His Promises are Sure

My missionary son had a wisdom tooth pulled that was giving him pain. Ouch! But he's tougher than nails. He was out proselyting the next day. Sadly, he's got one more wisdom tooth to come out, probably next week.

What a blessing that we can pray to God for help. Isn't He marvelous to be constantly available to us? What if our Father had "office hours" and we could only contact Him during that time? Or what if He was confined to the limits of a certain time zone? What if He slept and wasn't available during that time? I couldn't do a single thing for Prempeh this week as he endured this awful experience except to pray for him.

I finished reading this book this week. Our mission leaders invited us to read it before general conference and mark every reference to our Savior. They also gave us a printed sheet with promises from the prophets about ways our lives will improve if we read the book. I chose one promise that I wanted to see happen. I was a bit skeptical that it could happen but God, indeed, has made good on the promises He gives us through His prophets. I am a witness that God keeps His promises. My life is better for having read this book again.

Canada culture: We have these in Utah, but on a much larger scale.

The highlight of my week...

This is near a tiny farming community called Brigham.

Oh, and I captured some historical documents.

Running total of captures: 414,769

Running total of docs prepped: 12,859

Green Dot=A Cheap Thrill

Do you see that little green dot on the box in the upper left corner? That's an example of something we archive missionaries like to call a "cheap thrill." There are few real joys in our assignments, so we grab at tiny ones and call them our "cheap thrills." This tiny green dot was one of mine this week. It means that first box has been captured. And that, my friends, is something I haven't done in over a month...capture documents. One down, 48 to go.

Montreal rush hour. . .  😂

I'm still "reading like Parley"! I'm reading because I WANT to and because I LOVE this book!

Not a lot to tell this week because I've been sick with a cold. The first two days nearly knocked me out but I'm gaining speed again slowly!

Running total of captures: 380,963

Running total of docs prepped: 12,859

It's All About The Book of Mormon

I'm sure these two pictures won't look very different to most of you, but it feels VASTLY different to me! I've switched from taking photos of documents to doing the prep work getting them ready to be captured. 

Camera captures

Prep work involves making sure you account for every numbered document, taking out oversized documents that don't fit in our camera range, removing fasteners (staples, ribbons, brads, rivets, straight pins, etc.), unfolding creases and dog eared pages. . .basically, trying to make everything perfect so the people at the cameras won't find anything to slow them down.

Prep work

My brother and his wife came to visit for a week. They celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in Montreal. It was fun to have them here. They stayed at my apartment with me.

A very kind family invited the senior missionaries to their house for lunch. They do it every year. I couldn't go last year for some reason. It's SUCH a beautiful setting about an hour away from Montreal. This is the little tea house in their lovely garden where we had lunch.

One of the senior missionaries and I may or may not have SPLURGED at a Belgian chocolate shop. We're blaming it on our mission president's wife. SHE'S the one who told us about it and said we HAD to go there!

We had the most amazing zone conference last week. It was all about using the Book of Mormon in teaching others about the Church. President and Sister Sorensen teach with the power of the Spirit! I was spell-bound the whole 3 hours! Sister Sorensen challenged us to read the Book of Mormon before General Conference on October 5...in our mission language. No big deal for me, but our Mandarin speaking elders nearly choked on this challenge. The two in our district did not just dismiss this mountain-of-a-challenge. One plans to read the Chinese alongside the English, which will take much longer, and the other one said he'd read it in the picture form. I admire the faith of these elders!

Sister Sorensen also asked us to mark all references we find to the Savior. I have done this once before but I'm doing it again. It is truly stunning to see how many markings you have on just about every page. There is also a "life problem" I'm looking for answers for as I read this time. Hence, the two colors of pens.

As great as zone conference was, the district council we had right after was even better! We've never had a district council right after zone conference but president wanted us to discuss what we heard and felt in zone conference and make some goals in connection with that. Our young missionaries talked about how the Book of Mormon has changed their lives and how much they love it. Several of them shared some very tender things. The Spirit attended in a powerful way!! 

My love for these young missionaries grew that day. Remember the Grinch's heart? Yep. About like that. I already loved them but now I love and admire them even more. Missionaries are powerful young people because of their obedience, sacrifice, and devotion to God and the people they serve. Sometimes I pinch myself when I think that I get a front row seat to all that they are doing.

I told my district that I love, love, love the Book of Mormon. We had a member of a previous stake presidency in Salt Lake who used to stand at the pulpit in stake conference and say with tons of enthusiasm, "I LOVE the Book of Mormon!" I remember thinking, "I don't love it, I just read it because I know we're supposed to." But when I finally chose to engage with that book in a serious way, my feelings toward it have changed. Now I can say with Pres. Barney, "I LOVE the Book of Mormon!!" Remember when Pres. Nelson said if you don't love the temple yet, go more often? Same thing with the Book of Mormon. If you don't love it yet, read it more and more and more! Look for answers to life's questions in its pages. Feel the power between its covers!

If you felt prompted to also take this challenge while I was describing it, come join us! You'll need to read about 8 pages a day.

Running total of captures: 375,753

Running total of docs prepped: 1700