Our last day in Paris. Nate left early for the airport while I got packing. It was great and so glad his work has been supportive of Nathan joining us on our adventure. Sam really loves having his dad along and last night was especially great for the two to have some alone time zipping around on the scooters and going to the concert. We hugged him and look forward to seeing him in a month back in Croatia when our whole family will meet up with us for our last leg of our trip.
We left the hotel and caught an Uber car to the LDS Church which was just 10 mins down Rue du Rivoli from our hotel. The church is in a large stone building with a great courtyard which allows for parking. There were many visitors and many students that are studying in Paris. There were probably 200 people there and a great mix of people. There was an overflow room which was pretty much packed and they had a large screen tv so that you could see the speaker and they translated the service into English in this room.
They mentioned at the start of the meeting that one of our 12 apostles Elder Tom Perry had passed away the night before. He was a great and humble, devoted leader in our church and did a series of videos that Sam and I had recently watched about the Priesthood. We will keep his family in our prayers.
Today was Mother's Day in France, which it sounds like is usually the last Sunday in May. All the talks were about mothers and appreciating the women in our life and recognizing the great roll of women. There was a young man who spoke whose talk was the most memorable to me. He spoke of how close he was to his mother when he was young. As he grew up he became rebellious for a while and wasn't close to his mother. Later as he was able to serve a mission he was teaching a woman who as he taught her to pray she directed her prayers mostly to asking for the Lord to look after her daughter and pleaded with the Lord in behalf of his daughter. There it struck him how this was probably just like his mother, praying for him. A mother's faith and prayers go to God and in turn He can bless those for whom we pray for. It was comforting to me to be reminded of this and be reminded there are so many mother's praying for their children. It too was comforting to be reminded that those prayers are answered, it requires our faith and then often our patience.
We visited with a few people who were at the church, mostly visitors including a BYU student Mitch that was there doing a study abroad after serving his mission in French speaking islands in the Caribbean. Love going to church in other countries. For many years I really didn't think too much about it, had such a short time on vacation and wanted to take advantage of the sites to see, but we have found going to church out of the country have been some of our favorite experiences. It gives us a chance to hear from locals and to talk to people and get a feel for what it would be like on a Sunday if I lived in this area and who some of my friends would be. We have really enjoyed it and the fresh set of experiences we are able to hear about. The spirit is always felt whichever LDS church we have gone to and there is a feeling of "being home."
Following church we made it to our hotel to gather our bags and were out the door to the airport. We took a quick spin up the Champs- Elysees and around the Arc De Triomphe so Sam could have a look. Our flight was turbulent but otherwise uneventful and we were met at the airport for by a lovely lady who was head of guest services, Nicky, who took us to the hotel. Very cute in our room was waiting a chocolate race car with Sam's name on it :) We were thrilled that the hotel had incredible wifi, best honestly than anywhere in the world we have been, and could finally upload our blogs and photos and get caught up. We spent 3 hours getting caught up and updated and then I met with the super helpful concierge to get our plan for the 4 days we are in Berlin. So much to see, reminds me honestly of Washington DC with all the great museums. We decided the best way for us to get around will likely be by ebike, so the hotel kindly rented us a few so we can go far and wide. We figured out our next stop which Sam can hardly wait for - bird park about 3 hours west of here and found a hotel to stay and so we are set through Saturday. It should be a great week!
We left the hotel and caught an Uber car to the LDS Church which was just 10 mins down Rue du Rivoli from our hotel. The church is in a large stone building with a great courtyard which allows for parking. There were many visitors and many students that are studying in Paris. There were probably 200 people there and a great mix of people. There was an overflow room which was pretty much packed and they had a large screen tv so that you could see the speaker and they translated the service into English in this room.
They mentioned at the start of the meeting that one of our 12 apostles Elder Tom Perry had passed away the night before. He was a great and humble, devoted leader in our church and did a series of videos that Sam and I had recently watched about the Priesthood. We will keep his family in our prayers.
Today was Mother's Day in France, which it sounds like is usually the last Sunday in May. All the talks were about mothers and appreciating the women in our life and recognizing the great roll of women. There was a young man who spoke whose talk was the most memorable to me. He spoke of how close he was to his mother when he was young. As he grew up he became rebellious for a while and wasn't close to his mother. Later as he was able to serve a mission he was teaching a woman who as he taught her to pray she directed her prayers mostly to asking for the Lord to look after her daughter and pleaded with the Lord in behalf of his daughter. There it struck him how this was probably just like his mother, praying for him. A mother's faith and prayers go to God and in turn He can bless those for whom we pray for. It was comforting to me to be reminded of this and be reminded there are so many mother's praying for their children. It too was comforting to be reminded that those prayers are answered, it requires our faith and then often our patience.
We visited with a few people who were at the church, mostly visitors including a BYU student Mitch that was there doing a study abroad after serving his mission in French speaking islands in the Caribbean. Love going to church in other countries. For many years I really didn't think too much about it, had such a short time on vacation and wanted to take advantage of the sites to see, but we have found going to church out of the country have been some of our favorite experiences. It gives us a chance to hear from locals and to talk to people and get a feel for what it would be like on a Sunday if I lived in this area and who some of my friends would be. We have really enjoyed it and the fresh set of experiences we are able to hear about. The spirit is always felt whichever LDS church we have gone to and there is a feeling of "being home."
Following church we made it to our hotel to gather our bags and were out the door to the airport. We took a quick spin up the Champs- Elysees and around the Arc De Triomphe so Sam could have a look. Our flight was turbulent but otherwise uneventful and we were met at the airport for by a lovely lady who was head of guest services, Nicky, who took us to the hotel. Very cute in our room was waiting a chocolate race car with Sam's name on it :) We were thrilled that the hotel had incredible wifi, best honestly than anywhere in the world we have been, and could finally upload our blogs and photos and get caught up. We spent 3 hours getting caught up and updated and then I met with the super helpful concierge to get our plan for the 4 days we are in Berlin. So much to see, reminds me honestly of Washington DC with all the great museums. We decided the best way for us to get around will likely be by ebike, so the hotel kindly rented us a few so we can go far and wide. We figured out our next stop which Sam can hardly wait for - bird park about 3 hours west of here and found a hotel to stay and so we are set through Saturday. It should be a great week!
No comments:
Post a Comment