Hi Mom! Last transfer day. Tribute to mothers.❤️ Pics!

Happy 90th birthday to my dad everyone! ;)

Just kidding. He's not quite 90 yet. But I always thought it was funny how his birthday falls around the same time as Mother's day every year. It reminds me of a comment he would mention to me that he had heard from some comedian sometime, that a father teaches his son how to throw and catch a football. He spends hours outside practicing with him. He buys him cleats and pads and a helmet. He pays to put him on the club teams and the school teams. He goes to his games and helps him to see how he can do better. He puts his son through college, and as his son gets better and better, eventually he finds himself in a college championship game, and he wins. And what's the first thing he says when he's on camera after the game? "Hi Mom!" :P

I have wonderful parents. :)

This week has been cold. It's like winter just can't quite let go of Montreal. It's funny to see the difference in people's attitudes on sunny days and cloudy days. Everybody's happy on sunny days; they're outside, talking, smiling, and laughing. On cloudy days, I'm fairly sure there are several people I've talked to who almost bit my head off. :P The weather is powerful, I guess.

Transfers are in! I was a bit nervous because this is my last transfer, and as we were walking down the street on Saturday, we got a call from the assistants saying that we would be staying together in Hochelaga for this transfer!!! My wish came true; I will be finishing my mission here. I'm so excited. It's interesting how as you come to know an area better, the work itself doesn't necessarily get easier; you just find new things you could improve in. The amount of effort required is the same (sometimes greater), but it's spent in fine-tuning your work and striving to get better and better. I am so glad I get six more weeks to keep fine-tuning here!

I was thinking a lot about Mother's Day this past weekend, as I will be calling my family next Sunday for that occasion. And I started to think one night about all of the things my mom has done for me. I remember so many occasions where she planned a brilliant activity such as going to a water park or the zoo or a thousand other places with us kids while my dad was at work. And my heart hurts as I think about how ungrateful I was, and my lack of desire to go do these things in favor of a video game or a movie or some other associated activity. My mother works so hard. She would plan these things for us (because there's not very mothers in the world that I know of who dream about paying to go to a water park themselves), in hopes that her children would be happy. And so many times we would respond with an ungrateful "nah" or "I don't really wanna go." I wish I could go back! I wish I would have seen how much she was giving! And it's funny because every time that I did end up going with her to do whatever she'd planned, I always had fun, and felt much better than I would have had I stayed home and watched TV or played a video game all day.

I would like to pay my own tribute, my own "Hi, Mom!" to my angelic mother and to all other mothers who might read this letter this week. You have given so much for me. And I know there are so many moments when you have had the occasion to wonder, and perhaps you wonder still, if it's worth it, if we kids notice, if we care. Well, I have noticed, albeit sometimes far later than I could have. And I do care. And I am so incredibly grateful for your loving sacrifice. I wasn't always the easiest child to raise (especially when I ruined Christmas on occasion with a very premature gift opening celebration.... sorry again), but I am who I am now because of you and Dad. Thank you for listening to me after dances or dates and helping reduce my confusion at the behavior of the opposite gender. Thank you for taking me shopping for clothes when I was hopelessly lacking in style. Thank you for supporting me and cheering me on in everything I loved, be it my mission, school, sports, or anything else. Thank you for always being on my team. Thank you for giving so much even when I deserved so little. I don't know how I could thank you enough, but the best I can possibly do is to say that I remember these instances and I treasure them. I will always remember the things you do for me, even if I don't notice them at first. I love you, Mom!

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber

District photo! Left to right: Elder Landetta, Elder Blinn, me, Elder Valencia, Elder Vanaquer, Elder Carr, Soeur Terou, Soeur Bryant, Soeur Martin, and Soeur Roush. No idea what Soeur Bryant is doing... I didn't really want to ask. :)

It's around prom time back home, so I decided to take my prom photo. I'm going solo with one of my friends, but we'll be easy to recognize because, you know, we're wearing tags with our names on them. ;)

Right before we walked into the church I saw this scene and I had to take a picture. The flag on top is the Montreal flag and the flag on the bottom is the flag for the province of Quebec.