May 23-29, 2022

This post is a day late - Sunday was a full day and I just didn't have enough energy to stay up late to write, especially since we had to get up at 5:30 for Seminary this morning.  One more Seminary class/lesson to go!!  The rest of the week is a Doctrinal Mastery review, the final assessment for the semester and a review of the assessment.  We aren't conducting any of those things so tomorrow is our last day.  We have gotten a little attached to the students but I can't honestly say I will miss it.

Monday we participated in an inter-faith project to clean up a park.  They select a different park and area of the city to clean each year.  This year we were in Charles Square at Parc Saint-Gabriel.

In addition to picking up trash and tree limbs, we were given seed bombs to plant along the way.

The bombs are packed with wildflower seeds that germinate and pop up quickly.  We were told to plant them in any bare patches of land we wanted.

John and our group leader planting bombs

This is the group's first year back after Covid and there wasn't a great turn out - except for the Canada Montréal Missionaries.  There may have been 20 people from other faiths.  You can see from the group picture how many missionaries volunteered.

One day this week we walked a different section of the Châteauguay River.  It's much prettier in the spring/summer, I think.

We met a man from Mali fishing on the river bank.  He has lived in Châteauguay six years and likes to come to the river to feel peace.  John is always excited to see someone fishing and to ask what they are catching, using for bait, etc.  The man didn't want his picture taken but let me photograph his set up.

The nice walking/bike path between the road and the river

There are many beautiful homes along the road, with great views of the river

We often see this sign on our walks.  John didn't recognize some of the French words so we finally translated it.  We guessed what it might be saying...

Poison Ivy!

We also discovered there is a national historic site along this path.  It wasn't open so we just walked around the grounds a bit.  The house was built in 1792 and has survived without any major alterations.

The maison (house) is located in the heart of Old Village Châteauguay and is surrounded by a wooded area that was part of the original estate.  French soldiers were housed there in 1812 to fend off the American invasion.  The LePailleur family moved into the maison in 1826.  They were heavily involved in the planning and development of the village of Châteauguay.

The ward had a Relief Society activity Friday evening.  It was a paint party taught by three sisters in the ward.  They all brought samples of their paintings to display and some of them were really good.  There was a really good turn out.

This is Nancy, the bishop's mother.  She learned to play the piano at age 38 and took up painting at age 57 during the pandemic.

The blonde sister standing is Marie.  She went to Montreal College of Art and taught most of the class.  Everyone was recreating Nancy's painting on the easel, which is really too small to see very well.  The sisters seemed to be having fun.  We had other things going so just dropped in for a few minutes to see what was happening.

We took a few hours off to hike and explore Parc Mont Royale on Saturday afternoon.  This park is to Montréal what Central Park is to NYC.  The 500 acre park is in the middle of the city, with the "mount" or mountain, as the locals call it rising up in the middle.  The mountain is only 764 feet elevation so certainly not what I consider a true mountain but it's the closest there is in this area.  There are beautiful hillside cemeteries, hiking trails, picnic areas, a museum, a chalet and restaurant.  Lots of cycling, bird watching and even boating in the lake.  In the winter you can go tubing and cross country skiing through the park.

The bus dropped us at one of the park entrances and we walked in.  It really is a beautiful green space with a wide range of flora and fauna.  We logged almost 6 miles exploring the trails and viewpoints.

The chalet plaza with spectacular views of the city

Our first stop was the chalet.  There is a large plaza that overlooks the city.  The picture below is looking back at the chalet from the plaza.

My selfie skills are lacking but you can see some of the city behind us

A nice couple from Chicago took pity on us and offered to take our picture.  Thank you!

One of the trails in the park

These photos are taken at different viewpoints in the park.

We finally gave our talks in Sacrament meeting yesterday.  We think it went well.  If not, I guess they won't ask us to speak again.  We were asked to substitute in the Sunbeam class at the last minute.  We had five wiggly little ones that did pretty good.  After we learned names and how to spell them and ages and how many siblings they all had, we had a nice discussion about Jesus.  It was going well until one of the girls noticed Elder Cooper was missing some fingers.  The rest of the class was all about fingers so we tried to direct the discussion to how special our bodies are and that we should try to take good care of them.  It always came back to those short fingers!  They were all enthralled and wanted to hold his hand.  I'm glad they weren't scared or creeped out by it.  It was actually kind of sweet.

Our friends Solomon and Wumi were sustained and set apart as ward missionaries yesterday.  They had asked us to come earlier in the week to teach them about Patriarchal blessings so we also talked a little about other priesthood blessings and father's blessings.  After church we asked them if they were going to the Bishop's office to be set apart.  They had no idea what that meant.  We explained it and Solomon said "I am already so blessed, I don't need another blessing."  We explained that yes, they did need this one and that their ride would wait for them.  Those two are the best missionaries we have!  They literally talk to everyone they meet about the gospel.  We gave him another Book of Mormon yesterday because he had given his personal copy to someone he was talking to in his building.

There were 27 baptisms in our mission in May.  President Harkness said he couldn't find any record of that many in one month ever happening here.  And there are 30 on date for June.  We had a baptism in our ward last night.  The best part is that Solomon was able to baptize her.  Esther was first introduced to the gospel by a friend and because she lives close to Solomon and Wumi, they and the Sisters taught her the lessons.

Solomon and Esther Olufunmilayo Bonnie

 

Sister Pollock, Solomon, Esther, Sister Giustini

Bridget, Sister Pollock, Solomon, Esther, Sister Giustini, Wumi

Bridget Otober Enabulle is the friend that introduced the gospel to Esther.  Wumi gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.  It was her first talk in a church meeting and she was great.

Having a baptism was the perfect end to the Sabbath day.