A nervous excitement had me unable to eat much for breakfast as we embarked on our first missionary visiting tour since 2020!  Our suitcases have been used for small trips but now we were packing for two whole weeks.  I packed something for every season possible as April in western Canada can mean anything from winter snow squalls to spring rains to sunny warmth.  

We left Regina April 2 and our first stop was Beatty, Sk for a Gospel Jamboree.  Our dear friend Bert Genaille passed away last fall.  In memory of Bert, his wife Liz and many relatives and friends joined in a weekend of fellowship, food and Gospel music.  Walter shared a few words and I sang a couple of songs to honour the Genaille family and the Lord.

That night we spent in Saskatoon.  No use trying to tire ourselves out at the beginning of our trip.  We had a good night's rest and hit the road April 3 before 9 am.

Day 2 we planned to get to the mountains.  We started out driving through fog.  By mid-morning, the sun had burned through and temperatures got up to 9 or 10 degrees Celsius.  Our route took us through small towns and two lanes highways.  We saw several swans and Canada geese, deer and a bull moose with a female.  Beautiful!

Being a Sunday on the road, we joined our church family at Balgonie Baptist via Zoom. Such a blessing to sing along with the worship, share in the prayer time and hear a rousing message by Pastor Shawn on repentance and coming to faith in Christ.  His heart is to fill the church on Easter Sunday with invited family and friends to share the wonderful Good News of the Risen Saviour!  His passion was contagious this morning and we pray for many to join us in two weeks.

And then by late afternoon, we could see the faint outline of the Rockies against the horizon.  Walter got that look on his face that lets me know he is in his happy place!  We drove around Calgary on the Stoney Trail ring road. Soon were cruising along the TransCanada towards those spectacular mountains.  Not much snow except in the higher altitudes.  A clear view of the glorious handiwork of God.  We exited the highway into Banff and found our go-to hotel chain, the Best Western.  

And that catches everyone up to now...we were sitting in the chairs of our hotel room relaxing and enjoying the sights out our window.  But now it is time to hunt and gather.  We will walk the main street and see what food we can rummage together!

Bye for now.