We had a beautiful white Christmas here in Quebec. A fresh 5 inches of snow combined with some frigid temperatures kept the snow around. We even had a Jack Frost morning that made everything look like a winter wonderland. I helped prepare a turkey dinner for a few friends in our ward who were alone at Christmas. The elders joined us for a nice evening with them. So many people were out of town for the holiday. We also enjoyed visiting with our kids in Tennessee, Idaho and Utah via video chats. This was my first Christmas to be away from home and family. It was really different, but I think it helped us to focus more on Jesus Christ. Our mission President and his wife had prepared to have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day zoom calls with the entire mission. They shared many inspirational videos, words of wisdom and some fun games. Many of our almost 200 young missionaries were experiencing their first Christmas away from home too and those zoom gatherings were very helpful. We were both asked to speak in church last Sunday, so our talks were on Christmas. I spoke about the songs, scriptures and traditions of the season. Elder Glenn talked about Christmas gifts that really matter from a favorite talk from President Monson about Birth, Peace, Love and Eternal Life.
No sooner did we get through the holiday before we were off to another zone conference on Friday of this week. It was truly inspiring and the intent I believe was all about focusing on the work of sharing the gospel through members. The statistics that were shared were quite amazing. We also got some good new year’s resolution type ideas for starting out the new year. Elder Glenn and I have been assisting our sister missionaries as they transition to the area here. It is kind of crazy to think that our mission covers four countries: Canada, US (as in one little bit of Maine), France (as in one little island in the Atlantic) and Greenland (though none of our missionaries are posted there now). Our missionaries cover four languages as well: French, English, Spanish and Mandarin. Sometimes the missionaries are transferred to zones where they have to quickly pick up a second or third language. They are truly amazing. Many of our missionaries are actually tri lingual. There are only a few Mandarin areas, so those missionaries usually serve in an area for six to nine months and then get transferred to a non-Mandarin area for a few transfers and then get assigned back to the same area to train a new elder. Mandarin is the third most common language in Quebec behind English and French.
We are excited to start a new year on our mission with some new goals and excitement. We learned a new term the young missionaries use for the full year they are away from home; it’s called the black-out year. A whole year we get to give in mission service, so ours will be 2025.
Happy Birthday to my Mom, Beverly who turned 90 yesterday, the 28th. She is an amazing person and an inspiration to all of us for her optimism and missionary spirit. We love you Mom!!