Travel Teach and Serve

Sunday, July 12, 2015

What a great week, again.  We did some service work, some teaching and, of course, some travel.  Let' start with the travel.

On Tuesday we went to our District meeting as usual.  We had some inside information that our Louisiana missionary, Sister King, was making Jambalaya for the main dish for our meal.  On the way to our meeting we made up a song while driving that went like this.

"Jambalaya, crawfish pie, filet gumbo

Sister King y'alls going to be our Caramio

Crawfish toastin', Gator roastin' with papaya

We just can't wait to stuff our face with Jambalaya"

Not only was our lesson amazing but so was the jambalaya. 

Elder Dayley and Sœur King and the famous Jambalaya.

The above dessert pizza was so yummy as well.  It was made by a member who owns a pizzeria in St. Quentin.  It has crème frèche, nutella, banana and pear.  Wow! Our taste buds were well satiated today.

We love these guys so much!!!

After our meeting we took our transfer pictures.  This was Elder Dayley's 16th transfer picture and so below is his dying picture.  We are sure going to miss him.  He is a stellar missionary and has been a great part of our Charleville-Mézières team.  We wish him all the best.

Great District!

After all was said and done at our District Meeting we headed over to the Elders' apartment for a painting session.  There were six of us all together.  We worked the rest of the day on the apartment.  At the end of the day we had painted the bathroom, kitchen and various walls here and there.  We stayed overnight.  Ed stayed with the Elders and Lynn stayed with the sisters.  It all went great and looks a whole lot better.  This was part of the service mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Apparently Elder Dayley is still hungry.

Look at everyone hard at work.  No wonder we got so much done.

What a happy painter.  Keep smiling Elder Rivas.  It makes it easier.

 In St. Quentin they have made a beach miles from the ocean.  They trucked in sand and made a dune about 8 feet high.  They have a wading pool for kids.  They have a beach volleyball court.  They have sand sculptures, palm trees and lounge chairs for sunning.  It is awesome and really gives you the feel that you are on the beach.  They are going to do something similar in Charleville and we are looking forward to it.

We took all of the young missionaries out for supper at a nearby kebab restaurant.  It was great just like kebabs always are.

The food was good and the company was delightful.  Yum, yum!

We left St. Quentin 9:00 the following morning.  When we got home we had more service to do.  We helped clean up an apartment of one of our new members.  Ed fixed a tap, some cupboard doors and plans to build some shelves for her.  The Relief Society helped organise.  This service project was our way of showing this new member how much we love her.

Our teaching is going well.  We are teaching both French speakers and English speakers.  We have quite a few friends of the church who are from Nigeria and who speak English.  They are great people and love the gospel.  And of course we have French speaking friends of the church as well.  This week we taught lessons on the Book of Mormon, the Plan of Salvation, the Restoration and on the Temple.  Everyone is very enthusiastic about what they are learning.

Lynn, Joy and Beauty.  These girls are full of life.

Lynn and Joy

On Wednesday night we had an activity on Family History.  Our Branch Family History consultant led this.  She did a great job.

On Friday Ed made a quick trip to Paris.  He had to meet with President Babin to renew his temple recommend.  He lost his old one.  He took the train down at 5:41 a.m. and was back by 2:45.  He enjoyed it and spent a couple of hours in Paris exploring the neighbourhood around the train station.  He found a beautiful park.

Today at church we had 21 people including 5 friends.  Ed went and picked up a member who lives 72 kilometres away.  We had a confirmation which was very special - spiritual and uplifting.  We had a great talk on Prayer and a great lesson on the temple.  We are trying to translate talks so that our new English speakers can share in the lesson and feel the power of the Holy Ghost, too.

A Happy Birthday to our granddaughter Elle who turned 5 on Friday.  Whoo Hoo!!  We love you Elle.

This week felt very good.  We accomplished a lot and enjoyed it as well.

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