2013 Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends:  Greetings from the North Country!

2013 has been a year of milestones:  We both reached official retirement age, went on Medicare, actually did retire from full time employment with Rockwell Collins, moved again from the Portland, OR area down to greater Salt Lake City, and accepted a call as full time missionaries in the Canada Calgary Mission.  Our daughter, Lisa, married her sweetheart, John Overbaugh in May, Eric’s mother passed away in October, our second granddaughter got married in the Bountiful Temple, one graduated from high school, one accepted a call to serve as a missionary in the Oregon Eugene Mission, a grandson is serving in Mexico, two grandsons turned 16 [and look forward to driving, so watch out!], and we were blessed with our 37^th grandchild.

This is a great time in which to live---when the gospel of Jesus Christ is expanding throughout the world.  In April Conference this year, Russell M. Nelson stated, “an unprecedented ‘wave of enthusiasm for missionary work’ is sweeping the entire earth”. Sister Bryant and I are blessed to be on the crest of that wave!  We’ve been looking forward to serving as missionaries together throughout our lives and were so excited to receive our “call” to serve in the Canada Calgary Mission as mission financial manager and office secretary, and have been greatly blessed as children and grandchildren have knelt in prayer asking “Heavenly Father to please bless grandma and grandpa who are in Calgary on a mission.” Missionary work is becoming family work, which brings happiness to our hearts. 

We have been serving as missionaries for over seven months now; it has gone by quickly.  This part of Canada is very similar to Upstate NY and Oregon---beautiful mountains and lakes, lots of gigantic trees,  and friendly people.  Since our arrival we have seen 700 lb bears, bearded bison, mule deer, and the biggest jack rabbits ever [I’m sure they’re the ones they use in those post cards in Wyoming wearing saddles on their backs]. 

We live in South Calgary about five minutes from the Mission Office and half an hour from the brand new Calgary Temple.  Calgary is very diverse culturally, which we really enjoy.  The three main languages spoken here in Alberta Province are English, Spanish, and Mandarin.  There is a fairly large member population here in Calgary; Six Stakes and about 80 wards, as well as numerous others in Lethbridge, Cardston, Medicine Hat and British Columbia.

Our Mission is very large and spread out and includes several 1^st Nation Indian Reservations.  Some of our missionaries are more than five and a half hours from the Mission Office.  Our Mission has doubled in the six months we’ve been here; we currently have 250 missionaries serving with us from all over the world.  It is interesting that some who are fluent in English are assigned as Spanish-speaking or Mandarin Chinese; others who are fluent in Spanish, Korean, Chinese, or French are assigned as English speaking. Yet the Lord blesses each to share the gospel in the language they have been assigned.   We have seen how the gospel not only has the power to change the lives of new converts, but also the dedicated missionary who is sharing it.

We treasure our interpersonal relationships with these missionaries. We have loved hearing their sweet and strong testimonies of Christ upon their arrival and departure.  Each dedicated missionary’s life is a story of love and sacrifice.

Only 3 weeks after our arrival, Calgary and the entire Alberta Province experienced the worst flood in its history, which destroyed businesses, houses, and forced thousands of people to leave their homes. The overall flood damage in the province was in the billions.  Our missionaries spent countless hours helping with flood relief and serving in any way that was needed.  Many people said, “We knew the ‘Mormons’ would come.”

We have been busier and worked harder than any other time in our lives, but are thrilled to have the opportunity to be working together in such an important cause; bringing others unto Christ, our Savior and the Redeemer of all mankind.  We are ever grateful for His Atonement in our behalf.  We love the Gospel and the power it has to offer hope, change lives, unite families, and provide eternal joy and happiness to all those who sincerely accept and embrace it.  

Things we have learned on our mission:

a.       We have a better appreciation for the difficulties and challenges we have faced in our lives that helped prepare us for this mission.

b.      As we exercise faith and seek the guidance of the Spirit, we feel more confident and know with God on our side, we cannot fail.

c.       Serving a mission has helped turn our hearts toward godly things and away from ourselves

d.      We’ve learned to love those we serve.

e.       That very cold weather here (minus 42 is coldest so far) is not a major deterrent in sharing the gospel

We know Jesus is the Christ and our Savior and Redeemer.  We are ever grateful for His Atonement in our behalf.  We are thankful for the scriptures and for a living prophet that provide us with guidance and direction.  We know the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to find peace and happiness in this life and that by living its principles we can prepare ourselves and our families to return to live with our Father in Heaven.  We are grateful for this opportunity to serve Him and share the blessings of the gospel with our brothers and sisters here in Canada.

We think of you often and pray that the Lord will bless and keep you and your families.

We send our love and best wishes for a Merry Christmas Season and the Happiest of

New Years!

Elder and Sister Bryant