Last week was one of transfers: 17 departing super missionaries, and 14 arriving new missionaries from 3 MTCs full of enthusiasm and speaking Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Mongolian, English and French. Soeur Bell was assigned to our branch and Sr. Tew was sent to Nice as a Sister Trainer Leader. We have previously talked about our involvement in the meals for the three days. The program is getting more routine and somewhat easier. The other office couples are very helpful. Friday we were invited to help do some wall & ceiling washing and vacuuming of several rooms in a member’s home where they are doing some remodeling. The drywall was taped and sanded and there was dust everywhere - much diminished when we finished.
We have had a lot of rain in the past 10 days. The Saône is perhaps higher than we have seen in the past and there is a lot of flooding from the many small streams on the outskirts of town. Many running trails are impassable. The flooding is expected and usually it is low-lying fields that fill up. No roads or homes are flooded - that would take a major event.
The Christmas decorations are up in the town. Many small Christmas trees are on street corners and near shops in the old town, decorated usually with red bows; lighting displays cross the streets overhead and on lamp posts; larger (30 feet !) Christmas trees with many decorations and lights are found in several places in the town. We did have a snow shower one day last week.
Today in meetings one of the speakers told of an experience when he was a bishop. He regularly visited a member whose husband wasn’t interested in the church and would always go into a different room when they came to visit. One day, he asked his wife and son to visit with the wife while he went in the other room with the husband to get to know him better. After some conversation, he invited the man to be more a part of the church. The man said that could never happen, because he had committed a sin which was unpardonable. After some active listening, the bishop heard his story. During WW II, the man served in a resistance unit. During one difficult engagement with the Germans, his best friend was severely wounded. To avoid his painful cries giving away their position, the commander ordered the man to silence his friend, and the only way to do that was to strangle him. It is so difficult to imagine the burden of guilt that this man had carried for so many years. The bishop lovingly taught that Christ’s love is all powerful and could forgive even that. At the end the man was invited to attend church the next Sunday, which he did. After several months, the man decided to be baptized and became an active member for the last 10 years of his life.
The Christmas story is about a little baby, but the heart of that story is Christ’s earthly mission to bring us salvation from sin and death, and offer new beginnings.
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