After Institute Fun

After a great lesson by Soeur Faudin, We made Crepes with the new Crepiere we bought for the Center.  The Crepes were fantastic and most of girls tried it out.  It was a hit.  After the eating comes the games.  We left the church about 11:00 PM.  As an adult couple we do not keep regular missionary hours.  We keep Young Adult hours.  Booya!

Le Groupe JA de Marseille

This is our new crepiere for the young adult center.  We were learning how to use it before we actually  put it in to use.

Our Back Yard

We had to take a picture of us for the Nice Stake Web Site.  So while I was taking pictures, I took a couple photos of our view from our back yard of a Nation Park that is directly behind our home.

Looking up our driveway from our place.

In our yard

Marseille from our House, 8 arrondssement

Here are some pics of Marseille from our home.  It is an amazing thing to pass the Chateau D'if everyday and have this so close to home.  We live in the 8th Arrondissement south of Marseille central.  It is a little cool for now, but we can walk on the sea shore everyday with this view. 

Early Morning Chateau D'if

Chateau D'if

From the Vieux Port

This is the first ville you come to from the south before you get into Marseille from our home.  Here is where the local boulangerie and patisseries are.  As you can tell from the upper left hand corner it is a bit to cold to go exploring down town for now.  When it warms up we will get you pics of Central Marseille. 

Le centre des jeunes adultes à Marseille

We are opening up a new area for the Centers for Young Adults in Marseille, France.  It was just organized yesterday by calling the Presidency, (See Below from left to right: Jacob Boukobza, Orianne Laget in the Middle is Pres and Florian Abbate on the right. )  They are an amazing group of young people.  We had our first meeting today at our home and they set some goals on how to run the center efficiently.  They are all very close and friendly.  It gives me much courage when I see young people like these.  Their faith and charity are a testimony builder for me.  I love these young people.  It is a little difficult at first due to our lack of language skills, But Orianne speaks English and that helps a great deal. 

Shopping at the Carrefour

The Marseille District Missionaries

Our New Home From the out side

So, we are almost settled in our new place.  We had some work to do on the place.  When we got here there was no place to hang clothes, so we spent a little time getting some stuff for the closets.  We are the first to live in this place so it was lacking in some amenities.  We are opening up the area for the senior couples, so it has been a little stressful.  Now that our place is done we need to set up the Young Adult Center at the church.  We meet with the Bishop and Stake President today.  we are in charge procuring some furniture, IE couches, chairs, desks for study and cooking apparatuses.  So far everyone has been so kind to us and wants to help us with our French.  So we are grateful for there patience with us.  Here are some Pics of our surroundings.  We live in a gated community in a nicer part of town.  It is a bit like living in Aptos except it is the Mediterranean not he Pacific.  It snowed yesterday which is unusual for this area.  The weather has been in the 30's, so it has been a bit cold.  Madame Martini (Our Land Lady) said when the spring comes are place will be full of flowers.  She told Mom if she wanted to she can work in the garden and plant plants.  Mom was excited about that.  We have a large yard for Young Adult parties, so mom wants to make it pleasant with lots of flowers.  One of our first purchases will be a Bar-B-Que for our yard.  And the church pays for it because it is for the churches use.

This is our view overlooking the Chateau D'if

This is the Chateau D'if made famous by Alexander Dumas's, "The Count of Monte Cristo".  Behind the chateau are two Larger islands called Les Iles.  The boats going to Corsica and Algiers pass through here.

This is a five minute walk from our home.  To the right is Marseille, to the left across the Mediterranean is Algeria, Africa

 

Marseille in the back ground.  

Looking up our street towards out place from the ocean.

Behind us is a National Park for hiking. 

Our Street at the top of the hill.

Looking down our drive way from the gate.  remember it is winter so not much to it.  But it is our Private yard.

Mom is already making plans for the garden.  This driveway leads into a private yard surrounded by a stone wall.  The Church pick this place for a place that the Young Adults can come for parties.  So it's not just for us.  Mom wants to dress it up to look nice.

Our home and car.  We only have the ground floor.

Our yard in the snow.  The Smart Car belongs to Madame Martini (Very sweet land lady, 85 ans)  The path leads to her very large house behind the trees. 

View from our kitchen.

Tom Tom GPS devices don't work very good, but the result was fun.

For those who are not familiar with a European Auto Route, I will explain.  An Auto Route is the same as an American Freeway.  It has two to three lanes, very fast, a lot of traffic and no stops.  I set my Tom Tom GPS device for the Auto Route (A40 to the A7) to Marseille.  Does the below photo look like an Auto Route to you?  Granted, driving through the French Alps was a treat, but it caused us to be late to Marseille.  Also a little stressful when your not sure where you are.  It finally got us there, but through small back roads.  The sad thing is it was so beautiful, but we couldn't enjoy is very much because we needed to be somewhere at a certain time. 

The Mission Home in Geneva, Switzerland

We spent the weekend in Geneva with President and Sister Murdock.  It was a nice two days.  We saw the city and attended church here.  Geneva has two Wards.  A French speaking and English speaking wards.  We have finally begun our work.  It has been a long wait, but we are enjoying the people here.  Here are a few pics of the mission home and Geneva.

This is the room we stayed in.  Since we were the only new missionaries coming in this week and there were no general Authorities in town we got to stay in the room reserved for visiting General Authorities.  

The above three photos regarding the Broken Chair stands across the street from the United Nations in Geneva in remembrance of all those who have are disable and killed by Land Mine throughout the world. 

U.N. Geneva Switzerland

U.N. Geneva Switzerland