Feb 22, 2009.

Today is Sunday. Feb 22. When we woke up, there was
snow on the ground again. Mom doesn't like snow,
especially after Feb. 1. Or maybe even Jan 1.! It's been
snowing all day, and we probably have 6 or more inches
by now. It's 30 km to Bienne, and most of the temple
workers who go there (the French speakers) have
decided that we'll stay here and have a meeting in
our apartment building at 3 p.m. instead of driving to
Bienne in what might be dangerous conditions.

Not it's 4:45 p.m., and I'm writing this paragraph
just after the we had this 3 p.m. Sacrament Mtg.
The second counselor of the Temple presidency said
there are directives allowing temple workers to hold
their own Sacrament Meeting. So that is what we
did. Only 13 people attended, but it was an excellent
mtg. Great singing, then the Sacrament administered
using regular table glasses containing only a very
little water, and then a wonderful discussion of
three recent Conference talks. Couldn't have been better.

Now it's 7:45 p.m. and I'm writing about the next thing
that happened today. We, along with 2 other French
couples were invited to the apartment of the Jubeault
family, where we had cre^pes and jam. De'licieux!
(Delicious!). Plus lots of conversation on lots of subjects,
all uplifting.

This is what I wrote earlier.

The temple is about more than temple ordinances.
Here we have experts in computers who make sure
all the electrical systems work. They're all Church
employees, of course. There are grounds keepers
(but I'm not sure they are church members), and
they've been very busy trimming trees all month
long. There are two men trained in dealing with
emergencies, and we've received training from
them on how to deal with a situation if someone in
the temple (or anywhere on the temple grounds,
such as in the patrons' housing area) has a heart
attack or a stroke. It's really quite amazing!

Last evening, long before the snow began to fall,
there was a little get-together over there, at Bienne. . .
presentations on family preparedness, and then a
branch pot-luck dinner based on food taken from
our “reserves.” I want to talk to you about it.

One of the presenters, a lady, talked about the
importance of at least a 3 months reserve, including
water. Of course those who live in apartments
or other small quarters will have problems storing
food, but they should store as much as they can
anyway. She also talked about storing for longer
term, ie., a year of “survival food,” and several
other people shared their ideas too. The people
who attended have been in the Church for many
years (20 to 40, I'd say) and most of them know a
lot about the “culture” of the Church, including it's
“lifestyle” (and they even used a word I really like
to characterize that: “ l'Art de vivre”). So they
talked about canning fruit, storing grain, using your
food storage regularly so that your body gets used
to that kind of food, mending and repairing clothes,
saving money, buying during sales, etc., etc. It was
as good a presentation as I have ever seen in the US.


The second presenter took his theme from Elder L.
Tom Perry's most recent Conference talk, about Henry
David Thoreau and Walden Pond. He talked about
a 3-day survival bag, for oneself and for a family. It
was reminiscent of discussions about preparing
for a Scout hike. Pack light! Bring essentials! The
presenter, who is the Young Men's president (not
surprising, no?) is very obviously into this sort of
thing! The parents' bag, he said, should not contain
everything! Each child should have her/his own bag,
and in it should be certain things (like the aluminum
cooking pot).

Then he brought in some ideas I had not heard
of regarding survival: First, make sure you have
necessary medications in your survival bag. Now
that Mom and I take medications daily, it hit me
that that is important. Second, make copies of your
important papers and put them in watertight
“containers” (i.e., water-tight plastic covers which
you can buy.) He talked of being in Poland 20 years
ago, while it was still “red,” and not having his I.D.
papers or any cash. Big problem! Although he
did get out, I still didn't understand how he did it.
One of the attenders told of being in Africa and
wrapping money (bills) in a roll of toilet paper so
that they wouldn't be robbed. (I am not sure they
have toilet paper in Africa, so this story might be
suspect! JOKE, JOKE!!) The presenter recommended
making at least one zerox copy of all the contents of
your wallet (I've felt strongly about this for some
time, but never get around to doing it) and your
passport!

I've even xeroxed our temple recommends. Suppose
we went on a trip to France or Italy or even here in
Switzerland, and lost our wallets. Then came back here,
we couldn't get into the temple, and we're supposed
to be temple workers. And if we couldn't get in, then
we should not be able to remain in this apartment!
So I made a zerox copy of our recommends which,
having been issued in SLC, have a bar code, so even
though it's only a copy, hopefully this copy with a bar
code could let us get into the temple to do our work.
I'm going to check with the temple presidency about
that tomorrow. And also, put some money with your
survival bag too!

Members of our immediate family will remember the
Navalta family, I think. Wilfried Navalta was the
women's volleyball coach at NAU for one year and a
member of our ward, and then went to BYU-Hawaii
where he's had a very successful career, winning
national championships several years, and also serving
as a stake president. You can read about him here: http://w2.byuh.edu/sports/Volleyball/coaches/coaches.htm

Last Sunday the missionaries brought two young
American women to church; they are professional
volleyball players in Bienne! (They're trying to learn
French, but it's hard!) I told them about Navalta and
they seemed impressed, even though they had not
heard of him. And then, yesterday, I saw on p. 80 of
the March Ensign that BYU-Hawaii had suffered pretty
severe flooding, and I imagine that Navaltas' house
may have been damaged too.

Try to get some things ready in case of physical
problems. The theme of most of the March Ensign is
“Self-reliance.” That's good advice for everyone,
and including those who read this blog.

And by the way, there's need for family support too.
If anyone who reads this blog has not sent us their
blog site, we would like to have it. Feel free to forward
our blogsite address to other extended family members
if you wish.

Luv,
Mom and Dad, Alice and Gerry