Halloween Party

 Our little branch, Montreal East English speaking, combined with the Ochelaga French speaking ward for a Halloween Party.  They went all out.  As we entered the building everything was very dark with a few lit jack-o-lanterns grinning at us. The door were blocked and we followed a string of lit orange lights that wove in and out of all the classrooms with various pumpkin and jack-o-lanterns glowing to show the way until we ended up in the cultural hall.  the hall was decorated and set up with tables with a buffet to which everyone contributed.

 The details of the party were a bit confusing.  One set said the party was from 5-7 and the other said 7-10.  But everyone said that both times were for everyone and you could just come whenever you wanted.  We were supposed to eat around 7:00. We arrived about 5:45 and but by then most of the food was gone although some food did come dribbling in over the next few hours.

 There were games for the kids.

 there was a huge bouncy house.  It looks kinda small here, but in reality, it was very, very large.

                             The two elders assigned to this ward and branch enjoyed the party.

                                                           The sisters like it too.

      Cute little matching pumpkins are the daughters of the Branch Pres and his counselor.

                                         The little green frog is the Branch President's son.

 There was lots of dancing going on.  Perpetue was rocking out even with her cane.  I guess she's feeling much better.   It was amazing to me to hear that the government is paying her $1,000 every two weeks because she is unable to go back to work yet after being hit by a car.

Her Mom was dancing even more than she was.  Those two loved it.

This fellow came as a funny doctor and his wife came with her own IV pole and lines taped to her arm.

 I tried to get a good photo of this lady, but she was moving around too much the entire evening.

                                                 Dry ice is always fun in the punch.

 These cakes looked so yummy, but we left just as they were beginning to serve them.

Milk

 This is a huge apartment complex that we drove by the other day.  It is just one if several that are mirror images.

 The other day I was reading about how milk comes in bags in Canada and the next day we walk into the store to shop and lo and behold there is the milk in bags.  The three bags of milk come in one larger bag.

                               You take one of the bags and snip the tiniest little hole in a corner.

                                                 Voila!  The milk can be easily poured.

                                                              It tastes great too.

Transfers Oct 2012

 Every six weeks transfers take place.  This is a very exciting time for the missionaries.  This transfer we had 11 Elders and 1 Sister go home to all places around the world.  One missionary is going to Shanghai, China where his parents moved while he was on his mission.  They will be there for 3 years with the Dad's work.  The Elder will be there for a while and then in the fall will return to the USA to go to BYU.  One Elder returned to Norway.  A few to France.  One went home to Mexico and others to different US states.  We had Elders arriving from Tahiti, France, Montreal, USA and other places.

 These are the new missionaries meeting in the mission home basement

 Here I am training the new missionaries.  (everyone takes off their shoes in the entry room.
After the training I go upstairs and make copies of everyones passports, visas (which I first un-staple from the passport and the re-staple into the passport.  Sister Conway and I work as a team.  We also copy drivers licenses, international drivers permits and various other documents which we then assemble into their folder which we previously put together with many other pages of information.  We keep the passports and visas in a safe until they need them again.

 Elder Arhets has a turn teaching them about vehicles and all related driving information.
After the training is over, we rush back to the office and work for about an hour.  Then we go to the Temple with all the departing missionaries.  The temple president forgot that we had scheduled a session and so we had to wait about an hour for him to arrive and open up the temple.  It's interesting that the entire session is run by the senior couples.  We also will become temple workers.  As it turned out the present president called us and then could not set apart because he was just released and a new president was called.  Only one person has the authority to do the setting apart.  We will be set apart next time we go.

 Here is Sister Conway and Elder Blank from San Jose with Sister Chadburn from Riverton.

 Elder Holbrook is a silly guy who was in the office almost every day.  He is an awesome tech guy and helped me a lot with computers.

 Here he is again

 and again.    Elder Rivera, from Mexico, on the left became one of my favorite elders in the short time we've been here.  He is oh so so nice.  He gave up a desired spot in the university to serve his mission.  He will not be able to get it back, but he is happy to have served a mission.  He says things will work out and they definitely will.  The Lord will bless this great young man.

After the temple we went out to eat with the other senior couples.  It's interesting that here we often have to choose a restaurant not by how good the food is, but is there parking there or not.  The parking here is horrendous.  Every where you go you must pay for parking and a lot too.  Trying to find a spot is difficult too.  Anyway the restaurant was one where one of the couples had gone before and it was quite good.  THEN we had to go back to the office and I had to print out all of the boarding passes for the departing missionaries and also pay for their luggage.  I couldn't do it earlier because of the 24 hour period that the airport has.  I had trouble with United which would not let me use any credit card, neither the mission card nor our own.  Aero Mexico would not even let me register the missionary.  I tried and tried for a long time and finally gave up.  Delta, Air Canada, and others gave me no problems.  By the time I was done it was almost 9:00.  Then we had to drive everything to the mission home.  I was sooooo tired by the time we got home.  I guess this is par for the course on transfer day.  Sister LeVitre had the same problem.  In fact I will now be contacting United and speaking to someone there because this is apparently a long standing problem.

Mission Home

 This is the mission home where the president and his wife life.  This is also were the incoming and outgoing missionaries come for meetings and often to spend the night.  As you walk in the front door there is a little entry room where one can sit on a little bench, take off your shoes and slip on some knitted booties which rest in a basket.  The first photo is the view from the front door.

 To the left is this very nice living room.

 To the right is the dining room.

 This is thePresident's office.  Across from the desk is the transfer board.  Every missionary's photo is on the board next to his/her companion.  When it is transfer time or when new missionaries come in, the Pres locks himself in his office to make the decisions of who goes where and with whom.
In the mission office there is an identical transfer board in his private office.  When the board is closed it is a calendar of events.  When it is open you can see the companionships.

 The board is private and is always kept close.  At transfer time, the missionaries are always very curious to see how the board is going.  At the mission office there is a big sign on it that warns the missionaries not to open the board.  Not too long ago one of the missionaries was tempted to take a quick look at the board as he was walking past the office.  He did so and then had a punishment of taking P-day separately from the other missionaries.  Of course, his poor companion had to take the punishment too.  P- day is way more fun when you can spend time with the other missionaries.

                                                         This is the kitchen.

                                                       The backyard.

                                             Across the street is a lovely little park.

 Here is the General Authorities Bedroom.  This is the room with it's own private bathroom that we stayed in. The bed is so, so comfortable.

                                                 I  really liked these pretty curtains.

This mission home was purchased in the early 60's. It is located in a very desirable area of town.  Now it is worth over one and a half million.

A few days

 One evening after the office work was done, the Conways took us and the LeVitre's out to dinner at a little restaurant a few blocks from the office.  We loved the company and sure appreciated all the teaching the LeVitre's gave us and how nice everyone has been.  It is so easy to work with the Conways.  They are always friendly and pleasant

 This is the Montreal Temple.  It is very tiny, but very pretty.  We had a personal tour of the temple from President Galbreth.

 Here we are with the LeVitre's and John Paul, the Church's fleet coordinator over Eastern Canada and
part of the U. S.

Almost everything in Montreal is very expensive.  Last week we went shopping and came home with these items.  It cost us $50.00 including the treats in the photo below.  

                                 The Napoleon and the Black Forest cake were oh so yummy!