Back to the Future

Sunday, October 25, 2015

As most of the world knows we reached a momentous date this week.  Wednesday, October 21, 2015 was the date that Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and "Doc" Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) journeyed to on Back to the Future II.  This was quite a momentous occasion in France.  In a community not from from Charleville-Mézières they had a DeLorean car on display of the same vintage as the one in the movie.   They also showed all three movies free of charge and back to back.  Just so you know we did not participate in those festivities as much as it sounds like a lot of fun.

What does this have to do with missionary work you might ask.  At our district meeting this week we set some goals related to qualities we would like to nurture as a district.  We talked about the qualities that are evident in the story of the Good Samaritan.  As a district we are going to focus on Empathy, Courage and good vibes.  

Our district is one of many districts  in the Paris zone.  This transfer each district is choosing qualities that reflect their district and each district has been asked to make a video that emphasises those qualities.  You are probably wondering what happened to the "Back to the Future" theme that we started out with.  Wait for it!!!  Our district decided to do their video around that theme.  Ed plays the part of "Doc" Brown and Lynn plays the part of Marty McFly's mom.  Thirty years into the future Biff is baptised and ends up being a Good Samaritan when a pedestrian is run over by the DeLorean when it re-enters into the future.  We had fun making the video and we learned about the importance of our district's chosen qualities.

But the week was more than just fun and games.  We have continued with our missionary efforts in France.  We did 3 different kinds of teaching this week.  Every Tuesday we teach a lesson on the gospel in French.  This is a class open to our French speaking and non French speaking members.  It is a great opportunity for our English speaking members to learn more about the Gospel in French and to learn a little French while doing so.  It seems to be well received and is fun, too.

We also have continued to teach missionary lessons with the young missionaries or on our own.  We are now teaching lessons to people who have already been baptised but who still need to learn more about the Church.  These are fun lessons.  They are very rewarding for us and for the members and Friends of the Church.

We also taught two Home Teaching lessons this week.  In our church we go into members'  homes once a month and teach a spiritual message.  This gives us a chance to get to know the members better and to share a lesson.  We also are able to provide service to those who need it.  This week we visited a member in Belgium who is travelling to Thessaloniki in Greece.  She will be walking in the footsteps of Paul, the apostle, and is quite excited about it.  She will be taking classes in the Greek language  and hopes to be providing service to the huge flood of migrants who are travelling through Greece near Thessaloniki seeking a better life.  What an awesome experience.  Ed was able to give her a blessing for her to feel good, to be kept safe and to make the best of this marvellous opportunity.  

We also had another great visit with another family.  They live in a small village about 40 minutes southwest of Charleville.  As always when we visit this couple we go as the teachers but often leave as the students.  They are such strong members and are great examples.  We learn so much from their example and from our discussions with them.  

I guess we do some teaching as we interact with our younger missionaries, as well.  This, too, is a symbiotic relationship.  We learn from them and they learn from us.  This week we went to St. Quentin to inspect the two missionary apartments there.  Hopefully, we are teaching our younger colleagues how to manage a household and how to clean.  Some need these lessons more than others but all the younger missionaries we work with are amazing individuals.  They always enjoy our visits.  We love them and feel of their love, too.

The rest of our week was filled up with meetings and family issues.  This week we also travelled to a little village on the Belgian border named Gespunsart.  It is only 20 minutes from our house.  It is the home town of one of the members of our Branch.  We actually went there looking for him as he told us that he was going to be there this week.  In France it is a tradition to clean up family graves and graveyards during "Toussaint" or "All Saints Day" which coincides with Halloween.  Our friend had planned to do just that this week in his hometown in memory of his parents.  We thought we might be able to meet him there but were unable to connect.  We did find graves, though, with his family name on them.

The three pictures above are of Gespunsart

Today at church we had 18 people.  We always mention the attendance because it is important for our little Branch.  

This is Gift and Beauty, two of our regulars.  They are great.  Isn't Gift's hat fantastic!

When you consider that there were some Sundays when we only had 3 or 4 people at church we celebrate the growth we have experienced.  We had two great talks from two recent converts.  They were truly inspired.  Talk about growth.  They are proof of the growth of the Gospel here in France and we are excited to be part of that and to be able to support them.

Well, it has been a busy and exciting week.
Au revoir de la France.

Lyndi-Lou and Eddie, too.