Grounded

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Monday went great.  We did the things we usually do on Monday - cleaning, shopping, taking the Elders shopping, etc.

Things changed on Tuesday.  This being the last week of January, of course we had our Home Teaching to do.  The Lord gave us a clear message this week not to wait until the last week to do this assignment.  On Tuesday we jumped into our car to head up to Kate's house an hour away in Belgium.  We had our message all prepared and appointments set for this week.  

We jumped into our car much like Batman and Robin would have done into the Batmobile.  It fired up right away and then it stopped right away.  This pattern repeated itself several times before we gave up.  It would not go more than 30 feet.  We had to phone Kate and tell her we couldn't make it.  Now you need to understand our car is not a piece of junk.  It is a 2014 Opel Meriva which means nothing to any North Americans reading this but it is a passable car and we like it.

Ed phoned the dealer right away and they were able to get it in at 3:30 p.m.  Ed thought he would try to warm the car up before he attempted to move it.  The dealer is about 10 km. from our place.  This strategy seemed to work.  The motor stopped only twice on the way there and Ed was able to start it both times.  We got the first bad news just before closing.  Our car needed a new injector and it needed to be ordered.  It wouldn't be in until Thursday.

We got the next bad news on Thursday.  When they replaced the injector they found a faulty electrical circuit tied into it.  Of course, they had to order the part.  They put a rush order on it but because we would be in Paris on Friday and the dealer wasn't open on Saturday we couldn't pick up the car until Monday.  There we were grounded for pretty much an entire week.

Being the faithful missionaries that we are we didn't let that stop us.  We had to cancel our other HT appointment but we still taught our lessons and assisted missionary lessons with the Elders.  Ed also was able to help one of our members with some translation when he had a meeting with an immigration Counsellor.  

On Thursday we had a training meeting with another missionary couple who drove up to Charleville from the Paris area.  It looks like we will be facilitating two Self Reliance Groups with some of our Branch members.  Elder and Sister Graff came up to help us plan for this new task.  We had lunch together and spent the afternoon going through the manuals and figuring out how to proceed.  We were very grateful that we had their help and expertise to get us started.

On Friday we had a meeting in Paris with the Mission President, his wife and the other members of our district.  We interviewed with President and Sister Babin.  What great people.  They are very grateful for the work we are doing in Charleville and we are very grateful for their support and leadership.  We had a short district meeting with Elder Gagnon and then we headed for home.

On Saturday the weather was horrible.  When Ed went out running it was drizzling a little with a bit of a breeze but by afternoon it was raining hard with no end in sight.  We did get some shopping done, though, and some planning for our next Institute class.   This class looks awesome.  It is called "Foundations of the Restoration".  We are quite excited to teach it.  We also had our weekly DMB meeting (Branch Mission Leader meeting) with our 2 Elders.  Of course, they stayed for supper - lasagne soup and home made pretzels, big soft pretzels.  This is the second time we have made them.  They turned out great. 

We also got some good news on Saturday.  Elder Christofferson will be presiding at our Stake Conference on March 3.  What a blessing that will be.

Church went well today.  We heard a talk by Elder Gagnon in his good old Québecois accent on the joys of missionary work.  Laurent gave a great talk on the "Teaching for our Times" message.   Lynn taught an Institute review class.

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Obviously we're short photo's when we start including our Board of notes from our classes!  But, they were great classes.

We finished with a meeting after church today on our new self reliance initiative.  Each group chose when and how they were going to meet.

As you can see we did a lot even though we were on foot all week.  We know we are blessed.  It wasn't so bad not having a car all week.   Just imagine if we had headed off to Belgium on Tuesday and the car broke down half way in the middle of nowhere.  What a blessing.  We believe the Lord is looking out for us, once again.

As a bit of an aside,  we thought we'd share that our daughter Lise-Anne has made a website for her business.  We think it's amazing and thought you might want to take a look too.  Currently she designs and sells Knitting and Crochet patterns, amongst other things.  Hence "Fergus the frog" pictures below.  She has also been doing make-unders with her daughter Polly to help teach her about modesty.  These are some of the dolls they have made-under.  You can see the full transformation if you go to her website, then click on Blog spot at the top right.  We think she's done an amazing job.    Her website address is http://lmicheldesigns.com      

That is all we have for this week.

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

Ten Apartments Later

Sunday, January 24, 2016

We started out the week with a birthday in our family.  Madeleine Mossey turned 10 on Monday, January 18.  Lynn made her a birthday card which we e-mailed to her.  We also phoned her and caught her while she was having lunch with her Mom.  She was having a great day.  She is growing up fast.  It doesn't seem that long ago that we were bouncing her on our knee making up stories with her.  She loves it when we call her or contact her in any way and we love it, too.  She is a very sweet girl.

We started off our week in our normal fashion.  Ed took the Elders shopping.  We prepared for our lessons and we helped the Elders teach some lessons.   We had our district meeting on Tuesday with a great lesson from Elder Gagnon.  It was his first lesson as our new District Leader.  

In our Institute class we are winding down.  We only have two lessons left until we finish the course.  We combined our two classes this week because Clara was away in Belgium.  Florine joined the English group.  

Teaching Institute has been a real blessing for us.  We have learned so much through teaching.  In preparing for the lessons we have increased our knowledge of the gospel and we have drawn closer to the Saviour.  The course we are winding up is titled "Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel.  It has been full of information and facts that have greatly added to our personal testimonies.  We are very fortunate.

This week Lynn had a couple of extra assignments.  She had to prepare a lesson for a meeting of Relief Society and she had to prepare a spiritual thought for our Wednesday night Family Home Evening.  They both went very well.

On Thursday we hit the road.  We decided to do a round of apartment inspections in the Alsace and Lorrain regions of eastern France.  We inspected 10 apartments in 8 cities.  We saw 6 sister missionaries and 36 Elders.  We actually saw the St. Dié Elders twice.  We saw them in St. Dié when we inspected their apartment and we saw them when we go`t to Strasbourg where they were doing exchanges.  

We dealt with a number of things.  Some apartments had mould.  Some needed some supplies.  one needed painting.  Ed changed a tap in Colmar that took a while.  Mot of them needed some additional cleaning.  Lynn went over some elementary cleaning tips with a number of the missionary teams.  

Whenever we visit the young missionaries we enjoy it and they seem to enjoy it, too.  We always try to take a picture of them to share with their families.   There is usually a learning component and a teaching component.

Sœur Jicha and Sœur Fouti-Makaya in Toul.

Sœur Hudson and Sœur Welter in Nancy

Elder Dickson and Congerton in Nancy

Elder Taylor and Elder Bishop in Saint-Dié

Elder Hamilton using vinegar on the ceiling.

Elder Hamilton and Elder Merritt in Épinal

Elder Lau during his lesson on Mold treatment.  

Sœur Ellis and Sœur Andrew in Mulhouse

Elder Duncan tackling the mouldy ceiling.

Ed is under the sink tightening the new taps. Elders Wickern and Duncan helping out in Colmar.

In Strasbourg we have Elders Dudfield, Taylor,  Egbert,  Perkins, Bishop.  Elder Orton wasn't feeling well.  He was lying down.

For us there is always a travel component, too.  We put on a lot of kilometres in an apartment sweep.  To help pass the time we listen to audio books.  We finished a book called "Let it Go".  It was about a man who had lost his wife and two kids in a car accident.  He was able to deal with it, forgive the other driver and get on with his life knowing that his family was safe on both sides of the veil of death.  It was a powerful story with a powerful message.  if he was able to forgive then we all should be able to.

As we travel we see some beautiful country.  This week was one of the coldest weeks we have experienced since coming to France.  the lows got to -9C.  There was great deal of ice crystals on the trees and fences.  They looked very beautiful.  We travelled through quite a bit of fog.  This wasn't that much fun but it, too, was beautiful.  The landscape was gorgeous.  We travelled through an area known as the Vosges.  It is known for its mountains and beautiful vistas which we thoroughly enjoyed.

One of the perks of traveling for apartment checks is the tourism aspect.  Along the way we didn't do much sightseeing but we did take the time to walk around old Strasbourg and to visit a part of the town called "Petite France".  This is a neighbourhood of old houses and other buildings that have a distinct German feeling.  We picked up a German pretzel to munch on at a marché.  It was delicious.

We stayed one night in Épinal and one night in Strasbourg.  Ed had a great run each morning along the canal or the river.   Each day we bought a baguette to make a sandwich for lunch.  We also brought some leftovers to reheat for suppers.  This was a great way of dealing with meals. 

We got back around supper time last night.  Ed prepared for a lesson he taught today and by then our day was pretty much over.  

We had a great time at church today.  There were only 16 people there.  We had 2 great talks, one on becoming a member of the branch and one on Prayer.  We are really loving the study of the Book of Mormon.  It is very inspiring and uplifting and we have a great Sunday school teacher.  Ed taught Institute after our meetings.  

We had a Branch Mission Leader meeting with the two young elders.  Afterward they stayed for lunch.  It went well.  Ed happens to be the Branch Mission Leader among other things.  When there is a position without someone called Ed takes on that responsibility.  It seems to be working.

So we have had a busy week but all went well.  We love what we do and we recognise God's hand in the work.  

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

Spiritual High

Sunday, January 17, 2016

We have had a very busy week but a very spiritual one.  In fact we had two very good conferences this week and a great meeting.

Let's start with Monday.  We received our Christmas package from The Mossey's.  Woohoo!  They sent it on December 1st and we just got it.  Coincidentally we sent Tyler his birthday package December 1st also and he still hasn't received it yet.  

On Wednesday evening we had a meeting with two men, one from our Stake and one from Toulouse. They talked to our Branch members about Self Reliance or Autonomie in French.  This involves a number of areas including, starting a business, finding a job, getting an education and financial self reliance.   We had some training where we went through a workbook and touched upon the various aspects of self reliance.  

We had a great turn out for our Autonomy meeting.

Afterward our members signed up for a focus group that they would be interested in pursuing.  Our members signed up for Finding Employment, Starting a Business and Fundamentals of Self Reliance.  Now we need to move forward and follow a program that allows us to set goals for ourselves and to learn how to achieve them in whatever area we signed up for.  We will be starting this last step very soon.

Our two conferences were a missionary conference and a Branch Conference.  The missionary conference took place in Paris on Thursday.  We took the TGV there early in the morning.  We were taught by President Babin and his wife from the mission and by Elder Kearon from the European region.  We were very much edified by the messages of obedience diligence and faith that we heard.  We also had a chance to connect with other missionaries, some young ones we had not seen for a while and some not so young ones that we hadn't seen for a while.  Lunch was provided so we were physically fed and spiritually fed as well.

Us and Elder Libby

Elders Libby and Motiuk

Elders Kendrick and Motiuk are cousins and grandsons of Norm & Jolene Gosling.  They are serving in Liege, Belgium.

Us with Elder Kearon

This is Sœur Royer from Metz who is going to serve in St George Utah.  She serves in Liege while waiting for her visa.

(Elders Daines (Rexburg ID), Gagnon, (Saint-Antoine, Quebec), Nagloo (Mauritius & Belgium), Engelbrecht (Aruba).  These are the guys we work the most with.  Including us this is our District.

Today we had our Branch Conference.  We had representatives from the Stake here to teach us and sustain us.  We had lessons and talks.  Ed gave a talk as did the Stake President, his counsellor, someone from the Stake Relief Society and the Stake Primary. All went well.  We had 33 people at church today.

In between the two conferences we did not stay idle.  On Friday we headed to Luxembourg and Nancy.  I know this next sentence might not sit well with our Canadian friends and family.  We actually ran into snow for the first time this winter.  It was not nearly as nice as driving on dry pavement.

In Luxembourg all was good.  In Metz Ed put on a new toilet seat.  He tried to fix the heating system but was unsuccessful.  We have been having trouble getting someone to fix this and the Mission Office is involved in trying to put a little pressure on.  Although it is warmer here than at home the young missionaries still need heat.  In addition, though, they do not have hot water.  This is tied in to the same heating unit.  

This has been a good week for connecting with friends.  We had a nice phone call last Sunday from Keith and Louise Woodrow and had a great visit over the phone.  They are doing well and are heading south for some warmth and relaxation.  We also talked to Maurene and Tom Wilson from Ireland   Their mission is going well and we had a great chat with them.  We also connected with our Fernie friends, Cheryl and Neil McDermid.  It is always nice to connect with good friends and to chew the fat a little.

All of our lessons are going well.  We are winding down our Institute class but a new one will start up on in February.   Our family, too, is doing great.  We are grateful for all we have and for the work we are doing in France.  We thank all of our friends and family for their love and support. 

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

Canadian Content

Sunday, January 10, 2016

This week Elder Adams left Charleville after 6 good months of missionary efforts.  He is transferring to Brest.  When we dropped him off at the gare, we realised how much we are going to miss him.  He made a big impact on our Branch and our members.  

To celebrate his efforts the Biver family had us over for FHE.  We had dinner and played games with them,  They also gave Elder Adams a little going away gift.  We had moules (mussels), frites (fries), cordon bleu and "galette du roi".  We also played a cool game where you had to find certain objects on a round game board that had hundreds of images on  it.  It was quite fun.

Let me elaborate a bit on this "La Galette Des Roi" thing.  January 6 is celebrated in a low key fashion as the Epiphany in France.  It is supposedly the date that the 3 wisemen visited the infant Jesus.  In France they celebrate it with a "galette du roi" or "cake of the king".  The galette du roi is a round cake which has a bean hidden inside it.  They call it a bean but it is actually a little porcelain figurine.  The idea is that whoever finds the bean in their piece of cake is the king or queen, whatever the case may be.  Once the cake is cut the youngest person present says names of the people present with his back turned while someone points to a piece of "galette".  If you find the bean, you get to wear a crown for the rest of the night.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Pretty fun but I certainly wouldn't want to bite into it!

As a side we couldn't resist including this beautiful picture that Isabelle's father painted of Espalion, France.  It has a cool Medieval Bridge. 

Love this with the reflection of the buildings in the water.  Beautiful painting.

In Canada we have a law that says all TV stations and radio stations  must broadcast a certain percentage of Canadian content.  With the departure of Elder Adams he was replaced by a francophone Québecois, complete with the thick accent.  Elder Gagnon is actually from a village about half an hour from where Ed lived in Quebec as a kid.  With his arrival we have far surpassed the Canadian content rule for our missionary efforts in Charleville.  Three out of four missionaries are Canadian and half of our 6 man district is too.  Of course, the first time we had him over for supper we had to have something with maple syrup in  it.  So we put some on top of a baked apple.

Our Wednesday night activity at the church was the first for Elder Gagnon.  Elder Daines was once again crowned king as he was the lucky one to find the treasure in the cake.

We started our apartment rounds this week again.  We went to St. Quentin and checked the 2 apartments there.  There were two new sisters there, Soeur Morris and Soeur Hogan.  There was also one new Elder, Elder Blackham with Elder Von Tonder.  Ed had to replace a door handle and we put up some curtains.  When we got home Lynn looked in the mirror only to discover, much to her chagrin, that she had spent the day sporting two different earrings.  I guess that's much better than two different shoes!

On Saturday Ed took a contingent of Charleville-Mézières members headed to St. Quentin for some Stake training on how to best meet the needs of our respective congregations.  Our Branch Conference next Sunday.  This will be the second Branch Conference of our mission and so we are old pros at it by now.

We got a fun package from the Postman this week.  It was from Lara Hall and family.  They found a package of cupcake liners that have Volkswagen Beetles on them.  Of course they immediately thought of us.  Lynn made the cupcakes at Lakeview and Ed has a great love for Volkswagen Beetles.   What a thoughtful little treasure for us.  Thanks Lara.

We had a great family experience on Saturday.  One of our grandchildren was baptised.  Wilson Jesse Michel had a great baptism ceremony.  His older brother, Peter, and his Mom, Lise-Anne, gave great talks on the Holy Ghost and Baptism respectively.   We were able to be present electronically through FaceTime.  It was awesome.  He looked pretty happy.  We are so grateful for the opportunity we had to view that wonderful event. Thanks to Amy and Jack for manning the FaceTime event for us.

Congrats on your baptism Wilson.  We love you so much.

We continued to be uplifted through the lessons we taught, through our association with the members of our Branch and through the missionaries.  We did take part in some missionary lessons, as usual.

At folk dance this week we found out that we are going to take part in some dancing demonstrations at a market in a nearby village.  We look forward to this.  We are going to travel there with some friends that we carpool with to dance.  And once again we ate 3 more Galette des Roi's.  Lynn was one of the lucky winners with her first Fève, "Mr Indestructible".

"Monsiur Indestructible"

This week was the start of the semi annual sales in France.  We even found a little time to do some snooping around some of the shops in town.

That's all we have for this week.  It's a wrap.

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