The Lord continues to bless us with experiences that inspire and teach. Tuesday afternoon we attended the cremation of the son of a ward member. He was sixty years old, born with Down’s syndrome, and very low functioning. His 85 yr. old mother had taken care of him at home until the last 9 months of his life when he was moved to hospice. The venue itself was a stark white room with at least 20 foot ceilings. It seemed very cold to us. By the time the service started, the room was full of friends, a hand full of branch members, two of his companions from hospice in wheel chairs and several hospice workers and his family. I thought the prelude music, Johnny Cash singing ‘Ghost Riders in the Sky’, unusual, until learning that Hervé loved all things western—especially John Wayne. Listening to the words, I thought how appropriate that he was free from all the limitations of his earthly life. The taped music transferred to Consider the Lilies of the Field and the change of feeling in the room was palpable. It was as if the Holy Ghost had descended on this little place to testify of the love of God for his children. I think everyone there could feel it as his two brothers and niece and mom spoke of his personality, and their gratitude for him, and their relief that he had passed to a better life.
We spent that evening and the next morning preparing for my nephew and wife and missionary son now at the end of his mission to stay at our house, although we would not be there. We had a great visit with them at the mission home and then went our separate ways - them to our house and us to the intake of 10 new missionaries arriving from the MTC. We help with their arrival meal and Tom reviews the medical records with each individual. The next morning we make sack lunches for the trainers and the trainees to eat on the train to their first assignments.
I must record Sr. Poznanski’s welcome in the ‘greet your first companion’ meeting. She was quoting the President of France from 2014—the 70th anniversary of invasion of Normandy:
“They were 20, a little older, a little younger. For them 20 was the age of duty, the age of commitment, the age of sacrifice. What were these 20 year olds thinking? They surely were thinking of their mothers, fathers, or loved ones. Yet these young people did not hesitate for a single second, advancing on French soil in the face of fear. They advanced to defend a noble cause. They continued to advance to liberate us at last. Their General said that anyone who set foot on French soil that day was a hero - those who were still advancing for our freedom, and who brought with them a brilliant hope, were heroes.” François Holland
She proceeded, “ You are our heroes. You are doing the same thing only spiritually.”
We learned this week that our new permanent mission leaders will be here March 31. Their last name is Schow and he is a pediatric anesthesiologist from Kalispell MT. Tom sent him our introductory letter (senior couples do this so their president knows who he has available). Is he related to the Schow family in Cardston? We know Rick from high school and George from dental school. He answered us almost immediately. That was his family and his dad Brian is the oldest of the three sons. Remarkable!
We have yet to see new callings being given in our re-organized branch. What we have noticed is the increased distribution of assignments given. For example, a brother spoke in our Sacrament Meeting this morning who had not given a talk since our arrival, and it was well done. The brother who led the discussion in the combined Priesthood Meeting said that before today he hadn’t attended Priesthood Meeting for over 10 years - mostly because he didn’t like studying the lives of the prophets. Today was the study of Pres. Eyring’s conference talk from last October. He began by asking, “What is the doctrine of Christ?” There were a couple of errant answers after which I spoke up to say it is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end - basic training for missionaries. He complimented me on giving the correct answer, to which I replied, ”Yes, but I cheated. I read the manual”. I was asked to confer the priesthood on Eric, our newest member, and ordain him a priest. What insight into this sweet man, who always prays in public for the children and the innocent of the world who suffer!
This week we also said farewell to Sr. Ilskov, from Denmark, and hello to Sr. Hammond from California. The sisters we have worked with have been outstanding!
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| Sr. Ilskov 2nd from R, catching the train to Lyon |
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