We are sad and excited with an unexpected transfer from our Greenfield Park Ward here in Longueuil to the Chomedey Branch on the island west of Montreal Island. Our feelings are mixed as we have come to love the people in our ward here and fully expected to be with them for the entire two years. But as circumstances are there are more senior couples going home than are coming out. Boy, do we need senior missionaries! Every ward and branch could use them, and the members really value us here where the number of members is relatively few. We have grown quite attached to the friends we have made and feel especially close to those we have taught. We understand that the mission president has to put seniors where they are most needed, and we want to serve wherever the Lord will send us. A senior couple just left the Chomedey Branch, and they are greatly missed. This branch is close to becoming a ward and so they really need as much support as can be given. We are excited to work with the Branch President and help them build up their membership.
From what we have learned they are very much like this ward with lots of very humble people immigrating here to seek a better life. It is so amazing to hear their stories of hardship and perseverance through all sorts of obstacles. The Lord is gathering those who are seeking light and truth. These are people who are truly allowing God to prevail in their lives. Just yesterday we witnessed the baptism of a woman from Congo who shared with us previously her story of escape and terror before finding the church and then surviving refugee camps thru Covid to finally land here where she found the church again. She is a single mother with five children including a newborn baby. Her story began in Congo where the people had to literally run for their lives or be shot during the ongoing conflict there. Nacha told us how she traveled through forests for more than a month with a two-year-old baby and her husband and others fleeing for their lives. The forest was filled with wild animals including lions and crocodiles. People were dying all around them. They were living on fruit that they could find on their way. When they finally made it to Zimbabwe, they were nearly starved. Her toddler, Ryan, was so thin he had to be nursed back to health with a special porridge from the services provided there. He is now 14 and looking very healthy. She spent years in the refugee camp learning all she could while waiting to be placed somewhere. That is where she first met the missionaries. Nacha loved going to church and learning all about the gospel. Then suddenly covid hit and the missionaries disappeared. She didn’t understand and was very upset. Then last summer she was placed in Canada and was able to pick Quebec where she has a blind cousin already here. When she contacted him, he already a member of the church, told her she had to get together with the missionaries. When she realized it was the same church that she had learned about in Zimbabwe she was excited to come back. The miracle is that the house where she was placed is only a couple blocks away from our chapel.
She would have been baptized in January, but she went into premature labor. Once again, a delay. She and the baby have recovered now and finally she could be baptized. Her son, Ryan, a very thoughtful young man has been thinking about being baptized too. We don’t know what happened to her husband, but Nacha is a strong and determined sister. Many in the ward were there yesterday to support her and it was a beautiful ordinance. There were many of us who took our turns holding her beautiful baby too. After her baptism Ryan said he wants to be baptized too. One of her daughters, Laila, told the Primary president that she wants to learn how to pray.
We have been giving her and the baby rides to church during the cold weather while her other four kids like to walk. We also had the pleasure of teaching with the missionaries a couple times. Bro. Pacquet and his wife and kids have been ministering to her family, and he did the baptism. Sis. Cabra Delgado, my Columbian friend has also been supporting Nacha and there are many others. She will be well loved in this ward. They are such a sweet family. I know Ryan is going to grow into an impressive young man. He already attends Young Men’s activities and is a great help to his mother. They have been thru a lot together and it is obvious that they are very close. This is why it is so hard for us to leave the ward. So many of these good people that we have come to love.
We also have Sister missionaries back in the ward and a new Elder to lead our district. We feel like we are leaving the ward in good hands, but our hearts were heavy today when we had to say our farewells. I think we will still see a lot of our friends at the temple and in the Stake activities as we are still in the same Stake. It was such a beautiful weekend and filled with love and friendship. A piece of my heart will always be here in the Greenfield Park Ward in Longueuil.
Au Revoir,
The Glenns