Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending a stake women’s camp, a 30-year tradition here in the Mount Royal Stake. I didn’t do the overnight camping part, but I joined them for the Saturday morning breakfast and activities. It was in a beautiful setting in the woods at a campground about thirty miles from here. After a delicious breakfast of sausage and spinach omelets we had a class in Ti Chi. I have never done that before, but it was really exhilarating and fun. There were several Chinese women in our stake, and they all showed us how to move properly. I might have to look up a class when I get home as it was great for stretching, balance and core strength. The other really fun part of attending this camp was that I caught up with many of my old friends from the Greenfield Park Ward as we are in the same stake. My Columbian girlfriends were there along with some other sisters in their relief society. It was fun to catch up on the news of their ward. The group picture did not capture everyone who was there as it was hard to corral people in for the picture taking while many were breaking camp. I did get a picture of the two sisters who came from our little branch. Someone counted more than a dozen languages/cultures from the 102 sisters who participated in this camp. There was also a great presentation by Elder and Sister Hall, another senior missionary couple in our mission. They talked about accepting and enduring hard things. I was really amazed as Sister Hall shared some personal experiences she had with physical trials and demanding callings. She talked about the spiritual growth that she experienced as she pushed through her challenges of debilitating physical weakness. She was truly amazing.
It has been a bit of a slow week with the temple closed and no zone conferences, but that has given us time to meet with more of our members. I’m getting to know little Nathaniel and his brother while Elder Glenn does the driving practices with their dad. We try to have recently baptized members over for gatherings at our apartment when we can. Alex and Emil enjoyed a little BBQ with us last weekend. Last night we took the missionaries out to see Debbie and her two daughters. They had prepared a wonderful dinner for us and then we got to have a good gospel discussion on the restoration. Debbie and her girls have great faith and seem ready to be baptized but we are finding that they do not want to be rushed. Instead, Debbie wants to be sure that they can begin to make strong commitments and changes in their lives first. I have no doubt they will be entering the waters of baptism. I just hope things in their lives will begin to calm down soon. Debbie is the center of her family, and I think everyone in her sphere depends on her. We also learned just how big a Star Trek fan she is. That explains a bit on her sci-fi books. She has quite a collection of memorabilia, including every episode and movie on DVD. Our Sister Hansen was really connecting on all the Star Trek lingo. I guess I will have to get up to speed on that someday. Apparently, I am missing out on a lot.
Au revoir,
Ther Glenns
Gigi & Papi