In 1856, the Lyon city planners purchased a large farm called
the Tete d’Or (Head of Gold) by the Rhone River and created a large park
where residents of the city could relax
and enjoy walking and other activities in a spacious area that is one of the
largest urban parks in Europe. The park
displays a variety of attractions including a roseraie (rose garden) with
70,000 plants and 350 varieties of roses and a jardin zoologique (zoo). A large modern community center, the Cité
Internationale comprised of buildings
that contain offices, hotels, restaurants, theaters, lodgings and a large amphitheater that seats
3,000 people called the Palais des Congrès (constructed in 2006) lies between
the park the Rhone River. I wish that we had pictures to accompany this
narrative. Unfortunately, this is one of
the places in Lyon that we should have visited when flowers were at their peak
of blooming.
Last Sunday, Sister Jeppson and I attended the Lyon Stake
Conference meeting at the Palais de Congrès near the park. We traveled by metro and a bus and arrived
early enough to find a seat in the front.
I enjoyed watching members and amis of the church enter and come close
to filling about 80% of the
amphitheater. The stake covers a large
area surrounding Lyon that includes the wards of Villeurbanne, Ecully and
Gerland in the metropolitan Lyon area and wards located in the cities of Grenoble,
Valence, Clermont-Ferrand, and St.
Etienne (a city where I served as a young missionary).
The Lyon stake president, President Bennasar, and his two
counselors spoke along with President and Sister Roney , and some other members
of the stake including some recent converts.
Sister Jeppson remarked that she now knew a new definition of hope. It is for her to bring paper and a pen for
taking notes when talks are given in French.
I was inspired and uplifted by the music and talks. We noticed today that President Bennasar is
featured on the French version of Mormon. Org.
He is an impressive and relatively young leader, probably in his 40’s.
We enjoyed the opportunity of welcoming nine new
missionaries this past week, including four sister missionaries and five
elders. Our plans for Tuesday where
suddenly changed when we received word
at the office by someone in the church travel office that the missionaries had
missed their plane and would arrive at around 6:00 p.m. instead of 11:15
a.m. We were at the office discussing
how we would adjust our plans when President Roney received a call from one of
the sister missionaries at about 11:30 a.m.
who was at the Lyon airport wondering if anyone was going to meet them
and provide transportation. The plane
had waited for them even though they were late.
We all sprang into action.
President Roney, the office elders and the elders who are the assistants
to the president quickly prepared to head to the airport while Sister Jeppson
and I assembled some sack lunches that we thought wouldn’t be needed.
Our activities almost continued as planned through the rest of the day. Sister Jeppson and I met the new missionaries
and those that picked them up at the airport at the large hill by the Fourviere
Cathedral that overlooks Lyon. Sister
Jeppson took each of the new missionaries’ pictures with the city of Lyon in
the background which is becoming a mission tradition.
We traveled to the mission home where the missionaries
managed to stay somewhat alert by playing “Around the World” ping pong while
waiting for a delicious meal prepared by Sister Roney. While at the mission home, one of the office
elders became aware that the airlines was in the process of sending the
missionaries’ luggage back to the states because it hadn’t followed them on
their almost missed flight. They worked
things out and picked up their luggage at the airport and delivered it to each
missionary’s hotel room around 10:30 p.m. that evening. While they were working on that problem,
Sister Jeppson worked at the office to email the pictures from Fourviere Hill
and pictures taken with President and Sister Roney at the mission home to
parents in Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Florida, Quebec and Denmark who were
anxious to hear about their missionaries.
The next morning, the missionaries came to the office, met
their trainers, learned where their first homes in France would be, received
training and headed to their new locations in Bordeaux, Valence, Dijon, Chalon,
Montpellier, Aix-en-Provence, Gap, Toulouse and Annemasse. While they were traveling to their new
cities, two of our experienced native French elders, Elder Gouttin and Elder
Prunin began an historic event for the mission traveling to open up the island
of Corsica to missionary work again and lend support to the small branch of
Bastia.
Nos Petits-Enfants
We were inspired by the music at a recent fireside at the
Villeurbanne Ward. The hymn, Come Thou
Fount of Every Blessing, was performed by three young adult musicians playing
the piano and violins. Later in the
meeting President Roney played the same hymn as sung by the Tabernacle Choir
during his talk. During the music, we
felt the spirit strongly because we know that our family is truly one of the
great blessings of our life. We have
attached excerpts from a talk by a German general authority of several years
ago, Elder Enzio Busche, given to us in district meeting. Parents: this talk would make a great family
night lesson.
** ELDER BUSCHE'S TALK ("Unleashing the Dormant Spirit"):
- When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we will not sin. We will be filled with wisdom, and we will be able to have the fruits to heal the wounds of the afflicted and to build a community of Saints. It is also obvious that without constant efforts, it will be very difficult to always be focused on our most righteous desires. Therefore, I want to share with you a vehicle, an instrument, that I developed some time ago for myself and for my family. It can assist us to reach our focus as we read the suggested vision of true discipleship as a Latter-day Saint. It helps when, from time to time, we ponder and seek identification with the following thoughts:
- * Embrace this day with an enthusiastic welcome, no matter how it looks. The covenant with God to which you are true enables you to become enlightened by him, and nothing is impossible for you.
- * When you are physically sick, tired, or in despair, steer your thoughts away from yourself and direct them, in gratitude and love, toward God.
- * In your life there have to be challenges. They will either bring you closer to God and therefore make you stronger, or they can destroy you. But you make the decision of which road you take.
- * First and foremost, you are a spirit child of God. If you neglect to feed your spirit, you will reap unhappiness. Don't permit anything to detract you from this awareness.
- * You cannot communicate with God unless you have first sacrificed your self-oriented natural man and have brought yourself into the lower levels of meekness, to become acceptable for the Light of Christ.
- * Put all frustrations, hurt feelings, and grumblings into the perspective of your eternal hope. Light will flow into your soul.
- * Pause to ponder the suffering Christ felt in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the awareness of the depth of gratitude for him, you appreciate every opportunity to show your love for him by diligently serving in his Church.
- * God knows that you are not perfect. As you suffer about your imperfections, he will give you comfort and suggestions of where to improve.
- * God knows better than you what you need. He always attempts to speak to you. Listen, and follow the uncomfortable suggestions that he makes to us—everything will fall into its place.
- * Avoid any fear like your worst enemy, but magnify your fear about the consequences of sin.
- * When you cannot love someone, look into that person's eyes long enough to find the hidden rudiments of the child of God in him.
- * Never judge anyone. When you accept this, you will be freed. In the case of your own children or subordinates, where you have the responsibility to judge, help them to become their own judges.
- * If someone hurts you so much that your feelings seem to choke you, forgive and you will be free again.
- * Avoid at all cost any pessimistic, negative, or criticizing thoughts. If you cannot cut them out, they will do you harm. On the road toward salvation, let questions arise but never doubts. If something is wrong, God will give you clarity but never doubts.
- * Avoid rush and haste and uncontrolled words. Divine light develops in places of peace and quiet. Be aware of that as you enter places of worship.
- * Be not so much concerned about what you do, but do what you do with all your heart, might, and strength. In thoroughness is satisfaction.
- * You want to be good and to do good. That is commendable. But the greatest achievement that can be reached in our lives is to be under the complete influence of the Holy Ghost. Then he will teach us what is really good and necessary to do.
- * The pain of sacrifice lasts only one moment. It is the fear of the pain of sacrifice that makes you hesitate to do it.
- * Be grateful for every opportunity to serve. It helps you more than those you serve.
- * And finally, when you are compelled to give up something or when things that are dear to you are withdrawn from you, know that this is your lesson to be learned right now. But know also that, as you are learning this lesson, God wants to give you something better.
