Letter #5

Thurs. Aug. 12, 2010
The office in the Mission Home

Greetings to one and all who I love and adore all of the time,

How are each of you? I hope you are well and happy as Larks. Why do people say happy as a Lark? Are they happy? Maybe because they chirp the day away so everyone thinks they are happy. So we will assume they are... so I hope you are all happy as Larks.

With that said, I, for the first time was able to read dad's last letter and because he writes before I do, he basically covers EVERYTHING there is to say about what we are doing. So I must admit, it discouraged me from writing as I thought "what more do I have to say that would be worth reading" and frankly I could not come up with much. I don't want to bore you but I want to stay in touch. So I will write, but forgive me if I cover the same stuff however,  from a different point of view.

Something funny, at least it is so funny to me. Seriously, dad drives past our home at least 8 out of 10 times.He simply does not recognize where we are on the street.  I just sit there and chuckle under my breath and wait til he figures it out. At first, I would stop him and tell him we just passed the house but now I find it amusing that he keeps whizzing past the house, so I just don't say anything. I know that is hard for some of you to believe but it's true. That is just a fun little game I play to keep life interesting and amusing.

There is a great, and I mean great Jewish bakery a few minutes from the house. The only bad thing is that they are closed on THEIR sabbath which is our Saturday. Darn, it always seems that we need those wonderful bagels on Sat. Oh well, better that they live their religion. There are so many Hasidic Jews here. I love going to the Jewish produce shop and seeing all the cute little boys with their heads shaved with just a sprout of hair growing longer. These are good people. They love their kids and are very careful, attentive, effective parents. I admire them. And they have great produce. But back to the bakery. I love the folks that work there as they let me (or anyone else for that fact I imagine) go get bagels at any time of the day and I mean any time. I could go at 2:00 a.m. and get them hot if I wanted. I just have to take $5.40 which is exact change for a dozen of their delicious bagels. They are fantastic toasted. I just have to go into this huge run down garage, and by the way the bakery looks like a bomb shelter that has not been updated since....well forever....... walk up the cement stairs, yell at the guys in the bakery and tell them I am taking a dozen and they wave me on, I go and pick out my bagels, leave the money on the counter and there you have it. That is all there is to it. Voila as they say in France, oh yes, and here too if I spoke French.

Speaking of French, I don't get to  do much of that unless I am out or we leave the Island, as dad speaks English to me. Yes, I said Island, oh you did not know we were on a resort Island of Montreal, well we are. The Island of Montreal is split in two, the upper and lower. Being on the Island means NO TURNING RIGHT on a red light. This is still tough for the Pres. and I. But we remind  each other to stay put. They also have a blinking green light where,  when it blinks, it is a huge free for all. You can do whatever you please. You can go straight, left or right but you better do it fast as it only blinks for a blink of an eye. Yes, there was a pun intended.

I found the Persian store and they make yogurt in HUGE mountains in the deli. They also have open air bins with 50 kinds of nuts or dried things. Not sure what everything is but I aim to find out. So glad I found it. And there are apparently, and according to our Stake President and his wife, some VERY great Persian restaurants around. I plan on scoping those out when I get a minute. That may well be in three years. JK

We are so blessed in so many ways. The church has been so very accommodating and generous. They pay all our utilities, all repairs in order to keep this home in great condition, a lady, Sister Morais, comes and cleans once a week, (I clean before she comes) can you imagine I have someone to do this??? They have a lawn/yard care company that comes each week and keeps the grounds up. They pay for our food, gas and provide us with two cars. One is an Acadia GMC. Really, who wouldn't want to serve as a mission pres. and his wife?  I know I would. We are grateful for the generosity of the Church and are mindful that these funds come from tithe paying members. That helps us to keep our spending in perspective. We question everything we buy and buy sales etc. It is an honor to be here.

Oh, I am back, the door bell rang and it was the Elders. Elders Pearson and Sorensen. They are our A.P.'s. More like our sons. They are here quite a bit as we work a lot with them. They do so much for us and guide and teach us the ways of the mission. We love them. I just made them lunch. These are the finest young men. I love them. They are so funny they make me laugh every time they come. Elder Pearson is going home in 6 days and that stresses him out a bit. He carries this little hand device that you squeeze in your hand and it is really hard to do. So if he gets anxious he takes it out and squeezes it a number of times and that gets rid of the whatever it is he is feeling. He cracks me up. The missionaries never want to go home. They all want to stay. We just had a missionary call and say he would give anything to come back for another two years and if we said the word he would be back. Too bad we have no control over that. But we are recruiting couples out there so if you know of anyone who wants to come to the best mission in the world, give me their names and I will do the rest. O yah!

Well, we are having a couple over for dinner tonight. They are a couple who work so hard in the office day in and day out. I am so pleased to be able to cook them a meal.

Love you all, and hopefully, I will remember some of the wonderful things that happen to us on a daily basis.

As Lynette M. my good friend in Naperville always used to say, "The Gospel is TRUE...Whoop DEE DO"

love you,

mom/Shir
 


Soeur Shirin Cannon