Packers France Paris Mission Blog 43
Packers in Paris Blog 43 – December 27th – January 6th,
2019
A NEW YEAR
Sarah Ban Breathnach stated: “New Year's Day. A fresh start. A new
chapter in life waiting to be written. New questions to be asked, embraced, and
loved. Answers to be discovered and then lived in this transformative year of
delight and self-discovery. Today carve out a quiet interlude for yourself in
which to dream, pen in hand. Only dreams give birth to change.”
Missions are meant to be a growing experience, where we can really
stretch, learn and be humbled, just to learn again, while serving the
Lord. My prayer is that we will be able to look back and see we have made a step in
the right direction with each experience. This mission has blessed us incredibly.
New
Year’s Eve
We
were asked to stay in our apartment on New Year’s Eve, not knowing what could
happen. We were able to see on the Internet though that Paris puts on an
incredible New Year’s Celebration. We did not attend, but the celebration at
the Arc de Triomphe and Tour d’Eiffel was spectacular. Be sure and watch the video links below! Amazing!
We enjoyed a quiet evening staying past the late midnight hour, playing
games!
NEW YEAR'S DAY ACTIVITIES
New
Year’s Day Paris activities
We
didn’t really feel like staying home all day, as our center was closed on New
Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. We decided to go visit a couple of sites we had
not seen yet and the internet said that they were open, but once we got there,
we realized they weren’t! We enjoyed our adventure anyway. The first place was
just around the corner from us, the Archeological Crypt of Notre Dame. The
second place we ventured to was to the US Military Cemetery at Suresnes. This
is the cemetery where President Hinckley’s brother is buried. We are quite
looking forward to going again when it’s open, as the grounds are so beautiful
and peaceful!  |
| US Military Cemetery at Suresnes |
 |
| Just across the street from the cemetery was a beautiful view! |
Sledding, Birthday Celebration and belated Christmas
Exchange back home and video chat
Most
importantly, we looked forward all day to visiting with our children via video
chat as they gathered together in Ogden for a sledding afternoon day with the
grandkids (not all families could attend this part), and then later in the
afternoon in Layton ALL the adult children met together for our traditional homemade
gift exchange.
 |
| Most of the Packer Clan sledding activity |
 |
| Maliyah and Maddie |
 |
| Cousins are so much fun! |
 |
| Olivia and Emma |
 |
| Austin, Emma and baby Bowen Packer |
 |
| Brent ready to race the littles! |
We almost felt like we were there (as we were able to see them through the miracle of modern technology), as they gathered together for their sledding activity, and birthday celebration for the months of November, December and January. How we love hearing from them and especially through video chat! WE LOVE YOU Packer Clan dearly!
 |
| The November, December and January birthdays, minus a few! |
 |
| Ayden with their new pup! |
7 out
of 8 children and spouse were present for the adult gathering
The
gathering later at the restaurant were with 7 of our 8 children. All their spouses
were there as well. Every year our children make home-made gifts for one person
that they secretly make in preparation for the reveal at this party. If they can’t
join the party, their gifts are mailed to each other. We chose not to
participate in the exchange, with the distance and mailing hassle, but loved
watching what each of them had made for one another. Through the years, the
thoughtfulness and personal love shown in these gifts are truly remarkable.
They were on Skype with Jordan and Larissa and we were on as well and everyone
else was present. What brings us so much joy is their love to be together! It
was worth every minute of lost sleep as we stayed up past midnight (again!) to
watch everyone open their gifts for one another.
BELOW ARE SOME OF THE HOMEADE GIFTS!
 |
| A fun game with photos of members of the family |
WELCOME BLUES
Last
Wednesday was the day for the new Blues (new missionaries) to come into Paris.
Steve met them at Saint-Merri and then I met them at the center once it was
opened. After their “blues meeting” where they meet their companion for the
first time, the blues and their new comps came over to the center to receive a
brief overview of what our center does and also to understand how FamilySearch
will help them on their mission.
These
new missionaries are so adorable, fresh, new and so clueless, but filled with
hope and love of the work ahead of them.
 |
| I will not attempt to name everyone, but they are each with their new companion |
 |
| The AP's always seem to get in the picture! ;) |
 |
| Elder Packer giving them directions with FamilySearch |
 |
| Elder Packer showing the sisters the discovery experiences at the center |
I
have been trying for some time now to go to the temple Visitor Center with our
friend, Charlotte, who has been returning back to the gospel this past year. It
has been a process that has been so incredible and so rewarding to her and to
us, that when she was ready to go to the temple to visit the temple grounds and
visitor center I knew I needed to act on it!
The
directors of the Paris Temple Visitor Center, Elder William and Sister Renee
Woods have been here for the past 20 months. They will be going back home on
Monday, January 7th, to Mesa, AZ. If there was ever a couple I
deeply desired to share the blessings of the temple to Charlotte, it would be
the Woods. They were incredible and brought a powerful understanding of the
importance of this temple of God. Charlotte was thoroughly enjoying this
beautiful experience and yet the Woods were absolutely in awe of Charlotte! She
is not only remarkable, but so thirsty and hungry for knowledge of the gospel,
that she was partaking of every morsel. She has grown in leaps and bounds!
This
day with Charlotte ended up being an all-day event with her and it couldn’t
have been more sweet! She is a precious soul!
Steve
on the other hand, held down the fort with the Center as the missionaries were
there to help if needed. He knew that this was an important activity for us to participate
in.
 |
| The most powerful, yet simply stated explanation of what happens in our sacred temples was explained to Charlotte by Elder William Woods |
 |
| Sister Renee Woods adds her beautiful thought to Charlotte as well |
 |
| Can't help but love these two! |
 |
| Elder and Sister Woods, Charlotte and Sister Packer |
I invite you to visit a temple Visitor Center near you!
If
there are any reading this, that have never gone to visit a nearby Visitor
Center of the LDS temple, take the time to do so! You will not regret it! Not
all temples have visitor centers, so pick one that does.
DISTRICT COUNCIL
Last
Friday, we held our first District Council with our new District. It’s not that
new though, as we only had two changes. We received Sister Oules and Elder Sun.
They are a great addition to our District! We were grateful that the dust had
not been stirred too much this time! We are grateful for Elder Patrick to be
our new District Leader. He will be a wonderful blessing to us! His message to
us that day was one taken from April 2007 General Conference, from Elder
Anderson’s talk, “It’s True, Isn’t It? Then What Else Matters?” It was a beautiful
discussion on the topic of our beliefs and not being afraid to share and live
by what we know is true!
FRIDAY’S EXPERIMENT/MIRACLE WITH TWO
SETS OF MISSIONARIES
When
you choose a day to have two sets of missionaries to come and help us out at
the center your hopes are that it will be filled with a much busier center, but
we have found that there are slow days and busy days outside of the center in
Paris. Even then a miracle can occur.
Coming
to the end of the holiday season, cold & rainy weather, not a large
shopping crowd, children not starting school till next week, all made for a for
a much slower day. We loved the enthusiasm, though, of these elders no matter,
(n’importe quoi). They were not discouraged and that’s what we love about working with
them.
 |
| Elders, Calabuig Phair, Findlay and Nilsson |
At one point, the Elders outside of the center, saw two men staring at our sign above the door and taking selfies with the missionaries in the background. Once they found out that they were from Peru, they ran and got Elder Kiene and his companion. Their story was so sweet that I asked Elder Kiene to send it to me. Here are his words!
 |
| Two men from Peru |
 |
| Family Tree App - when you go in, before you sign in, put a name of a deceased relative and as much information as you can and then push fin, you will then scroll to see possible names of your ancestors. Also, you can see how closely related you are to someone in the room who also has this app. |
We
have found that no matter how busy or slow it may be outside, we always seem to
have amazing opportunities that are always gratifying to help others with their
Family History.
YELLOW VESTS WERE CONJUGATING AGAIN,
THIS TIME NEAR US!
We
tried not to let the Yellow Vest people detour us this day (Saturday), even
though they were conjugating not far from our Center, as one of the many demonstration
areas. We saw them everywhere on our walk to the center. The buses also weren’t
working because of their march. There were helicopters looming above the Hotel
de Ville (about a half mile away) and then there was some violence throughout.
Amazingly
there were a lot of people on the streets and down our street, so it’s too bad
we cancelled the elders coming in to
help us out on this day (precaution).
 |
| Hotel de Ville at Christmas time - Our Center is just a few minute walk from here |
We
LOVE the new two-hour block and the main purposes of this new schedule! We've been invited to help strengthen the gospel in our homes, and have been given great additional
help to do so. We looking forward to what we can learn from these new resources as we engage in gospel discussions in our homes and Sunday classes.
Also,
our ward here in Paris usually has a hard time starting and finishing on time
and today was a new day and it was awesome to have it start and end on time and
went very smooth! There’s great enthusiasm for this new direction of how each
week will run. During the one-hour Sacrament meeting we heard some fabulous
testimonies from the Ward members. And our
introduction given in Sunday School class for the new Come Follow Me curriculum
was fabulous as we begin a new approach of study.
SUNDAY BAPTISM OF EVELYN AT PARIS
LILAS
How
grateful we were for the immense support that came together for the baptism of
Evelyn. This kind of support is of great worth when the new convert looks out
at the friends that are there to lift them. Evelyn is such a dear and faithful
new member of our ward. While I attended the baptism, Steve stayed in the
center.
 |
| Evelyn's baptism |
 |
| Evelyn |
 |
| Evelyn, Sister Bell and Sister Jensen |
Se sentir toujours reconnaissant (Feeling always grateful),
Elder et Sœur Packer
Grandpère
et Mémé Packer (Please be sure and use the last name on any mail, or
it will get returned)
Our Address:
4 quai du Marché Neuf75004 PARIS
FRANCE
Email address: Renée: srpacker10@gmail.com
Steve: wf-packer@hotmail.com
You may still text or FaceTime Renée at 801-564-1332
We are 8 hours ahead of Mountain Standard Time
Comments
Post a Comment