Bonjour -
Our summer days are winding down, and we feel like we are almost on borrowed time hoping for a harvest of the gospel seeds that have been sown these past 20 months. I love the analogy of the good seed (from Alma 32) that is planted in our hearts (that has to be a good spot!), that if you do not cast it out with your unbelief, and resist the Spirit, it will begin to swell and grow. When this happens, we begin to see and understand and become enlightened, and the fruit of our faith becomes delicious to us. It's so wonderful to read in the scriptures how the word of God works in our lives.
The actual garden that Jack planted and learned from, did rather well, and we are enjoying the fruits of his labor. We have tomatoes for us and some to share, which is always nice. I actually was a little nervous when he brought in the very first one, because it really did look slightly bizarre. It's skin was strangely transparent, and you could discern veins showing through it, all yellow and greenish in color. I took a knife to cut into it, and was loath to release those fluids into the atmosphere! Eeeek! (I've probably seen too many old science fiction movies, do you think?) I don't know where that one came from since all the others have been fairly normal in comparison. He got a tiny crop of peas and a few beans, and then cleared out the old vines and popped in more beans, which promptly sprouted and just finished flowering, so we'll see what we can get there again.
Sophora Croq was 17 when she became the "black sheep" of her active Mormon family, and was excommunicated for her unrepentant actions. She had a son, fell out of love, and lived with other men, off and on, until she began to see how this was affecting her 5-year-old boy, Jeremie. Her mom brought her to church in Angouleme, a 40 min. drive from where she lived, and we drove out to see her several times after that last year. We were stymied because she was living with someone at the same time that she was making overtures to return to her faith. When she finally sent him packing several months ago, we returned and began to teach her again. Jack started at the beginning with her, using Preach My Gospel, and the day that she prayed aloud was such a great breakthrough. Jeremie loves to pray, but when Jack told him that it was his mom's turn, his eyes got wide with wonder, because she hadn't done it before with him. We all sat quietly with heads bowed, waiting for her to find the words, and I was so surprised when the talkative little boy stayed silent also. After 2 long minutes, she gathered the courage to talk to her Father in Heaven, and said a beautiful prayer, asking for his help to come back into his fold. Her case has been reviewed, and after some personal interviews she will be cleared for baptism. We had a very good lesson with her last time, when Jack had her read aloud all 39 verses in Hebrews 10. It is all about how the Lord accepts repentance, but that it is a sacred promise that must not be reneged on, or it's as if you are trampling the Son of God under your feet. It's a powerful message of having patience and enduring to the end for our final reward. I think she is scared of failing, because she knows it will be hard in many ways, but she seems willing to continue to pray for help, and to ask (as Jack suggested) if there is anything else she needs to do in her life before being baptized again. We hope she keeps the date to keep moving forward.
Joao and Sandra are in a tizzy with their new baby, and his worries about his continuing health concerns have him even more frazzled. We dropped by for our appointment and found the social worker with Sandra in the kitchen, the kids running around the house, and Joao complaining about the temperature he's had for several days which makes him unable to take his medication. He brought out a thermometer, and yelped when he saw that his temperature was normal, and ran to get his shot kit. He came back to where we were sitting, pulled out the needle, and began the process of filling the chamber and flicking the needle with his fingers. He was just pulling up his shirt to plunge that thing right into his liver, when Sandra gave him a horrified shout to STOP! She made him take himself into the kitchen to do it, so we wouldn't have to see it. I knew he'd done it when I heard the loud OW! from the next room; darn, we miss all the fun! They haven't come to church for over 2 months now, and it's always the same excuses: it's too hard on the children, 3 hours are too long for them, the members don't like hearing noisy kids, Sister Metcalfe can't speak French to them (so they did notice that!) Jack talked like a Trojan, countering their every objection: We've all been where you are now with the kids, people do understand your plight and would like to help, and my wife is ready with a lesson and gets help in the translation from the Elders. We had such high hopes with Sandra, but maybe she needs to develop at her own pace, so we don't lose her completely. We need to ask the Lord's help on this, and ask for a change of heart, and more patience and desire for the gospel of Christ in their lives.
So there you have our gardening efforts . . . it begins with the planting, and continues with all the growing pains, and I'm not sure how long the harvest lasts, because those seeds are too important to give up on. You hang in there too, we miss you.
Love,
Sister Mom (Joanne) Gran'ma
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