For those of you who may not know, our family just went on a Spring Break vacation in Canada, specifically Montreal and Quebec City. Harrison was focused on turning in his mission papers right when we got home from the trip.
Our great friends, the Drozds, had invited us to tag along on their yearly skiing trip, so we jumped at the chance. Rick had always told us how charming and amazing Montreal was, and he has wanted to take us for years. We figured we'd make a great road trip out of it. We started out in Niagara Falls, on the Canadian side, then went to Toronto for a day. We arrived in Montreal late Saturday night, and had to leave by 4 pm on Sunday.
We had decided we'd find an LDS church to attend in Montreal on Sunday morning. When I was looking at the different congregations, I realized most were in French. While we were thrilled to be in this French-speaking providence, I thought it might be nice for some of us to be able to understand some of the meeting. So, I chose a Spanish-speaking ward, the Zarahemla Ward, that met at 9 am in downtown Montreal. Rick is fluent in Spanish (he served a 2-year mission in Argentina), and both boys took Spanish in High School, so they were all excited.
The ward ended up being so warm and inviting, and it was very full! We walked in as they were singing the opening song, and it was so full that we had to sit on the front bench. We couldn't find hymn books, so two different people gave us theirs, opened to the page they were singing from! One hymn book was the sister's personal book! It was so sweet. We loved hearing the testimonies in Spanish. We could feel the spirit was so strong in that ward. After the meeting was over, so many people came and welcomed us; it felt like home to us! We even had the missionaries all come over to introduce themselves. When we told one of the sisters that Harrison was waiting for his mission call, she said, "Let us know when it comes and you are called to our mission!"
After church, we saw the beautiful cathedral in Montreal, and ate the yummiest French meal in the old quarters. We had fallen in love in a short 7 hours in that city.
We spent the rest of the week exploring Quebec City and just fell in love. We couldn't believe how much it felt like Europe! We had to keep pinching ourselves that we were still in North America! The people were so kind and sweet, and patient with our language.
As you traveled outside of the tourist areas, people didn't speak any English at all, which was so amazing to us! We couldn't believe how French everything was there, especially since it was so close to the US, as well as other English-speaking Canadian Providences.
When Harrison opened up his mission call, we were all so excited for him. He was called to serve in the Montreal, Canada mission, which covers Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, and everything north to the North Pole. It was such a tender mercy to have just just been there to see how kind and loving the people of Quebec are, and we will be ever grateful to our sweet friends who were inspired to invite us to join their vacation. It made him so much more excited about the call. We know Elder James will serve them well and make a great impact on so many lives.
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