Wheeling Around Paris

Sunday, May 3, 2015

First of all let us say that our great friends Tom and Maurene received their mission call to the Scotland/Ireland Mission.  They will be working with the Young Single Adults there and will report to the mission home in late September.  We are thrilled for them and look forward to being close to the same time zone.  They are 1 hour different from us.

Last Sunday we headed to Paris in the afternoon.  We had a Mission Conference Monday morning.  When we got to Paris we went to our hotel.  We met up with other Missionary Couples and went out for dinner at a Thai restaurant.

The next day we went to the Versailles Chapel for the conference.  It was a great meeting.  We were taught by Elders Nielson and Kearon of the 70's.  Our missionaries will soon be getting I-pads to help their missionary work.  As you can imagine there is a good side and a bad side to using I-pads.  This is what the conference focus was.  We learned how useful I-pads can be in missionary work.  We received materials on how to use them constructively and avoid pitfalls.  It was a very powerful conference.  We learned lots and felt the spirit lots.  We, along with the other senior couples, helped with the lunch. 

Of course we had Lynn's mom, Ann, with us.  She has trouble walking too far so we had rented a wheel chair to get around.  This worked pretty slick.  This was her first visit to Paris.  We wanted her to see as much as possible.  If she didn't behave we could always wheel her to a hill and let go but we didn't have to resort to that.  After the conference we took the train to our hotel which was right by the train station.  After supper we went to see the Eiffel Tower by night all lit up.  It was really quite beautiful.

In the morning we went to some of our favourite sites - Les Arènes de Lutèce and the Musée d'Orsay.  We had to have a kébab for lunch so Ann could taste one.  Actually I think we did this mostly so Ed could have one.  He is a kébab gourmand. 

 A cool playground at the Roman Arenas.  Playing where Romans played.

 We had an opportunity to visit the Musée Cluny, a medieval museum that also contained Roman baths.  This was quite interesting.  

After our visit at the Musée Cluny in the morning we want to St. Merry at noon.  We had Elder Brown returning home to Utah after a successful mission and we wanted to say goodbye.  We met him and several other missionaries.  He was the first missionary going home after serving in Charleville after 8 or 9 years.  He did an amazing job and he made a big difference in our branch.  Another reason for meeting up with Elder Brown is because he had our apartment keys.  The Elders use our apartment for writing their e-mails home each P-Day (Preparation Day).  

Missionary work has helped our branch.  In April we had 16 or 17 people at church each week.  Today we had 20.  When you think that in January we had some weeks when there were only 4 or 5 people we have come a long way.  We have two investigators who now have baptism dates.  We have visitors and investigators with us every week.

Sorry for the aside - back to Paris.  After saying goodbye to Elder Brown we went to lunch at a nice little French restaurant.  We had a lovely three course meal for only 12 euros each.  The atmosphere and waiters were all very French.  We did some shopping, well Ed didn't but Lynn and her mom did.  We took the TGV train home after supper.  This was Ann's first time on a TGV train.  She quite enjoyed it.

 This was taken on Boulevard St. Germain where some of Lynn's ancestors lived.

 A medieval bath tub in the Musée Cluny.

 This where the Roman baths were in Paris, also housed at the Musée Cluny. And Ann in her new hat and scarf.  It was a little cool in Paris.

When we got back to Charleville Ann became quite sick and had to lay low for a day or two.  Lynn and Ed, though, continued with their missionary duties including teaching, meetings and Home Teaching.  On Saturday evening we all went to Reims to inspect an apartment.  This is only an hour away.  Ed had to do some fixing while Lynn checked out the place.  We went to Ikea to buy some stuff for the apartments.  After supper we headed back to Charleville.

While we were studying on Saturday morning we heard a band outside.  We thought something must be going on at the Place Ducale.  We vowed to go there after we were done.  Ed washed the car and picked up some things at the store while Lynn did some cleaning at home.  Ed filled out the monthly car report.  We had a 3:00 appointment so on the way we stopped at the Place.

It was amazing.  They were having a "Brotherhood Festival".  Some of the brotherhoods were quite interesting.  They related to food or drink.  There was a cheese producers brotherhood for example.  We were able to taste some samples and buy some products which we shared with our appointment.

 This is one way to see a sanglier, at a booth not in the wild.

Wood fired cooking at a restaurant in Reims.  Needless to say the food was delicious.

What a great week - learned lots, did lots, had fun.

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