Today is Sunday March 1, 2020
Not a day goes by without one of us saying “what a blessing it is for us to be serving here.!!” Our ‘everyday' experiences continue to provide memories that strengthen our faith and testimonies.
Week six as you know, was Transfer week and Tuesday we were thrilled to welcome our fifteen new, crisp and shiny, ready to work, enthused, missionaries!! Sisters Hechmati(Saratoga Springs,UT), King (Temecula CA), Losik(Layton,UT), Morrell (Wellsville, UT),Nabrotzky(Provo, UT), VaughAn(Orem, UT) Warnick(Orem,UT)
and Elders: Braithwaite (Holden, MA), Colgrove(Boise, Idaho), Drover(Tiny, Ontario), Harris(SLC,Utah), Langner(Germany), Ovalle(Spring, Texas), Rees(Lehi), and Sutherland(Edmonton, AB), all joined our Canada Montreal Mission army, and it was sobering to realize that we will not be here when they return home in either eighteen months or two years…OH MY…..So much to do, and so little time to do it!.
We get so excited as we anticipate the arrival of our new batch of missionaries, and actually we adore milling around at the airport waiting for our group to arrive, and, get through customs which sometimes takes a while. (I think our record for waiting is three hours!!) Richard goes one way, the assistants go another, and I another so we are all contacting at the same time, but always different people. The little Philippina I visited with had such an interesting story….years ago she had been a housekeeper for the Mulroney’s, moved on to Chicago for three years, and currently is a caregiver for a 97 year old Jewish fellow who’s wife died about 7 years ago. Her story was interesting , but I was fascinated by the story of the Jewish man she cares for. During WW II he, along with four other Jews hand dug a pit where they lived for two months. Surviving on boiled, mashed or baked potatoes the farmers fed them, this man recorded and published ‘Potato Hole’ his story of survival. Apparently it is in a Philadelphia Holocaust Museum. We exchanged names and phone numbers and I will contact her again.
Watching families reunite at the airport always has me in a heap of tears. I just love watching, and imagining tales of families separated by decades, by continents, and by oceans, and then witnessing those thrilling reunions. Tuesday, while waiting for our new group to arrive, two sisters in burkas were shrieking with joy, hugging, and crying as they embraced. I wondered how many years it had been since they had seen each other. And then I thought about other reunions…the reunions we will have when our mortal sojourn is complete, will be much like the reunions I witness at the airport, except on a much grander scale!! We will be filled with JOY, as we are surrounded with loved ones long gone before. It is all part of the PLAN…the glorious Plan of Happiness. This is what we teach and testify of.
One of our greatest mission lessons is learning how quickly our hearts have opened to LOVING people…our new missionaries, those we meet at Church, folks we visit with in shops, or on the metro, or friends we meet just waiting at the airport. And, how exciting to know that our hearts have no maximum capacity; no buzzer goes off saying full, too heavy, or too many, and there is no overflow valve that spews out extra…The Saviour taught us to LOVE everyone, and the miracle is that as we practise “Filling the World with LOVE,” it really happens!!! Our hearts fill, and fill, and fill, sometimes feeling like they could burst, but they don’t!! What a miracle LOVE is!!
Unconditional LOVE is the first step in being a missionary. When friends feel our genuine love and acceptance the door is open to sharing the greatest gift we have…the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Friday Airport departures included eight of our dear missionary team ..Sisters: Bates(Kansas), and Edwards(Utah),
and Elders: Anderberg (Babb, Montana), Bonny(Switzerland), Holman(Idaho), Tekiatapu (Tahiti), and Tran (NYC).Sister Allen from Casper, Wyoming is also returning home, and rendezvous’ed with her parents at the Airport. They will spend the next few days visiting members, and sightseeing around Quebec. Oh how we will miss these outstanding, hardworking, consecrated missionaries.. Already we look forward to many, many happy reunions!
Yesterday Shade Oluwasegun, who has been taught for the past several months, was baptized along with Malene; members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Supportive ward members, along with Sammy, Shade’s husband and their son Joelle, filled the Primary Room. It was a thrilling event for all of us to take part in. And today, both Shade and Malene were confirmed and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost! It is so exciting to know they have started their own covenant paths.
Testimony meeting in the LaSalle Ward was unlike anything we have ever seen!! 17 ward members; including Shade and Joelle almost all sprinted to the stand, and waited patiently for their turns to testify. Part way through the Bishop stood up and extended testimony bearing for an extra 20 minutes which actually ended up being almost 1/2 hour!! It was an incredible experience, and we were thrilled to be there. Sammy was again in attendance, and committed to the sisters to be taught!!
This week we have interviews, interviews, and more interviews, and early Thursday morning we head to Nova Scotia for Friday’s Zone Conference. Saturday we get to accompany our dear friends Ken and Kathy Eldershaw, and Stephen Creelman who joined the Church last year when we were in Dartmouth, and who are going to the Temple for the first time. What a thrill to get to go full circle with those great people!!
Letters to the President included some sweet stories:
From Sister Gonzalez in Quebec City:
Our ami Samuel leaves to Africa this week but just before he left were were able to meet with him 3 days in a row. Something really cool that has happened is that the minute we gave him a book of mormon in Swahili and committed him to read that one instead of the copy in french his testimony has blossomed. By the third day we went to teach him I felt like I needed to ask him if he had prayed to know if the book was true. He grabbed his Book of Mormon, held it up and said," I have not read this whole book, I have only read the beginning part but I know that this book teaches us the path we must take. I know this is a book from God and that it really is a testimony of Jesus Christ. There are things that I have read that have touched me." With a big smile on his face he testified saying ," I know that the book of mormon is true and I am willing to give my testimony to anyone. I can't give them this book because I need it myself, but I can tell them that no matter what question they have, this book is their answer." The spirit filled the room and it was so clear to me and Hermanita Gay that the spirit had taught and testified to him the truthfulness of the book of mormon. It was an awesome experience coming out from that lesson and feeling such sweet and great joy.
This from Sister Watson in Halifax:
We had the coolest miracle ever today! We went to the Temple but were pulled out of the celestial room afterwards because two nonmembers had entered the temple and the matron wanted us to speak with them. We met the most amazing married couple, Christian and Lori. They're living in Halifax and he had taken all the discussions and nearly got baptized about a year ago, but got cold feet and cancelled it. Now they both know that the church is true and they know they need to get baptized so when they were passing by the temple on their way to something else, they knew they needed to come in. We had the greatest lesson with them and they're on date for March 21st! The temple is my new favorite finding source.
And now it is time to close this weeks epistle…sending it with much love to all
Richard and Gayle, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma.
Keep Smiling!!!!
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