Since the last transfer, our Villeurbanne District has
become more international. We noticed
this during our district meeting last Thursday.
Elder Tromeur who comes from Como near Milan, Italy is now the companion
of Elder Sopi who comes from a city near Paris.
Many of you may remember that my sister Jeri served a mission in Italy
with headquarters in Milan. Elder Bennallack
who is from Australia stayed in Lyon and has a new companion, Elder
Wulfenstein. No, he is not from Germany
or Austria, but from St. George, Utah.
We have a new area that was opened this transfer added to our district
which is Corsica, the island in the Mediterranean. The two missionaries now residing there are
Elder Prunin from Nimes, France and Elder Gouttin from Bailluel France. They participated in our meeting through a
conference call. You may have guessed by
now that our meeting was conducted in French.
This was harder for Sister Jeppson to understand, but she still added
wisdom and inspiration to the meeting with her comments.
We were very pleased last Sunday with the opportunity to
associate with amies (friends) who continue to attend church meetings. Our amie from Gabon returned from Spain and
attended church meetings at the Ecully Ward building. She called me on Saturday evening to let me
know she had returned. We will be
supporting the missionaries when they teach her this Thursday. Also, Yan our amie from China attended church
meetings with us at the Villeurbanne Ward location. She gave a closing prayer at the end of our
Sunday School class. The missionaries are helping her to gain a greater
understanding of Jesus Christ. Sister
Jeppson has a genuine way of letting people like her feel special and loved.
Today, the office missionaries and assistants met with
President Roney to discuss plans for the visit of Elder Neil L. Andersen, one
of the twelve apostles of the church. He
and his wife will speak in a stake conference meeting in Bordeaux, France where
he served as mission president several years ago. He also served as a young missionary in
France. He will then meet with
missionaries from three mission zones during a two hour meeting in the
afternoon. He will come to Lyon on
Tuesday and meet with the rest of the
missionaries in our mission area in the afternoon and then he and his wife will
speak during a meeting with members and friends of the church in the area that
evening. We are preparing our hearts and
minds for this special occasion by reading his conference talks since being
called to serve as an apostle in 2009.
NOS PETITS-ENFANTS
We mentioned earlier that we visited the Lumière
Museum. You may remember that Lumière
was the name of the candle stick character in Beauty and the Beast. Lumière is the beautiful and meaningful
French word for “light”. The Lumière
family placed special symbols of light in their home including a rooster at the
head of a staircase that welcomes the light of a new day as well as using
decorations of stars and sunflowers.
While we were at the museum, I thought of a scripture about light from
the Doctrine & Covenants. After
finishing reading the Book of Mormon, Grandma and I are reading ten pages in
the Doctrine & Covenants in French while listening to it in English. We read Section 50 verse 34 that evening, the
scripture that I had thought about at the museum: “That which is of God is Light; and he that
receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light
growth brighter and brighter until the perfect day”. I encourage us to continue in God and receive
more light by praying, living the commandments, serving others and reading the
scriptures and the messages of our current prophet and apostles. I encourage you to join us in reading the
talks of Elder Andersen and using one as the theme of your family home evening
lesson next Monday evening, the day before he meets with us here in Lyon. 