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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A Great Dad

Manhole artwork. . .

Here's the temperature at 4:00 pm which doesn't include the wind chill factor. It's been a pretty cold week.

Elder Morris' glasses had both fog and frost after a short 10 minute walk from the bus to the archives building.

Thought of my dad when I saw this signature on one of the documents this week. He has figured into my mission in two major ways, 1) he taught me to have a good work ethic and to have integrity which I have applied to days when I don't feel like going to the archives, and 2) he did menial callings in the Church without a word of complaint. My mission is all about menial work. I honor my father and I'm grateful for the important things he taught me by example.

Can you spot our mission goal for baptisms in 2025? It's gigantic!! But nothing can stop the Lord from gathering His scattered people across the earth. And we are living in the latter-days so the Lord is hastening His work.

Canada Culture:

Can you see all of the gravel that's been tracked onto the bus??? It was like walking on a carpet of gravel! I've never seen a bus this bad! Gravel is thrown onto the sidewalks to improve traction when it's slippery. But then it gets tracked EVERYWHERE! For some reason, a lot more gravel has been tracked into my apartment this winter than last winter. A funny thing about gravel...last winter it was stuck in all of the treads of my shoes. This winter, there's not much tread left on my shoes so there aren't many grooves for gravel to get stuck in. Haha!

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New Beginnings

Happy New Year, everyone! I wasn't planning on staying up on New Year's Eve but I had insomnia. It was a REALLY warm night so at midnight I went out on the balcony in my robe and Birks to watch the fireworks. As the insomnia wore on, I heard more fireworks at 1:00 am so I went out to watch them too. They were bigger and better than the ones at midnight! No clue why they have two sets of fireworks here in Montreal but it was kind of fun.

 

It hasn't been a productive week at the archives because the building was closed Tuesday through Thursday. We had a senior district council on Monday and one with the young missionaries on Friday so we lost work time both of those mornings.

I had lunch with a senior missionary couple who returns home in two week...what genuinely sweet, loving, and kind people! This is their FIFTH mission!!!

I also had dinner with the sister missionaries and a family from the Montreal Ward. They have two small children and I loved being with little ones! When the 3 year old saw the M&M cookies I had brought for dessert, his eyes nearly popped out of his head! So cute! He didn't want to eat the cookies, just pick the M&Ms out.

A few weeks ago, I started attending the Montreal Ward in the morning as well as the Mandarin branch in the afternoon. The mom of the family is the Relief Society president and I've sat behind their family a few times in sacrament meeting.

I've been talking to two young men online about the church. One says he'll come to church this Sunday! But he lives in a different part of Canada so I won't see him. The other one lives in Africa and is just finding out about Jesus Christ for the first time. He has a hunger to know more and a great desire to own his own Bible. I've referred him to missionaries in his own country, but they are far from where he lives. It might be tricky.

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