Spring is here, Miracles continue, and Kidney Stone passed!!

Today is Sunday,  April 18, 2012

Tomorrow is the 1st anniversary of the passing of my dear Mom, 

            ‘Patricia Maude McCormack Hamilton.’ 

Tuesday, ‘Hudson Marshall Low’ celebrates his eleventh Birthday, 

and

Saturday, ‘Vimy Mark Low’ will blow out four candles.

Spring is officially here in Montreal. Daffodils, our pretty blue brunerra forget me nots have burst forth, brilliant white magnolia are popping in many gardens, our tulips have grown about five inches in a week with buds forming, the maple tree pink blossoms have fallen and tiny leaves are showing,  and there are hundreds of buds forming on all our hydrangea shrubs!! Lawns are lush ‘verdant green,’ and the dreamy spring ‘chartreuse green’ of new tree and shrub growth is everywhere!! Warm sunshine, and fresh air makes spring intoxicatingly wonderful!!! Tomorrow we will remove the plastic tarp from our outdoor furniture and get the cushions out so we can enjoy the splendour of one more spring here in our Montreal backyard!

        Tulips enshrouded in chicken wire - (squirrels were again nibbling on the bulbs)

I must admit this week has been somewhat of a blur for me. The lurking kidney stone kept me uncomfortable for most of the week; but thanks to the prayers of many of you, as well as the fasting and prayers of our dear missionaries, I had very little pain…until Friday night around 7:30pm.  After we had returned home from Longueuil Zone Conference in Drummondville, the intense pain I had experienced last week began again, and I wondered if I had the inner fortitude to do this very hard thing without going back to the Hospital a third time. (and I also wondered how I could endure the pain until the 26th of April when my surgery was scheduled.) Fortunately, around 2:45am yesterday morning I passed an 8mm kidney stone, and immediately I felt relief. We both are so grateful to have that ordeal over with!! Sweet deliveries of beautiful purple and yellow potted mums, chicken soup, and pecan pie, as well as notes and get well cards all helped us cheerfully press forward!!

                                                 And here you can see the stone...felt like a boulder!

Richard was amazing, and did everything Monday through Thursday without me…Office Meetings on Monday; Tuesday and Wednesday held in person interviews at the Office; and Thursday held MLC in the Laurier Chapel at the Office as well.  Hoping that taking me to a Hospital that specializes in kidney stones would help; Tuesday Richard dropped me off at the McGill University Health Centre - also known as the Royal Victoria Hospital, where I waited in waiting rooms full of other folks for 10 hours to be told that I still had to wait to see a urologist…..oh brother…Dr. Fahnery did call me the next day and after looking at the CT scan predicted that I would pass it before my surgery date…I had hope!!!

Enough about health issues!! My only advice for ALL of you is to DRINK WATER!!! Both ‘juice of the earth,’ as well as ‘LIVING WATER.’

Both will be good for your soul.

We are thrilled to report five Baptisms this week!! 

Madeline in Trois Rivieres

Jeremiah in Lemoyne Ward

Austin in Sackville, NS. (first Baptism in three years!)

Minde in YSA Laurier Branch

        Antonio in Montreal East

Our entire Mission celebrates when we have Baptisms!! 

And there you have a quick little report of the past week.  Our upcoming week promises to be amazing with Montreal Zone interviews, Montreal Zone Conference, a Mission Wide Learning Conference, as well as our four day Virtual Area Mission Leaders Seminar. Twill be another great week!! 

                                       Richard's lastest watercolour - Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park

Sending much love to you,

Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mom, Richard and Gayle

Keep Smiling!!

We also thrill to read the many Miracles that continue to happen all over the Mission…Read on….

Mission Miracles   April 18, 2021

Montreal Est Sisters:

“Last Saturday we met Alicia at the church, missionary sisters of Seattle Washington sent her back! She's wonderful, she has good questions.  She read Mormon's Book, much more than she was asked to read. She likes him very much, she even asked us for another for her cousin. We're going to pray for her because her family doesn't agree that she meets us, she's 20 years old so she can choose, but it's still pretty difficult for her on that side.”

Gatineau Elders:

“Really cool experience we had this week, we received the same referral from 3 different sources, Sister Mecham, the Chapel Hill Elders, and a member in Montreal est! This man is named Evens and had been previously taught by Elder Johnson, and Sister Thomas. He explained to us that he didn't feel ready for baptism a year ago when he was being taught, but now he lives in Ottawa, and wants to meet with missionaries again! Excited to see where it goes, i have a feeling we can have a baptismal goal for him very soon.”

St. Laurent YSA Elders:

“Not too much happened with our friends, except we gained a new one this week! It was really a miracle! When Sister Dreisen was flying to Paraguay she contacted a worker that was interested in God, that was 3 months ago..... Saturday was the first lesson we were able to have. And he was awesome! Right from the get go he started firing off questions, and it was an hour discussion on our beliefs, long story short we read a few passages of faith from the Book of Mormon and he really enjoyed them! I have high expectations from him!”

Chapel Hill Sisters:

“I had an insight from my personal study that I wanted to share with Sister Low about charity! 

I was studying in Moroni 7:45 and I realized that the whole scripture lists things that come from other Christlike attributes! 

"Charity sufferety long (patience,diligence) is kind, (charity),and envieth not, (humility) and is not puffed up(humility) seeketh not her own (humility, obedience) is not easily provoked (patience) thinketh no evil (virtue) rejoiceth not in iniquity, (virtue) but rejoiceth in truth (knowledge) beareth all things, (patience, diligence) believeth all things, (faith) hopeth all things,(hope) and endureth all things (patience,diligence) "

Truly charity encompasses all other Christlike attributes! In order to have charity, we have to work on everything else too. If charity is the pure love of Christ, and charity is also being Christlike, them to return to Christ we must learn to be governed by love. “

Assistants:

“For this week, I wish to share my experience of meeting Hebe Jarvis. After weeks of prayer and deliberation, the Jarvis’s have decided to proceed with introducing us to their daughter to prepare her for baptism this summer! We planned to listen with all our heart and mind in that visit. We wanted to make sure that she was not intimidated by us and could feel that we genuinely wanted to be friends! At first, she hesitated to respond to any of our attempts to get to know her. Sister Jarvis then invited the two of us to share 2 things each about ourselves. “Only 2 things eh?”, I remember thinking to myself. I first shared that I was born in China and moved to Toronto when I was nine. Hebe didn’t seem to listen. My mind was blank... “Remember how you want to design cloth with vintage textile after your mission?” Was the next thought I had. “What... that’s so random and silly...” But that’s what I felt a strong urgent to share, so I did! THIS got her attention! Turns our that Hebe was PASSIONATE about designing cloth and sowing!!!! She then proceed to lead a conversation about her interest in this until it was time for us to tune in to church! She even brought up at their very end that she is going to make a white dress for her baptism!!! “

Victoria Spanish speaking Sisters:

“Thank you for the advice on studying 2 Nephi 2 to gain more knowledge on the Atonement. I  was studying it this morning and it was very special. Honestly this week I was feeling pretty inadequate. But while I was reading I was praying and pondering about my weaknesses and my inadequacies and how the Atonement could help with those. When I was praying and pondering a simple yet powerful phrase came to my mind. "If you only knew" 

If we only knew the way God sees us and the plans He has for us. If we only knew our potential. If we only knew who we were before this life. Our weaknesses are to learn from but not to beat our selves up over. 

I was picturing a proud Father looking at me with kind eyes and saying "If you only knew" 

Doing this has helped my immensely! 

I know that when God calls us He doesn't call us by our weaknesses or inadequacies. But often times I catch myself calling me by them. Before the mission I used the Atonement to cleanse but I never used it to heal me or help me. I am grateful that the Atonement is so much more than just a way to cleanse our selves but it is also a way to become whole, happy, and to experience Joy. “

Terrebonne Elders:

“A miracle! When I first came here, the elders were teaching someone named Marie-Josée. She had some problems with the law and she told us and had to go to court. We tried calling her a couple of days after and her phone was disconnected. We tried emailing her and she never answered, so we dropped her. Last Saturday, a member who lives near Marie-Joseé told us she was acquitted of all her charges! We went to her house to just see how she was and she wants to get baptized and keep meeting with us! We will keep you posted on her! “

Villa Marie Sisters:

“We had quite a good and interesting week ! Lots of trials but it was so worth it because we were able to put our beautiful friend Gloria on date! It was so fun because prior to the lesson we really prepared to do that. We even specifically prepared to tell her that we wanted to help her PREPARE for baptism by setting a date with her. It was the first lesson I had with her (Sister Gibb had one before the transfer), but we felt like she was the one who needed to be on date this week. It was so powerful because she expressed how she was looking to find a way to PREPARE to be baptized because she knows how important it is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. “

LaSalle Sisters:

“Let me just tell you how fantastic this week has been!! The majority of the week was Sister Hawkes and I were preparing  for our friends Ashley and Jordan's baptism on Saturday!! It was beautiful! There was a lot that went on behind the scenes but it went better than we could have ever asked for. The girls were so beyond excited and being able to see them with their family happy together made my heart melt. Their baptism consisted of so many miracles from having the right size of jumpsuits, to not having the curfew change to 8 until Sunday, and to having technology pull through for us so everyone could watch them on their special day. These girls have my heart I love them so much. They are so incredibly smart and have such a great desire to be like the Saviour.”

Monte Rey Spanish Sisters:

“Here we are overly excited. Mark your calendars because May 8th the Gonzàlez family are getting baptized! I've never seen anyone so excited and so overjoyed by the gospel. They are beautiful. With a 10 year old son who was participating in his primary class on Sunday, and the 12 year old daughter in Young Women's. The two parents who have looked up to member friends for a long time and just know that this is where the truth is. It lifts me up to think about them. We have many lessons planned with members accompanying us and those will be the best this week. “

Today is Sunday, April 11, 2021

      and SPRING is in full swing!! 

Celebrating each of the four seasons has been so much fun here in the east; and, as each season transitions we declare: ‘this is our favourite!’ 

Fresh springy air, warm sunshine, brilliant blue skies, rainy skies, stately hardwood maple, oak, horse chestnut, birch trees budding out, as well as every gorgeous shrub popping, with spring bulbs bursting, green grass growing, with throngs of families gathering in every park around, and no more shrinking mountains of snow…. confirm to us that spring has officially arrived. Oh, we were so relieved to discover that our naughty resident squirrels raided only about three dozen of our 200 white tulip bulbs last fall.  The rest are looking perky and are probably 8 inches out of the ground! 

Speaking of seasons has us thinking about the ‘next season’ of our lives which is sneaking up on us pretty quickly! Weekly our  schedules have been filled to the maximum interacting with our missionaries, meeting and teaching them, as well as with members, and friends who are being taught.  We are anxious to make a smooth transition to the our next ‘season,’ and are setting goals but know our lives will never be the same. This has been a sacred, choice time for us as a couple, but individually as well. As we have taught, and applied the Doctrine of Christ in our own lives, and witnessed as it has transformed hundreds of our missionaries, as well as hundreds of new converts, our testimonies have been solidified, and we have such a desire to continue with helping the Great Gathering of Israel.

You know I’m going to make some comment on how quickly this week flew by, and there you have it!! 

Monday Office Meetings were really a thrill when we tallied our Key Indicators…we had issued a challenge last week to try and have 200 friends attend a session of General Conference! We all happy danced when our totals showed 206 friends had watched a Conference session!!! A thrill for us, but such a thrill for our Missionary army!! That was a lot of inviting, and a lot of follow-up!!

Other key indicators in case you were wondering - 2 friends were Baptized, 37 friends on date for Baptism, and 60 new friends found who are being taught!! What hard-working, incredible missionaries!!

With Sister Breckenridge leaving to return home to Utah in about two weeks, and it being Easter Monday, we cooked our big spiral ham that had been patiently waiting in the freezer for over a year, made a huge roaster with funeral potatoes, cooked carrots, rolls, and one of our favourite desserts - layered lemon delight. Everyone that popped into the Office, including our new Missionary Medical Consultant, Elder (Dr.) Opper and his son Daniel who just arrived from Kingston, as well as a bunch of missionaries enjoyed the feast, and we were so happy to not bring a single leftover home!! 

Tuesday first thing we were off to Ottawa for interviews/visits, the plan being to have Tuesday and Wednesday be our interview days, and then Thursday our Zone Conference day.  Wednesday morning while Richard was down getting some takeout breakfast at the Hotel, the gal at the breakfast counter asked him if he had heard about the lockdown, and he said yes referring to the week old announcement, and she said the Premier was announcing another at 2:00 Wednesday afternoon. Richard has become an expert at reading these covid lockdowns, and immediately knew they were going to make it even more strict, and guessed the restrictions would come into place at midnight…SO..he called the Zone Leaders, and instructed them to notify the Zone that the Zone Conference was now going to be that afternoon.  We would do another set of interviews Wednesday morning and almost finish them after Zone Conference. We seem to dodge every covid bullet…moving times, and places just in the nick of time!! The lockdown actually did come into effect at midnight. 

We had such a wonderful Zone Conference…with such wonderful missionaries!!

Rather than stay in a Ottawa we headed home, and thought Thursday would be a bit of a breather. I was anxious to move 6 delphinium from the front yard to the back planters, and I wanted to split a Shasta daisy, and a ground cover for Teresa, which I did….  Richard did a quick rake of the front lawn, and pumped our bike tires for our little biking adventure. It was a glorious day…no jackets needed!  

                                                                Notice the Street Sign!!

I was anxious to use up some dated cottage cheese so made a nice lasagne for supper.  Richard had some lessons with Elder Wetterstrand and Elder McStravick set up, and I was happily working on birthday cards, when I started feeling horrible….like both my back, and my lower right abdomen….very suspiciously like kidney stone pain…

I resisted going to the Hospital as long as I could, thinking perhaps I could pass it like last year, but finally about 1am Thursday morning Richard took me to the Jewish General Hospital, where I spent the night. They were able to get the pain under control, and Friday morning Richard came and collected me. Unfortunately the 8mm kidney stone is still lurking somewhere inside me…I did get a referral from a Dr….and will call tomorrow to see if he can do the procedure this week to remove the stone. Today I haven’t had any Tylenol..only Flomax, so my pain for now is under control. I will have to monitor things, and see when Dr. Fahmy can see me. Private clinics are also a possibility... 

Yesterday we were able to watch three of our five baptisms, and what a thrill that was. The other two were right in the midst of New Brunswick Stake Conference, so we didn’t get to see those. Exciting nevertheless! 

Weekly Sunday evening Zoom devotionals are always a highlight...tonight we discussed the outstanding devotional by Sister Jean Bingham and her husband Bruce. It is always so fun to see our whole Mission together!

This weeks schedule includes our Monday Office Meetings, 2 days of Longueuil Zone Interviews, Longueuil Zone Conference, as well as MLC…(two days in Drummondville to avoid having too many people in a building, and 3 days in Montreal.) It will be another great week, interacting with our wonderful missionaries!!

Thank you all for your love and support of missionaries the world over. We feel the power of your prayers. 

Have a wonderful week!

With much love from us,

Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mom, Richard and Gayle

7

                                                                             Ottawa

                                                               “The Maple Leaf Forever”

                                                            Run along Rideau Canal

                                              View from Westin Hotel -  Downtown Ottawa

April 10th, 2021 missionary miracles

Montreal Sisters;

“Wow this week was incredible. I absolutely loved everything about conference and conference weekend. We were able to have Heidi come watch in person and had an incredible lesson with her and a member after. Then, a couple of days later we had a lesson and put her on date!!!!!!! I definitely cried I was so happy. It's amazing how when you give your all to helping someone come to understand how Jesus Christ can help them change, that you have so much joy when they start to take those steps for themselves. I love it with all my heart.”

Ottawa Dows Lake Elders:

“Grateful to have had the interview and a wonderful Zone Conference this past week. Elder Chin and I had a member visit with someone who had not been to church since the last time I was in Ottawa. We decided to not make that fact the focus of our visit but instead followed the Love, Invite, Share method with this man. Not only did the man readily mention someone that he desired to introduce us missionaries to but he also agreed to come back to Church this Sunday. So glad!”

Ottawa Riverside Sisters:

“ In the middle of last week I kept feeling like I needed to post on Instagram which is random, but we made plans to go take pictures in between Conference on Sunday. We happened to run into these two guys at just the right time and one of then named David noticed our name tag. He said he knew our church and had been before. We ended up having a 30 min conversation about the gospel. It was incredible! I learned many lessons from this experience. The first is when you have a thought to do something do it even when it seems random or doesn't make sense. I realized the reason we were at that park wasn't only about making an Instagram post, it was because God needed us at that place at that time. He guided us there! The second is that all we do really is planting seeds. If the past missionaries hadn't already talked to David we wouldn't have ever had that conversation. David stopped to talk to us because he remembered missionaries in the past were kind to him. We added them on Instagram and they have kept in contact with us. David is interested in coming to church! It was a really special experience for me. “

Montreal Sisters:

“We had a  cool miracle this week. We always go on a run in the mornings and on Monday we were able to run into somebody. All our studies and planning got pushed back and so we went out probably 30 mins later then we normally do. On our runs we try and say hello to as many people as we can. This time we said hello to this girl and two seconds later she yelled back at us and was like "Hey do you know where I can find a church around here?" We were like yeah definitely we will help you find one!!! It was so cool how God places us at the exact moment that someone needs Him! It turns out she is a member but haven't been active for years. She recognized our name tags and reached out. She also split up with her husband 3 days ago so it was perfect timing.”

Victoriaville Elders:

“Since the beginning of this transfer, we have had a baptismal goal for the month of May. We didn’t have anyone close to being ready to be baptized, and didn’t, realistically, see anyone on course for baptism in March or April, so we had one set for May. No real plans at that point for how we were going to do it and with who. But we put faith in setting that for the month that we did. A few weeks ago, we picked someone up from area Book who was taught a while ago. He has a large problem with smoking, but we know as we work with him, and he puts in his effort he will be baptized. We had the blessing of extending an invitation to him, and him accepting it for the month of May. Big blessings come through our faith. “

Quebec Sisters:

“This week has been great! We have been meeting with a few new friends and they are all such kind and incredible people. It's amazing to see people interested and searching for answers to their spiritual questions. We had a really cool experience with one of our friends this week. Our friend Hivanne has been progressing so much in the past few weeks and it has been really incredible to see how Heavenly Father has given me specific prompting to help him! 

As we were listening to conference this past weekend, Sr. Gatz and I heard a talk that was absolutely meant for our friend, we looked at each other in awe as the speaker said every single thing we were planning to talk to our friend about that night. Last week I had woken up with this strong impression that we needed to ask ask him to be baptized, and so we this week we did and he said yes! Very cool stuff!! “

And from her Companion:

“In related news to Hivanne, this past week our plan was to invite Hivanne to be baptized. He explained that something he wanted to discuss was how to avoid the everyday attacks of satan, and one thought that came to our mind was the Holy Ghost. It had happened that the week before we had given him Moroni 7 to read, and it all kind of just clicked from there. When we planned his lesson, we had planned on explaining the difference between the light of Christ and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then explaining how he could recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost, which would help him to better resist temptation. When we listened to Elder Dyches talk in the afternoon on sunday, we were just floored. His talk was almost the exact same layout of our lesson plan, touching on every single thing we wanted to talk to Hivanne about. More than that, this was the one session that Hivanne planned to listen to (he said that he watched for a bit, but hadn't been able to see the whole session, we aren't sure if he heard this particular talk or not.) We took this as a sign that this was exactly what Hivanne needed, and so we went forth. We invited him to be baptized, and he said yes, and so we'll work out a specific date this week. 

That was one miracle that we saw this week. “

                            Today is Saturday, April 3, 2021, 

            and although she isn’t here we are still celebrating my Mom, 

           Patricia Maude McCormack Hamilton’s 89th Birthday!!

                 and…

Yesterday Michael Tait Low blew out 12 candles!! Happy Birthday Tait!!

20 New Temples announced!!! “A year for the record books!!”

“A Gospel of hope, healing, progress and Joy…be worthy and willing to prepare for the second coming, and Pray to know what debris to remove from our lives,” were some of President Russell M. Nelson’s admonition to all. 

Along with many of you we were thrilled to spend our Easter weekend watching General Conference!! We loved all the references to our Saviour Jesus Christ, and all the encouraging words for us to get and STAY on our COVENANT PATHS! Temple reminders were lovely! 

A few of my favourite one liners:

*”Our failures don’t have to define us….they can refine us.” Elder Uchtdorf

*”Be His Hands…Don’t love only in word…Love in deed.”  Elder Uchtdorf

*”The sting of death is soothed by our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation.” Sister Reyna Aburto

*”The Gospel is a gospel of 2nd and 3rd chances.” Elder Gong

*”Sometimes when we wait on the Lord…it is a holy position.” Elder Gong

*”The Rabbit Effect story” by Elder Stevenson - we ordered the book!

*”Learn all I can about Jesus…his way is the true way.” Elder Newman

*”Teach by word and example.” “We can’t wait for conversion to happen - 

we must teach.” “Look into their eyes.” “Role Playing can help fortify.”

*”Know what to do when the battle is raging.” Sister Joy Jones

*“God knows the details of the details of the details of our lives.”Elder Wong

*“The wiseman built his house upon the rock…where our foundation is built really does matter.”   Elder                                  Wong

*Do a one page essay on what the Saviour has done for me. We challenged our missionaries to do this…We will do it too!  Elder The

*President Nelson has been ministering to 1000’s of 1’s…lets follow Him 

Elder Wakolo

*Like salmon remember the very scents of where they were born, we can remember OUR divine heritage.        Elder Teixeira 

*”It is not up to you, it is up to God.” Elder Dude

*”If you desire to believe…act in faith.” Elder Palmer 

Elder and Sister Gerard spoke at our Missionary Devotional and my favourite one liner was…”Make your days…days never to be forgotten.”

And…I add record your feelings about ‘those days never to be forgotten!’

Highlights for our past two weeks include:

*Monday motivating meetings with our Office teams of missionaries

*New Missionary zoom call with our 6 new missionaries

*Evening watercolouring from 9-9:45pm with teams of sisters

*Attending Kirtland District Council - amazing

*Getting our first COVID vaccination

*French Lessons with a trio of sisters - Soeurs Margrin, Gottenbos, Gough

*Attending the Temple with Elder Bagley - (who hadn’t been endowed)

*Speaking in Mount Royal Stake Conference last Sunday

*Attending virtual Baptism of Etienne - (Ottawa)

*Key Indicators for Conversion  37 friends on date. 74 friends attended Church last week. and…59 new friends found!!! We know the Lord continues to bless our diligent, hard-working, faithful missionaries!!

*Meeting with our dear friends and new CMM Mission Leaders - the Harkness’s. We meet with them every            other Monday and talk about the in’s and out’s of Mission Life, and the Canada Montreal Mission!

Knowing that the Missionary Department are doing everything they can to help them get here is exciting!!

*Mission Leadership Council in person with all our leaders 

*Two Marathon days of interviewing/visiting with Mount Royal Zone

*Mount Royal Zone Conference in Cornwall, Ontario

When we moved to Montreal almost three years ago we had eight zones, with over 180 missionaries, and now, after having so many missionaries return home…we have half that number of zones…only four, with 120 missionaries.  Covid restrictions in Quebec, and in Ontario change frequently, so we rotate where we have Zone Conferences, depending on where it is open, and legal to meet.  So the other day, although almost everyone had to make an hour drive out to Cornwall, Ontario,  we were so glad to have our whole Mount Royal Zone of 42 altogether, and they were SO thrilled to be together!! Sweet, thoughtful Bishop Wilson and his wife Sister Wilson made delicious bag lunches for the whole zone!! He got right choked up as he expressed gratitude for missionaries  

Ottawa interviews and Zone Conference is on our schedule for this week, and although Ottawa is in grey zone - we can meet together and again look forward to being together!! 

Between sessions of General Conference today we were thrilled to witness two baptisms!! Jason and Valerie got married this morning, and were baptized this afternoon! It was lovely to have so many missionaries in attendance over zoom including some who had returned home! Back Story….Sister Twitchell from Meridian, Idaho and Sister Mendoza from Edmonton were serving together in Hawkesbury, and feeling pretty discouraged because they were not finding anyone….They were diligently working with social media, and found this elect couple….and today they were married, and began their lives on their covenant path!! Obedience brings forth the blessings of heaven!! 

Have a wonderful week!! For many of you it is Easter break!!

Enjoy!!

Much Love, 

Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mom, Richard and Gayle

                Jewish Passover

                                                            We found a Barbie Museum!!

                                            St. Louis Square.....wonderful Montreal walkups

                                                              Darling Jewish Family

                                                          Sunrise out our bedroom window

March 28th Missionary Miracles

Hochelaga Elders:

« Yesterday, I had just left the mission office with Elder Lacy and we wanted to go out for lunch before going home to our apartment. It was going on 2pm and we hadn't eaten yet. So we parked a few blocks away from La Banquise and started walking towards it. We were just about to cross the street when I heard very faintly somebody say "Temoins Jehovah" (I don't have the accents on it because I'm using a physical keyboard). Thinking we'd been mistaken for them, I turned around and the two men who had said that started talking to us. This was great news because they started the conversation so we had an open lane to talk about the gospel. After getting to know them a bit, we told them about The Book of Mormon and offered them both copies of it. One of them  accepted. He wouldn't give us his phone number but he took ours and said he'd read it. So, in other words, if he keeps that commitment it is highly probable that he will be calling us back in the next few weeks. It was cool. I haven't been able to do anything like that in over a year. »

Montreal Elders:

Our area is doing well! You can share this story with Sister Low if you'd like. A few months ago me and Elder Laigo received a referral from one of our pages! We were able to meet with the man, his name is Cletus. We met with him a couple of times and with a strong spirit present we invited him to pray about being baptized! A few days later we followed up over messenger and he said he would like to be baptized. We kind of messed up tho because we didn’t set a date with him right then. We tried waiting till our next appointment. Well we didn't end up getting an appointment for another month or so when Elders Sillito and Orrego were here. So we had a lesson and set expectations. But unfortunately not a lot changed over the next couple of weeks, so we sent him a message asking if he really is interested. He got back to us and assured us he was. He was coming to church each week so we didn’t give up on him. But we just had another lesson with him on Monday and read 2 Nephi 2 and taught the plan of salvation to him. At the end of the chapter we asked him what he felt like he could do to show God his faith in Him, and he answered, "get baptized, read the Book of Mormon everyday, and continue with these bible studies"! It was awesome! So we went on to commit him to be baptized on April 24th!! We also are going to find missionaries to teach his family in Africa, as that is where his whole family is right now. Along with that he gave us his phone number so we can text or call him throughout the week and have better contact with him. It's truly a miracle and it's amazing to see how much he loves the gospel. “

Ottawa Sisters:

“Yesterday we had a lesson with our friend Emma. Her friend Meagan was in her room with her, but not in the camera. We were finishing teaching Emma the plan of Salvation and all of a sudden Meagan spoke up and said, "This is interesting, I like this." We were shocked she was there and we invited her to join. She didn't come over, but we could tell she was listening because she kept making comments. We invited them both to FHE and they both came. It was so exciting! “

April 4 Missionary Miracles

From a Sister who recently got transferred back to Ottawa :

« God answered 2 of my prayers this week & I wanna share about 1 of them.. kinda long but so special to me((: 

I have been asking to be shown what the reason is for being sent back to Ottawa. I am happy to be here I just know God always has a purpose for doing things and I was curious what the purpose of this was. 

Last Tuesday we got a message from a member in our ward; his wife isn’t a member and has expresses how she is not interested at all in learning previously. HOWEVER in his message, he said 

"Hi Sisters. Would you be okay in talking to my wife this Wednesday instead of me. She says she's opening her door a crack to learning about the church and gospel. This is coming from her and not from me pressuring her. She only wants to speak with women and doesn't want me there." 

This had us both stoked!! I had never met either of them before so this was all new and exciting to both of us. 

Anyways, we had the lesson on Wednesday and it went so chill. we got to know each other and talked a little bit about faith and how when we show God the smallest bit of faith, He blesses us every time. After our call she texted us and expresses that she got this job offer that she has been waiting on for months and she received the email during our lesson! 

ok ok ok so that was all so exciting, but the answer to my prayer came a few days later on Sunday. I wasn’t having the best day so this made the miracle even better ha(; we went too church & the husband of the girl we taught was there. he came up to me after church & told me his wife has sat in on a lot of his lessons with the missionaries but it has never sat right with her. he said he doesn't know what I said or did but she told him how she felt such a connection to me and the way I explained the answer questions she had for so long was exactly what she needed to hear. He said she journaled about it forever after. he had no idea that was exactly what I needed hear but it was. If teaching her is the only reason God needs me here again I am so happy to be here for as long as she needs. its so cool to know that we can simply ask God to answer our prayers. He does every time & sometimes not how we expect or want. « 

Office Elder:

“It's been a great week so far and I just wanted to share one little experience in the office:

It was Friday morning and I had just finished a task that had been at the back of my mind for a few days. After that, I felt like each task in front me wasn't daunting at all. Throughout the rest of the day I just felt like the office work made complete sense in my head and I knew all the tasks that had to get finished, and even through I have to get a lot done before the end of next week, I have no worries about it! It really feels like the unknown variables of vehicle coordinating are falling into place and I'm in the zone. “

Champlain English Elders:

“We have had a super cool experience this week. There was this guy making some interesting statements in the comment sections of the ATL page. Because Elder Nelson and I are the first responders we messaged him and got a lesson set up. He was super cool at first but then he told us he was a lucifarian. He had an interesting discussion about the role evil plays in out lives and the need for opposition (sharing 2 Nephi 2). He still seemed interested and so we set up a return lesson and taught him the restoration and told him about how we have a prophet on the earth, then we extended in invite to GC. He was super excited about the idea of listening to a living prophet of God. He send us a link after and it was to President Nelsons talk about letting God prevail in our lives. He sent us the specific time that P. Nelson said that the members pray that the missionaries will come into contact with the people that are willing to let God prevail in their lives. He then said that he thinks that there is a reason we came into contact and he said he is super excited to hear what the prophet has to say this weekend. Just a cool experience that I thought I would share. “

Hochelaga Elders:

“Things seem to be going well here in Hochelaga. I am trying to make them go better though. Our friends are doing well, for the most part. Our friend Moussa, who was found through the Spanish page, is on date for May 15th, which is very exciting. He's 3 for 3 on church attendances and also pretty much memorized Moroni 10. I kid you not when we asked him how he liked the chapter he recited several of its verses with just a few errors and I know he wasn't looking at the words because when I mentioned that I wanted to read one of the verses together he had to open up his book to read it with us. We are really grateful to be teaching him. When we put him on date, he actually asked to be baptized before we invited him. He mentioned that he liked how 3 Nephi 11 says that we need to become like little children, be baptized, and endure to the end or something like that and then mentioned that his family had him baptized as a small child. Then the members in the lesson said that they were also baptized as children but were rebaptized when they joined the church because they needed to be able to make that conscious decision. Then we added on as well that this is the only church that has the required authority to baptize. Then he asked if he could be baptized. You can share that story with Sister Low if you want, by the way.”

Trois Rivieres Sisters:

“A cool miracle of the week is we put someone on date this week. We need to work hard so that we can be able to prepare him for his baptism. His name is Anthony and he is in Victoriaville he only speaks Spanish so that is something we need to work on with the leaders in Victoriaville because that is a French branch.”

Levis Quebec Sisters:

“At the moment we are running a Bible and Book of Mormon ad in the Lévis area. The last time we did that, we didn't have much success. We would organize something, drive out 30 minutes to go drop it off, and then they wouldn't be home, or some other kind of thing like that. This time around however, we've been actually meeting a lot of people, and a lot of them have been interested to learn more. Out of the 6 drop offs that we have had, 4 said that they would meet with us, and 3 have actually come to church. One of them is named Kenell, and he is pretty cool. He asked for a Bible because he had been raised non practicing Christian, but wanted to reconnect with those roots. He asked if there was a church service he could attend, and he came on Sunday. We asked him how his reading had been going, and he said that he had actually started the Book of Mormon, and he liked it, but would prefer to read it in his native language of Spanish. He works during the week, but we're hoping to meet with him on the weekend. 

We also gave out a Book of Mormon, which was pretty cool because he was genuinely interested in receiving a copy. Turns out his Grandmother had been a member of the church, and he had been interested, but it had been in recent times that he wanted to learn more. “

Dows Lake Ottawa Elders:

“And Tea Laracy was actually found from the baptism. During the baptism, I had the opportunity to give a 10 minute presentation on the Restoration. Initially, I had tried to make it interactive, but after feedback from the Bishopric during the lesson, I switched to a lecture style presentation. Nevertheless, as I taught the doctrine of the Restoration, I invited everyone to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. After the baptism, I handed Tea, Etienne's sister, a Book of Mormon and immediately invited her to come to Church. She said that she'd be down, though her work schedule was busy Sunday. Nevertheless, she watched the stake fireside. I am trying to get her to sit in on the new member lessons I teach to Etienne. I have confidence that with some shepherding on our end, she will be a solid candidate for baptism by the summer transfers. 

Alaa Alnafouri was met during Chapel cleaning. The boyfriend of Stefanie Morris, we connected the day before the baptism. As Stefanie was giving a talk, we pulled some strings and got him a seat at the baptism. He too very much enjoyed the baptism and the Spirit felt. He is not interested in converting yet, but we have made a good ally of the Church in that. The other big blessing from the baptism was Etienne's aunt. She too came to the baptism, and picked up a Book of Mormon after my presentation. She will be in contact with the Chapel Hill Sisters on that, so you can expect to hear about her from there if any future developments arise. 

Finally, I asked Etienne's mom to start meeting with the Chapel Hill Sisters again. I know she dropped them for unspecified reasons, but after the baptism, she said that she would want to start meeting with them again. She mentioned the passing of her father as why she dropped them, to which I responded that it was exactly why she needed to meet with the Chapel Hill Sisters. She said she would call them, though I am sure if the Chapel Hill Sisters call her too and she picks up, that would be fine. “

Montreal Sisters:

“We had a cool experience today for P-day. We went to this place called Thomas Fruits that the AP's suggested to us. We have been there only once before and became friends with these 3 salesmen. Today when we went they remembered us and we were able to have really good discussions about what we do as missionaries and how we know God is there even though we haven't seen him. One of them said how he wished covid wasn't a thing so we could go to his house and meet his family. We jumped on the opportunity, got his number and set up a lesson. We also had really good conversations with 3 others and gave them pass along cards. It was cool to use our 30 second sermons and extend invitations that we practiced last zone conference. “