Hey everyone! Just to start off, I'm doing fantastic! Lots of work going great and I'm making things work! :D
Monday 18th:
We had an awesome Dinner appointment at Addie's house. She fed us so well! But we had Frere Donovan, Bovier (less active from Congo), and Nannette a potential investigator all come! It was so awesome! Seriously it was a great gathering of people :)
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| Elder Brooks, Elder Losee, Bouvier, Addie, Nannette |
Tuesday 19th:
So I tried out a nutella and strawberry sandwich because I remembered Kayley said they were super good... and she was right haha! :D Tried to pass by a less-active but he wasn't home. But his roommate was and so we helped him out by doing his dishes and we were able to talk to him about his life and where he came from! So cool! Then we made some calls while driving (bluetooth in the car is wonderful) and we came in contact with a member who was lost for a long time. Kalila was actually in a pinch right now needing to move out next week and we were able to get things arranged because as we were driving, our best buddy Frere Donovan was on the road and jumped in on the call too! Woo go service! Then we went and helped Frere Donovan with his dishes haha! That night we had a lesson with some members, the Fremonts. We had some time to plan with them for what we wanted to teach and then went over to the Lefrancs. We got going with small talk with the Lefrancs and Soeur Fremont was right at home talking it up. Then we lost control of the conversation and Soeur Fremont went to preaching mode and pretty much talked about almost anything in the gospel including Outer Darkness and the Millenium... Eesh. We had to leave before the Fremonts left because we had a dinner appointment, late, with the Wus. And then we had to run from that one too to pass by Nannette's birthday party. But all was good!
Wednesday 20th:
I studied the temple prep booklet that I got in the MTC for my personal study. I miss the temple so bad!!!! I cannot wait until June of next year when I can go to the Montreal temple! At District meeting it was Granby's turn for splits. I had Elder Pilling (the District Leader) come with me and I was pretty much in charge of the area for 24 hours. Talk about responsibility. But I took it in stride and did my best. We made a lot of calls that night with me leading them and they went pretty well! Had a really cool experience calling Shawn, the guitar guy from my first knocking session. He had read some of the Book of Mormon and we discussed baptism! Whaaa!?! Then he asked where some good scriptures from Christ were and so I directed him right to 3 Nephi! So cool that he's reading! :D There is hope for him as an investigator in the future! Then we had a rendezvous with the Gasniers. They don't really believe in any scriptures and feel that faith is something you grow out of eventually. But Elder Pilling was able to bear a powerful testimony about how he came to know the truth for himself. I was feeling the spirit so strongly! Then at home, I had two letters!!! TWO! And they were from Mom and Dad! I was so happy! :D But yeah DearElder and regular mail got here the same day haha! :D
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| Letters from Mom and Dad! |
Thursday 21st:
We had our studies in the morning then headed to St Hyacinthe to unsplit. It was nice to split for a bit but I also gained more appreciation for not being senior companion right now. We took out a less active teen named Kellan for
poutine...yeah I got a bacon cheeseburger haha... :) I'm just not too big a fan of poutine really. But right after we went to visit Sister Riggs and I got to practice teaching the first lesson which was so nice! She told us also about some problems she's been having with her upstairs neighbor having loud parties with drinking and drugs. But in my closing prayer with her I prayed that there would be peace especially in consideration for her neighbor.
Friday 22nd:
I studied
Alma 36 in the morning which is amazing! There is so much joy in repentance and redemption! I highly recommend reading it if you aren't too familiar with it! Especially verses
17-22. The BEST. but after studying it I was brought to gratitude for the Atonement in my life. I would not be here on my mission or even in a good place in life if the Savior had not paid the price for me and made it possible for me to be forgiven. And that same idea is what I hope to bring to people here in Quebec: The Joy of Redemption, and a message of hope. We had weekly planning all afternoon and then had a dinner appointment pretty far away at the Gallais'. They had a piano so I got to play it some! :D Then they fed us a "ban" (bien) Quebecois meal of
"Hot Chicken" which is a chicken sanwich smothered in Quebecois BBQ sauce (very thin watery sauce with some spice) and then peas to top it all of. It was actually pretty good and I got stuffed with the stuff! Then they brought out apple pie and I was in heaven! Woo! Love the members here haha! :D But with that we shared a message from
Alma 36:17-22 and I was also able to share a message about remembrance and the importance of remembering. Such a great spirit was felt there! Then when I got home, I had two letters from both my Grandmas! Such a sweet sweet surprise! :D
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| Letters from my Grandmas! |
Saturday 23rd:
We had Chicken Cordon Bleu for lunch! Then we had some more weekly planning to do until Soeur Abrams and Sister Jewell, office missionaries, came by for some paper work and such. They also conducted an inspection of our room and there was LOTS to be fixed. I took it in stride though and started making a list of things to do little by little. But then we tried to make some pass bys but had no luck. After a little dinner we stopped by our good Haitian friend Freddy to give him an English lesson. At the end we asked for referrals and he's got a bunch of people he might be able to get us in contact with! We then passed by a potential named Marco. He answered the door shirtless with a beer in his hand but he let us in haha! he believes that God is more of an energy and really he had the perfect idea for what the Holy Ghost is...except he thinks that's how God is. So close to truth! We talked more about our beliefs and then gave him a Livre de Mormon and read through the introduction with him. I could really feel the Spirit and I was even able to testify of it all. So awesome! Afterward he pulled out a guitar and I got to play a song for him. Definitely want to use my talents more to do some finding!
Sunday 24th:
I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting. I spoke on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went really well. The only hiccup was that at one point... I accidentally read the wrong scripture... I wanted to read
2 Nephi 32:1-5 on the Holy Ghost but then I read
2 Nephi 31 instead! I didn't realize until I was almost done! It was so funny though! But I shrugged it off and just continued and all was well!
Just some info on the church here though:
Granby is not a ward nor a branch. It is a unit connected to ward. We meet alone in Granby for just two hours each week but starting in September we're going to 3 hours :D!
Well... After church we were mingling with members and I got talking with Sister Riggs some. She reminded me of the prayer that I had given
on Thursday and she had some news about it! This weekend... her neighbor had a party but there was no noise and they were all gone by 9!!!! It's a miracle!!! I couldn't help but thank God and also to just be in awe of the power of prayer. It really works!! After a lunch at home we went out contacting and knocking doors for the afternoon. We made a total of 33 meaningful contacts actually which was awesome! We came across one man named Ian. Ian was from Costa Rica, gay, and a searcher of religions. He said he'd tried just about every single one out including ours! He had actually had a bad experience with the missionaries because they missionaries were having a competition to see who get the biggest numbers. Not Good. But we were really earnest with him and he was nice back! Sometime we might go discuss stuff with him! For dinner I cooked us up some pork chop sandwiches and then we packed them up and also a lot of fruit and went to the park by Lac Boivin. We ate there at a table and it was really nice. The best part though was when a little boy approached us with a pamphlet. he offered it to us in sheepish French and it turned out to be a Temoins Jehovah (Jehovah's Witness) pamphlet! I, being a little witty and what not, said we would trade and I gave him one of our cards back in return and he scurried off. I just thought it was awesome that the kid was brave enough to come up to us but also funny that it was the Temoins Jehovahs. We made some pass bys after and even a super awesome family! Pierre and his family were so awesome! He wants to learn English so we're setting things up but his family is super catholic. Two super adorable little kids. But we talked about stuff and got talking about languages and in the midst of a torrent of words I heard the word Swahili... Then I got thinking... I know a song in Swahili... So I told them I did and then I sang "Baba Yetu" which I had learned in Men's Chorus my last semester. It was so cool! Esepcially because it was the Lord's prayer so they had a lot of respect for me really quick haha! But then we left them by having a family prayer. They even turned off the music and TV which was so respectful! Loved it!
Monday 25th:
Not much has happened today yet. We had our studies and then cleaned the appartment like mad! Went grocery shopping too and we can totally tell it is the end of the month because we barely got by haha! But all is well here in Quebec! It's a rollercoaster sometimes of ups and downs but overall, I know that the Lord will provide a way just like Nephi said in
1 Nephi 3:7. Trust in the Lord! He knows what's happening :)
I actually hope to stop by a music store later today to get a uke or something so don't be alarmed by any purchases haha :) But hopefully we can use it as a literal instrument to further the work through my talents :)
I love you all soooooo much! You're all the best and I absolutely LOVE your letters :D I don't really have much time to actually write back but if you really want me to I'll do my best, just let me know!
Best Wishes from Canada!
Elder Brooks :)
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| Ikea cinnamon rolls from a member! :D |
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| Elder Losee at his desk |
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| Email! |
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