June 30, 2019 - When we first arrived in Massena on January 9, 2019, we both received a text from our cell phone carrier, T-Mobile: Welcome to Canada. Don't worry everything still works on your cell phone. Our fourplex where we live is actually near the St Lawrence River and it is Canada on the north side of the river. Within the boundaries of our Massena Branch is the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation which is known by its Mohawk name, Akwesane. We took a picture that shows a little piece of our world:

We are standing in the Akwesasne Reservation - the stop sign shows the Mohawk word for STOP. Above the stop sign the street sign is named Border Rd. We are standing in the United States, if we moved past the stop sign to the north, we would be in Canada. This is a small neck of land that juts out and is part of Canada - this is not in our Mission, even so, it can only be accessed at this point, If you look up the road, you can see the speed limit sign which say 60 km/h - kilometers per hour which is how they measure speed in Canada. So we have three in one: United States of America, Mohawk Reservation and Canada.
We working with Sisters Wiese and Oleson, so we had to take their picture too. We were out trying to meet with some less active members on the Reservation.
Our FHE Group met and Brother & Sister Hann's this week. They have a beautiful home on the St. Lawrence River. Pictured: John and Dick sitting in front, Michael, Chris, Everette, Marilyn, Janet, Karen, Sharon & Karen C.
We got to roast hot dogs over the fire.
Look at the gorgeous view from the deck on the back of their house. A ship was going by on the St Lawrence River.
It would be fun to get to always watch the ships go by from your backyard.
Another ship went by as the sun was going down.
How would you like this view every night?
We had a drawing at our FHE. Marilyn was the grand prize winner - she got a plaque made by Everette.
We took a little trip to the Nature Center Friday night - Everette heard they were having a Nature Night. Pictured: Karen C, Karen, Chris & Everette
Two campfires in one week - who wouldn't be in Seventh Heaven? Everyone got to roast marshmallows and make s'mores. Everette who is an Eagle Scout and I got to help get the fire going. Looks like we did an awesome job!!! We ended up with some nice coals. Pictured: Chris (just his foot), Karen, Karen C, Everette. (Don't know the girl to the right, she was one of several kids that came with their parents for the activity.) We then went for a walk on one of the trails. It was a beautiful night, but the bugs thought so too!!! When we got away from the fire, there were plenty of bugs to go around!
Linda who we see each week when we volunteer and a board member. They took advantage of the s'mores, too. They had flat marshmallows especially made for roasting and making s'mores. I hadn't seen them before, but they were awesome.

Another great week in the mission field. That first 6 months flew by - 12 months to go. Our grandson Tanner who is serving a mission in Argentina has passed his year mark. We love serving with the young missionaries, they are awesome beyond belief. I would so love to have this same experience while serving with my grandchildren - that's the only way this could be better - to see them grow and feel of their spirits each day as we serve the Lord's children.

WELCOME: New York Syracuse Mission - July 1 is the official date of the new combined mission. (New York Utica and New York Rochester were combined to form the New York Syracuse Mission.)