Weeks 13 and 14 in France AND Italy!

With the Paris Temple closing for 5 weeks for some minor interior work, we had an open week which we spent mostly getting ready to go to help with the Rome Temple open house.  Janet bought me an early birthday present to keep me from getting my head sunburned, and to help me look more French and debonair!  Here I am with my Christmas coat and birthday hat. I suppose I look more French, but I don't think I look debonair!











After shopping for my birthday hat, we went for a walk in Le Chesnay to explore parts of the town we hadn't seen before.  We came across a little church which had some wonderful stained glass and a Creche.

My last project in our apartment before leaving for Rome was installing the bidet on our toilet.  I had to order some brass barbed tubing connectors to join the two different hoses.  One hose came with the bidet, but had US threads.  I bought another hose with French metric threads, then cut and spliced both hoses together with hose clamps to be able to connect to the French water fitting.  Ta-dah!  Or, as they say in France, "Voila"





During this open week, we were finally able to take a nice long walk in the Versailles gardens which are just down the street from us.  This fountain wasn't operating at the time, but was beautiful nonetheless.  After our walk, we joined the other missionary couples to celebrate Elder Kirkham's birthday.  You can see the wonderful display of food we were served.

On Thursday, January 10th, we flew to Rome.  As we came around the final street, I took two pictures of the temple from the moving van.  They came out very nice.

We took some pictures at dusk which we thought also showed the beauty of the temple.  I took the picture of the Christus in the visitor center by turning around 180 degrees from the picture of the temple.  Notice that the Christus is surrounded by statues of the 12 apostles. We noticed that Judas Iscariot had been replaced by Paul.

The first week of the temple open house was for specially invited guests: mostly local dignitaries from the government, along with people involved in construction, architecture, art, local media, and representatives of other religions.  We also had guests from the church in Denmark where the original Christus statue is located, who wanted to see how this copy was displayed.  We heard they were very impressed.  Janet mostly served by helping guests put on shoe coverings before taking the tour through the temple.  The first picture shows three local people she served with: Brother and Sister Parisi, and Stella Amadio. Wayne mostly helped welcome incoming car traffic, but he also got to play the organ in the temple while visitors were going through the temple.  The second picture shows Wayne working hard in the parking area (ha ha).

Since we are staying at an Airbnb about 2 miles south of the temple, we bought a month bus pass and walk and ride the bus each day to go to the temple.  We have found the area to be very pedestrian unfriendly.  The temple is right across a highway from a major shopping mall called "Porta di Roma", and the only way to get to the temple from the most frequent bus stop is to go through the mall.  After going through the mall, we still have to walk another 8 minutes to the temple.  Sometimes we are lucky, and are able to catch the bus that goes directly to the temple, but not often.  The first picture shows Wayne walking around the mall with the temple in the background, and the second picture shows Wayne eating some wonderful BBQ ribs in the mall at the "Old Wild West" restaurant.  During this first week, we've eaten out quite a bit, but have now started cooking our own meals more.  We discovered an underground supermarket just around the corner from where we live.  By buying just a few groceries at a time, we manage to carry things home in bags, just like the local people.

We were able to spend an afternoon in downtown Rome this past week, and after visiting the Colosseum, we ate at a very nice restaurant not far from the train station called Termini.  The last picture is of a church we walked past on the way to the Colosseum.

 

Today is Sunday, January 20th, and we had a most memorable Sacrament Meeting this morning.  We got there early, and after setting up chairs, Wayne was asked to play the piano prelude and accompany the hymns.  About 5 minutes before the meeting was to start, in walked Elder Stevenson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles with his wife, two sons, and their families.  Needless to say, I played the rest of the prelude in absolute quiet. During his remarks, he mentioned how reverent everyone was listening to the nice, soft prelude music.  He must surely have known he was the reason for the reverence, not my prelude. He talked about his Italy connections.  He has Italian ancestors, and an Italian daughter-in-law.  He also talked about adversity in our lives, and quoted Lehi's counsel to his son, Jacob: "...thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain." (2 Nephi 2:2).  We, of course, thought of the difficulties we experienced when we weren't able to serve our last mission, and in preparing to serve this mission. As Janet listened to Elder Stevenson's words, she felt, as he said, that the greatest thing we do in this life is to prepare to return to live with our Heavenly Father.  This is possible only because of the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We were thrilled to hear Elder Stevenson's solemn witness of the living Christ.  Janet had met Elder Stevenson at the door of the temple yesterday, and as she shook his hand again today, he remembered her, and said, "We meet again, Sister Sumner".  Janet felt impressed to remember that the Lord knows each of us by name.

Weeks 11 & 12 in France

Happy New Year everyone.  2019 seemed to us to have come so quickly.  Yes, we stayed up until midnight watching the live TV broadcast of the New Year celebration on the Champs Elysees centered on the Arc de Triomphe.  It was really amazing, and much more interesting than watching a ball drop at Times Square in NYC.  And yes, we started the new year with a kiss (sorry, no photo provided). 



The day after Christmas we took an hour long train ride to the east side of Paris and met for lunch with Yolande Sumner, my deceased brother David's wife, her father, Michel, and her brother, Jacques.  It had been 10 years since we had gotten together with Yolande, and we had a wonderful visit.  Actually, Janet and Yolande visited in English while I visited with Michel and Jacques in French.  They are all healthy and keeping active.  Yolande's dad is 84 but doesn't look or act it. 




The Saturday before New Year's we took a bus and tram to Ikea on our date looking for salt and pepper shakers. (At our ages, it's funny what passes for a romantic date!) We happened to see the missing pieces for the stove and oven in our kitchen.  I raised the oven up off the floor to just under the stove top and installed a drawer under the oven, the way it should have been done in the first place.  I love using tools!








On New Year's Eve Tori Tahiata, a friend we serve in the temple with, invited us to Paris where she lives. She showed us around Sacre Coeur, the French National Cathedral, and Montmartre, the center of the artist community in Paris.  We were amazed at how many tourists were there, even in the middle of winter.  We climbed all the stairs in both directions, which would make Janet's former physical therapists proud.  After a wonderful Chinese buffet dinner, we said goodbye and took the train home. Trains and buses around Paris are free from 5 pm New Year's Eve until noon on New Year's Day. 

 

 

While all the statues and stained glass windows were beautiful, we especially liked the manger scene.











We still enjoyed the many Christmas decorations as we wandered.  The white manger scene was actually inside a large plastic ball, which is why you can see rain drops on front of it.

While visiting Paris, Tori took us to a wonderful sheet music store near the St. Lazare train station.  I managed to spend only 30 Euros while Janet and Tori impatiently waited.  I was surprised at how inexpensive piano sheet music was. 








At church last Sunday we were asked to write down the highlights or headlines of the past year and then write down how we intend to improve our lives spiritually in the coming year.  We were surprised when we were asked to put our list in a self addressed envelope which would then later be mailed to us.  2018 was, for us, a year of ups and downs.  That we are able to serve at the Paris France Temple is a miracle.  In the coming year, we plan to continue learning our temple responsibilities and study the New Testament regularly.  But most importantly, we plan to become more faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.  As we do so, our love for each other and our friends and families will grow.  Our prayers for each of you is that you will also follow the path of happiness and peace that our Savior offers.  Happy New Year

Weeks 9 and 10 in France

I have been looking without success for an under cabinet paper towel rack since coming to France.  I finally decided to make my own with some scrap wood and the few tools I have.  Here is the result:                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I had also been looking for some small simple shelves for our bathroom and for piano music.  We had the opportunity to go to Ikea with another missionary couple who have a car, and I found a shelf which had a large bottom and a narrow top.  I bought it and separated the two halves to make both shelves I wanted:

The bottom half for my music shelf beside the piano

The shelf at Ikea

Making Christmas gifts for the other senior couples..

top half for our formerly shelf-less bathroom.

      Such a clever husband Janet married!!                                                                                                   

                                                                                   I had the wonderful privilege of playing the piano for 7 of the 9 Christmas programs put on by the young sister missionaries who serve at the Paris France Temple Visitor Center.  It was a sweet experience for me to help them share their testimonies of Jesus Christ through music.  Their performances of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" and "The Prayer" were especially beautiful.

                                       

The sister missionaries also sang at the Le Chesnay Ward Christmas dinner, were we sat with, from left to right, our Bishop, our temple 1st counselor and his wife, President and Sister Lazeras, and another senior couple, Sister and  Elder Pitcher.  The Pitcher's have been so very kind as they trained Janet and I regarding our duties serving in the temple. 

Janet made two batches of English Toffee which turned out really well.  She did it without the benefit of all the right ingredients (corn syrup is nearly impossible to find), and without a candy thermometer.  She had to go strictly by color.  The first batch was a little under cooked, but the second batch turned out perfectly.

In the days before Christmas, we did a little shopping, first at Printemps in Le Chesnay, then at Galleries Lafayette in Paris.  The first two pictures are of two beautifully flower decorated trees at Printemps and the next eight pictures were taken on the way to and in Galleries Lafayette.

 

The view of the Opera building and the Eiffel Tower from the top of Galleries Lafayette.

An organ grinder in front of the animated windows.

The sorting hat in the Lego Department of Galleries Lafayette.

Christmas morning we opened our presents.  Janet got a new pair of dress slacks, and I got a new light weight jacket. Most of our gifts from the other senior couples were chocolate, so we have a three month supply now.  We also received a raspberry potpourri and a decorative Christmas tree.

                         

On Christmas day we got together with the other senior couples serving at the temple or visitor center for a nice brunch.  We sat around the table telling stories of our most memorable Christmases.

Brother and Sister Grasser are from Germany, and volunteer to serve at the temple for 6 months each year.

The beautifully set table done by Brother and Sister Darguence

Sister Darguence's beautiful and tasty Buche de Noel

Filling our plates buffet style in the guest home kitchen.

Sister LeSueur is one of the coordinators at the temple.

Sister Piepgrasse, a native French temple missionary.

Elder Sumner cooking bacon and scrambled eggs without burning either!!!

We visited with each of our children and their families on Christmas Day via Facebook Messenger, and found, much to our delight, that they carry on some of our favorite Christmas traditions.  This last picture shows their most recent re-enactment of Christ's birth as found in Matthew 2 and Luke 2.

                                            It is our hope that all who read this find time to remember and ponder the real reason for this Christmas season: the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We testify that He is the Son of God and that His atonement is what makes it possible for us to find our way back to our Heavenly Father.