Shubenacadie Stroll

Today is Sunday, January 20,2019!!

Well it happened today..our Church was cancelled due to a huge storm , which actually didn’t look like much except a light snowfall! We wondered why cancel church, and then about one o’clock this afternoon it began pouring rain, and we realized what a nightmare the driving would be!! Staying home writing and enjoying turkey soup with biscuits was fun, although we did miss attending our meetings. 

French tutoring is on our minds, and this past week I had three hours with Brooke Smith, my MTC tutor. My biggest feat so far is that I can actually offer a simple prayer that both Brooke and Richard say is good. I know they are just giving me positive reinforcement, but it is enough for me to carry on. The first prayer I offered on Tuesday it was funny because I was just saying Merci pour______, ma famille, les missionaries, l’evangile, and le soleil - the few nouns I knew..and only because of the star post-it notes everywhere.  I meant the sun….and she thought I was meaning the Son, which I should have been expressing gratitude for but my sticky note was referring to the sun outside my desk window!! Anyway Brooke helped me with that!! Dad had two very productive hours and is progressing like a 19 year old at the MTC!! Like I mentioned last week he will be graduating well before our move to Montreal!!

We had an exciting baptism of Promise on Monday. Originally from Nigeria, and here working and hoping to go to school. Totally converted…because of the storm will be confirmed next week. 

Our dear Schow’s (from Cardston) who have served in St. John’s, Nfld. for a year, arrived Tuesday afternoon for a farewell party with our office team. It is fun to pull out all the stops for these departing missionaries who have served so well, and made such a difference in the Branches here, and the Schow’s have certainly done that. We are grateful we will pretty much be next door neighbours when we go home!!! 

Two young missionaries also left to go home…one new Elder had some major emotional problems, so Elder Boyle flew with him to SLC where he was met by his family.  Another pretty new sister who was dealing with similar issues flew home and is so excited to start one of the new ‘service’ missions… hoping to serve in the Temple!!!  Service missions will be so wonderful for the young missionaries, and they will hopefully eliminate the challenges we have had with manic depression, and other emotional issues. Of course our goal is to help these returnees to stay on the covenant path. 

Beacon House - our new favourite thrift store was closed every time we were available to go, so skating did not make it to our P day activity list. We did go down to Lake Banook edge and saw hundreds of skaters twirling, speed skating, and playing hockey. Several ice-fishing tents also dotted the ice. Berkely and Walker…what could they be catching??

The old Shubenacadie Canal system (circa 1829)is bordered by picturesque parkland and woodlots, and yesterday we loved our little hike along the old canal. Our buffs, down jackets, and warm mittens (thanks Jan!!) kept us from freezing!! Trails are maintained year round with little bobcats who scrape and sprinkle a salt/sand mixture that keeps the trails in great shape! We loved the fresh air and sunshine, and loved seeing the chickadees, and squirrels share the bird feeders! Oh, speaking of birds..I forgot to rave about our resident cardinal…actually he probably isn’t a resident, but we have seen him a lot…I want like him to be a resident;  his brilliant red feathers are stunning!!

Tomorrow begins Week 3, which this month is Zone Conference Week, and we are excited to get to see our missionaries!! With our new call to move to Montreal, we realized that District meetings that we have been attending every month are no longer going to be something we can do, so our travelling has really been condensed. Tomorrow we have our office meeting, and then we get to travel to Moncton for interviews, and then New Brunswick Zone Conference on Tuesday. We have been on a ‘finding blitz,’ and our Assistants came up with a shopping cart as a sort of mascot for our finding!! We bought three cute Melissa and Doug shopping carts from Toys r Us, and filled them with all sorts of treats - one cart for each of our three Zones, and ziplock bags with cute thank you notes for each companionship!! Tuesday night we will return home for Wednesday interviews, and Dartmouth Zone conference on Thursday. Friday we fly to the rock -St. John’s, Nfld. for Zone Conference on Saturday, and Sunday we speak in St. John’s Branch Conference - another whirlwind week!! 

Time is a ticking…we are trying to prepare for our big move…the biggest thing we are working on is our French. We got word that anything we need in Montreal that we have here in Dartmouth, we are allowed to take, which means our china and our china cabinet and our couch, and living room furniture.!!

And that is the report from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and the Canada Halifax Mission.

Signing off with love to all

Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, and Richard and Gayle

Keep Smiling and we will too!!!