Spring is Here!! --- oh-- never mind we just thought it was

Yes, we know it is the first of Spring, and things were starting to thaw and we even saw the roof of the little storage shed outside our window...  I went to the store without a coat ....  after all it was 35 degrees...  we were in a heat wave!!!!

Then we woke up the next morning (Sunday)and this is what we had to dig out of to get to church.

Ahhh....  the beauty of Canada!!!

But..  we took advantage of it on Monday and went snowshoeing in the Sunshine (did I say the weather was fickle?)  But it was a beautiful walk - while we were on the trail.  We did a little bushwhacking - that was a little stressful, but the park is beautiful.  I was trying to get a lot of the scenery in this shot....  well, got some of it and a little of me!!

I love this little playground....  notice where the seats of the swings and benches are - do you think the snow is a little deep?

I loved how in this part of the park that there a little tiny footsteps all around it.  Can you imagine how fun it would be to go down the slides and land in a pile of snow.... what a blast!!

 Last Sunday was our friend Hans' 70th birthday.  He doesn't have any family close by so we decided to throw him a surprise birthday party.  It was a real surprise and for a moment I was afraid it was too much of a surprise!!  But he was very happy and there were lots of people here to tell him how much he is loved.  Here he is with our missionaries.

Friday we visited some of the outlying towns.  What a beautiful place beautiful farms (all under a layer of snow) barns, farm houses, small town centers.   We love Coaticook.   It is about 30 min South of us and not to far from the border.  Besides all the above mentioned beauties... They make REALLY good ice cream and they have the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world!!  I tried to take a picture of it... but it is closed in the winter.. ..  so it didn't turn out very good.

so I got one on line ...  it is over a beautiful gorge and I can't wait to see it transform during the 4 seasons.

 We tried to drive down the gorge to see what it was like at the bottom....  but ....  after about a block of driving down the road - and no way to turn around we decided it would be better to back out than try to get to the bottom and not be able to get out....  so we backed up the road...  Elder Pete did a great job of navigating the snow, ditches, fences, and curves in the road!!

Then we were heading out and found another road that led to a park and trail head at the bottom of the gorge -  It was beautiful...  here is the river from the covered bridge.  The ice chunks were many inches thick but the water was running through them and it was breathtakingly beautiful.

 This beautiful covered bridge was over the river with the ice. I am not sure if you can see it, but it was built in 1887, renovated in 1988, destroyed (not sure when) and rebuilt in 1999.  I love covered bridges and this one was particularly beautiful.

Our SUV looks pretty good in this setting don't you think?

Yeah, I know...  this is a beautiful bridge!!  and the pic is not too bad for being taken through the front window.

This is the kind of town I could find myself living in.  Quiet, quaint, and BEAUTIFUL!!

After, we drove through more small towns and over to the boarder.  We visited with a family from the ward in Stanstead and then popped over to the good ol' USA and got some gas (saved $40) and groceries and then back.

We are loving being in this beautiful spot of God's creation.  The people are wonderful and even though my French is really not up to par (REALLY  - - NOT up to par), but they are loving and patient and hugs are the same in every language...  right??!!!??

It is so amazing to feel the spirit when we are in a lesson and the Holy Ghost touches someones heart and they tell us that they have been looking for answers about their Savior, and life before and after this life for a long time and they are starting to understand.  To watch as their prayers are answered and feel their love for Jesus Christ and thank Him for his sacrifice in their behalf.

We are so grateful to our Heavenly Father, for the blessings we have been given, for the opportunity to serve Him and our Savior "full time", and to be blessed to be serving in this beautiful area.

God bless you and have a great week. Que Dieu te Benisse.
Elder and Soeur Petersen

It is March already.

Oh My.  We have been here over a month now.  In some ways it seems like we have been here forever.  But at the same time we are still feeling "green", there is so much more to learn and do.

This is our team in the ward.  We have a set of each.  How cool is that?!!  This picture is already outdated because our District leader (on the far right) finished his mission last week and we have a new - straight out of the MTC - Elder.  

We had a little party the weekend before he went home and we had some wonderful seafood chowder that was made by the ward mission leader.  He is from Halifax and only fresh fish would do, so he UPS-ed it from the coast packed in dry ice.  We (who are not really a seafood lovers) loved it!!  Don't know if it because it was fresh or all the butter and cream.  But it was really good.

You can see the potatoes, and it also had shrimp, scallops, haddock and lobster.  With before mentioned butter and cream.  YUM!!!

Brent went snowshoeing this past P-Day.  It is starting to warm up and he wants to go when he gets some time.  Here he is clearing off the car and  out the front of the apartment.

One day when we out in one of the neighborhoods, we drove past the parking lot for Mont Bellview - we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a little walk and so off we went (me in my skirt and all!!)  We were in the company of Fat Bikers (huge tires) X-country skiers, snowshoers, and downhill skiers.  It was a bunny hill size - by Utah standards...  but it was very busy and we walked to the top and took pictures of the lift and skiers.   It took us about 15 minutes to walk up.  What a nice interlude. 

 Look at the bikes in this pic....  notice how fat their tires are..  snow tires for bikes!  The other picture is of the runs from across the river.  Notice they aren't very long...  but they are very busy.

 Things are starting to warm up a little and we were really excited to see asphalt in the parking lot at the store the other day...  then as we were driving out we saw this pile of snow...  notice the light pole and the building in the background...  yes it is really that high.  I wish I would have either taken the car or Elder Petersen in front of it...  then you really would have been able to see the proportions.

The Bishop wants to make sure he is keeping us busy...  and he is.  We are teaching classes, going to meetings, researching names, I am in the RS presidency, Elder Petersen is a Home Teacher and SS teacher, and Soeur Petersen has 3 Visiting Teaching partners each with a different list of names.  So,  Yes we are keeping busy.

Went to Zone Conference last week.  WOW  what a spiritual boost.  We have great leaders and what a great bunch of missionaries.  We were the only SR missionaries there..  so we were surrounded by energy and youth.  Our Mission President is very loved and is a wonderful person.  There are some missionary videos that he has been a part of when he was a Stake President in Florida. I am going to see if I can add it so you can see what we are doing.

Nope---  couldn't figure out how to do it....  but you can copy and paste the link and go to the site and play it.....

 https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-06-002-my-work-and-my-glory?lang=eng

We are in an important work and hope we can do our part to help the people in Sherbrooke know that their Savior and Heavenly Father love them and help them to know how they can have true happiness by knowing them.

Have a great week!!!
Elder and Soeur Petersen 

PS

We went out to the Bishop's home this afternoon to wish Sr Desjourdy a happy birthday.  Yes their home is as picture perfect as it looks - in a beautiful wooded setting.  We love that place!!

While we were there she told us about a cute little town called North Hatley that is just a couple more miles down the road... so of course we had to go.  The road there was like driving through the Uintahs.  Beautiful trees... deep snow...  blue sky.... and the best part....  dry roads!

There were lots of beautiful homes tucked in the woods

and I don't have a picture, but there was even a ski resort!

The cute little town is located on the North end of a huge lake and I guess is quite the hot spot in the summer.  But now...  there was ice fishing, ice skating, cross country skiing, and I would hope some snowshoeing going on.

Anyhow....  just wanted to add a little postscript to yesterday's entry because it was such a nice surprise to find this cute little town. 
OH--  they also have a great pastry shop that we had to get some yummies at!!

Enjoying Winter Wonderland

 We now have one official week under our belt and life is better than expected.   We had a WONDERFUL couple who taught us how to be couple MLS missionaries and then they sent us here to Sherbrooke.  And what a pleasant surprise it was.

 We are really doing pretty good.  The apt is great much bigger, cleaner and easier to get to than we expected.  So we are happy.  It is an apt that hasn't been used by the church before, so we are having to outfit it with all the basics (and not so basics - but comforts) so we have spent a LOT of money the last week, but our  last trip to Walmart was only $23 today, so our list is getting smaller and smaller.  

The weather is crazy the highest we have had was 23F and the lowest was -17, but should get lower than that in the next couple of days.  It keeps snowing and getting deeper.  But the amazing part is that the roads thaw at 20!!!  how does that happen?   In Utah...  it is deep freeze at 20 and road are bad... here it is a heat wave and roads thaw.... weird.  

We both bought a nice warm parka (even with fur around the hat) so we are keeping really warm going to meetings, visits, shopping, and church. We tested them out on our P day yesterday and went snowshoeing behind our apt. 

It was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

The French is SLOWLY coming along...  I have to keep telling myself I have only been here a week and as long as I understand more today than yesterday - I am doing good.  We had to give our testimony in church last Sunday - in French (YIKES!!)  Well it was partly in French... Brent spoke for about 10 minutes and I spoke about 10 sentences.  We have both given a half dozen prayers.... mine were mostly just a few sentences and always the same.  But....    slowly   right!!

Brent is doing really good.  He has been translating for a member of the ward and going to LOTS of meeting.  He rarely has to ask what is being said.

We have been to appointments/visits with the Elders, the Sisters, on our own and many mtgs with the bishop, the ward mission leader, district mtgs, and even some dinner appointments!!  So we have really been busy.

One of the members said today that they were really worried because they haven't gotten as much snow as they should have.....  WHAT....   I guess you can tell by the fire hydrant signs that they really expect it to get much higher.

Here is our cute little ward.  It is smaller than a regular Utah ward, but is really nice.

Brent decided to shovel the ramp to one of the doors when we were there today....   maybe if he gets it shoveled --  it will be possible to see the cement.


Well -  better finish for this week...  and we leave you a thought that was on the wall of our trainers.....   May you put your trust in our Loving and Caring Lord.

Have a great week.
Elder and Soeur Pet
ersen

We have arrived!!  We are now in Montreal...  but will only be here until Monday. We are assigned to a smaller town in the South East corner called SHERBROOK.

Oh my goodness....  remember when we were told that Senior Missionaries take it kind of easy.....  NOT

We went out with our "trainers" today.... the Vallecalles

They fed us breakfast and then taught us the ropes until 10:30 -- then we were out and about.

From then until 6:30 we:

visited 6 families

the men gave 2 healing blessings

they contacted 3 families on the phone

went to the church and ran off the program for Sac mtg tomorrow

then went to the Mission Pres house and had dinner with their family and the Vallecalles. 

Home at 10 ---

that is a 12 hour day for those of you who are counting.  They said that they do that 6 days a week...  oh wait...  they come home early on Sunday and only work until 5!!  instead of 9:30   YIKES ---  these guys are amazing!!  that is why their ward now has a 60% attendance instead of the 30% when they arrived.

They have set the standard - now we have to learn to do it.

I did my mental stretching and gave 2 prayers in French (well kind of French) Brent was working hard deciphering the Classic French and the Quebecois.  So needless to say we crashed when we got home to our little hotel room.

Once we get to Sherbrooke we will hopefully have more time to add some more pics and info.

Loves

ELder and Sr Petersen

Well ---  we loaded up the car (yes it really is a full as it looks!!)

 and headed out.

The first day of the 5 day journey took us to Little America in WY, the Lincoln Highway monument outside of Laramie, and then on to our stop for the night in Sidney, NE.

Did you know that this little town of under 8K people (about the same population as South Weber) has over 6 hotels, and oodles of restaurants, gas stations, and other "big" town places?  Why you ask? Besides being out in the middle of nowhere....  it is the home town and location of the 1st Cabela's!!

 the World Headquarters is there and it is HUGE!!!

 We visited the 1st one ever built and then we saw the Cabela's mansion....  it takes up a whole city block in the middle of the town.

 And...   it has a life sized nativity that is in the courtyard and it is up all year round.

We were really excited when we saw the gas prices

and then we found a real jewel....  Grandma Jo's

 a cute little cafe downtown...  we didn't get to eat there...  it closes at 2 in the afternoon.  But it was fun to see and if you get into town,....  the reviews are great.

Well....  day one of 5 of driving is done. We hope that tomorrow goes as well as today did.

Let the adventure begin

Wow - it is hard to believe it has really begun.  We met with my siblings before arriving  at the MTC in Provo. It was good to feel their support and have them give us a big send off.

What an organized place the MTC is.  There was someone at every turn giving us directions and making sure we knew what to do and where to go. They gave us our goody bag full of instructions, keys, maps, and booklets and of course our name tags.

 Then off to classes. We will be doing 5 days of instruction, after, we will head back home for the weekend, and will be heading out next Monday morning for the 5 day cross country drive. 

We had to get the  "map" picture...  

   

so....  it is official.  We are here.  We are pumped.  We are ready to jump in and get this new adventure under way.