part 2 Southern France

First a little background on the Southern part,of France also called Provence. The Roman Empires had their central location was here , so this area prospered.. Romans set up infrastructure aqueducts for fresh water , good roads for trade and beautiful areas of entertainment. At one time there were 54 million people living in the Roman Empire (thank a teacher if you remember how important Rome was from 500AD-500BC). On Friday half of our group had to return to their Centres for their missionary activity. The rest of us continued to Orange, a 2,000 year old Roman settlement, with a famous Roman Arch and theatre. In the theatre the famous statue of Julius Caesar reigns over all the seats which hold 10,000.and the acoustics are still in tack. All could attend the theatre during these times with the most noble seated in the front. Around the side you can see that it is built into the rock/side of a mountain A few minutes away is the.Roman Arc de Triomphe of Orange erected around 19AD. From there we drove to Aix en Provence, a ville that I remember writing letters to Terry when she was on her mission. It is a cute town with a great Marche where we ate dinner and then went back the next morning for fruit and Madeleines (cookies). Then we drove to Marsaille. I was told by many missionaries that it was not their favorite place. so I was not expecting much... I loved it, It is second moat populated city in France, founded in over 600BC by Greek sailors. It is famous for the Count of Monte Cristo., We could see the island when we went to visit the Cathedral Notre Dame de la Garde, It started as an old fort on rocky limestone rebuilt from 1214--1536--1864.. It has Romanesque-Byzantine Domes,, very impressive inside too. Then we went to the Waters of Mormon where I touched the Mediterranean Sea and we bore testimony of the love of our mission. After we attended Stake conference where one of our Senior missionaries got very sick She had complications from a virus and we all ended up spending Saturday evening. night, and Sunday early at the hospital. . Try riding in an ambulance in the middle of no where,( oh wait I already did that in Nauvoo!), Our friend, Soeur Todd ,passed out and sadly her French is about as good as Jim's.Very scary!
for all of us! We united in prayer and grew even closer as we helped and served each other. So, our Senior Trip was a spiritual, growing, learning experience which we will always be thankful for.