Maybe I should forget about blogging every week

The ice in the river that Calvin mentions - at least I think it's on the river - and sorry it's sideways.

Le Gros Lapin de Chicoutimi - and Calvin's apartment, on the third floor, and his companion already fell on the stairs , or perhaps through the stairs?

  Yet again I find myself weeks behind in updates. No excuses, just weeks behind.
  Calvin had written that he needed to get boots. I missed him being online - sometimes I can time it so that I'm online the same time he is, and I can shoot a quick message to him, but that particular week I missed him entirely. I worried about him getting boots, so I emailed the mission president's wife about it (she's really good at making sure the missionaries have what they need). She called me back, but I was at a Relief Society meeting. Between emails to her, messages taken by my daughters, and fervent prayer (because it's REALLY cold in Chicoutimi!) Calvin got boots. I think they were in the "missionary free store." I have mentioned before that some missionaries leave behind things (like coats and boots and probably blankets) when they go home. These items are stored in the mission home so other missionaries can use them as needed.

Hey momm!!!

Here I am in the GREAT WHITE NORTH!!!!!!!!! I feel like we are on the edge of the world, even though there is still a long way to go to get there. But, here I am! Well, what has happened, lets see, at the beginning of the week, I said good bye to Chapel Hill. I was sad, there are a lot of amazing people there, and the work is going to go so well there, but I'm sure we are going to have a lot of success here as well! So, that was Mon, and Tues, was going around and talking to people, doing a last bit of work, and then on wednesday, I was off! Off to the bus station to go to the station in Montreal, to do transfers, which is basically an hour of missionaries talking to each other. I saw [the other missionary from our Stake] there, as well as a surprising number of other missionaries I know. I didnt know that I knew that many. Then, on another bus to go to Quebec City. We got there, and all the other missionaries were late. So, after they arrived (the sister missionaries arrived first, then the Elders, and the Zone leaders, and  my companion met us at the institute building). So, what happened then. Oh, so then we ate poutine at Intuitions (which was awesome!) and then we split the zone leaders for the night. [A definition of splits: Elders (and Sisters) are in companionships of two, so when Calvin mentions his companion, he's talking about the other missionary he works with. A "split" occurs when the elder or sister work with someone other than their own companion. Or the companionship is "split" up. Splits always occur with someone of the same gender.]  We taught some Quebecquoi people, and i could understand most of what they said, which was a false impression, and I'll tell you why later. So that night I found out my comp has read, and loves, the Wheel of Time, and Belgariad series. I was so happy.

   So, a little about my comp. He was born on the Isle de Reunion, and speaks french. Yes, his family is Chinese, and malagasy, and just about everything else in the book. But, his Chinese grandfather didn't teach his father Cantonese, so he cannot speak Chinese. He likes the Men in Black movies, and loves Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and stuff like that. umm...... he also can cook good french toast. So, thats a little about him.

  So, the next day, we drive two hours up to Chicoutmie!! [Hmm, by my calculations it took Calvin two busses, a two-hour drive, and two days to get from Ottawa to Chicoutimi! That's a LONG transfer time! The elders here in our mission take a day to do transfers. I think the longest they drive is perhaps 8 hours total?] So, that was fun. We went through tons of hills, that looked like mini mountains. It felt like i was in Idaho again. oh, it was something like -28 to -25 ish up there. It warmed up when we got to Chicoutamie: -23ish. Oh, i didnt tell you, we have a truck. We get to drive a truck up here. So, we get here, and have correlation [a meeting to discuss what the goals for missionary work are for that week, and how teaching investigators is progressing] with our Ward Mission Leader I didn't know much about the area, so there was not much I could do. After that, we went knocking. and knocking. and knocking. My companion says thats how most of our investigators are found. by knocking. We hope to change that soon, because this transfer we are going to focus on missionary work. so, then, we went and taught  less active kid, which ended up with us listeneing to this Quio man telling us for an hour his life story, and how english is inferior to French, and how Quebec should be a seperate country, and blah blah blah blah was about all I heard. The biggest problem with that lesson was that I could not understand ANYTHING that man was saying to us. He had the WORST Quebecquoi accent I had heard up until that point. "Moui-le, bain le le le le le le" I was like " WHAT IS HE SAYING!?!?!?!?!?! WHAT IS THAT?" Elder Thia told me not to worry, because most Elders dont understand at the beginning and that I will get it, which I hope is true. Then, we went and taught someone, who had an even WORSE Quoi accent, and no teeth.  I didnt understand a word he said.

   The nevxt day we went tracting, and I felt more like I was in a deep, dark hole that I will never climb out of, because I found out that I did NOT understand Quebecquoi. It's not French. I don't know what is is, besides and abomination before the Lord. ok, that was a little over the top, but it's not French. The quebecquoi are interesting people too. They talk very fast, very loud, and over top of anyone else. They also talk on forever, and almost never let you speak. So, thus far, it feels like I'm serving a real mission. It feels like I'm in an entirely new mission up here. The weather is so different. thus far, I think we've been up above -10 once (?) and even then I''m not sure. But I'm having the time of my life. It's so fun. OH, tell [a member of our branch] thanks for the hat. I didnt use it at all until I came up here, and now it is a most treasured possetion! Oh, yeah, I got boots, too. Sister Cannon found some in the mission Home, so you dont need to worry about that any more, and they are the perfect boots, too. Very warm! So, I am warm. and relatively happy, despite the fact that i cant understand a word of what people say. They all say that my French is good, to which i reply in my head " I hope so, because that means at least one of us understands whats going on here!" Oh, Canada uses Tractors for clearing out snow, a lot more than we use snowplows. Oh, and they have the BIGGEST snowblowers I have ever seen in my life with those tractors. So, tracting in -20 weather, talking to people I cant understand, that's basically my life right now. [his temperatures are in Celsius, so it's about -9F]

  But, its beautiful up here! one day, we passed over a river, that had HUGE ice chunks floating in it, and this awesome fog rising off of it int the day time. I wish I had a IPAd with a paint program on it so I could paint all this scenery. So, anyways, that's life right now in the Great White North!  

   Yes, I did get the email too late, I chucked all but the essential letters. I have warm boots, sister Cannon herself called me after getting your email. She takes super good care of us.

   LOVE YOU!!!!!
     Watch out for the Gros Lapin de Chicoutamie! [see the picture above]

      and blizzards, and all sorts of machinerie for moving snow!!!!!!!

    love

Calvin