And It's a Year!

Unbelievable, but true: Elder and Sister McGee have been missionaries for a year!  I entitled one of my posts, "Time Flies on Wings of Lightening." That sums up what the last year has been like.  Yet when I contrast this year with last year, many things are different:

1. This year I know how to use Lucy, our trusty (or not) GPS, so I can usually get to where I need to go. Last year, every time we'd drive anywhere, I always wondered at what point we'd get lost--that doesn't happen too often these days!
2. I know what I am supposed to do to accomplish my assignment.  Last year I just hoped I'd learn it--eventually.
3. The transportation system doesn't intimidate me at all.  I can get around Montreal fairly easily using the metro and the buses.  Last year I hadn't been on the metro!
4. We have a ward that we are a part of.  Last year we alternated going to the English and French Young Single Adult branches because we could walk there easily. (The chapel for these two branches are in the same building as the mission office.)
5. I know the young missionaries.  Last year we only knew a handful.

Friends of ours are serving a military affairs mission in Sicily. Last week she described their transfer week as an earthquake!  This week was our transfer week and we could use the same word to describe ours.  We had 16 young missionaries arrive and 8 missionaries depart.  That keeps us hopping!  Here is something really wonderful.  The Barsons from our home ward have a niece, Sister Weeks, who arrived this week. And here she is!

In addition to all the comings and goings of the missionaries, we invited two young sisters to our home for dinner because Sister De La Peña was returning home to Mexico on Friday.  Sister Howe and Sister Puzey joined us for slushburgers.

Sisters Puzey, Costa, De La Peña, Hyde, and McGee with Elder McGee

Thursday we had the privilege of going to the Montreal Temple with the eight missionaries who were returning to their homes on Friday.  This is one of the most special evenings we have each transfer.  It is a bittersweet experience because the reality is that we will most likely never see some of these precious young elders and sisters again this side of the veil. We love them so very much and miss them when they leave.

Up by the office, Rue Bérri is narrow, narrow, narrow.  Imagine a school bus trying to navigate down a narrow street with cars parked on each side.  It was quite the sight. The driver was inching his way slowly down the road.

Zone conferences begin the week after transfer week. To complicate the week, the schedule for the monthly Mission Leadership Council was changed from its usual Thursday to Monday. That necessitated a trip to Costco on Friday so we could purchase what was needed for Monday and the bulk items for the three zone conference lunches that we prepare.  It is quite a feat getting the items from the car into our apartment because. . .

. . . we have to haul everything up a step before we can get to the elevator to take us to the ground floor before going through a locked door into the lobby to take another elevator to the third floor. The cart was so awkward and heavy that we had to take several things off in order to manhandle it up the step.  What makes this process even more difficult is that there is a ramp about 18 inches from the step that leads to a door the workers use making it necessary for us to angle the cart. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is easy in this apartment complex! 

Saturday nine seniors headed for Habitat 67.  As we walked from the bus stop to the entrance, we saw a huge privately owned green space . . .

 . . . and a cruise ship on the St. Lawrence with Montreal in the background . . .

 . . . and got our first glimpses of the complex:

 . . . and saw artists capturing this unique structure . . .

 . . . and finally arrived at the entrance with about 45 minutes to spare . . .

 . . . and were told we needed to wait until our scheduled time. So we walked to Parc Dieppe. On the way we saw a boat converted into a spa (It's in the middle of the photo-the white cylinder-looking things in the photo are actually people in robes!) . . .

 . . . and the Montreal skyline across the river before . . .

 arriving at the park.

 The path through the park deadends directly across from La Rond, an amusement park.

This location also has a lovely view of the Jacque Cartier Bridge . . .

. . . and the biosphere.

 By now it was time to meet our tour guide. But first a photo.

Sisters Puzey, McGee, Howe, Elder Carlson, Sister Anderson, Elders McGee, Evans, Sisters Evans and Hyde

Our guide was fabulous.  We learned so much about this iconic structure. Every aspect of its design contributed to its overall functional as well aesthetic qualities. Here are walkways hide wiring and pipes.

Utilities that are delivered to the individual units are concealed in large brown cylinders so there will be no visual pollution.

 There are private as well as public terraces such as these:

We were able to go into one of the largest apartments, the penthouse apartment of creator Moshe Sadie.  From all sides of the apartment, the views are absolutely stunning:

 Here are a couple of the private terraces.

 More views: The Champlain Bridge

 Windows on all sides of the apartment

 A public terrace

 The kitchens and bathrooms were molded from fiberglass and dropped in:

 More views from the penthouse. This is a public terrace

As we left the penthouse and headed down from the 12th story, we learned more about Habitat 67. It  was part of Expo 67. Across the River are three structures remaining from the Expo: The French Exhibit (ship-like building), Quebec Exhibit (gold building), and Canadian Exhibit (white building with the Expo 67 logo). These three structures are now the Montreal Casino.

Another view of the biosphere that was the American Exhibition. Originally it had an outer skin covering it but that burned in a 1976 fire.

 The Montreal skyline. Notice how the leaves on the trees at the bottom are starting to change!

 And here is our lovely Mount Royal!

There are rapids in the river where sufers like to surf.

If you look closely, you can see a surfer off his/her board.

Another view of one of the columns and the public terrace.

A final photo, this time with the complex as a backdrop, inside Habitat 67 and we were on our way back to the island.  We had a wonderful time.

We arrived back at the apartment around 4:30. An hour later, Sister Puzey and I headed to the airport on the bus to pick up Sister Petersen. (Pat and I picked up Sister Iverson last December by car.  It was a nightmare.  The freeway entrances were closed, so Lucy directed us all over the city before finally getting us where we needed to be! We discovered the convenience of the 747 bus! We take the metro to either Bérri UQAM or Lionel Groulx and transfer to the bus. The bus takes us about 100 feet from the entrance to the airport! We reverse the process to come back except we transfer at Lionel Groulx because their are elevators that help getting the luggage to the platform!)

Here are the three of us at Lionel Groulx Station waiting for the metro to take us to Sherbrooke Station. Sister Petersen will live in the apartment complex with the rest of us and serve in the archives.

Sisters McGee, Petersen, and Puzey

Sunday evening we had a welcome dinner for Sister Petersen so she could meet all of us.

We spent a pleasant few minutes FaceTiming with Christopher, Marianne, and the kids–great way to end the Sabbath.

And that sums up our week.

Such a Lovely Week Part II

Thursday, Christopher, Marianne, and our little darlings took the train to Deux Montagnes to spent time with one of the filipinas Christopher met on his mission.  There were back by 6:00 so they could join us for dinner.

Over the past year, I have become acquainted with Cort Louder because I had to work with him to make sure we were all set for the Christmas call to them that his daughter would make from our apartment.  She was in Montreal on Mothers' Day, so we connected again to arrange for that call.  Then, when the seniors were going to Quebec City, I contacted him for suggestions about what to do and what to see.  Sister Louder said that he was coming to Montreal on business so I invited him and his lovely wife to dinner.  We had the other office missionaries join us as well.  We managed to cram 11 people into our living room for dinner.  We had to borrow a banquet table to do it, but we made it work. Sister Evans made a delicious lettuce and strawberry salad and Sister Puzey brought French apple pie. Both paired wonderfully with the lasagna that I made.  We had a terrific time.

Cort and Anne Louder

Front: The Christopher McGee Family - Sarah Jade, Christopher, Michael Lion Marianne Terry
Middle: Sister Anne Louder, Sisters Evans and Puzey
Back: Cort Louder, Elders Evans and McGee and Sister McGee

And . . . all good things must come to an end.  Friday morning we accompanied these two cuties and their parents to the Montreal-Trudeau Airport so they could return to Salt Lake.  Marianne said that Sarah told her it was going to be a sad day--that's exactly how Pat and I felt!

It took about four hours to take the bus to the airport, stay with Christopher, Marianne, and the kids until they went through security, and return to our apartment. Since it was after lunchtime by then, I decided I'd eat the sandwich I had planned to take to the office. Then I headed to the office. It really was the perfect week for us to have visitors--not much going on in the office. Since I had little to do, I worked on my recipe project!

I needed to get my steps in for Friday, so I took a long way home ending up by Parc de la Fontaine. This park is very close to our apartment building.  I didn't know there was a lake in it!  It's actually quite lovely!

It rained very heavily Friday evening. About 9, there was a rap on the door-Sister Carlsen wanted to know how we were fairing because the apartment next to us was flooding--again! Here's Elder Carlson trying to keep the water out of their apartment. I checked the common wall between our apartment and the flooding one--no water. We called the apartment workers who came and tried to clean up the mess.  Elder Carlson grabbed one of their wet vacs, the small one, and worked for about 45 minutes vacuuming up the water in the hall.  What a mess!

Saturday morning, Marianne sent us this picture of the kids in their Montreal slippers! Around 5 o'clock, Sarah called to talk to us--she was sad--so was I! We had a nice visit until she took off to do something else!

Late Saturday morning, six seniors headed for the Old Port and took the Bateau Mouche for a 90-minute cruise.

 This is what we saw as we were waiting for the cruise to start--Ile Ste. Helene.

Views of Montreal from the boat.

 Another view of Ile Ste. Helene

 St. Mary's Current is visible on this picture - look for the difference in water color.

 View of La Grande Roue from the boat.

The Clock Tower was designed by Paul Leclare and built between 1919 and 1922.  It is the entrance to the port and a memorial to sailors lost at sea during wartime. It is a replica of Big Ben in London. It is extremely precise in keeping time. The clock mechanism was built in England by Gillet and Johnson.

The Jacque Cartier Bridge

 Church towers visible from the River

Approaching the Jacque Cartier Bridge

 The arch in the center is the gateway to the St. Lawrence Seaway.

 The Olympic Stadium

Here's the Jacques Cartier Bridge again

Montreal and the entrance to the St. Lawrence Seaway

Commercial Freighter

 Commercial port

 And here we are: Sisters Chatterton, Puzey, McGee, Elder Evans, and Sisters Evans and Hyde

Commercial port

 Longueuil's Saint-Antoine de Padoue Co-cathedral

 The omni-present Jacques Cartier Bridge

View of Ile Notre Dame - this is an artificially constructed island built in ten months in 1965 from 15 million tons of rock excavated for the Montreal metro. It was created for Expo 67 to celebrate Canada's Centennial.

Montreal

Habitat 67 - we're going there next Saturday

Montreal

On our way to the Clock Tower

This is a view of the Alexander Calder sculpture Man. It was created for Expo 67.

The Clock Tower was open-so four of us decided to clim all 192 steps to the observation deck!

The clock

Views from the observation deck

Outside the Clock Tower

Notre Dame de Bonsecours from the Port

City Hall

And now on to another project:

We spent a delightful few minutes FaceTiming with Christopher, Marianne, Sarah, and Michael.

Then it was dinner time: We invited Sister Louder, Sister Rammell, and Sister Hyde to join us.  Again lasagna and Sister Evans' strawberry salad. Sister Hyde brought apple turnovers, lemon brownies, and ice cream for dessert.

Sisters Louder, Rammell, Hyde and McGee and Elder McGee

And now it's time to end call the week done!