Packer's France Paris Mission Blog 4

Packers in Paris Blog 4 – Week 3 in Paris

Week 3 in Paris! We hope we aren’t boring you with details of our mission, project and experiences here, but the main reasons for the blog will hopefully be to keep our family connected with our mission and then act as a history of our incredible remembrance of our service. Thanks for hopping on for the ride, as that’s what it feels like. Actually, it’s more like a walk, or a ride on metros, RER’s and maybe buses. We do more walking than anything.

YSA FHE & Institute

We meet three times a week with the YSA at the institute building. It’s quite a beautiful building, on the second floor of the St. Merrie church house. Each week they are instructed by teachers and each other! We are grateful for the beautiful instruction they are receiving. Many have traveled from long distances to be together and be instructed, eat and mingle. We are gaining such a love and admiration for these faithful people. Most often I’m in the kitchen with Soeur Bonny helping her prepare the meal.

Concert in the Fondation des Etas-Unis

Our son, Austin invited us to attend a free cello concert in Paris of a Facebook friend of his. We were glad we went! Eric Edberg and his accompanist, John Kamfonas were magnificent. The cellist was actually from the states. We spoke afterwards, and they were glad that we made the effort. They had a photographer taking images before and during, and the side of my head ended up being sent to their Facebook post. I’ll admit we miss the sweet sounds of our cellist son, Austin! He should be getting his masters this month, as will my sister, Janine Green.

Temple Trip

We love attending the temple and enjoy finding new ways to get there! 😉 We will get our directions down each time we attend. The peacefulness and inviting spirit gives us such strength to do what we think we can’t do! The garden area in the back was enhanced with brilliant pink blossoms on the trees. We also enjoyed the warmth of the outdoors.

Project Update

This past week we met with a contractor from Madrid, Spain who has worked on LDS temples and other projects. We are waiting for this next week to get bids from two different contractors. We want it done well and yet cost effective. We aren’t the ones who make the decision though. We still aren’t sure where all the funds are coming from yet!

While measurements were being taken, our FM man, Olivier Antoine, began to share with us, his personal conversation a year ago with then President Uchtdorf. It was President Uchtdorf who looked at the visitor center and said it needed to change and become a place where everyone would have the ability to learn more about their family and discover where they come from and that it needed to become a more attractive place.

We’ve been asked to find out how much traffic our little street in a very busy part of Paris gets each day. We had a good idea of what a normal flow of people were, so on a Saturday, we spent 4 hours where Steve tallied up by 10 min segments. The conclusion was astounding and immense. He came up with over 9,000 people in a 4 hour period who walk past our little street in a very heavily populated part of Paris.

Part PDay

So, we finally took part of a day for PDay! Last Friday, after needing to accomplish many mission assignments, we took off to see a couple of sites. My first desire was to visit the area I lived at 40 years ago. It was right across the street from the Luxembourg Gardens (Jardin de Luxembourg), on rue d’assas. We walked through the luxurious and massive garden and then once reaching the other side, we walked right through the familiar gate and there it was, my old apartment building. It brought floods of memories.

Steve made a comment how our being in Paris and seeing all these memorable places and reminiscing, must have such meaning to me, and I responded with, “Yes, they do, as they all reminded me of you.” As I was engaged to Steve during my 6 months in Paris, my every thought was about him and how I had wished he could’ve been here with me. How perfect that we now can be together serving the Lord in a place that reminds of me of my eternal sweetheart!

Later that evening, we took a walk down by the Seine River, just a block from where we live, and enjoyed the beauty, warmth and enchanting sceneries with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

The park entrance looking from the apartment I lived in 40 years ago.

The front of the apartment where I lived.

Steve longingly wishing and hopin'

This was my most favorite pattiserie shop 40 years ago just around the corner from where I lived.  The ownership has changed, but it still looked just as awesome. We only bought some chocolate! 

The Incredible Sister Consuela Papasin –71-year-old Filipino Woman

Last Saturday, we were invited to a member’s home to have dinner with her and also with the Elders. Not knowing what it would take to get there, we followed the Elders through a couple of metro stops, walked through the tangled web of Paris streets and then knocked on a door to find out it was an old address from LDS tools. So, once finding out the new address, it took us another 15 min to relocate. Once we arrived at the bottom of her apartment building, she threw her keys from the 7^th floor so that we could let ourselves in. We were warned there was no elevator. As we began walking the 7 flights of stairs, I couldn’t imagine how this sweet woman managed this daily.

After spending an hour or so with her, we came to find out that this woman of great faith, is full of joy and love of her family, works hard every day, goes to college daily and has learned how to fill her life with gratitude. She has very little and yet took great joy in filling our plates full of food one dish after another.

What was the size of her apartment? This dear woman rents an apartment that is the total of two rooms across the hall from each other, each equaling maybe 5x9 feet, and then only sharing bathroom facilities with other occupants on her floor. I came back to our apartment seeing how much room really do have! Feeling blessed!

District Meetings

Each week we attend District meetings with our District. We are the ones learning from these insightful Elders and Sisters and once and a while we might add our thoughts, but we’ve loved learning from them and our other amazing senior couple, the Bonny’s.

I’ve been so delighted when Steve’s been asked to say a prayer in French, or read a scripture, that he willingly and humbly accepts and does beautifully. The members of the district gasp with amazement and awe. At times he may share comments in English, as all can understand, except for one sister, but is not afraid to speak in French to continue grasping his efforts in the language.

We bid you farewell for this week!

Our daily thoughts and prayers are with each of our family and friends and pray you are each doing very well!

Tout est bien, tout est bien! (All is well, all is well!)

Elder et Soeur Packer                                                                                                  

Grandpère et Mémé

Our Address:

4 quai du Marché Neuf

75004 PARIS 

FRANCE

You may still text or FaceTime Renée at 801-564-1332

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