It is Finally Beginning to Feel Like We Really Belong!

Hello to Everyone...we miss you all!

Yes, we are truly adjusting to our new home, our new responsibilities, our new friends and neighbors, and our new life as missionaries in this amazing land.  The people here are very polite and respectful (unless they are driving, and some even then). We have been especially impressed with the children, who all make an effort to come up to us, shake our hands, greet us, and welcome us.  They are so warm and loving.  When we visited a branch last Sunday, I went into Young Women's.  There were four YW present and we all stood in a circle and held hands as we repeated the YW theme together.  I, of course, was blinking back the tears as my heart could not help but think of my YW in Utah.  I so wish I would have brought my camera so you could see how darling they were.  As I said before, everyone gathers outside after the meetings, they take pictures of each other, talk and laugh together, and bring treats to share.  It is another hour before we leave for home, and we love it because we have time to get to know the members and their guests.

While we were visiting after the meetings, the most amazingly wonderful thing happened.  Brent was visiting with some members, one of whom had served a mission in France.  They began talking about members they both knew there and Brent mentioned a family he had baptized toward the end of his mission by the name of  Defaye.  (This is a family he had stayed in contact with for over twenty years and then, all of a sudden, they never returned his letters and he never did know what had happened to them.)  Another member then said, "Brother Payet's wife's name was Defaye and she was from France." When we got home, hardly daring to even hope it was the same family, Brent called brother Payet.  They exchanged information and realized that brother Payet's wife was the granddaughter of Brent's "French family."  She called her father, who now lives in Montreal, Canada, and he said, "Of course I remember; his name was mentioned frequently in our home."  Brent had to come half-way around the world to find out what had happened to those he so dearly loved.  They were in the car together, were hit by a truck and both killed; brother Defaye had always said that he never wanted to live a day without her by his side and he got his wish.  We were humbled after the phone conversation and so grateful for the blessing that had come from a casual conversation following church.  We are looking forward to a personal visit with sister Payet to hear more about the family.  Brent has a photograph of her grandparents being baptized in the Sarthe River in France, which he will copy and send to her when we return home.  Brent was thrilled to hear that they had been temple workers in the Swiss temple; Brother Defaye had served as a sealer there.

We think of and talk of all of you often and would love for you to make a brief comment on our blog.  It is just so fun to hear from those back home.  The site won't allow us to send a message back to you, but please know how much it means to us.

I read a while ago that life begins at the end of your comfort zone; if that is true, Brent and I are REALLY LIVING here!!!!!!    :)

A Bientot....(sorry, I misspelled it last time)

Brent and Joan... castaways on Reunion Island

The morning view from our sliding glass doors. We see the sun rise each morning out of the Indian Ocean; I know; it's hard to take!  The steeple below is our chapel in St Denis, one of five chapels on the island.

Just have to hug those beautiful children after church.

A soiree at a members home with her relatives who are not members.  This is a picture of the sister and the two zone leaders singing an opening hymn, #179 in the French hymnbook, the only place this particular hymn can be found.  It is to the music of "Going Home" and the French title is loosely" Come to Me.
  So very beautiful.  It is my new favorite hymn.

Dinner with the Ampelaissa family.  Look into their eyes; they are such wonderful people.  The daughter, Jolie, wants to serve a mission.

The "missionaries" after church.  The two on the left are both from Tahiti and speak very little English; the elder in the back is from Arizona, and the sister is from California.  The two old people are from Utah!