Today was a special day for two of our friends. Bernard and Sandro were baptized. Bernard is the tall (6’5″) one from Ghana and Sandro is our very Greek friend. Bernard has been taught by our elders for a few months. He rides a bus for two hours to get to church when he doesn’t have a ride. He is a humble and sincere believer. Sandro watched the General Conference with us and was spiritually moved by everything he had seen in the church. He really connected with Elder Glenn while the sisters taught him. Tim was honored to confirm him today after our Branch President baptized each of them. Afterwards we had them both over for dinner along with a few of our other recent converts and our sister missionaries. It’s always a roaring good time with these guys and Sandro really fits right in with their brotherhood.
We had a fellow show up to church today who had been taught in the past by some missionaries but wasn’t ready then. He had contacted the sisters and asked for a Book of Mormon and then stayed to watch the baptism. I talked with him afterwards and he said he wants to be baptized now. The sisters have him on date for next month after they go over the lessons with him again. He said he enjoyed reading the Book of Mormon whenever he stayed at a Marriot hotel on business.
Our new elders and sister missionaries are so motivated and fun. We had the elders over for dinner earlier this week. We can’t have both elders and sisters over together, mission rule, but we are delighted to work with them as they help us track down some lost members and we help them with lessons. We have also had some exciting mission news this week. The church announced 55 new missions, and our mission is one that is being divided up a bit. In adding two new missions around us, we will lose Ottawa to the new Toronto East mission, and we will lose our east Atlantic zones to the new Halifax mission. Montreal and Quebec City will be our main areas for this mission. This is a ways down the road, next July so we will be leaving about then.
On a personal note, we are so thrilled to have our Andrew back home again from his 9-month deployment in Kuwait. He arrived home last Thursday night. His family were the most excited to have him home again. We had a good video chat with him yesterday and will see him next summer in person.
As this beautiful Canadian Autumn winds down, we are trying to get in a walk here and there before the leaves are all gone. We are in some different parks this year than last year. I think this is my favorite time of year in Quebec. The other thing about this season is all the tempos that go up on everyone’s driveway. That’s a tent frame for a white tarp that people around her use to protect their cars from the snow. We haven’t seen any snow yet, but with Tempo season we know it is coming soon.
Au revoir,
The Glenns (Gigi and Papi)