The Beehive State

Diane is another year older today, though she doesn't feel like it. It has been a strange birthday, being conference Sunday and being in the mission field means we don't have a big celebration. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in Canada so she made a pumpkin and a French apple pie for her birthday. 

Monday is our normal wash day. There are only two washing machines and two dryers. We get there about 8:15 in the morning and chat with Joy and Marina just as the washing machines become available. We divide the clothes into a white load and a dark load then put them all in a single dryer. It cost $3 per wash and $3 per dry. 

Joy and Marina in the Laundry

Many of the apartments have door hangings to liven up the stark hallways in the apartment building.

Door hanging

Door hanging

Door hanging

 It has been awhile since we changed the marque at the church, but thought it would be good to announce General Conference in case someone drove by and wanted to know when the church is meeting. It was a good thing we did, since a "cottage" family stopped by for the Sunday morning session (at 12:00 noon).

Changing the marque

We had a district meeting in Trenton on Tuesday. The subject was on setting goals with the spirit. That's a little difficult since we still don't know what we are doing. The mission is well defined for the younger elders and sisters where their goal setting is based on "key indicators" which map the progression of investigators. We stopped at Brighton on the way back to cash a check. In the evening we broke down and watched the presidential debates.

Elder Gummow (new) with Elder Sveinson

Wednesday we worked on our Pearl of Great Price class. The topic was Moroni's visit, the Book of Mormon, and the restoration of the priesthood. We decided to introduce Moroni's teaching method when he visited Joseph Smith. Most people talk about teaching the gospel by repetition, that really gets boring. We extended it to teaching by theme and variation - learning the theme of the gospel topic then adding variation to make it interesting. As an object lesson Sister Wheeler played some of Mozart's variations on  "Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman" (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)

Variations on Twinkle

We walked to the library to return a book. It was very humid, but not as hot as last month.

Sister Wheeler at the library

Fall is coming which brings Halloween (after Thanksgiving, of course). Leaves have really started to change this week.

Halloween decorations 

Sumac turning red

On Thursday we went to Belleville so Sister Wheeler could meet with a rug hooking class. Karen, the leader of the class was going to make a beehive pattern for Sister Wheeler's first rug hooking project. This is not the modern latch hooking with yarn you find in all the craft stores throughout the world, this is the old-fashioned rug hooking with strips of cloth. She was able to talk to several of the ladies in the class. She was also very pleased about the pattern Karen made. The supplies for the project will be her birthday present. 

The beehive pattern

We stopped by the mall in Belleville for lunch. Elder Wheeler ate poutine at the New York Fries stand. The lady there has always been very helpful with his gluten-free diet, so he decided to give her a gift of the Book of Mormon. Sister Wheeler got a falafel sandwich at the Pita Pazzaz. After we got home she noticed they gave her a toony ($1) change instead of a quarter. We passed by there on Friday on our way back from Kingston to return the 75 cents. 

We got a call about having a zone training meeting in Kingston on Friday. There are several new companionships in the zone. Elder Gwilliam (who had been in Trenton 2 transfers ago) and Elder Nelson are now in Napanee. As mentioned in our visit to Smiths Falls, Elder Bruce and Elder Seabra are working there. We know both of them very well when Elder Bruce was working in the Toronto Ward and Elder Seabra was working as a Portuguese elder. He spent one transfer as a Czech elder.

The three musketeers 

Elder Gwilliam and Elder Nelson

 We have had two enjoyable days of General conference. We could have watched it on the computer from our apartment, but we decided to go to the church where we could be with members of the branch. We are excited about the announcement of allowing missionaries at a younger age, that should help in our shortage of missionaries. It should also help increase the number of sister missionaries who can do so much good here.

Took a little walk between sessions on the road that goes along side the church. Now you can visualize our neighborhood.

Old barn

On the Trent River

We are going to miss the scenery here. It is so beautiful now with the fall colors.