Interviews

The past two weeks we have been out doing interviews with our missionaries. It takes 3 weeks to complete them all--so this week we will finish up with our last 3. We drove to BC for our first zone, then back to Calgary, and interviewed 4 zones here, then we drove down to Lethbridge and did our Lethbridge zones, and our Cardston zone, then we came back up to Calgary, and we will finish two more Calgary zones on Tuesday and Wednesday, then down to Medicine Hat for theirs. It is a busy time to interview 200 missionaries! Interviews are really good though. Steve asked them to come prepared to share their testimony of the Book of Mormon, and he said it has been just incredible to hear these missionaries share how much they love the Book of Mormon. I wish I could sit in on those and hear it! Instead I get to sit out with them and talk about getting flu shots, haha!! It's that time of the year when the missionary department asks all missionaries to receive their flu shots. I guess somebody has to deliver the news!
But, we love seeing all of our missionaries and being able to spend one on one time with them. I always ask them how their families are because you come to know a missionary and their circumstances when you ask about their family. Some come from gospel-centered, loving homes, that seem like the ideal situation. And then others (many others) come from broken homes without a lot of love or support. This always breaks my heart. Then there are a few that are the first converts in their families, and have parents that are upset about this newfound religion, and even more upset that their child would choose to leave for 18 months to 2 years to go teach others about it. I have so much admiration for these missionaries! Such faith--it is amazing. But we have also seen with them that their parent's hearts soften, and one mother even joined the church! An elder this past week told me that his parents are reading the Book of Mormon. So, we see that there are sweet blessings that come from their conversion. I have really come to love these missionaries and their desire to serve. Yes, they can have some immaturity, yes, they can have some quirkiness, but they have chosen to leave behind all the things in their lives that mean so much to them, and come with willing hearts and high hopes to share the gospel. And I love them for that.
On Wednesday we held our Missionary Leadership Council meeting down in Lethbridge. As always it was a great meeting with these zone leaders and sister trainer leaders. They really come with desires to help their zones and improve the work. We are so grateful for them!!
Friday after we had interviewed our missionaries from Fort Macleod and from Claresholm, the members of the Fort Macleod ward invited us for their Harvest supper. Everything they served was from their gardens, and beef from their cattle! Steve had a hefty helping of that beef, let me tell you! The members all around our mission are so warm and welcoming. We love getting to meet them.
We have had some beautiful fall weather--in Cardston on Saturday it was 20 degrees celsius--which means it was about 70! I am loving every minute of it, because you never know when the cold is going to hit and stay!!
Our basement remodel is now complete and it looks so wonderful! We were able to choose some more art work that is beautiful--it seems and feels like a whole new place! Last night we were able to have the youth from the Woodbine ward in the Foothills Stake in Calgary come to the mission home and we had the elders in that ward teach them and answer questions from them. We also took them on a little tour of the mission home--showed them the transfer board, where the missionaries eat their first meal when they arrive, etc. It was fun to have them here. We love our mission home, there is such a great spirit here.