Christmas Letter, 2017

Christmas Letter

2017, Lyon, France

As we come around the corner to another Christmas away from home and head quickly towards our departure date of February 8, we are filled with mixed feelings.  When we received our itinerary for the flight home, Sister Geddes started to cry (tears of excitement or sadness? probably a little of both), and Elder Geddes said he felt like he had just been punched in the stomach, but then in the same breath we started talking about how much grandchildren had grown, golfing, other possible trips, T.J. Max, and macho burritos at the Taco Bus in Rexburg. We knew it would happen that we would make wonderful life-long friends with the beautiful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints here in France, with the unbelievably powerful young Elders and Sisters, and with the amazing not so young senior missionaries we get to serve with. We knew we would get attached and be very sad to leave people we love so much and care so very deeply for.  But we didn’t know the extent of this emotion until the time actually came. And here it is! We will never stop loving them or caring for their best happiness and will try in earnest to stay in contact with them.

On the other hand, J  we cannot wait to be with children and grandchildren and dear friends who are like family to us.  That was, of course, the hardest part of being gone this far away.  We missed the birth of one grand baby and the baptism of two grandchildren, music recitals, soccer games, flooded basements, job changes, first steps, first laid eggs, and multiple birthdays not to mention important visits from the tooth fairy.

Amidst this potpourri of feelings is one overriding feeling; gratitude. We could not be more grateful for this extraordinary mission.  We love Europe.  We love living in France and travelling all over French speaking Europe, we love being drenched in this oh- so- rich cultural heritage of art, history, architecture, and religious tradition. We love the French language and are still debating if we are grateful for French bread, cheese, and pastries since we are bringing far too much of it home with us—around our  mid sections.

We feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to work closely with strong, faithful, diligent members of the church.  It is not easy to be a religious person in France these days.  We love and admire the Young Single adults we work with at the Institute for the way they face all the challenges that are so urgent and pressing upon them.  These and the other members rise to the occasion and shine like a beautiful ray of hope to the whole region. Most of the members are converts to the church with very few second and third generation members.  Their love of God and the gospel is alive and full of enthusiasm and commitment, plus they sing hymns with an unbelievable intensity and with all their hearts. We have been impressed and inspired by our wonderful, spiritually minded Self-Reliance Directo, Momo Djemai  as well as Priesthood leaders, Roland Léporé and Marc Pommier whose understanding of the gospel is deep and clear and unfailing.  We were privileged to be here during the Paris temple open house and observe a very real spiritual renaissance complete with miracles, softened hearts, and very positive media coverage.

We are grateful for each other as companions, both missionary and eternally.  We definitely make a good team on the good days and the not so stellar days.  Our skills and talents are complimentary, and we are good at filling in the gaps for each other when needed.  We have both learned a great deal about ourselves and each other (you’d think we already knew just about everything after 45 years.) We are grateful for the gift of repentance and change and the ability to grow and become.  We feel we will come home changed and better for the experience.

Most of all, we are grateful to be anchored in the knowledge that there is a God, that we are His beloved children, that He cares about us and wants our greatest happiness and progress.  In this very confused world around us, we are grateful to know we can pray and be heard and be lifted. We are eternally grateful for His Son, Jesus Christ whose birth and life we honor at this glorious time of year. We know that He lives now, that He is at the head of this church, that because of His atonement, there is tremendous hope and limitless possibilities awaiting us.  We have been grateful to wear His name on our chests this past many months, and though we will not be wearing the name badge, we will have His name engraved upon our hearts and will continue in our greatest desire to be worthily sealed as “His.”

Merry Christmas!  And Taco Bus, here we come!

Gros Bisous (French way to say “love”)

Elder et Sœur GEDDES  -  Missionnaires

Autonomie/FPE

France • Belgique • Luxembourg • Suisse

geddesm2@ldschurch.org  +33  (0)6 60 13 93 97

Christine.Geddes@ldschurch.org  +33 (0)6 69 68 63 57

alias Mom and Dad, Nanny and Pappy, Chris and Matt