Beautiful Jillian!

Last day in Morgan Hill!

One of the sisters Jill baptized is from India so at church the Sunday after her baptism she dressed the missionaries up in beautiful native India dresses! Jill loved it! 

Isn't Jill so beautiful? I sure think so! : ) 

June 25, 2012

June 25, 2012

We have been working our little tails off, here in Livermore. We had a really cool experience on Saturday. When I opened my personal study with pray I asked something I had ever asked before. I asked, that I would be led to study what I would need that day. I ended up reading in Matthew (I’m going to start reading the New Testament again.) Well as we were driving from an appointment that canceled we saw some people moving so we slowed down and asked if they would like some help. They were really grateful and accepted right a way so we parked and got out in our dresses and started moving boxes. It was an elderly couple that didn't have any family so the realtor, her husband, and a friend volunteered to help move them. The Friend was a little skeptic of us at first and read our nametags. You could tell he was trying to see if we were Mormon. It said Christ so he was ok for a little bit. Later he stated asking questions. He was trying to find out more and trip me up at the same time. It was so much fun because everything he asked, or quoted I had read that morning and had a wonderful spirit guided answers and a great big smile on my face. At the end I was teaching him stuff that only we believe and you could see the spirit testify that what I was saying was true. I was led and prepared for that day and that man. At the beginning he was ready the shew us away and in the end he told us that we were heaven sent. They weren't ready to have the missionary teach them, but we taught them by just being missionaries.

Things are moving along in Livermore, but slowly. Sometimes that’s Heavenly Fathers way, little by little.

I love you all and hope that you can open your eyes to the miracles in your life. I know that they are all around you if you want to find them.  I love you all and hope that you will seek the path God wants for you. It really is the only way to real lasting happiness.

Sister Cannaday.

June 18, 2012

June 18, 2012

So this week was really hard well… more boring. It’s harder when you are bored. Everyone canceled on us this week and we haven't been able to get a hold of many of the people that we teach. So we went to work looking for new people to teach. We talked with everyone! It was a lot of fun and weird some times! I found out that when you are talking to people and they feel the sprit, if they don't know what it is, they will just start hitting on you. The light of Christ really dose make you look better. In the end we found two people for the elders to teach! :) Also goes to show you that we really do have something that those around us can see and they want in their lives. ; )

 We had a really cool experience yesterday at a member’s house for dinner. The Sister was from Japan and a convert; her mother was visiting her and has never showed any interest in the church. Well it was Sister Satinis turn to give the dinner thought and she whipped out the plan of salvation and testified so powerfully. Before we left we asked the mother if we could come back and teach her the rest of God’s plan for her and she was excited. It was really neat to see her heart soften and change. The daughter, Sister Ruben, was blown away that her mother even listened.  To add to the coolness Sister Satini was having a really hared time with her English and Brother Reuben had to translate it in to Japanese because the mother didn't speak any English at all. The spirit translates into every heart.

Lately We have been trying to listen to the spirit as much as we can and I have been guided to a lot of people that haven't been home! I wasn't really sure why this was until I was daydreaming in church yesterday and realized that the Lord is trying to see if I will really listen. If I'm really willing to do what he wants me to. This was one of those mind-blowing moments that just made my testimony grow so much. We can't always see why the Lord asks us to do something not even after we have done them. But we are not meant to know all that God knows in this life or understand why he has us do the things we do. I was then reminded of a talk I read that morning From A Mountain To Climb Talk. 

"One of the characteristics of trials in life is that they seem to make clocks slow down and then appear almost to stop. "There are reasons for that. Knowing those reasons may not give much comfort, but it can give you a feeling of patience. Those reasons come from this one fact: in Their perfect love for you, Heavenly Father and the Savior want you fitted to be with Them to live in families forever. Only those washed perfectly clean through the Atonement of Jesus Christ can be there."

The Lord is preparing all of us for what he wants us to be, if we only let him we can become more then we could ever imagine.

I love you all you are in my prayers stay strong.

Sister Cannaday

p.s. A man just past me a note asking about Joseph Smith. How cool is that?

June 4th and 12th

June 4th

Yay! This week was great!  It started out on the wrong foot but ended strong. We also had a lot of fun. We really don't have very many people to teach right now, so that is pretty much all we are doing right now, finding finding finding, looking for those that are looking for the truth. Which is so much fun! We have found two or three new people that are really but no one like Nina yet.

So, last night Sister S. and I were walking back to our car after a lesson! We were parked about a block away from where we ended up and were late for out next appointment. We decided that we were going to race to the car. We were both wearing pencil skirts and found out very shortly that it’s very difficult to run in pencil skirts. We both tripped a little at first, but we kept going. We looked so silly running down the road like little penguins with giant bags on our backs. I was taking three steps for my normal ones. I now know how Jenni feels when she is trying to keep up with me. : )  (Love you Hattie)

Funny story #2: This morning I was reading in third Nephi where Christ come and visits the Americas. I was so excited that I was finally reading it that I leaned too far back and fell out of my chair! Hahah!  My companion really thinks I'm a “crazy white person”!

This week we had a really cool experience we were driving to a less active’s home to meet them for the first time when I had this thought to go street contacting. I thought “oh I will just go after” and turned left when I got this really strong feeling that I need to turn around, get out, and talk to people. So, I made a U turn and listened this time. We got out of the car and talked to two people, and then we bumped into a member of our ward. She looked at us and said “I have someone for you!'' she then gave us directions to where her two daughters were getting their hair cut and told us that we needed to go talk to the person cutting their hair. We went on and said this lady is so so so ready for the gospel and willing to listen. What a miracle it is that we were in the right place at the right time and that we listened to the spirit when we did. It's moments like these that make the truthfulness of what we teach and that we are set with divine guidance it is undeniable THIS CHRUCH IT TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mission has really given me a new look on life. I have always been a happy person, but I have come to know that that is the way our Father has made us to be. Everything He gives us and every guideline is to bring us more joy, everlasting joy! What everyone wants, here in life, is to be happy and most are searching for it! How lucky are we that we know where we can find it. It may even seem strange to people that following commandments make you happy, but it really truly does. The key to happiness is to keep the commandments; it’s really that simple. If there is something in your life that is preventing your from keeping the commandments then change it. This doesn’t mean that it is going to be easy or stress free but "Men are that they might have JOY''  really our Father in heaven wants what is best for us and we can have it as long as we continually try to become closer to him. 

I love and miss my family so much and I want you all to have this joy. I'm telling you now that if you are looking for it somewhere else you are NOT going to find it. If you are just to lazy to do what you are asked then no one else but you are to blame for your unhappiness. NO one but you!!!!!!  I have seen so many people looking in wrong places. I so glad that I get to serve the Lord and be a tool in His hands when people are willing to open up there eyes to His plan for them, "The Plan of Happiness" I love you all, Please take a look at your life and change whatever is stopping you from having that great joy because our Father in Heaven in just waiting to give it to you!

-Sister Cannaday

June 12^th

Jenni Hey there is a note at the bottum just for Troys mom His step dad past away this week. pleas make sure she gettes it and that it is'nt sent to anyone else !  Thank you so much for every thing you do for me.

Really nothing big has happened here in Livermore. My mission has a goal of 10 hours of service every week. It is the best way to soften people’s hearts really it is just so neat. We volunteered at the city’s rodeo to help handicapped people from their cars to their seats and back. It was a lot of fun! The lady that we were working with was just so impressed by the way we work hard, and were always smiling. She started asking question about us and one thing led to another and we thought her the first two lessons from just answering her questions. She told us, "I really like you two, I have never given missionaries the time of day. I'll have to make sure I tell them hi from now on." We asked if she would want us to come over and teach her more, but she told us no thank you! But she did say that the next time she works with missionaries she is going to have questions for them. I love watching the hearts of the people change in just a little amount of time. Everything else this week really didn't turn out the way we wanted it to, but that is just how it goes sometimes as a missionary. I love being a missionary! : )

Now I like to share something with you that has really helped me understand the purpose of our life here on earth it is from the book the Teachings of George Albert Smith. If you have not read it you should! Chapter 7: The Immortality of the Soul is a great chapter that you need read and not just read it but, pray for understanding that you need to take it in to your hearts and make it a part of you. I'm going to share just a little bit with you that I really loved.

George Albert Smith was blessed with a firm understanding of the purpose of life, and this enabled him to encourage others as they faced adversity. He frequently reminded the Saints that “we are living eternal lives”—that eternity doesn’t begin after this life but that mortality is a crucial part of eternity. “I sometimes have said to my friends when they seemed to be at the crossroads, uncertain as to which way they wanted to go, ‘Today is the beginning of eternal happiness or eternal disappointment for you.’”1

President Smith testified of these truths at the funeral services of Hyrum G. Smith, Patriarch to the Church, who had passed away at a relatively young age, leaving behind his wife and eight children:

“I have felt, since I was asked to speak at this funeral, that perhaps I would not be able to do so. My emotions have been stirred, and I have found myself incapable of controlling them, but since I came into this building a beautiful, sweet influence of peace has come into my soul. …

“Instead of mourning I feel to thank our Father in heaven for the Gospel of His Beloved Son that has been revealed anew in our day. … To know that life is eternal is a wonderful blessing,—to know that throughout eternity the blessings that this good man has lived for will be his. His mortal life has been terminated but this is only part of eternal life. He has laid the foundation deep and secure upon which he has built and will continue to build throughout eternity. The joy that he has experienced here upon earth will be added upon. …

“As I think of the experiences of people in the world, on occasions of this kind, I marvel how we have been blessed. I have no more doubt about eternal life and the immortality of the soul than I have that the sun shines at midday. … It is a sad thing to part with our dear ones, even temporarily. We send them upon missions, or they go to other parts of the world to live and we miss them. When an occasion like this occurs it seems that they are more distant, but as a matter of fact they are not, if we but understood. … Instead of extending the condolence that sometimes might go to those who are bereaved, I feel more like rejoicing this day that I know that this is not the end. …

“… So today, as I stand in your presence, when perhaps tears should be flowing, my soul is filled with comfort and satisfaction. I pray that that comfort may be in the lives of each of those who are bereaved.”

I hope everyone has a great week and finds away to build the foundation we need to carry us through the hared times. I love you all! Stay strong! The Lord in by your side!

- Sister Cannaday

Pictures from Morgan Hill

I finally got a round to scaning in some of the pictures I got recently of Jillian! I got a ton in the mail from one of the sisters in her old area so I just pick some of my favorites! I hope you enjoy! : ) 

Jenni

PS Go write Sister Cannaday a letter! Here address is in the post just after this one! : ) 

May 29, 2012

This week has been crazy! We have been teaching like crazy, eating like crazy, and well going crazy!!!!! I love being a missionary but man it’s hard sometimes! 'm finding strength in the Lord and hope in his work. We had a baptism here in Livermore this week and it was the last member of a Indian family that I have just come to love so much! They are so kind and sweet and she is teaching me to cook Indian food. They won’t let us leave without eating every time we go over there, so I have been learning a lot! Oh the things you do for the Lord....:) She also had us dress up as her special guest for church the day she was confirmed which was SO cool! 

This week I also got to go back to Morgan Hill for Nina, my old investigators baptism. It was sooo… cool to see her get baptized I really love that woman. In the story of The Waters of Mormon the people that were baptized saw the waters of Mormon as a beautiful place of reverence because, that is where they came to know their Redeemer. I know now why every one loves where they serve their mission because you grow to know your redeemer more and watch other do so as well which strengthens your faith and testimony so much! Missions are the best! 

We had a really cool service experience this week! There is a woman that has been being thought for a long time and is really struggling with her belief in God and we have been trying to help her in any way that we could. This week we helped her clean out here daughter’s room and as we did we sang hymns and talked about how the spirit guides us! The spirit was so strong that she didn't want to leave the room and neither did her daughter. The next time we went back they told us that they stayed in that room all day and just loved the peace that was there! It was so super cool! : )

Stay strong and do the little things! I meant it they really matter!

Yes Alex I did put the wrong address the first time I gave it to you all! I'm so sorry!

Here it is again;

Sister Jillian Cannaday

1736 Paseo Laguna Seco

#124

Livermore, CA 94551

This is the real address. And Jenni I did yet the letter you sent me even though it was to the wrong address!

Sister Cannaday : )