Update on October 10

Eleanor

I was shocked when I opened our blog and saw how long it has been since I added to it. I'm sorry, and I'll try to fill in some of the gaps here.

Joseph

We have added 2 new grandchildren: Joseph Alden Vellinga joined the Brett and Melissa family in February. Eleanor Rarick arrived in the Rarick (Jodi & Tim) family in April, about 2 weeks after they moved from Kansas to Rexburg. Both babies are wonderful! And we have another coming in December to Katie and  Mike Marett. We couldn't be more excited!

Timothy

Carter

Blake and Brinley

 We have had 3 grandchildren get baptized: Timothy (Michelle & Bill Bradford in Logan), and Blake and Brinley (Matt and Lisa Vellinga in Annabella). The last grandchild baptism we'll miss will be in November when Carter (Jodi & Tim in Rexburg) is baptized. 

Our 2 oldest granddaughters graduated from high school this year, and both are going to UVU Anne (Sharaun & Scott Foley in Orem) and Erika (Matt and Lisa in Annabella). We're so proud of them, too.

Hailey and Dylan's school in NYC

Jed and Lisa Vellinga (in Sparks, NV until June) moved with Hailey and Dylan to New York City. They've experienced an earthquake and a hurricane, and are now under a big security alert. But they like it. Lisa is going to school at Columbia. They are in the same ward with our home ward members the Dalebouts, who are serving in the NY North mission.



Jodi and Tim moved to Rexburg because Tim is finished with his doctorate (except for his final thesis, which he's doing now) and was hired to teach at BYU-I. They miss Kansas but they're finding a lot about Rexburg that is great, too.

Jill, Devin, and baby Gretchen were able to visit us a few weeks ago for 3 days.It was wonderful to have some family visit. We should be able to make it to April now. We also had Elder Vellinga's brother and sister and their families visit for a few days. We saw lots of the Canadian Rockies, and I highly recommend a drive through them!

As for mission work, we stay busy checking cars, sending out referrals, directing missionaries to repair shops, moving cars between shops, ordering or distributing supplies, and selling cars. We help with an ESL (English as a Second Language) class on any Tuesday evening we are in town. (We check cars every 6 weeks, and usually spend a couple of nights in hotels when we're far away.) The mission has been fortunate to have 3 general authorities come in the last 6 months: Elder Christofferson, Elder Scott, and Elder Baxter. Of course it was wonderful to have them speak to us and answer the missionaries' questions. We will watch for them during General Conference, they now have a special place in our hearts. We sometimes accompany the elders or sisters as they teach because they need a mature person of the right gender with them when they are teaching single people. It's good, except when they teach in Spanish or Mandarin, then the lessons get long.

I'm sorry I've taken so long to update this blog-it's been so long I had a hard time remembering how to add pictures. But I'm trying to turn over a new leaf, and should be adding more to the blog more often. Thanks for your support!

Love,
The Vellingas

Views from the Car

A few photos from Canada

The full moon seemed huge in the early morning sky on the road toward Magrath.

In Magrath they had plowed the church parking lot, and of course a pile of snow has to be played on!

The wind always blows around Lethbridge, and this day was no exception. There were a lot of cars in the ditch, but the road is built to provide a safety zone in the middle. It works!

The sky after the storm!

A few days later we had a chinook-this cloud formation is a typical chinook arch.

The streets around Calgary are interesting, so I thought I'd show you a few of the things that are not like Utah.

This is a view of our apartment from the parking lot across the street. The street is about as wide as our street at home, but it carries four lanes of traffic.

In some of the residential neighborhoods, they have really big parking strips by the street. They have big trees in them, and the houses are beyond the sidewalk, so they're not right at the edge of the street.

This is a picture of a little park in the middle of a circle street. The houses are around the outside, then they have this open place/park in the middle. Really nice!

Another view of the park in the middle of the circle.

Some of the fun trees at the side of the road.

This is just a residential street, but there is a divider with trees in the middle. It's just a regular neighborhood like home, but landscaped in the middle. I like it!

This is a divided street, and on each side there is another road for local traffic. So from one side of the street to the other is 6 lanes plus 3 divider strips. And it's just another residential neighborhood.

And just to make you jealous, that really is the price of gas today! Only that price is for 1 liter, so don't feel too jealous! Multiply that by about 4 for the price per gallon, then by 90 for each of the mission cars. The church does spend a lot on cars!