Full Circle; The French Alps

Our Church Week—Well,we made it full circle, driving about 1300 miles! The return trip included Lyon to Brive-la-Gaillarde to Mont de Marsan to Bayonne to Pau to Tarbes.  This is one big and beautiful country.  We keep on saying that; it must be trueJ  We drove from the Mediterranean Coastal towns outside of Perpignan which is in the Catalan region of France to the middle of the country (Lyon) flanked by the French Alps then to the Atlantic Coast which is Basque Country and back to Tarbes in Haute-Pyrenees.  Catalan and Basque Country have their own languages in addition to French and all the the road signs are in those languages. That was an added perk to see these very regionally different areas, their foods, language and very distinct architecture displayed in the homes. 

Our apartment inspection task is complete for this go round.  We will do the same in 2 months; excluding the Lyon leg (7hrs). We’ve been asked to make inspections now every 2 months vs every 3 months as the Mission Office has seen very positive benefits and savings as a result of more frequent inspections.  Inspecting apartments is not what we thought we’d be doing on a mission; but we rather enjoy visiting with the Young Missionaries.  Of course, we never mind seeing more of France and there are several routes we can use so that adds to our experiences.

Mont de Marsan—We spent the night outside Mont de Marsan to get a head-start on the sister’s apartment there.  We had visited them a few months ago and all was well, minus a broken lock.  As well as the inspection, we visit with these missionaries and are mostly in awe of their spirituality and service they are rendering to their Branch and the community.  We learn where they are from, about their families, their goals and of course those they are teaching while here in France.

A serendipitous lunch—We had an 1 ½ hour drive to Bayonne but the Elders were still volunteering at the Red Cross.  We hadn’t eaten lunch yet so drove to the coastal town of Biarritz to eat there while we waited for them to finish.  They are in a different missionary district and one of the Elders also had a District Council Meeting he was heading up.  So we had a leisurely lunch by the ocean.  We decided to return to this very restaurant next go-round.  The location was beautiful and the food was a gastronomic delight.  The chef was outstanding and we dined French-style. 

Bayonne—We were asked to make Bayonne a priority since they will need to move sooner preferably than later.  Their apartment building is being sold.  It’s actually a blessing in disguise to have to move as the location, while a great apartment and area, is not close to the Church, downtown or many bus lines.  As it is now, they leave just before noon after a hardy lunch and do not return until 9pm. In the long-run, a move will increase their effectiveness by not spending so much time in transit.  We spackled walls, painted, caulked and touched up obvious dints and scuffs.  A few months ago we repaired some water-damaged walls from tub caulking that had come loose.  That held well and solved their major problem.  Overall, things are in good shape. 

Marc brought his laptop and we looked up their potential leads for apartments in their desired locations.  Then we forwarded the information to the Mission Office so they can begin the process of contacting the proprietors and do the contract signing.  All is working out well as the Elders are getting a head start before May when summer apartment hunters gobble up the supply of unrented apartments for seasonal work in Biarritz.   

Pau—We really cannot take credit for how events fell this week and could not have orchestrated this trip any better.  Jean Michel, whom we visited after his open-heart surgery 2 hrs to our North in Toulouse on our outgoing leg is now in Pau, 45 mins to our West, for his month-long cardiac rehabilitation stay in Pau.  So we were able to visit him again without the slightest skip of a beat.  His open-heart surgery has actually helped with his dialysis as he can stand a longer treatment. He is doing remarkably well.

We then visited the Pau apartment and met the 2 new Elders there.  One is from Hagerstown, MD near where Meg lived for a few years and the other from Holland.  He is the only member of his family to join The Church, go to the Temple and now serve a mission.  He learned about the Church in Cleveland, OH while on an internship in the States when he was 17.  He is blazing the trail for his entire family.  And, he has a degree already in Mechanical Engineering and now speaks 3 languages (Dutch, English, French).  Quite the accomplishment for his 23 years!

Frère Dimon—while we were gone, Frère Dimon fell and broke his hip.  When we arrived home, we unpacked Tuesday night and headed out to see him Wednesday.  We were told he was in the Tarbes Hospital so we went there….only to find out he was transferred to the Orthopedic Rehab Center, fortunately here in Tarbes for his wife’s sake.  The type of fracture is inoperable so he will be bedridden for 1 ½ months while it heals naturally, then the Physical Therapy.  He is also on Dialysis which he receives right there at the Rehab Center.  He was in good spirits and looked well for all he has been through.  Martine, his wife, Patrick and Michelle were also there when we arrived.  Getting into the place was quite the event—finding the right building, securing the code…which we did not have, and getting past all the red-tape and security was quite the process.  We patted ourselves on our backs for just getting in.  Needless to say, they did not know we were back in town yet and were all amazed we could track him down having been out of town, figuring out he was transferred…and where, and just getting into the facility was the talk for the first little while.

Another demonstration—We arrived home to quiet Tarbes, or so we thought.  After hearing about the violent and destructive demonstrating in Paris yet another week (#18) by the Gillet Jaunes and the simultaneous environmentalists demonstrating in Paris, Lyon and other major cities….and following the black smoke event in Perpignan by the Gillet Jaunes…we were glad to be home.  We thought it was so ironic that the Gillet Jaunes are polluting the air while the Environmentalists were picketing against Climate Change and pollution in France. The youth are the ones being encouraged to demonstrate since it is soon to be “their world” that they inherit in this condition.  In Lyon the demonstrators that we saw were all teens. The Paris environmental spokesperson was 9 years old. 

Then Thursday afternoon, we were coming home and the road was blocked by the Police due to a demonstration.  We were too far away to read the signs.  It was peaceful but we’re not sure what is was.  Not Gillet Jaunes as they demonstrate on Saturdays and don their yellow vests.  There’s a lot of palpable civil unrest in France.  We feel perfectly safe but we have to say it seems commonplace to find the latest xxx to protest.  Clearly the Gillet Jaunes are long-lived and keep re-defining their cause, not being afraid to take peaceful demonstrating to levels of destruction of property and innocent businesses.  It is sad to watch. 

Gils—We just got word that Gils, Maria’s husband, just had a stroke (AVC) and is in the Tarbes Hospital.  We don’t know how bad it is, though he has some left-sided paralysis.  We don’t know about his speech yet.  Christian and Christine are headed over today to take Maria to see him as she does not drive. We will see him Sunday after Church.  We imagine there will be several weeks of Rehab, hopefully in Tarbes. 

Well it has been a week of unfolding health challenges to a Branch with already more-than-its-fair-share.  Here we were trying to trying to protect our elderly population and those with life-threatening illness from the flu.  It was quite a run with the long-running and hard-hitting flu in our Branch; now that pales in comparison.  Fortunately, our 3 gravest concerns have not had the flu so we are grateful for all the measures taken to not add to their platters.

Elder Scharman—We just found out this morning that Elder Scharman, who has served in Tarbes for 6 months, will be leaving us on Monday morning for Valance. Valance is to our East and just short of the Alps.  Having just come from that region, we know he’ll get to see the tail-end of winter again and spring springing.  He’s contributed quite a bit to Tarbes and done his best; we are grateful and will miss him. Along with our regular 4^th Sunday repas tomorrow, we’ve prepared a send-off for him.  That’s 2 in a row with Frère Pho’s send-off last week.  But this will be the norm for the next few months unfortunately. 

Region of the week—The French Alps. 

A la prochaine. 

 Marking the apartment of the Mont-de-Marsan sisters for the next visit

 Sisters in Mont-de-Marsan

 Elders in Bayonne

 Elder Carter looking for their next apartment

 Recaulking the tub

We stopped and helped these travelers get the chains off their tires.  

The friction made it hard to get them off and we gave them some of our tools that we use for apartment inpections. They were SO grateful as they read and re-read our plaque.  

France is generally secular but they were grateful for our Christianity.

In the end, it still seems there are no atheists in foxholes.

One of them was VERY under dressed for the cold; we were all headed up in a pass.

Winter is not over up here.  Snow drifting into open-sided tunnel.

Catholic chapel amid snow drift; this was a ski-in/ski-out only chapel.

Snowshoes would also work but it would be a long walk.

Para-skiing.  Very cold and blustery; perfect place for this sport. 

Looked like the wind could just pick him up and REALLY send him sailing.

Heading down the other side of the fortunately opened pass. Weather can change quickly here.

Heading down.

One mountain can be bare; the adjacent one, completely covered in snow.

Once the sun goes behind a mountain it gets icy cold very quickly.

Not a speck of vegetation.

The wire-meshed netting is doing its job

Down in the valley now.

Private home turned museum

300 acres of garden...next visit; it started to rain

All elevation dependent: on the cusp of winter and spring.

These were the rain clouds headed to the museum; good thing we decided to finish it another day.

In the valley....spring!

Trompe-l'oeil....all is on a flat surface, made to look 3-D and "fool the eye"