October 24-20, 2022
The Montréal Temple reopened after a 10 week closure for cleaning and minor renovations. We went Saturday morning to complete initiatory work for eight of our ancestors. Our ward temple day is in three weeks and we will share some of our family names with the youth to complete the baptisms for us.
We have been visiting with an older member of our ward recently. She is cranky, argumentative and often a little hostile. She has refused our invitations for several months. Her husband passed away ten years ago; she is estranged from all three of her children. She was upset with her ministering sister, who has lovingly endured her for many years. I think she ran out of options so decided to give us a try. The first visit lasted two hours while she told us all her woes and complained about everything from the landlord raising her rent to how badly her children treat her. We told her she was delightful and asked if we could come again. She is 88 years old and escaped from Hungary in 1957 after Russia had invaded the previous year. She was a young woman when she arrived in Quebec. She married a man who had escaped from Poland and they raised a family here in Montréal. She joined the church in 1997 but we aren't clear on how active she has been through the years.
Having lived in the vicinity of Poland and Hungary recently and loving the food there, I thought perhaps I could ask her to cook us one of her favorite meals (as a way to interest her in something she could do to distract her from her troubles). I asked if she had a favorite Hungarian dish - no, she didn't really. John loves goulash and asked if she liked it. No, not really. We asked if she cooked Polish dishes for her husband. No, none of that. She just cooks what she likes to eat, the way she like to eat it. So much for that idea.
We finally did have a delightful visit with her this week! I finished reading the Book of Mormon last week and asked if she would like to begin reading it with me again. She agreed and we read Joseph Smith's testimony together. Her eyesight isn't good, so John and I read and she asked us questions. After we read she asked if we would like her to sing a song. It wasn't a church song, or one we recognized, but it was sweet and she has a lovely voice.
I just caught the end of the song - wish I had been better prepared to capture all of it.
Margaretta likes to be called Margo and we have realized that she is an elderly woman who is alone and frightened behind that cranky disguise. We're sure to have more stories about our new friend.
A new senior couple has arrived in the mission office. Elder and Sister Lund are from Alberta; he was our daughter Sherri's bishop at one time. Just to show how old we are (well, just John really), John and Elder Lund's father were classmates in Raymond and chummed around together.
As we walk from the metro to the food bank each Friday, we pass through a neighborhood with several apartment buildings. This building looked very different on Friday.
Apparently there was a fire sometime during the week and most of the building looks to be gutted now. One of the lanes of traffic was fenced off; it is filled with cinderblock, chunks of cement and other charred debris from the building.
Friday evening was the ward Halloween Party/Dance. They decorated classroom doors so the children could trick or treat at the doors. There was a lot of candy and it sounded like they were having fun. I was in the kitchen most of the time so didn't get a lot of pictures.
Catherine Benson (is she an 80's rocker or what??), her mom Janet Schurman (the wonderful lady that brought us Thanksgiving dinner when we were sick) and Catherine's son Carter, the astronaut.
Today was the Primary Presentation in Sacrament meeting. As always, it was entertaining and brought a sweet spirit to the meeting.
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