'tour de st.laurent!!' (Bike Ride over the St. Lawrence Seaway/River)

Today is Sunday, July 19, 2020,

  and we wish Happy 14th Birthday to Claire Francine Low!!

            July 23, Brad and Caylee celebrate their 16th Wedding Anniversary!!

  July 25, Richard celebrates his 66th Birthday!!

And this will go down on our record for ‘fastest week’ yet!! I don’t think the ink is even dry on last weeks blog, but here we go again with a report on ‘Happenings and Miracles’ in the Canada Montreal Mission for this past week!

Monday meetings are always stimulating, and motivating, as we interact with our organized, enthusiastic, committed team! Our young Elders who replaced our Seniors are keen, bright, quick-witted, and pros at multi-tasking! All the administering we do is expedited because of both our young Elders Brown, Hawk, Nipko, and Pinkney, as well as our older gals Sisters Breckenridge, Little, and Mecham. It is their follow through with second and third mile efforts that make us look really good!!! We are so grateful for this amazing 7 missionary team!!

Big interviewing days Tuesday and Wednesday with twenty-four, and twenty-six interviews respectively. We love those visits with every missionary, and are so grateful knowing they are obediently putting their shoulder to the wheel, and trying their very best! It is overwhelming knowing we have missionaries that we are responsible for; from St. John’s Nfld., to Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, to Quebec City, Quebec, to Fredericton New Brunswick, to Ottawa, Ontario, with many spots in between, and, they are on their own…with daily/weekly contact from Zone Leaders, District Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders. As companionships they plan their days, and their weeks, set goals to teach, testify, and invite others to be baptized, all the while being 100% committed to keeping our Missionary Standards. We know the Lord knew we were going to have this geographically massive Mission, so He called missionaries who we didn’t have to worry about babysitting! It is remarkable!! Although in person interviews are our dream, we have found Zoom interviews have become a real highlight. That brief 15 minute interaction we each have is a moral boost for everyone. It is hard to always control my emotions as I hear sweet stories of their testimony-building experiences.

Thursday and Friday we had Longueuil and Ottawa Zone Conferences. ‘Faith to Find,’ our theme for this round of conferences was exactly what we all needed to hear. ‘Finding Faith in Myself to Find Faith,’ was my little twist on our theme, and we dissected Matthew 10:39 in our discussion. We are always so impressed with the understanding, and depth of our missionaries testimonies. Our teaching style is to ask questions, let the discussion build, validating comments, summarize, give a challenge, testify, and then close. Richard and I, along with zone leaders, sister training leaders, our assistants, and our social media teams all participated, and our five hour trainings flew by!  

Yesterday was an amazing PDay!! Running, Baptism of Marie Daniele of the Valleyfield Branch and a breathtaking Bike Ride across the St. Lawrence River

filled our day to the very brim!!

This may sound like a travelogue entry, but I must record our huge adventure!! 

About the second day we arrived in Montreal last year we drove across the brand new impressive Champlain Bridge which spans 3400 meters across the St. Lawrence Seaway/River, and boasts 8 lanes of traffic, with daily traffic around 159,000!! It officially opened July 1, 2019!!  Far below the 170 meter tall new bridge we noticed another bridge spanning the river, with BICYCLES zipping along, so, for a year we have been dreaming of finding time to make our own ‘Tour de St. Lawrence!!’ After the Baptism we loaded up our bikes into the back of the Highlander, drove to Atwater Market, parked, and began our 20 km. ride!! We joined probably 1000 other cyclists who easily maneuvered the network of beautifully paved, bicycle trails, and cheerfully cycled along! Dotted lines indicating bicycle lanes, lighting, and great signage were all very impressive! Families along the way cycled, roller-bladed, or walked. Three super cyclists with FRANCE team jerseys, and shorts were celebrities that zipped by us!! Although there were throngs of us cycling along, the well marked lanes kept us on our own side. There was a lovely breeze blowing off the river so although the temperature read 34 degrees, we kept hydrated, and it was so much fun!!  

  

Faith Inspiring Miracles take over in the Canada Montreal Mission!! 

Fredericton sisters:

« I've got a good miracle for you this week! Earlier on in the week, we were doing some good old Facebook finding. I came across a lady who had her family as her profile picture. As I looked at her and her young family, I thought for sure she was a member. Her family just looked like it. Turns out she wasn't a member. On Tuesday, i got a message from her. She reached out to me and started the conversation. She said she noticed we had a lot of people in common from the Wesleyan church she attended (that's the church we joined their bible study and taught in). She said she noticed i was a missionary as well and was so surprised by that! I later responded and talked about how I'm a missionary for our church and such. I asked how long she had been in the area and she responded with a one word answer and didn’t seem interested anymore. To my surprise about 2 hours later, she messaged me again and said she didn’t really know the difference between 'Mormon' and Christianity. And had never really met a Mormon before and to her surprise, she didn’t even know there was a ‘Mormon Church’ in Fredericton. As the conversation went on, she asked the most real questions ever! We ended up teaching her the entire restoration just by her questions. She even wants to learn more when she gets back from vacation with her family. It was super cool to kind of hear that she had never come in contact with any members of the church before, nonetheless it happens to be me and I'm a missionary! How neat is that?! « 

Elder in Bridgewater NS:

« Ya know, I'll be honest president. It's been a great week. At least I feel great today. We've been in Isolation for around 4 months now and ya, I've had days just like the rest of everyone else where I was feeling down. But right now I'm just thankful to be a missionary. Thankful to have the Book of Mormon, and thankful to have the knowledge of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It plays such a beautiful and major role in my life and it is my hope and prayer that when the distant (but inevitable) day does come that I do go home, that my habits and testimony don't slip and are where they need to be to set a upward trend for the rest of my life. I think this shift has been made within myself and just kind of accepting the situation and making the choice that even if I can't make it a good situation, I can still make it a good day. 

Often times in my life I've found that being happy has much less to do with situations you’re in, and much more to do with you, choosing to be happy. »

LaSalle Sisters:

« Several miracles happened last week but my favorite miracle would have to be meeting Ugochi. At the beginning of going digital, I was constantly thinking how can I help others come unto Christ through technology. I remember telling myself that I would see the fruits not now but maybe in the future. I was able to see the fruits last week! About two weeks ago, I posted a picture and asked a simple question.

After a few days, someone commented on my post. I didn't realize that someone had commented on my post until a few days ago. I messaged her right away and we started having the best conversation! She right away asked me if we could be friends and I said why not! We talked about the word of God and sharing our love for God. We were talking back and forth until we set a time to talk via video chat. We video chatted with her on Friday! Sister S and I talked to her and just listened to how strong this amazing woman is! She had attended the church back in her home country and had been around members before. We talked and talked until she said something that touched my heart. She said, "I prayed to God a few days earlier asking Him for a friend. Then you Melanie messaged me. You were the answer to my prayer". It was powerful to witness that God still watches over us and helps us be the answer to someone's prayer even now!! She was grateful that I messaged her because now she has a friend of God to share the word of God. After our call, she told me that she began to dance because she was happy! When we had our last lesson with her, she kept telling the Sisters that we were best friends! I love her!

This has been a miracle of doing missionary work via technology. I asked Ugochi how she found our Facebook page. She told me that one day she opened her Facebook page and found my picture there and noticed that I talked about the word of God. She commented on my picture and I messaged her. After our first call, she started to look more into the page and stopped to watch a video that YSA Elders made. In the video they talked about the Book of Mormon and where did it come from. She told us that she took notes in this video! She showed us her notes that she took on this video. She read the scripture that they mentioned and it made sense to her. By this simple video, it opened her mind to learn more about the Book of Mormon. She has already gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon by watching a video of just 3 minutes.  « 

Montreal West Sisters:

« We had a really cool experience with our new friend Andrew this week. He is so kind and sincere. Upon asking if he wanted to meet with us or asking if he would like to read the Book of Mormon, he responds "I would love to" It makes us so happy! We were teaching him about the Book of Mormon yesterday, and we were video calling from a room we aren't normally in. Even the fact that we were in the Laurier building is amazing because we used the Villa Marie building when I first got here. But just last month, we switched because of the Rahul Facebook situation. And because we needed the white boards to teach family home evening that night, we went to the Relief

Society room which we don’t normally use. As we started the lesson, Andrew stopped us and said "I know what room you are in" he later explained that he had met with missionaries years before in that very room! We had no idea! The Lord has been preparing Andrew for a long time, and He made all these events line up so that we would teach in that room. We use that church building, and we were assigned to teach FHE that night, we are in COVID so we would have a video lesson rather than in his home, we met him at just the right time, and Andrew was taught in this room years ago all because God is in control and he is in the details of our lives.  This was not a coincidence; it was only possible by the hand of God. We felt the spirit so strongly in that lesson. When Andrew described how he felt while talking about Christ, we identified the spirit and he replied "I believe that" it was a really spiritual lesson. Sister  bore the most beautiful testimony. She is really in tune with the spirit.  Her eyes filled with tears after we hung up, and we just had a really tender moment being grateful to God for the miracle he gave us. « 

Ottawa Spanish Sisters:

« Hi President! I have honestly had the best week ever! We saw so many miracles this week! This guy called the church when we were there and said he wants to learn more about our religion, we have a meeting with him tomorrow! Then we went to drop off a bible at someone's house who responded to a bible ad on Facebook. We left our number in the bible and told him to call us if he has any questions. He texted us later and said that his Grandma just died from Covid and asked if we could give him a message of hope. We said we would love to and we are hoping to meet with him this week! I know that there are so many miracles everyday! I see God’s hand constantly in our work!  « 

Sherbrooke Quebec Elders:

« This week was really cool! So since we've been in quarantine I've been doing some Family History and I found out that my 5th great grandmother is from Québec and she is buried in my area! So this last week I had the opportunity to go and visit her grave and see her headstone and the memorial on the back of it. It was a really cool experience! 

One of our ward missionaries called us on Saturday and asked if we were free that night and we were luckily and he introduced us to one of his friends and the guy was interested in learning more which was really cool! We've been teaching a ton of members lately and it was cool to get a member referral! 

Here is a little spiritual thought for you all! 

Malachi 4:5-6:

"5 ¶ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."

I love this scripture and my interest in family history has grown a lot during these last couple months. I know that families can be together forever and so it's up to us to help those in our family who haven't received the ordinances they need by taking their names to the temple! I hope you all have a great week! Je vous aime! «  

Ottawa Spanish’ Speaking Sisters:

« We had a miracle filled Sunday.  First of all while we were at the church the phone rang and it was someone asking for the time church started. We continued talking to him, and turns out he was a nonmember, and we were able to schedule a video call with him this week. Then we delivered a bible and we left our phone number in the bible, and the person messaged us back saying that they are going through a really hard time because his grandmother had passed away. We shared our testimonies with him, and we were also able to schedule a video call with him. Then later that night the Elders called us and said they were walking through a park and a woman stopped them and recognized them as missionaries. She told them she used to meet with the Sisters and wanted contact with us again. It has been a really great week and we have some really progressing friends , and we are excited to have lessons with the potential people we found on Sunday. Overall it was a great week. » 

Hochelaga Elders:

« Hello President! This week has been pretty good. We had a cool lesson the other day with a member couple. I remember me and Elder  prayed to know what we can teach to them and show to them that they need on their lives and we both thought that we could teach them about faith. It wasn’t really us teaching them; it was more of us having a discussion with them because they of course have experienced more and know what faith is. Point is, they were going through some challenges and our message was almost perfect for their needs. I see the Lord work through me and my companion. Although we can not do a lot of things we used to do, we are still able to do a lot of things we couldn't do which is opening new doors and better ways of helping Heavenly father share his gospel with all people who He has prepared. »

We are so grateful for the beautiful miracles our sweet missionaries are experiencing everyday. Their faith, determination, and hard work is evident. Our new normal and natural ways of doing Missionary Work revolve around little handheld telephones, and as you have just read, we are having miracles everyday, everywhere!! Peoples hearts are softening, and they are looking for ways to find peace. We know the Saviour is the Prince of Peace, and that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is the way we learn about Him, and His Plan of Happiness. Our knowledge and testimonies provide Peace, Joy and so much Hope, amidst crazy turmoil all around us. 

We testify of this, and send much love to all!

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

Keep Smiling!!! Have a wonderful week!!