Weeks 9 and 10 in France

I have been looking without success for an under cabinet paper towel rack since coming to France.  I finally decided to make my own with some scrap wood and the few tools I have.  Here is the result:                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I had also been looking for some small simple shelves for our bathroom and for piano music.  We had the opportunity to go to Ikea with another missionary couple who have a car, and I found a shelf which had a large bottom and a narrow top.  I bought it and separated the two halves to make both shelves I wanted:

The bottom half for my music shelf beside the piano

The shelf at Ikea

Making Christmas gifts for the other senior couples..

top half for our formerly shelf-less bathroom.

      Such a clever husband Janet married!!                                                                                                   

                                                                                   I had the wonderful privilege of playing the piano for 7 of the 9 Christmas programs put on by the young sister missionaries who serve at the Paris France Temple Visitor Center.  It was a sweet experience for me to help them share their testimonies of Jesus Christ through music.  Their performances of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" and "The Prayer" were especially beautiful.

                                       

The sister missionaries also sang at the Le Chesnay Ward Christmas dinner, were we sat with, from left to right, our Bishop, our temple 1st counselor and his wife, President and Sister Lazeras, and another senior couple, Sister and  Elder Pitcher.  The Pitcher's have been so very kind as they trained Janet and I regarding our duties serving in the temple. 

Janet made two batches of English Toffee which turned out really well.  She did it without the benefit of all the right ingredients (corn syrup is nearly impossible to find), and without a candy thermometer.  She had to go strictly by color.  The first batch was a little under cooked, but the second batch turned out perfectly.

In the days before Christmas, we did a little shopping, first at Printemps in Le Chesnay, then at Galleries Lafayette in Paris.  The first two pictures are of two beautifully flower decorated trees at Printemps and the next eight pictures were taken on the way to and in Galleries Lafayette.

 

The view of the Opera building and the Eiffel Tower from the top of Galleries Lafayette.

An organ grinder in front of the animated windows.

The sorting hat in the Lego Department of Galleries Lafayette.

Christmas morning we opened our presents.  Janet got a new pair of dress slacks, and I got a new light weight jacket. Most of our gifts from the other senior couples were chocolate, so we have a three month supply now.  We also received a raspberry potpourri and a decorative Christmas tree.

                         

On Christmas day we got together with the other senior couples serving at the temple or visitor center for a nice brunch.  We sat around the table telling stories of our most memorable Christmases.

Brother and Sister Grasser are from Germany, and volunteer to serve at the temple for 6 months each year.

The beautifully set table done by Brother and Sister Darguence

Sister Darguence's beautiful and tasty Buche de Noel

Filling our plates buffet style in the guest home kitchen.

Sister LeSueur is one of the coordinators at the temple.

Sister Piepgrasse, a native French temple missionary.

Elder Sumner cooking bacon and scrambled eggs without burning either!!!

We visited with each of our children and their families on Christmas Day via Facebook Messenger, and found, much to our delight, that they carry on some of our favorite Christmas traditions.  This last picture shows their most recent re-enactment of Christ's birth as found in Matthew 2 and Luke 2.

                                            It is our hope that all who read this find time to remember and ponder the real reason for this Christmas season: the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We testify that He is the Son of God and that His atonement is what makes it possible for us to find our way back to our Heavenly Father.                                       

 

Weeks 7 and 8

The weeks are flying by, especially during the busy Christmas season, but for us, it really started to feel like Christmas with the arrival of two packages from our families, both on the same day.

Upon opening them, and realizing what they contained, we REALLY started to feel like Christmas.  Our children and grandchildren had gotten together and made a paper Christmas tree to put on our wall.  Each child, grandchild and great grandchild had hand made an ornament to put on the paper tree.  On the back of each ornament was a favorite scripture verse or thought or witness of the Savior's divinity and mission.  Reading each one took us some time, but what precious time it was.  We will never throw away this tree and these ornaments.  The thought crossed our minds that our children and grand children are the ornaments of our lives.  This is what is meant by "joy and rejoicing in our posterity" as promised in the temple. Here's the result:

We had already put together a small tree which was very nice, but not as deeply meaningful to us as the paper tree made by our families.  The pictures show before, after, and how we made Christmas ornaments out of Lindt chocolate balls.  I also had to make the star out of a candle holder since we couldn't find a small enough star meant as a tree topper.

On November 29th we had to go the the office of French Immigration and Integration (OFII) to get physical checkups and stickers in our passports giving us permission to be in France.  Due to several bureaucratic errors, however, including spelling Janet's last name "Summer" we have to go back again tomorrow (December 10th).  We hope we don't have to wait for a couple of hours again, but we were promised we would have first priority for our 10;30 am appointment.  We'll see!  We found the pictures in the medical waiting area rather interesting.  They all were promoting getting tested for sexually transmitted diseases.  The posters all say "Je suis decider, je fais le test" which means "I've decided to get tested".

We finally had a preparation day free enough to go to Paris.  Fortunately, we managed to go when there were no riots by the "gilets jaunes" or "yellow vests" as they're called.  We had a nice quiet visit to the Notre Dame Cathedral, although we were still surprised at how many tourists there were, probably because of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.  We loved the miniature village and manger scene set up in the cathedral.  We enjoyed a nice crepe meal in the Latin Quarter, but headed home early because of the cold rain falling.

Wayne has been busy practicing with and playing piano for the Christmas programs put on by the young sister missionaries at the temple visitor center.  The programs run on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays for the three weeks before Christmas.  It's been hard to find time to practice his piano accompaniment and then get together with the singers.  Janet fell in love with the beautiful creche and Christmas tree in the visitor center.  We also finally got to see the finished manger scene on the temple grounds.

We, like you, have been following news about the riots in Paris and other parts of France, but we live in a small, tranquil, out of the way community, Le Chesnay.  We have friends who live and work in Paris, and we pray for their safety.  Likewise, we pray daily for your safety and for the blessings of this season to be upon you.  May your Christmas be filled with the love and peace that Christ's life and atonement brings to those who earnestly strive to follow Him by living His teachings.

Week 6 in France

This has been a busy week, so we haven't taken many pictures. The week started on Sunday when Wayne was asked to play the organ in church.  We got there an hour early so he could practice, especially on the pedals. That evening we had a senior missionary couple get-together to welcome a new missionary couple and the new second counselor in the temple presidency.                     

Monday was especially frustrating.  We had to stay in our apartment waiting for the technician to come and install our WiFi.  He spent over an hour looking for the optical fiber connection, but couldn't find it.  Here's the sign at our apartment building entrance plainly stating that our building has been connected by Orange, the French WiFi company, for the optical fiber network!  Oh well! Maybe next week.

Wednesday evening we had our first guests in our apartment: from left to right: the two sister missionaries, a young friend of the church and her mother.  Janet fixed a wonderful four course French meal starting with a salad bar, then some tasty home-made beef stew, then a French baguette with a nice selection of French cheeses, and, after a brief discussion, we send dessert home with them because it was getting late.  The dessert consisted of Costco chocolate chip cookies. Yum!

On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, the senior couple missionaries got together for a pie fest.  We skipped all that turkey and stuffing and such and went straight for the good stuff!  Janet made a delicious cherry pie with lots of help from Wayne.  We learned that sour pie cherries are called "Griotes" and that whipping cream is not called "Creme Fraiche".  We tried whipping the Creme Fraiche without success only to find out that we were trying to whip sour cream!  Whipping cream is called "Creme Fleurette".  After whipping it, it's called "Creme Chantilly".  Ah, the things you learn by hard experience!!

                               

This week the workers started to set up the"Creche" or manger on the temple grounds, much to Janet's delight.  This is the only decoration the temple will have; no lights like at temple square in  Salt Lake City.  I told Janet that it would be better to wait until after it was finished to send a picture, but she wanted to show you the progress NOW! 

This afternoon the senior couple temple missionaries were invited to a real Thanksgiving dinner at the home of the Paris Ward bishop, Bishop Hall.  There were 20 people there with an amazing assortment of gourmet Thanksgiving foods: everything from turkey to mashed potatoes to gravy to fruit salad to baked vegetables to French baguettes to a wide assortment of pies. What a wonderful evening it was!  The picture on the right shows Bishop Hall with three of his 6 children.

Time is flying by.  We are so busy at the temple that the days seem like minutes.  We miss our families, but we were able to stay up until midnight on Thursday after our pie fest and "Messenger"with 5 of our children. We tried but were unable to reach Andy and Jane, our Taiwanese children. We have so much to be grateful for, but above all, we are grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to live for us and die for us so that we might repent and return to our Father in Heaven.