Looking backward/looking forward; Aas—whistle while you work

Our Church Week—Most of our branch was on vacation this week and last so it was a slow week. It’s still been busy in other ways: wrapping up loose ends, making sure all instructions are written out and written down. Plus it allowed us to recuperate from our last Zone Conference in Toulouse followed immediately by District Counsel….and all the travel that goes with it.

We forgot to mention that one of our first missionaries here in Tarbes when we arrived here, is now an “AP” or Assistant to the President. There are 2 in that companionship and they are the Mission President’s “go to” persons and right-hand man for all that makes the larger organization run smoothly. They interface with the Zone Leaders and Office Staff as well giving and receiving instructions to pass both up and down the line.

We picked up and escorted our new Missionary on Wednesday night. That was a long haul for Elder Loh to accompany his old companion to Lyon (7 hrs) by train, meet up with his new companion, Elder Lee from Toronto, then train back via their Toulouse connection—about 16 hours of travel for Elder Loh. These missionaries spend endless hours on the train; it would be interesting to know the final number of miles they’ve covered in a 2-year period by bus, and more often by train. They don’t prefer it and they arrive tired, hungry and travel weary. But they don’t murmur a complaint. That says something—they believe enough in what they are doing that the sacrifices quickly fade to the background as they keep their missionary purpose in the fore-fronts of their minds. We remain in awe, given their age and 2-year sacrifice they make.

We took them shopping since they were traveling during their P-day (Preparation Day) on Monday and then went over names and places as our new Elder will have to learn the ropes VERY quickly. We leave in a few days to pick up Nadya and Elder Loh (Singapore) will leave on 28 July right after the Sunday repas. Elder Lee will have to learn all we can show him in 2 weeks to pass on to the next companion so they don’t have to duplicate effort.

In the town of Aas (see below), a man approached us after noticing our name tags. He said he had a Book of Mormon and wanted to know the difference between that and the Bible. We can tell you that is a rare moment, more so in secular France. Those are what we call golden questions--where someone asks us a question about the Church because they have interest and truly want to know. We explained that both testify of Jesus Christ: the Bible tells of the visit and ministry of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem (and the Old World) and the Book of Mormon tells about Jesus Christ's visit and ministry to the Americas and that these were the "other sheep" to which Christ made reference in the Bible (John 10:16). We told him about the families and people groups mentioned in the Book of Mormon. He said he was intrigued now and would go home and read after understanding the differences (different set of people) and similarities (the same message from the same Jesus Christ). Now we were whistling a tune in the town of Aas (see below to see what we mean).

Nadya will be released from her mission on Friday, our anniversary. She is equally in shock that her mission has flown by so quickly. Her release day and method is a bit out of missionary protocol as the Church normally releases missionaries after they arrive home and are safely returned to their families. Being that our home now is in France (at the time of her release), she will be coming “home” to us so we finish our mission. They are coordinating a phone call to her Stake President in California so can be released by phone, just prior to her boarding her plane the next morning. Her advanced release is a visa issue. If she flew here to France as a missionary with “Missionary” status, she would have to go through the lengthy long-term visa process. So she’ll be released prior to flying to avoid that issue and will be flying in as a tourist on a 3-month tourist visa. Her flight is direct so the risk of complications is greatly reduced. And of course we will be waiting with baited breath watching her plane land.

So we have been spending every spare minute this week packing and we will drive across France to pick up Nadya in Lyon (7 hrs) by week’s end. We have permission to take the scenic route going and returning.

We are SO excited to see her! We of course want to say, “Well done, thy good and faithful servant!” And of course, the background to share our experiences is in our beloved and beautiful France which we will get to show her as we return to our Branch family for one last time on the 28^th. We are hoping and imagining that having her here will take the sting out of that final and inevitable last good-bye to our Tarbes Branch. She will play a special piano number entitled, “Joseph Smith Medley” for the Gap Branch we will stop at en-route to Tarbes and then she’ll play that same piece for our Tarbes Branch. The Thibault missionary couple invited us for dinner Saturday night with them and then they’ll have us all say a few words in Church on Sunday, Nadya will play her piece and then we will join them for their Branch repas. Suddenly we are traveling “troubadours”J Quite French! Maybe we’ve started something.

Nadya loves her choice to have served a mission; we commend any and every missionary for their sacrifice. It’s not all easyJ She will begin to make the transition every missionary (ourselves included) must make. And she’ll start making the shift to resume her educational pursuits. A proselyting mission is meant to serve others, teach them and bring them to Jesus Christ, and that it does. And that is why we come. It also changes you. We eagerly look forward to hearing about her mission in some quaintly chosen café in yonder village perched in a scenic mountaintop town or valley rich in villages waiting to be discovered. It won’t last forever, but for now we plan on just savoring the shared moments of our respective missions….in our beloved France!!

The packing dilemma—It’s tricky business trying to time the last drops of shampoo, the last scoop of butter in the butter tub to finish on exactly the last day it’s needed, timing the orange juice, the soap, the meals….

In terms of packing, we’re really moving, not just transferring to the next area as the young missionaries do every few months; you don’t really get overly settled in. Thankfully we are not closing down the apartment as others have had to do. We’re definitely counting our blessings on that one! We’re really spread out in our almost 1200 sq ft apartment. Apartments aren’t normally that big; but with Marc being the Branch President, it was sized to be of use in that capacity and for activities here. Our current Branch President will be spending weekends here, at least to begin with. Then they’ll decide what to do on a more permanent basis as he could be in that capacity for 5-6 years, or more if, like our last Branch President (30 years).

We look at our living room and balcony and find ourselves getting all sentimental. We have many fond memories of fun gatherings, decorating for branch functions or making Christmas cookies. And get-togethers and meetings….lots of meetings.

The trickier business packing is getting everything to fit. It’s a case of Polly put the kettle on; Polly put the kettle off—we packed and revamped, put it in, taken it out. Weigh it here, try it there….no it was better where it was. We are shifting ounces this week. We came over in winter, i.e. wearing all our heavy winter gear on our person. Now that heavy, long wool coat, sweaters, boots, etc. are in our suitcases. And the pounds add up.

Flying from France, they weigh your carry-on and personal bags which were not weighed on the way over from the US—22lbs for the carry-on a 7lbs for the personal item. The bag itself, empty, seems to weigh 7lbs, so you can see the challengeJ And, that of course, this is where we put all our heavy things, like books we acquired at the Missionary Training Center on our flight over. If it fit in the bag, weight just wasn’t an issue. The weight just adds up and this is expensive Europe.

Possibly the trickiest is when Nadya joins us—we’ll then have now have 13 pieces of luggage among us (7 large bags) to fit in the car we will lease for our last little jaunt through Europe. She of course also left in winter and was in a winter area, and returning to school in a winter area. So she too traveled over with her winter gear on her person. We ended up buying an extra bag as it is cheaper than paying at the ticket counter by pound for bags over weight.

Towns of the week—France is full of tiny villages and hamlets between the major cities. So this is a collection of many of them—some close to each other; others scattered throughout our journeys throughout France. We will publish our blog this week and then the two last weeks in July. We have a lot of pictures that we cannot part with so you will be seeing a lot of pictures for the rest of the month.

Of particular note is the town of Aas. It is one of many high-altitude villages on a stringed network of rural villages located in the beautiful mountainous area of Ossau Valley. There’s history as old as the hills and quite a number of thermal towns at the base from the 1800s. These participate in the transhumance (high pasture country), the annual and age-old tradition still carried out today of walking herds of cattle/sheep many miles to feast on mineral and vitamin-rich grass found only at high altitudes. Shepherding is a valued and respected career in France. Aas has the unique heritage of its shepherds who have maintained a “whistled language”. The language was invented to communicate across the valley from one high mountain to the next. Certain age-old phrases and adages have roots; we wonder if this is where “whistle while you work” got its origins. The whistled language is still in use today in this town. The mountains carry the sound with that echo effect so it was, in effect, effective. Also, during the German occupation, the whistled language was used to transport refugees across the Spanish border without the knowledge of the Germans. Very smart: very effective.

Enjoy!

A la prochaine.