Pictures of some family home evening etc.

Our family home evening group.  We have two single sisters that serve in the Brampton temple, the temple president and his wife, and two other temple workers,  and next to me is Brother Green and his wife in front of him that work in the office with us.

When we moved into our new apartment on the third floor, someone had "heart-attacked" our door!  What a nice welcome! Very thoughtful!

 All of the senior missionaries serving in our area  are enjoying an after Christmas party at a  monthly dinner at one of the members homes . . . .

 Our first zone conference in Orangeville! brrrrrr . . . . .

The empty chair is  for the elder's wife who is taking the picture.  On the right, you can barely see all 23 of the grand children's individual pictures on the wall.

2013 Christmas party with several senior missionaries . . . . .

December 23, 2013. . Our first party with the "seniors" was held in the employment center/ cannery/bishop's store house, all in one huge building. . .  We had a ham dinner, mashed potatoes and gravy, (different? combination), rolls, salads and dessert. To give you an idea of a few of the senior's that we're serving with, let me introduce you to them.  Next to Darrell and I are the Rees'. They worked in the office and went home the first of January.  She was the office nurse, did referrals and supplies, and he was the fleet co-ordiantor.  Next to brother Rees is, a new convert, that one of the couples brought with the dinner, and next to him is Brother Robinson, (his wife is taking the picture), who are CES missionaries.  Next to them are the Trees,(she has got 3 "trees" on her jumper), and are over the employment center; next to them are the Kennett's who run the Bishop's storehouse, next to them are the Whiteheads, who serve in the temple as ordinance workers, and on the end are the Caldwells', who worked in the office. They left right after Christmas, and they are the ones that we moved into their apartment.   I replaced her position at the front desk, but some of the responsibilities of Sister Rees and Sister Caldwell were split prior to us coming in.  I handle a portion of each of their responsibilities that I mentioned previously in my first blog. Darrell took over all of her husbands responsibilities as housing coordinator, and financial secretary.

December-January update

Most of you have not heard from us since we left  Utah over a month ago! We wanted to get a quick  e-mail off to all of you, letting you know that we are thinking of you and surviving this very frigid, harsh winter here in Brampton, ON. Today, Jan. 7th it was a minus 24, with wind chill temperatures of a minus 30 to 40 degrees Celsius.  Today it was the coldest it's been in 70 years. It is a damp cold that makes you shiver all over, even when wearing layered clothing.  Today in the province of Ontario, there were 275 car accidents early this morning, due to the weather.  Since our arrival in Brampton on December 18th our lives have changed drastically. I would say Darrell and I have been" running", since the day we walked into President Scott's office on the 19th of December. As most of you know our assignment was to be member leadership missionaries.  We were very surprised when President Scott asked if we would be willing to work in the office. My first reaction was; this is not what we planned to do!  I had even brought my Bosch mixer, so I could make some bread for those cute little families in one of the small branches up North. I have been asked to manage the front desk, referrals, supplies and convert baptisms. Darrell is over all of the finances and housing.  Another couple in the office takes care of the fleets, and his wife, who is a nurse does the medical and transfers.  We have 295 missionaries, 11 districts, and in our stake, there is over 125 different ethnic groups. We leave our apartment at 7:30 a.m and arrive home after 8:00 p.m. We work Monday through Monday, taking a little time to do our wash once a week on Saturday, and shop for a few groceries, and attend church on Sunday.  I have never been busier in all my life! I have to keep thinking what my grandson Tyler wrote to us in a letter the other day, " the the Lord doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called."  We keep praying that President Scott was inspired to call us, and that we will become qualified for this new position that has been asked of us.   It is truly humbling and many times a day I ask my Father in Heaven to help us through the days and give us strength as we learning something in such a" magnitude". Hopefully, in the months ahead we can get back to a little bit of normalcy.  Someone once said, no matter what you thought your mission would be like, you will be surprised, and that we are!

When we get some time, we will send pictures etc. on our blog.