Playing with My Sister

This is what my cute missionary son does on our Monday calls...he reads me scriptures! He also inevitably ends up teaching me part of a lesson in each video call. He's SUCH a missionary! And I love what his mission is doing for him. It is deepening his conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ and he is understanding the doctrines of Christ MUCH more clearly than he ever has before. 

I was a bit worried about him last week because he had malaria. That is ONE. TOUGH. ILLNESS. I've never experienced it but I've watched many of my African friends suffer through it. Thankfully, Prempeh has returned to full health.

My sister and her friend came to visit for 10 days! I played and played and played with them. It has been a lot of fun to take a break from the scanning day in and day out.

In Montreal we...

visited the archives building where I serve every day,

had lunch in Chinatown,

and saw the Notre Dame Bascilica.

This painting in the basilica always makes me smile. Look at the focus on the maple leaf! Both mother and child are looking at THE leaf. 

In and around Quebec City we...

visited the stunning Montmorency Falls,

drove around the Island of Orleans where they have six teeny, tiny chapels as well as a few churches. They were built before transportation was simple so that people would have a nearby place to pray without traveling a long distance to a church.

This is one of the tiny churches that has been turned into a boutique.

Here's my yellow dream home on the island.

My sister...

a very old and tipping cross to mark a grave...

Of COURSE we had to stop for some of the chocolate dipped ice cream that the island is famous for!

I found the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac Hotel that Quebec City is famous for! Last time I went to Quebec City, we never found it. This trip I realized that we had parked the car 1 block away from this famous icon. Duh!

We met these two fabulous people in a Christmas store. When she saw my nametag, she threw her hands in the air with a loud gasp. I knew that they were members of the church. We have this huge church family wherever we go. She gave me a huge hug. When I introduced my sister she said, "Well then SHE gets a hug too!" 

They told me they had given their driver a Book of Mormon and he said he'd read it. They shared his email with me and asked that missionaries contact him to see if he's interested in finding out more. I promised I'd follow through with that.

A few minutes later we ended up at the checkout counter together. She insisted on paying for the Christmas ornament I was buying. What amazing and kind people! I will think of them every Christmas when I decorate my tree.

We flew to Prince Edward Island where we...
visited the house where Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote "Anne of Green Gables",

saw the kitchen where the book was actually written,

saw an upstairs bedroom that looked like it could have belonged to Anne Shirley,

walked through the "Haunted Woods",

and down "Lovers Lane".

We also visited a lighthouse on the island and went to church. Sadly, none of my missionaries attended the ward that I did. They had gone out to worship with the smaller branches on the island that day.

And then back home to Montreal.

I actually DID spend two days at the archives in the past two weeks! Our supervisor drove up from Pennsylvania to help us launch the new project of capturing vital records. Those were two frustrating days as we tried to figure things out, make adjustments to our workstations, and iron out the details. We'll get there. But I knew the beginning wouldn't be smooth. Better luck next week!

This week was our final zone conference with our mission leaders, the Harknesses. They will complete their mission at the end of June and the Sorensens will take the helm. There were some very tender moments at zone conference. They have been fabulous leaders. They love our young missionaries and pour their hearts and souls into helping them grow spiritually. They care for and love our young missionaries.

We had the opportunity to attend the temple with one of the zones in our mission. We couldn't attend with our own zone because it's a very large zone so they didn't have room for the senior missionaries in that session. I loved thinking about all of the consecrated lives in that room at the same time. We seniors sure do think a lot of our young missionary friends. They are stellar! I wish every young person in the world equaled their goodness and devotion.

A bit of sad news, the man who spoke to me on the street and who has been taught by the missionaries had to be dropped because he was no longer making progress. I accept that, because it's certainly his choice whether he wants to draw closer to Christ or not. Maybe the time is not right for him and he will make that choice later on. Even though the young sister missionaries need to move on, I will continue to text him to see how he's doing and pray for him. That's one of the luxuries of senior missionaries. We function more like a member of the ward than the young missionaries. We have different roles than they do.

Running total of captures: 348,781

Nothing Better Than the Temple With My Zone

It's a long post this time...3 weeks worth!

We work in such an amazing building! It was originally the École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (School of Commercial High Studies...for you non-French speakers) founded in 1907. It was the first school of management in Canada.

Our work site is now a complex of what was originally two buildings that have  been connected with an annex and houses the BAnQ Vieux-Montreal – Bibliothèque et Québec, or the Library and National Archives of Québec. The original building for the school was called the Gilles Hocquart building.

The second building, the Jodoin House built in 1871, was the residence of a wealthy couple. During that time period, our part of town was where the bourgeoisie lived. This is one of the only houses of its kind that still exists in this neighborhood.

Here's what it looks like today.

But when I look at this historical picture of the same room, the history of the house seems to come alive for me and I imagine what it was like in its glory days. It's so great having an employee  access badge that can get me almost anywhere in the building! And no one seems to mind that I explore. I've run into several employees while exploring and they just greet me and go on with their work. 

One evening when I was leaving a little later than most of the employees, I got off the elevator and found two teenage girls in the safe! They said they turned the handle and it just opened. Why didn't I think of that?? There wasn't really anything interesting in there. Only boxes.

On July 13th, Sister C and I were working at the archives and she got a text from her sister in Utah saying there was a threat of a tornado in Montréal. It always cracks me up when we get our information from people in other parts of the world. Soon after, both of our phones started going off with alerts of a possible tornado along with a huge storm headed our way. A tornado had touched down in Ottawa which is about 2 hours from us. We started dashing around the building so we could see out the windows from all four directions. The rain was torrential! I checked a radar app that Elder F. had told me about and saw that there was a very short break in the thunderstorms. We decided to wait by the front door and as soon as we saw the rain letting up, we made a dash to the metro station which is 3 blocks away. We hurried along in very light rain to the metro and just before we arrived, the rain started picking up again. Check out this link to see how heavy the storm was.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/LUgY7toobzQygajp7 

We had 90 cm (3.5 inches) of rain in 2 hours! But no tornadoes ever developed in Montréal. When I got home, I just pulled my recliner up to the sliding glass door to watch the fantastic show put on by Mother Nature! And, yes, it was very dark as the picture shows.

But as in life, after the storm passes, there is beauty and peace again...the law of opposition at play.

The senior ("seasoned" as Pres. Harkness likes to call us) missionaries in our apartment building like to get together a lot. We recently had a progressive dinner with 12 missionaries where we moved from apartment to apartment for each course of the dinner. While we were together, I had the idea that we should do "relatives around me." Guess what? We're all related! Even the Canadians! I love serving with these people. They are the covenant keepers. They have all made covenants with God to consecrate themselves to God and to sacrifice to serve Him. And they are DOING IT! They don't just SAY they will, they DO it! They are fun, pleasant, hard-working servants of God and I truly enjoy being with them.

If you lived here, wouldn't you just want to have breakfast every morning out on the balcony at 9 am?

I had to take myself for an excursion out of the big city. I find that I have to do that from time to time up here. I just need a little "country peace" and the countryside of Canada is absolutely beautiful!

My greatest moment BY FAR in the past 3 weeks was being with these people in the temple. Our young missionaries all had a chance to go to the temple during the month of July. This is my zone and they were the last to attend the temple. Some of these missionaries cried when they heard they would have the privilege of attending the temple because it's been so long since they've been inside a temple. 

While I don't have many interactions with the young missionaries in my zone at all because my assignment at the archives doesn't cross over with theirs hardly at all, I am working my way into this zone because I love young people so much. I am finding ways to be with them. I asked for special permission to be at the temple with them because "my Mandarin elders", who I attend church with every week would be there. I knew it would be a very special experience for me to be inside the temple with them. I was right. The entire experience, with its many facets, was among my top 10 experiences in the temple during my lifetime. There were many special moments for me. And I had chance to ask my Mandarin elders at church today what that temple experience meant to them. Their answers were beautiful. The future of the Church is in good hands!

I challenge you to find THIS flavor in the lower 48!  HAHA!

I invited our former security guard to come and see what our church is like. He didn't say yes. But he also didn't say no. He's working for the next 3 weekends. Stay tuned! My goal is to find ONE PERSON for the young missionaries to teach. I know, it's a tiny goal. And if I achieve it, I may branch out to something bigger. 

Running total of captures:  58,032