Pete's Dragon & Missionary Work

Nightly we are in awe of this amazing experience being together all day everyday serving as missionaries!! We LOVE it! I am not tired of being with Richard, and he claims he hasn’t tired of being with me…so we are off to a great start!!! And today we celebrate one week being in the Canada Halifax Mission.

Our Mission tour began on Saturday morning, June 30, 2018, and we will complete it next Sunday, July 15th, 2018. Travelling all through Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and northern and eastern Maine visiting our wonderful missionaries has been incredible. 

We had no idea the size of these Maritime provinces and travelling through the Appalachians along the Acadian route to Bathurst, reminded us of the vastness of this great land. Pine, maple, oak, aspen forests are spectacular, and the lush fern beds, light and dark pink, lavender, white, and burgundy lupine and mounds of daisy undergrowth is stunning!! Occasionally along the meadows by the roadsides we see small stop or yield signs and finally we realized they are roadsigns for snowmobilers!!

Several massive pulp and paper mills were on our route today, and we thought of Mark and Brittney’s oak cradle when we even saw a pallet making factory!!

Speaking of green reminds me I did get to do a bit of gardening Saturday night before we left and added some trailing licorice and creeping jenny to the lovely begonia that were already planted; and in my cute Michelle Orthner ‘Welcome planter’ I planted more begonia, and german ivy. (I was limited to what was still left at Super Store, and there were no bacopa, or lobelia plants.) When the backyard pruning is complete I’m excited to find a spot to create a pink hydrangea hedge!!

For those Pete’s Dragon fans…I forgot to mention to you on Tuesday that when we  were at St. Andrews by the sea we were right by the real Passamaquoddy Bay!!! Who knew?!

After a beautiful, and rainy three hour drive from Edmundston to Bathurst we met Elder Pierson (Gordon Galbraith’s daughter Julie’s, son from Edmonton) and Elder Cahoon (Sherwood Park) at the phase one Chapel. Kit their investigator had a few issues so Dad got to interview her for her July 15th baptism. And then we spent our hour or so interviewing and visiting in their spitspot clean apartment. Elder Cahoon served his yummy homemade buns.

Sister Rodriguez told us her amazing conversion story…and I will try to retell it accurately. She is going home mid December - (a little early) to go with her Mom to Hong Kong to attend the sealing of her sister Lauren who is marrying a fellow she met on her mission to Hong Kong. Did you follow that? Here is her story:

When Sister Rodriguez was only six her Dad left, and her Mom struggled to eke out a living for her twins, who were born in Florida. They moved to Virginia to California to Georgia where her Mom moved in with a guy who wasn’t kind. Anyway her Mom felt prompted to go back to Church and the deadbeat boyfriend would not approve the twins getting baptized, Eventually he did give  permission and so when they were 13 they were baptized. They attended Church for only a year and then stopped attending. Her Mom wanted to be active; she knew the gospel was true, and felt prompted to move to Arizona, which they did. They were totally enveloped by their Ward Family who loved them. She testified that because of the ward’s ministering to their little family all three of them are totally active in the Church. Sister Rodriguez said it was the best thing they had ever done, and she said she knew she would not be active in the Church except for the fellowship and ministering of that wonderful ward in Mesa. Her story certainly inspired us to be better at loving, embracing, and reaching out. 

What an incredible experience being a missionary is!! It doesn’t get better than this!!!