HAPPY THANKSGIVING

dear everyone,

happy thanksgiving! canada celebrates their thanksgiving in october because they are confused, so yesterday was thanksgiving!

this week was pretty crazy. it was the first week sister fleming and i had all transfer without any exchanges, but we had 3 district meetings to go to! so we drove basically all over the whole zone and had some miracles along the way!

the first miracle would probably be the amount of members we were able to bring with us to lessons. members are vital. we need to bring them to every single lesson if we can! and it is difficult for us sometimes to find people to come with us, so we were counting our blessings that we had some! 

saturday was also our miracle day because we had a whole schedule planned, but of course nothing on the schedule worked out, but we were able to have 3 incredible lessons and a phone call with one of our investigators we haven`t been able to see in a long time. we were so grateful for that!

this week it was also a miracle that i didn`t puke in front of the whole ward when i had to give a talk in french! i was so nervous but when i was done a little girl from the ward winked at me and then showed me her temporary tattoo on her shoulder and so i think it went okay. 

this week i will be saying goodbye to sister fleming, but i will be staying in gatineau with my new companion, sister garcia! i don`t know very much about her except that she has a GPS so i love her already! 

yesterday we were able to have thanksgiving dinner with one of our favorite families, the bakers. they are so wonderful! it was fun to eat and talk about our blessings. i am so grateful for this gospel and this mission i`m on. even though there are hard moments, the miracles and blessings i see more than outweigh the hard times. i am also very grateful for the incredible people i have met and for ottawa. oh man i love ottawa so much! and my area, gatineau, being the only french-speaking ward in the stake, covers any french speaking member in the whole area which means i get to see ottawa at least once a week. i am blessed! (and obsessed with ottawa and parlaiment and everything in it)

also funny missionary moment: we were visiting a recent convert who wanted us to take a walk with her at this farm down the street. as we were leaving her building, i saw subway coupons on the floor by the recycling. i wanted those subway coupons. mainly because missionaries have no money and when we go on exchanges with the other sisters we usually have to eat out one meal so they don`t eat all of our food. anyway, i didn`t have a chance to grab those coupons from the recycling then, but we passed by her apartment later that day and i totally made sister fleming stop and us run in and grab them. someone had thrown away perfectly good subway coupons! and they weren`t even expired. missionary life if ya know what i mean. 

this week i was studying in the book of psalms in the bible. i LOVE psalms 116, especially the first 8 verses and especially verse 8: 

"1 I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.

2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.

4 Then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.

5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.

6 The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.

7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.

8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling."

during my mission i`ve encountered so many people who feel so broken and utterly helpless. our message is one of hope. our everlasting hope is that we are children of a Heavenly Father who loves us and sent His Son, our brother Jesus Christ, to save us. I am so grateful for that. and i was so grateful to have found these scriptures, for He truly has delivered our souls from death, our eyes from tears, and our feet from falling. 

i love you all so much! 

love,

soeur paine

pictures:

1-3 last pday in gatineau park 

4 beaver tails! ottawa may be the home of the beaver tail.

5 sisters in a district we visited this week

6 our district. and i almost forgot! we had thanksgiving dinner as a district this past week too and it was wonderful. having a senior missionary couple in your ward is the best!