I forgot to tell you all what Mom and I did on our 40th anniversary Dec. 16th. It was on Friday which is our training day at the Mission Office. It had snowed about an inch so we drove over at the appointed 9 AM hour and found Elder Paulson just starting to shovel the parking area in front of the Mission Office. The Mission Assistants usually do that chore but they were gone on assignment. We pitched in with snow shovels and a broom and made short work of our snowfall. It was a bit brisk that morning, about 12 degrees F. After our brief workout we were off with Sister Paulson to inspect four missionary apartments. I am happy to report all apartments were in good order. The Mission is real big on clean apartments and clean cars. After some afternoon visits we went out to dinner and then home to our apartment. The days pass by quickly when we are busy.

Fast forward to last night Dec. 23rd. Sister Getz from our Ward invited us and our Ward Elders to her home for a Christmas dinner two days early. She is German lady and she can really cook. Reminds us of Michelle Kings great dinners. Today which is Christmas eve day, the Elders, ourselves and our Zone Leaders were invited to our Bishops home for breakfast. We arrived at 10:00 AM and were treated to a dando breakfast with all the usual bad stuff that tastes really good, bacon, eggs, pancakes, sausage etc. After a fun visit we dropped by the Ward building, tidied it up a bit for tomorrow and then came home mid afternoon. Tomorrow all the Wards in Winnipeg have Sacrament meeting only at 10:00 AM. I have been invited to be one of the speakers for our combined two Ward Sacrament meeting.

Tonight we will be home and tomorrow at 2 PM (Christmas Day) the senior missionaries are invited to the Mission Home for dinner and a get together. President Paulson likes ham with ham gravy on Belgium waffles. It is now after the fact and the ham gravy on waffles is magnificent. We had a wonderful time at President and Sister Paulson's home it was nice to have something to do on Christmas. On Monday (Boxing Day) all missionaries were invited to a one hour open house at the Mission Home by District. It was also fun because we got to rub shoulders with all the young missionaries and eat more delightful goodies. Mom and I missed you all but the skyping was great. It was fun to see everyone .

Good news the winter solstice has taken place. On Dec. 22 and 23 the hours of daylight were the same 8 hours and 5 minutes. Today Dec 24th was 12 seconds longer according to a local weather page. Spring is nearly here. Hurrah!! And keeping with the longer days we are now up to 8 hours and 6 minutes of daylight.

We are keeping fairly busy looking for lost members of the Church in our Ward area. We ran out of people who we could call and set a day time appointment with so now we are looking for those on the Ward list who don't have a listed phone number. So far not so successful. Lots of apartment houses with locked entries where you have to be "buzzed" in. Usually we find someone new in the apartment who didn't know the person we were looking for or can only tell us that the one we are seeking has been gone for a year.

As we travel around the city we are seeing more of the diversity of Winnipeg. There are lots of Churches that offer services in a variety of languages. We have see Spanish, Ukrainian, German and others' Also lots of old domed churches and others with great steeples. We have seen several that must Russian since they have the domes that look onions with the curl on top. The city is old and there are tons of building that look like Brian Beards bank in Cottage Grove. Also many have old time adds still painted on them from years ago. A photographers dream here in Winnipeg.

That's all for now. We love you all. Dad.

Christmas Day 2011

40th Anniversary!

Shoveling snow in 12 degree weather

Zone Conference December 2011