Will move 300 boxes if you feed me fried chicken! New mission president. The sacrament...He really DOES love you!

Hey everyone! :)

It's been a great week. I've learned a lot. It's also been a strange mix of cold and rainy and hot and humid. Canada is bipolar.

We've been doing a lot of service lately. One kinda weird thing about Quebec is that a TON of people like to move on or around Canada Day. Why? I have no idea. But we've had some pretty interesting experiences with service. For example, one of the members in our ward asked us and the Ste-Foy elders to help him move a giant, insanely heavy stove into the bakery that he and his wife (who is a baker) just bought (fun fact... it used to be a tattoo shop!). The door was super thin, and there were no handholds except for the thin sheet of metal on the bottom, which was covered in oil. Recipe for disaster. The four of us managed to get it through the doorway by squeezing in holding it on only two sides, but as soon as we got it through the door, it fell sideways and almost took out Elder Noorda (I hope his parents don't get a hold of this email.... sorry Noorda family! I promise he's okay!). He rolled out of the way super fast and it fell and may have slightly cracked the tile floor. There was also a window pane shattered, but that one wasn't our fault. :P But yeah! Tons of fun! We also helped an older couple move to Rimouski (three hours north) and they had SO MUCH STUFF. Seriously like 300 boxes plus all their furniture. Kind of insane... we filled both moving vans to bursting. Literally it was impossible to have fit even a blanket into them when we were done. Craziness. But they got us fried chicken so... worth it! :)

We officially have a new mission president. I'm excited to meet him this week... he's coming to do a mission tour in our zone so we're going to have a zone training meeting with him and it's gonna be super fun! :) President Phillips. It's kind of funny how you can already love a person without even meeting them yet!

I learned a great lesson yesterday during sacrament meeting. Just before church, the bishop walked up to my companion and I and asked us to bless the sacrament. We happily agreed. So we walked up and sat down on the stand. The first part of sacrament meeting went pretty normally, and once we arrived at the sacrament hymn, Elder Blackwelder and I stood and began breaking the bread. Then I knelt down and blessed the bread, and we gave the sacrament trays to those passing the sacrament and sat back down. I had my head bowed and was thinking about how I could be more like the Savior when something told me to look up.

I've blessed the sacrament many times in my life, but I've never had an experience like this.

The chapel was very quiet. The trays were still being passed around, and there were some small noises from some of the younger kids, but it was pretty silent. I began to look at the members' faces. Having been in this area for almost six months, I knew most everyone in the room, except for a few tourists who were visiting.

I saw a grandfather and grandmother whose children had all left the house. They sat in silence, eyes closed. I knew they were thinking of Him.

I saw a very busy father and mother, sitting together with their young children. They were reverent and quiet, and I knew they were thinking of Him.

I saw a man who we teach who is struggling with many difficult addictions. He sat perfectly still, hands clenched, eyes closed. I could almost hear his silent prayer. I knew he was thinking of Him.

Everyone in the room was focused on Jesus Christ. I could feel it. I knew it. And in that moment, I was overcome with a feeling of gratitude and love. For just an instant, I could see these people as the Savior sees them. I could look at them and I could feel His love for them. I could feel His love for us.

I have said it before and I will say it again. I will proclaim it for the rest of my life and after. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. And He LOVES us. See, he doesn't look at us and see a once-beautiful work of art, broken beyond repair. He doesn't love us for what we've done or haven't done. He doesn't reject us for losing our focus and falling time and time again.

He loves us because we are His. We are His brothers and sisters. And He knows. He knows what we struggle with. He knows how it hurts. He knows what we worry about. He knows how exhausted we can get. He knows how it feels to wonder if we're good enough. He knows everything we feel and everything we are.

He knows everything we can become.

And so He gave His life. He gave His precious blood. For you, for me, and for all of us. Because we are His. Because we are loved. Because we mean the world to Him and to our Father in Heaven.

If you are reading this and you wonder if you're worth it; if you wonder if anyone cares; if you wonder if anyone understands; if you wonder if you're good enough... stop wondering. When a perfect Man knelt in a garden of leaves and chose to give Himself as an offering for your sins, you were worth it. In that moment, He cared. In that moment, He understood. And in that moment, you were good enough.

So keep going. Keep working. And let Him carry you. Because He will; He loves you. He loves us! I know it!

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber