North of the Border

The BEST part of coming home is to see all these GREAT people!!

The whole gang at church for our home coming

Karen Thomas, Heather and Julia

So fun to see these three life long friends together again

Love this Jordan girl

Oh we missed this guy, Uncle Roy

Scott Jones

Jordan and Scott really grew up while we were gone

It's always fun to see the twinners together again

Cute Jane Jones, our great-niece

These fun Jones grandsons

Mike Jones with Braxton and Pat

Randy and Kendall

Doug Mangrum and Larry

Fun Braxton

Sweet Jada

So good to see these dear friends again

Another reunion for Heather and Julia, their good friend Jenny

We sure missed all these beautiful girls!!

We were happy that Heather and Pat's family could be with us on this special day. Heather was able to visit us in Canada but we hadn't seen Pat's family since before our mission so it was great to be together.

Now that our homecoming has come and gone, we take a moment to reflect back on our whole mission experience and realize that we had many choice blessings We were the only senior couple manning the mission office for most of our mission and were responsible for the finances, cars, apartments, mission travel arrangements, membership records, etc.We could often feel the Lord guiding us in these important duties. Our physical strength was increased and prayers quickly answered when we had a pressing need. We were protected as we drove many miles to different parts of our large extensive mission. Although we had some health issues, we were blessed so that we could overcome them.We benefited greatly from the instruction we received in mission conferences from the mission presidents, visiting general authorities, and other ecclesiastical leaders. We were blessed by the close association that we had with the elders and sisters in the mission and grew from their missionary experiences that they shared with us. We were blessed by living close to the Temple and being able to frequently attend. We were blessed by associating with other senior missionaries and temple couples. We were blessed by meeting together with the Saints throughout the mission and feeling of their spirit. And finally we were blessed in many ways too numerous to mention. We will always be grateful for this wonderful opportunity.

We left Dartmouth on Sunday morning December 12, 2012 and began our journey home. We spent the first night in Moncton, New Brunswick and attended church there the next morning. It gave us a chance to say a few more goodbyes to the elders assigned to that area..

Our car is really PACKED in!!!

Moncton Ward

Elders Loussier-Houle, Dubyk, Foley and Morin

Last time to officially wear the badges

We headed down the Bay of Fundy through beautiful New Brunswick and stopped in St. Andrews by the Sea for lunch.

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea

Colorful buildings

and great food

Lobster stew

Shrimp salad

After being treated to a beautiful sunset we stopped for the night in Ellsworth, Maine. The next morning we headed for a Verizon store so we could be in phone contact with the world once more. We purchased our first"smart phone".

We woke up to some pretty cold weather but packed up and were on our way again.

Ellsworth, Maine

After crossing the bridge at Dover, New Hampshire we headed toward Boston. For some strange reason our GPS stopped working and we got hopelessly lost in the streets of Boston. In desperation we finally called our son Sean, who had once lived in Boston and knew the area well. With phone in hand he steered us back to the Interstate.

We spent our second night in Warwick, Rhode Island. The next day we drove along the Long Island Sound to New York City to see our grandson Ryan, who was serving a mission there. His mission president gave us permission to have lunch with him and his companion, Elder Blonquist. It was so fun to chat with him about his mission and hear him order our lunch in Mandarin. We didn't however try the spicy rabbit stew he was so excited about.

Waiting for the train from Tarrytown into New York City

Arrival at Grand Central Station

And THERE HE COMES!!

The younger Elder Foley's favorite Chinese restaurant

Spicy Rabbit Stew??

And then after getting a little treat to take home, they were off to do the Lord's work

Goodbye Elder Blonquist and Elder Foley!

After leaving New York we drove through Pennsylvania. Somehow our attention wandered and we left the turnpike and ended up on a hilly back country road. It was on a dark, windy night and suddenly without any warning we hit a deer. So very sad. In spite of the damage to the car we could still continue traveling. We spent the night in Bedford, Pennsylvania.

Two days later we arrived in Liberty, MO. where our grandson Brock had just arrived home from his mission to Boise, ID. Heather flew out from California and Shannon and Kenya drove up from Oklahoma to make it a great reunion. We were all there for his homecoming talk and for a ward Christmas party. It was fun to be together in Sean and Vivian's beautiful home.

Good to see our boy Sean

And his boy, the returned missionary

Saturday we had a mandatory visit to the ever famous Oklahoma Joe's

The gang waiting patiently for a table? The queue is always very long to get in and taste the goods

And it was well worth the wait

After leaving Oklahoma Joe's we split up and part of the group went on a tour of the Federal Reserve Bank where Sean works. The other half went to Costco to do some shopping.