hello from victoriaville! the locals call it "victo."
this week feels like a blur! we have done so much! i spent the first half of the week saying goodbye to everyone in gatineau. wednesday morning we woke up super early to get to the bus station, and of course, it was snowing SO MUCH and we had to drive so slow because nothing was plowed and it was coming down hard. we got on the bus but because of the weather, we were an hour late to montreal, so we almost missed our trainer's meeting! also don't even get me started on getting our suitcases through the metro... we had 6 people and 12 suitcases containting all of our things as well as a few extra bags. 6 flights of stairs and one metro ride later we finally made it!
we had our trainer's meeting and we met our greenies! i have sister ellsworth! she is from a tiny town called saint johns in arizona. she's soooo sweet and wants to work hard! i love her! she will do anything! we had to wait in montreal for our car for a little while because it was taking the elders so long to come down from victoriaville, but we drove our 2 hours to victoriaville and got to our apartment which is like a mansion! and it didn't even smell like boy! we did have to get rid of a few things and we have still some cleaning to do but it really wasn't too bad. we were very impressed.
the branch here in victoriaville has about 30 people who attend but the branch members are so involved in the work! they all have suggestions of who to visit which is super nice because we didn't really have too much to work with. apparently no one in victoriaville has a phone and none of the elders' old investigators want to see us. we have been doing a ton of contacting and trying to make a dent in the list of people we need to visit.
it's pretty funny because we are like a novelty here. apparently victoriaville has been trying to get sisters for a LONG time. the last time they had sisters was in 2010, so 7 years ago. now that they have sisters they all just kind of stare at us. but they are so loving and kind, so i think it's more like they love us but are maybe a bit afraid of us but then they are super nice and all the old men of the ward have a competition of who is going to invite us to dinner first. sister ellsworth and i just kind of awkwardly stand there and smile. but it's been really fun to get to know the ward. there are a lot of part member families with great potential, i love the relief society president and everyone wants to help us. the leaders are amazing.
sister ellsworth and i have been blessed to see little miracles here with finding some new investigators and one of the sweetest ladies in our branch. she is from the dominican republic and she is having a really hard time speaking the church words in french even though she can understand most of it. she said she was praying on day and asking Heavenly Father why she couldn't figure out these words and she said she received and answer to the prayer and it was the sister missionaries. she told us she will go teaching with us all the time because she knows she can learn french if she teaches with us. i hope we can do the work that these people deserve! and i am excited to find the miracles here in victoriaville.
this week i have been reading the war chapters in alma in the Book of Mormon. i have had a hard time reading them in the past because all it is is people dying! but this time reading, i've been trying really hard to figure out how these chapters apply to me right now because we are in the middle of a "war," just the war of truth and goodness and as a missionary especially, i know i need to be prepared and be the best representative of my Savior that i can be. two things that really stuck out to me as i read these chapters were the fact that the nephites never delighted in the bloodshed, they never wanted to send the lamanites to God unprepared to meet Him, but they knew they had to fight to defend those things that they held dear to them. and the second thing i noticed is that they continually recognized the hand of the Lord in all things that they did and they continually thanked Him for their numerous blessings, for they were great even in the time of war.
i've been studying to see how i can be more like the 2,000 stripling warriors who volunteered to fight so their parents would not have to break the oath they made to God. i love alma 57, in the chapter the 2,000 go to battle, and it was a ferocious battle. other members of the nephite army were killed, but none of the 2,000 were killed even though they were wounded. and while all of the nephites were so righteous and good, some of them still were killed. but not a single on the the young, stripling warriors died. vs 26-27 say, "And now, their perservation [talking about the 2,000 stripling warriors] was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our bretheren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe- that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power. Now this was the faith of these whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually."
their faith was so strong and they put their trust in God continually and they never doubted. we can all do that even if it's little by little. God needs brave sons. God needs brave daughters. and because we are His sons and daughters we all have the divine potential and strength to be brave and strong and have courage if we remember to put our trust continually in Him and our Savior Jesus Christ, who is Mighty to Save (2 Nephi 31:20).
i love you all! i hope you have a great week!
love,
soeur paine
pictures:
the bakers and i
the allards and i
the scotts and i
sister ellsworth and i and president and sister phillips
when you get to an elder's apartment and they left you 3.25% milk- it's basically straight up cream
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