Becoming Completely Sacred

November 14th

Bonjour mes amis!

This week was so special and filled with so many blessings. The mission had a visit from a member of the Seventy, a general authority, or leader of the Church, named Elder Bennett. Elder Bennett and His wife came and visited different areas in the mission and taught us about a lot of things. He helped us see what we needed to do, as a mission, and as individuals, to really improve and help the work of the Lord move along here in Montreal. He told of us of things we needed to change, such as our attitudes, our teaching techniques and our overall commitment to serving the Lord.

He spoke a lot about consecration, a word that isn't used very much in every day language, but a word that he promised could change our whole eternity. The prefix con meaning "with" or "thoroughly" and the Latin noun sacer, meaning "sacred" tells us that consecration, or being consecrated means making something completely sacred. And Elder Bennett taught us a lot about how we can make our time here as missionaries, and our lives after, completely consecrated to the Lord. 

He spoke of serving a "consecrated mission" meaning that missionaries give all their heart, might, mind, and strength to doing the Lord's will, every second of every day. He reminded us of how that means using every second to help fulfill our purpose. He reminded us of our purpose as missionaries, which is to: Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. And how that purpose should be running through our minds as we do everything we do. 

And I think that's something I want to really work on, to really make my mission, my time here, more consecrated to the Lord, more holy and more sacred. Understanding the importance of missionary work, and the urgency that is behind it. To not have fear in talking with people, but to be lovingly bold in helping them come unto, and understand, their Savior. That's what I want to be focusing on, for the next 9 months at least, and then ultimately for the rest of my life. 

Now there was so much that happened in this week, so many miracles that came from just making the small adjustments that Elder Bennett taught us, and I can't wait to see what other miracles the Lord has in store for His missionaries here in Montreal. Big things are ahead of us. 

We have one investigator who will be baptized this coming weekend, Guillermo. We are super excited for him, and more information on that will be next week. Pray for these people!

Here's a picture of our Zone (or group of missionaries, grouped together by area)

 and Elder and Sister Bennett in the middle, 

and to their right our cute Mission President and his Wife. 

They're the best.

Love you all!

Sister Thomas