Merry Christmas 2019

Merry Christmas!!!!! December 22, 2019

Ottawa is a quick two hour drive from Montreal, and first thing Monday morning we made the jaunt. Interviews were great - both Richard’s…and mine.  I had a few errands in Ottawa, one of them being a visit with Grandma Hamilton’s cousin Emma Marshall (she is Jane Morrow’s sister, and today is her 99th birthday!!) Emma is in a care facility, has poor vision, poor hearing, and is a bit mixed up, but even lying in bed she was sweet, refined, and lovely. I know she wasn’t sure who I was, but she thanked me several times for coming to visit her. It is so fun to look up family when we are in Ottawa!!

Ottawa Zone Conference on Tuesday was so great…we did our Obedience and Member involvement teachings in the morning and then our afternoon portion we enjoyed a Christmas feast, had a gift exchange, and a talent show!

Two clever Elders - Elder Williams, and Elder Fields wrote a puppet show and so we helped them show their talent and puppeteerd our muppets!! Other talents showcased were juggling, musical numbers, and a quartet of Elders performing a gymnastic woven balancing act. A wonderful afternoon!

Wednesday we had Elders Holt, LeMay, and Burton departing so roast beef dinner preparations were the order of the day for me! We enjoyed a lovely evening with these outstanding returning missionaries, the highlight being a sweet testimony meeting. We will miss these stalwart, obedient missionaries.

And Thursday we combined Mount Royal and Longueuil Sud Zones so had a Mega Zone Conference - only separated when we took Zone photos. Teachings we get to give are a real highlight for us…we give talks, and scriptures as ‘prepare to learn assignments,’  and missionaries come prepared ready to share their insights.  Discussions we have are amazingly stimulating,, and motivational. Time flies by, and we learn so much from our little army! We are learning so much on relying on the spirit as we teach.

Friday we flew to Moncton, New Brunswick, and pretty much repeated our out and back routine. Interviews first day, and then yesterday - Saturday we enjoyed our final Zone Conference for this transfer cycle. Teachings, Christmas meal provided by the Taylor family and Moncton Ward members, gift exchange, and talent show. We were blessed to have clear weather, and for New Brunswick that is a miracle!!! Last year we saw more snow in New Brunswick than I think we have ever seen, and this year roads, and fields were dry - such a blessing for our missionaries to travel without any weather issues! 

Following are some sweet stories:

Miracle story December 22nd, 2019: from Sister P, a brand new missionary only out three weeks:

“This Sunday we witnessed a miracle. After sacrament meeting this ward member introduces us to this woman he was like this is her first time here. We introduce ourselves as missionaries and then ask questions about herself. Her name is Karen and she has been in Canada for 6 months but she is originally from China. She then asks where she can learn more about the church. We told her our purpose as missionaries, and we told her we would love to teach her more. We give her a chapel tour and introduced her to ward members. After our chapel tour she begins telling us how she would drive past our church building and she felt like she had to come inside. We then go to back to the sacrament room and we ask her if she wants to pray. She says yes but has never prayed in her life so we teach her how to pray. She then does a silent prayer for about ten minutes, and as we are praying I felt the spirit so strongly. Karen then starts crying because she feels so much peace. We explain that that is the Holy Ghost, and afterwards we all hugged each other. We will now be teaching Karen, and she is so ready for the gospel in her life. What a miracle !!! There is no where I would rather be, than on a mission. I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life.”

Told from her companions point of view:

“I prayed really hard for Sister P. and I to find someone new to teach together. I felt that she was overwhelmed at all the history behind each person we teach and was shy to give insight regarding lessons or plans for the day. My prayer was answered in the most incredible way!

We had just concluded sacrament meeting and were about to head over to Sunday school when a member in our ward flagged us over. He introduced us to a small lady he had seen walk into the meeting alone looking a little lost. She sat down and after the meeting was over went over and asked if she was new, she was and he told her knew some girls who would be happy to show her around:)

Her name is Karen, she`s been in Canada for only a few months since moving from China and she is incredible!

She expressed that since moving she`d felt lost and thought that religion might help guide her and give her comfort. She`d driven past soo many churches looking around and researching, then one day she drove past 58 Rue Eaton and felt an overwhelming pull. She went in and sat to listen, and heard the speaker who talked about the simple guidance and comfort the gospel had brought in his life and how blessed his family have been throughout their lives since finding God`s true church.

I had the feeling to ask if she would like to pray quietly in the chapel. She was super eager and wanted to know how. We taught her and she and quickly bowed her head and prayed for a good ten minutes. She was so happy to express her gratitude (to her Heavenly Father who she had just became acquainted with a few minutes prior) for her beautiful little family, their safe arrival to Canada and for guiding her to this place where she felt so happy and at peace.

Next thing we know she`s asking if she could bring her family next week and wanted to know what she needs to do to become a member of the Lord's church.”

Such is an example of faith-promoting experiences our missionaries have. 

Our Christmas week will be wonderful, and we anticipate many more ‘light the world’ stories!

I’ll send this off with much love and gratitude for all your love and support of us in the Canada Montreal Mission. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you. 

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

(Apologies for not posting this last week!)