A chilly, wonderful Sunday in Paris!

Last night, I googled "lds ward paris, france" and up popped the Paris, France Mission web site. On it listed numerous wards in Paris with the times that they started and directions on how to get to their locations. The kids were whining and crying about it. They are all scared about not being able to understanding anything, about meeting new people, etc.--all being led and orchestrated by our wonderful daughter. Some times she makes me SO CRAZY! They had gone to bed, each hopeful that I would be unsuccessful in my attempts to find the church, but to their dismay, my diligence paid off and we know just where to go. There were wards starting at 9, 10, 11, and 1 o'clock all over the city. It showed that there was English translation available at a ward in Versailles, but the meeting started at 9a.m. and Jason decided this would be next to impossible to make it there on time with the walking, subways and trains. We decided upon the 10a.m. meeting located by the Pompidou Museum.

Everyone got up and whined mightily about going to church, but looked so great in their white shirts and ties. Jason and Mitchell look fantastic in their new suits and wow did we get points, stares, smiles and looks down at breakfast this morning. Vanessa looked darling in her dress and everyone there seemed shocked to see so many children and parents looking that dressed up. We quickly ate and then headed for the subway.

We walked down our street "Rue Richelieu" and entered the subway at the Palais Royal Louvre station and Jason discovered he'd forgotten our subway tickets and the ticket station was closed. Heavenly Father must have wanted us to be able to attend, because the place where they usually take the tickets was all open and people were just walking through. I don't know if this is normal or not, but we were able to enter and get on the subway taking us to the church. We had one connection and made it right on time. We came out from the Metro right at the Museum and once again tickets were not required to get out. I was amazed. We followed the directions right to the church. Greeting us at the front door were two missionaries from Salt Lake City and Seattle, WA. They shook each one of our hands and then pointed us to where we needed to go. I asked him if Sacrament Meeting had already started (It was about 5 min. after 10a.m.) and he told us that this was a bit of a different day. #1 The website was incorrect--the meetings started at 9:30a.m., not at 10a.m. #2 It was daylight saving time now and we had come at 11a.m., not 10a.m. #3 It was stake conference today and there would be no normal French sacrament meeting. #4 Today was the first Sunday they would be starting their Summer English Sacrament Meetings and it would be starting at 11:30!!! After the first 3 things they had told us, I was pretty discouraged and then came that last bit of information. I was shocked, amazed and humbled again by the many tender mercies we seem to be receiving no matter where we go.

We walked in and hung up our coats. They then started the meeting and the room was packed. A man who was on the high council conducted the meeting and was totally amazed by the turn-out. They were not planning on starting these English meetings until late May or June, but just the night before, the Stake President felt strongly that they should start the meetings today. What an inspired man he must be. He asked for deacons who could pass the Sacrament and my eyes filled with tears when Mitchell proudly raised his hand and walked up with another young man to sit in front of the Sacrament table. This was his first time passing the sacrament to anyone besides our family in Morocco. What an amazing introduction to the Priesthood he is having. I wish all of his Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles could have seen him.

The meeting was a Testimony Meeting--People we heard from included: two young men there on their way home to Boston after traveling all over Israel; A couple from Florida who are the parents of 10 children and because her husband is a professor of languages, they had lived for a year at a time in Hungary, Switzerland, the Philippines, Germany, Russia, etc. and he was currently a professor in Denmark where they are living now--he speaks 11 languages and 8 of their 10 children served foreign missions; A newly wed couple from the Bay Area who were web designers and whose company let them come and live in Europe for a year while he does his work. They've lived in a different city or country in Europe every month for the last seven months. Her parents were there visiting them; Two young girls from Russia who are studying German in Switzerland for school and who were in Paris for the weekend and who spoke very good English; A woman from Tennessee who has a mixed up and pretty sad life with work--her kids are in Tennessee and she is working in Paris for 6 months (her children are very young--I haven't quite figured out what in the world she is doing over here); There was a couple from Shelton--Rigby, who were there on vacation and A couple from Naperville, Chicago, Illinois--the Harris'--they did not know Hillary and Joe. The High Council Man has lived all over the world and raised his children in Saudi Arabia for many years. It was quite a group and I'm sure all the other people had amazing stories too. It was so wonderful to be gathered together with other members of the Church. It feels like it's been forever. Jason bore his testimony and told about our experience. He did such a nice job and we were bombarded with questions from everyone after the meeting. It was very fun.

After the meeting, we walked through the Pompidou for a little while. They had a wonderful exhibition for children that the little boys loved. We then had lunch at Subway and came back to the hotel to change our clothes. The kids were all tired and wanted to stay in the hotel. Anyone who knows me, knows that this drives me crazy when we are traveling, but Jason decided it was best. We napped and read and they watched Anne of Green Gables. Subway was not high on my list of French quisine, and we went to a restaurant right by our hotel for dinner that was so beautiful and the food was delicious.

We are all well rested for a big day of sight-seeing tomorrow! Our goals are: Notre Dame, a boat ride down the River Seine, The L'Orange Museum to the the Waterlily Paintings by Monet, and the Sewers or Catacombs of Paris. We also want to climb the Eiffel Tower and eat at a Pattiseree that was suggested by Mindy Larsen! Yahoo--I have so much work to do on the tread mill when we get back! We'll see how much we are able to accomplish. We leave for Italy on Tuesday morning. We'll stay one night in Rome and then head to Brindisi where Jason has 3 days of meetings. We'll then come back to Rome and hopefully Pisa, Florence and Venice.

Good news: Reggie's ear didn't hurt one time today. I am treating it for both an internal and an external infection and it seems to be working. I'm so relieved and he's so thrilled that he's not in pain any more. Vanessa is so thrilled that the marriage proposals, constant stares at us as Americans and calls to come to their shop are over. This would make Paris perfect if her brothers could stop wrestling, poking each other and singing the McDonald's YouTube Song that they have memorized and sing like their own personal mantra. But, because they sat through watching Anne of Green Gables with her, she aggreed that it was a wonderful day!

In finished Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It is an absolute must read for every American! It's given me so much to think about and discuss with Jason. It's one of my favorite all time books!!