Weeks 33 to 35 in France and London

Yes, we ARE still alive and well.  The past 4 weeks have flown by and we were out of town when our last blog was due.  We decided to wait until now because we've had so much to tell about in the past 2 weeks as well as in the 2 weeks before that.  This blog will mostly describe our trip to London.  We had to get special permission from the Temple Department in Salt Lake City to leave our own temple district.  We spent 3 days at the London temple, and 4 days in London.  We had a very negative experience trying to rent a car, so we decided to just go with taxis and public transportation, and it worked out very well for us.  I'll use picture captions to describe the pictures rather than trying to mix text with pictures.  Here goes:

Our favorite view of the London Temple

Flowers in front of the London Temple servant residence

Flowers around the pond

Walking around the temple grounds where we met a member of the temple presidency

Our first restaurant Monday evening: fish and chips, of course

Royal Albert Hall

Beefeater at the Tower of London.  He was great!

A bicycle parking lot!

A concert crowd we had to get through while going to Costco

Eating lunch beneath the Cutty Sark

The Diana Princess of Wales memorial fountain (it's actually a water sculpture).

Near the top of the Eye of London

We wandered into this passage under a train station where graffiti artists worked

wandering in Kensington Park, right next to Hyde Park

In front of the Naval Museum. Janet bought chocolate covered raisins.

In front of the Christus at the Hyde Park Chapel

Buildings near the Royal Albert Hall

Victoria Station

We happened to meet our neighbors from Ogden, Doug and Peggy Wheelwright at church Sunday.

Albert Memorial in Kensington Park across from the Royal Albert Hall

detail of the Albert Memorial

This is the Tower Bridge, NOT the London Bridge as many think.

sarcophagus in the Tower of London Chapel

eating  lunch by the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial children's playground

cool ice cream on a hot day

We had a wonderful visit aboard the Cutty Sark.

Another pic of us on the Eye of London

A collection of mast heads under the Cutty Sark

Enjoying actual Welch's grape jelly we bought in London on a PB&J. We couldn't carry-on the jelly, so I had to check an extra bag to get this back to France..  Expensive, but worth it!

We truly enjoyed our trip to London while the Paris Temple was closed for maintenance, but it's good to be back at work serving the Lord in His holy house.  We love you all, and love getting your Marco Polo video clips keeping us in touch with you.  Until next time, Au Revoir.

Weeks 31 & 32 in France

On Monday, May 13th, we were invited to visit a French couple who serve at the temple and who live in Chartres, France.  After having our train cancelled, we waited an hour for the next train and had a pleasant ride from Versailles to Chartres.  Brahim Zoubiri met us at the train station and took us to his lovely home in the countryside just outside of Chartres.  He and his wife served us a wonderful, typical 5 course French meal and showed us around his art studio.  He is a painter, and has exhibited his work in many European countries.  They then took us into Chartres and showed us around the amazing, world-famous Chartres Cathedral.  Needless to say, we took way more pictures than we should post, but here are a few of our favorites:

Dinner with the Zoubirir's

One of his paintings of the moon with clouds

The Zoubiri's post a new scripture on their mantel each week.

 

Annunciation to Mary by the angel Gabriel

Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth

Mary holding the crucified Christ's body

Dozens of scenes from the bible like these were used to teach the scriptures to the mostly illiterate populace
 
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Chartres Cathedral is famous for its amazing deep blue stained glass windows.  The most famous is the window know as the "Blue Mary" (far left).

  

The cathedral has beautiful formal gardens behind it.  There is also a very large wall painting on a nearby building, but no one we asked knew who it was a painting of.

Hashtag Chartres!!

We are continually amazed at the profusion of flowers everywhere we go.  They not only look beautiful, they smell wonderful, too.

 

Last Tuesday, May 21st, we were asked to substitute at the Visitor's Center.  While we were there, a family walked in, and we started to visit.  The father, Mr. Coucourde, told us his daughter, Jahiel, was a professional cellist.  I told them I played the piano, and wouldn't it be fun if we could do something together while they were here for 4 days.  Well, one thing led to another, and we were invited to play several numbers at the Friday evening presentation.  Jahiel sent me some music by email, and she and her parents came over to our apartment Wednesday and Thursday afternoon to practice.  Wayne was worried that he wouldn't have any time to practice, especially the difficult piece, "Meditation" by Thiel.  The practices were a little rough, but Wayne learned to follow her movements to stay together.  The evening of the performance was packed, and Wayne was still a bit nervous.  As we played together, the Holy Spirit filled the room, and the music added to the wonderful presentation by Elder Frogley, one of the visitor center missionaries.  Wayne felt truly blessed to be able to accompany Jahiel and felt the Lord helped him learn the music so quickly. It was an experience he will treasure always and never forget.  It was another "tender mercy" from the Lord.

Wayne and Jahiel rehearsing at our apartment

Wayne and Jahiel with her parents, the Coucourde's

We feel so blessed to be able to serve the Lord on our mission.  He strengthens and blesses us with love and peace each and every day as we serve in the temple.

P.S.  Happy French Mother's Day to mothers everywhere.  Thank God for mothers.

Mother's Day rose from church