This has been an eventful week for our mission. Last weekend our mission president went up to the nethermost parts of our large mission area. He went to a place called Iqaluit, Nunavut. A Canadian Mounty has been stationed there, and he is apparently a member of the church. So, Pres. Sorensen went up with the nearest Area president and they opened up the area and set up a “group”. There was a family of 5 who got baptized from there on the same weekend. So, the church is growing even in such faraway places. Missionaries have not been assigned there yet though. The pictures show the Nunavut Territory in red, and the other map is the distance President Sorensen had to fly to get there from Ottawa. Equal distance would be approximately like flying from Salt Lake City to Atlanta.
We also had our transfers this last week and our sister from Tahiti, Sister Hauata, was sent to a new area and a new sister from England, Sister Somerville, has joined us here in Chomedey. We love our missionaries and enjoy getting to know so many of them. Summer is over as we have seen more temperatures in the 60s. I have been gorging on fresh blueberries all through August as they are grown here in abundance and are super cheap. In our discovery walks Elder Glenn and I found an interesting tree carving along a beach. My grandchildren would love it with all the little doors that open up and down its height. There is also a picture of Elder Glenn patching up one of our sister missionaries who got a burn on her arm from a curling, always handy to have a first aid kit nearby.
We had another really great visit with our friend, Debbie, and her girls. They have promised to come to church next Sunday when we have our big Linger Longer, Potluck. This is a favorite activity for our branch because everyone lives so far apart, but they want time to visit. We have some awesome cooks in the branch, and they love to bring out the food. I hope Brother Tovo, from Hawaii, will bring his heavenly Butter Chicken again. Since Debbie used to come to church last fall, she will know some people and will hopefully enjoy the time with the members. We hope this starts a new habit for her and her girls.
Yesterday we had a sweet experience at the temple with our friend Sharon. She was sealed to her deceased parents with us as the proxies. It was a truly meaningful and heartfelt experience for her. We have a new temple president starting this week too. He took the time to talk with Sharon and explain things for her. A couple of her friends from the branch were also there to share the special moment as they were with her when she first came to the temple back before Covid. She dearly misses coming to church, but she lives far away and has no one to drive her to church right now. We drove the three hours round trip to get her to the temple.
The other big news for us is that I was called to be the new Relief Society president for our branch today. Our former RS president is a spunky 80-year-old sister who is moving. She is the most compassionate and amazing woman who will be dearly missed. I so enjoyed working with Sis. Crawford as her 2nd counselor these past few months. I hope to keep up her pace while still doing all the other things that we have on our plate. Senior missionaries are really needed in these small branches. We are able to get to a lot of the members who haven’t been to church for a while or who are unable to come. We truly feel loved and appreciated in the Chomedey Branch.
Well, this has been kind of random to cover our last couple of weeks. I have known about my new calling in that time and have been spending a lot of time praying and pondering over the choice of counselors as well as goals for improving ministering in our branch. We have the lowest record for ministering in the stake and that is a big concern. I hope in the short time that I will have in this position that we can make some progress with this very important principle of loving our neighbors thru heartfelt efforts.
Au revoir
The Glenns
Gigi and Papi