Trip to Canada--Part 4

Sunday we attended Free Grace Baptist where Micah's father is the pastor.  We enjoyed great teaching during Sunday school on saving faith from the London Baptist Confession followed by a worshipful service and sermon from Matthew.

From church we drove to Abbotsford, BC and, thankfully, were able to check into our hotel early.  As the kids got settled at the hotel, Russ and I found a grocery store and picked up a rotisserie chicken and a loaf of crusty bread to add to the veggies and fruit we already had with us for a yummy Sunday dinner.  After cleaning up our lunch we left to attend the 3:30 service at Immanuel Covenant Reformed Church in Abbotsford.  A family from this church recently attended our church service in Boise while they were camping/vacationing in the States.  They invited us to worship with them if we were ever in the area so we took them up on their offer!  The pastor had been very ill and was worried about losing his voice.  He even told us later that he felt so weak while preaching he had broken out into a cold sweat.  If we had communicated we were coming, I am sure Russ would have been asked to preach (which he would have gladly done.)  We had a fun time of fellowship after the service since several in the church have connections to Dordt College or other churches/people we know.  When we returned to our hotel room we all changed and spent some time in the pool.  It is always a treat to have the pool area to yourself.

Monday we were up early to eat breakfast and to make sure we had plenty of time to drive to Vancouver to make the ferry trip to Vancouver Island.  This was one of those last minute decisions we are glad we made.  Although a tad chilly, the kids loved the beauty and novelty of the ferry ride.  

This bald eagle flew right in front of us with his catch!

After we landed on the island we found a quaint restaurant that served great pizza right by the ferry terminal.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the island and hiking along the coast.  Before we had to get back to the ferry terminal we ate a picnic supper by the water and even explored a couple of antique/used bookstores.

The ferry ride back to Vancouver that evening was hard to capture on film.  The splendor of the sunset on the water combined with the snow-capped mountains in the background...well, let's just say we all enjoyed the beauty of God's creation.

Little porpoises swimming by the ferry

Awesome reflection in the ferry window

Seth had a quick last swim after we returned to the hotel (everyone else was too tired), and we all slept in the next morning.  After breakfast at the hotel we made the long trek back home to find our dear pets!