From the moment I landed in Toronto, the temperature was in the minuses! I love the snow, but it was far too cold to play in it. Thankfully, I was quite prepared for the weather and had all the right clothes and boots! My dad, however, needed to go shopping so he wouldn't get hypothermia.
One thing I learned while visiting Canada was that they seem to speak a different language. I cannot tell you how many times a Canadian asked me to repeat myself! Is my accent that difficult to understand?!
While I was in Canada, my dad spoke at two different places. The gatherings were quite small but I could see that all the people were hungry and interested in what he had to say. Most of the time, he spoke on the same topics so I may or may not have been close to falling asleep a couple times. Hehe
My favorite parts of my trip were visiting friends from Israel and seeing Niagara Falls! It was a wonderful coincidence that our friends from Israel were in the country at the same time as us, we weren’t expecting it. The opportunity to drive to the Falls was one we couldn’t pass up, I don’t think you can go to Canada without visiting Niagara at least once.
My dad and I spent our second night in Canada at Return Ministries headquarters. Return ministries, founded by our Israeli friend’s in-laws, is a ministry that focuses on bringing Jews and Christians together in order to fulfill Elohim’s purposes for the Land of Israel. In the beginning, I had no idea where we going, and neither did my dad, so the journey was definitely an interesting one.
On our way to Return Ministries, we were caught in a snow storm. Since we weren’t familiar with the roads or where our destination was, we relied on our GPS to take us to the right place. However, when we got to our "destination" the GPS proceeded to tell us that we needed to park and walk the rest of the way (Ha)!
Was it serious?! There was no way we're were going to walk in a snow storm, especially since we were in the middle of nowhere. Honestly, this moment reminded me of the movie The Holiday and how Amanda, one of the main characters, had to walk to the house she was going to be staying at because the cab driver refused to take her the whole way!
After driving around for another thirty minutes to an hour, we finally arrived at our destination. When we got into the place we were staying, my dad and I were very surprised to see our Israeli friends, Chaim and his wife Deanna! The day I flew to Canada Deanna had messaged me to see where we were going in Canada, to which I was oblivious. So, seeing them in Canada was awesome.
I’ve never had a lot of opportunities to spend time with Chaim and his wife, so having the ability to fellowship with them and Deanna’s family was really special. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them and didn’t want to leave! Deanna’s family was so hospitable and friendly that I didn’t feel like an outsider at all!
Having the chance to see Niagara Falls in person was an intense experience! We were so close to the edge of the Falls and the roar of the water was insane! I, of course, couldn't go to the Falls without wearing my wolf hat so I made sure to sport my marvelous hat the entire time we were at the Falls. I could've looked at the Falls all day, but my dad couldn't last more than thirty minutes. Hehe
I'm really happy I went to Canada. I have wanted to go there for years so I'm pleased I can now check it off my list (I really need to get a map and pin all the places I’ve been to). However, I'm also thrilled that I am now back in Pennsylvania! I've really missed everyone over these 6 days, so it was definitely great to come back.
This week, I've been staying with Jacque and her family because the Smith's are on holiday in the Dominican Republic. I’ll be staying with her family for another week and I’m having a blast! This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to really get to know Jacque since it’s just us and not Ryan (her boyfriend) as well.
Turns out, Jacque and I have a LOT in common! We both write, we’re obsessed with puzzles (we’re currently working on a 2,000 piece one that keeps getting destroyed by her kittens), we love photography (we have the same camera!) and we’re avid readers!
Day two of my stay with Jacque and her family, I got to go to a library with Jacque and her mom, Lisa. I may have gone a little overboard with how many books I got, five to be exact. Hey, I couldn’t help myself!
As soon as Jacque and I got home, we raced to her room to start one of our new books. Jacque is reading 1984 by George Orwell, a classic, and I’m reading a fictional story about Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler’s love story, which isn’t helping my Hamilton obsession (hehe).
My prayer for this coming week is that I will be productive and not waste time! I only have two weeks with my library books so I really want to get most of them done. I also would like to get the puzzle done! As soon as the week is over, I’ll be back at the Smith’s house and will only occasionally come to Jacque’s house, so I want to get as much done as possible.
That's about all the events that have happened in my life, lately. Right now, everyone's preparing for our guests to come since we're having a Hanukkah party. I'm praying today is going to be a fun day! Happy Hanukkah!!