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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The Move is Finally Over!

Look who came to help me christen my new apartment...our La Plateau District! I finally have a place that's big enough to invite people over! Woohoo! We get to have district p-day once a transfer (every 6 weeks.) The young missionaries wanted to get together to make pizza and play games. All of us had SO. MUCH. FUN!! Can I say just one more time how much I LOVE BEING AROUND YOUNG MISSIONARIES??

The elders were kind enough to help me move some furniture when they were here on their P-day.

This is probably my favorite picture from P-day at my apartment. That's a LOT of consecration in one closet!

Because of Monday P-day activities, I didn't go to the archives. Then on Thursday when I was getting ready to go to our district council, I couldn't find my socks anywhere because my apartment is in such a state of chaos. So I made an executive decision to stay home Thursday and Friday to get things put back together so that I can function. The move has dragged on forever because I wanted to do it outside of my time at the archives. But that meant that I was working all day at the archives and all night at home and it wore me out. 

If you look closely, you'll see a pile of socks on the recliner. Isn't that where you keep YOUR socks too?

I finally finished the move and cleaning my old apartment by 10:30 on Saturday night. Here's what my old apartment looks like now. I hardly recognize it! It will be used as an emergency apartment for young missionaries if they need to be evacuated from their apartments...which happens more often than you'd think!

My one sad thing about the move is the view that I lose of Mount Royal and the lighted cross at night. Check out my old view. . .

. . .vs. my new view. One of my sons suggested that I blow up one of my photos of Mt. Royal and hang it in the window of my new apartment so it looks like I can still look out my window at the mountain. Not a bad idea!

Oh well, life's full of trade-offs. A wise friend once told me that there are advantages and disadvantages to every situation. The smart people take advantage of whatever situation they're in. I think I'll take advantage of my HUGE, new apartment and invite some seasoned missionaries over for a game night soon!

Here's the project I'm working on at the archives. Boxes with a green dot are finished. There are still about 12 more boxes to complete this project that are not even pictured. There are 80 boxes in all. This is one of the biggest projects we've done. I think one of the missionaries who left in November had a project with 90 boxes!

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General Conference! Oh My!

This darling young lady was baptized last Sunday and is now a member of our Mandarin speaking branch. Her boyfriend is the 2nd counselor in the branch. Elder E on the left, just arrived in the mission 2 days before the baptism. What a way to start your mission!

The fall colors are starting to come on in Montréal. The missionaries who were here last Fall tell me that the whole mountain turns beautful colors. I can't wait to see that!

These are our 2 security guards at the archives currently. The one of the left, P, is a native of Montréal and the one on the right, A, is from Haiti. When A smiles, I feel like there is sunshine shooting from his face! He and I have become good friends even though we share no common language. He speaks French and Creole and I speak English. I do practice the tiny bit of French I've learned when speaking to him. But I also have a handy little app that I can speak into and it will translate my words and speak them to A. Then he speaks into the app and the translation comes back to me. I love our friendship! He has a beautiful wife with him here in Montreal and a 10 year old daughter back in Haiti. He wrote a poem for me last week! I'm so touched that he would do that. He spent a long time translating it into English for me. That poem is a treasure for me that I intend to keep for the rest of my life.

I finished another project this week.

But after digitizing box 10, I discovered that box 11 was missing. I informed the archives staff and the next day when I arrived, this is what I found. So cute! It made me laugh.

But the best part of this week, by far, was General Conference! I don't remember such a spectacular experience with conference for a long time. I was pondering about why that might be and wondered if it's because I'm a missionary. I have consecrated this time of my life to God and so He is pouring out rich blessings on me.

One of the beautiful things that happened to me at conference was because of 2 young sister missionaries. I thought Elder Rasband's talk about the importance of seniors serving missions was great. But it wasn't until these 2 sisters texted me after he finished his talk that the full impact hit. They told me that they love me, are grateful for me, and that I have changed their lives and set a beautiful example. I began crying and also received a powerful answer to a prayer I had offered this week. I find it very interesting that I needed those 2 sisters as the catalyst for the revelation to flow. I'm very grateful that they followed a prompting. And I told them so. Young missionaries are SUCH a blessing in my life!

. . . and seasoned missionaries are SUCH a blessing in every mission president's, young missionary's, and members' lives! Come join us if you can!!

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