BONNE ANNEE GRAND NEZ

Hello everyone! 

in quebec to say happy new year you say, "bonne annee grand nez" (happy new year big nose) and you respond with "paravent grandes dents" (same to you big teeth). i don't get it either.

this week was a good week! nothing really too exciting but i am staying in gatineau with sister garcia for another transfer! i'm glad to stay. this will be my longest time in an area (4 transfers) with my longest companion (3 transfers). it's good to stay and i am so excited for the days ahead! we have so many plans and goals for this upcoming transfer and we will see miracles!

this week we went to montreal again for mission leadership council. i love getting taught by our mission president and his wife. they are such wonderful and inspired people! we talked about goal setting and how we can improve our mission. we drove to montreal with president phillip's councelor. it is a 2 hr 15 min drive to montreal and we got there with no problem. however, the snow started around lunch time and by the time we left we had about a foot of brand new snow! nothing was plowed and it just kept snowing. we were very blessed on the way back because there were so many cars in ditches! THE SNOW NEVER ENDS! 

sister garcia and i have been trying to be more urgent and diligent to find those who are ready for the gospel. we have seen miracles in different ways which is a testimony to me that no righteous effort will ever be wasted. the Lord needs to hasten His work, so He uses everything. and sometimes that means we receive a media referral after knocking on doors all afternoon. we are really blessed by the Lord in all things. 

saturday was new year's eve and while we didn't get to stay up until midnight and ring in the new year, i have been reflecting a lot on the past year. what a year it has been! all but 20 days of it has been spent doing this work in Canada. i can't believe it's been so long! i'm so grateful for the experiences of this past year and i am excited for what is to come. there are a few things that i have been thinking about lately. 

my mission president shared a story in the gatineau ward about a lady he taught in his mission who got baptized. he was blessed to learn more of her years later when he was in the mtc training to be our mission president. in the email he received, the member told him that she was "fidele jusqu'a la fin," or "faithful to the end." that phrase really touched my heart. i also have been thinking about the first christmas in the americas in 3 Nephi 1 as i mentioned in my other email. as i pondered that story and read it, i thought about how brave, courageous, and faithful those nephites who still believed that the sign of a day and a night and a day without darkness were. while this sign was logically and scientifically impossible, and with every setting sun they were reminded of the "impossibility" of this sign, they still believed in the Savior that was to be born a world away. they were going to be killed the very next day, yet they still remained true. i hope i can be like that lady in my mission president's mission, to be like those nephites, and to be like all of the wonderful examples around me that are faithful until the end. this year i want to decide what that means to me and how i will accomplish that. to be a more faithful to my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ who have given me everything i have. 

at zone conference a few weeks ago we went over Ether 12 from the book of mormon and how if we have enough faith we can move mountains. but faith is an action. so when we have faith, that means taking our shovels and digging at that mountain every single day, having the faith that when we are done, when we have done all that we can and relied on the Lord, that mountain will be moved.

and finally, i read in a talk called "The Refiner's Fire" by President James E Faust. in it there is a quote that i love, "the price we paid to be acquainted with God was a privilege to pay." any trial, any weakness, any sadness we have helps us not only rely more on our Savior, but understand a little more and teaches us to be more compassionate. it also enables us to feel greater joy when we know greater hardship and sorrow.  

sorry my email is kind of boring. i love you all! thank you for your love and support!

love,

soeur paine

pictures:

1. new year's eve brunch with the bakers and the scotts (in the picture: grandma baker, sister scott, dee dee,  sister garcia, and me)

2. me and garcia

3. this is just about how crazy our new years eve got with sparkling cider and transfer calls! yay!