Finally, we get to start describing the ward and our
“missionary” activities!
On Sunday the 27th, we attended Sacrament Meeting in the Black Creek Ward. It is a Spanish-speaking ward and meets in a converted KFC factory (or so we’re told.) You’d never guess the previous use because it has been so completely refurbished, and very nicely so. But it fits no pattern of usual church buildings that we’ve seen. It has lots of big windows in nearly every room with nice drapes, and has a very unusual shape – the chapel and cultural hall are on the north side, with the rest of the building tapering to the south with two floors of classrooms, RS room, Library, etc. There is a baptismal font – on the second floor! All-in-all functional, but very different.
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| Black Creek Ward Chapel Rear |
We met the bishopric and a lot of wonderful people. We
attended the RS and EQ meetings and felt very much at home here. The Latin
Americans are always so welcoming.
On the last Sunday of each month, they have a “linger
longer.” They had a lot of food, and the visiting was great. We are looking
forward to serving with these dear people.
We had a zoom Meeting with all the mission tonight. They
call it a “miracle call” where some missionaries have been asked to share a
miracle story from the week. The stories were wonderful. It’s clear that the
Lord’s hand is in this work!
On Monday, we went to Ikea and got some shelves and some
kitchen things and some “prayer” rugs. We don’t have any carpet in our basement
apartment, and these will keep our knees a bit younger, hopefully.
Then went to Costco for gas and Best Buy to get a printer
and monitor and monitor stand. Then we went to our Senior missionary luncheon
to say good-bye and hello to a few Senior missionaries. There were two couples
leaving, and we were the only new ones. We got to meet the office staff, and
our mission President and his wife. Sweet people all around. Since it was
Sister Lyon’s birthday, they all sang to her. Serendipitously, it was also the
birthday of one of the office Elders, so they had a cake already prepared!
On Tuesday, there was a mission devotional over Zoom. The
senior missionaries who are leaving shared their testimonies with all the
missionaries. President and Sister Lee shared theirs to close the meeting. They
are a lovely couple from Hawaii and are so loving and welcoming.
Afterwards, we checked out all the grocery stores close to
us that our new neighbor Mary Ann told us about. Very interesting and good, a
fun adventure. Wal-Marts are plentiful, but there are a number of others with
great produce and good prices.
Our Landlady, Nyree, has had senior missionaries here
previously, and shares information and garden produce with them. She gave us
some tomatoes from her garden. They are red on the bottom and green on the top.
They are called Black Krim and are very delicious. We visited with her out in her backyard. She
has a green thumb and has made her yard beautiful.
Concerning prescriptions, there are a couple of options that
the missionaries shared with us. One is to drive down to Buffalo (about a two-hour
drive if the traffic isn’t too bad), pick up your medications at a Walgreens,
for instance, do whatever other shopping you need to do, and return – another
two-hour drive.
The other option is to go to a doctor here and get your
prescriptions re-written so they can be filled at local pharmacies. We figured
we’d give it a try to save time and gas money.
So, on Wednesday, we went to a nearby walk in clinic. It
took a couple of hours, but we learned a lot. We had him re-order Elder
Lyon’s prescriptions and went to Costco to have them filled. The clinic visit
cost about USD 73 (CAD 100), and the prescriptions weren’t any more expensive
than in the States. We have insurance that we can get reimbursement from, so
the upside is saving all the travel time with little downside. We really liked
this doctor. He answered all our questions and was very personable.
Our church building has two wards in it. The Weston Ward is
English speaking. The Andersons are the senior missionaries for the Weston Ward.
They have been here for 2 months. Their assignment is the same as ours. So we
are learning a lot from them. We attended the class that they teach on
Wednesday nights for the new converts and those working with the missionaries.
It was good. There were probably 10-15 New Converts there +
the two employment sisters and the sister missionary serving in the storehouse.
The elders came as well. Sister Lyon sat by Niki, a new convert of about 3
months. She was cute. She mentioned in class that she had gone to the temple
last week with the group from the class and loved doing baptisms. It was her
2nd time going but this time she brought her own family names and felt so good
about it all.
On Thursday we were able to attend the Toronto Canada
Temple. It was wonderful! We love being in His Holy House. After the temple we
went to a lovely restaurant called Montana. We are learning our way around
Toronto, and Sister Lyon is learning how to be a navigator.
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| Toronto Canada Temple |
On Friday, we had zone council. There were 24 of us there – 18 Elders and Sisters assigned to our Zone, the 2 Assistants to the President and the two MLS couples. We were very impressed with the way the elders and sisters conducted, presented and taught us, as well as the discussions and comments from everyone. Food seems to always be a part of every activity, so after the meeting we had lots of food, even homemade cinnamon rolls and watermelon and everything in between.
That afternoon we were invited to join the sister
missionaries in teaching a 16 year old boy. He was amazing and knew so much and
felt the Spirit and answered the questions clearly and sincerely. We were able
to share our feelings about the Prophet and the Atonement and to bear our
testimonies. We really enjoyed this experience.
That evening, we had dinner and visited in the Anderson's apartment.
We had such a good time with them and the 3 sisters that were at our meeting on
Wednesday. The food was yummy. We talked till 10. It was so fun to be with
these dear people. they have led some very interesting, productive lives.
On Saturday, we helped our landlady fix a bathroom door that
was scraping the floor (the humidity had made it swell a bit) and bought a cupboard
/ pantry that we brought home and put together. It is about 6' tall and will
make Sister Lyon’s life so much easier. We had no place to store any food, just
one small cupboard over the counter. We are making our little basement
apartment into a comfortable home for us.
So, we’ve settled in, know the Toronto area around us pretty
well, and feel comfortable with our assignment. We feel at home and excited to
continue in this phase of our lives.
Loving your blog post sweet missionaries!
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