Packer France Paris Mission Blog 23
Packers in
Paris Blog 23 – August 13th – August 19th, of 2018
CLEANLINESS
IS NEXT TO GODLINESS!
One of many reasons we love the temple is how immaculate it is on a
daily basis, truly feeling you are in the House of God! We can’t imagine
performing these sacred and vicarious ordinances in any other environment. In
the Bible Dictionary it reads:
Temple
A temple
is literally a house of the Lord, a holy sanctuary in which sacred ceremonies
and ordinances of the gospel are performed by and for the living and also in
behalf of the dead. A place where the Lord may come, it is the most holy of any
place of worship on the earth. Only the home can
compare with the temple in sacredness.
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| Paris Temple |
Sometimes our meeting houses are not quite there yet, but often need great improvement to get it to where it really should be, becoming like a House of God!
This past Monday, three sets of missionaries, two senior couples and the
young sisters spent a few hours at the church to get a much-needed cleaning
done. We have come to realize that it’s been harder in Paris to find members to
take the time to come and do weekly cleaning because of how far they live, but
we knew it was well due time. The difference of how it felt before and after
was quite remarkable. We literally invited the spirit fully back into our
meeting home, as that is one of the many ways that we honor and glorify Him!
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| Elder Packer vacuumed and also mopped! |
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| Sister Jensen doing the hard work! |
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| The fruits of our labors |
TUESDAY
APARTMENT CHECK!
We were happy to go to two different missionary apartments for Steve to
do some repairs. We were pleased at how clean they were keeping their
apartments. I sadly forgot to take pictures of the sisters, but finally
remembered right before leaving the Elder’s apartment!
Though we only see a small portion of the apartments, actually only 4 of
the 66, we know that there are those who know how to clean and others that need
major help.
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| Elders Longman and Rochette |
IKEA CENTER
PROJECT FIND & NOTRE DAME SCARE
IKEA
Center Project Find
In order to prepare for our center’s opening, we needed to gather prices
from IKEA. It’s quite a trip to get there, but it was helpful to get some ideas
of what we might be able to use.
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| Some of the many images we took for furniture we are looking at! |
Notre Dame Scare
On our way home, we were walking towards Notre Dame to our apartment and
noticed a lot of police cars. They had the perimeter of Notre Dame all secured
off with tape and fences and police stationed at the openings checking bags as
they entered. This was a first since we’ve been here. The tape went all the way
in front of our apartment! We are not what the reasons were, but we are glad to
be safe.
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| The street we live on! |
SHIFT AND
PERSPECTIVE ON OUR FAMILY HISTORY CENTER PROJECT
In order to continue on with our project plans, it was decided earlier
this week to make some needed changes in order to move forward with our immense
task lists. We came up with a game plan of committees, which are not so easy to
form here in Paris, but committees are the only way we know how to function to
accomplish such major projects. We knew we needed to act fast and get things going!
Our first committee members are Maryn and Fred Tan! We’ve asked them to
be our Coordinators over the Open House! This young and vibrant couple are here
from the States for Fred’s schooling. With all they have going on, they have
opened up their hearts to help however they can. Their many skills, talents and
desires to serve are wide and exciting!
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| The Maryn and Fred Tan couple! |
Once we arrived for Institute we took them over to the Center and showed
them what it was all about. They were thrilled and so excited for this prospect
and we could see their enthusiasm! We were overwhelmed to have their help!
We have many other committees to form that we are organizing, but it’s a
great start with the limited time we have left!
DINNER WITH
FRED AND MARYN TO DISCUSS THE OPEN HOUSE
On Friday we had the Tans
over for dinner to go through all the plans for the Open House! They have such
youthful energy and vitality and even with limited time, not speaking the
language fully yet, they have no fear, but just a desire to serve! What more
could we ask for!
TEMPLE, GARDEN, SISTER’S JOY & THE MARKET
Temple
peace!
The temple was just what we
needed this day! As I was performing Initiatory, the sister in the booth asked
if it was ok for her to speak in English as she didn’t want to forget. This was
the first time I had heard these blessings spoken in English since before our
mission. It ended up being exactly what I needed. To hear these covenants so clearly
and distinctly stated from what I’ve known so well as a former temple worker
myself, sunk deep into my heart and was an answer to the prayers in my heart.
It left me with serenity and a needed peace!
The
Garden – a walk with God
As we walked around the
gardens before and afterwards, it too was an answer to my prayers to feel of
God’s love and awareness of our efforts here in our mission. The feeling one
gets in the gardens, the Visitor Center and the grounds, and in the temple, are one of peace and
the Savior’s love. You truly can feel the Lord walking beside you!
Sister’s
Joy
Before leaving we walked into
the Visitors Center and spoke with the sister missionaries. They shared with us
the most powerful story of a baptism they had that day. They had found by quite
a miracle this family who had gone in active. Yet, their youngest boy had not
been previously baptized. When the sisters happened upon their door, the father
warmly invited them in and through the blessing of their presence and talking
with them, the youngest boy wanted to be baptized and the whole family desired
to start coming again. They look forward to the sealing of their whole family
in the temple in a year from now!
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| Sisters Marteeny and Ackroyd |
Contrast
with the Market
It is a bit of a contrast to
go to the Market in Versailles after the temple, but shopping is a necessity
and can actually be fun, but one can’t measure it with the sacredness of Temple
experiences.
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| One farmer's market that we bought cherries at, but then went to another for non food items |
FAMILY HISTORY WITH EMAD SUDDIK
Steve went over to the
Institute Saturday night while I worked on more organizing of committees for
our center. While he was with the Elders and Emad, what they experienced this
night was truly remarkable. Emad had already done a lot of work to prepare
names to be inserted into his Family Search account and was so enthused to
think he could perform vicarious baptism for his dear beloved deceased
ancestors in the temple soon after baptism was such a thrill for him. He
specifically is excited to do the work for his father and sister who are
deceased. He will be baptized tomorrow. Emad is from Egypt!
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| Elders Ludwig, Durrant, & Emad and Elder Packer |
SUNDAY CONNECTIONS & MIRACLES
How can it get better than
this? It’s not that we knew personally the people we met, but how they blessed
us was part of the sweetness of the experiences. The miracles came as a small
little burst of blessings for some and for our family.
The
Higgins Family – more later on the miracle from this family
We first met a family from
Rexburg, Idaho who had been camping for 1 month throughout Europe and now were
going to be staying in a Hotel in Paris and needed to dispose of their camping
gear. We took it off their hands and put it in the Institute building to be
used by those who could use it! The parents are professors at BYU-I. The sister
is a professor with the Psychology Department but we had not heard where her
husband taught till later. More on the miracle of this story that blessed
our family!
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| Professors Higgins and sons from Rexburg, ID and BYUI |
Nancy
& Linda’s miracle
While I was talking to them,
my husband was talking with these other two women who were desperately needing help
to have copies made of their boarding passes as they were leaving right after
our English meeting. We got the screen shot of their boarding passes and went
to the Institute building and made copies and then thought we were good. Once
the meeting started and Steve was up at the front, these dear women said that
they forgot to get their luggage tags printed as well. I knew it would be up to
me to go back to the Institute building right away and print them off. For some
reason, I couldn’t figure out how to turn this computer on and didn’t know what
to do. I said a silent prayer and asked for the Lord’s help. I then felt a
prompting to try printing it from my phone and low and behold it worked! I have
never been able to do this before ever! I quickly ran back downstairs into the
meeting and slipped the papers to them. I told them of the miracle that had
just happened, and they knew that it was so! Their day had been filled with miracles.
I was grateful to be a small part of one of their several miracles! Our meeting
was so sweet and tender, and had everyone feeling so blessed for having
attended!
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| Nancy & Linda |
Miracles
with the Higgins
After church as I was talking
with various people, I quick ran outside to meet the Higgins family, the ones
from Rexburg, Idaho. I wanted to know if Sister Higgins knew how best to help our
daughter, who was in that program at BYUI but taking a break. As we began to
talk, she then turned to her husband and said that he was the head of that
department and would more likely know what to do and could help her. Our
youngest is nearly done with her degree but had a few things she needed help
with. As I described her circumstances, he told me specifically what she needed
to do to and to email him with a subject line of, “You met my Mom in Paris,”
and that would catch his eye and he would then pay special attention to her
needs. It was a huge miracle and blessing to have this experience with them,
for various reasons. I later called our daughter, Becca that day, who knew
exactly who Professor Higgins was and had him as a teacher her first year. As I
told her, she also knew that it was a miracle and a second witness of the
impressions she had been feeling to get ready to finish her degree.
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| Darrell, Heidi, Andrew and Jacob Higgins |
President
and Sister Saunders
After this discussion, I went
back into the church to have Steve introduce me to President Saunders and his
wife. They are from Syracuse, and he’s a Stake President and a CES person who
knows our seminary son, Jaron and Vanesa Packer, very well. He is also their Stake
President. They were absolutely delightful and couldn’t say enough sweet things
about our son and his wife and dear family. They are remarkable people! They were
embarrassed that they weren’t dressed in Sunday clothes, as they had just
arrived and had no room to change in yet. We welcome anyone in their street
clothes, even Stake Presidents!
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| President and Sister Saunders |
LESSONS OF OUR SUNDAY MEETINGS
-
Receiving, listening and applying personal revelation through our:
o Parents,
scriptures, patriarchal blessings, priesthood leaders, etc.
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He answers all prayers (we must have faith to trust Him)
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Blessings of the Book of Mormon has blessed her life
-
Her French ancestors wanted their work done in the Paris Temple
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Wherever you go, find the church and attend and show your commitment to
the Lord
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Live the teachings of the Gospel of Christ
-
It takes effort (though well worth it) to pass on the teachings of the Gospel
to your family
BAPTISM OF EMAD SUDDIK
What a blessing to attend the
baptism of sweet Emad Suddik in Paris Lilas! This gentle and sweet man carries
the humblest and yet dignified manner about him. He has a permanent smile on
his face and was definitely a golden contact. At the end he shared his
testimony and convictions of this blessing in his life. What an honor to get to
meet him. He will be attending our ward and so we look forward to seeing his
progression to the temple and assisting us in our Open House perhaps on the
blessings of Family History!
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| Elder Ludwig, Emad, Elder Durrant |
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
I just realized my comment on your last post I was signed in as Maliyah! Lol whoops. Anyway loved reading today’s stories!
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