Weeks 51-55 in France

Yes, we are still alive and well in France. October has flown by, and we have been busier than ever. We got together with most of the American missionaries on September 30th to see Downton Abby the Movie, then had dinner at the de l'Arte Italian restaurant at the Parly 2 mall.





On Saturday, October 5th we were going to take a tour of Paris with President Lazeras, our temple 1st councilor, who is quite a history buff.  However, Wayne was asked, at the last minute, to accompany a special musical number at the baptism of Timothee Robin, our bishop's son.  The picture shows the brunch after the baptism, which is always a nice social affair in France.

Getting ready to move

The nice big apartment we have been staying at was going to be closed, so we were asked to move to an apartment closer to the temple.  It's nice being close, but the apartment is somewhat smaller.  We're still working on getting everything fit in.  Here are some pictures of the beginning of our packing and of our new apartment

Living room/dining room/office/enclosed porch

The bathroom is nice, but small.  The first two weeks, however, there was no shower curtain!

This picture on the right shows how 4 different doors all work together to block each other.  If the bathroom door or either of the two closet doors is open, you can't get in or out of the bedroom or the hall to the living room and kitchen.  Who designs these places, anyway??

 The kitchen is another joke.  Some call it a galley kitchen.  I call it a fanny kitchen because if two or more people try to work in it, their fannies get in each other's way.

The "office corner"is really just the hall leading to the dining and living room areas.  To keep it open, the chair has to be tucked in under the desk.

I suppose that's enough complaining for one blog, though.  We really like being closer to the temple.  In fact, we're right next to the temple as you can see in this view from our closed in porch.

For our date night on Saturday, October 19th, we went to eat at an American restaurant called "Le New York".  The food was great and the service was faster than any French restaurant we've been to.  The portion sizes were truly American,and we took home enough food for another whole meal, something that never happens at French restaurants.

The restaurant is right next to the Notre Dame Cathedral of Le Chesnay.  Since the restaurant didn't open until 7:30, which is typical in France, we had time to visit, for the first time, this beautiful church.  Here are two pictures of it's many stained glass windows.

Yesterday, on November 2nd, our temple presidency was released and a new presidency took over.  As assistant temple recorder, in September I had been asked to put together a farewell fireside by Brother Ridet, the temple recorder.  After considerable thought, I decided to order three beautiful large canvas prints of the Paris Temple to give to the outgoing presidency.  I tried to order them from Robert A. Boyd, a professional photographer who specializes in selling pictures of LDS temples, only to find out that his company only ships to the US and Canada.  I sent him an email explaining our situation, and he agreed to ship three prints to France, and even agreed to pay the shipping cost.  When the prints arrived in France, however, they were held up in customs for lack of an invoice.  This happened only two weeks before the scheduled fireside on October 20th.  Brother Ridet worked with Robert and the customs office to have them released upon payment of a 42 Euro import duty.  A local member who often comes to the temple took me to a local store that sold pre-made frames, and we found 4 identical frames that were just the right size.  We needed 4 because Robert decided to ship, at his own expense, 4 pictures in case of possible damage.  He did not know that I wished I had ordered 4 after I learned that a former member of the original temple presidency would also be attending the farewell.  I was grateful for Robert's inspiration and generosity.  The fireside on October 20th was a wonderful and joyful gathering.  The outgoing presidency did not know what we were planning, and it came to them as quite a surprise.  Here are some pictures of that evening:

Wayne framing the canvas prints of the Paris Temple

Setting up the guest house lunch room

Our temple presidency and their wives

Janet presenting flowers to the temple matron

The temple presidency and their wives with the temple pictures.  From left to right: Lionel and Sister Bertrand, who were part of the original temple presidency; 1st counselor Pierre and  Josie Lazeras; President Gerard and Annie Giraud-Carrier, and 2nd counselor President and Sister Bousseau.

A group photo of those who, after a fine pot luck dinner, stayed clear to the end!

On Monday, October 28th, we went to visit a wonderful theme park called France Miniature with Dennis and Pam Baird, who live in the apartment right above us.  We had a great time, and managed in just a few hours to visit over 100 wonderfully detailed miniature models of some of France's most beautiful historical structures.  Here a a few of the dozens of pictures we took:

This map of the park shows that it is laid out in the shape of France.  The models are placed in approximately their correct locations in France.

The chateau Chambord

A roman era coliseum

Notre-Dame de Paris

A side view of Notre-Dame de Paris showing the now missing spire.

Two of the fun Halloween performers.

We had a delicious lunch featuring food from different regions of France.

Finally, yesterday, on Saturday, November 2nd, we had Sisters Tulieva and McComber over for lunch.  It's always a delight to hear their testimonies of the restored gospel and of missionary work from the young missionaries:

Except for Wayne's brief cold last week, we have been enjoying exceptional health while serving in France.  We had a concern 6 weeks ago when Janet woke up with double vision, but after extensive testing, it was determined that she had NOT had another stroke, and that, in fact, she was in excellent health.  In reading about her problem on the internet, she found that one of the side effects of taking a statin was muscle weakness, often starting with the eyes.  She cut her dosage in half, and within 2 days her eyes began improving.  Within a week of stopping taking it altogether, her vision was back to normal.  We even took a 2 hour bike ride through the Versailles Chateau Park together.

We both feel that the Lord answered our prayers and the priesthood blessing Wayne gave her, that we might be able to continue to serve at the Paris Temple.  It's hard to find words to express the peace and joy we feel there as we serve the Lord and His children.