STAYING FIT

Staying fit is part of our program.  Paul and I went for a bike ride on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  Notice I am riding an "elders" bike and I couldn't get my leg up and over the bar.  Paul had to lift my leg for me.  I think I've reached the age where I need a stepstool.  It was pretty funny and we had a great time riding until it was time to quit and I had the same problem; I couldn't get off the bike.  We gradually laid it down.  WOW I DID IT!

We joined the SouthArm gym which opens at 6:00 every morning.  We are there yawning and ready to go 5 days a week and exercise for 45 minutes.  Paul rotates the bike, treadmill, and eliptical each time.  On days the gym is closed (like Easter weekend when it was closed Fri. and Mon. but opened on Sat. and Easter Sunday) we walk in the park right across the street from our house.  I work out on the treadmill every day where I have the only opportunity to watch the TV and see some US news.

It's Monday, the weekly preparation day ("P" day) and many of the missionaries from the lower mainland are here at the church.  They hung out for the day, playing volleyball, football, basketball and just socializing.  They come inside to get supplies, mail, and the treats we always have out for them.

Cute sisters.  Sister Pung (2nd from right) and Sister Hwang (in the middle) go home Aug. 5  Sister Pung is from the US and Sister Kwang is from Korea; she mailed a package home with some of her things in it last week and it cost her $87.00.

The football game takes a break while they pose for the camera.  We love these elders!  They are awesome and hard  working.  Last week there were 4 baptisms and 67 new investigators.  The work goes forward.

We're Changing!

Here we are again in front of the Vancouver Temple posing with Elder and Sister Lewis who are from Orem Utah.  Every 6 weeks when we have arriving missionaries, transfers, and  departing missionaries we attend a temple session with those who are going home.  It is a wonderful  experience and this time we had 3 elders, 2 sisters ,and 3 senior couples leaving.

Here are some of our sister missionaries at the transfer lunch where we fed about 80 missionaries.  We had a yummy lunch of subway sandwiches, grapes and bananas. Sister Barfuss (3rd from left standing) LOVES bananas and she usually takes 7 or 8 of them.  She is going home this time along with Sister Malmrose (in the middle kneeling).  We also have cut up vegetables, chips and cake.  We have to have a quick traveling meal because some of the missionaries have to come in, get their new companions, and  immediaely head out on the ferry, bus or plane. Each meal we serve has to have a protein, vegetable, fruit, and dessert.

These Elders are some of the Zone Leaders that we have that come in one time a month to plan activities and organize training for the coming month with the President.  They are in the office waiting their turn to be interviewed by him.

This is the changing of the guard.  President and Sister Nelson (on the left) return to their home in Kaysville Utah after serving as Mission President for 3 years.  President and Sister Tilleman and their 6 year old daughter Sarah have arrived.  They have dual citizenship  in the US and Canada and have been living in Arizona for the past 20 years.  Two of their sons are currently serving missions in Argentina and Paraguay (South America)  President has put his law practice on hold to serve the Lord for 3 years.  He is a former Olympic basketball player who played for Canada in 1980 and 1984. We are excited to serve with them.

We attended Canada Day celebrations in Steveston where they had their local parade, pancake breakfast, craft booths, shopping, and all of the rest of the gala events. Canada Day is on July 1st and is their celebration in declaring political independence from England. They still honor the Monarchy but only as a figure head. The big news was all about the 9 day visit of Kate and William through the Canadian Provinces.

The Canadian national sport of hockey is started early and was frequently displayed throughout the parade. These are the youngest that we saw.

These colorfully dressed chinese were representing one of their religious sects.

SERVING WITH FRIENDS!

This is in front of the Vancouver Temple with all of the Senior Missionary couples that we serve with. All of the couples except for us and the couple to our left (Elder and Sister Healey) will have completed their missionary service by July 1st.  They have all become good friends and we will miss them and their positive impacts on our lives.

This is the front of our Ward builing which also  houses the Mission Office where we spend our days.  Vancouver, with all of the rain, produces a beautiful landscape throughout the area. The flowers and shrubs are lush and beautiful.

This is the good bye picture of the Nielsens who are leaving to go back home to Idaho Falls. They have been so fun to work with and they gave us the start we needed on our duties in the office. We also welcomed the Lewis' as they went through the MTC with us back in January. They started their mission in Tokyo and were sent home after the earthquake and tsunamai in March.  We were lucky to get them re-assigned to our mission to complete their service. We are just getting our process down as we get ready to welcome President and Sister Tilleman who come June 27th.

This is Brother and Sister Tio. They are from Indonesia and then lived in Holland for 20 where they joined the Church and raised their family before immigrating to Canada.  Their daughter Anaya is Young Women's President and also cuts our hair.  Suzanne is Sister Tio's new Visiting Teacher.

Sister Neilsen standing in front of the "candy good bye card" that we gave them reminding them of our times before they left for home.

MISSION UPDATE AND THE FUN

Here are a few of the 75 or so missionaries that stopped by the Mission Office before they went to sing Happy Birthday to Sister Nelson (President Nelson's wife) on her 60th birthday. They are dressed in similar casual clothes becasue this was Monday and their P-day...or their day off to get all of thier personal things done. 

Elder Traxler ("the sheriff) working with some of the Mission's Zone Leaders on how to train their companionships on the use and care of thier automobiles. We are going through the formal inspection process to make sure that they are clean and in good working order. 

We have been given another calling from the Stake to teach Institute for the Spring/Summer session where we teach 18 to 30 year old single adults. We are teaching Doctrines of the Gospel...the only 400 level couse in Institute. They took the green peas and gave them the heavy load becasue they knew that we needed to grow. Our biggest challenge to date is how we combine our teaching styles and gospel knowledge in to one coherant lesson that someone will enjoy. Each week we are getting better and learning about each others personalities, needs, egos, and soft spots as we learn the challenges to Eternal Marriage and companionship.

We took a Saturday afternoon from our responsibilites and went down to White Rock which is a another suburb of Vancouver located on the Pacific Ocean.  We saw people on the beach (with heavy coats still on), people crabbing and fishing, shopping and just enjoying the rare sunny day.  It was a really fun day to be out relaxing with each other.

Here is Sister "Sweetie" and Elder "Honey" on Mother's Day in Garry Park in Steveston. We went with Nanette and Jeff (Sue's sister) who finished their 14 day cruise in Vancouver and stayed an extra 2 days to visit with us.

This is a typical Spring day in the upper Northwest with rain, hail, and very cool temperatures. We were on Granville Island (downtown Vancouver) where we were shopping, having fun, and getting soaked.  We had a great time being with Nan and Jeff and talking a mile a minute updating family news and stories.

Sisters on Mother's Day. Sue was homesick during Easter so it was great to have Nanette here. Sue was a happy girl. It was fun to have them here so we could show them the Mission Office where we work, where we live, and introduce them to some of the Missionaries that we love and serve with.

A TRIP TO THE OKANAGAN

Here is Sue in front of Bridal Veil Falls just outside of Hope BC.  We were on our way to the Okanagan  Zone(we love all of these indian names) on a working vacation. We left on Friday and came back home on Monday after 800 miles of driving to Osoyoos, Penticton, West Bank, Kelowna, Vernon, Salmon Arm Kamloops, and Meritt. We were stopping in each of these cities to check on the missionaries apartments andvehicles. These are missionaries that we do not get to see very often because of the distance to the Mission Office.  It was educational and fun to see these young men and women in their enviournment...a lot like it was in our college years.

This is a picture of the stream that came down from Bridal Veil Falls. It was a 15 minute hike to the falls from the parking lot....seemed like a lot longer!  Our trip also included going to the Vernon Stake Conference where they were changing Stake Presidencies. Elder Oaks (Apostle) was there to conduct. It was wonderful to hear him during the 3 times we heard him address us...one of which was a private meeting on Sunday morning with the 20 or so missionaries in the Zone. We got to meet him and shake his hand. Awesome!

This is a tree growing out of the stump of a dead tree. With all of the moisture in the NW we see a lot of the beautiful nature that is like Oregon where we used to live and unlike arid Colorado where we now live.

While we were traveling we stopped at Elder McCullough and Elder Smith's apartment. They were the only ones whose apartment was clean and organized eneough to take pictures.  This one is of their planning  activities and schedule boards.  While all of the others had boards, they had trouble finding them in some cases.  The cars generally looked better than the  apartments.

Elders Zimmerman, Williams, and Dodge got dressed up in their mustaches to role play in their district meeting. They played the parts of hard investigators and missionaries who stand on a soap box preaching the Gospel.  Elder Dodge leaves in May and Elder Zimmerman leaves in June.  They have been great in their service and fantastic in thier stewardship

Visiting the Different!

The population is very diverse in our area which allows for a variety of different temples. We have been wanting to visit some of them and here we are at the Buddist Temple in Richmond. It was difficult to know what they believe but we gathered that they believe in acquiring different positive virtures and attributes by praying to different entities that were with Budda at about 550 BC. These are represented by the statures behind us and the believers bring offerings of cooked rice, fruit,  flowers, and incense. They  would hold the incense above their heads and bow 3 times to the statue of the attribute they were trying to acqire or emulate.

We were impressed with the size and beauty of the grounds and buildings around the Temple site. There were some structures that we were allowed to view but not take pictures of. This is a meditation pond with sitting areas, fountains, and rice patty boxes.

 

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 While we did not copy down the name this is the next Budda that is to come in the next 2 billion years. Since they believe in reincarnation the earth will have gone into its next phase at that time and will need a new Budda to guide the people at that time.  From here we went up to the main complex which is right behind this shrine. It was the biggest and most elaborate structure on the site.  In this building the believers were chanting to their ancestors. It sounded like the same chant said over and over again with bowing and men and women alternating the chant.

This is a picture that we took out in front of the Fort Langley historical site. We are with Elder and Sister Nielsen who we serve with in the Mission office.  This was not a defensive fort against the wild west indians like we have in the United States; instead, it was a trading post fort that all of the different nationalities came to trade and barter for goods.  They included First Nation (indians), Russians, Spanish, Americans, and French. Instead of fighting they negotiated over a table as to who was going to get what...very civilized as opposed to their southern neighbors.  This was the birthplace of British Columbia and was founded in 1827,

This picture was taken in the "Big House" which originally housed the family assigned there by the Hudson Bay Trading Company. They made thier own barrels, shoes, tools, and structures. Sister Traxler and Sister Nielsen are showing off all the things they made for the day....it was a load....just kidding.

Living Large!

Here we are at the Vancouver Zone Conference sitting to the left of President and Sister Nelson.  If you look carefully you can almost see us.  There will only be one more zone conference before the Nelsons leave on July 1.  President and Sister Tilleman from Arizona will be our new mission president and wife.  They both grew up in Calgery so they have dual citizebship.  It will be fun to see what changes happen when they come.  They have 5 children and they will be bringing their 6 yr. old daughter with them.

 Here we are on our preparation day down by the wharf.  It is a beautiful day and we just walked around taking in the sights.  I'm wearing my raincoat that I wear everywhere.  The rule is-always have your raincoat, umbrella and camera.

Paul bought a new Vancouver Canada hat.  He also bought a box of cookies from a cute little "girl guide," Canadas equivelant of a girl scout. We are in a small town called Steveston which is a suburb of Richmond where we live. We are always very close to the water (ocean) and in this case commercial and personal fishing boats. The humidity makes it seem colder than we are used to in Colorado....it is about 47 degrees but it feels more like 32.

There were many of these boats set up all along the water selling their fish, and there were quite a few people buying their dinner for the night.  We chose instead to go to a little cafe and get 2 tuna fish sandwiches and 2 diet cokes, all for the "reasonable" price of $17.25! For us the sandwich looks better than taking one of these fish home and looking at it because we would have no idea what to do with it.  If it doesn't come in a box, we don't eat it!!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!!  Don't you love it!  Elder Lahache is the sane one in the middle and is a First Nation (Mohawk Indian) from Canada and Elder Williams, the insane one on the right,  is from Utah.  The weird guy on the left is from somewhere north of the ozone! The two Elders are currently working in the office making a DVD for a temple grounds tour of the Vancouver temple so we get to see them every day.  They are awesome!