Packers in Paris Blog 71 – July 15th,
– July 21st, 2019
VISITOR FROM
UTAH
Our dear friend, Sharon came this last Monday on her
way to Tunisia and Germany! She spent one night with us, to then take off at
noon the next day, to visit a new and wonderful friend in Tunisia! As she was
getting ready to leave, Sharon had asked if we had any copies of the Book of
Mormon in the Arabic language and one in English! Amazingly we had one in Arabic
and yes, one in English. She decided to bring both of them for her friend
Hedia! Even though the photo of Hedia holding the two copies of the Book of Mormon
is later in the week, I’ll put them both here! She said that she loves
religious books and would read it! I was so proud of Sharon for sharing this incredible
book with her! Hedia is now in Paris this week with her husband! Maybe we might even meet!
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| Me and Sharon with her two copies of the Book of Mormon (one in Arabic) |
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| Hedia - Sharon's friend who received the Book of Mormon(s) |
DEEP SPRING CLEANING AND THE CELESTIAL SUGAR COOKIE REWARD
Preparation Day (last Tuesday) was about the only
day we had to do a deep spring clean of the center. Heidi and 3 companionships
were so gracious to help us with this fun task!
Their work was quite sacred to us, as if we were
cleaning a temple! They too cared that it was done well. With moving furniture
around, some of it out of the building and back. They not only put in great
efforts, but also worked with a great attitude and joy!
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| Elder and Sister Packer |
Celestial Sugar
Cookies and pastries
This kind of work deserves a treat of some kind.
Steve had already gone to buy them each pastries, which I didn’t know, and I brought
left over sugar cookies that I made last Sunday! They were not disappointed!
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| Sisters Tabiliran and Doughman |
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| Sisters Scofield and Mattice |
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| Elder Nelson |
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| Elder Ballard |
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| Sister Mattice |
ZONE CONFERENCE – THE BLESSINGS OF MEMORIZING A FEW THINGS!
Periodically President Sorensen will bring members
of his family, but last Wednesday he brought his whole family and had each one
of them speak. They are a devoted and loving family, very dedicated to one
another and to the Lord. They each spoke with a sense of deep knowledge and
conviction, each sharing a spiritual message of faith!
Sister Sorensen also spoke and shared the importance
of memorizing special verses or stories so that you can share from your heart
the truths you know. I remember having to do this while attending Ricks College
in my French class, where we were required to memorize the Joseph Smith First
Vision story! It was a remarkable experience that strengthened my knowledge and
testimony. Sister Sorensen spoke of a woman who strengthened her testimony of
Joseph Smith when she too had to memorize the First Vision story. She could no
longer deny this story, after having given it a place in her heart and to boldly
testify of its beautiful truths! As always, the conference was filled, a
spiritual feast!
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| The Sorensen's children! |
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| Sister Alice Sorensen - Mission President's wife |
HEIDI SUGDEN’S LAST DAY TILL THE FALL AND ANGELS BY HER SIDE
Last Wednesday Heidi had her last day with us, till the Fall! She was kept busy
that day with patrons needing her help on her last day. She will be greatly
missed! Her skills not only have been helpful for FamilySearch patrons, but also
that of her love, kindness, soft voice and enormous knowledge of this great
work with others! She has been loved by all those who meet her! Thank you, dear
Heidi, and know that you are loved and missed!
Heidi had
plans on leaving early last Friday morning, and we worried how she was going to
get help to the airport. She then told us of the miracle. Sister Ding from our Paris
ward showed up at the center on her last day, and told her that she and a
friend would be there to help her get all of her luggage to the airport and
make sure she made it ok. Heidi, never wishes to be a bother to anyone else, yet,
the angels that came to her rescue that day who thought in advance how they
could help, showed up to bless her and get her to the airport. I’m sure she
will never forget that expression of love! Heidi had spent some good time
helping Sister Ding with her family history and Sister Ding was filled with
gratitude, though would’ve helped her nevertheless.
We are
also most thankful for Georgette, Phillipe and Alexis for housing Heidi during
her time here in Paris. It was very generous to Heidi and she was most grateful
for their hospitality. She’ll be looking for something a little closer to the
center when she returns in the Fall.
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| Heidi Sugden on her last day for the summer |
HAPPY 94TH BIRTHDAY TO ELDEN L WOOD
On July 18th,
my father turned 94 years old! His life has been so rich, not in the things of
the world, though they always had enough for their means, but rich in the
experiences in life! He was rich in the love of his children and wife, his devotion
to God, his love of music through his vocal abilities and teaching choir as his
career for many years He was rich in his abilities of construction and rich in
his desire to always serve the Lord throughout the world with his dear wife. His
life never seemed to lack much of the things that brought him the most joy! We
love you dad and grateful you are still with us, though far away, we look forward
to our dear embrace with you when we return! 10 days after my father’s birthday
is my mother’s 89th birthday!
I was most
grateful for those who came to celebrate his birthday! There were 4 siblings of
6 in attendance and other family members. We were grateful to have Facetimed
with each of them on his day!
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| Elden L. Wood - 94th Birthday |
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| My parents, and four siblings!, Alan, Ann, Janine and Claire (minus Lucie and Me) |
This week
we had 7 hours of contacting and had 12 people sign up to learn from our resources.
It was a great week, though Summer people are gone on vacation and tourists
aren’t as interested! Those who entered our doors seemed genuinely so
interested to learn from the resources offered!
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| Elders contacting... |
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| Elders Ballard and Nelson with patron |
CONSUELA PAPPASIN
The last
time we ate at Consuela’s home, was in an itty-bitty apartment up 7 flights of
stairs, with no elevator! It was hard to imagine how she could function, but it
took her a year of being on a waiting list to get into this larger apartment with
so much more space, still maybe only about 300 sq feet, but much more room than
she had ever had and an elevator!
We had
such a delightful evening with her, being spoiled by her delicious Filipino meal.
She is a very busy 74-year-old woman, as she has several different employees
that she works for and cooks and cleans, and then attends a class weekly to
learn French. She is the mother of 5 adult children who are all very active in
the gospel, living all over the world, as strong and independent families! Her
only daughter also lives in Paris. Her husband has been deceased for quite some
time and she is a very hard-working independent woman!
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| Consuella Pappasin |
THE FOOD NANNY – LIZ EDMUNDS AND LIZI HER DAUGHTER
Liz Edmunds
(Known as the Food Nanny on PBS), her daughter, Lizi Edmunds Heaps and tour
guide, Baptiste Prevot just popped into the Center this last Friday. I have
watched the Food Nanny several times many years ago and admired this woman for
her desire to pull the family together at dinner time and prepare meal planning
much ahead, so to enjoy delicious meals and talk time, rather than going to
fast food, eating in the car and rushing all the time!
They were an
absolute delight! Liz Edmunds and her husband are leaving in a few months to
serve a mission in Belgium as legal people working under the Area Presidency from
Frankfurt!
Baptiste
Privot on the other hand is the son in law to Steve Maynes, the Facility Maintenance
person over the church in all of Europe. We’ve met with Steve Maynes several
times since in Paris! He was the one to give the final go ahead for our project
of the center.
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| Lizi Edmunds Heaps, Sister Packer, Liz Edmunds (the Food Nanny) and Baptise Privot |
CHRSTINE’S BAPTISM
Christine was
invited to the Self Reliance Course by a friend several months ago, who needed
the courses offered. She was so grateful for this help, that on her own she asked
to learn more about the church. She was baptized last Saturday and though we
were not able to attend, we were so touched that Momo Djemai (over all of
Self-Reliance over all of French speaking Europe), drove a long distance to be
there for her.
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| Christine on her baptism day! |
FAMILY HISTORY FRIENDS FROM LYON
Jean-Pierre
Dudouit and his wife, from Lyon, France, knew my parents well from their
mission in Lyon. He and his wife stopped in to visit with us. He works with FamilySearch
and we first met him at the “Grand Salon” Genealogy Fair last March. I asked
him if he had a special story about my father that he could send to me. We are
collecting stories from those who my parents knew from their varied missions. He
told me that he had the perfect person to send me a story. I had already gotten
an amazing story from Phillipe Simonet from Lyon, so I was intrigued who else
who be writing me.
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| Jean-Pierre Dudouit and his wife from Lyon, France FamilySearch |
SUNDAY BLESSINGS
Our numbers
were so full this last Sunday! It was a beautiful site and the connections that
were made one with another, was simply beautiful!
Our English
meeting was filled with a beautiful feeling of truth! Each who stood up to share
their testimony (which is what we do every Sunday in this Visitor’s meeting), testified
simply and boldly! Steve begins the meetings each week with a spiritual
message before letting others stand and come to the pulpit!
Steve asked these insightful questions: What do I love more than the
Lord? What could these things be and am I willing to give them up? What does it
mean to be a disciple of Christ? If the Savior stood beside me, would I do the thing
I do? Great food for thought!
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| Fred Tan gave a final speech that was magnificent! He and his wife are moving to Malaysia jus for 6 months prior to moving back to Paris for 6 months to finish his studies |
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| Mellissa Dalton Bradford with Fred Tan |
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| Tanya Skeen and her three daughters |
SOEUR DING WITH THE CHINESE DISCOVERY ACTIVITIES
Soeur Ding
is our angel sister who helped Heidi Sugden with another friend earlier last
week. She came into the center after church to visit with us, but meanwhile I
showed her the new Chinese discovery activities on our big screen.
As we got
deeper into what it could do, she was so intrigued and could hardly wait to
show it to others. We are planning on having the Chinese members of our ward
come and learn more about it and then set up a date for each of them to invite
1-2 friends to see what it can do to get them excited about Family History! Heidi
really helped Sister Ding learn much as well!
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| Sister Ding on the Chinese Discovery Activity! What you see is the beginning of what still is to be seen! |
BOOK OF MORMON EXPERIMENT
Our District
and other helpers set up another Book of Mormon Experiment just for a couple of
hours on Sunday. We were in the center during most of it, but as we left, we
stopped by and could see the buzz of those passing by or stopping! It’s a
thrill to see others reading one page of the Book of Mormon and having a cool
experience understanding that it truly is inspired scripture.
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Elder and Sister Harmon |
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| Sisters Tabiliran and Doughman |
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| Sisters Scofield and Mattice |
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| Sister Harmon with Elder Sun |
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| Elder Jones |
~~~~~~~~~
We are so
grateful for this journey we have been on and with just 6 + months left, we
know that our work is far from over, but we will have known that this was not
our work, but the Lord’s and He is the one we ultimately report back to each
and every day! Our prayer is that we can continue to give our best and keep
striving to do His will and to bless us with peace! I know that He loves us and family and I know He loves each of you with more love than we
can comprehend!
Les Anges Sont Parmi Nous (Angels are Among Us),
Elder et
Soeur 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 Neuf
75004 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
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