Weeks 17 & 18 in Italy and France

We returned home to Le Chesnay, France on Sunday, February 10th.  We will always treasure the memories of serving for one month at the Rome Italy Temple open house.  One of our sweetest memories was getting together with my sister Claudia's daughter and granddaughter, Betsy and Nora.  Betsy came to visit the Rome Temple open house with several of her friends and their daughters from Saudi Arabia, where they are currently stationed for their husband's employment.




We got to meet many wonderful people while serving there.  Wayne had the pleasure of serving with a former member of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, Mike Hendriksen, who is an excellent organist and pianist.  He, like Wayne, can play most of the hymns by ear in different keys.  He always envies people he meets who have perfect pitch as Mike does!






This next picture is rather deceptive.  It shows Wayne serving as a parking usher with a big smile on a nice, sunny day.  What it doesn't show is Wayne serving in the pouring rain under an umbrella with the wind blowing trying to untangle traffic jams!  Nor does it show Janet standing out in the pouring rain and wind under an umbrella waving a green paddle to get the cars zooming past her to slow down.








We usually served for 3 two hour shifts each day, changing tasks from shift to shift. We usually had a 2 hour break to rest or eat in the middle of the afternoon.  One day we walked over to the Porta di Roma mall to eat, but the only eating places open at that time of day were mostly pizza places, which we had grown tired of.  So we broke down and decided to eat at McDonalds.  While it's not our favorite eating place, like it is for our great grandson, Jeramiah, we thought the food was pretty good.  The bacon cheese French fries were delicious.  We had never seen that in the U.S.

The group of us from the Paris Temple rented a large van to travel together from the Rome Temple to the Fiumicino Airport, which is on the Mediterranean coast west of Rome. It was quite the adventure weaving in and out of traffic at high rates of speed, but we made it safely, and the flight back to Paris Orly was uneventful.  When we arrived at the Paris Temple, our temple president's wife, Annie Giraud-Carrier had prepared meals for each of the couples to take back to their apartments.  Here is Wayne enjoying the delicious soup, quiche, and cookies.  It felt good to be back in our own apartment, and sleep in our own bed.








There was, however, a major disappointment upon returning.  The elevator had been taken out of service, but NOT because of any mechanical problem.  According to the sign posted on the elevator door, the elevator was shut down because there was no telephone in the elevator.  We have been using the elevator without a phone for the three months we've been here!  You'd think that they would order the things needed to fix it BEFORE shutting the elevator down, but no.  The notice does not indicate how long the elevator will be out of service, but only that the parts have been ordered. This made it necessary to carry our two pieces of luggage, one of which weighted 53 pounds, up the narrow, spiral stairwell.  While Wayne went up to open our apartment on the second floor, our temple president, who is older than Wayne, carried both pieces of luggage up the stairs for us!  The picture of Wayne carrying our shopping cart up the stairs doesn't show how much lighter it was than our luggage!

The highlight of this past week, at least according to Wayne, was the purchase of two new bicycles. Janet's is a very nice ELECTRIC bike, while Wayne's is a very nice regular bike.  He hopes he can keep up with Janet.  Riding bikes is still a challenge for Janet, but it is good therapy for improving her balance and surroundings awareness.  As of today, Sunday, February 17th, we've gone riding three afternoons, and she is doing very well.  Saturday, however, when we rode on the Palace of Versailles grounds, it was amazingly crowded, so we ended up walking our bikes back most of the way home.  The weather has been very spring-like in the afternoons since we got back from Rome, and the local French people were out enjoying the weather en masse.

We've had beautiful sunsets in the evenings.  The temple gardeners are busy planting spring flowers, even though it's still mid-February. Thanks for the French hat, Kim.

In closing, it was an amazing opportunity and experience to help so many of God's children feel the Lord's spirit at the Rome Temple open house.  We are, however, so very grateful to be back to serving in the Paris Temple, serving God's children on both sides of the veil: those living and those who have lived on this Earth. To feel daily the presence of our Savior Jesus Christ is a great blessing indeed.  Here are a few final pictures of the Rome Temple:

May God bless each of you as you daily serve Him by serving, in so many ways, His children.