Serving All In Montreal: 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