Weeks 23 & 24 in France

It's hard for us to believe that we have served one-fourth of our mission.  Yet we still experience "firsts".  Here are our "firsts" for the past two weeks: We rode our bicycles to serve in the temple.  We were invited to dinner with a French senior couple.  We had another senior couple come to our apartment for dinner.  We went to the Chateau of Versailles.  We saw pink and white tree flowers.  We walked to a nearby park in Le Chesnay where we saw the return of the green parrots.  Wayne accompanied a vocal solo "Be Still My Soul" in church.  Wayne played piano for the Le Chesnay Ward choir in preparation for the Easter program. We taught a temple preparation lesson together at church.  We served a late Friday night shift at the temple.  Janet walked home alone when Wayne was asked to serve later than usual.  We went to an English speaking movie (The Green Book).  Other than those few things, the past two weeks have been pretty routine. ;-)

Here are a few pictures Janet has taken of the flowers and blossoms surrounding us:

The last picture shows the blossoms on the trees at the temple grounds in front of the Christus statue. Spring time reminds us of the Savior's resurrection and the promise of new life.

Here are a few pictures of our dinner hosts and guests:

Dinner with Elder and Sister Kirkham

Dinner at Elder and Sister Deladerriere's apartment

Dinner with Elders Hayes and Elder Vincenzi

We neglected to take pictures of dinner with the sister missionaries and then with the new young Elder missionaries.  Janet has really gotten into preparing wonderful meals. So far, no weight gains!

We finally made it to the Chateau of Versailles, but it was really crowded with Asian tourists who had just arrived on several buses.  We took dozens of pictures, but thought we'd share only three, all of which are well known:  the Hall of Mirrors, Louis the XIV. and Napoleon.

 

Such luxury was undoubtedly one of the causes of the French Revolution.


For our date yesterday we went for a walk in the nearby woods behind the Mignot Hospital and then ate at the Hippopotamus Restaurant nearby.  It was a beautiful sunshiny warm spring afternoon:

can you see the two green parrots?

Notice Janet's rabbit ears on her shadow in the last picture?  Wonder where those came from???

This last picture was taken without Wayne's knowledge or consent. I suppose this was revenge for the rabbit ears in the previous picture?  Without a car, we shop the same way the local French people do, using our little red shopping caddy.

The Paris Temple will be closed this coming Saturday for General Conference.  We are looking forward to hearing inspiring messages from our prophet, the apostles, and other church leaders.  We testify that they are men of God.