Week 5 in France

This past week we were on the afternoon schedule, which gave us time in the mornings to go for walks, do some shopping, and study French together.  However, it also meant we walked home in the cold, dark evenings.  The other senior missionary couples either live much closer or in the temple on-site housing, and they think it a hardship for us to have to walk so far.  We, however, enjoy the time walking and talking together, and we enjoy the beautiful scenery and the many French families out walking and riding bikes.  Janet's phone counts her steps, and so she knows she gets her 10,000 steps each day walking back and forth to and from the temple.  She knows she takes many steps in the temple, too, but can't take her phone there to count them. Here's a picture of Janet walking towards the Versailles gate called St. Antoine's gate.                                                                         

Since it was taken in the dark, the image is a little fuzzy, but you can still see the light directly above the arch, which I like to think of as the Angel Moroni! The bright light in front of the arch is a bicyclist coming toward us.  You can see how well lighted the path is, so we aren't too worried about walking home in the dark.

 On Sundays we walk 5 minutes to the bus stop through the Parly 2 mall, take a bus for about 10 minutes, and then walk another 10 minutes to the chapel in Versailles.  We met this young couple while walking to church from the bus.  The chapel you see in the background is one of the first chapels to be built in France.  I remember going to a zone meeting here once as a young missionary 50 years ago! Now 2 wards meet there: the Versailles ward and the Le Chesnay ward.  We attend the latter, which starts at 2:00 pm, but starting in January, we will be meeting at 9:30 am.  No more sleeping in on Sunday mornings!  The next picture shows a beautiful autumn tree at Place Laboulaye where we get off the bus. It's getting to be winter coat time here.

The next four pictures show us on other walks and a sunset from our apartment balcony.  As you can see in the picture of us together, we finally found the tunnel under the busy highway.

 

One day as Janet was getting dressed, she pulled out a beautiful
scarf that Jane had given her.  It went well with the outfit she
planned to wear that day, but Wayne saw it and commented that
it was just the right size to cover the piano keyboard.  So he
needs to thank Jane for a beautiful piano cover! Sorry, Janet.

The next picture was taken outside of the Dessange Hair Salon. Janet got her first French haircut.  She is still suffering from sticker shock, but the cut was nice, and while they washed her hair before cutting it, she got to sit in a massage chair and get a back massage while getting her hair done.  It was nice, but pretty expensive. Next time, she might try a different place since there are so many to chose from.  She still will not consider letting Wayne cut her hair!  She learned her lesson in Tarawa during out first mission.

Christmas is in full swing at the Parly 2 mall.  Here are a few scenes we thought were picture worthy:

Notice that this nativity scene is missing the baby Jesus. That's because
in France they don't add him in until Christmas eve.  The next picture shows a close up of the same nativity.

Janet saw this Lindt chocolate shop and wandered in. The sales lady gave us free samples, and we ended up buying a bunch of chocolate to put under the Christmas tree for her.

We happened to wander past a store that sells telescopes, but I doubt if I'll find one of these under the tree for me.

As we are given additional responsibilities working in the temple, we realize even more how eternally significant the work we do there is for both the living and the dead. We believe that many of those who have passed out of this world welcome the opportunity to learn of Christ's sacrifice and atonement. We welcome people from many different countries, but all have a happy glow as they enter and leave the temple.  We hope and pray we can always contribute to that happiness and help them feel the love and peace our Savior Jesus Christ wants them to feel.  We hope you will also feel his love for you.

Week 4 in France

This past week we served at the Paris Temple on the morning shift.  That means we left our apartment at 7:45 am and got back around 3:00 pm.  We don't particularly like walking in the dark mornings, but it's nice to walk home on a sunny afternoon.  We enjoy our walks, especially when it's not raining and/or the wind is not blowing, which happened twice this week. Here's a picture of Wayne closer to the Versailles gate know as St. Antoine, which Janet took on our preparation day (also known as P-day) last Monday.

We had planned to walk into the Versailles gardens, but Janet wouldn't cross the busy highway over the barricades (duh), and by the time we got to a crosswalk, we were a long ways from the entrance, so we walked past the temple and had supper at the Bistro de la Place, where we ate our first lunch two summers ago while serving as tour guides at the Paris Temple open house.  Because we got there at 6:30 pm, we had to wait to order until 7:00 pm, which is when most restaurants open in France!  We've since learned that there's a tunnel under the highway on the other side from where we were. We'll use it next time.
Last Sunday we had a farewell get together at the temple president's home for Brother Bertrand, the second counselor in the temple presidency.  These three photos show all the temple missionary couples and the temple presidency:

 From left to right: Janet, Sister and Elder LeSueur, and Elder and Sister Pitcher.  Funny story: Elder LeSueur has a French name but is very much American.  When an American visitor spoke with him, seeing his name tag, he assumed he was French, and told him that he spoke excellent English, to which Elder LeSueur simply replied "thanks".






From left to right: Sister Giraud-Carrier, the temple matron, President Lazarus, First counselor, Sister Lazarus, Sister and 2nd Couselor Bertrand, and Elder Deladerriere.  Elder Deladerriere has quite the sense of humor, and has taken me (Wayne) under his wing.  He has been especially helpful in teaching me the things I need to learn to serve in the temple.

From left to right: Elder and Sister Deladerriere, Elder and Sister Piepgrass, and, standing, President Giraud-Carrier.  In the four short weeks we've worked together, we've come to know and love these dedicated people.  They have been so kind and patient with us as we learn our new responsibilities. They, like us, are giving their lives to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.  As we help temple patrons make sacred covenants for themselves or on behalf of deceased ancestors, we often feel the Lord's spirit very strongly.  The feelings of peace and love found in the temple are truly wonderful.  We count it a choice blessing to be called to serve here.



Last Tuesday we received our first package from home.  We had Zach and Angelica send us a few things we couldn't live without like Janet's microwave egg poacher, the white shirt that she ordered but which didn't arrive until after we left, my pocketknife, some ultrasonic mosquito repellers, and the Hershey's Special Dark chocolate bars we forgot to take.  There's good chocolate here in France, but Hershey's Special Dark is still our favorite!  We could hardly believe it cost $53 to send this little box.

One morning we notice a huge flock of green birds that looked like parrots picking the fruit off of a Japanese apple tree growing right next to the temple.  As we walked by after taking a picture, they all flew over to the tree behind the Christus statue.  They were there again the next day, too.

Yesterday we went for a walk to find a hair salon we were told
would do a good job cutting Janet's hair.  On the way we walked
past a street market that was just closing.  We were tempted to
buy some couscous, but the vendor told me they were closed.

I had been looking for a small piece of thin wood to mount my piano sustain pedal on to keep the pedal from sliding around under my foot.  A discarded wooden crate had just the piece of wood I was looking for and at just the right price.  A little dumpster diving didn't hurt my pride much.

We had been looking for a way to thank the workers who have been working on fixing the toilet in our apartment.  (It's still not entirely fixed.) We found these chocolate bars with the words "Thank You" written on them in white chocolate.  We were surprised they didn't say "Merci".

We are about to Messenger with Angelica and Jeramiah, so it's time to close this blog.  A la prochaine!

Weeks one, two, and three in France

Despite still not having our own internet, and thanks to the graciousness of our senior couple neighbors, the Woods, we'll post another blog about our first three weeks in France.

We were picked up at the airport by the Paris Temple recorder, Brother Ridet, who took us directly to the temple where we were greeted by President and Sister Giraud-Carrier.  Wayne's hearing aids had died near the end of the airplane flight, so before we could do much else, he had to dig out some fresh batteries.  We were set apart as temple ordinance workers by President Giraud-Carrier, and after some brief visiting, we were taken to our apartment.

Our apartment is wonderful, with lots of room and modern appliances.  We are 3 minutes by foot from the huge Parly 2 shopping center and 20 minutes by foot from the temple.  We get lots of exercise walking since we don't have a car.  In bad weather, the buses stop 300 feet from our apartment.  Public transportation is really good here and not too expensive.

On our way to the temple we walk right toward the
arched gate to the Versailles gardens near where
Marie-Antoinette lived.

 We often shop at the Hema store.  It's sort of like a really expensive All-A-Dollar store.

We were able to go to a wonderful park called France Miniature on our second preparation day.  The park has 116 one-thirtieth scale models of French heritage sites.  The detail of the models was incredible.

From left to right are Elder and Sister LeSueur, Janet, and Sister Piepgrass.  It was a cold cloudy day with only a few light sprinkles, but we really enjoyed it anyway.

This is a model of the Place de La Concorde, the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. The fountains have all the statues around them and the Arc de Triomphe has all the bas relief carvings in amazing detail.  Someone spent a lot of time making these models.









We wanted to take a picture in front of the Paris Temple Christus to match our picture in front of the Salt Lake visitor center Christus, so we had someone take our picture.  We wanted to show you us in our "work clothes" as we serve in the temple, but had to get special permission to take a picture in the visitor waiting room.  We don't leave the temple in our white clothes.  Here we are:

Here are a few pictures of our apartment:
Our bedroom                                                   

One shopping load from our handy

                                                                                   red shopping cart. Everyone in

                                                                             France has a shopping cart!

                                                                                                 

 One of the kitchen pantries with some of the foods we've purchased.

Our dining room/living room.

Our kitchen.  The washer and drier on the left work well, but the drier vents into the room!  To prevent moisture and heat buildup, the drier uses a cooling coil to cool the exit air and remove the moisture.  I have to empty the collected water every other load! We have yet to use the dishwasher next to the washer.  The stove top (dark appliance in the center) only works with ferromagnetic pots and pans.  The nice aluminum fry pan we bought doesn't heat up!

I couldn't live without a piano.  I bought it
white so we could donate it to the temple when
we leave two years from now.

Janet couldn't live without a nativity.  She found these pieces
which had to be purchased separately, but she managed to
put together a very complete set just like at home.
Christmas is already dominating most of the stores here.

It's getting late so we'll close for now.  May the Lord watch over you all.  We love feeling His spirit as we serve in the Paris Temple.

A New Calling

As most of you already know, Janet had a stroke on January 25th, 2018, the very day we were to leave for France.  About a month later, we were given a medical release and told we would have to wait 6 months before resubmitting mission papers.

We were disappointed but not discouraged because we know that our lives are always in the Lord's hands.  The Lord knew we needed that time for Janet's recovery.  Janet has worked very hard to regain the balance and coordination she would need to serve another mission.  Little did we know the blessing the Lord had reserved for us.

On August 31st we received a package in the mail.  When I told Janet our mission call had come, at first she didn't believe me because it had come so quickly.  We opened it together and read: Dear Elder and Sister Sumner,  You have been called to serve as temple missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  You have been called to serve in the Paris France temple for a period of 23 months! (exclamation point added)

We felt excited, worried, and humbled all at the same time.  Our call asked us to report to the Salt Lake Temple on February 12, 2019, which I found disappointing.  Janet, however, was glad we'd be able to spend one last Thanksgiving and Christmas with our families and have more time to work on her French.

Since the following Monday was Labor Day (on which we did the 5K Temple to Temple walk/run in Provo with our families) I couldn't call the church senior temple missionary office.  I wanted to let them know that we already had valid visas from the previous call to serve in the France Lyon Mission.  When I called Tuesday morning, I was answered by an answering machine, so I just left a message that we already had our visas.  Much to our amazement, we received a call back that very afternoon.  The call was from a childhood friend of mine, Darrel Danielson, who was then working in that department.  He asked if we would be willing to serve earlier,... much earlier!  He wanted to know if we could be ready to report to the Salt Lake Temple on October 8th!  Wow!  I was elated, but Janet was not.  But being the dutiful wife that she is, she agreed to go along!!!!  We had to scramble to get everything done and get packed, but we did it.

 

We spent three wonderfully spirit-filled days at the Salt Lake Temple being prepared for our new calling.  On Friday, October 12th, we boarded a plane and flew to Paris, arriving on Saturday, October 13th.

I'm writing this blog on Sunday, October 28th because we have been without wifi in our apartment, but are "borrowing" a wifi connection from another senior missionary couple.  We'll have more to say about our first two or three weeks in France and more pictures on our next blog.  By the way, we were an hour early for church today because we didn't know that France switched over to "winter time" as they call going off daylight savings time here.  I enjoyed playing the grand piano in the chapel at Versailles for an hour while Janet sat and listened.

Week MTC

Janet and I spent this past week, January 15th through January 19th, at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah.  Here we are standing before the large map posted in the main hall in front of the cafeteria.  It is traditional for missionaries to a picture taken of themselves pointing to the area where they will serve. My short arms couldn't quite reach up to France.

Ninety three couples arrived on Monday morning.  This picture was taken Tuesday morning as we waited to hear the announcement of the new First Presidency.  You can see that seniors are like everyone else when they have a minute: out come the cell phones. We were no exception. 

We were assigned to work in small groups called districts. From left to right are  Elder Van Leewuen, our morning instructor, Elder and Sister Purrington, who are going to serve as office missionaries in Fiji, and Elder and Sister Lee, who will serving as office missionaries in Hanoi, Viet Nam.

Sister Luke was our afternoon instructor.  The instructors were all much younger than us, but they had served missions and understood and knew the missionary instruction book, "Teach My Gospel" really well.  Their teaching was filled with the spirit and with love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We learned a lot and enjoyed their teaching.

We got to practice teaching another senior couple, Elder and Sister May, and they got to practice teaching us.  They are going to serve in Paraguay as records preservation missionaries. We got to know them well enough to realize that we have much in common and learned to love them in the short time we had together.

Teaching building, T4, had wonderful wall size murals at both ends of the building on each floor. Here Elder Sumner is visiting with a young Joseph Smith ;-).  The realism of all of the pictures and the fact that they were back-lit on semi transparent screens made them almost seem 3-D.

Our MTC experience was very different from the one we had three and one half years ago, (Except that we still gained at 5 pounds eating the good food). We got to know other senior couples better, but the spirit was still the same. We learned that we need to be bold in sharing our testimonies of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  We were reminded that while in His service, the Lord will bless us with the knowledge and skill we need to serve Him.

Next Monday and Tuesday we have two more days of training specifically for our calling as self-reliance missionaries at church headquarters in Salt Lake City, and then fly to Lyon via Amsterdam on Thursday, January 25th.  We can hardly wait!!