Canada Underground

Dear all,

Dear goodness, writing about every week gets really really really boring. Essentially everything is the same. The struggle of missionary work drags on, and nothing appears to change, from our perspective. The Congolese with a baptismal date told us this week that she doesn't feel comfortable getting baptized yet, and since then we haven't been able to meet with her. Normally she is very excited about coming to church, but this week neither she nor her sister did. 

Anyway, on the bright side, the weather is nice and sunny, and Quebec celebrated its "National Holiday" yesterday. I din't really notice any super special celebrations, but there were lots of barbecues and Chocolat Favoris was closed :(. 

President Low comes in this Thursday and President Phillips leaves on Friday. We're supposed to have interviews with President Low on Saturday so that he can meet us all in person. As I've mentioned before, I'm sad that President Phillips is leaving. but I am very excited to meet President Low. I've heard a lot of good things about him, and I'm looking forward to see what changes come with the mission merge. 

To take advantage of the nice weather this Sunday, we did our companionship study in one of my favorite parks in Ottawa along the Rideau River. Last year at around this time, I talked to someone in that park who ended up getting baptized a few months later in Toronto. It was nice to go there and remember the incredible things that started there.

Last Tuesday, we did not go to the museum with VIncent. Instead, he drove us way out to the west of Ottawa to go to the well-hidden Dieffenbunker. The Dieffenbunker is a nuclear bunker built by the Canadian government during the cold war to sustain Canadian society in the even of a nuclear attack. It's built to withstand a 5 megaton blast, and is massive on the inside. We pretty much had free range to wander around the whole place, so we got to see the prime minister's quarters, the war counsel room, the hospital, the communications room, the computers, the bathrooms, and even the department of housing and mortgage. It was very very interesting. Pictures included. 

That's it for me. love you all.

Elder Hadden

Bunker entrance

Us and the bunker door.

Cafeteria

The war council room

CBC Emergency Broadcasting room.

Evacuation plans

The Prime Minister's secret underground nuclear holocaust office

Bathroom. They all still work.
We could have used them if we really wanted to.

A Sad, Sad Zone Conference

Dear all,

It's been a bit of a sad week, but good nonetheless. President Phillips is going home next Friday, So we had one last zone conference with him yesterday. Both he and Sister Phillips answered a lot of our questions about the mission merge and the change of mission presidents, and then shared some final spiritual thoughts with us. I cried a little, which I have not done in a very long time. It was sad to have to see them off, but the good kind of sad that comes from good experiences and progression. 

So, all that means is that the mission will be a lot larger in a couple weeks and I'll get to meet President Low before too long. Elder Surette's younger brother is currently serving in the Halifax mission (where President Low currently is) and he has told me that President Low is a very good mission president. I'm excited to see the changes that come. 

In my last interview with President Phillips, I asked him if he had any advice for me. He proceeded to give me a good amount of advice about dating and marriage.... You know you're an old missionary when your mission president starts talking to you about marriage. I feel like I've achieved something. 

In other news, this Sunday was Stake Conference for the Ottawa Stake. The Stake Center is very far from here, so it was difficult for anyone we were teaching to get down there. Luckily, we found a couple of very generous members to take two people we're teaching down there. This is the second time they've been to church (their names are Flora and Lydia. They both moved from DR Congo). They seemed to very much enjoy it even though it was in English. They got translation for the meeting. They both really want to get baptized, and hopefully they will get baptized in a few weeks. We'll see how it goes. 

In other news, we're going to the Canadian history museum  with Vincent Muuchiaw. I have already been twice, but I am very excited to go through it with Vincent and with a real Canadian. Pictures next week. 

Love y'all,

Elder Hadden

Life in Gatineau

Last selfie with Elder Kunzler

Dear All,

For the first time in months, I have a real computer to write emails on. I was getting pretty sick of using my phone every week. 

Well, I'm in Gatineau, back in the wonderful Canadian capital district. I can see Parliament from our apartment (we're pretty far away from it, though). We've taken a couple trips down to Ottawa already, which took us right next to the Dow's Lake apartment, down Rideau Street, and right to the Rideau Center. It felt exactly like it did when I was there a year ago. It was kinda nice to go back, but also kinda nice to be on the other side of the river.

Gatineau seems pretty much like Granby except it's bigger and right next to a major English-speaking city. The ward here is a lot bigger than the Granby Branch, and all the members are just as Quebecois. It's interesting to actually have a Primary and Youth. I bore my testimony in Sacrament meeting, and afterwards a lot of members came up to me and complimented me on my French. After I bore my testimony in Granby for the first time, everyone said, "French is very hard. Keep trying," so I think I can assume that I have at least learned how to bear a testimony in French in the past three months. I'd call that improvement. 

As far as I can tell so far, most of the people we're teaching in the area are African refugees. I'm really not surprised, because most Quebecois are very not interested in religion. That's pretty much how it was in Granby too. 

Yesterday morning we ate breakfast with one of the members. Two of his daughters were in Dow's Lake YSA while I was there. It was nice to see a somewhat familiar face. He made us the Quebecois delicacy that is cheesy crepes with maple syrup. They tasted pretty good, but weren't so good in my stomach. 

Also, I discovered this week that the one and only Vincent Muetzsche has moved to Gatineau! Now he can feed me without having to drive for two hours and I can continue to make fun of him for being from SoCal. (He's a fake Canadian and an even faker Quebecois, but don't tell him I said that).

Love you all, 

Elder Hadden

Gatineau

Border selfie

Dear all,

We got transfer calls this week. I will be going to Gatineau. For anyone who doesn't know, Gatineau is basically Ottawa but French. It's on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River. Gatineau is the only French ward in the Ottawa Stake, so I'll still be serving in French, but there's probably gonna be a lot more English. I'm looking forward to it. I liked Ottawa while I was there, and I know a few YSA members from Gatineau. My companion will be Elder Surette who I think is from Alberta. [He's from Ontario,really.]

This week has been very nice. We killed another raccoon for Annie, and she has another one for us tonight. After the last one, she told us some of her stories about living in Belgium during world War II. It's pretty crazy to hear her talk about hiding from Nazis. 

Yesterday we went down to see Manon and Marie-Soleil for one last time. They were very sad to see me go and they made us a very large special meal. Manon practically force-fed me ice cream until I could not eat anymore. 

After that we took a short trip to see the border since Manon and Marie-Soleil live right next to it. We tried to knock on some doors there, but there was no one home. In the end, we just came back to Granby. 

Selfie with Vermont

US Canada Border. There's no line on the ground,
but there are no trees, either.

Selfie with a river

After all our adventures with Manon and the border, we were both very tired and not looking forward to spending the rest of our evening finding around Granby. We went out anyway, like the good little missionaries we are. After having some incredibly awkward encounters with people at their doors, we found a young couple who was incredibly happy to talk to Americans. When we told them we shared a message about a church that was founded in the States, they were all on board to listen. Elder Kunzler is gonna go back after I leave.  After that, we found a couple more people who were interested. It was a very productive night, despite how tired we were. 

Since  today is my last P-day, we're gonna go on a lovely hike around Granby and get a good lunch. It's gonna be a good day. I 'll send pictures next week! 

I'll talk again when I'm back in Ottawa. 

Bye! 

Elder Hadden

We found this picture while helping a lady set up for a garage sale.
She gave it to us because we thought it was so funny.

The Zoo

Hey all,

We went to the zoo last week and it was a party. We were very excited to see all of the animals and we spent the entire day there. My personal favorite animals were the leopards and the hippos. It was very, very entertaining. 

This week has been more of the Granby Usual. We buried another raccoon for Annie, the old Belgian member, and helped her plant her garden. Last night we went over to her house for another poorly-attended family home evening, but we had a campfire so it was all worth it in my mind. It has been a very long time since I've sat around a camp fire.

In terms of the work, we found more people, we dropped more people. Nothing particularly exciting. Still no one who has really stayed interested.

Transfer calls are this weekend. My personal transfer speculation is that I will go back to the Mandarin branch to finish my mission. Only God knows until Saturday night...

Love you all, 

Elder Hadden. 

I wonder if Elder K's first name really IS Joey

Brother Harvey

My Tahitian exchange with Elder Tehei

Dear all,

A quick email today because we're running late and we have important things to do today.

Things have been picking up a little this week. We've been finding quite a few people, and quite of a few of those people actually seem like they might slightly care about actually meeting with us. We've had some of those mystical events called "second lessons, " and we're scheduled to have more.

Among the interesting people we met this week was a guy named David who very excitedly told us that he sometimes does cocaine on the weekends, and a super cool guy from Congo who actually understands what we're teaching.

Sunday was Mothers' Day so we had a special church meeting and all of the women in the branch got roses. After church we took one of the extra roses to Brigitte and we actually saw her. She said she was still interested in meeting with us. It made me feel a lot better, because I had just about given up on her. Since then, however, she hasn't returned our call.

Yesterday evening we had a wonderful dinner with the Wongs and the former Elder Harvey. Elder Harvey was one of the first missionaries I met on the mission, and he was the first white missionary I met on my mission. We were pretty good friends back in Montreal so it's been really good to see him again. He served in Granby for a while so he knows a bunch of members and investigators from way back when. We're gonna go visit people with him this afternoon.

Next week we're gonna go to the zoo! Hopefully it will be open. 

Love you all! 

Have a good week! 

Elder Hadden

Granby at sunset 11May

The grave we dug for the raccoon Annie (a super-old member of the branch) caught.
We had to drown it for her.
It was kind of depressing, but at least her chickens are safe now.

Garage Sales

Annie and Elder Hadden

Dear all,

It was a week. Nothing too exciting happened, but we did have a really good lesson with a lady named Brigitte, though. 

We met her a couple weeks ago by knocking on her door. She seemed like she was really having a hard time and she said she was looking for God. This week visited with her with the Bergerons, who are in the temple presidency. We talked a lot about the book of Mormon and the Bergerons shared their conversion experience and how it's helped them. She said that she feels like this is what she needs to do, and at the end of it all we gave her a priesthood blessing.

She said she would come to church on Sunday, but she wasn't able too. Since then we haven't been able to get in contact with her... Hopefully we'll be able to meet with her again. 

Yesterday we went on exchanges with the Mt St Hilaire elders. I was with Elder Guerra here in Granby. He's a big dude from Atlanta who's been on his mission for just about a year. We had a pretty good time and taught another really good lesson to a guy from Congo named Joseph. It was a very good exchange. Fun time. 

Last night we had a very quick family home evening with a member named Annie. She's from Belgium, and has been here since the 80's. She turns 90 years old on June 6 this year. She's almost blind, but she still manages to live on her own. She's a very spry 90-year-old. We do service with her about once a week to take care of her chickens and bring in wood for her wood-burning stove. 

That's all for me. 

Love you all, 

Elder Hadden

I saw this at Walmart today. Quebec is catching on . . .