La Vie D'Ivee

Well this past week was BUSY BUSY BUSY. Which I must say, was awesome! I love being busy, it makes me feel like I am actually getting stuff done and that the work is moving forth! Plus it makes the days feel pretty short, and I always gratefully crash into bed and sleep until the next morning, it's great!

This week is the last week of the transfer. It is crazy to think that I will finally be done with my training! I am so happy to be done, not that it wasn't great or anything…but I feel like I finally have a complete grasp of how to be a missionary…well…kind of. However, I feel like with my luck I will be transferred just because I have finally grown to really love and get to know the people here haha. 

We had a mini-mission this past week! It was with Melissa who just received her mission call to Ecuador! She is awesome because she's completely trilingual, knows everyone and everything in relation to Lemoyne, and she's just super sweet and has a solid testimony. It was so much fun! We had her for 2 days and we got to go and teach, find, plan, have ward council, all the fun things. We even got to have a cute senior missionary couple over for lunch! It was great, I got to redeem myself from last weeks smoothie mishap.

An amazing experience this week was this Sunday we had a less active couple of a few years actually come to church. Apparently they are impossible to get a hold of, and their visiting teachers, and home teachers were making zero progress. Well we just happened to sneakily pass by and get them to make an appointment with us. And while we were at the appointment we told them we looked forward to seeing them on Sunday and would save them a seat! And apparently, it worked. The wife said that she felt bad thinking about us sitting alone in sacrament waiting for them to come. Yess! Make them feel guilty, it is a proven method. But seriously, they are awesome, such solid testimonies, they just don't come to church. 

Cultural Facts:

1. Bring your own wine is a thing at a lot of restaurants 

2. The malls close at 6, even on the weekends! What is that. 

3. Rollerblades are a very popular method of transportation

Love you all!

-Sister Garcia

Scripture of the week:

Mosiah 5:13

Quote of the week:

"I don't know why everyone's so hateful, all God wanted was for us to reproduce and be nice to each other"

Sister A, Melissa, Me, and Sister Olsen

Happy Victoria Day! Unless you're in Quebec then Bonne Journee National des Patriots! (National Patriot's Day)

This week was solid. Like super solid. Lemoyne was struggling for the past like month or so. I have no clue if it was the people being super closed off, or if it was us not being great missionaries, or what. But after a lot of prayer, and faith, and diligence, miracles are happening! The work in Lemoyne is progressing!

We got a lot of contacting done. Sister A and I have a goal to just be super bold with everyone we meet. I go up to everyone even if it feels super awkward and just start talking to them. Sometimes, you even get a super funny experience out of it! Sister Leon and I were on mini exchanges this week and we wanted to pass by some formers. Well one of them gave us a nice cold shoulder so we decided to just talk to everyone in the area. We found this man who was just smoking on his porch (super common) and we start talking with him. Anywho, he goes off about how religion is just created by man to enslave us in some system. And then he talked about the USA and how lucky we were to be from there because we have a lower tax. And then just went off about how he's a slave to the system and all that jazz. So we get the feel pretty quick that he's weird. So we ask him…"Well, who do you know who had a death in their family recently?" and he goes off saying, "Me! My cat died last thursday it was super traumatic. He got run over by a truck but wasn't completely dead so I had to snap his neck." ….yikes. 

The members in Lemoyne are super amazing! They are starting to really want to contribute to missionary work. Sister A gave a talk on Sunday that really helped to boost everyone's attitude towards missionary work. We got about 15 people to sign up to come teach with us! And then I got to give the lesson in sharing time, and it was so cute with all the french kiddos.

Sister A and I have a mini-mission this week! Except she's not that mini..because she's going on a mission to Ecuador this August! But it will still be super fun. I can't wait. I remember when I went on a mini-mission like…3 years ago, and it was such a great experience! 

Here are some more cultural facts:

1. The cops wear camo pants! Idk why, they just do.

2. Ice cream shops close in the winter and open back up in May, so that has been super fun

3. Gas pumps don't have that thing that allows you to walk away from the pump, you just have to stand there and hold it the whole time.

4. Everyone J-walks!

I know so many good things are in store for Lemoyne! I'm nervous because we get transfer calls next week and I could leave, but my guess is that I stay and sister A leaves! Guess we will have to wait and see...

-Sister Garcia 

Scripture of the week:

2 Nephi 31:3

Quote of the week:

"My boss said, "Do you think I work for Satan?" and I said, "yes!" and quit my job! It was an act of faith"

Cute little Ayana

Mini exchange with Sœur Leon!

I tried to make a smoothie this morning…it failed. I don't even wanna talk about how this is possible.

Well, Canada has completely bipolar weather. Last week it was so beautiful and sunny and warm, it actually felt like summer! And then somehow, someone switched a flip and now it's once again freezing, and even trying to snow. So…Canada basically doesn't care that there are supposed to be seasons, it's fine.

This past week was actually really good! Sister A and I were able to do a lot of service which is super fun because…pants…haha and of course demonstrating that Christlike love I have for everyone, that's cool too! One thing I have learned is that people atomically associate the sisters with being weak and the elders as being strong. Highly offensive, but it doesn't help that in our ward we have the biggest elder in the mission…he's super tall…and super Tahitian. When we were moving someone the trailer got stuck on the curb, and he literally just picked it up and moved it! And one of the members was like, "You're not human, people shouldn't be able to just do that" Haha so I guess why they always say,"Sisters, you can help clean and organize" But, it's okay, I'll get over it

We had zone training this week! I love trainings so much. It's like spiritual and information overload, but it's all so amazing. We focused on really just driving everything home to doctrine. Because if we are not using doctrine to help teach, it's pretty much pointless. We focused on 3 pillars which are application, principles, and doctrine.

Application = How

Principle = What

Doctrine = Why

And just to give you some solid definitions, 

Doctrine: Never changes, is 100% true, and relates to divinity.

Principle: Rarely changes, is true, and it really is what we need to be doing.

Application: The how of what we need to be doing.

And as long as we connect our vision with doctrine, it is going to be the most effective way to accomplish any goals that we have. So cool!

I got to go on exchanges this week with the sister training leaders! It was super fun. I love getting a change of pace. It was a really great way for me to see how to be bold in my teaching, and to always have Christ name on my lips. Everyone we talked to, we would just testify. It's amazing how powerful your testimony of the Savior can really be. Make sure you continue to strengthen and grow your testimony, it's so powerful! I'm trying really hard to break out of that zone where I just feel super awkward approaching random people and talking to them. I've learned that I got an amazing message and the worst they can do is say no. 

Cultural Facts:

1. Children just wander. Where are their parents? No one knows! It's not uncommon to see children between the ages of 4 and 11 just walking around with no adult in sight.

2. People are always super weirded out when you say hi to them. Most of the time I just get a super confused look or an awkward arm raised at me

3. You have to pay for your bags at the grocery store. They're super big on recycling and the environment and all that good stuff

4. At dinner, they won't ever offer you water. They only offer you juice or soda, and if you ask for water, they still give you juice 

-Sister Garcia

Scripture of the week:

Mormon 9:21 

Quote of the week: (The Spanish elders were on bikes, and then just got a brand new car)

Me: "Elders, where'd your hubcaps go?"

Elder: "Oh. They got stolen, we live in the ghetto"

All the sisters in the Longueuil Zone

Haha our lightbulbs burned out so we took some from the living room and they were too hot so sister A used socks to hold them

Decorating planners is a big thing here, so these are mine! Sister Zobs from the MTC Made me 2!

We got brand new pamphlets and look who I found! The Ayllon Family

We've got great elders haha ​

To start off, I would like to say a Bonne Fête de Mères and Happy Mother's Day to all the beautiful wonderful moms and future momma's out there! I am super grateful for all of the amazing women who have helped me along the way, and that still continue to support me! As president Holland said, "No love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love of a devoted mother"

That being said, I got so Skype my family! Wow, mother's day is one of my new favourite holidays. It was so good to be able to see everyone's beautiful beaming faces and talk to them. It's weird that I've been away for a little over 3 months at this point…sometime's I forget that I'm on a mission haha. 

This past week was my birthday, that was weird. I turned 20, and am no longer a teenager…what the heck. I feel like I just turned 5 last year. Funny how quickly time flies. Definitely did not think I would have been on a mission a year ago, but sometimes Heavenly Father has a different plan than you do! My birthday was amazing though. We had sushi for lunch, the sister training leaders brought over a cake, and then sister Regimbald took us out for mexican food! Cinco de Mayo is not a big deal here, but I made it a big deal.

We got to go to the temple again this week! Wow, I love that place. How lucky am I to be able to have a temple in my mission? It's the best! So many blessings come as a result of going to the temple. I think I definitely took the temple for granted when I was in Utah because they are everywhere! But if you live in Utah, take advantage of the fact that there's probably a temple within 20 minutes of your home. Go to the temple! And if you don't think you have time, make time. It should always be a priority. And the peace and comfort that you feel will be unmatched, promise.

Well, I think it would be fun to share with all of you some cultural facts about good ole Quebec!

1. Bises. Bises for days. They are when everyone likes to come up and touch your cheek with their cheek and make a kissing sound. Sometimes old people will just kiss your cheeks straight up because they just love how big your cheeks are. It's super awkward when men try to do this to you and you have to quickly block with your hand

2. Milk comes in bags, it is the strangest thing. You buy a pack at the grocery store and it has like 3 bags of milk in it. And then you put the bag in a pitcher thing and snip the corner. My 1st time I didn't know how it was done and I just poured the milk into the container…whoops

3. Everyone lives in an apartment or duplex. Everyone. I don't know why but living in a home is just not really a thing here. And you have to ring the doorbell or little call machine to get into a building. It's fun when we pass by people who don't know we're coming…we just ring random numbers until someone lets us in! 

4. Potholes. Potholes everywhere. The roads here are so bad that you basically have to just choose a hole. It's pretty terrifying to drive here.

5. You can only turn right on red at certain streets during certain times of the day. And if you are stopped for like .5 seconds after the light turns green everyone will honk at you!

So that's it for this week, you're very welcome for that cultural lesson!

-Sister Garcia

Scripture of the week:

Luke 9:24

Quote of the week:

"Do you know when she'll be awake?"

"When her eyes are open"