LETTRE QUATRE POUR LE 25 MARS 2012

I am expanding the account of our experiences to a Tale of Cinq Villes:  Bourg-en-Bresse, Geneve, Thoiry, Ferney-Voltaire, and Annecy.

We traveled 115 kilometres or about 71 miles to Bourg-en-Bresse almost directly East of here on Mardi morning to obtain our titre de sejour (residence permit).  We received a medical exam by a French doctor and a review of our official papers including our passport before they placed the official document on the page of our passport that permits us to stay in France for one year.  In one year we will need to renew this document at the mayor's office in Lyon.  I had an extended opportunity to practice driving our standard transmission voiture including driving on one of the major auto routes including tolls in France as well as driving through and parking in a new city.

Sister Elena Flores (Doug's auditor), from Sardenia.

When we returned from Bourg-en-Bresse to Geneve, Elder Pittson and I met with Elena Flores in the afternoon and continued our meeting into mercredi.  She is an auditor from the church offices in England and had come to review our financial records which is standard procedure before a mission president is released.  She is very knowledgeable about the church financial systems and will be a great resource for me as I take over the financial secretary responsibilities such as paying the bills, handling cash receipts and making deposits, recording necessary journal entries, reviewing financial statements, sending missionary medical bills to Salt Lake for reimbursement by insurance companies, banking transactions, and managing the office.  Elena is originally from Sardenia, an island governed by Italy, so her first language is Italian and her second language is English.

Mercredi's work day continued into the evening when we met with President and Sister Murdock, the office elders and the assistants to plan for the departure of thirteen missionaries and the arrival of fourteen new missionaries next week.  This activity happens every six weeks and also includes transfers from one location to another.  The activities at the mission home and at the mission office will begin next Lundi evening and conclude on mercredi afternoon.  President Murdock prayerfully plans these transfers under the inspiration of the spirit each time they occur.

Sister Munkhjarga (from Mongolia)- she returns home Monday.

We enjoyed another inspirational district meeting with the missionaries in our district on jeudi morning.  The theme of the meeting was using the Book of Mormon in missionary work.  Sister Hyrkas, a sister missionary from Finland, who conducted the major part of the lesson asked each missionary to share a favorite scripture from the Book of Mormon.  Sister Munkhjargal, the sister missionary from Mongolia, bore her testimony.  She is one of the departing missionaries and will be returning home to Mongolia.

Mayor of Ferney's Office (in background)

On jeudi afternoon, President Murdock asked the office missionaries and the assistants to attend an unexpected meeting.  He informed us that church headquarters has instructed us to move our office to Thoiry, France which is the location of the church administration offices for France, Belgium, French speaking Switzerland and some French speaking countries in Africa.  We were informed that we must move right after the new missionaries have departed to their various locations which will be next jeudi.  We will work at the Thoiry offices for about seven weeks until we move to Lyon, France. This is mainly because the church has not been able to obtain a Swiss Visa for Sister Jeppson and I because of  stringent Swiss rules, so we need to be not only living in France but working in France.  Thoiry is a small town that is about seven miles or a fifteen minute drive from our apartment.  We visited the offices on vendredi.  The facility will work fine for us, and the move will prepare us for the move to Lyon.

Le Marché

Le Marché

On samedi, our preparation day, we walked from our apartment about a block to the Marché en Plein Aire (Outdoor Market) on the streets of downtown Ferney-Voltaire.  This is an outdoor market that was recommended by other missionaries.  We found out why.  Cars were parked in every parking spot available and along both sides of already narrow streets.  We intended to just walk around each street where the market was located just to scope it out and not buy anything.  We actually emerged from the market with both of us holding several bags after spending about two hours walking through it.  This market occurs every Saturday when the same vendors set up their vending places and market numerous food products and non-food products.  The food products include a large variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, pasta, spices, olives, cheese, meats, bread, pasties, poultry, fish, etc.  The non food market includes such items as jewelry, clothing, purses, books, etc.  I think that most of you know that when I mention purses, Sister Jeppson would have a hard time just passing them by.  She just had to pick up a red purse that is just the right size for what she needs in France.  Her larger purse served the purpose of posing as an extra bag to carry on the plane with everything that we needed packed inside.  We also picked up, a baguette (French bread) some yummy cheese that had been aged for six months (We tasted a piece of the same kind of cheese that had been aged for two and 1/2 years) and a variety of fruits and vegetables.  We also discovered a boulangerie and patisserie only a block from our apartment where we can pick up bread every morning and occasionally an "éclair".

Today, dimanche, we once again traveled to Annecy on a picturesque forty minute drive to attend church.  We felt a warm spirit  and ambiance there during the lessons that were given by the members in Priesthood Meeting, Relief Society Meeting, Sunday School, and testimonies born during Fast and Testimony Meeting.  I had the opportunity to bless the sacrament during Fast and Testimony Meeting, and Sister Jeppson said the opening prayer in Sunday School class in French.

Le Marché

Nos Petits-Enfants

We found some wonderful children's books at the outside market in the town where we live.  We couldn't resist buying two of them.  We may start buying a few more on some other Saturdays so that we have a little collection to send home or bring home with us.  Of course, we may need to help you a little to understand what they say.  We have fond memories of reading books with our grandchildren or watching them read books from our shelves or reading books that you brought with you.  Reading good books is a wonderful activity which will always help you in school and bring much pleasure.  The best book that you can read with your parents and individually is the Book of Mormon.  This will help you to prepare to serve as full-time missionaries later in your lives.  Sister Jeppson and I both related our testimonies of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and how the scriptures have helped us in our lives during the District Meeting that we attended with the missionaries on Thursday. 

    

LETTRE 3 FOR 18 MARS 2012

We have a Tale of Three Cities to relate this week:  Ferney-Voltaire, Geneve and Annecy.  After the Todds turned over their apartment keys and car to us on Tuesday, we were able to move into our new apartment located in Ferney-Voltaire.  Why is Voltaire part of the name?  The famous French author, Voltaire, lived here during a period of his life when he had fallen out of favor with the King of France so that he was close to the Swiss border and could escape to Switzerland if necessary.  Our apartment is comfortable with good security and a place to park with cement walls on each side underneath the building.  Each evening when we arrive home, Sister Jeppson guides me as I back the car into this narrow parking stall.  It is nice to have our computer hooked up and functioning.  Also, our Vonage telephone is working, so it is now possible to call our regular home number of 801-292-6084 (check the time in France) and reach us at our apartment.  All of this technology is functioning thanks to Sister Jeppson's superb technical skills.

We continue to diligently work at our real job at the mission office in Chambesy, a suburb of Geneva.   Sister Jeppson has assumed full responsibility for her job and is doing well with the many things that she has to do.  She prepared some new magnet labels of each of the zones and districts and missionary equipes in the mission.  These labels will be placed on a large magnetic board that President uses to plan for transfers every six weeks.  I am assuming more and more responsibility as financial secretary as we transfer those responsibilities to me from Elder Pittson.  While the office Elders traveled to Lyon on Friday, we took on the entire responsibility to answer the phones.  We soon realized that we needed to learn more about how to transfer calls.

President Murdock related to us this week two  experiences that were very inspirational.  When transfers are to occur every six weeks, he ponders and prays for inspiration from the Lord concerning what positions and places missionaries should be transferred to.  Several weeks ago, he was inspired to transfer an Elder to Nimes, which is in southern France.  He found out later that this missionary's parents that lived in Virginia had befriended a couple from France while the French couple was in the states.  They were interested in learning more about the teachings of the church.  They later returned to their home town of Nimes.  Their son then had the opportunity to teach them.  The wife continued to be taught until she desired to be baptized.  Her husband wasn't ready but just recently gave permission for her to be baptized.  Another sister who lives in Dijon is from French Guiana in South America.  She was taught by the missionaries and wanted to be baptized.  However, her husband would not give permission.  She loved attending church and received callings to serve in the ward.  Just recently, after the ward members fasted on her behalf, her husband gave permission for her to be baptized.  She was so happy.

It was a very inspirational experience for me to attend the Geneva stake's annual general priesthood meeting on Saturday evening.  Even though I missed seeing many of you on Skype, I was glad that I had the opportunity to attend the meeting.  It was the first church meeting that I have attended where French is spoken and the chapel was almost full.  President Bonny who treated us with dinner two weeks ago, conducted a well organized meeting during which some media presentations were used and brethren holding priesthood keys from the wards and branches (Bishops, Branch Presidents, Elders Quorum Presidents, Teachers Quorum Presidents (14-15 years) and Deacons Quorum Presidents (12-13 years) were asked to come and stand in front of the group.  It was wonderful to see the strength of the priesthood holders in this stake in Switzerland.

Today, we drove for about forty minutes with Elder Pittson to Annecy, a very picturesque city in France.  He came along to show us the way for the first time.  From now on and until we move to Lyon, at President Murdock's request, we will be attending the Annecy branch.  Annecy is located by a lake, with the Swiss Alps in the background and not far from Albertville where the Winter Olympics were held a number of years ago.  In future letters, we will discuss some of the history of the city which dates back to the 11th century, and we will also provide some pictures when we have a chance to go there on a Saturday, which is a preparation day when we are not working at the office.

A sister missionary team was assigned to the branch three months ago.  Sister Marker is from Wisconsin and Sister Harline is from Orem.  She is Johnny Harline's sister.  I think many of you will remember that he was the famous BYU football team tight end that caught the winning touchdown catch from John Beck to defeat Utah several years ago.  We attended all of the meetings at the branch.  I helped pass the sacrament and then we were unexpectedly asked to bear our testimonies.  Sister Jeppson bore most of her testimony in French.  We learned after the meetings that the French members were very impressed with how well she spoke French and that she would speak in French when someone could have translated for her. We also participated in their every third Sunday pot luck dinner after the block meetings.  Sister Jeppson made some cake while using our apartment oven for the first time.  It was delicious.   

Nos Petits-Enfants

We are really going to enjoy attending this small branch in Annecy with about thirty-five members including some wonderful families, some with three or four children.  They attend church in a location on the first floor of an office building that contains several rooms including a small chapel.  Most of the children are primary age or younger with a few young women that are over twelve years of age. President Demeure, the Branch President, is a convert of sixteen years.  He and his wife have four children and moved to Annecy fifteen years ago from St. Etienne, the last city where I served during my first mission to France.  The children range in age from one to fifteen years old.  I enjoyed watching some of the boys hit a ping pong ball with a paddle in the hall/recreation room while they were waiting for the dinner to start.  One of the rooms has a ping pong table.  It is wonderful to be around members of the church and feel of their love, friendship and testimonies while they teach the same gospel principles and use the same manuals that we do, only in the French language.

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.    

PREMIERE LETTRE 3 MARS 2012

Elder and Sister Jeppson as they embark on their journey to France

We appreciated Doug's help at the Salt Lake City airport as he lifted our heavy luggage and patiently waited to make sure that we made it through security.  We wished that he could have come with us to help us through two more unexpected excursions through security at Chicago and London.  We were not able to sleep at all during the long flight from Chicago to London and found the Heathrow Airport near  London to be an adventure of transporting our carry-on luggage and personal items through the maze of a descending stairway off the plane, a shuttle, security, long walks, and up and down on elevators and more stairs until we finally boarded the plane for Geneva.
After darkness and clouds, we enjoyed a spectacular view of the Jura Mountains and the Alps as we flew into  Geneva, Switzerland around 10:30 am and were greeted with a sunny day in the 40's.  That beautiful weather has continued all week.  President Murdock and his wife met us at the airport and probably wondered about all that luggage when they first greeted us.  President Murdock helped me load the luggage into their car, and we were all relieved to see that two trips were not required to transport it to the mission home.
When we arrived, we were informed that we would be staying on the basement floor of the mission home until we move into the apartment where the Todds live.  They are the mission office couple that we are replacing after several days of training.  There are facilities at the mission home to accommodate incoming missionaries in several bedrooms.  President and Sister Murdock live on the main floor.  We ate lunch with them in their dining room while we got acquainted and received some orientation about the Mission Francaise de Lyon.  They also took us out to dinner in the evening in downtown Geneva at the restaurant, Chez votre cousin (at your cousin's house), along with the Todds.  They are very friendly and gracious people.  I am sure that we will enjoy working with them.
After lunch we met the Todds and the two missionaries that will work with us in the office, Elder Pittson from the California bay area and Elder Headrick from Ohio.  The mission office is located in a building across the parking area from the mission home.  The Todds provided an orientation about the office and plans for training for the several days before they leave.  We will be staying in the facilities at the mission home until March 13th when they depart.  We went to bed that evening about 9:00 pm, which with the time change was about 30 hours since we got up on Monday morning in Centerville.  We slept well that night.  We have been trying to get adequate sleep during the week as we adjust to the time change.
We have been taking notes and trying to absorb a lot of information concerning our responsibilities while receiving training on Wednesday through Friday from the office couple and the two office missionaries.  I will handle all of the accounting and finance related activities as the financial secretary and Nancy will become the office secretary with significant responsibilities for reports, baptisms, referrals, correspondence and supporting President Murdock.  The office missionaries are very conscientious and know their jobs well.  The Todds are wonderful people to work with, and we are developing a close friendship as they teach us about office duties as well as how to get around the Geneva area and Ferney, France where we will be living for 3 or 4 months until the mission office is moved to Lyon, France.  We will inherit a Chevrolet stick shift vehicle from them.  We went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Ferney yesterday evening.     
President and Sister Murdock have been traveling to attend various zone (major areas in the mission) conferences in France where they conduct interviews and teach the missionaries.  They left Wednesday morning and will return this afternoon.  Tomorrow, they will take us to church meetings in one of the three wards in Geneva, and then we are invited to dinner at the home of Bonnys, a Stake President of one of the wards.  He was about 15 when I was in the mission field and his father was the branch president in Geneva.  Next week, we will continue our training along with attending a zone conference for the Geneva area on Tuesday.  We look forward to meeting some of the Swiss members at the church meetings and getting acquainted with the missionaries at the zone conference.
We can see that we will be very challenged and busy with our responsibilities, but we feel blessed with this wonderful assignment in the mission office to support the missionary work in the Mission Francaise de Lyon and the opportunity to associate with the missionaries, the members of the church and the Swiss and French people.

Nos Petits Enfants (Our Grandchildren)

Thank You for a cute video of Lauren and Noah welcoming us to France.  We were in some busy airports during our trip and saw people from all over the world including cute little children from many countries including England, India, France and Switzerland.  That caused us to think of our grandchildren who we love very much.  There are some beautiful flowers blooming around the place where we live.  Our mission office is very close to a beautiful lake called Le Leman, Lac de Geneve.  We hope to eat lunch soon in a park by the lake. Grandma loves you all so much and you know that Grandpa brags about every one of you to all he meets.  Be happy and choose the right way.