Crazy, busy schedule!

With transfers over we started right into interviews! Usually we have a day or two before they begin, but because this is a 5 week transfer we have to squish 6 weeks of activities into 5, and let me tell you, it has made us crazily busy! We have done interviews even on P-day night, which is a first!
We also had our Mission Leadership Council on Wednesday, which is always a great meeting, where we council together with the zone leaders and sister trainer leaders, and discuss the needs of our mission and how to raise our expectations, and inspire all of our missionaries in this work. We had some wonderful trainings by Elder Misiluki, and Sister HoChing, and a lot of great participation from everyone. We always walk away inspired.
On Thursday after interviews we participated in a Coordinating Council Meeting in Lethbridge under the direction of Elder James E. Evanson, our Area Seventy down south. The whole meeting was centered on missionary work, and it was a great meeting. We are so grateful for all of the stake presidents we serve with and for their commitment and faith and devotion. We just love them all, and we hope we can continue to unite together to bring more people to the waters of baptism.
Friday and Saturday we continued with interviews and didn't get home until 8:30 Saturday night. And by then we were both sick with horrific colds, and we still needed to prepare for zone conferences which began today. So, we spent Sunday preparing and planning. And we prayed that we would be given energy to do it--we were both feeling so awful that we wondered how we could do it. But, as always, Heavenly Father answered our prayers and blessed us with renewed energy to make it through zone conference, and not only to make it through but to have a wonderful, inspiring zone conference with our Calgary, Calgary North and Calgary West zones.
We closed the conference focusing on "What Think Ye of Christ?", and missionaries shared scriptures that emphasized what they thought of the Savior. It was a really spiritual time, and was perfect to lead into our testimony meeting. As usual, our testimony meeting is always so inspiring and uplifting. I wish everyone could attend a missionary testimony meeting. You would really feel the power of these disciples of Christ. We look forward to 3 more zone conferences this week.
Our weather lately has been so up and down! We've had some nice fall days, and then it will dip to 6 and be so cold, and I pull my boots back out, and then it will warm right up again! This week we will hit 23! That's about 76 fahrenheit! I love it--I'm hoping for a long, drawn out fall after the brutal winter we had last year. But I have told all of our new missionaries to buy their winter coats and boots, because it will hit anytime and they need to be ready! After talking with one of our doctors up here I am also encouraging all of them to take Vitamin D on a regular basis. He told me that everyone in Canada is vitamin D deficient, so to take it from October through April, which I am strongly suggesting to our missionaries. It is also cold and flu season already, and we have had so many sick missionaries already. So, I keep reminding them to use hand sanitizer like crazy!
Besides that I had one missionary cut his leg open on a broken metal chair in the middle of the night getting up to use the bathroom, and so I had to find a doctor to stitch him up on a Sunday--that is another answer to prayers! Thank heavens for our wonderful LDS doctors here in Canada. They are always so willing to help out! They are such a blessing. I had tried to send this elder to two different urgent care clinics and they wanted to charge him $850 just for the visit--this would be outside of the fee for the stitches. So thankful we didn't have to go that route!
We are really feeling great about our mission right now, and are loving the obedience, and faith and enthusiasm of our missionaries. They are so willing to work, and wanting to know how to be better missionaries, and are trying their best. We are so proud of them and just love them. It's amazing how quickly we get to know our new missionaries as they come in. With interviews and zone conferences each transfer you really become acquainted quickly and it is so fun. It is such a blessing and privilege to work with these great missionaries. We will always cherish this time.
Today we had to say good-by to one of our senior couples in the field, Elder and Sister Gardiner, serving out in Banff. They go home next Monday and we will be on the road so we had to hug them good-by today. They have been such a blessing out there and to our mission and to our missionaries serving in the West zone. We just love them and will miss them. What a great example they have been for all of us. Senior couples are THE BEST!!! Everyone should plan to serve a mission as a senior couple--they are so needed!
We love this work. And it's because we love our Savior. We can never adequately express our love for Him, and for His atoning sacrifice.