Three Rivers and a Waterfall

 February 21, 2022

Rebonjour mes amis!

Another week, another JAS (jeunes adultes seuls aka young single adult) activity! We went to another park and while some of the participants ice skated I once again had a great time getting to talk to some of our wonderful members and some of the young adults that the JAS Elders are teaching who live in our area. Something that’s pretty cool is that I actually share a lot of interests with the nonmembers who come to the activities and I feel like once again God is letting me use my experience/personality to connect with and support one of His children, and that is honestly one of my favorite feelings in missionary work.

For the first time in what feels like forever, we got to have district council in person! It was so much fun to finally have everyone together in one place again, and it was definitely a great experience. During the past two years of on and off restrictions, I have certainly gained a greater appreciation and understanding of why the Lord commands His people to gather together, and I am so grateful for all of the wonderful missionaries we have in our district this transfer! 

I’d have to say that the most exciting thing that happened this week is that we got to have exchanges with our zone leaders, Elder Yanez and Elder Reid, down in Trois Rivières! Trois Riviere is about half between Quebec City and Montreal so it was about an hour and 45 minute drive, but after commuting from Moncton to Halifax it was honestly nothing. I’ve discovered on my mission that I’m honestly a fan of long drives. There’s nothing quite like listening to a talk/devotional or just singing along to music as you watch the scenery go by. I have to say that this road trip was a little bit more interesting than the other ones I’ve taken on my mission since it actually snowed the night before we drove down as well as the day we went back up. All of the fresh snow made the drive extremely pretty, but we also passed a couple of accidents on the way down… thankfully with the power of prayer and the soothing voice of Truman G Madsen giving lectures about Joseph Smith everything worked out. 

As far as the exchange itself, it was a pretty standard day but still a lot of fun! I definitely miss the four Elder apartment life sometimes so it was nice to have it back for a day. I ended up driving for the first time in a couple months which I was a little bit nervous about due to all the snow, but it actually felt really good to drive again! I got some solid advice for the rest of the transfer, and I’m excited for the other exchanges we’ll get to go on this transfer.

On another exciting note, my friend Harold in New Brunswick was baptized on Saturday! I got to watch a little bit of his baptismal service during lunch, and it was really wonderful getting to see some of the wonderful members in Moncton again. Everything about Harold’s journey to this point has been pretty miraculous, and while there were certainly ups and downs along the way I couldn’t be happier for him and I know that he and his loved ones will be eternally blessed by his decision! 

This Sunday was also another great experience. Our friend Robert came to church again, and he seemed to have a good time! He’s so quirky and Quebecois that seeing him always makes my day. There were some really wonderful talks and I also really enjoyed our discussion about Abraham during Sunday school so it was pretty much everything I could ask for. Another piece of exciting news is that as of today the government is lifting the restrictions requiring vaccine passports (basically just digital proof of vaccination) to attend worship services so that should make life a little bit easier in the future. 

We once again got to end the week off right by having dinner with the Morin family in our branch, and they are awesome! There were lots of really cute kids and some really good food. The Limoges family also joined since Soeur Limoges is actually Frere Morin’s Sister and it felt a lot like your typical dinner party… except for the part where everyone speaks French haha. I realized that I don’t quite have the vocabulary necessary to follow a conversation that doesn’t directly relate to the Gospel/missionary work, but Frere Morin and Frere Limoges both picked up English during their missions so they were able to keep us in the loop. After dinner we got to share a little spiritual thought about the two great commandments with their children and sing the children's song “love one another” (Aimez vos freres in French) and it was so cute and also very powerful to hear the children’s pure and simple testimonies. Definitely a good reminder of why Christ taught that we must learn to become like little children if we want to enter the Kingdom of God. 

We also got to visit a waterfall that's only fifteen minutes away from our apartment called Chute Montmorency, and it was pretty stunning! I'll make sure to through in lots of pictures. Hope you have a great week!

Love you all,

Elder Jackson