What were you doing five years ago today?

Elder Holbrook got a Snapfish reminder asking that question the other day, and showed this picture of us from March 2011:

This was when we entered the MTC before going to the Russia Novosibirsk (Siberia) Mission. Five years later we find ourselves serving another mission, only this time we can understand what people say to us--most of the time anyway. We have loved both of our missions for very different reasons.

It was fun flipping through pictures of our time in Russia and remembering the wonderful

Our Russian name tags--they really do say Elder and Sister Holbrook

people and once-in-a-lifetime adventures. We are still in touch with some of our Russian friends through Facebook. One friend, Lilya is in Salt Lake now going to school. We plan to meet up with her when we get home and hope to meet up with some of our other Russian friends somehow.

Our Canadian name tags--no translation needed!

Yesterday we hit our six-month mark since our second stay at the MTC before heading to Canada, and ten days ago was 5 months since we arrived in Dartmouth. This mission is zipping by so fast! No, we're not getting trunky (we don't know our release date yet, and won't until we know who will be replacing us and when), just hitting milestones.

Just when we start to think we're getting a handle on things, something new comes along or we get a new directive and learn even more. If nothing else, this mission is teaching us to think on our feet. President Pratt is a brilliant man and we do our best to keep up with him. Sister Pratt is amazing in her own quiet way--they're a good pair. The young missionaries keep us in stitches with their antics. We're SO glad we're not in charge of cars :)

Serving the Lord as a senior couple has been wonderful. Full-time service to the Lord is the best! Working with the missionaries keeps us young. Being able to bear our testimonies regularly helps to strengthen them even more. Feeling the Lord's love for all His children is a side benefit. Christ's church has been restored to the earth and is going forth to the world. It's true.

He loves us all, as we were reminded of this last weekend as we celebrated Easter. We are grateful for our knowledge of that and the opportunity to share that with others.

EASTER

With Easter coming up this weekend, we've been thinking lots of Easter thoughts. This seems appropriate and says it all, for this weekend and beyond (we LOVE Middle-age Mormon Man's blog)!

These are a few of our Favorite Things

Wherever we travel, we always find different ways of doing things. Here are some our our favorites so far in Nova Scotia:

Staggered left lane

At traffic lights the left turn lane stop line is back a couple of metres rather than flush with the other lanes in the intersection. It makes for more room for cars turning left into the lane next to you. Makes a lot of sense!

Canadians are really into recycling. Some of them anyway. Some food courts and places like this sort your garbage for you, just to make sure it gets thrown in the correct recycling bins! This was at a kind of truck stop, a joint venture between Wendy's and Tim Hortons (kind of a Canadian Starbucks).

This next picture is of a bulletin board in our ward's Primary room. Each of the sheep has a bell around its neck with the name of a child from the Primary. That's the entire Primary, not just one class! It's heartwarming to see families starting to grow up in the Church, knowing that future generations will have the blessings of the gospel. As small as the Primary is, the YM/YW programs in our ward are the biggest in the stake.

Thought the grandkids would like to see this pretty rainbow. It's an oil spot that froze. We saw lots of these all winter.

Typical washroom sign, right? (Washroom is Canadian for restroom)

That is, until you see it close up

Got our laugh for the day

Missions are good for the soul in many ways. We're having fun, enjoying the fantastic people, learning lots, loving the work, receiving blessings, serving the Lord.

"God cares a lot more about who we are, and who we are becoming, than about who we once were."

-Dale G. Renlund

Halifax Temple

     We LOVE having a temple so close. That's something we really missed when we were in Russia. This is a fairly small temple and there are only 8 sessions scheduled each week, but we've been able to attend almost weekly except during closings. We usually shoot for the 6:00 pm Friday session because that's generally the smallest one, usually in the range of 12-20 people. One week it was 4! We've always been needed in the circle.

     Many temples have guest housing to make it easier for out-of-town patrons to attend, but Halifax doesn't have (or generally need) that. Last week was an exception. Once a quarter they have two sessions in French--the last one on Friday night and the first on Saturday morning. Of course anyone can attend, but non-French speakers have to wear headsets. We don't know if they're always so well attended, but this one was. Since most of the French speakers live in other areas, finding housing for all of them was a bit of an issue. Some of them stayed overnight with local members, some drove back home Friday night because a big storm was forecast for the area Saturday morning, the mission home beds were all in use, and some stayed in an apartment that we've been gearing up for. Friday night was the "maiden voyage" for it.

The outside door with the key box.

     At this stage the apartment is a bit of an experiment. We've been involved in getting it set up, but we're hoping it will be self-sustaining and used often, especially by people traveling great distances, like flying over from Newfoundland. The last few months we've been very busy with it, what with talking over various scenarios with many people, drawing up maps, rules, letters to unit leaders, and in getting it in a condition that it can mostly run itself if people abide by the rules.

     There's a lock box on the door and the only people who are supposed to be using the apartment know the code, which will be changed as needed. They let themselves in, make up the beds either with their own sheets, or if they use one of the sets in the apartment, they must do laundry while they're there.

     There have already been several requests to use the apartment, and we're not sure if the bishops or branch or stake presidents have even gotten the letter yet announcing it. We think word has just leaked out. Some of the rules of the apartment are that the people staying there must be attending the temple (so our kids can't stay there when they come to visit for a week--rats), that there may be others staying in the apartment--five beds and one bathroom (but hey, it's a free hotel), and they must clean up after themselves. In the rules it explicitly states the apartment isn't like baseball--one strike and you're out if you don't leave it clean.

A nice living room/dining room

     We were part of the team to organize and set it up; now it's up to the members who stay there to keep it clean and running. It will be interesting to see how well that goes.

There are two bedrooms, one with two twin beds, one with a queen and a twin.

Small but well-stocked kitchen

The Pratts found a cute--and very appropriate--plaque to put in the kitchen that says
BED AND BREAKFAST
you make both  

VOILA, mini housing for a small temple! It was fun to be a part of getting it up and running.

We love to see the Temple!

Leap Day

We caught a few of our missionaries celebrating this holiday:

Elder Gardner (Idaho) and Elder Breinholt (Arizona) It was hard timing their jumps at the same time.

Sister Killpack (Idaho)

Sister Weckesser (Alberta)

Elder Craig (Arizona) got some serious air and we missed his head!

Sister Hansen (Alberta)--lovin' her high leap

Sister DeBerry (Idaho)

And three sisters who decided to be safe and play leapfrog--not an easy thing to do in a skirt--Sister Taylor (Utah) doing the leaping, Sister Olsen (Minnesota) in the gray sweater and Sister Payne (Utah) in the white sweater.

Elder Hansen (Utah) It doesn't show here, but he clicked his heels like a leprechaun. Guess he's in training for March 17!

These are just the missionaries who wandered in the office. We love all the missionaries who are serving here. Great people who have fun but also work hard, and as you can tell by the pictures, have a lot of energy and enthusiasm! This is such a great experience for us, and so different from our mission to Russia. Being in the office means we get to meet all the missionaries, not just the ones in our area.


"Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith"
-Margaret Shepard