We are starting out the new year with cold and sometimes foggy weather here. I love the snow, but the icy roads are a bit treacherous. As one of our new year resolutions we are trying to get back to long walks in the parks and neighborhood. One of our favorites is the walkway along the river. It can be pretty cold, so we feel like it is a good work out to keep us fit.
This week we had to say goodbye to our sister missionaries. Another sister in the mission had two torn ACLs and had to go home for surgery. That meant a rearrangement for the sister missionaries. Sister Bararra and Sister Roderick were sent to Montreal and Quebec City to fill in the gaps. We hope to get another set of sisters in the next transfer in early February. It is always hard to say goodbye to our sisters. The Elders here are picking up the slack and have a full load of friends to teach. We are expecting several baptisms this month.
As we have been spreading the word about our upcoming institute class, we have even generated interest among some of the friends who the missionaries are teaching. I can’t wait to see how big our class will be on Wednesday. We have 50 Young Single Adults on our list. Many of them are names of people no one knows. We have used phone, text, email and Facebook to try to reach them. We are also making in person visits. If we can get this class up and running with activities to follow it will be a big boost to the YSA community here. We are noticing a lot of interest in the gospel by young people. Our goal is to see at least a dozen YSAs this week, but the French ward is also invited and there are 102 names on that list, so we hope to see a lot of them as well. They are all very bi-lingual.
Our Sacrament meeting yesterday was truly special. Our mission president, Pres. Sorenson and his wife made a surprise visit to our ward, and they picked the perfect Sunday to come. We had 5 young deacons who just graduated from Primary who got up and bore their testimonies along with several other young men and dads. It was really sweet and impressive to have so many valiant young boys in such a small ward. It makes me think of our grandson, Sawyer, who is also going into young men’s this year, future missionaries.
Thank you for all the birthday wishes this week. It’s nice to be remembered from home and from new friends here. We are so excited for this new year, and I especially am excited to teach about the D&C with church history. It is always so sweet for me to review Joseph Smith’s first vision because that is where my testimony really began.