Montreal, Quebec, Canada Temple

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Temple #54

January 14, 2016

     We were going to Canada! While living back East, we still made it a goal to do as much as we could while back there, and wanted to visit as many temples as we could. One day while talking about temple's, I mentioned the idea to go to Canada, and do the Montreal Temple. At first it seemed too far away, because it was nearly eight hours away for us. After thinking about it for a day though, we quickly changed our minds and decided to go as soon as we could. So we packed our car and left early in the morning on January 14th. 

     We drove all that day North to Canada. The drive was pretty, going through gorgeous parts of New York. At one point we passed a Boy Scout troop giving away free hot chocolate and popcorn, and so stopped and got ourselves some. It took us about seven hours to get to the Canadian border, where we had a fun experience. 

     We pulled up to the border control, and the person in the window looked at us oddly. She asked where we were going, and how long we were staying. We told her we were going to the LDS Temple, which she had no idea what that was, and that we were staying for only a day. She than asked where we were living and why we had driven all the way from Utah to live in Pennsylvania and then drove eight hours just to go to one of our churches. 

     We tried to explain, but she thought it was a little fishy. She had us pull over, and our car was searched. It was kind of funny, but we were a little nervous and for no reason. They soon realized we were telling the truth and had nothing to hide, and so let us on our way. 

     We drove into Quebec, and it instantly had changed at the border. We had been to Canada before, yet not to the Eastern side. Everything was completely in French, with little or no English. It made it a little difficult to get to the temple, especially since we didn't have cell phone service out of the country, but we made it work. 

      We eventually made it to the temple after driving straight through Montreal, and missing our turn because of the signs being in French, and the fact that it was too cold for window washer fluid and our windows were frozen over. It was a little scary driving, but we made it. It’s a small temple, but it was neat to be in a different country to a new temple. 

      We went inside, and we're greeted in French. We then went and did a session, also in French, and we were the witness couple! Usually when a session is in a different language you are given headphones and a transmitter so you can hear it in your own language. For some reason we weren't given anything, and so had to guess what we were doing in the session. 

     In the end it all worked out, and we didn't miss anything. It was a great session and very memorable. The temple is great as well with an interesting history. Where the temple is now used to be a car dealership, and it was there at the groundbreaking, and then quickly torn down. 

     We then drove through some snow to our hotel, which wasn't far from the temple. The next day we explored a little around Montreal, and hiked Victoria Hill, which was a hill that overlooked Montreal. It was a pretty view, but also one of the coldest days we’ve experienced, although is was sunny and a beautiful day. 

  

     We drove home after that, taking another eight hours to get there. It was another pretty drive, yet we were tired and had enough driving for the weekend. It was a quick trip with a lot of driving, but it was worth it. It helped us realize that no matter how far away the temple is, it's worth it to go, and that you can do it easily and fun in just a weekend. So when you have a temple an hour or two away from you, take advantage of it and enjoy it, because temples are meant to be a joy!