Last Day Photos

I found some special photos of our last Sunday in Brampton.  We left on the Monday.

 Sister Smith was also going home on Monday.

The Donnellys came by for a farewell visit.



President and Sister Shields are amazing at what they do for the mission.  We love them and admire them immensely.










We are missing all the wonderful missionaries in the Canada Toronto Mission.  You will always have a corner of our hearts.

Farewell to the Canada Toronto Mission

The last week of our mission was busy.  Sunday, after church, Heart Lake Ward had a Munch & Mingle.  It was a good time to say farewell to so many wonderful saints that got to know and love.
Below are just a few of the many friends we made in Heart Lake Ward.  We love and miss them all.

On Monday, Elder and Sister Moore arrived from Smiths Falls and moved into our old apartment.  We moved into the Mission Home for our last week.  We spent Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday training them to take over our responsibilities as vehicle coordinator and mission secretary.  They are quick learners and will do great.

Tuesday evening, President and Sister Shields took us to dinner at RDs.  It is a great Barbecue place in Brampton.  Wednesday the office staff took us out to dinner at Vesuvios.  Sadly the Donnellys were out of town.  We had a great dinner. We forgot to take pictures.

We have a new Assistant to the President, Elder Johnson.  He is working with Elder Kimball (going home Aug 1st), and Elder Hunter.

Elders Hunter, Johnson, & Kimball

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were Zone Conferences in Kitchener, New Market and Ajax.  It was so good to see all the missionaries before we left for home.  Lots of hugs and tears.  They are an astonishing group of young people.  Elder Swendsen and I sang our two farewell songs that we sang last month at the seniors conference - We Hoped They'd Call Us on a Mission and Alberta Bound (remake of Gordon Lightfoot's song).  We added a new verse to the Mission song for the young missionaries.  They loved it.

We hope they call you on a mission,
When you're no longer in your youth.
We hope by then you will be ready,
To serve the Lord like senior missionaries do.

Brampton Zone (our zone) on Thursday

Each day, after zone conference, we went back to the office for a bit to work with Elder and Sister Moore.  Friday, we bid a sad farewell to the wonderful office couples - Andersons and Moores.  The Donnellys were still out of town.

Saturday, Elder Swendsen and I took a trip to Milton, Ontario - 21 minute drive.  My great grandfather, Lewis McIntyre Park, built a home there for his family.  My grandmother grew up there.  We were able to talk to the owner and get some pictures.

Sunday was our last day in Heart Lake Ward.  We will miss them all a lot.  In the evening, the Donnellys came over to the Mission Home and we were able to have a great visit with them and bid them farewell.

Elder Swendsen made the wooden vase and we gave it to the Shields.

On Monday morning, we packed our bags and loaded our car.  We bid a fond farewell to President and Sister Shields.  We will miss our astonishing and awesome leaders.  We love and admire them so much.

Our trip home will take us to many Church History sites in the United States and should take a little over two weeks. We are now, indeed, Alberta Bound!

We know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan of happiness and gives us the tools to live so that we can live with our Heavenly Parents in the next life.  We love our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ.  We have loved being senior missionaries and serving in the Canada Toronto Mission.

To all the young missionaries in the CTM - keep OYMing and being astonishing missionaries who see tender mercies and miracles on a regular basis.

See you all at the reunions!

To our family and friends - we are Alberta Bound and excited to see all of you!

Till we serve again.

Love you all.

July 2018 Fun Times - Lots of Eating Involved

July started off with Ed & Sheila Ludlow's annual Canada Day Party (held on the 2nd this year) for the senior missionary couples, our ward elders and some people with interest (formerly called investigators).  Ed cooked chicken wrapped with bacon.  It was potluck salads and desserts.  There was a large turn out and we all had a lot of fun.

This is Anita and her sweet daughter.  She was there with her husband, Kumar.  Anita is going to be baptized on July 28th.  She is a wonderful, sweet lady.  She is Hindi and our ward elders met her four weeks ago, just after Elder Massey (who is Hindi) arrived from India.  Tender mercy from the Lord to put them together here in Brampton.

Ed and Sheila are the
ultimate hosts.

I enjoyed the party too.

July 4th saw a former sweet sister, Sister Jensen, come to visit the office with her family.  It was so good to see her again and meet her wonderful family.  She has been home for about 3 months now.

Wednesday evening we went to dinner with Laura Pambrun who is a service missionary in the office.  We went to Tandori Flame which is an Indian restaurant.  The two ladies below are the greeters there and let me take their picture in their lovely dresses.

Saturday was a busy day.  We went to Oshawa to have lunch with two of Mike's cousins, Shirley and Janice.  Before lunch, we went to Parkwood Estates to see the gardens again.  The flowers, hedges and gardens were beautiful.

Lunch was great and there was talk of a Salway "cousin" reunion!

Saturday evening was a senior missionary couple dinner.  We were saying goodbye to three couples who were leaving soon - the Knights, the Roziers and us.

A good time was had by all.

It is wonderful to be with all the young missionaries and the senior couples.  The enthusiasm and love of the gospel is amazing with these wonderful servants of the Lord.

The end of a very busy June

This past week has been busy for us in the Mission Office.  Elder Swendsen has been getting new cars ready to be switched out with ones with high mileage.  It has to be done a bit at a time.  He has to take the TIWIs out of the old cars and put them in the new ones.  The TIWIs are what govern the missionaries driving.  All the new cars are now out in the field and the old ones are ready to be sent to the auction.  Hopefully that will happen this week.  I have been busy updating the procedures manual for my responsibilities.  By Friday, I had the first draft done.  This week, I will spend my time tweaking it.

Tuesday was Elder Swendsen's birthday.  We went to The Keg with the Andersons and the Donnellys to celebrate.  We had a great time.

Wednesday was our last MLC (Mission Leadership Council) before we go home.  It is so inspiring to see these young leaders in the mission and feel of their love of the gospel.  We will so miss this monthly experience of a breakfast of waffles, fruit, yogurt and juice.

Elder Aspery from Australia

Elder Herculano from Brazil

Elder Hapuku from New Zealand

Friday, we took a day off from the office and went up to Simcoe County.  This is the area where a lot of my Dunsmore ancestors lived and died.  We went to two cemeteries near Oro, Simcoe, Ontario - Little Brick Church and Fairvalley.
We also saw the land where my second great grandfather farmed in the mid to late 1800s.  It is such a pretty area.

Little Brick United Church

John Dunsmore - 2nd great grandfather

Fairvalley Church

Michael & Margaret Strong
3rd great grandparents
parents of John Dunsmore's wife, Eliza

The drive through Simcoe county was amazing.  We could understand why my ancestors and many others would settle there.

Below are two pictures of the land that John Dunsmore farmed near Oro, Ontario.  The third photo is reminiscence of the barns that they had in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Here are some views of the scenery as were driving in Simcoe County.  We ended up at Johnson's Beach in Barrie which is on the small arm of Lake Simcoe.  They even have a Yacht Club there.  All in all it was a wonderful day.

Our excursion for the day was led by a friend from my childhood, Len Bull and his wife Susan.  I hadn't seen Len in about 50 years.  Wow - such a long time.  We had such fun with them.  We all had lunch in a small restaurant in Coldwater, Simcoe, Ontario.  It was so hot that day, that all the mosquitoes were inside.  We had to swat as we ate.  Good memories from the good old days and new ones made.  In the 1950s, neither Len or I were members of the Church;  now we both are.

Saturday was the hottest day since we have been in Brampton.  High of 35 Celsius and feeling like 46 Celsius.  First thing in the morning, we took Elder and Sister Donnelly downtown to show them where the Farmer's Market is every Saturday (June - October).  It was fun and we bought some delicious pecan butter tarts.  They were amazing.  

After that we took them to Chinguacousy Park and walked around  for a while.  We had some hot dogs for lunch and were feeding the seagulls parts of our buns.  Sister Donnelly cooled off a bit at the Splash Pad area.  We all went wading in the wading pool.  Anything to cool off.

In the evening Elder Swendsen and I had to drop off the mission wash card (for cars) to the Mission Home for the Shields.  I suggested that we stop at the Dairy Queen on the way home for a Dilly Bar.  We decided to eat some ice cream that we had at home.  Good thing - DQ was crowded - a zoo.  It probably was all day.  It was a pretty sunset last night as well.

It is hard to believe that we will be on our way home in two weeks.  We are excited and yet sad, as we finish this chapter of our lives.  We will miss the people here and all of the missionaries that we have had the privilege to work with.  Serving a mission for the Lord is one of the greatest experiences to have.  We are looking forward to serving again.