Weeks 19 & 20 in France

It's nice to return to our regular schedules serving in the Paris Temple.  We get up, eat, go serve in the temple, go home, eat, and go to bed.  It reminds us of the movie "Groundhog Day".  We hope we are getting better each day at what we do, as he did in that movie.  One thing that is changing each day, for sure, is the weather.  February was unusually mild according to our French friends.  Like these two daffodils, flowers are blossoming everywhere.  March, however, has come in like a lion, with cold wind and rain showers.  We went walking one day to explore the nearby woods to see if the paths were suitable for bike riding.  There are some steep places, but Janet's electric bike will make short work of them. We can't wait to try them out.  This picture shows Wayne looking at a map of the paths in the woods, know as the "Foret Dominiale de Fausses-Reposes".

This past week has been a "missionary" week for us.  On Wednesday we invited the local young Elders for a steak dinner.  They brought a friend of the church with them, and we had a nice discussion after dinner.  The Elders challenged us to invite three families to come to the special Le Chesnay Ward sacrament meeting on March 24th, which has, as its theme, "How the Gospel of Jesus Christ Strengthens Families". We can't believe we forgot to take pictures of them, but here's a picture of Janet holding Sue Alldredge's famous cinnamon roll cake she baked for the missionaries. Sue Alldredge was the mission nurse we served with in Kiribati.

On Thursday, February 28th, we were asked to fill in for the new visitor center directors while they attended a meeting.  In the 2.5 hours we were there, we got to talk about the temple and our beliefs to several people.  One lady claimed she had no ancestors because they were all Catholic nuns.  Wayne assured her that she did indeed have ancestors, and that someday she would meet them.  It brought her to tears.

On Friday, we had the sister missionaries over for a lasagne dinner.  Despite having to improvise on some of the ingredients, Janet's lasagne was wonderful as usual.  After dinner we watched a video about Matthew chapters 6 and 7 called "Treasures in Heaven", and had a wonderful discussion about not judging and about making sure our treasures were not worldly things.  The senior sister enjoyed seeing our apartment because she lived here a year ago.  She told us it is much nicer now than it was when she lived here.

On our preparation day last Monday, February 25th, we finally made it to the Louvre.  We bought a "Friends of the Louvre" pass, so we can go as often as we want in the coming year.  We only need to go 4 times to break even, and we plan to go much more than that.  It's nice not to have to rush around trying to see everything in one visit, and we don't have to pay or wait in line to see the special exhibits.  We also get in for free or reduced rates at many other museums in Paris.  Here are a few of the many pictures Janet took on our 1st visit.  The picture on the top right desperately needs a caption.  We were thinking of something along the line, "I can't believe a forgot to get dressed".

  

We can honestly say we don't miss all the snow you are having back home.  Keep those shovels and snow blowers handy!  We love you and miss you all, but we love serving the Lord and his children at the Paris Temple.  For the first time last Saturday, Janet was asked to serve as second assistant at an endowment session.  It was extra special because I was the session leader, so we got to serve together for a change.