Canoe Ride or Train Station? Or Both?

I got to talk to my darling missionary son, Elder Nana-Prempeh, on Monday. The internet network from Nigeria was really challenging. I'm convinced it was created to teach us patience. The phone log shows that we talked for an hour and 40 minutes, but in reality it was much shorter than that. There was a lot of time spent frozen and the call dropped 10 times.

He was a little nervous that they were going to travel by canoe to teach people who live on an island. The catch is that he can't swim. I'm grateful there are life jackets supplied by the mission that they keep in their apartment. 

Here's a short video of him on the water. It just feels so amazing to me that we get to serve missions at the same time!

Here's a beautiful building all lit up at night. It's right across the street from our archives building. We lovingly call it Hogwarts. For a long time we didn't know what it was but then found out it used to be a major train station with a hotel above it where travelers could stay. I've admired it many times in the day but it is truly in all its glory when it's lit up at night!

Here's a photo from back in the day. According to Wikipedia "Place Viger was both a grand hotel and railway station in Montreal, constructed in 1898 and named after Jacques Viger, the first mayor of the city."

Photo credit: https://www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca/plaque/horizon/gares/images/11_00_6b.jpg

I have a theory of why parking strips were invented. We don't have any here in Montreal. When there are puddles of water or piles of slush on the street and a car comes whizzing by. . .insta-shower. And it's not  a clean one! Also, one day I was walking near the curb on a crowded sidewalk and the side mirror of a bus passed by my shoulder within about 6 inches!

I went to the temple this week. I haven't been since before Christmas because of a series of unfortunate events. It felt soooooo good to be back! I love the House of the Lord! There's a feeling inside there that cannot be found anywhere else on earth.

Here's an interesting find this week at the archives! It's a blueprint for a bridge and it was longer than the tables we work on. Thankfully, we don't have to take a picture of this monster. One of the missionaries prepares the projects for us. She sets these aside for the archivist employees to capture because they have a setup that is larger than ours to capture huge documents like these.

Our Mandarin branch went to Chinatown for an outing on Saturday night.

At this restaurant, you build your own bowl and then they cook it all up for you. Can you spot the frog legs? The elders talked me into trying them.

I was lucky enough to end up at a table with these two.

Running total of captures: 217,422

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.