Day 25 - 31 St. Catherine's, ON, Canada

Our time in St. Catherine's with Alex's family was so nice (except for one day). After having lived out of an RV for over 3 weeks, we were more than happy to have a real bed and shower. We also had a lot of fun hanging out with relatives and going places with them.

 

 One of the days we went into Toronto which was a little over an hour north east of us. We walked all over the city, had the worst teriyaki I've ever tried and amazing frozen yogurt, listened to street performers and accidentally ended up in the part of town where all the gay people of Toronto congregate. We left very quickly.

We also saw Toronto's CN tower, which is like the bigger, uglier version of the Space Needle, and was the tallest building in the world until they built the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

 

We also spent a lot of time at the beach. And on Wednesday, we had the worst day of the trip. While Alex and I were swimming in the water, my wedding ring slipped off in the water. I freaked out as soon as I realized it was gone and we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening swimming back and forth looking for it. We finally had to leave because we were getting so cold, and I spent the rest of the evening crying. The next morning we found a guy, Rob, near by who sold metal detectors and we bought one. After hearing our story about why we needed it, he felt so bad he said he would cancel his plans for the day and come look for it with us. We spent another afternoon looking for it and just when we were starting to lose hope, Rob called to us that he had found the ring!

 

My mom had been praying that just the right person would come along who could help us and we believe that God sent Rob! It was an amazing miracle that we found it. So many people kept telling us that this happens all the time and it's practically impossible to find it when it's in the water because the water can move it around or bury it. But God is good and we totally give him the glory for us finding the ring!

The main reason we stayed so long was that Alex's cousins Katya and Dasha were getting baptised on Sunday. We were so happy to get to be a part of this important day for them. And it was amazing to see the joy and peace on their faces as they made this public declaration of their faith. I didn't understand too much of what was being said because the service was all in Russian, but I was really impressed by how well Russians can sing! Honestly, it seemed like they can all play the piano incredibly well and sing like professionals. I really enjoyed all the special songs and solos.

Afterward their parents had a huge party for them with every delicious Russian food that you can think of  and then Alex and I went to his cousin Natasha's and spent the evening with her and her husband. They live in a awesome cottage right next to the beach and we loved walking around with them while the sun was setting over the water and discussing conspiracy theories over pizza and salad.

So our stay in Canada was awesome, but we also experienced our first major setbacks. Having to back track to pick up our gun at the border added an extra 600 miles to our trip, which equals A LOT of wasted gas money and time, and also having to pay for the metal detector was another major setback. So for the time being, we're still pressing forward with our trip, but we're realizing that we might not be able to see quite as much as we had originally wanted. But we were so encouraged by finding the ring that we've decided to just continue by faith and see how God provides for us on the trip. So here's to seeing God's faithfulness! :)