Noel en France

Sunday, December 28, 2014

What a great week.  We had the pleasure of celebrating the birth of the Saviour all week long.  As missionaries we gave out many stories about Elder Anderson when he was a Mission President in France.  It can be found in the Dec 2008 Ensign, "Room at the Inn".  This is a very touching but spiritual story that leaves a lump in your throat.  We hope that anyone who reads it will get a spiritual boost from it.  For anyone interested in reading the story it is found here:
  https://www.lds.org/ensign/2008/12/room-in-the-inn?lang=eng   
We love the fact that while performing our missionary work we are able to visit places and people as we fulfil our responsibilities.  

On Tuesday we had our first District Meeting.  We had to travel to St. Quentin, about a two hour drive.  We had a lesson on the Saviour from our District Leader and then we all had lunch together.  We have 4 Elders and 2 sister missionaries in our district, 8 of us altogether.  While we were in St. Quentin I took the opportunity to buy Lynn's last Christmas present with her help, of course.  For all you husbands this is a surefire way of getting what your wife wants.  I highly recommend it.  We also bought some Chestnuts (surprisingly they tasted like baked potatoes) and an awesome loaf of French bread that was baked in a wood fired oven at the local Christmas Market. 

Chestnuts Roasted on the open fire!  Yummy!

When we got home we found that a wallet that I had sent to a Young Single Adult member from Lille had been returned to us for the second time.  He had left it in Charleville-Mézières two weeks before during an activity.  The next day I decided to take it to him  so he could have it for Christmas - a 3 hour drive.  Lynn had to stay home because we were expecting a heating repairman to fix the heater at the church and she had to let him in.  So I cruised the French countryside by my lonesome listening to the radio.  On the way back I came through Belgium.  

On Christmas Eve we wrapped gifts and left our socks out for Santa to fill. 

Christmas was great.  We went for a walk.  It was a beautiful day, blue sky and about 5 degrees.  We read the Christmas story together from the New Testament.  We had breakfast and then we opened our gifts.  All was great!  We prepared a great Christmas dinner - chicken (turkey is hard to do for two), Brussel sprouts, carrots turnips, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy. We went for another walk and to our surprise bakeries, florists, pharmacies and the fish market were open.  Of course we bought some great pastries and ate them on our walk!  We Skyped or phoned our family at home and had a wonderful visit with them all.

On Boxing Day we went to Nancy.  This was a bit of an adventure. The missionary couple that were there are finished their mission and will be heading back to Canada.  We went to pick up some supplies and tools for apartments we are responsible for.  On the way there we went through Belgium and Luxembourg. We had been asked to stop in Metz where I lived for three years as a child to purchase and deliver some mattresses and other supplies to the missionaries who live there.  We got to Ikea 30 minutes before opening time.  We took advantage of the time on our hands to find and visit the apartment where my family used to live and to visit my first school.  This was the school where  I played hooky from on the first two days of kindergarten.  When my Dad left me in the playground I turned around and went back home.  When my Mom looked out the window she was shocked to see me outside playing in the middle of the morning.  Such a thing would never happen at Lakeview.  How did I ever end up becoming an educator with such an auspicious start.

The PMQ's they lived in while Ed's dad served in the Military here in Metz, France from 1956-1959.    First they lived in an apartment in town.  We'll include a picture of that apartment in a later post.

The Arch we spent a long time trying to find.  When Ed and Darrell were little they would climb ono top of this and throw mud balls down on the people below as they passed.  A fun little memory for him!  Our Grandkids don't really need ideas on how not to behave!

Each day Eddie and Darrell would walk through this arch to school.  The PMQ's they lived in can be seen through the arch.

Ed and Darrell played in here too.

Now it's called Porte Bellecroix (We had a difficult time finding it.

Ed in front of his Elementary School in Metz

This Castle crossed the river.  Ed and Darrell, dressed up as knights, had their picture taken the other side when they were little.

Anyway when we did go back to Ikea we discovered that it wasn't open at all that day.  We continued to Nancy.  Our friends the Gionet's gave us a walking historical tour of downtown Nancy.  This included Stanislas Square, churches, the old city walls and gates and cute little neighbourhoods with the smallest of streets.  What an amazing city.  What a wonderful day.  Lynn is the official picture taker and editor.  She's including quite a few as it was hard to leave any out.

Just couldn't resist.  So beautiful.  Near Place Stanislas.

Ed and Elder Marc Gionet on a bench in Place Stanislas

Place Stanislas is one of the most impressive Squares we've seen so far!  The Art on the Buildings is Incredible!  This is the Opera House.

Going from Place Stanislas to the Old part of the City (Which is funny because it's all old.  But then we went to REALLY OLD)

The windows are typical Renaissance with the top third small and the larger on the bottom two thirds. 

Meaning the buildings were built in 1477

Notice all the windows!  Renaissance.

Amazing Cathedral.  The most stained glass windows I'd ever seen.  It was locked so we weren't able to go inside but I'm told it just sparkles!

Porte de la Craffe.  The city at one time was totally enclosed by multiple Gates.  This is so great I just had to include the bike.  I love it when I can get a bike in the picture.

Porte de la Craffe,  It was one of the gates but it was also used as a prison.  It was built in the 1300's.  Super cool.  Medieval, Gothic, Renaissance, Modern.... WOW!

Inside it was all decorated with these lighted flying creatures!  

Here's another one.

Hotel de Rennel.  I loved the door.

Another cool little street

Ok so maybe I shouldn't have included this one but I liked it.

They were 1/2 done sand blasting and the owners decided it was just too expensive so it's being left like this. 

Quite the contrast

Just to give you an idea of how big the doors of this Cathedral are!  Massive!

This building is known for it's architectural design.  The windows are amazing and the chimney in front it meant to look like like a flower.  Sorry I don't remember the name.

One of my favorites so far.  The oldest building in Nancy.  Built in 1100's.  The Tower.

Yes?  Hello?  Come on in for a little visit!

Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your Hair!

Isn't this just beautiful?

Shutters are everywhere.  I never tire of seeing wonderful houses.

Just walking down the street with Soeur Jeanette Gionet

That day we crossed six international borders going to Nancy and back.  It took us most of Saturday to unload and organise the stuff we brought back and now we will have to return to Metz to buy and deliver the mattresses.

We  thoroughly enjoyed our first Christmas in France.  We  wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year or as they say here Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année.

Au revoir de la France,
Lyndi-lou and Eddie too.

Rains, Trains and Sprains

 Sunday, December 21, 2014

First and foremost, Happy Birthday, Dustin!  It is our son's 33rd birthday today.  We hope he has a great day.

The weather here is interesting.  It rains quite a bit here.  The sky is often overcast and you don't dare go out without an umbrella.  We saw a rainbow yesterday morning but it was actually clear enough last night to see the stars and pick out some constellations.  I would not want to be a weather forecaster here in France.  We haven't seen any snow yet, though.

We have done a lot of travelling in the last two weeks, usually by car but we want to Paris this week by train.  Let's start with last week.

On Monday, December 8 we had to drive out to a little town called Le Chesne to pick something up from a member's house.  It was about 45 minutes away.  We bought a baguette there and were headed home when we saw a sign that said "Scenic Route" back to Charleville-Mézières," so we decided to take it.  It was a small little road through the forest.  As we were driving along we saw a sign that said, "Chapelle St. Roger, 0.5 km.".  We stopped and followed a trail on foot through the woods to the ruins of an old abbey that was amazing.  There was a small little chapel and a quaint little pool.  We also saw a beautiful golf course way out in the country which was a pleasant surprise.

Chapel St. Roger

                         

We had two sister missionaries stay with us overnight while they were making a train connection.  One was from Germany and one was from Argentina.  It was nice to have company.

We were excited to receive Christmas goodies from home.  Letters, pictures, homemade stockings, decorations.

Stockings and decorations made for us by Lise-Anne

On a different day we went to Reims to inspect a missionary apartment.  The apartment was impeccable and the missionaries were great.  While we were there we saw our first Roman ruins.  In the middle of the city we saw some arches that were part of a former aqueduct.  For being over 2000 years old they were very well preserved and were somewhat awe inspiring.

I had the opportunity to go to Lille last Saturday with my counsellor in the Branch Presidency.  We had a leadership meeting there.  We went a different way than when Lynn and I went so we saw some new country and some great little villages but we didn't see any sangliers.  When I picked up Laurent at his house I was surprised to find out that he lived in a little village about 30 minutes from us called L'Échelle that actually has a castle.  We actually had a chance to visit that castle when we went to L'Échelle yesterday to listen to Laurent and Isabelle and their choir sing in the old stone church in their village.  Treats were served afterwards in the Castle.  It was a very enjoyable event and everyone was so friendly.

L'Échelle

Cool Old Organ in the Church

Library in L'Échelle

Manger Scene in the Castle

This week we went to Paris on the train for 3 days - the TGV at 300 km/hr.  That is the way to travel.  We had Zone meetings with all the missionaries and we helped prepare a Christmas dinner for them.  It was a lot of fun and was very informative, educational and spiritual.  We had Elder & Sister Texeira, from the West European Area. 

  

We met with all of the other missionary couples and stayed with some good friends that we met at the MTC.  One morning I went for a run along the Seine River, enjoying the serenity and the scenery when I landed in a pothole and twisted my ankle.  I had to hobble home and haven't been running since.  I hope to be able to get out again this week.

The night before we were to go home we had a chance to walk up and down the "Champs Elysées" leading up to the Arc de Triomphe.  It was beautiful.  The avenue was all lit up with Christmas lights.  There were tons of booths selling everything during a Christmas Market.  We bought a kebab for supper.  It was a beautiful evening - 15 degrees.  Despite the warm weather there was a real feeling of the Christmas Spirit there.

We had a Christmas activity at church today.  We had a lunch as a Branch and then we had desserts later on and sang carols.  It was really nice.  There were 14 people there and we usually only have 7, so that was nice, too.

Laurent playing the bagpipes

We have been keeping very busy, which is why we haven't posted anything for 2 weeks.  We are continuing to visit less active members.  We have decided to visit a senior couple with some health issues just to give them some company.  We are sharing a Christmas story with various people we meet.  It is a cool story that actually happened in rural France when Neil A. Anderson was the Mission President here.  People are happy to take the booklet we share with them.  We also sent out 25 Christmas Cards from the Branch to various community members in Charleville-Mézières.

Of course, we continue to love what we are doing.  We are blessed to be in France and to be doing what we are doing.  Merry Christmas.  May you all be blessed with the spirit of Christmas.

Au revoir for now from La France,

Lyndi-lou and Eddie too.