Wednesday, August 29, 2012

 
We thought you might like to see some more pictures of friends and places, so here goes:
Our living room


Our kitchen

Another angle of the living room

Our bedroom

The bathroom
(in case you had questions)


Some temple worker friends -
 Sis. Cournoyer & the Hartlings

JJ - one of our
"daughters"

The Sister Missionaries -
Sis. Davis & Sis. Kowalski
By "Blue Rocks"
Chester Basin
"Blue Rocks"
(note the various colors)

Sylvia & Albert -
Joni's Sis-in-law and Brother


 
The Bounty!



Mahone Bay -
Our home 1972-75
John & Lil -
Joni's Bro-in-law & Sister

Over Bedford Bay



Monday, August 27, 2012

"The Lord doesn't care much for temporal challenges on earth.  He is really only concerned with what we become because of our challenges." (Bruce Pitt-our former Stake Pres.)

Branch Pres. Moses & wife Debbie






Some YSA munching goodies @
their Talent Show



You can tell it's getting closer to the school year - we're getting more YSA  from out of town moving in to attend school and attending the branch activities.  It's good to see they're attending church without their parent's urging.  We're also meeting more with our CES coordinator in preparation for teaching.







Elders Marks & Fisher


We had guests (new converts) for dinner and the Elders for lunch - they were very tasty.  Sister Tiff makes the best meals 'cause she's a "good cooker."


This week at the temple we saw Elisha, who was baptized last Saturday, at the temple with the youth and Griselda.  It was great to see these new members of the church in such a holy place.  They were both as thrilled to be there as we were to see them there.  There was a large number of YSA there, also.
Griselda - one of our fav's

We've been told the church is going to start using a new family history site on the computer - Family Tree.  We met with a group of family history consultants and felt their wonderful spirit and enthusiasm to be in those callings.  Next Thursday an individual will be here from Salt Lake City to tell us what, when, why, and how of the new program.

"As member's of Christ's restored Church, we have the covenant responsibility to search out our ancestors and provide for them the saving ordinances of the gospel. 'They without us cannot be made perfect' (Heb. 11:40). And 'Neither can we without our dead be made perfect' (D&C 128:15)."  (Elder Bednar)

During the weekend we went to Truro, about 40 miles north, to visit some members, non-members, and the branch of the church.  We stayed with one of Joni's friends from way back.  They were exceptionally kind to us and very hospitable.  The branch is small but very loving and full of the spirit.  We spoke in their Sacrament Meeting, then met with Pres. Mahoney, the Branch President to discuss CES and YSA.  After church was a very tasty pot luck dinner, then a drive home.  It was a great weekend!

Along with all of these events we've had some fun activities, too. One evening we had dinner with some of the people we work with at the temple. One sister who had the dinner, lives next to a beautiful lake, and then dessert on their boat out on the lake. Pres. and Sister Robinson, Temple Pres. and Matron, were with us. It was a fantastic evening!

Hostess Linda Cournoyer & Sharon Hartling-
Temple workers
Our host and Captain -
John Cournoyer
Our Luxury Cruise Liner

Pres. & Sis. Robinson (Temple Pres. & Matron)
Sure look different without white clothes!
 
The Cournoyer's year-round home on
the shore of a beautiful lake
  We also had the chance to go to the beach and walk in the COLD Atlantic water.
Rainbow Haven Beach at Cow Bay



Melissa -
A VERY GOOD FRIEND!!!







Elder & Sis. Foley
Really great Mission Office couple!








We love our work and our companion.  We're thankful and humbled that we've been found worthy to be here, and pray we'll be proper representatives of our Savior.  Elder Nelson said, "Our degree of gratitude is a measure of our love for Him."

Monday, August 20, 2012

The "Greenies" Elder & Sister Tibbets
Sunday is always busy with lots of meetings, but I'll make it short - it was busy with a lot of meetings.  We were asked to teach the Marriage and Family Relations class in Sunday School, starting next month.  That should be fun to teach the singles.  The YSA Stake Committee are planning some fun events for the future and the Activation Committee met to give us a hand in reactivation efforts.  Then this evening we went to the mission home for a dinner with other senior couples.  A new couple (one day), the Tibbets, were there from Alpine, Utah.  Her personality is just like Sister Tiffany's so it was a very fun evening.  They're going to New Brunswick, close to the Maine border.

Sis. Roberts
We spent one day in service for a very close friend of Sister T's (who isn't?).  Weeding and minor repairs about her home made Elder Tiff feel like he was back home (except for the humidity).  It was a great day.  We met with Griselda and she is very positive about her move home to El Salvador.  We had dinner at Elder and Sister Foley's one evening, and they put Griselda in touch with a friend from her home country.  In the meantime Elisha tried on baptismal clothes for her baptism on Saturday.  She is nervous but very excited.  She has had some tough times and this is the direction she has been wanting to go, especially for her daughter.  Her baptism was a very spiritual experience and she even bore her testimony of the true gospel!

Elders Deem and Parsons were here for lunch one day, and they had to pay for it by showing Elder Tiff some computer stuff.  At the MTC they told us to ask the young Elders for Tech stuff, they know it all - it's true!  We also had Elders Marks and Fisher for lunch this week. Elder Marks is the zone leader and they are both great missionaries, along with Elders Deem and Parsons.
Elders Fisher & Marks enjoying Sister T's cooking
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Temple
We started our assignment at the temple this week.  What a great experience that is.  Sister T is in training, and she is fantastic!  (Elder Tiff was trained at the Bountiful Temple)  We love it.  We'll be there once a week until our mission is finished.


Some of the youngsters getting prepped!

The YSA had a great activity we participated in.  We didn't get wet but got lots of sunshine.  Elder Tiff got his first ride in a canoe, but they didn't trust his paddling, so he just sat there and enjoyed the fruits of their labors and the scenery.

Elder Tiff, fold your arms
and stay away from the paddles!!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."  (Matthew 28:19-20)


Our APs, Elders Biddulph and Tongish,
with Elder Hallstrom
Last Saturday, we were called to the mission office to meet Elder Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy, who was in town for a very short visit with the mission president.  It was a very wonderful, albeit short, visit with such a spiritually strong and gentle individual.  We shook hands, visited a minute, got some pictures, and then he was on his way.  Very spiritually uplifting.




Sis. Tiff's old homestead
This has been a busy week and we're starting to get into the swing of things.  We went to the South Shore to visit with some family, but specifically to meet with the Bishop of the Bridgewater Ward.  What a beautiful chapel they have there!  While down that way we went by the home Sister Tiffany was born and raised in.  It had been vacant and falling apart, but someone has bought it and are fixing it up.  We've talked to or met with the bishops and branch presidents of a number of wards and branches concerning their YSA and seminary and/or institute students.  Our assignment is to meet every YSA in the stake, both active and inactive, to get acquainted, find out their interests, their feelings toward the church, and what their potential is in regards to the church education program.  We especially want them to know someone cares about them and is concerned about their eternal welfare.  We want to "be there" for them. We also had an opportunity to take Shirley, a friend and member to the airport from Bridgewater on her way to Calgary.  We had a very nice luncheon with the Davisons' on the way-who are dear friends from Mahone Bay.

Anisa and Alisha
We went to a number of meetings with Elders Deem and Parsons, as well as Elders Marks and Fisher.  We had the great opportunity to take Alisha and her daughter Anisa to the temple.  We walked around the beautiful grounds and they were visited by a member of the Temple Presidency.  They were very excited to see the temple and are looking forward with great anticipation to their baptismal date.  Alisha loves what she is being taught by the Elders, and she really likes the people at church.  Anisa is only seven but looking forward to her eighth birthday with great anticipation for her baptism.

On Friday, August 10th, Sister and Elder Tiffany celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary.  It was very different from any we've had before.  We were most thankful that none of our family had an emergency medical situation on that day (That's another story by itself).  We visited an inactive member who is having some real challenges with some addictions she has.  That was a sad situation, but we prayed with her and left her some challenges to accomplish, and a gospel message. 
In the afternoon we visited with the Sister missionaries to discuss reactivation efforts among the YSA.  They are being very helpful and have a great spirit about them. 
Sis. & Elder Foley and Sis. Leavitt at dinner.
We went from there to our friend's (Melissa and JJ) home for a very nice dinner they prepared for us to celebrate our anniversary.  Without us knowing, they had invited the mission president and his wife, as well as the missionary couple who are serving as mission office support, Elder and Sister Foley.  It was a very nice event.
Bro. Rick Cartier
In the evening we met with Samantha, the Institute Representative Council President (IRC Pres.) and Bro. Rick Cartier, our CES boss, to plan events for the first institute class week in September.  Rick is very sharp and knows just what to do and how to do it.  It will be a challenge to keep up with both him and Pres. Leavitt.  They are both real fireballs packed with energy and filled with the spirit. Like the bumper sticker: "Get in, sit down, shut up, and hold on!"
We were very tired at the end of this day, but it was worth it!

This week we received very sad news that Griselda, the new convert from ElSalvador, is returning to South America and her family.  It's sad for us, but very good news for them.  Immigration said she has come to the end of her allowed time here, and has no further time allowance in Canada.  Don't know her departure date yet, but she has a great attitude and a very strong spirit.

Today, Saturday, August 11th, we went to the temple in the rain and fog.  Temperatures really change from day to day.  Yesterday was in the high 80s with high humidity, today in the 60s with rain and fog.  Anyway, when we arrived at the temple we were invited into the temple president's office, interviewed, and set apart as temple workers.  We'll be serving there on Thursdays, to go along with our other assignments.  We're really looking forward to that experience.