Canadian Thanksgiving

Fall has come and it's time for Thanksgiving - at least in Canada. We took a ride to see some fall colors then sat down to a simple Thanksgiving dinner. We only had turkey thighs, but we did have some pumpkin and apple pie (gluten-free, of course).

Our simple thanksgiving dinner

The pictures on the blog don't represent the time we spend as missionaries. We received a text message from our district leader telling us we didn't need to be at their meeting on Tuesday since they would only be going over Area Books. We changed our schedule for class preparation on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. The Pearl of Great Price class takes a lot of time in preparation. Elder and sister Gay were called as CES missionaries. They work with the young single adults and teach three institute classes each term. Even for them, a lot of the time is spent in preparation. On Tuesday we did take a break to walk around the canal.

The lock connecting the Trent Canal and the Trent River

As our mission winds down we are putting together a list of what we have done here in Canada. As we review our activities we have decided that maybe we have made a difference in the lives of individuals here in Canada. Wednesday we had our morning walk through the park, which is beautiful with the leaves and fall colors. We also went to the church to change the marquee and select pictures to use in our class.

Autumn is here for these people

The snow path is now a leaf path

Tarzan?

 One of the difficulties in this area is finding activities where we can be in contact with people in the community. Sister Wheeler has found the ideal activity - rug hooking. We went to Belleville on Thursday for her rug hooking session. The leader showed the group the quality of her work and mentioned that she was only a beginner. The studio is located on a farm with a beautiful pond.

Sister Wheeler with the other "hookers"

The pond

Our evening class was on the thirteen Articles of Faith. We have talked about the restoration of scriptures, the priesthood, and the church so we decided to use the Articles of Faith as an example of the restoration of doctrine. For each article of faith we compared what was taught by the churches in the day of Joseph Smith with the truths restored through the Articles of Faith.

We take different paths for our morning walks. When we walk past the hospital we come to a street crossing near a school. Safety guards help stop traffic for the children to cross. In most cases adults are ignored - except for John. He always helps us across the street (going the extra mile - no the crossings are not that long). One day he commented about us always being happy so early in the morning. We replied that was because we didn't drink coffee to wake us up.

John - the extra miler

It was a clear, but cold day on Friday so we decided to visit the Canoe Museum in Peterborough. It showed canoes and kayaks from First Nation times to modern times. There were films along the way that showed how they were made by early Americans.

The birch-bark Teepee - no dogs allowed

Trapper Paul

Quality beaver pelts for sale

We went past the hydraulic lift lock that is famous in Peterborough. The museum was closed for the season, but they didn't move the lock.

Peterborough lift lock

 Friday we hit a milestone - we completed reading the book of Mormon in Portuguese. It has taken almost two years to complete. On Saturday we started reading the Golden Pamphlets (handouts for missionary lessons) in Portuguese.

The first pamphlet

After cleaning our apartment in the morning we went on a walk in the Seymour Conservation area.

Rock sitters

We decided we are not as remote from Utah as we sometimes feel. Last week we received General Conference over satellite from Salt Lake City. this week we were able to see our first (and probably our only) BYU football game on TV. Too bad they didn't beat Oregon State.

Didn't he play for USU?

We had district visitors for our Sunday meetings. We are still trying to get the Elder's Quorum in gear. I enjoy hearing the members of the priesthood making arrangements with families they home teach. This is the first time the Trent Hills branch has ever had a full presidency. My counselors are Craig Goslin and Ed David. The secretary is Russ Dishington (who got last month's home teaching report in on time).

The Elder's Quorum presidency: Craig, Ed, Me, Russ

We learned that Tuesday will be moving day. There are two new senior couples coming into the mission so a crew will come from Brampton to pick up the extra queen bed we have and other items we can do without until we finish.