The names of all members and investigators have been changed.
Monday the 28th:
I got myself some running gloves to give me less excuses for not running in the cold. Elder Ritz and I are determined to get fit! :D
So President gave us a call that afternoon . . . .
Funny voicemail from President :)
(see the video on the blog)
And he was in need of some assistance/assistants... Haha he's too funny :) But we got to go hang out at the airport for a bit waiting for a new missionary until he got there :)
But that night we were with Fr. Jaeger. We read from Alma 18 with him, focusing on teaching in the Lord's way to help him share the Gospel more with those he knows or will know. It was great! He's such a spiritual giant as always! :D
Tuesday the 29th:
We had Mission Leadership Council at the mission office. I love those meetings so much. It's like having specialized training with a general authority almost in a very intimate setting with only 20 people or so :) We focused on Faith again as to why we are not finding that much in the mission right now. But we laid out the plan for the next big thing in the mission: Breaking Barriers to Boldness. We're really go to reemphasize using the Restoration in our finding opportunities to bring the Spirit more and help people see the importance of it all. It was great!
The invitation is this:
1. Read Elder Andersen's talk titled "Joseph Smith" from 2014
2. Do his invitation!
3. Do the activity in Preach My Gospel on page 159 about the message of the Restoration :)
Super excited to see it in action starting January 10th! (Feel free to do the activity yourself!)
Towards the end though, President got talking about priesthood keys and explaining to us how they give three things:
1. Authority to direct the work
2. An enhanced conduit of revelation concerning the work
3. An enhanced capacity to love.
Just some great doctrine :) But then it got linked into the family and the roles of parents to exercise "keys" in a family together. It was quite moving when President was almost in tears as he testified of his own eternal family and his partnership with his helpmate Sister Patrick. He's such a great example to us all here in the mission :)
After the 3 hours of counseling and some lunch together, I started my exchange with Elder Caine from Mauritius (which is over by Madagascar). We took the metro to the bus terminal and then took a bus up to Quebec city. It was a good ride so I took time to sleep and study in Romans some. I love chapters 7-9. The Spirit of Adoption was one focus of my pondering. The Lord adopts of into his physical family through the resurrection is the conclusion I came to :)
Elder Caine and I exiting the bus terminal in Quebec City... Enjoy my
Hoth commentary ;)
(see the video on the blog)
Up in Quebec we got to visit a family that is returning to activity in the church and we talked a lot about their goal of going to the temple. Then we talked to the father about getting the priesthood and he brought up the fact that the first things he needed to do was get rid of alcohol and smoking. It was beautiful! So once the lesson was over we gave both of them blessings to help do so! They were really touched by the Spirit :)
But that whole day it was snowing so I had a good time driving in the snow up there. Thank goodness I have experience in winter driving :) We got to help some people who got stuck and what not though :)
Wednesday the 30th:
We went to Trois Rivières for a district meeting there to help them start their Barrier Breaking :) We also went over the Vision to Baptize. Elder Lloyd the district leader compared not inviting people to baptism like striking out in baseball without swinging. We have to get our swings in! :) Then there's a chance at least :)
So after the meeting, Elder Caine had to start his exchange with Elder Lloyd so I went with Elder Ficquet for a couple hours until Elder Ritz and Elder Peery showed up :) It was an exchange-ception! Haha! :) Then we met up at the Costco there and off I went with Elder Ritz, driving driving and driving again :)
Oops! We're in video mode.
(see the video on the blog)
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| Elder Caine from Mauritius |
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| Elder Fiquet who I was on an exchange with for a couple hours haha :) |
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| Costco parking selfie with Elder Ritz, Elder Peery, and Elder Ficquet |
We had dinner with the Narcisos which is always good :) And then we went hometeaching with Fr. Rakotomalala to Sr Hillier who is coming to church again! It's a miracle! :D Fr. Rako shared with us how much he is grateful for us after the lesson. It really shows how much confidence and trust the members have in us. We must be doing something right! :D
But that night when we finally got home... I realized that I had left one of my bags up in Trois Rivières in a car... So I don't have my quad or my new piano music until Wednesday hopefully. Pretty sad but nothing to do but move forward! :D
Thursday the 31st:
we had district meeting. Elder Critchlow led an activity of looking back at something we were proud we did the year before and something we were going to change for the new year. I am so grateful for this last consecrated year of service. It has been the most productive year of my life by far! I am so grateful for all of the people I have been able to help be baptized or come back to church. Just from baptisms alone, I've seen over 10 people join the church from those that I have taught. It's amazing! :D
Afterward we changed into service clothes and helped move a fridge from a third floor apartment down and then get it unloaded at the church. Yeah that was fun haha :) That night we ate with the Thelissaint family for New Year's eve :) We vanquished two huge bowls of rize! It was so good! :D
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| Thelissaint family on New Years day for La Soupe! |
With the bit of time left that night we felt like stopping by Fr. Rodier and it turned out to be inspiration! He had already gone to bed but he was grateful we came by because he had gone through some trials over the holidays. But we were there to build him up! :D
New Years Eve Fun
(see the videos on the blog)
Friday, January 1st, 2016!!!! THE NEW YEAR!!!!
Still way too crazy. That morning we went over and had soup with the Thelissaint. It's in memory of Haiti's independance from France because only the French ate soup while there was slavery. It was so good! Then I went on an exchange with Elder Oswald in the Zarahemla area which is Spanish. I felt like such a greeny at times because I really couldn't talk to people in Spanish that well. But for dinner we ate with a Mexican family. They made us tacos and tamales which were soooo good! :D I love Mexican food! I really felt my tongue loosed during that visit because I was actually talking a good amount with them in Spanish! It was so cool! I really want to learn more though :) But we watched the Bible video on the good samaritan and afterward Elder Oswald led a little discussion but then he said some things and I caught "mi companero" in there as he turned to me so I bore a simple testimony.
"Yo sé que el samaritan es nuestro Salvador. Yo sé que el es acqui con nosotros..." along with some other things. It was so powerful! I loved it! :D
Saturday the 2nd:
I totally found a Chiasmus in Alma 29:9. Even two little ones actually! :D It was pretty cool :) After studies we unexchanged at the mission office and off I went with Elder Ritz again! We had a lot things fall through so we passed by some people. We got to help some people out with their car and what not and get some potentials from that.
That evening we were up in Saint Laurent and we got to see Fr. Benoit and his son Jacques for the first time in a while. We had a beautiful lesson on the Plan of Salvation reviewing the first half. Then we read from Alma 34:31-32 about preparing to meet God. Then we recommitted him to be baptized on February 20th. It was awesome!
Afterwards we were talking to everyone outside in that area. We got talking to one man and once we started talking about the Book of Mormon he told us to come with him. We sat down in his apartment and had a first lesson with him only moments after meeting him! He truly wanted to learn! His name is Bonaventure by the way :) And at the end of the lesson he didn't even get up to show us out because he was engrossed in the Book of Mormon. It was beautiful!!! It was truly a miracle!!! :D
Sunday the 3rd:
We went to Fr. Benoit's before church to help them get on their way for the first time.
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| Fr. Benoit looking sharp! |
Fr Bonville picked them up and we were a little late getting to church but I was never so happy to be out in the foyer for the Sacrament. It felt so good!!! :D Then the testimonies were all super powerful and I loved it!! During Elders Quorum we had a lot more people than usual and so many of them were people we work with. I love it! :D Fr. Benoit and Jacques loved it all and Francois and Everett both got assigned to do talks in the next couple weeks!!! We're so excited! :D
The work is going super well right now and we're gearing up for more!
I love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Brooks :)
Elder Brooks :)
Oops! Video mode again
(see the video on the blog)
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| The temperature plummitted today haha :) Yesterday was like 0 and
today is -18 roughly. And please compare the picture with that of Elder Noel doing the same last winter :) |
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