December 28, 2015 - new comp Elder Thomas Scott, sang at Christmas conference, "All the time every hour we are doing something planning thinking about what we will do next! This is true missionary work!"

Area: Mont-St-Hilaire (near St Hyacinthe), Quebec, Canada 

Companion:  Elder Thomas Smith

Yeah it was fun to skype everyone and call you just right before! Did Devin ever say anything about my French? I am quite curious if he did! 

1. What is your new comps first name, where is he from? (Utah?)  You mentioned something about snowboarding and Warren Miller...

2.  What do you like about your new comp?

3.  Tell me anything!!  

4. Tell me something in French!  

5. Did you do anything else on Christmas?  What are you doing today?  

6. Tell me something you've been thinking about lately.  

1- His name is Elder Thomas Smith, and yes he is from utah haha.. yeah so he skies and from what I have heard he is an amazing skier! He has been skiing since he was young and we talked about warren miller and some other things I didn't know actually that he did and every year he goes to warren miller as well! He tore his ACL about 3 years ago in switzerland skiing and he also has torn his meniscus a couple times. the point is He is awesome and I am so excited to be with him!

2- I love how diligent and fun he is! We are very similar in many ways so everything has just been a blast and we have been working soooo hard! All the time every hour we are doing something planning thinking about what we will do next! This is true missionary work!

3- Umm this week was a really funny week! As I said before we have just been working super diligently so there are always things to do! IT FINALLY SNOWED! It only took forever! we got like half a foot probably not too much but it also fropped like 10 degrees! right now it is -10 and it is the middle of the day so I am sure by the time i email you next that it will be in the -20's! which will be fun I love the cold! So yeah we have been shoveling peoples driveways and just giving service and it has been a blast with the snow and the cold! There have just been a lot of changes this week and I am super happy! Life is good! 

4- je sais que il y a beacoup de chose que je peux dire! est-ce que devin est la toujour? je veux parler avec lui si il y a le temple a fair ca! 

5- So besides skyping we had a lunch and a dinner appointment and for the rest of the time we made little care packages with candy and notes and we drove around and gave them to all the people who were alone this christmas! We tried singing as well and well.. it went both ways haha! But it was super fun! The highlight was still skype of course!

6- I thought about DAD! Because it was his birthday! I hope that all went well with that and I want to know what everyone got for christmas! Other than that I have just been thinking about missionary work! the usual it was a good week! I dont know if I have too much else to report on but it was a really fun week! Oh and we had the mission conference! i Forgot to talk about that! so I sang 2 songs in front of everyone and that was so fun and the food was good and we got 2 new missionaries in our district and life is just perfect! 

I love you so much have an amazing week and tell me when my letters get to you! love you!!

-Elder Masse'

December 21, 2015 - pics! transfers! "It was so nice to work out I love chopping wood it brought much peace", " I am so great! I am so happy this was probably the best week I have had on my mission so far !"

Area: Mont-St-Hilaire (near St Hyacinthe), Quebec, Canada 

Companion:  Elder Rosenlof.... new companion Elder Thomas Smith

Sorry that emailing was sparatic we had interviews with the mission president etc. so it was crazy schedule but it is time for me to go ! love you see you soon elder Masse'

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christmas!

 

this is why i got a haircut.. going crazy..

Guess who ate all the protien powder..

these are my planners! Our sisters are the best!

 

where the magic happens!

 

this is our amazing kitchen ! so much food!

 

 view from the church this is mont st. hilaire!! love you have a good week! sorry about the trees. haha

I am so great! I am so happy this was probably the best week I have had on my mission so far it was soooo fun! It was busy and we did so many things just WHOO! So fun ! That is way cool! Tell the Christensens I say hi :)

  1- anytime I get a package it is christmas 2- I havent really sent you a list 3- I got 1 package so far and IT WAS A TREE!!! haha that was pretty funny.. not going to lie! I also got the Life of Jesus christ and his apostles THANKYOU SO MUCH! I love you! so I guess to tell you what I want for christmas or in general and I think I already gave you most of these things. 1 - this is kinds from dad you and natalie but You should ask Dad to find the biggest USB he can find and just load it with talks and with music - vocal point, motab, classical other church approved songs.  I really like hugh b brown, and hartman rector jr, both amazing speakers! 

2- as I said just an album FULL Of a billion pictures of the family and just everything!

3-Could you also get me some of the songs that we sang for choir that are approved? you could probably put them on the USB but i really would like some recordings of john and I singing and some of the songs we sang in choir.

4- as always protein powder .
 5- a new oil vile with maybe a little container of oil they sell at Deseret store. I think that is it..

 Anyways so this week!

0- Skype so.. it will probably be between 1-4 on christmas.. just be prepared.. The lady has not called us back so that we could finalize the information so.. yeah.. just be ready throughout the day.

1- I did not get transferred BUT! elder rosenlof did.. so we will change this tuesday during our mission christmas devotional. So i will stay here and My new companion is elder smith! he has been out a year and a half I think? not sure but yeah that is transfers haha elder rosenlof will be going to the island of montreal.

2- see # 0 

3- We went to sorel that was pretty special because well it is just super far away.. it takes us like 200 kilometers round trip which is ALOT. cause we only have 1900 per month and we try and go there twice a month.. yeah not easy haha. But this week was so fun we were all over the place in st julie, st hyacinthe, sorel, contre-coeur, beloeil etc. You name it! This next week we get to go to montreal! etc.  BUt I had an amazing week I will elaborate on it more at the end of this email.

4- What Dont I LOVE ABOUT MY FAMILY! I always think about you I think a big thing is just how close we are! I know that now matter what it is there is always 6 other people that have my bag at all times. I miss my family dearly and I look forward to the time when we will all be together again laughing and playing games! making fun of each other and just having a good time! I have truly come to cherish the importance of family out here Nothing means more to me now. 

5- I love that it is a rather relaxed city it is very similar to Newberg. Not too busy but there is traffic and there are people walking everywhere and it all just seems familiar! The Members are GREAT!! and it is really sooo beautiful here it puts me right at home. 

6- Haha.. Which one? I have done that quite a few times now! The last time was this saturday to a man that had a problem with horses in the book of mormon lol. It's okay we will help him get over that problem! A lot of people say that they will be baptized because they will! They say they will if they know it is true. Just need persistence! 

7- DISTRICT MEETING! I loved this past district meeting we got 2!!! new missionaries in our district from the 10 that arrived 1 sister and 1 elder! It was so fun there is now 8 of us in our district so it is such a blast we laugh and learn and it is seriously so fun! 

8- 1 of  the new missionaries told a really cool story in the MTC about a man that had gone to see 5 doctors to get different opinions on his cancer and they all said that he needed to start treatment immediately because it was malignant and so this man asked for a blessing from this missionary in our district and so he gave him one and the next day he went to the doctor and the cancer was gone.. HOW COOL IS THAT! that is a pretty amazing miracle. 

SO this was such a fun week! let me tell you a little why!  so 1- I GOT TO CHOP WOOOOOOOOOD YEEEEES! I was so happy when one of our investigators said he needed help chopping wood I was stoked and when we got there it was real wood chopping I am talking like these huge 5 foot diameter 2 feet thick stumps and we only had axes and wedges! we worked for 3 hours and we were going hard too! He kept just calling me out like " Elder Masse is a mad man " Just all this funny stuff because I was just going at it! It was so nice to work out I love chopping wood it brought much peace but something happened as well while we were doing all of it. This was my journal entry :  SO the very last piece of wood to chop everyone else is stacking the rest of the wood so I know that I can cut it in one swing so I lift the axe over my head and with the thundering power of Masse' strength I brought the axe down. The air exploded with wood! I chopped the piece on the stump into 3 and i cracked the bottom foundation stump and I shattered the handle of the axe... I completely destroyed everything haha.." I felt pretty bad.. I wise father once taught me though if I borrow something to always restore it in better condition than I found it;) love you dad. So I am going to go buy him a new axe cause well that is who I am. SO that was that experience! So fun! I was pretty sore afterwards for a couple days.

2- I will be singing in front of the entire mission with our district leader.

3- our relief society is the best and they bought us an entire box of presents! I have a picture of it but it was seriously the nicest thing ever! there was like 25 presents plus cards in each of our boxes! I LOVE OUR WARD! 

That was basically it for this week but the members really loved elder rosenlof so they were sad to see him go but it was a really good sunday yesterday! I had an amazing week! well I love you hope you have a good week! I want to know everything! 

-Elder Masse'

December 14, 2015 - 12 weeks in Montreal, "I went from a pebble to a mountain. I have seen the divine nature of this calling. I have seen miracles and my faith has grown so much in this gospel. There is no way that I would be able to do this if I didn't know that it was true. But as I have been obedient I have seen miracles and these experiences have grown my faith so much and it is just this continuous cycle and my testimony grows more and more each day of this gospel and of the scriptures etc. It has brought me peace! "

1.      Transfers!  Did you get transferred? 

2.       What’s something you love about Quebec?

3.      Spiritual experiences?

4.     What made you laugh?

5.      What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

6.      What are some Christmas traditions there (or how is it different there)?

7.       How has your testimony grown since you’ve been a missionary?

1- so no didnt get transferred because they moved transfers to next week so i have no idea.. so I cant really answer any of those questions haha SORRY!

2- poutine haha! I ate it almost every day this week and I think that my heart almost stopped! But, I love the weather definitely this week was well.. I want an awesome winter so to speak but this week it got to like 50 degrees! I was just mind blown last year at this time it was in the -20's so.. I have no idea! but i do like it! it reminds me of oregon! I love the culture and there are people here from all over the world which is really cool I have met people from Devins mission and europe south america! Name any place! 

3- yes all the time haha. I think that a really cool thing this week was that i fasted for a new investigator and boom! we got a call from another set of missionaries with a referral and we got a new investigator this was amazing! I think Another really cool experience was that we went on splits and there was this lady that the elder had been trying to give a baptismal date for a long time. She had a son die and she was just having a hard time in her life and I testified of eternal families and I talked about our family and aideyn and it was really powerful and I challenged her to baptism and she accepted So that was pretty awesome! 

4- haha... Well there was a couple near death experiences that made me laugh. I will save those for another time but one of our recent converts again just went off about how there is this place in quebec where all the beautiful women come from and he was just using the word belle, and jolie... and elder rosenlof and I were just laughing so hard. Also eating dinner with a 83 year old man who is pretty firm in his beliefs and he just made some pretty crazy comments about the arc of the covenant and also the 2nd world war and it was pretty funny I had no idea what was going on 

5- 1- Dad's book that takes #1, I also love going to the movies on christmas eve. I love opening 1 present on christmas eve of our choosing and also getting new pajamas. I love the FEAST! and the christmas orange. And looking at the lights in portland. but mainly just being together as a family and spending time together watching movies or doing other things. 

6- umm.. I have no idea haha It doesn't seem like there is too much difference here they put up lights etc. We actually got some presents! and we have been invited to eat at like 6 peoples houses.. I may die haha. But i cant answer that one very well haha..

7- Comparatively? I went from a pebble to a mountain. I have seen the divine nature of this calling. I have seen miracles and my faith has grown so much in this gospel. There is no way that I would be able to do this if I didn't know that it was true. But as I have been obedient I have seen miracles and these experiences have grown my faith so much and it is just this continuous cycle and my testimony grows more and more each day of this gospel and of the scriptures etc. It has brought me peace! 

yeah!  Christmas is almost here! I cannot wait to speak french with devin! I know that it is not perfect but, i know that we will be able to communicate somewhat haha.

Other things - this week! As I said I ate poutine almost every day and it is actually so good... I know how to make it so I am definitely bringing it to college with me! umm I think in 10 days I am singing a duet in front of the entire mission and I dont have music and we haven't practiced.. soo we will see how that goes! umm it was a long week not totally sure why! but I also finished 12 weeks! in 11 weeks haha.. and yeah this week was good it was just crazy long! 

OHHH highlight so we had this christmas party this week and I was so excited!! we had invited so many people and just like 2 hours before it starts we get a call from an investigator saying that she needs help moving. at 6:30 which is when it started.. we said no at first because of the christmas party then we thought about it and we said to ourselves " what is more important" sooooo. we told her we would be there and we did! and we helped move all her stuff from her 3 story apartment down to the bottom floor in the truck and there was a couple people there but they were all old and out of breath because they were smoking and so it was basically just us and we went up and down that flight of stairs more than I can count. There was this chest of drawers or however you spell that and they were deciding how to get it down and I just picked it up by myself and carried it down 3 flights of stairs! I love being a masse' sometimes haha but then we made it back in time for the party and all was well and It was just so fun to do service! I love helping people move! It was a pretty good week! well l love you have a good week!

-Elder Masse'

      

Canada Montreal Mission Tour Picture

http://ldscanadamontrealmission.blogspot.ca/

Mission Tour with Elder Golden - November 2015

We were recently privileged with the opportunity to have Elder Christoffel Golden of the First Quorum of the Seventy tour our mission for several days.  He spent several days instructing our missionaries during zone conferences. 

Montréal, Mount Royal, and Longueuil Sud Zones

(Elder Masse is on the left end, middle row)

Our Vision

"Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord's vineyard to brings souls unto Him. He has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will asist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work."

~ President Thomas S. Monson

December 7, 2015 - "I have come to realize what really brings me peace and some of the things I want from this life. I learned that "masse" means sledge hammer and now everything just makes so much more sense haha I have also learned to limit myself or more so what my capability is and when I reach that point not to be disappointed that I cant do more. you learn a lot about yourself as a missionary."

My district!  I love them!

This is how you eat breakfast haha

I take alot of notes..

this was at the Baptism!




Area: Mont-St-Hilaire (near St Hyacinthe), Quebec, Canada 

Trainer: Elder Ross Rosenlof

I am always great haha you know this;) I keep forgetting that I will be able to skype you soon! so so so weird! you will get to hear my french haha. 

Questions! 

1. How was your week?  Tell me something that happened to you this week

2. What made you laugh?

3. What is something you love about Quebec?

4. What have you learned about yourself recently?

5. How would you describe the people of Quebec or in your area?  

6. How does your mission feel the same or different from the Oregon Salem Mission?

7. What are you looking forward too?

8. What do you want for Christmas?

1- It was good! It was a pretty slow week but it was really really fun! We had a great district meeting and there was 3 baptisms this week in our district so we went to those etc. It was a hard week but it was really really fun! to me specifically? umm.. this week.. i dont even know lol.. this week was a blur! 

2- umm. Always being with my district! Whenever our district is together we have SOOOO MUCH fun haha we laugh and tell jokes and just yeah! So that is definitely something umm at the bapstism there were 2 little kids just wrestling and one of them licked the other in the face haha just in front of EVERYONE and someone was trying to give a talk it was just crazy but it was a fun time.

3- umm POUTINE haha who does love poutine? it is actually so good.. But i love the weather! and nature! there is a long list the people, the weather, food, culture etc. 

4- About myself? That is a hard question haha. I have come to realize what really brings me peace and some of the things I want from this life. I learned that "masse" means sledge hammer and now everything just makes so much more sense haha I have also learned to limit myself or more so what my capability is and when I reach that point not to be disappointed that I cant do more. you learn a lot about yourself as a missionary.

5- umm. they are very warm once you get to know them but they can be kind of "sheltered" so to say before you get to that point but once you get them going they just never stop talking haha.. 

6- There are many things that are similar but I think there are more differences I have come to realize how just blessd I was specifically with all the experiences I have had with the Oregon Salem Mission. I wish that I had used it more to my advantage but even know I have so much experience it has really come in handy!  We are really going through a lot of changes right now to become better! I am excited to see what will happen after 2 years. 

7- haha. what am I not looking forward to? time in general! I know that the biggest thing is time. I need time to learn the language time to learn how to be a missionary and really learn how to be an effective teacher So I am just excited for the future in general and also just the snow and winter! I am excited to see how cold it will be! ALL THE SNOW!

8- that is the golden question isnt it haha.. everytime I get a package it is like christmas haha! umm definitely more pictures maybe just like an album of pictures? of memories etc. That would be nice.  I will have to think more deeply on that one ask me next week and I will come up with a list!! 

i was looking at the ward directory and i noticed that where I lived had changed so i looked at it and i saw on the map where you live etc. You are in the georgia stake etc. But my companion who really loves geography noticed where you were living and just commented that it is a super nice place and that It is a big vacation spot.. you guys are just having a blast there haha I cant believe it! 

Transfers are next week.  this transfer is 5 weeks long and the next one is 7 weeks.

This week there isnt really too much more to report on it was a fun week but slow haha! Anyways love you so much! Have a good week!

-elder Masse'

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 Dear Elder Masse',
     Happy Sabbath to you. 
     Today in class  we talked about the most important gifts Heavenly Father has given us. We started with Jesus Christ Himself, His Atonement, and the Holy Ghost. What would you add?
     Continue votra bon travail avec diligence inebrantable.
                                Love, 
                              Gramma
Dear Grandma! 

I would add the ability to choose ( agency ) because above all else this is really what gives us our freedom to exercise the atonement in our lives to do the things to feel the spirit and be able really to do those things that you love most. So i think along with all those are definitely agency but also eternal families there is nothing in this world that means more to me than my family so I would add that to the list. Well I hope those were to good things! I love you so much grandma!

-Elder Masse'