Pics of Cookie Day!

A mosaic picture depicting a city in France...made of over 20,000 cookies!

Making and decorating our chocolates!!! Mmmmmm.....

Our wonderful attire for the Cookie (Biscuit) Experience!

LeClerc Cookies...or something like that

Today (Saturday), Pastor Roy's family took our family to the Aventure LeClerc cookie company. However, here in Canada, cookies are called biscuits. Someone in the church paid for our family to attend a "cookie adventure experience". We got there around 12:30 and left at about 2:45. Along with the Roy's was a lady from the church, Ms. Estelle. There was also a lady and daughter who came along with us whom the Roy's know. Upon our arrival, we received hair nets, aprons, and hand sanitizer and entered a room in which we were told how chocolate is made and where it comes from. We were able to taste Cacau (sp?) beans and then we made chocolates. We got to decorate our own chocolates as well. The LeClerc cookie company started in 1905 and make cookies of all varieties, chocolates, and cereal/cereal bars. Everything was interpreted for us by our loyal church family!

From there we watched a 20 minute 3D movie about the history of the company and how they make all of their products. Then we toured their museum. It was a great day. We then finished with pizza and watermelon at the Roy's house and had a wonderful time of fellowship. It is fun being a Christian! We get to do all of these great things while serving the Lord! Praise the Lord!

French Begins!...(my brain already hurts!)

This past Tuesday was my first day of French class and Kami's was Wednesday. A fellow Christian name Mrs. Susanne is our tutor. She attends another church here in Quebec and a wonderful blessing in having a Christian for a language tutor, she is going not only teach us French but also teach us to pray in French and to present the Gospel in French as well!

Tuesday, Joshua went with me as so I would not be alone when I have my class at her house. She is very patient, very organized, and not afraid to assign homework! I have been studying for several hours a day in memorization and I have an oral test on Friday. Since we have Silas, we decided to break up for our French lessons. Kami stays home with the kids when I go and vice-versa. This makes it easier to give our full concentration right now without having to deal with a baby crying, diapers, etc.

Our schedule starting next week is Tuesdays and Thursdays are my lessons and Kami goes on Wednesdays and Fridays. Also on Wednesdays, we meet with Pastor Roy and his family at 6 PM. We then break up, (the boys in one group and the girls in another) and we read a children's Bible story-book in French. Pastor Roy will read and then Josh and I will read after him. He will correct us on our pronunciation, give us some grammar rules, and then interpret what we have just read. As for the boys, we are reading "David and Goliath". This is appropriate because right now French seems like a "giant" in our lives, but in God's strength, we will slay the giant and obtain a victory for the people in the French West Indies. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me!" Philippians 4:13 Please pray for us that our minds will retain and comprehend all that we are trying to cram into our brains!

Eglise' Baptiste de St-Augustin (Our Supporting Church)

We praise the Lord for the church here in St-Augustin which unanimously voted to take us on for support as one of their missionaries. They have taken on the challenge of supporting and helping us in language school as well as financially. In the picture above, Pastor Roy is translating our testimony and vision for the West Indies. There was also a question and answer time for the people to get to know us as well. Thank you Eglise' Baptiste de St-Augustin-des-Desmaures!!!

Our First Song

(Mrs. Roy with our 3 children and her two children Camille and Benjamin)...yes we know the date is wrong in the picture.....we have to try to figure out how to change it!

For all of you who do not know, trying to pay attention to a message that you cannot understand because it is in a different language is very difficult. The members of the church have been wonderful in trying to teach our children French words, pronunciations, and songs. They take our children out during the services to a Sunday school room and work with them. The kids have to read a French book and try to pronounce letters and words as well. Last evening, Kami snuck out with the children to join them for their teaching session (Can you believe she snuck out of the preaching services! I wanted to sneak out as well but couldn't!) After the services she was so excited. She and the kids learned a couple of songs in French and had a couple of lessons on pronouncing certain letters. They sang the B-I-B-L-E in French and did very well! They also learned a couple of other "children's" songs. We praise the Lord for the faithfulness of God's people in helping our family in our next step in reaching the West Indies!

News and Updates

After a tough week of not feeling well, the antibiotics have made a big improvement for me. My lower back is sore but I am not having the kidney problems that I was having earlier this week!

Today is Saturday and we were supposed to meet at the restaurant that is in the same building as where the church meets in St. Augustin. This is an "outreach breakfast". The church members invite friends, family, or just anyone they know to this church breakfast. For all visitors, the breakfast is provided by the church and members take care of their own bills. This is a "non-church" setting and way to get folks to meet and fellowship with members of the church. There is a two-fold purpose. First, we hope that they will feel comfortable coming to church after meeting families and getting to know people. Secondly, Pastor Roy also gives a simple plan of salvation for the visitors and also has one or two members of the church to give a testimony. Our hope is that folks will get saved.

However, when we were to leave the house this morning to attend the breakfast, the handyman showed up to fix our toilet. Our toilet has been leaking and running into the basement and I had to help him lift the toilet out and take it outside for him to replace all of the seals, wax, bolts, etc. So, Kami and the kids left without me and I was left to eat cheerios and help fix our toilet. (By the way, toilets are heavier than they look!)

Does it get warm in Canada?

It's hard to believe that it is already May 20th and todays temperature didn't even get above 48 degrees! It has been very chilly when we venture outside, but I would rather have the cold than the heat and humidity! Silas loves bundling up and going outside for our walks.

We do have one prayer request, I believe I am having some sort of kidney infection/kidney stones. I am taking some antibiotics and hopefully this too shall come to pass! Thank you all for your prayers...until next time...

Bro. Patrick

Great Sunday

Our Sunday here in Canada begins the same as many of you. We get ready, eat breakfast and leave for services at about 9:15. There is a prayer time where everyone present (men, women, children) pray a "popcorn" prayer for the services of the day. Then Sunday school begins with a song and lesson for the teenagers and adults. The children go to Sunday school where Mrs. Roy (the Pastor's wife) teaches. Yesterday was Mission's emphasis and we had a guest preacher from Toronto. Although the services are in French, we have enjoyed the fellowship of God's people. For many of the songs, we recognize the tune and can pick out some words. At about 10:45 there is a break and we have some coffee and snacks before the main service. Kami had made some excellent home-made blueberry muffins for everyone. They were amazing!!!

The main service starts at 11:00 and we have prayer, singing, announcements, and then preaching. We close the services with an invitational song and prayer. It is neat to see folks stick around to fellowship. We spent yesterday afternoon with the guest preacher at Pastor Roy's house and his family. The kids enjoyed running around playing. The adults fellowshipped and told great stories.

The evening services start at 6 PM and we begin with singing, prayer, and testimonies. Then there is preaching. At this point, Mrs. Lalonde (a lady in the church) takes our children to Sunday the school room and works on teaching them the French alphabet. She is also having them use a French dictionary and they look up household items and write them on cards. They take these cards and stick them around the house on the matching item. This helps us recognize items and we have more and more cards stuck to stuff around our house. The evening ends with prayer and we are off to our homes to end a wonderful day. We look forward to the day when we can understand what is being preached and said in the services! We praise the Lord for moving us here for our language school!

Rested and Ready To Begin

(Enjoying our home.....still "chilly" though...)

(Silas is going to realize that having sisters is sometimes humiliating!)

After an exhausting past few weeks (emotionally and physically) we have had a wonderful time adjusting to life here in Quebec City. This past week was a tough one to begin with but the past couple of days was wonderful. We have fully unpacked and been able to have some quiet family time here in our new home. We have traveled sightseeing around the city, old Quebec City, and even went to the mall on Friday. The mall here in Quebec City is a big two-story mall that has an indoor roller coaster, bumper cars, ferris wheel, mini-golf, kids bowling. and bunches of games. We were told to wait until the winter months to do the roller coaster and rides because we will get tired of being "cooped" up during the cold winter months. Each day we have taken walks around our neighborhood, taking a new route each time and enjoying the fresh air and outdoors.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go "soul-winning and distributing" with a sister church here in Quebec. Joshua went with Pastor Cote' (the pastor of the sister church) and the rest of our family went with Pastor Roy and a lady from our church, Mrs. Silvi. Since our family does not speak French (yet), we passed out copies of "John & Romans" and flyers door to door. Here in Canada, you can put any flyers and materials in mailboxes. We passed out several hundred in just a couple of hours. One man stopped me and asked what I was doing, (he spoke a little English) and I explained we were passing out Bible scriptures. He wanted an extra copy for his neighbor and then began to show us how to find mailboxes hidden on certain houses!

Today is "Mission's Emphasis Sunday" at our church (Eglise Baptiste de St-Augustine-de-Desmaures) and there is a special speaker today. Since the services are in French, we won't have much of a clue as to what is being preached. We can figure out the text and read it and barely pick out a few words in the sermon. Singing is difficult as well. We do try to sing along in French but do not know how to pronounce most of the words, not to mention some of the songs are different from those we know. However, the spirit and love for the Lord that the church members have is very recognizable. It is good, no matter what language barrier, to be with folks who love the Lord!

One thing definitely stands out to me....nothing major....just a "getting used to" sort of thing. I am used to shouting a hearty "southern" AMEN. Here, it is a soft Amen....pronounced ah'men. I told you it wasn't major, but does take some getting used to!

Thank you all for your prayers. We praise the Lord for all of you. Until next time.........

News on the Canadian Front

(Kami's Birthday was Saturday, May 9th, I made it at 11PM!)

(Silas found his thumb during his naptime!)

(Here are the kids playing with some other kids from the neighborhood)

I have been able to settle down after arriving back from my dad's funeral on Saturday evening at 11 PM. Saying goodbye to my dad and seeing him in the coffin was a lot more difficult than I realized. Kami and the kids had the house looking great and fully unpacked. I praise the Lord for my family. Please continue to pray for my mother, Denise, and my younger brother, Marc.

We got to go shopping yesterday at the grocery store called Maxi. There is an IGA but it is much more expensive. The prices are slightly more expensive overall than in the states. However, in the mornings, you can find reduced priced items (meats, cheese, fruits, veggies) for sale. They have been marked down 50% because of shelf-life but are still in good condition. It is fairly easy to get around driving, you just have to try to keep an eye out for stoplights that can be hidden on the street corners. For the most part, the rules of the road are the same as in the states. The major problem is that the lines on the road have been scraped off due to all the snow plowing during the winter, so you don't really know if some roads are one lane or two. Knowing where to stop at traffic lights is sometimes difficult because there are likewise no lines on the road to show you where to stop.

Monday evening we had Bro. Jason Hamby and his family over for supper. They actually provided the meal! Authentic Domino's Pizza! Praise the Lord! Bro. Jason told me he would be bringing over some Poutine, a Quebec dish. He told me not to tell Kami or the kids what it was. Kami somehow got the impression it was a dish made of bugs (where does she come up with this kind of stuff?), she kinda freaked out thinking about eating bugs. She celebrated when the Poutine was uncovered, a dish of french fries covered in cheese curds with gravy. It was delicious! We had such a wonderful time of fellowship and laughter with the Hamby's, they are such a fine missionary family reaching lost souls in Trois Rivieres, Canada (about 1 hour from us).

We have arranged all of the extra boxes of items we do not need in the basement. Today I will set up my office area in our bedroom. We have a desk that we moved into our room. Other than that, I am taking this week to get situated and to rest. It has been emotionally and physically draining over the past few weeks. With packing, preparing, moving, driving 2,000 miles, crossing the border, unloading, unpacking, flying home for my dad's funeral, flying back and getting in at 11 PM on Saturday, and preaching with a translator on Sunday evening, I am worn out.

Spring has just arrived here in Quebec and it is neat to see all of our neighborhood out working on their yards, "Spring" cleaning, and planting flowers. It has been a long winter for them (we are just wanting snow and winter to begin!). The thing that I am most amazed about is the safety, cleanliness, and hospitality of Quebec City. We were told horror stories of the French Canadians here in Quebec, but none of them true. Quebec is a very clean city, no trash and very well kept. Everyone has been so kind, welcoming us to Quebec with a smile. When we try to speak their language, they smile real big and are such an encouragement. We have easily fallen in love (for lack of a better expression) with Quebec and the precious souls that call themselves "French Canadians"! We hope the Lord will greatly use us here!

911.....Car Washes....NFL Network and Plane Tickets !!!

We started out to leave to cross the border into Canada on Monday morning at 6 AM. Upon entering the Lobby of our hotel to check out, I noticed the desk clerk "asleep" in the eating area of the lobby. She was sitting up with her legs on a chair and her head to the side. I casually made some noise, cleared my throat, clapped, and finally poked her on the arm, but to no avail. So I headed back to the room and got Kami to come with me. We both then proceeded to stomp our feet, whistle, clap, bang on the table and shake her but to no avail. She was out cold. I did begin to worry though, even though she was breathing. So I entered the reception desk and called the hotel headquarters and they said to leave our room key cards on the desk and leave. That didn't seem right just to leave her there, I didn't know if she was in a diabetic coma, or having a really good dream so with the consent of the hotel headquarters I called 911. We awaited the arrival of the ambulance and kept other hotel guests away (who had sat next to her) in the lobby. I do not know the outcome of the scene because when they got her awake we left and headed north. Upon reaching the border, we were met with a not-so-friendly immigration official to tried to find any reason he could for not letting us into Canada. However, we had all of our "ducks in a row" and produced every piece of paperwork he questioned us about! From there we received our Visitor's VISA and went to Customs. This official was great....he glanced at our paperwork and without making us unload our U-Haul, sent us on our way. From there we looked for food. We were hungry and found a Tim Hortons (donuts and pastry shop-like Dunkin Donuts). We just pointed to the signs and shook our heads (Learning French will come in so handy!). We then stopped for gas but as I put in our credit card at the pump I realized the screen was all in French. So I simply kept pushing yes about 5 or 6 times until I realized it was time to pump the gas....everything is in Liters so I still don't know how much I put in. I was later told by a missionary that by pressing "yes" to the French commands at the pumps, that I paid for a car wash and who knows what else. After a 4 hour drive, we arrived and had lunch with Pasteur Guillaume Roy and his wonderful family. We then unloaded our U-haul at our new three bedroom apartment.....we are so excited and tired! However, I do want to praise the Lord because the landlord who showed us how to operate the TV, showed me that we have the NFL network! At least I can catch a game or two! We went to Walmart today to buy some groceries and stock up with supplies before I leave tomorrow (Wednesday) for Ft. Myers, Florida. I will head home to help my mom and my brother in this difficult time of the passing of my father. I have a return ticket to come back to Quebec Saturday evening. Thank you for all of your prayers!
Bro. Patrick

My Dad Has Passed Away.....

I just wanted to let everyone know that my dad passed away this morning (Friday, May 1) around 5 AM. It is going to be a hard adjustment for my mother and 17-year old brother, Marc. Please keep them in your prayers. We are going to continue on our trip to Quebec City to start language school because turning around in Maryland to head back to Florida is not an option. We will get up to Quebec and get the family settled in to our new apartment and I will fly home to help my mother and brother as best as I can. Thank you for your prayers....
Bro. Patrick