Summerside

     Last week there were 6 baptisms in the mission! That's almost as many as we had in January, February, and March combined. President Pratt asked us if we would represent him at the one on Prince Edward Island. Oh, the hardships we face!

     We headed over to Summerside Friday after we closed the office. It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive, so we got to the Confederation Bridge at sunset, expecting to get some gorgeous pictures, but the angles were all wrong. The bridge is very utilitarian and plain. They purposely put in curves, rather than have it go straight across the water, in order to keep drivers more alert in the 12.9 kilometer stretch. There was a lot of debate for many years about whether or not to build the bridge. Some people though a bridge would spoil the feel of the island, some people wanted a tunnel. Most people now are very pleased to have the bridge. It's one lane in each direction, and there are signs all along saying no cell phones. We're guessing that's to keep drivers more focused on getting across the bridge in order to reduce the chance of accidents. It's about 20 years old. Like many bridges over a bay, there's a big hump in the middle to allow cruise ships and ocean vessels to pass underneath. There used to be a toll to cross the bridge both ways, but now they doubled the toll to get off the island and took out the toll booths to get on. That reduced the costs of collecting tolls since the only other way to get your car off the island is a ferry, which is around $75. The toll is a paltry $45.

     We asked someone what we'd be able to see or do off season on a Saturday morning and were told to walk along the bay. That sounded pleasant since we left Halifax when it was a toasty 70ish degrees. However the weather cooled as we traveled and we were both chilled by the time we got to our hotel.

     Saturday morning we explored a little, checking out lighthouses along the way. We love seeing lighthouses of all sizes everywhere. This one was about a kilometer from the ocean with many houses between the lighthouse and the water.

Out in the bay

Along the path

We discovered that "walking along the beach" was very pleasant. There is a nice, well-maintained boardwalk and adjacent jogging path that skirt the rocky shore for about kilometers (you can see it in the background behind Elder Holbrook).There were lots of birdhouses along the path, and friendly chipmunks expecting to be fed, and they scamper us to your feet in anticipation if you stand still. Many people had food for the birds and squirrels, often leaving them on the railing across the bridge. We saw LOTS of people out enjoying a Saturday-morning stroll.

     Although it was overcast on Saturday morning, it was in the low 50s, which made our stroll along the boardwalk comfortable. We stopped to watch a boy who knelt down to feed a chipmunk and someone walking by noticed Elder Holbrook's badge. He said he was a member of the Church and we struck up a conversation with him and continued on down the path. He was walking with his friend, the mayor of Summerside, so we learned lots about the town and area in general. A VERY enjoyable morning.

     Across the street from our hotel was a sign: College of Piping. We wondered if the construction trade on PEI was booming. Then we read the smaller print underneath that said "and Celtic Performing Arts." We stopped in and found out there was a bagpipe competition going on. We stayed through two rather long musical pieces (~10 minutes each) and watched the performer walking in big, slow circles. Almost everyone in the concert hall was wearing a kilt (except us).

     We spent some time looking around the gift shop. Everything you'd ever expect to see bagpipers wear and then some. Then it was time to head over to the church.








     The Summerside Branch recently had the boiler replaced, but for some reason it wasn't hooked up to the tank for filling the baptismal font, which they didn't find out until now. The missionaries were heating water on the stove and carrying it through the building to the font. Someone finally dropped off a huge campstove-type burner and a square vat to match, so then the missionaries just had to carry the water in buckets a few feet. By the time the baptism started, the water was at least bearable.

Before the baptism: (l-r) Elder and Sister Brewster, Sister Brogan, Terry Brogan (who was baptized), Elder Ashton and Elder Wilson

     Sister Brogan was inactive and her husband was a non member; however, they listened to the missionaries and he decided to join. Nice people, neat baptism. We were so glad President Pratt gave us the "dirty work" of going to such a pretty town.

     It is such a blessing in so many ways to be part of spreading the gospel in this little corner of Canada!