Have a great Danish Day!

Hello!

What a wonderful week it's been! So many adventures!

In the way of excitement: It was Danish Days this weekend! A wonderful festival they have every year where people come from near and far to enjoy parades, aebelskievers, and all that is Danish! Everybody went around saying, "Have a great Danish Day!" Super fun.
And for Danish Days, the Leysters came to our ward! (Neighbor from South Jordan)! That was super exciting.
On P-day we went to Neverland! Aka up to see Michael Jackson's ranch. That was cool.
Guess who gave the Relief Society yesterday? Sister Eckhart. That's right. Aaron Eckhart's mom, Two Face from Batman. She is so funny. She did a skit for part of the lesson. It was awesome.

In other news, the work is hastening as always! Our investigators are doing great. Dane and Andy continue to come to church every week and read from the Book of Mormon. Dane is planning on being baptized Oct. 12. Carl is going through a lot of hard things right now but he knows he needs God right now. He's planning on baptism for the first Saturday in November. Connie still comes to church every week and is doing great. Jaime is one of the most converted investigators ever. He is so ready. He just needs to take the leap of faith.

We met this super funny guy from Syria named Louis. He didn't speak English too well but we met him and he was like, "Where is church? I go to your church." We explained where it was and he said, "I see you there. I go to your church!" Haha. He was so funny. We met all kinds of people this week.

There is this less active man named Shane who we just love. He has some sort of mental disability but he's way high functioning. He just speaks really simply, kind of like a child. Last week we taught him the plan of salvation and invited him to share the gospel with his family so they could be an eternal family. In the closing prayer he said, "Thank you for the missionaries. Today I learned a lot about the atonement. I want to teach my parents about the atonement." That just about melted our little hearts. Then he came to church on Sunday for the first time in years! And the ward did such a good job of welcoming him back and befriending him. Yay!

I love Solvang!
Hna. Cannon

Off to Neverland! We went on a trip with Bro. Millet and saw Michael Jackson's ranch.

We also got to go hiking in the mountains. Great fun!

A beautiful day in the Santa Ynez Valley!

This is how people were dressed for the whole weekend - even for church! So fun.

Surprise! It's the Leister's! (From our home ward in South Jordan) Happy Danish Days :)

Every day is the best day ever

Hna. Cannon here. Okay, we had so many miracles I just don't even know what to say. It's incredible. And I just spent forever writing President about it, so I only have like 10 min. to write about this. Yikes! Okay. I'll do my best.

ANDY! He is the most amazing person ever. On Oct. 1 he will complete 2 years of being clean from drugs. We encouraged him this week to quit smoking and coffee as well. He said he would pray about it. In Sunday school the lesson happened to be on the Word of Wisdom and he said right there in the manual were the answers to everything he'd been struggling with. He said he thought it was amazing that we teach health as part of our religion. He went and got a patch yesterday! He's going to do it! We are so proud of him. It's going to be hard, but we are going to do everything we can to help him quit. He's been to church like 7 times, he's currently in Alma 45 and wants to finish the whole Book of Mormon, he listens to talks by President Monson on his phone all the time. He's doing so well. Ah! We love him. Plus he's the best person ever.

We got Carl back! Turns out he's been struggling a ton. He's been fighting for custody of his son, Woody, who's having a really hard time adjusting. But Carl says he knows he needs God now more than ever. He wants to be baptized so bad, but he know he needs help. He should be able to get custody on Sep. 25, then he said the divorce should be pretty easy after that, then he wants bishop to marry he and his girlfriend Dawn, and he wants to be baptized on Oct. 26! Super exciting.

Oh my gosh. So many other people. I can't believe how many progressing investigator we have. I wish there was enough time to tell you!!!!

I love you so much and am so grateful for you. I hope you have a wonderful week!
Hna. Cannon

Staying in Solvang another transfer!

Family!

Oh my. This week. I can't even tell you. Bestweekever! Hna. Millet and I are tearing up this area. We are trusting in the Lord, relying on miracles from obedience, and being super ambitious and goal oriented and we are seeing so much success!

I can't even put this past week into words. I will try. Our goals were so high, and we met or exceeded all of them. I've never achieved this high of goals in my whole mission. It was incredible. There was a price to pay to receive these kinds of miracles. We were tested and tried. We were placed in situations where we chose to pay the price of obedience - we knew we needed to be worthy of these miracles. Because we were obedient, the Lord was obligated to bless us, and He did. So much! We've learned a ton this week. It was especially important for Hna. Millet as a new missionary. This level of dedication and diligence is going to bless her throughout her mission, as well as mine. We were wiped out every day, but there was an incredible peace that came from that. We could sleep easy each night knowing we had given every ounce of our heart, might, mind, and strength.

We have 4 investigators right now who could totally be baptized in September or October. Each of their stories and struggles are unique, but I know with faith they can overcome them. We are doing all we can to help them have faith and overcome their trials. Andy, Connie, Dane, and Jaime. They are all doing so well and are making such great progress. I am so proud of each of them for all they're doing to keep their commitments and progress in the gospel.

The other night we were planning where to go the next day and I saw a street called "Lucky Lane." I was like, we need some luck (aka miracles), let’s go there! The next day on Lucky Lane we knocked this woman's door (Alisa) and started sharing the gospel with her. She interrupted and said, "I'm sorry, I'm just a little freaked out right now. I was just praying for God to let me know He's there, and here you are on my doorstep." We testified to her that we are messengers from God sent to bring her the truth. It was so powerful. She could feel it. We were freaking out after because we were like: no way, these are those crazy stories you always here missionaries write home about. It was crazy to experience one of those classic stories! I'm excited to see what happens with her.

We know that we are meant to be in this area at this time. The Lord has been preparing this area for a long time. He is hastening His work and we can see it. Satan is also hastening his work. We can see it. People attack us with Satan's lies. He has carefully lead their hearts away from the truth. He tries to use them to prevent us from touching people's hearts that they may discover the truth they so desperately need. But we know which side we are fighting for. This is a time of decision. Who are you fighting for?

Hna. Cannon

We Found the Hidden Valley!

We went on a super fun adventure last week with this sweet old man. 

This man is wonderful. Nicest person in Solvang? Most likely. Every P-day he makes us the best lunch we've ever had, then he lets us wash our cars so we don't have to buy one every week. He has the best stories. This picture was taken mid-adventure telling, while he was taking us on an adventure of our own.

So excited for our adventure! Road trip!

We got to see the valley where Hidden Valley Ranch comes from! It was beautiful.

This is the hidden valley! (yeah, like Hidden Valley Ranch) We found it!

Cool bridge in the Santa Ynez Valley!

So! This week has been amazing. I've never taught so many lessons with members present in my whole mission. Wowza. This ward is incredible. Everyone is so willing to help us. No one makes us feel bad, they just want to do everything they can to help the work. It's amazing. And our bishopric and ward mission leader are on fire! We are all working so hard here.

Hna. Millet and I are both super goal oriented - so we make quite a team! I can't believe how much success we're having here in Solvang. We are seeing so many miracles. You know how Christ did miracles to help people have faith? That is what He is doing for me right now in my mission. The miracles He is blessing us with right now are helping us grow so much in faith. Now, we know our insane goals are achievable, and it will help us set our sights high for the rest of our missions.

We're working with a ton of member referrals right now - everyone is super excited to share their friends with us. It's amazing. Then when we meet them, they realize how not weird it is to introduce your friends to missionaries, and they want to do it again! It's great. They're realizing we don't bite, and we help their friends want to learn more and then they're even happier.

Yesterday I saw the biggest dog of my life. Actually it might have been a bear - shaped like a dog. I wish I would have had my camera! We got to talk to the owner just walking on the street. He was this super cool music guy who said he liked the "vibes" at church haha. He said he might come this Sunday!

We're teaching a deaf guy right now - he is wonderful! He is our neighbor. He came to church on Sunday and stayed all 3 hours! Communication is kind of hard though - anyone want to teach me sign language?

 I love youuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!
Hna. Cannon

You want to see miracles? You just have to look!

[From Amanda's message Aug 26, 2013]


Hello!

This has been a wonderful week in Solvang. The Lord is blessing us with so much success. It's crazy. We are seeing miracles every day.

Okay here's a MILAGRO. There is this elderly woman from Mexico we've been teaching named Domitila. She has tuberculosis and is super sick and practically dying. She is so sweet but she's been really sad and lonely because she can't have visitors or leave the house because she's super contagious and has to wear a mask. We teach her outside her door while she's inside. Last week we brought some brothers from the ward to give her a blessing. We went by this week to see how she's doing and she didn't have her mask on. We were like, Domitila, where's your mask? She told us she was TUBERCULOSIS FREE. The doctor did a test and told her so. She was COMPLETELY HEALED. Can you believe it? We were freaking out. The sad part is, she didn't even realize the significance of the priesthood blessing. She was just like, yeah lots of people have been praying for me and God decided to heal me. She is so set in Catholicism. We ended up asking her what she would do if God told her there was a different church that was His church, if she had to choose between Jesus Christ and the Catholic church what she would do. She said she would stick with what her parents taught her. -_-  It made me think of when Jesus healed people. I wonder if they would have said it's because a lot of other people had been praying for them and they were going to be healed anyway. There's a verse in the Book of Mormon that says there were many miracles for those who were willing to look. Miracles have not ceased. Are we choosing to see the miracles in our everyday lives? If we do, we will find them.

Anyway. Things are going great here. The Bishop is awesome and getting all fired up about missionary work. He said in ward council to the auxiliary leaders that they have to get moving to keep up with the sisters. Haha. It's so funny because we know it's not us. The Lord is giving us success to help the members in this area have faith and make change. We've already gotten 3 awesome member referrals this past week. The Lord has really been preparing this area for all these changes. I love it.

The members here are so great and willing to help, there's just one problem. Carl, Dawn and Woody came to church on Sunday (oh P.S. they're doing great now and we're still teaching them) and lots of people said hi to them but nobody invited them to sit with them. In Relief Society we introduced Dawn to several sisters and they just said hi and ran away to go sit somewhere else. She ended up just sitting with us. We need to help the members see that there is plenty of missionary work to do right in front of them. Often times members think they need to go out and bring people in. The most important thing they can do is to take care of the people we already have, that's when the Lord blesses us with more.

We had a great YW/YM missionary activity on Wednesday! We've been planning it for about 3 weeks and it went really well. We gave them mission calls on Sunday and they all came dressed as missionaries and we gave them nametags. They separated to their classes where they were "called" to, and had a mini MTC experience. Then we had a TRC where they went with their companions and got to teach "investigators." It was super fun.

I love you!!!!! Thank you so much for your letters and kind words. Your support really helps and means so much.

Onward ever onward!
Hna. Cannon

The Lord loves us over here!

[From Amanda's message on Aug 19, 2013]


Hello!

Wow! Milagros este semana!

We really wanted to reach our goal this week of having 7 lessons with members present. By Saturday we had had 5, so we needed 2 more on Sunday. We had one scheduled with Carl, and we were praying for one more.

We ended up getting to have a lesson with a lady who's not a member but has been coming to church for a year! We're excited to work with her.

Then Carl cancelled so we went to visit them and see what's wrong.

Okay so Carl needed tons of help at his house cause he is disabled so we put together a service project for him! That was super fun. He loves the church so much and knows this is what he needs. His girlfriend told us yesterday that she's not ready for this right now though :( We hope he'll still want to learn in the meantime, but they said they'd talk about it.

We were a little sad after that but I remember the words of Elder Lynn G. Robbins who visited our mission. He said, "Success is to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm." I told my companion, we still have a miracle scheduled for tonight!

So we called a member in our ward to see if she could come out with us, and she didn't answer. We talked about what we could do and we decided to pray for guidance. The second we finished the prayer the phone rang, the member called us back and said she could come out with us!

We didn't have an appointment but we went to visit a new family we've been teaching and ended up getting to have a great lesson with them. She told us after that she'd been feeling like she hadn't been contributing to the work and she'd been praying for an opportunity to help the missionaries. So we were an answer to each others prayers! And we were able to achieve our goal! Then she told us that she'd been praying for Spanish speaking sister missionaries in this area, because she thinks that will be just the thing to touch her husband’s heart. He is Peruvian and was taught by Spanish sisters before he was baptized. He's been less active for 20 years, but she is praying we will be able to touch his heart.

We were so grateful to the Lord for blessing us with these miracles. I wish I had time to tell you about them all. We've had a ton this week! We found 7 new investigators! The amount of teaching we've done this week was quadruple what the elders before us had been doing. They were working really hard and they were great missionaries. The difference is that the Lord wants everyone in the ward to think we're like these incredible all-star missionaries, so he is blessing us with tons of success and miracles and it's making everyone in the ward get super excited about missionary work. They are seeing all the success we are having and are trusting us. That is helping the work roll forth a lot in this area. It's so awesome. We're just being obedient, pleading with the Lord for miracles, and having faith. He is using us to help the ward members do missionary work. It's so exciting.

I love you!

One happy missionary,
Hna. Cannon

Pictures speak louder than words :)

Me and my compa! Her name is Hna. Millet from Taylorsville, UT. She graduated from Utah State and she taught kindergarten this past year.

This is the Ruiz family who I always talk about. I love them so much. This picture was taken my last night in Oxnard/Camarillo. The dad said toell your family hello and we love them even though we haven’t had the privilege of meeting them :)

Last day with the district. Love these elders!

Saying bye to the awesome people of the Oxnard 5th ward!

Amanda with Sister Corniea from American fork

Amanda looking like a cool Californian with a crush :)

Us four new sister missionaries got to speak in church yesterday and it was super fun!

So last week we got to visit this lady in a nursing home named Betty. She wasn’t very coherent, so we just held her hands and sang her a hymn. The whole room fell silent and stopped to listen. The spirit was so strong. Betty passed away 3 days later. We went to her funeral today and there was a beautiful service. One of the brothers of the ward shared a great message. He said, “There’s only 3 reasons to be sad today. 1) Because you didn’t know Betty well and wish you could have. 2) Because you did know her well and are sad to see her go because you’ll miss her. 3) Because you don’t know where she’s going.” Then he shared the plan of salvation and how Betty knew where she came from, why she’s here, and where she’s going. I love getting to share that message with people. It’s beautiful.

Ygnacio is a new investigator who’s awesome!! He is 17 and plays football for the local high school. He has such a sincere desire to follow Jesus Christ. His life has been really hard and he hasn’t made the best choices, but he wants to use the atonement in his life. He is definitely searching for truth. My companion and I love him so much and want to do everything to help him get good friends in the ward who will be good examples for him. It’s kind of hard in a small town cause everyone knows each other already. It can be kind of hard for the youth to suddenly reach out to people they’ve known for 10 years. But we’re working on that and trying to help them see how important it is. We’re planning a huge missionary night for the youth in a couple weeks and we’re super excited!

I love you!
Hna. Cannon