Spring has Sprung

 It is amazing to think that three weeks ago snow was everywhere.   Water, water everywhere you look.   This is a view looking onto Halifax Harbour from Downtown Halifax.   A popular restaurant called the Bicycle Thief is on the corner.  We haven't been yet but will before we leave.

 Had a Fabulous Preparation Day.    Sealings at the temple and then out to another quaint restaurant on the Eastern Passage called Warf Wraps.   The Haddock with Creme Cheeze in the middle is more that you can eat.   The Pitts on the far left are from Boise Idaho, (They work in the Temple)  The Greens are a local couple who work in the office part time.  Elder Green is our resident Newfoundlander.  President and Sister Leavitt.

 No we don't want our picture taken.  Sister Leavitt and Sister Harding

 Now these two are very cute together.   We cherish our time with the Leavitt's.  They are so gracious and kind and humble servants of the Lord.

President Leavitt is Fabulous.  It's always fun to be with them.    He challenged the Missionaries to read the Book of Mormon during this transfer.  It's been very rewarding.   I am writing down all of the different titles given to Jesus Christ.   I am up to 118.  It has helped me appreciate and grow closer to the Saviour.   A title that is used very extensively is "The Lord of Hosts"

President Leavitt also has a physical challenge for the Missionaries.   5 min planking.   It was all that I could do to make one minute for two weeks, then all of a sudden I started to make some improvements.   I made 3 minutes last Saturday. (About 8 weeks into the challenge)   That which you persist in doing becomes easier, not because the nature of the thing has changed but our ability has increased.   The once impossible task of 5 minutes seemed totally out of reach.   There is absolutely no way, I would think.   But now with some persistant effort, it seems like it might be possible.  I now have hope that I could be able to do it.   There's a parable in this experience for me.

Tenacity -- the Parable of the Toque!

I love this picture of a toque that someone dropped on the edge of the road leading to the back of our apartment. It was lost back in about January, when the snow started to fall. A passerby picked it up and hung it from a dead twig. The yarn  must have gotten tangled in the branch, because this toque stayed there the entire winter, through multiple storms.

It even became completely buried in the snow at one point,

only to reappear in April as the snow finally  melted.

Each day as we drove up and down the lane, I saw the toque --- it just kept "hangin' in there", through the worst winter that the Maritimes has seen in a long time. That is one tenacious toque --- I just had to take a picture and write about it --- I told President about the toque in one of my weekly letters,  and also about some of the people that we had been able to work with on our mission. Some were at a place in their lives where they were receptive and ready to make changes, while others were not. 

We have not given up on those who struggle, but continue to reach out and invite and encourage.President said, "Before you leave, go and get the toque, and take it home with you. It will remind you of your service here and how it is important to become "tangled" in peoples lives and not give up on them."  That is a great insight ....

This young couple is also showing a lot of tenacity!

They have been through some challenging times, but they did not quit. This weekend, Elder Harding and some other members of the Dartmouth Ward are helping them as they move into a new apartment together, with their 2 year old daughter, Lily.

Lily has gotten quite comfortable with Elder Harding and will now come and sit on his lap.

When Matt and Andrea started coming back to church, Elder Harding would take Lily into the nursery so her parents could attend Sunday School class together. 

We were assigned to home and visit teach Matt and Andrea a few months ago and we are so proud of them and the choices and changes that they are making!

It is humbling to see what the Lord can do in our Lives as we open the Door and invite Him in. So grateful that we got to be involved in the process, and to play a small part. Meeting Matt and Andrea has been one of the highlights of our Mission.

Another highlight has been to see how the Lord has opened our minds and our eyes to see how the Saints in three different branches, throughout Newfoundland, could receive some much needed Training  . A few weeks ago, when we attended District Conference in NFL, and most of our group could not attend because the Ferry was cancelled. This meant that those scheduled to talk and teach could not make it --- as I later thought about how all of NFL joined into the conference via skype, the spirit impressed upon my mind to ask if the Stake Leaders

in Nova Scotia would allow the Branches in NFL to join in on  their stake training, twice a year, via Skype. 

This way, NFL would not miss out on valuable training due to uncertain weather conditions And the hearts of the Stake in NS would be turned towards their Brothers and Sister in NFL, to assist and help them out.

President readily agreed, and assigned me to follow through on it, so I called the Stake RS and Primary Presidents and they not only were willing, they volunteered to contact the NFL branches a few weeks ahead of their next training and get everyone on schedule. The missionaries will set up the Skype call, which takes the technical burden off the Stake -- this is the first time that this has happened and we are all  so excited! The Lord saw what needed to be done, He planted the thoughts, and showed us the way.

This month in the Mission, all of the Missionaries are reading the entire Book of Mormon, cover to cover, in one transfer.  I am Loving it!! I have never read the Book of  Mormon in that short of a time before and my testimony and love for this sacred Book of Scripture is growing each day as I read. All of the parents of our missionaries were invited to read it with us. It is a great experience. 

Elder Harding and I are both enjoying this, and are having some good discussions about what we are learning.

Our friends  from Nepal were very worried about their friends and family back home during last months terrible earthquake -- they were relieved to hear that all of their family is safe, just tired out from spending a couple of nights outdoors, waiting for the after shocks to stop ---- what a horrible tragedy, over 4,ooo dead. 

  Our hearts and prayers go out to our brothers and sisters of Nepal.

A Season of Change

Elder Harding and I cannot believe how fast the time is going. It seems to go quicker each transfer.
 We had our first ever "Sisters Only Transfer" last week, as a group of  "Sister Missionaries" completed their 18 months, and flew home. It is reflective of the "Bubble" of Sister Missionaries that came into the mission with the new age change, about 2 years ago, and now this bubble of Missionaries have completed their service and are returning home.

Left to right are Sister's Renda, Aslett, Burton, Ward, Sharp and Maxwell, with the Assistants, Elder Erickson and Dudley on the front right.

My favorite pictures are always when we do "Fun" picture after the "serious" picture! It just always brings out a different side!

As we listened to the "Farewell Testimonies" of this wonderful group of Sisters, there seemed to be a theme that got started and was repeated, the theme of  "Change". One Sister said that  she had really had a change of heart on her mission, another said she had seen great changes in other people, but mostly in herself, and someone mentioned that going home was going to be such a big change, they were so accustomed to missionary life. Sister Ward talked about the scripture Ether 12:27 and how it  had come to mean a lot to her. It reads, "And if men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weaknesses that they may be humble: and my grace is sufficient for all men that if they humble themselves before me and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." She said that  being on a  mission had brought out her weaknesses, and for a while, that bothered her. Then she realized that the Lord was blessing her to be able to "Change" and turn her weaknesses into strengths!  One of the Assistants, in his testimony,  told us that he came on a mission thinking that he was going to "Change the world" --- and he ended up being changed the most.

How I LOVE these Missionaries --- their honesty, their strengths and all that they have taught me.

This picture reflects another "Change" that has happened.All of the snow that was outside our apartment

has now melted and become a small pond, complete with a "Duck!"

We had to stop and take this picture one morning on our way to the Office.We could not believe we were looking at a duck right where the snow drifts had been a few weeks ago. We are grateful for the change in weather and are enjoying it. 

We said a temporary "Goodbye" to Sister Drew.

She is just so much fun....she and her companion, Sister Maxwell, loved to call Elder Harding and ask him for help or advice. They admitted that they sort of came to rely on him, but he really enjoyed them calling. It as sort of like having daughters here to care for.

One week, when we had not heard from them for 3-4 days, we called them up and teased them a bit. We had to take this photo with the Sister Drew and Elder Harding on the phone, before Sister Drew got transferred. We will see her again in a few weeks time, before she too, goes home.

President reminded us, at the close of our Testimony evening, that it takes great courage to change ourselves. At 60 years of age, he said, you will have chosen your Face --- be it sad or happy, content or discontent. We will no longer be able to say it was this person or that, that made me what I am, but I am what I ultimately chose to be. This is just the beginning, at the end of our missions, he said. We are meant to go home, take off the name tag, and  use what we have learned, what we have become.

I really like these thoughts, and I have pondered on them. Being on a mission is a life-changing experience. It does bring out our weaknesses, it brings us to our knees and it gives us wonderful experiences that we would not have anywhere else.

I love the Lord, I am grateful for His tender Mercies. One of the  things that changes missionaries it to repeat, every morning, their Mission Commission ...... it reminds us that We are all called of God, we stand in His place and minister to the very people that He would minister to, if He were personally here. Our voice is His voice, Our acts are His acts, Our doctrine is His doctrine. Our commission is to do what He wants done, and to say what He wants said. 

As we strive to do this, it cannot help but Change us!