Today Brady received the “Excellence In Teaching” award from The Inland Empire/Desert Regional Consortium (IEDRC), which consists of 12 community colleges. It serves as a regional framework to communicate, coordinate, collaborate, promote and plan career and technical education in the Inland Empire/Desert Region. Following is a statement about Brady found in the awards program:

"Brady Kerr [Commercial Music Instructor, Norco College] provides exemplary teaching experiences for students preparing for careers in the music industry, including preparing students for ProTools certification and a variety of music production styles. He is a Grammy nominated educator, certified ProTools expert, and voting member of the recording academy. Brady empowers and motivates students to achieve their full potential by teaching students to write and record their own music, offering a supportive learning environment for developing both music knowledge and professional skills. Brady's commitment to industry-standard learning experiences includes embedding new and emerging technology and trends into student classroom and performance experiences."

Cydne, Becca, and Brock came to Edmonton the end of April for Brock's work. Cydne and we toured the Provincial Legislature and the Muttart Conservatory.

In front of the Legislature Building

In front of the Legislature Building

There is a tribute in the Legislature building to five Canadian women who were instrumental in gaining for women the right to vote and to be recognized as "persons."

Muttart Conservatory

The conservatory has four glass pyramids, each a different climate zone. Plants representative of each zone are on display. 

Brock likes socks. Last time he was here I gave him a pair of Hudson Bay socks. He reciprocated this time with bacon and eggs socks.

As we were driving in Sherwood Park we saw these two female Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Elders Lin and Nethercott

There is a nice hockey rink at the West Edmonton Mall. We were there yesterday and saw these boys playing a game. They were fun to watch; it made us think of Brayden.

We've wanted to see the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) before leaving Canada. With the help of an iPhone application that calculated there was a chance to see them tonight, we drove several miles northeast of Sherwood Park to be free of city lights. About 11 pm we saw them for the first time. The stock photograph below is an approximation of what we saw, except they were wispy white. At one point the lights stretched from the northern horizon to directly over our heads.

The following information about the Northern Lights comes from the internet: "The bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere.The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. They are known as 'Aurora borealis' in the north and 'Aurora australis' in the south. Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have been reported. The lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow."

This past winter Edmonton had 167 consecutive days of minimum temperatures at or below zero degrees, making it the longest stretch on record. It was the coldest April in 16 years.

I received the following email from two missionaries:

"Hey Elder Kerr, Mill creek sisters here. So we have a proposition. Next zone conference could you train us on what signs mean here in this country. We never know what it means when a sign says "no seasoning parking". Has the season ended? Where shouldn't we park? We haven't a clue.

Thanks Elder Kerr. Just trying to drive with 'Kerr'

- Mill Creek Sisters"

I responded with the following:

"Hi Mill Creek Sisters: Thanks for the suggestion. I will see what I can find. I assume “no seasoning parking” means that when you park there you can not use salt or pepper. I’ll check.

Elder Kerr"

The sign means that from November 5 to March 15 cars cannot park on certain roads used by buses following a major storm until after the streets are plowed.

Friday the 13th (April 2018) - we awoke this morning
to see that spring has finally arrived in Edmonton

Sister Debbie Hatch has accepted a call to serve a Church Service Mission,

and will be trained by Sandy to become the mission secretary

Elder Jackson Earnest is from Perry, Utah. His mom periodically sends him specially boxed gifts,

like this Easter egg. For Christmas she sent him a box shaped like a mail box.

Our first date was April 1, 1969.  To celebrate our 49th anniversary

we went to a dinner theater here in Edmonton. It was a nice evening.

The dinner theater is in the West Edmonton Mall. We saw this attractive background, and I thought to improve the scene by adding an even more attractive foreground.

President Pattison has a personal interview with each missionary at least once every six weeks.Before the interview he has  them complete a questionnaire. Click on the following link to view the questionnaire: Missionary Questionnaire. If the questionnaire needs to be rotated follow these steps: 1) open the document, 2) press ctrl+p, 3) press "Cancel," 4) right click on the document and select "Rotate clockwise."

Tuesday is Preparation Day for the missionaries. The Zone Leaders come to the office each Tuesday morning to pick up mail for the missionaries in their zones. Sister Burnett and Sandy trade-off every other Tuesday and bring a treat to the office for the Zone Leaders. Last night Sandy made salsa and chips for the missionaries to enjoy today. Below is a photograph of her preparation, and for some reason it caught my eye as being artistic. So, I gave the photo a name.

 

"Culinary Art"