Setting Foot in a New Land

Well, between traveling across the country, getting internet set up, and dropping my phone with a deadly result, I'm a week behind on my blog post.

I spent a week driving across the country with these two: my sister, Kathy, and my African son, Jared.

The view from the back seat which was dubbed "the cave."

No pictures from here on out because of said dropped phone. After I dropped the phone the screen went black but the phone still works. It's a $250 repair so it's a goner. 

We dropped Jared off in Washington DC so he could get a replacement passport. Then Kathy and I headed to the Canadian border.

I was warned that Canadian border crossings for missionaries can be difficult and potentially take hours. We spent a total of 15 minutes at the border. And that was even after discovering that I had no car registration documentation in my car! I'd call that a tender mercy.

The other senior missionaries have taken such good care of us (Kathy stayed in Montreal for 4 days)!! They've shown us around, fed us dinner twice, helped us get set up with groceries and internet, given us free tickets to attend the symphony next week, and EVEN loaned me a phone for a week until I get my own replaced! I could hardly believe that one!

I've attended 2 wards and 1 branch the past two weeks. It has been a true missionary initiation. I've played the piano for sacrament meeting twice, shared a testimony at the request of one bishop, and I'll be speaking in church next week. And all of this before even being assigned a ward to attend  because I have yet to meet the mission president!

I've been learning more about my assignment to do digital captures of historical documents. And a  missionary couple who is leaving next week has given me some good tips on how to pass the time while doing this mundane, yet crucial work of document capture.

I'm starting to settle into my mission and become acclimated.