District Study

Here is our great district. Sister Cannon has asked each District and Zone to cook their own meals and not go out for lunch when we get together each week- which is too costly.  So, we all make food & bring for the lunch. Today was funny because the companionship that had dessert brought Oreo cookies.. and on the day that the Zone Leaders visited ! ha!  So, here we are- holding up our yummy dessert - Oreos !!
LtoR: E. Hansen, ZL-E.Heder, E.Marcus Smith, E. Brandt, E. Kastendieck, ZL-E.Pohue, E.Boone Smith, DL-E.Prawitt and Sister and Elder Mahaffey.  (We have 3 Elder Smiths in the mission and 2 of them are in our district. We can't even go by first initals because 2 of them are M.Smith !)

The Eisenhower Locks

Today we decided to stop and see something we pass every time we go to the states - The Eisenhower Locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Of course, we didn't know that the big Visitor's Center and viewing area and gift shop closes each year on Labor Day - so we didn't get to go in there. We had to drive through the tunnel on top to the opposite side of the locks and up onto a big paved area on top of a hill where we could view it .

We were lucky enough to get there just as a huge ship was preparing to go through the locks.

This picture is taken toward the west where the water level is higher.  The ships going either direction must enter the locks, have the water level either fill or recede inside the lock bringing it to the level on the opposite side of the lock.

From start to finish the ship is in the locks only 20 minutes.  It takes 7 minutes to completely fill or empty the lock with 22 million gallons of water. The ships are raised or lowered 42 feet.  The lock is only 80 feet across, which allows only 12 inches on each side of these huge ships.

In this case, the ship was traveling from West to East - so it had to be lowered.  By the time it got all the way through the locks, this was all we could see of that huge ship!  Ships are able to travel on the St. Lawrence from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Lake Superior by using locks placed along the way. It was really fascinating to watch.  Had we been able to be across on the other side of the lock, we would probably have been able to see a little better as the ship exited.  Still it was an amazing thing to watch.

September Transfers

Here's the group going home this month.  We met them at the temple for their final temple session before going home. I love this time we get to have every 6 weeks when we meet the missionaries that are going home and we get to say good-bye. It is very bitter-sweet. It has been fun to see how they have grown and matured and now will be such wonderful assets to their wards back home.
Front: E. Jaquier, Fitzgerald, Gervasi, and Day.
Standing  E. Rollingson, Taylor, Resek, Gibson, DeSousa, Blackhurst, Johnson, and Brown.
              Sister Sandoval, Sister Cannon & Pres. Cannon

Sister Sandoval was in the MTC with us and now has to go home a little early with some medical problems. We always have felt extra close! She lives in San Jose, CA.

Work Projects

This was the week for some heavy duty service! Today we spent the day helping paint the back deck and stairs for a part-member family. Vince Bluff - a non-member - actually let us come & help.  His wife, Gillian, is the Gospel Doctrine teacher in the ward.  They are both from England. (love their accents) Before we arrived here, Vince wouldn't allow missionaries to come over or stay for dinner, etc.  But since we met - we have gone over many times to visit and been invited for dinner and we have become very good friends.  He's still not ready to hear anything about the gospel, but now he'll even agree to have the young missionaries come to his home for dinner. They are such a great family!

The next day we went over to help the Hynes family.  He's the first counselor in the Bishopric. He's building a new front porch onto his home. They tore down the old one, and here they are beginning to set the forms for a new foundation for the porch and stairs:

Brother Gerry Mazzerole, Bro. Jim Hynes, and Bro. Earl Bridsen were also there to help.  The ladies HAD to stay inside and SUPERVISE, eh?
We're just hoping that after 2 very long days of lots of work that we are able to walk the rest of the week! ha!

Baptism

At the beginning of this year we were coming out of a Dollar Store (our new favorite place)- when a man and woman approached us and asked if we were Mormon Missionaries and could we come to teach them out in Ingleside ? ( about 30 minutes NW of Cornwall and also in our ward). SHOCK!!
We began teaching the family - the father: Dillon Holcomb was a member but had been inactive for the last 15 years. His wife, Samantha, sons Ben and Max were all non-members. Just as Ben was about ready to be baptized, Dillon got a new job and the family moved to Kingston. (About 2 hours west of Cornwall- not in our ward or even mission) After meeting with the missionaries there, Ben was able to be baptized and invited us! We got permission to go and felt very honored to be asked.  Ben asked me to speak on the Holy Ghost and Elder Mahaffey said the opening prayer and was also the witness.  Samantha, the mom, is still working on a few things, but is anxious to be baptized as well.  What a wonderful day!!!  We've gotta start hanging out at those Dollar stores more often!

On the way home we had a good taste of Canadian road work.... We lovingly refer to it here as the Festival of the Orange Cones.  They come out every summer. We never see much work going on - but all the cones are out!  This was a great example. We drove for 10 straight miles - orange cones on both sides of the the lanes in each direction!!! No work going on- just miles and miles of orange cones!
Viva La Festivale !!!

Our 41st Wedding Anniversary

To celebrate our 41st Anniversary, we went to eat dinner at Quinn's Inn.

It is in a small town just north of Cornwall about 10 minutes, called St.Andrews West.  It was originally an old stagecoach weigh station along the only road between Toronto and Montreal in 1865.
It was owned and run by John MacDonald who went on to become Canada's first Prime Minister.

It is a charming old place with a lot of original brick walls. They also serve a KILLER Prime Rib, which we had and it was wonderful !  Happy Anniversary to us! This is the second anniversary we've celebrated in Canada.

Off to see the Changing of the Guard

In Ottawa, in front of the Parliament Building, they do a changing of the guard during the summer months of July and August. When we found out that it would be over in August, we determined with the Merpaws that we needed to go see it. We drove up to Ottawa & got there in time to line up around the grassy area in front of the Parliament Building. Because Canada used to be a British colony and is still connected, they have ceremonial guards at several locations and this is the daily changing of shifts.
The Bagpipers come first :

Next come the NEW guards that will be coming on shift.

There are commanders for each group:

The Bagpipers play while the new guard goes through their paces. There are also drummers and horn players.

Then, the old guard comes and goes through their paces:

Then they change places:

 And the new guards head for their posts.

The band then leads the Old guard back to their quarters:

All of this takes about 30 minutes. It really is stirring... not on the scale that the London changing of the guard is, but still exciting, nevertheless. Afterward, we had tickets to tour the Parliament building. We have tried 2 other times before & something always prevented it. So, third time's the charm.
We saw the MAGNIFICENT library...

and the House of Commons... which we were able to see because Parliament was not in session.

The middle spire in the building is called the Peace Tower.

Inside the peace tower is  the Memorial Chapel. Inside the chapel is a stand that holds the Memorial Book in which the names of all those Canadians who have given their lives in service of their country are written. Since we were there with the Merpaws, Connie looked up his brother's name, who died in WWII. Each day they turn a page in the book and when you find your relative's name, it will say on which date the page will be turned to display that name.  Kind of cool!

It was a wonderful tour. Here we are on the steps up to the Peace Tower.

Next the Merpaws took us to Rideau Hall. It is where the Governor General lives. The current one is David Lloyd Johnston.  He is appointed for an undetermined amount of time by the Queen - with suggestions from the Prime Minister.  He essentially carries out most of the Queen's constitutional and ceremonial duties. He maintains contact with the Queen and is sort of a figure head. Each time they replace one, they switch from Anglophone (english speaking Canadian) to Francophone (french-speaking Canadian). This home is where he lives, but parts are also open to the public.

Inside was this incredibly gaudy room called the Tent Room.  It literally looks like a circus tent inside.
The ceiling and walls are covered with a red-striped fabric... it's...uh.... interesting!

They seem quite proud of it. They also have a huge ballroom where many of the formal programs and meetings and dinners take place:

We didn't get to go through all of it, because the Governor General and his family were in residence at the time... but it's still pretty spectacular.  Hard to imagine actually LIVING in a place like this.
There are Guards at this home too. Much the same as in London, they don't talk or smile or show any responses. But they are also only ceremonial. If there were any trouble, THEY would not be the ones to respond.

The REAL security men all look like this:

 Of course, we HAD to get our pictures with the guard....

They have a changing of the guard here as well, but it is MUCH smaller:

It was a really fun day seeing a lot of Ottawa and their history.  On the way home, we stopped at one of the most famous Cheese Factories in Ontario - St.Albert's Cheese.  (Fromage).  

We watched them make cheese curds.  They use curds in poutine here - that's the fries with brown gravy and cheese curds. Now I know what they mean in the nursery rhyme ..."curds and whey".

Anyway, curds are made from the cheese, before it gets pressed into blocks or wheels. It sort of has the taste of mozzarella, but they call it 'squeeky cheese' because when you eat these small balls of cheese they squeek against your teeth. They are WONDERFUL !!!

It was a very full day & we were pooped from so much walking, but we had such a fun time!!