Nothing Better Than the Temple With My Zone

It's a long post this time...3 weeks worth!

We work in such an amazing building! It was originally the École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (School of Commercial High Studies...for you non-French speakers) founded in 1907. It was the first school of management in Canada.

Our work site is now a complex of what was originally two buildings that have  been connected with an annex and houses the BAnQ Vieux-Montreal – Bibliothèque et Québec, or the Library and National Archives of Québec. The original building for the school was called the Gilles Hocquart building.

The second building, the Jodoin House built in 1871, was the residence of a wealthy couple. During that time period, our part of town was where the bourgeoisie lived. This is one of the only houses of its kind that still exists in this neighborhood.

Here's what it looks like today.

But when I look at this historical picture of the same room, the history of the house seems to come alive for me and I imagine what it was like in its glory days. It's so great having an employee  access badge that can get me almost anywhere in the building! And no one seems to mind that I explore. I've run into several employees while exploring and they just greet me and go on with their work. 

One evening when I was leaving a little later than most of the employees, I got off the elevator and found two teenage girls in the safe! They said they turned the handle and it just opened. Why didn't I think of that?? There wasn't really anything interesting in there. Only boxes.

On July 13th, Sister C and I were working at the archives and she got a text from her sister in Utah saying there was a threat of a tornado in Montréal. It always cracks me up when we get our information from people in other parts of the world. Soon after, both of our phones started going off with alerts of a possible tornado along with a huge storm headed our way. A tornado had touched down in Ottawa which is about 2 hours from us. We started dashing around the building so we could see out the windows from all four directions. The rain was torrential! I checked a radar app that Elder F. had told me about and saw that there was a very short break in the thunderstorms. We decided to wait by the front door and as soon as we saw the rain letting up, we made a dash to the metro station which is 3 blocks away. We hurried along in very light rain to the metro and just before we arrived, the rain started picking up again. Check out this link to see how heavy the storm was.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/LUgY7toobzQygajp7 

We had 90 cm (3.5 inches) of rain in 2 hours! But no tornadoes ever developed in Montréal. When I got home, I just pulled my recliner up to the sliding glass door to watch the fantastic show put on by Mother Nature! And, yes, it was very dark as the picture shows.

But as in life, after the storm passes, there is beauty and peace again...the law of opposition at play.

The senior ("seasoned" as Pres. Harkness likes to call us) missionaries in our apartment building like to get together a lot. We recently had a progressive dinner with 12 missionaries where we moved from apartment to apartment for each course of the dinner. While we were together, I had the idea that we should do "relatives around me." Guess what? We're all related! Even the Canadians! I love serving with these people. They are the covenant keepers. They have all made covenants with God to consecrate themselves to God and to sacrifice to serve Him. And they are DOING IT! They don't just SAY they will, they DO it! They are fun, pleasant, hard-working servants of God and I truly enjoy being with them.

If you lived here, wouldn't you just want to have breakfast every morning out on the balcony at 9 am?

I had to take myself for an excursion out of the big city. I find that I have to do that from time to time up here. I just need a little "country peace" and the countryside of Canada is absolutely beautiful!

My greatest moment BY FAR in the past 3 weeks was being with these people in the temple. Our young missionaries all had a chance to go to the temple during the month of July. This is my zone and they were the last to attend the temple. Some of these missionaries cried when they heard they would have the privilege of attending the temple because it's been so long since they've been inside a temple. 

While I don't have many interactions with the young missionaries in my zone at all because my assignment at the archives doesn't cross over with theirs hardly at all, I am working my way into this zone because I love young people so much. I am finding ways to be with them. I asked for special permission to be at the temple with them because "my Mandarin elders", who I attend church with every week would be there. I knew it would be a very special experience for me to be inside the temple with them. I was right. The entire experience, with its many facets, was among my top 10 experiences in the temple during my lifetime. There were many special moments for me. And I had chance to ask my Mandarin elders at church today what that temple experience meant to them. Their answers were beautiful. The future of the Church is in good hands!

I challenge you to find THIS flavor in the lower 48!  HAHA!

I invited our former security guard to come and see what our church is like. He didn't say yes. But he also didn't say no. He's working for the next 3 weekends. Stay tuned! My goal is to find ONE PERSON for the young missionaries to teach. I know, it's a tiny goal. And if I achieve it, I may branch out to something bigger. 

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