Zarahemla Week 28

The winters up here are so pretty!

We had such a miracle filled week! It's hard to describe the feeling of being used by the Lord, but I can say that it is a wonderful feeling! We feel like we are not doing anything to deserve these miracles, but we've been given them anyway! It's been awesome!

Made more tortillas the other day. 

Elder Toledo said they were very authentic! 

Looks like Elder Clark is more Mexican than I gave him credit for!

A few days ago, we were on the bus going home, and I saw a Latino guy that was looking at me a little more than people usually do. So of course, I went to talk to him and realized that I had contacted him multiple times when I was here LAST YEAR! I even membered his name, Mauricio (which, if you know me is a miracle in and of itself; I'm TERRIBLE with remembering names)! It was very cool, especially that the Lord has been given him many chances to accept the gospel. It might seem like a coincidence, but that almost never happens. It was cool to see how much the Lord loves him, and thus shows how much he loves each of us!

David and Gaby, that family that I said "dropped out of the sky" last week, are some of the most prepared people I've ever met. We've been able to teach them super often! They moved here from Mexico a little over 30 days ago, and have been having a hard adjustment to life in Montréal. David's cousin, who lives in Longueuil (just south of Montréal), has been being taught for the past 3 weeks or so by the Spanish missionaries down there. After visiting them one night, said that he would send the missionaries to their house. We got only their address from the missionaries down there, with no other information, and we happened to be in the area so we decided to visit them. We showed up 10 minutes after their cousin left! And, since that day, they have been progressing so fast. Sadly, church was cancelled due to a freezing rain storm we had, so they weren't able to come, but they are super excited to come next week. We saw them last night, and they were so disappointed that they couldn't come! They said they woke up very early to get themselves and their 4-year-old daughter ready when they saw the text we sent them telling them that it was cancelled. They're just so willing to act; it's amazing! We were also able to invite them to be baptized on the 13th of April, and they accepted! They honestly might even get baptized before then; they are progressing so fast. We did nothing to deserve that amazing miracle!

It's hard to see, but there's over half a foot of pure ice that covers everything.
It's been very hard to walk recently! We've been falling everywhere!

On top of that, we had a lesson the other day planned at the mission office with some people that we met last week. We showed up at the office and waited for them. And waited. And waited. The appointment was at 4, and they didn't show up until 5:20! But, they brought a friend! I was a little bit frustrated, since we had to reschedule another appointment we had, but it was supposed to happen. It was an amazing lesson! We taught them the restoration and it the Spirit was so strong. They all accepted to be baptized in April as well! We hadn't even ever had a lesson with them before! Again, another miracle that we were not prepared for, that we don't seem like we deserve!

We also had a super cool lesson with a guy named Alan the other day. He showed up to church the other week with his friend, Erick, who is a returned missionary. They just got here from Mexico a few days ago. We tried to see him last week, but were not able to, and kind of forgot about them since we were so busy (it's surprisingly so easy to forget about someone if you don't have an appointment with them!). But, the Spirit reminded us, and we called and were able to set up an appointment up that day. We went, and were able to meet with both of them. It was one of the most spiritually powerful lessons of my mission. Alan is a very intelligent man, who has been looking for the truth about God for over 7 years, from what he said. He has studied essentially everything and couldn't seem to feel like he could find the truth. We had a lesson with him, and it was amazing. Erick shared an experience from the beginning his mission when he wanted to really know if the church was actually true and if he really was supposed to serve a mission and sacrifice the 2 years of his life. He was 100% willing to do it, but he just wanted to KNOW. He shared the answer that he received, and it was super powerful. The Spirit testified that what he said was true, and I'm sure everyone felt it. Alan also accepted to be baptized in April, if he receives an answer by then. I know that he will, if he puts in the effort.

The weirdest storm hit us on Sunday. Freezing rain, rain, hail, snow,
all of the above. It was the weirdest weather I've ever seen!

Anyway, I'm sorry for the long email, but we are seeing so many miracles that I wanted to share a taste of the amazing experiences I've been having recently. I know that the church is true. It is Christ's church, and each of us can know for ourselves if we truly ask in faith. I love you all so much, and I hope you have an amazing week!

Elder James

Zarahemla Week 27

I got to go on exchanges again with Elder Torres!
We went on exchanges in Zarahemla over one year ago.
It was super cool to recap how we've changed over that past year!

We had an amazingly interesting week! After last P day we got hit with a MASSIVE snow storm. About half a meter of snow fell in less than 6 hours! It was absolutely insane! 

The snow was crazy! The picture doesn't give it justice,
but it was super bad. The busses were so slow!

Besides that, we saw many, many miracles, and the Lord taught us some unexpected lessons. We had lots of success!

About one of the unexpected lessons we learned this week… Last week we found 4 new people to teach, which was pretty good, but we knew that we could find much more this week. So, we set the goal at the beginning of the week to find 10 people. We had lots of faith that we could see miracles and find each one of those 10 people to teach, and we started out working very hard. And, in the first 4 days of the week, we found 1 person. We still knew it was possible, and we still had faith and were working hard to see those miracles, but it just didn't come for some reason. And then, on Friday, I got really sick. I felt so bad, and I just had to rest for a little bit, so I napped for about 2 hours in the middle of the day on Friday, and then on Saturday I napped for another 3 hours. I couldn't talk to anyone on the bus or metros since I felt so out of it, we just had to take it very easy. They were probably the least effective days of my whole mission. But, despite that, we saw SO many miracles. A Mexican couple (we didn't know) invited us over to eat Mole (A Mexican chicken dish), and we were able to teach both of them and a friend that they invited. We also went to pass by someone, and there were 5 Mexican people we had never met before, and they all sat down and accepted us to teach them for 40 minutes. Another Mexican family (I have no idea why we're finding so many Mexicans, but I'm not complaining!) essentially dropped out of the sky and we were able to teach them on Saturday as well. It was crazy, we were able to find 11 people. It was clear to me that the Lord was trying to teach us something. It was easy to see that this work is not ours. Although we are required to work for it, the success we see comes directly from God. He decides to bless us with success. We worked hard at the beginning of the week, and we saw nothing. We didn't work at all at the end of the week, and we saw countless miracles. Sometimes we don't understand His ways, but that's where the faith comes in. We are to work hard, regardless of what results we see. It's the Lord's harvest, not ours. (and I am feeling much better though now!)

Joji was baptized!

Other than that, we are doing great! Daniel is still progressing well, although it's hard to see him often since he works a lot. But he has lots of desire to improve, and is keeping all of the commitments we are leaving him. He's very humble! Luis, who we found a few weeks ago, is also progressing well. We were also able to visit him (when I was sick as well!) and we had an awesome lesson with him! He accepted a baptismal date! He came to church again and loved it, and is progressing very fast. Although we can only see him once a week due to his work and studies, he's progressing very fast! We're seeing so much success and lots of people are progressing toward baptism. It's harvest time in Zarahemla!

Also, I forgot to mention last week, Joji got baptized! I was able to go which was fun, he was really happy. I'll attach the picture from the baptism!

Things are going well again, as always. Missionary work is the best. It's been awesome being able to see all these miracles; the Lord is constantly reminding us to be humble and know that it's His work and that He is in control. It's awesome to be able to be a part of it!

I love you each a ton. Have a great week!

Elder James

Zarahemla Week 26

One of my favorite things to do...
Hiking the huge snow mounds that are in every parking lot in Montréal.

Buenos Dias! We had another great week here in Zarahemla, and we were able to see lots of cool miracles! The work has been progressing well, and it just keeps getting better! It's been amazing to be here! We have a few people we are working with who are progressing well towards baptism. Here are some highlights! 

            Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Daniel is one of the people preparing to be baptized fairly soon. We had trouble contacting him recently, but on Sunday, he just showed up at church without any pushing! That is very rare for most of the people we are teaching! He really enjoyed it and had lots of good questions. At the end of the meeting, he came up to us and asked us to come over so we could talk about the details of his baptism. He's taking it very seriously! We saw him last night, and were able to go over what he has to do to prepare for his baptism. His friend Orlando was there, and we invited him to join us. We continued talking about baptism, and Orlando was also very interested as well in getting baptized! We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ very simply, and they felt the Spirit strongly. As Daniel prayed at the end of the lesson, he started tearing up. They're so prepared, they will be baptized soon!

We also found the coolest man this past Saturday. His name is Luis. He was originally found a while ago, but he was working too much at the time that they couldn't ever see him again. But, we felt prompted to go pass by, and he was there! He was so grateful that we came, and said that he knew that God had sent us. He came to church as well the very next day! He's very cool, and we have the faith that he will be baptized soon!

We had Zone Conference as well this past week, which was great. We talked a lot about faith. It really changed the way we've been perceiving and doing the work! It's interesting to see how having greater faith can change the work. I've seen it so much in my mission. As we have greater faith that we can be led to people who are ready, it happens! As we have faith that people will come to church, it happens! I've been learning a lot between the balance between attitude and effort recently, and it's been super interesting to see that putting in a lot of effort doesn't necessarily grant you success. You need high effort, and a high attitude! It doesn't make sense sometimes, but as we've been learning about faith, I have been reminded that the Lord's ways are not our ways. He has a much different perspective than we do!

Things are great as always. I'm loving it here in Montréal! I love you all so much, and I hope you have a great week!

Elder James

Zarahemla Week 25

Saying goodbye to Taiwo and Sister Peggy's family

He regresado! It's weird to be back in Zarahemla, but I am so happy! It was awesome to go back to the same ward I started my mission in, to serve in Spanish again, to be back on the busses and metro, and to stay in Montréal! This marks my 12th transfer being in the same physical area on the east side of Montréal, and my 13th transfer being on the island! I love this place with all my heart! 

Elder Toledo from Oaxaca, Mexico

My new companion is Elder Toledo, and he is awesome. He is from Oaxaca, Mexico, and is an amazing missionary. This is his 7th transfer, and his 2nd in Zarahemla. We are so excited to grow together this transfer!

Saying goodbye to the Omirigbe Family

There are a lot of cool people we're teaching over here. We set some goals on our first day together, and we're planning on baptizing an amazing Mexican family, Jorge, Delia, Kevin, and Jaqueline. They are super kind! It will be some work to help them be ready for baptism, but they are progressing well! We also got to teach a man named Daniel, who is really cool. He is also from Mexico, and has been here for a couple of months. We gave him a date to be baptized for this March, and he is excited for it! The people here are doing so well, and they are very prepared! We will have, and already have been having, a fruitful transfer! 

First dinner back in Zarahemla... Pozole with Hermana Infante 

We have also been able to spend a good time on finding in the busses and metro this past week, which has been fun. We have already found a lot of people that way, and the Lord has been putting so many prepared people in our path! I love just being able to start conversations with, "Habla espanol usted?" and whether they speak Spanish or not, usually it leads to good conversations. It's super cool!

Life here on the island of Montréal is great, I'm enjoying every bit of it! Again, I'm grateful to be back here in Zarahemla, it's the same in some ways, but in many ways there are new and different opportunities and challenges which I am excited for! It's going to be a great transfer!

Have a great week, I love you all!

Elder James