We survived the first ten days...barely, but gratefully.

Hello to all of you, wonderful family and friends!

I know I should have posted sooner, there is now so much to cover, but the reason for not doing so is part of our saga.  We lost - or it was stolen - a small carry on while we were trying to navigate the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris with our other 220 lbs. of luggage, (no, it didn't transfer automatically; we had to pick it up and haul it miles and miles, up staircases and down escalators and through turnstiles!) and it contained a little bag with all of our converters, chargers, connecting cords, etc.  When we arrived in La Reunion we had no way of hooking up to anything or to anyone, but now I THINK all of those problems are solved and we are back in the convenient world of technology and all it can do for us.

It was immediately obvious that we were half a world away from home as we stood at the sliding glass doors in our apartment  looking down the hill onto the city of La Reunion with the Indian Ocean glistening beyond, (no balcony, just doors and a railing to keep us from falling four stories to the concrete below) and hearing the Muslim call-to-prayer and also the bells from the Cathedral for Mass.  It was truly amazing to walk the streets here and see literally a melting pot of nationalities, religions, and cultures.  Some of our missionaries, from Tahiti and the West Indies, don't speak English; our branch president is Chinese; the branch members are from everywhere, speaking several languages, with only a few speaking any English.

Last Sunday we were warmly welcomed into the branch and we nestled into our seats for Sacrament meeting anxious to see how much we, I especially, would be able to understand of a meeting conducted solely in French.  After the branch president welcomed everyone and we sang and prayed, he again stood and announced that Elder and Sister Heap would now speak.  I sat there stunned and Brent nudged me and whispered, "Stand up and walk up to the microphone; you're speaking."  I really doubted whether I could stand up, I have no idea how Brent felt, but we did stand and were very blessed to be able to express - in French - very humbly some heartfelt emotions about being there as couple missionaries.

You are all in our hearts and prayers daily.  Au revior for now.

Lowlight of the Week:
Early in the morning,  I washed our sheets in our little washing machine and hung them on the railing to dry while we worked.  Short, but mighty, microburst of rain that day...so no dry sheets.  Oh well.

Highlight of the week:
 Soeur Heap:  A new sister missionary from the West Indies, Soeur Opeta, had an appointment to receive her patriarchal blessing.  She asked me to accompany her, and although I could only understand about a quarter - or less - of what was said, I felt the strength and spirit of both the blessing and the missionary.  What if I hadn't come?

Frere Heap:  Being invited to the St Marie Branch President's home for an incredibly delicious French Creole dinner and Family Home Evening with his ten-year-old twins.  Beautiful family!
  

The building visible above the trees is our apartment building.  

The first morning after our arrival we were, of course, wide awake at 3:00 AM wandering around our apartment, trying to get organized.  After a while, I noticed a slight glow out over the ocean and realized that we were going to see an Indian Ocean sunrise...This is what we witnessed from our apartment our first morning as missionaries!  

I rushed out after church to take a photo of some members.  No need to worry.  Everyone was gathered out under the palm trees, visiting, passing out cookies, enjoying catching up with one another...in no hurry at all to leave.  We could take a lesson here!

Again...just feeling the love!