When we lived in Portland, Oregon in the 1970’s, we tried to
be thankful for the rain because it helped produce surroundings that were green
and beautiful. We are using the same
thought process here in France when we go out in weather that has been cloudy
and rainy for every day in April but maybe one.
On Samedi during our preparation day, we decided to stop waiting for a
sunny day and drove over to our office location in Thoiry to take a few
pictures in between rain drops. First,
we took a stunning picture of our office building with our car in front. Then we traveled to a Holiday Inn a block
down the street where Sister Jeppson bravely climbed four flights of stairs on
the outside of the building to take some amazing photos of the city of Thoiry
nestled in the foot hills of the Jura Mountains. We will try to take some pictures again near
the same location if the sun shines long enough and at the right time before we
leave for Lyon.
The rain helped us decide to go to a large indoor shopping
mall that is five minutes away from our office location. It is anchored by a department store named
MIGROS which is a chain of stores that are mostly located in Switzerland. We managed to walk through part of the mall
long enough to find a jacket that I can wear on preparation days when it is
cool and rainy. We also looked at
umbrellas before we bought a few groceries.
We attended an inspirational district meeting on Jeudi with
the missionaries in our district. We
were treated with a bonus of a nice lunch and surprise birthday party for Elder
Pittson, one of the office elders, hosted by Sister Murdock after the meeting. As part of the celebration, the other elders
made a piñata filled with candy that Elder Pittson had a fun time trying to
find and break open while blindfolded.
We attended church meetings in Annecy with a lot more people
in attendance because it was ward conference.
This occasion brought stake leaders and their spouses to the meetings to
participate including the stake president and his counselor, and presidents and
counselors from the relief society, primary and young women’s
organizations. Two amies (women friends)
of the church that the sister missionaries are teaching and their little babies
attended the meetings. In addition, a
family with three children attended the meetings for the first time. They just moved to Annecy where the husband
has secured a job. He speaks French well
and is originally from Salt Lake city, and his wife is from Marseille,
France. He said that his parents served
a mission in France two years ago. They
will be a nice addition to the branch.
The Stake President’s wife told me how well Sister jeppson had read a
paragraph of a conference talk in French during Relief Society.
NOS PETITS-ENFANTSI love to sing the hymns in French for two reasons. First, the French language is beautiful especially when the words are put with music. Second, because I am trying to remember and learn the language, I pay special attention to the meaning of the words. This helps me to have a deeper understanding and appreciation for the inspirational messages of our beautiful hymns. When you sing the hymns in sacrament meeting or the songs in primary, I hope that you will pay special attention to the words and their inspirational meaning as you sing.
