Zarahemla Week 15

There are icicles everywhere!

Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! It's been such a special time in the mission, and I know I'll never forget it!

Last P day, after emails, we went to get Elder Durgante a haircut from a member and visited Place Des Arts, a really cool underground shopping mall that was close by. We had a dinner appointment that fell through, so we decided to go to Schwartz, a Hebrew deli that was really good. Not too expensive either, which was great! We then went to Nicole's house with Elder Drysdale and Elder Torres to do her baptismal interview. It went really well, and she was completely ready! She's really amazing.

Schwartz's Smoked Meat Sandwich

On Wednesday, we were SUPER busy. We thought district meeting was on Thursday, but found out it was Wednesday. We scheduled a few appointments in the morning, so it got a bit complicated. But everything worked out! We passed by a potential that seemed interested; we only were there for a little bit but he seems cool! We then went by Francisco and had a decent lesson with him, and invited him to come to Nicole's baptism. We then went down to district meeting which was fun. The zone leaders and sister training leaders were there and gave a pretty good training. Then we visited Hermano Sanchez, the less active that we hadn't been able to see for a long time. He was doing well! We then were supposed to have an appointment with Jesus and Yeni, but they fell through, so we decided to do knocking on some social housing complexes nearby (hoping there would be Hispanic immigrants there). It was FREEZING cold, and super windy, but it was interesting. We were able to talk to a few French speakers, but couldn't find any Spanish speakers. It was nice though!

We had to take a "shortcut" through a park to get to Hermano Medoza...
Didn't realize how much snow there actually was!

Thursday was pretty good, even though we didn't get a ton done. Had all our studies, which we hadn't been able to do in a while. We went to the mission office to get a bunch of things ready for the baptism; got programs done and everything. Then we left and went to give a blessing to a member who lives way far away. It was a great experience, he really needed it.  We then went to Mauricio, and had a full lesson with him, which sadly hasn't happened in a while. He's been super busy with working on things for Christmas, so it's been hard to see him. Then we went to Javier and Christine to have a little Christmas lesson with them. We passed Christine to one of the sister teams in our ward, but they wanted us to teach Javier as a less active. We read Luke 2 with them, and were able to help them focus on the true meaning of Christmas.

Elder Durante, Me, Elder Colunga, Nicole
Nicole's family: Stepfather, Mother, Grandmother & Brother

Friday was mainly focused on making sure everything was ready for the baptism on Saturday. We passed by a referral, but he didn't have time to see us until after the holidays are over. Went to Rafael, the recent converts house, and talked about the temple. We're trying to get him a temple recommend and get him to come to the temple, and he's doing well! Went to the mission office again to do a few things we couldn't finish on Thursday, and got everything set for Saturday. We then went all the way up to Nicole, and got her ready for the baptism and told her what to expect and everything. She was super excited!

Saturday was awesome. The baptism was great! Elder Durgante and I went early with Hermano Farfan, our ward mission leader, to get everything set up and fill the baptismal font. Elder Colunga showed up shortly after to help us a bit and to get ready. Then Nicole came, so we took some pictures, waited for some more members to show up, then we started. It was an amazing meeting! Nicole was super happy, and she was literally glowing. Such a great day! After the service, we had a little party and ate a lot of food that the members brought. It was so much fun! She had such an amazing time. After cleaning everything up and leaving, we headed to Jesus and Yeni. Had a great lesson with them, it was great to see them after not being able to teach them in a while. It was an amazing day!

Our terrible cookies

Christmas Eve was awesome! Elder Durgante had the idea last week to make cookies for all of our investigators, so we woke up and made about 150 cookies! They were obviously not very good considering a couple of 19 year olds made them, but they worked out well! I guess it's the thought that counts! We wrapped them all up, and put pictures of Christ with notes on the back for each of them. Then we went to church, which was wonderful. It was Nicole's confirmation, so now she's officially a member of the church! We're so proud of her. After church we went back home, figured out who we were going to see that day, and left. We were able to deliver cookies to Javier and Christine, the Varaona family, and Fransisco. Then we had a DA to go to for the Noche Buena (which is the biggest deal apparently for a Hispanic Christmas) at the Escobar family's house. It was so awesome, there was tons of amazing food. We visited a bit with them, and shared Luke 2. It was my first Hispanic Christmas eve, and it was really cool!

My Vineyard Vines Christmas Pajamas (that match my brothers)!

Christmas was so amazing. We spent some time opening packages and getting ready, and then left almost right away to be able to visit everyone. We stopped by Jesus and Yeni, Eddy, and Hermano Sanchez. We visited with Hermano Sanchez for a while, since he had really no one to celebrate Christmas with. It was felt good to make his holiday special! Then we went to the Lemus family's house to skype our families. It was so great to see their faces and hear their voices! Definitely a great Christmas present for me, I couldn't have imagined anything more that I would have wanted. Then the Lemus family fed us classic Salvadorian turkey sandwiches that were SUPER good. They had a ton of missionaries over for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. They are such an amazing family, and they sacrifice so much for us. It was awesome! Then we went to visit Hermano Mendoza, who had been alone in a new hospital for Christmas. Despite being in such a difficult situation, he has the best of mood! It was great to see him and brighten up his Christmas, and it was such a humbling experience. We then went a super long way to finally stop by Nicole and her family to give them some cookies as well. They were really grateful! It was such an amazing Christmas, definitely one I will remember forever.

Nathan's Christmas present to me--he knows me too well! 

Again, Merry Christmas! I hope we can all remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas. Trust me, I love getting presents like everyone else, but it's so important that we remember the best gift of all, Jesus Christ. I know that He is our Savior, and that through Him we can live with our families forever. That definitely tops any other present I have of could ever receive! I love you all so much, and I hope you had an amazing Christmas season!

Elder James

I climbed a huge mountain of snow!

Elder Durante didn't even try.

Empty metro trains on Christmas Night

Zarahemla Week 14

Our little Christmas tree that my family sent us

Another week gone by, and I don't think I've ever been this cold in my life! A few days ago, it hit -30 degrees (which is -22 Fahrenheit)! It's for sure been interesting, especially being with my Brazilian companion who has never been in temps lower than 25 degrees!

We've been fairly busy this week, which has been awesome! On Wednesday, we had zone conference, which was super cool. Sister Phillips talked to us about Christmas, and got us excited about getting other people excited to celebrate this amazing time of year! She also gave each of us presents with unique, personal notes for every single missionary. There are over 180 missionaries in the mission, and I can't imagine how long she must have worked on it! She's so amazing. After zone conference, we visited with Fransisco, who is doing alright. He still isn't going to church which has been so frustrating for us! We try to help him all we can, but at times there is nothing you can do. We also had a lesson with a new investigator, Marcela, who is from Columbia and was really cool. She's super interested, and we will be seeing her again this week!

My present from Sister Phillips

Thursday was very busy, and also extremely cold. We had district meeting which was awesome. We spent an entire 20 minutes, at the office, planning out our route for that night very carefully (we have to be at the mission office to map things out during the week, so we can use the computers). We also had our interviews with President Phillips. He's so amazing, and extremely spirit-driven. It's so inspiring to watch him work! Then we left and went to a dinner appointment, which sadly fell through, so we had to go home to eat really quickly. Then we went ALL the way down South for one appointment with a new investigator that went really well. But we had to be quick to catch the bus to go all the way up north for another appointment, and the bus was coming very soon. While we were walking (more like running) to the bus stop, I was praying a little bit that we would be able to make that bus. Sadly, as we ran towards it, and were about to be close enough for the driver to see us, it drove off. I was sure that we were going to be very late to our next appointment, which always makes me a bit upset and stressed. And to top it off, it was later in the night when busses come maybe every 20-30 minutes or so. But, somehow, another bus on the same line came almost immediately behind the one that left, and we were able to get on! And, through many other bus miracles, we made it to the appointment 2 minutes early! It doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, but when you know how terrible the Montréal bus system can be (especially while there is a ton of snow), there is no way to say that it's not a miracle! I was thinking that night when we got home about how it's similar to our answers to our prayers. I was praying that I would be able to make that first specific bus, but we weren't able to. But, my prayer was answered, just not in a way that I expected. That's how it is more often than not when we receive answers to our prayers, at times the answer is either not what we expected, or what we wanted. But God always knows more than we do, and although we might not know why things happen the way they do, He always does things only for our benefit in the long run.

SNOW everywhere, every day. I love it--my companion doesn't!

Friday was a bit slow, as Elder Durgante had gotten sick the night before and needed to sleep a bit. But we still had a few great appointments! We went to a new member's house for lunch, the Leon family, who just moved in from Guatemala. They are so nice, and have two daughters serving missions, so they really wanted to feed us! We then went to teach a former investigator, Alecia, who is 15 years old and wants to take the lessons again. Her mom is a less active member, and she really wants to be baptized! We will be working with them closely these upcoming weeks. We then headed over to visit Nicole, which was awesome as usual. We made sure she was all ready for her interview today, and she's so excited to be baptized this Saturday! It's going to be so much fun!

Saturday was an interesting day, as we did a lot of different things than usual. We passed by a couple of people in the morning, then helped a man move an oven from someone's house to his. We were given the job from our zone leaders, who said they got the job from some sisters that knew his mom, but neither of those teams could do it so they passed him off to us. They said that he spoke Spanish, but instead, he was Indian! He luckily spoke some English though, so communicating wasn't that hard. We helped him move this oven, which actually took a LONG time, so we weren't able to do much else that day. We still don't know how they got a hold of missionaries, because apparently, they aren't taking lessons or anything, and didn't know much about the LDS church. But it was an awesome opportunity to do service, which is always good! We also got to go to the Ward Christmas party that night, which was so amazing, and EXTREMELY Hispanic. It was so fun! The food was AMAZING and we had tons of it. They even wrapped up a lot to send home with us--which was awesome.

TONS of stuff from the amazing members of the Zarahemla Ward!

This past Sunday was really great. We were able to do tons of logistical work for Nicole's baptism, and we have the schedule all worked out and finalized. It's going to be awesome! We also were told before sacrament meeting to go to the Relief Society class to sing a Christmas song before the end of the last meeting. We were a bit weirded out by it, but we went anyway. Then, while we were singing, they all came in holding boxes and bags FULL of food, presents and other stuff for each of the teams of missionaries! It was so thoughtful! The sisters in our ward were absolutely sobbing which was funny, but I was just happy that I have real cereal now! We didn't even have to do shopping today, since there was so much (about 60 pounds)! (They took a picture, and I told one of the members to send it to me, but I haven't gotten it yet. I'll send it next week when I get it!) The whole ward pitched in! I love our members so much; they're so awesome and thoughtful. After figuring out how we were going to get it all home (a member so kindly offered to deliver it to each of the three teams of missionaries), we left and went to a DA with a Dominican family in our ward, the Amador family. We ate dinner there, and it was so good! They're such a funny family, and love teaching me Dominican words.  We then went to visit Hermano Mendoza, who we sadly weren't able to see earlier. He doesn't get many visitors, but we're going to visit him on Christmas Eve, and another time this week, to make sure he is doing okay! Then we went home, the member delivered the food, and we put it all away. Such an amazing day!

Monday was fairly good, and not very busy. We finally did weekly planning, which took up the vast majority of the day. After that, we did some contacting on the bus and metro for a while, and then went up to Jesus and Yeni. Sadly, they forgot about our meeting (probably my fault since I didn't confirm), and they weren't there. I'll make sure not to make that mistake again! We then did a bit more contacting, and then went home. Pretty slow day, but at least we got our weekly planning done, which is important.

Everything is going well, and I'm so excited for this Christmas in the field! We've already started planning out the people we want to see, making sure that no time is wasted! It's so amazing being out here at this time, and it's awesome to be able to focus almost 100% on others the entire season.

Love you all, and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Elder James

Zarahemla Week 13

First week with my new companion, Elder Durgante. Things are going well so far, and it's been fun to get to know him!

Last P-day, Elder Colunga and I spent some time getting him ready to leave. We also went to the store to get a birthday present for Nicole, whose birthday was on Wednesday. We saw her that night, and when Elder Colunga said that he was leaving, she cried! It was super sad; Elder Colunga and I were trying not to cry! She loved the present we gave her, and gave us tons of candy that she had from her birthday. She's so sweet, and we love her so much!

Me, Nicole, Elder Colunga, and Nicole's Grandmother

Wednesday was my last full day with Elder Colunga. We did SO MUCH that day, since there were a ton of people that he wanted to say goodbye to. We saw Mauricio, Raf, Fransisco, Eddy, Jesus and Yeni (who gave us fish AGAIN—they're amazing. I have a picture of it this time!), Luis, the Lemus family, and Hermano Mendoza. It was such a busy day; we were dying by the end! It was especially hard, since we basically went all over the entire island, and Elder Colunga still got in a good hour and a half of packing that night. It was fun to see everyone, but it was sad that it was the last time for Elder Colunga! He and I got along super well; it was a great two transfers.

The Last Supper

On Thursday, we woke up and I studied while he continued packing. Then my new companion Elder Durgante came, and Elder Colunga left. Right away, we started weekly planning, so that I could fill in Elder Durgante on all of our investigators. He's been out only one transfer more than me, so this will be interesting! I've been doing mostly everything since I've been in the area, and I'm actually surprised at how much Spanish I know, and how well I can do missionary work independently of my trainer. I was definitely using him as crutches, but it turns out I could walk the whole time! It was hard at first, since Elder Durgante is from Brazil and doesn't speak much English at all, but he can understand Spanish perfectly so it hasn't been as hard as I thought. We then did some logistical stuff, got him a library card and a few other things, and we got to know each other a bit. He's pretty quiet, but as the time has gone on, we've opened up more to each other. He's really cool!

With Elder Durgante walking in a Winter Wonderland

Friday was nice. We had district meeting with our new district, and now there are three teams out of five that are in training. Super crazy! Elder Drysdale is the new district leader, and he's been getting used to it little by little. Lots of changes happened for our district this transfer, and it's was hard at first, but it's been getting better! All of the original missionaries that were in the Zarahemla ward when I came in have now gone, and it's harder to work with the members without that base, but luckily my Spanish is a lot better, so it's much easier to connect with them on personal levels.

My last few days with Elder Colunga

On Friday, we were able to see Fransisco, then we did some contacting and went home a little early to do calls and find a ride to church for Nicole. We had Ward Council this Sunday, and for some reason the Bishop wanted all of the presidencies there, not just the presidents, so EVERYONE who usually would be able to give rides to Nicole couldn't (very few members have cars so it makes it difficult). So, I got an idea to ask if Jesus and Yeni (our investigators) could do it. They said they could, and they did! It was so cool, especially since they haven't gone to church in my entire time here, so it was a crazy miracle! Three birds with one stone! 

Saturday was decent, and not super busy. I'm still getting used to daily planning, and it's been difficult at times, but it's getting better and better. We were able to see Hermano Mendoza and introduce him to Elder Durgante, and that was great. He's super awesome, and he continues to improve, but the doctors still aren't sure if he will be able to walk again, which is sad. But he has a great attitude and lots of faith! We were also able to pass by a lot of referrals, and had a large amount of time contacting. We ended up finding a couple of new investigators though, so it was perfect!

Sunday was pretty awesome! We had a few of our investigators come to church, which was great. We left early to go to ward council, and we were able to talk about Nicole and get everything in the works for her baptism on the 23rd. We're getting everything ready for it, and it's SO exciting! We also had a few investigators come to Church, which was amazing, and I got to talk to Nicole about the baptismal program and what kind of things she wants. I got a few Young Women to give talks, and Elder Colunga is going to be there to baptize her which will be awesome!

Monday was a bit slow. We had a couple of appointments set up, but all of them fell through. So, we had a LOT of contacting time, which is always good. We also got to work on the baptismal program for Nicole, and it's looking good!

Elder Durgante and I are now really getting along; it's been fun to work with him. Everything is going well!

Anyway, it's been a different but fun week. Lots of changes, but it's always good to keep things fresh. I love you all so much, and I hope you have a good week!

Elder James