Kirkland Week 2

Our Zone

Family,

It's been another interesting week in Kirkland! A lot of this past week was spent preparing for Zone Conference, which was last Thursday. It was a great meeting! They talked a lot about the gathering of Israel, something that President Nelson is really focused on a lot right now. These are exciting times!

We had a cool experience while knocking the other day. We had been "Spirit Knocking" (walking around a street while knocking the doors that feel good) for a little bit, until we only had time for one door, so we picked a good one. When we knocked, a 16-year-old boy from Egypt answered and said we could come back the next day. So, we came back, and his whole family was there and they were really cool! They are Christian, and have been in Canada for a couple of years now. They have 4 kids, and are super kind and awesome. We taught the whole restoration, and they understood it pretty well! It was an wonderful miracle.

We have been working with a lot of Africans recently, and it's been so much fun! Most of them are Nigerian, who are super funny. They speak English, but it's basically a whole other language. For example, to say, "what's up?" or "How are you?" you can say "How far?" and to reply you say "Me day fine." A family of recent converts in the ward fed us some Nigerian food the other day, and it was super good! Just another culture that I now love!

It's been a great week, and I already love these people a ton! I'm excited for the many experiences that await me here!

Love you all so much, have a great week!

Elder James

Elders James & Jeronimo in Kirkland

A sweet friend took a package to Montreal for Elder James. She took it to the Mission Home and Elder James just happened to be there for District Meeting! How wonderful is that? I was so happy to see him and Elder Jeronimo. The only regret is that I didn't end up sending cookies because I thought it would be a couple of weeks before he got the package.

Kirkland Week 1

Saying goodbye to Jhonel (wearing the tie I gave him)

I'm in my new area! I got here on Thursday, and Elder Jeronimo and I have been working hard since! Elder Jeronimo is Mexican, and super funny. We have been getting along well already! Anyway, here are some highlights from the week!

Got to say goodbye to a few more members and investigators in Montréal Est, which was sad of course. I'm going to miss them a ton! Said goodbye to Jhonel (who went teaching with us almost every day for a couple of hours) which was really sad as well. But, I'm excited to make more relationships here in Kirkland!

Saying goodbye to the Famille Julian

Last Saturday we had the awesome opportunity to see the prophet, Président Nelson. It was such a special experience! Elder Anderson was there too, along with a few other people. It was a very spiritual experience! He was very personal, and very funny as well. He even spoke a little bit of French which was cool! He talked about the "10 Things that he Knows" which was very cool. They were as follows:

1. God is our Father

2. Jesus Christ is our Savior

3. We are created in Their image

4. God communicates with His children through His prophets

5. The scriptures are true

6. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true

7. Satan is allowed to function

8. The youth of Zion are a chosen generation

9. Joy comes from keeping the commandments of God

10. Salvation is an individual matter; Exaltation is with the family

Saying goodbye to Frère Haschley

It was a very cool meeting, and he bore testimony powerfully, It was such a special experience!

Anyway, that's what's been going on this week. It's been a different one, but absolutely amazing!

I hope you all have a great week, love you!

Elder James

Picture Elder Jeronimo snagged of me preaching repentance to a duck

The river is right near our apartment, it's super pretty

Montréal-Est Week 18

Montréal-Est District    

Last week in Montréal-Est! I'm being transferred, but I'm staying on the island of Montréal! I'll be going on the west side, which will be a bit different. My new companion is Elder Jeronimo, who is absolutely awesome. He was trained in Zarahemla before I came in the mission, so I heard a lot about him already, and I've met him a couple of times. He's super funny! He also is a latino (YES!), so I'll be able to brush up my Spanish a little bit more; I'm excited!

La Famille Saint-Louis    

Anyway, this week was awesome! A lot of it was spent saying goodbye to people, and I have a ton of pictures (that hopefully will make up for my letter being a bit small). I'm sad to leave, especially since there are a few people in the area who are super close to getting baptized, and I'm not going to be able to work with them! At least I won't be far away, so I'll be able to drive over to attend some of the baptisms. It was awesome to work with them!

Exchanges with Elder Cabello    

I also got to go on exchanges with Elder Cabello, which was really a lot of fun. He's probably the most energetic and fun person I know! He's amazing at using his personality in missionary work, which makes him a lot more likable for those he teaches. His area used to be known as a really hard area, but in the past 3 transfers he's been there, he's completely turned it around. He came in and decided that he wasn't going to expect what everyone else told him about the area, and just decided to get to work with a positive attitude. It was cool to see from our perspective how the area had changed because of that! They started finding constantly, they started teaching a lot of people who progressed a ton, and they started burning the area to the ground! It was just cool to see that as we change our expectations and go into new circumstances with a positive attitude, good things ALWAYS follow!

Saying goodbye to Elder Tueller, who is going home this week    

I'm definitely going to miss the Haitian culture over here, they are such a humble and faithful people, and, of course, their food is absolutely delicious. I'll miss that probably above all! But in my new area there are a decent amount of Africans, so I'm excited to get a little taste of that culture as well! I'm exicted to see what wonderful people await me on the other side of the island!

Well I love you all so much, I hope you have a great week!

Elder James

Frère Cliquot    

Mario    

Frère Charles    

La Familia Alfaro    

Soeur Dorval    

Odette     

Soeur Proulx and Soeur Lacroix    

La Famille Pierre    

Président Groleau (the branch President)