A Week to Remember

Summertiiiiiiiiime, and the sista is happy. :) Hello, cuddle bears! How are my lovely friends and family members doing? I hope you're all enjoying this gorgeous summer. Ah! Summer is such a trunky time! I just want to go swimming and watch Katy Perry 3D and do absolutely nothing all the day long. What a great life! I hope you're all doing just that in my honor. 

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!

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

Many Are Called, ... But Few Stay Skinny

Email from  May 26th

The "Juan" 

Hello, dearest family and friends! I hope you all still love me and miss me. :* Well, what can I say? Spring is in full throttle and I am just LOVING life! It freaks me out a bit when I look outside in the morning and its summer because I know I'll be coming home in the summer. And then I have a mini panic attack. But then I get back to my yoga and all is well. Still. Time is flying at a terrifying rate! You'll be seeing my cute, chubby face in no time! That will be the day.

Alright, so now that Sister Orozco and I are back together on the scene in Montreal, CRAZY things have been happening. Haha. Never a dull moment in this companionship. So, story number one. We were trying to pass by a media referral but we couldn't find a parking spot near his house, so we decided to park at our returning member's house about half an hour before our appointment with her and just walk to the media referral. Well, we were out of the car for literally ten seconds when we found this cute little elderly lady in her nightgown picking up rocks on the sidewalk. Obviously we went up and tried to help her, but she was just as feisty as ever. She turned out to be this super cool lady with a lot of opinions about life and religion. She was very spiritual, just not religious. We had an amazing half hour conversation with her and finally she agreed to take a Book of Mormon. I had felt prompted to bring one with me, so luckily we had one right there. Well. Just as we're exchanging contact information, her grandson's bus pulls up. Two days before we talked to this kid who asked us to give him a Book of Mormon but we didn't have one on us. What do you know? In a completely different neck of the woods the SAME kid happens to be on her grandson's school bus. So he pokes his head out the window and is like, "Hey. Where's my Book of Mormon?" So at this point the lady is just bewildered, but determined not to give up her own copy that we just gave her. I run as fast as lightening to the car and rummage up our last Book of Mormon and hand it to the kid through the window. THEN get this. The bus driver is this cute Indian man, and he's watching the whole scene go down. So he says to me through the doors, "Mormon...... It's true?" And I'm just like, "Yeah, it's true!" So he says, "I want book. Give me book." MALHEUREUSEMENT.... we didn't have any left! Aaaah! And the kid and the little old lady were not ABOUT to give up their own copies to this man. We promised we'd give one to the kid to give to him, and he drove away happy. Can you imagine though? In the space of three minutes, THREE people were just CLAMORING for Book of Mormons! Ha ha! It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. I imagine that's what it must be like in South America. But Quebec? NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS! It was an experience I will NEVER forget.

Okay, another experience I will never, ever forget. Get ready for a funny story. Alright, so in Mission Leadership Council this Friday President Patrick was giving us a training on finding people. He shared this story about a man who waved at him and his companion on his mission in Italy and how they never turned around to talk to him. Ten years later he went back and that man was the Branch President. SO. The moral of the story is that if someone self contacts you, you MUST go contact them. Well, this is what leads me to MY story. The next day Sister Orozco and I were driving around LaSalle when this man starts waving at us. We're just like, "Aw, how sweet." And we keep driving. Well, President Patrick's story came back to haunt me, and the spirit was just like, "Turn the car around NOW." So I pull this move and just flip that car right back to where the man was walking. Well, as we're approaching we see that maybe he might be drunk. So Sister Orozco is like... "Hmmm... let's not." But by that point I was already out of the car. Haha. Okay, so this story is OBVIOUSLY something I will be reenacting when I get home, but I'll try to convey it the best I can through writing. I say, "Hello, how are you doing?" And he just looks at me with this glare and says, "....Why? .... WHY?" And I'm like, "Uh... well... we're missionaries, and we share a message about Jesus Christ. We saw you waving at us and we wanted to come say hi to you." Sister Orozco starts talking to him and he just says, "Oh, so you believe in God?" And we're like, "Yeah! Do you believe in God?" And he just looks at Sister Orozco and says, "I believe that she is beautiful. Do you believe that she's beautiful?" And I'm like, "Well, yeah I do!" And he just looks at me and says, "Get that STUPID look off your face." This is where I wish you could see me reenact the story, because being the feisty one that I am, I pull the most RIDICULOUS face at him. Haha. Couldn't help myself. He just yells, "STOP IT. Hey, you (back to Sister Orozco). If you want to talk to someone, go preach to your sisters over there." He points to these Indian girls on a balcony nearby. EVERYONE in the city of Montreal thinks Sister Orozco is Indian. It was literally the funniest thing of my life. But I had to stay in character because I'm a missionary. So this dude keeps saying, "Namaste" to Sister Orozco, and since I'm a missionary I'm trying to figure out his religious background. I ask, "Are you Buddhist?" And he just scowls at me and says, "No. I'm the Messiah." And I'm like, "Hmmm. Interesting. Are you sure you aren't Buddhist?" And he just gives me the deadliest glare. Well, poor Sister Orozco is just trying with all her might to give him a Restoration pamphlet. She says, "We have something for you." And he says, "WHAT?! Your DIAPER?!?" Hahahaha. Haven't heard an insult like that since the fourth grade. So I ask, "What's your name?" And he's like, "WHY.... WHY?" Then he looks at me and goes... "Juan. Juan Martinez." "OH! Nice to meet you Juan Martinez." "I'm not Juan. I'm the One. Do you believe in One?" And I say, "Uh... I believe in three...." And he just gives me this look. He says, "Do you believe you're beautiful?" And I was like, "Well, obviously." And he's like, "You're so beautiful..... What's my name?" And we say... "Juan Martinez?" And he says, "NO, what's my FIRST name?" And we're like... "Uh... Juan?" And then he just throws his death glare at us again. "No. I am the One." And I'm like, "Oh, the Juan!" AND THEN. Get this. HE SPITS ON US!!!!! Okay, exaggerating a little. He spat on our car, but he directed it at me. So he says, "Do you believe that I'm the Messiah? Do you believe that I am the Christ? GET THAT STUPID LOOK OFF YOUR FACE!" And I just look him straight in the eyes, trying not to lose my composure, I say, "Ummm... well... I don't think Jesus Christ would spit on our car...." Oh my heavens. Was Juan Martinez ever LIVID! So we hurried and got in the car as fast as we could. Shouldn't have provoked him! As I'm trying to get the keys in the ignition, he just pokes his head right in the window and says, "One day the devil's going to approach you. And he's going to be good looking. Don't you forget Juan Martinez. DON'T YOU FORGET HIM! I am the MESSIAH!" ANNNNND then I stepped on it and got the HECK out of there. We proceeded to scream for a good five minutes and then laugh and laugh and laugh as we reenacted the scene twenty times over. SO creepin.

Anyway, to make a long story short, there was a reason we were supposed to meet him. I was prompted to turn back, so I did. The next day I bore my testimony about how God loves all of his children, even Juan Martinez. And Juan needed an opportunity to hear the gospel just as much as the next person. I invited everyone to be that missionary for their friends. At the very least their friends won't spit on them if they try to share the gospel with them. Hopefully. Moral of the story, the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. Juan was hostile and horrible to us, but at least I was able to testify of Jesus Christ. It was an interesting week, to say the least. :)

I am doing well! I promise to stop being sassy to hostile, insane people. But that's what makes missionary work interesting! The rest of the day we talked to some of the kindest people I have ever met, so Heavenly Father sends us tender mercies along the way in the midst of harrowing experiences. Anyway, I hope you all have a FABULOUS week! I'm just living the dream out here. I never want it to end. Sorry for the SUPER long story. I hope you got a little bit of a laugh out of it. If not, I promise to reenact it when I come home. Love you all lots and lots and LOTS! Missing the heck out of yous guys every single DAY! Peace and blessings.

Love,

Soeur Cutler

Email from June 2

Many Are Called, ... But Few Stay Skinny

Hello, cute newts! How is my favorite P-town posseeeee doing? Ugh. Can I just tell you all (y'all) how much I am MISSING you? It's unbearable at times. Truly, it is. Trunkyness is REAL. And it frightens me. But now worries, I am STILL having the time of my life and loving every single minute of my mission. I really can't imagine it ending, and the thought if it ending makes me quite gloomy. But in other news. Spring is SO beautiful out here! I am loving every minute of this weather. There's green everywhere and the magnolia blossoms have now faded. Summer is on its way! It makes me nervous, but happy all at once. I'm just a whirlwind of emotions right now!

Alright, so the highlights of the week... well. So far Hermana Orozco and I have managed to have something RIDICULOUS happen every week since we became companions. Here's the story of this week. On Thursday I FINALLY went on exchanges with my long-lost MTC companion, Sister Landeen. It. Was. HEAVENLY! I love that woman to death. It was nice to actually teach together in the real missionary world. At the end of our exchange we decided to have our interview along the river and enjoy the beautiful view and luscious breeze. Well, somewhere along the way I dropped our cell phone. After we unexchanged Sister Orozco and I raced like mad to find it, but to no avail. C'est pas grave-luhhh... it's only like the second phone I've lost since I've been in this area. Anyway, we go to pick up our chaperone Lawanda for our next appointment, and when we get there she has the elders on the other line. The elders then inform us that some CRAZY stole our phone and told them he'd give it back to us for $100. Ain't nobody got time for that! The elders thought he had to be kidding, so they agreed to meet with him on the street he indicated. Well, I knew that this fool was a crackhead. So I told the elders we'd be over there to handle the situation ourselves. For all we knew Juan Martinez probably picked up the phone and held it for ransom. We head over there and meet the elders at the assigned spot. No phone, no Juan Martinez, no crackhead, NOTHING. I was SO mad. The elders said they called him when they got there but told him they didn't have the $100 (good, honest elders), so the guy said, "No money? NO PHONE!" And hung up! He was holding a $20 flip phone for ransom from missionaries! Who does that? I told those elders to call up this dude again. I was going to deal with him. .... He didn't answer. So we called a feisty sister in our ward to deal with him. Hahaha. Funniest thing of my life. She's just like, "Oh don't worry. By the time I'm done with this sicko he's going to .... *expletive *expletive *expletive." She calls him up and tells him she's a lawyer (by the way, she's not) and that there's a GPS on our phone (by the way, there's not) and that if he doesn't give it back to us she's going to knock every single door in the streets of Verdun until she finds him, and then he'll wish he'd never been born. LOLz. Funniest woman ever! To make a long story short--we didn't get our phone back. But we laughed our heads off with the elders and had quite an adventure that night!

The next item of business. Sister Orozco and I will become youtube celebs by the time we're home. So Hermana had an eye infection this week, which meant we had to sit for two hours at the clinic waiting for the doctor. Well, what are two sista sistas supposed to do for two hours in a doctor's office besides listen to the radio and go through every single picture they've ever taken on their mission? We decided that the best use of our time would be to make up a SONG! And oh my heavens... it is literally the funniest thing of my life. Every time we sing it people are in TEARS. I'm not even making this up. It will DEFINITELY be on youtube when we get back, and yes, it will get a million mormon views. It's called, "Many Are Called, But Few Stay Skinny," set to the tune of "A Whole New World." It's a song documenting the many changes sister missionaries go through on their mission, *cough cough* gaining weight *cough cough.* Coming to a facebook page near you. It will be the greatest homecoming present ever, besides me, of course.

Anyway, that was the week that was! We had stake conference this weekend and yodeled out a song with the Relief Society. Love me some RS vibratto! It was a Canada-wide broadcast with Elder Holland, President Eyring, Linda K. Burton, and someone from the 70. Be jealous! We had a fun week, but plenty of trials and frustrations to get us down. On Sunday night we had a tender mercy! We were about to come home for dinner to some burnt rice that I made and some pinto beans, when my FAVE family (the Morales fam) invited us for a BBQ! Gah! I love BBQs. It was the perfect summer evening to end the most ridiculous week. I'm just having tons of fun out here and am loving every minute of this beautiful weather. I wish you could all see how beautiful it is! No worries. At least in a couple months you'll all be able to see how beautiful I am, and that's all that really matters. ;)

Love you all infinitely and I hope you're having a fantastic summer! Go get some shaved ice in my honor! I LOVE that stuff. Take care, lovers. Have a beautiful week! Missing you is easy 'cuz you're missable.

Love,

Syl

Guess Who's Back?

Mommy Time--May 12

Hello, hello! Wow... what a great day yesterday! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all of the fabulous women that I love and adore, but especially to my #1 (MOMMY!) Dearest Mom, you are the greatest. Thank you for the love, light, and encouragement you give me daily. A girl could not have asked for a foxier mama than you! Truly, my mom is the best mom in the universe. Don't let anybody ever tell you otherwise! I love you!

So yesterday was a dream! It was crazy to see that my family is actually real and existing and living and breathing in some part of the world. WOW! It really won't be long at all till I'm back in your arms. What a glorious, weepy day that will be! I can't wait! But until then, I feel so sustained by our little chat on the phone. I'm glad that missionaries don't have to go complete gypsy like in the times of old and sever their family relationships completely to serve haha. It's nice to be permitted a phone call every once in awhile. ;)

Well, the saddest thing ever happened moments ago. I was just sitting here starting my emails when suddenly I received a call from the mission office. It was the call of all calls... they asked me which airport I would like to fly to when I go home. Gaaaaaaaah. WORST DAY EVER! It's REAL. They want me to LEAVE! Luckily though I'm about to have the best three months ever because....

WE GOT OUR TRANSFER CALLS! And get this... I'm a prophetess. So a few days before I was like... Yeah, Soeur Orozco is going to be my companion again. And then my companion was like, "I think Soeur Orozco is about to come replace me here in LaSalle." And I was like, "I didn't want to say anything, but yeah, it's happening." And oh guess what. IT HAPPENED!!!! Sister Orozco is going to kill me! I could not be HAPPIER! I love LaSalle and there are a million amazing things going on here right now. What better way to end things than with one of the best mamacitas in the CMM?! It's going to be a PARTAY!!! I may in fact see you all earlier than August ;) hee hee. No, we'll be good. I spent my summer with her a year ago, and I'm spending it with her again! What more could a girl possibly want? I am so terribly blessed.

This week was incredible. Good things are happening here! This Thursday I'm going to the TEMPLE to watch our less active who has been coming back to church receive her endowments! Such a beautiful, proud moment. She is amazing. Missionary work is the most rewarding, delightful thing on this planet. Everyone needs to be a missionary! You're missing out if you're not. ;)

In other news... SPRING IS HERE TO STAY! Saturday was the first legitimate day of spring. It has been a glorious weekend! We try to have all of our lessons outside if we can convince people haha. This week our bestie Jordan Morales practiced a Jenn Blosil EFY song on his guitar for us and then he and I sang it together alongside the St. Laurent river. Someone needs to get us a record deal! We are so flipping phenomenal. I'm going to TRY to send a video by Myldsmail might not be up to speed. You'll just have to wait till I get home to watch it. But my goodness was it ever a treat. The members here are just so COOL. I can't even explain. I wish I could make this my permanent home ward. But don't worry PV 4th, I still love you too. With ALL of my heart! Can't my heart just be big enough to embrace all of the wards that I love?

On Saturday we went and helped our amazing new investigator do yard work and we got to meet all of her kids! Including her son that lives far, far away that she hadn't seen since Christmas, and he showed up and surprised her in the middle of our visit. ....Awkward? I hate crashing beautiful family moments. Missionaries kind of have a knack for that, and since we're horribly awkward we make the awkward situation even worse. Haha... but it was fun. She's so cool, and it was nice to get to know her and her kids better.

Well, that was really the week that was! Not too much else to share, other than the fact that I miss you little ones like CRAYYYYZAYYY!!!! Don't worry, it won't be long now. My mission is giving me the boot in like twelve more weeks. It just doesn't seem real. We're going to have a big epluchette de ble d'Inde (that's Quebecois for barbeque) when I get back! Whooo! But until then, I love you all sooo very, very much. And miss the heck outta all of yous! Smooches and loves! Bises!

Love,

Sylvie Bear

Guess Who's Back--May 19

Back again... Cut-Co's back.... tell a friend! The dream team is back! And it is oh. so. GLORIOUS! My baby Hermana Orozco is back in my arms and my goodness... what a week it has been! I am one grateful child of God. So much gratitude in my heart right now. There's nothing better than serving with your best friend! It's going to be a great two transfers until the bitter end. I can feel it! Good things are happening in LaSalle, as always. :)

Last Monday I finally went and tried some of that FABULOUS Montreal smoked meat that everyone talks about with the elders and Jordan Morales. It was super fun. It's at a restaurant called Schwartz's. I felt like I was in New York City, Jews yelling at each other, mustard all over my hands. Haha. It was nice. A good cultural experience, at the very least. We all sat and talked about night terrors and Sister Sherwood embarrassed me by letting everyone know that I woke up screaming nearly ever night this transfer haha.

This week was transfer week, which meant STRESS to the max for the first three days. We are currently driving a rental car and are in fact the only team on the island of Montreal with a car besides the APs. So since our click limit is non-existent during this rental phase, we found ourselves literally driving the ENTIRE island of Montreal as a luggage service for transfers. NOT how I wanted to spend my last morning with Sister Sherwood, but we made it work. It was just such a GLORIOUS moment when Sister Orozco walked into the doors of the mission office and into my life again. We had a weepy goodbye with Sister Sherwood at the bus station (gonna miss that foxy one) and then... TROUBLE began. The girls are back! It's so great. I've been loving every dang minute of it.

On Thursday we went to the temple with our dear less active member's endowments. WOW. What a beautiful experience that was! I am so proud of her. She has made so many incredible changes in her life in less than a year. It has been amazing to watch the atonement work in the lives of the people I love and serve here. We drove with the LaHaches, one of my favorite families in the ward. We got out of our session SUPER late, and I found myself driving through downtown with their family late into the night. It was such a glorious experience, looking around and seeing all of the beautiful lights, out past my curfew, not a care in the world. A moment that I will never forget. The mission makes me feel indescribable happiness literally every single day.

Spring is HERE! It has been a beautiful week. We try to be outside as much as we can. Today for our P-Day we went to the annual interfaith service/community clean up again! I can't it has been a year since I was there last. A year ago Sister Varela and I were the only ones that attended. This year TONS of missionaries were there! It was just a huge trash clean up party. I always love going and serving in the community of Montreal. There are so many wonderful people from other faiths and backgrounds. The diversity is truly thrilling to me. I love getting to know people from all walks of life, serving together and taking care of the beautiful earth we have been entrusted with. It was just a MAGNIFICENTLY lovely day. I really can't put words to how I feel about Montreal in the spring. It has been a positive, happy week.

I think the real reason I'm so happy is because I was FINALLY able to get my eyebrows threaded... alright, so the truth comes out. I just feel like a new woman right now. Gah. Gotta love those Indian ladies. They do a great job. No more frumpster sister until August! I'll be a hairy, fat mess when I come back haha.

So that was the week that was! I'm truly happy right now, even if I'm hiding the fact that I'm jealous about my family being in Paris and London without me. No comment on the Paris trip... I'm sure you all made great memories together! I'm happy for you all. Truly. ...... Anyway. I love you all and miss you to DEATH! But it really won't be long, my friends. Not. Long. At. ALL! Time is hastening by. I'm making the most of EVERY moment, I assure you. Have a beautiful week, everyone! 

Love,

Syl

There's Nothing That the Road Cannot Heal

April 28, 2014

There's Nothing That the Road Cannot Heal

Hello, my little cute newts! How are you all doing during this beautiful spring season? I hope you're all having a grand time soaking in the sun, hiking, dancing in the rain, and ... oh, bashing around London? No comment, other than the fact that I am sick with jealousy of my family leaving for London without ME this week. Never mind that I'm only the biggest Anglophile on the planet, bawling my eyes out over the royal wedding, spending countless hours reading Austen novels, convulsively weeping over every single dang episode of Downton Abbey and BBC Masterpiece on the PLANET! I hope the trip is WORTH IT. For SHAME....

Alright, the rant is over. This week was just plain fabulous! We are seeing miracles GALORE out here! I don't really know what to do with myself at this point. My mission just keeps getting better and better, and I keep getting closer and closer to its grand finale. YIKES! Gotta make every moment count, eh? So this week we went on a sister exchange fiesta. Lots of driving, but it was SO worth it because we saved some of the best sisters for last. Well, they're all the best sisters, but these exchanges were especially exciting. Congratulations to ME, I got my International Drivers Permit renewed, which meant that I was able to DRIVE again for the first time in months! On Monday the dear sisters of Cornwall, Sister Rios and my grand baby Sister Gonzalez, drove down to Montreal to spend P-Day with us bashing around Vieux-Montreal, the closest I'm going to get to bashing around London. It was SO fun! We went to Chinatown and got *Mormon* bubble tea, and then spent the rest of a breezy, pleasant evening walking the streets of our historical city. Not as great as Vieux-Quebec, but I still love Montreal with all of my heart.

That night I got to cruise into Ontario and get to know my mission granddaughter. It turns out we're the same person! Good road trip conversations the whole way down. I got to spend the next day in Cornwall, which is so English that it frightens me. Not sure what I'm going to do when I get back and there are absolutely NO signs in French? Weird.

THEN on Thursday I had just about the most exciting exchange of my life. Sister Rebecca Smith of Vancouver Island came to LaSalle to spend the day with me, and oh my heavens. Did we ever have a riotous time! We may or may not have stayed up till 3 in the morning talking. She's pretty much the Canadian version of my best friend Ellie Parker, so you can imagine the glee and the joy and the sheer insanity that ensued when we were put together for twenty-four hours on an exchange. This is why I LOVE exchanges! Sometimes it's stressful hopping in and out of our area with new companions, but I have gotten to know so many fantastic girls that are serving around me. Biggest blessing of my mission by far!

Friday we had a big mission leadership council with some of the brethren from the missionary department. They talked about how we need to help people when we invite them to do something, not just hope that a miracle will happen. We've been stepping up our game now, trying to help people keep their commitments, but there's only so much you can do when personal agency comes into play. Still, it's a great way to love and serve others, and let's be honest... we all need a little (or in my case A LOT) of help enduring to the end.

Saturday we Zumba'd it up and now I am too sore/tired to even function, what with shimmying around and not getting any sleep this week, but I have had a wonderful April and am now looking forward to the glamorous month of MAY! It should be fabulous. Also.... speaking of April coming to a close... HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY to my dearest, loveliest. most fabulous, cheetah-licious BEST FRIEND CHRISTINE! I hope you know I love you with ALL of my heart and desperately wish I could be there to PARTAYYYYYY on your 21st! You are truly a ray of sunshine in my life, and I honestly have NO idea where I would be without you. Thank you for being a fantastic friend. SEE YOU SOON! Birthday rain check. We'll all be celebrating in just a few more months there!

Well, Have a great week, yous guys! I love you all infinitely and MISS you to the point of pain, but that's to be expected. Take care, stay safe, don't do anything I wouldn't do! :) Peace and blessings!

Love,

Sister Syl

May 5, 2014

Drowning in My Tears

Hello, beautiful family! The natural woman side of me was debating whether or not I should even write you today after reading about your fabulous first week in London. Luckily my companion didn't notice the sob fest I had moments ago sitting here reading my weekly emails. No comment. Just shear jealousy currently being unleashed in my heart like an untamed beast. Pure havoc to my soul, I tell you. Enjoy your stay!

Alright, let's talk about MY fabulous week. I may not be trouncing around London but I AM seeing miracles galore. It's a great time to be a missionary in Montreal! We have some sweet new investigators who have been so prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel. I have to remind myself daily that I am privileged to have spent the last fifteen, yes, FIFTEEN months of my life being a missionary.

So for starters... Sister Sherwood and I had to give a bunch of trainings this week as part of our sister training leader calling. We talked about the importance of helping people. We often think our job is to invite, which is true, but the second part of the missionary purpose is to actually help people do what we invite them to do. Aren't we all in need of a little help? Basically the missionary department came to the mission last week and told us plainly, "The reason people in your mission aren't getting baptized is because you're not HELPING them enough." OUCH? Don't people have free agency? Haha no, it was good to hear. We've been keeping ourselves plenty busy now as we've creatively searched for ways to "help" people honor their commitments. Missionary FUN!

On Tuesday we went on member exchanges, which are always fun because I separate from my companion and spend the evening with one of the groovy sisters in the LaSalle ward. I was with the Bishop's wife, Sister May, who was the perfect companion, because she is from London and mourned with me about my family being in London without me. It was nice to have someone sympathize with me. We had a fun night and I pretended that perhaps I too was in London as I let her talk the night away with her beautiful British accent. It's the closest thing I'll ever have to a real London experience, I suppose. Gah. I thought I had control over my vicious envyings... I'll stop now.

We went on exchanges this week as well. I FINALLY got to go with Sister Berry, a sister I knew in the MTC but haven't been able to serve with yet. She. Is. So. COOL! I found out that she too is a feminist, and so... we had long, heated, rants/discussions about everything that I love. Haha. It was a super fun day. I think they shipped all of those feminist Mormons out to the Canada Montreal mission. She was telling me about who all of the other underground Mormon feminists were in the mission, which is like half of the sisters here. Too great. This really is the mission meant for me!

On Friday we had TWO fabulous lessons with member referrals! Gotta love LaSalle. One was a sweet 17 year old girl that is friends with one of the young men in our ward. He courageously invited her to take the discussions, and she was FLOORED. I recited the first vision to her and she CRIED! It was a great experience for us all. She reminds me a lot of my sweet cousin Jessica. Super cool, super smart. She lives kind of far away from our area so we won't get to teach her for long, but it was great to meet a youth who had such a personal testimony of Heavenly Father's love for her and His willingness to answer prayer.

Our next lesson was with our investigator that we've been seeing for a few weeks now. We watched the #BecauseofHim video and invited her to be baptized! It was just a beautiful, powerful experience. She is an amazing woman and would be an incredible member of the church. Keep praying for these people! It's not easy to join the church. I'm amazed when people are able to give up everything they once knew and start a new life as a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Pray that these people will feel accepted, that their testimonies will grow, and that their faith will overcome doubts.

Well, that was the week that was! The APs told us that sisters and elders can't have P-Day activities together anymore... hmmm... wonder why that happened. So mad. BUT. After our training on Wednesday our zone leaders decided that "going out to lunch with our zone after a training meeting" was not a P-Day activity, so we went with a big gang of missionaries to Thai Express. Ha ha. Gotta love those zone leaders for bending the rules to their own liking. Then again with our other zone our other zone leader decided to treat us all to Wendy's because he has over $500 saved on his mission card. And even President got a Double and joined us for the event, so I say it's okay. ;)

Anyway, have a GREAT week! I love you all so much and miss you terribly. More than I can describe. We'll SEE if I decide to call on Mother's Day.... I'm a little sad right now. Meh. You won't notice. You're all having tons of fun without me. Well, take care! Bisou bisou!

Love,
Syl the Pill

Miracle Time

Hello, my beloved, fabulous, precious ones! I hope you all had a joyous Easter weekend. My goodness. What a great time! The Easter holiday is best spent with family members, but I made it a good one nonetheless. I hope you're all enjoying a beautiful spring! We had a couple warm days pop up this week. Still trying to figure out when spring is going to hit... so far no real sign of it. Oh Canada! 

Alright, so this week was just one of the best of my existence. Okay, this Saturday was the best day of my existence. But I'll get to that later. On Tuesday I was able to go back to my old area again on exchanges! Good old Montreal West. I just LOVE it there! It's fun to run around the bus and metros talking to people I used to be terrified of talking to. Now I'm just like, "Meh." Haha no, it's still just as terrifying, but I've grown to love talking to random strangers more and more the longer I've been out on a mission. I went on the exchange with my great-granddaughter Sister Gutierrez. I'm starting to realize more and more that I'm just one of those OLD missionaries. I'm usually referred to as Big Mama Cutler or Grandma Cutler. Sheesh. Too many babies. In the evening we unexchanged at the BYU-I Sinfonietta concert! I thought for sure that this would be the highlight of my week. It was definitely the second highlight of my week, but I had something better happen. But back to the concert. I chatted up a bunch of girls from BYU-I, and I realized that I too would soon be back on that student track again. GULP! It was a fun experience though. We went to the concert with one of our less active members, a Trinidadian woman who is a joy and a half to be around. I just felt overjoyed to listen to something other than EFY soundtracks and to spend the night with members and a few other missionaries. 

MIRACLE TIME! Another great highlight of the week. We have this super cool couple in our ward. The husband used to be a drummer for a living and is just one of the coolest people you will ever meet. (Seriously, get these people an I'm a Mormon video or something.) Anyway, he invited a woman that he works with to take the missionary discussions! And she totally AGREED! Member-missionary work at its FINEST! It turns out this woman is seriously AMAZING and totally needs the Gospel in her life right now. At first he was afraid to ask her to take the discussions, but like all great member missionaries, he found the courage to just do it! This woman was asking all the right questions and sharing all the right experiences. We had a hard time not sharing everything we knew right then and there. She was so intrigued when we gave her the Book of Mormon that she asked why more people don't know about this amazing book. Please pray for her this week that she will be protected from all those nay-sayers and those weird anti-Mormon websites. Hopefully all goes well!

Alright, now to the big news of my life. Geez Louise. So on Saturday morning I woke up at 6:30am like a good girl and started doing my yoga with Shiva Rea. So there I am in the middle of my shakra namaskar when suddenly Soeur Sherwood rolls in and is like... "Who's Guy?" And I'm like, "What do you mean, 'Who's Guy?'" And she's like, "We just got a text saying that Guy is going to do baptisms for the dead at the temple this morning at 10." Oh my HEAVENS. If I wasn't already on the floor, I totally would have been! In case you don't remember, Guy is my beloved, favorite, amazing recent convert from Quebec City. The next hour was spent in a tizzy, me frantically pacing the house, PRAYING that President Patrick would give me permission to go to the temple in a moment's notice. I have never had so much anxiety in my LIFE! He wasn't answering or texting back, and time was running out! Finally we called up our boyfriends... I mean.. the APs.. and we were like, "Hey, WHY isn't President answering his phone?!?!" Turns out he wasn't even in the same COUNTRY as us, but was at a mission president's seminar in DC. And I'm just like... WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?! THIS IS URGENT! Luckily Sister Patrick was with him AND had her phone. I got the okay after an hour of sheer turmoil, and we were OFF to the temple! Sister Landeen, my fabulous MTC companion, also taught Guy before I came in and replaced her in Quebec City. She's one of the sisters in my zone now, so we did an exchange that morning and both got to go to the temple together! And then get THIS. Turns out it was Quebec City and Ste Foy's ward/branch temple trip. This day seriously could not have gotten any better. Not only did I get to see Guy, but I was also greeted and hugged and loved by my favorite Quebec ward! Aaaaaah! I never ever thought I would see these people again! Words cannot describe the joy that was flooding, gushing, shining from my heart. I may or may not be a *little* obsessed with Quebec City... ha ha. It was just so great to see these people. And they even said I hadn't lost my French! That was a great comfort. 

Okay, so now we get to the temple. I have dreamed of the day I would get to see Guy take his family names to the temple and perform baptisms. He is super into genealogy. In fact, that was a large pull in him joining the church. It was such an incredible, indescribable feeling to see him sitting there in the temple, dressed in white, so much peace and joy in his countenance. I wish I could show you all the mental picture I took of him sitting in front of that baptismal font. One of the most beautiful parts of all was that he asked me to do the baptism for his mother. I have done a few family names of my own before, but never before have I felt such a sweet spirit as when I was baptized for his mother. Truly, Saturday was one of the most spiritual days of my mission. That morning as I lay in bed trying to motivate myself to start my day, I never would have DREAMED that I would be in the temple with Guy, my first mission companion, and so many of my cherished, beloved members from the Quebec ward. I am so grateful Heavenly Father allowed me this opportunity before I go home. I have been so overwhelmingly blessed on my mission. These are experiences you just can't have in any other setting or context of your life. I'll say this for the millionth time, but going on a mission is and will be the best decision I will ever make in this life. :)

Lest you think this perfect day ended with my temple trip, this is only the first half. Somehow I got roped into singing in our Stake's Easter Cantata. I was asked to sing a ridiculously high song called, "Pie Jesu," which I was fairly certain I wouldn't be capable of doing after months and months of not having vocal practice. To make a long story short... I nailed it! Haha! It was so great to sing again. Everyone was just like... "What? Sis Cut can sing?" And I was like, "Yeah, Sis Cut can sing." HA! Bragging, I know! But yeah, I was awesome. ;) The whole concert was fabulous. It was nice to participate, and... well. You know how I love my compliments... VANITY! My worst enemy. And oh, how I love it. 

Well, that was the incredible week that was! It probably won't be that exciting from here on out. It's like everything on my mission is coming full circle... YIKES! It terrifies me that it all seems to be coming to an end so rapidly. I plan on making every moment count! Anyway, I hope you are all enduring finals with peace and hope in your hearts. Praying for you always! Have a radiant, joyous week! I'm bursting at the seams with happiness right now if you can't tell haha. Love you and miss you all! Happy Easter!

Love,

Soeur Cutler

Date with the APs

Bonjour! Aaaah! Qu'est-ce qu'il fait beau! Spring is in the air! I've been rocking my styling rain coat from Simon's, the crisp breeze tangling my silken hair into tiny knots. Montreal is slowly coming back to life! It has been a fabulous, fabulous week. I just don't even know where to begin because my heart is so filled with gratitude for being a missionary and seeing all of these blessed, blessed miracles. How was everyone's week? How are things on the home front? I hear finals week is in your midst... ick. Good luck with that! Special missionary prayers are coming your way!

Alright, so let me first explain the title of this letter lest any of you fear that I will be coming home much sooner than expected. Haha. So. This week one of the zones Sister Sherwood and I are over had a big zone activity up at Mont Royal. Their goal was to take a zone picture together on Montreal's famous montagne (...hill...), and obviously the Sister Training Leaders needed to be in this picture too. Well. No one in this zone has a car except the APs, and then we of course have a car because we travel all over the mission and have to go to Ontario every few weeks. But that's not important. All of the missionaries were running late because they were traveling by bus, whereas us and the APs had no need of public transportation. So we get to the meeting spot. So do the APs. No one else is in sight. I'm just like... uh... well, since I'm like a SUPER awkward sister missionary right now, I'm just going to wait in the car. Unfortunately, my companion had already gotten out of the car and was chatting with the APs. We're just like, "Ehh. The rest of them should be here soon. We'll just stop and chat." Well, twenty minutes go by. NO SIGN of these flippin missionaries. Just us on our double date with the assistants. SCANDAL! Then one of them is like, "Well, should we just start hiking to the look-out spot?" And I'm thinking to myself.... "Hiking... the four of us... look-out spot... windy day... my jacket isn't going to be enough...." Hmmmm. Yeah. NO. I had a mini panic attack. So we all just kind of stood there awkwardly, and I realized that I forget how to make eye contact with boys. FORTUNATELY everyone showed up like ten minutes later, but I'll tell you what. I am going to be THE MOST awkward RM EVER. Oh gosh. Prepare yourselves.

So that was fun! In more spiritual news... One of our returning less active members just received her temple recommend for her ENDOWMENTS! I am BEYOND happy. We scheduled an interview with her and the bishop so that she could receive a recommend to do baptisms, and that night she came out with a recommend for her own endowment! Praise the heavens! We were screaming and crying and so excited! Truly, one of the happiest moments of my mission. This woman is AWESOME! She is coming back SO STRONG! Part of the missionary purpose besides baptism is helping people endure to the end. I'm more of an "endure to the end" missionary. Haha. Temple blessings over baptisms? Yeah, I'm all for it. 

Speaking of temple blessings... I got to go to the temple this week! There is a recent convert of about two years in our ward who went to the temple to receive her endowment on Thursday. Even though we don't really work with her (besides her helping us come out to teach), I just felt this strong impression that missionaries needed to be at her endowment. Her whole conversion story involved missionaries since the very beginning, and I thought, "This woman is seriously the coolest member to have ever joined the church. She can't NOT have missionaries at her endowment." So I told this to the mission president. And miracle of miracles... HE LET US GO! And we had permission to stay out past curfew! What?! It was the happiest day of my life. We drove to the temple with my FAVORITE member family of the ward (the Morales fam) and had a beautiful, special night at the temple with Lawanda and the whole ward! When Lawanda saw us in the temple she was overcome with joy to have missionaries there, and we just hugged and cried and tried not to be irreverent in the temple! Ahhh... mission memories that will warm my soul for a lifetime. After our temple trip it was SUPER late, but the Morales family really, really wanted to take us to McDonald's. Haha. No worries, we went straight home. But... there was a special McDonald's delivery on our doorstep that night at a an hour I won't disclose for fear of exposing my disobedience... haha. It was seriously the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. Don't worry, I received my punishment the next morning after my body reminded me that it is DEFINITELY not a good idea to eat Big Macs and fries and root beer past bedtime. ;)

THEN on Sunday all of the missionaries gave talks! And they were SO good! Gosh, this email is full of bragging! But I'm practically at the end of my mission, so I've earned my bragging rights. We were like celebrities up there, people waving to us on the stand, taking photos, posting them on Twitter! Haha only joking. We just got waved at. Still, I felt so loved. My mission is the BEST! Nothing tops the CMM. I used to be jealous of all of those missionaries in Paris, but I've come to love my Quebecois roots, and I wouldn't trade these blessed days for anything in the world!

Well, I hope you all have a dazzling week. I hope you all shrivel up in the heat! Booo. We'll probably be getting another snow storm tomorrow. Reeeerrr. CANADA! Alright, well, I'll let you all get back to studying and grading and working and everything else that normal people do. But remember! I love you all SO much and pray for you daily! Bisou bisou! Take care!

Love,

Syl

The Church is True! #LDSConf

March 31, 2014

Hello, my sweet ones! How is everything in the beautiful mountain paradise of Utah? Before you all tell me about how wonderful your spring is right now, just know that we were hit with three massive snowstorms this week and chilling winds. HAPPY SPRING! The locals are going crazy. Haha. It's sad to watch, but more so for me because I feel as if I'm suffering more than anyone. If I don't see the grass by the end of April I'm LEAVING! Meh. Or maybe I'll just stay. It's only an extra couple months anyway.

Alright, enough of my chat about the weather. That's basically all we talk about in Canada because there is an unexpected snowstorm like every five seconds. But I digress. Can you tell I'm bitter about the snow? MOVING ON! This week really was exceptional in every other aspect, besides the fact that I had a near death experience. Pull up a chair! This story is nuts. Okay. So on Tuesday the day was going just splendidly. We spent part of the afternoon with a sister who has been recovering from breast cancer. Because the chemo makes her hands numb, the doctor told her to try to find ways to keep them moving to strengthen them. So there's this mommy/craft craze sweeping the nation right now. Maybe you've heard of it. I certainly hadn't, and probably never would have because I'm horrible at crafts, but this was life changing. This amazing sister invited us over to teach us how to hand-knit infinity scarves! I have never finished a crochet or knitted creation in my life. I've started many a scarf, but have never been able to finish. Well. I will have you know that I, Sylvia Cutler, finished an infinity scarf. In ONE HOUR! BY HAND! No needles. :) It was maybe one of the most fulfilling moments of my life. All those times at Young Women and Girl's Camp and Activity Days when I was looked down upon for my lack of homemaking knowledge... NO MORE! I feel like I conquered that beast. I am so proud of myself!

Okay, but me getting the scarf made is not the near death experience. Let me tell you what happened. So as missionaries we have lots of highly specific rules, one of which is to have someone back you if you EVER put your car in reverse. Well. During our little knitting session, someone had decided to wedge their car behind ours. Great! My companion is 200% obedient, so I still had to back her. The only problem though was that there was maybe like two feet in between us and the car. So I shimmied myself in between the two cars, hoping to back us a TAD so that we could be obedient and get the car out safely. Well. There was also a pile of snow behind the car. My companion pushed the pedal with ALL of her might to get over the pile. BUT WAIT! Guess who was wedged in between two cars. ME! I'll tell you what. I don't think I've ever screamed so loud in ALL of my life! The pain and the fear were excruciating! And as if that wasn't enough, my companion didn't hear me! So she backed the car up even MORE! All the while I'm screaming and my legs are breaking. Finally she saw what was happening and unleashed me. She ran to see if I was okay. I would have crumpled to the ground but I was stuck between the cars! And she LAUGHED at me! SHE LAUGHED! And I was bawling my eyes out, thinking I would be coming home from my mission early for having broken two legs and popping open my kidneys! I have never been so horrified in my life. After the adrenaline wore off, I discovered that my knees were swollen and big fat blood vessels popped, but since I could walk we decided no real damage was done. Still. I've greatly enjoyed telling every person we see this story, and now I can laugh along with Sister Sherwood. But seriously. I could have died!

Alright, moving on. This Saturday was WOMEN'S CONFERENCE!!!! Literally the best thing of my LIFE! The minute that cute little group of 8-year-old girls started singing I unleashed thousands of tears and wails and sobs! And I wish I was exaggerating. It just made me realize that I miss my little sister and that I haven't been there for some important milestones in her life, like baptism. So sad. I cried throughout the whole thing. Literally. Ever talk, every segment. TEARS! What a great conference. I'm so incredibly proud to be a woman, and I have learned so much about the value of sister unity in the church since serving a mission. We should all celebrate our differences as, but we can still be friends and we all have a contribution to make! Love it. Sister power. We had a sister come who hasn't been to church in fifteen years, and she is my favorite, favorite, favorite woman that we visit. I was so happy to see her there, but I was especially happy to see the outpouring of love she received from sisters who have greatly missed her. Love one another! That's basically all we need to know.

Well, I hope you all have an amazing, amazing week! In case anyone was wondering, I'm staying in LaSalle this transfer! With my same companion, Sister Sherwood. THREE TRANSFERS!!!!!!!!!! WHOOOO!!!! I'm super happy we're staying together. We have tons and tons of fun at all hours of the day and night. I'll most likely finish my mission here. It's a great ward! I'll be happy about whatever happens. I just love being a missionary, so I'm happy to serve wherever I'm needed. Anyway, I hope you all have a WONDERFUL day! Enjoy your spring weather. Missing everyone TERRIBLY!

Love,

Soeur Cutler


April 7, 2014
The Church is True! #LDSconf

Hello dear ones of the Great Wild West! How is everyone enjoying their lovely spring? Although we are still notquite to spring yet, I am enjoying myself immensely, if not a little too immensely... out here in the Great, still very White North! Conference weekend was sensational. Gotta love that three-day P-day weekend! I have been so inspired in the past 48 hours that I don't even know if I'm the same person anymore. But more about conference in a minute. Let me tell you about my week!

This Wednesday we went to visit our dear 85-year-old friend Sister Ross. This woman really is my favorite person on the planet. She's just so feisty! Thanks to her I have this very pressing desire in my heart to marry a New Zealander and NEVER return! It could happen. I just really love visiting the elderly people in my ward. Since I'm not up in Quebec City with my sweet little eternigator Lucie anymore, I have to get my fix somehow, and Sister Ross definitely does the job. I've been so incredibly blessed by the people I've met as a missionary. It's nice to hear people's stories and get to know what makes them tick and what makes them ticked. Haha. Montreal is full of the world's finest!

On Thursday we had to coordinate the ward list with the elders, so we totally took them on a date to Subway. Technically we're allowed to be with the four of us in public if we're doing missionary work, which we totally were. Our big, lovable, sweet Tahitian elder was just replaced by a kind, innocent elder who has never served with sisters before. Poor thing getting sent to Sister Cutler's ward... haha. Elders love me. Anyway, our meeting was fun. Although it was definitely NOT a date (I promise we went over the ward list and had an effective meeting) it reminded me that I will be going on actual dates all too soon. Meh. I forgot what that was like. Not sure if I want to remember again. I guess I'll know in another four months. Which reminds me...

HAPPY FOURTEEN MONTH MARK to me! Can you believe it? Provo better get ready. I'm about to turn the whole town UPSIDE DOWN!

Back to my story about Thursday. So after we were leaving Subway Sister Sherwood and I went to contact a man on the street. He was super nice but wasn't interested. Kind of kooky. THEN as we're walking away, he's like, "Girls, I need to tell you something." And we're like, "Yes?" In our sweet sister missionary voices. And he says, "I don't think you two really have a conviction of your beliefs. I don't feel like you actually believe what you're telling me. You should ask yourselves if you're really doing this for the right reasons or if you're just phony." And I was like, "EXCUSE ME?!?!?" But I couldn't because I'm a sister missionary. But really, if I didn't have full and complete confidence in my beliefs, that God is my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ lives, why would I go up to a complete stranger on the street and testify that I believe? Grrr. People are irksome. But it was a good opportunity to reflect about why I'm here, and I was just blown away by the fact that I do know these things to be true, and I have loved every minute of being a missionary. I'm never going to let anyone tell me ever again that I'm being coerced or manipulated into being a missionary and sharing my beliefs. Interesting experience. Anyway, thought I'd share.

This weekend was, of course, completely and utterly fantastic! We started our morning with a wonderful less active woman and the Relief Society President. This inactive woman is remarkable, and our visits always bring such a sweet spirit to my heart the rest of the day. After the visit we went and had brunch at our Ward Mission Leader/Relief Society President's house. He made us Sea Food Crepes, which were, in all honesty, the best thing I've ever eaten. I nearly spit out my food though as I was getting a spiritual slap in the face from Elder Holland. Haha! He is excellent! I loved every minute of that conference. Afterward we went to the church in the middle of the first session to see if any of our investigators or less actives were there. We were invited to go to an all-you-can-eat buffet across the street by one of our dear single members, and older man who is just as cute as a button and has a wicked stamp collection. So in between sessions we went out with him, even though I was already stuffed from sea food crepes. It was so fun to spend time with him though! Haha. We're trying desperately to set him up with one of our returning members, but she isn't seeing the light. One day she'll get there. Well, the day got even better. ANOTHER single man in the ward (the one who gave us flowers and chocolates for Valentine's Day) invited us to go to the SAME buffet for dinner after the next session. I was like, "Four months to sexy....? ....Nah. Okay! We'll go!" Haha these men just love us. Well, our friend from the previous date saw us leaving with our new date at the end of the second session, and he was like, "Where are you going with Brother Bowden?" And I felt as if I was being disloyal to a boyfriend or something.... haha. We sheepishly told him the truth, which resulted in him coming along AGAIN. And then another older brother decided to come with us! Can you imagine? Two cute sister missionaries with an escort of three of the cutest old men you ever did see. Haha. It was definitely one of the highlights of my mission, and I'll have the pounds to help me remember it for years to come. 

Conference was exceptional! I especially enjoyed Elder Uchtdorf''s talk, but that's no surprise. He will always, ALWAYS be my favorite. I also really enjoyed Elder Hallstrom's talk from the Priesthood Session. He spoke to us a couple weeks ago, so he has a beloved place in my heart too now. I would have to say though, that of all the talks, I LOVED the prophet's message the most on Sunday. Really, this is a gospel of love. Let's not let anything else get in the way of that. Gosh, I love being a member of this church, and I especially love being a missionary. I wish I could go on like this forever!

Well, I better be going. I've regaled you all with stories for long enough. I hope everyone is doing exceptionally well. BIG FAT SHOUT OUT AND CONGRATULATIONS TO KARENNA TROUTNER for getting ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!! And not getting married before I get home. :) EVEN BETTER! YAY!!!! I love you and Austin and I KNOW you will be so joyously happy together! See you this summer! I cannot wait! Anyway, have a beautiful week, my loves! Miss you to the stars and beyond. LOVE YOU ALL!

Love,

Sylvia