Feasting

    Last week we drove to Montreal for a zone conference with Elder Piper of the Seventy.  He was here to conduct a "mission tour".  How well I remember these from our other mission!  It is a time of high stress for the mission president and his wife, but also a chance to be taught what the prophet and apostles want us to know.  The tours now are conducted almost solely by the Seventy because of the number of missions throughout the world.  Even though they come to provide support to the mission president, one still is anxious to have everything perfect so a good report will be made on "your" mission.  As I listened to Sister Patrick give her remarks in beautiful French with no notes and then saw her dealing with her four children, one of whom wasn't necessarily thrilled to be spending a scheduled school holiday in a stake center with at least 100 missionaries, I marveled at her capacity to be unflappable.  She had called me on Sunday evening to ask that I talk to couple of sick missionaries because she was "trying to have a nice dinner with the Pipers."  I was happy to accommodate and gave both of them my normal spiel about drinking lots of water, getting some rest and taking Tylenol if necessary, which always seemed to work in Geneva as long as I added a few "motherly "words of sympathy and encouragement.  Anyway, the conference was great and it gave all the missionaries a spiritual lift, us included.
     "L'hiver commence" (winter begins) here in the north.  We have had highs in the 30's but so far just a little snow.  More is on the way for this weekend, if the forecast is correct.  I purchased some lined boots and a long wool coat, and Paul got some leather "boots" that are more like shoes, but they go up over his ankles.  He is more concerned with looking fashionable and "sharp" than I am.  The Arctic geese are still here and most days the entire surface of the lake/reservoir is covered with them.  One day as we drove past a huge flock of a hundred or more took flight at the same time. But we are assured that once we have some real snow they will head south.  I guess 21 degrees at night doesn't seem unpleasant to birds from the Arctic.  I will post some pictures in the next couple of days of how the locals prepare for the onslaught.
     I never got this posted, so will add a few more things and get it done.  It is now November 24th, and although it is nearly Thanksgiving in the U.S., there is no sign of a holiday here.  We went to Costco yesterday to purchase some food for a family in the branch;  I searched in vain for one of their famous pumpkin pies.  I did find a couple of frozen turkeys.  It is strange to be so removed from all the hoopla of Thanksgiving dinner and 'Black Friday'.  We will be teaching our regularly scheduled English class on Thursday night, and will go to bed early with absolutely no thoughts of getting a deal at a store.
    We are going to begin teaching the temple preparation class to two single individuals; we already are teaching another who is nearly ready to go to the temple.  We are also planning a marriage class, and we meet weekly with a man who is participating in the addiction recovery classes via phone.  We continue to work with several less-active members, and a couple of investigators.  It doesn't always seem like we are busy, but the days fly by and I have much to put into the record of our work.  Once again recently I had a confirmation from Heavenly Father that we are here for a reason.  One of the sisters who is preparing to go the temple looked me in the eye and said, "You may sometimes think you are doing anything very important here, but I an assure you that, if for no other reason, you are here for me." She couldn't possibly know how important this statement was to me!