October 26, 2015, bike 8 miles in 1st speed, PEC bore testimony, "I eat ramen", "there is so much to the life of a missionary", " Je t'aime ma mere parce que elle est une tres bonne missionaire mere! elle fait tout chose pour moi! je t'adore! "

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

Trainer: Elder Ross Rosenlof (from California/Utah)

Language: French

 i am at the church I am perfect! How are you how are the boys how is dad?  I am pretty amazing here! just getting a little cold! I want it to get colder and everyone keeps calling me crazy haha 

- an old lady called me cute this week because of smile just something funny! and another person thought that i was like 21 or 20 and she is a senior in highschool and so there entire family was really surprised when i told them that i has just graduated and that i was only 18 

 it was actually just a really good week! but yeah there is so much to the life of a missionary i wish i could have more time to tell you what it is like! 

1- Yes of course! But there are only 2 kinds that i Have found.. 1 that is no name brand ( there is a no name brand store where everything is SUPER cheap but sometimes.. well there is a reason its only 35 cents haha ) yeah the no name brand is 35 cents and it is pretty well.. just not the best ramen haha and the other ramen is a dollar a thing and i eat like 4 at a time.. so yeah i eat ramen  but i bought a bunch of the cheap ones and i add a lot of spices to make it taste better! and I eat.. I don't know haha it varies alot on the day I try to eat pretty healthy and we have a decent amount of dinner appointments but that is something i need help with is Just cheap quick meals so you should send me something for that or just quick cheap recipes etc. 

2- umm.. more often than not we cook ourselves but sometimes we eat out etc. just depends on the day like this week we have 2 dinner appointments i think? so thats actually pretty good only have to cook or eat out 5 times haha... I think usually its better its just a slow week. 

3- My french is coming! You have to realize i started the MTC over basically haha.. I have been studying super hard and the hardest thing right now is just understanding what they are saying I know that if i could understand what they were saying i could speak more but a lot of them speak really fast and have accents so its hard to understand but its coming! En Francais? je ne sais pas a dire parce que tu ne donnes pas en frase a traducire. I dont know if i spelled like half of that right but. What do you want me to say? Je t'aime ma mere parce que elle est une tres bonne missionaire mere! elle fait tout chose pour moi! je t'adore! 

4- umm this week specifically? When i was in PEC meeting.. because its just all these grown men and here i am just an 18 year old kid and they are talking about the ward and what they can do better etc. So where do i fit in that haha? I felt in my mind these men know everything and have a lot of respect for all of them but I just had the strongest impression that I had to speak ( 1- all in french so i didnt understand what was going on 2- I had to speak in french to all these grown men haha) But i listened to that prompting the bishop asked if there was anything else and I raised my hand and I remember the first 3 sentences " I dont speak much. I dont understand much. but i have a testimony." I talked about our calling as missionaries. That we had been called there specifically for a reason and that we were to make this work better to increase the work and I just bore testimony of what the ward could be and what role we would play in that. It was a really cool experience and I was so nervous haha but i felt relief and comfort. the bishop was really thankful for what I had said and Elder Rosenlof also thanked me for the things I had shared. 

5- haha.. I dont have enough time to respond to that question. I honestly cant describe it but i will share how its different than just being me. I wake up6:30 jump out of bed and pray. I am tired but i love it. I get to start a new day, find new people and bring salvation to peoples souls. I work out as hard as i can for 30 minutes after I am done praying and stretching I really only have 20 minutes or so to workout but i dont complain I go hard and then i get ready for the day. Everyday no matter what happens i dont complain. I know I am not on my time and i know that the lord will guide me where i need to go. Every second I am thinking about different gospel priniciples and people i am teaching and just pondering about what I had read that morning. I talk to everyone that gets even kind of  close to me and I try to make conversation with them. Whenever I have anytime at all i want to be finding people. When i am eating I read my scriptures. I remember yesterday when a member was driving us i was sitting in the back and I had my english scriptures so i started reading the sermon on the mount haha - WHO DOES THAT? like whose thought process is okay im sitting in the car i am going to read the scriptures haha BUT I DID! and i wanted to and i loved it! I remember it was getting dark so i was holding them shifting them to get as much light as possible while holding them like 4 inches from my face. Oh what it is like to be a missionary. My whole life has changed mother. I dont think, act, or even look the same really. and this isnt even everything this is just the surface of a infinite well of conversion. 

6- Adventures? Everyday is an adventure as a missionary i just finished a hike i will send you pictures soon and Because its the end of the month we dont have alot of mileage so we walked alot and we saw and talked to so many people and we gave away like 5 book of mormons! So many things everyday is amazing as a missionary. Everything is what you make of it you just have to have the right attitude! 

7- Laugh? umm.. So we have investigator, Jean C.  He has the biggest smile on his face makes us laugh.  

8- My area! okay my area is huge!! BUT at the same time i am told it is one of the most beautiful area ALSO Urban Montreal is really really flat and we are the only area that had a " Mountain" So we climbed that this week before it got too cold but Thats really cool and its true it really is so beautiful  here! Other than this. There are so many people because of how big it is and I wish we had like twice as many miles and like 4 more of me so that I could talk to and go everywhere to see everyone! But other than that I absolutely love it there are so many amazing people and it is absolutely gorgeous especially with all the trees! I will send you pictures! 

9- What didn't i learn this week? we had a member of the 70 come on Tuesday for zone conference and just wow.. That was amazing! Really that we can do anything with the Lord we are the ones that limit ourselves if we just put faith in the lord we can do all things! 

10- The weather has been the same it hasn't really snowed or rained this week which is sad I remember finding a scripture this week about how the lord sends the rain on the just! ( I think it said unjust as well) But i still love the rain nonetheless. But it hasn't been super cold it was sunny because we went on this hike and I am always SUPER hot so i was in shorts and a t-shirt even at one point and its like 35-40 degrees outside and everyone has scarves and thermals it was pretty funny! But I am excited to use my winter gear and ALSO! tender mercy that I bought that light rain jacket before we left because I use it all the time it is convenient and its black and classy just ah! So happy that I found that.

Last thing! Okay so the only 2 really crazy days this week were Monday and Tuesday! so listen to this Monday! - we do p-day and its nice get a call that we will be saying in Longueuil so that we don't have to drive as far for the zone meeting and that we will be doing exchanges so we cut p-day like 3 hours early and I went on exchanges with a  SPANISH ELDER! yeah that's whats up! he was from France too! So basically the conclusion of the evening with him we had to bike like 8 miles haha because neither of us were technically allowed to drive and I have a lot of empathy for bike elder now ( my bike was really bad and it down shifted all the time and I couldn't shift up so I basically was in 1 1 the whole time.. It was pretty funny just me pedaling as fast as I could down the highway and not even going that fast ) 
We ate 3 dinners lol.. they really feed you I think that may have been the hardest thing I have done on my mission so far eating those three dinners lol.. IT WAS SO HARD!

 I also fixed a washer for the last dinner appointment lol. Wow just the craziest exchange ever and after eating 3 dinner appointments we had to bike home! just crazy! then the next day we got up at 4! and had zone conference and just wow crazy 2 days and I woke up Tuesday with the worst headache and my throat hurt so it was rough but i got through it and now I am perfect and just yeah! this was an amazing week! Okay that was a lot! I love you so much! have a good week!

-Elder masse'

Also I got your package that Monday after I emailed you from the mission home from Amazon Canada and I didn't have to pay anything and I was extremely grateful for those things thank you so much! you are the best! and my other one is at the mission home and I will pick it up tomorrow! love you! 

1.       Do they have Ramen in Canada.  If so, how much do you eat a week.  If not, what are you eating?!? 

2.       How often do you eat with members?  How often do you cook for yourselves?

3.       How is your French coming along? Tell me something in French

4.       What is a spiritual experience that stands out in your mind?

5.       What’s it like being a missionary?

6.       What adventures did you have this week?

7.       What made you laugh?

8.       Tell me something about your area

9.       What’s something you learned this week?

10.   What’s the weather been like?