Packers in Paris Blog 99
– Jan 27th – Feb 2nd, 2020
JUST WHEN
YOU THOUGHT WE WERE DONE, THERE’S ONE MORE BLOG AFTER THIS ONE!
Once
we have returned and given our report messages, we will complete blog 100 to
close this mission. Thanks to any who dared read any of our blogs, let alone to
the end. We feel blessed to have had your great support!
BEWARE THIS POST
WILL BE FILLED WITH EMOTIONS AND MORE MEMORY KEEPERS
As
we take our daily walk to the center we are filled with emotions of how blessed
we have been and how beautiful the scenes and smells and charm is of the city
we have called home for the last 2 years. It will always be a cherished place
to us for so many reasons. Thus, our sentimentality may be evident, or has it been all along! This is a mixture of just a few things from this past week!
ANOTHER
CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATION FAREWELL DINNER
Last
Tuesday our dear friend, Soeur Ding, honored us with a festive Chinese New Year
farewell celebration. She knows how much we love her Nems and other dishes. We
were so grateful for her kindness and sweet tribute at the beginning of the
dinner, which approximately 30-35 people attended. It was held in the overflow of
the chapel and she and her Chinese ward members helped in providing the many
dishes!
 |
| Dinner set up for about 35 places, which some are behind this photo! |
 |
| Chinese set up for the celebration |
 |
| These are Nems, which are best eaten with lettuce and a mint leaf and then dipped in Nems sauce! |
 |
| Sister Ding stood up after the prayer to give a sweet message and welcome to the dinner and then some sweet words of honor to Steve and me! |
OUR BIG
SPLURGES DURING THE WEEK
We
have gone throughout our mission not eating gluten products and other sugary
desserts (that means no baguettes, crepes and patisseries). However, we told ourselves
that at the end of our mission we would splurge and partake a little, knowing
full well the health effects it would have on us as it always has, and we would
pay for it shortly after. Yes, we did, but it was wonderful nevertheless. We
are glad it was just a brief splurge, as our bodies could not have handled more!
 |
| Chicory drink with baguette and jam (I've been drinking this since I was a young girl, as it's what the LDS drink in Europe instead of coffee) |
 |
| Our favorite Gelato - Can't go there often! |
 |
| Mille feuille - A thousand sheets |
 |
| Pattiserie with almond and apples |
 |
| Amara making our first crepe |
TWOUSINS 7TH
BIRTHDAY
On
January 29th, 2013, two or our grandchildren were born on the same
day, if I remember, only 45 minutes apart from each other at different
hospitals in Utah. It was a poignant day for our family and these two have
always known they were twousins, as we have called them. Adelaide Hunsaker came first and then Blake Packer second.
 |
| Petite Adelaide who was 5 weeks early is the little one resting on Blake! |
 |
| Adelaide and Blake |
 |
| Adelaide and Blake |
 |
| Adelaide and Blake |
THE LAST OF
THE BEAUTIFUL DAYS CAPTURED
Our
daily walk to the center has become beautiful to us and one we will miss deeply
for many reasons, but last Wednesday was marked as the last day of sunshine
prior to our departure. I didn’t have time for more than a few photos, but it will
be a sweet reminder of this part of the city that is near and dear to us.
 |
| Hotel de Ville - City Hall! We go past this every day to the Center! |
 |
| BHV department store |
THE BRIEF
STORY OF AMARA MAREGA – OUR
FRIEND AND CRÊPE MAKER
On
the corner of the street of our apartment is the restaurant named Soleil D’or
(the golden sun). As part of the restaurant is a crêpe maker stationed at the
corner. Amara Marega has become our dear friend. He is the best crepe maker in
Paris, we often tell him, even though up this point, we had not eaten any
crepes and decided we better! The next day we met early in the morning before
his shift started to give him a little gift. We learned that Amara is from
Senegal, where his wife and 10 children still live. He works here in Paris to
provide for them, as there would not otherwise be ways to provide for his
family. In our visit we found out he could not read or write. I then read the
letter out loud to him and gave him our gift. His heart was so touched by our
love and friendship. He is a good man!
 |
| The Packers with Amara Marega - at 8:30 a.m. to share our simple gift and love! |
 |
| Though there are 11 children here, the oldest on the far top left is not one of Amara's children. Look at those dear and precious faces! |
OUR LAST
DISCTRICT COUNCIL AND OUR SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Last
Thursday was our last District Council meeting. We could only stay for the
beginning part. They were all wondering what they would do without us to
continue to guide and encourage them, since there is no Senior Couple yet to
replace us.
We
then shared with them the great news that our mission president has given us permission
to stay in the group chat with them to continue to encourage them and direct
them, until the new Senior Couple comes at the end of April. We were all
thrilled with this announcement, and because of what we are going to be doing
after our mission, it made sense to them.
 |
| Not taken on the day of the District meeting, but worth sharing again! |
VISIT FROM
STACY SCHNEIDER
Stacy
has become a friend, who is a friend of one of our friends and also a friend of
the mom of one of our former missionaries. She is an airline flight attendant and
comes here often. She was the one who saved us over a year ago to bring me a
new computer after mine was stolen right underneath our noses.
 |
| Stacy Schneider and Renee |
HOW NOODLES ARE
MADE ON THE SPOT
 |
| Elders Dunn, Farnsworth, Poulin, Sun and Sisters Lofgreen, Moon Seversen and Allred Our district at departure! Hurray, we've been authorized to stay in touch with them till the Dyers come in April! |
Thursday
evening we were looking for a place that had Nems on their menu. Though we didn’t
eat noodles, they make them on the spot and we were fascinated by the process.
 |
| Noodle making was nothing like we thought it would be! |
MISSION
COUNCIL CONFERENCE
Last
Friday was the Mission Council Conference that we were not attending, but quickly
stopped by to say hello and goodbye to some of the missionaries we have known
throughout our mission, and will dearly miss! We also were there just in time
to help take their group photo! The nice thing is that they all come home, and
many hope to attend BYU so we will have a chance to see them again.
ZOOM
CONFERENCE MERGE FOR FURTHER TRAINING
Last
Friday, we had a Zoom Conference with Roland Léporé and the Maxwells in the Family
Resource Center. The Maxwells will be the interim couple for a few months until
the Dyers arrive at the end of April. Steve has been doing an amazing job
training Elder Maxwell with the ins and outs of the forms and procedures on the
computer. Elder Maxwell will do well with this.
 |
| Roland Léporé during our Zoom Conference! We'll continue doing this for the next few months till the Dyers come as well! |
 |
| Elder Maxwell during our Zoom Conference |
GRATITUDE NOTE
AND SOME COOKIES
It’s
hard to just abruptly leave after two years, having made friends with our
neighbors and store shop owners, etc., so I made cookies (the easiest thing to
share) along with a little note of gratitude for each of them. I also wrote a slightly
different brief message in French and English for us to share with our ward for
show our gratitude, which we passed out last Sunday. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was a way for us to give our love and thanks more easily!
Our
friend, Amadou, a recent convert, was shocked we were leaving so soon. As
soon as I gave him the paper with the message, with a small photo and our
contact information, he was so pleased, and a sense of relief came over him
that we weren’t leaving into never ever land. We received an email from him
that evening.
 |
| This was the simple little thank you we printed and gave at church to show our love and appreciation! |
FLOWERS AND
LOVE NOTES FROM SISTERS LOFGREEN AND MOON
Last
Saturday, Sisters Lofgreen and Moon came by with beautiful flowers and special letters
from each one of them. Their messages were treasures that we will keep sacred!
We truly felt so loved, but more evident than that is their love of the Savior
by their actions and great efforts. They are choice women!
 |
| Elder and Sister Packer with Sisters Moon and Lofgreen with the flowers they brought us! |
 |
| We didn't keep the flowers on the piano, but it was a lovely photo to savor! |
SUNDAY BLESSINGS
AND FAREWELL EMOTIONS
We
were asked previously to share our testimonies at the beginning of the testimony
meeting just after Elder Dunn. As we went up to the front, I sat on the front
row, staring at Steve and in awe as he shared the most beautiful testimony in French.
As he shared his love for me, his Savior and this work, I was smitten for the
amazing man he has always been and has become during this mission. It has literally
transformed us both!
Saying
goodbye to our dear friends was the hardest part! They have each become such
dear friends and special people to us! How we will miss them! We said goodbye
to most of them at church, but one by one, several of them came over to the
center afterwards and much of our time was saying goodbye until our center
closed. There was no way to personally say goodbye to each member as we would’ve
liked, but our little message of thanks with a small photo to remember us by
was how we could show our abiding thanks and love.
We
had beckoned each of our missionaries in our district to come afterwards for a
final photo and to say goodbye to them. Afterwards they shared a beautiful sketch
of the Savior that Sister Seversen had drawn for us, with each of them having
written a message in a card for us. These are special keepsakes that we will
always treasure. Saying goodbye to them was hard, but we knew we would be
speaking with them more often and seeing many after their missions.
 |
| Elder and Sister Packer with our most awesome district! |
 |
| Jonathan Tomasini - playing his guitar! He's a professional translator for the worldwide church! |
 |
| The Packers with Jonathan |
 |
| Charlotte and Max! Our honorary 9th child and honorary 27th grandchild! Charlotte stood and shared her testimony and shared a personal story where Max was on the bed moving around and could've fallen off, but Charlotte inched closer and then the distinct impression came to her from the Lord, stating, "If you are not close to Me, how can I help you?" She realized she needed to start coming back more often to church to feel His presence! |
 |
| Standing with our dear Soeur Ding! The woman with literally the biggest heart! |
 |
| Our farewell photo in front of the center! |
ANNOUNCEMENT
FOR OUR CONTINUED SERVICE
Quite
hesitantly we are sharing with you our next two assignments. We have known for
some time that we would be helping in Salt Lake with the process of creating future
centers like the one here in Paris, to help move them forward in locations in
other countries. We are feeling so grateful to be a part of this experience.
Several
months ago, though, we were called by our dear friends (Alan and Liz Gudmundson),
parents of our daughter in law, Vanesa Packer, and asked if we would be
interested in serving with the Nauvoo Pageant. We made sure that they
were aware of our other assignment with the church in Salt Lake. They told us
that it would be a part time call all year long for several years, and that
both calls could be done together. We shared with them that we would fast and
pray about this decision. As we did it became very clear to both of us that we
were to accept this call, and also to remain helping with the other direction
as well. We also conferred with Roland Léporé about this possibility and he was
supportive, knowing of our desire to continue working with him in the direction
of future centers. Thus, these two callings would make it full-time but
stationed from home. We were humbled and overwhelmed, but at peace.
When
we were in Salt Lake for our daughter’s wedding, we had an appointment to meet
with Elder Adrián Ochoa (First Quorum of Seventy) in the Church Administration
Building where he called Steve as the 2nd Counselor in the Nauvoo
Pageant Presidency, and thus we would be called as the 2nd Counselor
Couple. It was truly humbling to the say the least. We will be set apart by him
the day after we return from Paris. Because the need for the President of the
Nauvoo Pageant to make this information public to all the family casts and
other crew members, they told us that we could go ahead and make this
announcement to others outside of our immediate family. Below is the link they
set up for us to share on Facebook, which we won’t do until after our setting apart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why is service so important to us?
It became apparent many, many years ago that it has lasting and eternal
consequences, as learned from various personal experiences and also from the
service of our parents, not just mission type service but a willingness to
serve the Lord in any capacity where we can be His hands. Service can certainly
come in many forms that we often don’t think of as being His hands, but nevertheless,
it’s the only way that He can get His work accomplished when blessing His
children throughout the world, and especially starting right in our own homes. “When
ye do it unto the least of these my brethren, ye are doing it unto me….” The
Lord pours bounteous blessings that we never expect, nor is it the reason of
our service, but solely it is our way to glorify God, to truly give our love
and thanks to Him for every morsel we are given. He in turn will bless us with
peace, even in the midst of affliction, and an assurance of His love for us. It
is a very small price to pay! We witness all around us these acts of love,
kindness and pure religion in each of you! It is our prayer that you feel the
peace and love from God for so doing! Adieu!
Parce qu’on m’a donné
beaucoup (Because I Have Been Given Much # 219),
Elder et Sœur Packer
Grandpère
et Mémé Packer
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
Comments
Post a Comment