March 31, 2025

We have a fridge! I am so grateful. Fortunately, only some chicken soup and some split pea soup were lost to temperatures on the balcony.  Our other food we salvaged in the fridge at the church.  Our new fridge is frost free and has a bigger freezer section, which is a great benefit, so in celebration, I filled it up.  

Sister Peterson from Utah, the latest companion to Sister Hammond in Chalon, recently discovered we were born in Canada.  She asked if we knew where Edmonton was.  We explained that we lived in Edmonton for five years during medical school and internship.  She replied that her mother was born there.  What was her maiden name? Harvey.  I used to work with a Harvey occasionally in a catering business.  She was very petite and had black hair but I could not remember her first name.  She was at least 10 years older than me.  I asked Sr. Peterson what her grandma’s name was.  I did not recognize it.  Later, during our appointment, the first name came to me.  I whispered to Sr. Peterson: “her name was Rose”.  She looked surprised. “My middle name is Rose.  My great grandma was Rose Harvey. My mother and I were both named after her.”  Coincidence?  Perhaps.  Tom and I don’t think so.  It is one of the simple ways of the Lord reaffirming we are where we are supposed to be.

I have never been concerned about division of labor or role in our relationship.  In our almost 53 years of marriage, Tom has been addressed as Bishop, President, Doctor.  I, recognized as his wife, was in the background, a willing head of the support team. The thought has come to this 75 year old, on this our 4th of mostly French speaking missions and still struggling with that language, will I ever be the shining example?  In studying Emma Smith and her admonition in section 25, I noted the exact wording:  thy calling shall be a comfort unto my servant, thy husband.  A comment made by a dear friend obliterated my question completely.  His perception: “Is the role of comforter to a principal player a subservient or lesser sort of role?  Perhaps that is a question to ask the Holy Ghost.”

In branch news, yesterday was the last Sunday for the Kugler family.  They will now attend the ward in Dijon. It is 20 minutes closer to their home and has active primary and youth programs.  Without them we have two youth and 4 children in Primary.  They have been very engaged, serving in the branch presidency and as Relief Society President, and we will miss their smiling faces.

After meetings yesterday we went to visit the Landré family with Pres. and Sr. Catogny.  He has been waiting for more than 2 weeks (with a catheter) for his prostate operation this week.  We went to give him a blessing but first gave them the sacrament.  It has been a long time since we experienced the sweet intimacy of a brief home Sacrament Meeting.  We felt the essence of the Savior’s love for them and for us.  Sr. Landré insisted on feeding us some delicious chocolate mousse, biscuits, and fruit after the blessing.  They are dear friends.  

Later we spent a lovely Sunday afternoon with the sister missionaries at the home of Pres. and Sr. Catogni.  He led a superb discussion yesterday in the 2nd hour about how we can learn to teach in the Savior’s way.  All the ways that people mentioned were drawn around a central core on the board, like branches and leaves on a tree.  And of course the trunk is Jesus Christ.  He made the point that all the branches - all our efforts at teaching at home and in the Church - must be connected to the trunk so that we can receive the sève, the nourishing sap, that flows from the trunk.  That was a new vocab word for us.

We are looking forward to the first zone conference with our new mission leaders, Pres. and Sr. Schow, on Thursday, and then General Conference on Saturday and Sunday.  Keep that sève flowing!  

Gathering some bush blossoms in the countryside

Wildflowers to decorate the dining table (with peanut butter and jam, of course)

Hardy citizens enjoying the spring weather outdoors at the restaurants across from city hall

Utility workers checking out the hole

The peleton moves on...

An iconic country chateau with the weeping willows leafing out

March 23, 2025

We experienced a myriad of emotions this week.  We  are still without a fridge but  a new one arrives in just 4 more days.  Our GPS is not reliable navigating the one way streets and road construction in Lyon.  It takes at least double the time to get from one place to another.  We only had to go down 2 one-way streets the wrong way to get to the mission office.  These factors made our day and night for intake much more stressful than it normally is. 

There were 19 new missionaries who arrived on Wednesday.  They came from Spain, Austria, Northern Ireland, Sweden, Tahiti, France, Switzerland, Alberta, Michigan, Idaho, Minnesota, Arizona, and seven from Utah.  Some spoke French well, others barely.  As a group they have the fewest medical and emotional problems in their past of any group so far.

Our first assignment was to prepare salad for 32, which would be served with lasagne, French bread, and ice cream on Wednesday evening.  This would be the newly arrived, exhausted missionaries’ first meal in the field.  While some ate, others would be interviewed by Pres. Poznanski and then sent to Tom to individually review their health records.  We spent most of Tuesday buying and preparing vegetables for a quick assembly at the mission office down town (temporary change of venue from the mission home).  Lettuce, cauliflower, celery, carrot sticks, cucumbers, olives, and red and yellow peppers.  We hauled these to our branch building fridge so they would stay fresh overnight and on our 70 mile drive into the city.  

Our second assignment was to make sandwiches and buy fruit for 54 box lunches. The baguettes were ordered in Lyon to be picked up on Thursday morning.  Chips, cheese, bottled water and little cakes were hauled from the mission home.  I purchased ham, mustard, mayo, butter, bananas, apples, and mandarins and took them with us.  Tom and I assembled and bagged all of the above on Thursday morning, and hauled them to the Sans Souci building, ready to be picked up by the missionaries and taken on the train to their new assignments. To our frustration, we could not get into the underground parking garage because it was locked.  After waiting about ten minutes in an illegal entryway, a parking spot became vacant across the street which we nabbed.  Unfortunately the two other senior couples attending the meeting were caught in a horrid traffic jam with cars going both directions down a one lane, one way street.  Nevertheless, we had a joyous meeting with trainees meeting their trainers for the first time and receiving their assignments throughout southern France. 

I was interested in one Elder in particular. His last name was Kastendieck and he was from Leduc, Alberta. When we moved to Edmonton for medical school in 1972, I taught the 9th grade early morning seminary class. One of my students was named  Heidi Kastendieck and I knew she had a younger brother Werner. She and I shared a positive experience that probably neither of us will ever forget.  When I met Elder Kastendieck, I asked if she was related. “Yes, she is my aunt and my dad is Werner.” Of course his grandparents were dead.  He was an impressive elder - already fluent in French and very solid.

The sister missionary from Sweden was also a delight.  I mentioned that my 2nd great grandfather came from a rural area called Jonkoping, and she excitedly said that’s where her family also had ancestry.  Small world, again.

Medically it has been an interesting week - a severe flare of eczema with infection, a slowly healing ingrown toenail, a missionary whose regular medicine for anxiety isn’t available now, helping one adjust to and treat her irritable bowel syndrome, and a sudden case of hives with no prior history.  However, most of the problems are resolving with education, medicine, and good self care.  We have been hampered by the loss of our information system (for 4 days), which contains all the past history of our missionaries, as we switch to an improved system.   My familiarity with work-arounds was useful.  All problems have solutions - it’s just that many of the solutions are not pleasant, practical, or convenient.

Blossoms!

Spring is desperately trying to arrive!

March 16, 2025

Pi Day and the Ides of March are now in the past.  Winter won't let go.  We were disappointed with the return of cold weather this week -30s and 40s- until our fridge died and we could put most things on the balcony. Our food has been out there for 3 days but I got permission today to put it in the fridge at the church for the next week when the temperatures go to the 50s and 60s. Hopefully we will have a new fridge in the next 10 days. Isn’t it amazing how our blessings come! 

Pres. and Sr. Poznanski will be our Mission Leaders for only 2 more weeks. We will be working with them on the intake of 18 new missionaries this week and then may never see them again.  One of my favorite quotes from him says: “What do we hear when we listen to the silence, when we calm down and power down?  Listen to the Spirit.  Hear Him. Attach yourself to spiritual things.” 

We had another delightful meeting this week with Bro. and Sr. L., who we mentioned last week.  We last saw him in great agony Sunday a week ago on the way to the hospital with a bladder infection and an obstructed catheter (from coagulated blood).  He was quickly seen at the hospital and had his catheter replaced, but they kept him for two days until he was seen by a urologist and his urine cleared.  He is scheduled for prostate surgery in 2 weeks.  This time when we visited he was back to his usual jovial self, (despite the continued presence of the catheter).

We also went with the Sr. missionaries to help Sr. B., who lives a half hour away in a small town.  She has mobility issues so we moved some boxes around for her, fixed some holes in her wall, and did a bit of work on light fixtures that were too high for her to safely reach.  She is always grateful when we can come.

One other high point was that the sisters found a keyboard in their apartment store room which works.  They happily loaned it to Sr. M. and her family.  I have been teaching her piano lessons using the Church curriculum but her progress has been slow because of the difficulty of practicing.  Now that she has a keyboard I expect she will move along quickly.  The teaching program uses do-re-mi for the note names instead of the letters (c-d-e) that I learned, so the teacher stumbles sometimes trying to teach, and is very empathetic with the student.  

March 9, 2025

This week we celebrated two of our favorite grandchildren’s birthdays. Scott, who turned twenty, is studying Organ Performance at UTSA and living at home. He also loves drum line.  We appreciate his great musical abilities.  I am sure Grandpa Tom relates to them especially.  Eden, our oldest granddaughter turned eighteen.  She is an amazing girl who faces her challenges head on and with much effort accomplishes the goals she has set.  She is on the honor role at Lone Peak High School, on their swim team and is completing three internships.  We feel such love for these two.

Last weekend our friend David was ordained an Elder after the Sunday morning session of Stake Conference.  We spent an evening with him Thursday discussing the Come Follow Me lesson and then talking about some of the basic blessings that can be given through the Melchizedek Priesthood.  He shared his testimony today about how the teachings of the Church had helped him change a difficult relationship at work into a friendship, as he practiced listening and putting his own ego in second place after the Savior’s teachings.  

Today I (Tom) was assigned to teach the lesson in the priesthood meeting, and asked him prior to the start if he would be willing to consecrate a small vial of olive oil that I needed and had prepared, which he did with a bit of coaching.  It has been a great testimony to see him grow from the first weekend we were here and attended his baptism.

The subject assigned was the talk by Elder Rasband from October about holding up the light of the Savior and sustaining leaders and each other as the Savior sustains us.  “I am the light that you shall hold up: that which ye have seen me do”.  Then we  went to what we were taught in the leadership session of conference a week ago, based on this commentary by Elder McConkie: “Ministering is not a program.  It is a skill.”  We read through the story of the Savior and the two men on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24), and we noted the ways that he had ministered to them.  

I told my story from 45 years ago when we had a sudden death of a child in our ward.  I felt so helpless because I didn’t know what to do to comfort or help the grieving family - and so I did nothing.  By contrast, when Pres. Soulier died suddenly on a Saturday morning 2 months ago, I knew that we needed to go visit Sr. Soulier the next afternoon.  I still didn’t know what to say or do, but I knew that we needed to be with her, and so we went.  As it turned out, we were ministered to by those present, especially Elder and Sr McConkie.  The Savior’s love was felt and shared and the Spirit brought consolation and peace to all.  

This afternoon we went with Pres. and Sr. Catogni to visit a member who is having medical problems, including an infection and a lot of pain.  A blessing was given and a tangible problem was assessed which could not be fixed except at the hospital, so back he went.

We were also able, thanks to Zoom, to hear the farewell talks given in the Big Fork, Montana, Ward by Pres. and Sr. Schow and their youngest son who are preparing to arrive as the mission leaders here in 3 weeks.  Their remarks were inspiring and showed us that the Lord has called another servant couple to lead the mission.

A Nice Visit

Where do I begin to describe this week? Tuesday Tom and I drove south to Nice to visit  Brent and DeAnn Spencer (dear friends from our past life in MN). They spend the first three months of each year helping their daughter Rixa restore rooms in her family home in an original  building in the old town.  She and her dad have done a marvelous job, while her mom cooks and entertains the grandkids (12-18).  Eric, the professor husband takes all the kids to soccer and coaches one of their teams and is writing another book.  Brent and Deann have conquered the narrow streets of old Nice and have come to the same conclusion we have: the ideal way to retire is to have a small beautiful place, within walking distance of everything you need, or access to public transportation.  No need for a car.  We had a great time taking the bus to Èze, exploring the architecture, the gardens, and gazing at the stunning vistas of the Mediterranean.  What a day!  The sun was shining and the sky a cloudless blue.  We, vitamin D deficient from the north, thought we had been transported to heaven.

View of Cap Ferrat from Èze

Another of our favorite outings was a hike around Cap Ferrat. My ideal coastline is cliff-formed, jagged with rocks, and crashing waves.  What a glorious first 2 1/2 miles.  I wanted to just sit, look, and listen to the Lord’s handiwork.

Walking around Cap Ferrat

We went to the basilica on Thursday evening for a laser light show and concert.  Using a live orchestra and chorus, the history of the basilica was retold.  Its construction was started in the 1860’s after the annexation of Nice to France.  The music was a series of classics: Intermezzo from Cavaleria Rusticana, Jupiter by Holst, Kyrié by Vierne, and Fauré, Vivaldi, Grieg, Handel, Bach, Moussorgski and more.  It opened with a lyrical slow solo by an amazing countertenor and went from there.  The light show was indescribable, timed to the music, and with  a uniqueness of colors and patterns projected in the church. 

The next evening we went to the Church of St. Martin and St. Augustin for a flute concert of Baroque music with Baroque instruments, including a wooden traverso, a wooden flauto, and a theorbo.  The musicians were very gifted and we enjoyed it all.  There is a small plaque in that church which says that in 1510 Martin Luther conducted a mass in one of the side chapels of the old church, likely on his trip to Rome.  

It was worth missing the final parade of Carnaval with the burning head, and the fireworks coordinated with musical accompaniment, to be in the leadership session of Stake Conference in Lyon on Saturday afternoon.  Whatever the world can offer, it cannot compare to the testimony of the Holy Ghost as one is taught the truths about Jesus Christ and his gospel.  Elder James McConkie shared his insights on ministering, as exemplified by the Savior on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24.  He emphasized taking time, listening, patience, asking open-ended questions., and teachings of the prophets and  the scriptures.  We left shortly after the meetings ended to make it to our hotel.  We felt pampered in the new Courtyard we found.  Such a comfortable mattress and feather pillows, great onion soup and hot goat cheese salad, and no long drives the next day.  

Today’s conference session was equally superb.  Our stake president being released (Pres. Jubeau) was out of work for a year and has taken employment in Thailand.  He has served for seven years.  We have felt close to him and his family since learning that he knew Sue’s brother and wife, Jack and Fern, who served a senior mission in Rennes where Pres. Jubeau was a youth.  After the conference I said to him that the Lord knows where he will be and that He isn’t finished with him yet.  One of the new counselors sustained today was Pres. Affoué.  He is the son of the Frère Affoué who we met in the temple in Ghana and who was one of the two founding families of the church in Côte d’Ivoire.

Elder McConkie spoke of the sacred anxiety that he felt coming to the conference, knowing that he and Elder Poznanski would have to discern by the spirit who the Lord wanted them to call.  He also said that after they had extended that call, the anxiety transferred to the new president.  

His theme was taken from Mark 4, the storms of life.  He told the story of his son Wilson, who at age 3 had just read that story with his mother.  They had a family outing at the zoo.  Sometimes during the summer evenings, the wind comes down the canyon and can be very strong.  When that happened during their outing, Wilson raised his arms in the air and said, “Peace, be still !” And the wind dropped.  He then said, “It is good.” And turning to his parents he said, “I am Jesus”.  

Elder McConkie talked about how storms in life are often unexpected, and how they sometimes get worse before they get better.  To voyage with Christ is to voyage in peace, even during the storm.  Coming to Lyon for conference reminded him of coming two months ago after the death of Pres. Soulier.  That was a “storm” for him, for Sr. Soulier and her family, the missionaries, and the stake.  Christ is always there for us when we call on Him, and He is not asleep in the boat.  He reminded us of Pres. Nelson’s talk in October ’22 when he said, “In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen.”  

The harbor at Nice