Scarlet Letter

Hello from Angouleme,

We are busier than ever with all the goings on at the branch. We will have our 1st coun. soon as our branch member was waiting on the Stake Presidency and visa versa. Now I have put the two parties together it should happen during our next visit.

Our Sister Bouchard received her mission call to the Genealogy Mission in Salt Lake and she is as giddy as any young person could ever be. I had the privilege to sign her acceptance letter as is required. To send the first missionary from this branch in decades is a thrill. She will be leaving on Jan. 5, 2009 and we will be moving into her house and paying her rent instead of enriching someone else. She has a big house and we will have plenty of room although we have nothing to complain about where we are now. We will probably rattle around in the new place. She is happy to have someone she can trust to take care of her place.

We are headed to Bordeaux this weekend for Stake Conference and Sunday I will drive a 9 passenger mini bus for the members. The Sat conference will be held in the stake center and on Sunday we will be in a large conference hall. It will be good to take a different route to Bordeaux tomorrow to see some new things since we don't have to be there until the early afternoon.

We have noticed that in France there is a Scarlet Letter. It is displayed on many cars here in our area and I was afraid that the old custom that was around in the colonial days was coming to France. I asked one of the members what it means to go around driving with a large red "A" pasted on the back of a car. He said that it was placed there to warn all the other drivers that these people were potentially dangerous. It signifies that they are amateurs and they have just passed their drivers test. The red "A" will stay on the back of their car for two years instead of the previous one year. We were also told that the police take strict notice of the speed and driving habits of the cars with the red". It is not bad enough for everyone to be on the lookout for you but to have the local police and the national gendarmes looking for you makes it twice as nervous for the new driver.

If the amateur driver gets a ticket during those two years they must pay the $1,500 to take the driver school all over again and go through the process once more. I think that all the young people in our country should thank their lucky stars they don't have that cost and that type of scrutiny.

Joanne is getting things ready for a family here as well as the missionaries to join with us for a thanks giving feast. The family is providing their home and the regular cheese, bread, drinks and veggies but we are bringing turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, apple pie and rice crispy squares. I'm not much help except for peeling what's needed.

Our investigator, Sandra is coming along. There is so much to do to help them put their family life in order, but the family is so willing that it will all take time. They are filling out all the necessary papers to find housing, work, and to get themselves onto the rolls of the French government. They are very anxious to get away from Joao's drinking brother. The brother, parents and our little family all live in the same house. After they get into their own place we will get them married and then finish the teaching of the basics and Sandra will be baptized. It is so great to see her want to follow the principles of Jesus even with all the problems she is facing. All their problems makes our look so small.

We love you and you are always in our prayers. Keep growing in love and especially in the light of Christ.