THANKSGIVING

For Thanksgiving we were invited to the Mission Home in Paris to have Thanksgiving dinner with the President and Sister Ponds and the other senior missionaries in the Paris Mission. It is quite a long complicated way from where we were staying, so we followed the Brubakers and the Murrays, as they had a GPS and had been there before.

Along the way, we stopped at a roadside Legumerie (produce stand). They had the most wonderful produce there. All of France has great produce, but this was wonderful.

Sister Murray, Sister Brubaker and JoAnn enjoying the unusual meats and cheeses. We are not sure what was so funny here, but there was a great deal of laughter on this trip.

Elder Brubaker perusing the various fruit juices that looked a lot like booze, but were not - or so we thought. We bought a great looking fruit drink for the Crucys and when we got it home, it said there was a small amount of alcohol in it. That will teach us to carefully read labels.

Elder Murray checking out a large celery root. It is funny here because celery is very hard to find, but celery root is very common. We couldn't figure what they did with the celery.

Oh, there it is! Elder Brubaker found a large stalk of celery and considered it a great find. It was one of the few things that he bought. Notice the artistic arrangement of peppers and eggplant.

All the produce here was huge. This cabbage was the biggest we had ever seen.

It is also very attractively displayed. This colorful arrangement is very typical here.

This display is of varieties of mushrooms and some yellow bell peppers.

Sister Murray found a friend. We were not sure whether the cat or Sister Murray enjoyed the encounter more. This also is very typical. Most produce stands we went to had a large friendly cat.

The mission home in the outskirts of Paris. It was a very lovely home, but in a busy neighborhood with stone walls all around. Very difficult to park here.

All together there were 18 senior missionaries, and we fit very nicely around the table. Sister Ponds says that it will extend even further. We think she said they had 3 more extenders.

Everyone brought a dish. It was amazing how each couple was able to find something very American for Thanksgiving, even though these things are not easy to find here in France. Their families also sent things. We had everything that we would have expected at an American Thanksgiving. It was delicious.

The men in the living room. Unfortunately, as it took so long to finally do this post, that we have forgotten the names of most of the missionaries. The tallest man in the back row is President Pond, the mission president. Elder Brubaker is the middle brother in the front row and Arnold and Elder Murray are in the back on the right. There is also an Elder Skidmore and Elder Barrett.

The sisters in the kitchen. The third from the left in the back row is Sister Pond. The sisters on either side of her are single sisters who are serving together. They both lost their husbands about a year or two ago. They are doing a great job and are so enthusiastic and uplifting. Sister Murray, JoAnn and Sister Brubaker are on the right end. Sister Skidmore and Sister Barrett are two of the sisters. Sister Jaegerson is one of the single sisters.

It was such a wonderful day. We so enjoyed visiting with other senior missionaries. This is something that we really miss in Bordeaux. We are the only Family History missionaries, but we all still had so much in common - some of the same challenges and blessings.