The Sugar Shack

Today was our
#cabaneàsucre    ‪or   #sugarshack‪   or   #tiresurlaneige   or   ‪#sucrélebec  or  #Chalet des Erables

excursion.  It was a great time with Bishop Desjourdy and his wife Lisa (who organized the whole thing) All the missionaries, Valli, The Skenes and the Herrings.

After we got there and checked in we were directed to the soup where we turned in our ticket and got our Split Pea Soup and a plate for the rest of our meal.’

We put our soup at our place and then took the plate to the little buffet.  There we picked up Pork Rinds, eggs, ham, potatoes, baked beans and crepes.  When you start eating you are suppose to drown the whole dish in maple syrup.  Everything, eggs, potatoes, beans, ham, crepes,  and even the pork rinds.  

  

There was also some sweet and sour pickles, green ketchup, and fruit Ketchup, as well as coleslaw, and regular condiments.

Here is our friend and investigator Valli, who went with us and the missionaries.  What a great guy!!  He is from India and is working at the University of Sherbrooke in Nano Technology. (that means he is ooober smart - he designs those tiny little chips in your computer, phone, smart pad, etc)

After the main course we were treated to grandpere (grandpa) which is dumplings cooked in maple syrup and then covered with a maple sauce.  Oh my YUM!!

This is the bottle of syrup that was on our table.  If you read closely you can read how the syrup is made.

  

But what we were told was that it takes 40 gallons of tree sap- that is boiled down- to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.  We were also told that the lighter the syrup the better it is.  As it gets older – or later in the year -  it gets darker and stronger. Also,  the taste of maple varies between regions and altitudes.  So there are many different flavors.

 After we ate we went to the shack where the sap is boiled down and then did “Sugar on Snow”.  This is where they take hot syrup and pour it onto packed snow.  It hardens and you then twist it onto your stick and eat it like a sucker.  The first one I did was still a little soft and was sticky.  Then I learned that you let it get hard and after it forms a little.  Oh my, I ate way too many of them.  It was fun to try and get the hard syrup on a stick, but it was really good!!

  Bishop and his daughter.

The Vats where they boil down the sap.

 Barrels of syrup with the company sign.

Elder Blackwelder, Vallie, Elder Ritz, Seour Leon, Seour Hunt

The trees being tapped.  Big farms no longer use buckets and taps.  They use these tubes.  It looks like the trees are getting an IV.  If you look close at the next pictures you can see the blue tubes all through the forest.

After the "Sugar on Snow", we took a walk in the forest. 

The Elders and Sisters, Bishop and wife and especially Jordan and his mom had a snowball fight.  It was pretty funny. (notice Elder Petersen in the middle of the war.)

Especially when the bishop got his wife really good, and then she took him down in the snow!

The missionaries though it was great fun!

You can see how deep the snow is looking out the window of the bldg. 

What a great day it was.  Great people, Great food, and Great fun. 

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!!