LettresdeLyon: Feb 2, 2025 Another Branch Baptism

Sometimes I think not much has happened in the past few days until I read my journal.

We Zoom the last Monday of each month with the Area Medical Advisor, 2 Area Mental Health Councilors, (these are in Frankfurt), Area Dental Advisor (a temple worker in Rome) Pres. and Sr. Poznanski, and Tom and me. Technology makes this meeting possible. We discuss the specific mental and physical health problems of missionaries serving in the France Lyon Mission. I am always amazed at how much effort goes into building individual committed successful missionaries. It reminds me of some wisdom that my friend Terry Smith shared in his Doctrine and Covenants commentary: “God began with who Joseph Smith was and the culture in which he found himself and BUILT the man blessed to open this last dispensation. The Lord had to find a way to do this while keeping Joseph progressing, intact, and grounded during his lifetime.” Pres. Poznanski was grateful to hear from one of the councilors that his client had said of Pres. Poznanski that after her interview with him, she had felt heard and understood for the first time.

We enjoy Zoom FHE every two weeks with between 6-10 couples participating. Each couple decides the activity, discussion, and format when they are in charge. We live several hours apart so most of us have never met in person but it is fascinating to know each other through responses to questions and visiting online. This week we answered three questions: Where do you serve and what is your specific assignment? What would make me want to visit you (what is in your area that I want to see)? What is one of your favorite experiences since arriving in the mission field? We all answer individually. We heard everything from picking up garbage and thus meeting our neighbors to making connections that could only be orchestrated by God. Tom and I love relating with all these couples although being the medical advisor is unique to us.

Tuesday we drove out to a small village where an older single woman from Switzerland recently moved. She had asked Elder Spackman to come to bless her apartment, not yet unpacked. He blessed it with the spirit of peace and protection. It brought her the calm she needed. Sr. Tuhoe and Sr. Ilskov carried some filing cabinets up the stairs out of her storeroom and we moved a bookshelf next to her computer and hauled several empty boxes away to enhance her workspace.

Yesterday we went to Dijon for the baptism of Eric Laforêt, a middle-aged single man who found the Church through his own searching. Many of the branch members were there, including all of the new presidency. He shared his testimony today, saying he knew his parents and grandparents were proud of him and the vicarious work he would soon be performing for them. The branch is growing slowly but steadily.