Canadian Montreal
Mission
12 October 2016—26
October 2016
Dear Family and Friends:
I decided to highlight 3 topics in this letter: “Service, Stake Conference and Souper
(Dinner)”
Wednedsay, October 19th—Service--The ward Relief
Society President (organization for women 18 and older in the church) wanted to
prepare some items for Christmas baskets.
She invited the sisters over to her house to make “roses.” Apparently this idea has been on Pinterest
and the internet, but I never saw it.
About 7 of us, including the sister missionaries, gathered
to make the roses. We used puff pastry,
rolled it out and then cut it into 6 long strips. Next, we spread apricot jam (or probably
another one would work) over the strips.
We had sliced apples very thin—from the stem end—and cooked them about
1-1/2 minutes in the microwave to get them soft and pliable. We used Cortland apples, but I think you
could use any hard, crisp apple. Then,
lay the apple layers touching each other along one edge of each strip. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Next, fold the other edge over the apples and
roll up like a cinnamon roll. Put them
in a muffin tin lined with cupcake papers.
Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes until slightly brown on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
We didn’t get to sample any as the RS President froze them
for the baskets, but they looked terrific.
I have attached pictures. We
figured that you could also do a savory “rose” by slicing potatoes and adding
cheese and bacon. Try it—you’ll like it.
Friday October 21, 2016—“Souper” (Dinner in Canada)—The
YM/YW (youth 12-18) in the ward held a “Crazy Dinner.” It is one where you “order” items off of a
“menu” by ranking them 1-9. Then, the
kitchen staff serves you dinner with 3 items every 15 minutes off of the menu
you ordered. Our theme was
“Thanksgiving.” So, for example, you
could have selected the words gratitude, service and turkey. Those words may have corresponded to the
crazy dinner idea of a fork, napkin and juice.
That is what the person was served for the first 15 minutes. The next 15 minutes, the person may receive
spaghetti, a spoon and the pudding. It
was really fun. We have attached some
pictures. We only have about 7 active
youth, plus their friends, so they all seemed to enjoy it. Elder Scott is the 2nd counselor
in the YM organization.
Saturday, October 22, 2016—Stake Conference—In the morning,
we had district meeting. This is the
weekly meeting that we hold with the elders and sisters in our area—those that
meet in our building. We had a new
district leader. They live in
Ottawa. Their ward boundaries are within
that area, but it takes them 1 ½ hours each way on a bus to get to the
chapel. I usually try and have a snack
for everyone at these meeting; they really seem to appreciate it.
Elder Scott gave a talk at the 3:00 PM Priesthood Leadership
session of conference on how to involve youth in the activities. I hear that he did a great job. That left me to drive to Orléans where our
stake center is. (A stake center
building covers a larger geographic area that would encompass several smaller
buildings or wards). That normally
wouldn’t be a problem, but it was raining and I was to pick up 5 people in
different parts of Gatineau in Ottawa. We took 1 new member and her mother in the
other ward, 1 new investigator in the other ward, 2 returning members in our
ward.
They held a light supper and a Q&A period for all of
these people in the stake center. The
mission president and the stake president answered questions. They were allowed to ask whatever they
wanted. Several questions were: “Why do I continue to have struggles in life”,
“How can I pay tithing on a limited budget”, and “How can we overcome
addictions.” The stake president encouraged
people to contact their bishop for resources.
Saturday and Sunday October 22, 2016—Stake Conference
Saturday night and Sunday morning sessions.
The theme for the conference was “Making and Keeping Sacred Covenants
(in the Temple)”. Some of the most
incredible talks I’ve ever heard on this topic.
President Carter, the new Montreal Temple President, told us
that he welcomed us in the temple and wanted us to feel at home there. He expressed it as an “exhilarating
experience” to be called of God to this position. He talked about the great plan of happiness
that our Heavenly Father laid out in the pre-existence. He knew that men would fall, so He provided a
Savior for us. There were, as we know,
two plans. Jesus’ plan followed the
rules of the Father and all glory would be to Him. Satan wanted to follow the plan on his own
terms. He was so persuasive that 1/3 of
the host of heaven followed him.
He handed around to the youth in the choir an old nail given
to him as a gift when he was a Mission President in France. He said that it reminded him of part of the
covenant that Christ accepted in his palms, wrists and feet. He is still making covenants with us. He went to the end of the covenant. We can all be part of the Celestial Kingdom
and have eternal life.
Tuesday, October 25th—We went to Pembroke to
visit the elders there. It is about 2
hours west of Ottawa. There are
beautiful farms, cows and gorgeous trees of autumn along the route. We do periodic apartment inspections. We helped them take out the air conditioner
and store it, fix about 5 chairs in the apartment, hang pictures and white
boards. Of course, Elder Scott did most
of this, but he is really good at showing the missionaries how to do the work
themselves. We then took the elders out
to a Chinese buffet. It was fun to see
them again as one of the elders had been in our district for about 5 months.
When we got home, we discovered that there was no water in
the apartment. Apparently, a city water
main had broken. Luckily, I was invited
out with some ladies in the ward to have dinner with a sister that had moved
and came back to visit. (Restaurants have
restrooms). I kept calling Elder Scott
to see if the water was turned back on.
Everytime I asked, he said “no.”
The restaurant was kind of slow getting our orders. I ordered a steak with vegetables and a baked
potato thinking I could bring half of it home to Elder Scott. Well, when the steak arrived, it was really
rare, so they offered to put it on the grill for 2 more minutes. I waited about 15 minutes and by then, most
of my friends had finished with their dinners.
The waitress was picking up their plates. By now, I had eaten all the vegetables and
half of the baked potato. She came and
asked me if she could have my plate and I said, “J’attends mon steak,” or, “I’m
waiting for my steak.” She got one of
those looks like, “Oh, my gosh, I forgot the steak.” So, they said they would cook me another
one. So, I waited another 20 minutes or
so and kept texting Steve to see if the water was back on. “No.”
To my surprise, the waitress
brought back another complete order
with new veggies, baked potato and steak.
Well, by now, I was full. (But, I
hadn’t drunk any water—out of FEAR!) So
now, I took two bites of the steak and was full.
It was already about 9:30 and the stores close early. I excused myself from the restaurant and
found a store nearby that didn’t close until 10:00. I went in and asked for LARGE bottles of
water so we could at least flush. I got
6 huge bottles (8 liters each) and paid for them. Just then, I got a text from Steve saying the
water was back on. Obviously, I no longer
needed 6 big bottles of water, so I asked if I could return them. They said no because the return desk was
closed. I couldn’t imagine carrying
those 6 heavy bottles of water to the car and then back the next day. So, I explained to them the problem with our
water being out, then getting turned back on.
They said if I had paid with debit, I could return them, so I got to
return 4 of them. Lucky me.
So, in the long run, God was watching out for me, even amid
trials. I got a nice steak dinner, Steve
got a nice steak dinner, I got to be with friends, the water came back on and
we had water storage!
Wednesday, October 26th—One of my callings in the
ward is to help with the activity days for 8-12 year old girls. They have discontinued the Scouting program
for the 10-12 year old boys in
Canada. So now, once every 2 months, the
two groups get together. There were
about 20-25 kids there. The other ward
had arranged a lot of fun activities for the kids. Many of them were like the “Minute-to-Win” it
games on U.S. tv. The kids seemed to
really enjoy it—I have attached some pictures.
We continue to enjoy and learn from the experiences we are
having. We have made some great friends
and enjoy serving here.
Have a great week—Love, the Scotts.
