Montreal Miracles

Today is Sunday, July 7, 2019. 

Our first week in the Canada Montreal Mission has been wonderfully packed with so many lovely experiences!! Meeting and visiting with all 124 ‘new to us’ Elders and Sisters was purely delightful, and we were grateful to finally meet the rest of our team; and they were just as exited to meet us. Some came bearing gifts: freshly baked blueberry cake, chocolate chip cookies, a gerbera daisy, and a little bouquet of wild flowers, and some even wrote lovely notes of love and support! President and Sister Phillips certainly had done a stellar job teaching and training on all the challenges of a merged mission! Many of the missionaries even told us they had been praying for us, and we were happy to report that we had been praying for all of them too!!

Tuesday and Wednesday we spent all day at the Office interviewing. Our new office is spacious and on the third floor of this incredible Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints complex. Bottom level is a full size chapel where 2- YSA branches meet. Apparently, Montreal family wards used to meet here but because of very limited parking they now meet at other buildings. Second level is the big gymnasium, with complete kitchen, and many classrooms. And the third floor is occupied by the Canada Montreal Mission Offices, and CES office. Last Friday Sister Evans gave me a tour of the ‘Mission Thrift Store’ where missionaries can come shop for FREE!! It’s just a converted jam-packed room behind the stage. Racks and racks of clothing for Elders and Sisters, coats, boots, jewelry, and apartment supplies pour out of this little room. Happy lights, pots, pans, pillows, sheets, you name it they have it, and if they don’t they will get it!!  We had a little loft room with a few used clothing items, coats, and boots etc. in our CHM back room…but this has taken supply rooms to a new level!! Such a blessing for our missionaries who don’t have to go spend $100’s of $ on clothing, coats, and boots. I don’t know how we will keep it up when the Evan’s leave next week. 

Interviews continued throughout the mission Thursday, Friday and Saturday, as we road tripped to Drummondville, Trois Rivieres, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, St. Jean, and Longueuil, where we met and interviewed with the rest of our new missionaries. It is a lot of talking and visiting and is stimulating and exciting to meet, and get acquainted with our entire complement of about 185 who hale from all over the world…Tahiti, France, United States, Canada, Mexico, and even China! While visiting with Sister Ellis she was recording something in the front cover of her journal, and I was curious… actually I love to see their cute note taking, and doodling…well she had recorded the names of every country of people she had met and if you can believe this….she had listed 87 countries- almost half the countries of the world represented right here in the Canada Montreal Mission!!!!And the great news is that we are finding many of them to teach - in both sides of our Mission!! 

A few spiritual highlights this week: In Quebec City we met with Pierre Paul Morin and his wife who just returned from serving a year in Senegal, and three years before that as Mission President in the West African country of Benin.  Elder Kinghorn who was one of Richard’s companions, had taught Pierre Paul Morin…Here’s the brief story..an open house was planned, they passed out flyers, and only one hippie (who had found the flyer in a mud puddle) showed up….it was Pierre Paul Morin, and the rest is history!! Dad called him to be his first counsellor in the Mission Presidency…Richard Gallant from Bathurst will continue to serves second counsellor.  Gilbert Smith (Dad’s former counsellor) and his wife have been called to coordinate the Service Missionaries in the Dartmouth Stake. 

Another note about Quebec City…old Quebec was where on the Plains of Abraham,  Wolfe the dauntless hero came and planted firm Brittania’s flag on Canada’s fair domain….(lyrics from The Maple Leaf Forever). I love the words and the music to that beautiful hymn, and couldn’t stop humming the tune the whole time we were walking around the old city!!

Today we attended the Hochelaga Ward (French). Actually we had planned to attend the Mount Royal Ward but found the wrong building on our map quest, and ended up at a different stake centre! Roads are very confusing around here..detours, and construction everywhere and on our way to where we thought we should be going we ended up taking a wrong turn and crossed the massive Jacques Cartier Bridge! Anyway because we ended up at the wrong spot, we were on time for Church which started at 9:30am. Everything(of course) was in French; Dad comprehending all, and me understanding a very little bit!! It was Fast and Testimony Meeting and we both took the plunge and marched up to the stand. Dad spoke like a native…but I was pretty nervous bearing my ‘temoignage.’ I know it will get easier as I do it more…but in French it is still definitely out of my comfort zone!! While at Hochelaga Ward we met Chantal who after five years of no contact with the Church called the sisters and asked what she needed to do to be baptized. We sat beside her in Sunday school, and she seemed to really enjoy the discussion (she could understand it!!) We are hopeful that she will continue with her enthusiasm. So many missionaries are finding friends to teach….exciting!!

And now to report on new rug and unpacking…the lovely new neutral coloured plush rug is all finished upstairs - except for a closet, no stairs done, and nothing on the main level or downstairs…which is a concern because the big orange Allied truck was supposed to arrive tomorrow…we rescheduled  for Wednesday morning…and hope carpeting will be complete…. Unpacking and reorganizing has gone well…the FM folks are trying….I’m trying to be patient….still unsure if our cleaning/helper sister is going to work out…..Joanne has set the bar unbelievably high…I hope we can work it out.

Thank you all for your love, support, and prayers on behalf of all missionaries…

We are continually grateful for this incredible opportunity to share faith-promoting experiences together…I know the Gospel is true…(Je sais que l’evangile est vrais.)… 

and send this off with much love

Richard and Gayle, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma

CTR   and   Keep Smiling

CHM officially merged and now we are CMM!!

Saturday, June 29, 2019

Yesterday Sister Majeran called and told me the ‘CLOSED’ sign is on our ‘Canada Halifax Mission’ door!  Reality has really set in and the second half of our Adventure,…now in the newly merged ‘Canada Montreal Mission’ has begun!!  Our whirlwind week began on Monday with movers boxing and packing in eight short hours our beloved 23 Brookdale Crescent, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.   And then Tuesday, Nick (who has won Allied team captain Canada-wide three years running!!) and his crew were back and had their massive orange truck efficiently and compactly loaded by noon, (and all our stuff only filled about 1/5 of the truck!!) We kept thinking….what have we got ourselves into? Our ‘slow paced’ mission as we knew it was going to morph into something much much larger with three times as many missionaries!

I was so very sad to bid farewell to my dear friend Joanne who has served right by my side preparing meal after meal for arriving and departing groups,  and washed and vacuumed every corner of our Mission Home every week.  How I wish she could have moved here too!! She has 

served for over 15 years, and now doesn’t know where she will work…oh how I miss her!!

Thursday our flight from Halifax to Montreal was a quick little hour jaunt, and since we will be doing that every six weeks it was great to see how very do-able it is! Elders Marsh and Holman, our CHM assistants, along with their  two - fifty pound suitcases each joined us on the flight.

President and Sister Phillips and our two new CMM assistants…Elders Newman and Wilson were in the terminal waiting for us.  Orientation at our new mission home was wonderful and overwhelming at the same time.  Oh, how we pray to help motivate, inspire and love all our missionaries!! The Phillips have been just incredible!!!

Friday morning we got to begin our interviewing (and visiting) with our awesome, hard-working Office missionaries, including Sister Myrna Puzey from Champion (my old weight-watcher coach!!), as well as Elder and Sister Evans, Elder and Sister Bowler, and Elder and Sister Penner, and the Boyle’s arrived late Friday afternoon just in time for our meal with this crew!

Quebec is stunningly beautiful; hardwood forests with stately oak and towering sugar maple trees,  mixed forests including pines, birch and even weeping willows make for verdant green landscape. Big billowy, lacy sumac meadows line the roadways, interspersed with wildflowers -  daisies, lupine and yellow buttercups. “Look at the view!!!” And then driving from Montreal to Ottawa, we get the occasional glimpse of the St. Lawrence River  

We’ve slept at our lovely 85 Henley Avenue home two nights…and I am so excited to get unpacked, and reorganized!!! Rolls and rolls of underlay and new carpet were delivered yesterday, and we think the installation will begin Tuesday…we will be glad to have the worn minty green rug gone!!

What a thrill to sing all four verses of ‘Oh Canada’ right here in the nations capital!! We attended meetings in the Chapel Hills Ward, which is the Stake Centre for the Ottawa Stake, and half way through Sacrament Meeting the Bishop invited us to come sit on the stand and bear our testimonies. It was an emotional testimony bearing for both of us…let me share the jist of what we spoke about….My Uncle - Allen Hicks was an active member of the Church from Ottawa, and in about 1949 met and fell in love with Mary McCormack - who was my Mom (Patricia McCormack’s sister). Allen told Mary he would marry her if she would join the church which she did. His influence along with the teaching of many missionaries affected the entire family … my Mom, Alice, Nancy, cousin Jane Morrow, as well as my Grandpa and Granny all joined the Church. So we all are grateful for his good influence on the McCormack clan. I should actually count the number of posterity that are covenant keepers because of Uncle Allen.

Richard has Ottawa memories too….his Grandpa Solon served as an MP and then as National leader of the Social Credit Party so lived in Ottawa for about 10-12 years, and then when Richard came on his Mission he served in Ottawa for about 4 months. When he tracked the street where his Grandpa and Grandma had lived, several long time residents still lived on the very street, and they welcomed the missionaries with open arms, and said because of the goodness of Solon Low as a member of the Church, anytime missionaries knocked on their doors, they were welcomed in for a glass of lemonade or a cup of hot chocolate! 

With the merge we have inherited 120 outstanding missionaries..seriously they are top shelf…all of them speak two languages and many speak three or four languages…in fact one sister speaks five languages!! The mission is in tiptop shape…but of course they have their challenges just like we did in Canada Halifax!! We each have our ‘interview’ time….while the Elders and Sisters are waiting to interview with the President, I have my interview time, and actually it is more just chatting, getting to know you conversation!! I think next time I will have a little interview book to jot down little facts I want to remember!! So far all my chatting has been in English…but I am ready for maybe a two minute French visit!! 

We met our senior Ottawa missionaries, Elder and Sister Mikkelsen (who serve with the YSA  and Sisters Wells and Munsell who are archive missionaries, and the Mikkelsen’s invited us for dinner this afternoon…yummy food and fun visiting! Maybe we raved to you about our MTC training couple - Brother and Sister Kenneth Boyd Packer who served as Mission President and companion in the Kiev, Ukraine Mission…well the Mikkelsen’s served their first mission with the Packer’s!! And we were so excited this week when we got word that in September, Brother Packer is coming to work with us, and our young missionaries!! 

This upcoming week we will spend two days interviewing the rest of our Montreal missionaries, and then head to Drummondville Trois Rivieres, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Mont St. Hilaire, and Lemoyne to finish off the interviews for this transfer cycle!  While we are away the carpeting will  be started and completed, and then our big orange moving truck will arrive and the unpacking and organizing will begin!! I know we brought too much stuff from Dartmouth so the purging will continue!! I wish you could all come shopping in our garage!

And now it is too late to ramble on any more!! 

We continue to LOVE this wonderful experience being on His errand. We are grateful for covenants that inspire, and motivate us to be better, and help us love, and change. We are grateful for you, and your examples of consecrated covenant keeping.

with our love

Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, and Richard and Gayle

CTR and Keep Smiling!!!! 

Happy Canada Day!!! - I’m finally getting this posted and it is July 1st!!