Where Did April and May Go?

Hello to all,

We have been so busy that I can't understand where the months of April and May went, but they are gone and we are way behind in our writing. I feel like the butcher who backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work. We are sorry that we missed a few birthdays, but we promise to catch up.

We are still working with the Corga family, and they are striving to keep the commandments--especially the Word of Wisdom. They both have been smoking for a long time and it has been hard for them to stop. This week, they asked for a priesthood blessing and since that day they have made great progress. They are the best of friends with us and we love them so. Their little 22-month-old girl, Beatrice, calls out frere, frere (brother, brother), when ever she hears my voice, and today they are getting used to sitting fairly quiet in Sacrament meeting.

We are teaching a young woman, Sephora, in her late 20's who has said she has made a mess of her life up until now and wants the direction of the Church in her life. She has a 5-year-old son, Jeremie, who doubles our young primary. We had such a great meeting with Sephora last week and there were some tears of joy shed as we talked about the importance of the Savior in our lives and the special part that Jesus can can play in our future.

The weather has turned hot in the afternoon with clear blue skies. With the good weather, Joanne got the bug to get the yard as it should be. I took out the dead hedge in front. There were six dead plants that made up the hedge with roots that had to be dug up and then severed from the fir hedge plant. It was a two day job. Two of the plants had to be eventually pulled out with a good rope and the car; then new plants put in, and because a 16 foot area was exposed to the neighbors (which is a definite no, no), I put in a bamboo fence with poles painted green like the shrubs. It now looks neat as a pin.

I need to talk about one other thing that is unique here in France and that is the shopping carts. First, to get one you must invest 1 Euro to unlock the cart from all the others outside the stores. You get the Euro back when you return the cart and lock it up with the other carts again. There is a slot in your cart where you place the Euro and the force of the Euro in the slot unhooks the cart.

The carts themselves are different than those in the United States in as much as the two wheels in front and the two in the rear will turn. This make it difficult to steer your cart since you must control four turning wheels instead of just the two in front for you in the States. When the carts get filled, they are unwieldy or, in this case, unwheeldy. The carts need your arm and leg strength to get them to go in the direction you desire. One good thing about the four wheel drive is that if you are standing still and someone is coming at you, it is easier to dart out of the way in any direction at a standing start.

The escalators here have no steps on them when it comes to grocery stores--they are long, flat moving walk ways up and down. The carts can fit on them and the walk ways are grooved as are the cart wheels so that once you get on the walk way the cart wheels fit in the grooves and you stay fixed in the braked position until your front and back wheels hit the pavement again.

Well that's all folks.
Elder Dad