March 7-13, 2022

 My best 93-year-old friend took pity on me when she read about my hot pad dilemma a couple weeks ago.  She asked her daughter mail some of her (the daughter's) awesome hand made hot pads to me.  They arrived this week and were put to use immediately when I baked muffins and cookies on Friday.

And I'm sorry but there won't be anymore kneeling to vacuum stories.  We complained enough that the sister over housing bought us a brand new vacuum.  I have to find something else to complain about!

We are continuing to visit with older ward members.  We are amazed at the diversity in this ward.  The three sisters we visited this week are from Trinidad and Barbados.  One of the sisters is the ward "baker."  She provides homemade bread for the Sacrament each week.  She sent us home with a loaf of fresh bread that was soooo good!

The young couple in the ward that teach early morning Seminary are expecting a baby in three weeks.  They asked to take the rest of the school year off and we have been asked to substitute for the next two months.  We said yes, but I'm not too sure I want to do it.  Class starts at 6:00 am and you all know I'm not a morning person.  Plus it is over Zoom, not in person.  And if we are really honest, I just don't relate to teenagers very well.  

This is the Benson family - David and Catherine, Carter and Travis.  Travis is 21 months old now.  Catherine grew up in Châteauguay and David is from the Edmonton area.  While we were at their home getting acquainted, we made a very interesting discovery.  David's mother and I are first cousins.  My father and his grandfather are brothers.

This is my cousin Debbie Tolley Benson.  We were probably teenagers the last time we saw each other.  The church makes the world a very small place!

We spent one entire day doing missionary apartment inspections.  I have lots of photos of broken drawers, mold, cracked tiles and windows without coverings but I'm sure you don't want to be bored with that.  Our assigned area is Laval, about an hour north and west of us.  The five apartments are each located 15-20 minutes apart so it was a trek.  They were all pretty good except for one Elder's apartment that I described as creepy.  I recommended that they be moved to another location and to close that apartment.

We had a Stake Relief Society activity on Saturday to celebrate the 180th birthday of Relief Society.  After the music and talks in the chapel, we moved into the cultural hall to make fleece blankets for a women's shelter.

The finished blankets were nicely packaged with some trinkets included in the bag.  There was also a coloring activity and a tai chi class.

And of course there is always cake at a Relief Society birthday party.

"Thus Jesus taught his disciples to watch and pray; however, he taught them that prayerful watching does not require sleepless anxiety and preoccupation with the future, but rather the quiet, steady attention to present duties."  (President Howard W Hunter)