The End

This will likely be my last post as I will be driving home from my mission next week.

My mission has been such a valuable learning experience for me. Father in Heaven has chastened me and I needed it!

When I first got my mission call I had thoughts of. . .

• This assignment is way too easy for me
• Does Father even know me??? Why would He send me to do something like take pictures?!?
• This is not the best way that my talents and gifts can be used
• This is NOT the right calling for me
• I should be sent to the Ghana MTC to love young Africans who are setting out on their journey to become missionaries
• Maybe I can appeal to shorten my mission to one year instead of two years

When I arrived in Montreal, I was looking for things that would take me away from my assignment so that I could have some variety. I'm glad I abandoned that idea. Somewhere along the way, I heard the question from someone, "Are you going to change your mission or are you going to let your mission change you?" I eventually became submissive, but it took quite a bit of time.

I'm grateful that Father in Heaven has tutored me in humility and submissiveness. He's waaaaaaaaaay smarter than I am. And He knew that my soul needed to be refined. And that would happen best in an obscure, monotonous assignment in Montreal. I'm grateful that I eventually decided to bend my will to His. . .it has made all the difference!

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The Farewells Begin

It has been REALLY difficult to move around this city on foot this week because of all of the snow. Driving is fine because the city has cleared the streets, but they just haven't had time to get to the sidewalks yet because the volume of snow is so huge.

This is the sidewalk in front of the building where I serve each day. At the beginning of the week we were walking on tromped down snow from other pedestrians. Thursday started to warm up a little so the snow started melting. Well, that made navigating the snow treacherous! After walking a short distance to the corner, I decided to walk in the street. I also decided that I can't return to the archives building until they clear the snow in front of the building because it's just too dangerous so I missed "work" on Friday. 

But luckily over the weekend, I came up with a way to get into the building another way which circumvents the walk in front of the building.

This is me waiting one night for a bus which was a half hour late . Then when it finally arrived, it just drove right past me. Sheesh!

I'm seeing these trucks ALL OVER TOWN, hauling snow out of the city.

I also see these little yellow signs all over stuck into mountains of snow. My guess is that the plan is to clear that section of street next so they don't want anyone parking there overnight.

The members of the Mount Royal Branch, the Chinese speaking branch where I've attended church for nearly two years, showered me with love on Sunday. I knew we were having a potluck after church, but I didn't know we were also having the "Sister Jones hour." I was uncomfortable with all of that attention, but they really did make me feel special. 

They had an "open mic" where people shared very kind words about me. And they also showered me with gifts. One person created a beautiful memory book. I received a gorgeous  bouquet of flowers. And one of the members who is a very talented artist drew a portrait of me.

A few of my former piano students returned to share their musical talents with all of us. Oh wow! I felt so loved and so honored by all of them!

I've been thinking a lot during the past few weeks about "each life that touches ours for good." We really are  meant to help each other along the way as we travel through this journey of life. 

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Lovely People and SNOW

I had the time of my life with these three lovely humans this week. We all went to a Moroccan restaurant. One of them is a security guard at the archives and the other two are the custodians who keep everything neat and tidy. One is from Morocco, one from Tunisia, and one from Senegal. I delight in having friends from other countries. All of God's children who live on this globe are much more similar than we are different. It's going to be painful for me to leave these three.

The company was by FAR the best part of the night, but the food was pretty fabulous too.

That night will be one of my most treasured moments in Montreal. 💖

Two of my Mandarin elders on the metro...looks like they're in jail 😂  I love my Mandarin elders. I probably know them the best of all the young missionaries because we end up serving in the same branch together for so long. 

On Thursday, February 13, 2025 Montreal got over 13 inches of snow. It all gets piled up. Note the mountain of snow in the church parking lot is nearly as tall as my car.

Frozen hair does not obey the law of gravity 😂

This is the second big whammy this week. We don't yet know how many inches it will end up being but it's been snowing all day long (Sunday, February 16, 2025.) The predicted snowfall is close to two feet. I'm not really sure where all of that snow will be plowed to. Church was cancelled for our entire stake and 3/4 of the wards and branches in our mission did not hold any church meetings today.

It never really dumped snow today. It was just a steady snowfall all day long, probaby exceeding 24 hours of snowfall. I thought about how small and simple things bring about great things. An average amount of snowfall extended hour after hour after hour can shut down an entire city. God usually works in small and simple ways in our lives. And we can each do small and simple things that will make a big difference over time.

One of those things is reading the Book of Mormon. If you read for 15 minutes, you'll notice nothing different in your life. But if you read for 15 minutes, or even 30 minutes, each day for a year, you'll notice a BIG change in yourself and in your life. You'll learn about the power of the book and the influence it has when you begin a serious study of it. If you haven't yet, TRY IT!

Anyone who reads this before Monday morning (Feb. 17), PRAY for us! I'm driving a senior couple to a surgery. One of our elders needs a hip replacement and has been in SO much pain this past week. They don't think their car will make it so we're going to try my SUV. We're allowing 2 hours for a 20 minute drive...that's how bad things are right now. Hopefully they'll be much improved by morning!

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Did Someone Say AP?

My happiest news BY FAR this week is that my charming son has been given an opportunity to humbly serve EVERYONE in his mission by serving as an assistant to the president. I'm so grateful that he's been given this chance because it will be a huge opportunity for growth. Not only will he still be inviting others to come to Christ, but he'll also be able to learn the administrative workings of the mission. I'm so grateful to God for giving him this unique opportunity to serve.

And I'm also grateful that he is a hard-working, obedient missionary.

I took these two to lunch the day before one of them got transferred last week. I've decided that missionaries are almost in a constant state of grieving--grieving for friends they've been teaching who ghost them, grieving when beloved companions get transferred, grieving for members and friends they have to leave behind when they get transferred, and the BIGGEST grieving of all...grieving the loss of your fantastic mission when you leave for home.

That's the stage where I am. I have begun to grieve leaving people that I dearly love here in Montreal. My fabulous young missionary friends, the kind, gentle, patient woman who is the liaison between Family Search and the National Archives of Quebec who we work closely with, my African brothers and sisters at church along with other beloved members, and my darling young security guard friend who works at the building where I serve every day. These people are embedded deeply in my heart. 

I've begun loading up packed boxes into the car because I don't want to leave the huge job of packing and cleaning to the bitter end and have it catch me off guard. My mission here in Canada has been a very good experience for me, but it's time to go home now. It feels like the time is right.

Look who's back! This geranium has grit! She just keeps blooming through the winter, though it takes a lot more energy now because the conditions aren't prime. I admire Penelope's tenacity  (that's her name.) I want to be like her...keep throwing out beauty into the world even when conditions are tough.

Winter in Montreal

I've had a goal to reach a half million clicks before my time is finished here. At this point, I'm certain I'll reach that goal unless something goes terribly wrong. So my new goal is to finish the project I'm currently working on before I leave. There are 150 boxes and I'm on box 98. This is going to be a really  good challenge for me!

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Miracles Still Happen

This amazing missionary son of mine has experienced a HUGE miracle and I don't quite know how to express my gratitude to God for it. His companion has been really difficult to live with for the past transfer. I know, difficult companions are something everyone experiences on a mission. But his companion seems like he's just mad at the whole world, every day, for weeks and weeks! He's been miserable to live with! Sometimes he WAKES UP mad!

Ideas have been coming to me week after week to tell Prempeh to try: serve him every day in little ways, pray for him, pretend like something awful has happened in his life--something like his mother may be dying--which will cause you to feel more compassionate towards him, read the Book of Mormon like crazy! These ideas have not been from me. They are from the Spirit prompting me of ideas to share with Prempeh. How do I know? Because they're brilliant ideas! And I'm not that smart.

When I asked Prempeh a week ago how his week was, he said it had been a really good week. I was SHOCKED! Those words have NEVER come out of his mouth since he's been with this guy. I asked him what had changed and he couldn't give me an answer. We don't know why his companion has made a 180 degree turn, but he has! Life is SO much better for my missionary now! And I'm sure his companion is having a much better time too. They are starting to work together in unity finally, after 6 weeks. 

When Prempeh told me that he hopes that neither one of them will be transferred, I cried and cried and cried. Because all I've heard him say for several weeks is that he's just holding on until transfers and trying hard to be patient. That comment was very telling for me. It means he is truly enjoying their time together...FINALLY!!!

I've thought and thought about ways that I can show Heavenly Father how deeply grateful I am for this beautiful miracle. Our temple president pointed out a few weeks ago that he'd read in the Book of Mormon about a people who were grateful to be delivered. 

Alma 45:1 Behold, now it came to pass that the people of Nephi were exceedingly rejoiced, because the Lord had again delivered them out of the hands of their enemies; therefore they gave thanks unto the Lord their God; yea, and they did fast much and pray much, and they did worship God with exceedingly great joy.

They gave thanks to God, worshipped God, prayed much, and FASTED! I've never thought of fasting as a way to show gratitude, but I did it this week. 

I don't understand HOW God softens hearts. I still don't understand why He intervenes in some cases with miracles and not in other cases. But I'm over-the-top grateful for this lovely, lovely miracle in Elder O and Prempeh's lives.

Canada culture: It was 23 degrees F when I took this picture...just a vest. No shirt. No coat. Probably a homeless guy.

Happy Birthday, Elder C! Thanks for sharing your fabulous cake with our district!!

Another exciting night at "The Berri" building. The fire alarm in our building goes off so frequently! This time we were lucky. It was at 10 pm instead of the middle of the night which is when it usually happens.

These lovely senior missionaries invited me to dine with them at the Black Olive restaurant on Ontario Street in Hochelaga. Oh my! The food was so delicious! It's a Moroccan restaurant. And though the tajine wasn't quite as good as the ones I had while in Morocco, it was still very yummy. The harira soup was divine. But my favorite was the "thousand holes crepe" we had for dessert!

The insomnia seems to be letting up so that made for a good week of clicking! Another thing to thank God for!

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I HATE INSOMNIA!!!

I've had a lot of insomnia the past two weeks. It goes something like this: go to bed at 10, wake up at midnight, back to sleep around 3 with usually very light sleep after that, either wake up around 6-7 and then have to go back to sleep about 8:00 for a few hours OR not wake up until about 10 am. One day I didn't even wake up until 2 pm! It feels rather ridiculous to me. I wish I had some way to control it. It affects the amount of time that I can spend on my mission assignment which is really frustrating to me.

I ran across this verse in Mosiah 4:27 "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent" It was comforting to me because I hear the Lord saying that I should get sleep so that I'm not exhausted, even if it's during my clicking time, but I should also be diligent in the hours that I am awake. So I just do the best that I can. It's humbling to not be able to keep the hours that I'd like to at the archives. I've been arriving at the archives between noon and 1:00 so I stay until they kick me out because they're locking up the building at 7 pm. And that's the best that I can do right now.

I've actually had quite a bit of insomnia throughout my mission. In the beginning, I fought through it and just got up at 6 am whether I'd slept or not. Then I'd fall asleep in my chair while clicking or put my head down on the desk and sleep for a while. Sometimes I'd even lay down on the hardwood floors and take a nap. But you can only do that for about three days. At some point, your body demands sleep. So I started turning off my alarm clock and letting my body wake up at whatever hour it wants to after it's had enough sleep.

I know, way too much information about insomnia! But it's dominating my life right now.

These four taught Sunday School last Sunday. . .in CHINESE! They are amazing!

Some senior missionaries and I were laughing the other day because we were excited there were temperatures in the 20s in the forecast. We were saying how "warm" that was. It's been pretty cold here with highs in the teens and single digits. One day the high for the day was 0 F! Then add 15 mph wind onto that. BRRRR!

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Missionary Shoes

I don't walk anywhere NEAR as many km as our young missionaries, but still, I have missionary soles. I have NO IDEA why my right shoes wear out faster than my left ones. Must be the way I walk.

One of our missionary's dad's wrote some new verses to this hymn. I love them! And I love this missionary. He's our current district leader and I've known him for over a year. I've watched him grow which is one of my favorite things about being a senior missionary. He also has this contagious sense of fun that blesses everyone he's around!

The neighborhood of Montreal where I live is famous for these iconic 3 story apartment buildings with the stairs on the outside...not very practical in the winter. Those stairs are treacherous with snow and ice on them. It makes me appreciate living in a highrise apartment building.

I had an interesting thought while listening to a talk by Boyd K Packer this past week called "The Least of These". In Doctrine and Covenants 117:13, the Lord says in reference to Oliver Granger "for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase." Oliver was to stay behind when the saints left Nauvoo and try to sell whatever he could that belonged to the church. He was largely unsuccessful but it wasn't his fault.

I estimate that by the end of my mission I will have spent about 2800 hours sitting in "that chair" at my work station in the archives building. I am also shooting for a very big number of clicks by the end of my mission. It sounds to me like the Lord considers my 2800 hours in the chair (which HAS been a sacrifice for me) to be more sacred than my number of clicks.

And if I expected to be bored every hour of my mission but I have been bored only ONE of those 2800 hours, what do you call that?? I call that a miracle because I cannot explain it any other way. And I am grateful for this miracle. I still don't like clicking and I doubt I ever will. But I have been content during those 2800 hours and for that I am very grateful to my Father in Heaven.

Canada culture. . .
Maple flavored Oreos??? I doubt I'll be seeing any of these in Utah. Maybe Vermont, but not Utah. Or do they only exist in Canada?

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