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
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'
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