Happy New Year

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Well, this is the first post of 2016.  We have had a great Christmas season with lots of memorable moments and times together with friends and family.  It was great to talk to all of our family over the holidays.  They always uplift us and we feel their love.  We express our love to Peter who celebrated his birthday Dec 30th.

As we look back on 2015 we are pleased with the blessings we have seen as a family and as missionaries.  We always see the hand of God in our work here in France and in things that are happening at home.  All of our kids and grandchildren are doing well.  All are succeeding in their new undertakings.  Families are changing with some getting driver's licences, baptisms and one expected new arrival.  Our grandson, Charlie, was baptised in November and we look forward to Wilson and Sam's baptisms in January and April respectively.

In France our Branch is doing well.  All of our recent converts are progressing at a great rate.  They are all strong and fulfilling their callings faithfully.  We continue to have a great spirit in our meetings.  Collectively we all have a great love of the gospel and of each other.

This week was still a holiday week in France.  We could still feel the Christmas spirit all around us.  We received lots of well wishes for 2016 from our friends and members.  

We celebrated New Years Eve with the Elders.  We began by having our District meeting.  Elder Nagloo taught the formation which included watching a Mormon Message.  He did a great job. We took our 10th transfer picture and shared a meal (we took stew).  It feels a little weird to only have 6 of us as our District now.

Our Elders came over for supper on New Year's Eve.  We had appetisers, veggies, pasta, bread, cheese, and a chocolate fondue.  After supper we played Rummikub and Liar's Dice.  Now, you would think that missionaries would have a hard time lying but that is not the case when playing games.  They seemed adept at it, except Ed, who lost both games miserably.  I guess it's just the Honest Ed in him.  Nonetheless we all had fun.

Our New Year's Day began with a call from Lise-Anne wishing us a Happy New Year and then sharing their families Christmas Gift with us.  It was their families past year in video.  It's amazing how much you can portray in 3 secs per day.  We just love it and have watched it several times already.  

The Elders began a regular day.  They did come over for lunch.  We had a DMB meeting while eating in the car as we wanted to share a couple of spots with the them.  We showed them where one of our sweet Sisters lives.  Five kms from where she lives there is a small ruined castle.  On the way to Kate's house we stopped and saw a monument dedicated to the 4 sons of Aymon.  These were knights who lived in the Ardennes in the XII century and who got into a confrontation with a local duke who chased them all over northern France.  There was a statue of them with their horse, Bayart, not far from Charleville.  It was quite a walk up but well worth it.  We also stopped at a lookout where one can see 7 villages. You really don't have to go far to discover amazing things here.  For dinner we took them for a Vietnamese hot pot.

Hierge, France

If you look carefully you can see 3 villages intros picture.  It's taken from the castle ruins in Hierge. France

Talk about a great meal!  Although a bit tricky for Lynn and Elder Daines to dodge the meat we all loved it. 

On Saturday we found out that Elder Adams will be transferred on Wednesday.  He has served 6 months in Charleville-Mézières.  He has done a great job and will be missed.   As a send off today Sœur Dampt made delicious waffles.  

On Saturday afternoon we went to a funeral in Montcornet, about 20 kilometres from home.  Laurent Biver's mother (Madame Geneviève Michel) had passed away.  We actually sang at the funeral with his family and the Elders.  We thought the Priest did a wonderful job of the service.  The funeral was held in the village's old Catholic church, which happened to have a beautiful old castle ruins right beside it.  We walked slowly down the hill from the church, in a traditional procession to the cemetery after the service for the interment.  It was a very nice experience.  We all went to the local Café for drinks and snacks afterward.  It was a good day for Lauent and his family and will help them get over the loss of their loved one.  We were so glad we had the opportunity to meet her when we sang at her rest home on Christmas Eve.  And we were able to take a picture of their family together.  

Today was a good day at church.  We had a great Sunday school lesson about the Book of Mormon.  We had a great testimony meeting.  People shared powerful testimonies about the truthfulness of the gospel and shared messages of love and conviction with us.  Lots of people shared their appreciation and love for Elder Adams and wished him all the best.  We had waffles afterward to give us time to mingle, to say goodbye to Elder Adams and to visit with each other.  Elder Adams was able to get a picture with everyone who was there.  It was really very nice.

We wish everyone who reads our blog the very best in 2016.  We hope that it is a year filled with blessings and happiness for all of you.

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