Hey Everybody!
This week was a crazy week...there was so much going on! Best news of the week: Patrick set a baptismal date! I am SO excited for him. So we've been teaching him for the past week and he called us one day and said that his girlfriend was going to be there the next day, so not to do another law of chastity kind of lesson (if you remember, the day we planned to do chastity he had invited 2 friends with him, and it did not go over very well) so we told him we'd review the first discussion. We got there the next day and not only was his girlfriend there, but also his twin brother, their friend Crystal, and another friend. The lesson went well, but I'm not sure they're all that serious about learning more. It was still pretty exciting though. Then, the best part, was at the end, I wasn't quite sure how to ask him for another rendez-vous with all his friends right there, so I just didn't say anything, and then he asked “So when do we get to see you again? Monday evening maybe?” So we set up something for tonight. He was also at church yesterday (a little late; he'd forgotten about dailylight savings time) and that went so well! I was talking to him after Sunday School and he asked “So...when is my baptism?” And I told him we had 2 more commandments that we wanted to teach him with just him and then he could be baptized after that, so maybe not this saturday, but the one after, and he was just thrilled about that. He went to Priesthood and volunteered the information to Elder Williams and then Elder Grinton later thought he would help push him towards baptism a bit and asked “So when are you getting baptized?” and Patrick said “in two weeks.” He's so excited about it and he really knows it's all true and he wants so much for his girlfriend to believe it to. I just love him :) Only problem: we still have to teach Sabbath day and Tithing, and I don't think Sabbath Day will be a problem, but Tithing could be a HUGE issue. Especially since we found out yesterday that he really wants to marry his girlfriend and they've been talking about it a lot, but he has to pay a dowry for her of $5,000, so it might be a little hard for him to pay tithing while he's trying to save money for that. I don't know how that will turn out...we'll just pray a lot and really try to bring the spirit in to the lesson when we teach that one. I think it'll be ok though...he knows the church is true and LOVES the Book of Mormon. It'll work out.
Also this week: we had zone conference! That was a lot of fun. I just love President and Sister McKinnon :) Sister McKinnon talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and Bible prophets and how their revelations all intertwined (especially those around 600 BC – Lehi's time) and then had us each write a verse to Follow the Prophet and sing them in front of the group. So fun. Then President McKinnon touched on a lot of different things that were all just what I needed to hear. It really was such a great conference. The weeks with zone conference and interviews are probably my favorite weeks out of the transfer. I don't get quite as much finding in on those weeks, but they're definitely more spiritually uplifting.
We also had our fireside last night and that was not as successful as I was hoping it would be. It really needed another 2 weeks of preparation and organization, but it went all right. It could've been so powerful had it worked out how we had pictured it, but it was still good and the Spirit was definitely there. The title was “Le Christ Vivant” (the Living Christ) and we went through the text of the “The Living Christ” with breaks here and there throughout it. We had Elder Magre doing the narration and we had 3 recent converts bear testimony throughout it (well, 2 recent convert and a life-long member...the other recent convert cancelled the day of) one about the Book of Mormon, one of how a knowledge of the Gospel had blessed their lives, and one I think about the Savior. We also had a congregational hymn (I Stand All Amazed) and a special musical presentation on the Restoration. It's a great idea for a fireside...I really enjoyed it.
Other than that, I can't think of anything really exciting that happened this week. It was a fun week filled with lots of work, and I'm excited for this week...we have more planned and hopefully will be able to get out and go finding more. I'm excited for it! I hope all is going well at home and you're all having a wonderful time. Love you all!
Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Life as a "mom"...
Hey everyone!
So this was my first week training, and it's been a bit rough, but good. Being the senior companion is A LOT more work than I was expecting it to be! But the elders have been wonderful and I have an incredible companion, so between them and the help of the members, it's been going well.
We went to the ice hotel on Monday, and that was fantastic. It was SO impressive what they do with ice and snow here. It was pretty warm, so there were parts that were a bit melty, but it was still really neat to see. Ramouski elders also came up with us, so there was a group of 8 missionaries, and that's always fun :) Then Tuesday was an adventure. Sister Pearson left early Tuesday morning and that was SO sad to see her driving away in the bus...I really miss her; she is just incredible. But she came back with her family to visit on Saturday and Sunday and we went out to dinner with them and had a wonderful time. Her parents were so nice and it was fun to sit and talk with her and find out all about her dying testimony meeting and dying party and everything like that :) It seems like forever away before I come back home, but then when I think about it, I've already been out for almost a third of my mission. There's not that much more time left....so crazy.
But anyways, so I stayed the day with Soeur Pelletier, the sister in the senior missionary couple, and she is so sweet. She has a very difficult accent to understand, so that made the day a bit interesting, but it turned out all right. Then we went and picked up my greenie! her name is Soeur Cottrell and she's from Alpine, Utah, but has lived all over the place. She's a professional harpist (plays for weddings and other concerts and things) and has 4 younger siblings. She's a convert....everyone in her immediate family have been members her whole life, but I guess she didn't live with her family for awhile and didn't get baptized until she was a teenager, so she does have a strong testimony of the gospel and can really relate to the investigators, which is a good thing. It has been a bit difficult, however, since I only speak a little bit of French and she doesn't speak ANY French at all, so sometimes it's a struggle to understand what's going on, but we've done pretty well so far :)
And the week missionary work-wise was pretty good...I'm still getting used to having to make all the decisions and Soeur Cottrell really doesn't know anything that's going on, which is to be expected, so we're working it out together. But we did get some finding in. And we FINALLY got ahold of Patrick and had a lesson with him that went really well. He doesn't quite understand what's going on though...he knows that baptism is a commandment and it's a good thing and he LOVES what we're teaching him, but we found out in the lesson we just had with him that he doesn't fully understand what baptism implies. He thought he had to live the commandments until he got baptized and then afterwards he could do whatever he wanted, to he said he still wanted to get baptized this Saturday, but then Soeur Belanger (our wonderful member who comes to most of the appointments with us) reminded him that when he gets baptized, he's making a commitment to come to church every Sunday from then on and we told him again that he had to keep the commandments AFTER he was baptized too, and he decided that, in that case, he was going to postpone his baptism until he could figure out exactly how to obey the commandments and really feel comfortable in living all of them. So it's a good thing; we really want him to be comfortable with the idea of being baptized and living the commandments so that he can keep them his whole life, not just for another week. We're meeting with him again tonight and we're going to watch Finding Faith in Christ and talk a bit about how faith does lead us to action but we really need to trust in the Lord and know that He'll help us to obey the commandments he's given us, or something like that. We'll see. I hope it goes well....
Oh, and the other day, it was so wonderful! So our next door neighbor/landlord, Frere Caron, is just incredible. His wife and his 4 children (only one of which lives at home) are all less active, but he is completely stalwart. So about 2 weeks ago he gave us a paper with a question his wife had had concerning a part of the Plan of Salvation and returning and living with God again. We found an answer and he invited us over this past Friday to talk about it. When we got there, his wife's brother and sister-in-law (both nonmembers) were there as well, and we sat and visited with them a bit, and then started to share the answer that we had found. We then moved on to prayer and how we can always ask God for answers and often He'll answer them in the scriptures or through other people, and her brother asked how I could have such faith in that, and so I gave a few examples and bore my testimony about the importance of prayer and then Frere Caron did the same. It was SUCH a great lesson. The next day we saw Frere Caron and he thanked us again for the lesson and said that his brother-in-law had been really touched by the lesson and really impressed by the things that we had said, so he's going to invite us over again the next time that they're over there for another quick lesson :) It was so exciting!
Then we also met this man, Roger. He's a bit odd, but really intersted in what we have to say. We taught him a first lesson and he loved it (I think...I really don't understand ANYTHING he says since his accent is so strong, so I usually just nod my head when he talks and pray that he's agreeing with what I say and then keep talking) and said he'd start reading the Book of Mormon immediately. he couldn't come to church this week, but he'd definitely be here next week. We're teaching him again tomorrow, so we'll see what happens! :)
Other than that, the week has been pretyy standard...nothing too out of the ordinary. The elders came up with a game for us to play while knocking doors, so starting tomorrow we're going to be playing "rejection bingo". they made us a bingo board with different numbers corresponding to all the different ways that people accept/reject our message, and whoever gets bingo first, wins. I'm pretty excited about it :) Oh, and it's zone conference this week which is always fun, and we're having our The Living Christ fireside this Sunday...I'll let you know how it goes next week! Love you all!
Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey
"As surely as this is the work of the Lord, there will be opposition. There will be those, perhaps not a few, who with the sophistry of beguiling words and clever design will spread doubt and seek to undermine the foundation on which this cause is established. They will have their brief day in the sun. they may have for a brief season the plaudits of the doubters and the skeptics and the critics. But they will fade and be forgotten as have their kind in the past." - General Conference, April 1994
Monday, March 1, 2010
And the moment you`ve all been waiting for....transfer calls :)
Hello everybody!
This week has been CRAZY...there has been so much to do! We tried to focus just on the work, but it was a bit difficult with Sister Pearson already knowing that she`s leaving and having to organize everything for that and for her tour around Quebec when her parents come to pick her up. But at least it`s given us a bit of time to make sure that I have copies of all her pros helps and anything else I might need from her. So...transfer calls came on Saturday night and they have a tradition up here in Quebec of having all the companionships in the city get together and have a little "party" of sorts while we wait for the transfer call and that way the Assistants only have to call one person and just talk to everyone at the same time. So we were sitting at the Institute on Saturday night with Elder Zaldivar and Elder Magre waiting for the zone leaders to show up and I got a call from Prseident McKinnon. He started off by saying that they were transferring my companion (such a shock :) ) and that I had every right to be nervous for transfers (I guess Sister Pearson or someone told him I was slightly concerned...i don't remember mentioning it in interviews) because the rumors were right...I'm training. There are 4 sisters coming in this transfer so I don't know which one I'm getting yet, but only one of them spoke French before the MTC and she's going Spanish speaking. So it will be interesting...I haven't even been out 6 months yet and I'm training already! In a completely French area where I don't understand the accent AT ALL with someone who only knows MTC French. It will be interesting, that's for sure. But I'm excited...there are always miracles when a greenie is in the area, and there are going to be 4 in our zone next transfer (one elder, the girl I'm training, one girl who came last transfer, and then Sister Orozco's taking on another greenie) so our zone is going to be AMAZING! I'm excited for that :) And I'll let you know all about my new companion next week after I meet her.
But as for the rest of last week....it was really fun! For p-day last Monday we didn't do too much...we wanted to go to the Ice Hotel, but then the elders decided they didn't have money to go last week so instead we're going today since it's the new month and we have more money. I'm excited for it :) Instead, we watched the Emma Smith movie...it was good to see her side of it, but I didn't really like it that much...the Joseph Smith one is definitely better. But there are some really cute scenes in it that you don't see in the Joseph Smith movie. So that was fun :) We also taught Robin on Tuesday and that went well...we're hopefully going to see him again tomorrow. We also taught Patrick twice AND he came to church! it was SO exciting to have him there finally and the lessons were perfect for him...it was wonderful :) I just hope things work out this week...We taught him Word of Wisdom which he was great with...he LOVED the blessings from it. Then on Friday we taught him Law of Chastity and THAT was an interesting lesson. We had planned it all out and really needed to teach it to him since he was planning on getting baptized like this week (I think that's since changed, but we haven't really discussed it with him yet...) so we go to the lesson and he'd invited 2 other friends to come and sit in....not the ideal first lesson. But both friends are meeting with us again next Friday, and Patrick said he'd live both WOW and Law of Chastity, so that was exciting :) But then yesterday at church he started to tell Sister Pearson something about changing his baptism since he didn't realize he'd actually have to LIVE that law before he got baptized...so we're meeting with him again this afternoon and we'll see what happens. He has to get baptized though...he knows it's true, he LOVES the Book of Mormon, and he is ready...he just needs to have the faith and know that God will give him the strength he needs to live through any trial. So it'll turn out :)
Oh, and I think the highlight of this week was definitely our district study on Wednesday. So for background real quick: each night our district leader (Elder Zaldivar) calls us and asks us how our day went and some other questions and about a week ago he started asking random questions like what our favorite food is and favorite color is and if we could be any thing what would it be and things like that. So we gave him the asnwers, not thinking anything of it. Then on Sunday they asked us about funeral potatoes and we were a bit confused, and then on Monday they explained that they were doing a big transfer party on Saturday as a surprise for the zone leaders and it was supposed to be a surprise for us, but they weren't creative enough so they needed our help in deciding what to do. So we gave them some ideas and that it was really neat that they had decided to come and ask for our help :) THEN on Wednesday we show up for district study (a little bit late...it took a little while to do our make-up :) ) and we walk in to the institute and elder Magre is there with his hair parted and everything and in a 3 piece suit with a black tie and he told us we were doing the study in the chapel. So we walk in and Elder Pearson is handing out programs to the funeral of Sister Pearson (when a missionary goes home, it's termed as "dying" for anyone who didn't know) and the senior couple was there, everyone was in black with black ties, there were roses at the front and a picture of Sister Pearson, and it was done SO well! They had an obituary and everyone was pretending to cry and we each went up and said some of our thoughts about Sister Pearson and then they ended with a DVD they had made of pictures representing Sister Pearson's "mission life". It was amazing; I'll have to send pictures sometime. they did such a good job with it! And it was really funny because in the obituary, they used every single one of the random questions they had asked us the week before...it was incredible. We had such a great time :)
Then our transfer party was really fun too...We took our dinner break at 7 and went up there and met up with the elders. Elder Magre had the idea that each of us should bring 3 random things from our apartments and we'd all put them on a table, divide into teams, and pick 3 things and make a game out of it and then we'd each play each others games. So we split into 2 teams (seniors vs. juniors, like always). My team was me, elder Magre, and Elder Williams and we had 8 boxes of those valentine's day conversation hearts (Sister Pearson had gotten a package that morning from her mom with those in there and we couldn't eat them all ourselves), a typewriter, a bag of beach toys, and a half-deflated beach ball. So we made up this game that was a mix of skittles bowling (where each color heart has a different thing attached to it, ie: use your head, on your knees, eyes closed, etc) and kickball, but instead of bases, you had to run to a beach toy that contained candy hearts, pick a heart and read it, another team mate would type that on the typewriter, and the other team would try and tag the person out with the ball, but once you were holding the ball you couldn't move and since it was mostly deflated, you could barely throw it. Then whoever had the most hearts typed at the end won. it was pretty fun. the other team had this competition where you had to put finger puppets on the hands of a team member, tie a paintbrush to their head using string, use an ab slide to go down and dip your paintbrush in the paint and then write your initials on a piece of paper. Each team member had to do it and they timed us against their team. it was pretty fun as well :) We had SUCH a great time.
So all in all it was a wonderful week :) Finding suffered slightly which means that my greenie and I will have to work a little harder this next week, but it'll turn out well. I hope all is going well with each of you! Love you all tons!!
Love, Sister Lindsey
PS: CONGRATULATIONS on your baptism THEO!!! I'm SO excited for you :)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
"I will not be a casualty of this war I didn't start...I'll fight with a fearless heart."
This week was SUCH a fun week...not the best for missionary work which was really disappointing, but it was a good week nonetheless. We started out with a half p-day on Monday and then took our real p-day on Thursday. It's really odd how that works out...we're supposed to have a zone activity once a transfer, so in this zone since it's so spread out the boonies areas all come up to Quebec City the day before our zone interviews, spend the day together as a zone, spend the night with the missionaries here, go to interviews, and then go home on Friday night. It's a lot of fun, but makes it really easy to lose focus. So on Monday we took a half p-day and just did the basics (grocery shopping and emails) and then went out and started working. We taught Patrick which went really well and then we had a family home evening with the Muselman family who are converts of about 2 years and they are amazing! It was SO much fun...we had the lesson, so we divided everyone up into 5 teams (so 2 to 3 on a team) and then gave a little thing of playdough to each of the teams and they picked a card that had one of the basic principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on it (faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, and endure to the end) and had them each mold something to represent the principle they were given, have everyone else guess it, and then share a scripture that explained it. It went really well and they all loved it. Then we committed them to find a way to share that principle with someone else in some way this week. It was fun :)
Then Tuesday I was a bit under the weather, so we didn't work quite as hard (really disappointing) but we made up for it on Wednesday. Oh, and it was so funny Wednesday night: we called the Victoriaville sisters to ask them a question about the zone activity the next day, and we just assumed they were coming up on Thursday morning for it since they usually don't start until 11 so that would've given them plenty of time to drive up, and they were like "Hey, guess where we are? We're on our way and we'll be at your house in half an hour!" It was so crazy...they'd forgotten to call and let us know they were coming up the night before. So that was a bit hectic as we rushed around to finish cleaning the apartment and making room for them, but it was so fun to have them there. Then on Thursday we had our zone activity and that was SO much fun! Sister Pearson and I put together a photo/video scavenger hunt so we all met in Old Quebec and split into 2 teams and did all the scavenger hunt items. Some were specific to Old Quebec, most were just fun. We had one that was "pretend you're famous and convince someone to ask for your autograph" which was SO funny and then another was "act out a Nephite/Lamanite battle" so we took the one with Captain Moroni where his servant cuts of the scalp of Zarahemna. It was great. Unfortunately, the next day at zone interviews, I lost my memory card, so I lost half the pictures/videos that I'd taken the day before. So sad. But it was such a fun day! So we did that for awhile, went to our favorite French cafe, and then went out and worked for the evening. Then Friday was zone interviews, and I just LOVE interviews...During our personal/comp study time, Sister McKinnon took the sisters (so me, Sister Pearson, Sister Orozco, and Sister Fletcher) out for breakfast which was SO much fun and we just talked for the two hours. I loved it :) Then the district leaders gave trainings followed by lunch (we made tacos...we have some incredible cooks in our zone) then the trainings by the zone leaders, the Assistants, Sister McKinnon, and President. Sister McKinnon's was really good...she told this story about a man (last name is Drucker and he really emphasized and revolutionized the idea of organizational management) and how he said that "the Mormons are the only utopia that ever worked" and he was so impressed by the volunteers in our church and how everyone volunteers and then SHOWS UP. It really is a neat thought...I enjoyed it. And then talking with President is always fun :)
Saturday Sister Pearson was sick, so once again we kind of took it easy, but it was still a good day. We went out and found for a little bit and worked on the fireside that we're going to be doing in a couple of weeks on "The Living Christ." I'm really excited for it :) Then Sundays are always good days...so it was a good week. And this one is going to be even better :) I'm so excited for it. We met this guy last night, Robin, and we're going to teach him tonight, and he seemed like a really down-to-earth and open guy...he should be fun to teach :) And we're teaching Patrick again...I'm excited!
OH!! AND: thank you for the Valentine's Day packages/letters! It was so exciting to hear from everyone. I LOVED the packages (thanks Mom and Janey and Kaylee :) ) and it's always fun to hear what everyone is up to. I just love hearing from everyone. But anyways...my time is about up and we have lots planned for today! Sister Pearson is going home in about a week, so we're trying to squeeze in as much as possible this week. oh, and transfer calls are coming up this Saturday...should be interesting! I'll let you know in my next email who my new companion is...Sister Pearson's going home and I don't see them flushing this area since they just did that this past transfer so we're anticipating me getting a new companion. So I'll let you know who it is next Monday! Love you all...take care and have a great week!
Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey
PS: the temperature's been hovering around 0 degrees all week...I love it! It was warm enough for our zone activity that we didn't even need huge coats. AND the St. Lawrence River MELTED!!! SO exciting. :)
Then Tuesday I was a bit under the weather, so we didn't work quite as hard (really disappointing) but we made up for it on Wednesday. Oh, and it was so funny Wednesday night: we called the Victoriaville sisters to ask them a question about the zone activity the next day, and we just assumed they were coming up on Thursday morning for it since they usually don't start until 11 so that would've given them plenty of time to drive up, and they were like "Hey, guess where we are? We're on our way and we'll be at your house in half an hour!" It was so crazy...they'd forgotten to call and let us know they were coming up the night before. So that was a bit hectic as we rushed around to finish cleaning the apartment and making room for them, but it was so fun to have them there. Then on Thursday we had our zone activity and that was SO much fun! Sister Pearson and I put together a photo/video scavenger hunt so we all met in Old Quebec and split into 2 teams and did all the scavenger hunt items. Some were specific to Old Quebec, most were just fun. We had one that was "pretend you're famous and convince someone to ask for your autograph" which was SO funny and then another was "act out a Nephite/Lamanite battle" so we took the one with Captain Moroni where his servant cuts of the scalp of Zarahemna. It was great. Unfortunately, the next day at zone interviews, I lost my memory card, so I lost half the pictures/videos that I'd taken the day before. So sad. But it was such a fun day! So we did that for awhile, went to our favorite French cafe, and then went out and worked for the evening. Then Friday was zone interviews, and I just LOVE interviews...During our personal/comp study time, Sister McKinnon took the sisters (so me, Sister Pearson, Sister Orozco, and Sister Fletcher) out for breakfast which was SO much fun and we just talked for the two hours. I loved it :) Then the district leaders gave trainings followed by lunch (we made tacos...we have some incredible cooks in our zone) then the trainings by the zone leaders, the Assistants, Sister McKinnon, and President. Sister McKinnon's was really good...she told this story about a man (last name is Drucker and he really emphasized and revolutionized the idea of organizational management) and how he said that "the Mormons are the only utopia that ever worked" and he was so impressed by the volunteers in our church and how everyone volunteers and then SHOWS UP. It really is a neat thought...I enjoyed it. And then talking with President is always fun :)
Saturday Sister Pearson was sick, so once again we kind of took it easy, but it was still a good day. We went out and found for a little bit and worked on the fireside that we're going to be doing in a couple of weeks on "The Living Christ." I'm really excited for it :) Then Sundays are always good days...so it was a good week. And this one is going to be even better :) I'm so excited for it. We met this guy last night, Robin, and we're going to teach him tonight, and he seemed like a really down-to-earth and open guy...he should be fun to teach :) And we're teaching Patrick again...I'm excited!
OH!! AND: thank you for the Valentine's Day packages/letters! It was so exciting to hear from everyone. I LOVED the packages (thanks Mom and Janey and Kaylee :) ) and it's always fun to hear what everyone is up to. I just love hearing from everyone. But anyways...my time is about up and we have lots planned for today! Sister Pearson is going home in about a week, so we're trying to squeeze in as much as possible this week. oh, and transfer calls are coming up this Saturday...should be interesting! I'll let you know in my next email who my new companion is...Sister Pearson's going home and I don't see them flushing this area since they just did that this past transfer so we're anticipating me getting a new companion. So I'll let you know who it is next Monday! Love you all...take care and have a great week!
Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey
PS: the temperature's been hovering around 0 degrees all week...I love it! It was warm enough for our zone activity that we didn't even need huge coats. AND the St. Lawrence River MELTED!!! SO exciting. :)
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
"PERFECT practice makes perfect." - Elder Bednar
Hey everyone!!
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! (a day late). It was SO much fun..I just love this holiday! We spent the week making cookies and valentine's and delivering them to our less actives...we have some really interesting less actives. It was the first time I'd met most of them, and they are an odd group...none of them are really interested in coming back to church or in talking with us at all really, but they were nice. There was one man, Frere Ouellit, and his wife who we stopped by and interrupted the end of their dinner and they invited us in, fed us, and then talked with us for a LONG while. He has some interesting ideas...I guess he recently wrote a book in which he re-wrote the 13 Articles of Faith and added a few and mentioned a lot of slightly off ideas. So he was telling us about those. I missed most of it since I can't speak the language, but from what I heard, his "truths" are not really in line with the truths taught to us in the Bible or the Book of Mormon or by anyone really. So it was an interesting visit.
But Valentine's Day itself was wonderful! On Saturday we had a valentine's day themed English class and we all wrote poems and made valentine's, which was so fun. Then on Sunday I woke up and Sister Pearson has this tradition in her family where each year her parents cover the ground in the hallways and on the stairs with hearts that each say soemthign about one of the children and then each of the children has to go through and find the hearts relating to them. So she did the same thing for me and cut out like 20 hearts and wrote something nice on each of them about me and scattered them all over the room. It was so sweet! I just love her :) Then we made cinnamon rolls and the elders called to wish us a Happy Valentine's Day. Gabrielle from Montreal called and wished us a happy valentine's day as well, but I missed her call because we were out knocking doors and I wasn't able to call back, but it was so sweet to know that she was thinking about me! It was So much fun...I just love Valentine's Day :)
So anyways, the rest of the week was wonderful as well. Last MOnday we went and drove around Ile D'Orleans which is this cute agricultural island near Quebec City in the St. Laurent. We invited the elders, but they didn't want to come, so we just went and we had SUCH a good time. It's definitely a place that you should visit during the summer and fall time (apple picking season) and most of the attractions were closed since it was the middle of winter, but it was still fun and so pretty. We took a million pictures out the window as we were driving down the road and they all look pretty much identical, but it was still fun. I loved it. Then on Monday evening we had an appointment with a guy we had met doing our 10+ on Saturday, Patrick, and it went so well! We just did the follow up for the Restoration to make sure that he understtod everything, and then we committed him to be baptized by the end of February and he said he would! We've taught him like 3 more times this week as well and it's just gone so well. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he got SO excited. He was really worried the other day because he only has one kidney and he was terrified that his other kidney was going to stop working at some point and he would die. So then when we shared with him a scripture about the resurrection and our bodies would be restored to their proper and perfect frames, he almost started crying. And he asked if he could put one of the scriptures up on his wall on Facebook because he just loved it. It was great. Except we realized that we might have to push his date back, so we'll see how that goes...but it'll work out :)
Also this week, it was so funny...I was making the sugar cookies and I went to take them out of the oven and I guess the towel hit the bottom part that gets really hot and caught on fire. I saw the flame and it was just little so I followed my first instinct and tried to blow it out. It didn't work. Ther fire started spreading and blowing wasn't working at all so Sister Pearson turned on the sink and we put the fire out that way. Ironically enough: the smoke alarm didn't go off. It's gone off like 3 times this transfer when there's been even the slightest amount of smoke, and the one time there's really a fire it doesn't go off. Kind of funny. Then the next day i was making navajo tacos and I was frying the bread and I didn't think about it too much, so I just dropped the dough into the hot oil, the oil exploded out of the pan, and burst into flames when it touched the burner. It was really neat to watch, but probably NOT the best idea for keeping our house in order.
Oh, and another thing for this week: we met the funniest woman the other day. We knocked on her door and I started off the contact in French and she interrupted me in English and said "yes my dear, but did you know it's suppertime?" and then invited us in to eat with her. WE went in and talked with her for awhile and she was investigating the church back like 30 years ago. She wasn't interested in learning more now, but she was a cute woman and just hilarious. She was a doctor with 3 specialties that I can't remember, a helicopter pilot, on the police force, and she paints. It was pretty impressive. So much fun :) Then also: we met a family yesterday! We didn't get to teach them because they were in the middle of dinner, but I guess they'd met the missionaries once before they were married and it didn't really go anywhere, but they said we could come back, so we're going there tomorrow to see them. I'm way excited...they're so cute! We'll see how it goes :)
Then for the rest of the week, we're actually not taking our p-day today...we're just doing e-mails. We're having a zone activity on Thursday which will be SO fun, followed by our zone interviews on Friday. So it'll be a good week! I'm really excited for it. Oh! And one of my investigators from montreal, Elena, came to church here yesterday! She's from Germany and we were teaching her in Montreal, but she's just traveling across Canada right now and not really staying in any one place for too long, but she and 2 of her friends came to church yesterday. It was so fun to see her again...I loved it. But anyways, I have to run...e-mail time is just about over and we're heading off to teach Patrick! yay! Have a wonderful week everyone! :)
Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! (a day late). It was SO much fun..I just love this holiday! We spent the week making cookies and valentine's and delivering them to our less actives...we have some really interesting less actives. It was the first time I'd met most of them, and they are an odd group...none of them are really interested in coming back to church or in talking with us at all really, but they were nice. There was one man, Frere Ouellit, and his wife who we stopped by and interrupted the end of their dinner and they invited us in, fed us, and then talked with us for a LONG while. He has some interesting ideas...I guess he recently wrote a book in which he re-wrote the 13 Articles of Faith and added a few and mentioned a lot of slightly off ideas. So he was telling us about those. I missed most of it since I can't speak the language, but from what I heard, his "truths" are not really in line with the truths taught to us in the Bible or the Book of Mormon or by anyone really. So it was an interesting visit.
But Valentine's Day itself was wonderful! On Saturday we had a valentine's day themed English class and we all wrote poems and made valentine's, which was so fun. Then on Sunday I woke up and Sister Pearson has this tradition in her family where each year her parents cover the ground in the hallways and on the stairs with hearts that each say soemthign about one of the children and then each of the children has to go through and find the hearts relating to them. So she did the same thing for me and cut out like 20 hearts and wrote something nice on each of them about me and scattered them all over the room. It was so sweet! I just love her :) Then we made cinnamon rolls and the elders called to wish us a Happy Valentine's Day. Gabrielle from Montreal called and wished us a happy valentine's day as well, but I missed her call because we were out knocking doors and I wasn't able to call back, but it was so sweet to know that she was thinking about me! It was So much fun...I just love Valentine's Day :)
So anyways, the rest of the week was wonderful as well. Last MOnday we went and drove around Ile D'Orleans which is this cute agricultural island near Quebec City in the St. Laurent. We invited the elders, but they didn't want to come, so we just went and we had SUCH a good time. It's definitely a place that you should visit during the summer and fall time (apple picking season) and most of the attractions were closed since it was the middle of winter, but it was still fun and so pretty. We took a million pictures out the window as we were driving down the road and they all look pretty much identical, but it was still fun. I loved it. Then on Monday evening we had an appointment with a guy we had met doing our 10+ on Saturday, Patrick, and it went so well! We just did the follow up for the Restoration to make sure that he understtod everything, and then we committed him to be baptized by the end of February and he said he would! We've taught him like 3 more times this week as well and it's just gone so well. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he got SO excited. He was really worried the other day because he only has one kidney and he was terrified that his other kidney was going to stop working at some point and he would die. So then when we shared with him a scripture about the resurrection and our bodies would be restored to their proper and perfect frames, he almost started crying. And he asked if he could put one of the scriptures up on his wall on Facebook because he just loved it. It was great. Except we realized that we might have to push his date back, so we'll see how that goes...but it'll work out :)
Also this week, it was so funny...I was making the sugar cookies and I went to take them out of the oven and I guess the towel hit the bottom part that gets really hot and caught on fire. I saw the flame and it was just little so I followed my first instinct and tried to blow it out. It didn't work. Ther fire started spreading and blowing wasn't working at all so Sister Pearson turned on the sink and we put the fire out that way. Ironically enough: the smoke alarm didn't go off. It's gone off like 3 times this transfer when there's been even the slightest amount of smoke, and the one time there's really a fire it doesn't go off. Kind of funny. Then the next day i was making navajo tacos and I was frying the bread and I didn't think about it too much, so I just dropped the dough into the hot oil, the oil exploded out of the pan, and burst into flames when it touched the burner. It was really neat to watch, but probably NOT the best idea for keeping our house in order.
Oh, and another thing for this week: we met the funniest woman the other day. We knocked on her door and I started off the contact in French and she interrupted me in English and said "yes my dear, but did you know it's suppertime?" and then invited us in to eat with her. WE went in and talked with her for awhile and she was investigating the church back like 30 years ago. She wasn't interested in learning more now, but she was a cute woman and just hilarious. She was a doctor with 3 specialties that I can't remember, a helicopter pilot, on the police force, and she paints. It was pretty impressive. So much fun :) Then also: we met a family yesterday! We didn't get to teach them because they were in the middle of dinner, but I guess they'd met the missionaries once before they were married and it didn't really go anywhere, but they said we could come back, so we're going there tomorrow to see them. I'm way excited...they're so cute! We'll see how it goes :)
Then for the rest of the week, we're actually not taking our p-day today...we're just doing e-mails. We're having a zone activity on Thursday which will be SO fun, followed by our zone interviews on Friday. So it'll be a good week! I'm really excited for it. Oh! And one of my investigators from montreal, Elena, came to church here yesterday! She's from Germany and we were teaching her in Montreal, but she's just traveling across Canada right now and not really staying in any one place for too long, but she and 2 of her friends came to church yesterday. It was so fun to see her again...I loved it. But anyways, I have to run...e-mail time is just about over and we're heading off to teach Patrick! yay! Have a wonderful week everyone! :)
Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!! :)
Hey everyone!
This week was a LOOONG week...it took about a year to make it through, but it was good. And I had about 3 people tell me that there was a storm in WV and asked if I was able to call my family and find out if they were ok. It was kind of funny to hear about the news from my state here in Montreal from people in my English class. I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well! Hopefully the power comes back on soon...that would really stink to be without it. That is one nice thing about being here; we have tons of snow, but they have an incredible snow removal system so the streets are always clear and the power hasn't gone off once. It's kind of funny though; the other day we were out tracting and each of the yards had HUGE mountains of snow in front of them from where they had just cleared it off the streets and there were kids playing in it and sledding in their front yards...so cute. But it will be nice in a couple of months when the snow melts and we can see the ground again....
Things here are going really well though. We had a really fun week! Last P-day we went to the winter carnival and it was SO much fun! We had a blast. It's like one of the biggest winter carnivals in the world, and it was so fun. There were all kinds of snow and ice sculptures and a whole castle built out of ice in the middle. Somewhere in Quebec there's an ice hotel that we really want to go see, but we're not entirely sure where it is, so we'll see if we can find it and make it there sometime in the next month or so. But we did play a lot of games at the carnival and they had a tent with cookies and milk so we went inside and spent a bit of time in there..I loved it. We went with the zone leaders (the district leaders went out to lunch with us, but then decided they didn't want to go to the carnival so they left, but then the zone leaders met up with us, so it was still a couple of us together. Always fun.) and I just love them. We have some really incredible elders in our mission.
Then for the rest of the week, we spent A LOT of time out knocking doors. Like 5 or 6 hours a day knocking doors. It was a lot and it really is exhausting. But on the plus side, it wasn't snowing, so it made it a better. And I don't really mind it that much as long as I have at least 2 pairs of handwarmers, 4 pairs of pants, and a couple of sweaters :) It gets cold REALLY fast. Oh, and then church yesterday was SO fun! We were a bit disappointed because we hadn't found ANYONE to come to church with us this week, but then we pulled into the parking lot and Gabrielle was there! She's the investigator we were teaching in Montreal before I left and she is just SO cute. She came up to me in the parking lot and it was SO exciting to see her! So we showed her around the chapel and then sat down for Sacrament, and after Sacrament meeting someone came up and gave me a huge hug from behind and I was so confused since I still dont' know the people in my ward well enough for anyone to do that (the language barrier is a real problem...I understand maybe half of what they tell me and they don't understand much of anything I say...not the easiest way to make friends) and it was Rebecca from the YSA ward in Montreal! She and Phoiba (another girl in the YSA ward) had come up for the weekend and come to church in the ward instead of the branch so they could see me! It was SO exciting...I LOVED having them here! Now I just need to make those same kind of friendships with the people here...
Oh, and another fun thing from this week: we went and did service at the Blouin's house. They have a cute family. The wife died of cancer just about 2 months ago, and I guess before that the sisters would go over once a week to do service, but after she died we needed a chaperone and couldn't go as often. So this was the first time we'd been up there in awhile. We went with the elders (the district leaders) and helped the 2 girls clean up there rooms so that we could move some furniture around the house from one room to another. It took longer than expected, but was SO fun! They have a really great family and are just realyl wonderful people. I didn't understand anything he said to me really, but we laughed a lot while we were over there and just had a fun time :)
This week we don't have tons planned...we have a lesson tonight and then 3 more scheduled for tomorrow, and the rest of the time will be spent finding. I'm really excited for it..we had like 7 lessons scheduled for this past week and all except for 2 smurfed us, and one of those was woman who dropped us, so it'll be fun to teach a little more this week. I'm way excited. AND:: IT'S ALMOST VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!! I CANNOT wait! I already started making cookies and valentine's to take to our less actives...it'll be wonderful. I'm so excited. Unfortunately, I didn't get your valentine's day package yet and I won't get it until the 19th...the AP's and President always bring the mail up when they come and they only come about once every 3 weeks and they're not coming for interviews until the 19th, so I won't get it. But that just means that I'll be able to celebrate valentine's day AGAIN when it gets here!!!! I can't wait. But anyways...good luck with everything this week! I hope the power comes on soon and I'll definitely be praying for you! I love you tons and hope you all have a WONDERFUL Valentine's Day! :)
Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey
This week was a LOOONG week...it took about a year to make it through, but it was good. And I had about 3 people tell me that there was a storm in WV and asked if I was able to call my family and find out if they were ok. It was kind of funny to hear about the news from my state here in Montreal from people in my English class. I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well! Hopefully the power comes back on soon...that would really stink to be without it. That is one nice thing about being here; we have tons of snow, but they have an incredible snow removal system so the streets are always clear and the power hasn't gone off once. It's kind of funny though; the other day we were out tracting and each of the yards had HUGE mountains of snow in front of them from where they had just cleared it off the streets and there were kids playing in it and sledding in their front yards...so cute. But it will be nice in a couple of months when the snow melts and we can see the ground again....
Things here are going really well though. We had a really fun week! Last P-day we went to the winter carnival and it was SO much fun! We had a blast. It's like one of the biggest winter carnivals in the world, and it was so fun. There were all kinds of snow and ice sculptures and a whole castle built out of ice in the middle. Somewhere in Quebec there's an ice hotel that we really want to go see, but we're not entirely sure where it is, so we'll see if we can find it and make it there sometime in the next month or so. But we did play a lot of games at the carnival and they had a tent with cookies and milk so we went inside and spent a bit of time in there..I loved it. We went with the zone leaders (the district leaders went out to lunch with us, but then decided they didn't want to go to the carnival so they left, but then the zone leaders met up with us, so it was still a couple of us together. Always fun.) and I just love them. We have some really incredible elders in our mission.
Then for the rest of the week, we spent A LOT of time out knocking doors. Like 5 or 6 hours a day knocking doors. It was a lot and it really is exhausting. But on the plus side, it wasn't snowing, so it made it a better. And I don't really mind it that much as long as I have at least 2 pairs of handwarmers, 4 pairs of pants, and a couple of sweaters :) It gets cold REALLY fast. Oh, and then church yesterday was SO fun! We were a bit disappointed because we hadn't found ANYONE to come to church with us this week, but then we pulled into the parking lot and Gabrielle was there! She's the investigator we were teaching in Montreal before I left and she is just SO cute. She came up to me in the parking lot and it was SO exciting to see her! So we showed her around the chapel and then sat down for Sacrament, and after Sacrament meeting someone came up and gave me a huge hug from behind and I was so confused since I still dont' know the people in my ward well enough for anyone to do that (the language barrier is a real problem...I understand maybe half of what they tell me and they don't understand much of anything I say...not the easiest way to make friends) and it was Rebecca from the YSA ward in Montreal! She and Phoiba (another girl in the YSA ward) had come up for the weekend and come to church in the ward instead of the branch so they could see me! It was SO exciting...I LOVED having them here! Now I just need to make those same kind of friendships with the people here...
Oh, and another fun thing from this week: we went and did service at the Blouin's house. They have a cute family. The wife died of cancer just about 2 months ago, and I guess before that the sisters would go over once a week to do service, but after she died we needed a chaperone and couldn't go as often. So this was the first time we'd been up there in awhile. We went with the elders (the district leaders) and helped the 2 girls clean up there rooms so that we could move some furniture around the house from one room to another. It took longer than expected, but was SO fun! They have a really great family and are just realyl wonderful people. I didn't understand anything he said to me really, but we laughed a lot while we were over there and just had a fun time :)
This week we don't have tons planned...we have a lesson tonight and then 3 more scheduled for tomorrow, and the rest of the time will be spent finding. I'm really excited for it..we had like 7 lessons scheduled for this past week and all except for 2 smurfed us, and one of those was woman who dropped us, so it'll be fun to teach a little more this week. I'm way excited. AND:: IT'S ALMOST VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!! I CANNOT wait! I already started making cookies and valentine's to take to our less actives...it'll be wonderful. I'm so excited. Unfortunately, I didn't get your valentine's day package yet and I won't get it until the 19th...the AP's and President always bring the mail up when they come and they only come about once every 3 weeks and they're not coming for interviews until the 19th, so I won't get it. But that just means that I'll be able to celebrate valentine's day AGAIN when it gets here!!!! I can't wait. But anyways...good luck with everything this week! I hope the power comes on soon and I'll definitely be praying for you! I love you tons and hope you all have a WONDERFUL Valentine's Day! :)
Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
When I hear those words "This is the right place"
Hey everyone!
So it`s been another FREEZING cold week here in Quebec filled with LOTS of finding...most days this week it`s been -16 C with a wind chill of between -24 and -30 C, so a bit colder than in WV. Plus it`s been snowing...I found out that 2 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, 2 sweaters, and a huge coat don`t quite cut it, so I`m going to have to start figuring out another way of layering my clothes...we`ll see how it goes :)
Things this week did go pretty well. The work was better and we had more new investigators at the beginning of the week, but then by the end most of them had told us that they really weren`t interested after all. I just find that so sad and I don`t quite understand...if you have the fullness of the gospel before you with all of the promises that God can give and the opportunity to be with your family for ALL ETERNITY, who would not want that? Why would you not want to learn more? But I guess everyone has their agency and can do with it what they will, so I`ll just keep working on finding the ones who are ready and willing to listen and gain all their blessings.
This week was zone conference which is always SO much fun! It was kind of strange to have it here in Quebec and with only one zone...in Mount Royal we had it with the IDM zone as well, so there were at least 40 missionaries there plus the senior couples, and here there were only 14 total. But it was so fun; the Victoriaville sisters came up the night before and spent the night with us on Thursday night (it takes about 2 hours to drive from Victoriaville to Quebec so most of the outlying areas like that drive in the night before so we can start right at 9:00) and it was wonderful. They got here at like 9 pm (it`s Sister Orozco and her greenie, Sister Fletcher) but then the APs were supposed to be bringing air mattresses for them to sleep on up with them when they came and they ended up not getting there until after 10:30, so we sat around and talked and ate cookies and made Valentine`s for people (we found a box of little valentine`s in French in our cupboard so we made them for other missionaries..so fun). It was great to get to know them better. Then the APs came and we tried to blow up the mattresses but we couldn`t figure it out, so Elder Ronndahl and Elder Mills came in to try and help us and it took us a good while to figure it all out and of course they had to do it the hardest way possible to make it work. But it was hilarious; I really love the two of them together.
I`m trying to remember what else happened this week and I`m having a bit of a hard time with it...it seemed like a pretty standard week. We did a lot of finding and almost got attacked by this psycho dog...it`s jaw like locked open and it was trying to jump out of it`s owner`s arms and was like biting her to try to get to us. Crazy. Needless to say, the owner didn't let us in. Then there was another guy we talked to who was being SO frustrating...it was that same night and it had been a long day of porting (door to door) and we were a bit irritated with people (and by we, I mean me). Sister Pearson went and contacted this guy who was walking his dog and he asked us if we were trying to “save” all of Quebec and Sister Pearson went to say no and I cut in and said “If we can!” He just laughed and then went on to say that that he didn't believe in anything and the purpose of life is to have fun and go out drinking with your friends and that`s all that really matters, and I was so sick of people saying that so instead of responding with something real, I said “And then what happens when you`re 80 years old and can`t walk anymore? I`d LOVE to see you go out drinking then.” He just looked at me...and that`s pretty much how the whole contact went. Poor Sister Pearson was trying to do an actual real contact, but it wasn't working out. She started laughing as soon as it was over and just loved my responses...we decided that maybe when he`s 80 and can`t walk anymore he`ll realize the importance of our message :) We`ll see.
Other than that, nothing too exciting happened this week...pretty much just the usual. But it was fun and this week is going to be even better. The French is coming slowly, but someday I`ll get it. Have a wonderful week and I hope to hear from you all soon!
Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey
PS: my name tag broke and I lost my first one and the new ones haven`t come in yet...so there are 2 Sister Pearson`s in our companionship for the next few weeks or so... :)
Oh, also: there`s this great CD that I`ve been listening to nonstop this week..it`s the Nashville tribute to the pioneers and it`s so much fun... :) That`s where the title came from this week...it`s the song that`s running through my head.
So it`s been another FREEZING cold week here in Quebec filled with LOTS of finding...most days this week it`s been -16 C with a wind chill of between -24 and -30 C, so a bit colder than in WV. Plus it`s been snowing...I found out that 2 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, 2 sweaters, and a huge coat don`t quite cut it, so I`m going to have to start figuring out another way of layering my clothes...we`ll see how it goes :)
Things this week did go pretty well. The work was better and we had more new investigators at the beginning of the week, but then by the end most of them had told us that they really weren`t interested after all. I just find that so sad and I don`t quite understand...if you have the fullness of the gospel before you with all of the promises that God can give and the opportunity to be with your family for ALL ETERNITY, who would not want that? Why would you not want to learn more? But I guess everyone has their agency and can do with it what they will, so I`ll just keep working on finding the ones who are ready and willing to listen and gain all their blessings.
This week was zone conference which is always SO much fun! It was kind of strange to have it here in Quebec and with only one zone...in Mount Royal we had it with the IDM zone as well, so there were at least 40 missionaries there plus the senior couples, and here there were only 14 total. But it was so fun; the Victoriaville sisters came up the night before and spent the night with us on Thursday night (it takes about 2 hours to drive from Victoriaville to Quebec so most of the outlying areas like that drive in the night before so we can start right at 9:00) and it was wonderful. They got here at like 9 pm (it`s Sister Orozco and her greenie, Sister Fletcher) but then the APs were supposed to be bringing air mattresses for them to sleep on up with them when they came and they ended up not getting there until after 10:30, so we sat around and talked and ate cookies and made Valentine`s for people (we found a box of little valentine`s in French in our cupboard so we made them for other missionaries..so fun). It was great to get to know them better. Then the APs came and we tried to blow up the mattresses but we couldn`t figure it out, so Elder Ronndahl and Elder Mills came in to try and help us and it took us a good while to figure it all out and of course they had to do it the hardest way possible to make it work. But it was hilarious; I really love the two of them together.
I`m trying to remember what else happened this week and I`m having a bit of a hard time with it...it seemed like a pretty standard week. We did a lot of finding and almost got attacked by this psycho dog...it`s jaw like locked open and it was trying to jump out of it`s owner`s arms and was like biting her to try to get to us. Crazy. Needless to say, the owner didn't let us in. Then there was another guy we talked to who was being SO frustrating...it was that same night and it had been a long day of porting (door to door) and we were a bit irritated with people (and by we, I mean me). Sister Pearson went and contacted this guy who was walking his dog and he asked us if we were trying to “save” all of Quebec and Sister Pearson went to say no and I cut in and said “If we can!” He just laughed and then went on to say that that he didn't believe in anything and the purpose of life is to have fun and go out drinking with your friends and that`s all that really matters, and I was so sick of people saying that so instead of responding with something real, I said “And then what happens when you`re 80 years old and can`t walk anymore? I`d LOVE to see you go out drinking then.” He just looked at me...and that`s pretty much how the whole contact went. Poor Sister Pearson was trying to do an actual real contact, but it wasn't working out. She started laughing as soon as it was over and just loved my responses...we decided that maybe when he`s 80 and can`t walk anymore he`ll realize the importance of our message :) We`ll see.
Other than that, nothing too exciting happened this week...pretty much just the usual. But it was fun and this week is going to be even better. The French is coming slowly, but someday I`ll get it. Have a wonderful week and I hope to hear from you all soon!
Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey
PS: my name tag broke and I lost my first one and the new ones haven`t come in yet...so there are 2 Sister Pearson`s in our companionship for the next few weeks or so... :)
Oh, also: there`s this great CD that I`ve been listening to nonstop this week..it`s the Nashville tribute to the pioneers and it`s so much fun... :) That`s where the title came from this week...it`s the song that`s running through my head.
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