The Last Day of 2017!

And here we are the last day of 2017. 

As usual, we had a busy week—can’t say the same for many who live in Montréal. When we headed to the Metro Tuesday morning, the Metro was not busy at all—only a couple of people waiting for the train. As the week wore on, ridership increased, but nothing like normal. Pat and I found it so hard to get ourselves up and moving. This is the first time that we have had to work between Christmas and New Year’s. 

Empty platforms!

Not very busy!

I think the people who were not riding the Metro on Wednesday were all at Costco! Every four weeks there is a Mission Leadership Council. For the occasion, the office prepares salads to go with the pizza that we order. That means we have to make a Costco run. Sister Holt and I thought it would be a quick trip. Wrong! We ended up behind the snow removal system! My what a system! It is amazing to watch. There is a snowplow that has a chute similar to what is used on farms during harvests. Along side the plow is a large dump truck that moves at a speed that allows it to stay in sync with the plow. The snow shoots into the truck. When the truck is full, it moves off to dump its load in areas reserved for snow storage! Then another truck takes its place. They clear the snow from curb to curb! Salt Lake could take a lesson! So, it took us a while to get to Costco, and once there we were met with lots of shoppers. The drive back to the office was much faster. 

This week was not without its craziness. The office is on the third floor of the building, and the outside doors are kept locked. If someone wants to enter, they must buzz and then one of us pushes a button to let them in. The problem with the system is that we can’t always tell who is coming. This is particularly true these days when everyone is bundled up-often with hoods that make it difficult to know who is ringing the buzzer. Friday I let someone in. Turns out he was looking for a handout. He said he was a member of the church—not true. Then he said that he had come from a town up north for a job interview but was told he was too old. He wanted to get a bus ticket home. We did some checking and finally decided the best thing to do would be to give him money so he could buy a ticket. Since he spoke French, I went down to tell him what we were doing. He seemed to be with it and not under any kind of influence. When I explained what we were doing, he took my hand and kissed it. 

After work on Friday we went out to dinner at Bistro Tot ou Tard with three of the archive sisters. The restaurant is a couple of blocks from the apartment, so we walked. Now, mind you, it is cold, cold, cold. Those of us who wear glasses discovered a unique problem: We were all bundled up, including mouths and noses. The air we breathed out fogged up the glasses and then our glasses froze! Yes, froze! 

The second crazy event occurred on Saturday. We were sitting in the living room and heard gurgling coming from the kitchen sink. When we went to investigate, suds were pouring into the sink! We called the custodian on duty—he said it was probably water coming from the laundry room that is directly below us! The joys of living in an aging complex!

Today we had two of the sisters and one of the senior couples over for dinner. When we have the young missionaries over, they always leave us with a spiritual message. These beautiful young missionaries asked us each to talk about what we are grateful for. What a wonderful way to end the year. What am I grateful for? I am grateful for my family—each one of them. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary in the wonderful Canada Montréal Mission. I am grateful for the young and the senior missionaries that I work with—couldn’t ask for a better group of folks to associate with. I am grateful to know that I am a child of God and that he loves me and knows me personally, and I am grateful for a circle of friends who are kind and supportive of me—that includes each one of you. 

Sisters Terou, Clark, and Holt with Elder Holt 

And here we are on New Year's Eve

Made another Bûche de Noël for Sister Terou

Happy New Year to each and every one of you.

Merry Christmas

Today was the busy culmination of the week before Christmas. Our work at the office remained steady. This was the second and last week of zone conferences. Thursday I took Pat to the wrong chapel for the zone conference, Pat slipped on the ice in the parking lot of the correct chapel while he was inspecting cars, and I was the only one in the office! Fortunately, he didn’t break anything when he fell! Instead, he bruised his knee.
Now that the weather has definitely swung into winter, there are a few things I have come to love while living in Montréal. First, I love my BOOTS! These days, I never leave home without them. I hated boots at home, but I didn’t have to trudge through snow like I do here. Also, I love scarves. To wrap them around my neck to keep out the cold wind is heavenly. Finally, I love the Metro! There are so many places that we can go on the Metro! While it is difficult to lug lots of groceries home via the Metro, it is easy to do a couple of shopping bags full of groceries on it.

We love the metro.  Only two stops away and we're at the office!  How simple is that?

Saturday the crazies were out! We had gone to Canadian Tire which, in spite of its name, is a department store. In the strip mall with this store is a drug store. While we were in line waiting to pay for our purchases, a man about our age cut in front of us. Then he proceeded to try to convince the clerk that he had already paid for several boxes of Kleenex but he owed a little more money. In actuality, he was trying to get the Kleenex for the amount he was trying to give the clerk. The clerk held firm while he argued. Finally he said he wasn’t going to buy the Kleenex! Weird! We were on the Metro a couple of times and each time saw a couple of individuals hollering at everyone and everything that passed them. Strange!
When we went to church on Christmas Eve, the counselor who was conducting told everyone to take his/her seat so the meeting could start. Then he disappeared! The poor guy spent the entire time hopping from the stand to the back of the chapel where he was trying to take care of his kids so his wife could sing in the choir. Meanwhile, the bishop was sitting with his children so his wife could direct the choir. The other counselor sat on the stand and did nothing! Interesting! We had Christmas Eve dinner with the CES couple and two young missionaries.
Today has been a marathon! We began by Facetiming with our kids and grandkids—first time we’ve seen them all together for a long time. So wonderful! Then we had two sister missionaries over for breakfast. Then throughout the day at approximately 90 minute intervals we had three different pairs of missionaries at our apartment so they could Skype/Facetime with their parents. We wanted to make sure there was something for them to eat while they were here, so we fixed sandwiches, vegies, and fruit. We sent each pair home with a traditional bûche de Noël. What fun it was for us to share in the missionaries’ and their families’ joy at being able to see each other. At 6:45 we had our final pair of missionaries over for Christmas dinner. In the middle of all of this we had been invited to have another Christmas dinner with the four archive missionaries. They had invited to elders over for dinner and need to have Pat and me there to maintain the mission rules. It was a crazy but wonderful missionary day! All in all, we interacted with 12 missionaries. These are among the most wonderful young people I have ever met. What a privilege it is to be with them and to support them in their important work.

Breakfast with Sisters Allred and Perez and the Drolets

Sisters Austin and Louder were here FaceTiming with their parents.

Elders Benchley and Gauthier also contacted their parents.

We had lunch with Elders Leung and Lehnardt, Sisters Iverson, Hyde, Alp, and Chatterton and Sister Chatterton's mother.

Next it was Elders Torres and Drysdale.

And to finish the day we had dinner with Elders Lott and Turcotte.

Treats for the missionaries when they came to FaceTime/Skype with their parents

Christmas dinner missionary style!

We sent each team of missionaries home with a traditional Bûche de Noël.

Now the day, our first Christmas in Montréal is nearly over. We’ve worked hard today but we have enjoyed every second of it. Hope each of our friends and family had a wonderful Christmas.

Another Week Is Gone!

Can it be possible that another week has passed? And is it possible that next Sunday will be Christmas Eve? How can that be? Time is so interesting. Many times the minutes seem to crawl, yet the days, weeks, and months fly by. I honestly have to say that we don’t have too many minutes crawling—we have so many things to do that we are seldom left with nothing going on! This week was no exception.

This week began the cycle of zone conferences. Although there are seven zones in the mission, we have five separate conferences in locations throughout the mission. There were three of them this week—one in Québec City on Monday, one in Montréal on Wednesday, and the third one in Ottawa on Friday. Because Pat is the vehicle coordinator, he has to go to all of them. Usually, the seniors in the zones are asked to prepare a luncheon for all the missionaries attending the conference. That’s what the Drolets and the McGees did on Wednesday. After getting everything needed for the meal into the building, Elders Drolet and McGee headed outside to inspect the vehicles while Sister Drolet and I started the meal. It’s a bit tricky trying to get everything prepared for 50-55 people so that the missionaries can go through the serving line, eat, and be back into their meetings within the allotted time. We pulled it off! Yeah! We served baked potatoes, chicken Parmesan, and a salad. Sister Drolet baked and decorated 120 Christmas cookies for dessert! And she did it in the goofy apartment oven! (Getting the temperature right so that the baking is even is a skill I’m trying to master! That is somewhat disheartening since I’ve been successfully baking at home for over 50 years! It’s a work in progress. Yesterday’s attempt ended in success—everything was baked and the edges and bottom were not burned!)

The mission is swapping cars getting some of the smaller ones on the island. Pat needed to drive a SUV to Ottawa and swap it for a Subaru during the Ottawa conference. Slight problem—Pat doesn’t drive at night. So, we decided I’d drive him to Ottawa, swap the car and immediately return to Montréal. We planned to leave at 3. That plan didn’t work as we couldn’t leave the office until after 5. Then it was back to the apartment to get the things Pat needed to stay over. We got in the SUV, programmed Lucy, our not too reliable GPS, and followed her directions. After crossing the Jacques Cartier Bridge and finding ourselves in stop-and-go traffic for a good 30-40 minutes, Pat felt we were going in the wrong direction in spite of what Lucy was saying. (I never have any idea where we are so I just trust Lucy knows what to do—shouldn’t be so trusting!) We stopped at a gas station and found out we were headed east instead of west. So, for the next 90 minutes in the middle of rush hour traffic, we had to cross back onto Montréal Island (this time by way of the Champlain Bridge), cross the island, and then head to Ottawa. We had been told that driving to Ottawa would be a 2 – 2 ½ hour trip. Oh, to be so lucky: We arrived at 9:30! At that point, we decided I should just get up early the next morning and head back to Montréal rather than trying to do it in the middle of the night. I had nothing for a sleep over! (Only the second time in my life I’ve gone to a hotel with no luggage—the first was when we were moving from Yuba City to SL. We had headed out of Yuba City only to have car trouble. By the time we were back on the road, it was very late. We made it to Wells, Nevada, with two kids—a four-year-old and a 5 month old baby. Neither of us were prepared to stay but decided we were just too tired to continue driving.) We go into the hotel, and I have to ask for a toothbrush. Pat is dressed in missionary attire and I look like who did it and ran because I’m in jeans and snow boots. Talk about the odd couple!

Good plan to head back early the next morning, right? Didn’t work out quite that way. I managed to get to the sister’s apartment using Lucy, swapped keys and tried to start their car—dead battery! I drove them to their conference and headed to Walmart to buy jumper cables. Finally got the car started about 10:00 and headed back to Montréal. To complicate things, Pat forgot his Tiwi card, so during the trip to Ottawa and back, Tiwi was constantly telling me to please log in. At one point on the drive over, we had Lucy, the GPS on my phone, and Tiwi squawking at us! A memorable evening, but not for anything pleasant!

We had a repeat performance of wandering around in the vast unknown of Montréal last night. We had a sister coming in who needed to be picked up at the airport. There were so many detours that in spite of the fact we left early, it took us over an hour to make a 30 minute drive. I couldn’t retrace my route if my life depended on it. Luckily, the flight was delayed. But the drama continued—we couldn’t find her. We waited at the area where passengers must exit if they are coming from out of country. She didn’t come and she didn’t come. We had no contact information other than the flight she was on. Pat and I had her paged—nothing. Then we received a phone call telling us that she had called Sister Phillips and wanted to know what she was supposed to do. Sister Phillips texted me her phone number so at long last we made contact. The drive home was equally circuitous. 

Sprinkled in these crazy driving episodes were wonderful periods of joy: We bought what was supposed to be a four-foot tree (turned out to be seven feet!) and decorated it, so our little apartment has a Christmas feeling about it. We had many missionaries come into the office this week, including the grandson of one of my teachers and mentors. I was able to get his grandparents’ contact information. It is so wonderful to be with these young missionaries. They fill my soul with joy. Yesterday we had two missionaries over for lunch. They are so genuinely thankful for anything you do for them. I gave them several options they could choose for lunch. They chose Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce. Watching them enjoy that meal was priceless! Today we went to the French YSA branch so that I could accompany a young sister as she sang, “Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” Such a beautiful song and a lovely meeting!

Our tall 4' Christmas Tree (It's really nearly 7')

Elders Gauthier and Benchley

Swedish meatballs, salad, and puréed squash for dinner . . .

. . . and brownie sundae for dessert

Our week has been crazy, busy, and joyful. We love what we are doing and love where we are. We particularly love serving our Savior.

Much to love to all.

Quebec City

I wrote this last night while we were in Quebec City. The hotel where we were staying did not have wi-fi included with the cost of the room, so I opted to wait until we returned to Montréal to post this. We had a lovely time in Quebec City. It is an amazing city. We will return there at least one more time (hopefully more) before our 18 months are up. We did not have a lovely time coming home. It should take about 3 hours to make the drive—it took us 4 ½ hours! We were involved in the worst traffic jam I’ve ever been in! So glad to have arrived safely! Here’s what I wrote yesterday:

Tomorrow we being our 12th week as fulltime missionaries. The week after we arrived in Canada was transfer week. On Tuesday of that week, I remember commenting about how busy the day had been. One of the office missionaries said, “If you think today is busy, just wait for tomorrow!” She was right the next day was super busy. This week was our second transfer week in the Canada Montréal Mission. Wednesday and Thursday were crazy, crazy busy because we had a huge number of missionaries transferring, six leaving, and six new missionaries arriving. The night before the missionaries leave for home, they are privileged to go to the Montréal Temple. The office missionaries are so fortunate to be able to go with them. The Montréal Temple is a tiny little gem. It is a place of peace and beauty and spiritual rejuvenation.

Canada Montreal Temple

In addition to the busyness of the mission, we had the added complication of having our furnace give up the ghost at home. Between multiple phone calls with Marianne and Marianne and Christopher meeting with heating contractors, that problem was resolved and now Sarah and Michael are no longer chilly and neglected! A huge thank you to Marianne for all she did to resolve this crisis!

We absolutely love being around the young missionaries. They are eager, intelligent, obedient, and spiritual—can’t ask for anything better. Because it was transfer time, many of those being transferred stopped at the office for one thing or another. 

When I spoke with the Larsons, the couple we replaced, Elder Larson said that those things I had learned to do as an educator would come in handy. Boy was he right! During my educational career, I did many presentations – PowerPoint, Prezi, chalk and blackboard, chart paper, etc. A couple of weeks ago Sister Phillips said President wanted a special presentation for Zone Conferences. I was privileged to create this special presentation—even figured out how to add music to it. Yes, so many things have prepared both Pat and me for what we are doing now.

Because Pat is the vehicle coordinator for the mission, he has to attend Zone Conferences which start the week after transfers. The first conference is in Québec City. Sister Phillips asked if I would like to go to Québec City with Pat. What an absolutely gorgeous city! It reminds me so much of the cities I loved so much while a missionary in France. Last night we were with the Phillips in Old Town. Here are some pictures that I took.

Hotel Frontenac

Today we attended the St. Foy Branch. There is such a depth of spirituality that we are experiencing in the wards and branches in the mission. Even though Pat doesn’t understand a lot of what is being said, the feelings that we both have don’t require knowledge of French.

After our church meetings were over, we met a pair of missionaries in the parking lot. They asked if we could pick up a couple and bring them back to the chapel. Luckily, we only got lost once! We had them back to the chapel a few minutes later than we had anticipated, but we managed to arrive at their apartment without too much delay. The gentleman directed me back to the church. Success!

We spent a couple of hours at the Basilica of Saint Anne des Beaupré. It is one of the most beautiful Catholic churches I’ve ever seen! It was magnificent both inside and outside. It is so massive that the pictures of the nave I attempted to take with my phone didn’t turnout well. I marvel at the skill involved in creating such a masterpiece. The Oratory of St. Joseph is another incredible church that we want to visit—it’s in Montréal, but we haven’t had time to go there. Now that we are Metro people, that might make it easier for us to get around.

Painting in the Basilica of Marie and her parents, Joachim and Anne

Saint Anne's is said to be a site of healing miracles

Before we left Montreal, we found Sarah's Souvenir Shop! We saw a statue of St. Michael at the Basilica - reminders of our precious grandchildren.

Statue of St. Michael in Ste. Anne's

Tomorrow we will be at the church by 7 to help prepare the lunch for the missionaries. We'll return to Montreal sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Before we left Montreal, we were in the downtown part of the city.  Here are some sites that we saw around Ste: Catherine Street

All in all, it has been a fantastic week. We love where we are; we love what we're doing!