Tuesday, August 14, 2018
The girls were really excited about taking the plane right from the Lethbridge airport. Lethbridge airport didn’t dissappiont as it was a cosy wait before our flight. The girls were excited to go through security and board the smaller plane. Lucy was in a row all by herself.
We barely got our pretzels and water when we had to prepare for landing. Once we arrived in Calgary we had to walk by two direct flights to Halifax.
Lucy and Claire promised me that they had never slept on a plane and needed to play their electronics until we landed in Toronto. As mom I held firm to no electronics. The girls protested and Lucy tried to watch the screen of the man two rows up from her. There was a moment where I wondered if I had made the right decision … but eventually the girls both fell asleep. However if you talk to them they both swear they don’t sleep on planes!
The flight from Toronto to halifax was fun. The girls woke up and we jumped off one plane and ran to the next flight. Then a few hours later Grandma and Grandpa Low were right at the airport to meet us. The girls ran to them and hugged and chatted as I waited for my checked bag.
We headed out to the parking lot and mom and dad drove us in the new mission vehicle. Our first stop was the Mission Office. Mom has done hard work getting the material resource center in tip top shape. She has all the materials in order and all organized. Many of the people have commented how fabulous the mission office looks and how easy it is to find resources. We met the office missionaries. Its fun to hear mom and dad rave about how awesome their missionaries are and you can see how much they love them and how they are in love with this new calling.
Then we headed home. (Well to mom and dad’s home address for the next three years..) The garage was so clean.. And you could see the little Gayle touches all over. For instance there is a shelf in the garage that holds all the balls just like her garage back home! Everthing that is the same is grouped together. The garage floor was super clean and when we entered the home you could see all the little beautiful touches that Gayle made to the mission office to make it hers.
It’s funny seeing the “all-star team” of decorations that mom selected to travel all across Canada. Sometimes back home you missed some of the decorations because there was so many beautiful peices everywhere… but here it’s very simple and yet elegant. The red accents look great all around the house and it’s fun seeing all the pieces of home finding their new place.
The girls had the choice of staying in the Anne of Green Gables room, They were quite excited to do that until they found out they had to share a bed. They then choose the spacious room with two seperate beds. I settled comfortably in the general authorities room. The mattress is wonderful and it’s lovely.
After unpacking and settling in we packed a picnic and headed out to Rainbow Beach. We stopped at the Halifax temple and snapped some pictures. The temple grounds were beautiful and the temple always is wonderful to see.
Then we parked the car and walked on a board walk to the beach It was a beautiful sandy beach. It was a perfect warm day.. The water felt cold… but the tide was going out and you could walk out for a long time. We settled our towels down on the sand and grandpa invented a game about who could find the best treasure on the beach.
We came back to reconvene on the blankets and a local lady handed us back the package of Doritos that an aggresive seagull was trying to fly away with . Fortunately it was full and too heavy for the seagull to fly. Grandpa threw the bag a ways from us to see if the gutsy gull would come back. We enjoyed Grandma Low buns on the beach and our cute picnic. It was so nice to spend the evening with them. Nova Scotia is beautiful. Grandma Hamilton... I know you told me grandpa used to drive you by park lake so that you could see the water... And well you must have been madly in love to give up this beautiful corner of Canada!
We stopped at a massive Atlantic Canadian Superstore… which looked a lot like what we have back home… except this one was massive! Grandma let the kids pick out their favourite cereal and icecream and bought Lucy some asparagus. Dad was able to get the name and number of a sweet cashier who used to go to church with her Mormon friend as a girl. Dad and mom are so cute always letting everyone know why they are there. Inviting everyone to know and hear more about the church.
After dinner we went to the ladies Ukulele group. Claire had brought her Ukulele and Grandma had brought hers. Lucy was without one and right before the class started Grandma broke a string on her Ukelele ! I was planning on writing but then I was recruited to be the band leader… I was really a glorified metronome (one sister pulled her cane apart and I clincked the beat by banging the two peices of the metal cane together. It was a fun evening singing old hits. The sisters sang in harmony and we had a great time. I even am on the email list and will have a ton new songs for Claire and Lucy and to play and sing.
It was a big full day… and we were definately ready for bed. It was so fun saying family prayers with Grandma and Grandpa and enjoying our first day in the Atlantic provencies.
The next day was absolutly beautiful. We slept in. (Well, I should say the girls and I did. Grandma and Grandpa were running their busy routine) We headed out on a beautiful clear day to see Peggy’s cove. It was stunning. The landscape looks like Giants were carrying a bag of stone marbles and dropped a few all over the green hills. It is so unique and bizairre. When you finally do arrive at the quaint corner of Peggy’s cove you can take picturesque photos of fishing village. Both Claire and Lucy captured stunning photos! Then we walked up to the light house! Wow… the rocks are close together and it feels like you are walking on the surface of the moon. The girls had fun snapping shots of waves crashing against the rocks.
There was a piper who was serenading us with some music. Upons Claires request he played Scottland the Brave (aka Praise to the Man) and grandpa gave her some coins to give to the piper. It was wonderful standing on top of the rocks over looking the ocean and lighthouse.
We had fun looking in the craft shops and tourist shopping areas. We tried our first lobster roll and Claire is in love. Lucy liked it and it was delicous. We also sampled the famous DeeDees ice cream and we were not disappionted. We had to get back because that night Elder Haslam was leaving the mission. We had a farewell dinner with him and the office staff. Gayle made her famous ritz cracker chicken. (it was delcious) And she is constantly baking fresh delicous bread. We ate and then we rushed over to the Halifax temple. Claire was able to do baptisms with a group of Halifax youth. She even got to share their ice cream treat afterwards.
Mom and dad and I did a session. It was so full. It was really beautiful because a Halifax sister, Sister Doyle, was going through the temple for her first time and Elder Haslam had found her and knocked on her door. Isn’t God so good! What a nice way to say good bye to your mission by seeing someone you found make covenants with God the night before you leave.
The temple was lovely. The saints in Atlantic Canada are so kind. They really are friendlier out east. Everyone goes out of your way to say hello and introduce themselves. They are lovely. Very friendly and very inclusive. That has been a treat to meet all the people and see the love and respect that they have for mom and dad.
In the morning we had breakfast and then we had this beautiful testimony meeting with Elder Haslam. He bore his final testimony as an Elder. (This was awesome. It was one of my favourite things as a missionary and I was tickled that I got to be part of it again. )
He was an 18 year old when he went out and he talked about not really being that converted. He testified that now He knew the truth of the gospel for himself. He testified of Christ and his atonement and the book of mormon. He then mentioned that one of the characters he identified with in scriptures was Esau. (honestly at first I was wondering where he was going with this) But he said that Esau started off selling his birthrite for a mess of potage. And when Jacob tricked their father to give him the blessing Esau spent awhile were he was mad and bitter. But he told about Esau forgiving Jocab.
Jacob didn’t see him for a long time and when they saw each other again Jacob tried to give him a whole bunch of gifts.. Esau said there was no hard feelings and the two were reunited. It was a powerful testimony. Then Dad bore his witness of the truth that he knew. Followed by Moms powerful testimony. I was so glad to hear them and have my children hear them too. I shared my testimony too. The girls didn’t want to but I am glad they got to participate in that event. So blessed!
After we took Elder Haslam to the airport and we waited for him to get through secruity and walk out of sight.
Then we left to Cape John. Dad had looked up on the internet to discover where the best beaches to find sea glass. As we made our way out to Cape John it was so picturesque as we drove up to the ocean. There were hardly any people there and we had most of the beach to ourselves. The tide was out… but we weren’t able to find very much sea glass. Lucy and mom found one or two… but dad, Claire and I were empty. I looked on line to learn where and how you should search. Apaprently you need to look around the tide lines where a bunch of debris is deposited along the beach. We chatted with a local lady and she told us of another beach a few kilometers away that had more glass. We thanked her (and of course dad invited her to have missionarries come to her home… but she was interested in building up her own congregation for her church.
When we got to the other beach things were looking up. We found a few more peices. Dad decided a new technique of plunking himself in a spot and searching the debris. It worked and he found a peice! Claire found a baby crab in the water and as grandpa tired to take her picture she dropped it because she was scared of gettting pinched Then we met Wayne and Jennifer. A really nice couple that taught us how to search for sea glass. He said you look at the beach and your eye will catch something that doesn’t look right. He showed us how to look for black sea glass. It’s tricky because it looks like a rock but if you hold it up to the sun it becomes transparent.
Shortly after Wayne’s lesson dad found a piece of black sea glass. We were all better lookers. Wayne told us were some of the best sea glass places are … especially in PEI where we would be going next week. The girls were pumped. At the end of the beach Jennifer ended up giving Lucy and Claire her whole collection of sea glass. (She had already walked miles of shoreline and collected a whole bunch!
Jennifer and Wayne were a direct answer to my prayers I was worried that we weren't going to be able to find sea glass. Claire also recorded a really nice analagoy about how we are like sea glass.You should ask her about it. Also, Jennifer works with a dentist who is from Mom and Dads ward.
We found a cute convience store where we bought another icecream. Those store still had video rentals and it was a blast from the past. We discovered a lavandar farm and enjyed wandering the properity and getting some soaps!
Then we discovered this Lismore sheep farm. You could go on a self guided tour of the barns and pet some of the sheep and their gift store was so charming. Mom and Dad both found wool hats that will keep them warm in the Atlantic winters.
The girls found this thing called wool felting. It’s a fun craft that they bought and did that night. There projects turned out so cute. We stopped and ate in a Chowder house in Tadamagouche ( the end is not gouche but gush) Claire had fish n chips and I had a yummy halibot burger. Dad had chowder and mom had the baked cod. It was amazing! Lucy ate chicken quesidillas… not very adventruous.
We stopped at Super store to buy some foot powder for Lucy’s stinky feet and Lucy found some Homer Simpson donut flavoured tic tacs. She loves them We got home late and washed all our shells and glass and then went to bed. Caire organized them into beautiful rows and put all the glass together. It was such a fun harvest.
Also the girls started on their wool art projects. Grandma made sure that they had a drawing plan before they started. Claire did a light house and Lucy designed a sunset. They turned out really beautiful.
August 18, 2018 Saturday
Today we had a lazy morning. By we I mean the girls and I! Gayle and Richard are busy doing their missionary duties. Mom had to bring cookies to the baptism and today was the only day that she could get her shopping done.
It has been so nice to be part of their mission. Mom and dad go out of their way to include us in their lives and you can see how much they love their missionaries. Nova Scotia is just beautiful! And I really enjoy the wonderful kind people that we meet all over. I love the history and the lush green foilage that is everywhere. I have learned that wild blueberries are smaller and sweeter( I saw them at the farmers market but will have to buy some next week.)
Today we had the opportunity to attend Emma’s baptism. As we arrived at the church early the sisters were preparing a song for the baptism. Claire and Lucy decided to sing with them. Claire was pouting a bit about sharing her singing talent and she asked me if I would sing with them. I didn’t mind singing and regretted not having practiced. But the girls, Claire and Lucy and Sister and Sister sang really well.. Mom played the piano and everything sounded so lovely.
The baptism was lovely. The sister who spoke first talked about baptism and she said we are family now. I will call you sister and you will call me sister. I will listen to your testimony and try and hear you. I will teach you and you will teach me. It was touching. Elder Sawisawi, from Calgary was able to baptise Emma and on the same day his mom was getting baptised back home! Isn’t that so cool? He was unsure how to properly hold Emma for the baptism. I thought how wonderful it is that priests can practice baptisms for the dead in the temple. Just another way this generation will be prepared like never before. They played mormon messages while Emma got dressed. They had Elder hollands where Justice, Love and Mercy Meet. Then Sister Oscarsons talk about the Italian girl who stood up for the missionaries. Also Elder Christoffersons telling about Hugh B Browns Canadian farm.
Then one of my favourite things happened. Emma bore her testimony about her conversion. Her father is first nations, Micmac, and her mother is Portugese. She is this beautiful young girl full of energy and light. She grew up with strong religious mother always attending church. Religion played a big part of her life.
She said as a youth she started making some really scary choices. She went to live with her grandmother in Portugal. She attended a class about world religions She said when she first saw a temple she fell in love with the church of jesus Christ temple architecture. Her teacher presented all the religions very respectfully and even took her class an a field trip to the lds temple in Lisbin. It was so amazing. She also told us that she started binge watching mormon messages. She said I just couldn’t get enough.
She made some major changes She broke up with her boyfriend and she stopped some habits. She was so lovely, authentic and real and the service was awesome!
She was so kind to the girls too. She complimented them on their singing and just they way they were. My girls loved her too. Then we had a nice pulled pork luncheon after. It was fun to all be together. We chatted with the Elders and the girls took pictures with the sister missionaries. It just so wonderful to be a part of all the goodness.
After the baptism we drove downtown Halifax to the farmers market. Today was our first foggy rainy day in the city. We were going to take the water taxi but Gayle wanted to get to the farmers market before it closed and pick up her knitting needles from a lady that was bringing them for her. The farmers market was amazing. All home grown and home made crafts. Claire and I got some light house earrings and we bought a pair of earrings for Emma. Lucy also bought an art kit from a mom who used to do crafts with her kids. Dad bought these heavely biscuits and we went to the top of the farmers market and took a misty picture.
Mom and I went hunting for some hooks at Canadian tire. She had found this coat tree at a anitque store. But the hooks were gastly… at Canadian tire we found the other items on our list but we were left wanting to find new hooks. We did make it to Wheatons. And although they were low in the hook department mom managed to find these beautiful poppy placemats.
Then the lady directed us to Kent. It was a massive store like home depot. But it had the perfect red hooks. We brought them home and realized we had three the same and one different.
Saturday night we played some games and then I put Lucy to bed early and Claire went with Grandma and Grandpa to replace the hooks. When I came down stairs the coat tree was stunning. I wish you could have seen the before and after because I wouldn’t have looked at the coat tree before.. It had these aweful silver hooks. But mom has an eye for spotting the beauty and potential in things. We had an early night.
Sunday was really fun too. The Dartmouth ward was really friendly. I knew a lot of the members from Ukulele class and attending the temple there were a lot of familiar faces The girls found someone to take them to primary. We had a wonderful sunday school class about the proverbs and psalms. Releif Society was fantastic. We talked about Elder Godoys talk “One Day More” The teacher was such a lovely woman and she brought a really nice spirit into the lesson.
I was really surprised how much time Mom and Dad could spend with us. I thought we would be doing more solo activites. But honestly in what they could included us in... we would jion. Often when we were out with mom and dad, Dad would have to excuse himself and take a call. But it was so fun to be with them.
That night we had the temple presidency over for dinner. They said that there motto was to serve and that is what they did. Such a wonderful group of Saints. They all shared all about themselves and their interesting conversion stories. Such faithful, wonderful friends. Richard even got a new tie from President Vieno!
Dad had made a delicous Sunday roast... it was almost like being back home... and we had a big crew around the table for family dinner. However, the crowd was calmer and no one left half eaten plates of food. And no one fought over where they got to sit... (I'm just thinking of the big low dinners and the little girls fighting over their chairs!) This would be the last meal that we ate in the dinning room without air conditioning. Next week the mission crew would have air conditioning installed... every dining experience after that was heavenly!!
Monday
Today was the first day that we really didn't’ get to hang out with mom and dad until the end of the day. They were gone before we got up… we slept in until nine. Then at ten the Elders knocked on the door. Normally they do their calls here… but they studied their scriptures outside while we got ready and at 11 they came in and we went off to play at the science center Discovery in Halifax. Claire really wanted to be with the missionaries. She wanted to participate in the meetings so bad but it was where the leaders reported on all the problems in the mission.
We were going to take the water taxi down to the other side of Halifax but i got confused in my driving and I went to the wrong place. Then the science center closed so i thought we would do some thrift store shopping. We found some really fun treasures. I got a silver tea pot and a bunch of spoons. And i found a pearl necklace. I almost bought a frame but I wasn’t sure if it as too heavy to bring back. But when I showed mom the picture she said Oh yes I like it go back and get it .
Lucy and I went back but I gps-ed the wrong store… so we had a quick look at that store and then went in the other direction. The houses are so cute and I love the streets of dartmouth and Halifax!
Then we ate dinner.
We were going to go find an icecream shop and find a park… but we ended up taking the water ferry at sunset into Halifax and walking around the ocean front. Then we all got back ate some icecream and went to bed. The girls had some fun pillow talk with Grandma. Grandpa had some mission buisness to figure out.
The night before Dave came we had Lorne and Dianne Patzer over for dinner. It was really fun seeing Lethbridge faces at the mission home. They are such a nice couple and we had an entertaining evening.
The Patzers left by eight and dad had a meeting with the mission presidency and Mom and the girls and I went to a member in the ward to give the girls back to school hair cuts and touch up moms roots. JJ was an awesome, fun, and talkative girl and I was so impressed with the girls cuts... Lucy has a nice short do and Claire is all cleaned up ready for grade seven.
Wednesday
We had to leave at 6;30 am to get to the airport to pick up Dave. I knew Dave would love it hear, It is so peaceful and it is really fun being able to share in mom and dads experience. Often we help mom with all the tasks she has to do. We make squares or rehang frames... or dust cobwebs.
The mission has provided mom and dad with some helpers to do all the "daily jobs" they have someone to tend the yard and garden. They have a really lovely woman Joanne who comes and assists in cleaning and preparing dinners for large crowds... They have a decorator and they are getting everything set up the way that mom and dad need it to be for the next three years.
Tuesday
Most mornings we go on a run around the beautiful lake that is just across the street from their house.
Mom and dad have been so gracious and kind to welcome us into their lives and their home. We are actually spending more time together than I thought their schedule would allow. I am sure it is because they are pulling time from their mornings and evenings and sleep. But being together has been wonderful!
I think we have to seriously reconsider where we have set up shop here in Canada. The West is nice… but the east has so much beauty! If you can get over sweating whenever you exert any effort it really is so awesome.
Well I told mom I would gladly help her with her website and I could be a guest blogger this week... and so I hope that you enjoyed this report...
