Packer's France Paris Mission Blog 15
Packers in Paris Blog 15 – June 18th – June
24th of 2018
FAMILY WE HAD NEVER MET
As in many extended
families, they can become so large, there will always be cousins you’ve never
met. We heard that one of my cousin’s (Betty Teela) granddaughter (McKenzie
Teela) is getting married to a French man (Florian Brioude) and they were here
visiting and we invited them over for dinner.
We had never met them but enjoyed our time with them.
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| McKenzie and Florian |
This last Tuesday was another
Zone Conference and we were grateful to present again our “Gathered into the
Garners,” presentation. We LOVE attending these Zone Conferences to feel the
zeal of each of the Sisters and Elders. We always learn so much from attending
these.
We were sad to see a
sister we’ve grown to love leave our mission to head to her actual mission in
St. George, UT. She’s been awaiting her visa these past three months. She’s from Belgium and knew Steve’s sister
and husband well (Tom and Anita Herway). Sister Kabango has been such an
amazing missionary here and since she’s been here for so long, she actually was
almost hoping she could just stay here for the rest of her mission. She will be
incredible in St. George working in the Visitor Center of the St. George
Temple.
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| Sister Kabango |
GRATEFUL FOR OUR NEW REFRIDGERATOR
We have gone for 3
months with a very tiny and not well functioning refrigerator. We finally put
in a petition at the beginning of the week for a new fridge. The office apologized,
as they had meant to do this from the beginning and forgot. So, because our new
fridge is too big to fit in the kitchen, we moved our dryer that was in the
dining area into the place of our old fridge and we have two fridges in our
living area. It may seem weird, but we are so grateful to have a new and larger
fridge. We keep a good supply of water in the tiny fridge and other things that
won’t be bothered by the inconsistencies. It is so lovely and wonderful to have
more room so that we won’t have to shop as often, hopefully just weekly. The
freezer is awesome as well! You gotta love the simple things in life that we take
for granted back home.
CONFERENCE CALL
Last Thursday morning we
had an early morning conference call with our mission president and several
other missionaries to discuss how to best publicize the coming of BYU’s Folk
Dancers in July. We love the Folk Dancers and especially because it for this
that Steve and I met back over 40 years ago. Steve had been a Folk Dancer and
his partner was one of my dear friends. Our hearts are invested to do what we
can to get it announced, but it’s hard to describe to others what they are all
about. They are by the way, amazing! If you have never seen any of their
concerts, at Christmas time, it is well worth your time. We are thrilled that
they will be coming for several free concerts and gatherings with the YSA and
youth.
OFII
We love each time we get
to take the new missionaries to take them to OFII, where they get their papers
for legalization signed after a series of physicals and questioning. They
always pass! 😉 It ends up being a 6 hour process from start to
finish from the time we leave together and return. We love our fun and meaningful
interactions with them.
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| OFII Missionaries |
INSTITUTE & INTENSE NOISE OUTSIDE
After institute Thursday
night we had a very late meeting again discussing several important issues
coming up. Once again it made for a very late night. These French do not mind
their late nights, we are sure of it!
The noise from outside
became more and more intense with very loud music and crowds. We were unsure
what it was until we walked out and saw thousands who had congregated on each end
of the block of our little street, for a large celebration. We were basically
blocked on both ends and took a less crowded alley way to depart back into the
main road by the Pompidou Center. I will admit it was a bit sketchy and
concerning, but we were watched over.
TEMPLE REOPENED
We were grateful to return
to the temple after it was closed for two weeks. We know that our opportunity
to go as often as possible will be limited once our center is opened and our
who life will be in that center. The renewing feeling we receive by attending
the temple gives us so much strength to carry on.
After our time in the
temple, we decided to walk over to the Patron Housing just behind the temple by
the garden. We met a sister who is a receptionist. She looked familiar to me
and we finally figured we had seen her perform at a stake function. Her name is
Paule Stevine and is such a dear woman with such love to serve with her talents
and testimony.
Once she told me where
she was from (Congo), I wondered if she had ever heard of Philip Banza. His
father was the first member of the church in the Congo’s and the story of his conversion
is so riveting. My brother knows Philip well, as they worked together in Salt
Lake and we had also had Philip come to our home once for a fireside many years
ago to share his and his father’s story. She did know Philip and the amazing
story of his father.
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| Paule Stevine and Soeur Packer |
MISSIONARY INSPECTION AND BAPTISM DAY ADVENTURES
Missionary
Inspections
We’ve been given four
apartments of missionaries to visit and inspect for cleanliness and if all is
working well.
It was quite an
adventure and far away to find the right metro and follow our phones’ GPS to
locate the two apartments that we visited this week on Saturday. We were in an
area we had never been in. Our visit and
inspection went well with both apartments.
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| These were found taped in their WC room! LOVE IT! |
In our walks to the second
apartment we passed a beautiful memorial garden park. We love how they honor
the heroes from the past.
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| War Memorial Garden Park in Nogent, France |
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| Every part of the park was filled with beauty! |
Marvin’s
Baptism
We’ve been grateful to
see the wonderful process of Marvin’s path to baptism. He is a kind, quiet but faithful
man.
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| Soeur Nickerson, Marvin Mirande, Elder Durrant, Soeur Jensen |
Finding the town and
church that the baptism was being held at was another adventure that we hope
never to repeat. As we were heading back, we then found an easy one-way
straight RER ride back to our apartment. We are learning!
SUNDAY’S INSPIRATIONS
Lessons
to be learned
In our English-speaking
Sacrament Meeting, there are always lessons that are learned and it’s different
for every person in the room. What I may gain from the meeting will be totally
different than someone else, as it is in every learning setting. Here are just
a few things that caught my heart’s attention. Just as a reminder, this English-speaking
meeting is a testimony meeting each week. You never know who will be standing
and sharing and from what parts of the world, but hands down it is the most remarkable
and inspiring part of every Sunday. Every person who leaves from the meeting
are in awe of how they have felt for having attended.
Her
mother must have taught her to be a good and kind person
Brother Ron Hardy from
Spokane, WA, came and stood at the pulpit and spoke of how the Light of Christ
can be spotted and learned from everywhere we stand. He spoke of an elderly
woman who walked into a metro with two very large bags. Without hesitation, another
younger woman, from African descent, saw this elderly woman so heavy laden, quickly
rose up from her seat and motioned for her to sit in her place. The elderly
woman was so grateful.
Bro. Hardy then tenderly
shared what he thought he caught in the younger woman’s eyes. He saw the gleam
of love and joy she must have felt and how she must’ve been taught by a loving
mother how to be a good and kind person.
Versailles
Palace versus the LDS Temple experience
Amanda and her husband
from Delaware had an experience earlier in the week where they had two places
of interest that day, one to see the Versailles Palace and the other, the LDS
Temple. The LDS temple was their main priority, but they thought they would go to
the Palace first and then have more time at the temple. As they approached the
Palace they could see that the waiting time to go through the hoards of long
lines would make it impossible to see the temple. They then decided to take the
30 min walk from the Palace to the temple. They could not say enough about
their experience for having made the temple their main priority.
Last
but not least! The Hansen Family
At the end of our
meeting, we met the darling Hansen family, where the wife had shared her
testimony earlier about the call of action from President Nelson’s challenge to
the youth to join the Youth Battalion of the gospel. After hearing President
and Sister Nelson, they printed off a copy of the prophet’s talk and studied in
depth what their family could do personally to prepare to serve the Lord now!
They then asked if they
could have a copy of the Book of Mormon that we have ready to share with those
who desire to give it to anyone they meet on their trip to Paris. It was so inspiring
to see the exuberance and faithfulness of this family.
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The Hansen Family
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SPECIAL THANKS TO MY DEAR HUSBAND AND COMPANION
I am so grateful for Steve
and for his love, generosity and sweet companionship we’ve experienced together
throughout our marriage and this mission. I appreciate his hard work and
determination to accomplish the work we’ve been asked to do and then much more.
We have a wonderful companionship as missionaries and husband and wife and have
gained so much from this experience that will help us in further areas throughout
our lives. How deeply I love him!
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| My most favorite Elder and only Companion! |
Elder et Soeur Packer
Grandpère et Mémé Packer (Please use our last name on any mail, so
they don’t return it)
Our Address:
4 quai du Marché Neuf
75004 PARIS
FRANCE
You may still text or
FaceTime Renée at 801-564-1332
We are 8 hours ahead of
Mountain Standard Time
Beautiful pictures!
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