March 2, What did the Ides of March bring?

WEll---- for one thing. Canada is on top of the world with all the 2010 Olympic achievements from our athletes, the crown being the Hockey win!!!
What a showcase at the closing ceremonies. We were in awe at the opening ceremonies but enjoyed equally the closing ceremonies . In downtown Toronto, Yonge Street was overrun with bodies in red shirts, pants, jackets, hats, banners, and flags, what a crowd! Apparently with all the television sets being turned on to watch the game there was a power outage in part of the city, so the good people took to the streets to celebrate and rejoice in BEING CANADIAN. Wow it surely feels good!!! eh!!!

Every time the national anthem was played I got up of the couch and stood to attention. Grant refused to join me but after several times in one hour I decided I better go to bed to excuse myself from that patriotic gesture. We watched the curling, the hockey games, the skiing, the ludge, the bob sled races, the speed skating, the figure skating, and yes we did go to work each day but as our day is three hours ahead of Vancouver we would find outselves at 1:00 a.m. reluctantly turning off the T.V. set and slowly making our way to our bed. What an exciting two weeks.

Today we purchased two olympic tumblers and I think I better buy two more so when you come to visit we can celebrate all over again.

Grant and I had agreed to conduct a Career Workshop in Stayner, our first one, Stayner is close to Wasage Beach we couldn't tell where one left off and the other began. It is a lovely resort town surrounded by Georgan Bay on one side and (my Ontario map is in the car) some other great lake on the other side. Hence much heavy wet snow. The weather was calling for a storm to move in on Friday afternoon so on Thursday we decided we better drive ahead of the storm and go as far as Barrie. We gathered our material for the workshop, went to our apartment to pack a few toiletries and a change of clothes and proceeded on to Barrie.

The snow came down in large flakes but the roads were fine. We checked into a recently renovated Best Western hotel and spread out our workbooks and continued our preparations for the workshop the next day at Stayner. By evening the snow was swirling in huge flakes and the roads were pretty slick. We were hungry so went in the car looking for a place to eat, we happened on to Gio's Italian Restorante, (one small room) first class restaurant. What an exceptionally delicious meal. Our waiter told us that a party of six had just cancelled due to the bad weather, so we had their full attention. The career workshop was scheduled for 6:30 in Stayner, this left us the day to put the finishing touches on our presentation.It meant we had to find a computer/printer to make the final draft. This need was met at the Barrie public Library. During the final fifteen minutes of typing we looked outside to see even larger snow flakes coming down so once again we hurridely gathered out papers and left for Stayner. Barrie is a very old city and one we want to explore at length in the summer time.

The snow was only local in Barrie and the roads to Stayner were not trecherous. Most of the farm houses were red brick two to three story with peeked roofs. When more room was needed the farmers just added on with wooden building materials. It struck me as rather strange to see a tall stately home of brick with an add on of wood painted white. To build an all brick home in Southern Alberta is very costly and there are many many of them here.

Sis Drebeilbis, the ward employment specialist, welcomed us to the Stayner Branch. We met in a former bank building the church leases, it is in Wasaga Beach. There were four job seekers at the workshop. At the conclusion of the instructions Friday evening we were shown the way to the Branch President's home, President and Sister Vennette. A beautiful home close to the lake. While we were making turns and twists in the road in the dark we were very grateful to Stanley who showed us the way. The Vennettes were so very kind to us, we had a great visit with them. Thank you good people. Saturday we completed the workshop, said our goodbyes, gave hugs and proceeded back to Toronto. Tired and happy to have served.

March 1st. Brother Dough Mallory - our Area Manager has come up to give Grant and I some more help with our calling. He is conducting the career workshop in the Employment Resource Centre Tues and Wednesday. We have eight job seekers and one ward employment specialist attending. A great workshop! I mentioned that Grant and I were giving Maria, Katheine and Christian rides to church. We are also helping them with reading english. They are a great little family. So loving and grateful for our friendship. Isn't networking wonderful?

So long for now. Talk to you next week. Sis Gehmlich