This week was full of so many amazing moments that I honestly don't even know where to begin. How about we start with last Monday? So last week we had a sisters P-Day with some of the coolest sisters around. We went to see St. Joseph's cathedral with Sister Landeen, Sister Rubio, Sister Rios, and Sister Gonzalez. Wow. Can you say GLORIOUS?! I've never had such a great time in all of my life. It was nice to not have to do an activity with weird elders for once haha. We took about a billion seflies and got mistaken for nuns just about everywhere we went. It was great! I'll be sending home PLENTY of selfies for you all to see, don't worry. I think I have a problem. Anyway, it was just a beautiful day. Perfect temperatures, nice breezes to blow my skirt around and make passersby feel uncomfortable, and wonderful company. Sister Landeen and I were enjoying a nice view of Montreal from the top of the cathedral when she saw an airplane in the distance and asked, "Sister Cutler, how far away do you think that airplane is?" To which I replied, "I'd say about two months..." SOB FEST! Aaaaah. Nothing makes you trunkier than looking at airplanes in the sky with your MTC companion. Haha so ridiculous. Missions come to an end apparently?
On Tuesday I went on exchanges with Sister Gonzales, who I decided is me in Latina form. We had the most fantastic exchange ever, complete with a thunderstorm and Cotton Candy ice cream. It just doesn't get better than that! I got to make a long voyage out to Cornwall, Ontario as well to pick up Sister Orozco, which was the most heavenly drive I've taken in a long time. I live in a beautiful place! The rain brought every single living green thing to life. I couldn't help but imagine that I was starring in Lord of the Rings as some elfin creature of sorts. Ha ha. My dream!
On Tuesday I went on exchanges with Sister Gonzales, who I decided is me in Latina form. We had the most fantastic exchange ever, complete with a thunderstorm and Cotton Candy ice cream. It just doesn't get better than that! I got to make a long voyage out to Cornwall, Ontario as well to pick up Sister Orozco, which was the most heavenly drive I've taken in a long time. I live in a beautiful place! The rain brought every single living green thing to life. I couldn't help but imagine that I was starring in Lord of the Rings as some elfin creature of sorts. Ha ha. My dream!
Okay. Then there was Wednesday, the strangest day of my life. Everything started out great. We went to breakfast with Sister Landeen and Sister Rubio before district study at this Quebecois version of Denny's. It reminded me of midnight trips to Denny's with my friends, and obviously I got a little trunky. But that's the last time I'll mention trunkiness in this letter. Anyway, the day started off great. So that evening Sister Orozco and I had to go to a pass off lesson with the sisters from Montreal ward. They were giving us this adorable Sri Lankan family to teach, so we went over together for the lesson to make the transition as smooth as possible. This family = adorable and so incredibly kind and humble. Their Sri Lankan neighbors = menaces to society and the biggest bible bashing women I've ever met. Honestly, this was a lesson from the depths of hell. Hahaha. I can't even explain. There we are trying to explain what the Book of Mormon is to the sweetest family ever, when all of the sudden the two ladies get incredibly feisty and worked up because it's not the Bible and we're wrong and we're Satan worshippers and blah blah blah blah blah. We then spend the next twenty minutes in complete astonishment and confusion and pure tension as these women start bible bashing away with the poor father of this family. He was defending us and the Book of Mormon with all of his might... well, we think. Not sure. The whole Bible bash was in Tamil, believe it or not, so I honestly had no idea what was going on. I just sat there watching in astonishment, wishing I had some popcorn or something to make it more enjoyable. So we're just desperately trying to figure out what to say, but all I keep hearing is... "Habatneegatnee shebinga sebanalaba MORMON BOOOOOK.. baling shaning lagatneeee." Ummm.... so will you pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true? Ha ha. So great. THEN. My favorite part. One of the sisters we were with had had ENOUGH. She then proceeded to do the most courageous thing I have ever seen. She is somewhat of a shy sister, but my oh my. This was like a reenactment of that scene in the Joseph Smith movie when Joseph stands up to the mobsters and screams, "SILENCE! SILENCE YE FIENDS OF THE INFERNAL PIT!" Classic. So she stands up and is like, "I feel.... there is tension in this room...... (staring everyone down) I don't know what has been said, but I just want to testify that the Book of Mormon is TRUE!!!" Oh my gosh. She seriously deserved a standing ovation. I have never seen such courage from a missionary! It was AWESOME! She just stared those two Bible bashers DOWN! I literally felt like I was in a movie. Words cannot describe. Anyway, the Bible basher agreed to leave us with a prayer. 20 minutes of Tamil mixed with Hallelujah, and then we were out of there. Ha ha. Seriously an experience I will never forget.
But oh, there's more. On Saturday night we were doing some service for our dear sister Karen. We agreed to go to her apartment once a week and check her mailbox for her while she's out of town. Sister Orozco and I had just been talking that day about how service is a great way to find people. Well. Get this. As we're walking out of her apartment this SUPER cool woman from Uzbekistan who is friends with Karen stops us and says, "Oh, you're the girls from the church that visit Karen. She told me that you would be doing her mail for her. That's so nice!" She then proceeds to invite us to see her apartment! We're like, "Uh... okay!" Both looking at each other like... what is happening? Who is this cool lady? Where is she taking us? We then spent the next TWO hours talking with this AMAZING woman about her life! She said she was baptized in the river Jordan while living as an immigrant in Israel. She sings, is a personal trainer for the elderly, is a holistic food expert, breast cancer survivor, and artist. Seriously, this woman is exactly the person I want to be when I grow up! We shared Mormon.org with her and talked about the Plan of Salvation a little. She said she wants to invite us back to share more of our beliefs while doing yoga by the river. Like a melange of spirituality and exercise and tranquility. Haha. This woman is ME in thirty years! Not even kidding! Or how I'd like to be, anyway. It was honestly one of the most enchanting evenings of my mission. Such an interesting woman. She was incredibly kind and open and spiritually in tune. I will never, ever forget her. EVER. We really are going to try to go do yoga with her. Any ideas on how to teach yoga and the plan of salvation at the same time? :) Let me know! Ha ha. Such a cool woman. I think I've met the person I was supposed to meet out here on my mission. Wow. Pray that she gets baptized! I don't know how we're going to tell her to get baptized the way Jesus got baptized. She'll be like, "Yes, I know. I already got baptized in the same place he got baptized." And we'll be like, "Yeah, actually, you need to come get baptized in this tank of water in our chapel because we have the authority." It will work, right?!
Well, that was the fabulous week that was! I am one of the most blessed missionaries on this planet! Words cannot describe how much I adore being a missionary, especially here in this unique province. I hope you are all enjoying another fabulous week of summer! PLEASE go swimming in my honor! You have no idea what you HAVE! Make the most of these beautiful summer months! I love you all to the stars and beyond and hope you have a magnificent week! Peace and blessings! Bisou bisou bisou!
Love,
Soeur Cutler
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