This past week had been so busy, we had 4 new elders coming and a sister with 7 elders going home, and at the same time we had transfers all over the mission.

Dad & I went to the mission home and trained the new missionaries and their trainers about things from the office, it was so fun to see these missionaries in person because I have been writing them for the past three months getting them ready to come.

It was hard to say goodbye to our departing missionaries, we are losing some very special young men and will loose even more in July.

Out weather here has been so beautiful, in the low 70's and all the green trees, blooming flowers and geese everywhere. Dad and I counted over 90 of them in the pond downstairs. There was also a new little batch of gooslings.

We had a very spiritual meeting today in our YSA meeting, a returned mission president from New Zealand spoke, I will tell more next week.

I was so sad to hear that my little Chase had pneumonia, I have had her in my prayers every night along with the rest of my family.




Our weekends are a little lonely for us because we usually would have breakfast with our children and grandchildren but whenever I feel lonely I look at our family picture and know that the Lord is looking out for all of you. That does not mean that we will not all have our problems, because it is through our problems and over coming them that gives us the strength to continue on that path to our Heavenly Father and Jesus.

Tender Mercy - from the meeting today - two things to help us in our everyday lives; 1. if we keep the faith such as saying our prayers each day, reading the scriptures etc. and 2. serve the Lord by going to church, the temple and magnifying our callings then everything else will fall into place. As the former mission president said this, I realized that it is so true. I am always worrying about what we will be doing next and what is in the future, he said that he told each of his missionaries these two principles as they left their mission and I felt that I need to do that also, with my life here and after we come home.

I love you all so much and miss you more than you will ever know.

Grandma Heart

We have Sister Green back from her visit to Utah, Sister Stevens and I went to Buffalo and picked her up, she looked so frail at the airport but on the way back she told us about the funeral and it was very spiritual for her and the whole family.
I learned a new phrase in our Relief Society meeting about two weeks ago from one of the young sisters that is a returned missionary; 'tender mercies'. I have thought about these two words ever since I heard them and I am beginning to see these tender mercies everywhere.
I heard them from Sister Green, I write a tender mercy at the end of my journal at night because it helps me to remember that I am loved and not alone.
When Jon was ordained a High Priest we were so thrilled for him but so sad that for the first time in the lives of our sons we were not there for a special occasion, but then all of our sons were there and our oldest was able to do it in place of their Dad. Tender Mercies.
Today a woman called and wanted to have our elders bring food and all sorts of things to her, she talked on and on for over an hour, I tried to reason with her to let her know that this is not what our elders do, I realized that she was a lost soul like so many of the people that used to call the business that were on Medicaid, I finally put her in touch with the East Mission because that is where she lives. The people in the office were amazed that I didn't fall apart with her with all the ranting and carrying on that she did, but I had plenty of training from our business, I realized that she was mentally ill.
Not more than an hour later another woman called and asked to be taken off the records of the church, I told her who to call and gave her the number. I felt bad for the first lady, but she didn't know any better, but the second one literally gave up her opportunity of living with the Lord for ever. How fragile life is.
I talked with the missionaries coming and going today because we received our new ones from the MTC and Friday we will have more leave. I see these young men and women serving the Lord in a very difficult mission and I am so touched by their faith and courage to go forth each day with a positive attitude that the Lord is pleased with them. Tender Mercies.
Last Thursday Dad went to a Blue Jays game with the president and the other senior Elders. We wives gave them the tickets for Father's Day. While they were at the game we senior sisters went to a castle in Toronto built by a man many years ago when the city was just beginning. He had many ideas and turned them into money, one of them was to harness the power from Niagara Falls to bring power for Toronto; he made a lot of money from this but was very foolish, instead of saving it, he was extravagant with his money building this huge castle for his wife and spoiled son. Soon a man came along and talked the city of Toronto into taking over his business for the power company and he lost everything. He continued speculating and adding more things onto his castle and not saving his money until the castle was taken away. His wife was so sad that she died of a heart attack and he died penniless with a son that very rarely came to visit.
As we sat on the patio of this beautiful building, we talked about the riches of the world and the most priceless gift we have and that is the membership in the church. All the money in the world cannot give us our testimonies or take us to the Celestial Kingdom. I hope someone has done his work for him in the temple and that he can be with his wife, I'm not sure about the son!?! Again, tender mercies, we have the greatest gift of all, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I miss my grandchildren so much, especially on the weekends, that is when I have to remember why we are here and have faith that they will think of us often and know that we love them dearly. Tender Mercies.
Love,
Mom

I look at the pictures at the beginning of this blog and I can't believe it has been three months since we received our call, so many things have happened.
We have seen, done and been through so much and we keep learning more each day, not just about our work in the office but about ourselves, the scriptures, and the church.
We love these missionaries and the fine people that they are, we have wonderful young men and women and senior couples that inspire us each day.
The one senior sister in our office, Sister Green, who is over referrals had a grandson die last
Tuesday morning. I took the call from a family member who asked to speak with the president, I told her that he was in interviews at one of the churches in Brampton, she said it was a family emergency and she needed to speak with him, I gave her his cell number. I have the phone 27-7 and when I get a call like that I immediately give them his cell number because it is always something bad. A few minutes latter the president called me and told me that the lady was Sister Green's daughter saying that Sister Green's grandson had died that morning of a drug overdose, and he wanted me to be aware when the call came in for Sister Green, that I was to be there to help her, just before the president called she received the call and was on the phone the same time I was talking to him, I could hear her crying in her office and told him that I would take care of her. I went in and she was sobbing at her desk. I hugged her and let her tell me about it; this grandson was a good boy but was rebellious and wanted to do it his way. Sister Green has only one son and he and his wife tried so hard to be the best parents they could, but no matter what they did, Adam made his own choices. The parents felt like such failures and Sister Green was so hoping that when he turned 19 in June that maybe he would pull his life together and go on a mission. I told her that his parents were not to blame, we can teach and teach and love and love but it all comes down to choice and he made some bad choices. I also told her that now he was on a different mission now, this seemed to help.
Sister Stevens (her companion who is over the vehicles) and I took Sister Green to Buffalo that afternoon to fly to Ohio to meet her daughter and continue to fly to Utah. President and Sister Middleton were so kind and told us to take her and not to worry about the office, Dad stayed behind to answer the phones etc.
We left here at 3:30 in the afternoon and her flight was for 6:00 p.m., it usually takes 2 hours to get to Buffalo and then we have to wait at the border for 15 minutes to an hour to get over, we knew that it would be a miracle to get her there in time. We all said a prayer and even though we were going into the early rush we made it to the border in an hour and a half, we were so worried that the border would have a long line but there was one car a head of us in our line and we were through in 5 minutes, and had her to the airport by 5:00, we knew that the Lord had followed us and taken care of us, because it just doesn't go that easy.
I have been doing my work as well as Sister Green's this week, Dad helps me pull the referrals on his computer, mine won't do it, and then I call the missionaries to give them the referrals. It is so fun to hear how excited they are to get them.
Dad and I have been looking out for Sister Stevens, she lives 8 floors down from us so we can keep in touch with her and we are in a lock down building so she is protected or else the president would have her stay with them.
Sister Stevens is going to our YSA ward tomorrow, I am looking forward to her meeting and seeing the kind of missionary work that we do. She and Sister Green are in a regular ward, Sister Green plays the piano in the primary and Sister Stevens supports the missionary class. They also do volunteer work at a care center and visit a couple of families that are inactive.
As I watched Sister Green look so stricken and in shock I realized what people have said that it is so difficult for a parent to outlive their children and grandchildren, I knew what they meant Tuesday as I took care of her and watched her struggle with the terrible loss in her family. I also watched the Holy Ghost come over her and give her peace as we continued throughout the day, how blest we are to have the gospel in our lives to help us through the difficult times when they come.

I have a few minutes tonight so I will give some news.
Our home evening the other night went so well, we had over sixteen there of the YSA's with two missionaries and a member of the branch presidency and Bob and me. We did a fun game that we learned years ago at Deleeuws and the youth really seemed to enjoy it.
It has all turned green over night here, we look down on our pond and the trees around it and we can't believe how beautiful it is.
We are still having fun on the elevators talking to people, they don't seem so intimidated by our badges as they used to. Our building is almost like a mini U.N. building. All the nationalities are so fun to meet and talk to and joke with.
In the mornings we meet alot of families taking their children down to catch the bus, and so often we are reminded of one of our grandchildren. The children seem to enjoy us because we are like grandparents to them.
I have been sending out letters to our recent converts with the president's signature congratulating them for joining the true church and asking for their conversion story, I was told that no one ever answers; I talked to the president and he was anxious for me to start sending out these letters again. In the past few weeks we have received 5 letters and they have been so sweet and touching.
Today we recieved a letter from a older Chinese lady that wrote in broken English and told a most beautiful story of her conversion, I read it to the other two sisters in the office and we were in tears by the time I had finished reading it.
When we are raised in the church we take for granted the wonderful opportunity of being baptized into the church of Jesus Christ, and the wonderful gift of the Holy Ghost.
We continue to love our apartment and the gorgeous view that we see each night and morning.
The different birds that we hear all the time are beautiful when they sing in the early morning and at night.
The people we constantly meet are so wonderful and we are so blest to know them and learn from them.
Take care my dear ones, we love you all so much. I will write more in my e-mail on Sunday or Monday.
MOM

We had a wonderful YSA meeting on Sunday and Monday night we had a great YSA family home evening. We usually have 8 to 12 come but this time we had 16 youth there with one investigator and one inactive girl, they really had a great time. Next Monday dad and I give the lesson and game and treat, we are looking forward to it.
Last Saturday we went to Buffalo and had a great time, Dad stayed to work in the office and I went with the two senior sisters, of course we got lost, the other sister put the wrong address on her GPS and we ended up in the projects, we sure got out of there fast.
It was wonderful being in the US again; bad roads, rude drivers and overweight people and I loved it!!!! We shopped and shopped until it got late and we had to start back, just past the border on the Niagara side a terrible storm hit, we could hardly see the road, the wind and rain were so bad. Dad called on the cell phone to make sure we were ok and I told him it was pretty bad and he said he knew because it had passed through here about a half hour before, it kept raining and blowing until we got almost to Hamilton then it slowed down a little. Up here when it rains, it can rain for two or three days without stopping.
Yesterday our new missionaries came in from the MTC, 1 sister and 4 elders, they were so tired and young. This morning Dad and I went to the mission home to take part in the orientation about office stuff and then we came back to the office. The two senior sisters were transporting missionaries all over the mission, from here to London (ON.) which took most of the day. Tomorrow the missionaries going home will all meet at the mission home for one last day together with the mission president and his wife and then they leave on Friday.
Next week we get ready for the zone conferences that start the next week, Dad and I only go to two this time instead of three, we go to the one here in Brampton and then to London which takes the longest to get to, almost two hours depending on the traffic. We take the tole road part of the way and since the Canadians won't use it much because the Saudi's bought it, the travel goes much faster.
The weather is so nice, and the trees are coming out in bud. The geese are very protective of their nests now and will chase anyone that comes near them. We looked out the window from our office last week and saw a goose chasing a runner around the field who had run too close to their nest.
So good to hear from you and hope is all going well, we love you so much and hope you are fine, I probably told you some of this in my e-mail but I wanted it on the Blog for my journal.
You are all in our prayers every day. Give our grandkids a hug for us and thank you for your replies, we so enjoy them.

Love,

Grandma and Grandpa Heart