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!!

Running number of captures: 115,491

A Marathon and a Museum

 Died and gone to heaven this past week...except for the humidity. But you take what you can get.

The Montréal Marathon was held this morning and the runners came right past our apartment building. It made for kind of a loud Sabbath, but it was fun to see.

Sister Diane Clawson and I visited a history museum in Old Port. It’s the Château Ramezay built in 1706.

This is one of the two kitchens. See the wooden wheel in the wall next to the fireplace? It's hooked to the spit and they put a little dog in there to run which turned the spit. Not sure how I feel about using dogs that way.

I did NOT know that the U.S. tried to make the Montréal area a 14th colony!

We had a tour guide dressed in period costume who was a retired chemistry professor from McGill University. The really interesting thing is that he kept throwing in personal family connections to the history of the house and people that he mentioned because his ancestors were connected to the Ramezay family. I left him the website of Family Search before we left.

Is this happening in YOUR neck of the woods too? I love that they're maple  leaves...since I'm in Canada. 

I feel like things are really expensive here in Montréal. This tiny bottle of nail polish, which I needed for a hangnail, put me back $6!!

Friday was transfer day. This photo reminded me of a bunch of teenagers hanging around in Sister L's kitchen. I love that our office secretary, Sister L, creates a warm and welcoming place for our young missionaries in the office. From what I hear, it hasn't always been that way.

Elder B and Elder H visited us at the archives last week on their P-day. I'm sad I never thought to get a good picture of them. But here they are helping Elder H with a new contraption he's building. I had Elder B try a few captures just for fun.

And there he is, Elder B. He's gone now. He "graduated" from the mission. I miss him. There is truly something special about him. He is a magnificent young man.

Who knew that you could use tampons to scrub your sink ?!?

Our parking garage is super dusty. If you don't get a car wash every 2 weeks, the other missionaries decorate your car. I'm happy to report that my car is now much cleaner than in this photo.

A few months ago I started playing the organ for the Mandarin branch. I am not  an organ player. I don't know the first thing about it! I played the piano for a baptism after church today and it felt soooo good to be back on a familiar instrument!!

Running number of captures: 108,295

WHO Created This??

This is the street where I walk every day to get home from the archives. I've been watching them paint the side of the Hyatt Hotel for several days now. One of our Canadian missionaries tells us that this is typical for "Québecois", Québec people. They like whimsical things. 

A woman in my ward from home sent me a website telling of musical swings in Montréal where you make music as you swing. DEFINITELY going to go in search of THOSE next week! It's these kinds of things that make Montréal so fun!

Here's my food bank dream team. I love these gals. When I showed up to help with the food bank drive last Saturday, a service missionary approached me as soon as I walked in the door. She said there were some young missionaries who needed to be hooked up with a driver. Lucky me! I got to spend the morning with these lovelies. I was inspired by the people of the LaSalle neighborhood. They were incredibly generous with their food! There are still many, many good people in the world!!

Don't you love this row of God's army??

Don't worry, they aren't really yellow elders and sisters. It's the lighting from the stained glass windows in this circular church where we gathered to get instructions for gathering the food.

This sister is ON FIRE with missionary work! She has a goal to knock 100 doors in one week!

We ran into some cool homes while gathering food. See the beaver and the maple leaves at the top?

I am the queen! I finished a project. But it was an awful one. Many of the documents had ancient cellophane tape on them which cracked, fell off, and made the project just plain awful to work with. I wrote a song about it. . .

Sing to the Rubber Ducky song from Sesame Street:

Cell-o-phane tape

You're the one.

You make captures

Not so fun.

Your inventor should be drawn and quartered. . .posthumously.

(You have to just say the last word because I ran out of notes in the tune for it.) 😂

Whenever I broke out into this song in my cubicle, my archive teammates knew that I was fighting with old, old cellophane tape.

See what I mean? UGH.

This was a smallish project, one with only 24 boxes.

I went to district council with these lovely people this week. I didn't even KNOW I could attend district council with the young missionaries until I started poking around and asking questions!! I love being with the young missionaries. I'm going to start attending two district meetings every week, 1- the Lawry District (this is what I call our senior district because President Harkness says we should be called "seasoned missionaries" instead of senior missionaries...seasoned SALT is Lawry's so I just borrowed their name for our district), and 2- the La Plateau District council.

This is the first picture we took where Sister Jones has a look of shock on her face because Sister B just held  her hand up in the air and the phone camera clicked. I DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULD DO THAT!!! #newtechnology/oldmissionary

This missionary! Ohhhh, how I love this missionary! He is our district leader but I have known him for several months now because we both serve in the Mandarin branch. Early on, we were sitting at the same table for a linger longer to break the fast. He is an incredible young man. The Spirit told me that in a powerful way as we sat and talked that first time. He is kind, gentle, and a diligent missionary. He has a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. He decided to read it while he was in his first year of college to "prove his parents wrong". Oops! He didn't figure on the power of that book sucking him in! That exercise in faith is why he is here today serving a mission in Montreal.

I am blessed to have been able to attend the very last district meeting he will ever preside over in this mission. He'll be going home next week and I'm going to miss him terribly. I cry every time I think about it. But I best get used to comings and goings because that's what missions are all about. Well, that, and bringing our brothers and sisters unto Christ. These young missionaries had better watch out at my first mission reunion after I get home because I'm going to give them the hug of a lifetime next time I see them! I really hate that I can't give them a hug when they go home.

This woman had the most fascinating story to tell. . .

And then I poked her eyes out. Which made a man who was walking by stop and talk to us. We asked him if he wanted to come to church with us. 😂 

The young missionaries inspired me at district council as I listened to them talk about their weekly goals. I realized that I've been missing a piece of goal setting! I have a goal to find one person, ONE PERSON, for the young missionaries to teach. I know it's a tiny goal but I'm going to reach it first and then I'll broaden my horizons. The young missionaires told me that they think they talk to about 20 people before they find one that is willing to have a follow up appointment with them. I realized that I need to have a goal of talking to 20 people about the gospel in order to achieve my goal of finding one person for the missionaries to teach. So far I've talked to four. Gotta long way to go!

. . . reminded me of my childhood

I have a whole new apprectiation for the Creation after today. Sister C and I visited the botanical gardens this afternoon. It's huge! We only saw half of it in 2 hours. We'll go back another day. Now I know where my 15% taxes are being used every time I buy something.

These are not manmade. They are some kind of huge lilypad type plant...fascinating!

This spot in the garden reminded me so much of the Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I was nearly alone so it was very quiet...except for 3 mosquitoes.

I have plans to visit the Sacred Grove on the way home from my mission. It's a place I've always wanted to see.

Don't miss the turtle in the upper left in this photo. This is my first glimpse of a Canadian goose IN Canada!

OK, I look at this plant and think, "WHO designed this??" Let's combine pink, purple, and orange and then to make the individual leaves stand out a little more, let's put a tiny, white scalloped edging on them. See what I mean about being in awe of the Creation?!?

Running number of captures: 102,029