BLOG 43, JULY 31 - AUG 6, 2023
GRENOBLE VISIT BANNER DROP OFF
The 4 banners created were finally delivered. We delivered the last one to the sisters in Grenoble on Monday. They are so committed to making the best use of them, and they really did, as we heard back from them later in the week. They sent an amazing supportive message video to the Zone with great encouragement that the banners are very useful.
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| Sisters Bown and Paschal helping us with the EnglishConnect banner. Their enthusiasm is contagious. |
ZOOM WITH AURELIE AND KYLER
This Tuesday morning we
had our second monthly zoom visit with Aurelie and Kyler and their sweet 7
month old daughter, Flora, who joined us. We have truly enjoyed mentoring them,
be it with their relationship, their finances, etc. We’re grateful to get to
know them and feel of their desire to make their relationship and family the
best they can.
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| Kyler, Aurelie and Flora |
Steve has been planning
this trip for months, here and there, during our normal mission efforts. We did
have a little inside scoop from his sister, Anita Herway, since she and her husband
and family lived in Belgium for 28 years and had traveled many times to the
French Riviera and was a wonderful help in offering suggestions on what to see
and where to go.
Besides some of our mission
efforts on Tuesday, it took almost our whole day to prepare for our 4 day
getaway. To say the least, we’ve been anticipating this trip for a long time.
We couldn’t wait to see a part of the world we’ve always wanted to visit and
had heard so much about.
Even though we spend every waking moment together on our mission and are grateful for this time together, taking time to truly honor, enjoy beauty, see sites and celebrate our 45 years of marriage, is of great importance and will leave a lasting memory in our hearts. As we look back on these choice experiences on the French Riviera, we will be so grateful we stopped to smell the roses.
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA
The time finally came, and it was enjoyable from the train ride there, to trying to find everywhere we need to go. Steve was magical in his finding skills. Since Italy is so near, we witnessed a fun flavor of the Italian atmosphere, from the motorcyclists, to hearing Italians speaking, along with the French people and visitors from all parts of the world. The weather was absolutely perfect during the entirety of our visit.
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| Taking off on the train in Lyon to the French Riviera |
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| Roquebrune Beach |
We first arrived at
Roquebrune-Cap-Martin (about 6 hours train ride) where our studio apartment was located.
Once we got settled, we
then bought food for the next few days. As we looked out our patio window, at
the end of the block, we could see the radiant beautiful blue sea. It was
magnificent.
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| Our apartment is the first white entry on the left. This is taken from the train station we would use daily to get around. |
Swimming was not what drew us to this part of the world, but walking along the beach, seeing the mountainous beach fronts with colorful apartments and homes looking like they are stacked on top of each other, was incredible! It was a perfect getaway for us!
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| The breath-taking views are everywhere! |
Beaches are the largest tourist attraction in this part of the country and there seem to be dozens of beaches along the coast in every inlet and we loved seeing as many as we could. We enjoyed the stunning and brilliant blue of the water, and in some of the waters we witness emerald green streaks (due to algae and plant life).
Menton Beach and Old Town
We took the train to Menton, which boarders Italy! We walked along the beach for a little while and saw that most of their beaches were smooth rocks, not sand. It may have made it not so easy to walk on, but that did not detour anyone.
We then visited their Old Town. It was absolutely incredible and fascinating, dating back to the 1400’s. We’ve seen many Old Town’s in our two missions in France and this was beautiful, quaint and intriguing.
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| INTERNET PHOTO OF MENTON |
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| Old Town entry |
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| This St Bernard was ready to lick up my face or my phone! |
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| Menton is known for its delicious citrus. The lemons are a bit milder and every February they have a Citrus Festival. |
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| Stairs going up to the cathedral. |
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| The cathedral in Menton. |
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| A threshold above a door. This most likely was the original threshold, where it is now preserved with the brick. |
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| This is not a rug, but if you could enlarge the photo, you would see it is smooth rocks from the sea, carefully placed to look like a rug. |
We went one last time to the beach, to walk near the water and dip our feet in the Mediterranean Sea.
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| This sand felt so soft on my feet, though most beaches were large pebbles. |
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| Oh, this felt so lovely! |
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| Steve dipped his shoes in the water. Either way we did dip! |
On our anniversary day,
we took the train to Monaco and spent the day visiting many of its sites. Within
the cities, we either walked a lot, or rode the buses.
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| Entering Monaco from the train station, we weren't sure if we'd need to show our passports or not, though we brought them. We quickly saw that there was no way they could ever keep up with checking everyone and all the exits in and out of Monaco. |
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| Happy Anniversary to us! It's going to be a great day! |
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| Monaco is breathtakingly beautiful! |
Saint Nicholas Cathedral
We walked for about 45
minutes to see Saint Nicholas Cathedral. This is where many of the Grimaldis
are buried, including Princess Grace Kelly and Prince Charles Rainier III. It
was finished being built in the early 1900’s, in less than 30 years.
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| Saint Nicholas Cathedral |
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| Princess Grace and her husband were buried in these tombs next to each other. |
Prince’s Palace of Monaco
We enjoyed a beautiful
walk through the Prince's Palace of Monaco, built as a fortress in 1191. As the
last living royalty living in the palace, that of Princess Grace and Prince
Rainier III, we were able to read more of their history.
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| Prince's Palace of Monaco |
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| As I was purchasing a souvenir, this lady (her name is Luna) noticed our tags and said that she knew us, meaning the church. Her best friend is serving a mission in Melano, Italy, which is this girl's hometown. She was thrilled to meet us. I encouraged her to study the church. |
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| Our walk to enter the palace. |
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| There were many rooms similarly, all with a different purpose. |
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| Some event with the Princess and Prince! |
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| The inside courtyard |
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| The featured royal family at one time. |
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| The view from the far side near the Palace. |
La Roseraie
Princesse Grace Rose Garden
We walked to La Roseraie
Princesse Grace rose garden. It wasn’t the best time of the year for roses,
but nevertheless it was beautiful to walk through.
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| This Rose Garden was for Princess Grace |
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| This rose was named after Ingrid Bergman |
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| These fish were huge! |
From the Roseraie, we
were planning on taking a brief walk to Cap d’Ail. We found that the walk was longer
and more uphill than we anticipated. We finally ended up taking a bus to see a
beautiful garden walk down to the beach in Cap d’Ail. It was lovely all along
the way, but our bodies were exhausted at this point. Gratefully we found a
train ride to head on back to our apartment.
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| A beautiful walk descending to Cap d'Ail. |
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| Below is Cap d'Ail! |
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| A section of Cap d'Ail. |
Movie
night in the apartment
To end the evening, we
watched, “To Catch a Thief” with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in Monaco. We’ve
seen it many times, but with new eyes!
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| To Catch a Thief, with Monaco in the background! A very good movie! |
FRIDAY – AUGUST 4
Villa et Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild
We took another train and
a bus to head to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Once we arrived, we first walked down a
steep road to see an exclusive and more private beach front. It was beautiful.
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| Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat was named the second most expensive residential location in the world after Monaco. |
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| This is only a small section of a much larger part of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. |
We then walked a little way to next visit, Villa et Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild. We first
entered the Villa Mansion and walked through all the varied rooms, much like a
mini-Chateaux de Versailles.
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| Rothschild Villa Tour |
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| Rothschild Villa - exquisite gardens outside and beautiful interior. |
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| The views in all directions of the house, highlights the myriad views of the sea. |
We walked through the gardens
which were incredible, of which we could’ve stayed all day. It featured a French
Garden, Spanish Garden, Florentine Garden, Japanese Garden, Stone Garden and Exotic
Gardens, all most exquisite.
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| AERIAL INTERNET PHOTO OF ROTHSCHILD VILLA. |
This Promenade Maurice
Rouvier is a 40-minute walk along a beautiful, paved walk along the
Mediterranean coast with amazing views. We saw the famous David Niven (film star)
incredible villa (built in 1880) while walking on the promenade.
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| This 40-minute promenade was so magnificent! |
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| The home of David Niven (film star), built in 1880. |
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| Greek Villa of Cap Ferrat |
Once we got back to our
apartment, we attended an important meeting with Joshua Boswell and our Facebook
Finding Team. It was excellent. More to come!
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| President and Sister Léporé |
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| Joshua Boswell! |
Roquebrune-Cap-Martin Old Town
The Grand Prix bus ride
I’ve never seen a bus
driver drive so fast, going and coming back, as did this one. The streets were
not only narrow, but winding and turning constantly, but the driver drove like we were in the Grand Prix.
We experienced yet another
enchanting Old Town in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin with climbing, winding narrow
streets. We had a couple of fun exchanges with people.
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| Old Town in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin |
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| Aerial view from of some of the mansions from Old Town in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin |
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| The Castle |
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| The chapel, which was not opened. |
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| Another view from the top. |
We loved seeing the 1,00-year-old Olive Tree, which is still growing and producing.
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| This is a 1,000-year-old Olive Tree, with the branches still alive and producing. |
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| A little history on the tree. |
Saturday – August 5 – our return back to Lyon
Once packed, we said
goodbye to our sweet apartment, took our bags down to the beach one last time,
and played a game and enjoyed the spectacular view till it was time to take our
train to head on back to Lyon.
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| This apartment worked great for us! |
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| Catching a little more sun while waiting to depart to catch our train. |
Every part was incredible, but mostly because we oohed and aahed together and enjoyed each other in an inspiring piece of heaven. We LOVE our time together, serving the Lord, loving our family and enjoying life, no matter the challenges that may come with life. We can do it with Him and us!
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| The name of the train station 3-minute walk from our apartment. |
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| The train station in Nice - then making a change for our final destination train. |
SUNDAY WORSHIP
We had a lovely Sabbath
day and loved seeing the saints. Because it’s August, we had a lot of members gone
and when it came time for the hymns to be sung there was no music director. I
quickly got up and led the music. What went through my head while directing the
hymns, was how my dad had stood in that very same place many times while my
parents served their mission here in Lyon 21-23 years ago and my mom was
playing the very same piano right next to him. I think of and love them each
and every day!
Steve was asked to give
the closing prayer. He tickles me how well he’s doing, and he may not see it
like everyone else, but he can give wonderful long and varied prayers. I’m so
grateful for his daily diligence.
We said our goodbyes to
Sister Emmery. She’ll be transferred and Sister Ferrari will receive her new
companion next Thursday. They have been a fabulous duo and loved working together.
We will miss these two serving together!
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| Ward members and the sisters! |
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| Sisters Ferrari and Emery - we love these amazing missionaries! Sister Emery is being transferred next week. |
The
proposal is finished!
After a brief visit with
President Jubault between Sacrament meeting and Sunday School, it was decided
to finalize and get it sent in, with or without the final letter from President
Léporé, which could always be sent in later. But after church, President Léporé
sent his amazing and magnificent support letter to President Jubault and will now
be sending it in this week. Our prayers are with the Area as they receive it.
CHILDREN/GRAND CHILDREN/FAMILY MOMENTS
& BIRTHDAYS
Austin and Jaron’s concert with Guy
Two of our sons Austin and
Jaron both performed in their cousin, Guy Gibbons, concert a week ago.
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| Austin, Jaron and Guy (three very talented musicians) This was Guy Gibbon's concert with his music he composed. |
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| This is Austin! |
Austin accompanying with a friend.
Austin was able to play his cello as his friend played
many of her compositions. We will miss Austin’s cello almost as much as we will
miss him.
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| Austin playing with Melinda Allred with her compositions. |
Austin, Jaron and Nate playing
With Austin and his family leaving this coming week,
the brothers got together to play a round of golf. It started storming after
the 4th hole. So grateful to they came together one last time.
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| Austin, Nate and Jaron Packer - rainy golf buddy brothers! |
Jacob made the HS golf team
Jaron’s oldest, Jacob Packer, made the HS golf team. Jacob will be 15 next month and will be in 9th grade. He may be very short for his age, due to his MPS6 condition, but this boy plays amazing golf. We’re so proud for him, as only 13 were given that honor for the 9-12th graders.
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| Jacob being treated by his dad for his amazing accomplishment. |
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| Jacob will be the second-generation Packer to play on a team. The Packers love to play golf. Steve was on his HS golf team as well. Jacob's great grandpa Packer was a golf coach also. |
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| Father/Son out for lunch to celebrate! |
Aliyah Packer on her golf tournament
Jacob’s youngest sibling,
Aaliyah is also a golfer and she had her first tournament this week. She’s a
fun and busy sweet girl.
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| Aaliyiah, joining Jacob in the golf direction. This was her first tournament and she loves it! |
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| Aaliyah with her friends in her first tournament. |
Mason
Lattin loves the rain!
Becca posted this on
Instagram! This boy is full of loving life however it comes!
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| Mason loves the rain! |
Sister Maliyah Duckworth
“Earlier last week I had been praying for a few
things specifically for me. Yesterday, church was wonderful. a very spiritually
uplifting day!! We had Elder Ames (one of the 70) give us the Sunday school
lesson and there wasn't a dull moment. I was writing something down during his
lesson, when I realized that what was being said was quite literally a direct
answer to my prayers earlier that week! It was so cool to once again recognize
how aware Heavenly Father is of me.”
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| She loves her Book of Mormon and knows that it is a true book of God. |
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| Maliyah's a ballroom dancer, and l'm sure loved dancing with this gentleman. |
“Last Wednesday tho I did have the opportunity to
welcome in 647 new missionaries to the MTC. Helped them take they're bags from
the car to the main building, which meant I also watched hundreds of people
crying and saying final goodbyes which was kinda hard for some of us
missionaries to deal with, considering we've had to try really hard to focus on
the mission and not home. But it was cool to see them smile through the tears
as over 2000 missionaries welcomed them. It really was a neat experience.”
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| Kyson on the left |
Birthdays this week!
3rd – Jordan Packer, born
on our 10th Wedding Anniversary! Best present ever! We love you
Jordan and love the amazing person, son, husband and daddy you are!
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| Jordan and Lydia and Lincon |
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| Jordan and Larissa - beautiful pair! |
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| Janine Green playing her last night with the Country Fair Band for this Pageant season. |
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| Janine is having such a wonderful time as she watches all the dancers dance around and playing instruments with these band members. |
GOSPEL STUDY REVIEW
Book of Mormon
- Those who followed the Lord were humbled and their hearts were softened.
- Bury our weapons of rebellion (any sins) as a sign of turning our hearts to God and to keep the Lord’s commandments.
- Recognize power in our efforts.
- Exceeding joy is when you see your friends and loved ones still strong or return to the faith.
- There can be hope even in a state of sorrow because of the promises of the Lord.
- We declare truth for no gain other than to receive the Lord’s peace and His Spirit to be with us.
- Pray in faith, be believing!
Come Follow Me
- There is personal refinement that the Lord allows to take place in each of our hearts if we are willing to let Him in and humble ourselves.
- If we had scriptures written about us, what would others learn from our trials?
- Help and guide others to follow the prophet.
- We will experience challenges and we need to always stand for truth when they arise.
- There is safety in following the prophet.
- Be of good cheer, have faith in the future even if times seem bleak, and put our focus on the Christ and trust in His promises.
- The Book of Acts and all scripture is to point us to Jesus Christ.
Summary:
We are so grateful to our
Father in Heaven, for our 45 glorious years we’ve enjoyed all these years together,
and with all the many lessons of life that accompany those years. Each year has
brought us closer to the Lord and to each other. This week we took the opportunity
to honor and cherish this special celebration with one another, and we are
filled with the Lord’s tender mercies, a wonderful family, and a love for all
of you. Here’s to another 45 years and counting!
With all our love,
Elder et Sœur
Packer Grandpère et Mémé
801-336-6153
(Steve’s)
801-564-1332
(Renée’s)
Address below: Please include the name and address as stated
Les Missionaires – PACKERS
59 rue Bossuet
69006 Lyon FRANCE
PHOTO DUMP
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