After a wonderful 5 days at the MTC we set out for Toronto on Fri, with the threat of snow in SL. We were pleasantly surprised that the further east we drove the better the weather was. We arrived at Omaha, at my brother, Lenny and Norene's on Sat evening and enjoyed staying with them for two nights and attending their branch with them on Sunday. Lenny showed us the church sites in the area. They are enjoying their mission, except for Norene's struggle taking chemo, but she hopes to be getting stronger soon and has great faith that all this will pass.
We got up really early Monday and made it across the Canadian border from Detroit at Windsor, ON, CA and stayed the night. Then Tue, we took our time driving to Toronto and visited several chapels on the way so we could get a feel for the saints in Canada. We also visited Point Pelee National Park which is the southernmost tip of Canada on Lake Erie, and walked out as far as we could on a sand bar. We're settled into our 1 bedroom apartment, a 1st floor apartment in a high rise apartment building. It's only 5 min from our office in the Brampton Stake Center which is right next to the Toronto Temple. The location is great. There is a small lake behind us that I have run around a few times. As it gets colder and darker in the morning, I'm not sure I can do it any more. There is an exercise room in our building, but it's currently under repair. That will be great when it is ready. The thing we really like is the underground parking so we don't have to go out in the cold and snow or have a frozen car.
The weather was nice the first few days we were here (abt 50-55 degrees F) but has turned cold (abt 30-35 degrees F). It snowed once last week, but didn't leave more than a skiff on the ground for part of a day. It's supposed to snow tonight, so we'll see what winter brings.
We're still getting a feel for what we'll be doing here. We're having a big meeting on Sat with PA people from SL and Washington DC (Marcus Faust, Pres Faust's son, who I grew up with except he was younger so I don't remember him too much.) Also Area Authorities from 3 areas that include Canada, and the DPA's from all the provinces in Canada. They have just organized Canada into it's own Public Affairs area, called CPAC (Canada Public Affairs Council). We are on that Council and will be helping the CPAC Director, Sandra Pallin however we can. We will also help the newly called Ontario/Eastern Provinces Director. We haven't met him yet, but will on Sat. We'll be having a meeting with the Ontario council on Sunday to include all the Stake PA Committees in Ontario. We're really glad we got here in time for these meetings because we really need to know all these people and this is a great opportunity for us. We've been to a couple of district meetings and are inspired and energized by meeting with the young missionaries. They're expecting about 30 new missionaries in January. They're scrambling to get apartments and cars and trainers for them all. 3 new couples are arriving in Dec. so we won't be the new kids on the block for long. The mission is growing and we're glad to be a part of it.
The gospel is true. Shout it out loud and clear.
We love and miss all of you.
