LETTRE 2 FOR 10 MARCH 2012

We have arrived at a new milestone:  Yesterday, we finished our training period with the Todds, the office couple that we are replacing.  That means that we will be more on our own to perform our office responsibilities starting on Monday.  The Todds' son arrived today to begin a tour with them of some major cities in Europe before they return home.  They will stay at the apartment that we will inherit while they travel around the Geneva area.  They will turn over the keys to the apartment and their car to us on Tuesday morning before they leave to fly to Rome, Paris and London.  After our work day at the office, we will start a more independent phase of our missionary service with a place to live and a car for transportation.

Elder and Sister Todd

The Todds are wonderful people who have been dedicated to training us in our office responsibilities as well as helping us get acquainted with stores and things to see around the Geneva area.  Last Saturday, during our preparation day, they drove us through downtown Geneva and part way around Leman, Le Lac de Geneve (a famous lake that is nearby our office location).  It seemed like we were driving through the scenery of a fairy tale as we drove around the country side and through Swiss villages that surround the lake.  Yesterday evening they drove us to see our new apartment and show us how everything works.  We will live in the apartment for about ten weeks until we move to Lyon.  We learned this week that the mission office is scheduled to be moved to Lyon by May 21, 2012.

A typical home in the area

We have enjoyed meeting members of the church  and missionaries that live in this area.  Geneva has four wards:  two French speaking, one Spanish speaking and one English speaking.  We attended the English speaking ward with the Mission President and his wife.  There are members from many parts of the world, such as Australia, Mongolia, The Philippines, Nigeria, Portugal, U.S.A., France, Etc.  We ate dinner on Sunday evening at the home of the President of the Geneva Stake.  His wife served a Swiss dish that was delicious.  I had the opportunity to try out a little French during the visit.  On Monday evening we were invited along with the Todds to eat dinner and participate in a family home evening with the Johnsons and their sixteen year old daughter.  The parents had indicated that their daughter, Laura, is interested in serving a mission when she reaches the appropriate age and wanted us to talk about our own mission calls.  Nancy and I also talked about our three daughters and our sisters that had served missions.
We attended a missionary zone conference at the Geneva chapel on Tuesday and our district meeting at the mission office on Thursday morning.  We enjoyed the opportunity to get acquainted with missionaries from the many French speaking Swiss cities in the area.  They come from many parts of the world.  Two sisters from our Geneva district are from Mongolia and Finland.  We also met missionaries from France, Belgium, and England.  During the zone conference, President and Sister Murdock spoke, and we received training from two missionaries who are assistants to the President.  Their theme was steady preparation and practice with studying the scriptures, learning gospel principles and teaching people not lessons so that we are better prepared to have the spirit with us.  One of the assistants to the president, Elder Smith, is from Kaysville.  We learned that he is Dean Smith's son.  Dean Smith is a good friend of Uncle Dean Carver.  They grew up together in Ogden.  The other assistant, Elder Bollero from Arkansas, was a convert of one year before being called as a missionary.  One of the office elders, Elder Headrick, is our district leader.  He organized an inspirational district meeting centered on the theme of obedience.  It is a remarkable experience to be taught and led so well by these younger missionaries.

Our District: Elder Headrick, Elder Pittson, Elder Hughes, Elder Smith, Elder Bollero, Elder Todd and Elder Jeppson, Sister Todd, Sister Jeppson, Sister Scott, Sister Munkhajargal (from Mongolia), Sister Hyrkas (from Finland). 

The "Sisters"

Training in my responsibilities included Elder Todd giving me the opportunity to get familiar with driving a stick shift car around the little city of Ferney where we will live.  There are many roundabouts in this area which add a little excitement to driving.  On Friday, Elder Pittson, who is training me in some financial responsibilities that I will take over from him, drove me to the church's financial offices for the France area located in Thoiry, France.  He introduced me to people that I will be working with closely including a vice president, Frere Auban.  This was another opportunity to practice my French as we talked about office responsibilities as well as about the backgrounds of some of the people in the office including Frere Auban.  We were interested to find that Frere Auban and I had served in three of the same cities during our missions in France.  I also met another frere there whose mother was baptized at Marseille in 1963, just a few years before my service there.  He mentioned some names of people of the branch that I remembered.  I also met frere Dubray last week and spoke some French with him.  He handles legality issues for the church in Switzerland.  He was a young man of sixteen working on the chapel in Nice at the same time that the chapel was being constructed in Marseille while I was serving there.
If you need to reach us by phone for an emergency, you should call a number on a temporary cell phone that the Elders gave us until we will receive the Todd's telephone in two weeks.  This will be better than our AT&T phones. The number is 07 60 89 39 30.

Nos Petits Enfants

We ate dinner Friday evening at an Italian restaurant in Ferney, France.  Eating there reminded me of our dinner together at Robintinos just before we left.  At the restaurant, a little girl celebrated her birthday by blowing out a single candle that was placed in a small gateau (cake).  Her family sang to her and she blew it out.  I thought of all of the fun birthday parties that we have shared together.  I want you to know that I have a testimony of the truth of the gospel.  I have had the opportunity to bear my testimony and feel the spirit of the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting at the Geneva ward and also during the family home evening with the Johnsons.