BLOG 22 - MAR 6 - MAR 12, 2023

MEETING AMOUD AT THE PARK

We were happy to finally meet Amoud this day, to give him his manual for English Connect. He is such a kind and gracious man, and we can see that he’s working hard to learn English.

An afternoon walk to the park to meet Adoum - we didn't feel we could take his photo.

ZOOM MEETINGS WITH RELLAFORDS AND SMITHS

Each time we meet with these Senior Couples we see continual and great progress towards Sharing Church Resources (SCR) in their Branch/Ward or Stake.

     Elder and Sister Rellaford

They are such a dynamic couple who have great vision for SCR and we feel grateful that our meetings are mainly to get updates, but then at times give them more help if needed. We did show them the new webpage and they were thrilled. It really is a game changer.

Elder and Sister Rellaford

     Elder and Sister Smith

When a new direction for SCR suddenly becomes the idea of the Branch Council, then you know it has penetrated into their hearts and you gladly give them the go ahead to be inspired and that you are there to help them. This is what happened to the Smiths in the Mont de Marsan Branch. They feel that there is a great need for their members and friends to join the Personal Finance class. This is exactly what we want to hear. Our goal is to eventually help the stakes in each of these branches take flight.

Elder and Sister Smith

MY NIECE’S WEDDING IN THE OGDEN TEMPLE

On Tuesday, March 7^th, my darling niece, Clarissa Prigmore, (my sister Claire’s oldest daughter from their marriage) was sealed in the Ogden Utah Temple to Joseph Trotter. I was so sorry to miss this wonderful day for her and grateful that our son, Jaron, took photos to immediately send them to us and throughout the event. This warmed my heart so much, knowing we couldn’t attend. She is such a beautiful bride inside and out, and we met Joe before we left for our mission and approve whole-heartedly.

Clarissa is the second to the youngest grandchild of 43 of my parents. It’s fun to still have weddings of grandchildren in the family.  

Clarissa & Joseph Trotter

Claire (my sister) and Steve Prigmore, Clarissa's parents

Jaron Packer (our son) with the newlyweds

DINNER AND OVERNIGHT GUEST

Tuesday night we had Elder and Sister Reneer over for dinner and had also invited them to spend the night before in preparation for Zone Conference the next day. This was our first time having a senior couple over, and they were so delightful to visit with. Marné is the one who speaks French, from having served a mission in Lyon back in the early 80’s.

Elder and Sister Reneer, our special guest missionaries

LYON ZONE CONFERENCE – GIVING OUR PRESENTATION

These conferences are always so uplifting, but when you have to give a presentation, then you worry and focus on how it will go, and then wondering afterwards how it did go.

We shared with them our correlated presentation, which now is correlated into French. We shared the introductory Paris video, where they saw a few familiar faces. We shared about the webpage and how they can each meet people where they are at. President and Sister Léporé have been preparing them for such a time as this.

We were so grateful that Paul Obrecht (2^nd counselor in the Lyon Stake Presidency) joined us, where he spoke about QuickReg (the church’s registration system for Sharing Church Resources) and all of the courses that the Wards in the Stake now have set up for friends to join. He also bore a powerful testimony of how this has changed his thoughts when meeting people and knowing their circumstances, and that he could more freely offer help. It was just what the missionaries needed to hear. By the end, we felt good about the presentation and are grateful for the reception of the missionaries. We pray that we left them with a clearer vision of how they can help in this great work.

Starting off our presentation by talking about Ammon in Alma 17 and the love and service he gave selfishly, that transformed thousands!

President and Sister Léporé watching the Paris Video Steve was showing, where the missionaries got to see their mission President in the video. 

President Paul Obrecht, presenting about QuickReg

This was an EPIC moment that has come full circle and we knew we needed to capture this team.

Paul Obrecht, was the Executive Secretary for President Léporé when he was the Stake President prior to President Jubault, and he continued to serve in that position, until just a few months ago, where he was put in as 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency. This was an inspired move, in a large part as the coordinator of this great work. He has been remarkable leader.

President Léporé introducing Paul O to all of his missionaries.

It was such a wonderful gathering with all the missionaries from all the varied districts of the Lyon Zone. These are incredible disciples of Christ and so committed!

We loved when Sister Léporé taught these amazing missionaries from the Book of Mormon in Alma.

Alma 53:20 And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.

21 Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him.

These valiant stripling (meaning young) missionaries here in the France Lyon Mission have so much faith, as did those warriors found in the Book of Mormon. 

Sister Léporé teaching us about the Stripling Warriors

The Lyon Zone Missionaries

Our awesome District

WALK THROUGH OLD TOWN

Thursday we were finally went back to Old Town, to check up on the two properties we had seen, which were now no longer available. We looked thoroughly for another space and only saw one small place. We will for sure put this in the hands of the Realtor (and the Lord) once we receive one.

While walking through Old Town, we walked past the St. John Cathedral and heard organ music. We followed where it was coming from and it was so heavenly, as it was resonating throughout the walls of the cathedral.

CLICK HERE TO HEAR THE LIVE ORGAN PLAYING AS WE ENTERED

Saint John Chapel - while walking by, we heard the beautiful organ music, and we were drawn in.

The organist in the box

Beautiful!

Walking through Old Town

ENGLISH CONNECT COURSE

Our English Connect class went much smoother than last week. There were a couple of individuals who were not able to join this week. We were most grateful to have the Elders join us for this course, which they may continue to do, and eventually take over. We also had the sisters join at the end to give a wonderful gospel message.

Our English Connect with our missionaries.

ZOOM MEETING WITH MOMO AND OTHER WELFARE/SELF-RELIANCE SPECIALISTS AND STAKE LEADERS

Momo Djemai had invited to us to give our presentation of Sharing Church Resources to a group of Welfare Self Reliance specialists and church leaders in the France area. We sent our presentation to Momo, asking him to present and that we could make comments. This allowed him to own this effort and share with everyone there. It went very well.

These are just a few of the many leaders from France.

This is One Work!

WALKING IN THE PARK LIFTS OUR SOULS

We have enjoyed our brief walk to Parc de la Tête d’Ôr, as we walk through on various routes each time. This park is too vast to see it all each time. If we are enjoying it now, before the leaves have formed, and the grass fully green, we can only imagine the beauty that will be coming soon. It truly lifts our souls having this beauty to walk through as often as we are able.

A beautiful day at the park in the morning!

A beautiful greenhouse inside the park.

CALL WITH PRESIDENT LÉPORÉ

We were grateful to have a few minutes with President Léporé as he called us out of the blue to share some wonderful news with us. Last night at our zoom meeting with Momo, we wondered if the Stake President from the Toulouse Stake was there. President Silberman is a close friend of President Léporé and he reached out Friday morning, the day after that meeting with Momo, with President Léporé, telling him that he had watched the video with President Léporé in it. The Stake President told him that he was interested in learning more and moving this effort forward in his stake. President Léporé told him that the couple in the video (the Packers) are here to help this effort move forward. We were given his contact info and will now move forward in helping that stake with this effort. We are in hopes to go there in person at least once or twice, most likely taking a train. It’s at least 6.5 hours away.

DATE NIGHT IS A MUST

After working on several task throughout the day on Friday, it was so nice to finally take a breather after a very busy week with more to come on Saturday and Sunday. We love being together!!! By the evening we are tired, so while it’s still a bit cold and dark, we enjoy staying warm inside playing games and watching a movie.

I am so grateful that Steve honors and values date nights in our relationship and many of our children follow suit.

SATURDAY ZOOM WITH ZL’S, DL AND OUR MISSION LEADERS

Saturday evening, we held a follow up meeting with our Zone Leaders, Elders Candland and Whitney, and our District Leader Companionship, Elders Loisel and Keiser. We invited President and Sister Léporé to join us as well. We asked the young missionaries follow-up questions concerning our presentation at Zone Conference earlier in the week, to understand what their thoughts, experiences, and discussions among other missionaries were since the conference, and how they see sharing the resources of the church looks like moving forward in the mission field. We loved their answers and could see that they did in fact catch the vision of how powerful this can be, especially when they are working with members, encouraging them to share these great blessings with their friends who could choose from the variety of free resources. President Léporé had previously requested us to put together a brief message for the missionaries and us to share when meeting with members. As they and we will often go into their homes to inspire and encourage them to reach out with love to their neighbors, family members and others who could be blessed by these amazing resources. As we put this together, these incredible missionaries will be a valuable resource in giving us feedback. Everything we do here ends up being a blessing that can be used in other zones, stakes and missions.

These missionaries had already had some wonderful connections with friends as they shared these offerings using the pass-a-long cards and the webpage.

We're in great hands with these missionaries!

SUNDAY WORSHIP

Today was Ward Conference and it was inspiring to hear the Bishop and Stake President speak. President Jubault, using the words of, I Am a Child of God, tenderly taught us from those words by trusting in the Lord, inviting Him to lead us, guide us, and walk beside us to help us find the way. We always need Him on our daily walks of life.

After the two-hour block, we all met together to visit one with another and to share the food that everyone brought. What I brought I gave to the missionaries, because everyone else brought cookies and cake and breads. The missionaries were thrilled to have a dinner dish.

Visiting together during the Linger Longer is always so beautiful to see how they enjoy and need this time. 

Our dear sisters brought this sweet man and his young 9-year-old daughter to church today. His daughter was off with her newfound friends. 

My most favorite missionary companion ever!

     Zoom farewell for Elder and Sister Foote

This evening we also listened to Elder and Sister Foote's farewell zoom meeting to any and all who wanted to hear their departure from the Area office in Frankfurt, over Young Single Adults.

We have enjoyed getting to know the Footes before and during their mission and are grateful for their amazing efforts for the Area. We will miss them once they leave. Their farewell ended up being an amazing question and answer time that was so uplifting for all who attended. They have been so inspired in their time working in the Area. We love the Footes!

Elder and Sister Foote - inspiring couple in Frankfurt, Germany Area

COME FOLLOW ME STUDY

This week there were many choice lessons we learned from our study in Matthew 9-10; Mark 5; and Luke 9.

• Depending on where our devotion to God is, we can either feel at peace as the tempest rages, or we can be tossed around having no protection from the storm because we have let go of our sure anchor. Christ is the calming influence in all our storms. We will all have storms in our lives, and we testify that we need Him by our side at all times, more than ever in these latter days.
• Fear not and set our hearts upon the things of God.
• When we open our mouths, to share words of love, encouragement and doctrine with others, the Lord will bless us with His words.
• We must realize how sacred our bodies are and the greatest gift created by God. What we do with them, how we treat them, what we put in them, spiritually or physically, reflects our honoring the gifts we’ve received. This is our time to prepare to meet God.
• We each need the faith to be healed or not to be healed, but our faith is what shows our devotion to God and for His will to be made known, no matter what that looks like. Be with Him in our daily devotion and we will be more able to accept His will for our lives.
• The miracles that Christ performed, accomplished much more than physical healing. The spiritually healing that took place was of greatest value more than physical. He is the healer, not us! He is the only one who can make us whole and wholly.
• If we give all we have to Him, even though we may feel it is not enough to solve our problems or do what has been asked of us, He will increase our offering so that through Him, it will be enough (as in the miracle of the feeding of 5,000). This brings peace and hope to our souls.

________________________

 

May each of you feel of our love for you and for our Savior, Jesus Christ. We feel indebted to Him daily and pray we can honor Him in all we do. Blessings to each of you for your great examples of love and goodness towards others. more photos below!

 

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

 

PHOTOS DUMP HERE