Today is Sunday, August 16, 2020
Yoyeux 5th Anniversaire jeudi, Brendan and Megan!!!
Already the middle of August..wow!!
Two weeks worth of news..where do I begin?!!
Biggest news this week is that we received 11 brand new missionaries!! Maybe you will recognize some of the following names…our newest CMM young Elders and Sisters:
Sister Beone - Sparwood, British Columbia
Sister Jensen - Medicine Hat
Sister Pedersen - Cardston
Elder Harding - Stirling/Calgary/Stirling
Elder Heggie - Raymond
Elder Heninger - Calgary
Elder Laigo - Calgary
Elder McStravick - Regina, Saskatchewan
Elder Trevino - Calgary
Elder Tymensen - Calgary
Elder Yanez - London, Ontario
Also, two weeks ago, Elder Garside from Edmonton, and Elder Siemens from Okotoks arrived, so…our numbers are gradually increasing…in spite of COVID!! We are so grateful for righteous young Sisters and Elders who are desirous of serving no matter what their missionary service looks like; and welcomed with ‘virtual open arms’ this newest group of team members!! Zoom training like I have raved about, continues to be our ‘go to’ method of ‘almost’ face to face visiting, and teaching. Usually before new missionaries arrive, we teach, and counsel with their ‘trainers,’ and give instruction to new sister training leaders, and to district and zone leaders; but this transfer cycle we gave the training after the new missionaries had arrived, and of course it was all done over Zoom! My usual assignment is to teach about ‘Adjusting to Missionary Life,’ and I always reference the amazing booklet entitled ‘Adjusting to Missionary Life,’ which is a companion to our favourite ‘Preach my Gospel’ manual. When teaching new leaders I love teaching about the Christlike attribute of love, which is one of the most important qualities to develop as a missionary, and for that matter…the most important qualities to develop in our lives period…
Which reminds me of one of my life mantras, inspired from the old movie ‘Goodbye Mr. Chips’…’Did I fill the World with Love?’ I just love those words, and as we have taught about the first and second great commandments, those words ring in my heart.
As missionaries, and as Saints…that is what we are all about…developing the pure LOVE of Christ in everything we think, say and do….it is a lifetime quest. It starts with praying for charity, and then going to work!!
Mark, Brittney, Briar, Dottie, Vimy, and Boomer left for home on Wednesday, July 29th, after a whirlwind of fun family time; and the entire following week we anticipated the arrival of our next string of family visitors…Jonathan, Jordan and Liesl, Brendan, Megan, Macie and new baby Bella arrived Wednesday, August 5th. What a thrill for us to have our loved ones come experience our Mission, and the excitement surrounding everything we do!! Our Mission home easily accommodates a big family, and we love to have anyone, and everyone come!! (That is an invitation to any of you reading this!!)
Our activities included playing at our ‘Darling Park’…(Macie calls it the blue park!), Chocolat Favoris - our ice cream shoppe, visiting our favourite Jean Talon open market which always is swarming with happy shoppers…Quebec ’s fertile soil grows everything big and delicious, so visiting any market is a real treat. We came home laden with tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, and cucumbers, cheese and chocolate milk. and feasted for the week!! Other highlights of the week included a day at the Granby Zoo where we delighted watching Macie love lions, elephants, giraffes, and especially monkeys!! We never tire of visiting charming Old Montreal with the century old stone buildings, and cobblestone streets. Plague(beach) Jean Dore sur (on) Isle Notre Dame, about half an hour from home, was the perfect spot to play for several hours!! Around the island is the Gilles Villeneuve Formula One Race track on which Richard, Jonathan and Brendan were thrilled to race around on bikes!! Lac de Castor - lake of the beavers atop our Mount Royal was another fun spot to sit, relax and people watch!!
Friday was a watershed day having to say goodbye to five of our finest, missionaries: Sister Hannah Bromley (Tooele, Utah), Sister Calina Thomas (Phoenix, Arizona), Elder Benjamin Crowder (Herriman, Utah), Elder Issac Johnson (Sandy, Utah), and Elder Jake Thacker (Lehi, Utah). We were happy to say a quick goodbye here at the Mission home, and sent them each off with a lunch sac filled with cinnamon buns, chicken sandwich buns, fruit and snacks, (although it was a far cry from the feasts we used to serve!!) AND a whole lot of love!!
We love our Sunday evening devotionals, and have been thrilled to showcase our dear family….so far Aaron and Jennie, David and Danielle, Mark and Brittney, and last week Jonathan and Jordan, and Brendan and Megan have shared their testimonies, and beautiful analogies about the gospel. We anticipate several more family Sunday evening highlights.
Tonight our LDS Family Services counsellors, Sister Eve St. Onge, and Brother Adam Penney inspired us as they talked about emotional and mental health.
We were thrilled today to participate in the Lethbridge East Stake Conference, and sustain Aaron as the new Stake President. Both he and Jennie were well-prepared, and inspiring as they testified of the Saviour and the Restoration. We were so grateful to know that our entire family were participating in that sacred meeting. Again technology made that possible.
And now it is time to share a few lovely stories with you:
Last weeks August 9 CMM Mission Miracles
Laurier YSA Sisters:
Also I have to share 2 miracles with you!! So this Sunday we all fasted to be able to find new people to teach right? Well THAT SUNDAY we met with the St. Laurent branch in person for the first time and we saw a new person walking down the stairs. Keep in mind we're still in quarantine and we don't know everyone yet, but we just knew he wasn't a member. We asked him his name and how he found the church, and he said that he was just walking by and saw the church sign and decided he wanted to go to church. We have the limit of 25 people that have to reserve a spot ahead of time, so naturally our branch presidency was uneasy about having him there, especially because we were almost at 25 and were still waiting for more people to arrive. They asked him to sit to the side while they figured everything out and President, the amount of love I felt for that man in that moment was incredible. We had this special opportunity to sit and talk to him while they were figuring everything out and got to hear a bit of his story! He's from Ukraine, speaks 4 languages, and moved here 15 years ago with his family. He has a severe handicap (I'm not sure what), so he's unable to walk without support and has limited use of his limbs. He's also a Christian and loves God, and he just needed to be at church that day. The elders upstairs said that when they were about to turn him away he started to cry. After talking to him for a bit our branch presidency said that he could stay, and that day we had exactly 25 people in the session. Sister Murray said that he wasn't on our list of 25 people but he was on God's and I couldn't agree more. He later asked to meet with us and we fixed a time right then! He's a miracle president!! God not only answers our fasts and prayers, but also the prayers of those reaching out to Him. He brought Him to US and I couldn't be more grateful to get to be apart of tender mercies like these.
Another miracle is that some random guy just messaged Sr. Murray on Insta asking if we teach about religion! She hasn't posted in a while and we have no idea how he found her, but we're going to hopefully meet with him this week! We KNOW that this is because of the fast on Sunday. GOD IS SO GOOD.
August 16 CMM Mission Miracles
Fredericton Sisters:
Amidst the craziness with everything going on with my health, we have seen some sweet miracles. One worth sharing was that we met a new human and we are now teaching him!! His name is Josh! As a little background, about 2 weeks ago, we put up an ad for pictures of Jesus. The day before I went to the ER the first time, he messaged and said he wanted one! We planned on taking it to him on that Thursday, but well then...we were in the ER for 12 hours. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. After all the ER visits, we finally had the opportunity to take it to him on Wednesday evening. After we dropped it by, he immediately messaged us and told us he has so many questions about the church! We ended up setting up a lesson with him for the following day and he wants to come to church on Sunday as well!! He is so awesome and we have another lesson with him on Monday! It was super neat!!
St. Laurent YSA missionaries:
Manny. Our friend Manny is finally ready for baptism. He had his baptismal interview this week, and passed with flying colors. You will probably hear from us before you have a chance to read this email, but I can put a couple details in this letter. Manny was hesitant due to cultural differences, and his sentiment that he didn't feel like he wanted to be married anytime soon. Interestingly enough he prayed to God about it, and opened the scriptures to D&C. I believe it was Section 49, but inside he read 5 verses that 1. Told him to be baptized as it is a commandment, and 2. that he who forbiddeth to be married is not ordained of God. So! He took that as a direct answer to his prayer, and he is beyond ready to go. We have to organize it quick, so we are on a roll there.
Riverside Sisters:
We had a lesson with one of our friends and everything that happened during the lesson was definitely the spirit and not us at all! So to start off with one of the members called us an hour before the lesson and I felt prompted to ask her to join into the call with our friend later that night! We merged the two calls and had a really powerful lesson with her! We had no idea the member we brought in spoke French and she was able to bear her testimony in French to help our friend out! Then at the end of the lesson out of the blue, Sister Goodwin and I both felt prompted to invite her to work towards baptism and she agreed! The spirit was so strong and I was so happy to be apart of that lesson! Even if things don't work out for our friend I am so thankful that the Lord blessed me with that experience when I needed it the most, because ever since then I have been so uplifted and happy! I do think this friend will continue to work towards baptism though because she has so much faith and loves God more than anything! I'm really excited to help her along her journey!
Hawkesbury sisters:
Miracle of the week: We invited many people to church this week and were delighted to see that four nonmembers came! Two were our formers Ray and Marilyn, one was Rocko, and the fourth was Joel. We didn't invite Joel because we're still not in contact with him, but he still came on his own! Melanie wasn't even there. As for Rocko, he was so happy to be at church. He told us that he's been reading from the Book of Mormon, he's been having many spiritual experiences that show him that he needs to be here, and he's now conquered "8 out of 10" of his vices. He didn't tell us what they were, but he did tell us that he feels like baptism could be in the near future for him, and before we could say anything, he was off again. We'll keep patiently working with him and see where things go!
We are so grateful for the dedication, diligence, and faithfulness of our missionaries. Every week at our Sunday evening devotional we get to see everyone on our computer screen, and it thrills us to just be together. We still pray for borders to open, and opportunities to be together, but virtually is ok. We wonder what the new normal will be? These missionaries are top shelf, and have learned to creatively contact using their phones, and Facebook finding etc. -quite remarkable…we are so proud of each of them. Our service here continues to strengthen our testimonies of the Restored Gospel, and of the Saviour. We love Him, and are devoted to serving Him. Being missionaries has brought us such JOY and Fulfillment, and we LOVE serving together!!
On that happy note I’ll close this lengthy epistle, sending much love to all!
Richard and Gayle, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma
Keep Smiling!!
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