Eysines Apartment

Well, there has been a change in plans. The people from the apartment that we thought we were going to move into next Friday, called us this last Friday and said that they could not rent to an association. This was after almost a month of their saying that it was all right to rent to an association. (The church has formed an “association” here in France and they rent the apartment for us and we pay them. This makes it easier because we have no gainful employment while we are here and it is a guarantee that the apartment will be paid for each month.) Anyway, they changed their minds, so we will have to begin looking again.


The apartment we didn't get under construction

When we told the Mission President of the situation, he immediately arranged for two of the Elders (Elder Brack and Elder Mackey) to move out of their apartment into another apartment with two other Elders (Elders Childress and Elder Lyman), and we are going to move into their apartment temporarily until we can find a permanent one for us. They are coming to move us on Tuesday (May 29). We feel terrible having to make the Elders move, but they are so wonderful and giving that they don’t make it sound like a sacrifice at all, even though we know it is.

We will now start looking for another apartment. Monday is another holiday, so there isn’t anything we can do until at least Tuesday.

It will be good for the Defranchi family that we are moving. We know it has been hard on them having us there. They are a busy family and the three girls have had to share one room. They have been wonderful to us and have not made us feel anything but welcome, but it is time to let them get back to their own lives. Please pray for us that we will be able to find something soon. One of the things that we dislike most is putting people out, and it is such a helpless feeling having to disrupt so many people and having absolutely no power to make it any different.

After all that, we were reading in the Book of Mormon and came upon this scripture that just made us smile. Alma 34:40-41

40 And now my beloved brethren, I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those who do cast you out because of your exceeding poverty, lest ye become sinners like unto them;

41 But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

There is hope that one day we will find a place to rest our heads.

We haven’t been able to get to the Internet café so have not sent the above. Hopefully, tomorrow we will get there. Arnold has been sick for three days. The Elders came over yesterday and gave him a priesthood blessing and he is feeling much better today.

We moved into the Elders’ apartment on Tuesday. It is a “studio apartment” and feels like living in a motel room.

There is one main room with two twin beds (bunk beds that the Elders took apart for us), a dresser, a small desk (that serves as a dining table), a large stuffed chair, a bookcase and two small chairs for the desk. There is a small kitchen attached, which has the washer and dryer, and there is a small pantry. There is no real stove. There are two burners, with a small refrigerator under the place for the burners, a small sink and the only cupboards in the apartment under the sink.There is a small refrigerator and a small detached toaster oven on top of the refrigerator. There is a small closet, a room with the toilet in it and another room with the sink and bathtub.

There were several things that needed fixing, so Arnold has spent a few evenings doing fix up jobs and JoAnn has worked to do a thorough “Mom” cleaning. The Elders tried hard we know to get things cleaned up and nice for us, but they just don’t have the time to be doing those kinds of things. They did buy us new sheets for the beds, a new ironing board cover, and a new shower curtain. They have been so good to let us stay here, that we can’t complain about anything. Arnold has fixed the handle on the metal roll-down window shutters, fixed the leaking washing machine, put on a new toilet seat, and put in a device so that we can take a stand-up shower. The bathtubs here come equipped with a hand-held shower head. It is very awkward to use – trying to hold the shower head while holding the soap and washing oneself all at the same time. Arnold put in a device that allows the hand-held shower head to be placed on the wall like a regular shower. JoAnn put some sticky things in the bottom of the tub to make it not so slippery – they look like rubber duckies – just what the Elders needed. It is wonderful to finally take a “real” shower. This is the first time since we have been in France except for a couple of days at the mission home. We are hoping that with all the fixing up, the Elders will be glad that we stayed here and not feel that it has been too much of a sacrifice for them to double up with the other Elders in their apartment.

We really like the area where this apartment is located. This is the view from our window.

It is across the street from a golf course. Not too far from here is the “Hippodrome,” where they have horse-related events. We drive by it on the way to work. It is very green and beautiful. There are all kinds of courses (race, steeple chase, etc.) with lots of grass and trees. After living in the very middle of the city, it is nice to be off in a more rural area. It is still crowded and there is a lot of traffic, but there are lots of trees, etc. here.
A yellow cat adopted the Elders that lived here so he greets us as we enter the apartment building and we’re sure he’d come in our apartment if we let him. They warned us he would try to open our door if he could. It was kind of cute how he stood on a ledge and smelled JoAnn’s breathe for a few moments the other day. He’s not unlike the black and white cat that adopted the mission president’s family at the mission home whom I think they named George. Haven’t thought of a name for old yeller out there yet… or did we just name him

Not sure why, but we ended up naming the cat Steve. He meows loudly outside our door and desperately wants in. We are not allowed to have pets on our mission, so having Steve around is a real asset to living in the Elders' apartment.