Sœur Geddes and I had the assignment this past Sunday to
speak in our Écully Ward sacrament meeting. We were given the topic of living a Christ centered life of
service. We loved the topic. But preparing to speak in a non-native
tongue makes you work very hard and then really rely on the Spirit. (I think there is some principle
here?!) I can honestly say that
Sœur Geddes delivered one of the most magnificant messages ever. The Spirit filled the chapel and her
French was impeccable. Sarah
George (a local French girl and former T.A. to Sœur Geddes at BYUI) was seated
next to me. During the talk she whispered "I can't believe how good her
French is." I was the next
and concluding speaker.
As it turned out, this past Sunday just happened to coincide
with our mission transfer week and two of the young missionaries in the Écully
Ward are leaving. So in addition
to the assigned speakers, these two had been invited to bear their testimonies. So when it finally got to my turn, the
meeting time was over! Our bishop
stood and apologetically asked if I would mind saving my talk for two
weeks. I think he was inspired to
let the meeting end on such a high plane.
But in all humility I can honestly say that it was also one of my best
talks ever...and I didn't make one gramatical or pronunciation error!
––––––––––––––––
Last night we did a Family Home Evening lesson for the stake
Young Single Adults over at the Institute building, about a 10-minute walk from
our apartment. To entice them to
come we had put up posters advertising a "Soirée Crêpes" after. I think food is the universal
language! A lot of YSA's and
missionaries showed up. And while
I might make mistakes with French, there were no problems with the
crêpes!
Sœur Geddes in the chapel with our Self Reliance manager and the
nephew of an old friend who teaches French at BYU.
Chef Geddes at the Institute
Satisfied customers.
I love to see Chris's beautiful curls and I would love to come have some of those crepe's. I can tell you are living right when you even successfully get out of a talk in Sacrament meeting. I would be the one with 40 minutes left and no rest hymn!!!
ReplyDeleteNanny is amazing! And so are you. I would've loved to see her speaking in French even though I probably wouldn't have understood half of it. I bet your talk will be awesome, too, when you give it.
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