Camelot and the Big Pig

Saturday, January 31, 2015 

We have had some good results and not so good results this week.

I found out yesterday that some proposals for our Branch were accepted by the Stake Presidency.  We wanted to change our meeting times to accommodate those travelling and also allow for a  1/2 hour meeting from 9:00-9:30 for Branch Council, music appreciation, missionary work, and VT co-ordination.  We also wanted to add some Sunday School lessons to our schedule as they have not been part of our schedule to date.  We got the nod on both of these. 

However, we had a lady lined up to start coming back to church this week but she has changed her mind.  But at least we have made a connection with her and she may yet show up.  We also have been told that our small chapel might become even smaller if our numbers don't increase.  We have the ground floor of an apartment building building.  The proposal is to cut our church space in two and turn the other half back into an apartment or move us to a smaller location that might be available to us only on Sunday.  We are hoping that some additional missionaries will help out.  After contacting our Mission President he is working on this.  Please help our Branch by praying for us.   

On Monday we saw the biggest sanglier in the world that we are calling Woinic.  That is because he is a huge statue of a wild boar that is at the entrance to the village/town of Woinic just as you come into the Ardennes Department of northern France where Charleville-Mézières is located.  Needless to say we had to stop and take a picture.  It is just as well because we were anticipating seeing a real sanglier when we were supposed to go Home Teaching to a member's home in Belgium this week.  However, we had to cancel because it was snowing too much and she lives in an area where the road is not ploughed regularly.  She sees sangliers quite regularly when taking the one hour trip to church.  I think when we re-schedule this will be our best bet for a real sanglier sighting.

This is what happens when you have 2 goofballs trying to take a selfie with a giant pig in the background.

I bet you are wondering about the title I have posted this week.  Well I have explained the "big pig" part but not the "Camelot" part.  On Tuesday we went to our regular District Meeting;

Transfers are coming up this week so here we are for the last time together.  Next week we'll have 3 different missionaries. We just really love these guys.  What a great bunch of missionaries.  Nice sweater Elder Karl!  In case you're wondering the numbers signify the number of transfers you've been in the mission.  There are approximately 16 transfers in the life of a missionary serving for two years.  

....afterward we journeyed to Compiegne for an apartment inspection with two young elders.  They had pre-arranged with us to take them to Pierrefonds to visit a castle.  They were able to do this because they switched their prep day.  When we got to Pierrefonds we were truly amazed.  Before us stood the most beautiful castle we have yet seen nestled in a quaint little French village. 

How would you like to wake up to this every morning?  Nice eh? I am especially happy with the way this turned out.  We turned on exactly the right street for it.

The castle looked strangely familiar and we soon found out why.  This is the castle where the TV show "Merlin" is filmed.  We were able to take pictures of places in the castle which were also featured on the show.  What a cool feeling it was to walk the same halls as Merlin and the future King Arthur did in the show.  There was a mausoleum in the lower part where many French Kings and Nobles are entombed. Napoleon bought the Castle in 1810 for 3,000 francs.  It was in ruins.  Napoleon III commissioned the Castle to be re-done to it's original form in 1850.

Us with Elders Tidwell and Roth

The Drawbridge

Looking down through the grates that could have been used to pour hot oil onto unsuspecting attackers at the front drawbridge.

A map of the second floor of the castle (1er etage) The first floor is called the "rez des chausée"

A shot of Merlin & King Arthur from a scene in the show.  THE END! (of the pictures on this post!)

On Wednesday we went Home Teaching to the Bivers where we once again, enjoyed  a very typical French meal - soup, tarte aux oignons, vegetable medley, bread, cheese and dessert.  We brought the soup and dessert. We had a great visit and a great meal.

Our folk dance night was also great.  We are meeting some good friends there and they ask us questions about our church which is cool.  As an added bonus we are learning French folk dances accompanied by live music.  This week there were four musicians.  They play the flute, accordion and bag pipes.  I am even learning to not step on Lynn's toes as much.

We continue to keep very busy with our missionary work, particularly with Branch business.  We are attempting to make contact with members who have not shown up for a while.  We are met with moderate success in this area but any progress is great.

We are so fortunate to have modern technology.  It allows us to keep in touch with our family via FaceTime or Skype.  As a result, we have included our kids and grandkids in our mission through the internet and by telephone.  We love hearing from them and being able to share what we are doing with them.

Well, that's all we have for this week.

Au revoir de la France.

Lyndi-lou and Eddie, too.