It was in the negative thirties Celsius all weekend.

Okay, I'm apologizing now, this will be short.

But it was a great (freezing) week! I have a stronger testimony of the combined efforts of fasting and prayer. We fasted specifically for a young man in our ward who recently decided to quit the military and go on a mission, and is trying to figure out with the military how to make that work out in a way that he can still be busy until he leaves for his mission, and have enough financial support to serve. During our fast, we saw miracles, both related and unrelated to those things for which we were fasting.

We got a new investigator! We had a lesson with an investigator of ours who was recently passed off to us by the Elders because she wasn't progressing and they thought she might do better with Sisters (the way that lesson was set up was a miracle in itself but I don't have time to explain all that). Right at the beginning, she yelled for her daughter to come join us and it ended up being an AMAZING lesson where any question the mom had, she daughter would answer before we could and they both ended up saying they would read and pray and when they receive an answer from Heavenly Father that this is truly the church of Jesus Christ (which they will), they'll be baptized.

Also! We had a special assignment from the mission last week to pick up this sister from the airport, have her stay the night with us, take her to a meeting at the Embassy of Bulgaria the next day, and then take her back to the airport for her flight in the evening. We didn't really know what that was all

With Sister Johnston on the right and Sister Quinton in the back.

about until we picked her up, but it was super cool. Her name is Sister Quinton, she was called to serve in Bulgaria but has had some trouble figuring out visa information so they asked her to come for an interview at the Embassy of Bulgaria in Ottawa. Having her with us for the day was so fun! And going to the Embassy of Bulgaria was pretty sick. We totally got a return appointment to teach the Ambassador of Bulgaria (that's what I'm calling him in my head, I don't actually know if that's what he is, but he's the head honcho at the Embassy) but then we realized he isn't in our area. Sad day. But, we left him with the Testimony of Joseph Smith pamphlet and passed him off to the Riverside Sisters, so he's in good hands. Very nice man.

There's this family who have been waiting for five years for their paperwork to come in from Haiti so the parents could be legally married so they can be baptized and their paperwork FINALLY came in! I got here at a good time. They are getting married this Saturday and their baptismal date is March 4th.

So it was a great week! This email is actually turning out longer than I expected. Good for me.

There are many, MANY things I love about Sister Johnston. One of the biggest ones is that anytime we hesitate on what to do or we have a question on something, she is so quick to say "Well, let's ask Heavenly Father" and we kneel in prayer together. I still have a lot to learn from her. And she is still amazing.

I am getting settled in here and things are going well :) We have a great week planned out, I'm getting to know more people, this is a really awesome ward.

Souvenez-vous qui vous etes,

Sister Lonas

Ottawa, part one (and a few pics!)

I was alone on the greyhound bus to come to Ottawa, and I've never felt so much like I was in the Great White North. Two and a half hours of white wilderness whipped by the window. It was incredible.

So, serving in English is different. There are still French speakers in the ward and I feel like I cling to them, I'm so much more comfortable speaking French with members than English. I've gotten way good at speaking my mission language at all times with my companion (sorry, Sister Johnston :) ) because I'm so afraid that I'll lose my French if I don't. I rendered my testimony in Sacrament Meeting yesterday and discovered that apparently a fun new stress-response of mine is to slip into French. Oops.

But I've also felt very grateful realizing how much my French really did improve while I was in Terrebonne. A lot. Like...just...a lot.

The Chapel Hill ward is amazing! They're really nice to the missionaries, and not just because we're the orphaned young adults who need to be fed, but because they want to be involved in the work and they're excited about it. It's really cool. And this ward is HUGE. More than twice the size of Terrebonne. It's pretty overwhelming, but it's cool seeing how many people there are to work with. I am so excited to be here with these people.

Oh, and Ottawa is very, very Canadian. The accent is so real and people eat donuts all the time and every stereotype I've ever had plays out before my eyes daily.

Sister Johnston is amazing :) She has a very strong relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and you can feel it when you talk to her. I feel so blessed for the opportunity to serve with her, and I have a lot to learn from her.

I really miss Terrebonne. I got comfortable there. I knew everyone's schedule, I was settled in, I knew Sister Schmuhl better than almost anyone I've known ever, I knew and loved the ward, I knew who to call to teach with us, I knew what all the keys went to, I could rattle off our phone number in my sleep, I finally spoke the language. I don't know how many times I've said to myself in the last few days "There's no growth in the comfort zone, and there's no comfort in the growth zone." This is really hard for me, being in a new area. But I know it is what I need and it is what the people need.

It had been too long since I had to really rely on my Savior. I'm remembering how. I love Jesus Christ. I love the gospel. And I do already love Chapel Hill.


I love you all!
Souvenez-vous qui vous etes, and passez une bonne semaine :)
Sister Lonas

Saying goodbye in Terreboone

With her new companion, Sister Johnston!

"Au revoir" to "How ya doin', eh?"

It's a great day and it's going to be a great transfer (the next six weeks). If I sound under enthused, it's due to lack of sleep, not lack of enthusiasm. Be not deceived.

They're taking the sisters out of Terrebonne and we're passing off all of our people to the Elders. Sister Schmuhl and I came in together, and we're leaving together. #poetic. I'm really excited about being transferred. I know that transfers are ALWAYS inspired and that this will be a good change for this area. I'm just really tired and Sister Schmuhl and I are kind of frazzled. We had everything so under control, she was almost packed, and then we were VERY surprised to find out that I had to pack too, and we had to completely clean out the car and have pass off lessons with everyone we visit.

I'm going to Chapel Hill in Ottawa! I'll be speaking English. Fingers crossed I still know how. My new companion's name is Sister Johnston. I don't really know her but we talked just a bit at the temple open house and she seems pretty quiet and super nice. Good combination.

I have absolutely loved serving in Terrebonne and serving with Sister Schmuhl. I'll plan on making a compilation of some sorts of things I learned and talking about that next week but i'm a little unprepared for this email. I'm really tired.

I'm stressed about the next couple of days and really sad about the goodbyes, but I am also really excited about going to Ottawa! I'm due for a big change.

I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I feel like it's been in Terrebonne that I really came to know Him as my brother and friend. I am so excited to continue in this work and share His love with a whole new group of people.

I love you all! Sorry this is so short.
Souvenez-vous qui vous etes,
Sister Lonas

P.S. This morning we dyed Sister Schmuhl's hair and now we match :)

The Important Things

I'm feeling very unmotivated to write anything down, so we'll see how this goes.

I would expect to feel that way if our week had gone poorly and I wasn't wanting to report bad news. But this was an amazing week. The Lord wasn't even trying to hide his influence. And good weeks always leave me with the dilemma of how to express these experiences and feelings in a way that is both coherent and...enough. I don't want not to share things out of fear that I won't share them well enough, and yet I also do worry that I won't be capable of fully expressing the love I have for the people here and the changes I feel in myself.

We had texted Melinda during the day on Tuesday to ask when we could meet with her during the week. That night, we were heading out after dinner to go to ward council when we got a call saying it was cancelled because Bishop was sick. Our backup plan had been to go visiting teaching with a sister who had asked if we could go with her that night. We called her back to say we could go after all and she said they had ended up rescheduling for another day. So, Sister Schmuhl and I took a minute to try and figure out the best way to be effective that evening, when Melinda texted us to ask if we could come to her home right then.

 We did, and it was an incredible visit. She had (and still has) so many questions. She told us that she had never really had a testimony, and even when she was still going to church with her parents, it had always just been a matter of going through the motions. Over the last few months, she has felt herself becoming more open to the church and she says that even though she isn't planning on coming back to church right now, "On ne sait jamais, on verra." :). She wants us to teach her all the missionary lessons as if she were a new investigator. She started smoking when she was 11 and now she wants to quit with the church's Addiction Recovery Program.
We started with the first principle of the first lesson, God is our Heavenly Father and He loves us. This alone sparked many -- many -- questions for her and we are so grateful that she finally feels comfortable asking someone her questions about the gospel. She agreed to pray every day this week just to feel the Spirit and know Heavenly Father is there, and she wants us to come again this week. And when we asked if there was anything we could do for her, she asked if we could help her make baby food sometime :)

I really love Terrebonne. I am impressed more and more everyday with how much I love the members and the people we visit and the people we see and talk to when we are on our way to appointments. When I am concentrating on the needs of people around me, this city is prettier and the winter is easier to survive and I am more capable of being patient with the agency of others.

So, Annie. I stopped talking about her a really long time ago, I don't remember if I ever explained why. She was an investigator whom we taught, she received an answer to her prayers that the church is true and that she should be baptized, and then called it all off due to some conflict in her family. It was really hard and really sad, and we've missed her. Her friend who introduced her to the church is named Raven. The other day, Raven called us kind of randomly to ask if we could come to dinner and, of course, we said yes. When we pulled up to her house, we recognized Annie's car outside. Dinner ended up being with just Raven and Annie, we ate pizza and were able to smooth out the leftover awkwardness of the way things were left (When an investigator drops you, it's kind of like being broken up with. It's actually way worse, but that's the closest analogy with which we've been able to equate it.). Annie says she still isn't ready and doesn't want to stir things up with her mom again, but we are immensely grateful that the friendship is still there so that when things do change -- because they will -- she'll know where to turn, and that there are no hard feelings so we haven't given her any reason to back away, and even that we were just able to see her again. Especially, I'm grateful we got to see Annie again before Sister Schmuhl goes home.

We helped a less active move on Saturday and we're doing it again next Saturday (WHY these people are choosing to move in January, I will never understand. I just move boxes and don't ask questions.) and that has gone as smoothly as could be expected. Surrounding both of those moves, there has been some serious drama and some absolutely angelic members of the ward have made amazing progress trying to fix it.

I mentioned this a little bit before, but we have been trying ever since we got here to be a part of visiting teaching and no one would let us go with them or didn't understand why we would want to and we FINALLY were able to go visiting teaching and we have two more appointments to go this week.

I have two more miracles in my head that would take a whole lot of explaining and they don't actually have anything to do with us. But we're thrilled for the people involved.

We dyed my hair blonde last week. I have funny ways of expressing stress when I can't just take a nap or have some alone time or go to the beach or talk to my mom.

We'll get transfer calls on Saturday and then I'll know who my companion will be for the REST of my mission. Just kidding, chances are slim to none that we'll be together that long but considering my track record, I figure I could very well end my mission with two companions.

I'm not looking forward to Sister Schmuhl leaving. Second to last Pday, we're getting a tub of pistachio ice cream after we finish emails and, let's be honest, we're probably going to eat the whole thing.

It's been a really good week and we have some good things to look forward to this week, as well. Someday, have me tell y'all about the Saga of Empanadas. Spoiler alert, it ends with me finally getting the recipe and now I just have to perfect them before I get home so I can let my family partake in the wonder of the most delicious thing I ate on my mission.

I love you all, and I love Terrebonne! I'm trying to be better about sharing things in emails that actually matter, alongside the stuff that doesn't. I too often skip over the most important events of my week because I don't know how to summarize it and still have you know how much it means to me. This week, Melinda, Annie, visiting teaching, Féline, Z, and Erin meant a lot to me. Sorry I only expounded on half of those. I still have a long way to go.

I am grateful for the opportunities I have every single day to witness the Atonement changing people. It is only as I sit and write about it changing other people that I realize how much it is also changing me. I am grateful for the love of our Heavenly Father and that I am learning on some minuscule scale how to begin loving the way He does.

I hope you have all also had a great week,

Souvenez-vous qui vous etes,

Soeur Lonas

I am my mother's daughter

Funny thing, so I direct the music in Relief Society sometimes and the other day I wasn't expecting to, and then at the last second the other woman who does it sometimes stepped out and I was called up to the plate. It was some French cantique that doesn't exist in English. It went fine partly because it wasn't a complicated song and partly because no one watches anyway. But then afterward one of the sisters told me that I am apparently very expressive with my face, and I realized that during the whole song I had been making this "what a weird hymn" facial expression. I asked her if that was a good or bad thing and she said that when I'm directing the music, it's a good thing. Mostly this experience just made me feel very much like my mother.

Second funny thing, we had dinner with this Latino family the other day which is always fun because we communicate in French but it's no one's first language. After dinner when we shared a message and all that good stuff I asked "Who are your friends with whom we can help you share the gospel?" and the husband closed his eyes and said really dramatically "Yes...It's true." Only then did we realize exactly how wide this gulf of a language barrier was. Either that or he was avoiding giving us a referral. Both are viable options.

Investigator-wise, we're struggling a little bit. We'll have a really awesome lesson with someone where they tell us they want to be baptized and set a date and they feel the spirit and we're all on the same page, and then they won't answer our calls after that and their date has to be dropped and when we finally get a hold of them, they're totally willing to meet with us (most of the time) but they've forgotten the progress they made. It's really hard. I don't know how many times we've shared Alma 5:26. It's so sad watching people change and become happier and then forgetting and falling back into old habits. But, we're keeping on keeping on and we're still feeling very hopeful with the potential some of our investigators DO have, even if they don't always recognize it. And we're always looking to make new friends!

Despite difficulties in that area, really good things happened this week. I have a testimony that you can bring about miracles by making cookies for less active members. Thanks to this discovery, I have learned how to make pretty decent cookies out of just about anything. And there have been miracles. Sister P has a daughter named Melinda and the first time we ever talked to her it was to invite her to the temple open house and she basically just laughed at us and said no. Since then, we've been able to do some service projects for her and recently heard from Sister P that Melinda had said she wasn't ready to talk to us about it yet, but was thinking about retaking the lessons. So, like any good sister missionaries, we made her some cookies and left them on the porch with a note saying to text us if there was anything we could do for her. She texted us the next day (Friday) to say she has been really touched by our kindness the last few months and feels like we are the right sisters to be here for her right now. She asked if we could start meeting with her at her parents' house to teach her, and we have an appointment set up for this week. Miracle.

It's getting closer to the time when Sister Schmuhl will leave, which is pretty weird. We've been serving together for a long time. I love Sister Schmuhl so much. I'm really not looking forward to that goodbye. I've been working on exercising faith in not dreading transfer calls. Succeeding to a degree.

BUT it was a great week and this next week is looking like another good one :) I love you all very much and I hope you have a good week as well,
Souvenez-vous qui vous etes,

Sister Lonas

She turned me into a newt

Good news: it wasn't pneumonia.
Bad news: I caught it.
I got better! (Monty Python) But this week was a little weird.

With how much I've talked about having hope and trusting our Heavenly Father, it seems unfair not to express my appreciation for one of the best examples I've had of this principle in my life. There are several people in our ward currently dealing with cancer and we visit them regularly. All of them are handling their situations much more gracefully than I know I would be, but one in particular always has me leave feeling humility and gratitude in a way I don't know if I had before. Her name is Sister P, and she recently sent her son out on a mission with the knowledge that she won't live to see him come home. He's the only one of their five children who is active in the church. Every day, we either call her or go and sit by her bed to read in the Book of Mormon with her because Jonathon (her son who is serving) challenged her to read the Book of Mormon with him before Easter. It's hard for her to hold the book up to read so it's usually us reading to her which is embarrassing because our French isn't anything special but she expresses abundant thanks to us and we usually have the chance to talk for a little bit after we read. The wisdom of her insights on the Book of Mormon exceeds her years (she's only about 55). We council with her regarding what we can do for her less-active daughters. Most powerfully, she always talks about the blessing her cancer has been to her family. The way it has strengthened her testimony and softened the hearts of her children. She tells us specific ways she has seen the hand of the Lord in her life that day.

I know that there are going to be times in my life that are a lot harder than anything I'm going through now. I've known that before and I think my biggest worry has been how to prepare myself in order to not curl up and die in the face of adversity. I still have a long way to go, but I'm beginning to see that I need to be trusting God now so that I'm not trying to shift my trust to Him when everything else seems unstable. If I'm already leaning on someone who cannot fall away, I'll be set. This isn't to say those hard things won't come or that they won't, in fact, be hard, but there is no better way to prepare. And no better way to ensure that those hard things are not the result of decisions I choose to make.

When my life gets hard, it would be wonderful if someone could refer me back to this email I am writing myself.

I love you all a ton! I forgot to make mental notes of what happened this week so I could write about it, so I don't even remember, but I feel like it was a good week. Set a baptismal date. Shoveled some snow. We're still running every morning (except our morning of being sick -- that stunk).

Have a great week, remember that you are a son or daughter of God and that He has prepared a way for you to be happy in this life and in the life to come,

Sister Lonas

So there's this one Frasier episode...

So there's this one Frasier episode where the radio station announces a new policy of beginning each radio program with a little "jingle". The idea is to have something probably about 15 seconds long that listeners can associate with each respective program, and to set the mood for the show. Frasier, being Frasier, resolves to write his own jingle rather than hire someone to help him, as he is eager to use his own musical talent and because asking for help would require humility. He receives some suggestions from family members but ignores them, convinced that he can come up with something better.

He quickly becomes wrapped up in the obsession of composing an orchestrated (yes, with an entire orchestra) masterpiece with a full choir and several long and complicated verses. He uses countless amounts of time and money and when he presents his completed work to his boss he is told that they were looking for something much -- MUCH -- simpler.

I am prone to over-complication. I have been given simple directives as a missionary, but also just as a person in real life. I have a tendency to ignore the things that seem hard and over magnify those bits and pieces that sound fun to me. By forgetting the "why" behind the guidance I've been given, my resulting behavior does not accomplish the objective or fulfill that forgotten "why". The new year has given me a chance to reflect and make goals to make my mission habits become life habits and how to work hard and where to focus that work -- on the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Frasier had good intentions, but in forgetting the purpose behind the jingle, he eventually forgot the instruction he had been given almost completely. It's an easy slope to slip down. There is power in knowing why we do what we do.

The gospel is simple. The commandments are simple. We make them complicated by forgetting where to focus. Simple does not mean easy, but Heavenly Father helps us according to the extent to which we are willing to trust him.

In other news, we hit -20*C today! Last week, we had easily more snow fall than I have ever seen in my life and I shoveled snow for the first time. Talk about baptism by fire. We shoveled driveways and steps and dug so many people's cars out of the snow, it was amazing. It's a really fun way to street contact.

We have a new sister in the apartment, Sister Martin! She's Sister Beaumont's new greenie. She's awesome and super nice, and unfortunately the two of them have been home for a few days sick with what we're pretty sure is pneumonia. Sister Schmuhl and I are still healthy and we're praying that stays the same and that the other two sisters recover soon and quickly.

When we were at a less-active's house this week, the radio was playing while we were getting ready to go and a song by Mariana's Trench started playing -- I didn't know the song but I knew it was them so I'm assuming it was a song off their new album? It was so good; Chase was right. I took my time getting my coat and boots on and just blamed it on my Californianess.

It was a great week! Happy 2016! It's going to be a wonderful year.
Je vous aime, tous. Souvenez-vous qui vous etes, et que le Seigneur vous comprend parce qu'Il vous connait parfaitement.
Soeur Lonas