Trains, Transfers and all things Tarbes?
22 April 2018
Pictures below. We got a request to show more pictures from our collection....no shortage of pics on our end.
Good
things happening in Tarbes—This was another exciting week for the younger missionaries, for us and
for our Branch in Tarbes. Somehow we are
just on a good running. We think we are
going to settle into the new “status quo” routine but we keep on having one more
special Sunday where another special event makes that Sunday unique and extra
special. In a few short weeks,
things will level off, maybe....; but for now, we are just enjoying the excitement and
growth that change can bring. This week
it’s transfers making the week unique.
Transfers
this week— Transfers
are when the young missionaries change companionships. Transfer week occurs every 6 weeks. It keeps things fresh, they learn new
teaching techniques from each other and it allows for the ebb and flow of new
missionaries arriving as they begin their missions and for those completing
their missions to go back to their homelands.
On transfer day…..it’s the domino effect in motion to the “nth
degree” and from each cardinal direction—NSEW.
About a week
before the actual physical transferring of missionaries, every missionary companion-ship
receives a call from the Mission President.
The anticipation of their new assignments is palpable. Some stay put until the next transfer, others change. Either way, this is one well-oiled
mechanism. The behind-the-scenes
footwork makes it all look effortless; but rest assured someone is feeling a
degree of uneasiness until all the missionaries are safely in their new places.
The tricky part is that no missionary
travels alone. The coordination efforts
function like clockwork. As for the
hours and hours of planning, checking and double checking, you’ll have to ask the fly on the
wall. There’s not a lot of room for
error once that first domino falls. We
have an exceptionally large mission geographically speaking so the day starts
early and ends late. And to complicate
matters, right now in France there is an extra challenge with the on-going,
country-wide train strikes (see below).
Back to the
transfers, we are on the far west end of our mission and French-speaking Switzerland
on the eastern-most part of our mission.
The farther-most set of missionaries from each cardinal direction—NSEW—starts
the ball in motion. They are accompanied
to the train station by two or more remaining missionaries. In our mission, some missionaries fly to
their next location with the same protocol in place. The missionaries transferring locations train/fly
over to next town heading in one direction.
Any other transferring missionary heading in that direction hops on that
same train with other transferring missionaries….meeting up on the train and with
their many bags, 2 years worth. There’s
not time for missionaries already on the train to disembark with their luggage in tow, but with cell
phones now in place, they’re able to reassure each other what cabin they are in
when the new set makes it onto the train.
Then on each arrival end, the new missionaries (sometimes coupled
together temporarily so as to never be alone) receive their new
companions. We inherited another
departing missionary for this entire week who is also completing his
mission. He actually served in Tarbes 1½ years ago….and was excited to see some new changes. Our new Elder replacing Elder Masters (who
finished his mission) came in from Switzerland.
He had quite a long hall to our end of the mission, 9+ hour train ride. Our departing Elders will fly to the States
on Tuesday.
Train
strikes—what a
mess. We are not feeling it, nor are the
missionaries per say. The Lord’s Work is
not so easily stopped! They just travel and schedule exchanges on non-strike days. But the people of
France are taxed trying to get to their jobs and regularly coordinate Uber
transportation or “Bla-Bla car" (car ride sharing). Public transportation throughout Europe is highly depended upon. One of our members lives ½ hour from Church
and uses the train to get here. She’s
been affected by the Sunday strikes so another member makes the drive to pick her up. The strikes are scheduled, so that is at
least helpful. On Thursday, we were
walking from the downtown market and ran into a “mani” short for
manifestation/protest. We skirted around
it but could hear it well in advance.
There were huge flags and a parade of protesters with fire-crackers and
LOUD red-smoke guns making it all sound very angry.
The parade ended in front of Town Hall where a spokesman had a
loud-speaker and soap box to air their complaints. The main dispute surrounds the new government
who wants to stop life-time employment for the train workers. The strikes have been going on for several
months and the announced strikes will continue through the summer. It will be interesting to see if it
works. Despite the inconveniences,
people are getting to work with Uber or Bla-Bla car so it might not be having the
desired sting. Perhaps by the end of the
strikes some will have found newer/better ways to get to work. Time will tell.
Another small-world story—our Elder
who is staying here into the next transfer is in the same Tarbes Branch his
father served in 45 years ago. How cool is
that? He is walking the same streets as
his father did many moons ago. And his
older brother served here as well in the Lyons, France Mission, just not
specifically in Tarbes. It’s hard to
believe father and son are each living the younger Elder’s mission through each other’s
eyes. Elder Rees found his father’s
signature on some old papers from the 1970s. How sentimental and touching!
Our small
but VERY international branch—for our attendance we surely do have an international representation:
France, of course; Cambodia; Canada; Mexico; Reunion Islands; Romania; Rwanda; Tahiti;
and USA. What unites us? Naturally, French all to varying
degrees. But it’s really our common
beliefs: The Restored Gospel of Jesus
Christ including prophets and revelations and as Christ set up His Church when He was on Earth.
To add to our already international mix, now we have
some new investigators from Slovakia.
The Mission President from France and Slovania are coordinating efforts
to arrange Skype sessions to ensure they can understand the lessons and have
any questions answered in their native language. In our heart of hearts, we have been vocally praying
for a family with 4 children to compliment the families here that have children. They just happen to be a family of 6….2
parents and 4 children. Could these be
they?
To update you on our Cambodian brother, his twin girls attended Church this last Sunday in Cambodia along with the scheduled lessons. Frère Pho is just beaming.
Wrought-iron gate
Seeing is believing....
scheduled train strikes in red
How do you like your shutters?
Lilac
Basque country, cheese made from SHEEP's milk
Many wisteria trees are 100-150 yrs old
Azalea, Jardin Massey...is it any wonder we love walking there?
Variety of sweet broom
Rhododenrun
Wisteria, not in bloom yet....but when it is....this will spell France.
Jardin Massey.....carriage rides like in days of yore
Japanese Maple
French blue
Cherry blosom
Not sure of the name, unusual and very tall
We can hear the peacocks "squawk" from our apartment
This train is NOT on strike!
Monument in front of City Hall
What is a California poppy doing here in France?
Colza fields. Brilliant yellow and by the acres and acres, we'll never tire of them.
And we are especially glad we don't have hay fever!
We helped plant flowers at our
Relief Society President's house.
The day before we were in boots.
We all got lots of sun Wednesday.
Spring, now including warmth, is finally here!
French cows for French cheese
Adjacent field from cows, not a bad view while the cows are grazing all day long
Thursday market
Fresh, fresh spices of every variety and origin
The indoor portion of the market. All towns have a "Hall" for market day.
A good 100 vendors outside with clothing, mattresses, foods, gadgets
(not a flea market with used items, acts like an outdoor department store)
Lilac
The quintessential French bike sans poodle
One of our pics in apartment....so we remember where we are
Two blocks toward the "gare"
aka train station
Jardin Massey
Public book box, sharing of books
See anything familiar on the second shelf?
Cherry blossoms
Female peacock
They certainly live up to their name
"Proud as a Peacock"
as they strut through the park
We never tire of French architecture
A lovely afternoon in the park
Yours Truly
May the road rise up to meet you....and God hold you in the hollow of His hand
A la prochaine
Thank you for the beautiful photos!! I've loved the spring we had in Ecully before I came home, and Utah is having a lovely spring as well but the wisteria (Glacine) is always so pretty in Ecully this time of year. You are in a beautiful part of the world!!
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