Zarahemla Week 35

Exchanges with Elder Torres 

 Another week has gone by here in Zarahemla! We have transfer calls this Saturday, so I'm anxious to see what happens. I don't know what to expect, but if I leave it'll probably be the last change I have in the mission field which is kind of crazy! We'll see what happens! Anyway, we had an amazing week, here are some highlights.

Leonardo's baptism!

Leonardo's baptism went very well! He was so happy and excited to be baptized. He was one of the readiest people I've ever met! He bore testimony after, and he just seemed like a seasoned member already... But he's only been going to church for about 2 months! How crazy! Another cool thing, he was baptized on Saturday, confirmed on Sunday, and then he went teaching with us yesterday! He was so good! He testified, shared personal expériences, taught doctrine; he was basically a missionary! It was so cool to be able to see, easily something I will never forget. We're preparing him to receive the Priesthood and go to the temple soon, so we hope that that works out!

Celebrating Leonardo's baptism with a traditional
Guetemalteca meal at the Family De Leon's house

We have been teaching these two young people named Francisco and Moisés, who are doing so well. They love the Book of Mormon! We just started teaching them last week, and they are great. When we talked about the Book of Mormon, it was just so crazy how they understood the purpose and need for it SO fast and SO well! They love it! We were able to give both of them baptismal dates for the 18th of May. They have a while to go until that point, but if they keep up at this pace, they will be doing great! The Lord has really just been blessing us with so many people who are prepared, humble, and are honestly seeking the truth. It's been so humbling!

We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders again, and I got to have another exchange with Elder Torres! It was awesome! We were able to get a lot of work done, and see some cool miracles together. I introduced him to Shwarma which he loved. It was a lot of fun!

Things are great here, and we are having fun! Again, anxious to see what happens with transfers, but I know that whatever happens it is what the Lord needs to happen! I love you all so much, have an amazing week!

Elder James

Zarahemla Week 32

Old Town Montreal with Erick and Alan

We had an awesome week! Alan got baptized on Saturday! It was amazing, one of the most spiritual baptisms I've ever been to. Alan bore pure testimony, and invited everyone to do missionary work. It was so cool! He's amazing! It was very ironic, we had a first lesson with him a little under a month before his baptism. We invited him to be baptized, but he just said, "how do you expect me to know that this is the true church in one month if I've been searching for 7 years!" And, fast forward (less than!) one month, and he gets baptized. It was such a miracle. We are going to play basketball with him and Erick today. It'll be fun! But here are some cool miracles we had this week!

Alan's baptism!

We taught Horacio a few times this week, and he is progressing well! We taught him the Restoration, and he understood the message very, very well. He's doing awesome! We gave him a baptismal date for the 20 of April, and he should be very ready by then. If we keep seeing him as frequently as we are right now, he will be great! He absolutely loves church, and was even inviting other people to come as well! It's so cool, he's such a cute old man. It's his birthday tomorrow, he's turning 81, and we found out the other day that he really likes chess. So, we bought a chess board for him and are going to go play some with him for his birthday tomorrow! He doesn't have any family or friends here, so he's pretty alone, so it'll be awesome to help him feel loved and have some fun celebrating his birthday together. It'll be awesome!

Ate Poutine in the Old Port with Alan and Erick

Leonardo is also doing amazing! He could totally be baptized this week, but we have Stake Conference then General Conference, which means we are going to have to do it the week after. He's doing amazing though, he loves the church. He's been making many sacrifices to be able to follow the gospel. He also came to Alan's baptism and really enjoyed it! He was asking lots of questions and is very excited for his own! The Lord really has been blessing us with lots of success, it's clear to see how much His hand guides the work. We do work hard, but all the results we see don't come from us at all! It's amazing!

We have been continually learning more about faith recently. It's so interesting and subtle, but when you feel your faith is at a high, you just see miracles all the time. It's so crazy! It's clear to see in finding, we work hard but then people just show up! Like Alan, we had a lot of faith we would find people who were ready to be baptized, and it wasn't any of the people that WE found, but he just showed up at church! It's very interesting, and exhilarating. We are excited to see the miracles the Lord has in store for us during the rest of the transfer!

Well things are going amazing! Things are starting to warm up now that it's spring, even though right now it's roughly -7 degrees. But we are hopeful that it will start warming up! I love you all so much, have an amazing week.

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

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 6

The Montréal Ward District

This transfer is already over! Luckily Elder Clark and I will be staying together, so we won't have many changes coming up. I'm excited to be with him for another transfer! This week was great, as we were very busy.

Yemi, Anderson, and Taiwo's baptism

We were able to have a couple of baptisms this Saturday! Taiwo was feeling better so he was able to be baptized. Also, on Saturday morning, Anderson and Yemi called us and said they wanted to be baptized THAT DAY. We scrambled to get them interviewed and get everything ready for them, and we were miraculously able to! It was a cool reminder to see that the Lord is over this work, and not us. They literally called us to be baptized when we thought they were losing the fire with them! It was awesome to be a tiny part of the miracle. It was a great weekend!

Goodluck and his kids    

We were also able to have exchanges with the Longueuil Sud Zone Leaders which was super fun. I went with Elder Fisher, who is going home this week. I've always wanted to go on exchanges with him, and finally my dreams were answered! He's such a cool missionary; I learned a lot from him. It was awesome to go on his last exchange!

It's starting to be Christmas time in Canada already! We don't have any more holidays until Christmas, so everyone is getting ready! It's crazy to think that it's getting to be that time of the year already! Last Christmas was such a magical time, I want to be prepared to make it a great one! It's just such an amazing time to be a missionary; everyone's hearts are a little bit softer, which is great for us! We're excited!

Sister Austin is going home this week

It’s been a great week. Again, I'm excited to be staying with Elder Clark! It'll be a powerful transfer! I love you all so much, have a great week!

Elder James