Letter #11

Montreal Mission Home
Letter # 11
Sept. 18, 2010

Hello dear family,

All I can say is HAPPY BIRTHDAY yesterday WYNNY!!!!! 24 YEARS AGO WE RECEIVED THE GREATEST GIFT...YOU! Oh how I love and adore you. Hope your day was full of wonder and education as you attended your 5 hour baby/birth class with James. Good luck picking out some totally groovy new glasses. Love you.

Now.... all I can say is, it must be against the law to have as much fun as we did this last few days with the Brasher's. Thank you so much Benjamin for orchestrating this monumental tri-trip to visit Libby and Mark, then Wynn and James and lastly but certainly not leastly, Mema and Pepa.....US! Thank you for coming. It was a complete joy and time of bliss for us. It was hard to say good-bye. But we hope you will come again.

Here is a short recap of our visit. I wish I could do this solely through photos because I took over 500 pictures while they were here. I am sure I need to go through and delete some of those scrumptious, perfect, adorable pictures of Clara and Eli, but you know how I am with my photos. I will try to be good. We had a beautiful last day together as dad was with us for the first day since the kids came. He had tons of interviews to conduct. We hiked Mount Royal to the Chateau and gorgeous overlook of Montreal. It was perfect weather and visibility was good so we could see mountain ranges in the distance as well as all three bridges over the mammoth St. Lawrence river. We frequented one of the most famous deli's for their famous "smoked meat" sandwiches at Schwartz' Deli. Always a line. Yes, there was one. It was good but I think it is just brisket or maybe corned beef smoked. The place was packed to the gills. It was a fun atmosphere, super laid back yet full of energy. They forgot to bring out fries and when I said, "Oh I think our waiter forgot our fries" another waiter said, "oh yeh he probably did" then he flew through the swinging doors and a second later returned to our table with their delicious home made fries. Probably fried in some kind of lard or something. What is it with lard anyway?

After we exited the establishment and attempted to fight our way through the assembly of people of all walks of life who were waiting for their smoked meat, we happened across a homemade ice cream store literally across the street from Schwartz'. The flavors were things like Cardamon and coconut or fresh raspberry puree, green tea, ginger, Quebec Maple...you get the picture. Not even I could walk by and I am not an ice cream lover. We topped off the day with an ice cream and sat outside and finished them off. Delicious but the best part was watching Eli sqwuak for more. He would have a taste of one kind then, use his charm to lure the next victim closer. He had ice cream in 5 different colors on his cute little face. It was so adorable. He loves his food right now. He is 10 months and every day is a new discovery. SO CUTE!

In a nutshell, Em and Ben actually got to go running a couple of times, Em and I hit the Jewish Bakery early in the a.m., we took the kids to the park across the street a couple of times, we went to the magnificent Botanical Garden across from the Olympic Stadium, we had Poutine where Clara fell off her booster chair on the hard floor, we went to China town and found a HAPPY WAVING CAT for Clara and Eli and one for our new baby girl Stewart. We also went to the Jean Talon market which is enormous and beautiful. Everyone displays their wares in a very artistic manner. All the local farmers come and anyone else who has anything else you can think of to sell, and sets up every day. This is located in Little Italy. So since Ben is a pizza head, we stopped and got pizza and fresh Calzones. Help, the food never stops.

The first day Em and Ben came, at almost the same very hour, we were to pick up Elder Jay Jensen of the first quorum of the Seventy also at the Pierre Trudeau, he is in the Presidency, to come home here and have lunch with us and just chit chat. He came to see how dad and I were doing and offer any help or advice. He was so very kind and generous with his time. He was so sweet to Em, Ben and Clara. We all sat down and ate together. I made a "make your own" sandwich bar with tons of fresh fruit and veggies. We sat around the kitchen table and talked. He is so kind and easy to be around. I was not sure how to feed a General Authority but decided to just treat him like family and that turned out to be what he wanted. He was a joy to meet and have in our home. I have a guest book that visitors sign while at our home and at the end of his entry, he wrote Moroni 8:3 which says 3..... I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end. How much more blessed could we be than to have Elder Jensen, as well as you praying for us? Thank you!

I was at the Persian store a while back and as I was checking out, I was chatting with the young woman who was my cashier. It was a very busy time and many were in line. As I was signing my name on the charge, she said "What church is that, on your badge?" I told her and asked if she had ever heard of our church. She said no, but thought she had seen some commercials on TV and indicated she would like to hear more. So I had her write her email address down and I hurried out. She wrote it in such a hurry, I think we got it wrong. It was hard to read. She did not respond to the email and I feel like I need to go back and talk to her again. I don't want her to think we did not care. I have thought of her so many times. The store is not easy to get to and the parking is impossible around that area. There is no free parking here. You pay to park on the street in a residential area. I need to go back and see if I can find her again. She was so sweet and she was the one who asked me. I love wearing the name of Jesus Christ on my chest.

I wrote about the Iranian woman, Souri, who is in her 70's. She went to Boston for some treatment. She had a double mastectomy and has had problems ever since. After she returned here to Montreal, which is not her home, just a vacation spot, she packed up some stuff and returned to Teheran. I was not able to reach her before she left. I just hope she is ok and her health is not in decline. I tried to send her daughter an email but no answer. Another mystery but then in this work...there are many. She was such a joy to be around. I hope to see her again some day soon.

Now a story about Simone from Nigeria. Simon as we would pronounce it, has been here in Montreal for 10 years. He escaped from Nigeria after having been held prisoner by gang members. He told us he had been searching for God and the right way to follow Jesus Christ. He has a wife and 9 kids back in Nigeria that he supports by working two jobs around the clock. He said that Nigeria is so corrupt in that the gangs rule everything. Life there, because of this, was difficult. He was very vocal about his feelings and spoke out against the gangs and their evil ways. Because he disrespected them, they came to his house and kidnapped him. They tied him up and the Elders said they were going to use him as a sacrifice. In any event, he was in a small holding place with another man. He said that somehow he was able to get free and hoisted himself up on the roof and off he went. Because of his rebellion against the gangs, he was a marked man and was forced to leave his country if he wanted to live. He petitioned for political asylum in Montreal and was admitted. He has not seen his family for 10 years, except for one son who is attending College in NYC. He has put three kids through college and plans to work til they have all had a chance to go to school. Even the 10 year old son he never met because as he moved to Montreal his wife was pregnant with their 9th child. He lives alone, and lives to work so he can provide for his family. He is an assistant nurse at two different hospitals in Montreal. He is a kind, wise, genuine , gentle man and has the greatest smile ever. It was a privilege meeting this good man. There are so many wonderful miracles and stories surrounding these weekly baptisms. We had 8 baptisms to attend this weekend but had to miss one as they were pretty far away. I love this work so much.

Ok, well I have so many more stories but the hour is late now and I have literally fallen asleep twice as I have been sitting here, at the computer. That is first. I would love to be able to sleep sitting up, that would really serve me well in an airplane.

love you all,

mom/Shir/Soeur Cannon