Castles and Conferences

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Today at church we had 22 people.  It was a special day.  We had a visit from the Stake Clerk, Yannick Rousseaux.  He was doing a financial audit which went very well.  We also celebrated Immaculate's upcoming baptism in our Branch.  How did we do that you might ask - with a meal, of course.  We are in France after all, the home of fine cuisine.  As usual, the meal was spectacular.  We had everything from quiche to spicy rice to baked pears to casserole to chips and much much more.  

One of our contributions "Baked Pears with cinnamon and Maple Syrup"

another one of our contributions "Penne Provençal"

The rest of the week was hectic.  Ed took the young Elders to Bouillon on Monday to visit the castle there.  When they got there they found out it was closed and so they had to head back to Sedan to see that castle.  This was too bad because Elder Gagnon had never been to Belgium and neither Elder Daines nor Elder Gagnon had tried Belgium frîtes.  Only in Europe can you see two castles in a half hour radius of your home, one being the largest castle in medieval Europe.  We had a great visit. 

Elder Gagnon at Bouillon

Elder Gagnon at Sedan

Elder Daines at Bouillon

Elder Daines at Sedan

On Wednesday we had two activities going at the same time.  Lynn had a clothing exchange planned by our Branch's Relief Society.  They have been bringing clothes for quite some time in preparation for this.  Lunch was involved.  At the same time we had a district missionary activity.  We hosted the Zone Leaders and the Reims Elders.  We had a district meeting and tacos for lunch.  We then headed out contacting and finding.  While the young missionaries pounded the pavement Ed manned a table outside the chapel and handed out church materials.  He handed out 3 Books of Mormon.  He also handed out another one on Tuesday to a gentleman from Armenia who was quite interested.  Four Books of Mormon in one week - a record for us.  

On Saturday we had the first part of our Stake conference.  The second part will be on March 13 when we will be visited by 3 general authorities - Elder Christofferson, Elder Kearon and Elder Boutoille.  Now there is a heavy duty schedule.  Anyway we both had to talk at Stake conference on Ed's conversion and prayer.  This involved a 12 hour day between driving to and from Villeneuve d'Ascq and attending two different meetings.  Our talks went well and seemed to be well received.  

The rest of our week was spent doing things that we regularly do to support the members.  helping with missionary lessons, teaching our classes, translating, counselling, preparing our talks, etc.  We also had workers come to do some work on our balcony on Thursday.  The moisture was trapped there causing mold in the apartment below.  They had to dry it out with some special machines.  Very interesting process.  It looked like they were using some kind of dry ice.  Mist was hovering all around the whole procedure.  Lynn also gave Stephen a haircut during the balcony reparations.  We had a great week.  Goodbye February.

Polly's picture for us.

This is something you rarely see here in France.  A Chevrolet. Why not?  It has a French ring to it. Thanks Louis.

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