Today is Sunday, August 30, 2020,
We are excited to wish Happy 18th Anniversary to Aaron and Jennie!
AND
Happy Blessing Day to Baby ‘Bella Anne Kearl’ who was blessed by her father Brendan!!
Happy, Proud Parents - Brendan and Megan, and adoring big sister Macie Megan
August just flew by, and without hardly blinking we welcome September 2020!
At Office meetings on Monday, Sister Breckenridge suggested we be tested for the coronavirus, and, since our nagging coughs, and our overall feelings of yuckiness had been lingering for almost three weeks; following our day of meetings we headed over to a COVID 19 testing site, and had the long swab stick swipe mucous way up our noses. Richard was sure they twisted his cue-tip all the way to his brain! It was uncomfortable for about two minutes; but Tuesday when we received the email with the negative results, we were grateful to chalk up our feeling crummy to nasty sinus infections! Isolating ourselves at home reassured us that we were not sharing whatever we had. We are so grateful to now feel almost 100%!!
Another wonderful, eventful week here in the Canada Montreal Mission as we welcomed virtual visitors: Elder and Sister McCune. Tuesday night during our zoom call with Elder and Sister McCune we totally revamped our scheduled mission tour, and rather than have double Zone Conferences on Wednesday and Thursday and one on Friday, we had a Mission wide Conference each day from 8:30-10am with other meetings for District leaders, Sister training leaders, Social media leaders, a special meeting for new missionaries, as well as two Mission Leadership Councils. We also each interviewed four missionaries each day. Such an incredible motivating week where we all were edified and strengthened by Elder and Sister McCune as well as by each other.
Let me share some of my notes, which have application not just to missionary service:
Two invitations Elder McCune gave Wednesday, and had missionary responses Thursday morning (homework assignments!)
- Why are you serving a mission?
- Counsel and Practise - extend an invitation to use the Doctrine of Christ - identify and practise.
Notes and personal inspiration
*Once an individual is converted to the Lord, they will never fall away - this is motivation for us to help our friends feel the Spirit, and know the Doctrine of Christ.
*Teach the FULL Doctrine of Christ : Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, Enduring to the End, Temple. Teach and Testify.
*Get them to the Temple.
*This is the Saviour’s Vineyard - He will win.
*This dispensation will culminate/conclude with the coming of the Saviour.
*Technology helps facilitate the work - we have ‘power tools.’
*In all our Facebook posts ‘We promote Jesus Christ,’ not ourselves.
*Don’t make the post about YOU…
*This is the ‘Saviour’s Mission for YOU.’
*We need to be guides on the sidelines pointing to Jesus Christ.
*Everything we do leads people to the Saviour.
*Are we becoming complacent?
*Constantly review our Missionary Purpose.
*The Lord is leading us down this path.
*Be creative in our finding…all we do should lead us to our Missionary Purpose.
*Goal setting helps us feel success. Helps us set the standard.
*Power of Prayer in PLANNING.
*Focus on what we can do because that is what the Lord wants us to.
*Be careful with casualness.
*Be united.
*As leaders use the PIE principle - Praise Instruction Encourage in your stewardship.
*Technology Tips:
*Key is LOVING PEOPLE.
*We gather scattered Israel through LOVE.
*Be real and genuine..that is what opens doors.
*We are leading others to Christ - completely focus on HIM.
*Be guided by the Spirit.
*Simplicity…share simple truths.
*Testify with power.
*Fancy cameras are not what matters - we want people to feel the Spirit.
*The Lighthouse effect.
*A window is better than a wall.
*Use the P approach - Prayer!
*Elder Holland’s cute definition of service in the Lord’s kingdom - is
delightful exhaustion!
*5 and 10 minutes lessons can be very effective.
*Always REMEMBER HIM. He is a real person. Testify…
*Always have a member present for every lesson, which requires planning…and we must have good relationships with ward/branch members.
*Stake President has the keys for Missionary Work, and the keys must be aligned.
*Think ahead.
*Put them on your shoulders - Luke 15: 4-6
*Use Area Books - such an amazing resource!
*Always ask: “Is there anyone else you know that could benefit from what we are teaching?” Members can be the catalyst we need.
*Best referral source - those you are teaching, and less actives.
*Remember you are DISCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST YOUR WHOLE LIVES.
*This is HIS Mission for YOU.
*Key to remember the Saviour is to know where our HEART is.
*Are you reading the BOOK of MORMON EVERYDAY?
*Be accountable - report back..an eternal principle.
*The Saviour is the true vine - discussion John 15
*Move forward…progress
*Be Happy.
*We are all on this course of DISCIPLESHIP.
*Greater Faith in Jesus Christ: -(from Elder and Sister McCune’s MTC Devotional)
*An increase in the Gift of Charity
*Repentance
*Personal Worthiness
*Studying the Word of God
*Focusing on the blessings of Temple Covenants and Ordinances
*Following Prophets, Seers and Revelators
*Church Attendance, and the blessings of the Sacrament
*Prayer
We were thrilled to interact, and learn so much from the McCune’s. Zoom meetings are incredible, and although missionaries are in far off Newfoundland, or Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, Ontario or Quebec, we can feel the Spirit, and are so grateful for so much participation from our bright, converted missionaries! Oh how we pray for their success, and for their commitment to live a life of discipleship on their covenant paths.
Although we didn’t have an in person Mission tour, we were inspired by everything we learned.
This epistle is growing by the minute….and here come the..
August 30th Canada Montreal Mission Miracles:
Riverside Ottawa Sisters:
One thing I learned this week is the importance of building a relationship with the friends we are teaching! Sister Low mentioned this to us and we have been trying extra hard to implement it! We have been able to grow super close with two of our friends and now they are progressing really well! We have totally seen how once they have been able to build that trust with us they are more open in sharing their thoughts and listening to what we have to say! Our goal now is to build a similar relationship with all of our friends! We hope this will help our friends progress even more! I'm excited to see how it goes!
Laval Elders:
Things are going well here in Laval. The members are awesome. We are teaching people and trying to move them towards baptism. We have set that expectation with almost everybody we teach. We have really been emphasizing keeping commitments. Because when people do not they are not progressing. We had an awesome experience this yesterday. We were going through our potential list on exchanges and we saw someone that was referred but the missionaries never got ahold of her. So we contacted the person who referred her and she was like "I'm so glad you contacted me, I need you to meet with my sister (non-member who was not the original referral) because she is going through a really hard time right now." so we were able to go over there and give her a blessing, and the spirit was super strong. Then the women said that she had some cousins who were members and that she was going to reach out to them. It was amazing.
Victoria Spanish Sisters:
Super interesting thing, we had a lesson set up with a man that let's just say that he super loves the bible and he has been trying to teach us more than we teach him haha. We were open to listen to his beliefs but when we would start sharing some of ours he would try to shut them down. We had to be pretty bold with him because let's just say he was being pretty bold with us. But let me just say that whole saying of "you can never be too bold if it comes out of love" is trueeee. I kept reminding myself that this man is trying to find truth and that he is a child of God, and if he decides to not agree with us and even bash a bit on our beliefs, well, that's his choice. We ended by giving our testimonies of the restoration and I just felt so much power as we testified about how the proper church was restored back on the Earth after the great apostacy. I have so much love for this gospel, for goodness sake I left EVERYTHING for this gospel. I have so much love for my Saviour Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father. It was cool because I noticed that at the end of this lesson, this man became a lot more quieter and respectful, he was even smiling. What a miracle that the spirit brings. :))
Hochelaga Montreal Elders:
We've had several instances where we pray for something in specific, and he have seen the answers left and right! For example, I felt impressed last week in one of my prayers to pray that we will be able to have a lesson with a friend and a member present. Then literally the next day we had a first lesson with Diaston, who just moved here, he was getting taught by missionaries in Arizona or Haiti. And at first he was pretty confused about the Book of Mormon and trying to prove it with the bible, but just like that we got another lesson set up with with for Sunday. And literally 2 hours before that a member told us he can teach with us whenever, so he was able to come. I just really felt the spirit telling me that it was an answer to prayers.
LaSalle Sisters:
Our friend Daniel is getting baptized this upcoming Saturday. Last weekend we had a scheduled lesson with him to finish our last lessons. We called him for our lesson and we noticed him when he was at the store shopping with his family. We told him that we could call later when he was available. He immediately told us that he would go to the car and call us back. We called a few minutes after and had a wonderful lesson. Sister Scott said something that was very true. She said, "Someone who is truly interested in the Gospel, will do anything to listen".
Ending that lesson, we asked him if he could pray to know if Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ once again. When we invited him to do that, he told us that he had already prayed to know. He knew that this church was the true church of God. He knew that whenever we would speak, he knew that it was a message from God! He already had a testimony of the church! I love being able to witness and see the glow on the faces of those we teach that get confirmation that this is the true church of God. That is something so wonderful about being a missionary.
Laurier YSA Sisters:
Thursday morning we got a text from a member telling us that a former had reached out to him and she has been thinking a lot and she.... wants to get baptized (yes spit out that juice you are drinking while you read this!!) yess ..... it was crazy!! He followed with " so idk maybe you could email her? here's her email." We were like Arnold who emails nowadays except nerdy missionaries(not even ashamed) so we just slid into her DMs. Set up a lesson and taught HTBT with The gospel of Jesus Christ, inviting her to be baptized. We had to pinch ourselves-- were we suddenly serving in South America?! Sherlin is one of the most prepared people I have met and she has chosen to be baptized Sept 13th! Please keep her in your prayers! When we asked her what changed in her life for her to decide to be baptized she said "I saw a video on FaceBook, telling me I am a loved daughter of God, I felt this feeling, something that I felt only when I came to church and saw the missionaries. I realized I want that in my life, and yea so I decided I need to get baptized!" Wow. Another cool thing was as we were driving to the lesson we felt prompted that we needed to hit home on Endure to the end, explaining that we did not have to be perfect to be baptized!! That we simply had to covenant to TRY our best!! In the lesson we invited Arnold to bear his testimony on that and she turns to us and says "Sisters- I did not know that. that is the reason I would not get baptized 2 years ago" It's interesting how 90% of the time it's the simple truths that we get hung up on. Perfection is not the goal, only continued improvement.
We are so inspired by the faithfulness of our army of CMM missionaries. We daily express gratitude for this incredible opportunity to serve and to learn from these valiant souls. What inexpressible JOY!!
Posting this with much love: Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mom and Richard and Gayle
Keep Smiling and Look at the View!!
Have a wonderful week!!!
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