letter #42

Letter #42

January 30, 2013

Ottawa

Dear family,

Greetings from Ottawa, the capital of Canada located in the Province of lovely Ontario where we are seriously experiencing a HEAT WAVE of 3 degrees. I am not exaggerating. We have had sub zero temps as of late and tons of snow. The coldest we have experienced is about 35 below C. in Val D’Dor. Ottawa is a very beautiful city, diverse with many cultures living in and about the city. It is quite liberal. They just elected, for the first time ever, a female Premiere of the Province who is openly gay. People speak of her as a role model for the young women. I feel she is a very good person and has the best interest at heart for Ontario however the media is speculating this election was about gay power, gay rights kind of thing. The Pro Family groups are ramping up the ads in opposition. We will see how it all works out. Actually the majority of the Providence’s Premieres in Canada are women. And the government gives much more power and authority to the Province’s Premieres than say we do to our Governors. However the Prime Minister of all of Canada, kind of like our President, is Stephen Harper. As I listen to the folks here in Quebec I realize they are not very keen on him, but then all leaders when they choose to be public servants,  must accept the fact that someone is not going to like them. They can’t make all the people happy all of the time, just some of the people, some of the time. One thing I love about their elections is that they only last for a month. Heavenly. Less money spent and get right to it. Anyway that is your snippet news/info. concerning the Canadian government. Interestingly enough, I never knew anything about their government til we moved here. They all know about our government and how we run things. I don’t recall being taught in school about them, our neighbors up North. But then I don’t remember a lot of things I was taught in High School. The Canadians at least in the news reports refer to us as our neighbors down South often times.

I have caught a bit of a nasty cold. Boo hew or should I say AHHH Chewwww. I am feeling the effects of the Nyquil this morning. Suffice it to say, I sound like Richard Sterban of the Oak Ridge Boys of which many of you may not be acquainted with because one, they were popular, most likely before your time or two you dislike country music and would not be familiar with them. Anyway on with my sad story. It hit me like a ton of bricks Saturday night. I actually stayed in bed for a day. Never before have I done that on  the mission. Libby you would have been proud of me. But then Monday came around and we had interviews. We packed up and left for Ottawa. Tuesday we had interviews with three teams. Our first interview was in Valleyfield with Elders Montenson and Freeze. They are both such wonderful, sweet, hard working, obedient Elders. They live in the basement of a member family. Brother Bourreau sp? and his wife are so generous, kind and good to our missionaries. It is humbling to see how they have gone to great pains to create a wonderful place for our Elders to live so “they can feel the spirit of the Lord so they can go about their work” as stated by Brother B. in his broken English. They both speak French. Brother B. has a brain tumor and is waiting to find out today what the prognosis is. Not sure if it is fast growing or not. He is such a good, kind man. He has a big farm and much land and his hands are big, rough and knarly. He can fix anything and has a ready smile that lights up his face. There are so many faithful, wonderful Saints, or member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints here. I love, respect and admire them for their sacrifices and their commitment.

Before we  visited the Elders I called them ahead of time and asked if they would join Nelson in administering a blessing of health in my behalf. When we arrived the three of them placed their hands on my head and gave me the blessing. It was a sweet experience as Elder Freeze let me know I would still be able to continue my work, that I would get over this and assured me of my Heavenly Fathers love for me. The tears ran down my cheek as this sweet Elder pronounced this blessing on my head. Usually Nels would have done that but he wanted the Elders to have the experience. One anointed my head with a drop of consecrated oil and the other sealed that anointing and gave the blessing. It was a very sweet experience for me to be blessed by our dear missionaries. I told them I would stay away from them because I had a cold and they said, “Sister Cannon, we love you and we don’t want you to stay away from us”. Am I the luckiest girl in the world? I love these missionaries with all my heart. I feel so blessed to have the privilege of working with them. I know that this is sacred time and I don’t take that for granted, any day. It is such a wonderful experience to be able to serve in this particular capacity and work so closely with these exceptional young men and women AND seniors who we love. Today I am feeling a bit better even though my voice is still very bass like. On the phone, I have been referred to as President Cannon now three times….once by Kat, that was so funny. It made me laugh in a very bass kind of way.

As we go to these interviews in the apartments of each team of missionaries a number of thing occur. First and foremost, dad/Nels, interviews each missionary to see how they are doing. He does a great job.  I check smoke alarms, make sure carbon monoxide alarms are functioning as well as making sure everything in the apartment works. I check for cleanliness and make sure junk is not accumulating in each apartment. As we go about these interviews I see some of the funniest things. Yesterday, we saw a music corner set up in the apartment. The members loaned a keyboard to the missionaries as they try and learn simple hymns to play during meetings as most branches and a number of wards do not have piano players. So in the corner was this small keyboard and on the wall in front of the keyboard were two medium sized Christmas foil gift bags stuck to the wall. I asked what they were for and immediately both Elders grabbed their Ukuleles’ and place them in the bags. Some of our missionaries have learned how to play the Ukulele in their free time. It seems to help with alleviating stress as well. Their apartment was so clean, the floors, even the top of the stove, counters, bathroom etc. Then I grabbed the handle of the micro wave. It was then time seemed to freeze as the Elder looked at me and his face went pale. I knew then they had forgotten to clean out the microwave. As I opened I realized why he did not want me to open it. It appeared that stuck on the sides and top of the micro, was enough food for dinner that night. We all started laughing and he said he would get to that later in the day. The base of the oven was also a bit crusty but all in all I was so proud of them for their effort and told them so. It is so important they understand that part of this learning curve of being on a mission is the basics of life. Aside from all the missionary work and teaching they do they learn things like properly maintaining a car and apartment, making menus and buying and preparing food, staying healthy by exercising and eating right. Hydrating every day. Grooming themselves, and their clothes, looking sharp. How to cut their own hair, shine shoes and maintain white collars and cuffs, writing thank you notes and practicing good manners and etiquette.  These simple basics of life are things we are trying to teach them here. And they are good enough to be willing to learn.

We had another dinner this past weekend for 24 total Senior missionaries who gathered at our house to bid farewell to our dear Mahaffey’s. They are Roger and Deidre Mahaffey from near Lindon, UT. As usually we had too much food and way too many desserts. But as usually we enjoyed each others company and bonded as friends do. They have been such a strength and joy to have here in the Canada Montreal Mission. When they first came, they were searching for the right apartment down in Cornwall, which is where they have been serving. It took them over a month to find one. In the time they stayed with us we became very close to them. Every time they came in the door they said, “We’re home mom and dad” even though they are a tad older than we are. So they have become our “kids” as we lovingly refer to them as. We will miss them and look forward to the time we can go stay with them for a month. JK

We are preparing for our Zone Conferences, which occur every three months. That is where we gather our missionaries from all over and split them into four groups/locations for instruction. We gather them in Ottawa& Quebec City for meetings and then two separate meetings in Montreal. These meetings necessitate missionaries driving from the far reaches of our Mission. I am currently working on a discussion/training on the basics of missionary work. I will entitle my training “Basic Training” and present it with an Army type atmosphere. I will have them stand at attention and ask questions and if they give the wrong answer they will have to do a few push-ups or something like that. Dad wants to start it off by bringing them all to attention just like he did in the Army. I wanted to try to do something a little differently as we are usually pretty serious in our conferences. Time for a little learning along with some fun as well. Hope it doesn’t backfire and James if you have any inspiration I would love to hear it.

Well, it is time to head out so I will close for now, but know how much I love and miss you all. Heavenly Father has been so good to us. WE have been blessed by your prayers and all you do for us. Including taking care of the leaks in the house this week Tracie, Libby, Kat and Farhad. Thanks for all your help. Hopefully we will get things fixed. I am not worried at all as I know the house is in GOOD hands. Thanks so much. Love you! And thanks for the pictures of the family getting together this last week. If any of you have any at all I would welcome any and all pics.

I love this work. It brings great joy my life and for those who choose to embrace it, it brings great growth, change, joy and peace in their lives as well. It is truly a miracle to witness people before and after their conversion. It never ceases to amaze me. I am grateful for my knowledge of this the Church of Jesus Christ. I know who I am, I know where I am going and why I am here. I know my purpose. For that I am grateful. P. S. We just finished with interviews today and it was so warm I had my window open. What is going on here? Anyone else experiencing bi-polar weather?

Much love to you all,

Mom, Mema, Shir, Sister Cannon

The letter I just sent had three pictures. One of a boat out in the snow on our way to Rimouski. Two, four individuals who I love more than words can describe, and Three us crossing the icy St. Laurent river on a ferry from Quebec city to Levi. Those of you who have made that trip may remember it differently. And three pictures in addition to those, another of our trip across the river, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil, and some of our wonderful missionaries in for a zone council along with the coordinating sister. We love them all.

--