John and Karen in the Canada Montreal Mission

What a beautiful week we have had!  Certainly not weather-wise, as it has rained almost every day, but beautiful in seeing friends progress in the gospel and make new covenants. The trivial stuff first.  We hopped of the metro to run an errand and decided to take a route through a shopping area that we had not previously walked through.  No unusual stores but the displays in the common areas were quite impressive. I do believe an old woman could live in this shoe! Tuesday morning we were awakened at 1:57 am by flashing lights and the awful shrieking of the apartment building fire alarm.  Our apartment faces the front of the building.  There weren't any fire trucks and we didn't smell any smoke.  We started to get dressed and put shoes on but we weren't really sure what we should do.  People were starting to gather in front of the building so we followed their lead and took the stairs down.  Three fire trucks arrived about 10 minutes later but non...

Every day this week has felt a little like attending the Saturday evening adult session of Stake Conference.  Elder Bassett was here doing a mission tour.  The Montréal and Mount Royal (our zone) Zones met in person on Tuesday, then we joined via Zoom the following days as they visited other zones in the mission.  We had had an appointment for some time to do sealings at the temple Thursday morning, and had changed it twice already, so decided to sneak away from the Zoom call on Thursday.  We think our ancestors are happy to be sealed to their parents now and that we will be forgiven for the rest. Elder Mark and Sister Angela Bassett Here's part of his bio from the Church site: Born on August 14, 1966, to Edwina Acker and William Lynn Bassett, in Carmichael, California, Elder Bassett is the second of five children. Serving in the Church and living the gospel were important priorities in his family. After serving in the Guatemala Guatemala City Mission from 1985 to 19...

I feel like I'm back in the routine of mission life after my trip to Alberta and then fighting a cold.  Nothing spectacular happened this week, except that spring has arrived!  And we hope it stays for awhile.  We have enjoyed a week of sunshine and temps in the 60's and low 70's.  We see the cargo ships and freighters moving along the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which means most of the ice has melted or flowed out to sea, making the seaway passable again. We are preparing for a mission tour next week with Elder and Sister Bassett  We will have an in-person meeting with them here in Montréal, then join via zoom as they visit the other zones in the mission.  It's a lot of area to cover in five days. Our Stake presented an Easter Concert yesterday (yes, a week after Easter).  There were choirs from several wards, individuals and families that participated. The May family is in our ward.  All seven of their children were there to sing and they all have ve...

Happy Easter!  It is a beautiful, sunny day here.  Still cool temps but at least we can see sunshine!  Sacrament meeting was nice and we had a little miracle of our own today.  Remember cranky old Margo, who never stops complaining?  We have seen a change in her lately - she is beginning to turn outward a little.  She calls to tell us news from the U.S. (not that we really want to know!!) and to ask if we are well.  She had agreed to come to Sacrament meeting with us today since it would only be one hour.  She called yesterday complaining about how cold she had been during the power outage and that she didn't feel well.  We were sure she would back out of going to church.  We called her at 8:00 am this morning and she agreed to go!  She was pleasant the entire time we were with her.  We are grateful to the ward members that recognized her and came over to speak with her. I posted a separate blog about my getaway to Alberta....

My Aunt Donna passed away on March 26, 2023.  She would have celebrated her 95th birthday in June.  Aunt Donna is my mother's younger sister and was the last surviving aunt or uncle on both sides of my family.  After my mother died in 1956, Aunt Donna always kept track of us and tried to keep in touch.  Until she lost her hearing and could no longer use the telephone, she called each of us on our birthdays and would have lengthy chats with us.  She was always interested in our families and what we were doing. I flew to Calgary Alberta on Saturday, April 1.  Our daughter Sherri and her husband Jim picked me up at the airport and we drove to Lethbridge.  I had not visited Alberta since we returned from our previous mission in 2019.  It was nice to see some real mountains again. We stayed with granddaughter Heather and her family in Lethbridge.  She was married during Covid, when we could not cross the border, and we had only met her husband Kyl...