Our Humble but Enjoyable Abode

This picture is of the outside of the house that we live in. We live in the basement and enter our 2 bedroom/1bath apartment from the door to the right of the car in the driveway.  The picture is taken from across the street in a beautiful park that we use to take walks in. The great selling point is the covered parking which most apartments don't get according to Balbir Dahandra, our landlord.

Here is our large screen TV that came with the apartment. We are fortunate to have the rabbit ears as we get 6 channels...2 in a foreign language and 1 with hockey highlights and games of the high school and club teams.  We don't watch much tv as you might expect. We do however go to the local library and get DVD's of old movies and documentaries.  I have to sit next to the TV to read the inscriptions to Sue who is sitting on the couch.

This is the whole bedroom. We added a matress top to soften the existing bed. The lamp on the left is broken and the lampshade kind of tilts toward the sun like a sun flower but it does still turn on. I asked the prior missionaries and they said that it was already broken when they got there. We are going to keep it as a symbol of the pioneer spirt.  The only other thing in the room is the dresser which is about 2 feet wide and has 6 drawers high.  Sue has the top 3 and I get the lower 3...sounds equal!!

Acutually, this looks bigger than it is.  Only one person can get in here at any one time. Sue makes her breakfast when I am getting cleaned up and then we switch.  It really is very functional and doesn't require any foot work to get around in it. You can wash dishes and put the food away in the refrigerator without moving! This is great for older people like us!

This is our living, dining, relaxing, reading  and all in all general purpose room that we spend almost all of our time in. The heater in the foreground is for survival and not just not a decorator piece. The tv gives you a perspective of the size. The chair on the right is the one I have to sit in to read the stuff on the movies that we watch.

It is small but we love it as it is easy to clean each week and I have only gotten lost once. The whole package costs $850 a month which includes utilities and the use of the owner's washer and dryer once a week.

Getting Started!

We are getting into the groove of our new callings and living arrangements. We stay busy every day and even some evenings...the good news is that apparently it will get busier when we get settled into our new Ward  and recieve callings there as well. Above we are attending our first Family Home Evening with other Senior couples that serve along with us. Most of them will be going home this summer when they finish up their 18 months.

Our community is very diverse. We live in a suburb of Vancouver called Richmond and the population is about 70% Chinese. We are in the process of celebrating the Chinese New Year and these were the decorations that we had for our Family Home Evening mentioned above.  Sue and I found out that we are "Dogs" according to their calendar.  It doesn't sound so good until you read the characteristics associated with the sign which turned out better than we thought.

One of our many responsibilities is helping the Nielsen's fix luncheons several times a month for the missionaries as they come in for various trianing meetings and conferences. Here we are getting ready to serve the bannanas that will eventually be used in the desert. We have to prepare the meal, get the room set up, and then clean up after everyone is done. The biggest meal we have to help prepare and serve is on what is called "Transfer Day" when we have about 70 to 80 hungry people to feed. 

 Here the missionaries including President Nelson are singing to us to thank us for the lunch that we helped get ready. Afterwards they play a basketball competition to keep the blood circulating and to keep from going to sleep in the afternoon training sessions.

Here we are in front of the new Vancouver Temple which was opened in May, 2010. We are getting ready to attend with four of the missionaries that are returning to their homes after serving. This is the last event that we do with the missionaries along with Nelsons and the Neilsons (President and other Sr. couple). 

As you can see, we have a lot of different activites and duties which keep the days going by quickly. We are having fun interacting with just GOOD PEOPLE who love the Lord and feel that it is a privledge to be here serving in some small capacity. We love it so far.