Bonjour everyone,
It's the end our our Sunday, and we are, as usual, drained of our emotions. We never know who will come, or what kind of drama might unfold this time. Last week, the Primary was 'hit' by the unexpected arrival of 4 out-of-town children, (because of Stake visitors for Branch Conference) plus 2 from Angouleme; the room was full, and I was in shock. Thank goodness for our new Elder Gunter, from North Carolina, who saw my anguished looking face and recognized my plight. He came in with me and stood by my side, and helped get me through the situation in one piece. Funny enough, I had made extra hand outs, so there were just enough for every child to have one (talk about tender mercies)! This week, I sat alone in the Primary room, with a lesson for our 5-year-old, and/or a lesson for our 8-year-old, and nobody came until 70 minutes later. Eight year old Clement had a good excuse for being late, since his hamster had escaped, and they needed to find it, before their cats or their dog did. All we really had time for was a Book of Mormon crossword puzzle (that three weeks ago he claimed was too hard!); this time I put the jumbled up answers on the board for him, and he enjoyed it. I'm learning as I go too, you see!
It looks like we have a real live baptism coming up in April...it's our 78-year-old Monsieur Bourdichoux, who fits right into the average age range of our Branch! He really looks up to Jack, and listens to him intently, and calls him "Mon Pere Spirituel", as well as his frere, 'Monsieur Jacques'! We have loved seeing him grow and develop in the light of the gospel day after day, and he has come a long way. He had friends who told him "not to go to the Mormon church, whatever you do!", but instead of scaring him off, it made him curious, because he was impressed with the Elders he had met. So he started coming to our Family Home Evenings, and found out that we are regular people just like him, who have something he needs in his life. He watched us very closely at first for signs of our flaws, and one memorable night came quite unglued at what he took as total rudeness on the part of our upstairs friend, Chantal Walter. She was waylayed by Elder Gibbs as she entered the chapel for FHE, so he could tell her it was his last night before his transfer. Then, I motioned her over to show her the letter we'd just received from Sister Bouchard, so she took time to read it, and write down the return address. By then, JJ was calling us to order for the song and prayer, so we did that, and all the time Mr. B was sitting there, fuming at her, and we didn't know it. As Elder Green began his lesson, Mr. Bourdichoux broke in and railed at her for not saying Bonjour to him, and for completely ignoring him! He told her she was a terrible woman, and was totally rude. We were all stunned. She began to apologize, and tried to explain that it wasn't intentional; and he said that he'd NOT accept her apology because it was very intentional! Everyone took turns trying to defuse the tension, but he just seemed to get madder. Elder Gibbs told a story on himself about how 'our' perception of things can be completely different than someone else's, so we need to be open to the spirit of forgiveness. But the stubborn Mr. B wouldn't give it up, and he crossed his arms and pouted that this would be the last Monday meeting for him! Finally, Elder Green called us all to order, saying that the Spirit had fled because of the contention in the room. He took control, and went to the scriptures: 3Nephi 11:29..."he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another." V. 30..."Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away." He then said, 'We all love one another here, and we are all brothers and sisters as well, and we must behave as such.' A calmness began to return and Mr. B. seemed chagrined and we regrouped. Jack and I went into the kitchen later with Chantal, and we all blew out our collective breaths! She really impressed us by acting like a true Latter-Day-Saint should, not taking offense from a very unfair attack, and trying to make amends for any perceived slight or unhappiness that she unwittingly caused someone.
Any hard feelings were under control as we sat together in the kitchen, on this cold winter's night, dipping our croissants into our cups of hot chocolate...Yum. A humorous postscript to this story is: after Mr. B. set his baptism date, he asked the Elders if he'd be wearing something when he went down into the water? 'Oh, yes', they replied, 'You'll be all dressed in white.' 'That's good', he said, 'because I wouldn't want THAT woman to see me naked!' (Still harboring rankled feelings of being snubbed by Chantal Walter...hmmmmmm...I think he secretly likes her.
We were invited to lunch with Sister Trillaud, a home-bound member of the church, with a heart condition so bad that her lower limbs are swollen with fluid, and she has a hard time getting around. I have difficulty being 'waited' on by her, because I feel like we should be doing her bidding, and bringing her dinners; but she seems to need to render this service to the missionaries. Eating at her table is always an experience. This time she started us out with her homemade wild boar pate (looks like cold meatloaf), and those wonderful French (albino) white, floppy asparagus that she told us are grown in sand. No wonder they are colorless...but at least they are tasteless too, so even Jack could stand to down a few! Next, she made us each a 'Croque-Monsieur' (which is basically a fried ham & cheese sandwich), and then for the main course, she went all out with milk-fed veal stew, served on rice. After our course of cheeses and baguette, we were served a very nice apple (pomme) tart, that she made for us and can't even eat a piece herself. The least we can do for all that, is leave her with a clean kitchen, and so we do. This lady has had a hard life, and her health problems are monumental, but I love visiting her because of her fierce spirit, and her strong testimony. The spiritual thoughts the Elders bring are to buoy her up in her afflictions, and I believe her when she declares that she would be at church if she could. Her life inspires me to be thankful for all that I have been given, and not take it lightly.
We are doing well, except that the dampness is getting to Jack this winter, and he complains of having cold ankles. Rain, rain and more rain, is an all together different experience for us, and I can see why there is a lot of bright green moss growing everywhere you look....we better not stand still too long in one place, or it might start growing on us too!
I love life, even when it's hard, it's worth it. I love you all also.....take care!
Sister Mom (Joanne)
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Never Thought
Hello to all at home,
We have had a great week and feel very blessed to be here in France. The Elders are teaching a 78-year-old man, Jean Bourdicheux, and he has set his baptism date for April 6th. He has come a long way from someone who had no faith or little knowledge of Jesus, to now be one who has joy in the blessings of the Gospel and in the Atonement of Christ. He has poor health and thought that it was too late to come to Christ, but now looks forward to his meetings with the Elders and coming to church with his brothers and sisters. It is a blessing for me to pick him up in the car and talk with him to and from church. He always has questions for me and calls me his, pere spiritual, spiritual father. We have found a real brotherhood together and he no longer feels alone in the world. He loves the light of Christ and it has been a pleasure to see him make progress in his life and to watch him strive to be a good disciple of Christ.
We never in our wildest dreams knew what was to be our role in the mission field, and I never had any clue that we would end up in the same city for our entire mission. I never visioned being the branch president, but the blessings of working with faithful members of the Lord's kingdom has been a joy beyond measure. I must admit that it has not been easy and the problems have not been simple, but without the chance to be here all our time we would have not been able to make the progress that has come little by little with the help of the Spirit.
Joanne has seen th
e wisdom of having eight children as she now feeds the masses. Every third Sunday we have a branch meal after Sacrament meeting and all that practice has come in very handy. I help as the sous chef, chef's helper, as I peel apples for the huge pies she makes and peel carrots and potatoes for the dishes that she prepares. Each Sunday we feed the Elders and the bachelors of the branch and she takes Saturday to get something scrumptious ready. The Elders throughout the mission know all about Joanne because as the missionaries leave here they carry the news of the blessing of being in Angouleme because of Joanne's touch of home in the meals and especially the deserts she prepares. We also get lunch ready for district meeting every two weeks in Bordeaux. It is cheaper and quicker to have something for the 6 elders than to go out and get pizza or Kebabs or head to a restaurant before coming home. The touch of home cooking makes many of the missionaries want to be in the Bordeaux district.
It is a joy to see Joanne pray in French as the members and amis want to feel her spirit. She reads scriptures in French as we share spiritual thoughts with all we meet and we sing the hymns in French every chance we get. I love to try to sing the hymns in French with Joanne. I enjoy watching her as she struggles to communicate with members and amis. It has not been easy for her, but the spirit and love she shows makes up for the lack of words spoken. When Joanne gives suggestions for members and amis, it is always what is needed. I might be the mouth piece, but she is the spiritual guide in many cases and her direction come from the Lord.
I love the work and although it is hard, I know that if we had not come here, we would not know the Saints of France and would have not known so many great missionaries. District meetings and Zone Conferences give us a chance to be with the Lord's finest young brothers and sisters. Some of these missionaries come from Europe. We have seven elders and one sister in our zone that are from Europe and the other zones have more than we do. Elders from Sweden, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, and France and one sister from France. They are among the spiritual giants of the mission. The church is growing in Europe with solid saints.
We had the opportunity to go to a Zone Conference last Friday in Bordeaux and then since we are a couple missionary team and a part of the branch presidency, we stayed for the Valentine Dance at the Stake center. We had hopes that more of the branch would come as they had planned, but Alain Kaus came and we enjoyed the evening with him and the others of the stake that came. We were able to dance because the rules for couple are not the same as the Elders and the Sister Missionaries. It was great to see the members get together in good fun and we even got Alain out on the floor to dance. Alain is special and he is working on getting ready to go to the temple. When he is ready, we will have another blessing as we will be able to rent another car and go together with him to the temple in Madrid. I have loved many of you I have met back home, but when you struggle and grow with these people there is a special bond that binds us fast in the Lord that is not always the case at home.
We love you all and ask that our members and amis be in your daily prayers.
Much love,
Elder Dad
We have had a great week and feel very blessed to be here in France. The Elders are teaching a 78-year-old man, Jean Bourdicheux, and he has set his baptism date for April 6th. He has come a long way from someone who had no faith or little knowledge of Jesus, to now be one who has joy in the blessings of the Gospel and in the Atonement of Christ. He has poor health and thought that it was too late to come to Christ, but now looks forward to his meetings with the Elders and coming to church with his brothers and sisters. It is a blessing for me to pick him up in the car and talk with him to and from church. He always has questions for me and calls me his, pere spiritual, spiritual father. We have found a real brotherhood together and he no longer feels alone in the world. He loves the light of Christ and it has been a pleasure to see him make progress in his life and to watch him strive to be a good disciple of Christ.
We never in our wildest dreams knew what was to be our role in the mission field, and I never had any clue that we would end up in the same city for our entire mission. I never visioned being the branch president, but the blessings of working with faithful members of the Lord's kingdom has been a joy beyond measure. I must admit that it has not been easy and the problems have not been simple, but without the chance to be here all our time we would have not been able to make the progress that has come little by little with the help of the Spirit.
Joanne has seen th
e wisdom of having eight children as she now feeds the masses. Every third Sunday we have a branch meal after Sacrament meeting and all that practice has come in very handy. I help as the sous chef, chef's helper, as I peel apples for the huge pies she makes and peel carrots and potatoes for the dishes that she prepares. Each Sunday we feed the Elders and the bachelors of the branch and she takes Saturday to get something scrumptious ready. The Elders throughout the mission know all about Joanne because as the missionaries leave here they carry the news of the blessing of being in Angouleme because of Joanne's touch of home in the meals and especially the deserts she prepares. We also get lunch ready for district meeting every two weeks in Bordeaux. It is cheaper and quicker to have something for the 6 elders than to go out and get pizza or Kebabs or head to a restaurant before coming home. The touch of home cooking makes many of the missionaries want to be in the Bordeaux district.It is a joy to see Joanne pray in French as the members and amis want to feel her spirit. She reads scriptures in French as we share spiritual thoughts with all we meet and we sing the hymns in French every chance we get. I love to try to sing the hymns in French with Joanne. I enjoy watching her as she struggles to communicate with members and amis. It has not been easy for her, but the spirit and love she shows makes up for the lack of words spoken. When Joanne gives suggestions for members and amis, it is always what is needed. I might be the mouth piece, but she is the spiritual guide in many cases and her direction come from the Lord.
I love the work and although it is hard, I know that if we had not come here, we would not know the Saints of France and would have not known so many great missionaries. District meetings and Zone Conferences give us a chance to be with the Lord's finest young brothers and sisters. Some of these missionaries come from Europe. We have seven elders and one sister in our zone that are from Europe and the other zones have more than we do. Elders from Sweden, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, and France and one sister from France. They are among the spiritual giants of the mission. The church is growing in Europe with solid saints.
We had the opportunity to go to a Zone Conference last Friday in Bordeaux and then since we are a couple missionary team and a part of the branch presidency, we stayed for the Valentine Dance at the Stake center. We had hopes that more of the branch would come as they had planned, but Alain Kaus came and we enjoyed the evening with him and the others of the stake that came. We were able to dance because the rules for couple are not the same as the Elders and the Sister Missionaries. It was great to see the members get together in good fun and we even got Alain out on the floor to dance. Alain is special and he is working on getting ready to go to the temple. When he is ready, we will have another blessing as we will be able to rent another car and go together with him to the temple in Madrid. I have loved many of you I have met back home, but when you struggle and grow with these people there is a special bond that binds us fast in the Lord that is not always the case at home.
We love you all and ask that our members and amis be in your daily prayers.
Much love,
Elder Dad
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Stuff Happens
Bonjour to all of you this bright February day! (January was not fast, but it's gone all ready, so it sure wasn't exactly slow either!) I'm taking one day at a time, and life here is full of funny stuff, sad stuff, weird stuff, exasperating stuff, spiritual stuff, and very memorable stuff too.
Our town was nicked by the hurricane force winds that hit the coast of France last weekend, so we stayed home and Jack brought the lawn furniture in to keep it from settling in someone else's yard. At church the next day, the heat had been knocked out by a flooded basement and it was freezing in the building. Twelve hardy souls braved the first two meetings, but several more showed up for Sacrament meeting, including a giant of a man named Kola, from Togo, who has what looks like tribal markings carved onto his smiling cheeks. He loves what he is hearing at church and from the missionaries, and says he wants to be baptized. He has a wife and 3 children, but so far they haven't come to church with him. The Corga's have an active, Portuguese speaking 5-year-old son, but they are sometimes quite late for church; then Clement (Veronique's 8 year old son, who is not yet baptized) comes sometimes, and his assignment has been to read the Book of Mormon along with me.
This past week, Jack bumped into Kola in town, and he's getting ready to move to England to take a job there. He said that he was coming to church this Sunday and bringing his family with him. Yikes! I AM the Primary. Yep, it's come to that in this branch, what with the ever-present Primary lady, 67-year-old Lucienne, deciding to divorce her husband and leave town until things cool down (is there something in the water here that makes people crazy?). At least with her, she could speak to the kids in their language, and hold them on her lap, and coo and kiss them to pieces, and call it good. The only other women here now are 78-year-old Sis. Demolombe, who can't see well, and is unsteady on her feet; and Marie-Christine, our sole Relief Society teacher, who at 56 is relatively young, but only comes when she is not depressed (and she's very depressed since Sister Bouchard left!). Then there is 38-year-old Veronique, who only seems to come to plague her ex-husband, and always manages to cause a scene, being not afraid to shout at him in the chapel in front of our investigators. Nope, as you can plainly see, I am it, and I had to gird up my loins and go figure out how to get a Primary ready for Sunday. The best place to start has got to be at the beginning, with 'I Am A Child Of God', because that is what they need to know. So, with Jack's translating help with the French manual, I worked on the lesson, and with the ideas that came to me each night.
Sunday came and in walked two little visitors from out of town, Bro. Savreaux's grandchildren, who are active in the church. We waited a bit, but no one else showed up! Unbelievable! Eva, age 7 (a helper type), and her rascally but cute little brother Julien, age 4, would have been such good role models for children untutored in church decorum. They sat expectantly in their chairs while I gathered my wits, and we finally got a fun lesson going based on the Plan of Salvation, using Sis. B's pouch-like wash cloths. We drew our faces on paper and cut them out, and taped them to the pouches; then I explained to them that our spirits (hands) had lived in the Spirit world with Heavenly Father until time to come to earth to get our body (our very own puppet-pouch-person slipped over our hand) and live and be happy until we die (leaving puppet-pouch-person behind) and return to be with Heavenly Father in our Spirit again. They were so cute, and fascinated with my Frenglaise mixture of talking with them (they helped me a lot, and we figured out stuff as we went along), plus drawing on the board is magical and a very practical and neat way to keep things moving too. We sang along to the Primary CD's and colored the blown up big pictures that illustrated the 1st verse of "I Am A Child Of God," and got through the first hour. The second hour we did collages with colored paper pieces and glue sticks (I'm afraid Julien ate half of his stick - ick!), and ended up doing floor puzzles; so now I know they need more stories and stuff like that to fill the time better, for the next group I get. But, I feel good that at least I got a dress rehearsal under my belt, how many times does that happen? Church is always an adventure and we feel absolutely drained at the end of our Sundays, but what a way to go!
Don't take life, or love, or the gospel for granted . . . Make the most of your time on earth, you'll be glad you did.
Love you much, Sister Mom (Joanne) Gran'ma
Our town was nicked by the hurricane force winds that hit the coast of France last weekend, so we stayed home and Jack brought the lawn furniture in to keep it from settling in someone else's yard. At church the next day, the heat had been knocked out by a flooded basement and it was freezing in the building. Twelve hardy souls braved the first two meetings, but several more showed up for Sacrament meeting, including a giant of a man named Kola, from Togo, who has what looks like tribal markings carved onto his smiling cheeks. He loves what he is hearing at church and from the missionaries, and says he wants to be baptized. He has a wife and 3 children, but so far they haven't come to church with him. The Corga's have an active, Portuguese speaking 5-year-old son, but they are sometimes quite late for church; then Clement (Veronique's 8 year old son, who is not yet baptized) comes sometimes, and his assignment has been to read the Book of Mormon along with me.
This past week, Jack bumped into Kola in town, and he's getting ready to move to England to take a job there. He said that he was coming to church this Sunday and bringing his family with him. Yikes! I AM the Primary. Yep, it's come to that in this branch, what with the ever-present Primary lady, 67-year-old Lucienne, deciding to divorce her husband and leave town until things cool down (is there something in the water here that makes people crazy?). At least with her, she could speak to the kids in their language, and hold them on her lap, and coo and kiss them to pieces, and call it good. The only other women here now are 78-year-old Sis. Demolombe, who can't see well, and is unsteady on her feet; and Marie-Christine, our sole Relief Society teacher, who at 56 is relatively young, but only comes when she is not depressed (and she's very depressed since Sister Bouchard left!). Then there is 38-year-old Veronique, who only seems to come to plague her ex-husband, and always manages to cause a scene, being not afraid to shout at him in the chapel in front of our investigators. Nope, as you can plainly see, I am it, and I had to gird up my loins and go figure out how to get a Primary ready for Sunday. The best place to start has got to be at the beginning, with 'I Am A Child Of God', because that is what they need to know. So, with Jack's translating help with the French manual, I worked on the lesson, and with the ideas that came to me each night.
Sunday came and in walked two little visitors from out of town, Bro. Savreaux's grandchildren, who are active in the church. We waited a bit, but no one else showed up! Unbelievable! Eva, age 7 (a helper type), and her rascally but cute little brother Julien, age 4, would have been such good role models for children untutored in church decorum. They sat expectantly in their chairs while I gathered my wits, and we finally got a fun lesson going based on the Plan of Salvation, using Sis. B's pouch-like wash cloths. We drew our faces on paper and cut them out, and taped them to the pouches; then I explained to them that our spirits (hands) had lived in the Spirit world with Heavenly Father until time to come to earth to get our body (our very own puppet-pouch-person slipped over our hand) and live and be happy until we die (leaving puppet-pouch-person behind) and return to be with Heavenly Father in our Spirit again. They were so cute, and fascinated with my Frenglaise mixture of talking with them (they helped me a lot, and we figured out stuff as we went along), plus drawing on the board is magical and a very practical and neat way to keep things moving too. We sang along to the Primary CD's and colored the blown up big pictures that illustrated the 1st verse of "I Am A Child Of God," and got through the first hour. The second hour we did collages with colored paper pieces and glue sticks (I'm afraid Julien ate half of his stick - ick!), and ended up doing floor puzzles; so now I know they need more stories and stuff like that to fill the time better, for the next group I get. But, I feel good that at least I got a dress rehearsal under my belt, how many times does that happen? Church is always an adventure and we feel absolutely drained at the end of our Sundays, but what a way to go!
Don't take life, or love, or the gospel for granted . . . Make the most of your time on earth, you'll be glad you did.
Love you much, Sister Mom (Joanne) Gran'ma
Monday, February 2, 2009
Busy
Hello to all,
I have learned one thing by living in Angouleme and that is that I am not going to move to Oregon or Washington any time soon. The weather here is very similar to that of the Northwest and I have found that although it is not cold here, I can't take a continued week or more of rain. We are in a situation here where there is some flooding in the very lowest areas of the Charante because the earth is saturated. We did have 4 days of partly sunny weather and it was a welcome sight, but we have gone back into the rainy days again. It is not so much the rain but the dreary sky. I can see why people can get depressed without the sun coming out and warming the day as well as the heart.
We had the four days of the comic book festival in Angouleme and the streets are safe to travel again. Every year at this time Angouleme, the home of some of the original comic figures in France and even in Europe, puts on a 4 day festival for up and coming designers of comic book characters and future video producers. It is very well attended and the city makes a good piece of change hosting the affair. There are a few schools in Angouleme that are noted for their technology in the visual arts.
We had some changes in the branch with the departure of Sister Bouchard to her mission call in Salt Lake City and the Family Research Mission. She did so many things in the branch that it took a while to call people to replace her, but last Sunday many of these people gave strong testimony to the new callings they have and how it has helped them grow and develop. We look forward to even more progress as we put the branch on a footing so that when we leave we will not be missed and the branch will function well without us.
Joanne is having a Sunday experience since she is right now the only primary worker. We have one boy in the primary and some times some visitors, but she never knows what to expect. She tries to tailor her lessons for a wide range of situations. Joanne never knows who will show up and with her limited French she also is concerned with how she will be understood or how she will get the point across. We go over quite a bit of translations before every Sunday.
I think the hardest thing that happens is that we are limited in the words that the average Frenchman knows to express everyday ideas. There is such a difference between teaching the lessons that need to be learned before baptism because we are more conversant with the Gospel language. There are more helps for us as we use "Preach My Gospel" and the scriptures. When it comes down to trying to get across everyday ideas, we get many things lost in translation. In the U.S., we have sayings that are similar to the French, but they translate straight across, so we find ourselves at a loss for words on the simplest ideas. I also get a thought going and then have to pause often as I struggle to continue the line of thought through to its conclusion. This the reason I would like to leave the mission field with the church responsibilities in the hands of the French members. If there is a reason to build the branch, that is the main one.
We have had a very different experience in visiting our 98-year-old member. She feels that she is definitely coming to the end of her days and we are talking a great deal about how the scriptures and the leaders of the church talk about the life after this existence. The last few times with Madeline, we discussed things that she needed to think about that needed to be completed before she leaves this frail existence. We were prompted to go to her genealogy and check out what had been done. When I entered her names into the "New Family Search," we found that the married couples had all their temple work done except the sealing together of husband and wife. She was excited to know that these sealings could be done by someone else on their behalf so that these couple could have the choice to accept or reject the work done for them. We will meet with her again this week to see if there is any thing else we can do for her.
We have a hard time when there is a change in missionaries in Angouleme. We get to have these missionaries a little longer than most because of the small size of the branch and the need for them to stay and get to know and work with the members. Our last Elder stayed for 5 months and entered the mission as a greenie and just left. We have had two missionaries finish their missions here since we have been here and we get very attached to them. It is tough to wrap your arms around them and say goodbye. Joanne is famous throughout the mission for her Sunday meals for the missionaries and we have found that on district meetings it is cheaper and quicker to fix a noon meal for the district then to go out to eat with our two missionaries or the ones that come to Angouleme on an exchange before coming back to our city. The whole district looks forward to see what the treat will be. The new missionary let us know that the missionaries all over the mission know about her cooking and he said he wasn't disappointed to hear he was coming here and enjoying a good Sunday American meal.
Well, that's all from this side of the world.
Love, Elder Dad
I have learned one thing by living in Angouleme and that is that I am not going to move to Oregon or Washington any time soon. The weather here is very similar to that of the Northwest and I have found that although it is not cold here, I can't take a continued week or more of rain. We are in a situation here where there is some flooding in the very lowest areas of the Charante because the earth is saturated. We did have 4 days of partly sunny weather and it was a welcome sight, but we have gone back into the rainy days again. It is not so much the rain but the dreary sky. I can see why people can get depressed without the sun coming out and warming the day as well as the heart.
We had the four days of the comic book festival in Angouleme and the streets are safe to travel again. Every year at this time Angouleme, the home of some of the original comic figures in France and even in Europe, puts on a 4 day festival for up and coming designers of comic book characters and future video producers. It is very well attended and the city makes a good piece of change hosting the affair. There are a few schools in Angouleme that are noted for their technology in the visual arts.
We had some changes in the branch with the departure of Sister Bouchard to her mission call in Salt Lake City and the Family Research Mission. She did so many things in the branch that it took a while to call people to replace her, but last Sunday many of these people gave strong testimony to the new callings they have and how it has helped them grow and develop. We look forward to even more progress as we put the branch on a footing so that when we leave we will not be missed and the branch will function well without us.
Joanne is having a Sunday experience since she is right now the only primary worker. We have one boy in the primary and some times some visitors, but she never knows what to expect. She tries to tailor her lessons for a wide range of situations. Joanne never knows who will show up and with her limited French she also is concerned with how she will be understood or how she will get the point across. We go over quite a bit of translations before every Sunday.
I think the hardest thing that happens is that we are limited in the words that the average Frenchman knows to express everyday ideas. There is such a difference between teaching the lessons that need to be learned before baptism because we are more conversant with the Gospel language. There are more helps for us as we use "Preach My Gospel" and the scriptures. When it comes down to trying to get across everyday ideas, we get many things lost in translation. In the U.S., we have sayings that are similar to the French, but they translate straight across, so we find ourselves at a loss for words on the simplest ideas. I also get a thought going and then have to pause often as I struggle to continue the line of thought through to its conclusion. This the reason I would like to leave the mission field with the church responsibilities in the hands of the French members. If there is a reason to build the branch, that is the main one.
We have had a very different experience in visiting our 98-year-old member. She feels that she is definitely coming to the end of her days and we are talking a great deal about how the scriptures and the leaders of the church talk about the life after this existence. The last few times with Madeline, we discussed things that she needed to think about that needed to be completed before she leaves this frail existence. We were prompted to go to her genealogy and check out what had been done. When I entered her names into the "New Family Search," we found that the married couples had all their temple work done except the sealing together of husband and wife. She was excited to know that these sealings could be done by someone else on their behalf so that these couple could have the choice to accept or reject the work done for them. We will meet with her again this week to see if there is any thing else we can do for her.
We have a hard time when there is a change in missionaries in Angouleme. We get to have these missionaries a little longer than most because of the small size of the branch and the need for them to stay and get to know and work with the members. Our last Elder stayed for 5 months and entered the mission as a greenie and just left. We have had two missionaries finish their missions here since we have been here and we get very attached to them. It is tough to wrap your arms around them and say goodbye. Joanne is famous throughout the mission for her Sunday meals for the missionaries and we have found that on district meetings it is cheaper and quicker to fix a noon meal for the district then to go out to eat with our two missionaries or the ones that come to Angouleme on an exchange before coming back to our city. The whole district looks forward to see what the treat will be. The new missionary let us know that the missionaries all over the mission know about her cooking and he said he wasn't disappointed to hear he was coming here and enjoying a good Sunday American meal.
Well, that's all from this side of the world.
Love, Elder Dad
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