Wednesday, March 8, 2017

If you do it unto the least of these my brethren...

It seems that everyday we are presented with some unexpected way to help or serve someone, some times someone in our circle of influence, but  often complete strangers. Yesterday the stake president's wife needed someone to drive out to the new chapel to let her in since her husband was out of  town.  Last week, we taught institute class on the  divine role of men and women. On our way home a beautiful, young woman stood out in the dark in the middle of the road, sobbing her head off, holding her hand out for us to stop, and crying for help.  We stopped and asked what we could do to help her. She said she had gone to visit her her friend but couldn't find a place to park. She found her friend's house with the big white door, but when she came out, she couldn't find her car.  She had been searching for half an hour, but couldn't find her  gray Twingo (pronounced Tweengo) that she had actually borrowed from another friend.  We invited her to get in our car and drove around for quite a while. I guess we looked fairly safe!  We finally found her car really far away from where we had first seen her.  She was so grateful and happy for our help.

Sometimes we get lost and need to ask someone for help.  Missionaries, church leaders loving family members, good friends, and ultimately the Savior can come to help us find our way to back to safety.

Today as we were walking, we saw a very elderly man carrying a two huge bags that were clearly too heavy for him and about knocked him over. Elder Geddes offered to help him get to where he needed to go.  When we got there, we shook hands, got a huge smile, and a sweet, "Thank you!  Have a wonderful day!" in a city where people never speak  to one another on the streets or even make eye contact.

We Seek After These Things....

Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon; 
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.


Amen.


Prière de St. Francis d’Assisi

« Seigneur, fais de moi un instrument de ta paix,
Là où est la haine, que je mette l’amour.
Là où est l’offense, que je mette le pardon.
Là où est la discorde, que je mette l’union.
Là où est l’erreur, que je mette la vérité.
Là où est le doute, que je mette la foi.
Là où est le désespoir, que je mette l espérance..
Là où sont les ténèbres, que je mette la lumière.
Là où est la tristesse, que je mette la joie.
O Seigneur, que je ne cherche pas tant à
être consolé qu’à consoler,
à être compris qu’à comprendre,
à être aimé qu’à aimer.
Car c’est en se donnant qu’on reçoit,
c’est en s’oubliant qu’on se retrouve,
c’est en pardonnant qu’on est pardonné,
c’est en mourant qu’on ressuscite à l’éternelle vie. »


There is much that is beautiful and praiseworthy here in France.


Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Loved Teaching. . .Hated Grading!

Ask any retired teacher if they miss their job and you almost always hear the same thing:  "What I really miss the most is being around the students".  But ask them if there is anything they don't miss, somewhere in the long list you will probably hear "grading".  This is certainly the feeling for both of us after 40+ years of university teaching.  We loved teaching, but hated giving grades.  After a semester of working with a student, especially one who is trying very hard but not succeeding very well, it can be agonizingly difficult to sum it all up with one letter.  And this is especially complicated when you realize that one student's "C" is often a better grade than another student's "A"!

We both wondered if retirement would leave a big hole where the students used to be.  But coming right out of our final summer break as professors and starting our fall "semester" as missionaries, we didn't lose a beat as far as being with the "students" is concerned.  And the best part of all: We don't have to give grades!!!

Yesterday, we started our morning with quiche and waffles for 13 young missionaries in our apartment.  And after breakfast, the "class" on how to read a gothic cathedral began.  After "class", there was a field trip to old Lyon to see Saint-Jean gothic cathedral.  At the end, we all went for a bowl of Pho at a local Vietnamese restaurant.  And later in the evening, we had family home evening with the Lyon Stake single young adults.

A great day being with our "students": and NO GRADING!  But they would have all gotten "A's" if there had been grades.


Sœur Geddes made some great quiche and waffles with Nutella...look at those smiles!  Looks kind of funny with all the elders seated with the sœurs standing, but the sisters ate first and then the guys just cleaned up at the end.

The field trip to Saint Jean Cathedral

Class notes: The Plan of Salvation in one of the rose windows!


Family Home Evening at with the young adults.


Nothing like a hot bowl of Pho on a brisk spring day!


A bowl of Pho.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Staying Busy...and Having Fun.

Our recent weeks have found us a little too busy to keep up with our blog.  We have our weekly family home evenings with the Lyon Stake young adults.  That always includes us preparing and bringing a meal along with the lesson.  We were substitute teachers for the Institute class this week.  Chris was asked to speak at a special "Saint Cène de Berger" meeting ("Sacrament meeting of the Shepherd") that our ward has once every other month.  Less active members receive special invitations and someone goes out to bring them to church that day.  Sœur Geddes is busy preparing for that talk.  Our bishop asked us to increase our Wednesday "family home evening" meetings with the ward older singles to twice a month.  We often do these in the homes of those who have a difficult time getting out.  This is complicated by the fact that the ward boundaries here are very large, and the members often live two or more hours drive from the church. We have many video conferences with ward and stake self-reliance committees throughout French-speaking Euorpe. Last night we had one with the committee in Nancy in preparation for our visit there later this month.  We go with the young missionaries to teach "amis"(investigators).  They especially like to invite us when the amis live in a place that is difficult to get to on public transportation; After all, we have a car.  A week ago Saturday we spent the day giving short presentations on the self-reliance initiative at an open house of a new church building here in Lyon.  There were many curious visitors who came throughout the day.  This past weekend we traveled to Lausanne, Switzerland to facilitate a fireside in the Renens Ward.  And we spent the weekend before that doing the same for the Nîmes Ward in the south of France.


But when you live and travel in Europe, you see some pretty amazing places. Historical landmarks almost "litter" the landscape.  We have said to each other that you can't fling a crêpe without hitting a cathedral or a château!  So we do make stops along our way to see and appreciate some of the natural and man-made wonders of this beautiful place.

A couple of self-reliance missionaries at the open house of the new Saint-Gervais building in Lyon.

Visitors at the open house.

Sœur Geddes getting a "Nani-fix" in the apartment of an ami.

Family Home Evening in the home of an elderly single sister.

A fireside in the Nîmes Ward.

The Roman Arena in Nîmes.  They still have bullfights here.

La Maison Carrée, a beautifully preserved Roman temple in Nîmes. 

A fireside in the Renens, Switzerland Ward.

A little harbor town on Lac Leman not far from Lausanne.

The Château of Chillon on Lac Leman.

Driving in Switzerland is like driving through a rack of post cards!

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Happy Valentine's Day

Eat your heart out, Valentine!  Heart-shapped bread?  Who knew ?!?!

Monday, February 13, 2017

Listening to Silence

There is something wonderful about listening to silence.  Right now, in the quiet of 5:00 am, the only things I can hear are a distant clock ticking and the very slight buzzing of my computer's little cooling fan.  I'm sure that these sounds are always there.  But they are usually drowned out by other noises when we and the rest of Lyon usually wake up.  The first morning sounds we typically hear come from the "high-heel lady".   That's name we have given to the early-rising woman in the apartment just above us who must look very fashionable, even though we have never actually seen her.  You can guess where we got her name.  And the daily sounds of living in a city just ramp up from there.

Another source of "silence" is that fact that we don't have a TV, a radio, or a newspaper.  We didn't hear much of the U.S. election coverage this year, didn't watch the Grammys, and didn't even know who was playing in the Super Bowl, let alone watch any of the ads!  On many of our daily walks, this lack of information has been our topic of conversation.   We have decided that this might be a mixed blessing.  On the one hand, we are really out of the loop concerning much of what is going on in the world around us.  On the other hand, we are really out of the loop concerning much of what is going on in the world around us!

The biggest blessing of living outside of the "noise" is that the little things, those that are always there but usually go unnoticed and forgotton, finally get a chance.  Some of them, like ticking clocks or buzzing fans are probably not that critical.  But others are much more important than campaigns or football games.


Gee!  I just noticed that our fridge makes a gurgling-spaceship kind of sound when it kicks on!

On a recent visit to a little village destroyed in World war II.

A quiet spot in one of Lyon's many hidden "miraboules".

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Making Transitions

President Brown, our Lyon France mission president, asked us if we could help a young sister missionary who is having some struggles as a new missionary in a new place with a new language, etc.  She has an interest and background in art, and as President Brown wisely told us, she needs to continue to "feel the art" as she serves as a full-time missionary.
 
As we have been thinking about how to help her, we can't help but reflect on how we needed to make that same transition ourselves from being full time professors, being surrounded by friends and family, living in a large and beautiful home, taking walks along the river, speaking English, being Matt and Chris...to becoming full time missionaries, surrounded by strangers, living in a little apartment, taking walks while dodging the traffic of a metropolitan center, speaking French and being called Elder et Sœur.... 


One of the things that has made this transition easier for Elder et Sœur Geddes is that they brought Matt and Chris with them!  And it is amazing how many of our experiences, interests, and passions have become useful missionary tools.  Some, like our love for French culture and language, had an immediate and obvious connection.  But what about things like sculpting or hula (Sœur Geddes obviously!) or playing the guitar or a passion for travel or a love of new food adventures or being art and literature teachers?  We are finding so many ways that all of the things that we learned and loved before our mission connect and adapt beautifully to full-time missionary service.  Heavenly Father gave us each different gifts, interests and abilities.  And all of these gifts can be used for His purpose of serving others.  There will always be some growing pains with change.  But you don't have to become someone or something different that who you are to be a good missionary.  You just have to keep trying to become a little better version.  We think that this is the thing we would like to share with this young sister missionary. 

Christine Beaute. . .

. . . and Matmut.  About says it all!