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
NEW ADDRESS: 98 ru Charlotte, Unit 451, Montreal, QC H2X 3V2
Montreal
Second largest population in Canada
Native Language: French
Montreal has an “underground city”
The First Big News is Elder and Sister Morris have been called as “Temple Workers”
Sister Morris and Elder Morris have been attending the temple for over 50 years. It started with the Salt Lake Temple where we were married and sealed together in 1974 for “Time and all Eternity” – not just “till death do you part”. Because of that Celestial Marriage, our family is also sealed to us with all of our future generations (depending upon our faithfulness). We consider our time in the temple as some of the most precious time on this Earth. We go there for a variety of reasons including worshiping our Lord Jesus Christ, in his house dedicated to him. to providing necessary covenants for ourselves and our kindred dead family members (so they can also be sealed to us). Sometimes we go there just to escape from the daily presures and trials of this mortal world. When we have big decisions that need inspiration, we go to the temple, away from the outside world, to be closer to our Heavenly Father. It is a sacred place. When we moved from Salt Lake to Denver and then to Phoenix, we found temples in each location that we were able to attend. Today there are nearly 200 operational temples around the world with another 150 either announced or under construction. We will be assisting others with their temple work.
In every temple, we were assisted in our worshiping by a staff of brothers and sisters who are there to ensure we don’t get lost in the hallways and to make sure all correct procedures and guidelines are followed. These individuals are referred to as “Temple Workers” and they are there to make sure your expereince in the temple is special and unique and to ensure everything is done correctly. We are being vague in this description because we consider temple work to be sacred. It is not openly discussed. Not because it is secret, but because it is sacred. Temple Workers oversee the accuracy and completeness of ordinances and covenanats that extend beyond the walls of mortality. Every Temple Worker is kind, patient and considerate to everyone attending the temple to ensure they can experience full spirituality during their visit.
The Second Big News is we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversity!
When it became apparant that we were going to not be home for our 50th anniversity, last year our family and friends gathered together to celebrate our 49th anniversity.
We knew this year we would be in some far away location when we would celebrate our Golden Anniversity and we would be with a different family for our celebration. So here we are in Montreal, Canada surrounded by the most fabulous group of Senior Missionaries, and eating at a very exclusive restaurant (Three Amigos Mexican Restaurant). Its not quite authentic Mexican food but it is close enough. We wanted to have fun and not cost alot of money and it is easy walking distance from the Metro.
The third big news is that we moved.
The apartment where we spent the first 7 months of our mission was originally built to furnish housing for the 1976 Olympics! It was built right over the Metro and so we didn’t need to even go outside of our building to get on the subway. BUT, it was also very old. The first day we were there, we had to clear up a pile of crumbled concrete from our patio. It actually fell from the ceiling of the apartment above us. We went almost three months without air conditioning during the summer months. Probably the worst thing was we didn’t have HOT water. We had warm water that we then put into an electric tea pot to bring to a boil, so we could wash our dishes. Below are pictures on the left of our old apartment and on the right is our new apartment. I need to make a note that the people who showed up to help us move were mostly recent baptized members who we had worked with over the months. These are men and women who have left their homes and families from around the world to come to Montreal for a better life. They are wonderful people who have Christ in their hearts.
The forth news is that we have been transferred!
Some Senior Missionaries go their whole mission serving in a single area. We have been blessed with working with missionary efforts in the Montreal Ward. This ward has produced more baptisms than the remainder of the entire stake with seven to fourteen baptisms each month. Almost all of the baptisms in the Montreal Ward have been refergues or emmigrants to Montreal area from all over the world.
In Ottawa, the senior missionaries there have completed their mission but still have a contract in place to do archive work and so Elder and Sister Washburn (our most dearest friends) have been transferred from Montreal to Ottawa to finish that work. President Sorenson then transferred us from the Montreal Ward to the La Salle Ward to backfill the vacancy left by the Washburns. We are very familiar with the La Salle Ward and have already begun to be involved in their work.
The Montreal Marthon was run right in front of our building.
If you go back a few months, you will see that the 3 day bike race was held also right outside our building. The marathon is just as popular.
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Fall has Officially Arrived!
All of the leaves on the trees have magically changed colors. We decided that when Laurie (Peggy’s sister) came to visit, we would go on a day trip to Quebec to see the sites and enjoy the fall colors. I borrowed a professional picture far below to show how the colors can really be beatiful. Elder Morris has been having some leg troubles and the mission doctor ordered him to use a crutch whenever walking any substantial distance. It really helps.
No I did not take this picture. I borrowed it from a local publication but it really shows the fall colors.
Baptisms Baptisms Baptisms
We are kind of straddling between the two wards. Wonderful individuals we worked with in the Montreal Ward are now being baptized and so we are going back to celebrate with them, meanwhile, the La Salle Ward also has baptisms so we are very busy.
Francis Bodington
This is a wonderful example of the Gospel in action. When we arrived in the Montreal Ward, we assisted with Sam, who was having employment issues and depression. We worked with him over weeks in our Self Reliance classes. He did everything that was asked of him in faithfulness and eventually got a good job. We knew he had a fancy for NAME whome he was bringing to church with him but then we got transferred to the LaSalle Ward and we only had occasional contact with him. Last Saturday, he baptized and confirmed NAME and they are getting married in April!
Temple Temple Temple
Yoan
We spent extra time in the temple asisting in the temple proxy baptisms with Yoan.
Kelvin, Jinder and Dharam
Montebello
You might ask what is a Montebello but the answer is more like where is Montebello? On our “P Day” we decided to drive to this quint community just to see what was there.
Thanksgiving
Our son Eric and his family joined us in Montreal for Thanksgiving. While we were together, we visited many sites but also had time to go to the temple and perform ordinances for our family.
