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.

What I Like About France

There has been a reoccurring theme that has been going through my mind for the past little while and it is about what I really like about being in France. It was not hard to come up with a large list, but I will pick out just a few of the highlights.

The first is the members of the church here in the Lille area. Today we had ward conference in both wards and as usual Joanne and I split our time between both of the wards by attending sacrament meetings in each of the wards. Some members come as far as 30 to 40 miles away to come to church and every week they are faithful in doing so. The members here give 10 minute talks in sacrament meeting so that means there are at least 4 talks each Sunday. The chance to give a talk comes much quicker here than at home, but they are always well prepared. Most Sundays there are as many as two youth speakers and their topics are well thought out and their testimonies are strong. The youth here are usually the only member of the church in their schools and they are very missionary minded even though French law prohibits the discussion of religion on school grounds. They show by example who they are and what they believe and that brings about questions from their friends. The members here need to be ready with the answers to so many more questions than we do at home because the church is not as well understood here in France and many of the news that is disseminated is false.

The leaders here are the same quality as at home because they are called by revelation. These brothers and sisters toil a few more hours than we do at home. Joanne and I are home teachers to two families that live far from our home and that means the leaders here are constantly on the road to keep in contact with the members of their ward. The bishops of the two wards here are very different in age but their dedication to the flock is the same and it drives them to be mindful of everyone.

Today with ward conferences the two ward decided to have a meal after and with both wards ending at about the same time there were about 140 people to feed. The Lille ward had the main course, which was couscous. Since distance is a problem the sisters came to the ward and spent Saturday afternoon getting everything ready and then took everything to their homes and put it all together in large quantities. The other ward had the salads and desserts and that was somewhat easier to get ready for, but everyone did their part to make the event a success.

Working with the young adults of the stake is a joy. These young people work in schooling and work along with their church assignments. We are having the privilege of meeting with 8 to 10 at Monday's home evening at the ward and then anywhere from 10 to 19 at the institute class on Thursday. Joanne prepares something good for Monday night and then cooks a meal for after the institute class because some of the students come from different wards that are 50 miles away. The youth gets along very well and we know that as they go on missions and then come back and marry in the temple that the foundation of the church will be solid. This program is inspired and it keeps the youth together and focused. We have a major stake activity once every two months and local activities every two weeks. Our Stake is planning a tri-stake youth activity at the end of Easter vacation. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

The next item on my list is peanut butter and a French baguette. You might think that bread and peanut butter is good but if you put it on French bread you will think you have died and gone to heaven. The typical French bread is baked in a special oven and the different wheat blends gives it a taste we thoroughly enjoy. We try very hard to keep this eating ritual down to a minimum or we would balloon out of sight with the added weight. The other food that we limit ourselves to a once a month feast is kebab. This is the North African equivalent to our American hamburger tradition. It is made with a special foot long bun and the sauce is spread on the inside of the bun. You can have it your way if you want to add lettuce and tomatoes. The meat is lamb, well cooked and it is placed in the bun until it overflows. French fries are then added to the kebab in large quantities. The fries in northern France are delicious and much better than anywhere else we have tried in the country. Wrap that up and take it home and if we don't split it in half for the next meal we would get fat in no time.

Keeping with the food theme, cheese is definitely on the list of the great things in France. Each region has its special cheese and so that means the variety is almost unlimited. The cheese section in the super market has three aisles and each aisle is 30 yards long. There is soft cheese that spreads on bread, hard cheese you can slice off and eat with bread, cheese to cook with and cheese to make deserts with. You have cheese from milk of cows, goats, and sheep. Most of the cheese is aged to perfection, but there are some that are fresh. The cheese that is aged is enclosed in a special outer coating that also adds to the flavor over time and keeps the cheese from spoiling. Every meal that is worth being classified a true French meal always has a cheese course with at least 4 to 6 difference types.

We have a few other favorite foods here. One is a cereal that is called Jordans Country Crisp. It is a mixture of grains and nuts, although you can get it with dark chocolate or strawberries, instead of nuts. I like the one with nuts, because there are many varieties of nuts in with the grains. It has a touch of honey to go with it. Hot dogs are something we have come to enjoy. With the fast pace missionary days we resort to eating a French style hot dog. We buy the ones made with chicken. They are long and thin and fit nicely in a bun called, "Pain au lait" or a special milk bun. The bun is soft and when you spread a mild French mustard and some ketchup on it you have a treat.

One last thing that I have come to appreciate here in Lille is the freeway system. With the cities in France being established centuries ago the building of freeways was a mighty feat. In Lille the construction was done in such a way as to make it efficient, but also in a way that did not destroy the ancient flavor of the city. Some of the system goes through tunnels that save the structure above. The signs are very well marked and the interchanges are done with the traffic flow in mind. The drivers in the north of France are for the most part very mindful of each other. The flow in and out of the interchanges is done courteously because there is an understanding that everyone must change lanes to get into their correct freeway so as to get to their destination. It is very easy to signal and be let in to your next lane.

We love the people here, their old traditions with food and some we have changed as we mix ours with theirs. The time is flying by because we are busy and see the progress that is being made. A mission is a great way for a couple to grow together and make a difference. The members love us because they think we are making a great sacrifice to be with them, when in reality it is a great blessing to serve and be with such great people.

The Misadventures of Jack & Joanne

Because of spring vacation, I have no cooking duties for two weeks, so Jack set up appointments for us last Thursday. The first was a call back to Emmanuelle in Belgium at 11 a.m. I decided chocolate chip cookies might be an 'ice breaker' for us, so I made a batch before we left. Armed and loaded with cookies, who could possibly resist us? We quickly found out that Emmanuelle can - her little house was closed up as tight as a cocoon, the white shutters locked up unwelcomingly. We knocked on her door anyway, but no answer, so we left her a phone message to let her know that we had kept our part of the bargain. We spent the next 4 hours checking addresses against names of possible young adults and found one 25 year old woman at home. She had a young daughter and looked to be expecting again, so I don't think she qualifies in that category any more. Then Jack got a phone call from the new Home teaching family we were to see that night. They had to cancel because of sickness and car trouble to boot. Rats! Our best laid plans gone ka-poot and leaving us with far, far too many choc. chip cookies for the best interest of Jack and Joanne. We dropped some into the hand of a gypsy who was begging at a stoplight in the city.

While getting ready to leave for more head hunting on Friday, we got a Skype call online and were able to see one of our newest grandsons. We talked with his mom for 20 minutes or so, and then went down to our car, and there on our windshield was a parking violation ticket! Blaaaa! We have to park on the street until we can get into an underground parking space, so any time during the week we are home from 9 to 5; we have to pay the meter. Jack is always so watchful, making sure to pay on time day after day; but somehow in the 10 minutes that we overdue, the meter lady showed up and gotcha! We owe $17 Euro for that, but the guy who got caught in the handicap parking in front of our building has to pay $130, so it could have been worse! We programmed our GPS machine Mappy (affectionately known as Mappyanne to us for her sweet, patient voice), to take us to Armentieres where we found no family with the name Cretel in the building listed. Next, we located the very nice house of Mme. Beaudot, who was not at home...we'll be back. Jack got a return call from a young man who'd moved to Paris, and gave him a real pep talk about the Young Adult program there, and he said he was thinking about returning to the church. I then programmed in our other Home teaching family, la famille Lagache , and here we ended up 40 k. away from Lille and in big trouble when Mappy didn't warn us of upcoming radar like she usually does. Jack forgot to slow down soon enough as we approached their ville, Vieux Berquin. Suddenly a bright light flashed into our eyes from the roadside, and we were had! Oh my heck - a two ticket day! Hoop-la, they're coming to take us away I'm sure, as they'll soon discover that we're serial law-breakers! But, wow, did we ever get a warm welcome from the mother of the family, Doriane. She caged her dogs and invited us in, gushing happily over our visit. She's in her early 40's and her family is a bit fractured; her oldest son ( 21) has kids and is losing his home, her daughter (20) was in the corner glued to some show she was watching on the computer with earphones, and a 4 year old sucking a binky was watching U.S. cartoons on a very loud, very large TV set. We talked for awhile and we 3 had a prayer together (the others not so inclined), and Doriane warned us to watch out for the radar (coming and going), and then clucked sadly when she heard our bad news. We then found ourselves in a part of Lille we had not yet seen, Old town, with cobblestone streets too tiny for two way traffic. We parked and walked back to Rue Doudin (a real throwback to the middle ages) and found the place that was listed. It was an apartment complex that looked like a cave almost, the opening covered totally by a blue gate of iron bars. A young woman opened it with her electronic disc and she let us into the inner, glass door protected alcove, so we could check the mailboxes for Michele C. There were many boxes, but none with her name, so we went back out the glass door and the blue gate wouldn't let us pass through! Hmmmm. Jack hunted high and I hunted low for buttons or the like - pushing anything we saw that was button-like. With the glass doors locked behind us and the blue gate locked in front of us, we were caught, like rats in a trap! Jack tried out his whistle, but nobody paid any attention to it. Finally I spied a decrepit looking button thingy in a recessed corner past the blue gate - I pushed and nothing happened. Jack came and tried his muscles on it and 'click' the gate reluctantly unlocked itself, and we were free!

We've been hearing how high the gas prices have been rising there at home...amazing that some officials seem to think that U. S. prices should be in line with what people pay in Europe. At the pump now, on average, we pay $6.00 a gallon in Euros to gas up our little Chevy, and that's diesel (which is cheaper here). But, also you have to remember the exchange rate, because it costs us, on average, $598.00 in U.S. dollars to buy $450.00 Euros (which are so pretty and shiny they just seem like play money to me!). So, in our dollars, that adds on even more to the cost of that gallon of gasoline, making it more like nearly $8.00 dollars a gallon. Is that high enough for them yet? Some food for thought.

On Monday night our Peruvian Ami, Denis, went to a member of our ward's house for Family Home Evening. Racquel invited him when she heard that he was from South America, because she was born in Spain and could speak Spanish to him. She said things went very well and that they presented the Plan of Salvation as their lesson. He told her that if he doesn't get the internship he is trying for he will go back to Peru in two weeks. I'm glad that he has been introduced to the church well here, because if he does go back he will find that it is well established there as well. As you can see, things are normal or goofy no matter where in the world you are...but we are happy here right now.

Love to you all..........Sister Joanne

Ann-Marie's Baptism & Our Stake Conference Assignment

It's taking us awhile to sort out the ins and outs of our mission this time. I'm now into a routine of weekly expectations...I buy food, I fix food, I serve food, I give left over food to the hungry (I'm talking our Elder and Sister missionaries, including us, here!) because we have no way of knowing how many to fix food for. I can deal with this, even though it is a worrisome problem to unravel in my head each week about what to make. Jack, on the other hand, is at his wits end unless he has someone to teach the gospel to. There is only just so much he can do for me and with me in the kitchen, so he has been wracking his brain for meaningful things to do. Our Peruvian contact came to Sacrament meeting last week, and our missionary minded members welcomed him warmly. He enjoyed what he heard and saw, even though a thoughtless girl in front of us talking to her mother, made it hard to concentrate on the speakers some of the time. I guess that's just life in the big city everywhere, people are people and can't always think past the now in their lives. Anyway, he had a phone call to make to his wife in Peru (a certain time frame to catch) so we sent him on his way with a Spanish Book of Mormon and he promised to read Moroni 10:4.

Jack talked to our bishop about taking some home-teaching families, so we were given two inactive families for a start, and he immediately tried to get in touch with them to set up times to come to visit. Then we got a call from our Stake president to give talks in Stake Conference this weekend...we have a 10 minute slot of time to fill...hmmm. One tenth of that should be just enough for me!

Ann-Marie Edike finally stopped waffling to and fro and set her baptism date for Feb. 24, this weekend, after Jack challenged her to keep up with her two 11 year old daughters in the church. She said she knew that her girls were on the train and it was leaving her behind, so since her mother is here from Africa to visit them, it's a good time for her to witness it also. We went to see her after work on Wed. night, but she hadn't made it home yet, so we dashed across town to the bishop's meeting. Then she called our phone and asked us to return, so we did, and had a wonderful meeting with her. She is a lively, great woman and I like her a lot. She didn't want to be baptized on a Saturday (that's a day for marriages), but Friday sounded like a good baptism day to her! She'd had her Zone leader interview last night, but had two questions she wanted Jack to answer: How can a man in the middle of the desert be baptized without any water around? And, why do we not baptize babies and little children in the church? WOW! All you ex-missionaries out there..just chomping at the bit to answer those concerns aren't ya??!! We had a great discussion about those things and she was touched by the spirit when she read what Moroni had to say about infant baptism. I love the gospel of Christ because the things we KNOW are true we cannot deny, and what we don't yet know we can rely upon our faith in Christ's promises to us that someday all will be known to us. Her baptism was a ward celebration, complete with food afterward and all the trimmings. We also had a Young Adult Activity going on in their room in the church, so after Jack said the closing prayer for the baptism program, I divided half the pan of bar cookies for them and left the rest for the ward repas. It was movie night and once again 17 Miracles made an impact on those who watched it. I'm so glad we brought that movie with us...it was a last minute purchase at Deseret Book before we left Provo last December, and we weren't sure it would show on the dvd's here, but it's been so great...all the girl's were crying through the sad scenes. (I don't know how you would have answered Ann-Marie's man in the desert question, but Jack told her that any good missionary would get that man to the nearest oasis and baptize him in the same manner that Christ had been baptized!)

Stake Conference was to be held in a rented hall where there is a stage for local concerts etc. I was nervous and wondered what I should say in my two or three minutes that anyone would want to hear. I began to write down some things about our call to the Young Adult program and the unity that exists among them and that they are great kids...the things I'm expected to say, I guess. Then Friday night when I got into bed, my mind just seemed to fill with words and I could picture myself speaking them in perfect French, and I wasn't even dreaming yet! I got myself up and wrote down what I could remember then went back to bed for a good night's sleep. I had Jack help me the next day to get the wording right, and we were ready for Sunday. The Saturday night conference for adults began at 2 PM with a choir practice that I wanted to join and that they pulled Jack into joining. He kept protesting that his voice was like a frog's, but the patient brother beside him kept him pretty much in tune as we practiced, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing and Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me. It was so fun to sing those favorite songs in French, the words do not match at all...but, the essence of the ideas expressed are there. We didn't get home until past 9 PM, and you just see what membership is like here, it is your world. On Sunday morning as we walked into the hall, a brother came to me and asked if I needed a translator to help me with my talk. How tempting! I told him, 'No, I am going to tough it out in French, and hope they understand me." President Poznanski and his wife were the main speakers, and there was a wonderful young women's choir that sang also. My turn came and under some very bright lights I told the audience that, 'When we used to go on vacations with our family we always found a church to go to on Sundays, and that I always felt at home there. WHY? Because the spirit of the members is the same everywhere. I told them that is why I love being with them here in France, even though I miss my family, now I have a family here. With the Church of Jesus Christ the members are my family; the spirit of the members is the same! I then told them what I thought was the main reason that I love Jesus Christ. It is that he keeps his promises to us. I listed some main ones he kept : a world on which to live, our agency to choose, guidance by prophets, his help to return us back to our Father in Heaven, to come to earth and live a sinless life, to Atone for our sins, to visit his other sheep in the world, and to reestablish his gospel in its fullness on the earth in these latter days. All these promises and so many more Christ kept for his Father and for us. That is why I love, and have confidence in my Savior, Jesus Christ.' Jack got up and had them chuckling first thing by saying, 'As you can see I'm getting very old, in the U.S. we have a saying, that I have one foot in the grave and the other foot is sliding on a banana peel ! Where is our leadership in the church going to come from? It will come from the young adults, and that is why this program is so important. Relief Society sisters need to embrace the young women into activity, and the priesthood brothers need to do the same for the young men. We come from a small town in Wyoming of 500 persons and 100 thousand cows. But there are two wards in this town with a tradition of sending out many missionaries. You too have begun a tradition of sending out missionaries with 6 in the field right now and one more, Virginie, next month, and Pierre-Louis not long after. Then who will come next?' He then bore his testimony and we were done...big sigh of relief!

That's missionary work…something new all the time...it's so great!

Love you all,

Joanne

You Can't Get There From Here

I love France and the cities that we have seen with their unique statues and buildings and the atmosphere that comes with centuries of history, but when it comes to driving someplace, you can't get there from here. There are a great number of impediments to driving to a certain destination in any city in France. The first problem is that there are not a lot of street signs except at major intersections and so when you want to make sure you are on the right street to arrive at your destination it is very easy to miss a turn that you should have taken.

Which way? They are both one-way!!

Now you have a major problem to back track to get to where you just made the wrong turn. In the United States you just go around the block and voila you have it made. Not in France. All the streets go off on angles and so you might have to travel many blocks to try to get back where you made the wrong turn. That problem is compounded by the fact that there are so many one way streets that when you turn to go back the best way possible you end up facing a one way sign. There have been many times when we have had to back up because we assumed that the street would take us close to where we wanted to go, only to face the one way sign. Twice we just pressed forward on the one way street and turned off on the first intersection, no matter which way it directed us. We were lucky both time that there was no traffic coming the other way and the intersection was a short way off, and of course it was another one way street going the wrong direction and we ended up a long way from our hopeful arrival point.

Streets on angles.

The last problem is that our GPS that we brought only works in the United States and its territories and though France would like to annex the U.S., we won't be one of their territories any time soon (we could make France one of our territories). Back home our GPS would talk to us and give us plenty of warning of things to come and directions to take. Our GPS here is called Mappy and unlike the female voice of ours back home, this one doesn't talk, but by its actions your mother is certain it is a male. It, like us, gets confused with one way streets and then takes forever to recalculate and by then we are further into the abyss of the French maze of city streets. Your mother feels that it has a male mentality when it has to recalculate in that it doesn't ask direction so therefore it take a long time in getting its bearings.

The freeway system here is very well planned and laid out, but once again Mappy waits until the last moment to indicate the turn off we should take and so we have spent time going down the freeway to the next turn off so we can turn around. Joanne is learning to anticipate Mappy by checking the distance in meters to the next turn off, but in some cases there are multiple turn exits close together and so here again we end up going to the next exit so we can turn around.

One benefit of living in the mountains back home is that they can give you instant direction points of reference. Here the city is built on flat land and we have had to pick out references points to go by. We started with church steeples until we found out very quickly that the steeples are all designed the same way and all but one was built out of the same colored stone. With that idea gone, we started to look for the city hall clock tower. It is very high and near our home, so it became a major land mark for us. In Lille we noticed that the many modern buildings in the newer area of town are different colors, so that helps us to get our bearings.

4 one-way streets around a church square.

We have found our way easier here in Lille with a total population of 4 million that we did in Angouleme, but we haven't started to really get to the members that are less active and we must admit that even with Mappy's male attitude we have really needed him on several occasions.

A Contact at the Doctor's Office

It's a cold morning, not yet light outside, and I'm sitting here with Heather's colorful lap blanket (that I snatched off the back of our couch) around my legs feeling content with my part of last night’s FHE. I made 30 sugar cookie hearts with pink (sprinkles of strawberry Kool-ade) frosting that finally turned out good when I used parchment paper to bake them on. Jack's part was to lead them in an activity after the lesson (they've been playing cards each time so far) and he made something we'd been told about at the Couple's Conference. You stand in a circle and each person holds a 5 ft. (or so) piece of PVC pipe in front of them vertically on the floor. Someone says LEFT and they must let go of their pipe and grab the one to the left of them, and if RIGHT is called they must let go and grab the one to their right. It was fun and kinda competitive and a bit dicey when poles went flying at times, but we had 12 there, with an AMI (friend of the Church) and the Elders teaching him, plus 2 Elders who fly home this Thursday and wanted to say good-bye, so it was a lively group. What a different mission it is this time; I almost feel like we're party planners and our goal is' a good time was had by all'! Just kidding, I think! :)

Last week we had an experience on the day of our scheduled 'medical exam' to see if we were fit to remain in France. In my morning prayer I was prompted to pray specifically to have someone put in our path who needs the gospel in their life. I was a bit nervous about dealing with French officialdom, so I got myself ready carefully so as to be at my best. The Zone leaders paid for our stamps and brought them to us...it costs the Mission $340 Euros each to keep us here for a year, and the money was due that day. Our little French GPS, Mappy, got us to our destination 10 minutes early for our 1:30 appointment, but we had to walk around the block to the back entrance in the -3 degree weather, and it was cold! Several people were milling around the locked doors on which a sign proclaimed their 'working hours' were from 2 to 5 PM. What? I was more upset at that sign than Jack was - I was getting in there at 1:30 for my 'appointment' or else! Some high-heeled worker unlocked the doors right on time and we were the second ones inside. She had us line up, then I handed her the papers she needed, and was directed down a hall to where a woman technician awaited me. She spoke slowly so I could understand that a chest x-ray would be taken. She led me into a small room and locked the door we'd just entered, then directed me to remove all my upper clothing. When she saw my garment top she nodded that it was OK to wear, then she positioned me in front of an ancient looking light panel and I heard a loud rattle and hummm and that was it. I'm X-RAYED...hope I live through it!

Within a minute or so Jack followed me and went through the same adventure, 'You can keep your T-shirt on', she told him. He came out still buttoning up his shirt and tying his tie and stood while a small man sat next to me on my left. He was holding a Peruvian passport in his hands and so Jack asked if he was from Peru? Startled, the man said, 'How did you know that?’, then he saw what he was holding and said, 'Oh!’ "That was easy" said Jack, and they laughed. We started to talk to him, and he knew some English as well as fairly good French, and is some kind of engineer here to study for 2 years before returning home. He could be in his late 20's and is recently married to a woman from Peru also who is waiting for him there. He's from Lima, where it's nice and warm and he longs to go back. We told him who and what we are and he was very interested because he's been searching for "a community of believers" to associate with to counter the spiritual indifference of the people he's met here in France so far. Wow! We invited him to come to church on Sunday and he said he'd love to and took the address and our names and phone number. When he heard that there were English classes held there also he became even more excited and that sealed the deal. The last of our 'exam' was by a nurse who took my height and weight and had me read an eye chart - I passed, I think. Jack followed me and then we were called individually in to see the head honcho...La Doctor. She looked at me over her black rimmed glasses and in her no-nonsense style asked about my 'sante', was it good? 'Yes, my health is good.' I told her. 'Do you smoke?' No. 'Do you take any pills, medicine?' No. She looked at my poster sized chest x-ray and didn't seem alarmed by anything, so she signed me off and stamped my papers and had me send my husband in. That was it…we got our passports stamped with the Cart-de-se-jour right inside instead of a simple card to carry like last time, and were sent on our way. We left there on Cloud-9 after saying good-bye to our Peruvian friend, Denis. Not only did we pass our medical exam to stay in France, but Heavenly Father answered BOTH our prayers, because Jack also asked that someone be placed in our path today in our prayer before we left home. We are very excited to see what will happen next! That's all for now. love ya, Mom

A Trip to Arras

We have the responsibility from the mission president to travel around the Lille zone to check the status of the missionary apartments, see that the missionaries are cleaning them to the mission standards, as well as to make any repairs that are necessary. We have two apartments to visit before this missionary transfer is complete and then we will start all over again. Today we traveled south to the city of Arras. The cities in this zone are all cities that played a major part in World War I and Arras is no exception. The city was one of the areas where the Allies put a stop to the German advance on Paris. The city today has about 45,000 in population with more people in the suburbs.

The highlight to the city is the Grand Place. The building are constructed the the Flemish style and the entire square is of the same construction, although the materials are of different colors. There is an arch that closes off the front of the buildings which provides shade in the summer and protection from the winter winds. Around the corner from the Grand Place is a very stylish city hall. The "Hotel de Ville" is topped of with a clock tower and a golden top. While we in the Grand Place taking pictures, two young men in their early twenties asked if we wanted them to take a picture of us in the Grand Place together. We invited them to do so and then thanked them for their kindness. We told them we were from Wyoming and then launched ourselves into the reason why were here as missionaries for the church. At the end of our short presentation we asked them for their names and telephone number so the missionaries could contact them and tell them more. They did so and we parted ways. We called the sisters to let them know about their new contacts and to give them the information on the two young men.

Since we were very close to Vimy Ridge, where the Canadian troops fought the Germans and where my uncle, James William Lawson, was killed in action, we decided to make a visit. James died a few weeks before he was to go to England to receive a promotion and sixty days before the end of the war. We traveled to the War Memorial at the top of the famous embattled ridge. There we met a group of English high school students on a history field trip. I asked the teacher if I could take a minute to explain the fact that my uncle James died in this area. Later the teacher engaged us in a conversation about our name tags and that gave me another opportunity to explain why we were in France and to give him a quick overview of the restoration of the church. I invited him when he got back to Brighton, England to contact the missionaries and inquire more about the church and the Book of Mormon. He said he would.

We then drove to the information center where we were able to find the exact location of my uncle's grave site from the kind staff. While in the area we looked at the reconstructed trenches and were amazed at the short distance between the lines of the Canadians and German troops. The center is staffed by Canadian university students and we met one and talked to her about the battlefield. She noticed our name tags and recognized the name of the church. The "plaques" as we call them are an instant contact opportunity. We explained why we were in France and when we told her about the number of missionaries throughout the world, she was impressed. Three different contacts and three different messages inspired by the Spirit for three different situations and people. I love this work.

We then drove to the cemetery where my uncle is buried and had a quiet moment there. I am impressed by how well the grave sites are taken care of and also that the bodies were buried in the areas where they died so that the cemeteries are relatively small and they dot the country side where the battles took place. Even after all these years the sites are so well kept, and at the grave site of uncle James there was construction work going on to keep the entrance way in good condition. Mom and I were saddened by the fact that the ages of the men in the cemetery were mostly in their twenties. So many died for so little ground gained or lost, but in the end they gave their lives that we may enjoy freedom instead of tyranny.

Love to all and soyez sage.

Mom & Dad

A Christmas Baptism

I would like to express a good reason to come and enjoy the blessings of a mission. We have a wonderful friend in France, Carole Serard, who was very close to being baptized before we left to come home from our first mission. She stayed close to the church and the members while we were at home. We phoned her to tell her that we were privileged to be called back to France in the Paris Mission. She immediately said she was coming to Paris so that I could baptize her. I told her to wait and we would come to Angouleme because we had the permission from our mission president to come and witness her baptism with the members of her branch.

We traveled by train to Angouleme and stayed with Sister Bouchard. On the evening of the 24th of December we went to the branch for the baptism. I wish I had a camera handy when we walked into the familiar chapel with the members gathered for the event. There were so many surprised faces that turned to see who had just come through the door. These wonderful brothers and sisters whom we love were shocked to see us. It was a reunion that gave me a glimpse of what it will be like when we meet again in the spirit world after this life. Hugs and kisses (one for each cheek) were exchanged with all the friends we know and love. We also met the two great missionaries who had continued the efforts with Carole to get her to the point of having a desire to be a member of the Church. Carole was baptized by Elder Hemsley.

I was asked to be a witness to this blessed event and the tears of joy almost made it impossible to fulfill my calling. To see Carole's smile before and after was a sight worth all the riches of the world. She had grown to a point where she was ready to embrace fully the Gospel of Christ. The following day was Christmas and she was confirmed a member of the Church and was given the gift of the Holy Ghost. There was great joy among all the members assembled, for this had been a four year process and the rewards where so wonderful. After the meeting, before we sat down for the Christmas feast, Sister Bouchard on the piano, President Saveraux on the clarinet, and Brother Monsel on the flute, played our favorite hymn, Sovient-toi. I love these friends for thinking of us.

The rest of the day was spent in celebration with the members at a feast at the chapel. Joanne took the time to prepare her usual large dish of Italian pasta and we bought two buches de Noel as a traditional treat. What a wonderful time we had with everyone. Christmas songs were sung, stories were told and laughter was ever present. The presents of joy and friendship are the greatest gifts of all on the day we celebrate the birth of Christ.

We then went to the home of Sephora and Jean-Pierre for a traditional meal and the opening of presents. Joanne was prepared for the moment as she brought gifts from home for all the members of the family. The time we spent with this special family, Sephora we taught and baptized on our first mission to France, and Jean-Pierre we spent many a day with him through a divorce as his wife abandoned the family, brought joy to us. It was almost as if we were home and the time with this family almost took the pain of missing our own family from our hearts.

This time of great opportunity, to see Carole enter the waters of baptism and to spend time with people we love and care about, makes the scripture concerning the worth of a soul come into its true light.

Love to you all,

Mom and Dad