"I Was A Prisoner, and You Took Me In . . . "

The entrance to the Oquirrh Facility

Went back to prison yesterday and it was wonderful.

Ed Leary is in the Bishopric of the Oquirrh Facility Branch and he asked me to come and talk at a Fireside knowing I had been their Sunday School teacher for three years about five or six years ago.  

I jumped at the chance because I remember how wonderful it felt being out there before.  

The Spirit is so strong there.  Matthew 25:36 says "I was in prison and you visited me," and the promise is reciprocated.  Rare is the Sacrament meeting on the outside where the Spirit is like that and I suspect one reason is it's because those men read their scriptures constantly.  I mentioned that yesterday and asked for a raise of hands and I would say that two-thirds, three-fourths of them read their scriptures in groups daily.  I mentioned that I was reading the Book of Mormon for the fourth time this year and one man afterwards said in a very sweet, humble way that he was on his fifth way through.  

Another reason is the humility of those men. They are so remorseful.  They are sick with sorrow for what they've done.  Many are in daily religious classes, they are prayerful, they are in miserable surroundings with nothing but television, each other and boredom.  Nothing distracts them but their situation and what brought them there.  And many of them are sober for the first time in a long time.  Many are addicts.  And in their sobriety, they are turning to God and hoping and praying that they can stay that way when they get out.

And many are working hard on Genealogy, doing service as best they can, hours and hours hunched over a computer.  Look at the following link:  http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/59796/A-rescue-from-bondage-Family-history-center-at-Utah-State-Prison-thrives.htmlhttp://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/59796/A-rescue-from-bondage-Family-history-center-at-Utah-State-Prison-thrives.htmlhttp://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/59796/A-rescue-from-bondage-Family-history-center-at-Utah-State-Prison-thrives.htmlhttp://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/59796/A-rescue-from-bondage-Family-history-center-at-Utah-State-Prison-thrives.html  These are our boys, Carl's and mine.  Carl used to go out and spend Thursday nights with them at this center.  It was amazing what they could do.  They did my genealogy back to the kings and queens of England.  I've never been able to duplicate it since. 

Last night, I talked to them about hope.  That's what these men need more than anything.  I'm not talking about all prisoners.  I'm talking about these forty or fifty men who work hard to qualify for the privilege of coming over to the Oquirrh Facility Religious Center and worship as best they can and feeling the gentle persuasions of the Spirit to soothe their aching souls.  Hope.  We all need it, but they need it so much.  

I feel so privileged for having been allowed to spend one hour again giving a little hope to some of God's children.  One hour in a long sentence isn't very much, but it's something.  

But it meant a lot to me.  

While We're On the Subject of Redheads

Is what is currently referred to as "ginger hair" actually "red hair", and why is it taking it in the chops on one hand and then every other women is dyeing her hair some shade of red?

I know about the South Park "gingers" deal, or whatever it was, but is that all there was to it?  I missed that episode as I have almost all others except for the one where they ripped the Mormons a new one.  That one was awful but I felt compelled to watch on general principle.  My eyeballs and ears had to be decontaminated and my outrage went on high alert, developing a distrust of children everywhere for three days.  But I go off the subject.

I have three cousins, Joan, Gale and Anne, who have red hair that came out of nowhere.  Both their parents, Welby and Ruth Carr Peterson, had dark, dark hair.  But their three daughters have hair that is bright carrot red, and beautifully curly.

I thought, and still think, it is the most beautiful color there is.  Liz McOmber, one of my all-time best friends,  has red hair, and I know that Liz and many of the aforementioned group didn't like being redheads when young for one reason or another, but I know that many (if not all) have "freshened" the color as they've aged.  I'm just saying.

So there are two questions so far: 1) "Why are we now calling red hair 'ginger' if in fact we are" and 2) "Why has this color fallen into such disrepute as to cause such outrage and abuse?"

I've also heard that as a color, it's disappearing.  Maybe one or two per cent of the population has red hair and that's from around England, Ireland, Northern and Western Europe.  That's sad.

But here is a really nifty tie-in to my family tree.  It seems back in one of the branches there was a crowd of sheep-stealers who were called "Redhead" who had to get outta town, beat a hasty departure, take it on the lamb (snicker) and cleverly fooled everyone by changing their name to "Rhead".  This is not the same side of the family that produced the aforementioned Joan, Gale and Anne, however.  This is the side that produced my father, Bennion Rhead Cannon whose grandmonther was Sarah Ann Rhead.

I like redheads, you see, for a number of reasons.  So I'm wondering why we're picking on them.  Any answers?

More Maui Matters

I love Maui for a lot of reasons.

One of them is that according to LDS Church History, My Great-grandfather Angus Munn Cannon served a mission and saw God in a pineapple field here.  Apparently a lot of natives took on his name but not for the reason some of you naughtier people might think.  They just needed an extra name, so they took on “Cannon” which is not a bad name if you need another one.  If anyone makes any smart remarks, I want you to know that he was known for his good looks.

I sort of have halfheartedly looked for the account from time to time.  I have a copy of a journal in which it was referred to at home, but I never could find it.  I’m going to have to check it out again when I get home.  Maybe I’ll go the easy route and make some phone calls instead.  We’ll see.  I just keep forgetting.  But I digress.

Today we went to the back woodsey area of Maui.  If you look at a map of Maui, it looks like the head and torso of a woman.  We got up to the back of her head.

Up there it’s really rustic.  There is a beautiful bay around which people dive, snorkle and scuba dive and beyond is just windy, beautiful, lush areas which look like Heber might if it had lots of rain.  The roads become too narrow to go much beyond.  

Later we went to dinner at Kimo’s which is a very nice restaurant in Lahaina.  It is right on the water and though my IPhone takes decent pictures, they certainly don’t do justice to the view.  Let it just be known that should you drop by, Kimo’s certainly will be on the list of spots to visit.