We loved the opportunity to watch general conference at the Ecully chapel with the missionaries and members and be taught and uplifted by our general authorities. Our schedule for watching general conference included the rebroadcast Woman’s Relief Society Conference on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and the live Saturday morning general conference session at 6:00 p.m. On Sunday, the Priesthood session was rebroadcast at 11:00 a.m. with the Saturday afternoon session being rebroadcast at 2:00 p.m. We then watched the live broadcast of the Sunday morning session at 6 p.m. and returned home to watch the Sunday afternoon session live at 10:00 p.m. There were many powerful talks. I was especially inspired by Elder Holland’s talk during the Sunday morning session. If you missed any sessions, I encourage you to watch them on lds.org.
We have continued on the path of helping to teach the truth
of the gospel to our amie (friend), Hermine, from Gabon in Africa who we
mentioned in our last letter. She is a
remarkable woman who already has a strong belief in Jesus Christ and the Bible.
She lives within the boundaries of the
Ecully Ward and came to church meetings there on Sunday two weeks ago and
today. We attended that ward’s meetings
instead of the Villeurbanne Ward so that we could be there with her. I am impressed with how well she sings the
cantiques (hymns) that she is singing for the first time. She is building friendships with the members
of the ward including a sister in the ward from her country.
 |
| Guy, with the missionaries |
Last Wednesday evening, we supported the Ecully Ward
missionaries from Canada (Elder Stanford) and Texas (Elder Blythe) while they
taught Hermine the first lesson from Preach My Gospel about the apostasy,
restoration and the Book of Mormon. We
felt the spirit during our discussion, and she participated well because of her belief in Jesus Christ,
her knowledge of the Bible, her belief in prayer and her desire to learn. She also attended the baptismal service
yesterday evening of Guy, an ami from our Villeurbanne ward who is from the
Congo. Frère Carré, a member of the
Villeurbanne ward gave a well prepared talk on baptism and the Holy Ghost that
helped Hermine to understand those principles better.
Nos Petits-Enfants
Our message to our grandchildren is about two symbols that we
saw at the Gallo-Roman Museum several weeks ago: a sword and metal helmet. The sword was used by the Romans while
fighting their battles and the helmet was for protection. Many of you will remember the Disney movie of
Hercules who was a hero to the Greek people.
The two small figures of Hercules were toys for the children to play
with. They were the original super hero play figures. During one of the general conference
sessions, the congregation sang the hymn:
Let Us All Press On. The hymn
includes the words: “In the fight for
right let us wield a sword, the mighty sword of truth”. In the scriptures, the sword is a symbol of
truth. The truth of the gospel is what
we as missionaries are preaching to the people in France and Switzerland. We encourage you to study the truth of the
gospel that is found in the scriptures, in church magazines, at church web
sites and in conference talks like we heard recently at general conference as
spoken by real heroes: our prophet,
apostles and general authorities. Please
follow the message of our prophet and many other general authorities and prepare for missionary service which can now
come at an earlier age.