All Good Things (and pics!)

Okay. Time is limited because we switched P-day to tomorrow because we're going to the temple (first time since the MTC, I'm so excited...can't even describe it. But I digress.) but when that happens, you still write home on Monday. Time has gotten the better of us and we're running late, don't have a ton of time to actually write things. Maybe I'll attach pictures or something like a put-together sister missionary.

We have a new ward mission leader and I'm really going to miss our old one. I'm convinced that if I were a sixty-something year old man, I would be Brother Stewart. Hard to explain. But he and I get along. We don't know Brother Savard as well but I'm sure he'll be great! But here's Brother Stewart and his wife...

We've spent more time than usual with people who have mental illnesses the last couple of days and I've been thinking a lot about the resurrection. I'm stoked. It's an amazing thing to look at someone and know that the way they are right now isn't really....them. Even not having seen them any differently, I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for every single one of his children. More and more, I think that maybe the people who seem the most as if God has forgotten them are the people for whom he cares most attentively. That isn't doctrine or anything, that's just Sister Lonas saying things.

I finished  Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmadge  this morning -- wow. I don't want to spoil anything buuuuuuuut it was amazing and all of you should read it.

Yesterday was a day of miracles and I have a stronger testimony than ever that Heavenly Father places us where we need to be according to our efforts to follow His will and follow Christ's example. I don't have time to go into detail now but maybe one day I'll tell y'all about Jean.

I love being a missionary. I love learning more and more how to a representative of Jesus Christ in more than the literal wearing of his name (I still have a lot to work on). I love Chapel Hill and the people in this area, I love Sister Johnston, and more than anything else I love my Savior.

And I love YOU.
Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes

Sister Lonas

It was Sister Torres'birthday, my MTC companion! 

And it's still snowing...

It hasn't been too cold, but it has snowed all week. I've still never gone sledding or made a snowman or had a snowball fight in my life (no time!) so my favorite thing to do in the snow is definitely running. The snow makes for nice resistance, keeps you from getting too hot, it's beautiful and untouched early in the morning...perfect.

Every time I sit down to this computer, all I can think is "What in the world did we do this week!?" and then when I come up with a blank, "Then why am I always so tired..." which I'm convinced is one of the many reasons we have daily planners

We just barely received this text from our investigator, Hailey: "Don't faint. Would you like to come over tomorrow to see me...around lunchtime. Probably a picnic lunch. I will read Helaman 5 in preparation or something else you may want to suggest." Quick background. Hailey has been an investigator for ten years and always comes to church (she's even on the ward list), her baptism issues are kind of complicated, she just says all the time that she's on the fence about it. She's raw vegan and one day I picked up her cookbook and she had made all these grammar corrections in it. I tell her all the time that if she would just get baptized, I would want to be her when I grow up. She has no idea how serious I am. Have I mentioned how I want to be vegan when I get home? I do. I kind of am now (Sister Johnston is very kind, she humors me and eats whatever I make) but I can't really control what members feed us, I just eat whatever is put in front of me and I am grateful. Anyway, long rant to explain why I am SO SAD we're going to be on exchanges in Gatineau tomorrow and won't be able to have lunch with Hailey.

And that effectively delayed me having to look through the planner to figure out what happened in the last seven days.

Yesterday was the farewell party dinner thing for someone in our ward and his mom invited the entire ward including us, AND she personally invited all of our investigators. And they all came! We had more investigators and less-actives at David Gagnon's farewell than we did at church.

We've had fun being in a new car, especially because we don't have the snow scraper things yet (accidentally left the ones we had in our old car) so we've been using creative materials to get the snow off all week.

We got to go back to the Embassy of Bulgaria to pick up Sister Quinton's visa and get it sent to her, and recontacted the Ambassador of Bulgaria, he told us he had met with the sisters in whose area he is and now he's planning to go to church and stuff so that's awesome. And he told us about how beautiful the weather is in Bulgaria right now and said "When there is white falling from the sky...I want throw up."

We've been getting better at using family history for retention, reactivation, finding, and teaching. I LOVE family history!! The general conference talks on temples and family history were so cool.

We have three investigators that are currently figuring out their own baptismal dates. Which is not my favorite method because it can take FOREVER but it has seemed to be the best option for them to communicate with Heavenly Father and be fully invested. I'm trying to be patient.

The three topics of conversation around here are the weather, hockey, and United States politics. I am so confused at what is going on with my country. I'm confused at this weather and hockey, too, but I don't expect to ever come closer to understanding either of those.

I said something really profound in an email to Steven last week so I'm going to quote myself:
"For the beginning of your mission: God loves the people around you just as much as He loves you. And for the end: God loves you just as much as He loves the people you've been serving."

I am touched every. single. day. by the ways Heavenly Father manifests his love for his children. His presence is so...apparent. If we are just willing to see Him. And recognize the reality of miracles. As my awareness of His love for the people here grows, I am dumbfounded by the truth that he loves everyone else just as much as the people of Chapel Hill, including me.

Being a missionary is great.
I love you, Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes ♥
Sister Lonas

Grateful for special witnesses

(I can't believe I didn't post this last week! I was out of town and just .... forgot.)

April 4, 2016

I've been procrastinating writing this email. There are so many wonderful things I could say about general conference this weekend. We were richly nourished by the pleasing word of God.

I say this both to express how much I loved hearing from our Father in heaven through the mouths of His chosen servants, and to apologize for the probably short email that will follow.

Some of my favorite things from general conference (probably not exact quotes):

See Saul-like individuals with their Paul-like potential
God looketh not upon the color of the jersey, nor the political party -- this was hilarious as well as a good lesson for us all
The Savior knows how it feels to be a refugee. He was one.
The Lord does not make it easy, but He does make it possible
Why does Satan tell people they can't improve or progress? Because HE can't improve. He can't progress. But we can. And the best thing about the gospel is that we get credit for trying.
We can escape the consequences of both sin and stupidity, through Christ's infinite Atonement
Opposition provides alternative choices on which to exercise our agency. Therefore, those who seek to destroy the Father's plan actually facilitate it.
Unlike Alice in Wonderland, we know where we want to go. And the direction we choose to take does matter.
Answer His call. "Come home."

And so many more things...conference was amazing. I have such a testimony of living prophets and apostles. I love Thomas S Monson and know that He is called of God, as was Brother Joseph. I am grateful for the special witnesses of Jesus Christ who serve the world so diligently.

I had some breakthroughs in my studies this week and was once again impressed with the wonderful reality that I will never know everything there is to know about Heavenly Father's plan for His children. But the more I do know, the more it ALL MAKES SENSE. The gospel is so cool. That's been my big takeaway from this week. Eternal truth is just the coolest thing.

One of our investigator families, the R___s, have been waiting on some legal marriagey stuff to be baptized (long story) but things are finally figured out and they're considering being baptized this month. Their kids are getting excited for the day to come, since they had been waiting for their own baptisms too.

We have another investigator who's been pondering on baptism. She was referred to us by the Elders after the R___s referred her to them. We had a lesson with her along with Sister G, a member who's been becoming really good friends with her. We were having the lesson on commandments, and she was bringing up questions pertaining to prophets which was perfect with General Conference coming up. We invited her to attend to see what answers she could find for the questions she was having. She then told us about she's been really pondering on whether to join or not, with finding a place to build a foundation for her kids as they live in a world that could pull them in all sorts of directions (she was tearing up a bit on this). She also told us that she had talked to her husband about baptism (which she had refused to do before). He said it's her choice to make. So now she's working on the decision with Heavenly Father (prayers would be appreciated). We promised her that she would find answers to her questions at conference.
She ended up being able to come to the chapel for the Sunday morning session, which was the session that President Monson was speaking in. Leaning over and telling her that he was the prophet just felt really good. I was grateful to know for myself that he really is.

And he is directed by the Lord Jesus Christ, who stands at the head of this church.

Um other things....we hadn't been able to run because Sister Johnston is asthmatic and it was too cold for her lungs but with it getting a little warmer she decided she wanted to try running and I was just delighted! So that's been another great things about the last few days. I missed running.

The Elders got a new car. We're pretty jealous.

I love you all! Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes,
Sister Lonas

P.S. ended up being longer with the help of Sister Johnston

Happy Easter, Sugar Bush, and lots of pics :)

 This has been a great day. Groceries were cheaper than normal, and I got to wear PANTS because we went to a maple farm!! Here, it's called going to "sugar bush". I had been pretty scared to try on my jeans, but I can still pull them on! Albeit, it isn't a comfortable fit, but it's better than I was expecting.

Some members in the ward offered to take us and the Elders to sugar bush because it's such a Canadian thing to do this time of year, it was so fun! Experiences like that are the reason my jeans are too tight. 

 It's this all you can eat deal where they just keep bringing you food and you put maple syrup on all of it and you learn about how they make the syrup and at the end of the meal, they give you "taffy in the snow" which is when they pour the syrup into some snow and then roll it up on a stick and you eat it. Sugar overload. But I feel very Canadian.

And then we dyed Sister Johnston's hair :) It was already reddish and now it's redder.

Easter weekend has been really special. They had school and work off here for the Friday and the Monday around Easter, which I think for most people was just fun because vacation is fun, but it was cool seeing the way the members chose to use that to more fully observe the holiday and make it a time to really strengthen their families and relationships with Christ. And it made it really easy to talk to a lot of people! There have been more people out, especially because the weather is slowly getting better, and we have shared the Easter video with all of them. I absolutely LOVE people realizing that we are actually Christian, and we actually have the same fundamental beliefs about Christ as they do. I love Easter.

The holiday also gave me the chance to reflect on last Easter -- my first and only time attending general conference in the conference center, and the day I opened my mission call. That was one of the most memorable days of my life. I bore an emotional breakdown in Relief Society on Sunday about the way that decision has changed everything about me (except the things about me that were already good...there were a few of those). I don't even remember how all the little decisions happened that led up to that one...I only know there had to be divine intervention. I am so very grateful that He intervenes. I am so grateful to be on a mission, and I am grateful that I associate that decision with such a wonderful holiday. I'm grateful to associate my decision to serve the Savior with the events manifesting his infinite service to us. I love Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for holidays that give us the opportunity to express our love for Him, joined by millions of people everywhere.

I love Sister Johnston! I tend to take my companions for granted because I'm with them all the time 

but just so you all and future me are aware, I have a wonderful companion. She spoke in Sacrament meeting on Easter Sunday and it gave me more of an opportunity to realize how blessed I am to be studying and serving and friendshipping every day with someone so anchored to Christ and Heavenly Father. She's fun and she has the most genuine heart I have ever encountered. I love her.

I'm sure I'm forgetting things to tell you. Ummmmm I've eaten an amazing amount of food in the last

few days. Members here express their love by force-feeding us.

I love you! Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes!
We're off to another dinner appointment! Happy Easter!

Sister Lonas

P.S. I might be a little hyper after going to the maple farm...

Happy Easter! almost

There is no way the gospel isn't true. There are so many reasons why it is. If you try to build a testimony from an intellectual foundation, it will never work. But having built a testimony on a spiritual foundation, everything intellectual and physical supports it. The deeper you go into the doctrine of the gospel, the more it all makes sense. It just. couldn't. work that way if Joseph Smith had been making it all up.

Highlights of the week:

• Yesterday was ward conference. This was great for many reasons, but primarily (haha) because full-time missionaries got to do sharing time with the kids! Senior Primary (ages 8-11) was pretending to be unimpressed but we are like celebrities in Junior Primary! With them, we played a game where everyone stood up and we went through the missionary schedule and every time the missionaries say a prayer, everyone had to drop down to their knees. I made friends. Some yet illiterate members of the ward (they can't read my tag, so they just believed me when I told them what my name was...) now call me "Sister Cinderella". 
• We found and started teaching someone new! But then had to pass him off to the Elders because we told them we would if we found a single man. Sad.
• Last night was our Stake Musical Easter Devotional that we didn't even know about until the last minute (struggles of not being a facebook missionary) and it was SO GOOD.
• It's (technically) spring now
• I found someone who watches Frasier!

Getting ready for Easter this year has already been a joy. I am so happy to have the knowledge I do of Jesus Christ as my Savior. Loneliness is a lie; we are never alone and the most constant person in our lives is the only one who understands exactly what we are going through. Adversity is necessarily a part of the mortal experience; suffering is not. Christ suffered for us so we don't have to. He already did that. I have been studying the Atonement and how I can more fully accept the Atonement of Christ in my life. I know that Jesus lives and that because he lives, we can have joy and peace with our families forever. Hallelujah.

I love you,
Souvenez-vous qui vous etes,

Sister Lonas

Happy Pi Day!

We had our car all week, we're both healthy, and it's getting warmer! It was a great week.

We'll start with weather. It's been over 0 degrees (Celsius) for a week or something now and even though it's raining today, the warmth feels so good! Yesterday I was able to sit in the sun for a total of about five minutes while we waited for the mom of the family that was feeding us to get home so we could go in the house -- I love sunshine! So much! I haven't felt actual warm sunrays for months. I saw a bunny the other day. So it's basically spring.

Oh yeah, we had transfer calls on Saturday and we're both staying here. So I officially get to kill Sister Johnston! (send her home)  Just call me the assassin of the CMM. I'm really happy though to be her last companion, Sister Johnston is awesome and she's a good example to me of always looking for ways to improve, even as she's coming closer to the end, and of preparing to go home with the good perspective that going home from the mission is not the end of improvement. When it is my time to die, I'll have no excuse to get lazy at the end, I've had two incredible examples of Sisters who stay good and strong to the end.

We've been teaching a lot with Sister Lamb which makes me happy partly just because she's really nice and she's an awesome member to have in lessons and partly because she's really pregnant and it makes me feel like I'm hanging out with my sisters :) We had dinner with her and her husband last night and they made us homemade sushi and fried shrimp and wanton soup -- it was amazing. And they both are so motivated to help the Elders and us, it makes me want to be THAT member one day!

There were people I hadn't been able to meet since I got here that we've tried to see SO many times and I was finally able to meet them this week, so we're feeling good about that! I love when you meet someone who has been less active for a really long time and I'm new so I can just be open and ask about how they first came to know the church, which usually leads to why they fell away. And sometimes, they had no reason at all for falling away and they just need to be invited back!

It's also been really cool beginning to use the Easter video, it's a good one. We've already watched it very many times, and it really does get better each time. And it makes planning easier. "What should we share with this family?" "Well, the Brethren have told us to share the Easter video with everyone." "Done."

I'm so excited for Easter! Almost as excited as I am for general conference. Last general conference Sunday was on Easter, and that was the day I opened my mission call :) I had no idea what it actually meant to be called to the Canada Montreal Mission. I'm still learning what that means. There is absolutely nowhere else I would rather be than where I am, and nothing I would rather be doing than serving as a full-time missionary. I am a happy camper.

I love you all! I hope you are having a continue to have a good week!
Souvenez-vous qui vous etes,

Sister Lonas
Oh wait, also watch this https://www.mormon.org/easter

Sick Cookie

This week, I learned about humility. And patience...but I think mostly humility. We didn't end up getting our car back until Wednesday, which meant we went a total of five days getting rides from ward members (mostly Sister Cameron). And then I got sick the day after we got the car back. I was sickish one other time since coming on the mish, but it was really mild and didn't keep me from going out. This has been a very different experience. It's been humbling. It still is humbling, because I'm still sick (although the pendulum is now swinging the opposite direction -- I hit a low Saturday afternoon)

Due to the car and my current state of illness, I've never had to ask so many people for help in such a short period of time. We had to ask everyone for rides, we had meetings on Friday in which we participated by phone, we had important appointments to be at on Saturday so a member (Sister Bowman) came and stayed with me all day while a different member (Valerie Cornelio) went out with Sister Johnston, I asked the Elders in our district for a blessing and because the two of them couldn't come alone, all four Elders in our district were temporarily taken out of their areas on Saturday afternoon. I do not like asking for a help. I think I like even less accepting help. But you know...it turns out that Heavenly Father is watching out for me just as much as I'm always telling other people he's watching out for them. After feeling sorry for myself for way too long because I had to rely on other people for things, it occurred to me (I'm kind of slow) how blessed I am to be surrounded by people at this time who are able and willing to reach out to others around them. Including the sister missionaries. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't able to say "Is there anything we can do for you?" because, really, I wasn't capable of doing much. The most I could honestly offer was "Is there anything or anyone for whom you would specifically have us pray?"

My prayers have never been more sincere.

The blessing I was given was really beautiful. To be honest, I was kind of out of it and don't remember everything (wishing I'd had someone write it down) but there are a few specific points I've thought a lot about. I've been feeling a fair amount of stress since coming to Chapel Hill, mostly tied to things over which I have no control. In the blessing, I was told "Be still." In that moment and since, I've had more peace with me. I can think more clearly. I already had "Be still, and know that I am God" written above my desk but I take it more...literally, now. It's important to take time to literally be still and prioritize.

As far as our area, there hasn't been a lot of progression this week. But we have good plans for the coming week, and we've had some great contact with members and we've been able to talk to a lot of people about the missionary work they are or want to be doing. Hopefully there will be more to report next week.

And if everything else this week wasn't humbling enough, every Elder in our district has now seen me in my pajamas, no makeup, unshowered, and super sick on top of that. District meeting will never be the same.

I love you all,
Remember that you are a son or daughter of a Father in heaven who loves you more than you or I can comprehend.
I invite you to watch this video https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-00-1420-because-of-him?lang=eng that you've maybe seen before but I know that for me, it's somehow gotten better. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that by Him and through Him, we can do all things. He is why we can have joy and peace in this life and for all eternity. Absolutely everything that makes us sad or stressed or upset or frustrated or tired can be completely taken away because of Him.
Have a good week!

With the Bishop and his family before she left Terrebonne

Another from Terrebonne... with a promise of pics from her current area next time!