July 4, 2022
From Ben - Eh?
And so the transfer begins afresh.
After a heart-pounding couple of moments, we received the email that described both of us were staying.
To stay another with Elder Blum? A blessing from heaven.
We've still got much to learn from eachother, and so Im grateful I still get to plumb the depths of his knowledge and character.
It's was a wildly hectic week as we organized new social media assignments and prepared to train those who had been called to create content or advertise for the page.
There are some hyper-intelligent missionaries we get to work with, and it's fun to see creativity and genius lock in and flow.
Our beloved President and Sister Ensign have indeed completed their three year mission and are now just Brother and Sister Ensign. Their names will forever be remembered.
President and Sister Stacey are the new mission leaders.
President Stacey was the Chair of the International board of health, and had been recommended to be so by the Secretary of Commerce three times or something.
Can't say I entirely know what that implies, but it sounds like he did alright for himself back home.
His wife loves playing the piano, so it was fun to connect with her about the music she loves and that I just started getting involved in (think Rachmaninoff)
MLC was stellar. I again got to play the piano for prelude, which is becoming a favourite thing for me.
We had the MLC in the gym of the Church building, so the little upright piano of the primary room didn't carry the sound very well.
So, in a somewhat isolated bubble of sound amidst the chatting young missionary leaders, it was a hoot to, in reverent ways no stress, improvise on the hymns.
Elder Blum and I were the only non Zone Leader missionaries in the room, and it was interesting to be able to contribute to the conversations from our non-ZL/STL perspective.
We talked about mission culture, how to support missionaries in their conversion, how to become greater leaders and the Plan of Salvation on greater depth.
It was something else.
The gentle warmth and touch of the Spirit accompanied much of what President Stacey said and was a confirming witness to me that he truly has been called by God to lead and hold the Priesthood keys for the Canada Toronto Mission.
By the end of the meeting, despite how legendary it was, our minds were a little fried from all the instruction given.
On Friday, we both walked outside with the intention to find a place to companionship study, and were surprised to find a parade going on.
Seeing all of the Canadian attire we quickly realized that it truly was Canada day and that we had totally forgotten.
Time flies, yo. Just a couple hours a go I swear I just left Timmins, and just yesterday got off the plane.
And heck to the absolute yes. I'm still a District Leader.
This will be my 5th.
It brings me so much joy.
We've got the Georgain Bay Sisters, Sister Stevens and Bryan.
We've got the Orillia Elders, Elder Hamilton and Low.
And we've got the blessed senior couple, Elder and Sister Lawlor.
Each with light, each with power.
Oh man, it's a unique experience to pray for others and feel your perspective about them change.
To desire someone's best outcome, not in theory, or intellect, but in genuine heart.
Everything changes.
Whenever the Gospel becomes real and not just theological is always a great blessing.
Adhi lost his phone again, but we were able to get in touch with him a second time. As soon as he kicks his smoking, or is in the genuine process of doing so, he'll be able to be baptized.
We got our friend Henri on date to be baptized as well, but he's facing some gnarly familial opposition.
His spirit is powerful, and we're praying like mad things swing the other direction for him.
Abby! Good work on the triumph of the drivers test!
And now the adventure begins.
Family, I only shed a couple tears and sang a couple Hamilton songs after hearing about your watching it. You'll have to throw me more details tonight
Love you, each!
Happy Canada day, eh?
1) Elder Lawlor's compliment that had me smiling.
3) A youth drew some jellyfish and I promised her I'd send it home to my family.
4) Transfer planning for the District of the In Person, Virtual, and Zone Council meetings.
5) The beloved District. These absolute champions.
6) We found chicken that weighed 1.39 kgs. The highest I've ever seen on the mission.
7) Snuck another picture of Zone Conference. I got lucky and got to sit beside Elder AP Radford, my dear 6'5" Elder.
8) Our friend Henri.
9) Elder Blum looking as epic as his personality.
From Dad - O Canada Week
Dear Ben,
It has been an eventful and fantastic week! This morning as I was parsing through some old photos, I found this one of you that I thought was fun. Check out those teeth!
We bit the bullet and bought 2 more tickets so Steph and Madison could join us. So glad we did as it was a fun shared experience. We were up on the second balcony so it was hard to see their faces, but the singing was amazing. Mom and I are feeling our age as we almost fell asleep a few times because of the late hour. Sheesh! Also, for me, it was a different experience in that I knew all the songs and had seen it on Disney+, so in some ways it helped to know what was going on, but in others, when people laughed, it wasn't as funny because it was all known ahead of time. When we went over to the section where Steph, Josh, Sam, Abby, Mia and Madison were, though, there was some serious geeking out going on! And you could easily measure the impact over the next few days as the Hamilton music rang through the house. I even caught myself singing it out!
Lately it is becoming even more apparent that we need a second vehicle. Wednesday we had to do some vehicle juggling as Mom had to work the evening shift and the girls had joint activity in Devon, so I dropped off the girls in Devon, drove to Leduc to get Mom after work and then back to Devon to collect the girls. Grateful to have such marvelous technologies and to even have one car, but it will be much more convenient as the school year rolls around to have another vehicle.
Speaking of vehicles, Abby courageously headed to Millet to take her drivers test on Thursday. Unfortunately she ran into a keener new driver examiner who dinged her for lots of little stuff including expecting her to treat the narrow streets of Millet as 2 lanes so she lost points for not shoulder checking when turning right to change lanes when it looked like there was no second lane! No more nice old man in Millet! That took some processing and some tears and we now basically hate the "Millet Man", but then Mom miraculously was able to secure another drivers test the next day on Canada day of all times! The only scary part was that it was in south Edmonton! I was proud of Abby when she chose to go for it!
She and I went early and I have to say that Abby's driving skills have made a major jump in the last couple of months. She navigated the Edmonton streets with confidence and skill and with some nervousness headed out with the driver instructor. I think I was more nervous than her! She bravely took the test and I paced the parking lots around the registry for 30 minutes. I was interested to notice as I prayed for her that I found myself asking my Dad if he was able to lend her a helping hand from the other side of the veil. I believe we are helped more than we know by our family members who have gone before us. As I was just coming back from such a walk, I saw them pull up. My heart was in my throat, but as Abby got out of the car, she and the instructor started heading for the registry which boded well. I came up behind her and when she turned around her countenance and face were light and happy and she gleefully informed me that she had passed!
What a feeling of relief and gratitude coursed through my body. Such a small but significant step in her life and I breathed a prayer of gratitude to Heavenly Father for this tender mercy on Canada Day. I told Abby that it was symbolic of her gaining her freedom to drive herself while celebrating living in a free country.
The rest of Canada day was super fun. Josh and Madison came over and Abby and Mia invited the lunch bunch over to celebrate with us. We made some amazing shish kabobs on the BBQ and Mom made a supreme Canada day jello salad. The forecasted rain held off and we enjoyed campfire and campfire food. The High School students held a school notes burning party and we capped it off with a Stranger Things episode and going up by the Rector's and Patrick's to watch the Wizard Lake fireworks. They went for almost 1/2 hour, but it was still quite a ways away. Got to know our Russian neighbors a little better by watching them together.
This week in Come Follow Me, we learned about the widow of Zarephath and the prophet Elijah. I love that story and the example of faith she demonstrated in her desperate circumstances. On the face of it, it seems so presumptuous of Elijah to ask her to give him her last meal cake when her and her son were starving and it would be so easy to dismiss such a request, yet she exercised trust and faith in the Lord to obey. It made me ponder in what ways and areas I need to be more faithful in following the prophet that doesn't always make sense and that requires a sacrifice, trusting that it will work together for my good and the good of my family.
This morning I enjoyed spending time with Bowie reading books, playing Pet Shops and manhandling the new kitties while being "supow gento" as Bowie told me.
Hope you have a great week!
Dad
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