Hello!

Everything is going well here.  We are much more busy now.  We are working in the office, learning that calling.  The rest of the time we spend in our area looking for people.  We found a good sister the other day.  She had not been contacted for a very long time. She seemed geniunely excited we came.   While we were visiting, her dear friend Pollie came to visit.  This lady was a hoot.  She can speak English, French, Russian and Ukrainian.  So she recited the Lord's Prayer in Ukrainian for us and at the end she added:  A men, A men, and for wo men too. 

Hey Kase we found out that a stocking cap is called a toque here.  That is pronounce touk.  That can be your word for the week?  We love the names of streets around here, too.  One of my favorites is Sterling Lyon Street named after a former Premier: Bishop Grandin:  Lagimodiere (Lauge-e- mode-e-a), etc.  Then the names of the ward and branches are:  Brandon, Dalhousie, Dauphin, Gateway, Kenora, London, Portage la Prairie, St. James, Selkirk, Thompson, Warroad, Waverley and Wellington.  Cool huh?

Yesterday after District meeting, we were invited to meet and have lunch with my second cousin that I met through genealogy.  What a wonderful experience!  He was a Phys. Ed/History major and his master's is in school counseling.  He is retired now but still consults with a group that helps to get scholarships for the aboriginal people here.  Australia flew him to Syndey to present a paper on the subject.  His wife Carolyn is also retired but she is the student teacher advisor/counselor/evaluator for the University of Winnipeg.  She takes a limited number of students each year.
They winter in Palm Springs and have a cottage on a big lake here for summer heat relief.  Can't wait for that.  They are delightful people and he is writing a history on part of our family here in Manitoba.  I never knew my grandfather lived here for a time.  They plan to take us to see the family home sometime this summer.  They are well educated people and know a lot about the history of the Church of Jesus Christ.  I hope we have the opportunity to share more together. 

We have been helping prepare for transfers and the arrival of new missionaries.  I had no idea of the time, prayer, planning and money that goes into running a mission.  It is mind boggling!  It was very fun to watch 40 elders greet each other, and sing "Oh Canada!"  They about blew the roof off.  They love each other and have hearty greetings.  Then they share ways they have taught the Plan of Salvation or the Word of Wisdom or some other principle of the Gospel.  Their enthusiasm and faith knows no limits.  They have had 16 baptisms since november and this is a very difficult place to get investigators.  Most come through member or media referrals.  The Church's website is very fruitful.  There are so many divorces, abandonments and dysfunctional families that the Church's views on marriage and family is very attractive to people.  They are looking for peace and commitment.  I guess what people aren't? 

About the pictures:  boxes stacked on our car contain the mail going to just Saskatoon.  Elders looking for mail.  Elder Paulson and Elder Basting checking tire pressure (couldn't resist) and my second cousin Bill Gadsby and his wife Carolyn. 


 Bye for now, love to all.  mom, grandma and Sister Basting