Weeks 36 to 38 in France

So much is happening so fast that it's hard for us to keep up with our blogs.  Since our last blog we've been invited to spend a weekend in Rouen while the Tall Ship Festival was happening, and been invited to dinner at the lovely country home of a French couple we serve with.  We attended a farewell dinner for the Jones family who has lived in Paris for 30 years.  He served as our English translator in church, and she was the music coordinator who assigned me some Sundays to play the organ.  We attended the Chateau of Versailles night fountain, music, and fireworks show. The biggest change, however, has been with my responsibilities at the temple.  I have been called to serve as the assistant temple recorder, replacing another missionary who is returning home next week.  In this new calling, I spend much more time at the temple, often going as early as 6 a.m., and sometimes staying as late as 10 p.m. Janet often walks to and from the temple alone.

Our blog continues to be mostly about our activities during our preparation day (P-day) on Mondays, but we hope you don't get the impression we are here on vacation.  We serve at the temple every day except Sunday and Monday, when the temple is closed.

This is the tourist season, so we see many Americans as well as people from many other countries coming to attend the temple.  Last week I had a delightful visit with Craig Jessup, former conductor of the Tabernacle Choir.  While we meet people from all over the U.S., it's the people from our own neighborhood that we have the most fun visiting with.  All 5 of our children and their families spent a week in Oregon helping our youngest daughter, Rebecca, move there for her work as a photographer.  We exchanged many "Marco Polo" app videos so we could follow their adventures.  We miss them all a lot.

As assistant temple recorder, I, along with the temple recorder, am responsible for insuring that all of the sacred ordinances performed in the temple, such as baptisms for deceased ancestors and  marriages for time and eternity, are properly recorded.  I also help people who come without their temple recommends by looking up their valid recommends on the church computer system.  I observe ordinances to insure they are done correctly, and help resolve problems when they arise.  Janet now has most of the ordinances memorized in French, so she spends a lot of time serving as an ordinance worker as well as a greeter in the garden room where people first come when entering the temple.  She also spends time helping direct people to where they're going inside the temple, and often serves in the beautiful Celestial Room.

We have two more couples finishing their missions next week, which means that after only 9 months, we are now the longest serving senior  missionary couple at the temple. Time is truly flying by.

I will continue putting captions on pictures instead of trying to comment on them in the body of the text because it's so much easier. Here goes:

Spires of the Rouen Cathedral

Base of the Rouen Cathedral

Rouen Cathedral serving a a projection screen for an amazing show

Projection  made the cathedral look like a Mayan ruin

Stained glass window of Joan of Arc.  We enjoyed the re-enactments of her life in the museum there.

Statue of Joan of Arc being burned alive at the stake.  She was tried by English Catholic theologians and found guilty of heresy, but 25 years later was found innocent by French Catholic theologians, and re-instated as a saint.

Catherine and Bruno Barnjak were our hosts in Rouen.  Catherine was 6 months old when I taught and baptised her parents as a young missionary in 1969 in St. Nazare.

Tourists in Rouen

Rouen is filled with very old houses, some dating from the 1200's.

Tall ships at night

Tall ship "Tolkien" in daylight.  The crowds were big and the lines were long, so we didn't wait to actually go aboard.

The Statue of Liberty was actually loaded and shipped to the U.S. from Rouen. This is a commemorative copy.

Jody and Randall Jones are moving back to the U.S. after 30 years in France!

Some of the goodies served at the Jones farewell dinner.  Janet's chocolate chip cookies disappeared fast.

We had a wonderful dinner and family home evening with the Pelous family at their country home.

Costumed actor at the Versailles night water fireworks show.

We are able to watch the Versailles fireworks each Saturday evening from our apartment balcony for free!

Well, that about rounds it up for this time.  We are in great health and high spirits here, and wish the same for all of you.  I guess I should mention that I chipped a tooth when I tripped and fell on my chin playing basketball last week, but the dentist is making it right.  Bye for now.