Today is Sunday, June 21, 2020
Bradley James celebrates his 39th Birthday on Friday the 26th!!
Happy Birthday Brad!!!
Today I am happy to pay tribute to all Fathers…but especially to Richard, and to our wonderful sons: Aaron, David, Bradley, Michael, Mark, Jonathan (his first Father’s Day!!)and Brendan!! These men are remarkable husbands, and incredible fathers, collectively parenting our 23 perfectly wonderful grandchildren, who we claim to be the most beautiful, most handsome, and the brightest!! We also feel so very blessed to be surrounded by an army of future fathers…our young Elders, who every day prepare for their roles as Husbands and Fathers, while serving the Lord as missionaries. Happy Father’s Day to you all!
Reviewing our past week, past month, and past years we feel such gratitude for the blessing of serving!! This week we celebrate two years serving as missionarIes; first year in the Canada Halifax Mission, and this past year serving here in the Canada Montreal Mission, and truly we can say we have been on the adventure of our lives!! Twenty months we spent travelling all over our six provinces; Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and in a bit of the state of Maine, and kept connected to our missionaries, and members through in person interviews, zone conferences, and stake conferences. Covid did not, could not stop us from doing everything we can to continue teaching, motivating, and loving our Mission Family. So for the past four months evening devotionals, morning devotionals, one on one interviews, zone conferences, new missionary meetings, have continued, and ZOOM and Messenger have become the means by which we are able to connect. Great Zone, and District leaders, as well as Sister Training leaders have done such an amazing work keeping our teams enthusiastically engaged and focused doing missionary work ‘the new normal way.’ It is a big challenge though.
Fine-tuning our daily schedule…just like our young missionaries do, has been so good for both Richard and I. Getting moving early every morning…reading, praying and exercising has been absolutely essential, and because of that we have been blessed with fabulous health!! So much of our days we spend sitting, sitting, and sitting, so getting at least a half an hour of vigorous exercise almost every day of the week has given us the stamina to keep up with our demanding schedule!!
This week’s report: Monday Office meetings were great, and before we knew it five o’clock rolled around, and we were on our way to the Airport to meet our four new missionaries..Elder Van Hauwaert, (Spring Coulee), Elder Peck (Hamilton, Ontario), Elder Burton (Cardston), and Elder Richards (Airdrie). The airport was barely starting to come alive as these four arrived. They seem excited to join our CMM family, and we are excited to have them here!!
Tuesday and Wednesday we spent the day at home interviewing our 26 Longueuil Zone missionaries, and it’s just like visiting a bunch of old friends! I have them report on friends they are teaching, any new friends they have found, challenges they might be having, how their families are doing back home, how they are eating, what they are doing for exercise, and how things are going with their companions. I’m so grateful for the guidance of the Spirit as I counsel with these dear friends.
Thursday Longueuil Zone Conference was wonderful, and maybe our best so far. I think back to our first year of zone conferences, stake conferences, etc. etc. and how I was so nervous about every meeting I had to speak in…(I know that is why I got the double dose of Shingles!!) And now…everytime we get to teach, and speak, it is such a highlight….I just love it!!! I think I have even stopped shaking!! Really, we are just the facilitators for our meetings. A few days before whatever meeting we are having, we send out ‘prepare to learn’ assignments which are done…they study and come prepared to share their insights. It really is a revelatory experience for all of us, and we always come away so inspired, and motivated! Oh, to be a missionary for the rest of our days…WAIT…we CAN be missionaries for the rest of our days!! Let’s DO IT!!!
Friday was a needed Preparation Pause Day where we organized and prepped for upcoming transfers, and upcoming meetings. We treated ourselves to Wendy’s salads, and drove to the top of Mount Royal - (our mountain), and had a lap picnic beside beautiful Lac des Castors (which means lake of the beavers). With it being the first day parks reopened, we loved watching the park come alive with happy families picnicking, tossing footballs and frisbees, cycling, running, walking, and enjoying the sunny summery day, and we even saw a momma duck teach her eight ducklings to swim! A perfectly wonderful day!! Life is so very good!!
Yesterday our official Pday we spent exercising, gardening, doing a few errands, and watercoloring. It is such a perfect climate here, maybe extra humidity, but the weather is really glorious. I love driving around this charming city….I love the huge trees, shrubs, flowers, old architecture, and the great people, and soon we will get to meet and teach them in person!! Hurray!!
Tonight our Sunday evening devotional we are having story time, and paying tribute to “Faith of our Father’s.” Here are the stories I told:
My Grandpa John Finlay Hamilton, was the father of 11 children, and supported his huge family running his own blacksmith shop. Early in the 20th century shod what my Dad said was a ‘world record’ 24 horses in one day..that is 96 hoofs!! He also made tools, fixed machinery for the farmers, and during the depression made sugar beet knives. He taught his posterity the importance of learning to work hard. My dad, his youngest child, Robert, was the only of the seven sons to serve a mission, and upon his return, Grandpa told my Dad that during his two year mission, they were more financially well off than at any other period of their lives. But they were not well off most of his growing up years..my Dad recalled that they weren’t the poorest people in Magrath, but were the second poorest, next to the Miner’s. He remembered being thrilled when they had bananas or oranges. In fact…his Mom Leah, would bake for her next door neighbour Vada Brown just because she loved using the store bought ingredients Vada would provide. When the soles of his shoes had big gaping holes, he would make cardboard insoles. So when I retell the story of my optimistic cheerful Dad…you can have an appreciation of his favourite scripture…
2 Nephi 2:25 “Adam fell that man might be, and Man is that he might have JOY!” Many mornings while getting ready for seminary, my Dad and I would share our one family bathroom…he would whistle while he shaved, and I would curl my long hair!! Many mornings he would remind me that man is that he might have JOY, and he would add…I am going to have that JOY, and he did…He was a master at looking outward to help everyone around to find that same JOY. He was a gardener extraordinaire, and from dawn to dusk after retiring, found so much joy manicuring their magnificent yard. Mom loved water, and so he even dug a hole and built a beautiful swimming pool. I’ve never known anyone that worked harder than my Dad.. Two of his best qualities were his work ethic, and his ability, and gift at finding JOY…in everything!! His FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE and JOYFUL OPTIMISM has been such a pillar of strength in our family.
My Mom’s Dad William White McCormack served in WW1, and saw action in a bloody battle called the Battle of the Somme. His ‘Keep Smiling’ motto is now in its fifth generation of encouraging optimism, and the art of looking for ways to be happy.. Really that is what it is…it IS our choice to be happy. To make the decision to smile, even when…no especially when it is hard, will change our lives. My Grandpa and his best friend Robert Morrow fought alongside each other, and possibly one of the most difficult experiences for Grandpa was holding Bob in his arms as he died. Still he carried on, and his Keep Smiling motto was his life’s mantra. Billy McCormack was a beacon of happiness to all who knew him. I am grateful for his example of fatherhood to my Mom.
And there you have my tribute to a few of the Fathers that have blessed my life.
Miracle Corner:
Kirkland (West Island Montreal) Elders:
« Some miracles we saw:
We got a bible referral and had a lesson with him, picked him up on Monday and taught him a great lesson then gave him a copy of the book of Mormon in english! So sweet, his name is George, he is from Egypt, and he is Christian.
Another, we were walking out of the dollar store and the lady who tells you to sanitize your hand at the front of the store came to me and asked us for a bible study... like what! That was sweet, we'll definitely pass her off to the sisters.
Then a member Simon Gonzales, called us up and told us that he has a friend that wants to get baptized... like I feel like I'm in a missionary movie where everything goes right hah. «
Bridgewater, Nova Scotia Elders:
« I've never opened an area before, and Elder Day hasn't had an area before, so along with not being able to really leave our apartment (because of the mandatory 2 week isolation period from travelling outside the province) and not really having any formers in area book, that's made it a considerable challenge to find new people to teach. But we went to work trying to make quality content for the Facebook page, and trying to be diligent with the people we do have and the members in Bridgewater.
On Thursday ( the 11th) we get a call from a man named Gerard. He's an architect andhe was looking at some of the temples online when he thought to himself "I wonder what this church is all about" soon enough he found his way to ComeUntoChrist.org and referred himself. He also was able to find The Book of Mormon online and has been reading it. He was in the latter chapters of Alma when he called us. We've begun teaching him and he has a lot of good questions.
I think this is a great little experience showing that when we work as hard as we can with what we've got, The Lord will bless us with success. »
Gatineau Spanish sisters:
« Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. we a had a really cool miracle. We received a referral from a member who was visiting Ottawa. She and her 9 year old daughter (who are members) were staying with her non-member in laws. While they were there they shared the gospel with them by talking about the restoration and The Book of Mormon. They had a lot of questions and want to learn more about the gospel. We will be having a lesson with them this week and we delivered a copy of The Book of Mormon to them yesterday. They are so excited to start reading in The Book of Mormon. Overall it was a great week, and Sister Thomson is doing good . »
Villa Maria (Montreal) sisters:
« We've also been so blessed in our missionary work here in the Hochelaga ward. We got two amazing referrals this week that are so prepared to receive the gospel. One of them is a relatively new immigrant from Africa who goes to school all day during the week and works all day during the weekends, but she gets a half-hour break from 3-3:30 between classes Monday to Friday. We've been meeting during her breaks, which must be a huge sacrifice for her, but she is so excited to talk to us every time. It's amazing to see how powerful the desire of someone can be when they want to hear the gospel. And she gets home from work late on Sundays and goes onto the ward Facebook page to watch church. It's truly incredible. »
And that is our report of another wonderful week in the Canada Montreal Mission!! Oh how we love this opportunity to serve the Lord as full-time missionaries! There is no greater joy than this! Any of you that have a little inkling considering serving….we could make it happen, and we would love to find a perfect spot just for you!!
Have a wonderful week!!
with much love, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma
and Richard and Gayle. Keep Smiling!!
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