Greetings from Mascouche, Canada

On October 2, 2007 Elder Fresh arrived in the city of Mascouche, his second area. Mascouche is a suburban city north of Montreal in Southern Quebec. This is Elder Hansen, Andrew's new companion and a note they left for an investigator. It is written in French and roughly translated . . . Andrew wrote, "Read [Book of Mormon] each day otherwise this face will really torment you!" Elder Hansen wrote, "Pray or otherwise you will suffer. I lie not!" At the bottom it says, "Love your missionaries forever."


Shortly after Andrew arrived in Mascouche, winter also arrived. This is their apartment complex during a light snow storm. The next morning the car is covered with snow, something a California boy doesn't see too much. I had some advice for him with regards to driving in the show . . . "Drive very, very, very slowly and brake very, very, very early"!!!


Andrew celebrated Thanksgiving with some of the other Elders in the area. They have all the fixings . . . turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, etc.

The turkey on the left looks pretty tasty. Andrew said it was good, but that the gravy they made was "nasty". I guess no one does it like Mom! The turkey on the left was their centerpiece. They were pretty creative as it looks like it was made out of a couple of leftover potatoes!

After a big dinner it is now time for a nap!!!


This is Andrew's copy of "Preach My Gospel", which he studies each day. He uses it for personal gospel study and also as a resource to plan the lessons he teaches to their investigators. Of course, it is all in French!

The sister below in the red dress was taught, baptized, and confirmed by Andrew and his companion.


He occasionally has time to play in the snow and there is a lot of it in Canada! The scenery sure looks different than it does back home in California. I wish I could have some of that snow right now in my front yard . . . it is a hot summer day!



One of our family traditions at Christmas has always been acting out the Nativity Scene as recorded in Luke 2 of the Bible. It was great to know that even though he was many miles away Andrew was doing the same thing with a family in Canada! They also had a small Christmas tree in their apartment and a few presents.


It looks like he made out pretty well. He must have been a very good boy, I mean Elder, this year!


Andrew served in Mascouche until the end of March when he was transferred to Gatineau. Here are some of the Elders that he served with.

Au revoir! More to come . . .

Greetings from Sainte-Foy, Canada

We finally got some pictures from Elder Fresh. Actually "some" is not the right word as the SD card he sent had 544 pictures on it!!! Here are a few of them . . .

Andrew arrived in Canada on April 17, 2007 and was sent to Sainte-Foy a suburb of Quebec City. The flag he is holding is the Quebec Province flag, the province which most of his mission is located in. He got this jacket at the Canada Montreal Mission Home when he arrived and said that it would work fine. This is his desk in their apartment . . . we don't know where the Silly String came from!


Here are some of the missionaries who were in the same District and/or Zone as Andrew while he served in Sainte-Foy.


This is Andrew and Elder Jibson . . . his first companion. They look ready for business!


The areas that are highlighted on the map below show where Andrew and his companion have gone "tracting". Tracting is when you knock on doors and try to interest people in learning more about Jesus Christ and his gospel. Of course, in Sainte-Foy this is all done in French.


Who is this fellow that Andrew is talking to? He looks very of interested in the Book of Mormon!


Here are some pictures of Andrew's apartment. Who was cooking tonight? Is that really Canadian air conditioning?


This is Andrew and his second companion, Elder Armstrong, with some of the members of the Sainte-Foy Branch.


Andrew has had a chance to meet, teach, and get to know many different people. These are a couple of his investigators.


Every Monday the missionaries in the Canada Montreal mission have what they call P-day . . . the "P" stands for preparation. They use this day to do laundry, write letters, check their email, go grocery shopping, play basketball, and relax. It looks like he has taken up lawn bowling!


Not everyone who is taught by the missionaries joins the church, but Kevin and Isabelle felt the spirit and believed the message they heard. They were an awesome family and were baptized in May 2007.


Another investigator who Andrew taught was Stephen. He also listened, learned, felt the spirit and had the desire to be baptized. The tie was given to him by Elder Fresh and Elder Armstrong as a remember of his baptism day.


On October 2, 2007 Andrew was transferred to Mascouche, about 20 miles north of Montreal. He packed his bags and took a three hour bus ride to his new area. More to come . . .

Cheer Tryouts

The tryouts for the 2008-2009 Pep Squad were held the week after prom. A "clinic" was held after school each day with the actual tryouts being on Saturday morning. The girls trying out for the cheer squad learned two cheers and one routine which they had to perform for the judges. I helped with the concession stand outside the gym and only saw Aimee's group perform the morning of tryouts . . . they looked great!!! I brought my digital camera and intended to have a video of the girls posted on this blog, but made a big mistake . . . red doesn't mean stop when you are recording a video, it means record! Needless to say I recorded the time between the cheers and the routine, but not the actual performance.

This is Kaitlin, Farryn, and Aimee right before they went into the gym to perform. Go Cougars!!! By the way . . . they all made it!