Cedric

 

 We have had the privilege over the last 2 months to learn what love really means as we have become acquainted with Cedric. This young man who was born in the Congo, came to France with his family as a 10 year old when his father served in the Congolese Embassy in Paris. He returned to his native land for a number of years and then came back to France to further his education. He is now attending the University of Lille and is finishing his degree in business management.

Elder Andrus & Cederic

   All his family lives in the Congo with the exception of a sister who lives in the nearby city of Valenciennes.  Cedric visited his sister and as he was going to the train station to return to Lille, met the Elders and stopped to talk to them. He was interested in knowing more about the Church because he had a good friend in the Congo who was LDS. The missionaries called the Elders here and the journey continued. From the first discussion and his first prayer he knew the message of the restoration was true and he had the desire to be baptized by someone holding the authority of God on the earth. This one act of a sincere person wanting to know from our Heavenly Father if the message of the restoration is true is a marvelous event in the life of Cedric and millions more. It is great to know how he feels, as this same event took place in my life and I cannot deny the experience of having my prayer answered.

Cederic studies with Elders Andrus & Meyers

   Cedric began to come to church from the first Sunday after meeting the missionaries. He has come to the young adult family home evening and even started attending the institute class on Thursday night. The young adults welcomed him into their group and the institute instructor, Brother Vanaquer, made a concerted effort to meet Cedric's Gospel needs during and after class. Opposition to this new found direction in his life came immediately in his daily experiences. His cousin, whom he lived with, began to mock Cedric for not wanting to continue the weekend parties with drinking and all that goes with the party life style. Cedric decided that his desire to live the life of the Gospel was in jeopardy, so he asked another cousin if he could move in with him until he found a new place. In that decision Cedric made a choice that would move him away from the party influence of others, but also brought us closer to this friend and brother.

   The  cousin that he moved in with lived 40 miles from Lille and the last train left too early to attend family home evening and institute. It was easy for Joanne and I to make the invitation to drive him home. Our brother didn't want to put us in that position, but when Joanne insisted with her motherly way, he allowed us to make the trip with him. It gave us time to talk to him and answer his Gospel questions each time we made the drive.

  With the young adult weekend coming up two sharp Elders, Meyers and Andrus, planned the baptism for the Saturday of the conference. When the day came there were 40 young adults and another 30 members of the ward that were present for the baptism. The Elders planned the baptism with Cedric and when all was said and done it was the young adults who said the opening prayer, gave the talks and one of our newly called missionaries from our group baptized Cedric. The only deviation from the young adult participation was that I was asked by Cedric to give the closing prayer, which was an honor for me. During the baptisms here in France the person who was baptized bears their testimony and Cedric's was one of strength and conviction.

The waters of baptism

   The next day being Sunday we went to three sacrament meetings. First was to the confirmation of Cedric by the bishop of his ward and then to Lille, our home ward. The bishop of the Lille ward, Bishop Doit, who is a chef, prepared the meal for the young adults' Sunday meal and then we went to special sacrament for the young adults that brought the weekend conference to a close.

   After the Lille ward sacrament I was asked to come into the other ward's priesthood meeting where I was asked by Cedric to be part of the circle of priesthood brethren to ordain him a priest in the Aaronic priesthood. The 1st councilor ordained him and gave an inspirational blessing. I love it when the missionaries put the members in the spot light for baptisms and the other ordinances because we will leave, but the new member will have those of the ward that were called upon to baptize, confirm, and to bless them in their ward to have a continual attachment  for the future.  It looks like I started a new tradition, and that is to give the new male members a hug after their confirmation and priesthood ordination, and since the Elders were in the circle it was easy for them to follow suit. The members of the bishopric are also returned missionaries and so they remembered their days in the mission field and they got into the spirit of the "HUG" also.

   Today in Cedric's ward he came dressed in a new suit and was asked during the week by his bishop to bless the sacrament. The Aaronic priesthood brother that was with him was such a fine example of one who was to teach.  He was patient and slow so that Cedric could follow without looking lost as is often the case the first time we do something. It was a privilege  to have the opportunity to see the priesthood in action and to have the blessings of Christ's atonement from such a dedicated new member.

   This is the reason we love the mission field. We have been able to be a part of the lives of the three baptisms that have taken place since coming to Lille. There is a great joy in helping others enjoy the light of the Gospel and seeing them grow. The two other members have given talks in church and are participating in the activities. Oh how I wish I had the trump of an angel and could help to bring so many more to the happiness of the Gospel of Christ.

Apartment Checks and Tourist Stops

One of our responsibilities in the Lille Zone is to visit the apartments of the Elders and Sisters to make sure they are cleaning their apartments according to the mission rules. These rules are no more than a mother wanting her son or daughter to keep their room clean and to make sure that the rest of the place is kept clean so that the germ count is kept to a minimum. The Sisters are the easiest to check out, but as of late the Elders are doing a much better job of meeting and even beating the standards. Joanne has some kind of incentive for the missionaries and quite often a bag of homemade cookies are given out for a place up to standards.

We also have come to the aid of the missionaries with things that they need. We have called in to the mission home to get permission to buy refrigerators, toaster ovens for apartments with only electric stove burners, garbage cans, light bulbs, and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. We also do repairs and paint the apartments when they have seen a lot of use. Some of these apartments have been in the system for over 20 years and after the usual wear and tear need some tender loving care. Our biggest problem is to get through the red tape between the owners and the rental agents. In France everyone wants to take their cut but no one wants to put out for repairs when they are needed even when it will cost them only for materials because we will do the work. In France that is monumental since the person who does the work must charge double because he or she must pay the government the same amount in taxes as he receives in payment. It's no wonder that nothing gets done.

As we visit the different cities every transfer period or 7 weeks we try to work into the schedule of the missionaries. This means getting to their apartments during their study time early in the morning, at noon when they come back for lunch, or in the evening at 5 o'clock for their dinner time. This is easy in the Lille area since there are three apartments for the four teams of
missionaries, but when we head to the far flung cities of the zone it leaves a gap in time, so we check out the local tourist spots. Of course this always includes the cathedrals in the cities. We were in Amiens, France the other day and we went to the largest Gothic Cathedral in France. One thing that has begun to strike me as I visit these gigantic buildings, built in the 15th and 16th centuries, is that there was no modern machinery to raise the massive blocks of stone up over 400 feet on each of these structures. The number of deaths that occurred had to be high as well as those hurt and maimed during the construction.

Another claim to fame by the city of Amiens is that the Catholic Church of the city asserts that they have the head of John the Baptist. It is kept in the Cathedral but we were not interested in the viewing. I feel that it is a stretch of history to make that claim since John was buried by his followers after he was beheaded. The history of the wars of conquest between Jews, Muslims, and Christians makes it hard to believe that the spot where John was laid to rest stayed known through the centuries, but be that as it may I let them believe for it is of no consequence to anyone except the real person to whom it belongs. Since John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery as a resurrected being, I wonder who will make the claim of the head later.

The buildings themselves are impressive, but except for the back of the cathedral where the alter is located, there is very little light, and even in the heat of summer the inside is cold and damp. The stained glass windows at the area of the altar are there for effect, a teaching moment that as the believer approaches the altar he approaches the light of the sacrifice of Christ. I appreciate that teaching aspect of the cathedral, but the church doesn't go into the teaching of the sacrifice of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and the glorious resurrection. There are many statues and paintings in the cathedrals concerning Christ giving his life on the cross, but I have yet to see the focus on the paying for our sins in the garden and the marvelous new birth of the body and the spirit for eternity. The lack of emphasis on the pain Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane takes away from one the main purposes of the sacrifice of Jesus, and the fact that the resurrection is not brought out as the culminating gift of Christ,leaves the worshiper with the death of Jesus on the cross as their last vision of the Savior. A recent convert said it so well when she said that the gloom of the death of Jesus was her previous view of her Savior, but since her recent knowledge of the resurrection she has viewed the events of the three days of the celebration of Easter in the light of joy and not despair.

Another thing that we have noticed in our travels through this area is that the effects of World War I are evident. Near Lille we saw, as we brought an a friend of the church to the chapel, at least 50 machine gun bunkers on both sides of the highway scattered in the farmers fields. They have not been removed and they are a reminder of how much of the trench warfare took place here. The other reminder is that there are hundreds of small cemeteries dotting the area. We passed many along the road yesterday as we went south in the zone to visit the Elder's apartments. Canadian, Scottish, British, Australian, and for the first time an American cemetery. Each resting place is well kept and will hold from 200 to 300 graves. As we were headed to Saint Quentin we noticed that there has been major reconstruction of entire villages and that the Cathedral of the city still has pock marks in the stone from bullets. Reminders of World War I are also found in the major battle areas because there are signs in three languages not to stray into the areas due to the fact that not all the shells have been found. One member mentioned that each year there will be news of a farmer being injured because the earth over time will bring a shell close to the surface and it will explode as they plow their fields.