From Sea to Shining Sea...PEI to Newfoundland

Sunday, September 23, 2018

What a wonderful week in the Canada Halifax Mission!!!

Mondays we always have our Office meetings, and we love Zoom meetings with our Senior Missionaries; Elder Schow conducts these meetings, and always has everyone share highlights of their week, and we love that!!  It is a great way to get to really know our Seniors!! The next office meeting is with our Office missionaries who serve us so very well. Then Monday afternoon we get to meet with our Assistants, and our STLT’s. A busy, fun day!!

Tuesday morning we headed to New Glasgow for District Council Meeting, and loved being with our group there - led by Elders Fullmer and Surette. Elders Groneman and Scott, and Sisters Boelke and Silvennoinen, and Sisters Prudent and Anderson are all in the New Glasgow District. I was thrilled to get to go out with Sisters Prudent and Anderson to visit and teach Colleen. She isn’t on date for Baptism yet….but we know she loves the gospel!!

Following our meeting, we hopped - actually drove into the belly of the old battleship-like ferry from Caribou, Nova Scotia for the 75 minute ride over to Wood Islands PEI.  Need I rave again about the beauties of PEI. Fall is trying to decide if it will come here…we know next time it will be in autumn splendour.  Exploring the backwoods of the island is one of our favourite pastimes…although we don’t really explore…just drive through!! We love how they farm right to the edge of the ocean. The old farmhouses have darling screen doors…just like the one we used to have…I wonder if there are architectural controls in the country or it is just an unwritten rule to have old-fashioned screen doors!!  I know I have raved about screen doors before, but I just love them!!!  I might suggest to Charles that we need a new screen door or two at the Mission Home!! We travelled through Belfast, PEI on our way to Charlottetown for our next District Council, and found a fun sheep farm called “Fleece and Harmony!!” Every St. Patrick’s Day they sheer their 200 sheep, and have a very good operation washing, dying and spinning  the wool into beautiful skeins.  We were also excited to find a farmers vegetable stand where we bought freshly picked corn, and potatoes for our dinner with Elder Ellis.

Enroute with an extra hour before our meeting we detoured to see the oldest round brick lighthouse  built in 1845!  I should research and find out how many lighthouses we have in our Mission?!

Charlottetown was where we held the Montague District Council, and we were happy to have our Seniors the Dallings and the Bremners there, along with Elders Olmstead and Oler, and Sisters King, Bond, Moyes, Barlow and Youngberg who are outstanding and obedient!!

Elder Ellis arrived Thursday afternoon to have his final sendoff activities including a farewell interview with the good President, a special meal with our Office missionaries, and a 7:00pm Temple Session. I love when Joanne is here because she just knows what I need done without me even asking….like she husked the corn, peeled and cut the carrots, had water pitchers filled and in the fridge, washed the floor, vacuumed, dusted, and set the dining room table. She is so cheerful, and willing to do anything…I know I have raved about her already, but she does need another shout-out because I am able to do other needful things…and not have to worry about the cleaning and scrubbing! 

We love being so close to the Temple…just a quick 7-10 minute drive depending on the traffic. What a thrill to arrive at the Temple and as we were showing our recommends, turn and see Shane and Cheryl Bowden!!! They made a house swap with a couple and are here exploring the beautiful Maritimes for two months!! After the session we had great visiting and will have them come for dinner and more visiting September 30th. Shane’s siblings Margo and Tom will be here too so that will be fun to get reconnected with our Picture Butte friends from so long ago!

Friday morning Elder Ellis joined us for our run around Lake Banook, and continued on with Richard part way across the Mackay Bridge…he is a cross country runner and could have run much further.  Our storage inventory had Elder Ellis’ name listing several boxes of items so we made a quick Office stop on our way to the Halifax Stanfield Airport. It doesn’t seem to get any easier to say farewell to our missionaries; we just wonder when we will see them next?..

Our marathon day had begun!! I was excited to give my new white MasterCard a try at Costco and was so disappointed to get rejected AGAIN!! Lucky we have Elder Boyle on our team who will get it working!!

Every Friday afternoon from 4-5pm we have a Zoom New Missionaries Meeting, which when we are in town we love to be involved..We get to see our new missionaries, and their companions, and give trainings to help them adjust to missionary life. My training, (which was for me as well as for them), was all about STRESS, and strategies to deal it!! Don’t be thinking we can’t deal with the stress associated with our current lifestyle…we can, and we are…but we are always aware of our sweet new missionaries, and our seasoned missionaries that are dealing with many challenges, and lots of rejection. 

At 5:45pm Steven - a 60’ish year old native Nova Scotian, Afghanistan war veteran arrived for supper and a discussion and we were joined by Sisters Gillett and Cartwright, who are master teachers, and have great gospel knowledge. Steven actually attended the three hour block in the Dartmouth Ward last week, and described his experience as having his heart squeeze. He loved the feelings he had at Church and is so interested in learning more. He offered a beautiful, sincere prayer of gratitude at the end of our discussion. He has suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and is so thrilled to be learning about the Atonement, and has hope. It is a thrill to have these interactions with investigators, and with new members. 

80+ Baptisms this year in the Canada Halifax Mission!! We are not all about baptisms, but we are keeping count!!

I had just put the clean sheets back on Elder Ellis’ bed when Kat and her three daughters Zoe, Jaimie, and Emily arrived, followed by Elder and Sister Bremner. Kat, Zoe, and Jaimie were just baptized three weeks ago in Summerside, and Kat accompanied the Bremner’s to the Temple to do Baptisms. What a thrill for her! Her darling charismatic daughters sure made us miss our darling charismatic grandchildren even more…

Saturday morning we were on our way to the airport by 6:15am, but should have left home by 5:45 because when we arrived we were met by throngs of weekend travellers, many who had their destination as Ottawa (where the tornado had just wrecked havoc) and there were lineups everywhere. The sweet WestJet attendant called to the gate, who realized we were late, alerted them, and they were not optimistic about us making our flight…the attendant told us to tell them at security that our flight was boarding which we did, and they directed us into the empty lane so we were pretty much at the front of the security line, which gave us a bit of hope…but then Richard’s satchel looked suspicious as it went through the x-ray machine so it had to be searched…it was his iPad and keyboard that looked iffy, and after that five minute delay we were so worried!! Our early morning running certainly was a blessing as we pretty much sprinted down the very long corridor, checked in with another friendly, hopeful WestJet attendant, took the escalator down, and had another very long corridor to race down, and then exited out to the tarmac in the rain, and sprinted out to the waiting plane!!! Another miracle for us!! Elders Hatch and Tait were kindly waiting at the DeerLake Airport, and were our chauffeurs for the 45 minute drive to Cornerbrook. 

Cornerbrook, Newfoundland is a charming city of about 19,000 nestled in a mountainous area with a long fiord setting between mountain ranges - very close to Gros Morne National Park.  

President Sansome, the new Branch President has such a kind, good heart and is doing a great job serving this tiny Branch.  He is a born and bred true blue Newfoundlander, and keeps asking me if I need a dictionary to interpret what he is saying, and I tell him YES I need one… I am still waiting!! This good man and his wife Maizie live in Irishtown across the fiord and…they have NO electicity, and NO running water….like NO indoor plumbing…it will be an adventure visiting them in their home in November when we return!!! Good, faithful people. 

Cornerbrook is where the Shenfield’s are serving (Bruce & Margo Lamb’s sister and brother in law), and they have already warmed themselves into the Branch, and not just with her fabulous cooking!! They have lived all their married lives in small branches of the Church so are perfectly suited to serve here.  

Since there is no Stake or District in Newfoundland yet, Richard as Mission President serves as their Priesthood leader and this weekend was our Newfoundland Conference, and with our wonderful Zoom (like skype) we had ALL our dear Newfoundland friends zoomed in…let me explain…8 folks in Bay Roberts, 5 in Grand Falls, 7 in Gander, 24 in Cornerbrook and 64 in St. John’s with Presidents Smith and Gallant, Elder and Sister Boyle at the Office, and 2 saints listening in from Labrador, and 1 listening from Happy Adventure NFLD.  It was thrilling to have all organ stops pulled out by our own Jonathan..we actually didn’t even see he or Jordan on the zoom, but we did hear them - Jordan even played pedals!!! It really was just like a very small Stake Conference with Priesthood Leadership at 4pm, and in Cornerbrook -supper at 6pm and then the Saturday night session at 7pm. The Healing Power of Covenants was our theme last night, and we both spoke, along with Sister Shenfield, and Brother Thamas. Today was another wonderful meeting with President Gallant talking about the Temple, President Smith speaking about the Sacrament, Richard talking about supporting our Church leaders. I only spoke about five minutes today..just  a brief testimony. Following the Branch photo, a beautiful potluck buffet was served, and what fabulous cooks!!

Our ninety minute flight home was much calmer than the roller-coaster ride yesterday morning, and we were glad to arrive safely. Tomorrow after our meetings we head to Moncton, NB for interviews and District Council Meeting on Tuesday. Visiting our missionaries in their districts is so fun. Sometimes we get to go on splits, and that is a real highlight for us. We love watching them teach and testify…they are amazing!!

The Gospel is True, and we feel blessed to be on the front lines watching the transformation in the lives of our missionaries, and in the lives of those they teach…

Read the Book of Mormon!!

We send this report off with love to anyone who reads it!! Sorry it is so long!! 

Have a wonderful week!!