March 7th and 13th : )

March 7^th 2012

Family and Friends,

         Wow! Can you believe it’s March? Time is going so fast! This time is really a gift give to us from God. Just like any gift that we are given it all depends on how we spend it. We could spend this gift invested in our families and fulfilling our divine purpose God has for has or let it dwindle away being filled with "I'm to busys" and "I’ll do it tomorrows” we really will reap what we sew. Yesterday Elder L .Tom Perry of the 12 came and talked to us. I GOT TO SHAKE HIS HAND!!!!  It is such a gift to be able to be taught by a prophet of the Lord. He said something that made me think "everyone of you be the missionary that God knows you can be, be obedient, sprit driven, celestial missionaries. Be the missionary your mother believes you are."  I know that, Mom, you think I’m the best missionary out, but I know that my brothers and sisters have even higher expectation for me. Thank you! I have been trying my best these last couple months to live up to those and mostly to the expectations of the Lord. Nephi told his bother that he would not return home with out fulfilling his mission of getting the plates and I'm telling you that I will not return until I have filled my mission. Kreguer my swim coach use to tell us leave everything you got in the pool give it your all. I'm leaving everything I got everyday I'm here and I will return will honor to Utah and to my Heavenly Father because I know this work is true! That the true church was restored by a humble boy and that President Monson is the living prophet today.

         This week has been full of up and downs! We have started to teach two new families and the spirit truly has brought us to them. The spirit has been so strong as we teach. On Sunday one of our investigators came to church sat down next to me and said, " I want you to know that the Book of Mormon is true! I just know the book is true!" It was fast Sunday so every time any one said anything about the Book of Mormon she would lean over and remind me that the Book of Mormon was true, and that she wasn’t going up there and telling everyone but she knows that it is true. After sacrament meeting she told us that she wasn't planning on coming, but something told her at she needed to go, so she did. Than as she walked into the meeting something told her the Book of Mormon was true and she know it in her heart then something told her that she needs to go to the temple so before she left we set a time to go to the visitors center. She is acting on the promptings the Lord gave her in faith and she was truly led. It is so exciting to see the change in the people we teach!

          Thank you everyone for everything that you do so I can be out here! Never forget God doesn’t give us commandments so he can tell us what to do he ask us the follow him so he can bless our lives I hope everyone has a great week

- Sister Cannaday

March 13th 2012

Hi everyone,

          I think this might be the first time you might have better weather then me. It’s raining and will be raining for most of the week. This week has been really short because I got really sick this week. I got some kind of a cold flu that lay me up. Most of the time we still get out and teach when we are sick, but there was no way I could do that this time. On Thursday I got home from district meeting at 12 and just slept the rest of the day. I wake up at 6pm and then went back to sleep at 8pm. I was not feeling well at all!

         We had 3 investigators at church this week which was way fun, but hard to answer all of the questions. For one of them it was her 4th time at church and she already talks as if she is a member of the ward! How exciting! But she wont set a date to be baptized just yet.

         On Friday we were super excited to have interviews with the mission president, but he canceled and invited us to his house for Sunday dinner to have them then. But when we got there he wasn't home so we helped his wife make dinner and when he got home from a long day of meetings he was just too tried to have interviews. He told us just to chill and hangout with his family which is really hard when you are on your mission. It was a lot of fun though just to spend time with him and his family. 

          I'm feeling great now and every thing is still moving being a missionary is really fun. : )

 Alex and Alan thank you for the e-mails it is really nice to hear from you and yes you can email me I will just print then off and no it I still can’t see the picture Sorry. I love you all and be good!

love Sister Cannaday.

(Just for you Charla : ) 

February 21st and 28th

February 21^st  

Dear Friends and Family,

         This week was so much fun! On Valentine’s Day we put hearts on all our investigators doors and some of our less active members. We also did it for our Relief Society President. I don't think I have ever met anyone in my entire life that lives up to the phrase "charity never faileth" like she does. This woman sets the bar high for Relief Society Presidents everywhere! She is always doing things for others just because she truly loves them! There's no way I could ever say enough about Sister Adir. I just want everyone to know about this woman who has just been put on to "My Heroes List". It was a lot of fun and because we went out of our way to make these families feel special we were able to get into some peoples homes that we couldn't before. 

          Also this week Sister T and I both almost got kissed. Sister T and I were visiting a mental heath home to see one of the members in our ward that is staying there. A man came in the room and the Sister from the ward introduced him to us. Sister T put out here hand for a hand shack and he went down to his one knee and tried to kiss her hand, she pulled a way and he tried to get it back, twice. It was one of those moments that you just want to laugh until you cry. He then told us that we were both very attractive over and over until we left the room. Then at church a little boy and his family sat next to us. I talked to him and shared the treats I keep in my bag. I had made a new friend! Halfway though sacrament he told me that he had something for me and then tried to kiss me! I put my hand between him and I. He was so determined that he pulled him self off the bench and was hanging around my neck. I love being in a family ward it's so much fun! Even if I have to dodge a kiss here and there.

         I hope everyone is having a great week! The missionary work is going great here we are teaching up a storm and loving every moment. We have a baptism on the 3rd and I can't wait. Today someone asked me why I was so happy and when I told them because of my church they where blown out of the water. We have such a leg up on the rest of the world in life. SO LIVE IT UP!!!!!!!

Love you all,

Sister Cannaday

February 28^th

Hello Everyone,

          This week has been a lot of fun! There is a 74 year old Sister we have been teaching that has a little dementia. It was her birthday on the 24^th so we took her cake and ice cream and a silly birthday hat! It was so much fun to go play and teach her and see her just soaking everything up. There is another sister in our ward that had a birthday this week and I had one of the neatest experiences with helping her. She has M.S and has a hared time coming to church so we decided to take notes and teacher what we had learned from church. This week she couldn’t make it and we had one of the best sacrament meetings I have been to in a long time, but the really neat part was that as I took notes I could feel the sprit prompting me and giving me scriptures and ideas that would help her. As we taught the lesson to her the sprit was so strong in the room and the revelation she got was answers to long awaited prayers. I love being a tool in the Lord’s hands. It's so fulfilling. This last week we had a lesson on preparing young man to serve missions. There is nothing like serving a mission! The joy it will bring will last a lifetime and will give you strength and you can draw from forever. Moms stay strong and help your sons, Dads be the priesthood leader that they can follow! "We are a family that serves MISSIONS!" (Hollin)

Just so you all know I miss you all dearly!!! Sorry my letter is so short this week we have to get going to a lesson but I want all of you to know that I love you and HAPPY BRITHDAY LITTLE AL!!!!!!

Love,

Sister Cannaday 

February 14th

Happy Valentines Day Everyone,

         I hope your day is full of love from your family and for the Lord. I have had a fantastic week full of work and joy. On Sunday I had the chance to sing in a missionary fireside it was really fun and the first time that I have sung in front of people in a long time. I forgot how much I love to do it. Sadly it was in a chapel so it couldn’t be record and sent for all of you to hear.

         I have loved my district so far on my mission! Sadly this week we were broken up four of the missionaries either went home or were transferred it was a big bummer! P-day will not be the same with out them.

         This week was a little yucky because Sis. T got sick with a cold and as she got better I came down with it. But we still went out everyday and served the Lord. I know the Lord gives you strength when you really need it. I was told a story by Sister T his week about the Hawaii temple. When she was in the MTC a speaker came and told them a story from his mission in Japan. It went something like this… One day they were knocking doors and we found a man that said, "Oh you are the ones that have that special white protected building in Hawaii" the man was one of the bombers in pearl harbor after he had hit his targets he was flying around the island and saw the temple he thought is look important and had some bombs left. He flew over and hit the switch to release the bombs, but it didn't work he flew over again and it still didn't work he flew over a third time and the same thing it wouldn’t release the bombs. He then flew over the ocean hit the switch and the bombs dropped. He went back determined to get this building and the switch didn't work again. He gave up after that. The man then asked what has the name of the God that we pray to because it would be nice to have him on his side. The Lord blesses us in ways that sometimes we never know. The people in the temple never knew that were in danger and the Lord protected them. There are so many things that we should be thankful for that we don't even know are happening. Be grateful this week for those you love, I know that I am so happy to be a part of our family. Just so everyone knows last night I came home to a box full of flowers from Troy! I love that boy! I know we are doing the right thing by serving the Lord. I'm one lucky girl! I hope you all have a great week and remember that our Heavenly Father loves you.

Love, Sister Cannaday

February 7th

Hello Family and Friends,

         This week has been great for me! I hope has been just as good for all of you as it has been for Sister Taugolo and I! After you have been on you mission for a little while you forget everything that you have written home about and mission life comes to feel normal. It my feel normal but I will never take it for granted, I love the special spirit that we carry with us as missionaries! There are no words that could really express how you feel as a missionary. There are plenty of hard times, but they seam to fade and the really great moments where the sprit is strong stay in your heart and keep your feet moving. I love being a missionary!

         This week we got to teach a girl named Tori I'm not sure if I have told you about her yet but she is seventeen and is looking for the truth. It is so neat to see the light bulbs go off as we teach. Something I’m still learning is to make sure that we are asking the right questions. We have been teaching Tori for three weeks and she has felt the spirit and know she has, but she doesn’t know if she is getting answers to her prayers. We had taught her how to pray and what the spirit feels like, but we forgot to tell her that if she asks God if something is true and then she feels that spirit that it is testifying of the truth to her. After we told her that it made sense and she knew that her answers were been answered. Ok. Example number two we are teaching a 50 something year old woman named Nina that is progressing great but had some questions about baptism. She asked, "Where do you get baptized" I answered her " Oh there is a big bathtub like font in the meeting house where you came to church."

Her eyes got really big Nina, " Do we do it in private?"  Me, "NO you invite whomever you want to come" Her eyes got bigger. Then the light bulb went off in my head, she thought she got baptized naked!!!  When I realized the misunderstanding I yelped "Oh No! You wear clothes! You wear close!" her face went back to normal and Sister T and I apologized that we didn't explain it every well. Once we got the car we busted up with laughter.        

          I also got peed on this week… because a puppy was so happy to see us. It has been a week to remember. I love you all and I hope everything is going well.

Love, Sister Cannaday.

Jan 24th and 31st

Jan 24th 

Hello everyone,

          This week was great we have been super busy teaching lessons and helping people out. We just taught and taught and taught and taught and taught and taught. (You get the idea!) This P-day was ‘Polly day” (Polynesian day) once every 6 mouths all the “Pollys” and the companions get together, play volleyball, and eat their hearts out. We had KFC and it was really good! (Mom I thought of you). I only played volleyball for one game they were all really good and it was really intense. I honestly just didn't want to break my nose. Part way through all the Sisters were going to play mini golf, but one “Polly Sister” wanted to stay so they all did! It ended up being only being “The White Sisters” that went and played mini golf. I thought this would be safer, but there was one Sister that hit the ball so hard that she could have knocked us out. It was a really long game that involved some cheating in order for all the balls to get in the holes. It was a lot of fun. All the sisters that played mini golf talked about how much they loved serving with a “Polly”, we are all have so much fun.

         I love being on a mission. My life now seams like how my life should have always been! I just love it! I'm so glad that I’m here serving the lord.

         My president told me he was going to leave me here for a while, but he asked me some weird question yesterday and Sister T said that that’s what he dose before he moves you or your companion. I will let everyone know what’s going on as soon as I do. I love all of you so much and miss you! Oh and my mission is going way to fast! : )

Sister Cannaday

Jan 31st

Dear Family and Friends,

         So this week was great! We taught 28 lessons total. Before we got in this area the sisters were only getting 6-10 lessons a week. It's amazing what hared work and smiling face's can do.  We are teaching a girl named Tori she is 16 and has been doing great! She is coming to church and reading everyday. The last lesson we taught she had lots of questions about prophets and prayer! We planned on teaching about prophets but were not planning on prayer. I had this over whelming feeling that we needed to watch with her the prophet’s last conference talk. I didn't remember what it was about, but getting some help form a prophet is never a bad idea. The talk was titled “Stand in holy places" it was the talk where the prophet bore his testimony about prayer. The sprit was so strong that everyone in the room was starting to tear up. I love moments like these where we get to share the truth and blessing of the gospel with someone who really wants to know. I know that by following the teaching of the gospel and doing what the prophets have asked us to do we will find great joy in our lives things still might be hard but we have the Savior there to help lift us up. I read a talk in my personal study by Elder Hollin and in it he told a story of a dream.

 "As a young missionary, Elder Orson F. Whitney (1855–1931), who later served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, had a dream so powerful that it changed his life forever. He later wrote:

“One night I dreamed … that I was in the Garden of Gethsemane, a witness of the Savior’s agony. … I stood behind a tree in the foreground. … Jesus, with Peter, James, and John, came through a little wicket gate at my right. Leaving the three Apostles there, after telling them to kneel and pray, He passed over to the other side, where He also knelt and prayed … : ‘Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt.’

“As He prayed the tears streamed down His face, which was [turned] toward me. I was so moved at the sight that I wept also, out of pure sympathy with His great sorrow. My whole heart went out to Him. I loved Him with all my soul and longed to be with Him as I longed for nothing else.

“Presently He arose and walked to where those Apostles were kneeling—fast asleep! He shook them gently, awoke them, and in a tone of tender reproach, untinctured by the least show of anger or scolding, asked them if they could not watch with Him one hour. …

“Returning to His place, He prayed again and then went back and found them again sleeping. Again He awoke them, admonished them, and returned and prayed as before. Three times this happened, until I was perfectly familiar with His appearance—face, form, and movements. He was of noble stature and of majestic mien … the very God that He was and is, yet as meek and lowly as a little child.

“All at once the circumstance seemed to change. … Instead of before, it was after the Crucifixion, and the Savior, with those three Apostles, now stood together in a group at my left. They were about to depart and ascend into heaven. I could endure it no longer. I ran from behind the tree, fell at His feet, clasped Him around the knees, and begged Him to take me with Him.

“I shall never forget the kind and gentle manner in which He stooped and raised me up and embraced me. It was so vivid, so real that I felt the very warmth of His bosom against which I rested. Then He said: ‘No, my son; these have finished their work, and they may go with me; but you must stay and finish yours.’ Still I clung to Him. Gazing up into His face—for He was taller than I—I besought Him most earnestly: ‘Well, promise me that I will come to You at the last.’ He smiled sweetly and tenderly and replied: ‘That will depend entirely upon yourself.’ I awoke with a sob in my throat, and it was morning.”' ¹

     

The details of this story made me feel as if was the one rapping my arms around the Savior and pleading with him. He loves us and wants us to be happy and wants us to be with him again we just have to do everything that we can first. I love you all and hope that everything is going well. Please remember that through the Savior we can all make it back to our Heavenly Father. 

Love you all,

Sister Cannaday

Jan 10th and 18th

January 10^th,

Hi everyone,

This week has been great! We taught a lot and have made some big steps with a lot of our investigators. Sister Taulogo is so much fun and always keeps me laughing. Yesterday was p-day and we played four square and basketball as a district. After playing Four Square for a while we started to play with no hands, which was a lot of fun. Then we played on one leg, and with one arm. We looked like a bunch of chickens jumping around, but we were all laughing so hard most the time we couldn’t breath.

   This week there was a sister visiting her daughter who was a less active and invited us over to have family home evening with them. When we got there the daughter wouldn't come down stairs and neither would any of her kid. The Sister offered us some soup because our dinner appointment had canceled on us, so for we were all for it. She gave us the biggest bowl of soup you have ever seen! A family could have shared one of the bowls she gave us. She thought the more she gave us the longer we had to stay and the greater chance her daughter might come down the see us. Her daughter did come down and said hello, but not for long. We tried to tell her we were full and she tried to give us more and wouldn’t let us leave until we ate every thing she gave us! By the time we left you could have popped us. We didn't eat until the next night and I could have gone even longer. Everything is going great here and with Troy going in to the MTC tomorrow. I'm so excited it's all I want to talk about. I love you all, be good. If you have sometime read Alma 56 and think of how much faith those young man had do it! Because WOW!

Talk to you next week,

 Sister Cannaday

January 18^th

         This week was a great one! I had my first baptism! What a cool thing to take part in, someone making promises to the Lord! It doesn’t get any better than that! Because we were the sisters that taught her I got to do all kinds of cool stuff that I would have got to do if I wasn't a missionary. I know this might not sound like a thrill to some of you but you know how I get super excited about little things. I got to fill the font!!!!! It was so cool to go in the boys charging room, have the special key, and turn on the water. For all you girls it looks just like a bath tube knob nothing special. : )  I thought it would be more special. Then we got to set up and take down, find people to give prays and talks, and print off the programs. I know that this might not sound like a big deal, but to me it was because it was for someone I love and watch the light of Christ fill her life! I wish you all could meet Stephony Nickol Jonson Africa. She has the biggest heart and the biggest smile to match. I'm so happy for her to have the great gift of the Holy Ghost. Stephony is 22 and has been deathly afraid of water she can't even be in a room with a bath tube full of water. Over the last 4 week she has been slowly working up to being able to get just her legs in the water. The really cool part was that when we told her she would be going all the way under the water she didn't question if she wanted to be baptized. Her eyes just got really big and said "Ok ...... I'll work on that." The Lord has blessed her in so many ways and she can see them all. The Elder that got to baptize her was the first one that she talked to and it was the first time he got to baptize anyone. This elder ever smiles, but when we told him he smiled from ear to ear. The time came to get in the font and the only one who looked scared was the elder. He was shaking bad, he messed up the pray and had to start over, the sprit was so strong! When she went under it felt like forever it was dead silent no one was saying anything except me whispering "Up Fast ....Up Fast!"  I was wonderful!

         I know now why Missionaries love baptizing..... It’s the BEST!

I love you all stay strong and remember that your heavenly father and I love you both. Love Sister Cannaday

Pictures! YAY!

My mom got a package of pictures that were taken by from one of the Sisters (sister smith) Jill is teaching on her mission! I choose just a few to put up here so you can see what she is up to! 

Hanging up Christmas lights for a service project!

Brother Smith, him and Sister Smith are preparing to get sealed in the Temple this year!

Quilt from Sister Smith! 

Jill putting her general contractor daughter skills to use! 

Christmas presents!

I also got a package of pictures yesterday from Jill! 

Here are some of the pictures I got!

San Francisco Bay! How gorgeous is this?

Jill getting ready for a ward Christmas party!

Oakland Temple with Christmas lights! 

Jill and Billy! She is 95 and as sharp as a nail! 

"We ate at a members on Christmas Eve and they bought us new PJ's just like one of the family! : ) The members spoil us!

This is my personal favorite! Jill wrote on the back of this picture "Sister Taulogo Pray!" : ) funny!