November 7-13, 2022

The beautiful park is naked again.  It looks like it did in January when we arrived, sans la neige.

We have been surprised, but pleased, that winter has not yet come to Montréal.  The temps have dropped and we have had rain but no snow yet.  But we know that it's coming soon - the forecast is for snow on Wednesday.

Only the squirrels are enjoying the park

Zone Conference was last week.  We learned more about faith.  The scripture reference was Mosiah 4:9 "Believe in God: believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."  We were presented two questions to ponder: What would you do if you had more faith?  What are you willing to do to receive more faith?

President Nelson taught us five things we can do in his April 2021 conference address, Christ is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains.  I invite you to find and read the talk.  Very briefly, here are the five things we can do:

1. Study, immerse yourself in the scriptures
2. Chose to believe in Jesus Christ
3. Act in faith
4. Partake of sacred ordinances
5. Ask Heavenly Father for help

The Zone Conference photos probably all look the same, but I promise there really are different missionaries in each one of them!

Sister Smith is back in the hospital.  She has an infection on her lower back (from a bed sore) that needed more treatment than the nursing home could provide.  Her blood pressure also dropped dangerously low.  After she was at the hospital a few days, she tested positive for Covid.  She is in isolation but we were allowed to visit her, provided we wore all the protective gear that the hospital workers wear into the room.  We can tell she is a bit discouraged but she keeps a positive attitude.

Our final temple prep class was on Tuesday.  All six participants are preparing to receive their endowments and to be sealed.  Angela plans to go to the temple in Florida where her husband is in school, which makes perfect sense, but we will not be with them.  After class she called her husband and we talked with both of them for awhile. 

Alex would like to go to the London temple so the friend that baptized him can be his escort.  So if that happens, we won't be with him either.  Alex is married; his wife is not a member and is quite negative about the church and his involvement.  She came to church with him for the first time on Sunday, so maybe one day... He also received his patriarchal blessing after conference today.  We will be interested to talk to him about that.

Solomon and Wumi will go to the temple here, as will Sunil and Sujana and their two children.  Solomon and Sunil both received the Melchizedek priesthood after conference today.  A lot happened during conference - more about that later - but this was the best part of the day for us.  Four names were presented in conference to be ordained Elders.  Three of the brothers are from our ward!

A young man from the Montréal ward, Solomon, Kalil, Sunil

The Bishop ordained Sunil first.  John was the only other Melchizedek priesthood holder so he stood with the Bishop to assist.  Sunil took his place in the circle while John ordained Solomon.  Solomon then joined the circle when the Bishop ordained Kalil.  I didn't think my heart could take any more when the young man from the Montréal ward asked those three brothers to stand in the circle while his father ordained him.  It's difficult to put into words my emotions as I watched each brother receive this power, then stand up to immediately exercise it.

Kalil's dad, on the far right, is not a member but quite supportive.  He has been working with missionaries off and on over the years.  Kalil's older brother is currently serving a mission in British Columbia.

As mentioned, we had Stake Conference this weekend.  The Stake Presidency was changing and we were blessed to have Elder Allen D Haynie of the Quorum of the Seventy and Elder Eric Baxter, an area seventy from Silver Spring, Maryland visit us.

Elder Baxter quoted from Elder Oaks' April 2022 conference address:

"A common misunderstanding of the judgment that ultimately follows mortal life is that good people go to a place called heaven and bad people go to an everlasting place called hell. This erroneous assumption of only two ultimate destinations implies that those who cannot keep all the commandments required for heaven will necessarily be forever destined for hell.

A loving Heavenly Father has a better plan for His children."  You can read the rest of his talk to find out that plan!

He also referenced President Nelson's article titled The Everlasting Covenant that was published in the October 2022 Liahona.

When Elder Haynie spoke he referenced the same Liahona article and told us the story behind it.  The Everlasting Covenant was the talk President Nelson gave in the training session for all the general authorities in April 2022.  Those training session are not usually published, but they are posted on an internal site that the general authorities can access to use for clarification and training.  Several authorities were anxiously waiting for the talk but it never appeared.  Elder Haynie went to the brother responsible for that site and asked why the talk wasn't there.  The brother didn't know but agreed to ask President Nelson about it.  He came back with the answer that President Nelson did not want it put on the site.  Several of the brethren were disappointed and felt strongly that they needed access to that training talk.  So Elder Haynie asked the brother to go back a second time and ask again (sounding familiar?).  But he figured since the brother was President Nelson's son-in-law, it would be alright.  President Nelson finally consented, saying that if the brethren felt it was that important the talk would be published for everyone to read.

Elder Allen D Haynie

Elder Haynie is a great story teller.  When he was a fairly new member of the seventy, he went to the cafeteria in the basement of the Church administration building for lunch.  It is a small space with only a few tables.  The food is served cafeteria style.  He purchased his food and went around the corner to where the tables are located.  Only one table was occupied - it was a table for four and President Nelson, President Oaks and President Eyring were sitting at it.  He quickly turned and headed to another table but President Nelson called, "Allen, come join us."  What could he do?  As he approached the table, he said the song from Sesame Street came to mind and he sang "one of these things does not belong with the others."  They all laughed and told him of course he belonged.  They were chatting about yard work and grandchildren; just a group of grandpas enjoying some down time together.  As lunch was ending, Elder Haynie heard a loud scrunch (his sound affects are better).  He looked to find President Nelson smashing his plastic water bottle, then putting the lid on it.  President Oaks asked him why he did that.  His reply was that it would take less space in the recycle bin.  Elder Haynie thought it was nice that he cared about the environment.  Then he heard another scrunch and saw President Oaks flatten his bottle the same way.  Another few minutes brought another scrunch that didn't sound quite as good as the others.  President Eyring was trying to flatten his plastic bottle lengthwise.  President Nelson said, "oh no, Hal.  Do it this way."  He took his bottle and flattened it for him.  Elder Haynie then felt like all eyes were on him so he took his bottle, shrugged his shoulders and said "follow the prophet!"

Elder Haynie did teach us spiritual things as well, but I love hearing about the mundane, personal inside stories that endear me to our great leaders.

It's been a good week  We have been spiritually fed, witnessed the progression and strength of new members and had some fun doing it.  We love our Savior Jesus Christ and testify that he lives and loves each of us.

I will leave you with a whimsical video of a freight train that came just as we approached the tracks on our way to the food bank Friday.  The brick building with green lettering on the other side of the tracks is the food bank.  I love trains and could probably watch all day - if I had a nice comfy place to sit and enjoy it!