Blog for the week of January 29, 2017.
I don’t have much to write about this week…..While it has
been a very busy week, most of my activities have been covered in previous
blogs, - car sales, car repairs, working accidents, and entering the car
inspection data into the computer system. The program is aptly named, CARS, and
is the system each mission vehicle coordinator uses to document all that
happens with each vehicle placed in the mission.
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Well, I had no sooner written the paragraph above when I
received a call from two of our sister missionaries reporting that someone had
backed into the front of their car while they were inside of the ward building
teaching a lesson. The person at fault had had to go from room to room until he
found them to report what he had done. Fortunately the location of the accident
was rather nearby so I researched and found the phone number for the nearest
police station, reported the accident, and told the police officer I would meet
him/her at the site of the accident. When Kathy and I got there we were not
prepared for the amount of damage. Someone had backed up so quickly that the
bumper was almost completely dislodged from the front of our Toyota Corolla. It
had been T-boned, nearly knocking off the entire bumper. The bumper was just hanging
by a few of the wires and so, after the policeman was done, I was able to pull
the remainder of the bumper off completely so we could move it over to the side
of the parking lot. The picture is below.
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| Our poor Corolla! |
Afterward, the Sisters were instructed to remove all of
their teaching materials and personal things and we drove them to their
apartment. Fortunately we have a loaner vehicle which we will be able to get to
them on Monday.
Like last winter, after a period of bitter cold weather, the
temperatures have moderated considerably and we are enjoying melting snow and
pleasant Chinook weather. As the warm breezes (yes, sometimes strong winds,
especially further south) sweep up and over the mountains, it creates what is
known as the Chinook Bow. While the Chinook prevails, there is a line of clouds
that sits just east of the Canadian Rockies. I will include a couple of pictures of this
weather phenomenon as photographed from our apartment balcony.
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| Chinook Bow |
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| Canadian Rockies and Chinook Bow |
I learned something last week that I had not previously
known; in the greater Calgary area there are 67 wards and 7 stakes. This speaks
to the strength of the Church in this area, and this is pretty much replicated
in the Lethbridge, Cardston, Raymond, and Tabor areas. Many trace their roots
back to the original Mormon settlers who were sent to colonize what is now the
extreme southern part of Alberta, particularly in the Cardston area. Mormons
moving to some of the other areas in South Alberta came about in a rather
interesting way. As the story was
related to me, early dry land farmers who moved into the Tabor and Raymond
areas experienced too frequent crop failures due to the inadequate and
undependable rainfall. Farmers there were informed by others that they needed
to bring in some Mormons to show them how to set up irrigation systems and
utilize streams and rivers flowing eastward from the Canadian Rockies. They
sent a delegation to Salt Lake to meet with Church leaders. Members of the
Church with irrigation experience were identified and soon families were
dispatched to the area to homestead the area and work with the farming
communities to set up irrigation systems. This whole area now is covered with
beautiful farms, and the Tabor area produces world famous corn. It is known as
the Corn Capital of Canada and has an annual Cornfest celebration each year in
August. We enjoyed corn from there a number of times this past summer and can
attest that it is, indeed, delicious.
With completion of our mission service approaching for each
of the three couples in the mission office, we are becoming somewhat alarmed
that there are no replacement couples identified to replace us. We know that
this condition exists for many of the missions around the world, this because
the number of missions is ever increasing and too few couples are committing to
serve to meet the need. So, if any of you are giving some thought to serving,
please step up. It is time. We can attest to it being a wonderful experience,
one we will treasure the rest of our lives.
We hope all is well with each of you and hope you will have
a great week.
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