HELLO EVERYONE FROM QUEBEC CITY!!!
tuesday we made our way from the mtc to canada! we were picked up by the ap's and president patrick at the airport in montreal and taken to the mountain that montreal is named after. it's called "mount royal" which translates into montreal.
it was beautiful as we 8 new missionaries looked over and president read D&C 4 to us. we are called to the work. we then sang "let zion in her beauty rise". i knew this is where i am supposed to be. already love quebec and montreal. driving through the streets i realized that montreal had my heart long before i even knew it. i'm so grateful to my heavenly father for this opportunity to serve at this time and this place.
luckily tuesday night all we had to do was eat and sleep because we were exhausted. the next day we went to the mission office and had some training. it is interesting because probably 50% of the mission is in montreal. there are 2 stakes that cover the same area. one stake is for the english speakers and the other stake is for french speakers, so your next door neighbor could be in a different stake if you speak english and they speak french. we then have 1 other english stake in the west part of the mission that is ottowa and 1 french stake that covers quebec city and everything to the north, east, and south that is the longeuil stake that is french.
also interesting is missionaries get called to serve in the CMM in french, spanish, and chinese but no english, so if you speak english you will probably serve in an english area at some point.
sorry i get sidetracked BUT after some training we were taken in to a room with our trainers as we anxiously awaited to see where we were sent, who were our trainers, and what language we were speaking. of course, i was the very last person to be assigned.
i am in the quebec ouest (west) ward, 10 minutes from quebec city all the way up north serving in french! (only 1 other greenie is serving in french, the rest are serving in english to start off their missions) all of the other new people are in the concentrated area and i was sent all the way up north so i was a little hesistant at first but i love it here in quebec. i`m so lucky!!
my trainer is sister clark! she is from california and a cat lady like me so it's great! i am her first trainee and we are really learning together. she has only been in this area for one transfer before getting me and she has been out for 6 months. she's very nice and we get things done. i'm very grateful to have her! we also have a car but it is a brand new car so even though i have to stand behind it when she is backing up, i don't have to wave my arms like an idiot because we have a backup cam. #blessed
my first couple lessons were kind of rough because let's just say we are dropping the first 2 people i ever taught, but the french is coming easily to me which is a huge blessing.
i do not understand a word of quebecois. but they can understand my french so it's interesting to say the least. but we do teach several people from africa and other francophone countries so i can understand them.
the work is doing well over here. we have a golden investigator named sebastian who is on track to be baptized at the end of the month. he is 30 something with 2 little kids and just soaks everything up like a sponge. i've met him a couple times. he accepted the word of wisdom but has a hard time because he loves coffee but he is willing to try and comes to church with us. we have to teach him the law of chastity later this evening so pray for us. ha.
vivian is one of my favorite investigators. she's so special but has a hard time understanding with god she can overcome all of her trials. she needs faith! i think we will ask her if she wants a blessing because i know it will help her.
lucie is technically a former investigator that we serve about every other week because she is handicapped and very old and lonely. she can't physically be baptized the regular way so we are trying to figure out another way because i know if she wants to be baptized, the lord will provide a way. she's a crazy old lady but we love her. she's always trying to set us up with men and give us "marriage" advice if you catch my drift. she is great, but we have a lot of work ahead of us.
quebec is known for their carnivale and we had the opportunity to serve there last thursday which was awesome! we served with our district who are awesome! we pushed people down hills in tubes and giant hamster balls. we get to go to carnivale for free today because we served and we are serving again on wednesday.
we have a nice little ward here in quebec west. it`s basically the suburbs of quebec city. we share the ward with the zone leaders because it covers a HUGE area. our district contains the elders at the very top of the mission, sister training leaders, zone leaders, and district leaders so everyone is awesome!sunday was fast sunday so i said my testimony in french and it went perfectly. another huge blessing because it could have gone very wrong haha. our members are also amazing! they want to do missionary work so they are always willing to go out with us to our lessons. i especially love the torres family. they have a daughter, isabel, who is serving a mission in st. george, utah in may and she goes out with us sometimes. i love her so much!!
awkward moment: when i met the bishop he shook my hand for a good 40 seconds as he was talking to me so he just is there shaking my hand the whole time and i`m trying to understand what he`s saying to me in quebecois but i`m distracted becuase he won`t stop shaking my hand!
awesome: as we were teaching vivian i knew i needed to say something, but i didn`t really know how to say it, but i just spoke anyway and the spirit helped me speak exactly what i needed to say. i couldn`t even tell you what i said, but after i said it, she just looked at me and said "c'est correcte" which is what the quebecois say when they agree with something. the spirit was so strong and i was able to speak in such a way that she agreed with it 100%. it was a miracle!
okay that`s all i can think of love you all!
ps these are pictures with pres and sister patrick and my new trainer sister clark. i know i look tired okay i was.
mom if you could forward this email to everyone that would be great thanks! love you
soeur paine
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