We have attended our first sacrament meeting with our new ward/congregation. Here in Greenfield Park, we have a true melting pot of ethnicities. In our ward alone, which is the only English-speaking ward in the area, we have people from several African nations, the Philippines, Columbia, and others we don’t even know about yet. Most are immigrants and most are converts to the church. They are really friendly and welcoming.
There is a rule in the Greenfield Park ward that no one sits alone. As soon as you sit down someone will quickly come and sit with you and be your friend. We learned this as soon as we sat down. It is part of their ward philosophy, and they really do practice this kind of friendliness.
Many of the members have amazing stories of conversion. We are so excited to get to know them and to support them and their families. So far, we are teaching a group of members by Zoom on Monday nights. They are a fun group and call themselves the A-team because they are the go-to people if you need anything. They are all empty-nesters and are excited to study the Come Follow Me lessons. We are sharpening our Zoom skills for them with graphics and screen shots. Tim is especially good at this. We are also finding that there are a lot of people who have not been to church for some time. We are searching them out and scheming up some ideas for some family friendly activities.
There is much that we are still figuring out, especially the language. Even though we are in an English-speaking ward, everyone speaks French in the community, French is the first language in Quebec. But I have found that most people are friendly even if they don’t speak English very well. The roads are also something to get used to with narrow streets and bumpy pavement. Thank goodness for GPS.
For our daily exercise, we have been exploring the parks in the area for places to get in some long walks. The parks here are lovely and there is a lot of attention to natural beauty. In just a few more weeks the colors should be brilliant. Some trees are starting to turn now. Here are a few pictures from our walks.
3 responses
Glad to hear you made it to Canada and all settled into the area. And happy to hear that the people are friendly to us US citizens! Looks like a beautiful place to be. I always wanted to learn French, so I will have to start now and try to practice with you – Love you two, Deanne.
So glad to see things are going well for you both. You look great and the area is lovely. The Ward sounds wonderful, especially how they never let a person sit alone. Sounds very welcoming . We probably need more of that down here. Hope all goes well in the future. Take care and I will be watching your e-mails. Miss you. Love, Dera
So far, it sounds like a vacation. It also looks like a beautiful location. Good luck with the language. I’m finding it takes time and immersion which you seem to have both of.
Love ya