Experiences in a Winter Wonderland

What is there not to love about Canadian weather? So it's a little cold. How do we know it's winter? Well when the snow inside the car hasn't melted in a month.            The best way to remove ice on the windshield inside the car is with the missionary tag. You know it's a cold day in Canada when you have to go home, to take your groceries in the house, so your milk, eggs and produce won't freeze. We attend two wards on Sunday. One is at 9AM and the other is at 1PM. We take our lunch in an insulated bag, so it WON'T freeze. Removing snow in Canada is different. They use graders to plow the streets. These four graders are working downtown. They just skim it above the road.  The snow is piled in the middle of the road. Later a front loader and dump truck comes by and the snow is hauled to a field outside of town. People do have snow shovels but quite often they also remove snow from the porch and walks with a broom. The snow we have had so far is like sugar, sometimes even powdered sugar. We have seen people with leaf blowers clearing city sidewalks around town and other public places. We haven't once seen a snowblower.                                                                                                                                                             This is a main road that bypasses                                                   This is in a major  shopping downtown. This is about the                                                         area. Also slow traffic time. best it gets. Slow traffic time. This is the center of downtown, 100 Street and 100 Avenue. Usually these streets have lots of traffic. They stay home when such conditions happen.  I wouldn't want to be a frontierswoman in this. No thank you very much! It is fun getting to experience new things. ie short days. The children have been in school for an hour in dark when the sun comes up and it goes down soon after they get home from school. The snow is also very different here. It is so cold it is not wet. More like sugar and sometimes powdered sugar. Sunrise 9:14 a.m. January 12, 2017 Sunset 4:54 p.m. January 12, 2017.  This is the door we enter. The snow is as high as the curb, maybe 4". Not much snow so far. . There has been ice behind our car since the first snow storm. We wear cleats on our shoes between car and door. Rocks are spread on streets and parking lots. This parking lot and Costco keep their lots clear. The snow can be beautiful. And then, the reason we are here. YSA playing Twister. The fellow in the front is an Elder from Arizona. The other two are Canadians, both RM's (returned missionaries) one to Australia, one to California. We love our mission whether it is snowing, or sunny, cloudy, dark, cold and colder, or even freezing rain. There are many things to experience. I love to keep track of the temperatures and the hours of daylight because it is different than it is if I was home in Draper, Utah. Today is Saturday, January 28, 2017. Today is the first day since around American Thanksgiving that the temperature has been above freezing. (I started writing it down December 1, 2016.) When we woke up this morning it was 37F feels like 37. The ice in the parking lot is actually soft. Today we had daylight for 8 hours 31 minutes 24 seconds. Today is 3 minutes and 44 seconds longer than yesterday. We will have a difference of exactly 4 minutes on February 3. We gain a little over 1 minute every morning and the rest is gained in the afternoon. Today, sunrise was 8:53 am and sunset 5:24 pm.  We are excited about our missionary experiences. We were able to testify, and give a copy of the Book of Mormon to a man. I love being able to tell everyone we can, that Heavenly Father loves them. I love wearing my tag and have people come up to talk to us because they know someone who belongs to our church. I love the special experiences that happen that lets me know that Heavenly Father is aware of me, and that He loves me. I am so thankful for the angels that watch over us and have kept us out of harm's way. We know that we have been protected from some pretty serious situations while we have been driving in this sloppy weather. Bruce took a fall on some ice, and although he was shaken and embarrassed, he didn't even get a bruise. And there was no injury to his back, hip, head and neck. And he did not get stiff or ache in any way. Truly a huge blessing. We have not been sick. Our coats, gloves and boots keep us warm. Our apartment is nice, and efficient. And our car has been such a blessing. We were definitely guided to purchase the right car to bring with us.  What would we be doing if we had not come on a mission and just stayed home? Well, we did miss this very special experience where our oldest grandson, Seth, baptized his little brother, our youngest grandson, Quinn. We are so happy with the choices that both of these grandsons have made. We will have lots of special times with them. Thank goodness we can call them, skype them, and write to them any time we want.   If you are retired and have good health, think about going on a mission.Being on a mission might cost a little more than living at home in your own house. But, not much. There is no way to put a price on the blessings you and your family will receive. Maybe a mission isn't for every senior couple. But, the matter of the cost shouldn't be a reason for not going. And, not being around for your grandchildren also shouldn't be a reason. Somehow it balances out and you will still be indebted to the Lord. We know many of you have had miserable winter weather. Be careful. We pray you will be safe and protected. We love all of you. Until the next blog. Love, Mom, Grandma, Sister Brown and Robyn