Zarahemla Week 18

Our last District Meeting together

Family,

Los cambios están aquí, y voy a permanacer en Zarahemla! Elder Landetta esta viniendo, y él empezó su mision aquí tambien. Él es de Ecuador, y estoy listo para practicar mi español consigo. Le quedan dos cambios, pues va a morir (terminar su mision) aquí probablemente. Estoy súper emocionado.

Well that's all the news regarding transfers, again, I'm super excited to stay! It's probably going to be my last transfer here in Zarahemla, so I'm going to make it count! But anyway, here is how my week went.

We are bats!

Last P day, after emails, we decided to go to the Biodôme! It was super cool, and it was funny to think that the only zoo they can have here in Canada has to all be indoors since it's so cold! It was really amazing though. There was a huge room for tons of different environments, and one of the coolest ones was just like a rainforest in Brazil. Elder Durgante felt right at home and loved it!

Sister Sanataria is dying (leaving the mission for home)

On Wednesday, we had the last district meeting of the transfer, and it was really nice. Took some funeral pictures for the Sister that is going home this week, which turned out hilarious. After that we went to pass by a few potential investigators. We had looked up their addresses at the mission office on Google Maps to know how to get there, but for some reason when mapping things out all of the house numbers are switched on the Avenues in Montréal. For example, on the north end of the island, on 1e Av., the house numbers should be around 12000. Google maps was showing them as 1000. So, we were completey flipped around which messed up most of our day. But it was fine--we learned our lesson to be more careful when looking up addresses. We ended off eating dinner with Hermana Piña which was awesome as always.

Thursday was fun, we woke up and got into service clothes to help move some stuff out of one of the missionary apartments. The Montréal North zone leaders (who I used to live with in the 4 man) were going to come to pick us up. For some reason though, they went on exchange, so Elder Colunga was with Elder Tueller! It was so weird to all be together again, but it was awesome to see all of them. We moved everything out of this apartment on the 4th floor (no elevator), which took a very long time. Afterwards they gave us some money and Subway coupons, so we ate there together. It was so much fun to see them again! They then took us home and we did some studies, did some contacting, then went all the way to the east tip of the island to give a Book of Mormon to a media referral. It took over 2 hours to get there! That basically took up most of the day, but it was cool.

Elder Durgante is Home!

Friday was a really successful and busy day. We were able to get some studies in, then we went to see Francisco. We decided to show him a video on his phone, and he was able to understand a bit better with a visual aid. He really wants to be baptized, but he has things he's working through. But, hopefully we'll be able to figure out how to teach him well! We then went to Hermano Sanchez, and had a good lesson with him. He had lots of questions that we were luckily able to answer, and he was super happy! He really is doing well, but he still has some issues with certain commandments that we're trying to help with. But he's still awesome, we just have to work with him patiently. We then were able to have Family Home Evening with Nicole, which was really fun. We taught her about Family History, why we do it, and what we do in the Temples. The spirit was super strong, and she is excited to go to the temple soon! We then played a little game together, and she had tons of fun. Next time, she is planning it for us!

Wedding of Hermano y Hermana Trinidad

On Saturday, we helped the Sister Missionaries in our ward get ready for a wedding/baptism that night. They have been working with a part member family from for a while, but the parents were not married, which they have to be in order to get baptized. The mother was baptized, but less active, but the father had never been involved in the church. He's really amazing, and it's so clear to see how much the Gospel has improved his life. He's tons happier, a lot better of a father and husband, and he's just improved so much. On Saturday, they had their wedding, and then immediately after, he was baptized! It was really great; the members were so awesome in decorating the church and bringing tons of food. It was such a special experience for him! At home we got our transfer calls from the zone leaders, which I was really nervous about. I thought for sure that I would be transferred, but I'm so happy I'm not! Elder Durgante isn't too sad he's leaving since he hasn't been here for too long, but he is sad he has to pack again haha.

The Olympic Park (where the Biome was)

Sunday was fairly typical. We had Ward Council early in the morning, which is always great to coordinate efforts with the ward. During church, two random guys from Guatemala came in, and I sat with them and talked to them. They are super excited about the Church! They have only been here for a little bit. They are brothers, and one was baptized in Guatemala about 8 months ago, but the other is not a member. We helped them during the meetings, and will be working with them a bit in the coming weeks. They were really nice! We then had the opportunity to meet with a few families that we had contacted in the past week and had awesome lessons with them. One in particular was Luis and his family, who came from Mexico only recently. We taught them the Restoration, and they were super interested! It was awesome since it's hard to find families to teach over here.

We are hatching!

Monday was fairly chill, we didn't have much to do. Hermana Piña had an operation the other day, so we stopped by and visited with her to see how she was doing. Stopped by the church to do a few things we needed to do on the computer, then spent some time contacting then had dinner with some members. They made some really traditional food from Spain which was super good!

Anyway, this week was great. I'm again so glad that I have another transfer here in Zarahemla. I will have spent exactly 1/4 of my mission here! I will make sure to live it up while I can!

Love you all so much, and I hope you have an amazing week!

Elder James

Monkeys were just roaming around everywhere!

Piranhas

Elder Durgante refused to look at this!