Our week has been filled with transitions. Between general Conference sessions and on Monday we moved into our new apartment. It turned out to be a bit more than a regular transfer with a few furniture swaps. So glad we brought our little truck.
We took a break on Tuesday to go with some other senior missionaries to a Sugar Shack. The mission office was shut down for an annual carpet cleaning, so it was a great time to indulge in this local tradition. The Sugar Shacks are farms where they harvest maple syrup from the maple trees. Apparently, March and April are the seasonal months for this harvest. They have become a traditional destination for trying out all the Quebec food favorites. You pay one fee that includes a meal, wagon tour of the farm and/or sleigh ride if snow is still on the ground. It wasn’t. Some of the Sugar Shacks also offer a tour of the factory process of boiling down the syrup, Ours did not, but we did have a great time in a rustic lodge eating pork rinds (yuck), pea soup (delicious), baked beans, meat balls, meat pies, sausages, eggs, potatoes, sugar pie and apple cider to drink. The best part, I guess, is that you pour maple syrup over everything. It was a lot of fun to try out some local food favorites and the maple syrup is the best.
Quebec is the world capital for maple syrup production. I loved walking by the maple trees and peeking in the buckets. It is so amazing to see nature providing us with such sweets. After our meal, even though we were all stuffed, we had to do the traditional snow taffy treat. They have a holed-out log filled with snow where they pour fresh maple syrup in little cookie size drops onto the snow. Then we each take a sucker stick and roll it in the syrup to make a little maple taffy treat. It really is yummy and just the right sized desert for after a big meal. We took the wagon ride through the apple orchard where they are just starting to prune the apple trees. That is another big event around here, apple picking in late summer. It was a warm atmosphere on a cold and sort of snowy day. There was also a petting zoo and souvenir shops. I will have to get one of those syrup jugs because they sell the syrup in cans, and it needs to be refrigerated after opening.
You can tell by the tree color coding marks that they keep track of their tree poking. The syrup is clear when harvested. I guess the boiling brings out the beautiful amber color. I’m so glad we had the chance to do this as it was on my bucket list of things to see in Quebec, and everyone told us that we had to go at least once.
Today was our first day to attend the Chomedey Branch sacrament meeting. We also joined the FHE group last Monday night. Everyone here is so friendly and has been anxiously awaiting our arrival. They really love Senior missionaries here and the last couple had done a great deal of work for them. We had a wonderful in person meeting with the Branch Pres. today and he is super engaging. There are a lot of needs in the branch with so many new converts who need guidance and assistance as they make sacred covenants and work to change their lives to follow Jesus. I think we will be very busy teaching and ministering in an area that is a lot newer than our last area which was sort of an older neighborhood of Longueuil. Here again there are so many nationalities and ethnicities it feels like an international convention. I love all the different cultures and languages. Many people here speak two, three or four different languages. The government requires them to learn to speak French and even gives them classes for free. So, we are all learning French together.
To top off our very eventful week, we became grandparents again for the 12th time. Our son, Steven, and his wife Karine brought their second little girl into the world on the 12th of April. Talia Mae Glenn is beautiful, of course, and I am so sad not to be there to hold her as a newborn. We will enjoy the pictures and the video chats and look forward to meeting her in person next year.
I love my Lord and Savior. At this Easter season we feel especially grateful for the infinite sacrifice He made for us so that we may return to the presence of Jesus and our Heavenly Father. As was mentioned in the general conference several times, we are trying to make more traditions at Easter time to focus on this pivotal event of all time. Here is the link to our Holy Week study plan.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/welcome/easter/holy-week-study-guide?lang=eng
He is Risen!
The Glenns