La vieille ville, baptism, transfers, and Tagalog!

Hi, everyone!

So this week, my mission president told me I sound like the Pharisees. Sigh. 

But anyways, a few fun things happened this past week. Last P-day we had time to go take a look around Old Québec, which was really cool. It looks European. Since it was also a long weekend, there were tons of people out too.

In front of the Notre Dame de Bellevue and the Plains of Abraham

Also, there was a convert baptism last weekend! An 18-year-old from France that the elders have been teaching got baptized on Saturday, and we missionaries did a musical number...which we put together literally 10 minutes before the baptism.... It went well though! He was so happy. :)

We each had songs to practice for the baptism 

but we had to stay in sight and sound....so we made it work :)

I had my first transfer call!!! Of course, I`m only halfway through training, so we knew that nothing would happen to us. And since half our district was new this transfer, we weren`t expecting any big changes. Only two Elders from my district are leaving - our district leader is going to Montreal Chinese-speaking, and one of the elders (the zone leaders) in my ward is going to an area farther south, still French-speaking. How exciting!! But....it made me realize that I should probably be working harder to keep up my Spanish, just in case one day I get assigned to a Spanish area with no warning like that.... oh, and guess what! I`ve been learning a little Tagalog along the way! One time we accidentally had a lesson in Tagalog, and I`m pretty sure I had the gift of interpretation of tongues that day because I actually picked up a few words (that sound Spanish) and understood some of the main ideas (also because the member we brought with us threw in the occasional English or French word). Hilariously, `how are you?` in Tagalog is `Komusta ka?`which sounds a LOT like `Como esta?` Go figure.

Well that`s it for this week! I hope you all have a wonderful day! Mahal kita! :)

Soeur Shaver

One more thing! We take turns with the elders teaching an English class, and sometimes the Quebecois say really funny things. This week my favourite was: `It`s that time of year where you don`t know how to wear clothes.` Classic.

    random castle on a street corner (???)                                                   

and more old Québec

Jokes, Montréal, and MISSIONARY WORK :)

Greetings!

Wow, it does NOT feel like last P-day was a full week ago - oh wait, that`s because it wasn`t. Which means we don`t have as much to do which means we might have time to do a little sightseeing this afternoon! Yay! 

So, Sister Davis and I have started a string of `You know you`ve been a missionary too long when...` jokes. They`re great. My favourites are when we`re watching the District and my trainer says Amen at the end of their prayers, and when we pass big catholic churches with golden statues on top and my first thought is, `Wait, you`re not Moroni....`

Anyways, so last Thursday I got to go to Montreal! It was for a new missionary/new trainer training meeting, so I also got to meet up with Hermana Perdue(my MTC companion)! We got poutine at La Banquise afterward, and there was one option called the B.O.M. It made me really happy.

Since last week was so crazy, we had to make up for it on the weekend by scheduling as many of the lessons we had missed as possible into two or three days. It worked out pretty well. Right now there`s a HUGE emphasis on working with members - zone conference was about that, and so was pretty much every part of church yesterday. It`s really exciting! :D

I think that`s about it for this week. Have a great week, everyone!

Soeur Shaver

zone, exchanges, Montreal, MIRACLES!!!!

Hello everyone! 

This was a BUSY week! Since I last emailed you all, I have had my first interviews with my mission president (other than when I first arrived), zone conference, exchanges, and a call home(YAY)! And tomorrow we`re on our way to Montreal for another training meeting!

A hymn in French

The past few days have been so amazing, I don`t even know where to start! Maybe zone conference. There are about 30 missionaries in my zone, only 6 of which are sisters. My companion and I were asked to play piano, and I got to play Called to Serve at the end. THAT was incredible. The Spirit was so strong during that zone conference, even our mission president essentially said that that was one of the best zone conferences he`s ever seen, including from his own mission. 

Exchanges were really fun too, and I think we all learned something from it, so that was good. Since our sister training leaders live 3 hours away, they both came to our area and we had to plan two companionships worth of activities with only one car. At the end, we went to this amazing place ice cream/chocolate place and it was basically heaven.

Also, we had this incredible miracle happen yesterday! We got a referral from church headquarters a few weeks ago and when we met her, we gave her the bible she had asked for, and also introduced the Book of Mormon. She seemed really interested and basically invited herself to start reading it and come to church. Then yesterday we called her again (she`s been crazy busy and lives far so we haven`t been able to see her - but soon!) and she told us that she`s been reading a chapter a day!!! All on her own! This is a woman who has been VERY prepared by the Lord to receive the Gospel! :D We are SO excited for her!

A street in Old Quebec where one of our investigators lives.

Well, that`s the main idea. I`ll be back onto a normal schedule next week (I hope!) :) Love you all!

Soeur Shaver

Paintings, cultures, and where is the time going?

Imagine a big abstract painting. If you were to ask hundreds of people to try to decipher it, you would receive hundreds of unique interpretations. The true meaning of the painting, what the artist intended, is not determined by the popularity of any one of the interpretations - the only way to know for sure what the painting means is to ask the Painter.

That`s an analogy that someone shared in fast and testimony meeting yesterday. I love it! Church was actually really cool this week because I got to translate it into English for a member of the ward who recently moved in and doesn`t speak French. She`s from the Philippines. Actually, since I`ve been here, I`ve met people from all over the place; France, Belgium, Haiti, Mexico, Ivory Coast, Colombia.... it is the coolest thing. (Then there`s that awkward moment when you`re in a lesson with a less-active and she starts speaking Haitian Creole to her friend.... or when you ask someone from Africa about the Book of Mormon and they can`t read....) 

One thing I love about being a sister missionary is that people just open right up. Like, within an hour of knowing people I know their whole life story, along with really personal information that I`ll bet half their good friends don`t know. It`s kind of weird. But hey, if it means I can better help them come unto Christ, I`m all for it.

I feel like the weeks are just flying by. My first transfer is already half over! How!? D:

Anyway, I love you all! Until next time!

Soeur Shaver