Tulips, from the lovely Ottawa Tulip Festival.
Hello everyone!
This week was a rainy one here in Montreal. It rained and rained and rained. I loved it! There's nothing quite like rain in Montreal. Beautiful! this week was really incredible! We had some really drastic lows and highs but overall it was amazing! I think that's the crazy thing about being on a mission you experience all sorts of extremes in one day. It's weird, but so normal at the same time.
This week we had another lesson with Nicole. There is a member in our ward named Frere Cantin and he is also deaf, but is really good at reading lips. But I just want to explain the process that takes place during our lessons with Frere Cantin and Nicole. So, first we teach a principle in French and then Pierre translate to Nicole and then we translate what Nicole says and then we try to make sense of it in English. Last time it got kind of confusing. It's kind of like playing charades because the other day we were teaching prayer and he ended up translating Nicole's response which was surprisingly about Hilter and WWII. Confusing, right? The cool thing about these lessons is that the spirit is always super strong because no one is actually speaking. It's pretty incredible! the crazy thing afterwards is that I feel like I can't talk to anyone because I get so used to trying to use my hands to communicate. I love sign language!
The other night we were walking to a lesson and I noticed this really cute Haitian granny gardening. So, I stopped and started talking to her. At first she seemed a little skeptical and then once we started talking about our purpose and then suddenly she was really open and warm. She invited us to come into her backyard to talk a little bit more and pray with her. I absolutely fell in love with her garden and started smelling all of the herbs. She thought I was cute so she started cutting big bunches and gave them to us to take home. I was so happy! We prayed with her and set up a time to come back and then started on our way to the next lesson. All the while I was holding the big bunch of basil and mint and I felt like a disney princess. Yes. That Anne-of-Green-Gables-whimsy is still very much a part of me. Oh it was lovely! And oh how I miss herb gardens!
Yesterday we had the infamous ward choir! Oh my goodness. It's somehow gotten worse...or maybe it's better and I'm worse. Who knows. We started singing and after about 3 rounds of Silent Night I was pretty darn certain that I was singing like them. And then I tried just focusing on my voice, but the problem was that I couldn't hear my own voice. So then by about round 6 I gave up singing all together and just mouthed the words. I would love to record it, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't appreciate it. Siiiiiileeeeennt NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIght.
This week I've been thinking a lot about light. Light fascinates me. I love all kinds of light.There is something so warm and inviting about light. One time in my floral design class at BYU I learned about how light affects tulips and how they naturally gravitate towards and follow light which causes them to bend at the stem. I realized that there have been times when I'm more like a tulip and I really do gravitate towards light. I allow myself to be washed over in it and nothing seems to get me down. But there are other times when I let too much darkness into my life and it's so hard to find my light again. But light gives us peace and stability. Or like Tulips it gives us direction and life. There's a talk from this last conference Ensign by Sister Dalton and she talks about how she realized one day in the Reno temple that the Lord's light is like a chandelier: He is the giant light source and we are the tiny crystals that reflect His light. Isn't that beautiful?! We are His tiny crystals here to reflect His perfect love and light. D&C 50:24 says, " That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day." That perfect day can be everyday, we just have to draw closer to Him and in return we can be full of His light.. and that is something following.
I hope your week is lovely. Enjoy the last bits of summer, because FALL is on it's way! Oh I'm so excited! But I will try to enjoy these last few summer storms. And gathering plenty of sunshine for those dreary winter days.
Bisous Bisous!
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