Add up the miles

We put a lot of miles on the car this week with three different trips out of town. On Monday we went to Gananoque for our annual 1,000 island tour. This time we went with the Bosches (from California and serving in Smith Falls), and the Andersons (serving in Brockville until the end of the month then returning to Arizona). It is always fun to get away and slow down to boat speed. We were able to talk to several people and give out pass-along cards on the boat.

Bosches, Andersons, and Wheelers

One of the 1,000 islands

Cute couple in front of the Boldt Castle

Lake from the castle

A quiet reading area in the castle

One of our traveling companions. This seagull followed the boat back until we docked.

 We missed district meeting on Tuesday this week. Usually we don't have district meeting the week we have interviews and we missed the 10:20 text message on Monday night letting us know about it. We got a call 15 minutes after the meeting started asking where we were, but there wasn't time to drive to Belleville before the end of the meeting. Since we were gone on Monday we went to the church on Tuesday to work in the library and worked on preparing our lesson for the Pearl of Great Price class.

A picture on a house taken during our walk

Wednesday was another travel day. We went to Bancroft to meet with the Bevens before they return home to Cardston, Alberta. We are trying to update the boundaries of the district and the Bancroft Branch is located just to the north of the Kingston District. While we were there they took us to see the Eagle's Nest which has a nice lookout over the city. Believe it or not, there are homes hidden among the trees.

At the Eagle's Nest

Lookout from the Eagle's Nest

 We spent some time on Thursday working on Canadian family history. We have identified five lines from Sister Wheeler's family who lived in Canada, mostly Ontario. Most of them had joined the church and left Canada before Ontario was Ontario. We had our Pearl of Great Price class Thursday evening. We covered Moses 1, discussing the topics removed from Genesis by conspiring men: 1) the true nature of God, 2) our relationship with God, and 3) the true nature of Satan. We are enjoying the class and hope the students are.

Friday was another travel day. We went to Kingston for interviews with President Scott. We always enjoy the interviews. We took the slow way back to Campbellford (Hwy 2) so we didn't get back until about 8:30 pm. We took the wrong turn (which meant we went straight instead of turning) and ended up in the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. Maybe Olivia can interpret the sign.

I think we are supposed to stop here.

We drove through Trenton and found the Festival on the Bay going on. We walked up and down the street closed to traffic for the day.

At the festival in Trenton

From there we went on to Brighton for dinner with the Koerber family. They were in Trent Hills last Sunday and invited us to have dinner with them and discuss a missionary fireside they are planning for next week. Their home is right on the lake with a good view of Presqu'ile Provincial Park. We had bobotie from South Africa (very delicious). It is a curry type dish served on rice and with fruit. The family lived in South Africa for some time before moving to Brighton.

Dinner on the lake

The Koerber family

 When we finally got home we were serenaded by a group of singers in the yard behind our apartment. They were singing old-time favorites accompanied by guitar and harmonica. It was pleasant to have the window open and just listen.

The backyard crew

Since we had to leave early on Friday for our interviews we didn't have time for our walk. We decided to take a longer walk on Saturday so we went to Goodrich-Loomis Conservation Area. We had a delightful walk there before. This time we were eaten alive with mosquitos. Elder Wheeler ended up with at least 16 bites on his neck even though Sister Wheeler kept killing as many as she could that would land on him. Sister Wheeler tried the Listerine trick and only ended up with a couple of bites.

Bridge over infested waters

On the way home we saw an inuksuk (plural - inuksuit) in the riverbed. The inuksuk is a special symbol used by the Inuits of the Arctic region of Canada. It has been adopted as a national symbol for Canada so we encounter them from from to time.

Inuksuk in the riverbed 

We were expecting a calm day for Sunday, but it didn't turn out that way. We had a family of 9 visit from the Black Creek Ward (Spanish ward) in Toronto. It meant we had a deacon to pass the sacrament and another high priest to bless it. Elder Wheeler taught a youth sunday school class with Paul and Diana. Sister Wheeler helped in the primary with 7 children. We need families like that to move into the branch instead of just visiting. We had our monthly pot luck dinner after church. Their grandmother was baptized last week in Toronto.

Paul and Diana in sunday school

Paul and Diana's family

The weather has been strange this week. We have had a couple of sweltering days where the air conditioner has had trouble keeping up, but there have also been some cool days that were very pleasant for morning walks. We hope the cool days keep coming, but the area is in serious need of rain.