My Turn

While Joanne gets all her info in, I catch up on my journal. Joanne's journal is so packed with info that we will be able to write a book when we get home. We have been out for 3 and a half months and she is almost through with the second book. I am starting to look in bookstores for some good big ones that she can use after she gets finished with this one and the one that was set aside for me. She spends time with every detail while I write the basics. She is constantly asking me to remember the smallest piece of detail.

We have been on the road quite a bit and I know that the angles are surrounding us. The roads narrow so fast and the on-coming traffic comes so rapidly that we have hardly any time to get out of the way. The drivers feel that they have the right to their side plus ours. The other day, a tractor didn't see us and came very close to running us into a wall, but at the last half a second swerved and we had enough room to squeeze through the opening. I know that the Lord watches over us.

If it wasn't for the members of the branch and the members we visit outside of town, I don't know if I could take the negative attitude that is constant. I know we are looking for the elite of God, but we have to go through a great deal of the uninterested to get to them. We are starting a program that was given to us last zone conference and that was to have the members pray for inspiration as to were the Elders and Joanne and I should go to contact the people. I know that as the members get into the program we will see the fruits of their faith.

The members back home better count their blessings because these active members here go through a lot more to do their home teaching than anyone at home. With the travel that goes on to do home teaching here, all the wards at home should hang their heads in shame if they don't get theirs done at the rate of 100%. These members are as strong as any I have ever seen. Our second councilor has been coming 80 miles to church for the last 2 1/2 years to serve the branch with his wife. Our branch president travels 2 1/2 hours to come to Angouleme on Sat. with his wife and stay sometimes in hotels at his cost to serve the branch Sat. and Sunday. We will go 2 hours away for general Stake priesthood meeting next Saturday and a hour and a half to watch conference in two weeks and then we only get three sessions.

If anyone complains again where you live, kick them in the slats and tell them what these Saints do to complete their responsibilities and hold fast to the iron rod.

I love the work. I have blessed the sacrament more since I have been here to deserving members that I would have ever imagined and given more blessings to wanting and waiting saints. I have loved the privilege and the service.

Keep the faith and be valiant.

Love Elder Dad

Fun Times

Bonjour to you all from me, long time no see!

As we were driving home a few nights ago, the sky was dark and clear and the full moon was crisp and bright, and I thought, that is the forth full moon I've seen here since we've been in France. I've told Joanna about the Cheshire moon that hangs out up there every so often! Why it's like that in this part of the world I wish someone could tell me; but I love seeing it because I can see that imaginary cat in my head.

One of the joys I've experienced, is getting to know our elderly, home-bound sisters. Sister Chauveau was on our inactive list only because she has no way to get to church, and lives a half hour out from Angouleme. At 98-years-old, her eyesight is poor, but other than that she is fairly active and won't consent to be put in a Home for the Aged. We went to her with the Sacrament, and she was so appreciative and humbled to receive it that we decided it had to be a weekly service for her. Then we wanted to take her some American food and eat lunch with her on her birthday week, and we did, except that she forgot the "lunch" part and had eaten all ready when we arrived all loaded up with sacks at 1 p.m. It really was no big deal, but when she realized her mistake she grabbed her face and moaned, "Oh ma tet," (Oh my head), as if the worst thing in the world had happened! She made us eat the pasta salad I'd brought and then we ate the cheesecake together. We asked if she would like us to leave her another piece for later, and she said, "Does a dying man want water?"

She made us promise to eat a French lunch with her next time we came, and that she would cook us her special veal dish. That made me uneasy, because I know most of her food is brought in to her each day, and I was worried about having a 98-year-old puttering around fixing us lunch! But, sure enough, when we arrived the next week, she threw open her double windows to greet us, and the steam gushed out too. We came early so we could help, and Jack became her right hand; leaning down to check the dials on the stove, making sure she didn't put too much salt and pepper into her "secret" sauce, taking the boiled onion and herbs from the meat pot, draining the potatoes. She said to me, "A French husband would never do all this, don't let him get away!" The food was very tasty, and she had all the courses for us. The next time we went there, she asked us to bring out all of her church memory papers from when she was Relief Society Pres. about 11 years ago. She's afraid they would be desecrated, and tossed away as nothing when she dies, so we sat at the table and went through every piece there. She had received many letters from Sister missionaries who served in the area, and the correspondence ended about 4 years ago.

I got the idea to take their names and write them to let them know that she is still here. It was nice to be able to give her some peace of mind in this matter. She only joined the church in 1994, and has a wonderful testimony and is a great example of strength and enduring to the end.

Our current Relief Society president, Sister Bouchard, is a real fireball. When the gospel was able to answer the questions she had, she knew it was true and grabbed on with both hands. Her knowledge of the gospel and the scriptures make her a great teacher, and even though I don't understand all her words, the spirit of her testimony shines through to me. She is learning to speak English, and comes to the English class given by the missionaries each Thursday night
for more instruction from me! Right now we are working on her homework from her "real" English course, and I enjoy her so much. The missionaries tell her how much they love her all the time; and she went door to door with Jack and I once and I could hardly keep up with her. The missionary who baptized her lives in Sacramento, and she went to visit him there last year and went to the temple with him and his wife . . . I think she wants to go again since the Euro is so
high against the dollar right now. We met a scruffy man in the street the other day who claimed he just returned from a trip to Texas, where he attended a rally for Obama! The money difference is nuts right now!

Well, that's about it for me I think. Keep on the path, and keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Love, Sister Mom (Joanne and Gr'ma)

Great Week

Hello to you from France. We have had a busy week and it doesn't look like things will get any slower in the future. We spent a great few hours with our 98 year old Sister Cauveau who lives so far from town that we are her sole personal contact with the church. She gets letters and phone calls from the members, but she looks forward to our visits. She made us her personal French meal this last time. Her white sauce made the difference and we enjoyed it very much. This week, like always, we will take her the sacrament and read to her from the Book of Mormon about Christ's visit to the Nephites. Her eye sight is going, so she can't read on her own. We will go over her materials when she was Relief Society president to see if there are things in there that should go to the history of the branch.

We love the work and are making multiple visits to the inactive so that they know we care. Each time we go, we bring a spiritual message. With confidence in us, we are able to show them the way back to the church and to Christ. We had a great meeting with one of our shut-ins, Eric Foucrier and his mother. I have been praying for a way to help him with his depression and before we left I had the impression to give him a blessing. When I stepped into his house, the Holy Ghost said to bless him. I asked him when we were in the kitchen and seated if he had faith in Jesus. He responded with a short testimony. I asked him if he believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Church of Jesus Christ was restored. He answered yes to both questions. I asked him if he would like a priesthood blessing and with enthusiasm he said he would. His mother came in and through the priesthood and with the words given to me, I blessed him. What a great opportunity to come closer to Eric and the Holy Ghost as I pronounced our Father in Heaven's will to him.

While sitting here, I have had the privilege to "open my mouth" to two men who were near me and bear testimony of the restored Gospel. This is the greatest opportunity I have at my age to do something in return for all of my blessings. Neither of these two people took the opportunity of my invitation to hear our message, but both know about the church and that we are not stuffy people who don't smile and laugh.

All the retired people need to be out here in some missionary capacity to give of themselves and to feel the spirit like never before. I love the work and am so grateful that I have the health and the faith to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. Joanne is a great help and even though she speaks a little French and understands a little more than she speaks, her contribution is great. She feels the promptings of the Holy Ghost all the time and is always adding this information or this tidbit of gospel thought as we visit or explaining what this person needs as a message. She keeps me from getting too intense about the presentation of the gospel.

To all those who can now, come out and join the work in what ever capacity you are able and for you who can't at this time, pray for us and the other missionaries and those to whom we teach that the work of the Lord will go forth.

Love Elder Dad

Hi from Angouleme

Bonjour from a pouring rainy day, one of a string of such days, in Angouleme. I love the rain, it has brought forth the blooming of the trees and flowers all around, but I wish you all could get some of this wet stuff too. We have kinda settled into a routine of taking care of some of the sweetest people on earth. Chantel Patricola lives all by herself in a one house hamlet that she retreated to after a nasty divorce. She works in an old folks home, and in her spare time tries to fix up this falling down old farm house. When we brought her the Sacrament for the first time in years, it was a very emotional moment for her, and the spirit was very strong. We are going again next week after our trip to District meeting in Bordeaux, and are bringing the Elders to meet her. We hope to be able to help her fix the hole in her tile roof before too long. She has a lot of gumption and courage and I'm so glad she had not lost the hope of the gospel in her life.

We meet with the Renaudet's and their friend Valore, who lives with them, every Sunday night. At first, I thought he was their own personal 'Korihor', the doubter, the questioner, the burr in the side, that kept them from progressing with his constant stream of unbelief of everything. We've actually gotten to like him a lot though, and he seems to think of Jack as a father figure (my opinion) as we've had some great discussions with these three. Patricia is a cat lover, with cats real and not, all over the apt. I was saying the prayer, when all of a sudden a whiskered hairy nose nuzzled my lips! I squeaked and someone brushed my mouth with their hand, I thought it was Jack, telling me to stay calm in the face of any adversity, but he said, no, it wasn't him. Anyway, we all had a laugh about that one. Patricia is the spiritual one that feels close to God in her life. She is so friendly and fun to be with. She thinks deeply about things and wants to know if the gospel is true, so has committed to pray about that in a special place she knows about on their vacation trip this week. Her nutty husband, Jean-Luc is a reed in the wind, tossed to and fro by every new piece of information that comes his way. They were baptized years ago, and then went inactive because of a happening at the branch that made the strong ones stronger. I really like Jean-Luc (he reminds me of Gus-Gus, Cinderella's little mouse friend), and frankly he cracks me up all the time with his facial expressions. He really likes me because I make him Carrot cake, and he wants to keep me there to cook for them. That's not saying a whole lot, because we found out that they eat out constantly, even though they only live on her salary . . . he is on some sort of disability and does get money from this socialist govt. for that. I could tell you reams about them and we are almost at our wits end with them, but we don't want to quit them if there is hope there.

We bought some sneakers to do service in . . . neither of us had anything suitable. That was fun because Jack found a two for the price of one sale in the men's department and thought that was the way to go. His choice was a snazzy tan and brown pair and he found me a pair of black ones with Velcro straps . . . lovely. BUT, we will only wear them while working, right? Right. Then as we walked farther into the store, we came to the women's shoe dept. with the same sale on. I rushed forward to see if there was anything better looking , and there was! I found another pair of black ones, but with laces; and he found some cute white and black ones! (It made me wonder if French women have big feet) But anyway, we both walked out of there happy with our new shoes.

Well, time (and Jack) is pressing me to wrap this up, so hope all is well with you . . . love ya!

Sister Mom, Joanne, Grandma

Another Week

Hello to everyone in the US. We are doing fine although March came in like a lion. We have had rain almost every day this month. We have had some great help from a member in finding the lost sheep. We have used every method we can think of, even calling others with the same last name and introducing ourselves as people from the US looking for so and so. This member is using the Internet and has helped us find 4 out of 6 names we gave him. We gave him 8 more names this week.

We had this member and his wife over to our apartment for an evening of food and games of Uno. Patrick's wife is not a member, and we are trying to set up a relationship with her and show her that Mormons are people too. It was a good night and we have seen them once this week to give Patrick his new 8 names and get some info on the other ones he gave back to us.

We really enjoy going to the sick, the shut-ins and those so far from the church that they can't make it to church. I am able to bless and give the sacrament to these members and it gives me a greater respect for the Savior and the privilege it is to hold the priesthood and bless the lives of these members.

I am eternally grateful for the support of Joanne as we work together in this work. Even though her French is not yet at conversational levels, she has the promptings of the spirit in so many situations that we are in that her suggestions just make the difference. So many times we say the same thing at the same time when dealing with these beautiful members who can't get to church. The work here is hard as the government has driven a wedge between faith and the secular ideas of the state. Religious feelings among the people here is at an all time low. I am reminded that King Noah in the Book of Mormon drove his people from the faith by his unworthy actions and the leaders of France have done the same for over 40 years.

The two Elders here are working very hard and I know that their labors will pay off. The members are working hard also and we have a missionary activity with the members on the 22 of March to help them understand the processes in "Preach My Gospel" and how they can use it to interest and approach their friends. We will have some roll playing so they can feel more comfortable with the ideas.

Being the 2nd counselor has its good points. I have given 3 sacrament talks since I have been here and now I am in charge of getting people to give sacrament talks I can get myself off the list for at least three months. Joanne has her second talk in April.

Since I am also in charge of the Sunday School, I am the teacher of the teenage class. We only have 1 student now but are working on two more students. It is very tough to be the only student in the class, but I am working on building a strong testimony with this young sister. Joanne does the art work when needed and sits in on the lessons. I hope it helps her French.

Keep the faith and keep us in your prayers.

It's Different

Hello to all of you in the U.S.

We are doing well and are working to get our membership group in a regular visiting pattern. We have many members who can't get to church because of distance, age, illness, or other related situations. We now travel throughout the province of the Charante to give the aid and comfort needed. We take the sacrament to many members and stay with them so we can have a Sunday School lesson. This brings the Spirit into the homes of many that otherwise would not be able to have contact with the Church except by mail or phone. Tomorrow we travel to spend time with a 98 year old member who will have her birthday. She has one son and he just had a operation in Paris and might not be able to join her. We will take the sacrament to her and then prepare lunch with her and blow out a candle or two. We have some cds of church music for her to listen to during her time alone. We come once a week to her and the others who can't get to Church.

There are many things that are different and I will give you just a few. A kebab is an Arab sandwich made from Lamb. The lamb is cooked on a spit and is cut off as is needed. The sandwich is made of a great tasting warm french foot long bun. The lamb is mixed with tomatoes, lettuce, green peppers, as well as with a special sauce. The meat and fixings are loaded into the bun so that it takes all you have to get your mouth around it. The French fries are piled on the plate and they are better than those you get at the fast food places. With a soft drink all this comes to $6.00. It is so good that Joanne wants her own foot long and does a number on the whole thing.

Driving is a chore. The Europeans have gone to round-abouts every where, even in places where there is hardly enough room to paint a small circle on the pavement. The driver on my left has the right of way so Joanne as the co-pilot is always needed. Her hand flies up with a finger pointed at any on coming vehicle. They come out of nowhere and without her vigilance we would have been smooshed long ago. The other situation is that the drivers on the other side of the road want some of my side of the road. I am always waiting for my side mirror to be smashed off especially when buses are coming at me.

One good thing I have noticed is that any worker that is working near or on the road and highways wear florescent clothing. You are able to see them well before you get to them. If a driver has a flat while on the road he must carry the same color clothing that is carried in each car. So far I haven't had any problems so the clothing has stayed in the trunk.

They say that Americans are obsessed with their cars, but the French have the same problem. We can go into the poorest neighborhoods and there are the BMW's and all the other high priced cars. A lot of us drive the smaller models though. They all look alike but are made by 15 different companies. Once one company comes up with a good model that the public likes, the whole bunch jump on the band wagon. So like in the U.S., the only way to tell the company that makes the car is by the logo.

Motor cycles and motor bikes are a major problem. The drivers weave in and out of the traffic like they own the road and they surely don't know the speed limit. The only way you know that you have been passed by one is the high pitched whine that you hear and the blur before your eyes.

We come to McDonald's to do our emails and there is a major difference between home and here. The French are obsessed with their eating hours, so McDonald's only has three times in the day when they are busy. Each eating period is a massive rush on the fast food restaurant. The place is packed and the drive up windows has a mile long line at that time. We try to miss the noon to two hour lunch and the dinner time two hour feeding trough. The French that come into the restaurant still want to take their time while eating, so once the place is full it is packed for the whole time. The French eat in courses, so at McDonald's the fries go first (fifteen minutes), the hamburger is next (20 minutes), and finally the dessert (fifteen minutes). Each course is done with a great deal of talking, so the meal can be drawn out. We have not tried the burgers or other things offered because the price is so expensive. We bring our change and eat fries or small Sundaes for the privilege of using their free WI-FI connection.

While the French have their lunch time period of 2 hours, the whole city closes down. We have made the mistake and have tried to pick up a number of items needed during the 12 to 2 period and have been stymied. We are now into the swing of things and schedule our buy time before the lunch two hours. Dinner is not on the table here in France until at least 7:30. That is why it takes at least 2 and a half hours to eat the meal, so they don't go to sleep with a full stomach. The Elders have a fit with this because with the spiritual message they give and the meal, they only have one and a half hours to spend.

The other problem I am having is how to tell time in France. The time is on the same wave length as the military at home. There is no such ting as Two in the afternoon, it is 14:00 hours. Being that I was never raised like this, it is giving me fits. The branch members have noticed this and so they have made allowances for this slow American. By the time I leave I will probably have it down.

With all that to contend with, we love it here are and are enjoying the growing experiences. We wouldn't change a thing. The Gospel is true and we are opening are mouths to contact as many people as we can. Wish you were here.

Love Elder Dad, Grandpa, and friend