Weeks 27 & 28 in France

Just after sending our last blog on April 15th, while reading scriptures on Janet's iPad, we got a pop-up notice of a fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.  We turned on the TV and watched in horror as the fire raged out of control and destroyed the roof of the cathedral.  We, with all of France, and with people around the world, mourned the loss of such a significant part of French culture and the Catholic Church.  Contributions have poured in and the French government has vowed to restore it in 5 years even better than it was.  We hope it will be so.  We were grateful to have been able to visit it in March when Claudia and Ed came to visit us.

Last Sunday was Easter, and we had a sweet, spiritual sacrament meeting.  Talks all centered on Christ's atonement and resurrection, as did the three choir numbers that Wayne accompanied: "I Stand All Amazed", "There Is a Green Hill Far Away", and "Jesus, Once of Humble Birth".  Our choir director found some wonderful arrangements of these three hymns that challenged Wayne's piano skills, but it's nice to have a good reason to practice!  One of the senior couples we serve with at the temple left a chocolate Easter rabbit in Janet's locker.  We are just barely finishing our Christmas chocolate!

Last Monday we were offered a ride to Costco with the new Temple Visitor Center directors, the Bourroux's.  That explains why Costco is in the background of Janet's picture of a beautiful blossoming tree.  The beautiful pink flower was a volunteer growing right beside the Parly 2 shopping mall we live by.

  
















This past Tuesday we had the joy of being together with another senior missionary couple we met just over a year ago as we were still planning on serving in southern France.  They accompanied a group of youth from the Toulouse Stake coming to the temple to do baptisms for their ancestors.  He is serving as the Branch President in Tarbes, France, near the Pyrenees mountains.  The other picture shows us eating the wonderful mini-cantalope we can buy here.  They are so sweet and tasty.

  The following day, Wednesday, April 16, we had invited the sister missionaries over for a steak dinner.  Janet decided to invite the Poussard's and another senior couple, the Woolstenhulme's from Montauban, France.  We had a delightful dinner and spiritual discussion around our little dinner table.

We were at the Parly 2 mall this past week and wandered into a knick-knack shop that sells all kinds of cute things for decorating or for gifts.  We had to get this cable hanging display celebrating "The Little Prince" along with some little magnetic hearts.  At the mall they had set up a wonderful display of animated jungle animals for kids to enjoy.

Most of our time, in spite of what you might think based on our blog pictures, is spent serving in the temple.  We thoroughly enjoy sharing our love of Jesus Christ with all who come.  It is such a blessing to be able to administer the ordinances of the temple which, in turn, so richly bless the lives of those who receive them. Many speak to us of the spirit of peace they feel as they come to the temple. The temple is truly the House of the Lord. 

Weeks 25 & 26 in France

Spring continues to spread all around us as witnessed by these beautiful trees and flowers we walk by on our way to the temple every day.

 


After three and a half months of waiting, we finally got our Cartes de Sejour (residency permits) for the coming year.  To get them cost 572 Euros and three trips to the local sub-prefecture in Saint Germain-en-Laye, a 45 minute bus ride and walk from our apartment.  We got there an hour before the office opened, and there were already 7 people in line.  By the time the office opened, there were over 50 people in line.  You can see my head (with hat), standing a little ways back in the picture.

Saint Germain-en-Laye is the birthplace of my favorite composer, Claude Debussy.  We had to stop and take a picture beside a statue honoring him.

On the way back, we just missed the bus, so we had to wait a half hour in the early morning cold.  We found a little French cafe, and treated ourselves to hot chocolate and French bread with butter.  Yum.














The temple was closed on Saturday, April 6th, for General Conference, so a member of the temple presidency, Pierre Lazeras, invited the temple senior missionary couples to take a guided tour of a corner of Paris.  He is a retired physician and amateur historian, so he was a wonderful tour guide.  We visited a series of victory arches on the east side of Paris, and then visited the Museum of Science and Technology.  Here a some of the pictures we took.

                                                        In the train on the way to Paris.

We had to get pictures of our wives standing beside the famous clock and suitcase statues in front of Gare St. Lazare.

 

                    A fun thing they do at construction sites in Paris is cover
the construction sites with fun pictures like this one showing musicians at the bottom and a man carrying a suitcase climbing stairs.













We took lots of pictures at the museum, but we'll bore you with only a few we thought interesting.

 

 

The last two pictures are of the plaster model of the Statue of Liberty, and a one-sixteenth bronze model of the Statue of Liberty.  The one in the U.S., as you all should know, is a gift from France to celebrate the 100th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence.

After visiting the museum, we stopped for a quick lunch at a seafood sandwich store.  Little did we know that we would be eating while a garbage truck was creeping up the street towards us making loud noises and bad smells.

We consoled ourselves with a delicious pastry from a nearby bakery that is the oldest pastry shop in Paris.  The pain au chocolate was the best we've had so far in France.

On the way home, we encountered several problems.  Because of Yellow Vest demonstrations, the "C" RER train was shut down at the station we needed. So we took a metro south to Chatillon, thinking we could catch the T6 tram back to Le Chesnay.  But the T6 tram only goes to Chatillon/Montrouge, so we had to catch a bus.  But because of construction, the bus stop had been moved.  We finally found it, when we noticed the "86" on the back of a  green street sign.  In the picture, Brian Pitcher and Wayne are trying to figure out when the next bus will come.  After taking that bus, we had to once again walk around major construction to find the T6 station that would take us as far as Viroflay Rive Gauche.  From there we had to take the U bus, which goes to Parly 2 near were we live, but because we needed to go with the Pitcher's to pick up 2 patio chairs and a small table we bought from them, we had to get off the U bus and walk for 20 minutes to their apartment.  Then, carrying the chairs and table, we had to walk another 20 minutes to our apartment.  Needless to say, we were exhausted.  Despite being so tired, we stayed up late to watch the Saturday sessions of General Conference, which went from 6 pm to 8 pm and from 10 pm to midnight our time.  Thankfully, we could sleep in on Sunday.

We thoroughly enjoyed conference, and have already started re-watching the talks.  The themes we noticed, of course, were the temple, repentance, and keeping on the covenant path.  Elder Holland's talk covered on of Wayne's pet peeves: the incredible noise level while he plays Sacrament Meeting preludes.

The Monday after Sunday's sessions, we went for a wonderful 2 hour bike ride around the Grand Bassin of the Versailles grounds.  Here are two of the pictures we took:

Last Saturday, April 13th, we had a farewell gathering for two senior couples going home.  The Pitcher's (who were our trainers) and the Piepgrass's are the last two original senior missionaries.  They began serving their 23 month missions right after the Paris Temple was dedicated on May 21, 2017.  We will sorely miss them.  One of the miracles of serving on a mission is how you grow to love the people you serve as well as the people you serve with.

We will always treasure the time we served together with Brian and Cindy Pitcher, who are returning to their home in Sterling, Utah, not far from Logan.  Serving in the Temple continues to lift our spirits daily.  We try to see all who come to the temple as our Savior, Jesus Christ, sees them.  Thinking of how precious each soul is in His sight helps us perform our responsibilities carefully, not casually, as Sister Becky Craven taught in her conference talk. We thank the Lord every day for this opportunity to serve Him at the Paris Temple.

                                 

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.