Chop Chop

Sunday, August 16, 2015

We had a great evening last night.  We participated in our first ever chop chop.  As you are reading this I am sure you are asking what in  blue blazes is that.  In our Branch we have a number of African Friends of the Church.  Most of these are from Nigeria.  This week during one of our lessons one of our Nigerian members asked us and the younger missionaries over for supper for what she called a chop chop.

As it turns out a chop chop is a Nigerian meal with friends.  We walked to her apartment.  She and another of our Friends had prepared a meal that included chicken, beef, a yam dough called poundo iyan and dish made with ground melon seeds, peppers, palm oil, and spinach.  They had bought the special ingredients in Paris at an African store.  

We sat around a table and we got a portion of each food item on our plates.  Before we began we each washed our hands in a bowl of water.  We had no utensils but ate with our fingers by taking the dough, flattening it and scooping the melon seeds with it.  The melon seeds and chicken were spiced somewhat.  We ate the meat with our hands, as well.  It was a great meal and tasted good.  

While we ate we talked and visited.  There was Nigerian Christian music playing in the background.  The younger missionaries brought some drinks and we brought homemade cookies.  We finished off the evening by us giving a spiritual message.  It was a very pleasant time.  We ate well, laughed and shared stories.

Another first happened this week.  We finalised the turn over of the couple's apartment in Nancy back to the owner.  This apartment had been empty since the beginning of the year.  It was our base whenever we had business to tend to in Nancy.  With assistance from the Relief Society president and the Nancy Zone Leaders we were able to empty the apartment out by using some of the items in other missionary apartments and by giving some things away to ward members who were in need.  

Once the apartment was empty there was cleaning to do.  We also had to go through what is called an "état des lieux" which literally means a state of the place.  It is a detailed inspection with an inspector.  He goes through the entire apartment to assess any damages or anything that may be missing.  This was not a problem but was somewhat time consuming.  It was interesting, though.

Since we were in Nancy we decided to do some apartment checks ourselves.  We inspected 5 missionary apartments in Luxembourg, Mulhouse, Belfort and Épinal.  This is always a great time to connect with the younger missionaries.  We brought each missionary team a macaron treat.  These are tasty little pastry goodies.  We were also able to bring supplies that they needed because they were lacking or because they simply needed replacing.

The apartments were all good.  The missionaries were great.  We were excited to meet Elder Kendrick in Mulhouse.  He is Jolene and Norm Goslings grandson from our home ward in Lethbridge.  He is doing wonderful there and loving his mission.  

Elder Kendrick on Splits with Elder Johnson, one of the Zone Leaders from Strasbourg

Elder Koanua and Elder Rollins in Belfort

Elder Edmunds in Epinal

Elder Adams on splits with our District Leader Elder Ericsson from Saskatoon

Our Elders having a fun moment.  They always love to put funny photo's on our Ipad.

We are very fortunate to work with such great young men and women.  They are always great examples of faith, obedience and diligence to us.  We see this at our district meetings, at our zone meetings and at our apartment checks.  We are blessed and grateful for our associations with these young people.

Mulhouse Center.  We took a stroll just around 8:30 pm after finishing the apartment checks here.  We loved it.

Crocheted Dyed Doilies wrapped around a tree in Mulhouse.  Facinating.

Mulhouse - beautiful city

Mulhouse - All of this is a mural on the side of a building.  AMAZING!

Love this.  Typical French airing out the bedding in Belfort near the Elders apartment.

Epinal view as we were crossing the canal

A fascinating game we want to make.  We saw it in a store window.  They were playing this game in Paris in the Roman Arena we saw.

This week we also said goodbye to my brother, Darrell on Monday in Paris.  He flies home tomorrow.  We spent the morning with him on Monday by going on a river cruise on the Seine, which winds through lots of historic Paris.  Then we had lunch and headed back to Charleville.  We had a wonderful time.  How lucky we were to have been able to spend time with him.

Tuesday was our district meeting.  We had another great lesson and another great meal.  We had pasta, salad, cake and drinks.  This was another great example of the valiant young missionaries that we get to work with.  

We filled out the week with teaching visits and doing some preparations for our upcoming Couples Conference.

Today at church we had 19 people.  We met a new Friend of the Church who was there with her 14 year old son.  They both were amazing.  We got along great and they really seemed to enjoy our meetings.  How awesome!

Well that's all we have for this week.  May the Lord bless all of you!

Au revoir de la France
Lyndi-lou and Eddie too