Nova Scotia

With our Mission President, President Simpson

What an interesting few months since we have been here. It is a strange feeling to know that we are in another country, I never really thought of Canada as another country, but it certainly is. Yes, they speak English, so sometimes it makes us forget. So many things are different from the USA, it has taken some adjusting and we are still working on that. Apartment living is quite different for us too. Living close to the ocean certainly is different for us, at least in the past few years. I haven't lived this close to an ocean since we left Costa Mesa, California in 1955. Since Nova Scotia is almost an Island with just a small landbridge going over to New Brunswick it rises in the middle. We live kind of up from the shore, but still it in no way compares to the 5,000 feet altitude that we are used too. On our way out here we drove through two of the three states that I needed to visit to be able to say I have been to all 50 states. I still need Alaska and Michael has suggested an Alaskan Cruise when we get back home. Sounds like a plan to me.

We are sure enjoying the people that we are meeting out here on our Mission. The Mission President and his wife, Craig and Margaret Simpson are wonderful, we love them both and they are so much fun to be with. All of these wonderful missionaries that we serve with are the best, very special, just like I am sure all the missionaries are all over the world. These just happen to be our special missionaries.
Zone Conference January 2010

The weather is very cold this time of year as it is a lot of the time up here we understand. There are many lakes and now they are completely frozen over. There are people skating, player hockey and ice fishing on them. We even took a walk on one, that was a new experience, walking ON a lake. It was fun and we met some new people that convinced us it was safe to walk on after we had watched them walk on it for a while. Everything you see in the picture that is white is the frozen lake, it is that big.
We have experienced the coldest weather that we have ever known, they say it does not get warm until about June, so I guess we still have a ways to go to feel warm again. A down coat, gloves, ear muffs, tights, thermals, layers, yep that is the uniform of the day, every day. As you can see we do get blue skies and sunshine, but don't let that fool you, it is still very cold. If you want to enjoy the sunshine you have to do it through a window, we have often set in the sun or even laid on the living room floor with the sun shining on us.

Most days look about like the following pictures.

A shot taken off our deck and yes that is our car under there. It took about an hour to dig out completely so we could go to the office.





I did mention earlier about apartment living, but we have rather settled in and it is cozy and warm, the office is cozy and warm and the work keeps us moving and busy. We love our misson and our experiences.

Here's one shot of our apartment I have more pictures somewhere, will find and post later.