I think I left off at Boxing Day – the day after Christmas. It is a holiday but shops were open. The next day – Sunday – we were invited over for lunch at Raouf’s younger brother’s house in Niagara Falls. We had gone to his uncle’s house and so Niagara Falls was beyond that in the same direction. I coughed all the way over, during the visit and on the way back – though it was getting better. Eddie by this time had come down with a bad cold, though he kept saying he had caught some of my stuff. It was cloudy and a bit raw, think goodness it wasn’t raining.
Road’s brother lives in a subdivision outside the town of Niagara Falls that has some quite nice houses. apparently there are some not so nice areas – not that surprising. We arrived and we were greeted by his brother, his wife Rose, their son and two daughters. I think there is an older son, but I am not sure. We had a tour of the house, I didn’t go up or downstairs and it turns out I didn’t miss much downstairs. That is his smoking room and bar – Eddie was hit with cigarette smoke about 5 steps down. He showed off his bar with all the liquor – he’s quite proud of it. I had some lemonade to drink while he brought out Johnny Walker in a silver time – supposed to be really cool. Raouf drank some but doesn’t really like it because it has an aftertaste.
Uncle John and his wife Bernadette came, so it was fun to see them again. We sat down to lunch with a turkey, a plate with stuffed grape leaves, stuffed zucchini and ribs. There was also a plate of mashed potatoes, (wish I could remember what else) . The turkey was cooked with a special recipe, marinated in some thing and then cooked. It was served in the roasting pan and he just tore it all apart. I had some white meat and it tasted good, couple of grape leaves, a ground meat dish, not sure what else – boy, has my brain gone to mush suddenly! I haven’t been eating that much, I am full very quickly. I was just finishing my plate while others had 2 or 3 helpings.
Back to the living room for more conversation and this time I was sitting next to Uncle John again and we had a lovely conversation. I really enjoy him, I haven’t really had an opportunity ti get to know Bernadette. Uncle John talked about the Patriarch from Armenia who had come to visit Toronto. I am not sure what title Uncle John has, he is a minister and preaches. Anyway, the first meeting the priests of the churches in Toronto were there – Uncle John was surprised to find himself in their company. The Patriarch talked about the churches in Jerusalem need restoration and said they need $900,000 – he was there to raise the money.
As he said there, Uncle John heard the Holy Spirit tell him to go talk to the Patriarch because the Holy spirit had a message for him. Uncle John was very skeptical – how could he go up to the Patriarch? It was as if the Holy Spirit first tapped him on the shoulder, a bit later it was a punch in the arm and finally a dope slap. So Uncle John told the Holy Spirit “I will talk to him but only if he comes over to me.” He was amazed when the Patriarch walked down the aisle shaking hands with all the robed priests, then looked over at Uncle John. The Patriarch told him he knows he has a message for him – you could call it a double dope slap. So they stood together a little apart and Uncle John told him that Holy spirit wanted him to know that he had wasted his time and the priests time talking about the physical church in Jerusalem when he needs to talk about the spiritual church in the future.
Uncle John wasn’t sure how he would take the message – the Patriarch was fine with it. So when he went to address the group again, he told them he had wasted their time about the physical church, that it is the spiritual and future church they need to focus on. He got a round of applause and then someone stood up and told the Patriarch he had a check for him – $9 million. Uncle John talked about it in wonder, that the Holy Spirit chose him to speak to the Patriarch and arranged for him to come to Uncle John.
By that time, I needed a pit stop, so I asked Rose if she had a powder room. It was a big relief, I had been coughing and things were a bit damp. After that, I went back towards the kitchen and saw the older daughter there and we talked a bit. She is a very mature young woman, though I think she is still in high school. She knows what she wants to do in life – a cardiac surgeon – and studies hard to do well in school. I really enjoyed talking to her, then suddenly it was time to go. I hope to see her again some time.
We were going to go to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side – I have only seen the falls from 37,000 feet – not all that spectacular. Raoul wanted us to see near dusk because they put lights on the falls during Christmas. We drove a couple of exits down and drove along the main street – full of tall hotels. It turns out, the falls are down below th hill where the main street is – all the hotel advertise you can see the falls from your hotel room. As we went down the hill, we saw the U.S. side straight across – took me a couple of seconds to realize it was the falls. You can see the platform they have built out so people can see the falls.
I found pictures on Google to illustrate but I can’t find them. Also, I need to do a Part 3 – too much of a motormouth on paper as well as in person.
Gift of RA 
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