Well, we are really alive, it has been such a long time since I have written. So much has happened since I last wrote.
Our trainers left last Tuesday morning early, we only really had three good days of training before they left and it has been a nightmare trying to remember all the many procedures and things that have to be done to run a mission office. Dad and I have really felt the spirit of the Lord guiding us. I could never have done all the things I have been doing on a computer if it were not for His help. This truly is the work of our Savior and He is always there to help.
I had times in these past two weeks when I was so discouraged and so homesick for my comfort zone, but I am feeling much better now and each day it does get better.
This past week we went with the mission president and his wife to three Zone Conferences, one here in Brampton, one in Hamilton and one in Kitchener. Hamilton and Kitchener were about 50 to 60 miles away and of course we got lost going to Hamilton, we were an hour and a half late. But we made it with the help of our mission president's wife standing on the curb in front of the chapel on her cell phone guiding us there. We went by Map Quest and she said it is very hard to follow and since we have been having trouble with our GPS we found ourselves heading toward Niagara Falls, but not for long. We didn't have much trouble with Kitchener.
We have been so impressed with these wonderful missionaries, what great testimonies and power they have. We have l53 missionaries in our mission; this includes 4 sets of senior couples and 2 sets of senior sisters.
Each meeting Dad and I bore our testimonies and we felt our testimonies grow just by sharing them with these missionaries.
On our way home from Hamilton we passed over Lake Ontario, it was beautiful with choppy waves because of high winds.
We have had very nice weather, in the 40's of 50's with rain on a few days. In the Great North of our mission they had 6 inches, so you can see the difference and the area that we cover.
Dad really missed being with his sons last night, he went with Elder Walker, (the former temple president) and said it was so nice but not the same as with his sons. He is so proud of you for still going as am I.
During the afternoon break, Dad and I walked around the pond below our building to see the Canadian Geese and Malard ducks, they are really beautiful. The babies should be hatching in a few weeks and then we will really have a lot there.
Dad and I are still meeting people on the elevator each day and are sure enjoying it. We have people from all over the world and they are so fun to meet and talk to.
Tomorrow night we go with Brother and Sister Walker to our youth home evening group. We have about 9 or 10 that come to ours. There are two other groups that other couples are doing and they are getting about the same attendance. We feel very good about this because they have to get their own transportation and it is after work and school so they are coming because they want to not because it is in their home and their parents are having it.
Wednesday night we are having dinner with our branch president and his family, what fun to have good company and a good home cooked meal.
We miss you all so much and would really like to hear how you are doing. May the Lord bless all of you and thank you for your support.
Elder and Sister Ward. (MOM and DAD

Elder Ward and I just got back from our first meeting with our Young Single Adults leaders. Dad and I were given a group to be over in the other mission for home evenings each week and Elder Ward is over the mission leaders and I am to take care of teaching the YSA to give talks and lessons. It is really neat and we are excited.
Elder Ward and I were in the SuperMart today on our lunch hour and the check out girl asked about our name tags and we told her, she is from India and has recently come unto Christ in another church, Elder Ward asked her if she would like to know more about our church and she said yes so we got her name and phone number and gave it to the elders.
We are getting better in the office each day, we were alone today and we learned alot. Our trainers were busy getting ready to leave. They will be in tomorrow and some on Monday, we have a zone conference to go to so we won't have them much more because they leave on Tuesday. The Lord is really blessing us.
It is late and I am very tired. Hope all is well with you, I understand that you are having snow storms, we have had rain but the weather has been in the high 40's and low 50's.
Love to you all.
Elder and Sister Ward

I am sorry again for the long time in writing, I have been lost because we couldn't get the internet started and then my computer won't work.
It seems like years since we left home. The trip here was so nice and we love our apartment. The view is so wonderful, every morning we watch the pond way below our window and the ice now has completely melted.
The other night we had just gone to bed and we heard funny sounds from outside, I told Elder Ward that the seagulls sounded sick and then it dawned on us that the geese were coming in. They come in at night and they fly in in families. There are about 15 to 20 geese in the pond now and the people in our building say that in the summer you can see around 100 at a time. By the way, JON AND MATT, you know that goose picture that everyone hates, well, I would love to have it here, there are not many pictures on the walls and I could find a great place for it.
Our work is overwhelming, I seem to learn one thing and then there are 40 new things to learn, our trainers are leaving next Tuesday and Dad and I are trying to cram as much as we can in such a small time.
We had transfers this week and all the new Zone Leaders came in for a meeting yesterday and it was so wonderful seeing all these fine young men, when they were all in our office after their meeting you could feel the power and strength of the priesthood in the room. We go next week to some zone meetings with the President and it should be wonderful.
Tomorrow night Elder Ward and I meet with the new branch president and the other people who are there to help to see what he wants us to in our calling with the young adults.
Elder Ward and I are still having trouble finding our way around, sometimes our GPS gets screwed up as it did tonight; it took us twice as long to get home. It is hard to navigate for us because we do not have our beautiful mountains to help us know where north and south are, it is flat here.
Canada is a melting pot for all nationalities, Sunday at our meeting with the youth, it looked like the United Nations and it was so cool finding out where all of these young people came from.
We have a lot of people from India here and quite a few in our building. They are usually shy, but we talk to them in the elevator and then they loosen up and are laughing by the time we get to the bottom. We have met some really nice people in the elevator.
The drivers here are terrible, they will never let any one in, you have to push in everywhere you go and they go really fast, but because people can't afford cars there are not as many as would normally be on the road.
I will write more tomorrow night and not as much since I won't have to catch up on everything.
Love to you all.
Grandma and Grandpa Ward (kiss our grandchildren for us)

It seems like years since I last wrote but it has only been three days. We had a great trip from Flint to Toronto. The roads were nice, especialy in Canada.
We had a fun time at the border, we decided that since we are missionaries we would be cheerful to everyone. We waited for about 15 minutes to get to the check in station and then we were told to go to the customs building next to the station. We went there and had to wait in this room where we were helped by the custom's people and when they had all their questions answered then they sent all the info through the computer to see if we were terrorists. We had a really nice lady wait on us who had torn her rotator cuff and we talked to her about that and she asked what we would be doing in Canada and as soon as we said we were missionaries for the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints she softened and asked us to wait while she checked everything.
While we were waiting a family came in and we started talking to them and found out they were from Detroit and on their way to Rochester, New York; then another man came in and we all started talking while we were all waiting to be processed, soon two other men came in and we were all having such a good time that when we all left we said goodbye to everyone, I think the officials were a little surprised to see people having such a good time at the border.
We arrived in Toronto at 3:00 and called the mission headquarters and were told to come directly to our apartment because it was late and they wanted to us to get unpacked before Friday.
We were so tired that night that we just made our bed and went to sleep. Our apartment is beautiful, it has a nice livingroom with a dining room attached a nice kitchen and a sun room that overlooks the city of Toronto, I am sitting here in the sun room (this is where we have our office and it is 8:00 p.m and I am looking out at this magnificent view. All the lights, cars going on the roads and an airport that is over from our apartment so we can see the planes coming and going. We have a little park below with a pond that is just beginning to have the ice thaw and soon the geese will be comng in from the south to lay their eggs and have their little families for summer.
We went in to work yesterday and Elder Ward was great, he already has started to implement new procedures for the money. We have over two million dollars a year aloted to our mission. I am trying to learn all that my trainer is trying to teach me. I am going to start Monday to go on the computer and I am looking forward to that. She already had me answering the phones and it was so hard for me not to so: "PickMeUp Medical Transport, this is Jannet". I told the president that and he said that he sometimes still has that problem because of his business years.
Last night after work Elder Ward and I were invited to have dinner with the mission president and his wife (President Middleton). It was so nice we were there for almost two hours just talking and laughing and having spiritural conversations. They asked about our family and were so impressed with our children and grandchildren. They don't have as many as we do.
President Middleton asked us to be the office managers for the mission and bring some stability to the office, because everyone is new and they want us to help bring calm to them. (This is a stretch for me!)
President Middleton also asked us to work with two new singles branches that have been consolidated into one. He wants them to also have stability with married people to guide them, we will be working with a couple who have just been released as the temple president so it should be nice. President Middleton asked the stake president where he wanted us to work and was realy thrilled to have us help with these singles. Many of them come from homes where they are the only members and from single parent families, so they don't have much example to follow.
Today Elder Ward and I finished putting all of our stuff away and washed and then when to a near by mall, it was huge. We are really ready to go to bed tonight.
It has been different because we have a queen bed instead of a king but it has been nice to be closer together, even with Dad snoring.
I was ironing all of Elder Ward's shirts today (about an hour) I was getting tired and then it came to me that it was a priviledge to do this for my priesthood holder, Elder Ward came in just then as I was thinking this and asked how I was doing and I told him; he looked at me a little strange and wanted to know if I was all right; I looked back and told him to "shut up" and he said, "now you are feeling better".
President Middleton told us that our family would be blessed in many ways, temperal but more importantly spiritually and that is what we should all be striving for.
We love you all so much, how very blest we are to have you in our lives.

Love,
Elder and Sister Ward

We made it to Flint, Michigan in 5 hours, Dad did such a great job of driving, especially around Chicago, so much polution, bad highways and traffic. Once we got on the highway to Michigan, the scenery became beautiful. It brought back all the memories of the times that we visited here. All the trees and lakes and ponds.
Flint is a very nice town with nice people and places to see.
Thank you Jon for your message, it meant so much. We too are proud of our children and our grandchildren, we are always so excited to tell people about all of you when asked. Out in the world to have 4 sons and 11 grandchildren is really something.
We talked to the mission home today and they are anxiously awaiting us and we are glad to finally be able to start serving. It should only take about 4 hours to get there tomorrow.
Kellye, I can't get the pictures on this blog, when I get a chance, I'll call you and have you talk me through it. We have some fun pictures to share with all of you.
Dad had one of his crowns come off of his tooth and will have to have it taken care of in Canada. He called he dentist and he will refund the money to have it done. Thank goodness.
Tell the grandchildlren that we have brought our pancake starter and will take care of it until we can come back and have our breakfasts again, we hope the children will still want to do it when we get back. Please kiss them all for us.
Love, Mom and Dad

I am sorry that I didn't write last night, but we were so tired from driving all day and then Dad had to work with Chris to get my computer going. I hope it will work, it seems to.
We enjoyed the ride through Nebraska, the rolling hills with ponds of deep blue water next to the highway. There were more trees than in Wyoming and better scenery. We used the GPS and yes Matt, I wish we would have bought one for Dad at Christmas, but he really enjoys it and has names her Chrystal because she makes everything clear. We would never have found our motel last night in Omaha without her. We have decided that on our way home we are going to stop in the smaller towns, they are more fun. (We hated Omaha!)
We are in Joliet, Illinois tonight and are not as tired as we were last night. The scenery was pretty today with all the beautiful farms and land ready to plant for the spring harvest. The farms are all so well taken care of and where there are large rolling hills in Iowa they have the electric windmills again and they are huge. There are so many of them that you can see them for miles as they gracefully turn.
The radio told all about the farm crops and cattle and sheep prices. In Nebraska we saw herd after herd of Black Angus cattle and every now and then we thought we would die from the smell along the highway by the feed lots.
The highways in Illinois are the worst so far; Nebraska and Wyoming the best.
After we checked in tonight, Dad and I went and saw the old Joliet Prison that was used in the movie "The Blues Brothers", boy was it fascinating. We then went to a totally different WalMart, it was huge with high ceilings that made it seem like a BIG hanger at the airport. It was fun.
Dad and I have almost got the first discussion down and really enjoy it. We are memorizing the first vision where the Prophet tells about seeing the Father and the Son. Dad picks it up fast and I pick it up then lose it. I am getting better though, by the time I come home I should have it memorized!
How grateful we are for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his Atonement for us.
We love you all and pray for you night and morning.
Mom and Dad

Sorry about all the errors in the new blog, I sent it before I checked, sweet old age!