ELDER BRYAN MCOMBER Canada Montreal Mission: Fall in Canada: It's COLD for this Phoenix boy!

Hello family and friends!

Wow. Canada is interesting.

The leaves are changing colors. I love that. It's a very new experience for me... I'm just waiting for all the trees to be red and orange and yellow because that sounds just amazing. It also comes along with everything being freezing though. So... we'll see how I react to the subzero temperatures. My companion likes to make me get out of the car to back him up (that's apparently the rule... when backing up in a car, one missionary always has to be directing the vehicle. From outside. In subzero, freezing rain. While his trainer laughs.) He's very lucky I didn't hit him. Like... really lucky. The thought definitely came to my mind.

I GOT COMPLIMENTED ON MY FRENCH! TWICE! People said that my French is really improving! Granted, I started at basically zero. But still! YES!! Maybe I'll actually be able to tell jokes in French! Hmmm. Or maybe not. Considering I couldn't even tell good jokes in English. I'll go ahead and stick with the vocabulary I have now. :P

I think the people here are trying to fatten us up for winter. There's this dish called Chinese Pie. Nothing Chinese about it. It's basically mashed potatoes and hamburger and corn all mixed up and baked in the oven. They refused to let us stop at eating just one plate. I almost exploded. I'm staying at the same weight... but man. It's hard. My companion says he'll just lose weight after his mission, so he doesn't join me in my workouts in the mornings, but I have to do a lot of cardio to stay in shape. Didn't really expect that part of the mission. Hopefully I'm not too fat when I come home! XD

I have learned something very important this week. As I watched General Conference (for those of you who don't know, that is a weekend in which we have the opportunity as members of the church to hear the prophet and apostles today speak to us about how we can be more like our Savior; it happens twice a year in April and October), I had the distinct impression that I need to clean up my communication. Not my French... that's pretty much impossible to save. :P But just how I communicate. Too often I complain and demean, too often I make derogatory or pessimistic comments. I'm far too critical and far too judgmental. So that is my current effort: to be optimistic and uplifting. If I can improve on those, I can be more like our Savior. He was able to uplift the most grievous sinners with His words. Wars have been begun because of words, and they can be ended with words as well. If we can focus on improving our communication with those around us - not demeaning, not backbiting, not criticizing, but being more like the Savior in word, as well as deed - we can do incredible things.

I love you all. You are inspirations to me as I work for the Lord here in Canada. I miss you each day and you are in my prayers. Shoot me an email if you have questions or just wanna talk to me about anything! :)

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber

Drummondville