Sept and Oct

I must say that this one ended up being REALLY LONG....  so beware.....  Mid September we went on a District outing to the park around Mt Orford and to a local Abby that we told you about before, Abbaye Saint Benoit du Lac. On the way there we introduced them to Geocaching.  We have introduced it to a lot of people around here.  It is a good way to get the young ones interested in participating in an activity and give the parents an activity to get the young ones outside and doing things.  Most of the Missionaries had not heard of it, and it is being discussed as an activity for the YM/YW, and since they are in the presidency and working with them, they wanted to try it out.  Another instant success! It is nice when it is an easy find -- it makes them feel successful.

 We got to the Abby early enough to be able to listen to the mass.  The 11am mass is done in Gregorian Chant, so we were excited to hear it.  It is a beautiful Abby.  This is our 2nd time there and we love it!!  They also make great cheese, chocolate, and apple products.

It was even more beautiful in the fall!!

At Mt. Orford, We went for a hike and wandered up the mountain and around the lake and really got our exercise in for the day!!  After, we went for lunch and I ordered a hot Hamburger sandwich with fries.  How would I have known that this is what it would have looked like????

 Quebec does like to put gravy on things!!  Hot chicken sandwiches, (the same as the hamburger but with white sliced bread and chicken chunks), Fries... known as Poutine, (Quite the rage here....  fries with brown gravy and cheese curds...  and just about anything else...  pulled pork, beef, and even General Tso’s Chicken )  ..... except mashed potatoes...  they usually are just a ice cream scoop mound with a little butter.

We got a real surprise when John and Sidney Grubb dropped by for a few days. They are the first visitors we have had (hint, hint) and It was really fun to show them around and show all the fun things to see and do in Sherbrooke.

 We took them to the Stanstead/Derby Line Library that is built right on the Canada/USA border...  in fact the line goes right through the library....  here they are standing in both at the same time.

On another day we took the around to all the murals in the city....  there are a LOT and they are AMAZING....   it is hard to tell if they are real or just a painting.  Here is Elder Pete and Sidney in front of one of our favorites....  

A few days later we treated ourselves to a dinner cruise on Lake Memphremagog.  It was a beautiful day and the weather was perfect.

 There are some stunning houses on the shore of the lake that you can only see from the lake, because it is so wooded, as well as a lot of boats. 

 They had live music and wonderful service.  It wasn't clear full, as you can see, but the shot the other direction showed that there was really a lot of people on the cruise.  Well a lot for this size boat, nothing like the normal cruises with thousands of people, this one was just a hundred or so.

 It is hard to see, but if you look close, below.....  right in the center, you can see another view of

Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac  

It definitely has a wonderful location by the lake!!

 The food was OK...  not bad but not wonderful,  but the desserts.....  ahhhh....  what can we say?  YUM?!!!

 Yes, you can say we had a wonderful afternoon on the lake. (can you see the HUGE houses along the shore?) We were told we were suppose to get out and be seen,(with our name tags on)  and get to know the localities and cultures.  We are doing our best.

There are a lot of the local Farmer's Markets,  This one is a real show place.  Lots of Tourist appeal.  We prefer the little ones on the side of the road with lots of really FRESH produce.  But this one makes for a great picture.

Our good friend Hans is originally from Germany and wanted to show all the missionaries an OCTOBER FEST.  So he cooked up a great feast and invited us all over.  Our first October Fest!!  It was fun to have him show off not only his cooking, but also his culture.

Sauerkraut with Sausage, Mashed Potatoes, Jello, rolls and cake.

Hans is also a wonderful artist.  He has paintings on display in a local restaurant and all over his walls.  There is one behind us in the group picture, and here are his stained glass and another painting.

We love this man and are blessed to know him and learn from him.

One thing we have missed while being here was our weekly visit to the temple.  So we got permission to go to the temple every once in a while...  and it ends up being every 3 months or so (The ward mission plan says you are suppose to go at least quarterly....  so we are following it... right?  (-:

  We went to Palmyra on the way here, we blogged about our first visit to Halifax, then to Boston, Then to Sacramento (that one was a little out of the way), and this time we went back to Halifax.  Instead of driving for 12 hours and getting a hotel on the way,  we decided to take the train this time around.  It takes 23 hours, because it doesn't go as fast, and it goes through the forests and along the coast, and stops at about more than 20 stops along the way.  The good part is that you aren't driving, you can get up and walk around, you have pretty comfortable seats,- much better than airline seats (if you are smart you get a sleeper)(we weren't).

We drove to Drummondville the city of one of our neighboring wards about 45 min away to catch the train.  It made us a little nervous to leave it parked at the station for 5 days, but we hoped it was safe.  While we were waiting for the train we wandered the city and found this beautiful Cathedral.

 Our departure time was 8pm, so we didn't get to see much for the first 10 hours.  Sleeping in the chairs wasn't the best idea in the world.  We found out later that we could have not sat by each other and had 2 seats each and laid down ....  that would have been smarter.  So we didn't sleep very well.  But once the sun came up....  it was beautiful!!!

 The train didn't follow the road we traveled before...  it went through the woods and little villages, and along the coast.

 Elder Pete got a lot of reading done....  I got a lot of pictures taken....  

 It wasn't easy to get really good pics looking out a window as the train was going 55 mph..  but I got lucky a few times.   One of my favorites was a video taken out the window....   let's see if it will upload.....nope..... It was too big and I can't edit it....  so you are going to have to trust me !! it was BEAUTIFUL!!!

The last time we went we visited the Bay of Fundy.  If you remember it is the bay with the larges tide rise in the world.  53 feet.  Yes - you read that right.  53 foot tide rise.  It was difficult to see last time because the tide was in and all we saw was a bay full of water.  This time...  the train passed by many of the rivers that are fed by the tide surge.  This is what they look like when the tide is out.

 Large rivers of nothing but mud.   Then when the tide comes in they are full to the top.  If you want to really see what it is like....  google The Bay of Fundy.   You will be amazed.

Once we got to Halifax we decided to do a little touristy things that we didn't see last time.  One of them was the Halifax Citadel on top of the mountain.   We walked to the top and all around the circumference....

 Stopping to take a selfie at the bell tower and overlooking the city and river.

 Can I tell you ----  We LOVE going to the temple.   There is such a comforting peace that is there.  The knowledge that this is the place where covenants are made with the Lord.  The knowledge that we are allowing those who are no longer on the earth to have the opportunity to make those same covenants...  if they choose.....  is a wonderful feeling.

We also returned to Peggy's Cove.  What a beautiful place.   This time we took pics of things other than the lighthouse.  Well,  we did take some, but the lighting was too bright and we looked like ghosts....  so..... pics of the fall colors (not as bright here)

 The beautiful village and boats and lobster cages.

and playing with the rocks.

 We also sat for a long time on the edge of the rocks, just watching the waves and the tide come in.  There is something about moving water that calms my soul.   Love it.

Here is our sweet ride for the weekend.  It is too bad that it is too small to fit all my grandkids in...  I could see myself owning one of these.  It was fun.

 After driving along the coast and seeing all kinds  of Maritime beauty,  we decided to stop for something to eat.  We had been snacking and brown bagging it so far.  We looked and looked and wanted so get something that was local and with a good view.It was getting late and we were getting really hungry.  Then we saw a sign ....  a small sign.....  that said ocean view restaurant this way.....  with an arrow....  we followed, BINGO!!!  We walked in and it was empty.  We asked if it they were open and they were and look at the view from our table......

 It was wonderful.   The food was wonderful, great prices, great view, and excellent service (since we were the only ones there!!)  It was worth the wait.

 

The next day after returning to the temple we went for a drive with the James', our outstanding, kind, gracious, new best friends.  They took us to the Look Off to get a wonderful view of Fundy Bay (in the back ground) and the valley in all it's fall grandeur.  It was a beautiful drive and we loved being with them.  

 Thank you James' for your hospitality and friendship.  We love you!!

 Back on the train and heading back home.  It was amazing to us that in just a few days the beauty had multiplied....   it was even more stunning than on the way out....  WOW.

And the Fundy tide was either just coming in or almost out...  couldn't tell, but there was some water in the rivers....

Yes, we wimped out.  We decided to get a sleeper on the way back.   We were told that it would be cheaper if we waited until we were on the train and it was well on it's way.  So we did.  Little did we know --  that part of the discount was you don't get it until almost 10pm.   That was OK in our book, because the view from the sleeper is pretty limited.  You only have your one window to look out of and only on one side.  Where in the Coach, it is lined with windows and on both sides.  So we sat in coach and took a lot more pictures and enjoyed the beautiful scenery until dark.  Then we broke down and bought dinner in the dining car, and then got our sleeper and crashed for the rest of the ride.  Since this  trip started at noon, we got the great views first, and then slept the last 8 hours.

Here is Elder Pete's Paté

My Pork Medallions

and his Eggplant and Quinoa

Sitting in the diner

 and of course......  DESSERT!!!!

The sleepers aren't very large....  but they are a bed - well actually 2 beds, they are bunks, and you have a private bathroom... so no sharing the public one like in coach...  and it is much better than a chair for sleeping!!

 

Our train arrived back at the station at 7:30 in the morning.  Our schedule for that day was to head home - hurry and make our favorite Sweet Potatoes- jump back in the car and head for Montreal.  It was Canadian Thanksgiving and the Senior Missionaries at the Mission office had decided to get us all together and do a Thanksgiving dinner.  They were so organized and the place was beautiful!! (Wow, I have used that word a lot in this blog.  Can you tell that Fall is my favorite time of the year!!)  anyhew...  We had all the traditional fixin's and then some.

 Even President Patrick and most of his family were there.  It was a great time to be together.  I later learned that this was not how all Canadians treated their Thanksgiving....   for most of them it was just a day off work.  Not too much celebrating going on. But, we celebrated it well, the way we we're used to in the good 'ol USA.

 One surprise I didn't expect was the vibrancy of the leaves in and around Sherbrooke!!!  Oh My Goodness....   they took my breath away.   I would be driving along looking at the beauty and then go around a corner and I would have to gasp...  it was just breathtaking!!!  Here is our District on a walk after district meeting. It was just a path by the college....  are you jealous?

 These leaves are not photo shopped...  this is the natural colors we were walking on.

Check out that mountainside behind the houses.

and 2 of the best ones are right outside our door.....

Another surprise....  Sr A came back!!!  after going home because of a family tragedy - she is back! 

 Her companions and the Elders reactions...   we didn't tell them she was coming back and we were picking her up...  we just showed up at Salvation Army where they and the Elders were volunteering .....

 It is good to have her back...  remember our ward is very multi-lingual.  Now we are back to Native French speaking, Spanish speaking, and English speaking sisters....  as well as the Elders... even though they all speak at least 2....  we feel as if we have a full deck again!

I guess I should say I am sorry for more pictures of leaves, But I can't get enough of them!!!  This is a walk in a nearby park, 

 

 and a drive to Vermont --  such eye candy.

 

And then it snowed.  Even though it is only Oct.  It is getting colder.

 But luckily it didn't stay.  It has warmed up some and last weekend we drove the District to Quebec - our new Zone - for Stake Conference and Zone Conference.  We were blessed to have a visiting 70, Elder Golden. 

We were taught by both him and his wife, and President Patrick. The Zone training on Monday was particularly good.  I have pages of information.  One of the things I took away from it was the importance of commandments.  How they are here to help us and not punish us.  He compared it to the Law of Gravity.    If we were standing on the edge of a building and our plan was to jump off and flap our arms.....  it would be good for us to know about the law of gravity.  Knowing the law (commandments) gives us information that can protect us.  We can still make our own decisions, but now there is more information about what might happen - or the consequences.  I hope I explained that clearly.  It was one of those ah-ha moments for me.

Since non of our missionaries had been to Quebec before, we decided to take an hour before we headed home and let them get a flavor of it.  We drove through the Plains of Abraham, and then went to the old city and the boardwalk.  We weren't there very long, but it was a good visit. 

 And, another service project.   As you know Elder Pete is a member of Rotary in Kaysville.  One goal of the Ward Mission Plan is to become more active in the community.  Elder Petersen decided a good way for him to do that was to join the Sherbrooke Rotary.  Their big fundraiser for the year is a book fair.  Through the year people donate their books to them and then in October they have the fair at the mall and sell them.   As you can see....  this is not a little thing.   They had over 50,000 books!!!   They earned over $44K in just the first day of the sale and it was 4 days long.  They sell the books for $1-5.  So everyone wins.  The people get great books for dirt cheep, Rotary earns LOTS of money, and the money goes to the many projects this club funds.  Our whole district volunteered by helping them to set up and put the books on the table, then the following days we restocked, and restocked, and restocked, because there were as many books in boxes under the tables as there were set out.  A good project.

Our Primary President and good friend took us to our first minor league Hockey game.  We have only been to one hockey game - ever - and it was big league in SL and we really weren't sold...  but this was awesome fun.  I don't know if it was because she knew EVERYONE....  players, mascot, cheerleaders, and even the lottery ticket sellers. 

 She teaches high school, so she has had most of them in her English class.  She sits in the same seat every game.  Right next to the player box on the front row.  So, good seats, good game (we won!!) good time.  GO SHERBROOKE PHEONIX!!

 And to end this extra long post we end with food.   The Elders and Sisters were eating at a member's house and the couple was debating who was the best cook.  So they were challenged to have a cook off.  We were invited to the challenge....  here is the results....   lasagna and pizza lasagna.... the pictures really don't do them justice...  I had never had lasagna pizza before...  no crust, just noodles.....   yes I got the recipe....  pretty good stuff.

So, we come to the end of the marathon blog.   It has been an eventful couple of months.  Thanks for letting us share.  Love and hugs....   Elder and Sister Petersen