Moving with the Missionaries

For those of you who don't know, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormons). We are Christians, and as Christians we feel it is very important to serve others. Service in our Church is key to our beliefs. This is one of the reasons why you see young men (ages 19-25) serving two-year missions for the Church. During their mission they do a lot of teaching and a lot of service. We love the missionaries, and it turns out that we actually know a couple of the missionaries assigned to the Paris mission.

We know Elder Portwood – Jeff has had the opportunity to serve in many different leadership callings in the Church, and right now we are so lucky to have him serving in the Bishopric of the Young Single Adults Ward in Austin, Texas. It has been a great experience for him and for our family. The single adults have been wonderful examples to my girls. We’ve loved getting to know them and loved having them over to our home. One of our favorites in the ward is our friend Ivy Portwood. Ivy has been to Paris years ago, so before we left for France she came over to the house and had a Paris Night with our family. We made crepes, looked at all her favorite pictures, and even learned a little French. Lot's of fun! Her brother, Elder Portwood, is also serving here in Paris. We told her that we’d do our best to meet him, pass along a hug from her, and feed him.

We also know Sister Pearce – During one of his trips into the city, Jeff had the opportunity to meet and talk with some of the missionaries in the Visitor’s Center right next to the Church. To show how truly small this world is, as he was speaking with some of the sister missionaries he mentioned that he played tennis at BYU. One of the sisters asked if he knew Jordan Pearce, daughter of Brad Pearce who is now the Head Men’s Tennis Coach at BYU. Of course he did, and she said that they were MTC companions and that Sister Pearce is serving just a couple of hours north of Paris. Jeff actually got to speak with her on the phone for about 10 minutes, and we’re hoping that she’ll be able to attend Celine’s baptism!

During this same visit with the missionaries, Jeff spoke to the Zone Leader and asked for help with our move. We were fortunate enough to get permission, and we had 5 missionaries come help us move our luggage into the city. Guess who one of those missionaries was…Elder Portwood! Because he was serving in the area, Jeff requested his and his companion’s help, and sure enough, they came!

The missionaries arrived right on time. Jeff had to meet the gas company at the apartment between 7-9am to set everything up, so he took 2 big bags and headed into the city around 5:30am. The plan was to have him come back after the gas was turned on and help us all move. Well, the gas company showed up a bit late, so he was running late. The Elders needed to hurry so that they could make an afternoon appointment, so we decided to just meet Jeff at the Metro stop. Once I gave them the plan, the missionaries took the bags and left for the bus. I checked out of the Marriott and just missed the bus with them, so I had to catch the next bus. Yes, that’s right, I took a bus with 4 kids all by myself! I’m just glad I took the right bus and was able to find them at the Metro station!

You should have seen us. We made quite the scene with our army of missionaries carrying all of our stuff through the stations. It was quite the scene. We never could have done it ourselves though, and I am so grateful for those awesome missionaries that came to serve us. I am also grateful to know that no matter where we go in the world, we have members of the Church that will welcome us in and are excited to see us. It sure is a comforting feeling. So many of the Church members in Paris have already gone out of their way to help us and we have had a couple of offers for dinner. We are very grateful indeed!

Here are some pictures of our adventure…

Jeff with Ivy's brother, Elder Portwood

It was fun to chat with the missionaries, to hear about their experiences from their missions in France, and to get to know Elder Portwood. They were AWESOME and I know Jeff had a smile on his face knowing that we saved $200.