Our Church Week—We moved the electric piano into the Sacrament Room this week and had our first hymns played with the organ. Meg has been playing the piano after our pianist left. She is able to play out of the simplified hymn book and has been enjoying that. But we leave soon and want things in place so the Branch will always have a back-up piano/organ. This piano is amazing with the ability to play hymns automatically. They go a bit faster than the Branch is accustomed to so we introduced the organ first to get used to singing with that. Each week, we’ll try one of the 4 hymns we sing each Sunday to be one from the programed and automated selection. That way they can get used to the quicker pace gradually and sing the others comfortably as they are accustomed.

District Conference—The best one yet. We are continually impressed with our District Leader and his ability to direct and lead the council session, 19 years old. There were 12 of us, 4 Senior Missionaries and 8 young Missionaries. Very nicely done with a lot of meat and helpful information.

Chevez—We invited Chevez over for dinner as we do from time to time. What a nice young man who is willing to learn. He just passed his one year mark as he was baptized last May. New things are happening for him as he was accepted to his first choice of universities. He will be majoring in translation and already knows French and English. Meg helped him with some Spanish but he is already well on his way of his own accord. We gave him a Book of Mormon in Spanish to complete his tri-lingual collection and he and Meg read some in it. He seems gifted in languages and it’s a pleasure working with him.

We introduced him to the Myers-Briggs and Holland Code personality test and career interest survey. He is just SO open to learning new things and is a delight to work with. We reviewed steps of prayer, what constitutes a testimony, the importance of tithing, choosing good friends when he goes to Pau in the fall, attending Institute and getting his Patriarchal Blessing and working towards becoming an Elder….which are both in the works. We are so proud of him and his progress in the last year. As we mentioned, he goes this road alone and is doing an excellent job.

The Louit’s Family History—We went over to Christine and Christian’s home again to review their family history. We are also trying to round up a group that can meet us there after we finish our Missions and go to the Paris temple It’s in the planning stages and of course people work, have summer vacations and the temple is an 8-hr drive. We only have 4 people with cars so that magnifies the problem.

Elder Loh—finishes his Mission a day or so after us. He will register this week for his classes at BYU. He’ll go home to Singapore to see family and friends and get his student visa to study in the USA. So this is a big week for him and will begin the unstoppable countdown. So we share that in common….the beginning of the end.

Bernard—Bernard has 2 weeks left with his cast. He takes it all in stride and soon will start therapy and will be able to drive again.

New glasses for Marc—Mind you this was not a planned eventJ Marc was clearing some brush and a branch bounced back at him, hooking his glasses and flinging them off his head. It took 6 of us, but we found them. Both lens popped out of the frames (rimless) and one nylon wire snapped. With both of us we were able to get that re-threaded and through the microscopic hole and miracles of miracles, it held. But when he tried to readjust the nose piece which was crooked, it snapped in two. Now the integrity of the glasses was lost. But not to be undone, we Gerry-rigged it with dental floss and a nail so he could drive….and see.

Long story short, Anne told us about a place in Toulouse (2hrs) that does lens manufacturing on the spot and has low overhead costs (Lunettes Pour Tous). So after District Council, conveniently in Toulouse the week he really needed it, we found a pair. We did some comparative shopping…..250 Euros at Anne’s recommended place or across the plaza 1200 Euros ($1360 USD). Bet you can’t guess which one we pickedJ Friendly and pleasant experience with the nicest of technicians.

Transhumance—this is the technical word to bring up the sheep and cattle to high pastures. We went with the Braconnier family of 7 to hike with the shepherds and towns people as they took their sheep and cattle up to the high country. Sheep and cattle both were donned with pompons and bells. The government sets the date of the transhumance and coordinates the date with the weather service and ski slopes that are the pastureland in the summer.

It was emotional to first see the sheep and shepherd. What an honor for the one selected to lead the sheep. All groups are placed together and they will be sorted when they come down in about 3 ½ months. 5200-6000 feet. with the Braconnier Family of 7 at home, 3 gone on. 14 Km UP, all UP, UP, UP. 5 hours of walkingJ Meg gave way with the altitude after 13 Km as it really increased that last Kilometer. Too much huffing and puffing. Marc made it about 13.5 Km. We each hitched a ride up that last little bit. Maybe next year we can plan on it and get acclimated earlier.

Martine—Good Valerie found a way to get Michel’s birth certificate on line.

Town of the week—Nistos-Haut. This is where the Braconnier Family lives, about 1 hour from Tarbes. Nistos-Haut is the upper (in elevation) portion of Nistos-Bas (lower Nistos). Nistos-Haut is more of a hamlet by the river from which it gets its name. It is truly mountain terrain nestled in the Pyrenees and a mountain climate. Wild mountain flowers grow profusely and decorate the many hillsides at every turn. It’s easy to know all your neighbors with Nistos-Haut and Nistos-Bas combined with a population of little more than 200. Nistos-Haut is higher up and less populated. The Braconnier Family calls themselves The Little House on the Prairie (Mountain, in this case).

Enjoy Nistos-Haut and the transhumance.

A la prochaine.

Explaining the church structure to Chevez

Meg taught Chevez how to tie his tie.

Marc setting up the auto-play for the piano.

The Louit Family getting their names in Family Search.

A short update on our park. One of the nicest in France in little ole Tarbes. It's so green now.

One of several insect hotels at Jardin Massey. They are very big here in France. Marc tidying it up.

Marc and Giséle

Our street, Pyrenees in background; we look out everyday to see what "our" mountain is doing.

Getting ready to get on the highway in Tarbes

Stream and "swimming hole" in Braconnier's backyard

A Frenchman being French:)

Léo

Ski area/high pasture land

Lili

Marc showing Leo a fiber-optic wire; we just had fiber-optic line installed

Two sister cats each had a litter at the same time

Noam found a robin's egg on our first hike up

Marc, Adèle with Felix, David

The pre-transhumance warm-up hike

Léo and Noam found over 15 salamanders

Adele, Felix, Léo, Marc

Léo and Noam swimming after the transhumance hike

This is ICY mountain water! Brave souls.

Fotos on barns mean they participate in the honored age-old traditional high pasturing transhumance of cattle/sheep

Lower Nistos starts the trip up, merging with Nistos-Haut (high Nistos)

Towns people stepping in behind the trek up;

others come out to honor the herds and shepherds as they make the age-old ascent

These cattle will join in after the sheep pass; then the shepherd's will make designated stops to let the cattle pass

The sheep are very curious and each seem to stop and look over the rock fence at the stream below.

Rather a blurry shot, this honored cow has a large and tall pom-pom

Sheep marked to sort out on the descent, sometime in September

Sheep herded to side letting the cattle pass. This is a 5-hour hike....up, up and up

The cattle look pretty innocent, but their pace is pretty fast, faster than the sheep. We had trouble keeping up with the sheep and were no match for the cattle

And the sheep are off, bells and all...

Very emotional how the townspeople accompany the shepherds up. They know their communities are dependent on the live stock and they feel honored to participate in the transhumance.

Now the fun begins. Up they go.....straight up! And we to follow. Not fair that they have 4 legs and we only 2. Yes, we felt it the next day:) Nor could we keep up with them....