Taking it to the next level in Primary; Saint-Guilhem-Le-Desert

Our Church Week—We have several things we do as a matter of routine from week to week; but otherwise, it is surprising how different our weeks can be depending on the varying needs of our Elders and our Branch Members.

This was the most exciting week for Primary. We finally received an electric 88-key piano for our children this week. This is an incredible milestone to add piano music to the Primary program. Our new primary president thought that it would be better to have a piano in primary so Marc made a request to the stake. We have another piano in the Sacrament room which is needed for the sacrament meetings and is so large that it cannot be moved. We spent several hours together assembling the piano and making some room changes to accommodate the piano, Primary aged-children, and our new Nursery. We put in about 10 man-hours between the two of us as one small change spawned another. We have very limited space and we are outgrowing our building. That is a good problem to have. We also know several will leave prior to summer’s end so things will be in flux again.

The Church once again outdid themselves; this time in the selection of pianos for a variety of needs across the globe. The piano was shipped from the United States (and must be shipped back to the US if there are problems occurring under the 3-year warranty). This Kawai piano has organ-sound abilities, a metronome, a teaching program for one wanting to learn how to play piano, about 100 pre-selected hymns you can code into the piano to play on its own, and a few other novel features.

How good it felt to have MUSIC!!!!!!!!! What a difference it makes to have music interlacing the teaching moments. It brings an incomparable Spirit to the room and can set the tone like none other.

Also this week we helped Elder Gardner. Elder Gardner was born with a missing limb from the elbow down on his left arm. He can use his elbow joint, and quite creatively, so he likes his clothing cut to accommodate his being able to use his elbow as a hook to carry things, or to balance something etc. So he prefers a cut-off sleeve vs a full-length sleeve. He does not have the nerve endings for a prosthetic device that can move as the nerve endings are what spark the ability to move a hand/fingers.

Meg has been sewing this coat sleeve (in triplicate) since it has a coat lining and removable inner quilted-lining. All those years working on costumes backstage are paying off and of course she is glad to do it for him. They are both in the right place at the right time as a tailor is typically expensive for a young missionaries’ budget. Meg has taught a few missionaries to sew but with one hand, it has it’s challenges. But in a different setting with more time, it won’t be surprising if Elder Gardner takes up some light sewing as he likes to challenge himself to push his limits. For this week, couldn’t be happier to help.

Marc has been helping Jean-Claude get his family genealogy ready for the temple as he was in Switzerland this week helping a friend who fell ill then when she was able, go to the temple, she helped him. Such is the sweetness of life, helping each other. His parent’s and 2 siblings are deceased so he was very happy to perform temple work on their behalf. And Marc was in his glory doing family history work and helping in that realm.

We had 3 visitors at Church today. Lionel comes about twice a month and has been trying for years to discern where truth is. We think we have answers. He is a self-made student of the Bible and is a reader and studies to the n-th degree. He is looking for the original Church format, namely prophets and apostles, like Christ set up when He was on the Earth. He can talk circles around all of us; but truths can be quite simple. That is our challenge with him—not going off in 101 directions at lightning speed (in French of course, so we are really in the dust J).

Truth is learned line-upon-line; precept-upon-precept. We are making headway, albeit slow. We are all getting a workout, in a good way. He is patient with our American accent, slim vocabulary and incorrect grammar. We hope in the end, we can share some very important truths that will open the floodgates to the learning curve he has already placed himself on. We think we can provide some hilltop vistas that will open his spiritual eyes. THIS is why we are here. The arrival of the piano and teaching moments like with Lionel tie for first place for this week.

Jana (pronounced Yana) is from The Czech Republic. This is her second time to Church and as she is learning French, so we are on more equal footing. She wants to return again next week and we are thrilled.

Cecilia is from Paraguay and this is her first visit. Her grandmother, a member of the Church, moved here about 8 months ago and Cecilia was living with them to complete some course work. But Cecilia is moving to French Guyana next week. Her mother and younger sister just moved there about a month ago and the Mom (Blanca) was just involved in a very serious car accident where the car rolled several times. She is bed-ridden, we think for the short term, with some neck injuries. Cecilia will fly there to help her Mom and younger sister. She’s cute as can be and we’d love to keep her here but naturally she is much more needed with family. Understandably, this week can’t pass quickly enough for her.

Other—Monday morning was 13 F. Burr! But it is February. The rest of the week was quite pleasant and warm where a wool long coat was too warm. Then we were thinking, February? Maybe spring will arrive early??? But …no wonder everyone is sick with such changeable weather.

The Flu has reached Epidemic levels in France. Epidemic levels are measured by 350 cases per 100,000 people, at least in France. Last week 8,565 visited the hospital for flu symptoms and 1,050 were hospitalized. Another 1,100 have died in France from the flu thus far. We are saddened by the outbreak deaths.

Today in Church, 12 people called saying they would be absent today from church because of the flu. That is more than 1/3 our normal attendance (30-35). We also advised Jean-Michel to not come to Church today since his operation is next week. Then we advised Michel as well as he is elderly and on dialysis so we thought it might be best if he also stayed home today in case more of us are still contagious and not realizing it. The last thing we want to do is tell people NOT to come. Imagine. But in these cases, it seemed the wiser.

We are over the hump and asymptomatic; we still have that residual cough and are a bit low on energy. Very light fare and we are glad for that. We took a short drive to the mountains for about ½ hour out yesterday as cabin fever was setting in. We’re taking care to not over do—at least we think and hope we are—as we’ve both had set-backs and have underestimated how long this lasts and how potent it has been.

No driving for Meg for next 6 months—harder than it sounds. Normally Marc prefers driving any way but Meg has driven quite a bit on longer trips, to give Marc a break or just to quickly go pick up something. Its’ KNOWING she CAN’T that is driving her crazy J. No longer can we say, oh Meg can just get that or run home from church as in 2 Sundays in between classes….once to get Chevez some medicine, the other to get some special paper for Primary. It’s knowing she can; it’s an option. It’s a different feeling knowing you can’t. Whereas six months seemed it is going to fly by, now it seems like eternity from the driving aspect. C’est la vie. Sigh. Patience—beaucoup de patience.

Town of the week—Saint-Guilhem-Le-Desert. This is a marked beautiful village in France. It is lovely, quaint town we visited in the fall. It is on the Middle Ages Pilgrimage trail to San Compostela de Santiago, Spain and it is one of the major trails for Christian pilgrimages. You’ll find people from all countries here, very friendly and asking you about your own pilgrimage trek. Our name tag always sticks out and we get questions. A very favorite thing for missionariesJ You’ll notice the shell which marks the trail and inns along the way many towns and miles and miles of trails that cater to travelers dating from the Middle Ages.

Unique to this town and region is the la cardabelle, a plant that has been placed on many doors and in architecture since the Middle Ages. It’s a symbol of healing and good luck. The cardabelle is related to the artichoke family and has multiple uses and symbols—the middle was edible, the thistles used to card wool from sheep and when dried it acts like a barometer, opening and closing depending on approaching rain. Symbolically it is for good luck and good fortune as rain supplies one’s needs and is the life of the flock for the shepherd.

A la prochaine!