Birthdays and Busyness

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Today is Mother's Day in Canada but not here in France.  Mothers in France have to wait three more weeks.  We are both very fortunate to have two outstanding mothers.  We love them and appreciate all they do and have done.  We had the privilege of talking to both of our mothers today.  Lynn heard from our kids today and they expressed their love to her in many sweet and lovely ways.  We are grateful for our daughters and daughters-in-law's and for the wonderfully positive influence they all are in our family.  Happy Mother's day to all mothers and we hope your day is wonderful.  

We started off the week with a birthday.  It was Elder Gagnon's birthday on Monday.  It was also a P-Day.  We let him choose what he wanted to do.  He had picked up a pamphlet about a show at an art gallery near us.  The show was called "La Bible en Miniature"  which I am sure you can figure out what it means in English.  It was an amazing display of ten different bible scenes sculpted out of plasticine.  For each scene there were questions and things to find.  It was awesome as you can see by the attached pictures.

We ended the day by going to a restaurant for a Vietnamese Fondue, spring rolls and fried rice.  It was great.  We love that particular dish.  After the meal we went over to the chapel for birthday cake and birthday songs.

On Tuesday we went into Paris for a Zone Council.  We had a District Meeting and then shared our successes related to missionary work for this transfer.  Some people did a power point, some did a talk and one group did a Haka.  It sounded like our zone had a lot of success.  We went to lunch with the Elders.  We had kebabs and falafel's.  We went shopping to some of our favorite places but we didn't buy anything.  We went home at 6:30.

our 13th transfer

Ed had some meetings on Wednesday and we finished the day with an amazing fireside at our chapel.  We had our whole Branch involved.  We shared testimonies, conversion stories and had a great song from a little choir number Laurent had put together.  We had a very spiritual experience.  It was great for our Branch members.  It was also great for non-members and less active members.  We had 8 friends of the church and 2 less actives there.  Afterward we finished up with a snack and a nice visit together.  What a great night!  

We had two back to back days of service this week.  On Thursday we went to a member's house in Belgium to help with her garden.  We spent the day roto-tilling, weeding and piling wood.  We also put up some wooden panels between her house and the neighbour's.  We had a great lunch together and shared a spiritual thought.  We got home at about 5:30.

These guys worked so hard.  Elder Gagnon was really feeling it!

Sore back.

They loved the opportunity to do this service

We love this place

Cool chart made up for us of the work needing to be done.  At the end of the day it was all checked off.

The very next day we headed out to Le Chesne to help the Dampt's move.  The Elders took off wall paper and scraped and sanded the wall afterward.  Lynn moved things from one house to the other.  Ed worked in the garden, roto-tilling, raking and getting it ready for planting.  He also helped move some things and took down some panelling to get ready for painting.  We had a great lunch and a spiritual message.  On the way home we took the Touriste Route and stopped at Chapelle St. Roger.  After all "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."  This saying is true for Ed and Lynn and for Elders too.

On Saturday we headed to Dinant to meet with Elder and Sister Slaughter from Liège.  We had to pick up a key and a package from  a Sister missionary who had left on her mission to the U.S.  We will deliver it to her parents in Metz.  Dinant was a great place.  We visited the citadelle and the cathedral.  We had lunch together and went on a boat cruise on the Meuse.  On the way home we made a brief stop in Givet.  

The famous Dinant cookie or "cookie jerky" as Ed calls it.  Notice the price...55euros

We had such a good day with a great couple.

Sunday was a great day at church.  We had 26 people in attendance.  We had a family of 4 visit who used to attend the Branch years ago.  We had a little snack afterward which allowed us to visit and relax a bit.  The Elders will be here to Skype/Facetime their mothers for Mother's Day.  It is not Mother's Day in France for another 3 weeks.

It has been a busy but an uplifting week.

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