Isle d'Orleans and Quebec City Adventure

Today is Sunday, May 23, 2021 

Happy Birthday to Kaylee Victoria Low tomorrow!! 

The best news of the week is that….ALL ‘our’ diligent, hard work is paying off and we are thrilled to report Five baptisms this week including the Fuentes Family of three from Victoria Ward, Luna from Kirkland Ward, and Delphine from Montreal East Ward!!! 

We say ‘our’ work referring to the efforts of EVERY Canada Montreal Missionary!!

Wonderful meetings every Monday keep us coming back for more!! Our young Elders are so capable and do their best to keep things running smoothly.  Elder Trevino runs the front desk, answering phones, taking care of Richard’s correspondence, taking care of incoming and outgoing missionary travel etc. etc.  Elder Chadbolt is a whiz at missionary phones, and also coordinates all missionary service - (at food banks, thrift stores, homeless shelters,  etc. etc.,)where each missionary can serve up to 10 hours/ a week - that is a lot of service, and a lot of organizing!! Sister Little had this very well organized, and Elder Chadbolt is continuing her high standard. You would think with covid restrictions easing up it would be easy to keep this current, but it is a busy calling!  Elder Zhou is our accountant, (has an accounting degree from BYU!!) and he keeps our finances in perfect shape - we are always ready for an audit, thanks to him!!  Elder Glenn is a computer genius, and is currently helping the Roberts create spread sheets to keep track of Housing leases etc.etc. He also is ready and willing to help troubleshoot any, and every computer issue!!  Elder Gibb is the right hand assistant to Elder Roberts in moving beds, chairs, couches etc. etc.!! Sister Roberts, another one of my BFF is delightful and loves decorating, visiting, and thrift store shopping! She is a worker bee 🐝 and is doing a clean sweep of every apartment.  Being a native Québécois she can communicate with sassy landlords; and, every missionary is motivated to keep a spit spot apartments!  Yeah!!Elder Garside and Elder Wentzell keep perfect track of vehicles, oil changes, cleanliness, etc. etc.!! Young missionaries spend the day at the Office, and lest you think that is all they do….oh no…from 5 - 9pm every night they are finding, and teaching new friends…so they are multitaskers at their finest!!  Sister Mecham keeps our supplies filled and in top order.  She returns home the end of June.  Elder Opper keeps our medical issues in order… and currently is coordinating covid vaccinations for every missionary, which hopefully will be complete in the next few weeks.  Our new senior couple Elder and Sister Walker arrived from Sylvan Lake, Alberta last week, and have been finishing up their on-line training. This week they will have the hands-on, in-office training as they replace Elder Trevino, and Elder Zhou.  We are so grateful for the incredible service of every one of our Office team - it takes everyone cheerfully, working together, (which our team does) to make this experience such a JOY!! We are so grateful for the efforts of every Office missionary - currently serving, as well as so many that have gone before, that have worked so diligently to make this Mission experience so wonderful for everyone!!

Guess what we did the rest of the week??  Tuesday and Wednesday we had delightful interviews and visits with our Longueuil Zone. Tuesday in the Office, and Wednesday in Drummondville where we stayed overnight since Zone Conference was there in Drummondville on Thursday.  Late afternoon as we were finishing our last interviews with Sister Training Leaders, Sister Irazoki and Sister Davis, they mentioned that the whole zone were dressing in red the next day.  Our coordinating pink sweater and tie that we had packed were definitely not suitable for the zone photo!!  So…’Valuers de Village was just a few minutes away, and in no time we had selected 3 lovely ties, a sort of cute (but tired and pilly) red knit jacket, and a pile of beautiful doilies (which have nothing to do with Zone Conference, but I love to rescue handcrocheted or knit items!) Zone Conference was so good…the Zone leadership - zone leaders, and sister training leaders were such fabulous teachers teaching about the urgency to find, and how to be effective teachers. They practised what they were teaching, using creativity; and we loved the small group fun role-playing activity.  

Richard and I team taught about ‘Developing a Heart Like His; which really is a lifetime quest for all of us; but serving a Mission is a great way 

to get a jump start on developing Christlike attributes, with a focus on a change of heart.  Bishop Causse’s conference talk last year was our ‘prepare to learn’ reading. It is so fun team-teaching! We LOVE Preach My Gospel, and we LOVE The Book of Mormon, and all our teaching comes from those two great handbooks!!! READ THEM!!  

RED Longueuil Zone photo below

With a pause day on Friday, and Pday on Saturday it was a perfect opportunity to continue east from Drummondville to Quebec City for a little break. We hadn’t been there for over a year, and we were so excited be tourists!! 

Several friends suggested visiting Isle D’Orleans, an island in the St. Lawrence between Quebec City and Levis, and just a quick 15 minute drive over a great old bridge. The island’s microclimate has ideal growing conditions for apples, strawberries, grapes, and potatoes so besides the 6 little villages, and farmsteads the 42 mile island is absolutely covered with fields of apple orchards, strawberries, vineyards, and freshly planted potatoes!! Oh and wonderful groves of maple trees that are tapped for maple syrup!! Old Quebec is charming and definitely just like France! Quaint little shops with authentic ‘Made in Quebec’ souvenirs, and lots of cute eating stops were so fun! Most breads and pastries are absolutely delicious and we have to limit ourselves, but we are drawn to every boulangerie!! We had a delightful, relaxing couple of days. Friday night President Morin and his wife Collette drove over to our little island and joined us for a fun supper at a wonderful patio right on the St. Lawrence. On the 7th of June they head off on their third Mission to Africa!! Their first Mission they served as Mission Leaders in Benin, the second to Senegal, and this one is to Cote D'Ivoire! They have nine children who are stalwart members all here in Quebec. (FYI - Dad's companion Elder Kinghorn and Elder Whitely taught President Morin back in 1974!) We had such fun visiting!

And now it is time to get this posted, and get to bed!!

Have a wonderful week! Mission life is wonderful!!

We send love to all..

Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mom, Richard and Gayle

Photos follow the Miracles

 Canada Montreal May 23rd, 2021 Missionary Miracles:

Montreal 2 Elders:

“We had a cool miracle happen this week! 

Me and Elder Sillito had a lesson fall through and it was almost the end of Prime Time. So we went on the Instagram to like and comment on the pages. I started looking around and found a place in Instagram where you can search places so I searched Montreal shoes. And found this guy with some pretty sweet kicks so I shot him a message. Long story short I was able to set up a Bible study, and in our study he expressed how he didn't really understand the Bible at all and was praying something would happen were he could. It was just a miracle to me how we came into contact and his prayers were answered!”

Montreal 2 Sisters:

“Miracle time: yesterday we were doing service at a soup kitchen. There was a new volunteer with us and we'd only met her once before. Anyway, we started packing up some food with her and got talking. She knew a bit about our church because her boyfriend has been inactive since he was 18 (remind us to see how he is) so she had a bunch of questions. One thing led to another and she started talking about religions and God and specifically prayer. She had a bunch of questions about memorized prayers, how to pray, and why we pray. So we talked about that for a while!! And then Sister Jensen, bless her soul, asked if she would like to have a call to talk a bit more about God and our beliefs AND SHE SAID YES!!! So at the end of service we got her number and are going to set up a call. Wow. Talk about miracles!! You really can help people learn about God wherever you are. It’s my favourite thing!!!!”

Longueuil Elders:

“This week Elder Rees and I continued to be blessed in abundance for our efforts. Finding through Facebook has been a huge success as we continually pray for our leads ad. We have found many people who are willing to read the Bible with us and everyone of them so far that we have called have been open to receiving a Book of Mormon. One in particular I would like to share. His name is Ranel, he has a family and they are all from Haiti. In Haiti he had a good job and his wife was a doctor but because of political issues happening there they were forced to leave the country. He has been here for several years without work, but his wife does work. He is very humble and we will have a lesson with the whole family upcoming this Saturday. “

LaSalle Sisters:

“I also wanted to tell you and Sister Low about a miracle! We had a member give us food! That's the first miracle but the miracle I wanted to share was what happened when we went to pick it up. The pasta was left in the fridge in the church. And when we arrived, the Chateauguay Elders were inside. Because we can't use the church at the same time, we had them bring it out to us. They met us outside and this man drove up. He asked if we spoke French and I told him I speak a bit. He then asked if this was "the Mormon Church" He explained that he is from Africa and lived in the United States for a bit where he met the missionaries. He is new to LaSalle and was looking for the church. His name is Shabani. We got his number and shared it with the Hochelaga elders. What are the chances that the missionaries would be outside the church at 2pm on a Wednesday, the exact same time someone drove up looking for the church, and that one of us spoke any French at all considering LaSalle is an English ward? The chances are zero, it was by divine design. It was really fun to speak to someone in french!! And I know God helped me to understand him because I really don’t speak that much. And all this happened because Brother Simkovits bought us pasta. “

Villa Marie Sisters:

“This week has been so fast paced and so miracle-filled! This was a really cool miracle yesterday: unfortunately we have not found her yet but we met with someone who was contacted through Instagram! We were doing Instagram finding and looking through posts nearby and we came across this lady, I immediately found a common interest and that was fitness and nutrition! I messaged her saying I was into dietetics and I loved her page and her next text back was like let's meet and go for a walk and we can talk more! We were planning a lot before this meeting on how we were going to bring the gospel into our discussion, and how we can potentially find her. However it was a lot easier than we had anticipated, I had mentioned in our texts that I was on a mission and all that and right when we met up with her at the park she was super excited and she said like as well "when you said you were on a mission I had no idea what that meant so I did some researching on that too so I am excited to talk about your mission as well!" We went and sat down and we had a beautiful conversation, turns out too she is very religious and she really believes in incorporating God into her fitness business and is constantly praying for her clients and asked them what she can pray for. She also told us that she follows up after she prayed for someone specifically and I loved that, then like they can realize how prayers work if they noticed a difference or something, I learned a lot from her! Then she told us that she would love to refer her clients to us, because we had told her we once did a prayer call with someone! She was like ‘is there a number or a website?’ She said she misses church so much in person and we totally agreed with her, she also misses her bible studies, so without us even asking she's like we could do bible studies and make it a weekly thing! And she said she would be interested in checking out our church! She is English speaking, so we will have to pass her off to the English missionaries. She was amazing, the one regret maybe is that we didn't set a date, that has been something I have been really wondering this week, I know how important it is to set a return appointment in that first meeting and when the spirit is still strong, but like to what point do you push it to when maybe when it's not natural. I think maybe we can more go about it like "we can plan for this day". With Donna she said she would confirm with her schedule, but we are planning on either Monday or Friday next week. And we are going to pray to know how to introduce the Book of Mormon I think she would be very interested. She had lots of questions about our missions all that, and for her too she said at the end of the day, it's Jesus and He is the centre. “

Victoriaville Elders:

“I had a cool experience this week. After Studying all of the Doctrine and Covenants Prepare to Learns for Zone Conference, I was thinking, is the field really white? I have tried my whole mission to believe this and have faith in it, but despite every effort I put in things often seem to move slowly. So after my studies I prayed and sincerely asked God if this was true, what it was teaching us in Doctrine and Covenants. That very same day, we received an unusual amount of Lead ad responses, and one we had targeted just at Montreal said she was from Victoriaville!  It shouldn't have happened, but it DID as a response to a prayer. We quickly started up a very nice conversation with her, and she was searching for something greater in her life. Later that same day, we got a knock on our door, and it was our neighbour. Her key that has worked in her door

for 13 years didn't work this one time, and she couldn't get into her

apartment. So we helped her call the landlord, and in waiting for him to come, naturally we struck up a conversation. She was comfortable enough with us because the week before we had gotten locked out of our apartment, and had knocked on her door for help. We just got to know her, and we found out that her husband had passed away a few years ago after a 30 year marriage, and we were able to testify and give her a plan of salvation pamphlet, and she said of course I'll read it, I have nothing else to do! So yes, there are people out there that God is preparing. It was a beautiful answer to a prayer.” 

                                                                    

Stake Conferences - Montreal and Ottawa in person!!

Today is Sunday, May 16, 2021

Happy 16th Anniversary to Michael and Kaylee on the 21st!!

Another Mission Miracle....Mark got a Teaching position in Cardston at the High School teaching grade 9 Math, Math 10, and Math 20!!! Congratulations Mark!!!

  

Sometimes I feel like a broken record always reporting on the same things week after week, BUT our weeks are very predictable!! It makes planning very simple…, and although we have a lot of the same meetings, with the same missionaries, there is a lot to discuss, and plan, and everyday IS different, and it is never boring or routine!! The biggest problem looming…(the elephant in the room) is that our final weeks are zipping by far too quickly!!

                                                    Our Backyard Cardinal

Highlights of this week included Office Meetings all day Monday, Mount Royal Zone Interviews and visits Tuesday and Wednesday at the Office, with Mount Royal Zone Conference on Thursday in Drummondville, and Friday we held our Mission Leadership Council at the Office! Without exception the teachings our Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders give at every Zone Conference; we are in awe of their preparation, their knowledge and testimonies of the gospel, and their beautiful ways of teaching and inspiring every missionary to be and to do better! We just love listening to them teach!! Oh and every meeting we have, we always have a special musical number! Our Sister Williams from Cardston frequently is our pianist, and happily plays prelude for 45 minutes or so!! One time months ago she played ‘In the Garden,’ which many of you might remember it being was one of my Mom’s favourite songs, and ever after sweet Sister Williams plays it everytime she is on the piano (she knows it is one of my favorites too!) She wasn’t the special musical number, but every time she plays the prelude…it really is a special musical number just for me!! The organized special musical number ‘Because I Have Been Given Much’ sung in 7 different languages - English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese Mandarin, and Chinese Cantonese, had us in tears! We know our missionaries have been blessed with the Gift of Tongues.

Several notes I have taken the past week have inspired me, and maybe they will inspire you as well.

* It is our faith in Jesus Christ that unlocks miracles. 

• Mountains in our lives will vary, the key is to have FAITH.
• We will remember our spiritual experiences for decades.
• The Lord will respond to our desire to increase our FAITH. 
• We left behind great things, to do great things.
• We left a great thing to do a great and marvellous thing. 
• Having a vision of what we are doing today will bless our whole lives.
• How have you seen your heart change?
• This is the WORK of the most WORTH.
• It’s not about being the best, it’s about being your best.
• Hard work always pays off. 
• Every night, every morning…recommit to the work!

         

Departing Missionaries shared thoughts and testimonies:

• Sister Goodwin told us that she knows that what she will miss the most is the clicking of her magnetic name tag - wearing the Saviour’s name on her heart everyday.
• Sister Hiatt wanted to change, and knows her mission has helped her change. Her trainer challenged her ‘to find eternity in the moment.’
• Sister Call testified of the light and the Joy she has found, and is grateful she can take her testimony home with her. 

• Elder Peck (reassigned from Mozambique) read the Book of Mormon the first time in the MTC..he learned to rely on the Saviour through challenging times…he was strengthened by the Saviour. He also testified that this is not the end of Missionary Work for any of us!!
• Elder Dial was 10 years old when his Dad passed away. He testified that the veil is very thin, and he has felt his Dad help him every step of his Mission journey. He testified that Families are sealed for Eternity because Jesus Christ overcame death. 
• We must have sustained effort to accomplish our missionary purpose. 
• If we are not reviewing, we are not improving. 
• Are our Temple Recommends current?  A symbol of our membership. 
• Our homes are the centres of our faith and our worship. We must diligently work at it continually trying. Press on. 

MLC on Friday afternoon with our 20 leaders was lovely, and although our time for breakouts was cut short, our sister training leaders were inspired as we talked about ways to be unified in our companionships, and how we can make our exchanges more effective. 

Musical number was Sister Vaiho and Sister Hechmati singing ‘Come, Come Ye Saints - beautiful treat! 

Yesterday we virtually attended two baptisms: Amanda in Montreal Ward, and Vanessa in the Levis Ward!!! so Exciting!! 

Our 15 km bike ride out and around Bedford was wonderful. A small farming community about an hour and a half from Montreal, with  beautifully groomed gardens, flowering trees, shrubs, and tulips in full bloom was great fun! The backroads are such a popular spot for so many cyclists - including motocyclists, and we loved the fresh air, and the stunning scenery. It was also fun to find a few cute little shops, and I was most excited to find a ‘Made in Quebec,’ thick oak/maple/ash charcuterie board!! It is a work of art and almost looks like quarter sawn wood! We love our little PDay adventures!! 

Charcuterie Board is below

                                                                             

Last night we got to participate in the Montreal Stake Conference..and it  was all in French!! 8 minutes speaking in French is my limit, and by the time I finished, my tongue, and brain were both in knots!! Not really, but it did stretch me to the max on my French pronunciation!! (FYI - I am on Day 316 of my Duolingo French streak!!)

And today we were up and on the road by 7:30am headed to Ottawa for their Stake Conference.  We were #9 and #10, and that was their maximum! It is a very different experience speaking at the pulpit, and not seeing a single person in the chapel, or on the screen - (all nine others were behind us on the stand!) We sent our talks to the translators the other day, but early this morning I awoke with my mind racing, and knew I needed to give a different message, so while Richard was having a stake missionary correlation meeting with President Glowa  as we were driving I brainstormed and jotted a few new talk ideas down on my iPad …thoughts about my Ontario roots…my Dad’s service as a young missionary in Ottawa, and about my Mom’s conversion, including being introduced to the Church by my Uncle Allen Hicks,  as well as some suggestions for “Love, Share and Invite!”  As some of you might recall I usually have my whole talk typed, double spaced, and printed ready to    go, so this was stretching my comfort zone!! Having a basic outline worked well, and was liberating to not be exactly tied to a script. 

I was  bold, and even emailed my cousin Colleen Hicks, invited her to attend, and sent her the link! I thought I should practise what I was preaching…Love Share and Invite 

This is the most lovely Stake Missionary Board…we have never seen a better one!! 

It has been a wonderful week and we look forward to another great one.  Longueuil Zone Interviews Tuesday at Longueuil Stake Centre, and Wednesday in Drummondville. Longueuil Zone Conference on Thursday in Drummondville and afterwards we are driving to Quebec City to see President and Soeur Morin. We will stay at the Chateau

 FrontenacThursday and Friday night, and do some sightseeing around Old Quebec. 

We love you all and pray for your continued happiness and joy!! Have a great week!!

Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Richard and Gayle

Keep Smiling!!

Canada Montreal Mission Miracles    May 16, 2021

Greenfield Park Elders:

“ So I actually wanted to share something really cool that happened when we watched Amanda's Baptism. 

So as a bit of preface, back like 2 or 3 months ago, during my time with Elder Earl, someone responded to our Book of Mormon ad, and essentially told us he was a less-active member in the Montréal ward. We were going to meet up with him after Inspections with the Mandarin South Elders at the Villa-Marie chapel, and he didn't show up. He got busy with something, but later that day we called him, and had a good talk for a while. He opened up a bunch and essentially said he wanted to come back to church after being gone for a while (he served a mission and everything) and he wanted the Book of Mormon for a friend. So we got him in Contact with Elder Noad and Elder Sillito and left it from there. 

Fast forward to today, I was listening to Amanda's testimony and she said something along the lines of "if Abraham didn't talk to me" or something like that. I was thinking "Oh I wonder who Abraham is" then it clicked. Abraham was the name of the less-active member we talked to. So it was really cool to see the impact to what seemed to be a small interaction, to now he has a temple recommend, is going to church, and just baptized his friend! “

Victoriaville Elders:

“This week was again a little stressful because we were trying so hard to get these ads up as quick as possible, we definitely swamped ourselves. But now we have most of them up, only a couple to finish off. A cool little miracle we saw was someone answered to a Leads ad, so they gave us her phone number, but then her phone number didn't work, and he had no other contact method. But then she ended up messaging the page to have a conversation, it was cool! This week God gave me lots of opportunities to follow promptings of the Holy Ghost, which always feels so good. “

Montreal Est Sisters:

“We had several miracles happen this last week. One was with Delphine- she has a strong testimony of the church and the Book of Mormon. Sister Vaiho has been with her the whole way and Delphine had expressed to her in the past that if she were to be baptized she needed to be fully in. We had one lesson with her where we genuinely wanted to know what she is concerned about with getting baptized and how she needs to ask Heavenly Father what he wants her to do. We spoke as friends and worked through her concerns, it was pretty "casual"/ normal and the Spirit was very strong. We invited her to come to church even though she usually can't attend due to work. Work has been the main factor stopping her taking the step of baptism. She messaged us Sunday morning saying that she was feeling unwell and decided to take this time to rest and watch church. Not only did she come to church by zoom but even got herself to join us for sacrament! The sacrament was perfectly imperfect and the Spirit filled the room. At the end, we exchanged how strongly we all felt the Spirit. We took a moment to chat, Delphine was quiet and calm and most radiant! She told us that she decided to take Sundays off work. She said it is a small sacrifice and that now she can attend each week going forward. We have a lesson with her tonight to go over what steps Heavenly Father wants her to take next. “

Mont St. Hilaire Sisters:

“I have a quick little miracle to share with you today! For the two weeks that I've been here, it has been really hard for us to find new people to teach, especially in Mont-Saint-Hilaire because we only had 2 friends. We have been having lessons with the same people every week and I didn't feel like we were accomplishing our purpose to find primarily, teach and baptize. During our last weekly planning session, we've set a goal to find 2 new people, and we really prayed that we would find them. We had potential people in mind, but they have been Potentials for the past 3 weeks, so we weren't sure what was going to happen. However, on Monday, we had 5 lessons scheduled, and three of them were with 3 potential friends! We had them all, and we were able to set a return appointment with each of them, making them new friends being taught. It was such a miracle, because we found all of them before even 2.30pm! I know that God does miracles when we truly have faith. That is a testimony that I have.”

Monte Rey Sisters:

“The González family got baptized on Saturday and they are so excited to keep progressing in the Gospel. That night after their baptism we had a small lesson/FHE with them. We had gifted them some chocolate fondue from choco fav & some fruit, right after their baptism. We had bought some for us too. So we were "eating together" through a video call, it was such a happy moment. We talked

with them about how they felt before, during and after their baptism, and the words that kept coming up were anticipation, joy and a feeling of peace. The mom said that she had been baptized before in another church and that she had felt good before because it was a special occasion, but that she had never felt the Spirit so strong as she did this time. We were so beyond happy to hear that. Even the kids were able to feel the Spirit so strongly, it was good to hear their experience as well. They were just so thankful that we were able to teach them and lead them closer to their Saviour and to be baptized. They even texted us yesterday to ask about how and when they can start paying tithing. We are just so impressed by them, they are seriously our miracle family and we love them so much. I thought I had experienced joy before, but during their baptism I was so overwhelmed with joy and love for them. President, this family has my heart and I can't wait to keep seeing them progress and get sealed as a family in the temple. Thank you for the opportunity to serve here, I'm so grateful I got to find my friends.”

Tiptoe through the Tulips

Happy Mother’s Day!!! Sunday May 9th, 2021

and Happy 8th Birthday to Sadey Dawn Low on Wednesday, May 12th!!!

Driving around so much, we get to see daily the beautiful transformation of sleeping shrubs, trees, and perennials into vibrant awake, and very much alive growing, living colourful plants!! 

If I had to pick a favourite month I think it would be May!!! Every possible green space is green!!  Pretty flowering blossoms adorn crabapple, plum, magnolia and May Day trees! Spirea, dogwood, and cherry as well as dozens of other shrubs also are showy!  Our front yard Maple tree is true crimson red, and such a gorgeous shade tree! Oh how we wish we could transport it home!!  I can’t help smiling as I admire our Mission Home brilliant white tulips which are in their full majestic splendour; in fact I have determined that in fall 2021 we will be planting at least 100 white ‘Charles Darwin’ bulbs at 27 Coachwood Road!! We Love SPRING!! 

                                        

Meetings on Monday were awesome; our Office teams are wonderful, and we also love having an hour meeting with our virtual seniors; Bingham’s (Calgary) in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland, Kennetts (Edmonton) in Ottawa are National Archive Missionaries, Stearman’s (Palm Desert, Califronia) serve virtually as CES missionaries in Ottawa, Kellis (Arizona) serve virtually as CES missionaries in Montreal, Stonehockers (Red Deer) serve virtually as MLS in Greenwood Nova Scotia. Sister Mecham will be here until the end of June, and Elder Opper - our medic from Kitchener, Ontario will be here another year or so.  We are so grateful for our Senior missionaries! Even virtually they have become dear friends, and we dream of the day we get to meet them in person!! Our Mission service together has been such an incredible time where we have grown closer;  where we have grown in our testimonies of the Saviour; and where we together have had so many faith promoting experiences. It has been so incredibly wonderful…We encourage EVERYONE to consider serving a Mission!! Such a perfect way to recharge, renew, and retire together!! 

WANTED and NEEDED: Senior missionaries to serve in the Canada Montreal Mission - English and French!! 

Ottawa interviews in Gatineau Tuesday and Wednesday were great…nothing like seeing the whites of our missionaries eyes, and feeling their spirits. We are so grateful for the Gift of the Spirit that prompts us to know how a missionary is really feeling…

Wednesday evening after our interviews and visits, we noticed lots of folks walking across an old pedestrian bridge (actually it was built over 100 years ago by the Dominion Bridge Company - the same company that built our High Level Bridge in Lethbridge!!), and although Ontario is on total lockdown, people are free to walk about to get exercise….so we decided to go for it, and walk across from Gatineau (Hull)Quebec to Ottawa, Ontario, and our objective was to walk around the Parliament Buildings, and to find tulips, which we did - thousands of them!!!

                                         

Thursday, after another wonderful Ottawa Zone Conference in Gatineau, Quebec, we decided to drive across the bridge into Ontario where the Dow’s Lake tulips were calling to us…(we were a bit worried that we might be stopped for being in Ontario, but had no problems!!)  The huge sweeping beds of tulips were jaw-droopingly

beautiful!!  Not all the tulips were in full bloom, but next week when we head to Ottawa for Stake Conference we will have another opportunity to see the Tulip Festival again! For the beautiful story on the 100,000 tulips; that for 76 years ‘The Netherlands’ have sent to Canada… check out Ottawa Tulip Festival History. 

                                        

We couldn't believe these were tulips!! 




Friday I had a miracle phone call from the McGill Health Centre to schedule a follow up CT scan on my kidneys. They were booking into July, and I didn’t say we won’t be here in July, but as she was jabbering away in French to someone else, I understood her to say:  “ Tu viens d’Alberta,” or something like that, and in a minute or so she came back on the phone and said we have a few appointments today available…one  which was at 2:30pm; so right after our New Missionary Training Meeting with our brand new Sister Charity Rice (Bow Island) we headed to the Lachine Hospital (old St. Joseph Hospital), and I had another CT done.  We will be glad to get those results hopefully no more stones are lurking… 

Yesterday we had another of our week’s highlights: the Baptisms of the entire Gonzalez Family…Father, Mother, Daughter and Son in the Monte Rey Ward. Sister Mendoza, and Sister Van Dyse, along with the friend that introduced them to the Gospel were such fabulous teachers. Over 30 friends joined the Zoom service!! Look at the beautiful photo of this family all holding hands!! What a thrill!!!

Following the Baptism, we loved our delightful drive out to Mt. St. Hilaire to our favourite apple picking orchard with Sister Mecham and Elder Opper.  We had visions of thousands of trees all in bloom, and were happy to see a few, but know next week will be the real ‘popcorn popping’ show! Our plan is to load up our bikes and tour the orchards up close and personal.  

                                                

Last week at one of Gardening Centre stops we purchased an ingenious Cardinal bird-feeder which is perfectly designed with a perch that only opens the little hole into the shelled sunflower and safflower seeds dispenser when a bird the weight of  a cardinal sits on the perch!! We are crazy about the beautiful cardinals that have found the feeder, and are sad that they don’t live in the west!! Can’t believe that we might have become birders!!! 

Another great upcoming week…Mount Royal Interviews and Zone Conference, and MLC on Friday

Have a wonderful week! We send much love to all,

Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mom, Richard and Gayle

May 9th, 2021 Canada Montreal Miracles

Montreal Sisters:

“We also had a lesson with our friend Heidi last night (I think you've heard of her before and I'm going to mention her in my interview on Tuesday). We were going to teach the word of wisdom and honestly were a bit scared because it's a big thing for her. So we prayed and was like God you've got to do this through your spirit, because we can't do it alone. And there was peace. And then we got on the call and started talking and she said she'd been thinking about some stuff in preparation for her baptism. We asked what, and she said "well I know I can't drink coffee when in baptized to I was trying to think how I could quit and then this thing popped into my head that I could use to substitute coffee." wow. Not only did she start talking about the word of wisdom herself, God had already given her an answer!! And he gave her some more as we talked more about it.

It was incredible to see that when we prepared and when we had faith and turned it over to God, that He really did the work and we just testified. God is so good and I stand in awe of His hand in my life!!!”

Ottawa  Dows Lake Sisters:

“I know this week God has definitely been on our side. So I don’t know if you remember me telling you that I lost most my phone in the middle of a rainstorm in the middle of Montreal and then I found it. So we had another experience like that. It was the second day I was in Ottawa and we were going to drop off a Book of Mormon to a new friend. We have our keys on a lanyard and when we were walking to the house I remember fiddling with them in my hands. We get back home from the drop off and I go to get the keys to our apartment and shortly realize that they are not on the lanyard. My stomach dropped. We looked everywhere in the car and around the apartment building and couldn't find them anywhere. We said a quick prayer and then felt prompted to drive back to our friends house. We retraced our steps and found our keys in the middle of the road on a random street. God definitely answered our prayers and helped us find them. I definitely need to stop losing my stuff though! Haha”

Brand new Sister serving in Montreal:

“The mission is straight up centered on Christ (which, if I'm being honest, that's what home life should have been too). I'm so excited every day (once I'm out of bed and doing stuff) to start each day and learn new things. I know that Christ is at the center of everything, but most importantly, he's at the center of my heart, and that's what matters. 

Love you lots!”

Terrebonne Spanish Elders:

“I want to share a miracle with you! We are teaching this lady named Vanessa. She originally only wanted english classes. Eventually and with much prayer and effort, we have started talking about the gospel with her. Yesterday, we had a class in the church with her and the bishop! We talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and the need to be baptized by proper priesthood authority. She agreed to talk more about the Book of Mormon with her! “

Montreal Sisters:

“This week the three of us had a really cool experience. We received a self referral from a man named Mohamed. We called him and he expressed a desire to have a copy of the Book of Mormon. 

The next day we sat down and planned our route as he could not meet us half way due to physical ailments. 

When we got to his apartment and knocked on the door the spirit flooded in so strong. He said that he was Muslim but wanted to completely forsake his religious beliefs to find a religion that beloved that God is a loving God. We spoke to him for a little while about the Book of Mormon and with tear stained eyes he begged us to not leave him alone in his attempts to find God.

We prayed with him and he eagerly too the book and said he would read. 

Last night we had a call with him and followed up on his reading he had a few questions as our views are completely different to his. As we continued to discuss we were so shocked at how much he read, how much he knew about the book of Mormon, the restoration and how this really is what he has been looking for. He basically taught himself. 

We will be meeting him again this week and he told us that he thinks he has found the path he was looking for. 

Miracles happen. And this man is so sincere. God is so good! “