Spring?

While friends at home are golfing and grandkids are playing soccer, lacrosse and baseball, we are enjoying the Canadian Spring.  They promise us it’s coming. 

      

Even if the weather in not cooperating, the missionary work is going forth.  We had a wonderful mission conference with Elder Bednar, Elder Foster of the Seventy and Bishop Davies of the Presiding Bishopric.  It was such a spiritual feast to sit at the feet of a Prophet of God and be taught for 3 1/2 hours without a break.  President Scott had the missionaries spiritually and physically prepared to receive the instruction given.  It was a once-in-a-life-time experience.  My question is why we don’t prepare ourselves equally well to be taught at General Conference.

                                         

We had to take an elder to the Medical Center in Rochester NY this week.  Our area Medical Advisor concurred with me that he was not getting the care he needed here in Canada.  The elder ended up going home to Utah to be tested and treated and will hopefully return to finish serving his mission here.  I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this sign on our way for our good friends the Brenchleys who served a mission in Batavia NY.  It was a 31/2 hour drive each way and 6 hours in the ER. I was supposed to speak in sacrament meeting on “A Proper Fast”.  I called one of the Sister missionaries in our ward and she was happy to do it for me.  A missionary should always be prepared to teach and testify. 

                                

These apartments are called the “Marilyn Monroe Buildings”.  Can you guess why?  We pass them every Sunday on our way to church in Mississagua.  They are a famous piece of architecture here in Canada.

March Already

We just got through with out first Zone Conferences.  The temperature was almost to zero and there were blizzard conditions for two of the three days.  It was too cold to take any pictures, but we got to go to Orangeville, London and Oshawa.  It’s bound to get warmer, right?  We had to speak to the missionaries about car safety and medical concerns, do car inspections and then got to visit with the other couples for a while.  It’s great being around the young missionaries; they energize us and keep us going. 

                                         

Elder Fielding and Elder Burdett are the AP’s and do such a great job organizing and running the Zone Conferences.  We really enjoy working with them. 

                                         

This shows Rod’s car boards and the 101 cars he is responsible for right now.  It’s a huge job and he does it well. 

                                                     

This is our favorite place to hang out and we do it as often as we can.  I love looking out our tenth floor window of our apartment and seeing the lighted spire of the temple in the distance.  It brings such sweet peace just knowing it is there.                 

New Year in Canada

                                         

We were able to take a short break from the office and celebrate New Year’s Eve with some of the other couples in the mission.  Elder and Sister Robison are the CES couple, Elder and Sister Rees are the office couple soon going home, Elder and Sister Whitehead are Temple Missionaries and the Gillens were MLS-turned office who serve now with us in the office.  It was fun to take a break from the stress of the office and visit for an evening. 

                                          

President and Sister Scott are wonderful!  They work so hard and love the missionaries and the work. They will be going home this July so we will get just a few short months to work with them.

             

Rod and I share an office. He takes care of all 95 cars and I take care of the mission secretary details and the health of 296 missionaries.  We are learning so much every day and know the Lord is blessing us to do the work.  Things are a lot different in Canada than they were in Pittsburgh so we have a lot of things to learn.

                                     

Every fast Sunday, the Ludlows have all the mission and temple workers over for dinner.  They have been doing this for over 20 years.  Rod enjoys visiting with them since they are long-time members in the area and know the people he served with as a young missionary 46 years ago.

                                     

We were also invited to the Solomon’s for dinner one Sunday evening.  Bishop Solomon was just released as Bishop of the Brampton Ward and is the Temple Recorder.  They are both from India where they joined the church as some of the first members there.  They served a mission together in India and their son is serving a mission there now.  They have been in Canada for 14 years.  Sister Solomon served us some delicious Indian cuisine.  It was a fun evening with new friends.

On to Canada

We stayed in South Bend, IN after leaving Tearsa’s and got to drive around Notre Dame campus.  Seeing different sport stadiums is always high on Rod’s list and this was no exception.  It is a beautiful campus, rich in history and tradition.

                                         

We drove all the way to Buffalo, NY the next day and crossed the border at Peace Bridge.  It took us a couple of hours to get across and get our Visa’s.  Everyone’s experience of getting Visas is a little bit different.  Our border person could not understand how we could be ministers without getting paid and without going to school to become one.  We finally told him we each attended four year of seminary and that seemed to appease him. 

We stayed the night in Brampton in a Holiday Inn arranged by the mission office.  Since we had no phones we could use, we just drove to the mission office the next day and met the crew there. 

                        

The out-going couples are the Caldwell’s from Lehi area and the Rees’s from Wayne County area.  Sister Caldwell was the mission secretary so she had three days to train me on that.  Elder and Sister Rees stayed for another week.  He was the fleet coordinator and she was the mission nurse.  They had about 10 days to teach us all they knew.  They are all wonderful people and we grew to love them in the short time we had to get to know them.  We wish we could have served with them longer. 

             

We got here following a 3 day ice storm.  Every tree, limb and bush were covered in a thick layer of crystal ice.  The poor trees couldn’t take the weight and thousands of trees had branches that were broken off onto the ground.  We were able to stay the next night in our apartment at 6 Silver Maple Court, but we had to go to Wal Mart on Christmas Eve and buy bedding, dishes, pots, pans, etc. etc.  Then a main water pipe broke and we were without water for the next 4 days.  We ended up staying one night back at the motel so we could shower and wash our hair.  We were grateful we had electricity and were warm because thousands of people were without electricity for several days.  We live on the 10th floor and can look out our window and see the spire of the temple in the distance.  . 

Peoria IL

After slow, icy roads we made it to Peoria IL where Tearsa, Ben and kids are living.  We had hoped to spend Christmas with them, but the hurry-and-get-to-the-mission call from President Scott moved things up a bit, but Tearsa gave us a special early Christmas Eve with their family.  She made a wonderful dinner and then we watched the kids open up presents which were supposedly from Grandpa and GG.  We just enjoyed spending time with their family and loving the kids.  We stayed there for 2 days and then said goodbye and off to Canada.

         

                                           

Canada Toronto Mission

We started our newest adventure on December 9, 2013.  We entered the MTC for a week of Preach My Gospel Training with 23 other couples who will be serving around the world.  There were over 2,000 young missionaries at the MTC with a total of 83,000 missionaries in the field.  It is a great time to be serving. 

 

Our District included Elder and Sister Malmrose from So. Jordan UT who will be serving in Nagoya Japan as MLS,  Elder and Sister Pyles from Lehi UT who will be serving in the Philippines as Public Relations and Elder and Sister Roberts from Weiser ID who will be serving in Colorado Springs as MLS.

                                        

We had wonderful young return-missionaries who taught and encouraged us as we did a lot of role-playing and teaching.  Elder Quintin L.Cook was the devotional speaker on Tuesday night.  What a treat to sit at the feet of an Apostle of God and be taught.

While at the MTC we received a call from our mission president, President Scott, asking if we could skip the medical training the next week and come to the mission sooner. He wants me to be the mission secretary as well as the mission nurse.  After talking with the Mission Medical people in Salt Lake, he decided that we would go to two days of training on Monday and Tuesday and then leave Wednesday.  We really had to speed up the preparing and packing to leave that soon.  We made it on the road about 3:00 p.m. Wednesday which turned out to be a blessing because Utah had a major snow storm hit Wednesday night.  We stayed in Cheyenne WY that night and in Des Moines IA the second night with dry roads and good weather all the way.  We are excited to be on our way again.

First Mission Completed

           

We arrived home to find the house beautifully redone, inside and out.  The new tile and carpet look great and the new landscaping outside was such a pleasant surprise.  Everyone worked so hard to get it done before we arrived and we appreciate a beautiful home and family to come home to. 

           

We missed these beautiful hills and as much as we miss the people and places in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, we are glad to be home with family once more.  We had wonderful experiences sharing the gospel and serving where ever the Lord called.  We are finding what retirement is all about and are hopefully preparing ourselves for our next great adventure.