In The Ottawa Area!

(Pictured is our family in the Parliament building)

Wow, lots has happened since the last update! On Sunday the 29^th of April we sang twice in Orillia. We did the morning service, with children's songs, Jesse speaking and several of our other songs; and a full concert in the evening. It was fun to meet all the people there. Some of them we had already met at the Hounsome’s fellowship. Also on that Sunday, Jesse, Joel and Shayne Hounsome went down to the Orillia waterfront to witness to people by doing interviews with them. Joel recorded their answers on his camera and Jesse asked the questions. They talked to 2 people and it went really well.

On Monday morning, we left the Hounsomes and went to Mt. Pleasant to meet and stay with the Henry and Jacoba Heikoop family. They are a really neat family that owns a 2 level home. They live on the top floor and the main floor is a store that has a deli, bakery and diner. It is a really cool country style store that has a huge windmill turning on the front. The parents were just leaving for Belgium we arrived. But their offspring did an awesome job of hosting us. They had 12 kids aged about aprox. 20-40 yrs old. The ones that are still home all work together to manage the store. We had the chance to play tennis and Ultimate Frisbee in the afternoon. Afterwards we had an amazing turkey dinner. In the evening we had a great baseball game with them and then came back and had pie (chocolate cheesecake and chocolate pudding) (They tasted great James!) followed by some singing and music. We then stayed at their place for the night. They have an amazing set-up. In the morning they served our whole family breakfast in their diner. They were incredibly hospitable.

After leaving the Heikoops on Tuesday, we drove to see the Niagara Falls. They were incredible! It was a bit chilly so the huge mists from the falls were really cold. But it was a blast (pun intended)! We then stayed at a hotel Tuesday night. Wednesday morning we left for Ottawa. It was about a 5 hr. drive. The weather has been great and the scenery here is beautiful. We are all enjoying everything. This has been such a cool experience for us all.

We arrived at my Dad’s cousin Brian and Diana Strom near Ottawa where they had a hot roast beef and mashed potato dinner with gravy and hot buttered asparagus and a bean salad with hot buns. Delicious! For dessert they served angel food cake with fruit and whipped cream and French vanilla ice cream. Hmmm! They are a really fun couple.

On Thursday we sang at the Metropolitan Church in Ottawa for a large seniors group, with a luncheon afterwards. We met Dad's cousin Randy Jost with his wife Evelyn. It went really well.

Afterwards we all went to the Parliament buildings where we met up with Amanda Van Hierden who showed us around. Wow, it was such a fascinating experience to walk around and through the buildings. The newly renovated library is quite impressive. It was funny as our family was walking around Ottawa. Since it was right after a concert, we were all still wearing our matching brown outfits. We heard one guy say as we walked by, "Wow, there must have been a major sale on those shirts!". :-)

After visiting the parliament buildings, Brian and Diana Strom took us to the Canadian Museum of Civilization which is just across the Ottawa river in Hull, Quebec. That was an awesome experience as well! They had huge exhibits showing our Canadian history. They also have an IMAX theatre there, so for the first time our family watched an IMAX film. Wow, that was freaky cool! :-)


On Friday, Brian and Diana took us to Montreal! It was awesome! First, they took us to the Montreal BioDome. At the BioDome, they have 4 different simulated climates! First, we walked through the tropical jungle where it was REALLY humid and there were small monkeys in the trees overhead and colorful parrots in the trees! They also had an anoconda snake, piranha fish, bats, plus tons of other jungle animals. Then we went into the Laurentian forest which is more like this area. There was a porcupine, lynx and lots of other animals including tons of different birds flying around. Then we went to the marine area where there was a very large assortment of fish. That was really cool! And the final climate was Antarctica where they had puffin birds and tons of penguins. It was an awesome experience!

Afterwards, we had a picnic with Brian and Diana and played some frisbee at a local park. Once dinner was done we headed over to old Montreal. It was incredible to walk our family down the old cobblestone streets where there were so many cool old restaurants and shops. There were also several horse and buggy rides in the streets. And there was so many incredible buildings!

After that it was about 8:30 so we went to a hill over Montreal and looked at the city for the sunset. That was really cool too!

(Pictured is us kids overlooking Montreal)

We got back to Brian and Diana Strom's place at about 11:00. They have been SUCH a sweet, hospitable couple! They are really fun to be around.

We have a couple more concerts in this area tomorrow. And then we will start making our way back. We will be back with the Hounsomes on Monday.

God bless!

Josiah