Today is Sunday, October 11th, 2020
Happy Birthday to Danielle (42) last Sunday, and
Happy Birthday to David (41) and Boomer (1) yesterday!!!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!! Never in our lives have we celebrated Thanksgiving just the two of us, until this year. We have been very melancholy the past week, mostly because Michael, Kaylee, Tait, Solon, Haysten and Preese were to have arrived Thursday night to spend their long weekend here, but when the whole island was declared 'red' with covid spikes, they had to cancel their trip....you can imagine our disappointment...And with fines of $10,000 for having friends into our home, we felt it best not to even risk serving peanut butter sandwiches to anyone!! So…our little Butterball turkey breast is happily roasting in the oven, with potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and brussel sprouts waiting in the wings to be steamed to perfection. Yesterday, Sister Little delivered freshly prepared creamed onions, as well as a jar of red cabbage which are staples in her ‘Little’ family New Jersey Thanksgiving feast!! We are excitedly anticipating new additions to our menue!! Our last two Thanksgiving celebrations - the first in Dartmouth, and last year here in Mont Royal we filled our mission homes to the brim with dear loved ones;…senior and young missionaries, as well as family; so this quiet weekend is a bit of an adjustment!!
I have had fun decking the Mission Home with Thanksgiving and autumn decor inside and out, so although we aren’t sharing our feast, we feel the spirit of the special day, and are filled with gratitude for all the blessings of this wonderful Harvest time…our cornucopia doth overflow!!
Highlights of the past two weeks include:
*Zooming into our Westminster Ward Sacrament Meeting, and getting to sustain our new Bishop Doug Jensen with counsellors Ash Gibbons, and Jason Lawrence. So very excited for this new Bishopric!!
*Also zooming into our Montreal Ward Sacrament Meeting and hearing our own Sister Little's report on Sister Eubank's General Conference Unity and Mercy messages. She reminded us of 'The Boys in the Boat'..make your boats swing!! Be in sync!! We are all building Zion! Be part of a collective force that does good! And enduring to the end means changing to the end! Maintaining change requires effort!!! Thanks Sister Little and Sister Eubanck!!
*Interviews with Atlantic Zone missionaries, as well as their Zoom Zone Conference. Oh how we love visiting with our wonderful teams!
*Interviews with half of our Longueuil Zone missionaries.
*Tuesday and Wednesday Interviews with Ottawa Zone missionaries in person!!
Richard had loaded our bicycles in the back of our Highlander, and following our Tuesday interviews we changed into casual clothes and pedalled all along the Rideau River, all the while appreciating the gorgeous fall colours!! Wednesday, again after interviews, we drove across the Ottawa River into the Gatineau Hills Park, where ‘Fall Rhapsody’ was in full swing, and we were ooohhhing and aaahhhing over every stunning vista, and every breathtaking tree!! Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (1920-1940’s - 21 years as PM) bequeathed his summer estate to the people of Canada and, even in the rain, we loved strolling around this romantic, enchanted getaway, and were totally charmed by the antique stone walls, gorgeous perennial flower gardens, hydrangea hedges, and forests of red maple trees!
Put Gatineau Hills on your ‘must visit in the autumn’ list!!
*Another highlight - Holding in person Ottawa Zone Conference in the Prince of Wales Building!!
Our last in person zone conference was back in March, in Moncton, New Brunswick so we, and all our Ottawa zone teams were over the moon excited to finally meet in person….it had been months since we had seen most of them! Our emotions were close to the surface as we taught, and testified. Such a wonderful morning!! Of course we were all in masks, but we gave friendly elbow bumps! I love going over our little congregation, and watching smiling eyes!!
*Speaking Tuesday morning at the Canada wide Family Services Fall Zoom Conference on the timely topic ‘Let Us All Press On' was a bit of a daunting task just two days after General Conference, where we heard everything we needed to hear; but.... I told a few little stories, shared a few favourite scriptures, gave challenges just like I love to give our missionaries, and in no time, my twenty minutes was up!! It was delightful seeing so many dear Family Services friends on the Zoom!
*General Conference was a real highlight…for all of us!!
*And yesterday……Sister Little, Sister Breckenridge, and Sister Mecham joined us for an all day adventure chasing fall colours, on back roads of Quebec! Autumn splendour abounded around every bend, and up every hill and dale. Quebec really is just a massive forest dotted with stunning rivers and lakes, and smallish mountains. We have celebrated every season here and marvel at the incredible beauty, and must admit, they might just have a corner on ‘magnifique’ trees, shrubs, and flowers!! It seemed like we barely got started on our road trip when we arrived in Cowansville, a quaint little city in the Eastern Townships where a cute little cafe called to us to enjoy lunch. Because Cowansville is in the orange zone - (unlike Montreal in the red), we were delighted to enjoy feasts of salads, bagels, and fries, on the outdoor verandah. Across the street, in another beautifully restored old home we bought fresh raspberry/blueberry pies for dessert. Driving on the narrow two laned back roads is such a fun way to experience the charm of country life. Apple orchards, vineyards, corn fields, and cute vegetable stands with piles of pumpkins and squash add to the thrill of colourful patchwork hills and valleys.
The St. Benoit du Lac Abbey which we had visited in the spring was on our route to see yesterday, and the fall vistas did not disappoint. Magog, our last destination, and stop at the Musee was so interesting. We discovered that Dominion Textiles cotton mill had been in operation there for 130 years. In the early years children as young as 10 worked in the mill, and many generations of families were employed in this massive operation which just ceased operating in 2011. Even with the closing of the cotton mill, Magog which is situated at the end of Lac Mephramagog is still a vibrant community with tourism giving it a big economic boost.
We were able to zoom into two baptisms as we were on our road trip!
Alfredo a sweet man from Cuba was taught by Sister Atkins, Sister Vargas and Sister Mendoza, as well as Elder Ramos Chen (who has returned home.) Such a thrill for everyone! Caleb, who lives in Maine was our second baptism, and because the Can/USA border is closed and they couldn’t drive to St. Stephen’s where the baptismal font is; he was baptized in the Bay of Fundy!! Elder Barrett and Elder Madsen, who helped teach him were absolutely thrilled for Caleb!
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And now for ALOT (two weeks worth) of MIRACLES!!!
Starting with October 4th Missionary Miracles
Chapel Hill sisters:
“Finding Prime time activities has been a little challenging for us since a lot of the friends we meet with prefer doing it during the day. But we felt like prime time was something we should strive our best to use. So after receiving a response for a Bible Ad from someone on the outskirts of our area, we decided to make the most of our drive and stop by at the homes of each member who lived in the small town. We made a plate of cookies for each one and added a little note about conference this weekend. The first member we went to see was actually inactive. We had no idea and ended up having a very positive chat with her in which she said she would love to come back to church! Right after getting back in our car we received a call from our relief society president and we were able to share the story with her. She was thrilled! This sister had been a do not contact and the bishop was the only one to ever speak with her. It was such a blessing to be led by the Lord to her house at just the right time. If we hadn't been trying to utilize prime time to meet people we probably would have delivered the bible during the day and never had the opportunity to meet her.
Mandarin Elders:
“We had quite a big miracle this week, the Montréal Elders (Elder Albertson, Elder Laigo, and Elder Siemens) called with a referral of someone who is interested in a bible study. She is interested in learning English which is why they contacted the English Elders, but her native language is Mandarin. We had a very great Bible study! This person named Tina invited two of her friends Steven and Yuan. They are interested in learning English but they made it clear that their first focus is learning about Jesus Christ. We shared our testimonies and had a spirit filled discussion about the God head. We invited them all to another Bible study next week where we will talk more about prayer. I can not wait to see these three brothers and sisters begin to develop their faith in Jesus Christ and a relationship with their Father in Heaven.”
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Montreal sisters:
“We witnessed a little miracle on the way back from Bishop's Storehouse (you can tell Sister Low about this) ; when the storehouse was done there was a good amount of food leftover, including a large loaf of bread. We were on our way back when we received a prompting to give the loaf to a man we saw on the metro. We ended up not acting on that prompting, and were sad for it. BUT, we were almost off the metro when we saw a lady standing by the escalator; Sister VaughAn offered the loaf to her and she was very thankful for it. She had prayed for another opportunity to give the loaf to someone in need cause we missed the first one. We've seen in little ways this week how God has answered our prayers. And many more miracles will follow!”
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Champlain Elders:
“So ever since I got here we've been teaching Jan Jan. He is a sweet 9yr old kid who loves the Gospel and his mom is 100% converted!
Just recently we've been talking to Him about Baptism... we had some problems though, he lives all the way in Iqaluit and the borders were shut down for any travellers and non essential workers. We aren't deemed as essential so we couldn't go. And there is no active priesthood holder up there... we were praying for a solution, that maybe they could come down here to Ottawa or Gatineau to get baptized, but the closer it got to Winter the slimmer that looked... so we prayed and waited.
One day we get a text from Jan Jan's mom, she said, "Elders, I have some good news for you! A brother just moved up to Iqaluit!"
At first we didn’t understand, we didn’t see the full implications of this. Until we had a call with this member who moves there. This member is from the same country as Jan Jan and His mom. This member is old enough and worthy enough to house the Melchizedek Priesthood! This member also is going to be living up in Iqaluit for the foreseeable future!
So we had a lesson with all of them together and they all just clicked so well! The member was great with Jan Jan, and they all hit it off! We then could finally set a baptismal date for Jan Jan, the 24th of Oct. It's like God said, okay watch me do my work here, I got this!
Literally this couldn't have been more perfect, God is SOOO GOOD!”
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Second Ottawa Elders Miracle:
“We have Lucas as well! Another cool miracle! You can share this if you'd like as well.
So with Lucas he is about 9yrs old! He's a sweet kid, and his parents are separated. So His mom has a Boyfriend named Shaun who is over at their place for the lessons. He is not a member, but is SUPER supportive! Like he takes them to church and their activities all the time! Its sweet.
One lesson His mom told us that Shaun wanted to ask a question after the lesson, and we said of course. We had a great lesson then Shaun sat down and he kinda looked nervous, but he said, "so elders could I, like do the same thing Lucas is doing?"
And for a sec it didn’t hit me but then it did and I realized what he was saying! He wanted to get taught the lessons! Wow! So we said of course we'd LOVE to!! So we set up another lesson and we taught him the restoration and he is really excited for General Conference!! God is just blessing us so much! I cant thank Him enough!
Elder Salvador and I are doing amazing! My Plan is going great! I love it, it really helps me focus on a healthy mindset of going home, its wonderful!”
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Montreal tech elders:
“We dropped off the phone halfway to the Dow's Lake sisters like you suggested, and honestly that was a miracle for us because we had already set up a lesson with a member outside in Glengarry. So we got to kill two birds with one stone.
Here's a family history story now.
All my ancestors on my mom's side, especially my grandfathers side are now solely being worked on by me. The reason being because my grandparents aren't members, and my mom is now passed away. Another cool experience with Glengarry and the surrounding area? Most of my ancestors on my grandfather's side are buried in the surrounding area. So naturally I thought it would be a good idea to check them out. In that day, I got to visit my 4th great grandfathers grave, he was buried with his family and some of his children. Also my great great grandfather's grave as well. We couldn't find it because the cemetery was large, and a lady walked over and told us she'd look it up. We found his plot, but he didn't have a headstone. It was a massive spiritual experience for me because I was probably the only person who has ever looked for it, and I found him. I'm going to share the pictures with my grandparents next P-day, and I'm really hoping this can be a missionary moment as well! I'd love to show you the pictures sometime too! It was such a great experience.” Elder Forsyth
Kentville sisters:
Miracle of the week #2: we did a church tour with Patricia, her 8 year old son, and a member named Emily and it was incredible. We talked with her about baptism and temples and it was great, and then when we got to the chapel everything became so still and the spirit was so strong. She shared with us that she's been feeling exhausted not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually too. It's such a blessing to know that these feelings have a remedy and that Christ can help her with anything. We're excited to help her take those steps!
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Assistants
We received a referral from a member to deliver a copy of the Book of Mormon to a man named Quentin. So today (Sunday, September 20th, 2020) we planned on taking him a copy in the afternoon. Additionally we needed to retrieve a Chrome Cast from the Monte Rey Elders (Elders Hirsche and Heninger) that they had previously borrowed for a baptismal service. So our plan was to meet them at the Acadie Metro Station to get the Chrome cast from them, and then go deliver the Book of Mormon to Quentin. As we were about to leave the apartment, I felt that we should take with us a French Book of Mormon as well, even though we were told Quentin speaks primarily English. We chose to listen, so Elder Gordon grabbed the French copy and we departed with both languages. We arrived at the metro station, and as I was stepping out of the car the English copy caught my eye, so I took that as a prompting and grabbed the English Book of Mormon just in case we met someone who wanted one. After wandering around in the metro station for quite some time looking for the Monte Rey elders, we called and decided to meet them at the escalators. We were at the bottom looking up and finally saw them, standing at the top, talking to a man. We began to ride the escalators up towards them. About a quarter of the way up, Elder Hirsche noticed us, and excitedly beckoned to the man to follow them by saying, “Hey! Come over here!” As they hastily began to ride the escalator down, Elder Hirsche looked to us and hopefully asked, “Do you have a French Book of Mormon?”. I thought, “well shoot! I almost got that prompting right.” I had only taken the English book from the car. So, desperately, I looked down to Elder Gordon riding behind me on the escalators. Thankfully, to my great surprise, He pulled out the French copy and held it up. Then reaching it across, handed it to Elder Hirsche who immediately handed it to the man (Who’s face was priceless). Elder Heninger then hurriedly got the Chrome Cast out of his bag and handed it back across the escalator to elder Gordon in return. The exchange on the moving escalators took place in the space of about 3 seconds, and we both went our separate ways. The elders called us about 5 minutes later and thanked us for having one. It turned out the interested man had actually approached them and asked for a French copy, but they didn’t have one. I can only imagine what was going through the mans head when he saw first hand the Lords expert planning skills cultivate such a seamless execution before his eyes. Elder Gordon had received the same prompting about the French book when he was exiting the car, and I am glad he followed it. The Lord so perfectly set that one up, and truly used all four of us as instruments in his hands. I have learned this inspired council to be true, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” -Proverbs 3: 5-6
October 11, 2020 Mission Miracles
Fredericton sisters:
« Okay so back when I was first here in Fredericton with Sister Mavy I had a goal that I wanted to help clean off every person's cars with snow. Well I remembered we would always help clean off this one guy's car who lived in our apartment building and he appreciated it so much everytime. In fact he even gave us a new scraper. Well since coming back he recognized me and he talks to us everytime he sees us. Well this week he asked if he could learn more of what we do and more about our church. So we got to meet with him this week and it was amazing!! He said that because of our loving service that we did he has been watching us and when I came back he was drawn to wanted to learn more. It was probably the highlight of my week and he had some good questions! I'm excited to see what will happen to him. Just goes to tell you that people are out there watching you and you should always serve with love. Service and love will always go farther then anything! You can definitely share this with Sister Low! «
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Mt. St. Hilaire sisters:
« We are going through the list of members in the ward to set up a lesson with all of them. We've actually seen really cool miracles so far. There are a lot of "do not contacts" in the ward but we've felt inspired to reach out to this (Spanish) family on the list and she was soo kind and happy to hear from us - especially in Spanish!! Honestly Président, being able to speak to them in their own language makes the biggest difference. So we have a lesson set up with her tomorrow! Then we also found a solid former in area book to teach because we saw that this one member had been apart of some lessons with her. We called her and guess what - SHE WATCHED GENERAL CONFERENCE. She hasn't been contacted in months but she watched almost all of conference. Incredible huh?? We are excited to keep talking to her. »s
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Fallowfield elders:
« That guy who randomly showed up to church a few weeks ago showed up again to church for conference. We couldn’t get in contact with him and asked him about it when we got lucky and saw him again. Ends up we recorded the wrong number, and we are so lucky he just showed up to church again. We have his legit number now. »
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Hochelaga Elders
« I actually have a miracle I would like to share with you! I have a friend that studies biology at McGill university. Out of all the people in this huge city, Elder Rees and I bumped into her! We got in contact with her, and she agreed to have a lesson with us! After this lesson we will refer her to the YSA sisters. That's one of the tender mercies that Heavenly Father gave me this week! I hope you have a good thanksgiving this week! »
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This from the Montreal Terrebonne elders:
« We helped Elder Baird and Pinkney move furniture all day on Saturday. I don’t complain it was soo much fun. While they were taking something out, a man walked up to me and said "I'm Christian and I really want to know what the difference is between you and me", he was super curious. I was a little surprised he just came up to me and I told him that we are also Christian and we believe in God, Jesus-christ and the Holy Ghost. Elder Pinkney was outside with me and I asked him to come join me and he talked about how the gospel was lost after Christ. We told him about the Book of Mormon. He said he'd take one! I went and grabbed one from the apartment we were taking all the furniture out from, Elder Hirsche highlighted the intro paragraphs. I gave it to him and explained a bit about what it talked about it, and he said that he'd read it!! That was a very cool experience. »
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These two miracles are from the Quebec City sisters:
« This week we received four referrals, two from the Facebook page and two from members. There is a family in our ward who is fostering kids whose birth parents are less actives and generally against the church. But, suddenly, last week they changed their minds and are allowing their kids to be baptized. It's such an incredible experience to prepare their 8 and 9 year old boys for baptism on the 17th. We can just see the excitement in their and their family's eyes. Later that week, we got a sudden phone call from the birth father, who then suddenly handed the phone to his friend and she told us she wants to learn the plan of salvation and become a more Christlike person. She felt like she was missing something and wanted to get on the right path. We're meeting with her tonight! What an incredible week for missionary work it's been.
There's been another cool miracle I've been meaning to share with you and Sister Low: Back when I was in Hawkesbury and we were doing a lot of online finding, I messaged a woman who randomly friend requested me on Facebook. We got talking about her life, and then she asked me what I do as a missionary. We started talking about her Christian faith and how the gospel is such a blessing that many young people leave home to share it with others. She lives in Cameroon, so I didn't think too much of the interaction because many African people love to just talk about faith online but aren't always interested in meeting their local missionaries. Well, one day I got a text out of the blue from this woman, named Rolande. I had shared a scripture with her the day before, and her reply was just this "I want to join your congregation." She then went on to explain that she wants to raise her kids in an environment that will grow their faith to the point that they'd be willing to serve a mission. She said she felt something different about me and when we talked about the gospel. I got her the address of the local church and sent her phone number to local missionaries, telling her to keep me updated. A few days later, she sends me a message saying that she had an incredible meeting with the missionaries and can't wait for the next one. That same day, I got another message request; this time, it was from the companion of the mission president in the Yaoundé Cameroon mission! She said that the missionaries told her about my referral and offered to connect me with them on WhatsApp so that I could participate in teaching Rolande over technology! We've been in communication with them since then and I even sent Rolande an invite to conference. There truly are no more borders on missionary work anymore! »
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This from the Sackville elders:
« Here's the miracle and experiences me and Elder Edstrom had this past week, please share the miracle with Sister Low!
So super cool miracle that happened yesterday!
I was messaging random local Chinese people having normal and natural conversations and making friends! And I talk to this Mr. Yu and we had a cool small conversation just introducing ourselves and all of the sudden he started asking about my job and why are there so many churches? And then he look up the church location and turn out he lives walking distance to the Halifax Ward church building, and he said he would like to check out our service! I was just like what just happened! It all happened so fast and quick! So we are hopefully going to see him at church this Sunday and teach him about the restoration! Oh, God bless! I am so excited and so grateful for this tender mercy! «
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This from the Longueuil Elders:
« I have a really neat miracle to share!! So Sunday morning we asked in prayer that we might see a miracle today. Not thinking much about it, we got a bible ad response and set up a time to drop it off tonight. Well the time comes and we realize we had 0 french bibles! What good is a bible ad without bibles right? So Elder @Jack Soulam Hawk came in clutch and gave us his personal one he had that hadn't been written in yet! We go drop it off and the man looked so happy to see us and we both just felt the spirit tell us how much God loves this nice gentleman. He was going to invite us in and talk about the bible but gratefully due to covid we set up a time to talk with him and his wife later this week!! How neat is that?? The work is real and miracles do happen my friends! 😀 »
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This from the Ottawa Riverside sisters:
« Sister Williams and I have been teaching one of our friends Feras and his wife Amal for quite some time. Feras is a truth seeker, he converted to christianity several years ago after moving to Canada from Lebanon. He found peace in Christ and joined a Lebanese united church. As time went on, he began to have a feeling that there was something more than what his church was offering. He had questions that were not being answered and he went out hunting for answers. The week leading up to general conference we had many talks with Feras and Amal about the guidance and revelation that we receive through general conference. Weeks before, we had talked about President Nelson and after watching him speak, Feras told us that he did not feel good when he spoke. The days before conference we promised them that as they put the effort in, and brought questions to general conference they would be answered. On Saturday night we called Feras and asked how he liked the first two sessions of conference, openly he said that he had expected more information and was a little disappointed. We encouraged him to keep watching and to come watch the sessions with us in the chapel on Sunday. He agreed and came to the chapel Sunday morning. Throughout the entire session he was writing notes down. After the session was over Sister Williams and I asked him how he enjoyed it, after a few minutes of silence Feras buried his head in his hands, unable to speak. He started to cry and we quietly sat in the chapel, feeling the spirit all together. After more time passed we went outside and Feras pulled out a wrinkled, beaten up sticky note from out of his wallet. The note had one question written on it, along with some scriptures from the bible. The question asked how come, if God loved his children all equally he had a chosen people of Israel? Feras told us that he had carried around this question for over 6 years, talking and asking many different pastors, never receiving an answer that he accepted. Until then. He expressed that President Nelson had answered his question of 6 years in 15 minutes. I am happy to say that Feras no longer feels bad when President Nelson is speaking, on the contrary, he now feels peace and comfort through Heavenly Father’s Prophet. «
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Our upcoming week promises to be another great one….meetings, meetings, interviews, MLC, and Thursday we have double Zone Conference; and we both hope to join some elders and sisters for Zoom teaching lessons.
I also happy to report that today is my 100th day of consistently doing French Duolingo - they call it my 100th Streak day!! So my French is improving…slowly. Also, once a week Alexa my MTC French tutor patiently helps me.
Speaking of streaks...the best kind of streak to have is a ‘Reading the Book of Mormon’ streak. This round of Zone Conferences I have started giving our missionaries the challenge…to report at our Mission Reunions about their 'BOOK OF MORMON' streaks…one year, two years….five years, etc.
We know if they are reading the Book of Mormon EVERYDAY, their covenant paths will be well worn, brilliant trenches….that is our goal for each of our missionaries…to use their Book of Mormon as their handbook for life….their is no better handbook. READ IT!!
This epistle has certainly grown….Aren’t the miracles amazing?!!! We feel so very blessed!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Have a wonderful week!!
With much love
Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mom, Richard and Gayle
CTR .....Keep Smiling and.... LOOK AT THE VIEWS!!!!
Magog
Makenzie Lyon King Summer Retreat
Gatineau Hills
Mackenzie Lyon King's summer estate
Rhapsoday of Colour
Gatineau Hills Park , Quebec
the Abbey at
St.Benoit du Lac
Benedictine monks live here
Ottawa bike ride
