LettresdeLyon: April 27, 2025

I was out for a walk one day and stopped to look at the window displays of the most unique and expensive chocolate and pastry shop in Chalon. I was awed by what I was seeing. Chocolate planters with chocolate dirt and delicate white chocolate blossoms growing on a chocolate stem with green chocolate leaves. Completely edible.

Nougat

A woman beside me exclaimed something in English. I turned to acknowledge her language. She was from Pennsylvania, on one of the tour boats on the river and was doing her own walking tour. She asked if I lived in Chalon and how long I had been here. Yes. 6 months. I would return to Florida in a year. What was I doing here? I told her that I was a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and showed her my name tag. Is that the one from Utah? It is head quartered there. Is there one here? Yes. How is that going? It is always great when you can teach about Jesus Christ. She smiled. She asked about buying scarves and we parted ways. I thought about my spontaneous remark and realized the absolute truth in the statement. Speaking about the Savior brings peace and joy to the soul.

After hearing about the death of the Pope early this week, I was gratified by the message released by the First Presidency. Both Pres. Nelson and Eyring had met with him:

"We join with the world in mourning the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis. His courageous and compassionate leadership has blessed countless lives. We extend our heartfelt condolences to all who looked to him for inspiration and counsel. As the world pauses to remember his example of forgiveness and service, we feel deep gratitude for the goodness of a life-well lived and rejoice in the hope of a glorious resurrection made possible through the atonement of Jesus Christ."

Yesterday I watched some of the funeral for Pope Francis. He was known for his humility, a Pope of the people, especially the poor and needy and originally from S. America. He requested a plain wooden casket, not three stacked inside each other. He was the first to request his burial outside the Vatican and in a church. He requested only a few cardinals, the pallbearers and intimate friends to take him there - no large procession. He made other requests but tradition was followed instead. There were almost 250,000 in St. Peter’s Square to observe the mass for him and hundreds of cardinals and priests dressed in red and white, the red representing their willingness to shed their own blood for Jesus. It was a well-scripted production.

Tom and I and the Elders Quorum President and his wife spent the afternoon in the ville of Creusot. We were visiting and taking the Sacrament to an older sister (who got out of bed to welcome us) and another who had come to her apartment. Neither had taken the Sacrament for several months. We spent a couple of hours visiting and answering questions, with little contribution from me. Then Antonio and Tom prepared, blessed and passed the bread and water. I was struck by the simplicity and power of that ordinance. Here was Tom, kneeling on a linoleum floor, reading the prayer from his phone, over two small bites of bread on a white cloth napkin placed on top of a red checkered table cloth. He had the authority to offer to these women, the opportunity to strengthen their bonds with their Savior by renewing the covenants they had made with Him when they were baptized. The ordinance ends with ‘so they may always have His spirit to be with them. Amen’. As I contrasted my morning hours and my afternoon hours, I was overcome with gratitude for the gospel of Jesus Christ and his restored church.