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.

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Running total of docs prepped: 1700

Flooding

We have a new baby in our family! It feels strange missing weddings and new babies. But it happens to all missionaries.

This is CANADIAN Coca Cola. See the maple leaf on the door of the truck? I see this with a lot of American products in Canada, that they were produced in Canada.

My missionary had his first transfer last week. I'm anxious to hear about how he likes his new area. I got transferred this week too...to another district. My former district was dissolved so they moved me to another district. We meet in the room next to the one where our former district met so not too big of a change. The weird thing is that no one tells seniors things. I happened to notice it on the transfer board while I was in the office on transfer day. If not for that, I wouldn't have known and would have gone to meet with my old district, which no longer exists.

These were a glorious find...chocolate fillled croissants. I've heard about them. I found these in the Jean Talon Market in frozen packages. Yummy!

Here's one of our TWENTY-ONE departing missionaries this week. We don't usually have that many leaving at once. I didn't know many of the departing missionaries this time.

The night that our new missionaries flew in, we had a HUGE rainstorm left over from Hurricane Beryl. Our assistants to the president who were supposed to pick up the new missionaries were stuck on an onramp to the freeway for over 3 hours. They never did make it to the airport. They contacted the missionaries and told them to take taxis to the mission home.

Photo credit: The Montreal Gazette

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Keyboard Class

The archives was closed on July 1 for Canada Day so after senior district council one of the newest senior missionaries and I went to Jean Talon Market. She hadn't been there yet.

While we did celebrate Canada Day, the 4th of July was largely ignored since we were working at the archives that day.

Oops! Somebody is in the wrong season!

After listening to our new mission leaders at district council and the things they taught us, I know that we are blessed to have them as our new leaders. I look forward to the great things that are coming for this mission! They have already invited us to ACT on three invitations. This is the kind of thing that brings individual growth.

In other exciting news, we recently finished a music conducting class and started a keyboarding class this week. As everyone in the class received a brand new keyboard that they get to take home to practice with, the feeling was a bit like Christmas. There was lots of excitement! Wish me luck in teaching eight people at a time how to play the keyboard...in Chinese! Luckily, some of the students speak excellent English so they can translate for me.

This class is made possible by a grant from the Harman family (think KFC.) They provide the keyboards so that people can learn to play. It's possible for each individual to keep the keyboard permanently if they commit to 1) teaching someone else how to play after they have learned and, 2) playing at church. The grant program is set up so that everyone who is interested can participate in the music conducting class. Then the most diligent students move onto the keyboarding class. 

One of our boredom relievers at the archives is to announce to the entire room each time we finish capturing a box of documents by playing a song. One of the missionaries purchased these programmable buttons. We have each chosen a song to play when we hit the button. My song is the theme song from the movie "The Magnificent Seven." Whenever someone hits their button, we call it the sound of progress. One of the devious missionaries sneaks around and changes the song on someone else's button when he/she is out of the room.

Oh, and I captured some historical documents as well this week. 😂

The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth! Because of the Savior's Atonement, we can be perfect...eventually! We can change. We can grow. We are connected to our Heavenly Father through our covenants that we make with Him. Just felt like throwing this in.

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Changing of the Guards

The big news this week is that our mission leadership is changing. President David Harkness and his wife, Lisa Harkness, returned home on Friday, June 28th, the same day that President Craig Sorensen and his wife, Melanie Sorensen, arrived in Montreal. The Harknesses have been amazing leaders for this mission. They lead with very high expectations and much love. And the young missionaries respond in a powerful way because of the great love that they feel from the Harknesses.

The senior missionaries pitched in and one of the senior sisters quilted this wall hanging for them. It represents all (as nearly as we could guess) of the countries that have been gathered into our mission so that people could learn of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

We had a tearful farewell last Sunday night at our mission-wide meeting held on Zoom. The Harknesses left us with beautiful words of encouragement and love. And one of our APs sent us all off with a beautiful, heartfelt benediction on the meeting and the Harknesses' mission. These two stalwart servants of God have made a huge difference in this mission!

We're excited to meet and welcome the Sorensens. They have a gargantuan task ahead of them. Salt Lake calls us "a complicated mission", and we are! President Sorensen will not only be the mission president, he will also be the district president for two districts of church units. The Sorensens will be traveling by plane or car for 2 weeks out of every month in the mission. 

These are some of my favorite people on the planet. I get to see these elders every Sunday because we worship together in the Mandarin branch. They have been given a very difficult task. Not only are they asked to learn a complex language on their mission, but they only get to teach a small portion of the population here in Montreal. While other missionaries log huge numbers of friends they are finding and teaching, these patient elders work and work but only have few friends to teach. That doesn't seem to bother them. They continue baptizing anyway. I admire the way they deal with the challenging task they have been given.

Ah! It's already shoulder-high dandelion season!

And how about this coffee can garden? Kinda fun!

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Oh! The Heat!

It's was really hot here in Montreal for three days in a row. The hottest one hit 113 F for the "feels like" temperature. I don't do well with the heat. The AC in my apartment was working like crazy and could only cool my place to 76 F.

I shouldn't complain because my missionary son in Nigeria has little to no electricity to run the fans in their apartment. Often he goes to bed by 10:00 but can't sleep until midnight because it's too hot. Here he is with a washcloth on his head to provide some shade from the sun. He and his companion are waiting in a long line at an ATM on Pday hoping to be able to withdraw some cash. After an hour and a half, they found out the ATM ran out of cash so they'd have to go to another ATM. They waste SOOO much time on Pdays waiting in line at ATMs. We were chatting while he was waiting in line so that he could multitask.

I had a temple appointment to do sealings and I was thinking it would feel nice to be in GOOD AC for a few hours. When I got there I discovered the AC at the temple was broken. As I was kneeling at the altar, I started to feel light-headed. As soon as the ordinance was finished I quickly moved to a chair because I've heard many stories of people fainting at the altar while doing sealings. 

I didn't feel well the rest of the evening. And the next day I spent either lying down on the couch or my bed. Wow! The heat really knocked me out! I felt dizzy and very weak. I'm glad that's over with!

We had another false start to our vital records project this week. I'm sure we'll start...someday! 

One of the archives missionaries had a birthday this past week so we decorated her cubicle.

Last week I finished teaching a class on how to conduct music at our Chinese branch. about one fourth of the class was comprised of members of the Church. The other participants are just interested people in the community. It was a little tricky since I don't speak Mandarin, only Cantonese. So one of the bishopric counselors came each week to translate. In a few weeks I'll take the cream of the crop from the conducting class and start teaching them how to play piano.

The Harman family (think KFC owners) has a grant program that provides keyboards and manuals for students to learn how to play piano in hopes of building the musical abilities of church members. Then they can start accompanying songs on Sunday in our church meetings.

Canada culture moment...KFC is called PFK (Poulet frit Kentucky) in Quebec.

I felt like I was in Utah for several hours on Saturday afternoon. I joined a Jones family reunion via Zoom. It's always so good to be with my cousins. I'm glad they made the extra effort to include a few of us who couldn't be there in person. Thanks to those of you who planned it!!

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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.

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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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