Packers France Paris Mission Blog 31
Packers in Paris Blog 31 –
October 8th – October 14th, of 2018
FAMILY HOME EVENING
This last
week was the largest group of YSA’s for Family Home Evening that we’ve ever
seen! They had such a great time conversing and making new friends. The dinner
they provided was not planned for such a group that size, so they were counting
on the loaves and fishes parable to feed them!
Because
of our major project with the Family History Center’s Open House in just 5
days, we were unable to stay, but how grateful we were to see so many come
together!
FINAL PREPARATIONS FOR THE
FAMILY HISTORY CENTER OPEN HOUSE
Our Facilities
Maintenance (FM) group and handy men worked very hard this past week in
preparation for the Open House to get all things put together, pictures hung
and windows cleaned, etc.! It was so heartwarming. We’ve all had to put in many
extra hours each day in order to make this possible.
Even
though not all of the furniture or frames came in on time, we were so grateful
for all the work our FM people gave us to get it done as much as it is!
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| Jean Philippe - FM Handy Man - He's amazing! |
Getting
all of the electronics to work was arduous in itself. Working with our
technology person for Family Search was a challenge since we were doing it via remote
maintenance connection. Between his speaking fast in French and using technology
lingo I couldn’t understand, we somehow had to make it work. Finally, Brother Poussard
(our ward executive secretary) came to help us finish and get all the center computers,
personal computers and printer synced.
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| Virgil Vienne (FM Director) Steve, Ben Poussard |
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| Looking forward to putting up the 55" touchscreen TV for discovery experiences (only) |
TRANSFERS AND FAREWELLS
This time
always brings such mixed emotions for the missionaries and for us! When you’ve
devoted 18-24 months serving the Lord and those around you, you can’t help but
feel a sweet connection to your areas of service and those you’ve served and
been served by. We may not know all the missionaries, but for those we’ve
gotten to know more personally, we bade them farewell either as departing
missionaries or those being transferred.
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| Elder Burgoyne & Sister Nickerson (part of our former district) and Sister Ericksen - departing missionaries |
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| Sister Johnson - our awesome violinist and friend from home! |
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| Sister Foley - dear missionary & friend departing |
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| Departing sisters |
PUBLICITY HELP FROM
Eva
Antoine and her family (her husband, Olivier, was our former FM leader, over
our project) came to talk about how they can help us with further publicity,
not just for the Open House. She offered some wonderful help and is so excited
about this new Center. She is a professional videographer and will come the day
of the Open House and later again.
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| Oliver (he helped to inspire this project) and Eva Antoine (videographer), children and their beloved missionaries |
MOVING THE PIANO INTO THE CENTER
I’m always
nervous when a piano is being moved by novice movers, meaning perhaps some of you
and me! Even though I didn’t help move the piano, those moving it, our FM men,
our handyman and my husband, did a great job, but my heart might have skipped a
few beats during the process! We’re grateful for this beautiful piano! It’s
fairly new, plays beautifully, well at least when someone with talent plays it,
and it fits well in the center. We plan on using it for devotionals, special
firesides and classes for Family History.
ELDER POULSON’S FATHER TAKEN BACK HOME
Our own
dear Elder Poulson’s father passed away suddenly this last Friday, from an
aneurism. Elder Poulson is from Poway,
CA, where we used to live and where our nephew lives in his ward.
This
unexpected news had to have been such difficult to handle. As we reached out to
show our love and condolences, Steve felt that he could share some of his
thoughts from when his father passed away while serving on his mission in Japan
44 years ago. This experience was life changing for Steve and can see it will
be for dear Elder Poulson. Elder Poulson is such a strong and faithful
missionary, but these types of experiences can pull you up or down. He has
allowed this experience to shape and strengthen him and those around him. As he
attends his father’s funeral, he will find that he will be the one comforting others
and find that his mission experiences have prepared him for such a time as
this! We’ve come to see what a remarkable young man he is, even in the face of
adversity!
FRIDAY FINAL SET UP! HELP FROM THE LÉPORÉ’S
Friday was
the day we’ve been anticipating for our final set up for the Open House on
Saturday. We were so grateful for our amazing Zone Leaders and Sister Trainer
Leaders to spend so much time on our behalf. We could not have accomplished all
that was on our to-do list without their superb help by putting away chairs,
cleaning floors and setting up tables and hanging our vinyl posters and a
myriad of other tasks. These photos though aren't of what I just described above. They did so much more than lay on the new rug!
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| Mauro - FM employee and one of our YSA's |
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| Sister Bell and Sister Jensen cleaning the Christus |
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| Loving our new carpet! |
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| Elder Ludwig and Elder Durant |
We had previously prepared the wording for 6 large vinyl posters on different Family History topics for our Open House, to later be used in the center. These were then finished and designed by Maryn Tan, who also took beautiful, professional photos. She’s our Facebook designer with the title of: Centre d’Histoire Familiale de Saint-Merri. Later in this blog I’ll post a video of photos she took of our Open House. Maryn and her dear husband, Freddie, have blessed us tremendously! You can also go to another Facebook page to see two Facebook live posts of our Open House: Foi en Christ - Scroll till you see two posts on our Open House!
In the early
evening, President and Sister Léporé (French-speaking Europe Area Manager for
Family Search) came to help set up some of their gear and give insight for this
special day! Their presence brought a tremendous support, spirit and help we
were so dearly appreciated to put the final touch on this event.
They could
not have been more welcomed and appreciated for all their time, efforts and
resources. President Léporé has become such a dear friend over the past 7 ½
months, but then he brought his better half, Amie and we fell in love with her.
What a dear woman she is and how grateful we are to know them both!
OPEN HOUSE DAY OF! 7 YEARS IN THE MAKING FOR
PRESIDENT LÉPORÉ! ALSO PRESIDENT UCHTDORF’S DESIRE!
When
you’ve worked tirelessly on such an event, your mind is always on the topic and
can’t wait for it to come to pass! The day finally came and it felt like we had
just delivered a child. The labor pains were a bit heavy at the end of
preparations on Friday, but so well worth the final delivery on Saturday!
On
Saturday morning prior to our 1:00 p.m. opening, we were scurrying putting the
final touches on each station and getting all the technology in place. There
was excitement in the air and we had no idea who and if anyone would come! We
didn’t worry about it, because the opening event was more important than
getting masses of people coming on this day. Hopefully, though, our publicity
would bring some people to this event. What we didn’t realize is how many would
enter from off the street. Dear Anna G., a YSA and members and missionaries,
welcomed those who passed by to come and see. We were amazed at how they came
not knowing why and didn’t want to leave. They were enthralled by what they experienced.
We had
asked our dear friends in our ward, Renee Hall and Tina Hale to put together a
luncheon and all the cookies for the refreshments for the event. This couldn’t
have been more helpful and welcomed by the 30 + people who assisted us in this
event. They were our angels on earth for this group of helpers!
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| Tina Hale & Renee Hall - prepared all the food for 30 + helpers and cookies for all attendees |
We were
also grateful for Elder and Sister Gaag who are Family History advisors over
all of the French speaking area. They were so helpful in sitting at the Family
Search work station and using their knowledge in this area to help assist many
that came by.
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| Elder and Sister Gaag (the middle couple) - Photo by Maryn Jenkins Tan |
Earlier we
had dear Eva Antoine who came to do a professional video of an interview with President
Léporé in the center, and later she will use this for a video she’ll put
together to share in a large way. She has more interviews and videos she’ll be
taking to finalize this! We’ll post when available.
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| Video Interview with President Léporé |
Prior to
our welcomed lunch, I asked President Léporé to share a message to all FH Open
House helpers. His message was most touching and very tender, sharing with us
his dream for the past 7 years since their move back to France, of the former
visitor center to someday become a Family History Center. It was an emotional
message of gratitude and reassurance that the Lord’s hand has been in this process
all along! We too have felt this and are so grateful to have been involved in
this effort!
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| Amie and President Léporé - making opening remarks |
It was 18
months ago that President Dieter Uchtdorf came to Paris and walked into the
center and stated also that it needed to be turned into a Family History
Center. We are so grateful for our mission president, President Paul Sorensen,
supporting this great purpose as well and allowing us to oversee this project.
The Open
House, starting in the church and moving through 6 different stations (see
below what these were), happened as planned, not knowing how many would attend.
Open House - 6 Stations:
Introduction to Family History – Information,
Questions and Answers
Family Tree/Family Search – Building
Your Family Tree
Indexing - How can I Serve Through
Indexing
Memories - Conserving Memories in
Family Search
Temple - The blessings of Eternal
Families
Family Search Workstation - Getting
Signed Up for FamilySearch
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| Introduction to Family History - Photo by Maryn Jenkins Tan |
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| Family Tree/Family Search - Photo by Maryn Jenkins Tan |
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| Indexing - Photo by Maryn Jenkins Tan |
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| Memories - Photo by Maryn Jenkins Tan |
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| Temple - Photo by Maryn Jenkins Tan |
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| Family Search Workstation - Photo by Maryn Jenkins Tan |
As
visitors attended they meandered through each of the stations, spending time asking
questions and getting excited at the end to finally sign up for a free
FamilySearch Account. This would allow them to freely access millions of
records, and have access to many of the partnerships we are associated with,
such as Ancestry, Geneanet, MyHeritage, and FindMyPast and perhaps others. We’re
still learning!
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| Photo by Maryn Jenkins Tan |
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| Photo by Maryn Jenkins Tan |
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| Photo by Maryn Jenkins Tan |
Afterwards, our visitors came to the center to see all that it offers. To see their faces as they engaged in all the discovery activities was thrilling to us. Those who attended will now spread the word, our social media efforts will spread the word, each of the missionaries will spread the word and in so many other ways, the fervor to Come and See will spread!
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| Entering the new Family History Center |
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| The main discovery room |
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| Photo by Maryn Jenkins Tan |
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| Photo by Maryn Jenkins Tan |
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| Photo by Maryn Jenkins Tan |
Many more photos of the rest of the center are on the facebook live! We'll be posting more in further weeks.
There
aren’t words enough to thank all those who helped in all ways to make this such
a memorable and historic day! Below is a video, photos and presentation by Maryn Jenkins Tan, the photographer.
Latest
news from the Léporé’s
After it
was all over, President and Sister Léporé, pulled us aside in a quiet place and
shared with us their latest news. They gave us permission to share this!
President Léporé is the Stake President in Lyon, France, and will be released
in two weeks after 7 years of service and their family will be moving back to Utah, where he’ll be
working in Salt Lake with the church again with Family Search, most likely.
They have mixed emotions, having lived here for the past 7 years,
being near his family, but now moving back near Amie’s family. It was the Lord calling
them back and they new it was time! The timing of this center opening, after 7 years of praying for this
day, came at a perfect time for them! Their influence in this work here in France is of greatest
importance. We pray that we can honor his efforts, but more importantly we want
to honor what God desires us to do. We are so grateful to have been blessed by
these two! We are also grateful to know they will be in Utah when we get back!
SUNDAY FAST, TESTIMONY SHARED AND ANASTASIE’S BAPTISM
The
Sabbath is such a respite from the world, but even though the life of a
missionary is full and hard to find rest, the Sabbath is still a respite from
things we normally could and would do on other days, such as shopping and such.
We also participate in sacred ordinances and attend our Sunday meetings. Today
as we fasted, we did so in behalf of Elder Poulson who I spoke of above. I messaged
him later that night, and there was no doubt he felt of the love of many others
praying and fasting in his behalf.
Today
during Sacrament meeting, I stood to share my testimony of this great work and
that we are to glorify God, not ourselves and that we can be a light to those
we surround ourselves with. As members of this church, we don’t need to be a set
apart missionary to shine our light of eternal truths, but that each member can
be a light of Christ to the world. I know this gospel is His light and His work
and His glory. I have no doubt that we are about sharing His truth!
After
church, we headed off to Paris Lilas for a baptism. I was so glad to be there
for Anastasie. Showing support is so helpful when baptisms take place and
continued friendship, love and support follows.
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| Sister Inman (on phone), Sister Jensen, Anastasie and Sister Bell |
CONCLUSION
As we have spent 7 months in the mission field, we are finding how much
we still need to learn and accomplish, but we’ve also learned that the Lord is
with us, and He will not leave us to do it alone. We have felt His guiding
influence and comfort in our lives to do hard things.
We love
you our dear friends and thank you for your prayers in our behalf. We pray for
you, we love you and know that you too are being watched over and blessed, even
in hard and difficult times. He only asks that we have faith in Him!
MISC PHOTOS BELOW:
Que la
paix et les bénédictions
soient avec vous (May peace and blessings be with you),
Elder et Soeur Packer
Grandpère et Mémé Packer (Please be sure and also use 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
Sorry to hear about Elder Poulson's dad. I'm sure Steve was a support for him. How difficult.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the Center is a huge success. So much work from everyone involved. Its very impressive! Congrats!