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