Last week we visited a Hindu Temple. The peace and beauty of the temple was incredible! The hand-carved wood and marble is breath-taking!!  Most of the carving work was done in India and pieced together after being shipped here.  During our visit we experienced their Rajbhog Arti (ritual prayer).  The music and chanting echoed beautifully through the room (see marbled pillar room pics).  After the chanting they passed a candle around and took turns extending their hands over the flame and drawing the warmth of the flame to their faces, each doing it 3 or 4 times before passing the candle to the next person.  It was awesome!

This week we visited a Muslim Ismaili Centre to participate at an International Women’s Day event.  The people we met were overwhelmingly kind and hospitable!  We enjoyed touring their Jamatkhana (prayer hall) and seeing the hand-carved ceramic wall done by a father and son who traveled from Tajikistan to do the carving (taking nearly 6 months)!  We met Shelina & Shellina (same name coincidence) who said they serve every week at the centre assisting families needing help with funeral preparations.  They estimated there were 40,000 Muslims within their service area.  According to Goggle, the Muslim religion is the second largest in Canada (7%).  Christianity is the largest, although Mormons aren’t considered Christians by most Christian religions in the area (because of the differing trinity doctrine).  The Mormon population in Canada is less than 1/2 percent (0.37).

Tomorrow we will participate at the baptism of a teenage boy who committed to baptism last Sunday!  The sister missionaries and I will sing a special musical number at the baptism.

This week we toured the Casa Loma Castle (built in 1911).  Back when President Monson was the mission president the newly arrived missionaries would be met by missionaries from the mission office who drove them to the mission home (a block from this castle).  The new missionaries would be in awe at the structure.  Often, to their surprise, the driver would turn into the property of the castle and say, “Here we are, at the mission home!”  The joke would soon be discovered and they would continue on to the mission home residence.

Great Hall Ceiling

Fireplace in the Great Hall

Back porch

Sister Bingham & Vardy in the Conservatory

We ran into Sister Bingham and Sister Vardy (who offered to take pics of us)!

Castle Tower View

Windsor Room

Sir Henry’s Suite

Sir Henry’s Suite

Lady Mary’s Suite

Staircase to the Tower

Sir Henry’s Chair

Breakfast Nook

Breakfast Nook Hutch

The Library (Banquet events)

We love our involvement with the “Canadian Interfaith Conversation” group.  Last week we attended a discussion with Millennial attendees representing different faiths.  They were invited to share their views on the impact of religion in their own lives and how they can be advocates for religion in Canada’s diverse culture. They were all “bright”, “happy”, “hopeful”, and “forward thinking”!  Two LDS young single adults were invited to represent our church.  Lucky is working on writing a news article about the evening that will hopefully be published on the Canadian Mormon Newsroom within the next couple of weeks!