Letter #31
August 15, 2011
CMM Home
Dear family who I love, love, love,
Greetings from beautiful, warm, humid, green, multi-cultural Montreal. How are each of you this week? We are still in the midst of interviews so that means a very hectic schedule. Hey, question? How would any of you like to drop us a line now and then? If you find time to write a few sentences….that would suffice. Only if you find time. NO, this is not meant to cause any sort of guilt but simply a gentle reminder that we are out here without you and we want to know about your lives. Yes, I love speaking with you on the phone but writing is oft times more revealing and that is what is important to me, to know the feelings of your heart, the worries of your soul and the joys of your life. Enough said. And IF we never get a letter from you our whole mission, it will NOT change anything at all. I love you more than you will ever know. Nothing can change that, especially a letter not written.
You can tell it is August as it seems as though the entire town has left for either FL., Orchard Beach, Cuba, or Costa Rica and Northern Quebec. They also love to go to NY. I love these people as they know how to play and spend time recreating with their families. Something we look forward to doing in about two years.
For some reason, our one year mark, marks a time for a sort of “slow down” for me. It feels like time has come to a halt. I hear from others, the next two years will fly. During our interviews today one of our wonderful missionaries said, “Sister Cannon I will have been home a year when you return.” Somehow that made it seem like an eternity. But then I thought of how fast the last 13 and a half months have flown by. I fear it will be over before I know it. So, I will continue to savor every day, every task, every missionary and this special time with Nels. This is a very unique time in our lives, a gift of time together where we have a common goal. A time where we have been tested as a couple to learn how to work and grow together. A time of great personal change which is painful at times. A time of repentance and forgiveness. I am grateful for this experience we are having together as we will never have an opportunity to work in this setting again. Dad is doing a great job and I see him grow in his leadership and organization every day. The missionaries love and respect him so much. I am very proud of him.
One thing I have come to know for absolutely sure, is that the Lord’s hand is very real in our every day lives. We must but look for it. Then express our thanks through prayer. We may think good things happen just because….but I believe differently. I know that Heavenly Father is very active in our lives. May I share a very simple but powerful experience I had today. It was a result of prayer and the evidence of the love and tender mercies of our Father in Heaven who knows and loves us.
I have an iPhone. Yes, it is true. I have been provided, with one of the greatest tools on earth. (I should sell these to the baby boomers and beyond, after the mission and teach them how to use them. I still have a lot to learn) It does everything but do the dishes and cook. I am waiting for those apps. With this phone, I keep lists, voice messages, text, get reminders, schedule appointments, keep a calendar, record all kinds of info, it IS the miracle hotline, I call people, take pictures and videos and send them and do much more. It has become my “third arm” if you will. As we were leaving for interviews this morning, I could not find my phone. I looked everywhere. We called it but unfortunately I had it on silence. Even our Assistants, who were here, helped us look. I checked every possible place two and three times. Nels helped. Nohemi who helps us at the house turned the house upside down today. I was admittedly lost without it today and missed 17 calls and two texts. The reason I know this is that I found it. This is how it happened. We arrived home around 7:00 p.m. We unloaded the car and put stuff away and once again I started my search for the phone. I said a quick prayer this morning before we left, that I might find it. I finally gave up and decided to go up to our room and work on a project I wanted to finish. As I stood near my bed, an image came into my mind. As clear as if someone had shown me a picture. It was an image of my scripture bag and the side zipper was unzipped and my iPhone was in that pocket. I ran downstairs through the kitchen and down two steps to the laundry room where I hang my scripture bag on some hooks. There it was, zipper unzipped and my phone deep in the side pocket. It is times like these, I marvel that Heavenly Father knows exactly who I am and that He hears and answers my prayers just as He answers yours. Maybe not in my time but, in His time. I know that I am a child of God. He loves me and I love Him. He knows and loves every single one of His children. I am humbled by this knowledge and I feel so blessed to have had this experience. It wasn’t necessarily getting the phone back that mattered, but that a prayer was answered, I felt loved by Him and I am very simply, happy to have had this experience. That’s it.
Well, I better wind this down. It is now the evening and I have some reading and journaling to do. I am trying my best to get to bed on time. I always sleep better when I am in bed by 9:30-10:00 and have time to read. Incidentally for those of you in the family who don’t sleep well, I had been doing really well sleeping, only waking up a few times each night. But then I started up again with bad sleep habits. So I started with Melatonin. I tried it before when Rich suggested it to me but it did not work, so I quit after a few days. I learned that it takes about 3-4 weeks for it to really kick in and work. It has helped me sleep well. I am not sure how long I will take it but I think I will keep taking it for a few more weeks then quit.
Love you all. Make it a great week and I will do my best to do the same.
Love,
Mom,Shir, Mema, Gramma, Soeur Cannon
Link below to pictures from the mission and a recent 1 day trip we took to Val Jalbert Falls an hour away from Alma in Quebec.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/canadamontrealmission/
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