BLOG 16 - JAN 23rd - 29th, 2023
HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY BECCA – JAN 26th!
In our blog, I don’t
usually personally wish each of our children or grandchildren birthday
wishes, and no doubt I’ve missed some eventful ones at that, since we’ve been
gone, but Becca is the youngest child, and everyone will say she’s the spoiled child!
😉 Don’t tell her that!
Becca, and her husband, Brian
with their two children and Brian’s parents all traveled to Miami Florida for a
fun 5 day get away in the sun. On her birthday, the 26th, they went snorkeling
and overall had a fabulous time. I think coming back to cold weather was not so
enjoyable though. We’re so proud and grateful for Becca and the beautiful
mother, wife, daughter and friend she is!
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| This was NOT Becca's cake, but it says 30! Lol! |
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| It's the new, 'kiss an allegator' thing...♥ |
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| Becca and Brian Lattin with Mason and Henry, Beach babes in Miami Beach |
ZOOM MEETINGS AND MESSENGER MEETINGS
We loved our updates with Elders and Sisters Sumner
and Rellaford. They have done, and continue to do, so much for their area with Sharing
Church Resources and much, much more.
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| Elder and Sister Sumner |
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| Elder and Sister Rellaford - just coming back from a service project of renovating a kitchen of sister missionaries. |
We attended our District Council and love how they interact with one another, learning from each other and gaining wisdom from one another. Isn’t this how we should always be?
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| Fabulous, La Capital de Lyon, District |
LUNCH WITH SISTER MICHELE COUAPEL
Michele Couapel is the
mother of Denis-Pierre Couche in the ward we attend here, but over 30 years ago
she remarried to a man, who recently passed away 3 months ago from Alzheimer’s. She
had such a beautiful and wonderful marriage with him. He joined the church
after they were married, they were sealed in the temple for time and all
eternity and he helped raise her children, who were younger at the time they
married. She lives in a lovely retirement center not too far from us and had
invited us for a lunch. We were so delighted to join her for a lovely French meal.
We enjoyed a wonderful
conversation, getting to know more about her and her family. She is a
lady and so warm and thoughtful. Her petite apartment was just
that, but elegant to match her personality.
The lunch was fun, once
again in the French traditional way, one course at a time. She finished the
meal with homemade apple sauce she personally made. It was one of the best we’ve
had.
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| Homemade apple sauce - simply divine |
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| Michele Couapel |
Bravo to Steve’s French speaking - As we sat there visiting back and forth with Michele, Steve would periodically say something in French with a good amount of ease and Michele was so pleased with his French, from the opening prayer she asked him to give, to his conversation with her, but I think I was the proudest of him. He has shown so much dedication to learn each day, that his efforts have blossomed tremendously. I made sure and let him know afterwards.
It is much easier to converse
in a small setting, like at Michele’s, than in a larger group, especially when
they only speak French and you can’t turn to your English. But he continues to try,
no matter how large the group is and is gaining confidence to just open his mouth.
I love it!
APARTMENT WALK-THRU
On Wednesday evening
after our lunch with Michele, we had a walk-thru for our new apartment. The
only problem was that the electricity had not been turned on, so there was not much
opportunity to check out as much as we should’ve. They finally said it would be
turned on by midnight that night and we would have 10 days to contest any
concerns with the electricity and other items.
Having Laure and Charlène
show us all the keys for all the varied doors, locks, garage, storage and post box,
was many more than what we have presently! There is a key for EVERYTHING, but
no matter, we will figure it all out.
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| How many keys can one apartment renter handle? |
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| Charlene and Laure on the right |
I am most grateful for the peace felt all along with this direction to move closer into town. We left it up to Him, that if this was what we were supposed to do then He would allow it to happen, and since it has, we have felt continued peace and reaffirmation, no matter all the reasons why. We have our work cut out in the next 1-2 weeks to go through the storage unit of the mission and see if any of their inventory could be used and then the mission purchases other needed items and then with the help of the mission van and elders, we will get things moved over.
YOUG SINGLE ADULT SHARE CHURCH RESOURCES ZOOM
That same evening, on Wednesday,
we were grateful to have had a meeting with President Paul Obrecht, where he invited
Brother Philippe Marcou, the High Counselor over Young Adults and Victor
Constant, the Stake Young Adult leader.
We had this meeting
specifically to invite these two individuals to learn more about Sharing Church
Resources with Young Single Adults in mind, and how they can really engage in
this work through service, inviting their friends to any of the resource groups
and also giving us any feedback on how we might better improve our interaction
with Young Adults and the community. These Young Adults are a special breed with
so much talent and a great need to be involved and busy, but not sure where
they fit in, thinking they need to be told what to do and yet they have so much
potential to lead out. It’s their time to shine!
Our goal was to give them
this presentation, and then Victor would gather each of the Ward YSA leaders
and give them the presentation and help unite them in this cause. We are
excited to see this take place and support them in this opportunity.
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| Phillippe Marcou, Victor Constant and Paul Obrecht |
ZONE CONFERENCE
Thursday, we attend our
Zone Conference. As always, it’s such an uplifting, all day meeting. The energy
of these young missionaries leaves us almost exhausted seeing their drive,
their love of their work and their desire to be so faithful. The Assistants to
the President (AP’s) gave a fabulous presentation, as did the Zone Leaders (ZL’s)
and Sister Training Leaders (STL’s) which taught with such confidence in their
message. As we’ve continued to get to know them, we’ve been able to see some of
the best YSA leaders we’ve ever seen.
Early in the conference
we were asked by the STL’s to write down on a piece of paper all of our fears that
we have felt while on this mission, and that was it, or so we thought, until near
the end of the conference. Then all the ZL’s and STL’s put on a headband that had
a similar logo of Nike and got a small basketball hoop and asked everyone to
get out their paper with all their fears and crumple them up and toss them in
the basket hoop. They all got close to the hoop to make sure they dunked it! It
was quite powerful when you think of it, because with Christ all things ARE
possible, and since fear casteth away faith, we needed to get rid of the fears
we keep locked up inside us and replace it with faith in the Lord.
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| Soeurs Diatel, Connors, Bennett & Davison |
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| The AP's - Elders Rosales and Cecchetto |
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| Sisters Feil and Tefan - Social Media team |
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| Sisters Bennett, Davison and Elders Griffitts, Hansen |
Mister Rodgers, kind of, telling a story:
At the very end of our
conference, meaning the last hour, Sister Léporé began with a beautiful message
of love to each of us, wondering where in the world her husband was, as he had
stepped out. She continued for a good 10-15 minutes and then without warning,
the curtains of the stage began to open and there was President Léporé sitting
on a chair, looking a little like Mr. Rogers in a sweater, with a drawing of a fireplace,
calling this segment a Fireside. He started to share a story, which is a
parallel taken from the talk given by Elder Uchtdorf, named the Three
Sisters, and instead exchanged with using the Three Missionaries. It
was powerful! The basis was that the three missionaries were Elder SAD, Elder
MAD, and Elder GLAD. His three children came out one by one to play these parts,
in silent form, while he carefully shared the story of how each of these missionaries
were affecting themselves and others, in one way or another by their emotions.
Certainly, Sister Glad was the one to seek for, and the other two would end up
bringing such despair in the end and making others miserable around them. He
helped them see how they could change sad and mad to glad, but ultimately it is
a choice. It was a visual not to be forgotten. We love the inspired leadership
of the Léporé’s and for their love and devotion for all their missionaries.
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| He has the sweetest demeaner like Mr. Rogers |
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| Telling the story of the Three Missionaries, Elders Mad, Elder Glad and Elder Sad |
After the conference was over and goodbyes were said, we had a brief meeting with President and Sister Léporé to share with them the WebPage, Vision Document and the Facebook Page. They were thrilled with what we shared with them and asked us to go ahead and start getting everything translated. We have now since moved things along for translation on the WebPage and pray that it won’t take more than 1-2 weeks and the other two items are being worked on as well.
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| Meeting Elder Needham for the first time. His twin brother is serving in the Paris Mission, who are from Cache Valley, and nephew of our dear friends, the Ericksons. |
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| Our favorite Soeurs! |
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| Our dear senior couple friends, on left - Elder and Sister Gannaway, on right, Elder and Sister McNevin. These office couples are invaluable and amazing people. |
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| Sister Feil is also one of our favorites. She is amazing!!! |
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| We do love being here with each other! |
APARTMENT CLEANING - FORGOT TO TAKE PHOTOS! 😊
Now that we have electricity in our new apartment, we were able to start cleaning and assessing the needs we have, as far as light bulbs and other items that need repair or what kind of simple window treatments are needed since it has zero window treatments. That evening, we bought light bulbs and then needed to head back home for our next meeting that night.
ZOOM WITH MOMO AND CORRELATION UPDATES
Friday evening, we had a
wonderful zoom meeting with Momo Djemai, the Area Welfare Self Reliance Manager
for all Francophone areas in Europe. It was quite amazing how he’s starting to
better understand the direction of Sharing Church Resources because of wonderful
updates in the Church’s Handbook. As he pointed out some of the changes he
found, sure enough it correlates with our efforts, giving him so much support and
direction with Sharing Church Resources. He’s now more in line with our work,
and we with his. We went online to read these handbook updates ourselves and are
so grateful to see the integration that is being updated.
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| Our dear friend, Momo Djemai |
BUYING PAINT, LIGHT BULBS IN, MORE CLEANING…
Saturday, we went to two
different stores for special purchases to finish some of our immediate needs
for the new apartment. One of them is paint for the WC (water closet). The
color of the WC is a lovely dark orange, and that has to go. Buying paint
in France was quite an adventure, trying to explain what we were looking for,
since different surfaces take a different preparation. Our wall is painted textured
wallpaper, which is very common here in France, but that is the only room with
this surface in the apartment. The kind store attendant finally understood what
was needed to prepare the wall before we could paint, taking at least 24 hours
after the preparation was done before we could paint.
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| This was quite an experience to say the least! |
Steve also got all the needed lightbulbs in, while I did more kitchen cleaning. More efforts will start on Monday to find furniture and appliances in the mission storage unit and painting and treating the parquet flooring.
AUSTIN’S CELLO CONCERTO SOLO
Our youngest son, Austin,
had the opportunity Saturday night to play a beautiful concerto piece solo, Edward
Elgar - Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 first movement. We are his biggest
fans and it’s always hard for this momma heart to miss his concerts. We were
blessed to know that it was professionally recorded and hopefully we will see it
soon. He plays first chair with the Ogden Chamber Orchestra. His dear wife,
Emma was able to attend with other friends and family. We are so proud of him!
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| Sweet Emma got to attend his solo concert. |
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| Love seeing and hearing him play! |
This Sunday there were
three wards in the stake having their presentation of Sharing Church Resources, all happening at the same time,
and requested our being there to answer any questions. We were sad to miss
being there for all three, but went to the Écully ward, which is in our same
building.
Before church began, we
were going up to members to introduce ourselves and asking for their names. I
felt drawn to a very short and petite woman (about 4 ½ ft tall), sitting in the
corner at the end of the side row. She told me her name (Josephine Siles) and
we began to visit back and forth.
I then asked her how long
she had lived here, and she said twenty years. I asked if she might know, Elden
and Picola Wood who served here 20-22 years ago. Her face lit up with joy and began
telling me all sorts of stories, especially of my mother, one of which we all knew
very well. One day, my parents were in a
bus, and before it took off my mother had not secured herself while standing
and then once it took off she took a terrible fall inside the bus and hurt her
side thigh very badly, with a large purple bump about the size of very large
plate. This dear woman, Josephine, served my mother and helped her in many ways
after this fall, but loved her throughout their time in the area. She loved my
mother so much and we all know why. My mother is so friendly with everyone and makes
them all feel that they are her dearest friends. Everyone knew my father as a
more quiet, tender and gentle man. He was a loving, kindly man, and his music, along with my mother’s, always brought
people to tears. They were both very beloved.
She then also mentioned
that she would visit them often when she would travel to Bern, Switzerland to
go to the temple there, while my parents served after their Lyon mission. She
would often bring them food items that would be more expensive in Bern, but
cheaper in Lyon. She loved them so much and became a bit emotional thinking
that their daughter was now here. She then asked me how they were both doing,
and I shared with her the news of their passing. Another dear and tender connection
with my parents gladdens my heart.
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| Sister Josephine Siles - She shared the sweetest stories of my mom and dad. |
Presentation by Bishop Kabuya:
We were so pleased with the bishop and his wonderful presentation on Sharing Church Resources and then turned it over for any
questions from the ward members and then to us for any clarifications or
additions that would help if needed. We are hoping in a couple of weeks that
all courses from all the wards in the stake will be on the registration system
and that members will have the pass-along cards with the WebPage QR code to
begin searching their options for themselves and their friends.
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| Bishop Kabuya presenting, Sharing Church Resources |
COME FOLLOW ME STUDY - BRIEF THOUGHTS
This week in Come Follow
Me, we studied from Matthew 3, Mark 1, and Luke 3. Instead of studying sequentially, or
harmoniously, CFM guides us through a combination of these three books to learn
from similar occurrences or topics. Even if all three have different starting
points, they teach and testify of Jesus Christ and His message and their
purpose as a disciple of Christ.
- John the Baptist taught the doctrine of repentance and bringing forth fruits of righteousness.
- Have we strayed, like the Sadducees and Pharisees, from the original intent of God’s Laws?
- We follow Jesus Christ’s example in being baptized to fulfill all righteousness.
- My baptism is very dear to me, while our family lived in Charleroi, Belgium. I was baptized by my father at 8 years of age in an Olympic size swimming pool, as the chapel was not yet finished. I will never forget this tender experience and especially as my father laid his hands on my head and confirmed upon me the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The poignant memory of tears streaming down my cheeks will never leave me, as I felt the sweetest spirit fill my soul.
- Boyd K. Packer stated that, “As big and as complex as your family tree may be, your spiritual genealogy chart only has two lines.” This would be me and God.
- We learn from the disciples who left their boats straightway, and that we too should not hesitate to serve, and leave our boats to follow Christ.
SUNDAY NIGHT FACETIME WITH AUSTIN AND FAMILY
Tonight, we had a sweet
facetime call with Austin and his family. We were anxious to hear all about his
big concert last night, knowing it was months of practice and sweat and tears. It’s always so fun just to see their family,
which Bowen is hugely shy of being on video, so we had to just enjoy knowing he
was there.
It was very tender to listen to Austin share his tender and amazing experiences from his dress rehearsal Friday night to the concert Saturday night. He felt so much gratitude for the blessings he’s received, and thanks God and his family for all of them.
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| Austin, Emma, Rose and Leo (Bowen is a no show) |
With all our love,
Elder et Sœur Packer Grandpère et Mémé
801-336-6153
(Steve’s)
801-564-1332 (Renée’s)
NEW ADDRESS TO BE SHOWN IN 1 WEEK
Address: Please include the name and address as stated
Les Missionaires –
PACKERS
17 rue Philibert
Roussy
69004 Lyon FRANCE
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