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The Great White North

Canada is home to Mounties, ski slopes, and polar bears. But it’s also home to lots of great young people who are doing lots of great things. Here are a few:

A Rainbow of Values

Allison Misinchuck is a new Beehive in her branch, and like many other Church members worldwide, she has to rely on her own strength to stay strong in the gospel. She and the other young women live quite far apart from each other, so they don’t see each other every day.

So how does Allison do it?

“The [Young Women] values help me to make good decisions. They make me think about things I might not think of otherwise,” says Allison.

Pictured here with the other young women in her branch, Allison and all the young women in Orillia Branch, Brampton Ontario Stake, are holding a poem given to them for their New Beginnings program. The program featured the “rainbow” of good choices represented by the value colors. The evening was called the “Rainbow Connection,” and each girl participated by talking about one of the values and what it means.

That should make for some colorful conversation.

Rockin’ Out

Although this cleanup effort by the youth in Hamilton, Ontario, may have gotten off to a “rocky” start, it had a smooth finish.

In addition to clearing the ground of rocks at their stake’s welfare farm, they also gathered and burned overgrowth from pruned pear trees and planted ground cover.

Eye for Design

Shelley Thomsen, a Laurel in the Sherwood Park First Ward, Edmonton Alberta Bonnie Doon Stake, has an eye for fashion and a talent for making her visions into reality. When a local clothing manufacturer held a fashion design contest, one of Shelley’s dress designs made it to the final fashion show—an accomplishment Shelley never dreamed of.

“I just entered for fun,” says Shelley. “Making it to the finals and having them pay for the fabric and everything to actually make the dress was just an added bonus.”

Shelley had such a good time that she plans to enter again next year, but as for long-term goals, she has other things in mind.

“I think that maybe I’d like to be a sign-language interpreter. I would also really like to go on a sign-language mission. I think that would be neat.”

An American Classic?

Youth in the Calgary 17th Ward proved that wards in the United States don’t have a corner on the market when it comes to producing great plays about life in the U.S. They recently put on Tom Sawyer, which led not only to two wonderful performances and lots of applause but to a baptism as well.

Steve Kuhn, who was friends with many of the cast members, worked the curtain backstage during the play. He was baptized just a week before the play opened.

Now that’s a performance that calls for an encore.

The Bear Truth

Beware of the bears if you’re at a Young Women fireside in the Quebec Branch of the Canada Montreal Mission! The teenage women of the ward had fun reading from the Book of Mormon, then acting out various dramatic episodes. Melissa Corona, 13, played the role of Laman, and, although it’s not likely bears were among the beasts, her teddy bear represented wild animals encountered when Lehi and his family arrived in the promised land.

Solid As a Rock

Youth in the Saskatoon Saskatchewan Stake know what it means to stand on solid ground. Their youth conference theme this year was “Like a Rock,” and every activity centered on the idea of having a firm foundation by living the gospel.

A highlight of the conference was a mini-food drive in which the youth hit the streets of the city of Prince Albert and collected canned and packaged food for the local food pantry.

“As the food drive started, spirits were pretty low because we weren’t getting many donations,” says priest Scott MacDonald. “But as the day went on, food collection picked up.”

Other conference activities included workshops, dancing, and an impromptu basketball tournament. Most of the youth agree that all the activities helped to make their friendships—and their testimonies—rock solid.

Sweet(water) Service

Lethbridge, Alberta, is quite a long way from the Sweetwater River in Wyoming, but during a recent pioneer trek, they looked a little bit the same. Three boys from the Lethbridge Stake—Randy Bullock, Drew Walters, and Brett Barfuss—were inspired by a story they heard about three young men who helped rescue members of the Martin Handcart Company. The young men carried many Saints through the icy river, risking their own lives to save others.

The boys in Lethbridge reenacted the brave service rendered by those young men so long ago. And although they didn’t risk their lives to carry their friends across Lee’s Creek, all the youth felt of the sweet spirit that service brings.

A Matter of Trust

The young women and the young men in the Charlottetown Branch on Prince Edward Island literally have a service project in their backyard. The land next to their chapel is home to a grove of some of the oldest oak trees on the island. Oaks from this grove were once used in shipbuilding by the early settlers. Now these mighty trees have been preserved by the Island National Trust and are left untouched.

The young women and young men regularly get together to clean up the public paths through the grove. They are amazed by the number of garbage bags they fill and by the strange things people discard, but they like seeing the trees and grounds looking neat and clean. They want the area around their chapel and in this historical place on their island to reflect the joy they feel in the gospel.

Bat Man

When you first talk to Danny Ray, an 18-year-old elder in the Fredericton Ward of the Saint John New Brunswick Stake, he’ll tell you he’s “into a lot of things.” He’ll talk about his first year at the University of New Brunswick, his preparation for a mission, and how he serves as a stake missionary and doubles as a Primary teacher, instructing the Sunbeams.

And then he mentions his interest in bats. Whoa!

Danny’s made a hobby of making friends with numerous little brown bats, the species indigenous to his area of eastern Canada.

“Each bat can eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour,” he proudly states. “We have a lot of insects where we live.” The way Danny looks at it, the bats provide a public service by ridding the neighborhood of the pesky insect.

So enamored of bats is Danny that he’s been known to let the nocturnal mammal fly around his room—with his mother’s blessing. “Mom’s fine with it,” he says.

So chances are that wherever Danny serves his mission, he’ll find a bat or two before he’s through.