How the weeks fly by and our opportunities to serve multiply! We have spent more time with the Chalon Soeurs because Sr. Hammond goes home to CA in two days and Sr. Peterson will remain here and become a trainer. The four of us lunched with Sr. Sauvage and her 3 little girls. When we arrived, she was in tears, in her robe vacuuming. She had been up all night with an asthmatic daughter. We helped her clean and cook and Tom gave the daughter a blessing. By the time we left, everyone was happier.
We had a fun zoom FHE with the senior couples, getting to know them by playing Kahoots where you anonymously share two truths and a lie about yourself and they guess which is which. It is amazing what surprising things you learn about your fellow missionaries like hiking in Nepal, being written up in the Ensign, or conducting The Messiah.
Thursday, May 1, we headed to Bern to the Swiss Temple with the soeurs. A recent convert, David, was doing baptisms for his parents and grand parents and we had permission to join him. We noticed driving through town that many were selling little bundles of lily of the valley. That is how the French celebrate May Day and the official coming of Spring.
It was a warm, blue sky day with no wind. We drove the country roads enjoying the green forests, flowering bushes (intoxicating smells), and the stunning panoramas. We stopped to explore Chateau Frontenay and heard bird choirs praising the sunshine. It seemed all the world was rejoicing. We also toured Neuchâtel Castle in Switzerland and then headed for Sr. Hammond’s favorite restaurant “Holy Cow” in Bienne. I will let you guess what kind of food they serve.
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| Plaque at the entrance to Chateau Frontenay |
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| Private graveyard of the chateau |
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| The courtyard of Chateau Neuchatel |
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| Chateau Neuchatel |
Friday Tom and I did three endowment sessions plus sealings. I did not realize that the words are printed on the screen, usually in the language of the session. What French words I could see, through the heads in front of me, I could read and understand. For the next session I planned to be early so I could sit on the aisle and see all the print. To my surprise, the session was in French but the printing looked something like Russian. After a couple of minutes, a temple worker came to get an ok from a man across from me, and the session continued. This man watched the words intensely. As he went to the veil, I noticed his height - probably 6’7”, and the determination in his face. I found out that the language was Ukrainian and made the assumption that he was as well. I don’t know why this made me feel so happy but it did - to think that he had made the same covenants with Christ as I had and was at the temple to strengthen them. Who knows what conditions he was living under. In session 3, I made it to the front row but, oh, the session was in German and so were the captions. I listened with English ear phones.
Friday evening we met the Stafflers, friends and former missionaries from the Africa Central Area who live in Geneva and serve in the temple. They walked with us to a lovely busy German restaurant, where we enjoyed schnitzel and a chicken/asparagus dish while we caught up and visited about friends from Africa. While they were there they had befriended a young man who eventually joined the Church and is now a returned missionary. From small deeds…
We found out that our telephones did not function in Switzerland. As we arrived back at our hotel, the inbox quickly filled up with missionary health questions and problems. We weren’t able to get to bed as early as we had hoped.
Saturday we did more temple work, ending with a baptistry session with our newer member and the sister missionaries. It was a wonderful experience. He was able to confirm several patrons while Tom recorded, because of his ordination as Elder many weeks ago. The trip home was long. Previously the sisters had been invited to the 18th birthday party of a new member in our branch. She and her older sister are the only members in a large family and they had prepared a large buffet for us. Unfortunately they live about 40 minutes out of town, and given the time we felt we should go
there directly before going home. The party was definitely for a younger generation but we enjoyed it despite being very tired.
Today we had a baby blessing in our meeting. A Tahitian family moved in a couple of weeks ago and this is their second child, probably 3 weeks old. Her father gave her a beautiful blessing (while she slept contentedly) and then gently kissed her on the forehead before returning her to her mother’s arms. It was a spontaneous expression of love and reminded us all of Heavenly Father’s affectionate care of His children.
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| With Stafflers |
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| A country cheese store on the way home |
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