I got back on Thursday from a week-long assignment for the Church News, where I wrote about Elder Ronald A. Rasband's ministry in France, Germany and Armenia. I will always remember his tender love for the people and his testimony of Jesus Christ -- and the Rasbands' happiness to see two of their grandchildren serving missions there.
I was with a photographer, videographer and two other Church employees, so when I talk about "we," that's the group I mean. All women, too. This was a special trip involving government visits, media relations and humanitarian work, so it meant more news coverage.
We flew from SLC to Paris on Thursday April 13, leaving around 3 p.m. and landing Friday 9 a.m. Paris time (1 a.m. Utah time). I tried to sleep on the plane, but was grateful that we had an early check-in at the hotel to be able to rest. We stayed in Le Chesnay, just a few blocks from the Paris temple.
That afternoon, we went to the Paris temple grounds for the first part of our coverage. The gardens are open to the public and have a beautiful Christus statue. I met a lot of the people who live in France or Europe and help the Church in many ways. We were back there again the next morning for a meeting with the mayor.
Then on Saturday we traveled to the Versailles meetinghouse for a devotional with the missionaries from the Paris France Mission. I got a thrill hearing the hymns sung in French and tried to follow along. Other leadership meetings followed for the stakes in the area.
Our media team was able to have some spare time to go see the Versailles palace gardens and eat some food. Most of the time I was eating granola bars from my backpack in between meetings and writing, so sitting and chatting was a luxury! Also walking around Versailles was a pinch me moment. I went in 1999 for a day after my Madrid study abroad.
Sunday morning, we checked out of the hotel and took a cab to a convention center in Paris where three stakes met together for a special stake conference. Always after these meetings I feel like I'm running around meeting people and asking for their thoughts on what they learned, but it's one of my favorite things to do. I always come away uplifted and inspired.
From there, we went to the airport to fly to Munich and while waiting for the flight, I worked more on my story from France. At the hotel in Munich I put in the pictures and sent it off for reviews and edits and talked to my family and went to bed late.
JB took these screenshots of me telling him about the adventure I had that day with sitting by a certain someone on the plane and having him read the draft of my story off my computer.
The next morning, Monday, we went to the Munich Stake Center for a devotional with the Alpine German-Speaking Mission, which includes parts of three countries in the area. We sang in English but I did find out that some of the missionaries also speak Persian, Russian and Spanish because of all the immigration to Germany.
Then the missionaries took part in a service project, and this was a blast. They all were so enthusiastic to be helping and serving with the Rasbands. The Rasbands' grandson is in the mission and I choked up seeing their hugs and love for him and his love for them.
I was interviewing people up until the last minute til we had to dash to the airport. From there, I ate my first and last meal in Germany, some overpriced but delicious schnitzel and potatoes at the airport. I got my Germany story off for edits. Then we flew to Brussels and through passport control and then caught a long flight to Yerevan, Armenia, landing around 2 in the morning Tuesday.
Five wide-eyed, confused, tired American women landing in the middle of the night in a strange country is not the best idea, as we soon found out when men were following us saying they could drive us wherever we needed. But we found a cab driver who got us to the hotel safely (though later we found out he overcharged us! They only take cash).
We got to rest for a few hours, and on Tuesday afternoon we were able to find grab some snacks at a little corner store (where they giggled at us), and found the Yerevan chapel and meet some of the people in the Church in Armenia, before attending a devotional with the Armenia/Georgia Mission.
This was very tender -- because the Rasbands' granddaughter is on a mission in Georgia and those missionaries came in for the meeting and they were so happy to see her. It was also very tender because Elder Rasband had been to Armenia multiple times for his business and loves the people so much.
I interviewed a few missionaries, including one missionary whose mother survived the 1988 earthquake and later joined the Church and moved to Utah. She cried when 20 years later her son was called on a mission to her homeland.
That night, one of the members took us to a place to have Armenian food. It was delicious! We had something with eggplant, and I wrote down the other dishes -- Aveluk, Tabuley and Khorovats. The smoked meats go with a sauce made with tomatoes and onions and I could have died I was so hungry and it was so good. The bread is deliciously chewy and rustic.
That night I wrote some back at the hotel. The next morning, Wednesday, we had our longest day of the trip, starting with a visit to the site of the former Huntsman cement factory, then visiting a three-generation member family, with adventurous cab rides in between.
Then we went to the Marriott convention rooms for the afternoon/evening meetings. First was a youth and young adult meeting, where the translators were also youth themselves and did such a great job. Then a member meeting brought together a lot of Armenians and their friends in the same room for the first time in years, with many traveling 3+ hours to get there.
After I got more interviews done and the others were finished with their work, we walked back to our hotel and got there around 9:30 p.m. The people are so friendly and always on the move. They stay up late walking all around the city center together with families.
I called my family and then packed up. We checked out of the hotel at midnight and went to the airport. Even though the flight was leaving at 2a.m., the place was full. Families go right up to the ticket counter together and then crowd at the one entrance to security to say goodbye.
I sat on the floor to write the first of two articles. Then on the flight to Frankfurt I wrote some more before nodding off. In Frankfurt, it took forever to find passport control and our next flight. The desk agent made me check my carryon bag (the only thing I brought) because it was a small plane. So I handed over everything, my makeup, deodorant, toothbrush and food -- things I would want later! But I was too tired to realize it.
Frankfurt we sat on the plane as the captain said we couldn't take off because of strikes at the Paris airport. We were going to have a tight connection as it was. When we landed, we had minutes to spare. We ran until we reached a spot where we had to take a shuttle and I was stressed. Then we ran to passport control and crawled through the long line, with the employees insisting to everyone that all the planes would wait for us. Then we ran until we had to catch another slow shuttle, and I was really stressed at this point. The shuttle dumped us at a point and we had to get to M29 and I've never run so fast. I was first to the gate as they closed the doors and I gasped "SALT LAKE CITY! PLEASE!" and they scanned our tickets and opened the doors and let us on. I just about cried with relief.
By now it was around noon or 1 p.m. Armenia time and I was exhausted. But I had to finish my second story so it could get back to SLC for reviews when everyone there woke up. I wrote in the dark and finally slumped over and tried to sleep, though my heart was still racing. But finally I calmed down.
I landed at 1 p.m. Utah time (11 p.m. Armenia time) and went to get my bag and it wasn't there. It had not made the connection. The Delta baggage claim guy was surprised to hear I had flown from Armenia that day because he is Armenian! He did everything to help me, for which I was so grateful. The bag had gone to Atlanta, but they got it to my front porch the next day.
The kids were out early from school and I hugged them so tight when I got home. I missed them so much! And JB! And I had not been able to Facetime them for two days because of the different time zones and travel. We squeezed and kissed and then it was time to go to tennis where Max was being honored as a senior. If I'd missed that flight, I would have missed seeing it and I was pretty weepy (happy tears) by the court.
The two Armenia stories published at the same time on Friday and after that I breathed a sigh of relief. It took me til Sunday to feel like I was finally done with jet lag and post-stress symptoms. But I've had such nice comments from people and I am so happy to be able to use my time and talents in this way for the Church.
The story from France: https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2023/4/16/23685436/elder-rasband-paris-france-ministry-missionaries-members-mayor
The story from Germany: https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2023/4/18/23687700/elder-rasband-german-missionaries-service-project-turkey-syria-earthquake
Armenia history: https://www.thechurchnews.com/history/2023/4/21/23691796/church-history-armenia-rebuilding
Armenia ministry: https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2023/4/21/23691989/elder-rasband-armenia-message-of-hope-in-jesus-christ-members-missionaries
