Today is Sunday, November 8th, 2020.
Yesterday we wished Lucy Jeanne Low, Happy 12th Birthday!!
Our Missionary purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. And that is what our whole focus is - all day everyday..and it is what we teach and preach at every one of our meetings… Our ‘One in Christ….Go Forth with Faith,’ Canada Montreal Mission theme helps us be unified in that purpose. Last week we celebrated seven baptisms!! With everyone doing their best in being diligent ‘gardeners,’ planting seeds, and nurturing, that harvest; - those seven baptisms are the result of everyones diligence and hard work!!
Zone Conferences, interviews, visits, more interviews, and more visits, Mission Learning Conferences, Mission Leadership Councils, where we talk about so many subtopics of our missionary purpose; have filled our past two weeks, and many days we wonder if our watches are stuck on fast forward!!
Last Sunday evening our devotional was a beautiful farewell testimony meeting where each of our departing missionaries shared testimonies and stories of their own conversions, and how their lives have changed as they have learned and taught the Doctrine of Christ. They all have created their own beautiful covenant paths. We will always pray for them…and look forward to Mission Reunions!!
In preparation for a new Mission President and his companion, many little, and some bigger projects are on Felix Viteri’s (Facilities Management Boss) to do list!
A few months ago Felix came over, and I submitted a list of what I thought should be priorities to improve the Mission Home….and Felix agreed with every single suggestion! And, then things started to happen!!
Several weeks ago the upholsterers came and took the seats off all our dining room and kitchen chairs, and recovered them with lovely fabric they had let me select. Friday morning the upholsterer returned and reinstalled the 24 beautifully recovered seats. The front entry bench, and another chair will be completed soon.
Also, on Friday the two downstairs bathroom vanity countertops were replaced with a neutral taupe stone which looks great. They recycled the shiny white sinks, and chrome taps, so although everything isn’t new, it looks fresh and clean! I brought lots of cute ‘oceany’ decor items from our Dartmouth Mission Home, so the downstairs is our ‘Ode to Atlantic Canada.’
Before Christmas, the original metal railings and metal spindles (which are exactly like the ones in our Dartmouth Mission Home!!) will be replaced with cherry wood spindles, and the powder room about three steps down from the main level will have it’s original painted white doors replaced with lovely routered cherry wood panels which match our kitchen cupboards, and a snazzy new sink with new antique bronze moen taps will be installed. You know I’m so excited to dwazzle festive lighted garlands on and around the new spindles and handrail!
And sometime after Christmas, the back entry, pantry, coat closet, and laundry room will get a major overhaul, and that will be so wonderful!!
Even our yard is in shipshape thanks to Johnny, our fastidious gardener who replaced a big strip of rough looking lawn, has black edged around all the flower beds, created a beautiful big hydrangea bed, moved the basketball standard, raked, raked, and raked piles of oak, maple, and horse chestnut leaves from our lawns, and has sprinkled bags of weed and feed, as well as fertilizer till our lawn is lush, green and weed free!! He is our gardening hero!! We are trying to figure how we will avoid getting all the winter salty briny junk on our lawn…probably impossible!!
Last Saturday, Richard and I planted the 200 white Charles Darwin tulip bulbs we had ordered from Vesey’s, and although we are excited to enjoy another Montreal winter, it will be fun when spring comes, and we can oohhh, and aahhh over a pretty tulip display!!
Yesterday our Pday was just grand!! By noon our relaxing morning routine was done, and we were ready for an adventure! Our plan was to again go exploring on our bikes, but just before loading them up, we opted for a walking afternoon! We drove, and parked near the regal gates of the Mount Royal Cemetery (a National Historic Site of Canada), and began our walk. Immediately, we were in awe of the incredible, massive granite, and limestone tributes, and headstones, unlike any we have seen (I suppose we haven’t been frequent graveyard visitors!) that covered so much of this part of the north side of Mount Royal. Paved paths, and roads zigzag all through the 165 acre terraced Cemetery. It was just like being in the Phantom of the Opera graveyard…complete with mosoleums! Catholic, and Jewish burial grounds adjoin the Mount Royal Cemetery, but that exploring will be for another day!! Leo and Phyllis Singer’s graves are in the Jewish section, and maybe I mentioned visiting them a few months back. We didn’t see these headstones, but FYI, a few other prominent folks laid to rest here include: Sir John Abbot (Prime Minister), Sir Alexander Galt (one of the Fathers of Confederation), Anna Leonowens - governess - ‘Anna and the King of Siam,’ John Redpath (built the first sugar refinery in Canada), and Walter Zeller (founder of Zellers)!!! Dozens of other folks were exploring just like we were!! One elderly couple told us that they visit the cemetery all four seasons…in French he said..tranquile, tranquile.
The peaceful, reverent serenity, in every cemetery, and ’where hearts are turned to our fathers’ makes us think… wouldn’t it be amazing if we could set up little ‘Family Search’ booths at every entrance?!
Our hiking continued up the mountain, over hill and dale, along the lac du castors (lake of the beavers) where hundreds, and hundreds of other Montrealers were lazing on their picnic blankets loving the 21 degree Saturday in November!! We circled the lake, and looped again through the cemetery back to our car. Oh what a glorious day!!
En route down Avenue du Parc, one of our favourite, most picturesque city thoroughfares, to find a ‘made in Quebec shoppe’, my eye is always drawn, to the 10 foot high stone wall, surrounding an old hospital, that seems to go on for blocks. A few years back, I read in a WestJet magazine all about the secret garden behind those walls, and have dreamt of actually exploring the century old gardens. Yesterday, as we turned off Parc, onto Avenue du Pine, the open, unlocked gates made that dream come true!! We parked our car across the street, and our walking adventure continued!! For centuries, cloistered nuns ran the Hotel Dieu Hospital, and cared for the ‘Garden of the Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph,’ which is roughly the size of three football fields!! Apple, peach, pear, plum and apricot trees with gnarly, old trunks, along with a variety of other deciduous trees, as well as coniferous, help create the wonderful romance of a secret garden!! A large vegetable garden had been harvested, and rose bushes had their insulated styrofoam winter coats on. The expansive green lawns were freshly mowed and weed-free. Truly a thrill, and another lovely, peaceful experience; where we were only joined by four other visitors.
Our next walking route took us to the well worn granite cobblestones down in Old Montreal, where we did visit a couple of fun ‘Made in Quebec’ souvenir shops!! Old Montreal goes back about 300 years, and it is so very much like France!! We love exploring down there!!
‘Dunn’s’ restaurant that serves take out Montreal smoked meat, poutines, and strawberry cheesecake was our final stop before heading home. And…after eating all that food, we headed out on another walk!!!
By the end of our walking Pday, I had logged 21,710 steps, and Richard’s step count was 24,482!! What a perfectly relaxing, fun-filled day!!
Today we were delighted to watch Henderson Primary Presentation, and again were so grateful for technology….thank you zoom!! We excitedly anticipate watching several more over the next month!!! Thanks for letting us know when!!
Another Area Presidency Training Meeting this afternoon was inspiring..we love seeing, and hearing especially from other Mission Presidents and their companions as they share their best practises. As we hear so many amazing ideas, it makes me want to start all over again, and implement some of these great ideas into what we do…I love when Richard reminds me that we are doing our best, and that the Lord accepts our offerings. Such a true principle….we do our best and the Lord does make up the difference, and amplifies our offerings.
Transfer week, and Tuesday we are so excited to have the following fourteen new missionaries arrive!! Do you recognize any one?!!
Sister Elizabeth Champney Edmonton
Sister Aurora Davis Surrey BC
Sister Brittany Gatz Winnipeg
Sister Elizabeth McLeod Lethbridge
Sister Aspen Marsden Calgary
Sister Hannah McGillis Stony Plain
Sister Genevieve Rozell Chilliwack BC
Sister Kaila Smith Ammon Idaho
Elder Jarem Earl Lethbridge
Elder Ethan Glenn Calgary
Elder Talmage Orr Lethbridge
Elder Joshua Schmidt Airdrie
Elder Russell Rice Cypress Utah
Elder Joseph Williams Delta BC
With the excitement of new missionaries arriving, we also dread the imminent departure of fourteen of our ‘mission family’ Friday..( * already left last week.) Perhaps you might recognize some of these names?:
Sister Chole Atkins Calgary*
Sister Valeria Catalan Peru*
Sister McKay Christensen Shenandoah Texas
Sister Camila Gomez Uruguay*
Sister Alexis Thomas Indiana
Elder Branson Albertson Vanderfoof BC
Elder Dustin Cook Ogden Utah*
Elder Hunter Fife Logan Utah
Elder Albert Furrows Rigby Idaho
Elder Samuel Gordon Mountain Green Utah
Elder Dustin Kolste Petersboro Utah
Elder Tyrell Shipley Raymond
Elder Benjamin Strong Cardston
Elder Seth Villarreal Providence Utah
Canada Montreal Mission Miracles…..two weeks worth!! We feel so blessed to have such an amazing group of missionaries who are always looking and finding little miracles every day! Read on!! ENJOY!!
Have a wonderful week..all of you! Thank you for your love, support, and prayers on behalf of missionaries everywhere. They are all heroes who love the Saviour, and happily go about His business. We are inspired by their goodness, their amazing work ethics, and their devotion to Him. What an honour, and blessing it is to serve shoulder to shoulder and hand and hand (only virtually of course!!) with them.
We send this with much love,
Richard and Gayle, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma
Keep Smiling!!
November 1st, 2020 Missionary Miracles
Zarahemla Elders:
>About 2 Sundays ago, after sacrament was over and we were going to leave to the car, I felt prompted to ask a senior lady to see if we could call her during the week. As my foot was stepping outside the door to leave, I stopped and look back and stopped Elder Rodriguez and told him we had to ask her if we can call her. We went back and she told us we could! So last preparation day was the day we had scheduled to call her. We called her, got to know her and found out that she's been here for 14 years and has attended the Zarahemla ward all that time. We shared Moroni 10:3-5 and asked her how God has answered her prayers. She told us that her Heavenly Father always answers her prayers. As we were finishing we asked if we could call a few days later and she accepted. We called again and had planned to ask her how she met the church. So we started talking and kinda just went in and shared Ether 6:30. Without us asking, she started talking about how she met the church! That was really cool. She told us that all her kids got baptized in Venezuela and then after she came here and after many years of searching for the church got baptized in Zarahemla, and sadly all her kids went inactive. She later told us that ever since the pandemic broke out no one had reached out and called her. Only the Relief Society President had been calling. She later told us how grateful she is that we called her, how grateful she was that we remembered her. And that just warmed my heart and testified to me that I did listen to the Holy Ghost.>
Also from the Zarahemla Elders
“We realized that we needed gas. We had some problems with the pump so we went into the cashier. We payed the gas and again we had a problem with the pump. We go back, but now there was a like up! There was a man in front of us and he just stared at my name tag. Then asks "are you Jehovah Witnesses?" We said "no" and explained that we were missionaries of The Church Of Jesus Christ christ Of Latter Day Saints. He went inside and bought something and came out and pulled us over to talk. He said we really caught his attention, that our appearances and how we were dressed and how young we were, that really caught his eye. We talked outside for quite a while. He told us how much he believed in God and also told us that we were wrong in a good way! He wasn't insulting us or anything. He said that he really enjoyed talking to us. We exchanged numbers and by the time we finished talking we had to head back home. I know that the pump was acting up because we had to go back and meet that man. I know that our Heavenly Father doesn't put us in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
St. Jean Sisters:
“Little Miracle for Sister Low too! We were dropping off some dishes to the apartment building of a sister in the ward and the security guard was asking what we were doing there and after talking and giving her the dishes she asked who we are. We explained and she said she actually prefers english and needs some healing in her life so we gave her a card and she told us her schedule of work so we might see her again! Simple blessings from visiting and dropping off things to members are the best.😊”
Bridgewater Elders:
“One cool Miracle that happened, was we had really bad service when we were trying to call people. So we decided to drive to the church to get better service and instead of checking Area Book, we decided to look through our contacts on our phone. We found out that the missionaries put all the potential members in our contacts instead of Area Book. We called a bunch and have two lessons set up and one we have to call back because he was busy at work. We had gone a whole month with not having anyone and just focusing on the member, and so it was a huge prayer answered to have some potentials. We have also been having a lot of lessons with members.”
Fredericton Sisters:
“And Charlene is getting baptized on Saturday and Stefan is baptizing her! I don't remember if I told you about this or not, but a couple weeks ago we felt like Stefan really needed to baptize Charlene instead of the Bishop. And we called him and told him that he is capable of baptizing her. He felt that he was unworthy because he was still smoking but we told him that we all knew that he could stop smoking in time to baptize her. So we invited him to call the Bishop and talk to him about it. But it was just such an amazing phone call because he asked us if we thought he could become worthy and if we thought he was being to critical of himself and we all in unison said "yes!!" “
Fallowfield Kanata Elders:
“While on virtual exchanges with the Zone leaders, I was virtually with Elder Salvador and we had a number of lessons set up. One of the lessons was with this lady from our area in an interesting position. She had a super rough past, has and reads the Book of Mormon, she lives in between the 2 church buildings so each one is about an hour away, and she doesn’t have internet so we only teach her through phone call. She currently attends the more local Catholic church, but reads the Book of Mormon and talks with us.
Elder Salvador and I taught about the Atonement including the resurrection, and she at one point said something mildly depressing (I forget exactly what) then I responded. My mouth was opened and filled, while I spoke the words that came I felt completely consumed with the spirit, very interesting experience, I’d say it feels like being in heaven with pure joy and love of God. Once I finished speaking that feeling faded away back to normal. She seemed to appreciate that and at the end of the lesson she was more emotional than usual. Usually she is like "thank you. Have a good day, bye." But she was more emotional and expressed huge thanks "for all we do for her", so I guess that lesson was pretty good.”
Beautiful message from Sister Murray from Montreal:
“Maybe you and Sister Low had a rainy, gloomy week too. Or maybe just rainy parts of the week, I can't imagine your job is even close to easy. Well I have hope to share with you! Because this week I learned that trouble is not equal to despair! What does that mean? Well simple, life is always gonna give us trouble ;) it's kinda the name of the game here. BUT the trick is that YOU are the one in control!! How cool is that?! You don't even have to let the troubles take you down, you get to CHOOSE!! pretty cool, if you ask me ;) so when the rains come, and the winds blow, try to make the most of it! Now, I'm not trying to be an overly optimistic ray of sunshine. Trust me when I say I know what it feels like to have the rains come, and suddenly the rain turns into a hurricane, and before you know it there's no dry land in sight, and you're drenched wet in sorrow. I have been there. What I am trying to be is a little reminder, that the rain has a Master and He loves you a whole lot more than you even know. Ask him why the rains are coming, he'll tell ya. I can promise you that.
The good news is that there is always Sunshine after the rain, and I'd argue that that makes the sun even brighter. We definitely had the rainstorms this week, and we definitely had the sunshine as well. This weekend our Vanessa got Baptized! It was beautiful and the spirit was so strong!!
Being a disciple isn't easy, but nothing worthwhile ever comes easy ;)
Remember to be happy in the rain storms this week!
Thank you for everything we love and appreciate you more than you know!! “
November 8th, 2020 Missionary Miracles!
Montreal Elders:
« Actually a cool miracle happened this week but a couple days ago the Zone leaders gave us a Bible drop off referral to someone who lives a little closer to us then they do so they asked if we can give them a Bible. We got In the chat with this guy named Jason and we agreed on a time to meet for the Bible. Also a little while Ago some missionaries from the Maryland mission in USA messaged us about someone they are teaching (I think you know where this is going) saying that this guy is interested and he lives near us and that we should drop off a Book of Mormon. Just last night Jason messaged us and said "I think you guys know some of my other missionary friends in Maryland" and we got confused for a bit but it turns our that He is the same guy that the Sisters were thinking of referring to us and who wanted a Bible! We are seeing him on Saturday but I can’t wait to meet him and a pass off lesson on Sunday! »
Riverside (Ottawa) Elders:
« During the baptism I noticed a brother in the ward I was not familiar with on the call. He was just sitting there off mute, but I felt he was itching to connect. I shied away from the prompting and talked with another brother who started talking to us. Though I messed up by not talking with that brother, the Lord gave me a second chance. When the bishop's connection cut out at the end of the baptism, and it made me "the host." Since I now thought I couldn't leave the meeting without ending it for everyone else, I stayed till everyone had left, and lo and behold it was the brother who stayed last! We started talking and I knew exactly why. His wet eyes soon led to mine as he told me of the struggle he's been under lately and the ache for social connection. God blessed me with the Holy Ghost who I know leads us to those who need us when we are willing!
*Thank you so much for sending me to Riverside! I know God's work is here in this area! »
Sackville Elders:
« Also president, you really are super spirit led on transfers! I am really meant to be here in Sackville! I found this crazy connection with Brother MacLennan! I still can't believe it! He found this photo when he served in Shilin Taipei, and my dad was in it, he was a recent convert at the time and preparing to go on his mission! It was just incredible! I will send you the picture on messenger! Also, please share this cool miracle with Sister Low! Lots of great things happening! Love the members here! «
Quebec Sisters:
« A cool miracle we had this week was with member work! A woman of YSA age that the sisters have been teaching for a long time wasn't really progressing anymore, and we found that she was really searching for community but had never met a member of her age. We included this need in our weekly correlation report email, received a phone call from a person in the ward in charge of the YSA who read our report, and were able to find a perfect member to bring. She's from a family of converts and shares a lot of the same interests as our friend. We would never have been able to identify her without our new reporting system. The lesson went so well, they even started their own conversation and talked for a long time after we left the call. What a miracle! Hopefully this is exactly what our friend needs to help her keep her commitments. »
Victoriaville Elders:
« Something cool happened yesterday and this is from my email. I prayed Friday night to have an opportunity to serve someone for the Lord. We started our fast and went to bed. Before heading to Church in the morning I had a thought that I would be giving a blessing that day. I made sure I was prepared with my things and we left. We got to the church and our friend we are teaching came, Steve is his name. We had a nice fast and testimony meeting and then a lesson after. He prayed in the lesson after we had taught him how to pray and about the Book of Mormon and he said he feels it is true and he felt a peace in his heart. It was awesome. After the lesson he brought up that he has back and arm pain from work he used to do and so I offered to give a blessing and he said yes. It was an awesome experience and I was able to do it in French with the help of the spirit. Prayers are answered. I know it. The Lord is quick to answer prayers when we turn outwards. «
Kentville Sisters:
« Miracle of the week: we regained contact with Robert! We had a great lesson with him about God's forgiveness and even though we've reassured him before that God will forgive him as many times as he repents and will always still love him, he finally seemed to believe it this time. We shared 3 Nephi 9:22 with him ("Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved.") And he got very emotional. Then when we told him that church is starting up again he got so excited! He actually let out a "whoopee!" It was so pure. I love seeing people get excited about the gospel. He didn't make it out this week, but we'll keep working on it.
