Montréal Sud-Est Week 2

This week has been pretty interesting; not very busy, but we've been able to see lots of miracles! This email is going to be a bit shorter, as I don't have as much time today—sorry.

Our district is really awesome! There is one sister team with three sisters, the one Elder team we're living with, and us. Pretty decent sized district! Four of us are called Spanish, so I'll be able to practice with them quite a bit, which will be awesome!

We had the opportunity to teach with one of the Haitian members of the ward, Frère Jean Pierre, who is super cool. We went with him to teach a Haitian family that we found last week. They're really amazing, are very humble, and willing to learn. Even the children were involved in the lesson, which I did not expect! The member was able to speak Creole to them, which was really cool.

We have also been teaching this couple, Lesely and Malorie, who are from Haiti as well. We have only been teaching them for a week and a half now, but they are already talking about how much the Gospel has been changing their life. It's such a humbling experience; they're awesome!

We got to start teaching Charles, who was previously being taught by the Elders we live with. He's super cool, and has as really sad history. He loves the gospel and has lots of promise.

We had a Family Home Evening with some branch members last night, which was SUPER fun. Especially because lots of the Hispanic members from the branch came, so I was able to talk to them basically the whole time! I was able to set up a couple of dinner appointments with them this week, haha. I'm so happy I won't have to say goodbye completely to the Spanish culture! Elder Amichia is super excited to eat as well!

We thought winter was over, but NO!!! 

We've really been spending a LOT of time finding. It's very, very fun, but sometimes hard. Elder Amichia and I are getting along really well. He's very bold in contacting, so he's been teaching me a lot. I've been learning a lot of French from him as well; I'm so blessed to be able to be with a French companion. We're having lots of fun together! Although it might get slow sometimes, we're in good spirits and keep pressing forward!

General Conference is coming up, and I'm super excited. You all should be too! But as it approaches, it's really important that we are prepared. Just think of the magnitude of the conference; we have living prophets who are going to tell us EXACTLY what we need to know for our unique struggles and difficulties that we have this day in age. I invite all of you in the next coming weeks to think about some questions you may have. It could be anything from, "How can I best magnify my current calling?" to, "Which school should I go to?" I promise that as you prepare for this upcoming conference, all of your questions will be answered!

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

Elder James

Montréal Sud-Est Week 1

Me and Elder Amichia

What a crazy, fun week it's been! It's so weird to change areas, with it has come a complete cultural change as well! I went from a Hispanic companion in a Spanish ward focusing completely on Spanish, to a French companion in a French (almost 90% Créole) branch in an area with lots of Haitians, Muslims, and some Quebec-cois. It's been crazy! But, of course, it's been an amazing experience so far!

Saying goodbye to Elder Landetta

Since we opened up the area, we are starting from scratch. We don't have any investigators, and neither of us know the area very well (well I know how to find Spanish speakers, but not French). It's so much fun! It's certainly a challenge, but we both have been really eager to get to work!

Hermano Mendoza

Last P day we actually spent a lot of time visiting people. After Emails we headed to Hermano Mendoza's brother, who is less active, to eat lunch and visit with him. He's such a nice guy, and he's really opened up a lot more because of our service to his brother! It's really given me the opportunity to see how you can never see the full influence of your actions. One act of service, like visiting someone in the hospital, can have an impact that normally you aren't able to see! It's always very important to serve others, despite how little we may think or feel we are doing. A little bit goes a long way, and we can't possibly imagine the extent of our influence! Later on that night we also had the opportunity to eat with the Farfan family, whose father is the Zarahemla ward missionary leader. He is so awesome, and I'm going to miss his family so much.

Familia Farfan

Wednesday was my last full day in the Zarahemla area. We left early to give a blessing to a less active member. I was asked to give the blessing, which was a great opportunity to give one last blessing in Spanish. Afterwards I spent a good chunk of time packing, and later that night we went to the Escobar family's house for my last Hispanic dinner. It was amazing as usual, and it was awesome to say goodbye to the family. They've been so nice to me these past six months! Immediately after we headed over to visit Nicole. We visited with her and her mom a little bit, and talked about her serving a mission to get her thinking about it a bit more. She invited me a while ago to her Quinceañera in Mexico in early December, the year I get back, and I really want to go! Elder Colunga and I are going to try to go together. It would be so much fun! Then Jesus and Yeni picked us up and bought us the Haitian fish one last time and took us home. I love them so much, and I will miss them a lot!

Jesus, Yeni, and I at the Haitian Restaurant 

Thursday was transfer day! Fairly stressful, but it went smoothly. Said goodbye to Elder Landetta. He's been such a great example to me, and he helped me a ton in so many aspects of the work. This is his last transfer, and I hope he makes the best out of these last 6 weeks! Met Elder Amichia, and moved in with two other Elders, in the same apartment that I was in when I started my mission, which was fun. We did a little bit of planning, then got to work! We did lots of finding; felt out a few areas to see how they were. Our area is basically the whole south east section of the island, and there are a lot of Muslims and Quebec-cois, which is really interesting.

Familia Escobar

The rest of our week was fairly similar; spent a lot of time contacting, knocking, visiting members to grow relationships. It's been very interesting, and we've kept pretty busy! Church on Sunday was fun, as it was my first French meeting so far on my mission! There are a lot of Haitians in the branch, and I'm SUPER excited to eat with them. Hopefully we'll be able to get a good relationship so they will start inviting us! I also found a couple of Spanish members, and it was amazing to speak Spanish after craving it for a couple of days. We had Zone Conference yesterday, which was awesome as always. It's been an interesting past couple of days, and I'm sure it'll pick up a bit more soon!

I love you all so much, I hope you have an amazing week!

The Last Supper

Zarahemla Week 24

Last visit with Herman Mendoza

Familia,

Mi última semana en Zarahemla! Me voy a una rama en Montréal Est, en francés (y tambien voy a aprender mucho criollo). Estoy muy emocionado! He pasado momentos muy divertidos aqui, y voy a extrañar serviendo en español, ¡pero hay que aprender francés!

Mon nouveau collègue, Elder Amichia, est de France, et nous allons ouvrir une nouvelle zone dans Montréal Nord. J'ai hâte!

{If you don't speak Spanish and/or French, you should go and use Google Translate to translate!}

My French definitely needs some work, but I'm so excited to be able to work on it with Elder Amichia! He's going to help a lot. I'm super excited to open up a new area, and I know I will be pushed a lot! It will be like being trained all over again since I haven't served in French yet! The area is actually within my area in Zarahemla, so I am fairly familiar with it. It'll be so much fun!

Elder Torres (and Elder Landetta in the background eating)

This week has been pretty good, and fairly busy. Last Wednesday I had an exchange with Elder Torres, which was SUPER fun. We studied together a little bit, then went to visit Hermano Sanchez. We felt prompted during the lesson that we should give him a blessing of comfort, and we did. He told us later how it made him feel more peace and calmness than he's ever felt before! He remarked that it was like "being high on the best drug," which I thought was super funny. Blessings really do have an impact when you need them. After, since it was a super nice, balmy 4 degrees C, we decided to walk around the Jean-Talon metro area again to catch the Hispanics to contact outside in the warmth. We found a lot! Then we went to Hermana Cosme's apartment to eat dinner again. We got there and visited while they were finishing up the food, and then Hermana De la Peña and Hermana Cameron (one sister team in our ward) showed up, then a bit later Hermana Hepburn and Hermana Peterson (the other sister team) showed up as well. None of us had any idea the other was coming, but it was a pretty fun and unexpected party! We're not really supposed to do that, but as Hermana De la Peña said, "No hay pecado en la ignorancia." It was really a lot of fun.

Last dinner with Hermana Guerra

On Thursday, we had our last district meeting of the transfer. We had a little "momento de apreciación" where each one of us mentioned a strength, or something they admired about each missionary. It was a little awkward, but super uplifting! We then left and went home, ate, then went to do some contacting and pass by a couple of potentials. Then we headed over to Hermana Guerra's house for dinner, which was amazing as always! Since I knew I was probably leaving, we took some pictures afterwards. She's so cool!

Friday was fairly chill. We left pretty early in the morning to help Hermana Piña move some things into a new apartment. We thought we were going to move a ton, but it only took a few minutes before we were done. So, we went back home, and did our weekly planning. After a while we left to do some more contacting. Lots of snow and ice had melted that day, but at that time at night it got really cold and it all froze again. I slipped pretty badly (I wasn't wearing my boots so it was my own stupidity ha ha) and got a little messed up. But it was really funny, so we just laughed it off. We then headed to visit Nicole, and had a little lesson with her and her mom. She's doing well!

Saturday was pretty busy, although basically everything we had planned didn't actually go through. But we had made a lot of backup plans, so it was all good in the end! We helped finish Hermana Piña move in the morning, which actually didn't take very long (again). Afterwards we passed by the familia Amador, whose father had just been diagnosed with cancer, and checked in to see how they were doing. They were basically the same loud, crazy, happy Dominicans as always! It was so humbling to see how positive they were able to be despite their difficulties. Although he should come out okay despite the long road ahead, their testimony in the Plan of Salvation clearly blesses them and comforts them a lot! We then went to a baptism of an investigator of some of the sisters in our ward, which was a great experience. Then we were able to pass by some people, and taught a couple who were very receptive. Then we went home and ate pizza while receiving our transfer calls! I was nervous since I knew that I was leaving, but I'm so excited!

Elder Landetta wanted to take this picture!

Sunday was my last time in the Zarahemla ward. I was able to bear my testimony and say goodbye to a lot of people, which was awesome. Although I'm sad to be leaving all of them, I'm so excited to start new relationships in my new branch! After taking pictures with a lot of the members, and saying goodbye, we went to go visit Hermano Mendoza for my last time. He was the first person I ever met on my mission! It was sad saying goodbye; he's been such an example to me of faith, strength, and positivity. He's an awesome guy! Afterwards, we felt like we should pass by Edward, an investigator who we hadn't seen in a while, and we were able to teach him on the spot! It was a really good lesson, and we were able to commit him to baptism! He's a super cool guy. We then went to the Familia Bravo, the Mexican family I mentioned last week that we finally were able to see after passing by tons of times. They surprised us and fed us some SUPER good fajita-type things with steak and Chorizo, horchata, and I had Chicharron for the first time! It was SOOOO good. Mexican food is probably one of my favorites! And they are such a special family!

Last visit with Hermano Sanchez

Monday was pretty good as well; we spent most of the afternoon passing by potentials and doing some contacting. After a few hours of that, we went to visit Hermano Sanchez for the last time and eat pizza with him. He talks a lot, so the lesson on top of eating pizza took FOREVER. But it was really fun! He's a really cool guy, and I really like him a lot! We then spent the night as well passing by a couple of people, then we went home and I started the long packing process.

I'm sad to be leaving Zarahemla. I've loved serving in Spanish. The people are so warm, the food is SO good, and Spanish was so much fun to learn. But, I'm really, really excited to get a fresh new start at a new area with a new companion, and I am really excited to finally teach in French! It'll be a very new experience with a different culture (VERY Haitian), which I am super excited for. I'm sure it will be amazing!

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