Staying in Bonnyville was a wonderful opportunity to see a few family members. On Monday we drove to Cold Lake to walk the pier and eat some lunch. We found a Latino restaurant and I tried some pupusas. Erik enjoyed fajitas and we had the best server. This young man came from Nigeria when he was seven years old and was raised in Cold Lake. He had his Bio Chemistry degree and was about to walk in two weeks. Then he was accepted into Pharmacy and was working hard at this restaurant being the sole server. He was delightful and I tested his Spanish but he said that he probably should be learning it.

We headed back to Bonnyville to see how my dad was doing. The smokers are just outside the doors of the hospital and I feel like you have to run the gauntlet to get through the doors. The culture of smoking has been strong in Bonnyville and I wonder if it’s because there are so many French here who smoke. Total supposition on my part but it’s been my experience. Dad was doing slightly better today. My sister Tracy showed up after her work and she was a great help for dad.

On Tuesday, we went to French Bay which is the bay of Cold Lake that we grew up swimming in. Now, to give you some clarity, Cold Lake is on the 54th parallel; we’re 300 km north east of Edmonton. The lake has that name for a reason but French Bay has a shallow shelf that allows the water to warm a little more than usual lake temperatures. Cold Lake was first recorded on a 1790 map by the name of Coldwater Lake. Around 1877, the Hudson Bay Company established a fur trade post at Cold Lake. They traded with the Chipewyans from the Cold Lake First Nation. When we lived in the Cold Lake area, there were three distinct communities; Cold Lake, Grand Centre and Medley (the CFB Airbase). In 1996, the three towns were joined to form Cold Lake North, Cold Lake South and this area is known as the Tri-Town. But, in my brain they will always be the original names.

I removed my sandals and decided to dip my toes into the water and feel how cold it was. Considering that this was May 26, it wasn’t too bad. Erik convinced my to go farther in and I did it. For someone who is spoiled by the waters of southern Mexico, this was a big deal! This was most likely the earliest that I had ever been in the lake. When we had walked the pier in Cold Lake, you could feel the cold coming off the water. The ice has just left the lake and there were only 3 or 4 boats in the water at the marina. Both Erik and I would love to have a boat there to explore the shores of Cold Lake. This lake sits partly in Alberta and partly in Saskatchewan. It is one of the deepest lakes in Alberta with a maximum depth of 325 feet. Fishing is a big deal on this lake and the species here are: walleye, sauger, yellow perch, northern pike, lake trout, lake whitefish, cisco, burbot, white sucker and longnose sucker.

When I was 14 years old, our Young Women’s camp was a canoe trip for a few days leaving from French Bay. We camped at this one beach that was pristine sand and the Bishop came out with a ski boat to take us girls waterskiing. I received a fine sunburn on my backside because I fell asleep on an air mattress in the water. That made life uncomfortable for a few days. My partner on the air mattress was laying face-up and she burnt the front of herself. What a pair!

We drove the back road to Cherry Grove and as we were cruising past the new chapel, I said that we should go to the cemetery. Well, one house that we drove past, the people waved to us and I realized that they were relatives. So, Erik turned the car around and we pulled up to their house. It was Shay and Maria Hatch with their parents, Dennis and Merlene Hatch. We got out and had a lovely visit with them as they showed us the drawings for an addition that they are building onto their home for Dennis and Merlene to live in.

Stopping at the Cherry Grove Community Center was fun because it was the Farmer’s Market and we were able to see our nephew, Kyler. He was selling bison meat that their family raises. We also saw my cousin Kirby Claybert and had a quick chat.

We carried on our way back to Bonnyville and completely forgot to go to the cemetery. As we hadn’t seen my sister Patti yet, we went to Extended Care, where she lives. She was in a chair outside the nurse’s station having a snooze. We were able to visit for awhile and then we headed over to the hospital to see my dad. While we were there, we were able to also see my nephew, Kevin and his fiancé, Thea. Having these visitors was good for dad and he enjoyed having conversations with us all.

A funny thing that I noticed was my dad’s feet. I realized that I don’t ever remember seeing them before. Dad told me that the last time he had bare feet was probably when he was twelve! As much as I don’t like touching feet, I pay attention to feet. One day, I saw my brother-in-law’s feet and was shocked because they are exactly like my husband’s feet. Strange; I know, hahaha!

Wednesday morning, we packed up and started our journey south to Leduc to go to the Costco there. I had a Zoom appointment, so Erik went in to do the shopping. With a tank filled up with gas we were ready to go the last hour to home. Unpack again and do more of the unpacking from Palmyra. One day, we’ll have some sort of order in our little cottage.

We had an appointment with our Stake President on Thursday evening to be released as missionaries. It was great to see President Higham again. He told us that he received our packet twice because our original date to return was two months ago. I had received a concerned email and a call from the Stake Executive Secretary about our return and that the Stake President needed to release us. I had told him that we were still actually on our mission. Our temple president has authority to extend us by one month and that meant that Salt Lake didn’t know that we weren’t home yet either. President Kimbler wrote a lovely letter to President Higham telling him what we did and how we served while in Palmyra. As we left the office, there was a group of young missionaries sitting and waiting. I told them that we had just been defrocked and were ready to start the next mission application.

One thing we discovered on our journey home was that we would do better in an RV for travelling. Being celiac, it is much safer to cook my own food, which is hard to do while travelling for any length of time. On Saturday, we decided to go to Red Deer to see what the options are. It was an eye opening trip. I did make Erik get in one of the RVs that had a wet bath. He couldn’t even turn around in it. I told him that my caboose certainly wasn’t going to get in that space capsule!

Our Red Deer Stake had an Emergency Preparedness Fair on Saturday and we decided to attend. There were booths set up all around the cultural hall with a great variety of topics and demonstrations. Outside, Brother and Sister Coutts were doing Dutch Oven cooking and had samples for people. The Stake was serving hot dogs for lunch and Erik made sure to get in on that. The fair was very well done with a lot of information to help encourage people to be prepared for any eventuality.

Whilst on a mission, you receive a protection from the world to a degree. On Friday, I had my own adventure in the Co-op in Lacombe. After shopping and heading to the till, I unloaded my cart and suddenly heard a commotion behind me. I looked and saw the store manager and an assistant manager as well as a couple of other people. Voices were stern and I was wondering what was happening. I turned back to the cashier and suddenly I was being leap frogged over by a man. I know that I’m short but seriously! There was a man trying to get out of the store and I realized that he was a perpetrator that was cause of the stern voices. I paid my bill and headed out to the foyer. There was a slew of store employees gathered around and I made a comment about the peanut gallery showing force. The perpetrator was on a bike and they weren’t letting him leave as the police had been called. I loaded my car and heard sirens heading my way. Two police cruisers arrived on the scene and dragged the perp off his bike. Then as I was driving away, two more police cruisers arrived. I thought, “It must be a slow day in Lacombe if four police cruisers show up for a bandit on a bike!”

Sunday was a great day to be in the Lacombe Ward. They had a special sacrament meeting where different members who spoke a foreign language were asked to give a short testimony in the language. We also had two members use ASL to give their testimonies. You can feel the spirit despite maybe not knowing that language that they were using. Erik and I were asked to share a quick testimony about our mission as well at the beginning of the testimonies. At the end of the meeting, we were again brought up by the Bishop to receive our plaque commemorating our mission. We did learn that we will be giving talks on June 14th to share about our mission experiences.

Having the opportunity to be with family members near and extended was a blessing to me. My blood sugar settled down and my body was at ease. My nephew, Kevin gives such good hugs! A good hug can help you in ways that you may not know that you need. Being given the opportunity to visit with my dad when the health professionals thought he was done, was a wonderful blessing. Even though I feel my mom is calling for him, his time on earth is not quite done. Our cousins, Dennis and Merlene gave Erik and I a tour of the new chapel. We received that blessing because we stopped to visit and their calling is as the facilities managers of the building. Family is everything! We receive their love on both sides of the veil and what a blessing that is! Another nephew is the maintenance man for the hotel we were staying in and we were blessed to have a chat with Alex too. The Lord filled my cup and I am grateful for that.