Montréal-Est Week 11

Mont Royal

This week has been awesome! We had lots of exchanges which was fun, and which kept us busy! It was a great week; here are some highlights!

Last P-day we decided to go downtown to get some Five Guys (it was a long trip but way worth it) and then we went up to Mont Royal which was close by. It was cool to be up there again; the last time we came was on our first day in the mission. It was weird to think that it's been almost 10 months since then! Does not feel that long at all. It was really a lot of fun!

Exchanges with Elder Alejo

On Wednesday, I got to go on exchanges with Elder Alejo. He came to Montréal-Est with me, and we had a great day! We had a really cool experience that night. We went to an appointment that we had set up with a potential named Blaise, but we had no remembrance of who he was or when we even saw him. When we showed up, he was ready for us, and we had an amazing lesson. He is very religious and has a strong testimony in the Bible. We taught about the Restoration of the Gospel, and at the end of the lesson, when we asked him to pray to ask if what we told him was true, he just said that he felt the Spirit really strongly during the lesson and said that he knows that it is true! We also talked about the Book of Mormon briefly, which sometimes does not go over well with people who are firm believers in the Bible, but he understood it perfectly! His wife came in at the end of the lesson, and she talked about the "Mormon Bible," but Blaise explained to her about what it was and testified that it was true! It was amazing to see the Spirit testify so easily, when he was open to hear!

Exchanges with Elder Eggenberger

We also went to St. Jerome on Friday. I went on exchanges with Elder Eggenberger, who has been out for almost 4 transfers now. It was a great exchange! I got to meet some of the people they have been talking about which was cool, and we were able to do a lot of contacting as well. We saw the record for a former investigator and decided we should see him. We showed up at his address, and he moved, but there was a family from the Congo that was there who were very interested! It was awesome to see the Spirit lead us to an unexpected miracle.

Loved seeing Sebastian

I also went on Exchanges with Elder Webb, who lives in our apartment (and is in the area I opened with Elder Amichia). It was also super fun, and I got to see some investigators that I taught a few months ago! I got to see Sebastian which was awesome; he's still doing great and is still slowly progressing at quitting smoking. It was great to see him!

It's been another amazing week. Transfer calls are this Saturday, and we'll have to see if I'll be leaving or not! Fingers crossed that I stay!!

Love you all so much, and I hope you all have a great week!

Elder James

Montréal-Est Week 10

Exchanges with Elder Teikiutapu

Man, it's been a crazy week! We've been running around everywhere, and it's been awesome! Tons of miracles, lots of new investigators, and a bunch of appointments. It's been a lot of fun to stay busy! Here are some highlights from the week:

Haitian Food with Elder Teikiutapu

I got to go on exchanges with Elder Teikiutapu which was really fun. He came with me to Montréal East, and we had a great time together. I bought him Hattian food, and it was his first time eating it! I was glad I was the first to introduce him, ha ha! He's a really cool missionary, and it was fun to learn more about his culture in Tahiti; it's so different! It was a really great exchange with him.

Aida's Balcony

We met this old lady named Aida on the street the other day who invited us over for lemonade. We decided to go, and it was very interesting! There was no man at her house, so we just took some chairs and sat by her back door. She grows TONS of plants everywhere, which was interesting. It was funny; we had a little conversation on her back porch and every time we tried to bring it back to the Gospel, she'd just start telling us stories. It was super entertaining. She was really nice though!

It's been raining A LOT recently!

For some reason this past week, when we go to have a lesson with a potential, there's someone else in the apartment that joins the lesson! For example, just the other day we had a lesson with a potential named Keroby. We went to his apartment, and his cousin Michelet was there as well. We invited him to join the lesson, and it was amazing! The Spirit was so strong, and they both were asking really good, sincere questions. After we talked about the Great Apostasy, Keroby asked, "If there are so many churches, how can we know which church is true?" It led right into Joseph Smith's story, and they understood it very well. When we introduced the Book of Mormon, both of them were really excited to read it and were eager to find out if it was true. It was so awesome to have that little experience. You never know who you will run into!

I got to see Elder Colunga at a mission conference!

It's been a great week, and we've been seeing so much success, which has been awesome. I'm loving it every day here in Montréal! Love you all so much, have a great week!

Also, Happy Father's Day!

Elder James

Montréal-Est Week 9

Exchanges with Elder Tueller

We had an amazing week!!! SO many miracles! I don't have a lot of time today, but here are some highlights.

We had zone conference which was really amazing. They focused on the importance of working with members. Members can help the missionaries so much, and often they have no idea. President shared us some statistics from the mission just to get an idea of how important it is. He said that on average, a missionary has to find 39 new investigators in order to get 1 baptism. Out of the member referrals, 1 in 2 referrals get baptized! There are so many ways that members can help the missionaries; it's always important to use your own skills and abilities to help them in the best way you can! One member might be more comfortable teaching with them, one might be better cooking them a meal, but whatever members do, the missionaries will appreciate it!

I made WAY too much Riz Colle last P-day.
It was nearly 10 kilograms! It turned out really well though!

I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Tueller this week! It was so much fun since it's been a long time since I've been able to see him. We had so many miracles during the exchange, and he was able to tell me about a lot of solid investigators that he used to teach (he served here when I first came in). It was really a lot of fun, and so good to see him!

We had SO many people at church this past week! It was really special! Marly, an investigator we have taught for a while, was FINALLY able to go! We also had one of our investigating families there, Jean and Laurette, and a new investigator named Samson, and then Odette (as usual, she's awesome). It was crazy to have so many people there! The Chapel was completely full; there weren't any seats left!

It’s been an amazing week, and I'm so grateful for all of the blessings that the Lord is giving us. As we try our best, He makes up the rest!

Love you all, have a great week!

Elder James

Montreal-Est Week 8

Exchanges with Elder Brough

Another great week! It's finally starting to warm up... a LOT. I think it may be just the extreme difference from the winter, but we've been kind of dying, ha ha. Spring only lasted a couple of weeks! It's been very nice though. We've been so blessed with tons of miracles this week—it's been insane. We've been working hard to keep track of all the people we have found (there are WAY too many people to teach here right now which is a great problem), and as we've been working hard, we've been running into tons of old investigators on the street almost every single day! It's been so cool to see how as we try our best to do what the Lord has asked us to do, He helps us immensely with the work. It's so awesome! Anyway, here are some highlights of the week!

Calf brains from the Haitian Market!

Last P day we went to the same little Haitian market that Odette told us about to do some shopping. It was super cool! We bought all of the stuff to make Riz Collé, and we started making a HUGE batch this morning for the rest of the week (just like all the Haitians do ha ha). It's cooking right now and should be done when we get home! I'm super excited to see if it worked! We also bought Plantains, and I've been making Plantains Frites about every day. Now our stove has oil all over it which isn't the best... I'll master it soon!

We were able to go on exchanges with the Repentigny Elders which was fun. I went to their area with Elder Brough. He is a super cool guy! It was a really hot day, so we went to a park to go finding. We saw an older man sitting on a park bench alone drinking a beer, so we decided to go talk to him. It was funny, he initially thought we were the police and we scared him a lot, but we got to talk for a while with him. We then sat down at the table with him and were able to have a full 30-minute lesson with him! It was very cool, since Repentigny is a really hard area to find sometimes. Miracles always happen on exchanges!

Another cool miracle happened when we were walking down the street, about to pass by an investigator, and for some reason we decided to turn around. We did, and as we were walking, someone yelled at us from their apartment window, "Est-ce que vous êtes les Mormons?!?" (Are you the Mormons?), so we hopped a fence and went to talk to her. Apparently, she and her family used to meet with the missionaries in Haiti, but after the earthquake they moved to Montréal and never found the missionaries again. It had been 8 years, and for some reason she happened to look out her window, saw us, and instantly recognized us! She asked us if we could come back the next day, we did, and we had an awesome lesson with them! It was an amazing miracle. The mom's name is Mama, which Elder Wilson and I thought was very funny. It's such a sweet little family! They're very solid!

It's been an amazing week, and I'm enjoying myself a ton out here. Elder Wilson and I are getting along great; he's an awesome missionary. The area is amazing, and we're having tons of fun. I love Montréal!

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

Elder James