Cathedrals

In France, you can hardly fling a crêpe without hitting a magnificent church, basilica, or cathedral.  Every town, from the smallest hamlets to the grandes villes, has a spired edifice at its heart.  The most majestic of these, the immense gothic cathedrals, are in a style that was first developed here in France in the Basilica of St. Denis just north of Paris.  This unique gothic style quickly spread throughout France, then the rest of Europe, and eventually even found its way to far-away Utah in the design of the neo-gothic Salt Lake City Temple.

When you enter one of these majestic churches, you can't help but marvel at the capacity of man when motivated and inspired by God. How did they do that?!  And in contrast, you also feel a little deflated when you see the vandalism on one like St. Jean here in Lyon that was severely damaged when the secular wave of the revolution swept over France.  But even through the scars, the spirit of the original structure survives.

What was the source of inspiration for these incredible churches?  We got a beautiful glimpse of it last week on a trip to Corsica with all of the senior missionaries from the Lyon mission.  As wonderful as the creations of man are - the cathedrals, the churches, the 2000-year-old aquaducts and theatres -  they pale in comparison to Corsica's "Calanche de Piana", the volcanic "Reserve of Scandola", or a simple sunset on the Mediterranean.  Even the inside of an oyster shell is a masterpiece.  It should be no surprise then, when places like a stand of old-growth Sequoias in Muir Woods, or a gallery of calcium crystals in the cave of Baum-les-Messieurs, or an emerald cove in Corsica's cliffs are all called "cathedrals".  It can be so inspiring and humbling to see how puny we really are!  And then we ask ourselves," How did HE do it?" And the words to the hymn "How Great Thou Art" resound in our hearts.

As we breathe in the splendour and beauty of His creations like the magnificent island of Corsica, we feel closer to Deity and are brought to our knees in gratitude to know because of  the restored gospel, how great our value is in the sight of the Lord (D&C 18:10).  We are again humbled to realise that this earth was created for us in order for Him to accomplish His work and His glory (Moses 1:39) .

Our trip to Corsica was soul-healing, heart lifting, and just magnified our love and admiration for the Lord and our gratitude to be able to serve in this beautiful part of the world with our wonderful fellow senior missionaries.

Entrance to "The Cathedral" in Corsica's "Réserve de Scandola".

The color and clarity of the water and the abundance of marine life around Corsica are spectacular.

Spray from the boat going along the coastline.

Rugged rocks . . .

. . . and crystal-clear water.

More of the spectacular coast.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio on the island of Corsica.

The local sea-gulls apparently aren't that impressed by Napoleon!

Church with the group (smaller than a branch) in Ajaccio.

What could be more Mediterranean that bougainvillea and an amphora?

A selfie at dinner . . . in a soup spoon.

And a selfie on the beach.

Sunset from the balcony of our hotel room on Corsica.

"Noah's Arc for our Day"

When we first came on our mission, we really had no idea what a call to serve in Self-Reliance meant.  Now that we have rounded the ¾ mark of our mission time spent here in France, Belgium and Switzerland, we can truly say that we are 100% converts to the initiative. We can also say with conviction that the concept of Self-Reliance is a principle of salvation. The initiative is inspired and must surely be the “Noah’s ark for our day.”  The Lord is in charge, and He knows what is needed for his people to prepare them for the Second Coming. Doctrine and Covenants 104:15 “ And is my purpose to provide for my saints for all things are mine.” 

The Self-Reliance Initiative through its many facets and courses teaches spiritual as well as temporal self-reliance.  To the Lord, all things are spiritual; they are at no time separate and are interdependent. President Uchtdorf explains that they are like two sides of a coin that cannot be pulled apart. At first I had a hard time with the term “spiritual self-reliance” because it seemed to imply that we could do it all ourselves without the Savior.  But now I understand that it means that we have our own strong and lasting relationship with the Lord without relying on other human beings for the foundation of our faith. Our faith is in Christ and we realize that we are totally dependent on His power and grace. Becoming self-reliant makes us more like Him, the supreme example of self-reliance who wants us to have the peace, hope and sense of progress that come from working on and achieving our self-reliance goals. This is in direct opposition to what the adversary wants for us; dependence, slavery and misery.

Elder Ballard’s conference address in last April’s 2017 General Conference entitled “Return and Receive” states that those who are most successful in this life and most prepared for the next  are those with a strong vision of where they are headed and tactical goals to keep them focused.  He reminds us that God, the Father has given us the perfect example of goal setting and planning.  His goal is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man [and woman], and His means to achieve it is the plan of salvation."

Self-Reliance courses have an impressive goal setting component with regular evaluations of where we are, where we are headed, how we are planning to get there, and then, the crucial element of “returning and reporting” is featured.

We have planted many seeds on our mission but don’t always get to see the fruits of our labors.  Last week we were blessed to see the fruits. Last March we had participated in a ward council meeting where members who could benefit from a Self-Reliance devotional were identified and invited. We went with the Bishop of the Nancy ward to find and invite three inactive families to church and our Self-Reliance fireside.  All three families came to church the next day, stayed for the ward luncheon, and participated in the fireside that we presented. Better still, one couple signed up for a self-reliance group and then completed the course.  We were privileged to return for the ceremony months later where participants received their certificates of completion.  We were very moved by the testimony of this same brother who said the course brought him and his wife closer together, got them coming to church again, and helped them learn to pay their tithing among other important goals.  We are grateful to have come full circle, sharing this thrilling moment with visible, unforgettably delicious fruit!   

Self-Reliance Certificate Awarding Ceremony

Jessy bearing his testimony about his Self-Reliance experience



Jessy's wife receiving her certificate

Jessy paying his tithing

Le Bonheur c'est des amis! Happiness is wonderful friends!

Le Bonheur, c’est des amis!  Happiness is wonderful friends!

It has been such a joy to welcome wonderful friends to Lyon.  We have been blessed to have Jeff and Lori Anderson from Rexburg, then Candy Miller and Judy Steiner from Chester and Rexburg, and after that, Rob and MaryLou Hardisty from Hawaii.  It’s a strangely wonderful and wonderfully strange to experience the colliding of two universes like this.  You become so involved in your life and service here which is all-consuming, and then suddenly you get to be with special people from home and blasts from the past. We have loved every minute of this Geddes B&B life and feel extremely blessed to love and be loved by such amazing friends! And to be able to share the charm, beauty, cultural and historical richness of this beautiful country with them… Oh là là!

Lori and Jeff are figuring France out.


She's even got her own shop in France.

You have to try all the Magnum bar flavors!


Too many Magnum bars?

A new kind of crown for the Queens!

Magnificent sights.  And the Cathedral isnt' bad, either.

A view of Lyon from Fourviere



Diner at Le Petit Ogre



Ain't she sweet!



Hardistys having a religious experience in St. Martin Ainay without pastries!



Rob's favorite part; Chateau de Germolles




Roman Aquaduct --Gier



When there is a demonstration and the roads are blocked to cars, pas de soucis!



Place Belcour at night

Sowing and Harvesting

Sixteen years ago, while on his mission in the France, Marseilles mission, our son-in-law, Nate, served for some time on Corsica.  His mission president gave him a particular assignment to look for a certain member who had fallen out of activity and moved to Ajaccio on the island of Corsica.  Nate and his companion finally located the brother who was not at all interested.  Throughout his time on Corsica, Nate and his companion continued making attempts to bring this brother back but with no success.  He was sorry to have to report back to his mission president that they were totally unsuccessful.

Fast forward sixteen years.  Our daughter Elisa and her husband Nate came for a visit.  We took them into the office to introduce them to the office missionaries.  All the departing missionaries in the last rotation had just left for home except for Elder Battazzato who was in the office waiting for his later flight home to Sicily.  When Nate learned that Elder Battazzato had just finished his mission on Corsica, he was excited to talk with him.  In the course of their conversation, Nate asked specifically about this brother whom he had labored to reactivate without success.  Elder Battazzato's face lit up as he told Nate that this man was a stalwart member of the branch and is currently serving in the branch presidency.

There are so many times that missionaries feel like their efforts have had little or no success.  We just have to remember we are often harvesting crops that were planted by others and won't get to see the fruits of many of the seeds we are now sowing.

With Elder Battazzato who is on his way home to Sicily.

Our good friends from home, Jeff and Lori Andersen, came for a visit.

We took the Andersens on a day trip to Annecy.  Sister Geddes and Lori were apparently trying to color-coordinate while they were here!

The château of Menthon overlooking Lake Annecy.

Château Menthon dining hall and fireplace.

A bedroom in Château Menthon. (Self-portrait and photo-bomb by Jeff in the mirror!)

The music room.

Part of the château's extensive library.

A beautiful courtyard.

The château kitchen with a rail-car connecting directly to the dining room, 30 feet away.


The château guard looks like he has been standing there for a long time.

Le Bonheur...C'est la Famille

This last eight days we have been blessed to have our wonderful kids, Nate and Elisa visit us.  They found one of those incredibly cheap round-trip tickets from Idaho Falls to Paris and took advantage.  We just cannot even express how great it was to be with them!  It was almost as good as going home, except that we got to add Southern France into the mix.  We are so grateful to Dave and Melissa and sweet Grandma Allen for taking care of their kids so they could come.  It was especially meaningful to Nate to come back to where he served as a young missionary some sixteen years ago. On the last day, we were in the Mission offices when Elder Battazatto from Sicily (and one of our favorite Elders) who had been serving on Corsica was there preparing to go home.  He and Nate had a great talk about serving in Corsica and even discovered that one of the people Nate had worked hard to find was there and doing really well.  This was a divine appointment for sure.

We went to the castle at Mornas where they dress in medieval garb and recreate life during the Middle Ages.  The little grand kids would have loved to play at a place like that right out of Robin Hood.  Then we went to Aigue Mortes (that means dead waters) in the Camargue, one of the most charming cities in France.  It is a beautiful old city completely surrounded by ramparts that you can climb and circle around the city.  We also visited the nearby ocean and would have stayed longer had it not been for the wind and sand storm.  We found some amazing restaurants and stayed at Les Arcades, a beautiful hotel inside the ramparts, fashioned out of medieval arches and stone walls.  It had great continental breakfasts with hot tartines, 5 kinds of jam, eggs, fresh, warm pain au chocolat and orange flower coffee cake and of course, hot chocolate and fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juice.

We day-tripped from Aigues Mortes to Sommières, another beautiful city (they are everywhere in this country) with colorful flags, flowers galore, and a Roman bridge.  Nearby was the Chateau de Villeveille owned privately by a monsieur de Beauregard, a living remnant of the French nobility.  He gave us a private, guided tour that was amazing!  It was truly one of the most fascinating and educational things we have done as missionary-tourists/tourist-missionaries?  M. Beauregard was sincerely pleased to have Americans that spoke and understood French come to his castle. Apparently, it doesn’t happen very often. He  honored the occasion by showing us a piece of the last dress Marie Antoinette wore before she died and proudly showed us the portraits of his ancestors gracing the walls and explained how it came about that he ended up the care taker of the castle among his six living siblings who inherited the castle with him.   Renovations are painstaking and very expensive, but he loved doing it and felt a keen responsibility to his family to continue loving and caring for the place. We got in a traffic jam on the way home because of a fire on the side of the road and took over an hour for a fifteen minute “trajet.” Because our car is a hybrid and automatically kills the engine when you are stopped but continues to power the AC and phone charging, etc. our car was dead as a door nail the next morning.  A very kind gentleman from Holland in a large camper saved us by helping us with his jumper cables.  We maintain that people are generally really good and kind-hearted. 

The next day we headed to a place Lisy had never seen before; Nimes with is Roman arena and Maison Carré.   How these ancient places remain intact is unfathomable.  From here it was on to Aix-en-Provence, Nate’s favorite ville that he served in and easily one of ours too.  The Saturday market is probably the best we have experienced while here in France.  The sounds, colors and aromas are unlike anything else.  They just scream southern France.  And happily, Nate’s favorite missionary eating place was still there—Capri Pizza- ummmm!

Back in Lyon we saw some great architecture and wall murals and ate at Master Taco.  A visit to Lyon is never complete without Master Taco which has absolutely nothing to do with the Mexican Tacos we know at home.  It’s not hard to see (or taste) why it is the missionarys all-time favorite places to eat apart from chez Geddes. It’s more like a kabab with a bready wrap and killer sauces.  And then there is the obligatory tasting of every variety of Magnum bars known to mankind!  We did ourselves proud.

It was terribly hard to say good-bye to our kids this morning when we dropped them off at the gare.  We kept telling each other to stop crying, but it was no use.  We are just so grateful they were able to come, even if it did make us horribly “trunky.”  But when the French vacation time of August where EVERYBODY goes on vacation is over, we will roll up our sleeves and get back to Self-Reliance and other important missionary work that we love.  Ok.  So maybe we’d better roll up those sleeves today and prepare our Sunday School lesson for our French class in the ward this Sunday and get Primary ready since we are doing the whole third hour for the children, just the two of us. 

It’s just so overwhelmingly true that it is all about family, and there is nothing that brings greater happiness than getting to be with those “êtres chers”---precious loved ones. On vous aime!

Nate and Elisa in a vinyard of Provence.

Mom and daughter 

With legendary Lyon chef Paul Bocuse.  After everything we ate here, it felt like we got to know him personally.

The Maison-Carrée, a well preserved Roman temple in Nîmes.

The Roman arena in Nîmes

Nate and Elisa with the Papal palace in Avignon in the background.

Sister Barachant, a sweet sister in our Écully Ward invited us over for a wonderful Sunday meal.

The colorful marché in Aix-en-Provence.

We had to make a couple of trips to Master Taco in Lyon.