Two homecomings in one!

8 April 2018

Fotos below

Missionary work this week—good things are happening in Tarbes. Sometimes it’s hard to see our progress….whether it’s on a personal goal, studying for a hard exam or watching missionary work come to fruition. This week we saw a lot of fruits of our labors.

Frère Pho is our Cambodian brother whose family lives in Cambodia while he works to send his three children to University. The younger twin girls just finished their diploma this past week at their university. So that marked a milestone in his purpose here. One daughter was in 1^st place, the other in 4^th place. The first three in the class got to have their diploma presented by the President of the country, which was a huge honor. The second sister that was 4th in her class was very sad that she just missed this honor. This is their second University degree and they came through with flying colors. Frère Pho came over to our home on Monday and we Skyped his family. He was so proud of them and their academic accomplishments. But what brought the tears to his eyes was learning that his daughters were listening to the missionaries. He stayed another hour and told us of his own spiritual journey. Then he said he has tried for years to get missionaries to his family in Cambodia. But it never worked out because they couldn’t find their address. He said in less than 2 weeks we had missionaries sitting in their home. With the advances in technology and a little persistence, we watched the happiest man alive this week. And his cup runnneth over.

As Frère Pho was putting on his shoes to leave, Marissa our investigator from the Philippines rang our bell to come for her lesson. They were able to chat a bit about temples and the Gospel; then we continued with Marissa. Both French and English are not her native languages just as with Frère Pho. But that doesn’t seem to stop the work. Truth can transcend any language barrier, of that we can testify strongly.

Then we participated in teaching Juliet who is from Tahiti. An invitation was extended to her to come to church. She came! The lifeblood of the Church is in its growth: watching those totally unfamiliar with the Church come to embrace it. Watching them hear the words of the Prophets, then accepting the new First Presidency (new prophet and his 2 counselors sustained last week). It’s so amazing to watch the transformation. And then watch how it blesses their lives and that of their families. There’s a certain radiance and happiness that comes from within and they just can’t stop smiling.

The next day, Chavez, came over to our home for another lesson. He is 6’5” and is on a pre-professional basketball team which often plays on Sundays and just as often on Saturday nights in towns several hours away. After a late game and the bus ride back to Tarbes in the wee hours of the morning, coming to church becomes a challenge when one is tired and spent and hasn’t had a shower yet. Fortunately, basketball isn’t a year-round sport.

The same night following Chavez, we met Valerie at her home. A few weeks ago, the Elders were coming out of the train station and heard a shout from behind, “Why, there’s the Elders!” That got their attention. But then the surprise for her came when there were two sets of Elders that had just joined up at the train station, one set in front of the other. The first set visited a bit, only to find another set appear a few minutes later (with her same exclamation) and then they visited. As “luck” would have it, she lives one street over and a half block over from us. She just moved to Tarbes in August trying to cut down her commute time to her teaching position here. It turns out her grandmother was a member so she grew up with “Mormon” vocabulary and missionary visits here and there. She is a brave and energetic. She adopted two boys from Benin on her own and has raised them, one 23 and the other 17. She invited us all (the younger missionaries and us) over to visit and to get to know her. She actually teaches English—so we could communicate, at last!

We took a day and went back to the Spanish border to visit a new member who just moved into our area. His name is Jean-Claude….to which we added “Killy”….which made him smile. You can’t be French and not know that name. The young missionaries from a previous conversation of course knew nothing about Jean-Claude Killy, a triple Olympic champion and 2 World Cup titles from the 1960’s. If it happened prior to 2000 they have no reference point. It sounds pre-historic to them….I guess because it isJ Jean-Claude took us hiking in the Hautes-Pyrénées and we saw some beautiful and breath-taking countryside. This time we were right on the very mountain dividing France from Spain. We had to be careful as it’s avalanche season with the spring thaw. We saw a few small avalanches then heard one THUNDEROUS clap. The majestic silence only magnified the sound. It definitely got our attention and we tread lightly and made sure we were on the trail. After several hours of hiking, we formed quite a friendship. What a gentle soul! Today he drove the hour and came to church. He loves to sing and joined the choir that just formed up 2 weeks ago. The pianist is also exceptionally musical and has a beautiful rich alto voice. She just moved into our branch….and is talented, committed and…..single, like Jean-ClaudeJ I think there may be a few cheerleaders that might gather on the sidelines. We’ll let Divine intervention and Father Time be in charge of that one.

Then this week there was a round table discussion for the younger missionaries on Saturday. The missionaries met a University liaison when they were contacting several weeks ago. He invited them to be a part of their round table discussion on views of eternity. Did he ever run into the right lot! Views on eternity???? Did he know who he was asking? That’s our specialty!!!

Meanwhile we went to Anne’s to dinner. Her daughter, Siobhan (pronounced She-vaughn) comes home from her mission on Saturday!! Anne is beside herself with anticipation. She also plans on surprising her daughter on Sunday when we celebrate her home-coming after church. Siobhan is fully prepared and expecting for her Mum (they’re Irish) to not come to church. She would expect nothing different. It’s been a long while. Anne is planning to surprise her daughter by returning to church next Sunday after a long hiatus. We’re not sure who will be more excited and who will cry the bigger tears of joy. In any event, they’ll both be coming home.

A la prochaine!

Every Tuesday between 4-6pm we talk with Nadya in Google HangOuts. This is where we pulled over when we noticed it was 4pm. It's across from the Shopping Center...not a bad view:) Background Pyrénées, middle ground future French cheese, foreground is colza coming into bloom, used for oil