July 30, 2012

Hello everyone,

         This week has been great and one of the fastest I have ever had on my mission and they only seem to be just getting faster and faster.

         The 2nd of August will be my half way mark and I can't believe that it's already knocking at the door. Serving the Lord is so much fun! It really is the best thing I have ever done in my life and I’m so grateful that I have been given this chance. I really would be a missionary for life if we could take a nap every day. : )  Truly  this experience is such a great gift. I was told that a mission was a way to give back a little bit to God, once. This isn’t true at all! You get so much more out of your mission than you could ever give back and the harder you try to give the more you get. It's like tithing and fast offerings, when you give little God gives you a lot!

         We truly do have a heavenly Father that love us and knows us and who is just waiting to bless us if we will do our part and sometimes even if we don't. He will never leave you alone or without what you really need. He loves you and I feel the love that he has for you and for all the people that I have met on my mission. 

    He only gives us trials for our own good and who are we to think we know more than the God that created us? We shouldn’t question our Heavenly Father and the trials he gives us. The bishop in one of my wards taught third hour yesterday. He told us that the only way to make iron out of basic elements is to put them into a super nova or a sun. That means that the iron in us now at one time was in a sun. When we truly think of the greatness of the body that you have been given how could there not be a creator? And if he took all that time why would he leave us here on our own? Well he didn't he is with you and love's you just open up your eyes and see.

         I love you all and hope everything is going well please pray to that Father that would love to hear from you so badly and then open up your heart to hear the answer. "Man are that they might have joy " and most of the time we are the only ones in the way. SO .... MOVE!

Sister Cannaday

July 16th and 23rd

JULY 16TH

Hello Everyone!,

Ok so this week really started out bad! It was one of those “No Good Really Bad” weeks and there didn't seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel. My companion was giving me the silent treatment for some reason! I had no idea what I did and that meant the work was going nowhere even though I was doing everything I possibly could.

Then we had zone conference and everything changed, my mission President gave a talk on leaning to love those around you, including your companion, and looking for the good in what they are trying to do. He used this scripture reference:

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt ^alove the Lord thy God with all thy ^bheart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy ^cmind.

 38 This is the first and great ^acommandment.

 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt ^alove thy neighbour as thyself.

This is how people will know if they are a Disciples of Christ, if they have loved one another. It was like the talk was meant for us. My companion started to talk to me right away. The next day we had a great companionship inventory and she opened up to me for the first time and now everything is going great, missionary work and our companionship.

 I have learned 3 big things from this:        

1. HAVE COMPANIONSHIP INVETORY (If you are married you picked your companion talk with them on a weekly biases. Fix things early before the problem gets too big!)

2. Do everything in love. Love everyone around you. Love is a gift from God that grows bigger when you share it. Love is the greatest commandment of all.

3. I also learned that I needed to have more faith and most of all patience. I was reading preach my gospel and 1 thing all of us could learn more about is patience.

"Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious. It is the ability to do God’s will and accept His timing. When you are patient, you hold up under pressure and are able to face adversity calmly and hopefully. Patience is related to hope and faith—you must wait for the Lord’s promised blessings to be fulfilled. You need patience in your everyday experiences and relationships, especially with your companion. You must be patient with al people, yourself included, as you work to overcome faults and weaknesses."

We can all trust more whether it is in missionary work or with our children. Just don't forget why we are here, to grow and become closer to the person God wants us to be.

I love you all! - Sister Cannaday

JULY 23RD

Hello Everyone,

It’s no surprise this week has been full of ups and downs, but both are blessing from God meant to make us stronger, and bring us joy. On the up side we had 3 investigators at church and on the down the youth speaker said some stuff that well.... we really don't believe. The lesson from this one is to always read your kids talks PLEASE! To tell the truth it was really funny, and made for a great lesson afterwards about how we are all still learning. 

This week Dads have really been stepping up to the plate. We have had two lessons this week were the fathers stepped up and told their children that he knew that they could do better, and it was done in so much love. It really made me think of my Father in Heaven and how he has to do this to us every now and then. We get content and lazy and he has to put something in our way to wake us up and help us grow. Heavenly Father never gives us more than we can handle he only gives us enough to grow. The humbling experiences make our hearts fertile so that we can grow just like a gardener gives plants sun and water.

Elder Scott talk about this in his talk for conference, “How to Obtain Revelation and Inspiration for Your Personal Life.”

"For spirituality to grow stronger and more How to Obtain Revelation and Inspiration for Your Personal Life available, it must be planted in a righteous environment. Haughtiness, pride, and conceit are like stony ground that will never produce spiritual fruit.

Humility is a fertile soil where spirituality grows and produces the fruit of inspiration to know what to do. It gives access to divine power to accomplish what must be done. An individual motivated by a desire for praise or recognition will not qualify to be taught by the Spirit. An individual who is arrogant or who lets his or her emotions influence decisions will not be powerfully led by the Spirit."

We all must keep going and not only “Endure To The End” by “Enjoy To The End.”

The Lord has really been answering our prayers as we act in faith. We have found two new investigators and they really seem open to learning. We also have been teaching better as a team and having fun. Other then that there really isn't much that has happened this week, just teaching, teaching, and more teaching every day. The days and weeks and mouths are all going way to fast now. I can believe that I'm almost half way! I really don't want to ever be done! I love this work so much.

I love you all and please, wake up every day, pray, and tell your Father in Heaven that you are willing to do anything he wants of you and then do it! This truly is the way to happiness. Sister Cannaday

July 1st and 9th 2012

July 1, 2012

Hello Everyone,

I feel like I haven't heard from any of you but Sam in a really long time. Thank you Sam! I know that part of it is my fault because I haven't been the best at writing everyone back!  I’m sorry for that! BUT I would really love to hear from all of you more! I really miss knowing what is going on with you!

Things here in Livermore are great! I really love the two wards that I'm working with. It’s weird because it feels a lot like Utah other than the fact that there are more people here that really don't like missionaries then there in Utah.

So this week was soso!  I could have gotten a lot more done, but everyone canceled on us multiple days even for dinner! It was really weird we only taught one or two people those days and those lessons were rock star lessons! The spirit being the star of course. The Lord cleared our day so that we could be where he needed us. He truly knows what we need to do; sometimes it's just hard to figure it out. We need to humble ourselves and realize that we really have to turn it over to the Lord. Everything to the Lord!

Ok everyone,  I have homework for you. Look up the talk "Be Ware Of Pride" It is such a good talk and will really help you feel the love the Lord has for you.

Funny story time! We were visiting some less actives that lived out in the country, we were walking back to the car, and it was dark!  You all know how much I love the dark! Well Sister Satini came up behind me and with her nails graded the back of my calf! I almost kick her in the head and did my little freak out thing, where I wave my hands and scream and the top of my lungs. Sister Satini was almost on the ground she was laughing so hard! The Dad and the family came running out with a gun which is even funnier because the only thing in “the wild” out there is squirrels.  I thought you might enjoy that story. : )

"For spirituality to grow stronger and more available, it must be planted in a righteous environment. Haughtiness, pride, and conceit are like stony ground that will never produce spiritual fruit.

“Humility is a fertile soil where spirituality grows and produces the fruit of inspiration to know what to do. It gives access to divine power to accomplish what must be done. An individual motivated by a desire for praise or recognition will not qualify to be taught by the Spirit. An individual who is arrogant or who lets his or her emotions influence decisions will not be powerfully led by the Spirit."

Don't just let the Lord have a hand in your life give it to him! I love you all! 

Stay strong, Sister Cannaday

July 9, 2012

Happy 4th of July,

This week has really been full of ups and downs. The 4th of July was a really great day we did a lot of serves and ended up having hamburgers for lunch and dinner with members! Over all it really was a great day full of fun! But... I really missed the people I love the most!  I MISS YOU MY DEAR FAMILY!  I'm super excited to get to come home and have a giant water fight!

Because everyone has been out of town missionary work has been really slow which is no good when you miss you family. I also eat something Thursday night that didn't not like my stomach at all so Friday I spent most of my day asleep on the bathroom floor! Not a fun day! It was a blessing that we didn't have to cancel on many people, but the best part was that I had all day to read my scriptures, ( well try to read, when I wasn't super nauseous)!  I have been reading in the New Testament, if you haven't read the New Testament in a while than you should! It just blows my mind how wonderful Christ is and how much we can learn from him. HE really is the greatest example that there is.

            We met a old couple recently and one of the things they told me was "I have never met a Mormon I didn't think was just the nicest person"  I almost jumped for joy. But that means that we need to keep that up we need to live what we learn and what we teach those around us because what if you were that "But one" that closed someones heart to the message of the truth Jesus said, 

7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their ^amouth, and ^bhonoureth me with their lips; but their ^cheart is far from me.

 9 But in vain they do ^aworship me, teaching for ^bdoctrines the ^ccommandments of men.

 10 ¶And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:

 11 Not that which goeth into the mouth ^adefileth a man; but that which cometh out of the ^bmouth, this defileth a man.

Don't let what you do be in vain truly be the example of a believer and those around you will see the happiness that it brings and wont that for themselves, but don't only do it so others can see but find the desired to do it because you love God.

I love you all and thank you for your pays I really need them! 

-Sister Cannaday