Peggy and Hal’s Mission Blog
Serving in Canada Montreal Mission (CMM)
We would love to hear from you, Email us at:
Peggy.Morris@missionary.org
Hal.Morris@missionary.org
3555 ru Berri Est #408
Montreal, Quebec
H2L 4G4WE HAVE NEWS CONCERNING OUR ADDRESS! WE ARE MOVING OCTOBER 1st, Things are still up in the air but we will be moving in 2 months. Eventually all of the missionaries will be relocating. We already helped the French speaking Elders move out this week to their new apartment. It will be a MAJOR upgrade from our existing apartment. More news as it gets closer.
Montreal
Second largest population in Canada
Native Language: French
Montreal has an “underground city”
Those of you who have been following us from the beginning, will remember the beautiful public areas of the Montreal Archives. If your wondering what those pictures were like, just go back to the first four months to view them. We bring them up because we recently took a tour of the basement of the archives and you will not believe what they have filed down there. All of them protected in climate controlled vaults of a vast size. Not only paper documents, but also photographs, film reels, and just about any media you can imagine. Some are cooled to 3 degrees Celcius 24 hours a day.
Elder Morris had a birthday. Golden anniversity of my 22nd birthday. You figure it out. We really decided to do something big later to celebrate the event but certain people made sure I got recognized for surviving this long by wearing strange headgear.
We continue to support new converts to the church by helping them get online at Family Search and start finding their relatives that they can take to the temple. Most of these wonderful people are refugees from Africa and do not have written documentation of their family tree. We host them for dinner and Family Search instructions at our apartment. Many eagerly eat their dinner like thay havn’t eaten in days. We introduce them to “American Food” like “Sloppy Joes and Mexican Haystacks”. Its our way of helping them.
Our Mission President Sorenson and his wife attends the Montreal Ward when they are not traveling (our mission is the largest territory mission in the world). Here he is sitting with Sister Morris and also sitting with new “Friends” at Sunday School.
We had two Sister Missionaries leave to go home after completing their mission. One of them was in Sister Morris’s parents stake where she grew up. So Rod and Pauline went to her homecoming. Sister Smith and Sister Thompson were here at our apartment with “friends” on a regular basis learning Family Search.
Our baptisms are still going strong.
August 25th baptisms for Omodele Adejoke, Bright Nyarko, Davies Olaekan Muyisi, Justice Mawuli Lodoh, Felix Donkor, and Adeyanju Oshun.
Six plus 3 baptizers. One of the baptizers was presented to receive the priesthood during sacrament meeting and sustained, and ordained a priest during the second hour and baptized three of the new converts. Sister Morris and I are hosting dinner for the new members Thursday where we will help them get started on their Family Search accounts. We are introducing these people to “Good old fashioned American” food. Last week was Sloppy Joes and this week is Mexican Haystacks. I know, it sounds like Mexican but I’ve yet to see a Mexican eat a Mexican Haystack.
Baptisms for the week of August 10th. Vida Appiah, Emmanuel Johnson, Kenneth Ugochukeu and Emmanuel Kuffour.
The wife of our new Mission President, Sister Sorenson, has issued a challenge to read The Book of Mormon before the October General Conference. We know that many of you are not members of the Church and may not have a Book of Mormon to read. If you want one, we can easily arrange to have a Book of Mormon delivered to you. Just let us know. We have been promised many blessings as we learn about and emulate our elder brother Jesus Christ.
We have things happening back in Phoenix that might be of interest to you.
Our daughter’s townhouse lost its cooling in early June. It took almost two months for the Home Warrenty company to agree to completely replace the unit up on her third story roof. From here on out, this is like a certain children’s story book about how “one was too small”, Everything seemed to be in place but the first crane they brought out was too small. So they brought out a second taller crane – and it was also too small to reach the top of the roof. SO… they brought out their 110 TON CRANE to reach over the first row of townhomes to the second row of townhomes to lift a new air conditioner onto her third story roof. You got to see this to believe it.
Micharel, our oldest son, went to the townhome complex distributing leaflets saying that if your car is parked in a certain location, it may get trapped in until the crane was finished. Fortunately, everyone was cooperative. The crane was so large, it had trouble getting into the parking lot!
We attend weekly Missionary Correlation meeting and now have three sets of English speaking missionaries that proscelyte in the Montreal Ward boundries. Actually there are more because there are overlay missionaries that work in the Mandarin branch in Montreal and French speaking missionaries that work in the French speaking Ward in Montreal. In the meeting, they list how many baptisms they wil have in the next two week period. Several friends slipped out of this week but our next date in August could be one of the largest of the year.
Sister Morris and I also recognized that after baptism, the new converts needed an action plan to get them to the temple. Our next temple night is early September (the temple is closed half of August for its annual cleaning and maintenance). So we are now meeting with new converts (dating back a whole year who have not progressed enough to get them to the temple) every Sunday after our two hour normal meeting block to get them on a plan to get to the temple. Included in this plan is the involvement of Ministering Brothers and Sisters, receiving coaching from Family Search Specialists, receiving priesthood ordinations and temple interviews with the Bishop.
July 27: Baptism of Andy Kofi Acheampong, Makafui Wornyo and Kwabena Agyei.
July 13: Baptisms of Wilmot S Folley, Vincent Rwigamba, Samuel Boakye Ansah, Ebenezer Akinbohun and Tamin Obaid.
July 12: Ward Temple Night
We are on a Family Search Mission so Elder and Sister Morris have been busy helping newly baptized members get organized and begin their Family Search Geneology Trees. Many of these individuals come from Africa where written records are scarce but we usually can get a few names for them to take to the temple. They are so excited that they call us to make sure we will be there with them. It has been miraculous watching the Spirit of Elijah (a manifestation of the Holy Ghost bearing witness to the devine nature of the family unit) fill their souls as they seek out their families. While the rest of the ward is in a session, the missionaries are busy in the Baptistry with new members.
July 6: River Dinner Cruise
Family and friends contributed to Peggy’s birthday and she wanted to do the River Dinner Cruise. We cruised up the St. Lawrence River a ways while enjoying food and friendship with a few other Senior Missionaries.
June 28: New Mission Leader: President and Sister Sorensen
Here is President Sorensen’s first email to all of the missionaries:
Good Sunday Evening,
We have loved every day of the last 10 days since arriving in the Mission. We have had the blessing of attending 6 baptisms, our Mission Leadership Council, a District Council as well as had the blessing of visiting with many of the Stake Presidents and our Quebec City District President.
In Preach My Gospel Chapter 1 we read about the importance that each of us have to help Establish and Build up the Church. (DC 31:7) “The Church is established and built up as people with testimonies are baptized, and confirmed, keep their covenants, prepare to go to the Temple, and help strengthen their Ward or Branch. As Missionaries, we help establish and build up the Savior’s Church. You can help people receive baptism and grow in their faith. You can help new members adjust to their new life and continue to grow spiritually. You can also help returning members strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ.”
Our time as full-time missionaries is so very short in the perspective of each of our lives, every day as a missionary matters and it is a unique gift to be called to serve.
We are prayerfully preparing for 21 missionaries who will be finishing their mission this coming week and receiving our new missionaries from the MTC. I am once again reminded of what a blessing it is to be a full time missionary and to be called to represent the Savior. Every day, even those long days, are a blessing.
I love Jacob 5 where we read “For behold this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard…And it came to pass that the Servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them.”
The blessing of seeking out those whose hearts have been prepared to receive the message of the gospel and the Savior’s help, healing and peace as full-time missionaries called for this short and specific period of time in this specific part of His vineyard is a blessing that each of us can and hopefully will cherish forever.
I am also grateful the Lord has called Sister Sorensen and I to serve with each of you, collectively and individually. We love you and are so grateful for your efforts, faith, dedication and desire to serve the Savior with all your heart, might, mind and strength and we will do all we can to do the same alongside you.
I pray that during your Sabbath today you were able to take some time to reflect on the blessing of the Savior’s life and Atonement in your life specifically and His love for you. I also hope that your opportunity to fast today provided a spirit of gratitude in your heart and to remember as King Benjamin taught that even the very air that we breath is a gift from God.
This week my invitation would simply be to share with me near the end of your weekly letter one of your favorite hymns? Sister Sorensen and I have little musical talents or abilities but we do love the Hymns of Zion and the peace and comfort they provide.
Thanks for all you do and we know this week will be busy with transfers but I pray you will remained focus on your Missionary Purpose and also find a way to provide a simple unplanned act of service each day to those the Lord places in your path, especially this week, when there will be so much movement within the mission.
President Sorensen
June 24: Mission Farewell to President and Sister Harkness
President and Sister Harkness’s three years as Mission President come to a close the week of June 24th. They met with the entire Senior Missionary workforce one last time (many by zoom and the rest in person) to say farewell. Sister Morris, with some help of missionary friends and her friends in the USA, created a “Mission Quilt” as a going away gift. The quilt has a large Canadian Maple Leaf in the center, surrounded by the flags of the world of everywhere converts came from, during their 3 years as President. Canada has become a melting pot of people coming from all over the world. They may not have known it but the Lord has prepared this place to find the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Harkness’s have guided, directed, and encouraged hundreds of missionaries to teach the Gospel and baptized hundreds of Heavenly Father’s children. They said that the first year they were here 88 new members came to the waters of baptism. The second year was 163 and this year we are halfway through the year and have 351 new members with a goal of 676.
The embroidery writing on the quilt says: “We love you President and Sister Harkness”. Then “Canada Montreal Mission 2021-2024”. Finally: “Hark all ye Nations” which is a song. This song has been their mantra on their mission, because of all the new members have come from all over the world. It is signed by every Senior Missionary on the back of the quilt.
As part of President and Sister Harkness’s farewell addressed to us, they begged all of us to call our friends and tell them how badly they are needed to serve as Senior Missionaries, especially in the Montreal Canada Mission. SO…All of you, our wonderful friends, this is an opportunity of a lifetime to serve a Senior Mission. Think about it, pray about it and let the Lord guide you. We have single Senior Sisters serving right along side us.
We look forward to our new Mission Leaders President and Sister Sorenson who will be here June 28th. I’m sure they will be wonderful but they sure have big shoes to fill.
June 23: Our Latest Baptisms
Say hello to Mashaka Olobele, Joshua Olobele, Kaleek Olobele and Mackenzie Aria Ariri, Emmanuel Sasa and Akosua. The latest members of the Montreal Ward. We are so blessed to have these wonderful brothers and sisters who have been working towards their baptism. Elder Morris confirmed Mashaka and Mackenzie and gave them the Gift of the Holy Ghost while also pronouncing wonderful blessings upon them.
Peggy’s Birthday June 19:
Thank you Laurie, Mom and Dad and Hal for flowers and thanks to everyone else for money for the future Saint Lawrence Dinner Cruise that we will do soon. The Archive missionaries decorated my cube at work (photo didn’t come out very well), and brought flowers. The Missionary Correlation Committee, Missionaries and District missionaries all sang Happy Birthday to me as well as special Happy Birthday from the Harknesses and the Senior District Council.
June 2nd: Mission update. The entire mission meets together on a zoom call every Sunday night to review the success of the mission. Here are our latest results:
For the previous week: Elders and Sisters across the mission met 913 new contacts for the first time (the goal was 1188), taught 470 missionary discussions with a member participating in the lesson, 270 contacts attended church for the first time, 34 have a scheduled baptism date, 4 were baptized (the four were baptized outside normal baptism dates due to travel constraints) and 210 new members attended church. The next week, 21 people have baptism dates (across the whole mission) of which 6 are in our ward!
“Once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him.
In fact, all those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy”.President Russell M. Nelson
The Everlasting CovenantSister Morris finished her first big project totaling 135 boxes and the Archive crew decided to go to RockaBerry Pie to celebrate her accomplishment.
June 1 – Who knew biking could be so fun?
Friday night, we had dinner at a local restaurant (thanks Chad for the mother’s day gift) with Elder and Sister Washburn. We are eating outside in a patio that extends into the road blocking one lane of traffic. All the restaurants do it so its just part of the Montreal experience.
It was proposed that we top it off with the best ice cream in the Quebec providence located on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation just 20 miles away. We met up with the Elders assigned to the area and had a nice treat with them. I only bring up this side trip because it sets up what happened next. Upon arriving back to Montreal, we were met with multiple street closures! We couldn’t hardly get back into the city or to our apartment.
The biggest bicycle ride (not race) was taking place right in front of our apartment. We had seen many bike riders since the weather had turned warmer but we were unprepared for this.
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Yes, the top left picture is the starting line for the bike ride. The event lasted all weekend into each night. The police would close the course at 11:30 pm and then start the next day again. Everyone rides: adults, children, babies in carriers and they dress up in costumes as well as their bikes with decorations.
With that many people, there was a lot of collisions between bike riders and so they had many volunterers who were there to assist in repairing bikes and bandaging scrapes and injuries. On Sunday we were in church sitting down wondering where everybody was (usually we are wall-to-wall clear to the back) but we discovered that the race ran up the street where the church was and so people in cars couldn’t get to church. We rode the Metro and so didn’t realize there were street closures all the way past the church. There are two optional courses that can be ridden, one is 96 Km (about 60 miles) and goes around the southern half of the city. The sponsors set up refreshment locations along the course where participants could take a break, rest, drink fluids, etc.
Sister Morris made the observation that many of the bikes were electric powered rentals that you can pick up on every street corner. You can ride it to wherever you are going, drop it off in any available rental bike rack, it records how far you rode and how much the cost is. The electric motor supliments the foot pedal power. They are very popular. We see them every where we go including while walking to the National Archives building every morning as well as across the street from our apartment. There are about 30 bike rental rack locations across Montreal. People ride them to work and back. It’s big business here in Montreal with a single bike rack holding 30 bikes. When too many bikes wind up in one area, they have a transport vehicle that picks them up and redistributes them back to empty racks around the city. The almost empty rack below is just half a block from our church house.
This is just to get us prepared for what’s coming: This weekend (June 9-11) is the Formula One race car event held in the bay where we visited a couple of weeks ago in the old docks area. Then, just when you think things can’t get any busier, the Montreal Mural Festival kicks off (we will have pictures – oh yes you will not believe it). As soon as its over, the Montreal Marathon starts up. Remember the picture of the bike starting line above, now imagine it with just as many people only running. More pictures to come!