Président Uchtdorf vient à Versailles

May 25, 2008

It was Fête des mères (mother's day) in France today.

The little primary kids sang for the mothers, just like they do at home.

This is the Melun Ward we have attended the last 9 months.

With a picnic all packed we left church in the direction of Versailles. President Uchtdort was coming to speak to two of the stakes in Paris so we decided to make a day of it.

I wanted to drive by the building first to make sure I knew where it was. It was very easy to find-it was directly across the street from the Chateau de Versailles. Once we found it I drove down the street to head to the back gardens of the Chateau to eat our picnic. We passed a park with a very large pond that looked nice so we decided to stop there instead. There was free parking on the street which made it even better.

We pulled the picnic out of our car and headed toward the water. I could see another family in their Sunday digs and wondered if they were here for the same reason. I was about 20 feet from them when the dad hollered to me "Are you Mormons?" They most certainly were there for the same reason, so we spread our blanket next to them and had lunch with the Passe family. They have 4 children the same ages as ours and so they all had instant playmates to spend the afternoon with.

After chatting for a while I learned that the father was there to do security at the meeting. He had to leave early for the meeting but told us he would ring us when we could come to the building and he would get us in early. Now we were really glad we decided on this park.

When he called we walked up the street a few blocks, walked right past the crowd waiting outside and found our seats on the third row.

The primary passed out little booklets filled with church activities for the children to keep them occupied while we waited.

We were fortunate to see and talk to several of the missionaries who have served in the Melun Ward. The kids were so excited when they saw Elder Hamilton walk down the aisle they all popped out of their seats.

The meeting was something none of us will ever forget. The spirit was so strong and President Uchtdorf 's talk was very inspiring and uplifting. The children listened so intently to everything he had to say. It was a refreshing change to have the meeting in English.

That morning I had told myself if it rained at all we would not go because it would be too difficult with the children, and I had a small headache and was basically trying to talk myself out of going, but the children were so excited and the weather was perfect after church that we went. I am so happy I followed the promptings to go because it was such a great opportunity for all of us to be there and soak in his spirit. Satan is so tricky-he did not want us to be there.

Another neat part to the meeting was to watch all these beautiful French saints who had travelled long distances, flow into the building so excited to see and listen to an apostle of God. Just knowing how much this meant to each of them, made it that much more special for us.

After the meeting each one of the children was able to shake President Uchtdorf's hand. They all said that was the coolest thing ever.