Pres. Uchtdorf

That's right! I saw President Uchtdorf and his adorable wife when they came to visit Paris. An invitation was floating around and as soon as I saw it, there was nothing in this world that was going to stop me from going to see him speak.

The day before, as I was talking to Grandma and then the Soeurs, I decided that Uchtdorf was BOUND to visit the temple site the morning before his address and I wasn't completely sure if he would stick around for after his speech to shake hands....my brain put two and two together and decided that I would cancel everything on Thursday and as soon as I dropped off the kids at school, I would go to the temple grounds and sit and wait to see if he'd show up. I got Aubrey in on this idea too since she lives close to Versailles.

FRONT

BACK

We arrived at 9 am. We sat until 2:30pm. We saw no Uchtdorf. However, we did see a man from our ward who confirmed that President Uchtdorf would be visiting that day (although it looked like it pained him to confirm our questioning) and even after Aubrey left and I had just boarded the bus to go pick up my kids, the squad of temple people arrived- and I'm pretty sure under one of those vests and hard hats was President Uchtdorf. I was so bummed out about not being able to meet him. We waited for 5 hours and prayed so hard that he'd show up!

But whatever. We still got to hear both of their inspired messages that night and it turns out, his wife is hilarious! She is not quite as fluent in English as he is and I'm pretty sure she was so nervous and not used to having a translator speak directly after her that most of what she was saying was coming out in phrases that were a bit confusing and a bit choppy. It was a riot when, lost in translation, she was trying to refer to Elder Johnson's previous comments about her husband (Uchtdorf) and it was all coming out as if Elder Johnson were her husband and then after a confusing cycle of trying to clarify, we all ended up in laughs and her saying, "I think I should just close now!"

I did record their messages on my phone but it is so quiet, it is quite hard to hear anything. Nevertheless, I left there feeling the spirit and feeling like part of a community that I have missed for these past nine months. I love the leaders of this church and I love the gospel of Jesus Christ! As President Uchtdorf said, if you don't understand what I'm talking about or you don't know what the Plan of Happiness is, look for our missionaries! The ones with the name tags.

After the address, the Uchtdorfs left an apologized for not being able to stick around and shake hands (Hannah got super close) but I was able to meet up with some people afterwards and say "hi". One was the daughter and son-in-law of Elder and Hermana Redd who I met in Spain. They had brought me a tea towel that the Frosts had bought me since I was unable to find one while I was there and the Redd's daughter delivered it to me that night. Thank heavens for people like them!! Now I've added it to my wall and I could not be happier. Another was Spencer Thia and his new wife, Agathe. Jaycee and Tanner served with Spencer in the Malaga mission and he got super excited over the fact that I knew the Frosts. In fact, him and Tanner were given the "man talk" from Elder Frost at the same time. And of course, I got to see the adorable Soeur Wooley!

I am so grateful for the temple site here. Even though I cannot go inside yet or be here when it is going to be finished, I am grateful for the symbol that it stands for right now; eternal happiness, eternal love, and eternal families! The members of France are so excited to have their very own temple and I pray that someday I'll be able to come back and visit it. I'm also grateful for President Uchtdorf and his wife! Seeing them and hearing them speak about life and about each other makes me want to find a guy that loves the gospel as much as I do and who will be the strong and righteous Priesthood holder that the world needs.

A French girl sat next to me and while I struggled in French to understand and talk to her, one question that I wish I had the words for at the time really stuck with me. In essence, she asked me why this man (Uchtdorf) was so special. Why was everyone so excited to see him? My French failed me, my English failed me. Unfortunately I just couldn't respond. I said, "Je ne peux pas expliquer!" I can't explain! At the end of the address, she turned to me and said, "I guess it's because he is just such a nice man." That's exactly it but at the same time, it is so much more than just that. I hope one day I can be like him and his wife.