Thanksgiving

 
Thanksgiving came and went as it does every year.  We celebrated with our friends, the Howards, another senior couple and one of their sons and his wife.  We spent the day feasting on turkey, southern style yams, mashed potatoes, stuffed mushrooms and other delicacies.  After dinner we played a fun game of Mexican Train.  
As we thought of the many reasons for being thankful, here are a few that stand out:

The Plan of Salvation and The Atonement.

The First Vision to the Prophet Joseph Smith.

The Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Restoration of the Priesthood.

The Restoration of the Temple Ordinances.

Our Children, Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren.

Our Wonderful Friends including each and every one of you.

There are many others, but all seem to flow from these 7.

We are happy to serve our Father's children here in Quebec.  Many of our blessings are the result of our
being engaged in the Lord's work.  We are seeing many miracles here.  Just recently a retired dentist who lives in our apartment building has been taking the missionary lessons.  He has been to our apt for FHE.  Ivan loves all that he has learned and he feels the spirit strongly when he is among the members of the church.  He watched General Conference, has been to Stake Conference and church and now he has a baptismal date of Jan 11th.  We had Stephanie randomly come to the mission office at the request of her daughter who met up with some missionaries at the university.  We gave her a little tour and taught her some basic principles.  She was very impressed and now she and her two children want to join the church.  Our baptisms in the mission are at an all time high.  Just in the past two weeks we had about 25 baptisms.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church on earth.  Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.  We love Him with all of our hearts.

And So It Begins.

 We went for our regular Tuesday Temple work tonight and when we got out at about 10:10 this is what we saw.  It's snowing.  And so, winter begins.  I am not looking forward to freezing winds and deep snow.  I think we will be taking the Metro a lot.  Last year our little car got stuck at least 5 times.  We had to get dug out and that is no fun.  I was hoping that it would not snow yet, but here it is.

We love to go to the Temple.  It is always a spiritual boost to be in the House of the Lord.

 Falling snow does look pretty and I love to look at snow from inside.  I just don't like being in it.  Oh well, It's okay.  I will do just fine.

 Today was Transfer day and it was so, so busy and hectic.  We got 5 new missionaries: 1 Elder from Canada and 4 Sisters.  One from Denmark, one from France, and two from US.  They are all so cute and anxious to begin working.  I just love new missionaries.  We also had 5 missionaries leave.  One Sister and 4 Elders.  The missionaries that leave always get to spend their last night at the Temple.  It is always so special to go with them.
Sister Smith below got transferred to Ottawa.  She had mixed emotions about going.  Of course she is excited for a new area, but also sad to leave her companion and the people she loves here.  She wanted to have a photo with me, so of course, I took one on my camera too.

 Elder Cutler was there and since we were busy inspecting cars during zone conference when he played his violin, he brought it to the office and was able to play for us.  Oh my goodness, he is a violin virtuoso.  He played two beautiful classical pieces and one hymn.  It was a real treat.

 Batman was at transfers too.  This was the end of the day and our two AP's were worn out from all of the work they have been doing.  They were glad things went well and were having a little fun.

 Elder Ruby  plays the violin too and so this new companionship said they will play something together next time we see them.

Papa's B'day and YSA Temple Trip

 Last week was Papa's birthday.  We surprised him by decorating the office with balloons and stickers.  I made him a cake.  Some of the missionaries and the office staff sang happy birthday to him.  He received lots of cards, phone calls, and love.  It was a great day and he was a happy man.

Saturday we drove Victoria, a new member, and Sister Nielsen to the Montreal Temple.  Victoria got to do baptisms for the dead for her grandmother and some other relatives and also for some for her boyfriend's family.  He got to do the same for his family and hers.  It was also the day that lots of young adults were there.  The spirit was so strong and we all enjoyed the activity so much.

 As we were entering the temple,  we ran into several of the missionaries and we were so happy to see them.  It felt good to meet up with them in such a special place.  In our mission, the President now lets the missionaries go to the temple with people whom they have recently baptized.  The missionaries are so excited for this opportunity and of course it's a great privilege for the new members to go too.

As usual, the cameras had to be brought out and each person had to have pictures of the event.

   At one time I had 7 different cameras in my hands or hanging off my wrist as I snapped away.  The weather was in the low 20's and we all felt cold, but our hearts were warm and our spirits were high.

November Zone Conferences

Last week we participated in three days of zone conferences.  Elder Pieper of the First Quorum of Seventy presided.  Here he is at the right next to our mission President Patrick.  On Monday we were in Quebec City.  On Tuesday it was Mount Royal, Montreal North and South, and Longueuil North and South zones combined, and  on Wednesday it was Ottawa.  We did a lot of traveling between conferences.  It takes about 3 hours to drive to QC from Montreal and about two and a half hours in the opposite direction to go to Ottawa. We didn't get to hear too much of the conferences because most of our time was spent checking all of the mission cars.  Our mission now has 60 cars and that is a lot of work.  Add to that the cold weather and snow on Monday, -2C and very high winds on Tuesday and -2C all day Wednesday and you get two cold and tired people after all of the inspections are completed. Luckily my ink in the pen did not freeze this time so that was a real plus.
From what we did hear, we were very impressed.  One of the things Elder Pieper stressed was member involvement in missionary work and it's benefits on the family, the missionary, and the investigator.  He also really stressed how each individual has the right to receive personal revelation and direction in teaching and also in reading the scriptures.  He helped the missionaries to see how they can and should rely on the spirit and how they truly are representatives of Jesus Christ.
We loved seeing all of the missionaries and spending a little bit of time with them.  I love the missionaries and am so impressed with how wonderful they are. They are so young and yet they carry the spirit with them.  They know how to talk to people and how to teach the important principles of the gospel.  They are just great.  Here are some of the missionaries in Quebec City.  I love to get reacquainted with the ones that I get to know well.  It's always an exciting reunion.  The Sisters always give me the biggest hug and the Elders give me a great handshake and the biggest smile.

We have missionaries from all over the world, Canada, USA (Alaska and Hawaii) and many other states, Tahiti, Vanuatu, Mexico, France, England, Columbia, Chili Switzerland, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Peru, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and EnglandC.  It is amazing to see the talents and abilities of these young people.  They all speak at least 2 languages.  Many of them speak 3 and more languages.

We had a yummy lunch prepared by a family in the Stake.  We had chicken with rice and a sauce, salad and rolls.  This dessert was so delicious. I am a chocolate fan so I especially like this.

Our Tuesday conference was our busiest because we had 38 cars to do.  When we inspect each car,we have to check all sorts of things; tire pressure and depth of treads, all signals, brakes and brake lights, horn, seat belts, all of the levels under the hood, cleanliness of the inside, outside, and trunk of the car, certain paperwork that must be there and various other things.  We do have a system going now and so we are much quicker than we used to be.  It's harder when it's cold because of the bulky clothes we have to wear to keep warm and also because our fingers freeze.   It's all okay though because we are doing what needs to be done.  We don't mind at all. 

I was so impressed with Elder Pieper and also the fellow below who is one of the Stake Presidents.  They both got up and helped serve everyone else who was there when they were the ones who should have been served.  They both went around and made sure that everyone had their plates of food and that they have something to drink.  They also talked with those who prepared the food and thanked them.  They were the last ones to sit down and eat and then they also helped clear the tables.  Of course they weren't the only ones helping, but it was still very impressive that they would think to do that.

At this zone conference we had salad, mashed potatoes that had cheese curds in them, and meat loaf that had pistachios and other yummy ingredients.

                                                 Cream puffs were the yummy dessert.

A sea of young missionaries from all over the world wanting to serve the Lord, wanting to bring the gospel to the people of Canada, wanting to be the best that they can be.  They are the cream of the crop.
                                  This is part of our Spanish speaking delegation in Montreal.

This is our Chinese delegation hailing from China, Utah, Great Britain, and 3 from France.

Aren't these the best young people?  Looking at how clean they are and seeing their great smiles you can just tell how happy and wonderful they are.