unless they're travelling for a zone conference elsewhere or just jetsetting for fun. one couple is also here. actually, the Messers are the old couple, now being replaced by the Lintons, who are being trained now.
have you found a job for me when i get back yet? i'll take anything. well, ALMOST anything. ask around, see if you can find anything. thanks!
♪i think i'm gonna like it here♪

June 2
Hi mom and dad, I have some important items of business to tell you.
It seems that the mission is beginning to have ‘release firesides,’ where the missionaries returning home meet with the mission president for an evening and mostly just chat. That happens on the evening on the Monday previous to the release date. In our case, that would be the 10th of November. The families of the missionaries being released are invited to the fireside, so, in order for you to attend, you would have to arrive in India either that morning or Sunday evening. I recommend that you plan for it, it sounds like a good time.

Chelobaya!

May 28
hi mom and dad and thaniel (and megan) [on vacation together in Lake Tahoe]
well, the big transfer call has come. both me and elder jenkins are moving to bangalore, he's in second branch with elder rowe (from the batch after mine) and i'm taking elder steed's place in the office. crud. at least i'm in the apartment with the assistants, i like elder fowler, we will enjoy. my companion is elder muthubathula (if you feel the need to try to pronounce his name, [MOO-too-BAH-too-laa]). and, since we're losing a lot of missionaries, the mission has combined some zones - coimbatore with chennai, and visak with rajamundry, making 5 zones total: Bangalore, Hyderabad, Vishakaputnam, Chennai, and Sri Lanka. goa is now part of bangalore zone. i'm glad that i'm not a district leader anymore (i'd prefer office over DL any day), but i'd really been hoping to be a zone leader. now, the chance seems very very slim. we'll see. i'll talk to president nichols about it.
megan! thank you so much for getting into my facebook account. i am eager to see what messages i have from the last 18 months. sweet! maybe you could post a note, or whatever they're called on facebook, and post the address of my livejournal (eldercannon.livejournal.com), and that'd be sweet. thanks!
well, gotta pack today, flying tomorrow, and i'll have a lot of sitting ahead of me in the future. once again, crud. at least these shoes should last me for the rest of my mission.
have a good time in lake tahoe, but don't lose all your time playing Wii!

May 21
it's been another cool week, i presided over and conducted my first sacrament meeting, things went pretty well, and i didn't even have to pull out my emergency talk in case time went short! actually i had asked brother santan fernandes to prepare a talk about baptism for around 10 minutes, and he spoke for 20! he covered basically everything about the subject possible, how it's done, who can do it, what it means, he did such a good job. we've got some awesome new members here, and some of the men might even get the melchisidek priesthood soon. tight! i'm also conducting sacrament meeting this sunday, but president mudumalla, first counselor to president nichols, is visiting.

the mission will be shrinking, as we spoke last time, but we don't know from where the missionaries will be taken. elder brimley is elder jenkins' batch, they finish in August,

we've heard a bit about how American Idol is going. two of the top contestants are members of the church, if they're still in the game. elder jenkins' sister sent him a mix CD of some of the mission appropriate songs they've sung so far. this year i think has the best contestants by far. i think i'd like to try out for that show after a year or two at school. my voice has developed a lot since i reported, and with training i think i could be really good. not like i have a goal of being a performer, as i think i told you in times previous, but it would give me some good experience and maybe even some connections in the right places. or not, who cares, that's far away.
we're having another picnic with the branch tonight, should be fun. it's nice to just be able to relax with members (and some investigators) as friends, and not have to be on the move and commit them to do stuff and worry. just eat, play, fellowship. it's good.
alright, have fun at lake tahoe, take lots of photos send them to me!

May 14
hi mom and dad! of course, i am very happy to have been able to chat with everyone on sunday. lots of fun all around, i look forward to doing it a lot in the future.
we had a cool day so far, we went to Old Goa, checked out these old catholic cathedrals. i'll try to send some photos if my camera's batteries can last. had lunch in that area, scoped out the place, came back. then tonight, we're having a picnic with the branch (again). until then, we'll play Risk in the apartment. of all the 5 games we've played so far (1 with 3 players, 1 with 4 players, and 3 with just me and E Brimley) Elder Brimley has won 4 times, and i won this last game! yay! it made me feel like i'm a competent strategist again.
sylvester is doing well on reducing his alcohol consumption. we've set a goal for this week of no more than 400 milliliters per day, next week is 300, next is 240, then 180, 120, 60, done. so the family's baptism is on track for June 29th. sweet.
all of elder rees' friends think that he's my companion, though he's told his family and everyone and their dog that i'm just the district leader. some people just like to believe in coincidences.
as per housing, i've figure this much out with elder brimley: he's going to get an apartment with his brother and 2 other roomies for fall/winter. if he can get his brother engaged and out by winter, i'll take his brother's place. or he can just help me find a contract.

i love to look at photos of baby grant. that kid is huge! elder jenkins expressed that he thinks grant looks like a cartoon, big round head, big smiley mouth, tiny eyes. he's gonna be a big guy when he gets older.
one of the first things i want to do with the family when everyone's home for christmas? play settlers of catan. after i play with grant, of course.

alright, i'm gonna write to megan now, have a good week, and enjoy lake tahoe!

love
josh

Josh emails and pictures from the last couple of weeks:

"Chain letter" from sandy, devin, tim, colin, and tyson:


( Goa Branch, Josh pre/post haircut )

April 30:
i THINK...i want to go back through hyderabad when you come here. i want to attend church there, see my converts. and apparently, as maheshwari informed me, one of my investigators that i found around 8 months ago was recently baptised! hooray! that means i have 9 converts in hyderabad, 3 in delhi, and the 1, soon to be 4, in goa. neat.
to answer mom's question before anything else, the only indians who get their patriarchal blessings are the ones that go to the temple, i.e. missionaries. they'ren typically "from" ephraim or manasseh, but get this: my old companion elder jidla, who recently returned home, was from ephraim. his older brother is from judah. weird, no?
in a month, the first batch of the 40 goes home. lot of good friends returning. i hope to keep in touch with elder speth, he's a good fellow.
we had another multi-zone conference this week, just got back from bangalore yesterday. Elder Hallstrom (the 70 who gave the "Do It Now" talk) attended and trained us. pretty powerful man, he basically spoke for 4 hours total and didn't use a single page of notes. he'd blast off scriptures right and left, too. it was neat, apparently he told me that we're distant cousins, since he has a lot of cannons in his family. also, i asked him if he knew tyson's parents, since they work in the Hong Kong family history center (they're serving a mission, too, by the way). he said he did, and that their office is right next to his! small world, this one.
here i was, thinking that Mother's day was at the end of May! little did i know that it's in a week and a half! i assume that you're still planning to call me at the apartment, your sunday morning, my sunday night?
it'd be nice to have that new fargo card. mine is breaking again. not because i use it so much (i don't), but because it's a cheap piece of plastic.
something you could do for me, send me some papers about absentee voting. i need to register, and all that stuff, so if you could get me the right stuff to sign and whatnot, i'd appreciate it.
got your package, picked it up in bangalore yesterday. thank you! but listen, i thought i'd told you this before, but i'll have to say it again: STOP SENDING CINNAMON CANDY. i don't like cinnamon! but the reese's and the pictures were just right. the small one looks just like tenille! he also looks very, very happy. thank you!
i got sick last night, so i think all i'll do today is sleep. upset stomach = wasted p-day!
i love you, have a great week, hope things aren't too hard to handle with moving out of chez, and the church is true!
love
josh

April 23:
hi mom and dad!
i'm glad your email came through, good thing we came to the internet cafe a little later today.
i saw sara rowley during the general conference session on saturday, when the mixed BYU choir sang. i saw sara, chelsea huffaker, and a couple other kids i knew from when i studied there. that was weird, to be sure.
i thought that the school year was finished for mesa. maybe i'll write another postcard to my schreiber before it finishes. you said that chelsea was in encore for next year, right? i want to go play my mandolin and sing a jazz standard for them in the fall. HEY! i want to go to the holiday dinners this year! ok? sweet! i never got the chance to SEE them, since i was always IN them.
as far as youth activities go, there isn't much of anything going on. it's mostly just seminary/institute that sister kalra teaches in the mornings at the church. but scouting? nope. there IS a scouting program in india, it's called Bharat Scouts of India, or something like that. nothing to do with the church. the young men work on Duty to God, as far as i'm aware.
we're going to zone conference in Bangalore next week, Elder Hallstrom is joining with us for it. that'll be fun.
somethings cool this week: sunday night we had family home evening at the kalras' home with sylvester's family. bahaar (pres. kalra's second daughter) gave a lesson on faith and obedience, really well done, and afterwards we discussed, and susanna said that after church, nicole, susanna's daughter, told her that she wanted to be baptised. so everyone started asking and answering questions and the kalra's resolved some concerns, so that's cool. and then yesterday we taught Filomena and her son Norbert. Filomena is the sister of Lucia Fernandez, from the family baptised in december. so we're teaching, and Filomena says, "we have good news! Norbert is getting baptised this sunday!" after my initial confusion, we set him with a baptismal date of May 4th. that'll be tight. his mom will be baptised eventually, and sylvester and susanna will be baptised mostly as soon as he stops drinking, which is what we taught about last night. so good things are happening in Goa - very good things.
i love you both, have a wonderful week, and i'll send photos today!
love
josh

April 15:
hi mom and dad!
surprise! i'm still in goa! and i don't know why! we just got transfer calls last night, and it's not me. that means that i won't be going for another 6 weeks, so i'll complete 7 months served in goa before i go. that's more than anyone has been here so far. i'm ok with being the goa king.
now that you mention homecoming talks, i had a question to ask. does the bishop assign a topic, or can i pick my own? cus i already know what i'd like to speak on, it's pretty awesome, all about being "perfect." anyway.
yep, as it turns out, elder rees is best friends with scotty olsen. but now roger thinks that we're companions. we're not, he's with elder brimley, i'm with elder jenkins.
i got the email confirmations from USPS, that's excellent, i signed up for email updates for whatever future activity happens. thanks for the package! i don't want a turn in the office. if i get one, that'll be my LAST turn ANYWHERE in the mission. it seems to be that i have one area left, so i think it needs to be chennai (so i can meet megan's friend padma).
one of the first things i'll have to do when i'm home is just take right turns in the car for a couple hours. i'm too used to left-side traffic to be able to do right-side anymore.
alright, SO! our branch had a picnic on friday. it was rad. actually, nobody came. it was supposed to start at 5.30, and, as usual, the missionaries were on time. however, nobody else was there. hm. so we waited, tossed the frisbee around for a bit, and two of us went to a pay phone to call president to see if anyone was coming. while they went to call, santosh and sarvesh and trupti came, then sister kalra, then president and his girls, then savio and lisa and their cousin norbert (he's investigating), and so we started playing ultimate on the beach. that was tight, my team got destroyed. then we switched to another game involving one person being 'it' and chasing another person while they ran and everybody else stood still and some other madness that i'm not really sure what happened but it seems that it was fun. it was during that chaos that sylvester, susanna and nicole came, and they joined in the fun. some more chasing later, we had some food. that started around 7.30. spaghetti, sandwiches, lemonade, and some other nice stuff to eat, and fun conversation within all parties. the elders played a game called "who has the shoe?" casually while we were talking. i'll teach you about it later. super awesome success, actually. elders left around 8.50, pres kalra said nobody else left until around 9.30-9.45. awesome.
and then it was conference! best talk? elder holland, hands down. i also appreciated elder oakes talking about testimony - sylvester's family came in the room at the exact moment that he started his talk. good timing. we taught their family last night, actually. they said they loved conference, and when president monson spoke, susanna said she felt like Heavenly Father was speaking to her through him. taught the plan of salvation, they loved it, one quotation from the lesson: I've learned more in the last 2 weeks than i have in 45 years! they'll get baptised, but they admit that they have a lot of traditions and habits that they need to overcome. i'm just glad that i get to work with them to that point!
i gotta write an email to my converts in hyderabad, i just found my old planners, so i have their addresses now.
i love you, have a super week, i'm gonna send some photos either today or next week!
love
josh

Sweet week, with a twist in the middle. i think i told you last week, but we had zone conference last tuesday. it was all about accountability and goal setting and making plans. when pres. nichols gave his talk, all i could think about was how much time i wasted before my mission, mostly because i didn't have any kind of goal to work towards. graduation isn't a goal, that's a plan of how to get into college. studying at college and earning a degree isn't a goal, it's the plan of how to start a career. and starting a certain career isn't even the goal, since the purpose of a career is little more than working to support your family, which is also another stepping stone towards eternal life. so president nichols told us that our lifetime goals need to be simple, measurable, and almost unreachable, and that we should be able to write them down onto a 3x5 notecard. so i basically charted my whole life out as per what i intend on accomplishing at home, in the church, and for a career. it feels good to have some plans.

“Jesus the Christ” is awesome. sounds like you've started reading from the front onwards. the chapter about the premortal christ is a little tough, but the rest is cake. i love the notes sections; they always have about twice the doctrine as the chapters themselves. i haven't read the whole thing, maybe half the chapters. when i do read, i find a chapter in the table of contents that i haven't checked off yet, and if the summary sounds interested, i read it. he gives beautiful renderings of the situations and conversations that were recorded about the savior, makes them so much more real and applicable than just the scriptural text alone. and he uses big words. the indian missionaries can't understand talmage.

i mentioned about a twist in the middle of this week. well, actually last thursday night i got a phone call from elder Bowen, one of the coimbatore zone leaders, and there was an emergency transfer. so elder banavath got transferred to a branch called KGF (kolar gold fields) near bangalore, and elder rees, a PIO was transferred here from Hyderabad. he's been out around 6 months. turns out there was some trouble with police, another elder almost got arrested or something, so a few people got shuffled around. exciting times!

murgesh isn't progressing. he won't take time to meet us, hasn't come to church, isn't reading the book of mormon, rats. we'll be letting him go soon. however, we've been lucky enough to be finding through an amazing part of our area called St. Inez. a couple days ago we met a young single adult named karen, she's an english teacher, we taught her and her father. neither i nor elder jenkins could tell why, but she was really interested to learn what we were teaching. her understanding of the restoration was incredible, and when asked about how she felt about what we shared, she said "well, i'm interested to learn more. i'd like to visit your church this sunday." i felt the spirit stronger in that lesson than i'd felt in a LONG time. she's gonna get baptised. and then yesterday we found 7 more families! we taught an old man who understood surprisingly well (i've never heard of living prophets today! tell me about this Thomas Monson!), and set appointments with the rest of them. it'll be a busy week. the zone leaders are coming this evening, doing training and practices for district meeting tomorrow, conducting exchanges, you know the drill. it's a common sentiment that elder hatch will be called as the next assistant, and elder bowen thinks that i'll be his companion. just so long as i can perform a baptism interview before then, that's fine with me.

speaking of baptisms, maria is getting baptised this saturday morning, we're all pretty excited about that. i'll interview her friday night, it'll be sweet.

yeah, i guess being district leader is cool. not a whole lot i feel that i have to enforce; we all know the rules, and we all use good judgement, so i've never had to call anyone out. not like i expect to, elder brimley and elder jenkins have both been district leaders before. all it means is that it's my turn, that's how leadership is done these days.

oh, and we aren't getting new missionaries. there was a problem with the salt lake office in charge of issuing calls, and for some reason the india bangalore mission wasn't on the list for new elders, or something like that. so instead of 8 new elders being called as replacements, we only have 2. i think i'll have been fixed by now, but we won't get a full batch until july maybe. eek.

we'll watch general conference, not this week, but next week. i love general conference, it always feels like the super bowl.
would you send a copy of my cd to Matt Haldane? he's stationed in japan right now. that'd be great.
OH, and if you wanted to set up soemthing with a travel agency your trip to here, contact president Praveen Beesa in delhi, the district president. he owns a travel agency, and is really good when it comes to these things. tell him where you'd like to go, what you want to see, how much time you want to spend in each place, etc. and he'll draw it up for you with flights, hotels, the works. if you do write to him, tell him that you don't want to stay in super expensive hotels (i.e. NOT marriott and NOT sheraton), and that you don't want to fly on kingfisher and paramount for each flight. i would recommend a 10-day tour, bangalore for a couple days, meet the president, get some sleep. then come to goa, see the churches, hit the beach, meet the chowgules and the kalras and the fernandes family, go to church. i don't know where i'll serve after goa, but i think i'd like to go there. then go to delhi, see the taj, do qutub minar, i guess go to jaipur if you want, do some shopping, fly out of delhi. that seems to have been the plan, but tell him that. tell him the starting date - november 11, and tell him how many are going. he'll get it all scheduled, and then give a quote of how much it will cost per person. i think that's the first step, talk to him, see what we can expect for the trip. yes.

alright, i wrote a lot this week. and now i'm hungry. gonna go have some lunch. and maybe buy an electric mandolin. MAYBE.
i love you, the church is true (and awesome!), have a great and slightly more exciting week than just eating eggs, and i'll write again next week!
love
josh

---------------------------------------

The following is being reposted, since some friends didn’t get it, last time. It’s from a couple of weeks ago.

HEY, JOSH FAMILY AND FRIENDS,

JOSH HAS A MAKESHIFT RECORDING STUDIO IN HIS APARTMENT IN INDIA, AND HAS PRODUCED HIS FIRST CD, A SELECTION OF WELL-KNOWN CHRISTMAS SONGS AND THE ORIGINAL TITLE SONG "COLD SEASON." (OKAY, IT TOOK A LOOONG TIME FOR INDIA CUSTOMS TO LET THE CD OUT.) ACCOMPANIED BY JOSH ON THE MANDOLIN, WITH BACKUP VOCALS BY THE GOA ELDERS. TO GET YOU OWN FREE COPY OF THE CD, JUST WRITE JOSH AN EMAIL REQUESTING IT. REMEMBER TO INCLUDE YOUR SNAIL MAIL ADDRESS. WHILE YOU'RE AT IT, TELL HIM WHAT YOU'VE BEEN UP TO; HE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU.
EMAIL JOSH AT: ELDERCANNON@MYLDSMAIL.NET

IF YOU CAN'T SEND AN EMAIL RIGHT AWAY, SEND YOUR CD REQUEST TO ME, AND I'LL SEND IT TO YOU DIRECTLY. BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO PROMISE TO WRITE JOSH WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE! MY EMAIL IS: SCOTTSCANNON@GMAIL.COM

ENJOY.
SCOTT CANNON
--------------------------------------------------------
And now, last week's letter (early March):

the transfer is completed, i am currently living with my comp. elder jenkins - atlanta, senior comp. elder banavath (bah-NAH-vuht) - hyderabad, and his comp. elder brimley - peoria. all the arizonians come to goa. there's a new american elder in the mission from this transfer, elder Koepke from mesa. i've not yet met him, but i probably will in april. we're having another half-mission conference, so that's that.

went on an exchange with elder banavath yesterday, he's good, very humble missionary, a bit shy, but i've seen vast improvements in his poise and such in the recent past, so i'm happy for him. missions give us all awesome benefits. we taught one of his investigators preparing for baptism, a sister named maria, she is so rad in the gospel. she loves the book of mormon, she knows joseph smith is a prophet, all that good stuff. she's a very receptive and active learner. most people we teach don't ask us any questions while we teach them, let alone stop us in the middle of teaching to clarify what we're saying. maria, on the other hand, does. we taught her about baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end, but in there and because of her questions, we also discussed the priesthood, ordinances, why women don't hold the priesthood, and bearing testimonies. i'm going to have a lot of fun interviewing her when the time comes. until then, yogesh is getting baptised on the 16th, so president nichols has authorised elder brimley to conduct his interview, since he's already been a district leader, this saturday. it will be good.

the weather is warming up a bit, but it's still ok right now. i've actually had something in the way of a throat cold for the last several days. for the first day, i pretty much couldn't speak. the next day, it gradually got better as the day progressed, but i was still speaking an octave low. the next day, i couldn't speak when i woke up, but i recovered faster. today, i'm pretty much fully recovered, but i'm still taking the strepsils, which is the brand of cough drop that's most tasty here. these ones are honey and lemon flavored, mmm.

i just realised, 8 MONTHS! eep. one third remaining, time for me to get into gear! well, actually it's long past time to get into gear, but i'm gonna do it anyway! i plan on asking pres nichols what activities are appropriate to plan wwhen you come along. that will happen at the end of this month.

now that you mention that you're cooking, i thought i'd tell you that i've decided on my first meal when i'm home (barring any fast food or stuff we get on the way). ready? take this down. salmon in that sesame teriyaki sauce. red parsley potatoes. peas. mountain dew code red. dessert? i haven't decided. can we make that happen? thank you!
i love you, i appreciate your prayers and support, and i hope you have a great week!
love
josh

WRITE TO JOSH!
ELDERCANNON@MYLDSMAIL.NET


hi mom and dad,
yep, currently in bangalore, zone conference finished today, pretty fun stuff, we had 3 zones in attendance. lots of fun to see so many missionaries i knew and so many i didn't know. fun times. it's cool to get shuttled around like a VIP, makes me feel big-time. pres and sis nichols talked a LOT about the temple and all the ordinances that go on in there, like how there are 3 different types of temple recommends (temporary recommends for baptisms, recommends for proxy work, and one-use recommends for living ordinances), madness! turns out that they were ordinance workers in the anchorage temple for about 4 years, and saw around 20,000 baptisms for the dead. and he was in charge of renovating and expanding the temple, so he knows his stuff. cool mission president.
some good news! your package from january was in the office when i got here! better news! the other packages are in one of the other elders' apartments, and i'm getting them tomorrow morning! thanks a bunch for mind trap, we stayed up for a while guessing the puzzles. they're all pretty fun, i get most of them, but some have really unfair answers [story story blah blah story SO why didn't the detective pursue the convicted murderer when he escaped from the plane? ANSWER: because he had a hole in his parachute!] and almost sound like jokes. but those are few and far between. and i'll fully enjoy the far side calendar, very good choice. one thing i need to say though, is i was asking before if you could send me a TUBE of shoe polish, like the stuff you gave me when i left. we get tins of polish without a problem here, but i prefer the cream in a tube - it spreads and shines better. that's hard to find. if you stumble upon one in the future, please pick it up and put it in a future package pile. thank you! oh, and one more thing - WE GET THE CHURCH NEWS. everyone laughed and laughed when they saw what i pulled out of my box, and i did too. don't worry, we get all the church news sent to us from the bangalore office :) thank you.
i saw that video of grant last week, super sweet. he can even sing along! amazing! he has a bright future, especially with parents like the ones he has.
merrianne sent me an email, would you tell her that everything here is pretty awesome, and i'll try to write next week? i'd like to mail a musician from provo named Joshua James, would you ask if she can get his address? that'd be great.
i heard about the new first presidency yesterday, really exciting. didn't see pres. hinckley's funeral though, maybe they'll send it to us on video.
we fly back to goa tomorrow afternoon, then it's overdrive working, because we only have 2 solid days of work until sunday. it's hard to fit everybody in into that short of a time, believe me. i like the rush, it makes me happy.
it was elder jenkins' birthday on monday, so we surprised him with cake and stuff. then we had a cake fight. i'll send the results of it to you soon, pretty fun times. lame part was cleaning it up before we left for BLR. s'ok.
please send any comments that come to my livejournal page to me. and if you'd update it with a line that says something to the effect of "JEN! i got your letter. thanks a bunch, i'll write back soon!" then i'd appreciate it.
alright, i'ma get going, gotta write to matt haldane now.
i love you, and i appreciate all your help and support.
love
josh

Hi, all

ooo, orange season in mesa. i miss fresh orange juice a lot. the oranges they sell here aren't really oranges, just some other kind of citrus fruit. they don't suffice.
yeah, i meant to send photos last week, but my camera was out of batteries. it's all charged up this week, though, so get ready. i have some good landscapes and village photos this time.

you want to make an indian dessert? all we have here are some nasty sweets, they're all made of milk that's boiled to oblivion. ick. vanilla ice cream and mango sauce is good enough. indians love mangoes. in fact, i realised the other day that i have no idea how to make india food! and i know how mad you would be if i came home without a single recipe to my name. i'll get elder banavath to teach me how to make dahl and chicken curry.

weather is nice, warming up a little bit. i hear it gets hot in the summer, so i'll be more than happy to leave by march (that's when the next transfer is happening). elder jidla is leaving thursday back to hyderabad 1st branch, and he isn't happy about it. my new comp will be elder jenkins, i knew him in delhi and hyderabad. good guy. we'll have fun.

i want you to see Goa, we should go to delhi and do that triangle thing, but i have one special request: i want to fly home through japan. is this possible/reasonable/too expensive? i just really want to be able to say that i've flown around the world.

on the subject of music, e. hunsaker's christmas package got here, and it had some cds in it too. 2 manheim steamroller christmas albums, to be exact. instant nostalgia for the both of us. we realized that we've both listened to these cds pretty much every christmas since we were born. pretty funny.

goa is awesome, and i feel hopeful for the church's future here. it's just really nice to have more priesthood holders now. makes me feel relieved that the elders and branch pres don't have to carry the whole load anymore. good good!
alright, i'm gonna get to those photos now, i love you, have a great week!
josh

EMAIL JOSH AT ELDERCANNON@MYLDSMAIL.NET



( +4 high-quality photos )

Hi, friends of Josh Cannon, we have a favor to ask. Josh has asked for Mindstorm for Christmas. Problem is, we have no idea what Mindstorm is. Some kind of card game? Can't find it at Toys R Us, WalMart, Amazon, even Google comes up empty. Anyone know what he's talking about??? Thanks. Scott & Karee Cannon

Also, direcly from Josh:
hey, MATT HALDANE, send me an email! that'd be super. i don't know how to send you a letter or email. i've got stuff to tell you. thanks a bunch! - josh

How to contact Elder Josh Cannon:
+Reading his blog: eldercannon.livejournal.com
+Reply to blog: select "Leave Comment" at side of screen
+Send him email: eldercannon@myldsmail.net
+Letters and packages:
Elder Joshua Cannon
India Bangalore Mission
Anjali Plaza, 2nd Floor
493 CMH Road, Indiranagar
Bangalore 560 038
India

Give him both your email address and snail mail address - he'll email directly if he can, or write you a letter otherwise.