Another Missionary Miracle!

Some cute sister missionaries left this note on my car. We joked about how we were a trio because they were the first set of missionaries in Montreal to teach the man that approached me on the street. He has since moved and a 2nd set of missionaries is teaching him now. One of our "trio" went home this morning. It always makes me sad to say goodbye to these missionaries who I know and love, but they are headed into the loving arms of their parents, family, and friends. And they need to leave the mission to progress and grow in other areas. What an amazing spiritual foundation a mission can provide! It was that way for me. I'm pretty sure that I had a testimony before I served a mission, but on my mission the roots of my testimony went down really deep and wrapped around the bedrock of Christ, never to let go again. What a huge blessing that opportunity was for me!

Here's a fun shot of the interior of the National Archives of Quebec where I serve every day. We really do have an impressive building! Our room is on the 3rd floor which is the middle catwalk in the photo.

I finished another big project this past week...70 boxes!

We received word this week that the books containing vital records that we've been waiting for have finally arrived! This will be a new project that two of us missionaries will be working on. It's exciting to me because while the documents that we've been capturing, notary documents, are important, vital records are the gold of family history work. We've had a couple of false starts in the past few weeks saying the books were coming. But they actually arrived at the archives on Thursday! Now we'll have to muddle our way through figuring out exactly how these captures need to be done. The logistics will  be quite different from what we've been doing.

Look at these spectacular young, departing missionaries! They truly rock my world. I love being in district council with them. I love having brief chats whenever we happen to meet. I love watching them grow over time. I love how devoted they are to teaching others about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the courage they have developed in talking to complete strangers! I love their enthusiasm and their sense of fun. It's contagious. I love watching as they gain maturity while they serve. It's such a treat for me to see them on the last day of their mission.

I take a day away from the archives every 6 weeks to help out in the office on transfer day. I get to see the brand new missionaries walk into the mission office on their first day. I love to greet them. After making a copy of their passports, I put a sticky note in their passport that says, "Welcome to the mission! We hope that you will find JOY in God's work." 

I got to know this elder a bit better than the others pictured here because we were in the same district for a while, we served in the Mandarin branch together, and he has lived in our apartment building for the last part of his mission. It has given me a lot of opportunities to interact with him.

Canada culture moment: This cracked me up when I saw it in the store. Poutine is a traditional Montreal dish. It's a bed of fries with cheese curds sprinkled over them and then topped with gravy. That's the basic poutine. Then you can jazz it up with meat, veggies, coleslaw...whatever! I'm pretty sure you'd have to be in Canada to see a product like this on the shelf...poutine gravy.

The craziest thing happened today. There were two security guards who worked at the national archives when I first arrived in Montreal. I became friends with both of them but they left for other jobs about 3 months after I met them. I've kept in touch with one of them with occasional texts and phone calls in the past year. Well, he calls today and tells me he wants to get married again but he doesn't know where to find good women. I told him I couldn't really help him with any ideas because we usually meet people at church. I told him that I hear other people meet at bars or parties. He said he's not interested in the kinds of women that are in those places. I suggested that he go to some churches then. He said, "Yeah, maybe I'll do that. Maybe I'll start going to churches. Maybe I'll go to your church." He said he wasn't promising anything but he might come sometime. I told him he was welcome anytime. We'd love to have him visit our church. 

Then a few minutes later he said, "No, I'm just going to make a committment. I am coming to your church tomorrow. Send me the address." I was thinking, "WAIT! WHAT JUST HAPPENED???" Granted, he's coming to church to meet women, not seeking for truth. But if he starts getting to know the women at church, he might realize that he's going to have to be a really good man in order to find a really good woman! So I'll meet him at church in the morning! Let's see what happens here. . .

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