Zone Conferences

 Every three months we need to go to zone conferences.  The first one last week on Tuesday was in Quebec City.  We drove there on Monday afternoon and stayed at this very nice Normandin.  The drive up took about 3 hours.  Of course we arrived in the middle of rush hour traffic going home from work.  It was very cold up in Quebec City and the winds were very strong and cold.  We were looking forward to having a nice Thai dinner which we bought just by the Hotel, but the food was not tasty at all and in fact we couldn't even eat much of it.  That was after we spent almost $30.00 on it.  Very disappointing.  We will not be eating there again.

 As part of zone conference, the missionaries were given a lesson on how to cut hair.  Pres. was the guinea pig for the first conference.

 Elder Teuira from Tahiti actually did a great job.  When he first arrived at the mission, he couldn't speak any English and was afraid to even say a prayer out loud, but now he is one of the AP's.  He is such a pleasant guy with a big smile always on his face.

 Everyone in this particular zone speaks French.  Luckily for me I understood everything that was said.

 Papa is wearing a jacket because after we do our training, we have to go outside and inspect the cars.  Car inspections take quite a while because they are very specific and detailed.  It really takes both of us to do it.  Every single thing about each car has to be inspected.  We begin by checking the trunk to see if it is clean and if all materials are well organized in boxes.  Then I get in the car and taking the odometer reading and checking the seat belts and the cleanliness of the car inside.  I also look for 4 things in the glove compartment:  registration, accident forms and guidelines, insurance, and another certificate.   John is looking at the outside, checking it for cleanliness and damage.  Then we check all the lights.  When we check the brake lights, I have to be pushing on the brake.  Because some of the missionaries are so tall I am sometimes lying down almost totally on my back and stretching my leg out to reach the brake.  Then I turn the turn signal lights on and off.  Next comes the front of the car.  We check the lights and turn signals again.   John checks all the fluid levels under the hood and I mark down if they are good or if they need additions of any kind.  Finally he checks the pressure of each tire and I write that down and also the depth of the tire treads and I write that down.   You should see us.  John wears 2 jackets, a scarf, hat and a parka with big boots.  I have on tights, boots, a sweater, boots and a parka that is so big that I look like a bear.  The sleeves are so long that my hands don't even peek out making it a bit difficult to hold a pen.  

                                 The two couples on the right are from the Stake presidency.

                                             Elder Bagnall is one of the AP's

                                                        Look how tall Elder Teuira is.

                           This Elder wanted a picture with us because he is from American Fork.

                                        Wednesday we went to the Mount Royal Zone Conf.

                                  A whole new group of missionaries to be taught and uplifted.

 The black sister sitting with the sister missionaries is a fairly new member.  She goes out with the missionaries almost every day.  She is anxiously awaiting her mission call.

                                          Here I am instructing these awesome missionaries.

                                                       Papa has his turn too.

The senior couples help prepare and serve the meal.  Sister Howard on the far right does almost all of the cooking and planning.  She and Elder Howard work with the young adults and the center.  I think they have the best calling.  I loved working with the young adults and the missionaries 

 I see Elder Heder and Elder Ellis a lot at the office.  Elder Ellis is a computer whiz.  He used to work for the Apple store in Provo and he knows all about macs.  He has been able to help me a lot.  Elder Heder is from PG and lives very close to our house.

 The sad part of the story is that that day after conference and for the rest of the night and most of the following day about 50% of the missionaries both young and senior were struck down with diarrhea, stomach cramps and illness.  Luckily neither Papa or I got sick.  We think that it might have been that the kitchen was not clean.  We think that perhaps the cutting board was contaminated.  Unfortunately the 25 kgs or 34 lbs of pork loin, that was planned to be used for the following days conference,  had to be thrown away.  We didn't want to chance it being contaminated.

On Thursday we had the Isle de Montreal and the Rive Sud combined conference.  

 This couple is Elder and Sister Cannon.  Elder Cannon is the father of President Cannon.  Each of them has served several missions.  They are newlyweds.  They have only been married just a bit over a year.  Elder Cannon at one time served as mission president in one of the southern states (I forgot which).  He is 86 years old.  Can you imagine serving another mission at that age? In this particular mission they are working with the Chinese branch and so are both learning how to speak Chinese.  Both of them are very active both mentally and spiritually as well as physically.   

Montreal East Branch

 Each Sunday we go to this building for church.  There are 2 wards, the Ochelaga French speaking and the Ochelaga Spanish speaking, and our little branch.  Both the French and Spanish speaking have a large number of people attending.  The Spanish ward always sings really loudly and really well.   They can be heard even outside of the chapel.  Our little branch doesn't have that many people.  We usually start out with about 20 and after sacrament about 20 to 30 more people come straggling in.   The branch is small and many are struggling, but those who do come faithfully are strong in their testimonies of Jesus Christ and of the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Most of the people that I have met speak with heavy accents.  In Montreal almost everyone speaks French and English.  However the French they speak is Quebecois and it is very difficult for me to understand.  Their English also has a certain accent to it.

  

 Last week a little baby with parents from Mexico was blessed.  She was absolutely adorable and she reminded me so much of Emily when she was a little baby.  She was dressed in a very fancy long white dress and she had a ton of dark hair with a bow in it.  Her Dad carried her oh so carefully as she lay in his arms on a fancy crocheted white blanket.  It sure took me back to the day when my babies were little and especially I thought about Emily all day long because she looked so much like her.  Both parents bore strong testimonies of how they know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and how grateful they are that they can be eternal families.  The Father speaks English some, but was to worried to speak in front of the congregation, so his friend translated for him.  The friend told about how grateful he was for the church and what a privilege it is for him to be a member of it.

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 Nadia is an amazing young woman who teaches gospel doctrine.  She is from the Ukraine and speaks fluent Ukrainian as well as fluent Russian.  I do not now her story yet, but I will find out one day.  I do know that she and her husband and mother lived in France for 3 years along with their daughter who is now 6.  About a year ago she went through a devastating divorce.  Nadia told us that she has had many miracles in her life.  One of them was when she was at one of her lowest points in life.  She was in Montreal going to University, working, and caring for her little daughter as a single mother.  At this time she lost her day care and searched and searched to find new daycare for her daughter.  She was unable to find anything.  She also lost her job because she had to provide daycare herself and couldn't go to work.  As a little background to the story, one must know that she had been trying for a long, long time to get a visa for her mother to come to Montreal, but that was also not working out.   People were not able to get visas from France to come to Montreal for some reason.  Anyway, Nadia became so sad and so desperate that she just didn't know what to do or where to turn.  She turned to God.  In prayer she asked him to help her.  She prayed that she needed the help not for herself, but for her little daughter.  The next day she received a phone call from her mother saying that she received her visa.  She was overjoyed because now her mother would be there to be with her and to help with her little girl.  People asked her what did she do to get the visa?  How did this happen?  It was impossible.  And yet, it did happen.  Nadia testifies to the fact that the Lord heard and answered her prayer.  She also speaks perfect English and Spanish.  In fact, she now has a boyfriend that is Hispanic.  She has introduced him to the gospel and he is taking the lessons from the missionaries.  I look forward to getting to know her better.

Halloween Party

 Our little branch, Montreal East English speaking, combined with the Ochelaga French speaking ward for a Halloween Party.  They went all out.  As we entered the building everything was very dark with a few lit jack-o-lanterns grinning at us. The door were blocked and we followed a string of lit orange lights that wove in and out of all the classrooms with various pumpkin and jack-o-lanterns glowing to show the way until we ended up in the cultural hall.  the hall was decorated and set up with tables with a buffet to which everyone contributed.

 The details of the party were a bit confusing.  One set said the party was from 5-7 and the other said 7-10.  But everyone said that both times were for everyone and you could just come whenever you wanted.  We were supposed to eat around 7:00. We arrived about 5:45 and but by then most of the food was gone although some food did come dribbling in over the next few hours.

 There were games for the kids.

 there was a huge bouncy house.  It looks kinda small here, but in reality, it was very, very large.

                             The two elders assigned to this ward and branch enjoyed the party.

                                                           The sisters like it too.

      Cute little matching pumpkins are the daughters of the Branch Pres and his counselor.

                                         The little green frog is the Branch President's son.

 There was lots of dancing going on.  Perpetue was rocking out even with her cane.  I guess she's feeling much better.   It was amazing to me to hear that the government is paying her $1,000 every two weeks because she is unable to go back to work yet after being hit by a car.

Her Mom was dancing even more than she was.  Those two loved it.

This fellow came as a funny doctor and his wife came with her own IV pole and lines taped to her arm.

 I tried to get a good photo of this lady, but she was moving around too much the entire evening.

                                                 Dry ice is always fun in the punch.

 These cakes looked so yummy, but we left just as they were beginning to serve them.

Milk

 This is a huge apartment complex that we drove by the other day.  It is just one if several that are mirror images.

 The other day I was reading about how milk comes in bags in Canada and the next day we walk into the store to shop and lo and behold there is the milk in bags.  The three bags of milk come in one larger bag.

                               You take one of the bags and snip the tiniest little hole in a corner.

                                                 Voila!  The milk can be easily poured.

                                                              It tastes great too.