Gander Group Creation...November 18, 2018

Hello again,
Just a quick PART TWO of this morning's report! The newly organized Gander group is great with Brother Thamas as group leader, Brother Paradie as assistant, and Brother Fisher as the Facilities director, which means he organizes the rented Lion's Hall for Sunday meetings - sets up, and takes down chairs, sacrament table, and pulpit. All three are converts, and are excited to learn how to lead. Ricks and Sandra Smith, and Jessie Datwyler zoomed in so in total we had 24 attending!
Dad did an awesome job talking about "Fresh Starts and New Beginnings," and challenged us to have Gander ready to create a Branch within a year!! He always gives me a chance to bear my testimony, and I enjoy doing that. Playing the Yamaha keyboard was a bit stressful since anytime one of my fingers bumped a key, even one I didn't  mean to touch..the Yamaha thought I was playing it! I would much rather play a real piano!
Like I have mentioned..these folks love to socialize after meetings, and eat! I don't think they have potluck every week, but every time we are anywhere it seems like we are treated to a pretty fancy buffet!  Sylvia White who came with the Smith's to the Temple about a month ago, was there with her husband, and it was fun to see her again. You can't believe the devotion, and commitment of so many of these Newfoundland Saints! Some of them have to travel over an hour to attend Sunday Meetings. Brother Butt in Cornerbrook told Dad they used to drive to Halifax via the ferry to attend Leadership Meetings every three months. They are good, good people,many never complain..at least I never hear them. One funny thing...after Sacrament Meeting..Brother Fisher came up and asked me where in Newfoundland I was from?! ...all because I pronounced NewfoundLAND CORRECTLY; he thought I was a native!! I took it as a compliment!!!
And now we are 'home,' planning Week 6..transfer week!! It will be another marathon week! We LOVE our Mission!
Hope you are well!
Love to all 
G&G, R&G, G'pa&G'ma xoxoxoxoxoxo...

Cornerbrook Chili Cookoff and Scottish Country Dancing November 18, 2018

Yesterday morning we woke up to our first snowstorm in Dartmouth, and locals claim it is a month earlier than usual! Good thing we try to be flexible and creative with our Plan B's!! Let me explain!!...Our delayed flight to Deer Lake still had us arrive just in time to make the half-hour drive to Cornerbrook where the chili cook-off judging was ready to begin!! Such great cooks...everything homemade..rolls and buttertarts by Patti Shenfield, and pies by Linda Sheppard. Spending time with our people in these isolated branches and twigs is important for them, and for us.
Back to DeerLake and to the Holiday Inn for the night. Forecast for overnight snow had us wondering what we would face this morning..which we soon found out...a blizzard and another cancelled flight!! Air Canada rebooked us for the next available flight to Gander on Monday, November 19, which, of course would not work!  Our main reason for coming to Newfoundland this weekend was to create the Gander Group, and this afternoon Dad has a slate full of interviews SO we determined to try the snazzy 2019 Infinity QX 60 on the snowy, drifted roads, and brave the blizzardy, wintery conditions, and forge forward. His interview is at 2:30 so our speeds between 60 and 80 will still get us to Gander on time.

About a half hour into our 'dogsled' adventure, right on the road in front of us were two  of Santa's reindeer, but because of the drifting Dad couldn't stop to get a photo, still it was fun to see wildlife and...actually they were caribou! Pretty fun!

Last week as we visited with Elder Allard I started suggesting, or promoting for Newfoundland to get a TEMPLE, and you can be sure that for the next three years that will be what I plead for in every conversation with General Authorities! Oh, how these islanders need a Temple! Travel to Nova Scotia is so expensive, and most of the Newfoundlers barely have enough money for food and housing. Temple attendance for them is a luxury they just can't afford. When I think about the portable temple the children of Israel had, I know the Temple architects could design a tiny one just for Newfoundland!! It would be such a strength for them, and they need a temple.
I have three years to make my case!! 

Sunday morning
Elder and Sister Smith from West Jordan, Utah are wonderful, picked us up at the airport after we checked our rental car in, and welcomed us into their home. Warm soup was waiting for us, and while I spent a quiet afternoon visiting, resting, and practising the portable Yamaha keyboard, Dad interviewed and extended callings. Sister Smith served a yummy crockpot roast beef dinner, and we were stuffed!
At eight we ventured off with Sisters Hawkins and Rodriegues to have a lesson with their investigator named Andre who has been meeting with missionaries since March. He is a brilliant 60'ish emerg Doctor who lost his wife just over two years ago, and is really seeking to know...we call him elect. Our lesson last night was testifying of our identity as children of God, and Sister Hawkins and Rodriegues were both master teachers and testifiers. We love to get to teach with our missionaries! We have no idea how many times he has been challenged to be baptized, and again Sister Hawkins extended the invitation. Andre explained that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't force him to drink...he is getting closer to making the commitment...we can see him being the Branch President when Gander gets to be a branch....
It truly was an amazing day, and really a miracle that we made it here! We realized that had we not made the trip to Cornerbrook on Friday, we would not have made it to Gander because all flights were cancelled..The Lord is in charge, and he blessed us to get here safely..it is His work...and ours too!

I'll send this off with much LOVE,
Dad and Mom, Richard and Gayle, Grandpa and Grandma

Have a wonderful Sabbath day!!

Winter Wonderland and another Miracle. November 16, 2018

Dear Family, 
Because of a winter snowstorm, we have been delayed a couple of hours flying to Cornerbrook, Newfoundland. In September, when we were last in Cornerbrook, they invited us to attend their chili/ Scottish country dance Branch party November 16, and we have excitedly anticipated getting to be with our new Cornerbrook friends, and party! Dovetailing mission activities is getting to be something we specialize in, and tomorrow morning, we hop on another plane to head to Gander where, on Sunday, Dad will create the "Gander Group" - a group is what is before a branch, and sometimes it is known as a twig! 
Our New Missionary Conference last week was a great success..so fun to be with our new missionaries, and their companions. Sleeping, and feeding big gangs of 14+ elders at the Mission home is so fun! They are enthusiastic, and trying so hard to be 100% obedient; we love watching the senior companions teach and train! Highlight for all of us was the Special Temple Session. President And Sister Veinot are so accommodating and  are always willing to create a session for us...this time we had 50+ patrons which was over the maximum by about 6, and we are not reporting that to the Fire Marshall.

Having Grandma here was awesome, but her three and a half weeks flew by! We crammed in a bunch of activities like trips to Moncton, New Brunswick, PEI on the ferry, and back over Confederation Bridge, Annapolis Valley, Peggy's Cove, Lunenberg, Mahone Bay, McCormack Beach, Halifax Boardwalk, visits with Jeff and Julie Marshall, plus every mission meeting we held. She was comfortable in the General Authority suite, and even when we had GA Elder Allard with us on Saturday night, I think she was happy that she trumped him!! Sad to see her leave on Tuesday!

JJ Choo - our Bishop's wife is my Mission hairdresser, and is great, and $100.00 cheaper that the first hairdresser I visited! I did get a makeover Wednesday night ...just in time for our Mission Leadership Conference which was yesterday. 

Another gang of 16 Elders slept over.. for MLC so I made a huge pot of turkey soup, fresh buns, and cookies! They are appreciative of home cooked food, but for breakfast they had to settle for store-bought muffins, yogurt, and fruit 

MLC was awesome, and this time, we included our District leaders as well as Zone leaders and STL's, so we had about 50 in attendance..including us and the Office missionaries. We taught and talked all about Christlike leadership, and had great participation. Dad and I did a break out training session with our Sister Training Leaders (STL's), and we felt that was beneficial.

Interior Painting is underway at the mission home, and Brother Boswell has finished the Dining Room and today and tomorrow will complete the Living room and Dad's office!! Monday begins Week 6...transfer week, so it will be wonderful to have the main 
level looking 100% better! Painting will continue the week after transfers. Thanks to David for the Sherwin William 7567 and 1015 colour suggestions. (which we are using!!)
Dining room, living room and office will all be 7567...I think Charles is worried about using the darker everywhere so 1015 will be the lighter colour everywhere else.

We have departing missionaries coming on Thursday so their goodbye meal will also be Thanksgiving dinner which will be so fun and then,....I'm so excited to get decorating for Christmas, and planning parties.

I'll send this little report off to anyone who wants to read it!

Zone Conferences, Bay Roberts - "Fill the World with Love" November 2018

Monday, November 5, 2018

We always feel invigorated, excited, and maybe exhausted after our Zone Conference week. Halloween night we drove to Moncton, New Brunswick for our first zone meetings, stayed overnight at our Hampton Inn, and began our training by nine the next morning. Travelling with us were Mom H, and Elders Boardman and Olsen - our assistants. Both Assistants served for several transfers in New Brunswick so it was like going home for them, and you can imagine how thrilled they were to go back. Stopping in Truro at the Stanfield’s underwear factory and outlet, and finding white short-sleeved hoodies for $1.99 was the deal of deals for frugal missionaries!! 

The great saints of the Moncton Branch started preparing a turkey dinner for us the day before our Conference, and they pulled out all the stops!! Their preparation included Autumn table centre pieces, party favours, and even homemade apple pie. Zone Conferences are always very full days of trainings, including power points, role plays, with plenty of instruction by us, the Assistants, the Sister Training Leaders, and the Zone Leaders. With emphasis on our Mission Culture points, the key indicators, and general teaching and training, we all leave motivated to be more effective, bolder, and more powerful teachers!! We teach, teach, teach!!! New Brunswick East and New Brunswick West Zones, include St. Stephen, Presque Isle, Maine, Edmundston, Bathhurst, Miramichi, Fredericton, St.John, and Montague, and Charlottetown PEI, so some pretty big drives!

Back to Dartmouth for another Conference on Friday, and interesting how even though we repeat our training, each conference is different, with missionaries all learning and gleaning different take-aways, that are just right for them. Our Dartmouth Relief Society prepared a delicious pulled pork meal for lunch, and again, we so appreciate their service to us. 

My Mom opted to come for the afternoon portion of the big day, and she enjoyed the association and attention paid to her by our missionaries. We were all motivated to be more effective member missionaries!! Zones on Friday included Nova Scotia North, and Nova Scotia South with missionaries from Yarmouth, Sydney, Bridgewater,  Truro,  New Glasgow, Kentville, Annapolis Royal, Greenwood, Sackville, Halifax, Dartmouth, and Cole Harbour.

Friday night we took the just under two hour flight to St. John’s, Newfoundland for the Saturday Zone Conference. With Cornerbrook an eight hour drive away, we had the Shenfields, and Elders Tait and Call fly.  Gander, GrandFalls, Bay Roberts and St. John’’s Elders and Sisters made the drive. Training was awesome. Fun to have our Assistants join us…They are inspired, enthusiastic, and converted, and their love of the gospel is contagious!! Mom chose to not come so she is holding down the Mission Home fort!!!

Sunday we finally got to attend meetings in Bay Roberts, and loved meeting and worshipping with the wonderful saints there,  and were thrilled to have Jonathan and Jordan join us. The Jagoda’s our Senior couple serving in Bay Roberts, are amazing, and minister with unconditional love. We are so grateful for them. The combined Relief Society/Priesthood meeting was all on emergency preparedness, and we are determined to get loaded duffle bags or backpacks for each missionary companionship. Well-presented, and prepared, and we even came away with a bottle of processed moose meat!! Unfortunately it would not make it on the plane so we let Elders Broadhead and Musgrave inherit it!! Like I have mentioned before, these islanders know how to eat, and what a treat for us, to have them to host an all you can eat Potluck following the block!! 

Nearing the end of our meetings we got notification that because of hurricane force winds our flight off the island had been cancelled, which although we were anxious to get back to keep my Mom company we were happy to spend unhurried time visiting, and getting to know our new friends. For years I have been thinking and dreaming of giving a talk entitled  “Fill the World with Love,” so it was fun to share some of my thoughts! Here is a little outline: 

Bay Roberts Sacrament Meeting                      November 4, 2018

Did I Fill the World With Love? 

We love Newfoundland, and we love the people of Newfoundland..that's you!! 

Compliment on how hardy, how resilient, resourceful, creative, loyal, musical, sincere.  Our dear friends Lee and Lorna Gordon who served here a few years ago returned to Lethbridge with raving reports of their time here in Bay Roberts, so, when our Mission Call came to serve in the Canada Halifax Mission we were thrilled with anticipation of meeting and serving with you! We love our missionaries....Elders Calvert and Leavitt, and Elder and Sister Jagoda!

When I was a teenager I loved the 1970's movie "Goodbye Mr. Chips," not so much for actors Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark portraying the romantic love story of a middle age university professor bachelor falling in love a lovely student...but for the lyrics to one of the movies songs: "Did I Fill the World With Love?" And actually it is one of my life's mantras...did I fill the world with love? Did I Fill the World With Love??

When it is my time to leave this mortal life, one of the questions I will be asking myself is this very question. Did I Fill the World With Love?

Filling the World with love for me, or for any of us, cannot wait until we are ready to pass from this mortal existence. I believe, and I know that as children of our Heavenly Father, and as covenant keepers, on the covenant path, we must fill the world with love everyday!! 

Weekly as we partake of the sacrament...what do we covenant? Mosiah 18: 8,9,10

Fellowshipping in our wards and branches of the Church is a powerful way to fill the world with love!  And we must do it! Arriving in Atlantic Canada the end of June and visiting many wards and branches we have been overwhelmed with the warm, heartfelt welcome we have felt. It is your way, and I want it to be my way too! 

Last summer in Lethbridge we had major stake and Ward boundary changes where we were totally shuffled, and found ourselves attending a meeting house clear across our city with 80% of the ward members totally new folks. It was really pieces of five other wards lumped together..a very diverse combination of people from all demographics, and economic groups. My husband and I immediately decided we would embrace the change...we were going to make new friends, and had a goal to weekly introduce ourselves to at least five new friends and to have little groups of these new friends over for Sunday dinner. This and many other similar fellowshipping efforts created a strong feeling of love and unity in our Ward that people began to express over the pulpit! Within six months my husband described our experience as the Westminster Miracle (Westminster is the name of our home Ward) Our Westminster Miracle taught all of us the power of fellowshipping, and the power of filling our Ward with love. 

Ministering since April 2018 is the new buzz word in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and actually ministering is not a new word.prophets of old ministered, and the Saviour Jesus Christ himself spent His life ministering, and teaching us how to minister. In my minds eye I love imagining the Saviour ministering to the throngs as he taught the Sermon on the Mount, and my heart swells wiith emotion as I think of Him raising Jairus' daughter from the dead!  When we think of the life of the Saviour, his entire life was a life of ministering, of filling the world with love. The beautiful realistic Bible videos make imagining easy!

I think for us to minister in 2018, it really is just the same as in the Saviour's day. All that is required is time, an open heart and just a bit of creativity! 

Let me share an experience when my friend Carole knew I needed ministering! I was recuperating from a Caesarean section delivery from delivering our sixth son Jonathan who is sitting right there!

Well, Carole showed up carrying her cleaning tote, and said I'm here to clean your bathrooms...she knew I needed a pick me up, she knew I needed my bathrooms cleaned, and she knew I needed ministering to. Mostly I needed a friend, a sister to visit with.. That is the definition of ministering..of filling the world with love..

As missionaries, and as church members another GREAT way to fill the world with love is to share the gospel, and like President Martinez mentioned...to read the Book of Mormon, to share the Book of Mormon. That is why we are here in Atlantic Canada, why we are in Newfoundland! 

Quote in program 

Testimony...Hearts knit together in love...let us fill the world with Love by filling the world with the Book of Mormon. It is my testimony that simply sharing The Book of Mormon with our friends will make a difference in the world…

Having my Mom here for almost a month was delightful…we kept being missionaries, and she joined right in!! She returned home this past Tuesday, the 13th, and her room feels empty!!

Probably the best thing to do would be to submit this to the blog page, and then add a few emails as well which will update anyone that wants to be updated!!

Hope all is well with all of you…we send love and wishes for a Happy American Thanksgiving!!

Autumn, 3 Twelve year olds, Mom Hamilton, Cleveland, Kirtland, Ohio, and Shingles!! October 2018

October 7, 2018

Autumn is in full Fall SPLENDOR, and it is absolutely breathtaking!!!! We have fallen in love with the lush green forests that cover Atlantic Canada, but now we get to appreciate how absolutely stunning the mixed forests are!!! Imagine a watercolour pallet with every red, pink, orange, gold, brown, and green hue!!! It makes me wish I could take a brush and record some of these magnificent scenes!! With stately red maples beside rust-coloured oaks, flanked by golden birch, and lacy lime-green larch, forest green balsam fir, and towering deep green pines, the Maritimes truly have a corner on autumn beauty!!!  

Logging trucks almost monopolize the highways which makes us sad to know they actually chop these trees down…I’m just glad they don’t do it in view of the highways we travel.

Thursday, October 4th, was a banner day for us!!  For three months we have been anticipating the visit of Isabelle, Berkley, and Claire, and had butterflies as we made the quick 6:15am jaunt to the airport to collect our three twelve year olds!! They are so excited to be here and we are even more excited to have them here!! We keep remembering four years ago, travelling with these three when they were little eight year olds, to attend General Conference in Salt Lake City. After they had a quick rest at the Mission Home, I collected the three and brought them to the Dartmouth building for our meeting. Part of our presentation at MLC (Mission Leadership Council) included 3-5 minute talks by each; Isabelle talked about prayer, Berkley talked about scripture study, and Claire talked about repentance. We were so proud of their well-prepared, and well-presented messages. We love our MLC meetings, and especially love our interactions with our wonderful missionaries!!

Friday was our second ever P-day, and we drove in to Caribou, Nova Scotia and hopped on the ferry bound for Prince Edward Island. Those kids were so excited about everything, and were snapping photos right and left. I loved hearing them say: Claire can you airdrop that to me, or Isabelle, can you send that to me, or Berk I love that..I want that!! They were delightful travellers, and loved being together! And we loved being together with them!! It really was a PEI whirlwind visit, but we did see Green Gables, we explored several Cavendish Beaches, drove over hill and dale through Avonlea, had ice-cream at the famous Cows ice-cream parlour, slowly drove by Confederation Hall (under restoration)where in 1867 the fathers of Confederation met, saw fields and fields of potatoes, and many cute little farmers market stands with every freshly harvested vegetable imaginable!! The Anne of Green Gables gift shop seemed to have souvenirs for everyone, so PEI was a hit!! Driving back to Dartmouth over the Confederation Bridge was a thrill, and when Claire found her commemorative coin at the special New Brunswick gas station she was elated. Isabelle and Berkley loved finding cute animal sling shots for their brothers at the same gas station. What unselfish kids always thinking about their family members back home!

Richard found General Conference online as we travelled,  so we heard President Nelson as we were in the back country on dirt roads, following Berkley’s directions to get down to actually see the Bay of Fundy!!! What exciting changes for our Sunday schedule!!

We stopped in Amherst at my favourite shop - Deanne Fitzpatrick’s Rug-hooking shop, and each of us found a kit we loved!! - Claire had the shop lady adjust her kit to include yellow for her flower, Berkley found a fun lighthouse kit, and Isabelle had the greens adjusted in her pinetree kit. A quick stop at Michael’s to get embroidery hoops, and we were all ready to 

rug-hook while listening to General Conference! 

Arriving home to Dartmouth, we were thrilled and screamed when we came home to find Jonathan and Jordan sitting in our Office!!! Richard, and Berkley had been in on the fun surprise, but were great secret keepers!! It felt like Thanksgiving with some of our dear ones with us!!!

We loved watching Conference here at home. Rug-hooking kept us all wide awake, and focussed on both listening and hooking! Deanne, our new friend loved when we forwarded a photo of us happily rug-hooking away!!!Associating and interacting with all our missionaries is the highlight of our service, so were thrilled to have some of our Halifax metro missionaries join us for the afternoon session of Conference. Thanksgiving feast turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie, fresh rolls, potatoes, etc. aromas kept us anticipating the dinner ahead!!  With twenty-four in our dining room including all of us, metro missionaries; Sisters Gillett, Cartwright, Swenson, Clark, Elders Boardman, SawaSawa,                    office missionaries; Elder and Sister Boyle, Elder and Sister Majeran, and Sister Arnold, as well as friends Emma Robarts, and Harley Westerman. What a thrill to have family and so many wonderful new friends, who feel like family join us for a meal of Thanksgiving. Know that we certainly dream of Thanksgivings past, and, future Thanksgivings with you, our dear ones at home.  Another perfect day!!

Monday morning  dawned the ideal day for sight-seeing with Jonathan, Jordan, Isabelle, Berkley and Claire. Driving to Peggy’s Cove, Mahone Bay and Lunenberg on the glorious Thanksgiving day was amazing; brilliant fall colours with Nova Scotia beauty around every corner!! Again the kids phone cameras were snapping photos…such fun!!

Richard had organized and reserved seven spots for a four hour deep-sea fishing adventure starting at one o’clock in Lunenberg and you can imagine how excitement built!!  Gravol, and the anti-nausea patches we stuck behind our ears Sunday night, sort of helped us with the ocean motion! Everyone was thrilled learning to jig on the ocean, and were especially thrilled as their jigs actually worked and caught fish!!! (I was so excited to watch each of them catch their fish that it didn’t matter to me that my line was empty everytime I reeled it in!) Berkley’s catch was especially thrilling as he caught two massive cod at the same time!!! We can’t even tell you how wonderful it was to have those GREAT kids here!!!

And now it is three weeks later…Thursday, October 25, 2018 and we are in Cleveland, Ohio

Monday evening, Dr. Fox who practised in Fall River, confirmed our area medical advisor - Dr. Keyes diagnosis of ‘shingles.’ My forehead is where they have manifest themselves, so I carefully place a polysporin dabbed bandaid parallel with my eyebrow to try and conceal the nasty blotch.  Dr. Fox prescribed some huge blue anti-virus pills to hopefully contain the spread..(I think) I am suspicious of two more spots - another on my forehead, and one beside my nose…. After Richard finished his Presidency Meeting, and Mom and I returned from the Dr. we packed up our loaner van and headed to the Alt Airport Hotel to spend a few hours!!! Since our flight was international, we needed to check in at four am, so we were happy to have a little sleep, and just a walkway away from our checkin spot. 

Twice a year we get to attend a Mission President and Companion Conference, and so…our reason for being in Cleveland. Our flights were from Halifax to Newark, New Jersey where we found our friends the Vest’s who are serving (with their five children) in Utica, New York. Oh my they have stories to tell!!! Richard description as this Conference being EFY for Mission Presidents on steroids is pretty accurate!! Instructing us are our Area Presidency : Presidents Randall Bennett, Kevin Hamilton, and Allan Haynie here as well as Elder Robert Gay and Elder Whitney Clayton, along with their lovely wives who I just love to listen to!!! We love listening to all of their inspired, motivating council, and have so much more we want and need to do!!!

Tomorrow we have a morning of instruction, and then we get to take the half hour bus ride to Kirkland, where we will be taught in the Kirtland Temple!!! Wow!! It has been 30 years since we were there last…who remembers that??? 

Cleveland is a neat old city, and they say it is the city of forests, and the city of Rock and Roll—who knew? There are some great old buildings that look like they could be in Washington, DC or even Paris…someday we will have to come back and explore. From our 22nd floor room view we have a beautiful view of Lake Erie so after supper we enjoyed a little jaunt down towards the water, BUT…there was a freeway in the way of us getting right down to the shore!!

Leading the music was a thrill…singing ‘We are all Enlisted’ and ‘How Firm a Foundation,’ with

our dear Mission friends was a thrill, and a bit scary!! I tried my best to not have a shaking head!!

The Church of Christ which still owns the Temple, are very friendly with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have made arrangements so we can take special tours, and have meetings in the Temple which is amazing….Being taught by Elder Christofferson in the Kirtland Temple was the highlight of all our training. He reminded us of the amazing visits by the Saviour, and by Elijah, Elias and Moses in the Kirkland Temple, restoring all the Keys. Brother Anderson, the Kirtland Patriarch, and a local expert historian was our bus tour guide, as well as a guide in the Newel K. Whitney store, and oh my, he knows his Kirtland history…in fact has written a historical book commissioned by Elder Neal A. Maxwell which we are excited to read. It was astounding to hear of  all the amazing events that occurred in and around Kirtland!!