We are Winning

Hello to all,

We have been late the last couple of weeks because our plate has been full. When we get the chance to serve on our preparation day, we put the day off to when we have an opening. Since we are not restricted as are the Elders and Sisters of the younger persuasion, we can put our schedule as we need to.

We are writing to you about a major victory for the Church and for the rights of members in all of France. We told you earlier of our being cast out of the Homes for aged in Angouleme even when we have members to see. We were not about to let this situation go unchallenged. I guess it is the history teacher in me and bull dog in me that made me take the bull by the horns.

Our mission president, who was also upset about this situation, put us in contact with the Church lawyers in the European Mission Center in Germany. We sent e mails to them about the situation and the members names. I'll put in a pitch for journals at this time, since Joanne keeps a blow by blow description of each day, we were able to reconstruct the whole affair for the lawyers.

The Church lawyers then got in contact with the French lawyer that handles these and other affairs for the Church. He is an active member in Paris. We got a call from him one afternoon as we were visiting a member far from Angouleme. When I told him that we were forbidden to come to the Homes because we were a sect, he took the challenge personal. The Church has been declared three times in the last 30 years as a bonifide church in France.

We just got his letters to the directors of the Homes and he has very well stated our case according to French laws and the laws of the European Union. He knows his stuff and although he was polite, he was precise in his notation that unless representatives of the Church were allowed access, with our badges visible, the Church through Elder and Sister Metcalfe would take further legal action. I now know one reason why were sent to Angouleme. I was not willing to see the rights of Church members to be trampled on by bigots and Joanne's detailed records have been the way to see this situation through.

We have had other good things happen here but we have so much more to overcome. We will take those problems in the light of the Gospel of Christ and go at each situation with the same fight in us and with trust in Christ. Light is the only thing that can put darkness to flight.

Love Elder Dad