One year older and wiser too!

Sunday, November 8, 2015

This week we have had some great things happen.  

To start off with we received a surprise package yesterday!  It was letters from our Chinook Ward Primary!  We were over-joyed.  It was such a pleasure to have a little bit of home here with us in France.  We appreciate so much their support.  Each one is a little treasure. Thank so much to wonderful leaders who took the time to spear head this and thanks to each of you who wrote to us.

It was Ed's birthday on Monday.  We had a great day.  He was happy to have been able to speak to all of our children.  He got a coat, a belt, sox and the new Astérix book for his birthday.  The Elders took us out for lunch for a kébab.  Afterward we all went to the Animal Park to see the sangliers.  This is the only way we will be able to see them in France, we think.   

We went out for supper to a Chinese restaurant recommended by one of our members.  We ordered a Chinese fondue for two but it was really big enough for 4.  This was an interesting dish.  It was served in a special dish that sat on a hot plate.  In the middle was a pot of Vietnamese soup.  Around the outside was a ring of vegetables and beef.  You were given a small metal basket that you filled and cooked in the soup.   It was delicious.  There was enough to take home for another meal entirely.  The picture below isn't ours but it gives you the idea.  Ed doesn't want to give you the idea that he's gone to the dark side and is actually eating shrimp!!  Lynn on the other hand would have loved it!

We also celebrated our son's birthday this week.  Spencer turned 29 on Thursday.  We had sent him a French tee shirt and we were able to phone him.  He was in Idaho getting some training for a business venture he is about to undertake.  He was going out to Tucanos Brazilian Grill for a free birthday meal.  He is doing well and had a great birthday, too.

We started our first Institute classes in Charleville this week.  Institute is a Church program to help members understand and rely on the teachings and atonement of Jesus Christ.  We have not had an Institute program here for quite some time.  It is usually made available to Young Single Adults, aged 18-30.  We have, in fact, two classes going.  We have an English class that Lynn is teaching (4 students) and a French class that Ed is teaching for now (2 students).   The plan is that another teacher will teach the French class by Skype and then we will teach the class in English together.  This will allow the two in that class to stay home and not have to drive the distance to the church.

Ed has 2 sisters in the Francophone class.  They have grown up in the Church and are quite knowledgeable about the Gospel.  The course of study this year is "Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel".  This is a great opportunity for Ed.  As a convert to the Church he has never had an opportunity to take an Institute class.
As we seek the Spirit (teachers and students alike) this course is inspiring and uplifting.  We are all so much more receptive to learning when this is the case.

We also continue to teach our French Gospel class.  This, too is going well.  Our new members and Friends of the church are able to access lots of support and encouragement in their gospel journey.  We have Institute and French Gospel class, as well as a Wednesday night activity.  They are loving it and enjoy the interaction with us and other members of the Branch.

We are preparing for a baptism this week.  One of our Friends has chosen to be baptised in the lake next Sunday.  It will be cold water.  She is feeling very good about this decision.  She has had her baptismal interview and everything is moving forward.  We will celebrate with a meal afterward. 

This week we have a guest in our home.  One of our sisters returned from a mission in Louisiana in May.  She had an outstanding mission.  While there she met a friend and since returning home they have become even better friends ;).  She even went back to visit him in August.  This week he made the return trip and is spending 9 days here.  We are fortunate to have him staying with us and have enjoyed his company very much.  He was able to bring us 10 packs of our favorite Louisiana Jambalaya Mix!  We are in heaven.  We have gone on some outings with the two of them, including a visit to the Sedan castle.  Also, yesterday was Florine's birthday.  We helped her celebrate with a birthday breakfast of crêpes with béchamel ham and mushroom sauce. (She made it here at our house). Yummy!

Florine and Philip

We continue to support the missionaries by attending lessons with them and by meeting with them regularly.  They are awesome young men and are an integral part of our work here and of our Branch. 

Yesterday there was a huge market here.  Booths were set up on all the downtown streets.  Merchants were selling new and used items. We visited every booth looking for bargains.  Lynn bought some tights and Ed bought two used books.  We also found a good deal on fresh walnuts which we eat a lot of.  We enjoyed it.

We have members and Friends of the Church who are from Africa. Some of them have received letters from the government about their status.  This is a big worry to them.  None of them wants to be sent back.  These people are only trying to make a better life for themselves and their families.  Our hearts go out to them and we feel their pain and frustration.  We continue to pray for them.

The rest of our week was pretty standard - shopping, studying, dance, lessons, reports, etc...  And that's all we have for this week.

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

Opposites

Sunday, November 1, 2015

This week seemed to accentuate opposites.  

We are all faced with trials.  We have worries about families, about our callings, about money or about health.  We have experienced all of these things this week.  We, of course, turn to the Lord for guidance and we get it and we are strengthened by these challenges.  As we are strengthened we are blessed.  We become closer as a family.  We become better at our callings.  Our health improves.  We do a better job of spending.  Opposites - trials and blessings.

This week we had an opportunity to attend a Family History Conference in Lille.  Members of our Branch were presenting a session and we went with them.  We were able to attend several workshops helping us to connect with our deceased ancestors.  It was an awesome conference.  When we got home, on the same day we talked to our son and his family.  We loved talking to our grandchildren.  They are bright and bubbly and full of love.  They certainly uplift you no matter what you are doing.  Opposites - ancestors and posterity.

Isabel teaching her class on collecting and preserving memories.  Writing our own personal history.

The Ninja Turtle Michel's

A Native Princess and a cereal "killer"/eater.  

On Thursday we had a zone conference in Paris.  We left at 7:20 a.m.  We spent the day in Paris.  We didn't see many sites because we were busy but we did get some business done and we met a new missionary couple, the Monson's.  We showed Elder Monson a nice place to eat.  This week we passed our year mark making us and our dear friends Dave & Patti Redd, the missionary couples with the most experience in the mission.  Opposites - new couple - old farts.  

On our way to get our 2nd year legality.  The buses here are all Mercedes.

We came back to Charleville-Mézières at 8:11 p.m.  Good old Charleville, small, quaint, quiet and very French.   Paris, big, lively noisy and very international.  Opposites.

While we were in Paris we had to go to the prefecture to pick up our Titre de Séjour.  This little document allows us to legally stay in France for another.  In Charleville we have members and Friends of the Church who are fighting to stay in France.   Why can we have permission to stay and they are being asked to leave?  Opposites.

Even our car accentuated opposites this week.  A few weeks ago we drove to the Mission Home and picked up some winter tires.  They were brand new on brand new rims.  On Wednesday Ed put on the new tires and rims.  He took off the old tires, worn smooth well travelled - opposites.

We taught our French Gospel class this week.  It was a great lesson.  We can really see progress in the students.  They are feeling more confident about the Gospel and about speaking French.  All of our students are new to the gospel and the French Gospel class addresses the basics of the gospel.  At the other end of the spectrum we are starting an Institute program with these same students and with some more seasoned members.  Opposites - classes, students.

By now you are asking where we are going with all of this.  It is probably obvious that the message is that there is opposition in all things.  We need to learn from opposition.  What lessons did we learn this week?

1.  We were reinforced about the importance of family, our health and our love for each other and the love of our Heavenly Father.
2.  The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.  We love Charleville.  We have made great friends here.  We hope we are making a difference.  We are blessed here.  The church is strong here.  Despite the small numbers our members are full of faith and Heavenly Father's spirit is always present in our meetings.
3.   A mission is a great thing.  We are grateful for the opportunity to serve here in France.  We love to pass on our joy and gratitude to those recently arrived missionaries.
4.  Like our old tires we sometimes feel worn out and need a facelift or an uplift.  We need to turn to our Heavenly Father and ask for his guidance.  We need to put on the Armour of God and continue with our progression with a positive outlook and a smile upon our face.
5.  Why are we allowed to stay in France and others are not?  This is a difficult question and one that is heart-wrenching.   We do know however that Heavenly Father loves us all.  He knows us personally and will help us through all of our struggles. And hopefully we will emerge stronger because of adversity.
6.  Now that we have people who have been introduced to the gospel, we need to feed their thirst for knowledge.  Institute class is a great way of doing this.   Blessings will come as a result.

We learn through opposition.  Some opposition is good.  The hand of the Lord is with all of us.

A Branch activity Saturday night.  Everyone had lots of fun.

Ed with Elder Daines and Elder Adams.  Florine peaking through the side. 

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

Back to the Future

Sunday, October 25, 2015

As most of the world knows we reached a momentous date this week.  Wednesday, October 21, 2015 was the date that Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and "Doc" Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) journeyed to on Back to the Future II.  This was quite a momentous occasion in France.  In a community not from from Charleville-Mézières they had a DeLorean car on display of the same vintage as the one in the movie.   They also showed all three movies free of charge and back to back.  Just so you know we did not participate in those festivities as much as it sounds like a lot of fun.

What does this have to do with missionary work you might ask.  At our district meeting this week we set some goals related to qualities we would like to nurture as a district.  We talked about the qualities that are evident in the story of the Good Samaritan.  As a district we are going to focus on Empathy, Courage and good vibes.  

Our district is one of many districts  in the Paris zone.  This transfer each district is choosing qualities that reflect their district and each district has been asked to make a video that emphasises those qualities.  You are probably wondering what happened to the "Back to the Future" theme that we started out with.  Wait for it!!!  Our district decided to do their video around that theme.  Ed plays the part of "Doc" Brown and Lynn plays the part of Marty McFly's mom.  Thirty years into the future Biff is baptised and ends up being a Good Samaritan when a pedestrian is run over by the DeLorean when it re-enters into the future.  We had fun making the video and we learned about the importance of our district's chosen qualities.

But the week was more than just fun and games.  We have continued with our missionary efforts in France.  We did 3 different kinds of teaching this week.  Every Tuesday we teach a lesson on the gospel in French.  This is a class open to our French speaking and non French speaking members.  It is a great opportunity for our English speaking members to learn more about the Gospel in French and to learn a little French while doing so.  It seems to be well received and is fun, too.

We also have continued to teach missionary lessons with the young missionaries or on our own.  We are now teaching lessons to people who have already been baptised but who still need to learn more about the Church.  These are fun lessons.  They are very rewarding for us and for the members and Friends of the Church.

We also taught two Home Teaching lessons this week.  In our church we go into members'  homes once a month and teach a spiritual message.  This gives us a chance to get to know the members better and to share a lesson.  We also are able to provide service to those who need it.  This week we visited a member in Belgium who is travelling to Thessaloniki in Greece.  She will be walking in the footsteps of Paul, the apostle, and is quite excited about it.  She will be taking classes in the Greek language  and hopes to be providing service to the huge flood of migrants who are travelling through Greece near Thessaloniki seeking a better life.  What an awesome experience.  Ed was able to give her a blessing for her to feel good, to be kept safe and to make the best of this marvellous opportunity.  

We also had another great visit with another family.  They live in a small village about 40 minutes southwest of Charleville.  As always when we visit this couple we go as the teachers but often leave as the students.  They are such strong members and are great examples.  We learn so much from their example and from our discussions with them.  

I guess we do some teaching as we interact with our younger missionaries, as well.  This, too, is a symbiotic relationship.  We learn from them and they learn from us.  This week we went to St. Quentin to inspect the two missionary apartments there.  Hopefully, we are teaching our younger colleagues how to manage a household and how to clean.  Some need these lessons more than others but all the younger missionaries we work with are amazing individuals.  They always enjoy our visits.  We love them and feel of their love, too.

The rest of our week was filled up with meetings and family issues.  This week we also travelled to a little village on the Belgian border named Gespunsart.  It is only 20 minutes from our house.  It is the home town of one of the members of our Branch.  We actually went there looking for him as he told us that he was going to be there this week.  In France it is a tradition to clean up family graves and graveyards during "Toussaint" or "All Saints Day" which coincides with Halloween.  Our friend had planned to do just that this week in his hometown in memory of his parents.  We thought we might be able to meet him there but were unable to connect.  We did find graves, though, with his family name on them.

The three pictures above are of Gespunsart

Today at church we had 18 people.  We always mention the attendance because it is important for our little Branch.  

This is Gift and Beauty, two of our regulars.  They are great.  Isn't Gift's hat fantastic!

When you consider that there were some Sundays when we only had 3 or 4 people at church we celebrate the growth we have experienced.  We had two great talks from two recent converts.  They were truly inspired.  Talk about growth.  They are proof of the growth of the Gospel here in France and we are excited to be part of that and to be able to support them.

Well, it has been a busy and exciting week.
Au revoir de la France.

Lyndi-Lou and Eddie, too.

Family Ties

Sunday, October 18, 2015

We'll start off by saying that today is Lynn's dad's birthday.  He would have been 87 years old today.  He passed away 9 years ago at the age of 76.  We miss him. 

Last Saturday night, October 10th his older brother Fred passed away.  He was 93 years old.  It is so hard to say good-bye.  We will lovingly remember Uncle Fred as a gentle caring man.  It's interesting because Amy and Lynn were just talking about Uncle Fred the day before we heard of his passing and Amy said that he reminded her of Mr. Rogers.  The way he looked with his sweaters and his gentle mannerisms.  We wish his family lots of love as they forge ahead in the next days and months.    

We continued to enjoy the visit with Amy & Tyler. We had rearranged our schedule in advance so we were able to spend some nice time with them.  We visited the town showing them all the hot spots.  These included some of the former villages that have been incorporated into Charleville-Mézières, the lavoir (old time wash house), the square, the river walk and park and the shopping area.

A Yummy meal of a mixed bag:  Louisianna Chicken with Baguette and Cheese.  Along with Pâte Ardennoise.

On Monday we went to Bouillon Castle where we toured and watched the Falcon show.  It was quite funny because the falconer chose Amy to be part of the show.  He put a leather glove on her hand and a metal sieve on her head.  A big bird landed on her hand and another one on her head.  It was amusing and interesting at the same time.  Amy did look a little worried but enjoyed the experience in the end.  Afterward we had lunch at a frîterie.  It wasn't good for us but it sure tasted good.  When we got home we did some shopping.

On Tuesday we got up early and headed to Pierrefonds to visit the château there.  This was the castle where the TV show Merlin was filmed.  Merlin is one of Amy's favourite shows.  She loved the visit to the château and so did we.

Amy with "Woinic" The biggest Sanglier in the World!

On Wednesday morning it was time for us to say goodbye to good old Elder Rivas.  He had been here for 12 weeks and had done an incredible job.  We picked him up at 7:00 a.m and took him to the train station.  We gave hugs and off he went.  Fortunately for us we will continue to see Elder Rivas as he is going to Luxembourg and we do apartment checks there.

Speaking of apartment checks we had to go to Metz and Luxembourg to do just that.  Of course, Amy and Tyler were coming with us.  On the way we stopped in Verdun and looked at some WWI sites.

We got to Metz in time for lunch.  We visited the apartment while Tyler and Amy shopped.  In Metz the apartment was moving from a two-missionary apartment to four.  The Elders are to be commended.  With very little warning they had done a good job of keeping things clean and manageable.  

We met up again with Amy and Tyler after the apartment check.  We really enjoyed the historic part of Metz where Ed's family would go shopping when he was a young boy.  We visited the places where Ed  lived, played and attended school as a young boy, including the Roman aqueduct.  It was really enjoyable to be with them.

In Luxembourg on Thursday we walked around the old part of town which was quite fascinating.  We visited the Catacombs.  Incredible.

Friday morning Amy and Tyler left to go back home.  We hung around the airport for a while.  This is always kind of awkward.  You don't really want to leave because you want to spend as much time together as possible before they head home.  They on the other hand need to board and you just kind of hang around waiting for one or the other to make a move.  After waiting the prescribed amount of time we said our goodbyes.  This is always hard to do.  We loved spending time with Amy and Tyler.   We had a great time together and were so happy we could share a bit of our part of the world with them.

Right away we headed to the Elders' apartment for an apartment check.  We were  very happy to see Elder Rivas and his companion.  The apartment was great.  There were really no issues.  By 11:00 a.m. we were on the road again.

Our next destination was Liège, Belgium.  We were on our way to visit the Redd's.  They had a huge project they had undertaken that we had said we could help them with.  Their chapel was celebrating its 50th anniversary and the Redd's had been asked to spearhead the activity.  We helped put up pictures on display.  We set up chairs and projectors.  We arranged tables and viewing areas.  We cleaned a little.  We moved food from the car to the chapel.  Saturday morning Ed and Elder Redd went and picked up 24 pies and 100 buns from an amazing bakery in Flemish Belgium.  On the way back they went through the Netherlands briefly.  The whole expedition took about one hour.  

We helped at the chapel until about one o'clock.  We then had to head home because Lynn had a Relief Society meeting at 4:30.  She has been recently called to the Relief Society presidency and they were having their first meeting.  By the time we stopped for lunch and gas we got home at about 3:30.  On the way we listened to an audio book by L. Tom Perry called "Living With Enthusiasm". It was very good.  He is such a positive example for us to follow.

While Lynn was at her meeting, Ed made soup for supper and for the Branch meal after church.  Talk about stretching himself!  We had 20 people at church, including a couple visiting from Utah.  The husband had been a missionary in Charleville-Mézierères in1989 and was back for a visit.  

We also had the chance to meet our new missionary here.  Elder Daines.  He is from Rexburg, Idaho.  We are happy to have him serving here with us.

We had our Branch Council meeting and our High Counsellor from the Stake.  We met our new missionary.  He had a chance to introduce himself and to share his testimony.  It was a great meeting and everyone enjoyed it.  We had a great Branch meal, too, including a pie that we had bought for the occasion from the little pastry shop in Flemish Belgium.

Our son Dustin and Lindsey his wife had new pictures taken.  We love it and wanted to share it with our friends and family too.

What a lovely week we had with our Canada family members and our Branch family members.  We love them all.  That's all we have this week.

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