Monday 28 November 2016-8 December 2016

Canada Montreal Mission

Monday 28 November 2016-8 December 2016

Dear Family and Friends:

We hope you are all doing well.  One of the most exciting things we’ve been involved with is the Christmas Initiative found on Mormon.org.  Each day, there are different videos that we can click on and find a different way to be of service.  Steve and I have enjoyed trying to be of service each day this month:

https://www.mormon.org/christmas/in-25-ways-over-25-days/jesus-prayed-for-others

22-25 November 2016-- We had the opportunity to take two missionaries from our area to their new area near Montreal.  Once we dropped off our Zone Leader (who transferred), one of the elders there asked us to take him to the bus station in Montreal, which we did.  We also had another elder that we had brought from Gatineau to the bus station.  It is hard to say good-bye to these young missionaries.  They are so diligent, obedient, hard working.  We just keep thinking of our son on a mission and hope he is getting support in his efforts also.  (Some pictures are attached of these elders).

I was able to meet and spend two days with a French friend who I had met in Paris 45 years ago.  I may have mentioned that her sister was in my ward in Gatineau (our ward by Ottawa) and we invited them to dinner back in April.  She talked about her life growing up in Bretagne and having a brother who taught French at BYU.  I called her husband the next day to ask if he had a sister-in-law named Armelle.  He said he did.  What a small world.

Well, we had a wonderful time.  She had a picture of us 45 years ago and then we took one while we were there.  They spent most of their married life in Nice, then moved to Canada since most of their kids were there.  He is somewhat of a decorator and I enjoyed hearing about his exploits sending containers from French flea markets to Canada.  Armelle is from a large family who was converted to the gospel in France.  Her dad did not join when the rest of the family did.  One weekend, he went by bus to a regional conference in Paris and came back home and announced he was joining the church.  Imagine the influence of 9 active children and their families could have for generations!  Their sister was also the matron of the Montreal Temple here. (Some pictures are attached of our meeting).

On Thanksgiving day, we met at the Mission President’s home for a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner.  We enjoyed meeting together and eating food we were used to eating.  (I have attached some pictures of that dinner.)

26 November 2016—The youth in the ward went to an activity at an indoor wave pool.  When I first heard about this, I thought it would be fairly cold and then I asked, “is the pool indoors?”  We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but I took one in the lobby.  We went to Tim Horton’s afterwards to get a do-nut.  Tim Horton’s is like Starbucks here—donuts on practically every corner!  We hadn’t gone there the first 6 months, but I have become fond of chocolate chocolate donuts.  Those are chocolate cake donuts with chocolate frosting.  I found out today (Dec 7^th) there there was also soup there—not bad either.

Week of 28 November—Elder Scott has been helping a member take out cabinets in his kitchen.  He had ordered new cabinets and needed a bit of help.  The cabinetmaker was surprised to arrive and find he didn’t have to take out the old cabinets himself.  (More pictures of this transformation).

Wednesday, 30 November—I met with the young women aged 8-12 to decorate the Primary room, do a cookie exchange and make a cookie basket for the sister missionaries. 

Saturday, 3 December—I was on the Christmas dinner committee. (No pictures attached as I was too busy to take any).  We had turkey, potatoes, gravy, salad, rolls, beans, peas, meat and chicken pies.  The later is a traditional holiday food here.  They are a meat/pork pie that they eat with ketchup here.  The Young Women decorated the room, different people (including me) cooked turkeys, there was a nice program and the High Priests and Elders cleaned up.  My feet were pretty tired at the end of the evening, but everyone had a good time.

Sunday, 4 December—I had an interesting experience of being able to attend the funeral of a man who lived across the hall.  We would say hello in the elevator for months.  He wife told me that he had cancer and wasn’t expected to live.  I found out that the funeral was next door (we live by a cemetery and crematorium), so I went.  It was a lovely service.  I had never known that people can bury ashes—I thought they kept them in an urn or distributed them over the ocean.  (I have attached pictures of the section of the cemetery where they bury the ashes.)  They had a lovely ceremony.  The sad thing is that she has liver cancer and probably won’t live long either.

Week of December 5-8—The elders asked us to take them to Cost-Co.  We had just moved them from one apartment to another last week.  This was needed as they were moving out of a member’s basement.  The new apartment is closer to 4 bus stops (they don’t have a car) and a main mall where they meet people.  It cuts out 1 hour commute a day when they have to come to the church for meetings. 

We have been spending time at our friend’s who are doing the kitchen remodel.  I helped paint the kitchen and dining room in preparation for her new kitchen cabinets.  It was a fairly small area, so it didn’t take too long.  We will probably repaint the dining room again as she wants the same color as the kitchen.  It shouldn’t take too long.  We will go there after our missionary district meeting tomorrow.

Next two weeks will be busy with Zone Conference, inspections of missionary apartments, making treats for the local missionaries and planning SKYPE time with our missionary son.

Our upcoming Zone Conference on 19 December will focus on the attributes of Christ:  faith, hope, charity and love, virtue, knowledge, patience, humility, diligence and obedience.  We are encouraged to select one and write a plan on how to improve that quality in our lives.  A great challenge.

Well, we hope that this Christmas season we can each focus more on the Savior and provide service to others.  Yesterday, I had an opportunity to hand out a #Lighttheworld card from the Christmas Initiative.  A less active member had asked us to go to the Arts and Crafts fair in our town as it was in the building where he is the Security Guard.  We planned our day to pick him up and take him there at 2:30.  Well, he cancelled, but I decided to go anyway as I told him I would.  I saw a Security Guard there and went up and asked him if he knew our member, which he did.  I ended up giving him a pass-along card and the address of the church.  So, you never know whose life you can touch if you act upon what the spirit prompts you to do. 

We love you and wish you the best this season.  Please take time to watch the videos every day.

Sincerely, Elder and Sister Scott

Also, we want to say happy birthday to our family members whose birthdays we may have missed these last few months and we have forgotten to say anything.  It is our missionary son’s birthday today also—we love him so much.  He is in the Tempe, Arizona mission and just got transferred from Yuma.  He is doing well. 

Taylor Scott—Today, 8 December

McKinley Keffer –granddaughter—20 October (5 years old)

Larry Collins—son-in-law—20 October

Eli Belk—Grandson—24 November (5 years old)

Boone Morgan—Grandson—November 13 (20 years old)

Indy Morgan—Grandson—September 6 (18 years old)

Ava Keffer—Granddaughter—September 1^st (13 years old)

Ethan Collins—Grandson—November 10 (13 years old)

Scott Morgan—Son-in-law—25 September

Franklin (Franks) Scott—grandson—8 October (2 years old)

Jon Scott—Son—29 September

And upcoming:  Laura Scott Belk—Daughter—29 December

We LOVE you all.

Also pictures of:

1. Steve’s triathlon medal for winning overall 2^nd place in the Ottawa triathons for 2016.

2. Saying goodbye to missionaries in our zone.

3. New missionaries in Laval area (near Montreal).

4. Got to see Sis. Fleming who was in our area and I didn’t get to say good-bye.  Saw her in the mission office.

5. Pictures of Armelle and me (now and then) and their house in Montreal.

6. Pix of new baby in our ward.

7. Pix of clean missionary apt. we helped them move out of.

8. Picture of cemetery where they buried the ashes of our neighbor.  (This was before the snow that is now everywhere.)

9. Our friends with their new kitchen.  Steve helped rip out the old cabinets and we painted.