MERRY CHRISTMAS.....HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Today is Sunday, December 20th, 2020.

What a wonderful week before Christmas!! It is always a thrill to meet new members of our Canada Montreal Mission team, and Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, we welcomed six great new missionaries!! Let me introduce them: Elder Kolten Bevans (Raymond), Elder Carter Flexhaug (Lethbridge), Sister Heather Gwilliam Edmonton, Elder Samuel Hornberger (Sherwood Park - Aron & Sharisee Hornberger’s son), Elder Kayvit Lopez (Airdrie), and Elder Orin May (Medicine Hat). Maybe you know some of these enthused, determined young adults??!! Orientation meeting on Wednesday gave us an opportunity to interact, and visit a bit, and then before we knew it 

their excited new trainers arrived at the Mission Office and whisked them away to their brand new areas!! 

Definitely another watershed week with nine departing missionaries: Sister Lydia Hall (Sandy, Utah), Sister Madison Hall (Ogden, Utah), Sister Maranda Murray (Eagle Mountain, Utah),  Sister D’Anneka Watson (Edmonton), Sister Madeline Wight (Camas, Washington), Sister Hayley Vargas (Layton, Utah), Elder Henry Dahl (Meridian, Idaho) Elder Tanner Madsen (Ephraim, Utah), and Elder Nikolas Pinger (Gilbert, Arizona) who all departed by Friday the 18th…just in time to be with their families for Christmas! Thursday evening (the 17th) was a highlight as we listened to these dear ones share their fervent testimonies of ‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,’ the Restoration, the wonderful Plan of Happiness, and their sweet faith-building experiences. We loved their sharing of  beautiful conversion stories where they learned how the Savior’s Atonement has changed them as well as their friends.  We already look forward to many Mission Reunions with all our Canada Halifax, and Canada Montreal missionaries!!

And now it is Saturday, December 26, 2020!!

What a beautiful Christmas week where, along with you, we celebrated the wondrous birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Our missionaries create the most beautiful FaceBook posts which include inspirational messages as well as amazing musical numbers. FaceBook pages for our five zones include:

Atlantic Zone: Followers of Jesus Christ in the Atlantic Provinces

Ottawa Zone: Disciples of Christ - Ottawa

Longueuil Zone: Disciples de Jesus-Christ au Quebec

Montreal Zone: Disciples de Jesus-Christ au Quebec

Mount Royal Zone: Disciples of Jesus Christ in Montreal

Check out the ‘new’ way of finding, and contacting people through social media!! You will be so, so impressed!

Office meetings were great and we were most thrilled Monday afternoon when our newest Senior couple - the Roberts from Magrath arrived! Elders Baird and Garside have been serving as our outstanding Housing Elders, and after training the Roberts will be back serving as full-time Mandarin Elders. Since April and May when our complete complement of Senior missionaries had to leave (except for Sisters Breckenridge, Little and Mecham), we have had this incredible team of young missionaries who have single-handedly taken care of housing, finances, and general secretarial needs. With minimal training, they each just slid into their new responsibilities with ease and confidence. Sister Little, since she is in the same office space, has been the Grandma oversee’er, and has endeared herself to every missionary in the office as well as every visiting missionary. We can’t even think about letting her return home to Fairfax, Virginia in February… A few other senior couples have shown up on IMOS, so we think that means perhaps the borders will open sooner than later…and we keep praying!

Monday evening the Senior sisters joined us for a spectacular ‘Illumi’ light adventure..in Laval, where we walked and walked and were in awe of the 30,000 light structures with 20 million lights. Music of course accompanies every display, but ‘O Christmas Tree’ was the only Christmas carol we heard as we were walking through the ‘massive forest of ‘paper trees!’ Impressive display of lights, with moving t’rex dinosaurs, spiders, trees, waterfalls, cute forest gnomes, and thousands of other LED lit things were everywhere…but NOT a single Nativity, or sign of what Christmas is all about was to be found, and that was a sad statement on what is happening in the world. Otherwise, it was a wonderful  evening with our Sisters!

Interviews, and visits with our Atlantic Zone missionaries on Tuesday and Wednesday, with another evening out with our Senior Sisters, as well as the Roberts, where we headed the hour and half out to Drummondville to visit the National Historic Site…’Village Quebecois d’Antan' which was all decked out in lovely simple lights, AND we were thrilled that there WAS a life-size Nativity!! Such a fun spot that reminded us Upper Canada Village with dozens of old pioneer homes, and all bedecked in Christmas garlands and lights, with Christmas carols playing in the background. Another wonderful evening!! Snow was lightly falling, and of course that added to the ambience of the night!! 

My second cousin Emma Morrow Marshall (from Ottawa) who would have celebrated her 100th birthday, that day - December 22 passed away last month due to COVID, and her memorial service was being held while we were in DrummondviIle, so, I did my best to multitask and listen to the service as we walked around, and then as we drove home. Again, we were so grateful for the miracle of zoom technology!!

Thursday evening our Christmas Eve Devotional was such a spiritual feast as so many missionaries shared favourite Christmas memories. We loved hearing such sweet stories of Christmas’s past, where families united, where they served, and where they showed love to others; and where they practised Christlike discipleship. I’ll share one story of a beautiful sister who was reactivated in High School, and because of her Ward support she is serving an amazing Mission.  She recalled a very meagre Christmas where her recently divorced Mom was barely able to provide for her family, and, they did not expect to even celebrate…One night the doorbell rang, and through her tears she recounted finding on the front step, a big pot…filled with money. WOW…What a memorable Christmas!!  

Christmas Day - yesterday was awesome…at 10am we started with a Mission wide Zoom Testimony Meeting, and thought we’d go for an hour or so; and two and a half hours later we had to cut the meeting off!! What an amazing Christmas gift…to hear the heartfelt testimonies of so many of our dear mission family! 

And oh how we LOVED visiting with our dear family. Thank you all for your cheery visits, and interest in us and what we are about. We are so very grateful for your love and support. Everyone is growing up on us!! We visited with everyone of you….(and even saw Solon’s gerbil Radar!!) We get pretty melancholy knowing this is our 3rd Christmas as missionaries!! How this blessed adventure has flown by…so much still to do, so many lives to help strengthen….

We ‘Press Forward!!’

Last night (Christmas night) we had a sweet, humbling experience as we delivered fresh buns to ‘Chez Doris' - a women’s shelter where teams of our missionaries regularly serve. With Elder Duncan as chief chef, Elders D’Eon, Zhou, Sutherland, Alley, all worked together and served chicken dinner for 40 down and out women, (drug addicts, mental illness etc.) most who live on the street. Elders Clifford and Williams along with Sisters Margrin and Hawkes sorted food, created hampers, and made rice krispie treats, and Sisters Gottenbos and Nabrotsky provided cheery Christmas music with their voices as well as the ukulele!! Such a beehive of awesome service! After our brief visit to ‘Chez Doris,’ and seeing our missionaries glowing because: ‘they were in the service of their fellowbeings,’ we determined to make that a new Christmas tradition!

Zoom has opened so many wonderful possibilities for everyone, and again this morning we were thrilled to listen to Elder Henry Dahl report his mission to his home ward in Meridian, Idaho, and Sister Maranda Murray report her mission to her home ward in Eagle Mountain, Utah! We love it when our returned missionaries share their zoom link with us! And then we got to listen to Berkley speak in Forestry Ward!  

This week we look forward to Mount Royal Zone Interviews Tuesday and Wednesday with Mission Learning Conferences New Years Eve and New Years Day, so we will welcome 2021 with a bang!!

Last week we were thrilled with our Key Indicator report showing 

4 BAPTISMS !!!

Our faithful, determined, obedient, hard-working missionaries are seeing the fruits of their labours…..it is harvest time, and what a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas…(many people call it a white Christmas!!)

Maybe you like to read of some of our sweet simple Miracles!  - 2 weeks worth!!Read on!!

Miracles               Week of December 20, 2020

Décembre 20th, 2020 Miracles de Missionaires:

Petawawa Elders:

“These last two weeks have been pretty good. Especially the last few days it seems like we have had a good amount of success just miracles that God has had in the works for a longtime. We ran into someone from an ad we put up and she came out and told us that it was a miracle that we reached out to here because she had been going through hard time, and she asked me if I was an Elder and I was like.. . YYes, how do you know what that means. Then she was like an Elder gave me cookies a few Christmas' ago when I was sick. So missionaries planted seeds and we are hoping to harvest. 

Also last week a couple of people the missionaries have been teaching for a long time, which we had dropped because we could not get in contact, reached out and was like "hey we are quitting smoking tonight!" so that they did and now they have gone 8 days without smoking. So thats pretty amazing eh?”

New Glasgow, Nova Scotia Sisters:

“Something cool happened this week! You can share it with Sister Low as well! We bought a Christmas tree from a guy that had a Christmas tree lot and was selling them in the grocery store parking lot. My family had our own Christmas tree lot and we sold them as a family for a few years. So I got talking to him about that and then he asked why we were in Canada and what the name tags were for... so of course we told him all about it! He was very nice and picked out a tree for us! Then he started helping another customer so we left but we are going to make him cookies and bring them back to him with a thank you note for the tree and then hopefully talk to him more! It was a cool little miracle that lifted our spirits!” 

Cornwall Elders:

“You can share with Sister Low.

I had a miracle this week on Monday. I dropped off a Bible here in Cornwall, the lady had asked for a Bible and I told her that my friend and I could drop it off for her. Elder D'Eon and I got to the house and a man came out. I said “are you Jesse?” he said "yes Jesse and Josie" he took the Bible and went back into the house, this all happened in seconds. I got in the car and said “what just happened?” I didn't know his name was Jesse - just her's from her messaging me. After driving for a few minutes back to our apartment I thought that was weird, then I remembered that I had told Heavenly Father earlier that day that I would stop complaining about all the things that were not going my way and that I would give myself and my time to him.)”

Levis Sisters:

« Right now we are teaching Anouck, and she is just amazing. She has such a desire to know, so she goes and does. For example, she wanted to know if the Book of Mormon was true, so she sat down, and started reading it on her own, and she prayed about it  Then she paid attention to her feelings and dreams, and wrote them down. She knows her own tried and true ways of receiving personal revelation, and she acts upon them. She is just so amazing! « 

New Glasgow Sisters:

“This week we went to Walmart to buy some ingredients to make cookies to deliver to people and we asked one of the workers a question. She immediately recognized us because of our name tags. We were sort of shocked because usually people don't know who we are, but she told us that she was a less active member. We had been texting her and hadn't got a response, but luckily we happened to run into her and got to know her a bit better. The chances of us running into her were so slim, which made me aware of the Lord's hand in our day!” 

Quebec City Sisters:

“We saw a really small but cool miracle this week: a friend of a member who we taught a few weeks ago hasn't been responding to us. We talked to the member, and she suggested we try calling the friend because she prefers to talk verbally with people. The night after, we decided to randomly call her, and we caught her just a t the right moment. She talked about some hard things she's been going through lately and how the Book of Mormon brings her peace. We invited her to come to church and have a lesson afterwards with her member friend, and she accepted! We're so excited, and we finally got to mark her as "being taught" in our Area book, which helped us fulfill our goal for the week! A very small thing, but it was a tender mercy this week.”

Quebec City Sisters:

“I'd like to just share something I realized this week. You can share this with Sister Low too, but maybe not on the blog ;) Over the summer, when I did one transfer in Hawkesbury, it was probably one of the most difficult transfers I've had because the work seemed to be moving so slowly. Sister Mendoza and I really struggled with feeling like we were fulfilling our purpose even though we were hardly teaching any nonmembers.

Flash forward to today, and something incredible happened. During that transfer, unknown to us, we found three people that are now on date to be baptized within the month. A fourth might be coming up soon, in Africa. Gerry Copple, the Jewish man being taught by the Kirkland Elders, was reached out to by Sister Mendoza during a long Facebook finding session. Jason and Valerie, from Hawkesbury, were found using a Bible ad near the end of our transfer there. Now, they're getting married the day after Christmas so that they can be baptized. I am just so taken aback. We could have never guessed. We felt like we were just yelling into the void, but it turns out that the elect were hearing us. My testimony of Heavenly Father's hand in this work has grown so much. And, I have also really discovered that the section in chapter nine of PMG called "no effort is wasted" is not just there as a pep talk to keep us going. It is there because it's true--nothing we do will ever, ever go to waste. This is the Lord's vineyard, and he is capable of doing His own work.”

Fredericton Sisters:

“So I shared how we found Chris in my last letter, but I can share how we found Robert! So Tuesday night during dinner we get a call from the branch president in Edmundson. So he called us and started to say how he got a phone call from this guy (Robert) telling President Grange how he wants to have a stronger relationship with God! So President Grange referred Robert to us! Robert is the kindest soul and really wanted to learn. We taught him the Restoration and Gospel of Jesus Christ and we was really accepting of the gospel! Oh and we committed him to read the Book of Mormon introduction and we asked him how it went. He told us how much he loved it and how he started to pray about the Book of Mormon! So yeah that is truly amazing!” 

Montreal Villa Marie Sisters:

“We have a miracle! We called Fatou, a former friend, about three weeks ago but only got her answering machine. She then called us back a little while later and said she's so grateful that we had called because she had lost our number and she had been looking for it. So that was pretty cool. She has two cute daughters who have been going to primary these past two weeks and just this last Sunday Fatou joined in with them and all three of them went to Sacrament meeting as well as primary! We had a lesson with her that same day and at the end of the lesson Fatou asked what the Book of Mormon is because they heard people talking about it in Sacrament and primary. So the member that was with us explained a bit about the Book of Mormon and we are going to drop off one at her house for her and her daughters tonight! Super exciting!”

December 27th, 2020 Missionary Miracles

Granby Elders:

“We had an awesome experience during our weekly planning session while talking about referrals. We had just gotten done discussing some ideas for helping the members with referrals, when we get a call from an inactive member giving us a referral!!! I guess sometimes all we need to do is express a desire and willingness to do something, and the Lord will give us opportunities to exercise that willingness.” 

Montreal St Lauren YSA Elders:

This is what they did on Christmas Day:

“Anyways, we spent about 5 hours riding the metro from Angrignon to Frontenac, delivering muffins and cookies to members and friends. In the cold, and freezing rain (and honestly, not dressed for it). One thing I realized, was I really enjoyed that, and I thought I wouldn't, which made me worried about knocking/street contacting in the future for hours on end, so that was nice. However, nearing the end of our trip, we were coming from Frontenac Station near the top of the Green Line. We had to get on the orange line, and normally we’d just choose to switch lines at Lionel-Groulx, closer to our apartment. However, this time we decided to get off at Berri-UQAM, initially weren't sure why, but felt it was the better option. We were waiting to get on the train at the Orange Line, and we were able to help this lady find her way to get to Jean-Talon, which was nice. It's really standard for homeless people to ask us for money, and as much as I want to give it to them, as you know, we're not allowed to, but we still get people asking us multiple times a day. 

However, while we were waiting, there was this homeless guy coming up to various people asking them for money. I was getting ready to say my usual phrase "I'm really sorry, I don't have cash on me" or something to that degree. As he came to me, I was about to say that, but I was not able to say it, my tongue was bound. He told me he needed some money to get to a shelter on the west island. I then felt a very strong impression to give him the only cash I had, which I had just got on p-day.  I hope he was able to get to the shelter. However, I learned a really interesting principle about spirit of the law obedience, because I've heard a lot of people talk about it as rather than it being spirit of the law, it's principle of the law. It's a mindset I've had too, where you prioritize guidelines and rules less, when they become inconvenient. In which that is valid a lot of the time, but I feel like I had a truly "Spirit of the Law" experience, where I actually had the Spirit tell me to do something.”

Hochelaga Elders:

“A while ago, (16 years ago if I'm not mistaken) my paternal grandparents served a mission in the Toronto mission. For the entire time, my grandpa was a branch president in a little branch in a place called Bancroft, ON. A couple weeks ago, I emailed my grandma (my grandpa passed away a couple years ago) and she told me that Bancroft and Petawawa must be close by because she and my grandpa would always see signs pointing towards Petawawa whenever they head south to go to Toronto. After she told me that, I looked up Bancroft on Google Maps and was surprised to see that it was just an hour or two southwest of Pembroke. It is just south of a town called Barry's Bay which is in the Petawawa area. Surely our areas shared a border. I told her that I had actually been to Barry's Bay twice and she told me that she and my grandpa had been to Barry's Bay to take someone to a doctor's appointment once. In other words, me and my grandparents both served as missionaries in the same city, out in the boonies of Ontario without even knowing it. This to me was really cool because part of me has been wondering why I had been assigned there. But somehow my family seems to have a connection to that region. I don't think there's any way you could have know that because I didn't even know it, so I take it as another sign that you are the one who God has called and delegated authority to to lead and direct our mission. Thank you for all that you do manage and care for us!”

Victoria Spanish Sisters:

“Another miracle we saw here in Victoria was that on Friday, when we were messaging people who had liked our posts on Facebook Sister Davis came across a lady who actually lives here in Longueuil. Sister Davis had just started messaging this lady, and the lady did not reply to what she was asked but instead asked where our church was, we gave her the address and she said she would like to come to a service. We told her that she was more than welcomed to come, we told her about all the covid regulations and then asked her when she wanted to come, and she said this week, we told her that church started at 11:30am and at 11am we got a message from her saying that she was already at the chapel. We were a little nervous because it was the first time we were meeting her, after the service we asked her what she thought of it, and she said she really liked it. Then she asked when our next service was, we told her that it was every Sunday, so she asked us to reserve her a place for her and her son again for next week, how amazing is that? Sister Davis and I almost started crying of joy, because we had been working hard, praying a lot, and had not seen any "success", it was a good reminder that Heavenly Father truly sees our efforts, and that if we don't give up, He will bless us!” 

Laval Elders:

“In my interview I told you about Eureka wanting a spiritual experience, and you gave me the suggestion of having her pray with us during a lesson. It was super powerful and I can't thank you enough for the direction you gave us. Everything lined up so perfectly, our invitation was Moroni 10 last lesson, then that was the Sunday school lesson, then we taught her on Monday. At the start of the lesson she explained how I testify of the book of Mormon, and that I know it is true, but she has never really had that conviction herself. In that lesson we read from the introduction and in Alma as well. We explained that we wanted to give her that testimony and spiritual experience. We told her we were going to pray first and wait then she could pray when she wanted and we would wait after the prayer. Everything went smoothly and her prayer was very powerfully sincere. We knelt for like 10 mins after her prayer, we then discussed and ended the lesson on a spiritual high, it was so powerful! I pray everyday for her and I hope she continues to receive those experiences she is looking for. « 

Halifax Sisters:

‘Teaching is awesome. We had a lesson with her on the Plan of Salvation and she loved it. We invited her to Sunday School and she came!! She even made a comment!! She's so good!! Another friend we are teaching is named Ria and we are trying to help understand more of God's character and His love for her. She then ended up volunteering to say the closing prayer. We were so so happy.”

________________________________________________________________________

Have a wonderful week!!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

We are grateful for your love and support of us, and of missionaries everywhere. 

Challenge for each of us to Light the World everyday…Smile, and pray for opportunities to share our glorious message!

Love 

Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mom, Richard and Gayle

44th Wedding Anniversary Memories

Today is Sunday, December 13, 2020.

Although my Dad, Robert Anderson Hamilton passed away five and half years ago, I have been celebrating his 94th birthday all day reflecting on his remarkable life!!  

As missionaries, we have been focusing on the two great commandments…Love of God and Love of Fellowmen, and I realize that keeping those two great commandments is exactly what made Dad so remarkable…His whole life he loved and lived those two commandments; they were the hallmarks of his 88 years!! Today as I listened to Metropolitan opera star Stanford Olsen sing ‘The Holy City’ with the Tabernacle Choir, I smiled thinking about Dad (accompanied by Jan) and without too much coaxing would perform ‘The Holy City’ for appreciative family members! I know it isn’t imagining that he and Mom are doing missionary work, and continuing their ministering efforts on the other side of the veil together!! I also know they are enjoying ‘looking at the view’ together!! We are all blessed by their goodly parenting, and grandparenting!! Happy Birthday Dad!! 

Let me give a brief review of our week: Monday Office Meetings included Health Council, Social Media, Call In’s and Leadership training. My French tutoring with Alexa Fowers is progressing, and she helped prep me for the MTC Christmas Testimony Meeting which was Tuesday afternoon. We were in break out rooms with about 7 other missionaries …two others in our group were learning French - (actually they were brushing up on French from their first missions), two were headed to Iceland, and two were waiting to head to Italy; the gift of tongues is incredible!! Tuesday and Wednesday were Montreal Zone ‘in person’ interviews and visits, with ‘in person’ Montreal Zone Conference on Thursday.  

Highlights of our Zone Conferences included teachings, an exciting timed gift exchange, AND cute talent shows! Great musical numbers, flute, violin, piano, singing, clever commercials, dancing, colour guard flag waving, and even a silly puppet show 

Zoom MLC on Friday was also delightful, and we continue to be amazed at how the Spirit distills over in person meetings as well as zoom meetings!! Great leaders who are so willing to do anything and everything we suggest!! 

Friday we celebrated our 44th Wedding Anniversary, and loved reminiscing about that special day long ago…December 11, 1976!!  ‘What a Wonderful Life’ we have had together!!! We are grateful to be creating our own consecrated covenant path together, one that is wide enough for two, or twenty, or two hundred and twenty!! As our African friends said ‘we are very much thankful’ for the JOY the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings to us, and to all who accept the restored Gospel message. It is true.

Thank you for your kind prayers for missionaries the world over. We need, and we feel the power of those prayers. Let us continue to ‘Light the World’ with His Light. 

With much love,

Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Richard and Gayle

Keep Smiling!! 

December 13th, 2020 Missionary Miracles:

Sydney Elders:

« Second week in Sydney has been a great one! The Sydney area is booming with the Bible ads! It feels like everyday we get about three, which is good cause it keeps us busy! We've found service at the local Food Bank here in Sydney. It's been a great opportunity to meet lots of new people who are really nice. Cool miracle this week a Bible ad lady messaged me out of the blue wanting to learn about are church so that was really cool! We are looking to have a lesson this next week. « 

Victoria Spanish Sisters:

« A miracle that we saw happen today was that a lady reached out about a Bible ad we had made a while ago, she started asking if we did Bible studies, and pretty much what we did as missionaries, we had referred her to the Elders in her area, but she kept messaging me and asking a few more questions, she opened up about her own beliefs and how she feels like until now she hasn't really felt like she's found the right religion! She is so cool, she said how she was always open to learn about other religions,« 

LaSalle Sisters:

« We just had a really good lesson today with our friend Samni, whom you know. We have been meaning to have a call with them ever since that lesson we had you join, but they were always either busy or sick. But today, they were available and full of energy! We had a really nice conversation. We had planned to go over the Plan of Salvation this evening, but the Spirit directed  otherwise. We were talking about Church and the Book of Mormon, and I asked Joel if he had a favorite scripture. He told us that he loved the First Vision, when Joseph Smith prayed in the Grove to have an answer to his question. Joel is so inspired. Because of that, we went into talking about prayer, and God's love for us and we read Alma 18 : 32 which says that God knows the desires of our hearts. They were talking most of the remainder of the call. They expressed their gratitude towards the members, towards us but mostly towards God, and actually Samni was the one speaking the most out of them all. I have a feeling that he is ready for baptism, and if the Spirit directs us to invite him to be baptized in our next lesson then we will. They all have so much fun, I don't think I'm the only one thinking that him being baptized will unite their family and open the heavens more on them. We'll pray about it and let you know how it goes. « 

Fallowfield Kanata Elders:

« This week went well. Lisa's baptism was very good. We had Correlation Meeting in both wards, so that is nice. Hopefully things starting going full force pretty soon with the Correlation people helping us out. The experience of confirming Lisa was really cool. Right as I said "Receive the Holy Ghost" the Spirit poured out like a wave over me and my companion. Was very nice. Sunday (the baptism) was such a great day!! « 

Quebec City Sisters:

« We'd been having a tough week finding and reaching our goals one week. On the last day we expected to not have found anyone new despite our best efforts. We were planning for the next week and discussing new finding techniques when we got a random phone call! We answered and he opened with, " what is the Liahona?" We asked him who it was and he said his name was Michel and he had a Book of Mormon in front of him and wanted to know what the Liahona was. We answered and he asked a few more questions about the pictures in the front and then said He'd go read it. We got a call back a couple days later with another question, "How can you be sure this book is true?" We directed him to Moroni 10:3-5 and he said that it made sense he just had to ask! We then asked him, how he has a Book of Mormon and our number and he said he had been in the metro one day and someone had walked up to him handed him the book with our number on it and said "I think you’d like this" and walked away. An odd way of doing missionary work but effective! Such a miracle to meet and find Michel!  « 

Kirkland Elders:

« So we met with Danny as well. We decided to do what you suggested. We talked to him about prayer and we read those specific verses you mentioned. He was listening to us intently. Then we invited him to kneel and pray and ask God if he was really there. Well he didn't like that at first. He was really offended that we invited him to be humble when he thought humility was not the issue. he said something like, "For all you know, My mother could have been dying last night and I could have been praying. Yet you come to me and just address me for not accepting your message as I'm not being humble." Something along those lines. he then kind of challenged us and said 'Here is something you can try. Either of you go into a room for a 10 minutes and ask God if I prayed last night. Then come back and tell me." We just kind of said "How about you pray with us first." We assured him that no matter where he was in his life he could always be humble and pray to God. This wasn't us putting ourselves above you kind of thing." So, he refused to kneel, but he agreed to pray. He was actually a little embarrassed that he had never prayed out loud before. He said a really good heartfelt prayer. He was definitely still holding back a little, we could tell. But we all felt the spirit. We waited a little while after the prayer was over and just had silence. I think he was tearing up just a little and I asked him how he felt. He said something along the lines of  "You know, either this is all true or it's the biggest lie out there and it's giving people false hope."  « 

Levi sisters:

« This week we have been praying for unplanned opportunities to find. A few nights ago we received a text from a member. 

A member in the Lévis branch participated in posting for the 7 days of gratitude, and it led a childhood friend to contact her. This friend had not been raised in a religious home of any kind, but through some experiences, now has the desire to learn more about God. She contacted the member, and they had a really really good talk about life, faith and God. From what I have heard from the member this is someone who has been prepared to receive God, and she recognizes it! She knows it! We're having a lesson with her and the member this evening, so here's hoping that we can help her better understand who God is to her, and how much He loves her. « 

Greenfield Park Elders:

« This past Friday we received a referral from our Bishop, for a new friend of ours named Gabriel. He wanted to learn more about the church and the Book of Mormon. We set up a time to meet with him the next day, and also picked up a Book of Mormon for him because he was very eager to start reading! During our lesson on Saturday we got to know Gabriel and he expressed a very sincere desire to learn more about the gospel and how it can help him in his life. It made me so happy seeing him want to learn! We talked about the Book of Mormon and he gladly accepted the invitation to read and pray about it. I am so happy for him because he is seeking out the truth for himself and really wants to know. We haven’t had anyone referred to us like this before and it is definitely an answer to our prayers for the Lord to help us find those ready to receive the message of the gospel. I'm so excited to see Gabriel progress in the future!!« 

Fredericton Sisters:

« One thing that I can think of is that we got in contact with a lot of people this week!  Oh, and we received a referral a few days ago and his name is Chris. He is a self referral and he found us through YouTube. Which is awesome! We had our first lesson with him and he is so elect! He knew so much already about the church and really wanted to learn more! Let's just say I am so excited to continue to work with him. « 

Hochelaga Elders:

« Our friend, Ange will be baptized on the 19th and she is very excited and the other day she freely gave up coffee and tea. When we asked her if she would obey the word of wisdom she said "it's part of the deal isn’t it". She is willing to let God prevail and it has been such a testimony builder to see her progress in her faith. « 

ENJOY Fifteen Miracles!!

Today is Sunday, December 6, 2020

               On Wednesday December 9, we wish Happy 3rd Birthday to Macie Megan Kearl

Another wonderful week of interviews and Zone Conferences here in the Canada Montreal Mission kept us hopping!! We feel so very blessed that our minds and bodies are capable of keeping up such a pace….and then we think of 96 year old President Nelson, and realize our pace should be simple at age 66!!! We are continually so inspired by his incredible optimistic attitude (#give thanks,) his brilliant mind, his nimble fit body, his incredible gift of teaching, and the power and conviction of his testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What an inspiration to us, and to the world!!

Richard’s interviews, and my visits with our Longueuil and Mount Royal Zones were all great! We are so hopeful all our missionaries will fare well during this wonderful Christmas season. With limited contact with ward and branch members, and absolutely no meals in any ones homes, it is a challenge. Zoom has been the lifeline, and the lifesaver for all of us. Our goal is for each team is to have 20 lessons a week…with members and/or investigating friends, and we are thrilled to report that missionaries are excited to do everything to meet that goal!! Teaching does still happen, just not in the way it has been done for centuries! Social media has become the way of finding friends to teach, and missionaries are becoming experts at creatively finding folks! For example they research the towns or cities they are living in, find old, old photos, post them with some clever question like ‘do you know anyone in this photo?;’ and people respond; the conversation continues; and eventually with inspired questions, and answers, the Church always comes up, and the missionaries often get to start teaching! Other teams are doing Family History finding…simply they put an ad on social media offering to help folks get started on their family tree! So many people are thrilled to begin working on their own family tree, and jump at the expertise of our missionaries! Such a great way to introduce people to the Church! And there are dozens of other finding methods that 'we' are getting great at!!

Christmas decorating is complete, with 'Saints Channel' Christmas music streaming, adds to the ambience; and we are dreaming of having family, friends, and missionary friends come join us in celebrating this wonderful time of the year - the Birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Like all of you, it will be a dream to have dear ones join our festivities in person, BUT we do look forward to wearing our Zoom out visiting with loved ones everywhere!! 

This week promises to be another wonderful one with Office Meetings, Mission Zoom Leadership, Montreal Zone interviews, and Zone Conference, and Friday we hold our Mission Leadership Council;...as well as celebrate our 44th Wedding Anniversary!! Next week is Week 6, which we can’t believe is already here…so we are working on transfers…we have 9 departing missionaries, and 6 new missionaries arriving, which means we have to close two areas…again. We keep praying the border will open so all missionaries that were originally assigned here, and are waiting in another mission,  will finally be able to come!! Our complement is supposed to hover around 180, and currently we are at 127.

Life as a missionary is as good as it gets, and actually gets better everyday!!  We feel so very blessed to have this opportunity to serve, and grow together. Thanks for your love and support of us, as well as missionaries everywhere. Who do you know that would like to hear the message of the Restored Gospel….we could hook them up!!

Have a wonderful week!!

With Much Love, 

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

Keep Smiling!!!

 

                Canada Montreal Mission Miracles December 6, 2020

The following miracles show the dedication, desire, commitment, and sure grit of our outstanding, consecrated, dear missionaries who we dearly love. We feel so blessed that they have learned to recognize MIRACLES everyday!! Everytime we read these beautiful, tender stories, we know that their commitment, and resolve to stay on their own covenant path is strengthened… Read on, and enjoy!!

December 6th, 2020 Missionary Miracles

LaSalle Elders:

« We actually just had service the other day and I wanted to tell you of an experience we had while we were at Moisson Montreal. Feel free to share this with Sister Low if you like. 

We had a job in the cargo bay that was a little less involved than usual. Most jobs there keep you very busy but here we were splitting time between 2 different jobs, but neither of them were enough to keep us too busy so every 20 minutes or so we had a couple minutes of downtime. One of these downtimes comes along and I see a man who looks like he's struggling a bit to put these boxes of food in his van, which is almost complete full of food already. I honestly wasn't sure how he was going to fit it all. It was in this moment that I felt a very clear prompting that we should help him. So we walked over and asked him if he would like some help which he cheerfully told us that would be very much appreciated. 

After getting all the boxes in his car, he talked with us for a minute and told us how appreciative he was that we helped him, and that his name was Paul. He also told us that he has some physical health issues and it would have been much harder on his own, as some of the boxes we lifted were heavy. 

We asked him what he was going to do with the food and he said that he was going to deliver it to people who were less fortunate during this time of pandemic and that he does it once a week and he wouldn't get home until late that night. He just seemed like such an honest and sincere man. 

We introduced ourselves as well and talk to him for a bit. He was a good guy and after he left and went on his way, I think both Elder McStravick and myself both felt very happy and fulfilled that we gave heed to that prompting. « 

Laurier Elders:

« You can share these with Sister Low

An amazing experience we had this week was we were setting up some Christmas decorations, and I opened our door to put a little wreath on it, and just at the perfect time a lady walked by and asked us if we are part of some kind of religious group. So we explained to her who we were. She had noticed that there are a few missionaries in this building. She said she had retired from looking into different religions basically; (and maybe we would have handled the conversation a little better,)  but we gave her a passalong card and invited her to visit the website. I really hope she goes there, and I hope that we can see her again too! »

Montreal Elders:

« The work has been super awesome especially with Jason!!! I would like to share the ‘Miracles of Jason’ that we had with him so far. 

We had our 1st miracle meeting him when he was a referral from sisters in Maryland and a Bible referral from the Zone leaders before which was really cool.

2nd Miracle: This week on Friday we were on exchanges and I was with Elder Zhou and we had a lesson that night with Jason and the Maryland Sisters. We talked to the sister before hand a little about about what we wanted to teach Jason that night. We were thinking about focusing on our purpose to life, why Jesus is important in our lives, and to focus on Why CPR (Church, Prayer, Reading Scriptures) help us rely on Jesus and give us purpose. So that night we taught him our purpose on earth; why Jesus Christ is important, then Prayer and Scripture Study. Then lastly was Church. The sisters said "Jason now we would like to talk about 1 more principle about ‘why we are on earth’” and I was: sweet they are gonna lead this out for the last part. Then they said "Can you go to Mosiah 18?" And my first thought was "huh? Why Mosiah? That's the Baptism scripture" Then I thought "it talks about mourning with those that mourn and lifting others burdens so I guess that's something members of the church do" so I thought it was okay. Then they tell him to read verse 9 and 10. They started teaching about Baptism and why its important and now I'm like "whaaaaaaat? That's not part of our plan?" And Elder Zhou taught and I did as well and we all bore our Testimonies on Baptism and the Spirit was strong and then the Sisters asked Jason if he would think and ponder about Baptism if that’s something he wanted. And we left the lesson and I was very confused as to why we changed it to Baptism but the Spirit was there and it felt good. THE NEXT MORNING Saturday morning, I get a message from Brother Robertson saying "My twins are being baptized today and we are inviting you" and my First thought was "Let's bring Jason!!". This was an amazing miracle because the Sisters were so inspired to talk about Baptism even though we didn't plan on attending the Baptism that day. Jason attended and greatly enjoyed the Baptism and had questions about the laying on of hands.

3rd miracle: On Sunday Evening Jason sends us a text saying that his mother's ill and wants us to pray for her. We tell him that we will definitely pray for her and asked for her name. 2 minutes later he messages us and says "guys did you pray for her? She feels better already!". Me and Elder Noad look at each other and are thinking we didn't pray for her yet.... what happened? So we ask Jason "did you pray for your Mom?" And he says ya in my heart while I was giving her first aid. The next night we get into the lesson and we talk about what happened and he was saying how it was truly a miracle because his Mom has diabetes and her blood sugar was low. Normally her blood sugar would be 10-7 to be healthy and the lowest he has seen for her was a 5. That night it was at 3 and he was thinking about calling an ambulance because she was nauseous and had a migraine and didn't feel good. He called a nurse but it said that they were busy due to Covid 19 things so he tried applying first aid help to her. He said that for some unknown reason there was halloween candy in his first aid kit. He says he never bought halloween candy and he doesn't remember his mom buying any either and she had, he doesn't know why it would be in his first aid kit. He used the candy to stabilize her sugar level and gave her advil and other medications  but thought "It takes at least 30 min to kick in" but she felt better after a couple of minutes. Usually when her sugar levels are low too, she needs help getting to the bathroom but this time after feeling better after the couple of minutes she goes without help. Jason said it was nothing short of a Miracle and he said that it was thanks to us praying. We didn't pray at that point she was healed. We told him that it was HIS prayer and HIS hard work and HIS Faith, that helped his mom that night and we didn't do anything at that point. He was blown away and was so happy and filled with joy. 

That night we talked about the Atonement, Faith and repentance.... which was what we had planned. « 

Trois Rivières Sisters

« This last week, President Langlois challenged us and the elders to find a family. We were pumped and also looking for ways to find a family. The Elders put up ads on children's bible stories since we had French ones to give, and we put up some more ads for Bibles in both languages as well as a family history booklet!! We did find out though, one of the potentials we are working with this last week has a BEAUTIFUL family and we also found another Spanish family through a bible ad that lives a 5 minute WALK from the church ! Bible ads are miracles !! President Langlois was excited to hear about our success !! »

Riverside (Ottawa) Sisters:

« You can tell Sister Low that we took her up on her wonderful suggestion of having Jennifer bring up the church to her husband who isn't here with her in Canada. And she told us a story, one morning well they were talking over the phone, her husband asked her if she knew what church these two men in white shirts who were sharing about Christ were and at that point Jennifer didn’t realize or know that missionaries were sent that far away and we told her that they were most likely missionaries from our church and she was so excited to tell her husband about that. And share more of the gospel with him. »

Chapel Hill (Ottawa) Sisters:

« One of my most favorite thing as a missionary is hearing peoples first prayers. Whether it's just been a while, their first prayer outloud, or just their first prayer with us. It is always a spiritual experience. The last two lessons with our friends Etienne and Mirella, they both have said prayers now. They are so sincere and they invite the spirit strongly. Mirella just lost her father and was hesitant to pray but we comforted her and told her a prayer can be whatever is in her heart. So, we knelt down and she said she would like to try. It was a really good experience. You can tell Sister low. Sister Hawkes may have mentioned it before. This was in the lesson that we taught the plan of salvation with the love diagram that we talked about in interviews. » 

Kirkland (West Montreal Island) Elders:

« Wow. So..GERRY!!! 

Gerry Has made leaps and bounds. Long story short, Gerry the 70 year old Jewish man, has accepted Christ as his personal Savior and Messiah. He received witness from the Spirit. We were all there when he prayed and asked. It was one of those missionary experiences I will remember for the rest of my life. He accepted a date for baptism on the 9th of January!!! »

LaSalle Sisters:

« I had a little miracle today that I wanted to share with you. We went shopping at the Angrignon mall this afternoon right after we got the tripod for the mission. We spent about an hour there and then we started to head home. On our way to the exit, I get stopped by a woman and her daughter. I turn around and I look at them, they talk to us and I hear this very distinct accent... They were from Tahiti!!! They saw us walking in the opposite direction from us and the daughter told her mom "Mom, she's from Tahiti!" and they tried to catch us as we were walking. That made me sooo happy! Finally I got to meet Tahitians (other than missionaries)! We talked a little bit, I told them that we were missionaries and strangely they had no idea what the church was. It's okay though! Now they do. She even told me that if we had any celebration in our church or gatherings of any sorts, they would be happy to attend them. Isn't that amazing? The mom asked for my Facebook so that I can keep contact with them. I also checked her daughter's profile and apparently she's friends with a member in the LaSalle ward. That's incredible. That was a sweet little miracle we had today and my heart is full. »

Hochelaga Elders:

« Hello President

Elder Rees and I have seen so many miracles this week. We are working very diligently and are reaping the rewards of it. Like you said "exact obedience brings miracles", it is true. We have been able to put our friend Ange on date for December the 19th. She has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and seems to receive some sort of revelation about it every time she reads. We asked her to read Alma 32 this past week, she said that the spirit hit her like a ton of bricks. She said that the chapter taught her that she can’t cheat her way to heaven and that she has to do whatever it takes to be a part of this church and do the things she has to to grow her faith. It was amazing! We were also able to talk to a woman and we shared a message with her and then told her that our message is a message for the family and she said she is going to invite her entire family for the next time. That same experience happened twice this week. Hopefully we will start to teach those two families this week!!!« 

Cole Harbour Nova Scotia Sisters:

This week Sister Pedersen and I had a cool experience with Area Book contacting. Last week near the end of the week we called a young lady named Randi. We talked and got to know her for a little and then shared a brief uplifting scripture from the Book of Mormon before we hung up. As we concluded our small message she asked us where we read our scripture from which lead her to ask us for a copy. As we spoke more about the Book of Mormon she became more intrigued and we were able to set up a time to go and drop one off to her. A few nights ago we went to her door step at 6pm and set the Book down and then stepped back and called her so we were at a safe distance when she opened the door. She was so excited to read and told us that the missionaries she had met before covid, talked to her a bit about the Book and then she never heard from them again. She was so excited to start reading and learn more after a few hours of pondering the words it contains. 

We plan to reach out to her tonight. « 

Champlain Gatineau Spanish Sisters:

« Hi President! 

I wanted to say thank you for that extra push with Ramiro. This zone Conference and that interview was just what I needed to be more bold. We asked Ramiro on Sunday if he would be baptized and he said yes!!!! I was so happy! I have never asked that before and it was so sweet that he said yes!!! We tried picking a date and he wasn't sure, but we are going to have a member next time with us who can help us. We also reconnected with a former and have a lesson with her on Wednesday! She's Spanish and she's super awesome!! « 

Kentville Nova Scotia Sisters:

« Miracle of the week #1: we started teaching a new friend named Kashish! He is incredibly elect. He's from India and has only been in Canada for about 4 years and has no Christian background. In fact, he didn't even know what the word "Christian" meant and he had never heard of Jesus Christ before. I have never taught someone who wasn't already familiar with Christianity, so having the privilege to share the good news that the Son of God died and rose again for him was something I will never forget. He loves learning about Christ! We sent him an Easter video and he really seemed to get it- that because of Christ, everything can be made right. He is progressing so well already. 

Miracle of the week #2: Robert reached out to us and said that he's ready to accept God now! We still haven't been able to have a proper lesson with him yet, but we have had some good contacts. « 

Enjoy your WEEK...look for miracles!!