BLOG 18 - FEB 6-12, 2O23
THE BEGINNING OF A BIZARRE IKEA STORY
We moved this week, and
our bodies are feeling it!
With mega purchases at
IKEA for furnishing the apartment, we were working out all the former purchases
on Monday with the office couples, be it with the Gannaways over apartments and
McNevins/Hardy’s over financial and got it all squared away.
Tuesday, we went to IKEA to
make an order with a very helpful employee who was magnificent to help make the
order and then schedule the delivery date for this Friday afternoon (we were
thrilled). We had a crazy experience not worth going into the details at all,
but after going twice to IKEA that day, the order was finally made, by a lot of
wonderful helpers. The delivery date was set for Friday afternoon.
Stay
tuned for the rest of the crazy story!
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| Nicest IKEA helper to make our order! |
Office visit today to
turn in receipts and meet the new office couple, replacing the McNevins who
were just temporaries filling in for Ovards. Elder and Sister Hardy had just arrived
the day prior. They are an experienced office couple and will be an immense
help, and McNevins are not sorry to turn this job over to them. They have been amazing
though, through it all.
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| Sisters Hardy and McNevin |
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| Elders Hardy and McNevin |
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| Elder and Sister Hardy, new financial and office couple. |
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| Elder Karlinsey - office missionary |
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| Elder McNevin - inbetweener for finances |
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| Sister Gannaway, over cars |
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| Elders Cecchetto and Rosales (AP's) and Charly Léporé |
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| Elder Gannaway - over apartments |
We returned back to our old apartment and started to do final packing and cleaning will be next week. Shouldn’t it all fit in our suitcases? Not exactly! Between a little bit of food, other furniture to bring with us and such, it was a bit more than we brought with us, but not bad.
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| Old apartment kitchen |
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| Other side of kitchen ;) |
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| Outdoor veranda - which we never used, but maybe once. |
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| Old apartment office area |
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| Our comfort couch |
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| Old apartment two armoires in the Living Room, as the bedroom had no closets. |
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| Old apartment bathroom, yes that is a tub |
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| Old apartment bedroom |
THURSDAY – JUST MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT!
We had three angelic missionary
companionships on Thursday to help us move into our new apartment. Elders Steffensen,
Keiser, Gillman and Bugnet, plus Sisters Diatel and
Conners, came to the rescue to meet us at the office, then with the van and
two cars we drove to the old apartment, loaded into the van and our cars, our
bed and frame, boxes, some other furniture items and moved it to the new
apartment. They were like the Energizer Bunny! We made sure and bought them
pizza again for their hard work.
With all the IKEA furniture
still yet to come, we had a hard time unpacking everything, but Steve was able
to put the bed together and we had a good night’s sleep.
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| Elders Bugnet, Steffensen, Keiser, Gillman, Steve, Sisters Diatel, Connors and Moi. |
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| These two loved working like Bob the Builder! |
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| Well deserving angels, getting Domino's Pizza |
THE INFAMOUS IKEA FURNITURE STORY
We may not enjoy shopping
at IKEA, but they have been amazing to work with. But somehow, the shipping
department or someone else forgot to dot their I’s and cross their T’s, because
come Friday afternoon when the delivery came, we were supposed to count only 32
items, no less, or we were to reject it all, as we were told. We were not told
though, what to do IF the number exceeds the expected count, then what do we
do? We were delivered a large armoire, couch, bed frame and mattress, two nightstands,
desk, chairs and so on. If you know IKEA, you’ll know that some of the items
come into several boxes, numbered 1,2,3, etc.
As we were counting each
piece coming in, we weren’t quite sure what was going on. We asked the movers
why we were getting so many boxes, and they said it’s because certain items
have numbered boxes 1,2,3,4 per item (those numbers are part of the 32 items,
so it clearly that was not it). It was also clearly not the delivery person’s
fault or problem.
After they left, we started
to go through all of the boxes, putting each box that we ordered in their designated
room and then see what was left. It was all there but DOUBLE, minus one
simple desk.
It looks like we’ll be
heading over to IKEA one more time on Monday to solve their problem. They’ll
have to pick up the duplicate items tout suite, as we have company coming this
week, from young missionaries having dinner with us and, to a senior couple
staying overnight.
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| This is the double portion. |
INSPIRED LEADERSHIP AT THE STAKE LEVEL
On Wednesday, Steve and I were discussing about another vision of how Sharing Church Resources could really function properly in each Stake, and we were both in agreement, that this would be of great value.
On Thursday, we received
an email from President Obrecht, stating
that Stake President Jubault wants to do the very thing that Steve and I were
talking about on Wednesday. This is when you know that the Lord is inspiring
the next direction of this amazing effort. I will not share what that is at
this point, but the heavens are open, and He is pouring out His Spirit and we
can feel His hand guiding our efforts each and every day.
THE ENERGIZER BUNNIES CAME BACK!
We were so grateful again
for the help of two companionships on Saturday, Elders Gillman and Bugnet, plus
Sisters Diatel and Conners. They accomplished so much to build the furniture items
from IKEA, which took a huge load off of us. We could’ve easily spent days getting
these done and putting our apartment in order if it wasn’t for them.
The two elders had to
leave after a couple of important items they had put together, and the sisters
were willing to stay longer, which was enormously helpful. They all lifted our
spirits more than they’ll ever know.
During the day, after
each item was built, it allowed me to start putting things away and in order.
It felt so good to finally see it come together. Besides our IKEA double order
sitting in our entry way, we also have a massive pile of empty boxes from IKEA.
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| More angelic work - putting together a desk, and they also put together a new bed for the second bedroom. |
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| These two put together 2 nightstands, a couch, four chairs and helped with us in other areas. |
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| This is so much fun, like putting Lego Mania! |
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| Steve put together a lot of things, but this one was not so easy, but he did it! |
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| Second nightstand finished! |
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| On to the couch! Wow, they figured it out, such a team! |
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| They insisted we were first to sit on the new couch! We love it! |
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| They approve!!! |
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| It was hard to let them go, but they will always be angels to us1 |
Because it’s been a holiday
last week and this coming week for all students, many families were gone. Families
take their vacation seriously, and rarely just stay home and do nothing! Though
it was sparse in number it was a wonderful meeting, with Elder Keiser speaking
and President Simonet, from the Stake Presidency.
French translation document
needed:
Steve was able to find someone
willing to do a French translation check of our Vision Document. Steve had done
a translation using the translating tool often used by the Church, by putting
it into DeepL. We needed someone to go through and make any necessary corrections
for accuracy and to give more sensibility. We were given the name of 16-year-old,
Jared Setchfeld, after which we’ll have it reviewed by a more experienced translator. Jared has been
speaking French all his life, but in his home, they speak English, since his
parents are from England. He was very
happy to provide this service for the missionary work here.
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| Jared Setchfeld - our new document translator. |
DEVESTATING TURKEY AND SYRIA EARTHQUAKE
Certainly, you will all
have heard about the horrific earthquake in Turkey and Syria. This is more for
my own time in history for this blog of this terrifying and horrific earthquake.
There will be an immense need for humanitarian needs, refugees fleeing and
helping children whose parents have died, or vice versa. It’s devastating to see
the death toll so far is over 33,000. It’s hard to imagine. It caused me to
reflect, though, on a talk I gave back in 2014, where I learned more than ever
how these horrific devastations direct the world, and us, more to God.
“The Lord has a way of turning calamities into His
favor.”
—
President Kevin Calderwood
New York New York South Mission
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| A father clutches the hand of his deceased daughter! Heartbreaking! |
CHARLEROI
CHAPEL VIDEO
For
those who have not yet seen this video, it’s a keepsake for my parent’s family.
This is the chapel my dad built, and we each helped a little. This video was
taken by a videographer missionary in the Paris Mission, 1-2 years ago. This
video takes you all the way through the inside near the end.
It's
also special to my husband’s sister (Anita Herway) and her husband Tom, as he
was Stake President for the Brussels Belgium Stake, that this Ward chapel is a part
of.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH BRIEF VIDEO ON CHARLEROI CHAPEL
COME FOLLOW ME BRIEF REVIEW
I will keep this very
brief tonight, though we both loved our study this week in Come Follow Me,
reading from John 2-4
Jesus’ way of teaching, be it through miracles, parables
or stories like the water turned to wine, teaching that through Christ, He can
make so much out of us and that we can trust Him. Or the story of the woman at
the well, are a small sampling of the many he performed and taught. Christ knows
the worth of a soul is great. These stories are so beautiful to me, and I know
there’s much I can learn from them as I ask, “What more can I give Him, for His
sacrifice in my behalf.” We know that everything He does has a purpose because He
loves us, He died for us, and He now lives and desires for us to return back to
Him. There are so many truths found in the story of the woman at the well that touched
and inspired me. Jesus went out of His way to find her, to help her and to
teach her to desire to partake of the living water that never runs dry. He
taught us to find the good in everyone and see their potential. We too can see
the potential in others!
We pray you are all filled with the love of our
Savior, Jesus Christ, as He sees your potential, knows your hearts, desires the
best for you and will never give up. I know this is true. I know this gospel of
Jesus Christ is true. I know that we have a living prophet. I know we have
temples that can seal families together for more than time, but for eternity.
With all our love,
Elder et Sœur
Packer Grandpère et Mémé
801-336-6153
(Steve’s)
801-564-1332 (Renée’s)
ALERT! New Address below: Please include the name and address as stated
Les Missionaires –
PACKERS
59 rue Bossuet
69006 Lyon FRANCE
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