Peace at Last

The city is getting to us. After we finished at the supply room on Monday we stopped at Loblaws (a grocery store) for our weekly supplies. We were glad to get back to the apartment where we didn't have to drive (with the threat of hitting someone, getting hit, or just doing something to anger someone on the road). In the evening we got a call from the Hermanas (Spanish sisters) to visit a Portuguese investigator of theirs called Adriano. It was an interesting lesson on the restoration with a mixture of Spanish (from the sisters) and Portuguese (from Elder Wheeler).

On Tuesday morning on our walk we passed a house with about six ladies in an open garage making communal tomato sauce. They had a lot of tomatoes and a big propane cooker. We didn't get a picture, but got some others around town. They patch sidewalks with asphalt. They also paint buildings with fun designs. You may know the jackalope (cross between a jackrabbit and antelope) from Wyoming, but Toronto has the porkalope. To clean the trash from the streets they use riding vacuum cleaners. As we walk along the sidewalks, Sister Wheeler will pick up every little nail so a bicycle won't get a flat tire. She doesn't even notice, however, a two-dollar coin on the sidewalk.

Patched sidewalk

We live in Hillcrest Village

A porkalope

Local street vacuumer

We went to Brampton on Tuesday to visit with Elder and Sister Gay (the CES missionaries) for an orientation in teaching institute. We started with lunch at a Jamaican restaurant where we ate jerked chicken and curried goat.  We then went to their apartment (which has the rest of the furniture from the old mission home) for our orientation. We left our mission bag (along with our camera) so we don't have as many pictures this week. We had ESL in the evening.

Elder and Sister Gay - Joseph, Utah

We had zone and district meetings as usual on Wednesday. We tried to teach Adriano again in the evening, but he wasn't home. some of his neighbors told us a tornado watch was in effect starting at 8:00 PM so we headed back to the apartment. What a light show, with lightning all around. We have had a lot of anxiety this week, especially with driving and parking, so we decided to go to the temple on Thursday. It also meant that we could pick up our mission bag and camera from the mission office. We always like stopping by at the mission office because we see friendly faces.

Friday was preparation day. We tried an experiment and decided not to drive the car. We bought some bus tokens at the corner store and headed downtown. Suddenly the pressure from driving was off and we felt free since we didn't have to park. There was a Busker Fest so the missionaries were OYMing (from D&C 60:2 - opening your mouth). We decided as senior missionaries we prefer LYLSing (from Matt 5:16 - let your light shine).

Sister Crosby and Sister Wheeler on a street corner

Elders Te'o, Sitten, and Taylor on another street corner

 We decided to walk down the street to the actual Busker Fest. The other missionaries were not allowed there (safety?) because they were actively proselyting. There were some interesting sites (with a lot of families so safety wasn't an issue).

Sister Wheeler at the Busker Fest

Acting group

Giant insects

Their herder

 While we were in the area we wandered through St. Lawrence Market, which had all sorts of meats (including stuffed squid) and produce. We also went to the Market Gallery that had photographs of a Folk Festival in Toronto in the 1970's. This was followed by a visit to the first post office (which is still in operation).

Elder Wheeler writing with a quill 

Sister Wheeler writing better

 To get there we took a bus to a metro station, caught the metro to King and Young streets. We were able to walk all over without worrying about expired parking. We caught the metro and a bus right back to our apartment. It was really liberating not having to drive and park in the city.

On Saturday we decided to walk to the church for ESL instead of driving. It only took about 20 min and felt very good. We also walked home. Maybe next month we will get a bus pass and forget the car.

Elder Wheeler gave a talk (in Portuguese) in sacrament meeting. We got a call Sunday night from the Hermanas to see if we would like to visit Jose, from Brazil. We showed him the restoration video and gave part of the first lesson. We are doing more teaching now.

We have been wondering what we are doing here in Toronto and finally have the answer (we think). We identified six roles we have as senior missionaries. Many of the missionaries have a single role (such as CES, office, employment, or public affairs). We work with the Christie Ward (20%) which includes meeting, working with less-active members, and with active members (this is the Portuguese aspect, mixed with Spanish). We have a CES assignment (20%) teaching one class a week and working with YSA. We work with the elders and sisters (15%) at district meetings and ESL. We help the mission office (15%) working with the supply room, mail, and any other job they give us. We are also proselytizing (15%) giving lessons to Portuguese nonmembers and LYLSing to all. Finally we have the role of Sanity (15%) for ourselves, which has become very important lately.

We have already written more than you want to know, but after three months in Canada we are still alive (and married). We hope all is well with you at home.