Vacation to Montreal was `perfect timing'
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For Willy and Annalisa Leschner, members of the Olderburg Branch in the Hamburg Germany Stake, visiting Montreal was a trip of fortuitous timing.
They began their vacation in late July by visiting Emile Monssen, a member of the Church and friend of the family in Montreal. They had planned to tour the area before heading to Chicago for a family reunion.When traveling plans were originally made, they were unaware of President Gordon B. Hinckley's scheduled visit to Montreal on Aug. 6.
"When they learned that the prophet was going to be here, they prolonged their stay with my promise that I would drive them to Chicago for their reunion," said Brother Monssen.
The Leschners couldn't believe they had the chance to hear President Hinckley speak in Montreal. They found themselves among the more than 3,000 who gathered at Montreal's Place des Arts for the bilingual member meeting.
For the Leschners, the meeting was a perfect conclusion to their week-long pilgrimmage of events that began with a visit to the birthplace of Joseph Smith in Sharon, Vt., and included the Smith family home in Palmyra, N.Y.
By the time they return to Bremen, Germany, later this summer, the Leschners expect to have "hearts and souls full of memories."
Like the Leschners, those living in the Montreal area were equally stirred by the visit of President Hinckley.
Gaile and Jim Hynes and their 11-year-old son, Christopher, of Cornwall, a community west of Montreal, took advantage of their proximity to two cities to hear the prophet in Ottawa on Aug. 5 and then again in Montreal the next day.
"There are people who have been in the Church all their lives and have never seen him. I'm a first-year convert and this is the second time I've seen him in two nights," said Brother Hynes.
"When I stood in that room," said Sister Hynes, who joined the Church 21/2 years ago, she said she could feel the spirit of the prophet.
