Jokes, Montréal, and MISSIONARY WORK :)

Greetings!

Wow, it does NOT feel like last P-day was a full week ago - oh wait, that`s because it wasn`t. Which means we don`t have as much to do which means we might have time to do a little sightseeing this afternoon! Yay! 

So, Sister Davis and I have started a string of `You know you`ve been a missionary too long when...` jokes. They`re great. My favourites are when we`re watching the District and my trainer says Amen at the end of their prayers, and when we pass big catholic churches with golden statues on top and my first thought is, `Wait, you`re not Moroni....`

Anyways, so last Thursday I got to go to Montreal! It was for a new missionary/new trainer training meeting, so I also got to meet up with Hermana Perdue(my MTC companion)! We got poutine at La Banquise afterward, and there was one option called the B.O.M. It made me really happy.

Since last week was so crazy, we had to make up for it on the weekend by scheduling as many of the lessons we had missed as possible into two or three days. It worked out pretty well. Right now there`s a HUGE emphasis on working with members - zone conference was about that, and so was pretty much every part of church yesterday. It`s really exciting! :D

I think that`s about it for this week. Have a great week, everyone!

Soeur Shaver

zone, exchanges, Montreal, MIRACLES!!!!

Hello everyone! 

This was a BUSY week! Since I last emailed you all, I have had my first interviews with my mission president (other than when I first arrived), zone conference, exchanges, and a call home(YAY)! And tomorrow we`re on our way to Montreal for another training meeting!

A hymn in French

The past few days have been so amazing, I don`t even know where to start! Maybe zone conference. There are about 30 missionaries in my zone, only 6 of which are sisters. My companion and I were asked to play piano, and I got to play Called to Serve at the end. THAT was incredible. The Spirit was so strong during that zone conference, even our mission president essentially said that that was one of the best zone conferences he`s ever seen, including from his own mission. 

Exchanges were really fun too, and I think we all learned something from it, so that was good. Since our sister training leaders live 3 hours away, they both came to our area and we had to plan two companionships worth of activities with only one car. At the end, we went to this amazing place ice cream/chocolate place and it was basically heaven.

Also, we had this incredible miracle happen yesterday! We got a referral from church headquarters a few weeks ago and when we met her, we gave her the bible she had asked for, and also introduced the Book of Mormon. She seemed really interested and basically invited herself to start reading it and come to church. Then yesterday we called her again (she`s been crazy busy and lives far so we haven`t been able to see her - but soon!) and she told us that she`s been reading a chapter a day!!! All on her own! This is a woman who has been VERY prepared by the Lord to receive the Gospel! :D We are SO excited for her!

A street in Old Quebec where one of our investigators lives.

Well, that`s the main idea. I`ll be back onto a normal schedule next week (I hope!) :) Love you all!

Soeur Shaver

Paintings, cultures, and where is the time going?

Imagine a big abstract painting. If you were to ask hundreds of people to try to decipher it, you would receive hundreds of unique interpretations. The true meaning of the painting, what the artist intended, is not determined by the popularity of any one of the interpretations - the only way to know for sure what the painting means is to ask the Painter.

That`s an analogy that someone shared in fast and testimony meeting yesterday. I love it! Church was actually really cool this week because I got to translate it into English for a member of the ward who recently moved in and doesn`t speak French. She`s from the Philippines. Actually, since I`ve been here, I`ve met people from all over the place; France, Belgium, Haiti, Mexico, Ivory Coast, Colombia.... it is the coolest thing. (Then there`s that awkward moment when you`re in a lesson with a less-active and she starts speaking Haitian Creole to her friend.... or when you ask someone from Africa about the Book of Mormon and they can`t read....) 

One thing I love about being a sister missionary is that people just open right up. Like, within an hour of knowing people I know their whole life story, along with really personal information that I`ll bet half their good friends don`t know. It`s kind of weird. But hey, if it means I can better help them come unto Christ, I`m all for it.

I feel like the weeks are just flying by. My first transfer is already half over! How!? D:

Anyway, I love you all! Until next time!

Soeur Shaver

Québec City Week 2

Week two FLEW by! We`re still figuring things out a little, but now we`ve met most of the people we`re supposed to be teaching and most of the ward. I love the people here. Some of them are really interesting - we have one investigator who has been taught by the missionaries for 20 years, for instance. She`s hilarious.

Me with President and Sister Patrick and my companion Sister Davis

There was a multi-stake conference yesterday and we got to hear from Robert D. Hales and a couple other general authorities in salt lake, which was awesome. :) They talked about the importance of missionary work, among other things. 

Also, car washes here are kind of expensive, so last P-day the elders kindly washed our vehicle for us and then asked (half-jokingly) for cookies as payment. So we made cookies and brought them to district meeting, which was so funny because the elders have no idea how to make cookies (apparently) and they were a little over-excited.

Speaking of food, here`s the recipe of the week: avocado + milk + a little bit of maple syrup (the good kind) + a blender = the most canadian shake I`ve ever tasted. Also very yummy. :) A member made this for us a week ago. So good!

Last thing - as a mission, we are all reading the whole book of Mormon this transfer. It`s 13-14 pages a day, and I LOVE it! If you`re not reading the book of Mormon daily, do it. That is all.

Love,

Soeur Shaver

FIELD

Bonjour!!!

I guess I`ll just get right to the point - I`m serving in Quebec City, speaking French! I don`t even know where to start to sum up the past week! When we arrived in Montreal, our mission president explained how the language thing works here. In almost every other mission in the world, missionaries speak their assigned mission language their whole mission unless they are formally reassigned. Here, the Brethren generally make sure that each missionary speaks French and English by the time they`re done in the MTC. If they already speak both, sometimes they learn a third (Spanish or Chinese). Then you just kind of have to speak whatever language is needed where you serve. Even here in Quebec, calling members and investigators on the phone is weird because you never know if they`re going to answer you in French, English, or Spanish. Good thing my companion and I speak all three!

My trainer and I flushed into this area - meaning that we`re both new. When we arrived, we didn`t know a single person here, nor did we know how to get anywhere. We`re good friends with the map now. She spent the first 9 months of her mission in Laval, and this is only her second area. Crazy, right? Basically, this is an adventure for both of us. But it`s a lot of fun. I already love it here, even though the accent is sometimes hard to understand. Believe me, the first few days in the field, I was driving the struggle bus. Mainly because every time I opened my mouth, it was filled with Spanish. Awkward. Maybe by the end of my mission I`ll be able to switch between the three languages without mixing them up too badly. 

That`s the important stuff. I love being a missionary. I`m so excited to get to know this area and these people better!

Avec amour,

Soeur Shaver

VOCAL POINT CAME TO THE MTC and btw I'm leaving in two days

Buenos días!

Yeah. It was SO COOL! Vocal Point is even better in person! They kept telling us all day last Sunday that we would have a devotional but that it wasn't a speaker. They just said it was a "special treat." It was really weird though because it felt like we were at a concert...in the MTC....what? Soooo it was kind of both the best thing and the worst thing at the same time. When they finished, a sister in my district turned to me and said, "I think I need to repent...." 

Here's my zone 

I hope everyone enjoyed conference last weekend! Conference at the MTC was wonderful. By the end, my hand was starting to hurt from writing so many things down! One thing that was really funny was that the opening song of the first session was "Glory to God on High" - which we sang in the MTC choir like 3 or 4 weeks ago (same arrangement!) so everyone was really excited about that. Also, at some point they sang "Consider the Lilies," which a friend of mine sang as a musical number last week (and totally killed it). 

Our Tuesday devotional was also super cool - a member of the 70 who's over the Asia area came and talked to us about how to teach those without a Christian background. Hermana Perdue and I got to shake hands with him. We also got to be ushers that night. 

Hermana Perdue and I match every other day. Without trying..... and Elder Malolo likes to photobomb

Our zone got to host new missionaries coming in this week, and it was really fun! I hosted a sister who had never been outside of South Africa until this week. Also, my companion and I made some new friends who just came in! They're a couple of elders who don't speak English - only French. One is from France going to Halifax and the other is from Quebec but I don't remember where he's going. There's also an elder in their district from mainland China. (!!!!)

That's all I have to say this week! Next time you hear from me, I'll be in the field! I am SO excited!!!

Hermana Shaver

ps - my new (hand-sewn) yellow skirt - it's a long story!!

Our district makes the best jokes

Happy Conference/Easter weekend!

I'll start with the exciting news - we got our travel itineraries!! I'm going to have to get up at 3 AM to leave the MTC the day I leave, but that's okay. Plane rides are for napping. Also, Hermana Perdue and I auditioned to do a special musical number last Thursday and they said yes, which means we were put into a pool of people who may or may not ever actually be called upon to perform at a devotional or other big group meeting. Cool, right? The panel in front of whom we audition is made up of the wives of the MTC presidency, and they are some of my favourite people. I think that the MTC president and his wife just know us without having to look at our nametags anymore.

With our approved audition papers!

However, this week was pretty rocky for my district. There was a lot of tension Wednesday morning because some people were impatient with other people's behaviour and there were some pretty bad attitudes going around. But we talked through it and kinda sorta fixed things - but not really. Then, while my companion and I were off-campus for a check-up appointment, one elder got really mad because someone else threw and broke his ring, which apparently meant a lot to him, and he ran away. By that, I mean his companions had no idea where he was. A search party was sent out. They did finally find him, and he had to have an interview with the MTC district president. All I knew was that he was missing when he burst into the room where we were, tears rolling down his face, shook hands with us, said, "I love you guys," and took off. One of the other elders was crying too, and we noticed he had all his stuff from the classroom. So we had to run after them to catch up, at which point he explained that he was being sent home and had to undergo counselling before he could come back and by the way, April Fool's. Hahahaha so basically, he is NOT everyone's favourite person right now! But I grudgingly have to admit that his prank was executed flawlessly. 

At my check-up with a chiropractic tool...

We also got a new sister in our district! She's in a trio with the other companionship. We now have 5 sisters and 3 elders. Does that feel weird to anyone else?

A cartoon of my district.

Last thing, to throw some humour in there! Hermana Perdue's and my favourite activity at the moment is parcour. In other words, we'll be walking down the path when we suddenly yell, "parcour!"  and do something really lame like jump two inches off the ground and kick a pole while flailing our arms. We get some funny looks from other missionaries. It makes us laugh.

Spring at the MTC:)

That's all for this week! Enjoy conference, everyone! :)

Hermana Shaver