It's Autumn Time...the leaves are falling down!!!

Today is Sunday, September 27, 2020

Welcoming our new five missionaries, Sister Gottenbos (Spruce Grove), Elder Barton (Magrath), Elder Chin (Vancouver, BC), Elder Comin (Cardston), and Elder Scott (Kingston, Ontario) on Tuesday, is probably the most exciting day of our six week cycle!! Because we aren’t allowed to go to the airport, we have teams of Elders and Sisters assigned to go pick up individual missionaries, and bring them to the Mission Home so we can officially greet them, take a photo, have an interview, and then send them on their way. We anxiously wait for the Canada/US border to open; hopefully our predicted tsunami of missionaries will arrive soon…(since we still have 30 empty apartments as well as 30 snazzy Nissan Rogues ready and waiting!) But we are thrilled with our five new arrivals!! 

We do still find it hard to not have the big welcoming meals and getting to know you gatherings, and, we so miss our traditional farewell feast, Temple session, and interactions with our departing missionaries. With our eleven departing this week,  Richard did get to do in person interviews here at the Mission Home, and we were able to take photos, and our final zoom Testimony Meeting was awesome. Hearing their powerful conversion stories; and highlights of their 18 month or 2 year service is wonderful!! We always conclude the Testimony Meeting sharing our testimonies and then challenging each to go forth committed to staying on their own covenant path.  Reading, and studying the Book of Mormon, praying, serving are key!! Already we look forward to Mission Reunions where we will reconnect with these amazing friends who have taught us so much. President Boyd K. Packers statement, which I have shared before…continues to ring in our minds… this is a paraphrase…”you won’t know the effectiveness of your service as Mission Leaders until you see the grandchildren of your missionaries, and whether THEY are on a covenant path.” We keep teaching, testifying, and loving. 

Friday afternoon we got to accompany Elder Scott(Kingston, Ont.) and Elder Harding (Stirling) to the Temple. 16 in the session is our maximum, and that is exactly what we had. Brother and Sister Harding joined their son in the session, and that was so special for him. His twin brother is serving in Winnipeg, so he was endowed in Regina, and his parents drove to be with him. Missionaries in Atlantic Canada will have the opportunity to attend the Halifax Temple in the next couple of weeks, and although we can’t be with them, we know our kind Temple friends will take care. The Atlantic bubble doesn’t allow us to travel there.  

Besides excitedly anticipating new missionaries arriving; for about a month we were also excitedly anticipating yesterdays Pday, because we had booked a hot air balloon ride which was to take off in St. Jean... but Friday afternoon we received a text, and a phonecall cancelling our booking….due to covid (of course). What a disappointment for us and Sister Mecham. One of the balloon operators tested positive, which cancelled all rides for the rest of the season…boohoo….We hope to go in the spring! 

Our spirits didn’t wilt though, and our Saturday adventure with Sisters Breckenridge and Mecham was a delightful scenic drive up Mt. St. Hilaire to ‘Petit and Fils' Apple Orchard, where we joined hundreds of families enjoying the incredible autumn day. Many of the families hopped on the hay ride around the orchard, where they could jump off to pick whichever apple variety they wanted. ‘Honey Crisp’ are our chosen favourite, but  because they bruise so easily they are the only variety not listed on the ‘U Pick list.’ So....we were happy to buy a basket of already picked.  We spent the day ‘looking at the ‘magnifique’ view’…native maple, oak, birch, willow, spruce, apple, apple, and more apple trees surrounded us, with lush shrubs and undergrowth making it truly an enchanted forest. Although there was a slight smoke haze, (yes the California smoke has made it clear across the continent), the view from the bench of Mt. St. Hilaire still took our breaths away!! So many cute fruit and vegetable stands lined the back road back to Montreal, and you can be sure I wanted to stop at every one, and buy a trunkload of pumpkins and gourds to decorate our front step!! Maybe next week!!   

Our dear Elder Hawk’s Mom’s funeral was yesterday at noon, so in the apple- picking parking lot before our apple-buying excursion, we were able to zoom into her funeral, and hear the tributes to this remarkable woman. Tomorrow, at a small airport where the jet returning him from Boston will land,  we are praying the customs official will readmit him into Canada. So many possible complications….keep your fingers crossed! 

This week promises to be another great one, with office meetings, interviews, more interviews, and our next round of zone conferences begins!! And like you we are so excited for General Conference next weekend!! 

Tonight we are anticipating our special Devotional with John Bytheway. Elder Heninger from Calgary has a twin brother serving in Vancouver, who reached out to Brother Bytheway,  who did a devotional for the Canada Vancouver Mission, and also volunteered to spend an hour with our mission tonight! We feel so grateful for these outstanding members who know how much our missionaries need an uplift, and are so very happily willing to serve. That is such a good life lesson for all of us…Always be happily willing to serve!!!

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Read on for the:

Miracles of the Week - September 27,2020

Mandarin Montreal Elders:

This part is for Sister Low:

I recently finished the Book of Mormon. After I finished I began to ponder on some questions that I would focus on my next time reading through. I had a feeling that I should wait until general conference where I would receive more inspiration; in the mean time I would study by topic and story. Friday, I was praying to know where I should study. I had a feeling that came out of nowhere saying I should study Esther. I took this surprise thought as inspiration from the Holy Ghost. I began to read through the story with this question in mind: "Why did Heavenly Father direct me to this scripture." As I read, I tried comparing myself to the King, but it didn't quite fit, and neither did Mordicai. As I got to your favorite scripture, I felt an urge to reread and ponder what it must have meant to her, and why she was there. I felt a connection with her and felt that Heavenly Father had also prepared me for such a time as this. I prayed to confirm these feelings and felt the Holy Ghost strongly, telling me that everything in my life was to get me on this Mission. The choice that lay ahead of both me and Esther is whether or not to forget ourselves completely. I hope to follow her example and my Savior’s in forgetting myself completely and following the path that God has prepared me to walk on. I know with his help through much prayer and fasting I can make this path into a deeply worn trench. Thank you for sharing this story with us. I think it played a part in this experience that I had. 

Riverside Ottawa Sisters:

Holy cow I don't even know where to begin! This week has been so powerful and definitely one for the books! I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to go to the temple this week. Thank you so much for coming to the session with us as well. Ever since I've been able to go through (for my own endowment) I have noticed I have had so much more confidence with myself! My eyes have been opened to my eternal potential and God’s personal plan for me! I have felt strength and power ever since I went! It seriously is the best thing ever!  

Riverside Ottawa Sisters:

We have seen so many miracles this week! I won't make this super long and share them all but I do want to share one! One of our friends who has been trying to quick smoking dropped us this week! We were pretty sad about it but then the next day she called us back and told us that it had been the worst decision in her whole life! She bore a strong testimony on how she knows this is the right church for her and we were able to put her on date for October 17. The coolest part about it is that night that she dropped us she went to go reach for a cigarette and instantly felt sick! Since then everytime she thinks about a cigarette she feels like she is going to vomit, so she hasn't smoked since! I definitely know this is a miracle that God blessed Jody with and I'm so grateful that I was able to witness it! God truly is still a God of miracles!  

Trois Rivieres sisters:

After District Council, we had to do some things in our apartment in Shawinigan that the mission office asked us to do and then we decided to stop by a restaurant and order take-out for our dinner since we had not been able to eat.  So we searched this restaurant on Google Maps, we went there.  Then we saw and the door of this place was closed.  As we saw that it was closed we decided to go to another restaurant, but when we turned the corner we saw the panel with the name of the restaurant that we had chosen to go to at the beginning. A man took our order, he was very kind, he saw our nametags and he looked confused, our nametags were in Spanish so I think that's why he couldn't read  the name of the church, he asked us if we were evangelists but we said no, that we are missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He briefly told us that he had been studying in other churches and that he was studying the Bible, we told him that we used the Bible and the Book of Mormon so there he knew who we were.  When I paid, the system did not accept my card, so I was going to pay with cash but he did not want to accept, he told us that God bless us for all the work we do, it really touched me a lot, he was very  friendly and we did not have any card to give it to him but we will go again and offer him a Book of Mormon and one of our cards.

 I know that God works through small and simple ways, sometimes we do not know who he can put in our way, I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I am grateful for his sacrifice for each one of us. 

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We are so grateful for the opportunity to represent the Saviour Jesus Christ, as His missionaries. Keeping our eternal view in perspective, our consecrated covenant-keeping choices help us become more like Him. Let’s open our mouths and share the message of the restored Gospel with those around us…it is the message of HOPE, JOY, and PEACE. 

Have a wonderful week!

With our love,

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

CTR!! Keep Smiling!!

Lifelong Discipleship

Today is Sunday, September 20, 2020

Tomorrow we celebrate the first day of Autumn!!!

With cooler daytime and evening temperatures, autumn is in the air, and the trees have started to show their fall colours; every shade of gold, yellow, orange and red. Living in a forest like we do,  we are in awe of the magnificent transformation everyday!! Oh how we love our adventure in Montreal!!

Zoom Mission Learning Conferences Tuesday and Wednesday were inspirational and motivational, as was MLC on Thursday.  We taught about three of our favourite topics: obedience, humility, and the importance of the Book of Mormon. Preparing, and teaching is so fun, and because our missionaries also prepare for these meetings, they teach us much more than we teach them!! Several days before our meetings, we send out ‘Prepare to Learn’s’ (that’s what we call them), which essentially are Conference Talks, and scriptures that we feel impressed to refer to.  President Ezra Taft Benson’s landmark trilogy talks were our focus this week:  “The Power of the Word”- April 1986, “Cleansing the Inner Vessel’- April 1986, and “Beware of Pride”- April 1989. All three are powerful sermons that we love, and will refer to them again and again. Look them up if you want a great boost, and motivation to do better! So I can refer to them over and over, I’m going to shrink, laminate, and retrofit them to fit in my scriptures!  We were peppered with so many outstanding comments which led to great discussions. Zoom breakout rooms that Richard is a pro at creating give everyone an opportunity to participate and share their thoughts, insights, and experiences.  Developing Humility, being 100% Obedient, and Daily Reading, and Studying The Book of Mormon is essential in being an effective missionary (and to be an effective Disciple of Jesus Christ),  so we continue teaching, preaching, and testifying. 

In addition, our goal of having EVERY MISSIONARY committed to lifelong discipleship, by being Humble, Obedient, and by being committed to Daily Reading The Book of Mormon, is always a focus of every meeting. We talk a lot about covenant paths…their own, as well as the one we want to help get our friends on. Teaching and Testifying of the Saviour, and learning to ‘Hear Him’ is what we love to do!! The Book of Mormon is the greatest tool to do just that. 

Wednesday afternoon and evening were more of our weeks ‘highlights’ when we got to accompany Elder Laigo (and his parents) and Elder McStravick (with his Mom who surprised him!!) in the 3:00pm Temple session, and Elder Lee and Sister Barfuss (with her parents) in the 7:00am session.  Yesterday we joined Elder Trevino (and his Mom) in the 10am session. It is so good to be back in the Temple!!

Our dear Elder Hawk (from Boston) who has been serving as our Mission Accountant got word on Monday that his Mom who has battled cancer for years was not at all well, and, not expected to live more than a month. Coordinating with his Stake President, and sweet benefactors, Elder Hawk flew home Wednesday night, spent a few short days with his Mom, and yesterday afternoon he texted us telling us that she had peacefully passed. Oh, how our hearts break for him. Such an emotional experience to break the news, and comfort these young adults….While we have been here, Sister Atkins Dad passed as well as Elder Forsyth’s Mom, Sister Boyle’s Mom, and of course my own dear Mom have all left their mortal journey. Because of our understanding, and testimonies of the Plan of Happiness, although we are separated, and the sting of death does sting, we still find so much PEACE, JOY and HOPE. Elder Hawk will return next Monday, and we are praying the customs officer will let him stay. We will be at the private terminal ready to collect him. 

Montreal is a real gathering place for Jews (in 2001 there were around 100,000); and we love driving around Jewish neighbourhoods, where huge families live. They seem to walk everywhere, with their beautifully groomed children, so we see so many of them. We found two darling children’s clothing shops that these cute moms shop at!! Our Friday PDay activities had a real Jewish theme. Visiting the Montreal Holocaust Museum which was filled with historical descriptions, along with hundreds of photos, video footage, interviews with survivors, and dozens of treasured artifacts was such a sobering experience. We were reminded again of the horrors of war…especially that war. 

St. Viateur is a bagel shop that has been here since 1957, and we arrived just as hot sesame bagels were getting pulled out of the wood burning oven. We bought two sesame, and one cinnamon-raisin bagel. Toasting, and lathering them with butter and cream cheese was a real treat!!

To finish off our 'theme day,' we watched ‘Waiting for Anya’ a lovely war movie with great acting, a pretty strong plot, and beautifully filmed in the French Pyrenees. Such a great, fun, relaxing day!! 

Today we are giving a short 15 minute presentation at our Area Presidency Training Meeting, on weekly call ins, so are gearing up for that. 

And tonight we are excited to have Michael and Kaylee, Tait, Solon, Haysten and Preese be our Mission Devotional presenters. 

This week is Week 6, which means Transfer Week! We are excited to welcome our new missionaries Elders Scott, Barton, Comin, Chin, and Sister Gottenbos who arrive Tuesday!! And with heavy hearts we will bid farewell to 11 of our finest….Elders Broadhead, Ford, Lee and Weinzinger, and Sisters Campbell, Fonseca, Gonzalez, Long, Milad, Scott and Sanchez…It seems to get harder and harder to say goodbye to our dear missionaries. Covid rules have not relaxed at all for having Mission Home Farewell dinners, Temple sessions, or overnight guests,  so our simple offerings will again be brown bag lunches, along with a goodbye letter. 

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20 September 2020 Canada Montreal Mission Miracles: 

Mandarin Elders:

A miracle I would like to share is with a member named Sun . We have met with him for some time and our relationship is really strong. We invited him to attend the in-person church meeting this week and he agreed to come. The only problem was that he has no way of getting there. We asked our some members to help including our Elders Quorum President, Brother H, but no one could. We decided we needed to start praying for Heavenly Fathers help in this. The very next day, Brother H said that his wife and children got the cold and would not be attending this Sunday, so he could then give a ride to Sun. We were so excited and gave a prayer of gratitude to Heavenly Father. We then got a call from Sun who said that he wanted to come and so he invited his friend (another less-active member who we are trying to get in contact with) to attend with him and give him a ride. Heavenly Father answered our prayers more than we could have asked for. I cannot wait for tomorrow to see these members once again!

Other set of Mandarin Elders:

Karen is the other friend we are teaching. She's been taught for some time ago and we are now teaching her again and would try to extend a date for her soon. We are also teaching her husband who doesn't have much knowledge of the gospel. When I explained to him how the gospel affects positively in our daily lives, he became interested to listen. Tonight we taught the first lesson and asked their family if they had anything "against being baptized in the name of the Lord". Karen immediately said that she wanted to be baptized. We then asked them to pray for a date. 

Ottawa sisters:

Along with the training... Sister Christensen and I have noticed that every single pday for the past 2 months when we go to the store at least one person comments about our tags or how they see "nice girls wearing dresses" at the store a lot. It's been cool to see how many people actually do notice and how it has been their introduction to the church!  

Kanata and Fallowfield Elders:

Hello! This week was great! We found a new person to teach in both wards and they are both very solid! We teach Lisa every Monday and Thursday and she always comes with wonderful questions. She wants to come closer to God and that's what we're here for! We had a miracle when we taught her last! We were teaching and she asks if her whole family can join the next lesson so that's amazing and then we told her about church and she said "can me and my family go to church?" and after picking our Jaws up off the floor Elder Nelson and I excited told her yes. She's progressing well and reads the Book of Mormon alot. Her and her whole family came to church! 

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Although I rarely get to send individual letters, or cards to you; know how we pray for you, and are so grateful for your love, your friendship, your loyalty, your prayers and your loving support of missionaries all over the world. Let us all continue to do our part in 'Gathering Scattered Israel;' it's what lifelong disciples do!

We send much Love,

Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Richard and Gayle

 

Keep Smiling!! CTR

'It's Autumn Time!!' 'Montreal Temple with new Missionaries'

Today is Sunday, September 13, 2020

and it is ‘Briar Marie’ Low’s 7th Birthday..Happy Birthday Briar!!!

Wednesday, ‘Brendan Lee Kearl’ celebrates 28 years…and 

Thursday ‘Dottie Jude Low’ gets to blow out 5 candles!!

Happy Birthday to those wonderful family members…and to anyone else who celebrates this week!!

Autumn is officially here in the Canada Montreal Mission, with temperatures slowly dropping, leaves starting to turn colour, little rain storms, and buses transporting happy school children to school; the signs of fall are all around! Although we don’t like to even mention that this is our last fall in Montreal; we can’t help but think how quickly this mission is flying by. The speeding bullet train that we are on is picking up speed…and we want to pull the e-brake to slow it down, BUT that being said…we continue to love the journey, particularly we dearly love serving with our dear missionaries. 

Labour Day Office Meetings were great, and although it is very much the same every week, we feel invigorated, and motivated to reach higher. And that is a major part of our calling; to inspire, teach, and motivate our team to ‘find, teach and baptize.’ We try not to sound like broken records…with the same encouragement and ‘pep talks’ every week! Someone told us ‘we have a new mission every six months,’ so it is natural to repeat, repeat, and repeat much of what we teach! 

Interviews Tuesday and Wednesday were great, and always a great way for us to know exactly what we need to teach on, this week as we prepare for this Tuesday and Wednesday Zoom All Mission Conferences.  We are following the precedent set last month by Elder and Sister McCune, where we meet for an hour and a half, and teach, motivate, and give assignments, and then… two by two, they go forth and practise. Wednesday morning we are all back together Zooming, and the reporting back begins! We love to remind and teach about the eternal principle of reporting back!! Have I already mentioned how very grateful we are for ZOOM?!! This week we are teaching about what we learn about Obedience, and Humility, in the Book of Mormon. We love the short instruction time, and think it is much easier for everyone to stay focused…(especially since they are all just on their puny phone screens.)

Half of Friday was Pday, and again Richard loaded up our bikes, and we were off on an adventure, along the south shore, through lovely forest-scapes along the beautiful Richelieu River. So many folks take advantage of the incredible bike trail system that crisscrosses across the province. I’m convinced that everyone in Quebec owns a bicycle,… and rides it!! Elderly’ish folks, kids, teenagers, whole families, young adults, and people our age all love the thrill of exploring the back country on two wheels! We are so glad we brought our bikes, and can join the throngs of cyclists!! 

After our fun ride, we arrived home just in time to teach our new missionaries about ’Adjusting to Missionary Life.’  A fabulous resource booklet entitled ‘Adjusting to Missionary Life,’ is a companion to ‘Preach my Gospel,’ and is my reference material for all the teachings I give at these regular meetings for our new missionaries. They each have their own copy, and it is accessible on their phones. You can imagine what a challenge it is to do 'At Home MTC,' and then arrive in the Mission Field and try to adjust…this booklet is a rich resource!! 

Saturday we were again thrilled to attend the Temple with two more of our new missionaries…Elder Yanez from London, Ontario, who was accompanied by his  parents; and Sister Williams from Cardston who was accompanied by her Mom and older brother (who recently returned from his mission to Pocatello, Idaho.) 

This week as I mentioned we have All Mission Conference meetings Tuesday(15th) and Wednesday(16th) and Thursday (the 17th) we have our Mission Leadership Council, meeting with Zone Leaders, District Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders, where we discuss needs of the Mission and; what we can do to help improve our ‘Key Indicators for Conversion.’ We love teaching, and helping motivate our leaders,… who in turn go forth and do the same with the missionaries in their zones and districts. It will be another great week!! 

Wednesday (the 16th), we get to attend the 3 o’clock Temple session with Elder Laigo and Elder Lee both Calgarians, and then the 7 o’clock session with Sister Barfuss from Hillspring, and Elder McStravick from Regina.  

And...Saturday, (the 19th),  we will accompany Elder Trevino from Calgary. It is such a thrill to be with these young Elders and Sisters as they continue creating their own covenant path/trench. Parents of Elder Laigo, Elder Trevino, and Sister Barfuss are also going to be accompanying their missionary to the Temple. Being in the Temple with these stalwart young adults is amazing, and it is so lovely to get to meet their parents, and understand why our missionaries are so very good!! 

It will be another wonderful week!! 

Felix Viteri, our Facilities Management contact is coordinating so many ‘fix -ups’ for the Mission Home, and this week we had the new bathroom vanity carpenter here measuring up our powder room; and he also will refinish the kitchen table. An upholstery man came and measured the kitchen and dining room chair seats, and we got to go to his shop and choose the coordinating fabrics..(24 chairs!)  Yony, our gardener (who also must be an electrician) came and took down the 3 silver chandeliers so I could spray paint them antique bronze to match all the lamps, (which I did yesterday afternoon.) The carpenter is going to replace the original (60 yr. old) metal railings, and handrail with cherry spindles and handrail, and said he probably could have it done before Christmas so we can dwazzle it up with garland and lights!! The back entry renovations will happen in the new year, and will be ready for the new Mission Leaders. It will be a whirlwind of activity the next few months, and soon the home will be in pristine shape! Outside, Jony will replace another section of weedy lawn, and put landscape edging around all the flower beds, as well as create a pad for the basketball standard.  

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September 13th, 2020 Mission Miracle:

Bridgewater Elders:

Elder Day and I had this miracle where we went to drop off cookies to this one potential in Area Book who only has an address and no phone number as we can't just contact him right now. Well as we were putting the cookies on their doorstep they caught us! But it turns out the potential doesn't live there anymore. But the family who does live there is related to him and they started asking us questions about our church and we kinda just gave them a brief little 5 minute synopses of what we believe and asked if we could set up a time for us to tell them more about it and they said yes! They gave us the phone number for the potential and their own phone number and they just seem like the sweetest little family. They've got 2 kids from what we saw and we are just so excited for them! Miracles are happening president! 

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We are so grateful for our Testimonies of the Restoration of ‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.’ Our knowledge that ‘Families Can Be Together Forever,’ gives us peace and joy, and motivates us to do all we can to create unity and love in our family, and…to share that glorious message with EVERYONE!!! That is our challenge for all of us!!

Have a wonderful week! 

with much love and gratitude, 

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

Keep Smiling!! CTR 

                                                                    French Breads are incredible!! 

                                          What a fun EXPENSIVE bakery....'Mamie Clafoutis' in Outremont

                                                            Our simple lunch was $53...

                                          Next door is a great Children's clothing shop called "Brat Pack'

TEMPLE...Bikeride...and DISCIPLESHIP!!!

Today is Sunday September 6, 2020

Another delightful week has just passed in the Canada Montreal Mission, and again we feel so grateful for the ‘Gospel of Jesus Christ’ and the opportunity we have to be His Disciples. Everytime we get to interact with our army of missionaries, we teach that this precious time is just the start of their ‘DISCIPLESHIP.’  I love to have them picture their own ‘covenant path,’ and then to think about a ‘covenant trench’ which is deeper, and requires more effort to create, but once there, it is a safe spot, with piled up dirt banks, where stumbling off would be much more difficult. I also like to think that my trench is wide enough for a bunch of family and friends to join me, especially as they might be struggling on their own. THAT is what DISCIPLESHIP is all about; finding and helping others get on their own covenant path (or trench). Ministering is all about Discipleship.  As we learn about, and practise Christlike attributes of Faith, Hope, Charity and Love, Virtue, Knowledge, Patience, Humility, Diligence and Obedience, discipleship naturally flows. But it doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t happen in 18 months or two or three years….it is a process, and we have our whole lives to strive!! Our own personal private religious observances of praying and reading and studying the scriptures, and serving others are key in our ‘Discipleship quest.’ 

Although the past seven days we spent most days sitting looking at our iPad screens, the time literally flew by! Monday Office Meetings were lovely as we interacted with our great team there, and zoomed with many of our other Mission leaders! And Tuesday through Friday we loved interviewing with all our Mount Royal Zone and Montreal Zone missionaries! Our system works well with Richard in our Mission Home Office, and me at the Kitchen table. It is such a wonderful way to get to know all our army!! What remarkable young adults they are, with incredible conversion stories. 

Thursday at 4:00pm we were seated in our Montreal Temple with about 13 other folks for the first Post-covid Session!! Elder Orrego, (from Victoria B.C.) whose parents flew here to be with him, had not been to the Temple yet, and that was such a lovely experience to be there with them. We have about seven more missionaries that we will get to have that joyous time with; and more parents are coming too!! Two is the maximum number of first timers, and I think they cap the numbers at 16. What a thrill to be back!!

Yesterday was Pday and we had such a FUN adventure!! I packed a simple lunch of fruit and veggies, while Richard loaded up our bikes in the back of the Highlander; and by 9:45am we were off to Le P’tit Train du Nord which in an old (1890’s) CPR railway line in the Laurentian’s which now is a multi-use recreational trail running parallel to the Riviere du Nord. The almost flat, well packed dirt/gravel trail was just perfect… great signage, spectacular views, and hundreds of other cheerful cyclists, walkers, and runners. It felt so wonderful to feel the sun on our faces, to pedal like crazy, to see the stunning green forest vistas, and to really relax!! By the time we finished our 24 km jaunt, my nutty ragweed allergies had gone crazy, and I could barely see to get a Reactine allergy pill from the car. 

We finished our ride about two minutes before the Zoom call to watch the Baptism of Carolina Provost. What a thrill to get to participate in that!! She has quite the incredible story! Sisters Vargas and Atkins are the sisters who participated in teaching her. 

I haven’t raved (for a while!!) about the magnificent outdoor gardens resplendent with ferns, ivy, geranium, impatience, begonia, strawberry fields, and dozens of flowers and plants I have no idea what they are!! We’ve had lots of great rain so lush foliage on trees and shrubs is everywhere.  Top of my favorite list are the lush huge displays of hydrangea which are everywhere.. definitely a staple in every ‘real’ gardeners garden!! Since we moved here, we have added about 10 new of our own so I’m hoping that will put us into the ‘real’ gardeners category!!! Petunias that I love in Alberta,  have made it to my black list of what not to plant here next year! Who knew that - snails - can devour an entire plant in a week? For years I have battled with their western Canadian cousins - slugs - but had no idea these slimy snail critters were lurking in our flower beds here. Japanese beetles are another noxious pest that have desimated dozens of our sweet potato vine leaves. I’ll include some photos of our pretty yard, but will not include any of the pests! 

Keep reading for the lovely CMM Miracles of the Week!!

Canada Montreal Mission Miracles week of August 29 - September 6, 2020

From the Laurier YSA Elders:

We had a small miracle this week where at the end of a lesson our friend asked us about the Holy Ghost, and we were trying to think of a chapter in the Book of Mormon he could read before our next lesson and discuss. It was at that exact moment my scriptures literally fell open to 2 Nephi 32, above which I had written «Le Saint Esprit  ».  All the sudden it became really easy to pick a chapter to ask him to read. Thank you for all you do! 

Mandarin Elders:

MIRACLE: we had a referral for a man named Nick.   After showing no interest in the Gospel, we decided to be bold. It…didn't work. We were losing him and he seemed less and less interested to even talk with us. It was clear that there was no relationship and so being bold had no effect on him, and was actually turning him away. So we just flipped it and went full on to build a connection first and then we invited him to come to activities. He was not only willing but proactive in getting involved. He now hopes to come to all of the activities in the future to make more friends. Soon this will lead to him wanting to learn more. 

Laurier YSA Elders:

A cool miracle we say this past week was in Sacrament meeting. I was asked to give a talk and I felt prompted to give it about the importance of The Book of Mormon and bear my testimony of its truthfulness and so I did. What was amazing is that we had had a member keep his invitation to invite one of His friends to Church and this friends heard my talk. After the meeting we spoke with him and he said he really wanted to get a copy of The Book of Mormon so we gave him one of the ones marked with the questions of the soul and he was so happy. He has been reading it and we hope to meet with him this upcoming week ! 

Riverside (Ottawa) sisters 2.0:

We have had another really good week! We were blessed with such a sweet miracle! We were having a member lesson with a recent convert when we asked him if he had anybody in his life that we could help. He then told us that his sister has just asked him to start teaching her four children about the gospel! They had been having Sunday school lessons for the past two weeks! We were able to set up a lesson with them and we are so excited that we get the opportunity to help teach them! 

And there you have a quick report on our week!

With our Mission still in Phase One, our complement of new missionaries is limited to 'Canadian only' new missionaries so we are hovering around 145, BUT.... we are ready for a ‘new missionary tsunami' that we are praying will come. We have around 30 empty apartments, as well as 30 new Nissan Rogues just waiting to be driven!! While we wait, 'we' continue to contact, and teach over social media…day in and day out we are busy  Facebook finding, contacting former investigators, and relying so much on member-connections!! Tons of creating quality Facebook posts, as well as quick posts. Generally our teams remain positive, and upbeat as they do this 'new normal and natural finding.' With spending so many hours a day looking at screens, wearing blue light glasses has almost become the norm..we press on!! 

Thank you for your love and support. Know that we feel the power of your prayers on behalf of missionaries, and are so very grateful ..thank you!

We will send this off with much love xoxoxoxoxoxo

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

CTR and Keep Smiling!!!

oops…Sorry this didn’t get sent on Sunday!!