TORONTO, Ontario — When President Thomas S. Monson and his wife, Frances, stepped into the reception area of Toronto's International Airport Friday evening, Aug. 18, they heard a simple greeting: "Welcome home."

Although neither was born here, the greeting fit. President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, and Sister Monson say they feel totally at home in "Upper Canada," where he presided over the Canadian Mission from 1959-62. Here they forged everlasting friendships.

During President and Sister Monson's latest visit to Toronto, they renewed acquaintances with long-time friends and reveled in memories of years gone by. On Aug. 19, they attended a meeting for missionaries serving in the Canada Toronto and Canada Toronto East missions; participated in a ceremony dedicating a plaque honoring John Taylor, third president of the Church, who was baptized in Toronto in 1836 by Parley P. Pratt; and attended and addressed a meeting celebrating the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Toronto Stake. President and Sister Monson were accompanied by Elder W. Craig Zwick of the Seventy and president of the North America Northeast Area, and his wife, Jan. (Please see the report on these meetings beginning on page 3.)

Time and again, President and Sister Monson commented on how swiftly the years have passed since their mission days. "It seems like only a few years have gone by," President Monson said.

He presided over the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, which had six member districts, 55 branches and more than 5,000 members. Based on figures available at the end of 1999, that same geographical area now has 48,789 members in 11 stakes, 119 wards and branches and three missions.

When he arrived as a 31-year-old mission president, he was surprised to find that the Church had constructed only three buildings in the mission, a small chapel on Ossington Avenue in Toronto which had been dedicated in 1939, and modest buildings at Hamilton and Kitchener, also in Ontario. All the other units met in rented buildings or in what he described as "vintage church buildings" purchased from other denominations.

President and Sister Monson had two children when they arrived in Toronto; a third was born about seven months later. With young children in tow, Sister Monson became the mission's Relief Society president, responsible for all 55 units, and had major input in the success of programs for Primary and young women, as well as welcoming to the mission home and hosting about 14 missionaries every week. All told, 480 missionaries were in their charge. Missionaries, he said, were a constant presence in the mission home in those days. In the three years they were in Toronto, they had only three meals with just their family.

Toronto Ontario Temple President Everett Pallin commented on President Monson's loyalty to Canada. He said that President N. Eldon Tanner, who was reared in Canada and was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve and a counselor to three Church presidents before his death in 1982, summed up President Monson's affinity for Canada: "Tom Monson loves Canada."

President Pallin credits much of the progress of the Church in Eastern Canada to President and Sister Monson. "He and his family came to us in 1959," President Pallin said. "He first stemmed the flow of saints leaving this area. As fast as baptisms occurred, the saints moved to Zion to get the fulness of the gospel through temple blessings. Monthly, our records showed the names of those who left. He taught us that Zion was here and strengthened the branch and district programs preparing us for stakehood." (The Toronto Stake, the 300th stake in the Church, was organized Aug. 14, 1960, by Elder Mark E. Petersen from units of the Canadian Mission, then presided over by President Monson. It was the first stake in Eastern Canada.)

President Pallin said that the Church matured here "because of his direction to us," and that the Toronto Ontario Temple stands as a hallmark of that maturity.

"President Monson instituted a strong building program and got us out of rented halls like the Moose Lodge in Sudbury and the third floor walk up air force hall in Peterborough. We got chapels in London, Ottawa, Timmins [and other places]," President Pallin said. "We didn't mind those rented facilities. The gospel was true and if we had to meet under a maple tree like Parley Pratt and Joseph Fielding when they were forced out of the meetinghouse in Charlton Settlement, that would have sufficed, but President Monson had a vision of something better for us. His loyalty to all of us is legendary."

In 1961, President Monson assigned French-speaking missionaries to Montreal and laid the foundation for a separate mission in Quebec.

Sister Monson, speaking to a large congregation in the Mississauga Ontario Stake Center, said that she remembered "coming to this property when there was nothing here — no homes, just fields and pastures and trees. I couldn't imagine putting a building with no homes nearby." President Monson delivered the check from Church headquarters to purchase the land on which to build the meetinghouse and arranged for the groundbreaking ceremony. The building was dedicated in 1962. This beautiful meetinghouse is now surrounded by lovely homes.

At the various events of Aug. 19 of this year, President and Sister Monson were united with many acquaintances from their earlier days in Canada.

For some, Memory Lane might be just a figure of speech. For President and Sister Monson, it is real and, apparently, leads straight to Canada.