September 5-11, 2022

We went bowling on Monday for District P-day.  I think I was in college the last time I bowled, so that may give you an idea how good I am at it.

LaSalle District

We were missing the other senior couple, Elder and Sister Kjar, and the Cornwall Elders, who are one and a half hours away.  The lanes were 10 pin lanes and we used smaller balls with no finger holes.


John envisioning a strike

Elder Loveland (seated) and Elder MacDonald

Sister Larsen

Elders Johnson, MacDonald, Loveland


John gets the spare and whoever was in the next lane got a strike!  I had the highest team score two of the three games - that tells you good we all were.  But we had a good time.  Transfers were on Thursday so it was the last time we were all together as a district.

We had heard about a u-pick farm northwest of Montréal and decided to check it out on Wednesday.  It was a lovely, warm day and we drove through areas of the city we had not been to before.  The farm is located in Saint-Joseph du Lac (Saint Joseph of the Lake).  The lake, Lake of Two Mountains (Lac des Deux Montagnes) is part of the river delta widening the Ottawa River in Quebec at its confluence with the Saint Lawrence River.  As soon as we crossed the river, we were in the countryside.  Saint-Joseph looked mostly agricultural to us.  There were many orchards and vegetable farms in the area.  From the warehouses and refrigerated trucks we saw, we suspect this area may supply much of the local produce in the nearby communities.


Looking uphill toward the apple orchards

Closer to the top, where we picked honey apples

Honey apple trees

Playing in the raspberry bushes

Our bounty

We came home with two liters of raspberries and a dozen honey apples.  Honeycrisp apples are my favorite at home; the honey apples here tasted similar but not quite the same.  Not many things taste better than a sweet, crisp apple hand picked off the tree!

We spend considerable time in Angringnon Park walking to and from the metro.  There are so many geese, ducks and gulls now - literally hundreds - that the walkways and picnic areas are crowded with birds and the mess they leave behind.  We have to walk eyes down to watch for their little gifts everywhere.  We think it's time they all flew south for the winter!

The geese have lost their charm

Saturday was the National Day of Service in Canada.  The LaSalle Ward partners with Saint John Brébeuf Catholic Church to collect food for the Hope Food Bank here in LaSalle.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started the food drive eleven years ago.  It relocated to the Catholic Church when they partnered.  We drove our car and had two runners that went door to door to collect the items.  We finished early and left before the end results came in but we hear it was successful and the food collected will help feed many local families for the coming months.

This was on the back of our ID cards



Some of our missionary volunteers

As you all know, I am not musically inclined but I do enjoy music.  On previous missions, the hymns were often my gateway to feeling the Spirit during church services, especially when a language foreign to me was being sung and spoken.  The music was familiar and I knew most of the words of the familiar hymns by heart.  That brought comfort and peace to my heart.  I had a similar experience in Sacrament meeting today.  Five or six single (single or with wives in another country awaiting visas) brothers were sitting in the row behind us.  The opening song was The Day Dawn is Breaking and the brothers were singing with great gusto, especially during the chorus.  We are an English speaking ward but I heard those English words with accents from the Philippines, the Ukraine and Pakistan.  They blended together beautifully and the Spirit verified to me again that we are all children of Heavenly Father; that he loves each one of us and that we can live together and love each other in peace and harmony.  What a privilege is it for us to serve one another.

And then there was the closing song - God Save the King.  I know it was sung in honor of Queen Elizabeth, who was a lovely person and should be honored.  It was just difficult for me not to sing the words of My Country Tis of Thee to that tune!

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