Today is Sunday, August 23, 2020
Happy 18th Anniversary to Aaron and Jennie next Sunday, August 20th!!
Happy Blessing Day to Baby Bella Anne Kearl next Sunday, August 20th
August is on the wind down, and before we all know it, school will be in full swing after a five month recess!! Hopefully, our new ‘normal and natural’ missionary efforts will resume… We are still in Phase one of resuming which means most of our teaching happens over ‘zoom’ or ‘messenger.’ Teaching can happen in backyards or meeting houses, but of course with social distancing. Last week our ‘key indicators for success,’ continue to impress us…we had two baptisms, 27 friends on date for Baptism, 57 friends at Sacrament Meeting (virtual), and 35 new friends found! Despite the challenges we have in finding people to teach, our missionaries are cheerfully, creatively, positively, working diligently; everyday, as they sit in their apartments and do everything they can to find!! We are excitedly anticipating resuming activities as Phases two and three begin soon!!! August 31st our Montreal Temple opens, and, by the end of September our Halifax Temple will be open. We are hopeful that by then, all our new unendowed missionaries will have had the opportunity to attend the Temple…. It’s been forever since we all have been. It will be a thrill to accompany all our new CMM missionaries!!
Another wonderful week on the CMM Homefront…
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we spent zoom interviewing, and so when I say our missionaries are serving cheerfully, creatively, positively, and diligently, I know this because they told me so!! The Zoom waiting room is just great, and keeps us to our 15 minutes per interview. One thing I have started is to call the Mom’s of our missionaries to report on what fine sons and daughters they have raised, and how grateful we have them serving here!! It is so fun, and I just love raving about their missionary!! My list of ‘to call’ is a mile long, but I am determined to DO IT!! I was thrilled years ago when I received such a call from a Mission President’s wife, and have thought over and over how I should do this!!
Despite self isolating ourselves, and being pretty diligent wearing our custom made masks (thanks Nancy!!), we have been dealing with suspicious symptoms like full heads, flu like aches etc., and dry persistent coughs. We were grateful to have our assistants, Elders Gordon, and Brown all masked, and gloved come to the front door, and give us each blessings of healing. That being said, you will understand why we are totally keeping our distance from our Office, and, all our missionaries. Just to be sure, we are staying away for another week…Even Teresa our cleaning lady has not been coming, so I have relearned how to vacuum, wash floors, and clean bathrooms!
When we do go out, we are so grateful for hand sanitizing liquid, and our masks.
Last evening we had a delightful date walking up and down Cote de Neiges, a bustling street right below St. Joseph's Basilica, on Mount Royal; and found a quaint little cafe with an outside patio. Our Parisienne baguette, cheese pie, and lemon meringue pie that we shared were delectable, BUT the best part of that darling little spot was the busking accordion-playing elderly gentleman!! It was just like being on a street right in Paris....you can imagine we were in heaven!! I closed my eyes, turned back the clock, and remembered brothers Bob and Jeff their fingers flying as they practised their accordions!! Such a sweet memory!!
I know I have repeatedly raved about the beauty of Montreal, the lush shrub and flower beds, the magnificent towering hardwood trees, the gorgeous well-used green spaces, and the darling groomed walk-up front gardens. Parks abound even in the dense downtown. The best thing is that Montrealers come out in droves, relaxing and playing together in these parks. We have never been by an empty park!! Park goers bring barbeques, picnics, tablecloths, chairs, blankets and have birthday parties, play soccer, volleyball, basketball, spike ball, tag, and even practise tai chi, and other marshall arts. Last night the fun birthday party that had been going on all afternoon, wound down around eleven! As we lay in bed at night, and all we can see are the tall heritage trees across the street in the ‘Darling Park,’ sometimes we feel like we live in a forest, not in a city of 4.2 million!! Another thing I just love, and will miss, are the church bells chiming. Every hour on the hour, all over the city, from the beautiful old bell towers, bells ring. Yesterday afternoon, as I was scooting along the lawn pulling out crab grass, it was so relaxing, especially while the bells tolled!
________________________________________________________________________
We continue to be blessed with lovely miracles…read on!!
August 23rd, 2020 CMM ‘Missionary Miracles’
Riverside Ottawa Sisters:
The second thing that I learned this week is the power of a testimony! We were in a lesson with a man who didn't give us much room to add our thoughts. Everytime we tried to share something with him he would go on to tell us another story about how his church is true! We felt like the lesson hadn't really gone anywhere when finally at the end of the lesson Sister Goodwin and I felt prompted to just bare our testimonies on the importance of the Book of Mormon and the power it had in our life! As we did that he stopped and listened to us for once and was interested to read it! Not only that, but he had a friend in the back that was listening to our testimonies and asked if we could teach him a lesson too! We learned from this experience that bearing our testimonies is so powerful! It helps strengthen others testimonies and ours too!
Montreal East Sisters:
We were teaching Fariba about the ten commandments this week, which she has never learned about before. Upon describing that we need to keep the Sabbath day holy. She shared that as she was planning out her week, she decided not to plan anything for Sunday. That was going to be her day for God, for studying the scriptures and taking a break from the week. God had prompted her to keep the Sabbath day holy before she even knew it was a commandment! It was a really cool moment! She also talked about how these principles were something she could base her life on. The ten commandments not only create a peaceful society, but they allow for happiness within ourselves. All of God's commandments are for that! His instruction is meant to keep us safe, happy, and healthy. It was really powerful seeing someone hear about it for the first time and accept it so fully.
Trois Rivieres sisters:
So we started with our theme #NOWYOUKNOW that Sister Thomas and I created, so basically we make a short video of us talking about certain principles of the gospel but in a natural way. So we do it in Spanish and French. So I decided to post it on some facebook groups. The Spanish ones in "Latinos en Trois Rivières" and then everyday I went to look at those who liked our post and I reached our to them. I was talking with this person about my job here as missionary, then this person asked some interesting question about God and his children, I felt the impression to answer some of his questions but also to tell him that I would love to talk more and answer all his questions. So I asked if my companion and I could videocall him sometime this week. He said yes and that Thursday afternoon works for him. We are so excited to teach him this week.
Dartmouth Sisters:
Sister Olsen and I also have been teaching a woman named Kemi. She is super busy and looks after her two children on her own. About two weeks ago we asked her to read the Book of Mormon and she is now close to finishing Alma. We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ last night and invited her to be baptised. She said yes and asked if she could be baptised this weekend ahah. She is so enthusiastic about coming closer to Christ and doing his will. She has progressed so quickly and is willling to meet with us 3 times a week and work around our schedule. Crazy!!
Moncton Elders:
From our bible Ad that I posted this week, this man was really struggling with his life and felt like something was missing. Obviously knowing it's the Gospel I invited him to church that same day. He messaged me Sunday morning and I invited him to church and he came and felt ministered to by the members here! Well we offered him that morning to also have a bible study that night at 8pm. Well that turned out really well! He vented out to us and told us all about his struggles and he said that the speaker in church really spoke to him and said things he needed to hear so he was excited to learn more about our church! He has 2 daughters so this will be great! When we were in his bible study, I told him to close his eyes and imagine he is in a dark place. I said to imagine a bright tree in the distance with beautiful white fruit on it. The only problem is you can’t get there because you can't find your way. But then God puts this Iron Rod in front of you and it goes right up to the tree and all you have to do is grab on and follow this rod. I said there are distractions that might drag you away but as you stay on this path called the straight and narrow path, God will always be by your side. I told him that it was a story from the Book of Mormon and gave him the book that night. What a neat moment honestly! He said he was very excited to learn more about our church so the Restoration is the next step in this neat adventure!
Laurier YSA Branch Sisters:
He is our instagram DREAM. We told you about him a bit yesterday, how he saw E. Johnson's skateboarding video and reached out. Well last night we were talking to him and after looking at the church site said that he llooveeedd the story of young "John Smith" (we have no idea where the John comes from but everyone here calls him that) and really relates to him! He loves that Joseph Smith wanted to find the truth before joining a religion. The biggest miracle is that HE STARTED READING THE BOOK OF MORMON. ON HIS OWN. We haven't even told him about it yet!! Crazy right!?
St. Johns Newfoundland Elders:
I am not looking forward to the rest of this 14 day isolation, it's gonna be rough. We're not supposed to even leave our property. Luckily we have a wonderful member that is happy to do our shopping for us. Super nice family! The people are very friendly here.
I have been trying to make sure that I'm seeking revelation in our missionary work. I've been Praying before doing a digital finding activity and just trying to be generally more receptive to the spirit.
And it paid off! I decided to start messaging local people and I started talking to a lady named Jaime. She said that she was praying to God to help her get through a stressful situation and asked for suggestions! I continued to talk to her and we set up an appointment for a video call later that night! She is a really nice lady! She loves reading and says she received a Book or Mormon from a friend that lives in the Toronto area and read it all. We offered her a Book of Mormon with tabs (especially since she doesn't know where other copy went) and she gladly accepted. She says she'll do anything to get closer to God right now and wants to attend church! Super exciting!
What a great week on the front lines eh?!! _______________________________________________________________________
Most missionaries have developed the gift of seeing little miracles everyday. Truly it is a gift, and their ability to distill their everyday experiences and glean tender mercies or miracles is amazing. I think it behooves each of us to do the same..to daily look for the tiny or huge miracles we are each blessed with. Sometimes it does require a ‘magnifying glass’ to see them, but we can train ourselves to notice them; it is a shift to feel gratitude for every blessing, and as we do, we become more grateful, and more optimistic. His tender mercies abound in each of our lives..I know that. As we train ourselves to look, remember, and record, our hearts are turned to Him, and every so slowly we develop a Heart like His, and that my dear ones is one of the greatest miracles!
We are so grateful for the tender mercies, we experience every day, and are also so very grateful for the many tender mercies you have been blessed with. Our experiences here have solidified our testimonies, and our resolve to everyday strive to be better; and to share this knowledge of the beautiful plan with everyone.
Life is wonderful.
With much love,
Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Richard and Gayle
Keep Smiling!!
Great blog mom
ReplyDelete