Each Sunday we go to this building for church. There are 2 wards, the Ochelaga French speaking and the Ochelaga Spanish speaking, and our little branch. Both the French and Spanish speaking have a large number of people attending. The Spanish ward always sings really loudly and really well. They can be heard even outside of the chapel. Our little branch doesn't have that many people. We usually start out with about 20 and after sacrament about 20 to 30 more people come straggling in. The branch is small and many are struggling, but those who do come faithfully are strong in their testimonies of Jesus Christ and of the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Most of the people that I have met speak with heavy accents. In Montreal almost everyone speaks French and English. However the French they speak is Quebecois and it is very difficult for me to understand. Their English also has a certain accent to it.
Last week a little baby with parents from Mexico was blessed. She was absolutely adorable and she reminded me so much of Emily when she was a little baby. She was dressed in a very fancy long white dress and she had a ton of dark hair with a bow in it. Her Dad carried her oh so carefully as she lay in his arms on a fancy crocheted white blanket. It sure took me back to the day when my babies were little and especially I thought about Emily all day long because she looked so much like her. Both parents bore strong testimonies of how they know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and how grateful they are that they can be eternal families. The Father speaks English some, but was to worried to speak in front of the congregation, so his friend translated for him. The friend told about how grateful he was for the church and what a privilege it is for him to be a member of it.
=
Nadia is an amazing young woman who teaches gospel doctrine. She is from the Ukraine and speaks fluent Ukrainian as well as fluent Russian. I do not now her story yet, but I will find out one day. I do know that she and her husband and mother lived in France for 3 years along with their daughter who is now 6. About a year ago she went through a devastating divorce. Nadia told us that she has had many miracles in her life. One of them was when she was at one of her lowest points in life. She was in Montreal going to University, working, and caring for her little daughter as a single mother. At this time she lost her day care and searched and searched to find new daycare for her daughter. She was unable to find anything. She also lost her job because she had to provide daycare herself and couldn't go to work. As a little background to the story, one must know that she had been trying for a long, long time to get a visa for her mother to come to Montreal, but that was also not working out. People were not able to get visas from France to come to Montreal for some reason. Anyway, Nadia became so sad and so desperate that she just didn't know what to do or where to turn. She turned to God. In prayer she asked him to help her. She prayed that she needed the help not for herself, but for her little daughter. The next day she received a phone call from her mother saying that she received her visa. She was overjoyed because now her mother would be there to be with her and to help with her little girl. People asked her what did she do to get the visa? How did this happen? It was impossible. And yet, it did happen. Nadia testifies to the fact that the Lord heard and answered her prayer. She also speaks perfect English and Spanish. In fact, she now has a boyfriend that is Hispanic. She has introduced him to the gospel and he is taking the lessons from the missionaries. I look forward to getting to know her better.
=
No comments:
Post a Comment