Monday, April 29, 2019

It has been a quiet week.  It is week 5 of the transfer cycle and a week of many rainy days.  We are starting to see places where the grass is turning green, spring bulbs are poking their heads out of the ground, and the buoys are back in place in our backyard lake for crew practice.  So we have hope that Spring will really arrive one day. 

Our Easter weekend was quite and simple.  Here in Eastern Canada the Catholic Church has a pretty big presence.  Many converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once belonged to the Catholic Church and their traditions are a big part of the culture of the area.  Our temple here in Dartmouth holds extra sessions on Good Friday and the Saturday of Easter Weekend because so many people want to attend the temple.  Good Friday is a government holiday and so is the Monday after Easter which is called Easter Monday. But missionary work never stops and we were in the office on both days and our missionaries were out and about seeking any who would listen to them. We all seemed kind of disconnected from the worldly traditions of Easter Bunnies, coloring eggs, Easter egg hunts, etc. and we missed our family, but it was kind of nice to focus more on the real reason for Easter.  On Sunday we attended our meetings with the YSA Branch in Halifax.  The speakers gave amazing messages on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Resurrection.  We didn't even have a big dinner planned and ate leftovers for dinner and spent the afternoon talking to and FaceTiming our family.

Sister Swenson and Sister Brennan-our STLs and Elder Strong and Elder Benson -one of our APs.

Some members and the missionaries attending the Halifax YSA Branch with us on Easter Sunday.

Two years ago I had to have a root canal done on one my upper front teeth.  When I visited the dentist in Utah about 14 months later and right before we went into the MTC, the X Ray showed that there was still infection surrounding the tooth and another oral surgeon did another procedure with a long crazy name, but it meant cutting the end off the tooth and cleaning out the infection again.  Then off we went to the MTC and then to the Canada Halifax Mission.  Again, it never felt to me as if the tooth had really healed and decided to find a dentist in Dartmouth to see if they could help me.  They noticed some swelling in the gums and directed me to an endodontist but it was a almost 2 months before I could get an appointment.  In the meantime, we made a quick trip to Utah , and the same dentist who took care of my mouth before we went into the Mission  looked at new xrays and said that the tooth was still infected and needed to be pulled.  I didn't have enough time to get it taken care of in the States so we came back to the Mission and I waited for the appointment with the Endodontist.  That came in January.  She said she couldn't do anything for me and sent me back to my regular dentist who then referred me to an oral surgeon.  My first appointment with them happened in April and then on Wednesday I went in and they pulled my tooth and did some bone grafting.  My regular dentist had previously taken molds of my teeth and we had a "flipper" made with a fake tooth so I at least don't have to go around with a big empty space in in my mouth.  I will be this way for at least 4 months and then hopefully can get an implant.  I was really hoping that we wouldn't have to pull the tooth but c'est la vie.  I didn't go into the office on Wednesday but was back on Thursday and have felt fine since then. 

That was pretty much our week.  We wanted to go exploring on Saturday but we had a major rain storm with strong winds and even some lightning so we just hunkered down in our apartment and worked on our knitting and crocheting.  (That is a story for another time.)

Robyn

Sister Low's Sister, visiting from Alberta, showing Elder Boyle some knitting tips.  

April 13 - Zone Conference Week

      Like the title says, this was Zone Conference week.  Right now we have 3 Zones in our mission--New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland.  We don't usually travel with President and Sister Low to Moncton for the New Brunswick Conference or to St. John's for the Newfoundland Conference, but this time he asked us to go with him to Moncton so that Elder Boyle could do the car inspections.  We have been having the Senior Couples that live in the different areas of the Mission do car and apartment inspections every 6 weeks between conferences but now that winter may be thinking about being over, President Low wanted Elder Boyle to check all the cars so he could talk personally to the missionaries about keeping the cars maintained and clean.  

Sister Prudent and Sister Schultz

     After our weekly Monday morning meeting we decided we should get on the road as soon as possible because a big storm was supposed to be on it's way (Unfortunately winter is Not really over). We drove a mission car to give to the Fredericton Sisters because their car needed to be in the shop for a week to get some repairs done.  It is a 3 hour drive and we made it to Moncton before the snow storm started that night.  It was already snowing in Maine and the western parts of New Brunswick so the President changed their interviews from Monday evening until Tuesday after the Conference.

  Tuesday was the Zone Conference.  It was nice to be able to see the Elders and Sisters that serve in that part of the Mission because we don't ever really see them in the office because they live so far away.  We also got to meet Elder and Sister Routson who have been serving in Bathurst for about 6 months and Elder and Sister Chan who are serving in St. Stephen and have been in the Mission for a couple of months.  Because of the winter weather they both drove directly to their areas of service instead of coming to Dartmouth to the office so we hadn't ever met them in person, just spoke on the phone or seen them in our Senior District Meeting over Zoom.  I also got to visit with Sister Taylor---a ward member from Moncton who always prepares a luncheon meal for the Conference.  We have spoken on the phone so it was nice to visit with her in person.  We only had one Sister going home before the next Zone Conference and that was Sister Johnson so she bore her testimony at the end of the meeting.  Those closing testimonies are one of my favorite parts of the meeting.  The Conference was over about 4 PM and after Elder Boyle took the group picture we headed back to home.  Luckily the snow that fell all night long had melted and the roads going home were clear.  Thursday was Nova Scotia's Zone Conference held in the Dartmouth Stake Center.   Sister Davies and Sister Green and Sister Behlke gave their last testimonies.  

New Brunswick April Zone Conference

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The leadership council held right after the Conference ended.
These Elders and sisters make the Mission go.

Nova Scotia Zone Conference

Elder Smith leading the music

Sister Davies

After the Zone Conference we went to the Mission Home to have dinner with the two departing Missionaries, Sister Green and Sister Davies.  Sister Low always serves wonderful meals for her guests and we have these dinners with the Office Staff and the Missionaries that are leaving to go home every transfer.  The plan for after the dinner was to go to the Temple with everyone for the Thursday night session but Cary and I decided not to go because my foot was really hurting.  (another story for in the future.)

Sister Davies and Sister Green getting ready to board their plane to go home

On Saturday, even though it was gray and rainy, we decided to go to a place called Sugar Moon Farm where they make maple syrup.  It was a place in the forest just north of Truro--about 1 1/2 hour drive for us.  The months of March and April are the times that they tap into the maple trees and draw out the water that they make into syrup.  We could have paid to go on a 6 km hike to see where the trees were being tapped but we weren't up for that this time.  We went in the the small restaurant and had some yummy pancakes with maple syrup.  We were surprised to see how runny it was.  They told us that the sap was running that day and that we could go back and see where they were boiling the tree water down until it was 63 percent sugar.  It was very interesting to hear about the process and see how it is done.  I'm pretty sure I can't ever buy that fake stuff in the grocery store any more.  All that pancake syrup has zero, zip, nada maple syrup in it.  

Elder Boyle waiting for his pancakes to be served.

                         

                        

         The man in the blue shirt is constantly stoking the big wood fire in the belly of the beast.    Elder Boyle really enjoyed learning about the process.           

There is fire behind those heavy black doors.

The steam going out the roof.

The beast that boils the syrup.

The lady in the plaid shirt gave us the tour. The other couple with us had a 2 year old and a four year old and spent most of their time wrangling their kids.  That reminded us so much of our grandkids.

An outside view of the Sugar Shack





This old wagon was in a field across the street.

Everywhere we go we find cool churches. 

 This one and the statue of a World War I soldier on the grounds 

is in a small Village named Tatamagouche.

It has taken me 3 days to get this done.  Already we are halfway into another week.  Time just flies by.  We have been on our mission for 11 months with lots of adventures to go.

Robyn

April 2, 2019

It has been a busy couple of weeks.  First we had Mission Leadership Council for all of the Zone Leaders, Sister Trainer Leaders (STLs), and District Leaders.  We usually attend those meetings but this time I stayed in the office to wait for a registered delivery.  Elder Boyle went to take pictures and to talk about insurance cards for the cars.  The next morning the Elders from Newfoundland hung out in the office for a bit until time for their flights back to the "Rock".  We don't get to see these guys very often because they are a flight away. Elder Boyle even bought them some Tim Horton Do-nuts.

Elders Barkdull, Smith, Olaveson, Groneman, and Williams

Elders Ford, Barkdull, Broadhead, Call, and Williams.

 

Elder Albertson and Elder Pierson 

Elder Williams, Elder Broadhead, and Elder Pierson

 

Elder Call, Elder Williams, Elder Broadhead, and Elder Pierson
heading out the door to catch their flight.
Elder Pierson is the driver. The others are flying back to Newfoundland. 

I just ran out of time.  I will have to continue this later.

Robyn