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!!!
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.
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! “
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