We elves have 3 main food groups...

Merry Christmas to everyone!! I hope all of y'all had a great day yesterday and took some time somewhere to be with your family and remember the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Lord, Savior, big Brother, and Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. This week for me here in Canada has been pretty crazy. 

Last Thursday we started off with some service. Our bishop is in the process of moving houses and their new house has a extra section added on and they have talked to the mission office and the missionaries will be living there with them once they get it all set up and ready. We went and help them move three big trailers full of fire wood over to the new house. It was really fun. That took a good part of the day and we spent the other part doing some street contacting before dinner. We had dinner at the family Micheals house. They are an awesome ward family that is from Haiti. There son is not a member yet but we are teaching him. Dinner was really good and they invited us back over Saturday morning for kinda like a PreChristmas breakfast. 

Friday was district council. We have a team of three sisters and a team of elders. Two of the missionaries are from France so we do most everything in French. We wanted to be nice so we bought pineapples for each team as a Christmas present.  After that we went and did some more street contacting and stopped by this one man's house. He is from Switzerland and the French from there is kinda weird. Its another completely different accent. Not a ton happened that day. 

Saturday was a different story. We started of at Micheals breakfast thing which was really good. Their whole family was there. We ate some good breakfast foods and then they gave us a present! They gave us both a nice blue button up shirt. It was super nice. After that we walked over to our friend Ados house. She is doing really good and still reading the Book of Mormon. Right as we were about to leave she asked if we were hungry. We never turn down food as missionaries because that's rude. She brought us this thing that looked like meat on a piece of thick bread. 3 of them. We asked and she said it was pig but it wasn't cooked or grilled. We asked how it was made and she said it was kinda just in the stew so kinda boiled but not really. We didn't ask any more questions and just started eating it. The first bite I took was half raw pig meat half small bones. I want sure what was in my mouth and I didn't want to check so I just chewed and swallowed while trying not to throw up. The second bite I took was of the stuff that I thought was the bread. It was really just raw pig skin/stomach with the hair still on it. It was so much worse than the first bite. I ate as much as I could as fast as I could to get it over with. There were three big 4"×4"×4" cubes of this. I ate all of it except for the skin of the last one. I picked it up with my fork and almost threw up so it put it in a napkin. Then wrapped it with a second napkin and put it in my pocket. I graciously thanked her for the food and then waited for elder Halliday. He thought I finished mine so he wanted to finish his. He almost did and then stopped the last few bites. As we were walking away, I pulled out the last piece  and showed Halliday. We had a good laugh about it and then he threw up on the side of the road. After that we got slushies to cover up the flavor and then went and played volleyball. It was so gross. Definitely the worst food I've ever eaten. 

Sunday was kinda chill because we were both super sick. After church we walked about an hour out to this family that we are teaching to check up on them because they didn't come to church. They were so happy to see us and let us right in. we talked to them for a while and set up some more return appointments. About 10 minutes down the road back, this car stopped by us and it was him. He took us to get some lunch because we hadn't eaten yet and he felt bad we walked all the way to him. We had an awesome lunch with him and talked about the gospel the whole time. Super cool Christmas miracle. 

Monday we took more pineapples and pictures to our friends and ward members. We then went with a ward member to give presents to a ward family who has been struggling for a while. It was super cool and nice to help them. We then spent the evening with The Vandais family. They are super cool. We had dinner with funeral potatoes and ham. We then had a family home evening with them and read Luke 2. It was super nice. We then went home and I opened my Christmas onsie and it is amazing! Thanks Mum. 

Christmas morning started really early for us. As we were getting ready for bed Christmas eve night, Elder Halliday accidentally kicked my bed frame and cut his leg wide open. About 5 inches long and deep. I used my lifeguard knowledge and what I had with me and wrapped it up the best I could with a little gauze pad and a ripped up pillow case and convinced Halliday to go to the Hospital. I drove him up to the hospital after we called a few people. We got to the ER at about 00:05 on Christmas.  We waited about half an hour to be seen by a nurse and she just wrapped it up and told us to wait for the doc. At about 04:10 we finally get called into a room. During that time we talked and helped anyone we could in the waiting room. We let a couple of other people in ahead of us because they needed it more than us. Everyone loved us and we even got to share the gospel with a couple of other people. Right before we got called in a lady came back to thank us for letting her pass us because she got to see her grandmother one last time before she died. Super sweet experience. We then went into the room. The nurse came in and cleaned it again and prepped it for the doc. He came in and numbed it up and then disappeared for half an hour. He came back and we talked to him while he stitched up Halliday's leg. He was kinda interested and really liked what we do as missionaries. He ended up getting 7 stitches. By the time we got back home it was about 06:15 and we crashed hard. We then woke up at about 11 and ran to the church to talk to y'all! We then spent the day with the Family Dumas and sang, ate food, played some games and had fun. They gave both of us a big box of food for Christmas and it was perfect. 

That's about all I have for this week. I love you all so much and I am praying for all of you. Keep up the good work and don't be afraid to help others or share the gospel in some way this week. 

Love you all!

Elder Beckstrand

Halliday's leg and my amazing pillow case wrap job.

Stuff we got from the Family Dumas

Waiting in the waiting room. 

The 7 stitches

Shots and more stitches

Onesie

and nasty raw pig that got us sick

Son of a Nutcracker

Bonjour a tous! How are y'all doing? It feels like its been forever mostly because today is Wednesday and not Tuesday. The next few p-days will be on Wednesday because of Christmas and new year. This last week has been crazy but super fun.  

Last Wednesday we passed by our ami Ado and her husband.  He was super nice and talked to us for about 15 minutes before he left for work. He has had a change of heart since the first time we met him. Not much else happened that day.

Thursday was Zone Conference for Christmas. We got up and left early to get to the building on time because we are the farthest area away from where we were meeting and because of traffic we were still late. We had a training on hope and faith and how they are completely different but work together at all times. You can not study one without the other. Faith is knowing that something can happen while hope is knowing that something will happen. Sister Phillips then gave us Gifts. She gave us all these books that have Canada Montreal Mission on it along with a hand carved pen they got from Africa. Super cool. They also gave us custom made Temple recommend holders. Sooo cool. If you don't know what that is ask a Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. They can explain it. After conference, we went on an exchange with the zone leaders. I was with Elder Myers. He is super cool. We went out knocking and found this mom and her son who where pretty interested. The mom didn't accept a book of Mormon but her 21 year old son did. They were so open we went right in and taught them about the restoration. 

Friday we re-exchanged right before District council. It was the last one for the transfer and our District leader was actually the First elder I met when I got here. He used to be the Assistant to the President. We took some pictures together after. That night we had our ward Christmas party. It was soo good. We had over 110 people there and soo much food. Everyone was there and it was like one big family. The youth all sang a song and then a couple of other members did too. They then turned on some music and everyone all got up and danced. Too bad it was already 21h00 so we had to head home for the night. We later found out that there were people there until 23h00. We had quite a bit of non members there and some dude that know one knew. He was really open and we talked to him and ended up giving him a book of Mormon. 

Saturday morning we went and did service with all the young men to an old ami. He now has cancer and cant do a lot so we went to help him cut wood. We ended up cutting 2 years worth without even knowing it. He was so grateful and happy we came to help. When we were done we went with Maxime to get sushi. I have never had sushi before but it was great. I ate over 25 things of sushi with other stuff too. soooo good. That night we played volleyball like normal and it was just as good as other weeks. Right after we got our transfer calls and we found out that we were both staying another transfer. The ward was really excited to have us for Christmas. We are completely booked for the 24th, 25th and 26th. I'm so excited. Christmas is such a special time of year and a great opportunity to serve others like the ward is serving us. Find some time this week to serve your family and then someone else in need who doesn't have much of a family or some one in need this week. Please. It will not only help them but it will help you as well. 

Sunday was crazy. Church was normal. We had some really good talks on member missionary work and on Christmas. Some of the best talks I've heard on my mission. We also dropped some food off to this sick member that morning and it was really nice to see how happy it made them just to get some food in their time of need. After church we somehow ended up driving up towards the "mountain" here. Not really a mountain, more just like a big hill. We found ourselves inside this really old house. We learned that it was one of the first houses build when Canada was founded and now is a historical site. The door itself was 4 inches thick of wood and could only be opened from the inside. We had been talking with one of our amis and she said we could come to one of the prayer nights that she goes to every once in a while. There were about 50 people there and it was more of a cult than anything else. If you have seen the movie Clue, it was soo much like the movie it was spooky. It wasn't too bad but I don't think we are ever going back ahah. Our ami did say she wants to help her friend who is a less active member of our church start coming back to church and she might be coming too so that was the positive that came out of that experience. 

Monday we passed by quite a bit of potential amis and a few members. Not a ton happened but we did end the night at bishops house. We had a family night type thing with dinner. We spent some time talking about the ward and ways to help certain people. I then helped him with a couple questions he had about his phone. We then played with an app that quizzes you about your knowledge of names in the book of Mormon. It was super fun. Don't underestimate the power of Family nights and the book of Mormon. It can all be super fun and easy. 

Yesterday was transfers so we spent some of the day making sure that everyone in our district was safe and transferring well. Elder Halliday is the new District leader. We also passed by an ami who usually call us to set up appointments or lets us know during church. She doesn't like pass bys very much but we felt like we needed to so we did. She was soo happy to see us and invited us to come back in a couple days with another brother from the ward to have a lesson with her because she was really busy when we were there. We finished the day with some poutine. That is always a good way to end any day. 

That's all I have for this week. I hope you all have a great week and I'm super excited to talk to all of you next week over skype!! 

Love You!

Elder Beckstrand

Thank you sooo much for these gifts! They are super nice!

This is Elder Lott. He was the first elder I met here and the AP when I arrived. He just finished his mission as my District leader.

This is Elder Musaalo!

 Super cool old house we were in last Sunday. It was built back in the 1700s.

Service Project!

 

This is the coolest advent calender. Ive been doing it every day!! Thank you soo much. I love it!

 

What in Santa hill is this?

Bonjour! 

How is everybody doing? This week feels like it has just flown by. It is slowly getting colder and colder. The river here is almost completely frozen over. The work here is moving along nice and well. We have seen so many blessings this week. 

Last Wednesday we went on exchanges and I spent the day with Elder Musaalo in Brossard. He got here one transfer before me and is really cool. We taught this Chinese man French while also teaching him the gospel. The first half of the time we spend with him is focused on grammar while the second half is gospel. It was really cool. Elder Musaalo speaks mandarin so he did most of it but I did my best and tried to learn a little mandarin too. The spirit works in all languages. It doesn't matter what language you speak or how well you speak it, the Holy Spirit will testify the truth of all things. That night we went and played soccer with some amis and members from that ward. They are super good and it was really fun to play some soccer again. 

Thursday morning we had two quick lessons before we re-exchanged. They were both really good and one of them will be baptized soon. BLESSINGS. We got a call that morning from an ami who we have not been able to contact or see in almost a year and she invited us over for dinner. We regained contact with her by working with a less active member who is really good friends with her. It was such a blessing. We went over to dinner and it was awesome. She was really open to us and liked us so we are going to do what we can. We talked with them for a good little while and found out they were doing some house work for their friend in the morning and asked to help.

Friday we went off to help fix up this house. The older gentleman there asked about us and we just said we were friends of Robert. About 30 minutes in, he told us that he thought we were missionaries when we were walking up to the door so we just kinda laughed and said we were. That sparked up a nice conversation and we found out he used to have the missionaries over all the time and really liked them. For some reason we don't have any record of him but he remembers our church and the missionaries. His wife remembers more than he does because she has friends that are members. BLESSINGS. We helped him fix up some flooring and I stained and finished his wood door and cabinet. It was such a good visit. That night we went and visited this new family we are starting to teach. They are from Nicaragua and are super nice and super open to the gospel. 

Saturday we decided to contact some non active members and had this feeling that we needed to pass by this one member who we have passed by before but thought he had moved and were not planning on going back. We felt the spirit and went anyway. He was home and happy to see us. He let us right in and we talked to him for about 30 minutes. BLESSINGS.  He is married and has three kids that are not members but he himself has not been to church in 20 years. His last name seemed really familiar to me and we learned that his parents are members of the Drummondville ward. Good faithful members. We invited him to the ward Christmas dinner and other activities we are having soon. That night we played volleyball again at the church but this time we had about 16 people there and 4 of them were non members! So much fun. 

Sunday was awesome and our ami Fanel came to church again. He is doing really good but works a ton so we are doing what we can with his scheduled. We are working on a baptismal date with him. After church we stuck around and helped make some things for the Christmas party. Christmas here is bigger here than it is back home. Their Thanksgiving is smaller so they eat big meals at Christmas and go all out. We then ate some lunch with some ward members at the church. They are all awesome. As we were cleaning up, the Dumas family told us about their friend who came to play volleyball with us. That night, the non member stayed the night at their house and they stayed up until 2am talking about the gospel and answering his questions. BLESSINGS. He had a lot of questions and was super interested. Member missionary work is just as important as normal missionary work, if not more important. After that we did some street contacting using the "Éclairer le monde" program that the church has. That is such a great program. If you haven't heard of it or done anything for it yet, go to LDS.ORG or LIGHTTHEWORLD.ORG. blessings. Go check it out. 

Yesterday morning we did some more service for one of our amis. She is really old but super nice and really funny. We helped her move these bricks that were basically frozen to the ground. They were also covered in snow. There were a lot more than we thought there were going to be. When we were done, her neighbor (member) cooked us some breakfast which was really good. We taught our ami during breakfast and used the Light the World program as part of the lesson. She really liked it and really likes Christmas. If y'all have a chance, go back and read the Christmas story again and think about the real reason for Christmas and then find some way to serve others. The rest of the day we spent passing by potential peoples houses and seeing if they were home and sharing the Christmas story with everyone. Last night we helped set up the Church for the Ward Christmas dinner/party. We have really been working with the youth here and helping them get more involved and active in the church and we had almost all of them there with us last night to help set up. It was really cool to see the ward get closer and be more like one big  family than just a group of families who gather together. BLESSINGS. We are expecting a lot of people to come and we have talked to a couple of families who have already invited a few of their friends too. Once we were done, Elder Halliday and I realized that we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast so we went and got some pizza on the way home. 

That's all I have for this week. There is so much happening this Christmas season all around the World. So many blessings in store! The Light the world program is so helpful for everyone! Go watch it and share it and then find ways to serve your friends and family. Also don't forget to read the Book of Mormon every day and Go to the temple! This church is so true and this is a perfect time of year to share your beliefs with those around you and be good member missionaries. I challenge all of you to share a Gospel or light the world video on Facebook or a picture of Christ on Instagram with your testimony of Him or of the real reason for Christmas. Don't forget to follow up with those that might have questions for you! I love you all and hope you have a great week. 

Love,

Elder Beckstrand

Elder Musaalo 

Dinner with our lost ami that we just got back

Elder Halliday and I

Hey dad, I saw these jerseys today at the mall and thought you would like this. 

This is a V-star like yours. I think yours needs a new paint job ahah

 Ward Christmas party set up

cold weather clothes

Just some pictures from this week 3 of them on the frozen river. The other two are service pictures.

#LightTheWorld

Bonjour! 

How is everyone doing? This week here in Canada was a little more relaxed than the past week but still great. 

Last Wednesday we decided to use the day in one of the other little cities in our area. My area is Mont-saint-Hilaire but it covers so many other towns as well. I decided to go out to a little town called Contrecœur. We have a couple of potential people out there but once we got there we felt like we needed to visit the member who lives there. He was super happy to see us and it turns out that he had some questions he was wanting to ask us. It was such a good visit and he fed us some cake that he made too. After that we went and visited this family we are teaching that are from Paru. They are awesome but have been kinda busy so we are trying to have these short lessons with them whenever we pass by. They didn't have a ton of time that day but invited us to come eat lunch with them next week. We also visited Fanel. He is our best ami. He had been in the hospital and at home resting because he got super sick. We were finally able to stop by his place and were able to go in and see him. The people he lives with are not the nicest to us but they were super nice that night. We shared a little bit with him and invited him to come to church again and he came. 

Thursday we had interviews with president Phillips. He is literally the greatest Mission president in the world. He spent the day just driving around the mission doing interviews because zone conference was a 4 for 1 type dealio so he didn't have time to do them then. After those we went to visit a member who hasn't been to church in a couple of weeks. We found out he hasn't been because of his culinary school and he had this cheese project to do. We went over and tried some of the cheese. Along with the 3 little wheels of cheese we ate there we also ate a giant wheel we bought last p-day and ended up eating about 1300grams of cheese in about two days haha super good. That night we helped a Mexican family in the ward learn some french. 

Friday we had district council and I gave this training on the importance of prayer. Prayer is one of the most important tools that our father in heaven has given us. We need to pray as if everything depended on Him and then act as if it all depended on us and then pray again to make sure we did all that we could and make sure everything is in line with God's will. After District Council we visited a whole bunch of potential people and then had diner with the only native English speaking family around. They are super nice and treated us just as if we are their family too. They invited us to spend Christmas Eve with them.  I'm super stoked. 

Saturday was the national day of service! I hope you all did something! We had breakfast that morning with one of my favorite families in the ward. We shared ideas on how to help the ward and our amis better and other ways to Light the World this month. Frere Dumas is fluent in English, Spanish and french so we asked him to come to a couple of lessons with us we need a Spanish translator here. After that we passed by a couple of other people including Ado. She is doing really good and got her hours changed at work so she will be able to come to church on Sunday. She just has to talk to her husband now and have him let her come.  She is awesome. We finished the night of with our weekly Saturday night volleyball. We had 14 people there and 4 of them were not members. The members that invited them even shared a little about the church while we were there with them. It was really cool to see the members just take over and do the missionary work. It was a good night. 

Sunday was fun. I woke up and found out Elder Halliday was super sick. He couldn't move very much and had a bit of a fever. We eventually went to church to see Fanel but Halliday stayed away from most of the people and I had to greet everyone. At church we found out from our ward mission leader that one of our amis that we have kinda stopped teaching wants to be baptized. She is an older Quebecois lady who the sister taught for a bit and then we taught. She knows the Book of Mormon is true and is basically a member but didn't really want to be baptized because she was scared of what her kids would think. She finally told the ward mission leader she wants to be baptized now. We are going to be working with her on that now! We left after sacrament and he just laid back down in his bed for the rest of the day. I got some good studies done and cleaned up the apartment a bit. I also made some pancakes for dinner but he didn't eat much. Before bed I gave him a blessing and hoped for the best. 

Yesterday we got up and Elder Halliday was feeling a lot better but still not 100% so we took it kinda easy.  We did some more studies in the morning and then went and got some pizza because we were both super hungry. We visited Douglas and he is doing good but still had some questions. We tried to bring Christmas into the lesson but we found out that he isn't a big fan of Christmas so that was kinda fun to help him understand the true meaning of Christmas and the Joy that can come from this season. Last night we had dinner with the Youan Family from Cote D'ivoire. They are a returning family and they are so nice. She cooked us some fish and meat with some bananas cooked in a couple of different ways. It was all really good. After dinner we had a small Family night with them. It was so much fun and so easy. Everyone needs to make sure they set apart one night a week to spend together as a family. It's so easy and can be so much fun. 

Well. That's about all I have for this week. #LightTheWorld has some amazing ways to help serve your family and friends. I invite you all to go find some way to serve this week and share the joy that comes from Christmas! Also don't forget to serve your ancestors by going to the temple some time this week!!

I love you all!

Elder Beckstrand

Our cheese. Soo much cheese.

We took this picture because we thought we looked like the people from national treasures in the opening scene. ahah