Good Tidings from Gayle!: May 2019

Today is Monday, May 13, 2019

Week Six’s seem to pop up so fast…but I checked on my calendar and it really is only every six weeks!! With our merger looming in the very soon future we have it figured that most of our new missionaries are heading to Quebec, and so Tuesday night in Dartmouth, we only welcomed two - Elder Duncan, and Sister Campbell (from Taber - and she is Dennis and Carol Bullock’s granddaughter!!) Both are well-prepared, and excited to serve!! Happily, their flight was right on time so they got to enjoy taco soup with fresh buns around 10:30pm! Orientation at the Office the next morning was a snap…with Elder Boyle teaching lots about driving one of our snazzy fleet - 2017 Rav 4’s or 2017 Nissan Rogue’s. Once a vehicle reaches 60,000km they are sold. Apparently 18 of our vehicles have odometers that read more than that and so soon we will receive a shipment to replace those ‘old’ vehicles. We are grateful to know our missionaries are driving very safe cars. We watch safety videos, with wonderful advice and counsel from Elder Uchtdorf, Elder Holland and Elder Ballard.

Elder Boyle’s wife - Sister Boyle is our receptionist answering the phone, organizing travel, keeping track of driving records, licenses, etc. She is indispensable. About a month and a half ago she injured her ankle or leg on a little hike, went to the Dr. who diagnosed her with shinsplints. She has been crutching around that whole time…finally had it x-rayed on Friday, and found out she has a tibia fracture…so now is wearing a boot, and will visit the orthopaedic Dr. later this week.

Goldie Vey our mission nurse gives our new missionaries an overview on how to stay healthy, and what to do if they aren’t, she also alerts them to the presence of ticks in Atlantic Canada…we use a spray called Permethrin. I don’t think I mentioned that several weeks ago I caught a live tick right in our laundry basket. He is entombed with scotch tape on a piece of paper, to show everyone what the nasty little critters look like!! Sister Vey also distributes vitamin D to every missionary. It is so great for me to have Goldie…she actually will be having surgery this week so my nursing duties (I am the designated back up nurse!) are going to be tested again!! Elder Cloyde Gatrell, our Area Medical Advisor is a phone call away, so any queries I have, he will be getting a call.

Elder and Sister Majeran (Darren’s uncle and aunt) are responsible for apartments and phones and pay attention to every detail…you need a toaster or a frying pan, or a snow shovel, or a bed, the Majerans are amazing in outfitting every apartment! They encourage organization and cleanliness, and for the most part our missionaries are doing pretty well. We are trying to coax them into coming to Montreal next year, after they have a year at home. They are incredible!

6:30 Thursday morning we are at the Office for Transfers to begin…new missionaries meet their trainers, and many companionships are changed so it is a very exciting day!!

It is also the day that our departing group of three came to the Mission Home for Farewell interview and a roast beef feast, (including three favourite pies - strawberry, blueberry, and peanut butter), a last Temple Session and a testimony meeting. Departing were Sister Katje Johnson (San Antonio, Texas), Sister Sarah Behlke (Kirtland, Ohio), and Elder Tyler Call (Idaho Falls). Hearing their final testimonies is always a highlight for us.

Friday morning we made the trip out to Stanfield International Airport where our emotions are tested as we bid farewell to some of our finest. Oh how we love our missionaries. We wonder when we will see them again…that is why tears flow easily.

P-day Saturday we loved doing our watercoloring, and find it such a fun creative outlet…Dad painting his seascapes, and me of course painting flowers!! We sit for hours, and don’t tire of blending our pigment with water, and using our Winsor Newton brushes on 140 pound paper…(we have become very fussy about our painting supplies!! )

Around five we pulled ourselves away from our painting, packed up and headed the two hours up to the Valley - to Annapolis Royal where yesterday we attended Meetings with our sweet Sisters Mavy and Humphries. A united branch who love each other, as well as our sisters. Richard spoke in Sacrament Meeting and I got to give a message in Relief Society. The members were so happy to have us there, and said they couldn’t remember the last time the Mission President had been there. We are invited back to speak sometime in August.

Office Meetings this morning were good…our Senior Missionary Conference is next week, and we are thrilled with all the organizing and planning Elder and Sister Wilkinson have done in preparing this event. I will report on this next week!

And now for my little report on spring time in Atlantic Canada!! Dartmouth is Zone 5, and we have been enjoying spring bulbs - crocus, tulips, daffodils, and hyacinth are in full bloom, along with lovely lavender coloured rhododendron, oh and I cannot forget to rave about the bright yellow forsythia shrubs and hedges which pop up everywhere we drive…(note to self…plant a forsythia and rhododendron when we return to Alberta!!)

After church yesterday, we visited the Annapolis Royal Gardens ( which are Canadian renowned). It was free $ day and, we were very worshipful as we wandered around stunning creations of our Heavenly Father. We admired spring flowers, and spring trees in full splendour….huge pink and white mangolia, and gorgeous yellow rhododendron. Perennials, roses, shrubs, and trees were pruned ready to burst forth. Paths meander all over the 17 acres where there are over 1800 species and cultivars of plants. A thatch-roofed reconstructed Acadian House is nestled under the towering oak and maple trees and adds to the ambiance of the beautiful gardens which overlook the tidal river valley. It was fascinating to learn that this corner of the province boasts Zone 6B with even a few Zone 7 microclimates!!!

A beautiful Sabbath afternoon, and the Tide was out, so we were thrilled to find a huge Bay of Fundy beach to go sea-glassing, and are happy to report some success!!

French is coming along…I can bear my testimony, and pray without a paper, (although I still like to look at my notes), so I feel like I am slowly improving!!

Thanks for all the Mother’s Day well wishes…and Happy Mother’s Day to you too!!

Mission merger packing, and preparing has begun…oh my!!!!

I’ll post this on my Glad Tidings page, and wish you glad tidings, along with sending much love

Keep Smiling, and CTR

Dad and Mom, Richard and Gayle, Grandpa and GrandmaXOXOXOXOXOXO

Today is Sunday, April 28, 2019.

Happy Birthday to Caylee this past Friday,

and

Happy 11th Birthday to Luke TOMORROW!!!

Our lives in the fast lane are sometimes a blur, and the past two weeks literally are just that - a blur!! I will attempt to rewind and give you a synopsis of where we have been, and what we have done!!

First off I will preface this epistle by testifying of the truthfulness of what we are about, and what we are doing…after the great apostasy and almost two millenia, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth by the Prophet Joseph Smith. By following those same teachings Jesus Christ taught, as restored to earth in 1830, we can, and will find the most wonderful peace, joy, and purpose. We KNOW that!! This great Plan of Happiness includes teaching the Doctrine of Christ; faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. As we come to accept these teachings we begin life on the ‘covenant path,’ where although we will have many challenges along our paths, we will find peace, joy and purpose. Helping our missionaries be excited, motivated, and converted to these teachings is our greatest goal.

We are not seeing great numbers enter the waters of baptism…but our missionaries are being converted themselves, AND we are praying so hard that we will achieve our goal of 64 baptisms before the merger in July. Our missionaries are hard-working, devoted, obedient, and wonderful, and many of them knock 35-40 hours a week without ever being invited in…such rejection, but they have such fortitude, and faith….

Oh how we love our CHM missionaries - and soon our CMM missionaries!!

We LOVE our service here!!! Testimony, positivity and cheerfulness are key, and great tenants for a happy life…we pray ALL our team are learning this!! And even more we pray for our FAMILY TEAM at home….and that you are learning these tenants too!!

Last week - April 15- 21, was a whirlwind!! Many Meetings, French tutoring, haircuts, and packing for our Mission Leadership in Washington, DC, etc. etc., and then travel to Washington where we were taught and motivated by our Area Presidency - Elder Bennett, Elder Hamilton, and Elder Haynie.

As we were getting ready to leave Halifax Thursday morning, it was such a thrill to have a quick rendezvous with Jan (D’Arcey took the escalator downstairs, and couldn’t get back up!) We were so excited to know we had FAMILY waiting for us when we returned Saturday night!!!

Washington training was wonderful!!! Area Presidency did the trainings and we were in great company with the twenty two other Mission Presidents and their companions!! Half of those Mission Presidents finish their three years the end of June and tradition has it that they bare their testimonies at the Spring training. I sure want to grow up like they did…it was thrilling and moving to hear their conviction, and love of the gospel and their missionaries. We love to be together, and revisit with our dear friends…the Vest’s, and the Caplin’s, and again came home motivated and determined to try harder, and be better. Arrived home late Saturday night.

And now it is Sunday May 5, 2019…and I apologize to anyone who looks at this blog for being deliquent in my reports…

Let me give a quick rundown on our amazing week with D’Arcey and Jan who actually survived just nicely exploring Dartmouth, Halifax, and everywhere all around while we were away!! They joined us for our Office Meeting Monday, enjoyed the drive around the Northern Arm, and loved the Five Fisherman restaurant.

Tuesday we explored the fertile Annapolis Valley where fields are lush and green. We found the darling woolen shop in Wolfville, where, while Jan and I were ooh'ing and aah’ing over gorgeous skeins of wool, Richard and D’Arcey enjoyed sweet homebaked treats. As we travelled portions of the ‘Evangeline’ trail, in and around Grand Pre, Richard retold the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow classic tragedy ‘Evangeline,’ based on true events of the Acadien expulsion back in the 1700’s. We love the reconstruction of an old Church on the site of an Acadien village.

Wednesday our sightseeing took us to Mahone Bay and Lunenberg where we were thrilled to discover the Bluenose nicely in dock enshrouded by giant white plastic shrink-wrap. Yearly they totally refinish all the woodwork…deck, railings, bunks etc, and it is all done under wraps..it must be because of unpredictable weather! RDF (rain, drizzle, fog) days are common in these parts and we could see why they need the giant tarps! The first mate who we were chatting with took my phone and took photos of what is happening under the wraps! Our lunch at the Grand Banker was another smorg of seafood at its best!!

I was thrilled to have guest musicians at our Lewis Hall Ukulele performance, and our little club of Ukulele Ladies were thrilled to have D’Arcey and Jan perform; D’Arcey on the electric keyboard playing bass made us sound so good, and Jan is a pro ukulele-le-est Until I saw the dementia residents of Lewis Hall, I admit I was pretty nervous…jitters left pretty quick. What a fun new hobby!! Who knew I would come on a mission and learn to play the ukulele?!!

Power touristing saw us visit Peggy’s Cove, the Rhubarb Restaurant and the Temple on Thursday. Great day!!

Oxford sink hole, Stanfield underwear factory outlet in Truro, across Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island for District Council, Cavendish and Green Gables, red sand beaches, and more sightseeing filled our Friday, and then with wind warnings Saturday morning and the threat of bridge closure, we cut out the rest of our PEI exploring and headed back to New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Blustery weather didn’t deter us from exploring…Joggins Fossil cliffs and Cape D’Or where Richard had been anxious to visit since we arrived!! It wasn’t a logging road but the condition of it reminded me of one…the freshly graded red shale had not been packed down at all well, and big chunks of the road were being washed away by the rainstorm…I was never so glad to get off a road!!

Sunday we enjoyed a lovely drive to New Glasgow. About 40 folks were in attendance and they were thrilled to have Jan as a guest organist; and one branch member said it had been years since he had heard the organ…Richard and I were asked to speak…you can imagine what we talked about!!!

And then Monday our delightful guests had to leave us…what a glorious time we had enjoyed together…Thank you D’Arcey and Jan for sacrificing your Easter break to be with us….it meant so much to have family here!!! You are wonderful!! (And thanks for bringing the wheat grinder!!)

This week April 29- May 4, 2019

This report is getting pretty long..so I’ll quickly review this past week, which included studying French, getting tutored in French, participating in ukulele club, planning and holding our MLC, visiting, and visiting, and visiting with our missionaries, mostly who are doing wonderfully well…(a few challenges), and attending an amazing rug-hooking exhibition honouring the 100th anniversary of the Group of Seven - it was stunning and belongs in the National Art Gallery…These creative Nova Scotians are wool artists, and recreated portions of the art of the Group of Seven - we were so inspired. I think if you look on Halifax CBC archives for Thursday, May 2.. - Fairbanks Centre at Shubenacadie Park you could get a glimpse of what I’m talking about.

Alicia Kerber (Mark, she graduated with you at LCI - born in 1986) who works with Aaron has been in Halifax since Thursday trying to recruit Doctors to come to Alberta. Her Conference finished yesterday so this morning we picked her up from the Harbourside Marriott, and spent the entire day with her. She attended meetings with us, and loved being at Church. After the two hour block she and I headed to Peggy’s Cove, Mahone Bay and Lunenberg. (Richard was involved in Coordinating Council.) Her best friend who she occasionally attended Church with was Emily Lacey. Anyway it was awesome really being a missionary, with a potential ALL day!!! She peppered me with questions pretty much the whole time we were driving around!! Anyone that knows her..keep sharing the JOY of the gospel with her…she is amazing!!!

And now it is time to close this lengthy epistle….

Happy 6th Birthday to Sadey Dawn Low next Sunday May 12, 2019

Thank you for your prayers, for your love and support..

We pray for all of you too!!

Keep Smiling and CTR