Sounds of Spring on Brookdale Crescent!

Today is Sunday, March 31, 2019.

Happy 87th Birthday to Mom on Wednesday, and to Trish tomorrow!! 

and 

Happy April’s Fool Day!!! 

Last week we felt, and saw a few signs of spring but this week spring has truly sprung. The transformation seems to happen overnight!! Literally when we went to bed Friday night, Lake Banook was still frozen. A rainstorm in the night, and when we woke up yesterday morning there was no ice..it was incredible how fast that ice disappeared, and now I look out and see a stunning lake…When the trees start budding and the leaves burst forth we will really know it is spring!! Sounds of spring out our bedroom window make us feel like we are in a mountain glen…we hear our very own Brookdale (on the other side of our TransCanada trail) babbling away, and songbirds galore, like chickadees, nuthatches, and the like, sing their cheery good morning medleys, occasionally interrupted by noisy ravens or magpies! What a dreamy little corner of Nova Scotia to live in..actually idyllic…and we are still trying to soak it all in!! I don’t know if I told you that the greater Halifax metro has a population of around 700,000, and when we move to Montreal we will be living with, around 4 million folks! Hard to believe we will leave this bit of heaven in just three months. I will not be nostalgic..yet!

Transfer week went off without a hitch…everyone arrived at their proper destination, and new companionships are forming well…so we think anyway!!

Our six new recruits are awesome..Sisters Long, Humphreys, and Fraser, along with Elders Barrett, Birch and Sorenson all seem keen and so excited to get to work!! Even with an hour delay in SLC,  they made their flight connection in Boston and arrived here on time! Sister Fraser is actually from Bridgewater, NS, and is waiting for her visa to serve in Portugal. We look forward to our weekly ‘new missionary’ zoom calls to see each new missionary and to get a personal report from their companionship. It is a pretty effective way to get a feel on how they are doing…that, and the LTP

(letters to president) that each missionary writes weekly, as well as the reports from the district leaders, STL’s(sister training leaders), and zone leaders do a good job of keeping us in the loop of our brood!! When everyone magnifies their calling with obedience and cheerfulness, it works like a well-oiled machine. I know I sound like a cheerleader…and really that is just what we are…we find every way possible to cheer, counsel, teach, motivate, and love, and we do it over and over and over!! This eighteen months or two years of consecrated service is such an amazing way to begin their adult lives…you know this because many of you have experienced it!!

And look where your lives are now because of your mission experience!! 

Here I will insert my recommendation for parents of our future missionaries:

Testimony + Attitude + Hard work + Obedience = a Successful, Happy Missionary….(this is my own little formula, but each of the four keys to a successful missionary do boil down to Testimony, Attitude, Hard work, and Obedience….you have 18 or 19 years to teach those four principles to your children. Do it, and they will be prepared to serve with their whole hearts, mights and minds.  That is our challenge for each of you!!

Last night I was thrilled to attend our Dartmouth Ward Relief Society Anniversary Party, and it was just like any RS party at home,…. just with new friends! Delicious meal included chicken salad, broccoli salad, pasta salad, and coleslaw with rolls and caramel cake for dessert. Table centrepieces had fresh white roses with babysbreath, and 5X7 framed pictures of women in the scriptures..Eve, Queen Esther, Sariah, Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary and Martha, and Emma Smith. The program written by Sackville NS sisters was reenacted by eight ward members who were all dressed in costume and each gave a beautiful reading telling their story, and bearing testimonies of the Saviour; truly a lovely evening. 

French tutoring is going ok…Brooke (my tutor) is positive, and her ‘cheerleading’ keeps me trying. She does compliment me on my accent so that makes me feel good. When we are in Quebec, my own little French handbook will be filled with common phrases and sentences, and it will always be at my fingertips to prompt me along! Today we visited with a couple from the Congo who only speak French, and I actually understood way more than what I could speak or respond. There is always hope!! 

Favourite Pday activities yesterday included spending a couple of hours  outside - first having a run around our lake and then doing a bit of yard work…. it felt so good to be raking our lawn and actually doing some physical labour!! This calling really is heavy on the spiritual, emotional and social aspects of our lives…a little weak on the physical so we are glad we can exercise outdoors, or at the gym. Of course we also carved out time with our watercolours…Dad painting his ocean scenes, and me dreaming in a flower garden!! Such a lovely way to really relax!!

This week is preparation week for next weeks Zone Conferences. Being with our missionaries is really the highlight of our time here, so we look forward to this week of meetings!  We train on the focusses decided by our Mission Leadership Council…  “Spiritual Self Reliance,”  “Energized, Joyful Focussed Finding,” and “Unity with God and our Companions;” so we study Preach My Gospel and conference talks, and have fun creating powerpoints, and preparing discussions that will emphasize the focusses. It requires a LOT of brainwork!!

Tomorrow morning midway between our Monday meetings we have to make a trip to the Airport to take a sister who is returning home. We have tried everything to help her, our Area Mental Health Advisor, and our Area Medical Advisor, her Dr. at home, and her parents also have tried everything, but she is determined to go home…her anxiety and depression have taken such a toll. And so she goes…we pray for her. 

And that is our report from the east - the Canada Halifax Mission..we continue to be so grateful for this incredible opportunity to serve, and find JOY everyday. We DO miss all of you dear loved ones…family and friends.…know that…your love, support, and prayers sustain us.

Have a wonderful week!! It looks like spring has sprung in Alberta too!! I heard tulips have already been chomped by the coulee deer..Oh bother.

We send this with much love and gratitude….

Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Richard and Gayle

CTR and Keep Smiling

Spring is Springing in Nova Scotia

Today is March 24, 2019, and in three days Berkley James Low turns 13!!!

Happy Birthday Berkley!!

Springtime is here…our front lawn snow has disappeared, and Lake Banook is beginning to thaw. Hundreds of fresh air-loving folks walk, run or ride on our lovely Trans Canada Trail. It truly is picture perfect!! We are thrilled to get to experience all four seasons right here!!

Our nine months have flown by as we serve here in the Canada Halifax Mission; and we are savouring every minute here knowing that soon we will be transferred…Ever optimistic, we look at our transfer to the Canada Montreal Mission, and just think we are getting two missions for the price of one!! We will desperately miss our life in Atlantic Canada…having loved every corner of each unique province, every missionary we have interacted and served with, and every person we have met - member or not yet a member;  we have been in awe of this incredible experience being on the Lord’s errand twenty-four/seven!! Serving together has been fulfilling, rewarding, and so fun!! I must add a little caveat..lest you think we are firing on extra pistons..no, we go pretty hard every day on our own steam, and when it is bedtime we fall into bed…totally exhausted. (Very occasionally we might sneak a forty wink nap!!) 

We have been so blessed with great health…a few bumps in the road, but nothing to complain about!! Richard had a procedure in the Hospital, and spent last Friday in the Victoria General. In my stressful state, I caught another bout of shingles. Fortunately I recognized the symptoms, and sore, and was able to get on the medication within 24 hours which prevented getting a full blown case. (I thought I had to wait a year after having an episode to get the vaccine, but not so… you can be sure as soon as this sore has disappeared I will be at Shoppers getting immunized.) Enough is enough!! Oh brother!! And..Richard is fine..trying to slow down a bit, and loves having me be the chauffeur!!

Sackville Ward was our assignment today, and we enjoyed visiting, and challenging the members to be missionaries.  Our call is to testify, and remind the saints to do the same,  as we all diligently strive to find scattered Israel on both sides of the veil. Probably the most vibrant number of youth in one ward in the Dartmouth Stake; and we were so impressed when Bishop Taylor told us they regularly have 35 youth attend their Temple Baptisms! It was our lucky day when it was announced that today was linger longer so although we hadn’t brought anything for the potluck we had a delightful meal, and fun visiting with Sackville folks. 

Sister Vollmer bore her her final testimony in Sackville today…both she and Sister Degraffenried (who has been serving in Yarmouth) are our departing top shelf missionaries. Oh, what a hole we will feel in the CHM with these two leaving us. Which brings me to your question..?? Yes, this is Week 6, transfer week…doesn’t it seem like we just had transfers?!! We did…six weeks ago!! Here’s what our week looks like:

Tomorrow - Monday Office Meetings, and meeting with Assistants to make travel plans for transfers.  

Tuesday - French tutoring, Free Laundromat at the Mission Home - four companionships schedule their time, and while they wait for laundry to process,  they email or Skype with their families. I will be making buns, taco soup, and butterscotch brownies  for the six new missionaries scheduled to arrive at the Airport around 9:30pm. 

Wednesday - Breakfast with the new missionaries, group walk or run around Lake Banook, orientation at the Mission Office, roast beef feast back at the Mission Home. Welcome testimony meeting. 

Thursday - Transfers - new missionaries to the Office by 6:30am to meet their new companions. Office, and Moncton are the transfer hubs, so anyone with a new assignment meets here, and is transported to their new home. 

5pm our farewell supper for Sister Vollmer and Sister Degraffenried.

7pm Farewell Temple Session

9pm Farewell Testimony Meeting

Friday - Airport  and French tutoring.

And there you have it  - a little snippet of week 6 at a glance!!

This past Wednesday night the six Sister Training Leaders invited me for a sleepover…(I think they just like the treats I bring!!), and we had such fun laughing, and sharing stories.. this is my third sleepover, and somehow they get me telling our love story everytime we get together!!  They never seem to tire of hearing Richard’s “I’m considering you for marriage” line!! Pretty funny. It’s cute how they configure mattresses all over the living room to fit us all in! We were up at the crack of 6:30, all kneeling for morning prayer, and study. I left before eight so I could be home getting ready for MLC. which started at 10am Thursday. 

Mission Leadership Council Thursday included all Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, as well as all our District Leaders, so our group of fifty all received the very same ‘Spiritual Self Reliance’ training, and heard all the same council…and now will go back and share the training and focuses with their districts, and zones. Our hard working, devoted missionaries don’t find a lot of success, so at every meeting we are cheerleading, and sharing our enthusiasm, and love of them and the Gospel. Our pretty lofty goal of 64 Baptisms before the merger is looming in the not so far distant future, so we are doing our best to build enthusiasm and create momentum!! A highlight of every meeting is the Musical number, and this week the Halifax District sang beautifully with all their hearts: “As Zion’s Youth in Latter-days” We loved it!!

Let me share the Martha story…a sister living in Fredericton decided to send a 90 day Book of Mormon challenge to all her friends on FaceBook. Martha, one of her friends accepted the challenge - thinking to herself I could read that book….which she did. She got a testimony, was taught , and was baptized!! So..Share your testimony on social media…it works!!!

Our P-day yesterday was fun… running and walking at the Gym, grocery-shopping, preparing our talks for today, and water-colouring. Richard’s seascapes are beautiful..he has such gorgeous skies, great lighthouses, wonderful sandy beaches, and is getting pretty good at crashing waves. Flowers are my specialty, although I did do an Irish Antrim coast painting the other day. We can sit for three hours in an evening and totally decompress and relax…we have our favourite youtube artists that we enjoy having tutor us..it is so fun!!

Hope all is well in your lives back home…we love hearing from you!!!

Such is the life of President and Sister Low serving in the Canada Halifax Mission!! 

Sending this off with much love xoxoxo Dad and Mom, Richard and Gayle, Grandpa and Grandma.  KEEP SMILING!! and CTR

Snow storms, zone conferences, and "snow angels"

Today is Sunday, March 10, 2019.

Two weeks have flown by and we have much to report!!

Last weekend we flew to Fredericton for their Stake Conference and were thrilled visiting the wonderful saints from all over New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the little pocket of Maine, and Amherst Nova Scotia! Last fall the Stake Centre was pretty empty, but with a General Authority - Elder Randall Bennett in attendance, the place was packed!! Last fall they had  skyped in outlying units so although the Stake Centre looked empty there were many people in attendance at their own buildings. Anyway, it was a great meeting where Elder Bennett praised these good people, shared sweet personal experiences from his growing up days in Edmonton, and helped everyone relate to some of the challenges he had experienced. When he was just eight his Mom took him aside and told him that his parents would be divorcing, and he would have to decide who he wanted to live with…, and then for nine years he woke up everyday thinking, was this the day?? They did divorce..his Mom left the Church, and was pretty anti until I think he said about 10 years ago when she returned to Church activity, and now serves as a Temple Worker!! His sharing this and other very personal stories sure put the congregation at ease, realizing that this General Authority had lived through what some of them are currently dealing with. What a great, and powerful teacher!!

Saturday evening session, along with stake presidency members, and us,  two members of the Stake spoke; one was Brother Pitt who had been less active for many, many years and shared his remarkable reactivation story.  Branch members had ministered unceasingly to he and his wife, and loved them right back… All of you are master ministers…And then..Elder Bennett asked who had ministered to the Pitts. President Elliott (a member of the Stake Presidency) had been the chief minister (if there is a chief!!)Elder Bennett had him come up and stand with Brother Pitt, and Elder Bennett, and then he invited him to share some of his sweet ministering efforts in Brother and Sister Pitt’s reactivation.  It was such a lovely way to validate the efforts of those who ministered. Of course President Elliott was somewhat embarrassed sharing some of what he had done..but effective in that, we all felt…we could increase our ministering efforts.

Sister Paterson, a convert of about two and a half years, shared her conversion story. Her best friends growing up in New Brunswick..I think Fredericton but maybe it was Saint John, were Church members and were such powerful influences for good. In fact one friend lives in Utah with her husband and children, and Sister Paterson visits her regularly.  She condensed her life story, but we could tell she had experienced many of life's hardships.. Her friend, I think her name was Julie kept sharing sweet gospel experiences, and her testimony, and her friends around NB. loved her, and opened their hearts and homes to her as well. Again Elder Bennett had those who had been instrumental come up to the stand, and share how they had welcomed Sister Paterson into their lives, and how they had shared the gospel. The spontaneity and the simple sharing of what they had done was just beautiful, and again had us all so motivated…we could do that!! We all can share the gospel…it starts with opening our mouths. It really isn’t hard to share something we love so much… 

Richard is the best at opening his mouth...and I have to admit I am getting bolder!! I always tell who I am, and what my name tag is about, but it is now getting easier to give pass along cards...I have supplies in the car, in my purse, and bag...try it!! We need to flood the earth...

“After all that has been said the GREATEST and MOST IMPORTANT DUT Y
                           is to
PREACH the GOSPEL.”  the Prophet Joseph Smith

On our first visit to Fredericton back in the summer, I got to go on splits with the sisters and met Sister Susan Hebert, a 70 plus sister who grew up in Toronto. Well she is such a visity lady, and we made connection after connection with all my Ontarian relatives, and she pretty much knew everyone - Mom, Nancy, Jane, Boucher’s etc. In fact Anne Boucher was her hero, and she said she was her shadow!! Anyway we enjoyed a wonderful supper Friday evening with her, and loved looking at her Toronto Branch History book!! She promises she will come visit us in Alberta!!  

We have remarkable missionaries everywhere….but I have to share about Sister Degraffenried serving with Sister Shultz in faroff (5hrs away) Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  Sister D. (as we call her) has grit, determination and fervent testimony. Last week they were knocking in the midst of a big snowstorm…(totally obedient) and knocked into an elderly couples home. (They were invited in because the couple felt sorry for them.) Wife has a belief in God, but not the husband, and neither was interested in the sisters returning. As the sisters were leaving, they asked if they could shovel their snow, and the couple said “no, don’t worry about it”…Well, the next morning didn’t those two angel sisters get up super early, and went and shovelled the snow!! Just as they were finishing, the elderly man discovered them being pixies, and came out to shovel with them. Sister D. described him just watching them…he couldn’t believe these sweet sisters would do such a thing!!! Such is the epitome of a CHM missionary!! Incredible!!! We are in awe of the way they live the gospel. These same sisters also serve in two Church kitchens in Yarmouth - one an Anglican, and the other we aren’t sure..at first people were unsure of having missionaries from another church serving in their kitchen, but these sisters have won them over!!  In fact this week their colour photos serving, were on the front page of the local newspaper!! They are actually teaching one of the ladies from one of these churches!!

Service is such an amazing way to show the world what we believe, and who we believe in!! Keep SERVING!!! 

Zone Conference Week was a whirlwind. Because of severe storm warnings in New Brunswick we chose to hold New Brunswick Zone Conference right after Stake Conference so all our missionaries could get back to their areas, and not have to travel to Moncton on Monday for Tuesday conference. This worked beautifully. We and our missionaries travel so much, and we are constantly on weather, and road watch.  Occasionally we have to make quick changes!! Saturday while Dad was interviewing, Sister Edwards helped me make a quick Sobey’s run to get indoor picnic supplies!!  

FUN and yummy!! 

Dartmouth Zone Conference was Thursday and we feel so invigorated and enthused after being together…have I raved enough about these great missionaries?! My trainings were about apartment cleanliness, and nutrition. I also loved challenging us all to Ponderize…remember Elder Devin Durrant’s General Conference address in October 2015?  As a Canada Halifax Mission, we have taken the challenge, and weekly our missionaries will report their scripture of the week. Exciting!! 

Thursday evening we flew to Newfoundland for both Zone Conference and Newfoundland Conference - (like Stake Conference). We love being with our dear friends there - missionaries, and branch members. Zoom works great for having all our Newfoundlanders in attendance…from CornerBrook to Bay Roberts to Gander to St. John’s we are all there!! 

I might have had a little melt down this morning when I was having Dad change the font and font size on my talk, which was all on my iPad…Can you guess what happened?  You are right if you guessed that half my talk disappeared…you know just like the lost manuscript…that is exactly what happened. Oh my goodness…definitely out of my comfort zone to speak

 without even an outline!! “More purpose in prayer” was my topic so I had to go almost totally from my memory… It all turned out fine. 

In case you are wondering about French…it is ok…this week we will have more time to focus on parlez-ing and practising. 

Hot off the news…Elder Martinez told us that he has a friend who received his Mission Call, and his Call letter told him that he would find out at Conference where he will serve?!!! Can’t wait to hear!!!

I just glanced at the clock, and realized I have been typing away for two hours…this must be a long letter!!…I guess it is two weeks worth!

Hope all is great with all of you.

We send love from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia where we are loving our service, our missionaries, and the wonderful people of Atlantic Canada!!

Have a wonderful week!!

Keep Smiling!!

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