We are not near the fires burning in France although it is very hot. The next four days are forecasted over 100 degrees.
This week was transfer week - busiest we have had since serving in France. 25 missionaries celebrated their last day at the mission home, playing outside in the yard: croquet, soccer, boules, basketball, trampoline, and pickleball. Some sisters participated but most preferred the inside air conditioning. The President had doubled the number of iced drinks so no one would get heat stroke and I unbagged 7 different flavors of chips (needed salt). I made hummus with raw veggies and cut cold watermelon and cantaloupe.
The exit dinner, always by request, is raclette. The salad bar was set up inside, but tables and machines were set up under an awning out on the cement.
Praises were sung to our Savior and Redeemer, He who we had been serving and teaching about, and the seniors shared a little wisdom: preparing our minds for what would come on the morrow, likening a golf fairway to the covenant path, following the prophet. All too soon it was time to say goodbye, au revoir Elder Olsen, Sisters Appedale, Malm, Burnett until we see you again. The finality of going home.
Of course there is always cleanup. The Laters washed the dishes, Tom scrubbed all the raclette machines and before bedtime the floors were clean, the chairs and tables were packed away and we were looking forward to tomorrow.
Wednesday we got up early . The entry meal consists of a large salad bar - first time for edamame with dipping sauce, plus hummus, vegetables, fresh fruit, lasagne, French bread and dessert. We were preparing for 26 incoming, the seniors who would teach about finances, travel, apartments and health, and the supporting APs, office elders, & sister training leaders. A total of 50 for dinner. All the food had to be hauled to the church: 5 lasagnes to keep warm and everything else cold. It all went well. All the food was devoured except some extra lettuce and lasagne which could be refrozen. While waiting for 78 interviews to be completed, Elder Smith heated water and washed all the dishes. Several others dryed, stacked chairs, washed and put away tables and swept under the supervision of Sr. Nadauld. Elder Miles cleaned the entire floor in the assembly room and Elder Smith cleaned the kitchen floor.
Thursday was easy transporting 80 lunch bags for what I think is the most fun meeting in the church. That is when missionaries meet their first companion and receive their first assignment. A map of the mission and pictures of the new companionship with Pres . & Sr. Schow are taken and sent to parents. It is always a little rambunctious, exciting, and surprising. We arrived home from Lyon about 4:30 after stopping at a small roadside fruit stand. Yum! Both of us blobbed for the rest of the evening and were happy to be in our own bed listening to the ancient church bells.
Friday was another great day. At 10 o’clock Pres. and Sr. Catogni arrived for Tom’s black beans, fried potatoes and onions, scrambled eggs with lardons, and wonderful melon. The Pres. said it was the best he had ever had. Then we were off on adventures they had never been on before. St. Rémy is where Van Gogh was housed by the Sisters (nuns) in the Abby St. Paul de Mausole for a year. Some of his most famous paintings were inspired by the scenes viewed from the windows in his two rooms. Visiting this place one can get some idea of how the crazy were treated 125 years ago: straight jackets and water therapy. I have just finished a book on PTSD after the First World War and discovered they were not treated as mentally ill but as too lazy to get a job. We still have much to learn.
Albert Schweitzer was also interned in the Abbey with his wife as a prisoner of the French toward the end of WWI.
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| Schweitzer's room and organ |
Close by, we visited Glanum, a settlement started by Rome after taking over the Greek city of Marseille between 300-200 BCE. It was discovered under some olive trees that Van Gogh painted regularly. They were removed and excavation began in 1921. Although acres of ruins have been uncovered, an entire city is anticipated. Only 10% is visible at this point.
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| A mausoleum by the entrance gate |
It was hot and time to go inside the hollowed out limestone caves near Les Beaux to watch Carrières des Lumieres, a production of paintings with musical accompaniments. We are talking projected paintings 40 feet tall, 60 ft. wide on multiple walls simultaneously. Picasso was the premier artist. I have to admit he is not like my favorite, Rembrandt, but some of his early works I like and may even understand. We came home to some homemade soup and salad, took a short hike up to Castelas, our 1000 yr old church to watch the sunset and then collapsed into our beds.
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