Exhausted

 Sister Canon (Mission President's wife) and Sister Levitre (the sister I'm replacing) chatting in President's office.

Saturday Sister Canon took us around Montreal for a little bit and showed us where some things were such as our apartment, the church, the office, some of the main streets, etc.  Then about 1:00 she and Pres. left to go to attend some baptisms.  We went to look at our apartment which is still occupied by the couple whom we are replacing.  They left some room in the closet for us so we unloaded some of our stuff.  It was a bit pain because, first of all, there is no parking nearby.  We are in a 16 floor high rise building which is right next to the metro.  In fact, we can get to the metro by simply walking down to the basement of our building and there is the metro stop.  We are in a very, very busy part of town with lots of shops, businesses, etc.  There is no parking in front of the building because there is also a bus stop right there.  We cannot park in the garage yet because we cannot have a pass until the Levitres leave.  Finally found a little spot to park just a ways down from the apartment which we weren't even positive we could park at, but we did and I tried to stay by car in case I would need to move it.  We would get a load of stuff.  Then we would hurry to the door of the building with John carrying as much as he could.  I would unlock the front door and then open and hold the inner door open.  Then I would hail the elevator and he would get in.  I would rush out to be by the car and John would go up to the 6th floor where he would have to set the stuff down, unlock the door, prop it open and then put the stuff in the closet.  We repeated this several times, but will finish unpacking later when we move in.  Meanwhile, we are living in the mission home.  So, part of our stuff is in the apt and the other part is in the mission home.  Not a very convenient situation.
Saturday evening we listened to the women's conference on the computer.  The talks were wonderful and we both felt very uplifted.
Sunday we went to two wards or rather one ward (french speaking) and one branch.  The ward had about 100 people attending.  It was very difficult to understand the people because they speak Quebecois.   It is a form of French but some of the words are totally different as well as the accent being very different.  I could not understand even 50% of what some people were saying.  Some of the people I did understand and most everyone could understand me.    They were all very friendly and welcoming and all wanted us to be a permanent part of their ward.  Then we attended the branch which is English speaking.  There were only about 40 people there.  They also were very warm and very welcoming.  There are people there from all over.  Several families are from Africa.   A young woman giving the gospel doctrine lesson was from the Ukraine.  She spoke perfect Russian and so I had fun talking with her.  I think this is the branch that we will be attending.  There is a lot of work to be done there.   The people in this branch also invited us to a pot luck that was held after church.  We attended and had fun meeting some of the members and chatting with them.
That evening President and Sister Canon had a dinner party to welcome us and President's parents who are also on a mission and just arrived 2 weeks before us.  Elder Canon is serving his 6th mission.  He is 86 years old and still going strong.  One of his missions was as mission president in Tennessee.  He is also newly married as of a year.  What an amazing guy.  The party was also a farewell for the Levitres.
We had a great time meeting all of the senior couples in this mission.

 Sorry this photo is so blurry.  Not sure why.  They couple at the right are serving in a center for young adults.  Pres is at the far right.

 There are the Canon's at the left.  He looks old, but he is lively and spunky.  She is too.  They are serving as member support and leadership training in a Cantonese branch.

 The couple with the wife wearing a red shirt are the Saintanges.  They are from Quebec and are serving as institute teachers.

 The MacAffeys are serving in the most western part of the mission even going a little into Ontario.

 The couple standing up are doing micro filming of documents.

 The Conways are the other office couple.  We will be working right next to them.

 The Levitres.  They are training us and will be here until about the 11th of Oct.  They are the kindest, most patient teachers.  We are lucky to have them train us even though my head is spinning.  There is soooooo much to learn and to do.  It is so much work.  I hope I will be up to the task.  John will be in charge of the fleet of cars.  The elders have named the position "The Car Tsar".  The fleet is worth over a million dollars.  He is working hard to learn all of his duties too.

 President and Sister Canon.  They are wonderful.  We are really enjoying getting to know them.  They have been so hospitable and kind.  I know the missionaries all love them.  They are great.Here

 Here we are the two new missionaries.

 The changing of the guard.  I sure hope I can glean all of her office knowledge.
We start at the office at 8:30 and work until 5:00 or later.  Oh my gosh, we worked so hard with hardly a break.  We did stop for a 20 minute lunch.  By the time we got home I was so exhausted.  I couldn't even imagine doing anything else.  I fixed a quick dinner and we were happy to relax and enjoy our meal together.