Seventh Heaven

August 30, 2015 (We are finished our 7th transfer and we were in Heaven doing apartment checks this week)

This week was the last week of this transfer. (Our 7th)  At our district meeting we took our picture.  As you can see we had people with as little as 3 to 15 transfers.  Our District Leader Elder Ericson, who did a great job, was transferred to Brussels.  We will miss him.  He is a fellow Canadian from Saskatoon.  Elder Rivas was made our new District Leader.  He will be wonderful. 

After our instruction a fellow came to talk about the renos they are doing to our chapel which will result in us having 40% less space.  It will be a sad day for our Branch.

Elders Rivas, Adams, Parsons, Hogenson (Hoagie), McDonald, Ericson

Elder Ericson from Saskatoon

The Staircase in our Church Building.  It's an apartment building also.

On Wednesday we went out to the Dampts' house for Home Teaching.  It was nice.  We taught the lesson and then had lunch.  We got to try some Ardennes specialities.  We had Pâte des Ardennes.  This is a flaky pastry with meat inside that is served warm.  We also had Boudin Blanc de Rethel.  This is a white sausage made with pork and milk.  We also had Tarte au Sucre Ardennaise.  This was a cake with a butter and sugar topping.  I know it doesn't sounds very healthy but it was delicious and we had a nice visit with Paulette, Michel and their daughter, son in law and grand daughter.  What a great example this family is to us.

On Thursday we were on the road again.  We had apartments to check in St. Dié, Colmar and Strasbourg.  This is always an uplifting experience for us.  We love the young missionaries.  They are always obedient, diligent and faithful.  They are also models of service, always willing to help others. 

As we were leaving we got a call from St. Dié Elders (Cisneros and Long) asking if we would like to go for lunch with the missionaries and two members of their Branch.  We gladly accepted.  After our inspection we went to a Chinese restaurant for some great food and we met two new friends.  (Patricia and Rosemary) Bonus!

Between St. Dié and Colmar we had to stop at a roadside vineyard.  It was quite cool.  We were  in the Alsace wine making region.  We also stopped for a photo op at a beautiful little village named St. Hippolyte that looked like it came out of Switzerland.

Coolest, best tasting grapes ever!

The top picture shows all the vineyards in the field beneath this cool castle near Hippolyte, France.

St. Hippolyte, France

Because we had changed our schedule a bit to allow us to go out for lunch in St. Dié we got to Colmar a little early and we were able to look around a bit.  This is an area called La Petite Venise, hence the canals and the boats.

Colmar - Petite Venise

Colmar - Absolutely Beautiful City

Another one of Colmar.  Got the horses just as they were headed up the street toward us.

In Colmar we met with our good friend Elder Karl.  This may be the last time we see him as he goes home in 6 weeks.  We have known him since we went to our first District Meeting in St. Quentin.  He is a great missionary.  Because we were saying goodbye to him we took him and his companion out for a kebab for supper.  It was great.

Elder Karl from Pennsylvania, and Elder Schow from Tremonton, Utah, in COLMAR

We left Colmar and headed to Strasbourg.  After an hour of driving we got there and checked into our hotel.  At 8:00 p.m. we Skyped with a new missionary couple, the Purles's.  They are in Brest.  We hope to be a support for them any way we can.  They are also MLS missionaries like us.  He may serve as Branch President there as well.  We had a great Skype session.   

We couldn't resist taking this picture.  Look at the carving in the wood.

There is beautiful craving on this home in Strasbourg as well.

Elder Kaonohi and Rollins(from Belfor) were on exchanges with the Strasbourg Elders.  Elder Kendricks was on splits (from Mulhouse) with Elder Divas, the Zone Leader from Strasbourg.  Confusing but doable.

The next morning we went to the Elders' apartment where there was one one Strasbourg Elder and three non-Strasbourg Elder.  They were on exchanges.  Elder Kendrick was there.  His grandparents Norm and Jolene Gosling are in our home ward.  The apartment check went well.

Before heading home we went to a park and walked around town a bit.  Strasbourg is one of the prettiest cities in France.  You can certainly see the German influence here.  

On Saturday we had 2 lessons.  We love the opportunity to teach with the younger missionaries.  It is not unusual for lessons to go a little differently than planned.  Such was the case with one of our lessons.  It is testimony building as we receive thoughts and inspiration from the spirit during these lessons as we help others come unto Christ. 

Church was great today.  We had 21 people there.  The meetings were great.  Our High Councillor from  Lille was there.  We had a Branch meal afterward and had a good time with everyone.  A lot of bonding and friendshipping took place.  Next week we have a baptism and the individual is excited.  Ed will get to do his third baptism.

Ed made everyone happy today.  We ordered some material for our Branch and it came in.  We were able to give a Book of Mormon in Yoruba (an African language) to our new convert.  We ordered a triple combination for the Dampts' grandson's baptism,   children's versions of the New Testament and Old Testament for our one and only Primary child as well as English copies of Gospel Principles for our anglophone Friends.

After our meetings the missionaries and Laurent Biver came over.  Laurent Skyped his family in England.  They are over there attending the temple and spending the weekend in Oxford at their son's and brother's place.  We all had a song practice for a hymn we are going to sing in sacrament meeting.  Then we had supper.  It was a great time.  Lynn said it was almost like we had a social life again.

We are grateful for the support from our family and friends.  We have had good news and sad news this week from both.  We hope and pray that everyone will receive the blessings their hearts desire. 

That's all we have for this week.  May God be with you 'til we write again.

Au revoir de la France.

Lyndi-lou and Eddie, too.