Captures, Waterfalls, and Ice Cream

I'm learning more every day about how to do a better job of the assignment I've been given to accomplish on this mission. 

Ever since the day I opened my mission call, I've been dreading sitting in front of a machine taking picture, after picture, after picture of historical documents that I couldn't even read because they're in French. The reality has been MUCH better than I expected. I count it a tender mercy that I have not felt bored while doing camera captures. A missionary couple who was only here for 2 weeks after I arrived taught me to make a game of it, to set goals and try to best myself from the day before. The husband captured 3025 images in a single day during the last week of his mission! ASTOUNDING! I hit just over 1400 for a high this week. I've got a long way to go.

Another missionary challenged me to find out WHY this work is so important. He said the WHAT would become easier if I had a deep understanding of the WHY.

Here's an example of gorgeous handwriting on one document.

You may not find anything fascinating about this stamp, but any variation in the documents makes life just a little bit more interesting.

And how about these cute little red seals on this document?

A seal AND a stamp! This one is over-the-top! 

I also go to the temple every Thursday to break up the week. The Montreal Temple is about a 25 minute drive from my apartment. I love that a bit of the local culture is apparent in the design of the temple. There are fleur de lys impressions in the carpet and on the altars. And there are maple leaves on the outside. I feel very blessed to be assigned to a place where I am close to a temple. I love going to the temple every week. It is a place of solace and realignment for me.

    

Our weekends are spectacular! Sister C, another single sister, and I like to go exploring on the weekends. Work hard, play hard! The archives were closed on May 22 for Victoria Day so we headed off to see Quebec City for the three day weekend. Quebec City is about 3 hours away from Montreal.

There's a spectacular waterfall nearby called Montmorency Falls. It is 30 meters taller than Niagara Falls. When you are near it, you are stunned by the power and the volume of the falling water!

Old Town Quebec City is gorgeous and has a European flavor.

Our favorite place by far on our weekend getaway was Orleans Island. Sadly, I don't have many pictures of it because as we drove around the entire island, I was behind the wheel. We are determined to go back and spend more time on the island.

We did manage to snap a few photos at the ice cream shop where we stopped. Look how thick that shell of chocolate is!!

I'm grateful to be serving in Montreal. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve Heavenly Father's children who are on the other side of the veil. I want them to have the chance to receive ordinances. I think of myself as a missing link to facilitate someone finding their family through historical documents. There are many blessings that come from serving the Lord! Have any of you been thinking about serving a mission?? I invite you to pray about it and ask Father what He thinks you should do.

Missionary moments:

• We talked to a young man from India on the metro. He says he hopes to go to the US someday because he has family and friends there. "Which state?" I asked. UTAH! No way! "Which city?" SALT LAKE! I told him that his family and friends have surely heard of our church. And now he has as well.
• During a lesson about patriarchal blessings a few weeks ago, a young woman who was sitting two chairs away from me scooted over and asked how she could get a patriarchal blessing. I explained a little bit and later discovered that it was her first time to church and she was not a member of the church! Surprise! Last Sunday I learned that she had been baptized.

Running total of captures: 6390

My Assignment and Exploring

 

I am so blessed to serve with these wonderful missionaries. One couple left yesterday and I'm going to miss them terribly. They have taught me so much in the past 2 weeks and have tenderly mentored me.

These are the kinds of documents we are capturing. I love this line from the wills I have seen..."I recommend my soul to my God." I think I should put that in my living trust.

We work in the coolest building. It's the national archives of Quebec located in Montreal. I love the ying yang tables. Students from nearby universities often come here to study because it's a very quiet place. However, the library and archives employees have been on strike since last Thursday so the building has been locked. We are some of the very few people in the building.

The building was originally a college.

Hogwarts is right across the street from the archives.

This is the night view from my balcony. I love the cross that is lit up. It makes me feel like God is watching over this city. And also it feels like an invitation to look up to God. Elder F calls the cell tower on the left "the devil's fork." Haha!

The people of Montreal call this a mountain, Mount Royal. But those of us who live in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains would call it a large hill.

"Erected in 1924, the cross atop Mount Royal commemorates January 6, 1643, when Maisonneuve, Montréal's founder, kept his promise to carry a wooden cross to the summit of Mount Royal if the young colony survived flooding.

Source:  https://www.mtl.org/en/what-to-do/heritage-and-architecture/cross-atop-mount-royal#:~:text=Erected%20in%201924%2C%20the%20cross,the%20young%20colony%20survived%20flooding. 

Sister C and I have decided that we're going to go exploring every Saturday. We visited St. Helen's Island and Notre Dame Island. There were lovely gardens.

We also visited Notre Dame basilica. It was beautiful.

 I love this artist's nod to Canada by placing a maple leaf in Mary's hand.

I  met our mission leaders for the first time today as they were visiting the ward that I spoke in.

Setting Foot in a New Land

Well, between traveling across the country, getting internet set up, and dropping my phone with a deadly result, I'm a week behind on my blog post.

I spent a week driving across the country with these two: my sister, Kathy, and my African son, Jared.

The view from the back seat which was dubbed "the cave."

No pictures from here on out because of said dropped phone. After I dropped the phone the screen went black but the phone still works. It's a $250 repair so it's a goner. 

We dropped Jared off in Washington DC so he could get a replacement passport. Then Kathy and I headed to the Canadian border.

I was warned that Canadian border crossings for missionaries can be difficult and potentially take hours. We spent a total of 15 minutes at the border. And that was even after discovering that I had no car registration documentation in my car! I'd call that a tender mercy.

The other senior missionaries have taken such good care of us (Kathy stayed in Montreal for 4 days)!! They've shown us around, fed us dinner twice, helped us get set up with groceries and internet, given us free tickets to attend the symphony next week, and EVEN loaned me a phone for a week until I get my own replaced! I could hardly believe that one!

I've attended 2 wards and 1 branch the past two weeks. It has been a true missionary initiation. I've played the piano for sacrament meeting twice, shared a testimony at the request of one bishop, and I'll be speaking in church next week. And all of this before even being assigned a ward to attend  because I have yet to meet the mission president!

I've been learning more about my assignment to do digital captures of historical documents. And a  missionary couple who is leaving next week has given me some good tips on how to pass the time while doing this mundane, yet crucial work of document capture.

I'm starting to settle into my mission and become acclimated.