Hello to all in the outside world. It is getting hot in Angouleme with the temperature reaching into the 90's during the day. Yesterday after church we had a high of 98.6 F. We have an air cooler in the chapel and also the meetings are in the morning so we get the benefit of a much cooler part of the day for our services. The forecast is for hot weather the next ten days. It is not what I call a good time to be out knocking on doors and meeting people in the streets.
It is hard in France to even talk to people about the Gospel of Christ due to the past actions of the government which are the reversal of the U.S. Constitution. As I have said before, the French government has made it very difficult to practice any religion. In France, the government has acted so that the law states"Freedom from religion" and not "freedom of religion." The Catholic Church has gone in debt in France and can't maintain their churches, so the French government has taken control of the ones build anciently, which makes up 97% of the churches once maintained by the Catholic Church. The government has labeled them historical land marks and the persons who do the up-keep are hired by the government agency that controls ancient landmarks.
If the Catholic Church wishes to hold a service in one of the churches controlled by the government, they must rent the church, just like any other private concern. That is why there are music concerts and other activities being held in the churches that are not related to religious services. A good example of this was when we took the missionaries to Poitier for Elder Hill's medical exam. The exam was a part of his visa for staying in France.
Poitier is out of our mission boundaries, but it is the place where people from Angouleme go for their immigrant and missionary visa medicals. We had two exams and they were hours apart so we got to visit the old part of the city and 4 different Catholic churches in that area. One of the buildings was the oldest baptistery still standing in France. It was built in the 11th century and has a large baptismal font where the baptisms were done by immersion. It just so happened that the baptistery was being rented by a business man from Poitier for a luncheon. There was a doorman at the front checking invitations for the catered lunch. A funeral in one of the old churches will run a person a nice sum of change.
The other denominations in France have built and maintain their own churches through member donations. Our church would like to build a temple in France, near Paris, but the French government feels that all church buildings should be open to the public and there are negotiations going on as we speak for a change in the French thinking. The church is making head way in this area. We have just finished negotiations for the donations to be tax deducible, but in doing this, we had to limit the donations to tithing, fast offerings, missionary donations, and temple construction and maintenance. All other donations on your sheet in the U.S have been taken off because the French government considers that their responsibility. A member must sign the donation sheet so that the government knows that the donation was given by the member's free will. Extensive auditing by the government goes on to see that the funds that are donated are in accordance with French law. I feel that this new arrangement will give the church more credibility and gain greater acceptance by the government and will lead to a temple in France soon. There are many influential members of the church in France, and they have been able to help the government understand our teachings and our desire to be financially sound as a church and as members.
We have been doing a lot of work to bring back lost sheep into the fold. Maybe that was the Lord's reason for sending us here. The Corga family has had one problem after another, but we have held fast with them and have been through each problem with them. The French are closing in on themselves. They would like to close the door on immigration even though the Corgas are from Portugal, a European Community member country. We have met each problem head on and, with some American ingenuity, have been able to counter the French government to get the family complete legal status.
Dominique Auje is another project we have been working on for over a year and we are now seeing swift progress in bringing him back. He and his fiance are planning a marriage and Carole is taking the missionary discussions and responding positively.
Sephora Croq is a single mother of a cute five-year-old that we are working with. She kicked out her live-in boy friend and is moving slowly to coming back into activity.
A new brother has moved into the branch. After raising his children with a wife who has been hostile to his conversion, he made a stand in favor of the Gospel and because of this his wife divorced him. He is retired and has moved into the Charente and he has found new strength in the closeness of the branch.
It is good to have success after some very long struggles. We love the Lord and we love the fact that we can be in His service to help others.
Elder Dad
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