Today is February 7, 2021
Thursday, February 11, our eldest grandchild ‘Isabelle Jennie’ celebrates her 15th Birthday!!!
Happy Birthday Isabelle!!
Our Missionary time clock revolves around Transfer week, and that comes every six weeks (although with covid it has morphed into every seven weeks!) Nevertheless transfer week is exactly what it implies…. TRANSFERS, which includes receiving new missionaries, shifting others to new areas, as well as sending missionaries home who have completed their service. It is a big deal, requiring lots of prayer, and organizing. Variables like: which languages the Elder or Sister speak; which areas need French, Spanish, English or Mandarin; is it a driving area; does the Elder or Sister drive; in the case of a trio - can the apartment accommodate three missionaries; will the new companionship work…will personalities mesh; all play into the decision making, but in the end the miracle is, that it is the Spirit doing the directing! As soon as one transfer is complete, we start on the next one!!
Brand new missionaries arrived Tuesday evening, and although I mentioned them last week I’ll remind you who arrived: Sister Ellissa Gibb, Sister Katia Van Duyse, Elder Zach Bagley, Elder Blake Gibb, and Elder Justin Schortinghuis. Because of our 8pm Quebec curfew, only Elder Bagley had an early enough flight to make a quick getting to know you drop by at the Mission Home on Tuesday..and everyone else we met Wednesday at the Office!! We are so impressed by the enthusiasm, and quiet confidence of our new group!!
It has been almost a year since we had missionaries stay with us at the Mission Home, and oh how we miss that close interaction!! I also do miss preparing the welcome, and the departing meals. But our local companionships welcome the opportunity to have a new missionary overnight, and love showing off iconic Montreal spots like ‘Schwartz’s Montreal Smoked Meat,’ ‘St. Viatuer' bagels, or ‘Chocolat Favoris' ice-cream!! I keep dreaming of our traditional feasts…but wonder if this will be the new way??
Orientation of our five new missionaries on Wednesday was great!! Our Office team work so well together and each give brief presentations, and although they are quick, we know for our new team members, it is information overload at its finest!! General instruction and Welcome, Housing and Apartment info, Car/TIWI info, Community Service, Phones, Baptismal Records, Financial (Mission Support fund), Medical Info, Materials ordering, and Referrals are all discussed in just over two hours!!
Fortunately they each have amazing trainers who will keep teaching.
Transfer week is definitely our favourite of the cycle…except when it comes to saying good bye to our departing group, which this week included the following: Sister Marshalyn Moosman, Elder Justin Brown, Elder Tyler Clifford, Elder Jeremy Croft, and Elder Zach D’Eon. And, Sister Sarah Driesen flew back to her original mission in Ascension, Paraguay.
Hearing their final testimonies on Thursday night is such a tender time, and we always are so inspired by their faith, and commitment to continue on their covenant paths. I think most missionaries seem to come pretty perfect, but there is an amazing transformation that happens in each of their lives as they learn how to apply the Doctrine of Christ. It works in our lives too!! The incredible power of the Atonement changes our hearts.
Because of covid restrictions all over Atlantic Canada, we have had to temporarily take missionaries out of Newfoundland, PEI, and now New Brunswick. We are retaining the apartments in hopes that the crazy restrictions will be lifted soon, and we will be able to travel freely over there. On Thursday when missionaries arrived in Montreal, several of them said: “Sister Low…I haven’t seen you for a year,” or “Sister Low, this is the first time I’ve met you in person..” Zoom meetings do keep us connected, but we realize more and more how important it is, for us to gather in person. Provincial Government regulations would have us isolating for two weeks before meeting together, and that is not even a possibility….so we will continue moving missionaries over here. Such a challenge… We continue to pay tribute to those stalwart missionaries who work cheerfully,
diligently and independently. We know we have been blessed with the best of the best, and we are so grateful.
Our little Pday diversion yesterday was simply fun!! Richard scoped out a pretty flat cross country ski trail, around the Olympic stadium, which he loved, and was proud to report that although flat, he did get his heart rate up! I also enjoy cross country skiing..but am most comfortable on flat terrain, so after Richard checks out our potential trail and gives it the nod, I am in!!
We loved our winter drive out to Oka, where we enjoyed the spectacular winter vistas of the frozen Ottawa River, snow covered apple orchards, and grape vineyards. We even saw a man checking his blue maple syrup hoses which zigzag all through his maple grove. It will probably be another month before the sap starts running!! Hopeful the Cabana Sucres will be open this year!! Again, we were in awe of these adventurous Quebecois…this time..they were zipping along over the snowy, ice-covered river on short snowboards while holding a special windsail!! We had never seen such a thing…it’s called ‘snowkiting or kite skiing.’ Incredible!!
Our final stop was at the cute little Oka bakery which was almost sold out of everything, except for some yummy chocolat pain pastries, and a fresh baguette! Another fun day!!
We completed our relaxing day sketching and watercoloring! Oh and we got to visit with returned missionaries..Hunter Olsen, brand newlyweds…Hayden Holman and his bride Charlotte de Barcellos who were sealed in the Rexburg, Idaho Temple yesterday!!, Sister Wall, Sister Bromley, and Sister Edwards! Getting to reconnect with dear friends is such a highlight!! Reunions are going to be so much fun!!
This week promises to be another wonderful week, and we look forward to meetings, interviews, visits, and a zone conference. Being a missionary is the greatest calling, and we feel so blessed to get to serve together!!
Thank you for your prayers of support for missionaries everywhere!
Have a wonderful week! KEEP SMILING!!
with much love, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Richard and Gayle
Miracles always buoy our spirits…here are a few for you!!
February 7th, 2021 Canada Montreal Mission Miracles:
Montreal Sisters:
« I am amazed at how amazing the members are here in the Montreal ward! Last Sunday the leaders presented the ward mission plan to the members. The spirit was really strong through out the whole meeting. This next week we were able to have 4 member referrals who just called us out of the blue and said they had friends who wanted to meet with us. We had lessons with two of them so far which went extremely good. Preach my Gospel is not wrong when it says missionary work goes 100 times better with members. Not only that but I was studying in Alma 17 this week and it really strengthened my testimony on how Ammon could not gather the flocks and keep them safe on his own. He needed help from his fellow servants to keep them encircled. I have been praying on what I should do this transfer and this week, God made it very clear to me that I need to focus a lot of our efforts on supporting the members and working with them. »
Assistants :
« To share an experience, someone named DELL like the brand, mysteriously showed up to church and asked for missionaries to meet with them through the chat at the end, however Bishop Stewart closed the meeting before the Sisters could establish a connection. All teams looked for him, we looked in our records to see if we could find him but found someone named Adele, realized it wasn't the person we were looking for, but felt impressed to reach out. We called, he responded, and we've had a couple lessons with him. According to him he currently is more open than before and was even contemplating reaching out to us around the time we called. He has begun reading the Book of Mormon, is dependable when it comes to staying in contact, and we're excited to see him change as he follows his more recent spiritual yearnings! «
Hochelaga Elders:
« We have a really cool friend named Marc-Aurel. He was one of the referrals from that time a member brought seven friends to church about a month ago. He really was paying attention to what we were saying the other day and he kept asking us how he could know which church was the "best" church. At the end of our lesson he prayed and asked God to help us know that The Book of Mormon is true. I definitely felt something during that prayer and I hope he recognized it as well. When he was referred to us, we were told that he worked out of town during the week but lived in Montreal on the weekends but now we learned that he only comes to Montreal some weekends and he doesn't actually live here so we are passing him off to the Trois-Rivieres Elders on Saturday. »
Champlain Spanish Sisters:
« I wanted to share a little miracle that happened to my family back in Edmonton. My younger brother, Ellis is 13. Of course, he enjoys skiing and has now been getting into tricks and videos. He was at the ski park with his friends and had a really bad accident. While he was on the ramp his ski slipped and he fell right on his back on the rail. This could have lead to him being paralyzed, hurt a kidney or other major injuries said the doctor. He was put on a stretcher and taken to the hospital. My dad rushed to the hospital and was with him all night. I believe my family was blessed because of the service I am doing right now. He went home sore with no major injuries. I know that the work I am doing is truly blessing my family. «
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