Disclaimer: I am afraid the formatting on this post is going to turn out pretty funky. I can't figure out how to fix it, though, and I think you are all smart enough to put the words together, so I'm posting anyway! Sorry!

Monday was a beautiful day! Spring has sprung here in Springville and oh, it is beautiful! We even had some sudden thundershowers followed by a most spectacular rainbow. Just in time, I taught Ben how to change the tire on his bike. He did great!

On Tuesday, Kevin and I had the distinct pleasure of accompanying Cheyenne and Calianne to their Three-Years-of-a-4.0 Banquet at the junior high. What a great accomplishment. We are super proud of them!

On Wednesday, Bethany ran in her 5th-Grade Track Meet. She ran the 100meter, the 200meter, and the 400meter. She did fabulous! What a fast runner and cute girl!

Mariah came to watch!

On Thursday, Kevin, Savannah, and I flew to Toronto! Kevin is teaching, so Savannah and I tagged along so  she could show me her mission. We flew out Thursday morning. That evening, we met our hosts, Debbie and John Wang, for dinner at a great Chinese restaurant. They gave us their house for the weekend so we stayed in comfort and style! So kind!

On Friday, Kevin left early to teach for the day. Savannah and I took the rental car to Mississauga. This is a big city just west of Toronto and a place she served for about 3 months. She took me to see “Golden Square” which is a strip mall with a Chinese market where they often went contacting. She bought us some pineapple buns (which are her favorite) and we saw the cow tongues for sale and the milk in bags and other fun Canadian/Asian things. Then we went to her favorite stores (No Frills and Dollarama). Ha!

Lunch was the real treat because we got to see Sister Jo! Her kids are grown and she loves missionaries and has them over often. She really loves Savannah! She had lunch made for us (with the exception of some dumplings that we got to help pinch and seal) and she had the sister missionaries over who got Savannah caught up on the work. It was really a great reunion/homecoming/refresher course. Ha ha!

After that, we went to Square One which is the second-biggest mall in Canada. Savannah wanted to buy some Muji pens for her friends (which she and all the other Canandian missionaries are sure are the best pens in all the world bar none). I was excited because slippers were on sale (and I am not allowed to wear my shoes in any Asian houses!) We also went in a super-big bookstore that I liked very much and afterwards she showed me the city square and the library where she taught people and wrote me emails!

We drove back to Waterloo after that (about an hour and a half west) because that was where Kevin was teaching (at Martin Luther University) and we were meeting him and some of his colleagues for dinner. It was yummy and we found out that everyone thought Kevin was a terrific teacher and they couldn’t wait for their second day. Which is pretty much how people always react to Kevin! :)

Since there was still some light when we were done, Savannah showed us some of the places she contacted when she served in Kitchener/Waterloo including where she lived!

On Saturday, Kevin left to teach again and Savannah showed me some more places in Kitchener/Waterloo where she served for nine months. First she took me to the Farmer’s Market. It was very big with more produce than I have seen in one place in my entire life. The cool thing was that it was all indoors! Yay Canada! We bought some things and then Savannah took me down King’s Street to Waterloo University. There was a strip mall right next door where she did a lot of contacting of students and then she taught lessons at the University. It was really fun to see where she had spent so much time and to see her love for the place. I even saw my first Canandian goose in Canada outside their doors!

After that, there was an elderly member in London where Savannah served for six weeks who wanted her to come see him. So, we drove an hour and a half farther west to the Canadian city of London which had a bunch of the same streets as the London in the UK (such as Piccadilly and Grosvenor) but they looked much, much different. Ha! This city does have a lot of trunk sculptures throughout and Savannah and I both liked that about it. We found William and Sister Jessie. Then Savannah showed me Governor’s University (which looked like a castle) and was where they did a lot of contacting. I also saw where she lived on Wonderland and got some bubble tea at Chatime! We drove back through the backroads and saw the red barns and silos and rolling fields between forested tree breaks. Beautiful drive!

That night, Debbie and John took us out to eat again this time at a Mennonite restaurant. Good food. Good company!

On Sunday, we packed up and said goodbye to our hosts in Cambridge and headed back to Toronto so we could go to church in the Bayview ward (the only all-Mandarin ward in Ontario) and where Savannah served for five months. These people LOVE Savannah, too! Caleb met us there (one of Savannah’s converts) and a family invited us to lunch and another family invited us to dinner. Good food. Yum! And the people all so nice. The house we went to for dinner was Brother and Sister Lee’s house and they really love Savannah and so do their daughters and the friends they invited over. They were all thrilled that Kevin spoke Mandarin as well (oh, he and Savannah gave the prayers in sacrament meeting!) and the Mandarin and the exclamations and the laughter was flowing all around me. So much happiness! We left so we could drive to our hotel near Niagara Falls for the night. But that, is another week entirely.