Montréal East Week 18

Taking the same picture, 28 years later!

Elder Smith's dad with his companion 28 years ago 

(his dad served in the same mission!)

Family,

It's my last week in the Montréal ward! I'm being transferred! I didn't feel ready to go, I have grown to love all of the people and the many cultures in this area, but I'm excited for my next assignment... yo voy a volver a Zarahemla! I started my mission there, and I left a little less than a year ago. I'm so excited to go back! My new companion will be Elder Toledo, who is from Oaxaca, Mexico. It's going to be such a fun transfer!

Olamilekan's baptism

Olamilekan was baptized on Saturday! It was such a special experience, and was a great end to my time here in the Montréal ward. Taiwo, who was baptized a couple of months ago, gave a talk about baptism at the service, and it was also very tender to see him and how far he's grown since we started teaching him. I've tasted so much fruit in this area; it's been absolutely amazing!

Olamilekan came to church very well dressed for his confirmation!

We have everything ready for Joji to be baptized next Saturday, and luckily since I will be staying on the island, I will be able to be there for the baptism! So it's good not to have to say goodbye to all the people here, I should see them soon!

Saying goodbye to Abiodun

As I've been reflecting back on my time in Zarahemla, I've realized how much I've changed and grown since then. I'm really excited to take all the things I've learned over the past year since I've left, and see how different the work will be! Again, I'm so excited!

Saying goodbye to Chris, one of my favorite people

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

Elder James

Saying goodbye to the Yonbami family, who we baptized 

a couple of months ago. 

The kids are too sad that I'm leaving!

Montréal East Week 17

Chilling in the snow

What a cold and snowy week! We had a huge storm hit Saturday night, and snow continued to pour and pour until Monday! In the back of our apartment there was over 3 feet of snow that fell in the span of 32 hours. On top of that, -30 degree weather with lots of wind. It was fantastic! I'll send lots of pictures of this winter wonderland.

We helped Abiodun get his car out (this morning) 

by shoveling 50 meters of snow

It's been a great week though; the warmth of the people here has made the cold bearable. We got to go on exchanges in Ottawa this past week. I went with Elder Myers. It was fun to do some work together! We did some street contacting in the city for a little bit, and got to talk to two atheist people where were very kind. We discussed a little bit about God, and how to know if He exists, and they actually seemed intrigued! We had a 20-minute conversation with them just outside in the cold! They invited us to come back the next day. It was really cool—they were awesome! It's interesting that as a missionary, we're really not here to force beliefs or doctrine onto anyone, we're really just here to help people get connected to God, and discover the truth for themselves. It is such an interesting thing! 

All the cars on the side of the road were like this... 

We had to help so many people get out!

We have had lots of work to do in our area this past week. Olamilekan is getting ready to be baptized! He will be baptized this Saturday. He's so excited! We also have Joji, who is progressing very quickly towards baptism. We found him only a couple of weeks ago, and he'll probably be baptized in a couple of weeks! We've been seeing so many miracles with these people, it's been so humbling to see!

The amount of snow out back

Well, I hope you all have a great week. I love you lots!

Elder James

Our windows were all completely frozen

Montréal East Week 16

The snow in Québec is insane

This one will be short, I apologize in advance, I spent too much time looking at classes for school this fall. It stresses me out that it's starting so soon, but it was very exciting to look at the classes! It'll be fun!

Exchanges with Elder LeMay

We had a great week this past week, we started out having Elder Furness with us for 3 days! Some changes were made and he was moving to another area, so we got to spend some time with him! It was super fun, I'm converted to missionary trios now!

We had fresh snow outside last P day, so we made lots of
snowballs and threw them at a hole in a tree outside our
window for about an hour...
It's amazing what can amuse missionaries

We had a super interesting experience the other day. A couple of days ago, we were in an apartment building trying to see someone we're teaching. As we were knocking on their door, a woman from Trinidad come out into the hallway and started vacuuming the hallway. We started small talking with her a little bit, and found out where she was from. When we found out, we started talking about how much we loved beef patties and chicken roti (some native food from the Caribbean). She said she makes that food all the time, so we asked if we could buy some from her. Without any other convincing, she told us to come back in a couple of days and she'd make a Trinidadian meal for us, and that we would talk about the word of God together. Her actual words were, "We'll eat, We'll pray, and everything will be okay."  We went on Wednesday, and it was delicious! We taught her about the Book of Mormon and she was very intrigued. It was awesome to see how connecting with people opens them up sometimes more than anything!

We got to see Jhonel (his mission papers are almost in)!

We also got to go on exchanges in Québec City, and in Montréal-Est (I got to see Jhonel!). Québec had SO much snow, and was significantly colder than in Montréal. It was fun to be up there, I went with Elder Rossi, who is a legend. It was an awesome learning experience. I also got to go on exchanges with Elder LeMay in Montréal-Est, and it was so fun to be back in my old area! I got to see some old faces which was super fun. I love the people over there so much!

Well it's again been a great week. Things are going amazing (besides the cold and snow)! I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Elder James

Montréal East Week 15

Exchanges with Elder Garcia

We've had a very good week! We've seen miracle after miracle, and it's been so humbling to see. There is a certain joy that comes from simply feeling that the Lord is using you, and we've been able to feel that so many times this week! It's been amazing! It seems that the more success I've seen in my mission, the more I realize how little we do. This truly is the Lord's work!

The Miracle Door!

We had a really cool miracle on exchanges with Elder Garcia. We went to see Israel, someone we recently started teaching two weeks ago. When we were going into his apartment building, I was 100% sure that he was in apartment #3. I didn't want to check, I just went right to apartment #3 and knocked. A Nigerian man named Abiodun opened the door. I was confused and didn't know what to do at first, so we just started contacting him. After speaking some Yoruba, he simply invited us in. We sat down and had a little lesson with him about the Restoration. He asked us if he could be baptized! We set a date for him right then. It was so cool! He told us that just before we knocked, he was asleep and something woke him up and he felt like going to the kitchen. We knocked just as he was passing by his front door. It was such a miracle! We've seen him once more since, and he's so willing to learn and act. He is a miracle!

I got to go to Kirkland on exchanges with Elder Fourie. It was awesome to be back for a day! We were able to see the Lasisi family, who got baptized a couple of months ago. It super cool to see them! Finding them was interesting, and it really showed me how you never know what could happen! We were on exchanges, and we were walking and talked to the mom as she was on her way to the bus. She said she was in a hurry, but we got her number. She and her whole family was baptized a couple months later! Miracles sometimes don't appear evident right away, but sometimes with a bit of time and perspective, we are able to clearly see the hand of the Lord in our life. It's such an amazing experience that we get to see frequently as missionaries!

It was a great week, as always. I'm loving the work here; there is so much to do! I hope you all have a good week. Love you so much!

Elder James

Montréal East Week 14

Sister Sang took me & Elder Durgante
out to eat Pho. It was fun! 

Happy New Year! We had such a miracle filled week. I don't know what it was about New Year’s Eve and New Year’s day, but we saw so many miracles! It was again amazing to see how the Lord guides his work. The more and more success I see on my mission, the more and more I realize how little we actually do as missionaries. It's been very humbling.

I've been trying to master what my Mexican companions have taught me...
we made fish tacos with honde made corn tortillas.
We have to do it ourselves since we aren't in a Latino ward anymore! 

On Christmas, we had a really cool miracle. We went to visit a family whose mother is a recent convert, but whose father is not a member. We have been trying to get in contact with him forever, but he works so much that it's been almost impossible to see him. But, on Christmas, he was there! When we walked in, we started speaking a bit of Yoruba, which of course made him super happy. He happened to be on the phone with one of his friends, who overheard the conversation, and asked to talk to us. We talked with him on the phone, and he asked us if we could come and visit him at his house! It was so cool! I'd never seen anything like that before. We got his information, and set up a time to go by. We went last night, and it was an amazing experience. We could tell that this man is going through a pretty rough time in his life. He is working way too much, does not have the best living arrangements, and is a pretty serious alcoholic. He was talking to us about how much he wants to quit drinking and smoking, but he told us how hard it was. We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and really focused on repentance, and helped him understand that he can let go of these things, and that God will help him if he shows faith. He shared again that he will do anything to stop drinking, so we asked him if he would be willing to empty out every last drop of alcohol that he had down the drain. When we asked, he put his head down and started to cry. We could tell that he's been trapped by these chains for a long time. We Comforted him, and after praying together, we dumped every last bottle of alcohol down the drain with him. He felt liberated. It was amazing to not only talk about the gospel, but help him act. It was a tender experience. It was especially awesome to see how the Lord guided us to him in his time of need. God really does care about him, and seeing that helps us remember that He cares about each of us as well.

I also got to go on exchanges with Elder Durgante! It was fun to be with him again, we were companions exactly a year ago. It really doesn't seem like it's been that long! It was cool to catch up with him and do some missionary work together again. He's going home in a couple of weeks; I'll miss him!

We have been finding so many people who are wanting to hear the gospel recently! It's been so amazing. We've been so busy and it's been awesome! I hope you all have had a good new year so far. For Nigerians the New Year is a BIG deal, so we've been having lots of fun with them. Montreal is the best. I love you all so much, and again, Happy New Year!

Elder James