Yesterday was quite the packed day...

We had to check out of our flat by 10 am, and we had arrangements to move into Chloé's place for the rest of the trip. A sister that lives nearby (Jeanine de la Rue) had a spare key, so we were going to meet up with her at the Anvers metro station, just nearby. So we woke up early-ish, got all packed up, grabbed a pastry walked over to the café right across the street from Anvers metro station (the same one where Joel & I bumped into Chloé that morning).

We met up with Jeanine and got the keys, then hailed a cab to go back to the flat and pick up our bags. As we were driving down Chloé's street, we see Ralph walking up towards us... I roll down the window and he shouts out "The key doesn't work"... We unload everything into the hallway of her building anyways and continue to futilely try to open the door, even trying other doors. That doesn't last too long. Joel and I decide to head back to our old flat (it was still before 10 am and we still had to return the keys) and use the phone there to call Chloé and/or Jeanine. Left a message with Chloé and call Jeanine. Jeanine picks up, Joel explains the situation to her, she offers to come over, all the way back and help us out... We felt terrible about taking her away from service, but we didn't really see another way. It took her 30 mins to get over, but in the meantime Chloé called back and explained that we had gone to the wrong door! The entrance to her flat was through the courtyard, but we had taken the first entrance! Frantically tried to call Jeanine before she got there, but it was too late. By the time I got back to Chloé's place, Jeanine was already there and they had already started moving the bags in. Kind of frustrating, since we had taken Jeanine away from service and made her travel 30 mins... But she was super nice about it and said she could go back home and do some telephone witnessing/search for English.

I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but Jeanine was interviewed at the Service Meeting when we visited Paris English East. She's been in English for 13 years, and is pioneering. An older sister, but seems to be a very hard worker, and one of the mothers in the congregation. That night she had also brought a Bible study with her, and the study had 2 very rambunctious kids. Still, Jeanine firmly kept the kids in their seats and helped the mom get as much as she could from the meeting. Joel also helped with one of the boys, which helped too.

After we finished moving in, we did a bit more shopping. I got a cool coat from a little shop. Then we grabbed some lunch at an Italian/French restaurant, and headed back home to get ready for the meeting. Ralph and Paula finished packing, while Joel and I headed off to the Paris English West meeting.

The meeting was good, the talk was OK, given by a local brother. It was "Ruining of the Earth Brings Divine Retribution". Tons of warmth, and had a cool little bit in the talk where he engaged all the kids by naming them from the platform and listing off their favourite animals (he had asked them before the meeting). That got their attention... One of the kids couldn't believe he had said his name and kept staring for a good 5 mins, probably hoping he'd say his name again.

Watchtower study was done by George Temeng, who also did the baptism talk at the international (my favourite talk). Super cool brother... Very warm, fatherly, lots of depth, but didn't take over. Wonderful brother.

After the meeting, tons of people to talk to. I met one brother who, it turns out, works for the king of Qatar (at his house in Paris). Joel met a sister who is a lawyer, works in Luxembourg and takes the TGV back and forth from Paris. She studied to become a lawyer to help the branch, but they haven't called her yet. I met a brother (André-David) who was a missionary in Benin for 6 years, until health problems brought him and his wife (Harriet) back home. He had moved from Paris to England to learn English and apply to MTS. He attended MTS in Manchester, married an English sister and they were assigned to Benin. They actually served with James Shin, which is cool. While they were back home for their health problems, Harriet got pregnant! They now have a 4 1/2 year old girl named Victoria. As can be imagined, their life has been upside down for a while, moving back to Paris, health problems, new baby. So André-David said that he hasn't really kept in touch with any of his missionary friends. But he said he's slowly getting back in touch, so I am supposed to email him James' email address.

Met a bunch more folks, and one of them (Alexia) invited over to crash a going away party they were having at their house. A family was going back to Qatar after having visited Paris West for a few months or so. Alexia's dad, Thierry, works as a fashion designer for Karl Lagerfeld. I didn't understand the meaning of this at first, but Joel explained to me that Karl Lagerfeld is the head designer for Chanel and also owns Fendi. Thierry and his wife are super cool. Very warm and hospitable, easy going and love people. We did a thing where we all took turns telling stories, experiences, etc., and there were some amazing stories.

Thierry and his family are planning on moving to Qatar within the next month. They'll still keep their place back in Paris, but he is hoping to be able to get a house there that can serve as a place for the brothers to use for meetings, etc. Should be interesting... I forgot to get his email address to find out how things go when he gets there... I'll have to remember to get it on Tuesday at the meeting.

It was an awesome time at Thierry's place, I didn't want to leave, but the metro was about to run the last train. So we left at around 1:30 am and rushed to the metro station. We caught trains for the first two legs out of three, but for the third leg we just missed the last train... So we went upstairs, grabbed a couple Vèlib bikes and biked about 20 mins home. I was sooooo tired when we got home!

We had planned to go in service this morning, but we were too tired, we slept in. Now we're trying to think of what we are going to do with our last 2 1/2 days in France.... I sent an email to Virginie and Didier, hopefully they get back to us. Or maybe we'll go visit Bethel, or perhaps even visit that brother in Bordeaux.