I survived the transfer and am in a threesome!!

Hey everybody!

This week was WONDERFUL! :) ROB GOT BAPTIZED!!! It was SO exciting...it went really well. It was at 9 in the morning, so we had to be there extremely early to fill up the font, had a bit of a difficult time printing programs, and we ended up starting a bit late, but it still worked out all right. It was pretty funny; at about 8:45 Rob and the elders were the only people who had shown up, so we were starting to get a bit nervous. We called our ward mission leader, Jean-Luc, and asked where he was and he said "Oh sisters, thanks so much for waking me up!" Sister Williams just about flipped. He asked us if Brother Donaldson (counselor in the branch presidency) was there yet and if maybe we could just do PEC first and THEN have the baptism. Sister Williams was furious. She was trying so hard to be nice at first but then stopped and said "I'll preside the stupid thing myself if I have to! You had better be here in 15 minutes or..." and he interrupted her to say he would be there as soon as he could, but it still might be a little while. She just hung up the phone. Then the APs showed up and she started complaining to Elder Cowley and he said "Wait, Jean-Luc? He's out in the parking lot right now on the phone." and then he walks in, completely ready. It was so funny :) But the baptism itself went really well. I took pictures, I'll try to send them next week. One of the recent converts, Robyn, gave the talk and did an incredible job, and then Richard, a convert of about 2 years, actually performed the baptism, and it was so neat. He did a really great job. And afterwards Rob was so happy! He was so excited before it actually happened and then afterwards we asked how he felt and he said he just had such an incredible feeling and was so happy...he couldn't stop smiling! :) I loved it. A guy in the ward, Jared, did the confirmation which was good. He had helped a lot in the fellowshipping so it was great that he was able to participate in some way. I think it's good that members of the ward participate actively in the confirmation/baptism ordinances...that way there isn't really just the one missionary that the recent convert is depending on. They can form that bond with someone in the ward who won't be leaving anytime soon. Otherwise they'll be like many of the other recent converts who are torn apart completely when the missionary who baptized them goes home or is transferred. i think I'm going to encourage everyone from here on out to have members of the ward baptize them instead of missionaries...we'll see how that works out :)

What else happened this week? Oh! We did a service project on Saturday which was so fun! We collected food for the NDG food drive and we got to go around with the military/ SIster Williams and I rode in one of the army trucks...definitely worth the 3 hours of freezing outside while we were knocking doors, haha. I loved it. We were also on the news while we were sorting the food afterward, or at least, that's what the woman in charge told em at church yesterday, but I don't know if we actually were or where you would be able to find that to see it. But it was still a really neat experience. I also met a girl there from Japan who had been living in Quebec for 2 months and then moved to Montreal just 2 days before and I talked to her for a bit, she came around the town with us while we were collecting food, and we invited her to church and she showed up! It was such a shock...but there she was, and she stayed for all three meetings! Two of the girls in the ward are fluent in Japanese (one served her mission there, I don't know about the other one) so they both talked to her and explained everything, which was wonderful, and so it turned out really well. I'm not sure she's really interested, but she said she might come to FHE tonight and she'll definitely be at French class tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. I'm expecting a miracle this Christmas...maybe she's a part of it :)

Also....I made it through my first transfer!! My second transfer officially starts tomorrow, and I have my planner decorated and ready to go :) I'm excited. We got home Saturday evening to wait for the call around 8...it didn't actually come through until almost 10 so we were just sitting there waiting for news to come in. We had our friend Bruno sneak a peak at the board in President McKinnon's office (he cleans the mission home) on Friday and so we pretty much knew what was going on with us (President Mckinnon was so upset though...he said he's never letting Bruno in his room again. But we got the information!), but didn't know much else that was happening, so we were sitting and waiting for all the other elders to call us and tell us what was happening with each of them, and it was CRAZY. They flushed like 5 areas, 2 of them were zone leader areas which is like unheard of in this mission, and then they just put bizarre companionships together in random places. 3 of the elders are leaving halfway through this transfer to get back to school in time, so we weren't sure what was going on with them, and they ended up doing some completely unexpected things. Like Elder Porter is being transferred to some boonies area in Ottawa and training an elder fresh from the MTC for these 3 weeks and then they'll have to replace him with somebody...not quite what I would have done. As for us, both Sister Williams and I are staying in Concordia (the YSA English branch), but since one of the sisters is going home and we're not getting any new ones this transfer, they're closing Quebec City and Sister Morse is coming to Concordia so we'll be a trio. It will be an interesting experience...I can't quite decide what to think about it. Our apartment is so tiny, so we've spent the past day or so cleaning out the junk that has been piling up for the past 5 or so years and it is insane how much can accumulate. I've heard she's pretty quiet, but that she likes to work hard, so we'll see what she's like when we meet her tomorrow. I think it'll be a good transfer :)

Other than that, there hasn't been anything too exciting going on this week. Life is pretty much the same as always. We were both a bit under the weather this week so we didn't get quite as much contacting done as we wanted to, and I didn't think we were working all that hard, but we still managed to do better than every other area in our zone. Kind of crazy how that works out. And we had a miracle (of sorts). Remember that kid Michael who came to church with his friend Sonny last week? He randomly showed up at the Church on Thursday wanting to be baptized and we just happened to be there, so we taught him the first discussion and it went so well. He's had a pretty rough life, but wants to change it completely. He said he felt something in church...he almost started crying during Sacrament meeting, and he wants that always in his life. So it was great. We taught him the second lesson on Saturday and that went well too, but we're going to have to pass him off...he has an 8 yr old daughter who he hasn't seen in 3 years, but he's taking his ex to court for custody, so he's not exactly YSA. But it still was exciting to have him be so interested. And we met with a member referral who was way sweet and another really cute girl named Dominique who we met on the metro about a month back. Unfortunately both of them have finals this week so we can't see them again for another week or so, but I'm hoping for good things with both of them :)

I love you all tons and thanks so much for the letters, support, and prayers! It really means a lot to me. I miss you tons and can't wait to talk to you in just a couple of weeks! I love you!

Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey