The Old and theYoung

Sunday, January 25

What a week we have had.  We accomplished a great deal.  We went from old to young.  We started the week with a funeral for a lady who passed away just shy of her hundredth birthday.  It was the first funeral that I officiated at as the Branch President.  We had a nice service which included a biography, a poem, a musical number, a spiritual thought and prayers.  We had treats afterward.  It was nice; a former member came and a member we don't see often enough.  Claire was very pleased with the way her mother's life was celebrated.

Agnes Guillaume - 1915-2015 - She was baptised at 83 years old

On the missionary front we finished going through the ward list for the first go around.  We phoned all the numbers that we had and we made a spreadsheet showing what we found out.  We did have some positive results.  A lady asked us to pick her up for church next week and a man asked if we could get back to him at a later date.  We will continue to follow up with our Branch members to see if there is any other information that they have that could help us.

At our district meeting this week we had two additional members as the Zone Leaders joined us.  We had a great lesson about our heroes.  Lynn made Fettucini Alfredo for lunch and the other missionaries accompanied it by bringing salad, potatoes, (Elder Smith from Idaho of course brought those), drinks and cookies for dessert.  After our meeting we inspected missionary apartments in St. Quentin.  The Elders' apartment was two storeys but there was a basement that was like a cave.  They had fixed it up as a cool little place to hang out.  They called it "The Cave".

Apparently it is pretty cool with the candles lit and the lights off.  Great place for a Spook Alley!

Elder Smith and Elder Karl in the Cave. (It's kind of like a bunker)

On Thursday we had a Presidency meeting and we did some planning for our Branch.  Of course on Thursday evening we went to our Folk dancing group.  We had a lot of fun, as always.  One of the members had a birthday so she brought goodies for us afterwards.  Another member told us about a fortified village nearby that we are going to have to go see.

Laurent Biver on the flute.  Although this is an old photo from Isabelle Biver, we always have live music for our Folk Dance Class.  Most of these guys have played for us.  So fun!

Friday we were back at the château to attend a puppet show that was put on.  The place was packed and the show was amazing.  There were lots of kids there, of course.  They loved the show as did we.  The show was a combination of colourful lights, puppets and geometry.  In Charleville-Mézières there is an International Marionnette Festival every two year.  This happens to be the year they are going to hold it and the play we saw will be part of the Festival.

Thanks to Isabelle Biver for these 4 photo's of the Production "Petit Poincarré) Eun-Yong (Korea) and Yuraté (Lithuania). It was just wonderful.

Saturday was kind of a catch up day.  We did some shopping and finished up our spreadsheet and did some preparation for church.  I also made some phone calls for church.

Our apartment comes with a garage that has an electric garage door opener but it does not have a remote for it.  I have been looking for one and finally found the right one on a sight that is the French equivalent to kijiji.  It is in Reims and so we plan to go there for missionary business and at the same time pick up my opener.

We wished we had a garage door opener this week.  It snowed on Saturday.  It was the first real snowfall that we have had this year.  We probably had two whole inches - shades of Canada.  Anyway our car was covered with snow and I broke the broom clearing it off.  Fortunately I found another broomstick in the basement of our building.

Cute little "Masonge Bleue" (Blue titmouse)  in the snow.  (Thanks again to Isabelle - it was in their backyard)

We continue to feel the spirit as we fulfill our missionary duties.  We are blessed in all that we do.  We are so fortunate to be here and to work with such loyal and faithful members.  We look forward to what lays ahead and for the good that we can do here in Charleville-Mézières.

Well that's all for this week.

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