A TRIP TO THE OKANAGAN

Here is Sue in front of Bridal Veil Falls just outside of Hope BC.  We were on our way to the Okanagan  Zone(we love all of these indian names) on a working vacation. We left on Friday and came back home on Monday after 800 miles of driving to Osoyoos, Penticton, West Bank, Kelowna, Vernon, Salmon Arm Kamloops, and Meritt. We were stopping in each of these cities to check on the missionaries apartments andvehicles. These are missionaries that we do not get to see very often because of the distance to the Mission Office.  It was educational and fun to see these young men and women in their enviournment...a lot like it was in our college years.

This is a picture of the stream that came down from Bridal Veil Falls. It was a 15 minute hike to the falls from the parking lot....seemed like a lot longer!  Our trip also included going to the Vernon Stake Conference where they were changing Stake Presidencies. Elder Oaks (Apostle) was there to conduct. It was wonderful to hear him during the 3 times we heard him address us...one of which was a private meeting on Sunday morning with the 20 or so missionaries in the Zone. We got to meet him and shake his hand. Awesome!

This is a tree growing out of the stump of a dead tree. With all of the moisture in the NW we see a lot of the beautiful nature that is like Oregon where we used to live and unlike arid Colorado where we now live.

While we were traveling we stopped at Elder McCullough and Elder Smith's apartment. They were the only ones whose apartment was clean and organized eneough to take pictures.  This one is of their planning  activities and schedule boards.  While all of the others had boards, they had trouble finding them in some cases.  The cars generally looked better than the  apartments.

Elders Zimmerman, Williams, and Dodge got dressed up in their mustaches to role play in their district meeting. They played the parts of hard investigators and missionaries who stand on a soap box preaching the Gospel.  Elder Dodge leaves in May and Elder Zimmerman leaves in June.  They have been great in their service and fantastic in thier stewardship

Visiting the Different!

The population is very diverse in our area which allows for a variety of different temples. We have been wanting to visit some of them and here we are at the Buddist Temple in Richmond. It was difficult to know what they believe but we gathered that they believe in acquiring different positive virtures and attributes by praying to different entities that were with Budda at about 550 BC. These are represented by the statures behind us and the believers bring offerings of cooked rice, fruit,  flowers, and incense. They  would hold the incense above their heads and bow 3 times to the statue of the attribute they were trying to acqire or emulate.

We were impressed with the size and beauty of the grounds and buildings around the Temple site. There were some structures that we were allowed to view but not take pictures of. This is a meditation pond with sitting areas, fountains, and rice patty boxes.

 

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 While we did not copy down the name this is the next Budda that is to come in the next 2 billion years. Since they believe in reincarnation the earth will have gone into its next phase at that time and will need a new Budda to guide the people at that time.  From here we went up to the main complex which is right behind this shrine. It was the biggest and most elaborate structure on the site.  In this building the believers were chanting to their ancestors. It sounded like the same chant said over and over again with bowing and men and women alternating the chant.

This is a picture that we took out in front of the Fort Langley historical site. We are with Elder and Sister Nielsen who we serve with in the Mission office.  This was not a defensive fort against the wild west indians like we have in the United States; instead, it was a trading post fort that all of the different nationalities came to trade and barter for goods.  They included First Nation (indians), Russians, Spanish, Americans, and French. Instead of fighting they negotiated over a table as to who was going to get what...very civilized as opposed to their southern neighbors.  This was the birthplace of British Columbia and was founded in 1827,

This picture was taken in the "Big House" which originally housed the family assigned there by the Hudson Bay Trading Company. They made thier own barrels, shoes, tools, and structures. Sister Traxler and Sister Nielsen are showing off all the things they made for the day....it was a load....just kidding.