What, - you couldn't find our blog last week? ........

Blog for September 26, 2016

New snow on the western mountains 9/23/16

If you looked for last week’s blog and didn’t see it, it was for a good reason, - it wasn’t there. This blog will cover the past two weeks.

Last weekend we were in Montana for a great family occasion. Prior to that was a busy week of zone conferences and car inspections and the arrival of nine new Nissan Rogues to be placed in our mission fleet.

Nine new Rogues added to the mission fleet

The arrival of these new Rogues will complete the current round of expected new vehicles. These cars are gradually replacing vehicles that are due to come out of the fleet and be sold. Determining which cars need to come out of the fleet is the easy part; how and where to make the swap, getting all the paperwork ready for the swap, and shuttling the cars to the exchange location and getting the older cars back to the office is the more challenging part of the process. Then there is the problem of having the new vehicles show up in the fleet inventory so that they can be assigned to specific areas. Until the cars are available in the inventory electronically and are “clickable” by mouse, they can’t be assigned to an area and a driver. This complicates things greatly. Weeks pass before the specific vehicle shows up on the list of mission cars, so, until then they exist physically but not electronically.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my job as Fleet Coordinator is to call the missionary pair who will be getting one of the new vehicles and inform them. This is usually met with a very brief moment of silence followed by exclamations of, “Oh, Wow!” “No way!” “Are you kidding?” “When do we get it?” It is also a moment of leverage; I tell them. “It won’t happen unless the car you have to exchange is absolutely clean.” So far, so good; no one’s new car has been withheld because of the old one not being clean. It works so well in fact, maybe I should assign new cars as determined by who keeps the cleanest cars. :^)

The challenge I have now we are back from our short trip to Montana is to get them prepped and ready for sale. Some are hail-damaged cars and whether the hail damaged vehicle gets repaired and sold or the car is “totaled” is a decision made by the Church fleet managers in Salt Lake City. For my part I have to get a cost of repairs estimate on each hail damaged car; then this cost estimate is factored into the value of the vehicle after local repairs verses what the insurance return is for the car if determined to be a “total loss”. Fortunately I don’t have to make this decision, but waiting for the Church fleet people to make this decision does slow up the selling process. Selling the car “as is” at a discounted price is also factored in but usually doesn’t happen. Again, for my part, there is no point in repairing dings, dents, and scratches and having the cars detailed and readied for sale if the car is also hail-damaged and will be totaled.

Last weekend was spent in eastern Montana, primarily Miles City. 

We filled the entire table at Mexico Lindos and a side table

The principal purpose of the trip was to be with family for a special occasion. All four daughters and their families were gathering along with us to see my twin grandsons, Ethan and Jonah, off for their own LDS missions. They will both be trained in American Sign Language. One will be serving in the Los Angeles area and the other in the Rochester, New York area. They will enter the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on October 5^th. Both have some experience in ASL as they have a deaf sibling. Kathy and I drove to Billings and met their parents and them at the Billings Temple, then later in the day we drove to Miles City where they live. Some of you will recall that, following retirement, my first wife and I lived in Miles City for a time until she passed away in January of 2013. It was after that when I met my present wife and moved away from Miles City.

Ethan and Jonah and their parents all spoke in the Miles City Ward Sacrament Meeting and did such a good job. It seems so strange that Ethan and Jonah, who were just infants when their family moved to Miles City some 16 years ago, are now approaching adulthood and leaving for missions. The whole family is shown in the picture that follows.

Proud parents, one pregnant mama, and two missionary sons

After four biological children, my oldest daughter and her husband have adopted several children, - from China, Haiti, and Ethiopia. And now, wait for this……….my daughter is pregnant and expecting another son. The last time she was pregnant was 17 years ago when the twins were born. Their older brother, Joshua, also served a mission and has been home for two years now. He is now a Junior at BYU and has a wonderful wife, Natalie. Joshua left for his mission in 2012, just prior to my first wife’s death. So much history is such a short time!

Goofy Whicker family

On Kathy’s and my return to Canada from Montana, we stopped to visit some dear friends, the Huffs, whom I haven’t seen since 1980. They live in Havre, Montana. We had a wonderful reunion and had much to talk about as 36 years have passed since we were last together. Huffs, too, have served a mission and did so in Ithica, New York. They returned from their mission a couple of years ago.

On the way from Havre, we passed through an area in Alberta called Cyprus Hills, a beautiful mountain area that exists out in what is otherwise some pretty boring and flat prairie land. 

Cyprus Hills, Alberta

Afterwards we stopped in Medicine Hat, Alberta, and caught the last part of the missionaries’ district conference. Following their meeting, we treated them all to lunch. We enjoy seeing each of the areas where our missionaries serve. I was impressed that Medicine Hat is a thriving, beautiful city; not at all what I expected. We were told by the missionaries that we needed to see the world’s largest teepee and so we did. See below. We weren’t very impressed as it is more of a teepee frame than a true teepee. Oh well, it is a tourist stop and now we can say we saw it as well. 

World's Largest Teepee, Medicine Hat, Alberta

This week back in Calgary it was time to play catch up which required putting in some extra hours after the office had closed. Particularly this involves putting all the recent car inspections into the computer, and it requires contacting the missionaries regarding some of the issues that were made apparent in our car inspections such as the need for oil changes, some needing tires and windshield replacements.

The weather has been beautiful, and although a bit past its prime, Autumn is in full display here in Alberta. Yesterday we took a number of pictures to try to capture the beauty here this time of year. 

Calgary street, Autumn September 2016

Autumn at the Glenmore Reservoir

Add caption

Weaselhead in Autumn

The air is getting crisp and cool and nighttime temperatures have been hovering around the freezing mark. We just harvested what will probably be the last of the cherry tomatoes from our plant out on the balcony of our apartment.

We wish you a wonderful Fall season. We love and miss each of you, especially our families. It was wonderful to see my daughters and each of my grandchildren last weekend. Our prayers go with Jonah and Ethan as they leave for their own missionary service.

Zone Conferences, car inspections, a birthday, and a whole lot more……..

Blog of September 10, 2016

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATHY

Usually we don’t have zone conferences immediately following transfer week but such was the case this past week with hardly time to catch our collective breath before we were on the road again. Monday morning involved a concerted effort to get a bit caught up before loading up what would be needed for the car inspections and for missionary instruction. Preparing for the inspections involves printing out a separate sheet by vehicle identification number for each car. The inspection sheets show what failed to pass inspection the previous inspection and a list of repair items for that car previously. These sheets can’t be printed out until all the changes in the missionary assignments had been completed late last week.

We are equipped to do limited repairs on our mission vehicles and we keep a supply of items that are relatively easy to replace such as wiper blades, light bulbs, some filters, floor mats, window scrapers, tire gauges, etc.  We also keep a supply of a few trim type body parts that can be replaced easily and prove to be frequently needed. We keep containers of synthetic oil, antifreeze, brake fluid, and windshield washer solution. All this is kept on a pallet in our storage area and we roll this out and load it all onto the mission truck which we drive to each zone conference location. 2-3 zones meet with the mission president each day in the different locations around the mission. While the missionaries meet with President and Sister Miles, Elder and Sister Sefcik and my wife and I do the car inspections. This includes topping off fluids, checking on engines for smooth starting and running, checking on tire wear and tire pressures, determining if windshields need to be replaced or if dings need to be repaired, checking to see if lights, windshield wipers, horn, seatbelts and other safety features are all operating properly, and then rating the cars as to cleanliness of the interior and exterior and overall good care of the car. At each conference we award the drivers having the best-maintained cars with food gift cards. 

Late Monday afternoon we drove to Lethbridge and stayed overnight in a hotel. Then on Tuesday morning we drove a few blocks to the designated gathering point at one of our Lethbridge churches. We have to arrive before the bulk of the missionaries arrive and direct them to park according to their particular zone. They pull into the assigned area, turn the front wheels all the way to the left, raise the hood, take everything out of the trunk and the back seat, leave their keys and their car log on the car seat, and go into the building for their conference. We had 21 cars to inspect that day. The weather was very nice and the inspections went smoothly. We finished around 12:30 p.m., ate lunch with the missionaries, and then gave a presentation on vehicle safety, gas card receipt handling and log book maintenance, and awarded the gift cards. We two couples then loaded everything up and drove to Cardston where we were to stay for the next two nights.

The next zone conference would not happen until Thursday; however, instead of returning all the way to Calgary on Tuesday, only to turn around and drive all the way south to Cardston, the Sefciks and Kathy and I had decided to stay in Cardston on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights. 

Chief Mountain just southwest of Cardston

On Tuesday night Kathy and I walked around a bit and took some pictures around the Cardston Temple. 

Temple grounds walkway

After it got dark we had a very pleasant visit with the couple who were manning the visitor center, - both long time residents of Cardston and had served a mission earlier in Ireland. They were able to share some very interesting historical information with us including the tremendous difficulties the temple had gone through in the Depression years. Many of the pews and light fixtures were sold to help meet costs for operating the temple and pay for expenses such as light and heat. Later when the temple was renovated (actually restored in this case), which took three years, a call went out to identify where the pews and fixtures had ended up. Many were still in the local area and were either given back to the temple or were purchased. This allowed for the original splendor to be restored. The temple has one of the most beautiful interiors, in my estimation, of any and is truly a work of art. It was originally built in the early 1900s and the woodworking and artwork is spectacular. 

Temple with newer enclosed courtyard - Beautiful inside with running fountain and flowers

Cardston Temple at twilight

Elder Sefcik’s great-grandfather fell from a tall scaffolding during the finish work being done on the inside of the temple and was killed; this was, fortunately, the only death during the construction.  In more recent years the fountain and the courtyard approach to the temple were enclosed and it is magnificent.

On Wednesday morning we met the Sefciks for breakfast and drove south from Cardston across the U.S. – Canadian border, then along the St. Mary’s Lake and up and over into Glacier National Park. 

Northern end of St Mary's Lake

Western end of St Mary's Lake

The higher we went the more cloudy and misty it became, but this only added to the intrigue as we could occasionally glimpse down the steep mountainsides through gaps in the clouds. 

New snow is visible to the eye high up but not to the camera I guess

Breathtaking, especially as you peer over the side of the road!

Some waterfalls are still running this late in the season

Later as we walked through a cedar grove on the west side of the Park, we enjoyed the lush tropical setting including some rain as well. On the return up and over the Logan Pass, we could see a layer of new snow in the mountaintops. Winter is coming to Glacier National Park! 

That same evening, we again joined the Sefciks and went to the Calgary Temple for a session and then to dinner.  

Thursday morning the day started out sunny and a bit windy. We made good time with the car inspections and were finished before it was time to join the missionaries for lunch. We inspected 18 cars that morning and then gave our presentation again to the missionaries gathered there. The Thursday zone conference involved a car swap at the end of the conference so this added a new wrinkle to the day. Because all of our mission cars are licensed in Alberta, the cars serving in the British Columbia part of our mission can only be in B.C. for a maximum of six months, otherwise they have to be registered in B.C. as well. The cost of licensing and registering a car in B.C. is much more expensive than is true in Alberta, hence the reason for only registering them in Alberta. Knowing this, we had to have the six cars from B.C. Zone swap for six of the cars from the Cardston Zone. Adding to the confusion was introducing one new Nissan Rogue (which Kathy and I drove on our trip south) into the mix and bringing back a Chevrolet Equinox, a high mileage car needing to be sold. The Equinox also has some hail damage to the body and on our way back to Calgary, we went through some intense rain with some hail mixed in but I don’t think it added to the hail damage.

Friday was a very busy day getting caught up on work that had piled up and with arranging for repairs and service items for the cars identified in the inspections.

Yesterday, Saturday, we mostly rested up and cleaned the apartment, then joined the Sefciks and the Peppingers for some pizza and to watch the BYU-Utah football game. Fortunately the game was carried on Fox, which we get here in Calgary.

This week was Kathy’s birthday. We celebrated it by inspecting cars! - not the way she would have preferred it, I’m sure, but she has had birthday all week long including being sung to by the missionaries, flowers, cards, and calls. I just asked, and she said, “It was a poopy birthday!” Next year we’ll do better.

We love you all and hope your week goes well.

24 new missionaries and 2 new cars!

Blog for September 4, 2016

Arriving missionaries on 8/30/16 at Calgary International

  

This past week was transfer week. On Tuesday we picked up 22 new missionaries at the airport. One additional Mandarin speaking missionary had arrived earlier and another English speaking missionary came the day after, but 24 in all. On the other hand, only 11 went home, so again we had more missionaries come to our mission than went home. This always presents a challenge; new areas have to be opened, apartments have to be found and furnished, some 3-leg companionships have to be set up, and where cars are needed and none are available, areas have to be determined who can share a car or walk. This is a planning challenge starting with the mission president and working down through the rest of us in housing and car assignments. In the case of cars, we did have one additional Nissan Rogue arrive last week and another came at the end of this week - too late to help the immediate situation since we weren’t sure when it would arrive. We have nine more which will arrive over the next week or so.

The new group of missionaries is wonderful. Our training sessions with them went well, although it had to be done at one of the nearby chapels instead of the mission home as the entire basement area of the mission home is being renovated. Water got into the basement on a couple of occasions last summer with all the rain we had, so it is necessary to replace the carpet and some of the lower portion of the walls due to the danger of mold and mildew. We will all look forward to being able to meet in the mission home again when the work is done. It is certainly much more cozy and family-like there.

On Thursday we caravanned to Lethbridge taking 15 missionaries south to their new assignments and returning with 11 others being transferred here to the Calgary area. In addition, there are still others who are being transferred to other assignments and new companions that do not need to move north or south but move east and west in the two primary transfer locations, Calgary and Lethbridge. I wish everyone had an opportunity to see the interactions of the missionaries when so many convene at a given location. Missionaries frequently see those missionaries serving within their districts and zones but may not see missionaries with whom they have served previously for months at a time. It is always a joy filled occasion. Eleven missionaries fit in the mission van, which I typically drive (I also pull the trailer filled with missionary luggage). I get to hear lots of missionary stories, humorous and touching, as they share experiences during the two-hour trip in each direction. This is always a treat. I have commented before about the missionary lingo which one must understand in order to make sense of the conversations: where they were “born” = the first area where they served, where they will “die” which has reference to where they anticipate will be their last service area before they go home, their “sons” = i.e., missionaries they trained, their “fathers” = the trainer in their very first area, a “grandfather” = the missionary who trained their trainer, and so on.

The Calgary Temple is open again after a two-week maintenance closure. Kathy and I were able to go and perform some work for family Kathy has identified in her genealogical research. We usually go with Elder and Sister Peppinger but they have their son visiting and are out in the Banff area with him over the weekend.

Yesterday we cleaned our apartment, after which I got the car washed and vacuumed and the oil changed. Later in the day we went to a Provincial Park wilderness area close to our home for a hike. The area is called Fish Creek Provincial Park. Fish Creek is a lesser river in the area but has unspoiled areas on both sides of the river and it extends all the way across Calgary in a generally west to east direction. The biking and hiking trails there are wonderful. I will include a few pictures we took along the way. As you can see, some of the trees have begun to change and the temperature is definitely getting cooler; Fall is arriving in Alberta.

 

Old horse barn built by a rancher family along Fish Creek - about 1905. 

Today we stayed home and went to our “home Ward”, the Heritage Ward. Being Fast and Testimony Sunday, we heard some wonderful testimonies including one from our new missionary from Germany who just arrived on Tuesday. His English is excellent and his knowledge and testimony of the Gospel are wonderful. He is impressive, and Kathy and I can practice our German on him!

We hope you and your families are well. We are grateful for our own families and are looking forward to our trip to Miles City, Montana in two weeks for a family gathering and to see my twin grandson’s off for their own missions. As mentioned in a previous blog, both of them will be serving American Sign Language missions, one in the Las Angeles area and the other in Rochester, New York. 

Travel and more travel...........

Blog for August 28, 2016

This has been a week of considerable traveling; some enjoyable, some not so much. If you read last week’s blog, we had just been informed as I prepared to post it that Kathy and I would be traveling to SLC on Monday morning with a sick missionary.

Unfortunately, when travel arrangements are made at the last minute, flexibility for travel arrangements is pretty much gone. As it turned out, the only thing available (Alaskan Airlines) took us to Seattle and then on to SLC. Getting to SLC wasn’t too bad, but coming back on Tuesday via Delta Airlines necessitated a 4-hr layover in Seattle followed by a departure delay, followed by another delay once we arrived in Calgary where our plane couldn’t pull into our gate as it was occupied by another plane. It took ground personnel another 45 minutes to get the problem sorted out so we could taxi in and deplane. Fortunately, getting through Customs was a breeze; still, it was midnight by the time we got to our apartment so we were 12 hours just getting back home from SLC. As Kathy put it, add another hour and we could have driven it in less time.

We had a surprise to deal with in our home in Sandy. We had called ahead to the wonderful people taking care of our home to tell them we would be returning briefly and would be staying in the home overnight. They went over to turn the water on and get the water heater going. Then the fun began……Water could be heard spraying somewhere and after locating the source, discovered water spraying out of the top of the water heater where a weld had apparently failed. There would be no hot shower on Tuesday morning at home. So, before heading back to the SLC airport, we had to make arrangements for a new hot water heater, which will be installed tomorrow morning. While the timing was unfortunate, it is all good; no real damage was done during the brief time the water was spraying, and the hot water heater, now more than15 years old, needed to be replaced. This will be one thing we won’t have to deal with when we return home. Things have actually gone well with our home during our absence, thanks to the good care it is receiving.

Okay, so I am the car czar so I have to say something about cars.  We received one new Nissan Rogue during the week. The plan always is, upon receiving a new car, to take an older car out of service, get it all fixed up and sell it. Again, however, more new missionaries are arriving this coming week than are going home so two additional areas are being opened and the new Rogue will go to some Sisters in the new area. Another 11 Rogues are coming to us sometime over the next several weeks, so gradually I will soon be back in the car selling business. If you aren’t in a big hurry and are in the market for a used Chev Cruz, a Subaru Ipreza, a Chev Equinox, or a Chev Colorado crew cab truck, all in great condition, I know a guy……

If we hadn’t had enough traveling, Saturday Kathy and I decided to drive to Golden, British Columbia, - about 3 hours away. 

While Golden isn’t much of a destination in and of itself, it was the scenery on the way and back that was our motivation. We want to see as much as possible of Southern Alberta before winter arrives. The scenery didn’t disappoint. I will include several pictures and share our trip with you.

 

Unfortunately, some of the mountaintops were a bit obscured by clouds, and we had some intermittent rain on our way back; still the views were extraordinary. The route took us through Banff, past Lake Louise, and through a mountain pass and on into the Yoho National Park.

 

Of particular interest is the beautiful clear aquamarine rivers that flow down the east side of the Continental Divide. On the west side of the Divide the rivers are equally as beautiful but the water is a kind of a milky jade color. The western slope water gets its unique color from sediment and glacial water coming from the high mountain areas. The eastern slope water is a beautiful aquamarine color but quite different from the west slope.

 

After returning from our drive yesterday, we returned home, got dressed, and went to a baptism for a wonderful Hispanic lady in the Spanish Branch. While I didn’t understand much of what was said, the Spirit there was wonderful and I had Kathy to translate some of what was said. We have talked about the wonderful mix of ethnic groups here in Calgary. Such was also the case last evening at the baptism with a mix of Spanish speaking Saints from Argentina, Chile, Columbia, and several from Mexico. In his welcome, the Branch President commented that, even though they share a common language, they sometimes have difficulty understanding one another. It brought a chuckle from all who were in attendance.

Have a wonderful week. 

So sad; the Olympics are nearly over.........

Blog for August 21, 2016

The Calgary Tower (revolving restaurant - too pricey for lunch today!

We have enjoyed being able to select what aspect of the Olympics we wanted to watch each evening. We appreciate having a VCR so we could capture the Olympic moments to be watched later. The problem has been what to watch each evening. I was rather pessimistic about Rio as host for the Games but it has turned out quite wonderfully. What a beautiful setting is Rio. The overhead shots were breathtaking.

Our week has been pretty routine except for Friday. We have had a few missionaries who needed to go home during the week in order to get back home in time to start their school programs; likewise there will be some go home this week for the same reason. The bulk of them who are due to go home won’t go until next week, which is the time for the regular transfer week. It is that week we will have 28 new missionaries arriving plus two senior missionary couples, but back to Friday…….. On Thursday, President Miles called to ask Kathy and I to drive to Sparwood, BC to pick up an Elder who is replacing one who returned home on Saturday. He had been in a 3-leg companionship out in Creston, BC. We have mentioned Sparwood before; if you will recall the big green mining truck which was the backdrop in a picture once before for our blog when we made the trip to pick up a Sister missionary. This was about two months ago.  For us it is a nearly 3-hour trip, but Sparwood is only the halfway point; the missionary we picked up there also had to drive with his companions east from Creston for over 3 hours to get to Sparwood.

Elder Mahoney, Elder Bunch, and Elder Thackery. Elder Bunch was our passenger. 

 As we did with the Sister missionaries, we treated them all to Subway for lunch before making our way back to our destinations.

There are a couple of ways to drive south from Calgary; the interstate (Canadian Hwy 2) and the 2-lane road closer to the mountains called Rt 22. Rt 22 is our favorite way to go as the scenery is so beautiful. This time we noticed something I guess we had missed before; there is a stretch of fence along the western side of the road where there is a cap or hat on every fence post for 3-4 miles. Unfortunately the picture doesn’t do it justice but is included below. 

The Hat Zone

Rt 22 connects to the Crowsnest Pass, which is one of only two ways to get through the Colorado Rockies in Southern Alberta. As we turned west and passed through Frank’s Slide (see previous blog), we saw a weird site; a large cloud bank just sitting in the pass entrance (see the picture above).

Sort of like something from The Twilight Zone (for those of you who remember back that far!).

Entering the Twilight Zone? 

As we passed up and over the pass and entered the cloud bank, everything on the west side of the pass was overcast; then as we returned, we again broke out into the sunshine as we came down the east side of the pass and out of the mountains.

Yesterday, our P-day, we got up and cleaned the apartment, then headed into Calgary on the C-train. We haven’t really had a chance to explore downtown Calgary and it was such a nice day, we decided to do so. After getting off the train, we first went to a large mall known as the CORE Shopping Centre (I don’t know what CORE represents as to meaning, but it is in the core of the downtown area so maybe that is it); anyway, it covers three city blocks on four levels. On part of the fourth level is the Devonian Gardens, a glass-enclosed indoor botanical park, which was our primary purpose for going there, but, alas, it was closed for renovations so we could see only what was visible through the front doors. The food court was also on the 4^th floor so we got something to eat there and then headed north for several blocks to walk past the Chinatown area and on to an “island” between two rivers, called Prince’s Island.

Going up!

Under construction

Skyscrapers and overhead walkways

Prince’s Island is home to walking and bike paths, some beautiful gardens, and lots of grass and shade trees, and even a Shakespearian play stage. The view of the downtown skyscrapers is very nice from there so I will include several pictures.

Calgary skyline from Prince's Island Park

Prince's Island garden

The south river boundary to Prince's Island

Prince's Island fountain

Bow River looking east

Bow River looking west

Anyway, we walked enough that we were quite tired when we got back home and up to our apartment so a nice nap was in order.

We have decided to assemble all of the blog entries into a book when we are finished with our mission so I will include even more pictures with the weekly entries than ever. We have seen the Shutterfly mission memory books President and Sister Miles have had assembled. They are into their third one and another they put together following a gathering of their family out in Banff earlier in the summer. This will be a neat way to document and preserve our mission experience.

Today in our ongoing effort to visit other areas were our missionaries serve, we went north from Calgary to Airdrie with a plan to attend two different Sacrament Meetings, one at 11:00 a.m. and the other at another building at 1:00 p.m. On the way we commented, “What if it is a Stake Conference Sunday?” When we got to the first building and walked in, sure enough it was Stake Conference. The proceedings were being televised from the Airdrie Stake Center to the building we were in, and it had started at 10:00 a.m. so we got to see the final hour. What we heard was wonderful, especially a talk from the visiting Seventy, Elder Scott, so it all worked out just fine. Afterward we got to visit with eight of our missionaries and that was nice, then we drove back to our own ward and attended the third hour. 

I would like to mention my sister, Ann Thorley Terry; she is on her way home from her 24-month records preservation mission in the New York New York North Mission. She was widowed soon after Kathy and I were married. While there she bought one of the available mission cars and is driving it home, She is accompanied by two of her daughters who flew out to be with her on her trip home to Southern Utah. Well done, Sister Terry!! Have a wonderful and safe trip home.

And speaking of a trip home, as I am writing this, we are learning that Kathy and I are likely headed to Salt Lake City with an ill Sister tomorrow, so stand by for more on this in next week’s blog. We are awaiting details from President Miles……………

Beautiful rainbow from our window as the rain continues......

Beautiful way to spend a Saturday morning........
August 13, 2016

After getting home from the office on Thursday, we captured a nice double rainbow visible out our 12th story window that appeared after a brief thunderstorm passed over us. The quality of the rainbow was much more intense than the picture captured. Beautiful!



We continue to get thunderstorms (sometimes with hail) nearly every afternoon. The Calgary area, and much of Alberta, has seen more rain this spring and summer than it has seen in 90 years. Mostly the storms have been brief but intense and are followed by bright sunshine, - perfect for the lawns and crops. Soon, however, if this pattern continues it will become a problem; many of the grain crops are awaiting harvesting. The rain is delaying crop maturation and it is problematic getting heavy equipment onto the fields when the ground is saturated, but in the meantime, everything is so beautiful and green.  

Yesterday (Saturday) was an exceptionally beautiful and clear all day with none of the usual buildup of thunderheads rolling off the Rockies. This worked out well for our P-day. We took advantage of the clear weather and drove to the northwest end of the Glenmore Reservoir where we had not yet hiked. The same trail we have included in other blogs continues all the way around the reservoir. The bridge you see in the distance in the one picture connects the trails from the south side with the trails along the north and enables getting over a delta where the Elbow River leads into the Glenmore Reservoir. This area, known as Weaselhead, is a very nice bird and game preserve. The area to the south is an Indian (Indians are called First Nation's in Canada) Reserve. The First Nation tribe living on the Reserve are known as the Tsuu T'ina Nation. They have a large casino and hotel on the Calgary side of the Reserve just a couple of miles further west from the site for this picture. If you look carefully in the one picture you can see a canoe and a kayak making their way upstream. toward the mountains. I hope to do that myself and get further back into the Weaselhead area than you can go on a trail. 

The Glenmore Reservoir provides much of the drinking water for the Calgary area. It is a flood control measure as well, although even the reservoir was not sufficient to keep the downtown area from flooding in 2013. While the reservoir controls flow from the Elbow River, another larger river called the Bow River, flows through the area west to east as well. The Elbow River outflow from the Glenmore Reservoir connects to the Bow. From the lessons learned in the flood of 2013, the reservoir is not maintained at or even near full capacity to accommodate another flood better than the last experience. 

The reservoir is a wonderful recreational resource. For example, we had a hard time finding a place to park yesterday as there was a large crowd there for a rowing event. There is a large rowing club on the northwest side of the reservoir and a beautiful 18-hole golf course. Then there is a large sailing school on the southeast side.  The rowing event had apparently drawn rowing teams from all around the area for a competitive event. 

We have been recording the NBC version of the Rio Olympic events. In addition, two Canadian broadcasting services have their coverage of the events as well so there is no shortage of coverage. We have been able to watch our NBC recordings in the evenings but have to fast forward through some of the events (and the commercials, of course - which is so nice!) in an effort to keep up. I usually watch the news daily but I had to be careful to change the channel quickly when the Olympic news would come on so it wouldn't spoil the results for us. We spent yesterday afternoon cleaning the apartment and doing our weekly domestic chores while trying to catch up on Olympic events and erasing what we had watched in order to clear out recording space so we can record more of the events today and into next week. 

We are having a wonderful young lady taught here in our home. We did this on three separate evenings during the week and this contributed to falling way behind on the Olympic coverage. We still have the final two events of "America's Got Talent" to get to as well. We appreciate being able to record what we want to watch but the storage capacity of our VCR is limited so we end up having to delete many of the events we have recorded earlier in the week but are selective in the process such as white water rafting, rowing, judo, etc. This is just as well. After all, we aren't here to watch TV.  

Mini Zone Conferences are underway in the mission. They are called "mini" in that they are shorter, are held just in the morning, and do not involve car inspections (yea!). Because the southern Zone Leaders had not been to the office lately, the mail for the south zones was piling up, so Kathy and I made a quick trip to Lethbridge on Wednesday to take the mail. We drove in rain much of the trip down and back. 

And that is the news from our Canada Calgary mission experience. Have a wonderful week. 

Well, I can dream, can't I?

August 7, 2016

Greetings, once again from Calgary. I don’t have any pictures to share from our week’s activities as we have stayed home this weekend; however, I do have a couple of car pictures to share. No, none of them are mine nor are they in the mission fleet. I do like cars, though, and when I see a really nice one, I need a picture. I can tease President Miles by sending him the picture and tell him, “Your new mission car has arrived.” And, I can dream, can’t I?  ………

Very nice Jaguar!

-

Nice 4-door Porche

We have had a wonderful week, - rewarding and even a bit slower pace than usual. One of the most enjoyable aspects of our work is the opportunity to interact with the young Elders and Sisters as they come to the office for teaching supplies, for car issues, mail, etc. and sometimes they come in just because they enjoy visiting with the office staff. Sometimes several companionships are there at the same time, especially after training and leadership meetings. They usually make a trip to the office before they return to their areas and it is always fun to listen to their banter and overhear them discussing experiences. In many cases, some have served together for a time and love to update each other on what has happened since they were together last. At times we overhear things that particularly intrigue us. This also happens when I am transporting a group of them from one part of the mission to the other and they visit. Following are some things I have found particularly interesting…….:

1. Often we have heard references to certain missionaries as, ‘”happy guy”, “sad guy”, “tall guy”, “quiet guy”, “fly guy”, and another, “not a guy” (you’ll have to think about this for a moment). When we asked about these nicknames, it turns out, about a year ago, there were a bunch of missionaries with the last name of Johnson. To distinguish one Elder Johnson from another, over time these nicknames were developed and they stuck. The surprising thing is that everyone in the conversation who has been in the mission for awhile all seem to know exactly which Johnson the other is referring to. The one nickname that really cracks me up is the one missionary they refer to as, “Not a guy”. Have you figured this out? There was a Sister Johnson also serving here during that period; hence, not a guy. We presently have just two Johnsons serving and one goes home in a couple of weeks, but we have three Larsens/Larsons, three Christensens/Christensons, three Kings, three Chens, and four Smiths. Any way, I am constantly amazed about how clever the missionaries are, and how quick they are to start rumors! We have to be careful to keep information out of sight or out of our conversations while the missionaries are in the office because of how quickly news of this or that goes out, and sometimes conclusions and supposed insights are passed to others as fact that are totally incorrect, or the correct fact gets altered each time in the passing and what evolves is far from the truth. (This reminds me of the game of Gossip.)

The most recent example is; - we have a small number of missionaries who for reasons of athletic or academic scholarships must get home a week or two earlier than their scheduled release date. As word got out that so and so was going home early to start school, rumor spread throughout the mission that the entire transfer group would be going home early, and when some missionaries mentioned this in their weekly email home we began to get calls from anxious parents wondering why they weren’t informed.   

2. We commonly hear missionaries referring to certain missionaries as, “my father”, “my son”, “my grandpa”, etc. Recently, while transporting a dozen missionaries in the mission van, I asked for a translation. Here it is:

            A father for a given Elder is the trainer he had in his first area.

            A son is the Elder who was one’s trainee

            A grandpa is the trainer’s trainer in the trainee’s first area

            To die is to go home at the end of the mission. This is usually expressed as the area in which a missionary last served, as in, “He died in Clareshome.”

            Being born is the date one started his/her mission, or the date he entered the MTC.

            A mother is the most senior Sister who served in a missionary’s district at the time they were in their first area.

            Different from the Elders, a father for Sisters is the first District Leader they had in their first area.

            Since a missionary is “born” at the MTC, it is referred to as the womb, but sometimes it also means one’s first area.

There are probably a few more terms than I have here but this will give you some idea. Now picture me while driving and trying to follow a conversation between two Elders behind me:

“Elder, where are you coming from?” 

“Pincher Creek.”

“No way! I was born there?” (In this case it refers not to the MTC but to the first area where he served.) “Who was your companion?”

“Elder Smith.”

“Which one?”

“Sam Smith.”

“No way! He was my father!” 

“So who was your father?”

“Elder Jones.”

“Wow, I was in the womb with him. Really neat guy.”

And so forth. One needs a translation guide to follow the conversation.

We continue to have the most amazing summer weather. Each day we have some clouds roll in from the foothills to the west and give us a quarter inch of rain or so, but sometimes it becomes hail for a time. We have had some hail damaged cars as a result. These are reported to Fleet Headquarters in SLC and an insurance file is created for each but we will wait until they get to 80,000 +/- kilometers before considering what to do with them. Hail damaged cars are evaluated by an independent insurance adjuster and then a decision is made (not by me) whether the car will be totaled, fixed, or sold as a hail damaged car. I think I have mentioned before that we have several hail damaged cars mostly down in the Lethbridge area which were beat up in July of 2013 and these are some that are due to be taken out of the fleet but this won’t happen until we start having our missionary numbers go down a bit as we get into the Fall. I was informed during the week that we will be getting 11 new Rogues in 4-6 weeks. In the meantime, we have every one of our cars assigned. We are getting 28 new missionaries a the next transfer plus two senior couples (who will bring their own vehicles) but only 13 missionaries going home. In order to have enough cars, some areas will go back to walking/bicycling or sharing a car with another area.

Again on Friday we were able to go to the Calgary Temple with our office mates, the Peppingers. Afterward we went to dinner. It was a great way to cap off the week. Yesterday, we spent much of the day cleaning our apartment and ironing since it had been two weeks since we were last able to do so.