Packers France Paris Mission Blog 20
Packers in Paris Blog 20 – July 23rd – July
29th, of 2018
THE FAMILY HISTORY CENTER AT ST. MERRI – UPDATE!
Does this look like a
title?
We believe this may be
our title for our center in downtown Paris, after speaking with our Mission President. Stay tuned if it
changes. We are feeling grateful and are hopeful that we can begin our
preparations for publicity with this title. St. Merri is the name of the street
that the center and church are on.
We are well on our way
with the continued demolition and rebuilding. Each day shows great progress,
though it’s like watching a clock ticking, since we need to monitor nearly each
day.
We are more excited than
we dare tell for this center to be complete and for us to begin the implementation
of all our plans. It will be a family friendly, welcoming environment to all
who come through our doors. We will gratefully welcome the total stranger who
walks past our doors and feels compelled to walk in, to the seasoned Family
History specialist and everyone in-between.
As you enter you will
find that we will have a 3-in-1 (3 engaging activities), 55-inch touch screen
that will intrigue everyone who experiences it, as they enter into our large
main room. Also, in the large room, will be another monitor, a bit smaller with
a 4-in-1(4 interactive & engaging activates) touch screen for various
activities, in addition it will include the ability to, “Call a Relative,” and
to do family history. The Call a Relative application will allow a person to
call anywhere in the world for free, for 10 minutes and the conversation will
be recorded and emailed to them. They can talk to a grandparent, a grandchild
or other loved ones and share special remembrances and have them preserved. We
never see these recordings or have access to anyone’s emails, but it will be
such a wonderful keepsake for all who take advantage of it.
In the center area we will
also have a children’s center for the young people to feel engaged with age
appropriate activities about Family History. In this center area, will also be
a lovely separate teaching room.
In the back room of the
three will be a small separate office area, and the main Family History Center
with 2-3 computers that are the same as the 4-in-1 mentioned in the earlier
paragraph description.
We are planning on
having varied days or evenings for special groups who would like to participate
and learn with their groups, be it families, YSA, youth, mom and tots, etc. We
will have many other opportunities to engage newcomers to quickly become
enthused about connecting with their family’s past and present.
Projected
completion date
Our projected date of
completion is for the end of September 2018 and then it’ll take a few weeks for
final set up and for a smooth operation. We are hoping that our Open House will
be no later than the 3rd week of October, but perhaps sooner.
FHE IN THE BLAZING HUMID HEAT
This past week has been
the hottest and most humid since we’ve been here. When you add the hot temps
and humidity, it’s sweltering. I was helping one of the YSA with the meal in a
hot kitchen and it was exhausting. It seemed to zap us of all our strength once
we stopped to finally take a breather.
INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT SORENSEN – EVENING WITH SWEET FRIENDS,
THE GAILLARDS
Visit
with the President
Tuesday was a very full
and wonderful day. The last time we were in the mission office was the day we
arrived in Paris, on March 16th. We were looking forward to our
meeting with President Sorensen. He’s so good to discuss things with and
appreciates our enthusiasm in our efforts here (we have met with him by video and
phone before and little personal nips here and there when at Zone Conferences).
We had the chance to share with him our operational plans for the center and he
was thrilled and so supportive and provided much needed answers to many of our questions.
We enjoyed a brief visit
with the office couples after our interview. Elder and Sister Lynn and Elder and Sister Fitt are such a blessing to
our mission! Things might just fall apart if it wasn’t for these two couples!
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| Elder and Sister Lynn |
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| Elder and Sister Fitt |
Special
evening with Jean Michel, Béatrice, Clement and YuYu Gaillard
When my parents were
serving in Lyon, France, they became dear friends with the Gaillards. Jean
Michel was one of the bishops in the area. One time about 18 years ago, when
they were visiting the US they came to visit us with their four young children
and we met them for the first time and spent a day with them. They were such
wonderful and delightful children with such faithful and devoted parents. We
quickly came to see why my parents enjoyed their company. Since then we have
had occasion to see them a couple of other times in Utah and Colorado and to be
in touch via Facebook.
Last Monday we received
a message from them saying that they were in Paris and would like to see us. We
worked out a time the following day to meet with them. Their son, Clement and
his wife, YuYu (from China) came with them. We loved getting caught up about
their four children. Clement had his darling wife from China with us. She was
absolutely the most charming, beautiful and delightful woman. I could’ve spent
so much more time with her and listening to her story and their adventures in
China. The story of how Clement and YuYu met, was very tender!
After a wonderful visit
in our apartment, catching up and answering questions about how my parents were
doing and about their subsequent missions after Lyon, we took off for a fun and
long walk to find this amazing restaurant that Clement and Jean Michel had
found on the internet.
After a long walk
winding through streets following their GPS, we came to this quaint and narrow
street to find the restaurant, named La Main de Verlaine. It may have looked
like many other restaurants, but this one was exceptional, and had some fun
history about it. A famous poet, Paul Verlaine lived here and also died in this
place on January 8th, 1896, at the age of 52. Also, Ernest Hemingway
lived in this building from 1921 to 1925.
As much as we loved the
food, atmosphere and nostalgic music, what I enjoyed so deeply was our sweet
conversations with each of them and especially mine with Béatrice. She is one
of the most genuine, kind, humble, religious and intuitive women I’ve met.
During our evening as we walked many miles, she shared with me her fascinating
conversion story from her parents on up! It was so incredible and heartwarming
that I found myself enwrapped in her story all evening. It was if two sisters
finally had the chance to get caught up.
I hated to see the
evening come to an end, but we thanked them warmly for their love, their
generosity and goodness!
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| Jean Michel, Beatrice, YuYu and Clement Gaillard |
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| YuYu and Clement Gaillard |
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| The Restaurant the Gaillards took us! Lay Maison de Verlaine |
HOSPITAL BLESSINGS
We received a phone call
today that there was a man in the hospital who needed the brethren to come and
administer to him. It ended up taking a lot to find someone and all of us find
the hospital, but it ended up to be a sweet experience. When the two men walked
in his room, he began to weep! His wife stayed behind with us women, as they
would not allow more in the room. She was a bit shaken through it all, but we
later found out that he had quite the procedure done and is doing well!
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| Sheri Kettle |
WACKY WEATHER WEEK!
The temperature kept
climbing to its peak on Thursday and Friday, plus adding the high humidity, it
was sweltering. On Friday just as we were getting so tired from the heat and
humidity, came an unexpected thunderstorm which turned into a hailstorm. It was
so welcoming! We went from an extreme heat, to this fabulous rain dance feel
(no we didn’t do a rain dance, but felt like it). This would’ve been a welcome
relief to anyone outside wandering the streets of Paris, but it was glorious as
well for us.
Almost
a full moon Thursday!
We didn’t capture the,
almost full moon, very well, but it was a beautiful evening nonetheless.
Where’s
Lunar Eclipse Friday?
With the crazy weather
we had that day, we were pretty sure that our part of the world, most likely
would not be witnessing the Lunar Eclipse, and it didn’t!
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| You can't see the hail, but this is our courtyard area |
TEMPLE SATURDAY, THE MARKET & BRIDAL SHOWER
Temple
blessings
We started our morning
early to head to the temple so that we could finish in time to also make it to
the Saturday markets which close early in Versailles.
As we entered the
temple, we heard that Bishop Gérald Caussé had just entered the temple just a
few minutes earlier, yet we missed seeing him. As mentioned from our last blog
post, he was very instrumental in getting the temple built in France. Though he
presently lives in Salt Lake City, UT, he seems to find moments to come to his
beloved country.
It was most gratifying taking
some of Steve’s ancestor names with us! I felt their gratitude for our efforts
this day! No doubt they were close and smiling with joy!
To
market, to market!
To market, to market to
buy a new purse;
To market, to market to
buy some black shoes;
To market, to market to
buy some new pans;
Home again, home again, jiggety-jans.
😉
Gabrielle’s
Bridal Shower
Nothing like feeling
you’re right there when there’s a special event! Grant Gibbons, my nephew (my
sister Lucie Gibbon’s son), and Gabrielle Cox, (our dear friend, as is her
family), are getting married and we couldn’t be happier.
My daughter Janine Hunsaker
took the time to Marco Polo and Facetime with us during this event, on our
Saturday evening. They are two peas in a pod and we knew it was to be from the
start, so it did my heart good to see family, friends and some of our dear
children and grandchildren there. We love you all!
Thanks to Lucie and
Janine Hunsaker for capturing the event for me.
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| Gabrielle Cox, Maddie and Dixie Packer |
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| Gabrielle Cox, Janine, Adelaide, and Micaela Hunsaker |
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| Grant Gibbons and Gabrielle Cox (soon Gibbons) |
BIRTHDAY WISHES TO OUR PARENTS!
Two months ago, we
celebrated Steve’s mother’s (Audrey) 95th birthday on May 25th.
She is still going strong, living on her own in Farmington, New Mexico. How we
love and honor her for her great life and legacy. This woman has remained
strong and faithful through all of her many losses and trials. She is an
example of faith, persistence and genuine care for everyone. We love you Mom
Packer!
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Audrey T Packer (this was taken a few years before)
|
In the past 10 days we
celebrated both my parent’s birthdays. My father, Elden Wood celebrated his 93rd
birthday on July 18th and my mother, Picola, celebrated her 88th
on July 28th. How we love and honor these two incredible people in
our lives. Their faithful legacy has been a continued blessing to their
posterity. They have put God (their faith and service), Family and their great
love of Music as their top priorities. We love you Mom and Dad Wood!
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| Elden L Wood |
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| Picola H Wood |
SUNDAY AT ST. MERRI – A TWOFER - NOTES ON WHAT I HAVE LEARNED
Twofer
(this was actually in the dictionary)
Connection Sunday is
what we should call this day! It wasn’t because there were so many connections,
but we were thrilled to find this two in one connection. Every Sunday we call individuals
from our visitors Sacrament Meeting to help with prayers, music and so on.
So, as I was asking for
volunteers for pianist and music director, a mother and daughter offered. As we
discussed what the hymns were, the mother asked if we’d be singing them in
French. I told her that although this is an English-speaking meeting, members
are welcome to sing them in French or English, as we have access to hymn books
in both languages. I asked her if she served a French speaking mission and she said
yes and told me where and when. I then asked if she knew my sister, Claire Wood
Prigmore. She did in fact as they had served in the same mission and at the
same time and remembered many sweet details about my sister. She also
remembered that Claire’s parents had served as mission president. As we
continued to discuss this topic, I found out that her husband had also served a
French speaking mission and that my father was his mission president in the
West Indies (1991-1994) during his whole mission (92-94). We couldn’t have
chosen a more beautiful connection!
This sweet family is the
Matthew and Shannon Evans family! They were so gracious! We finalized our visit
by taking pictures to send to my parents, and sister.
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| The Evans Family |
Sunday
notes
During each meeting on
Sunday I like to take notes from the speakers, testimonies and impressions that come to
me. Here are just a few of some of my notes from what was said from various participants.
-
God sees us from the
beginning to the end, so just Trust, Trust, Trust Him!
-
With all the things
there are to do in Paris during the week, partaking of the sacrament, was the
most important.
-
It’s always worth taking
the time to go to the temple!
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We know not because of
what we see, but what we feel!
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Keep your eyes on the Savior!
-
All who have made it to
the tree (the Tree of Life) need to remain clinging and not let go!
-
Quote from Henry Eyring
(Scientist 1901-1981) “Everything that is true is part of my religion, everything
that isn’t, isn’t!”
HERE ARE A FEW OTHER PICTURES!
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The Barlow Family - All but the mom stood up to share their thoughts and the Dad said the prayer
|
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| Scenery on the way back from the restaurant |
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| Pantheon - Church dedicated to Genevieve in the Latin quarter of Paris |
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| Printemps large shopping store |
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| Eiffel Tower on the way back from the temple |
Heureux à Paris (Happy in Paris),
Elder et Soeur Packer
Grandpère et Mémé Packer (Please use our last name on any mail, or
it will get returned)
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
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