Sept. 28, 2008

Sun. - Attended both Wards today - Geneva (Eng.) and Rive Gauche (French & Spanish).

Sat. - Cleaned the apt., did laundries, went grocery shopping, etc.

Fri. - 9 took one of the 3 Office Elders, Elder Greenhalgh, to Dijon for some 'legalities' (French paperwork), so they didn't have to shut down the office for a day. Arrived about noon. Fortunately the office didn't close for lunch till 12:30 - tender mercy :). He finished quickly, and then we went to lunch at a boulangerie/patisserie, where I inadvertently bought 2 cream puffs, one shaped like a nun and the other like a fig! I thought the fig had a fig inside! Very rich. We 'contacted' the nice lady who sold us the pastries, but she turned us down. I was kind of emboldened by having Elder Greenhalgh with us, who could bail us out with our French if we needed it, which we did! Returned home by about 4:30 for a 5 pm lesson with the Office Elders. It cancelled, however.

On the way home for dinner, we stopped by Lake Geneva (Lac Leman) and watched the wind surfers and kite boarders go airborne! Took pictures and video!

Then we went to the Institute Opening Social at the Institute Building, 7:30-about midnight. We left at 10, however, when the dance started. About 30 kids. Video about good choices being 'keys' to happiness; Institute was one 'key.' Stake Pres. spoke. Teachers told about 3 classes, 1 each on T, W, Th nights, plus FHE on Mon. night and activities on Fri. & Sat. Very active Institute program. Bigger than Toledo! They have 1/2 a floor in a big downtown office building, with a Library, Reception area, Office, Classroom area, Activity area with Pool, Fussball, & PingPong, and Dining Area - lots of resources. Unfortunately most of the Institute-age American kids go to BYU.

Thurs. - Attended Zone Leaders' Council, at President's request, from about 9-1. Excellent! Great leaders, great training!

Wed. - Instead of going to a new Scripture Class at the Stake Center, we chose to go to a lesson the Spanish Elders had invited us to. Very nice lesson, with Ivi and her mom, Veronica. Enthusiastic. A family emergency kept them away from Church today though.

Tues. - District Meeting with Rive Gauche this morning 10-12. Both districts meet at the same time, Geneva at the Stake Center and Rive Gauche at the Institute, so we have to alternate weeks. Good group. All 3 'equipes' (companionships) in the district speak French, Spanish, and English, including the Sisters, who are both native French. Of the 4 other Elders, 3 have Hispanic surnames, so, of course...

In the afternoon, President Peterson had asked us to pick up another Senior couple returning from the US (her dad's funeral) at the airport, about 10 minutes from our house. To our amazement, we were able to do so successfully - without a hitch! The Gardners are the CES couple here, and despite jet-lag, got back to work on the Institute Opening Social the very next day, although the student leaders had already done much.

Mon. - 5:30 Funeral for the wife of the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric of the Rive Gauche Ward. She had been battling cancer for 3 yrs. Huge crowd. Filled the large Stake Center chapel and the overflow area. She was from Spain originally. People loved her. Even in French that we understood very little of, it was touching.

Immediately after that, we and 2 R-G Elders headed for the Institute in our car, where we were to teach the lesson. Traffic was terrible at 6:30, so we arrived about 1/2 hr. late. The lesson went well, however. Dad/Chan/Elder Hinman did a great job in English, and paused between sentences so I could translate into Spanish. It was about 'Watching Yourself,' with stories and pictures he drew on the board of the House Built on the Sand and on the Rock (Christ), Lehi's Vision of the Tree of Life and the Great and Spacious Building, and the Parable of the 10 Virgins. He then told the story of floating down the river with Jerry Grossnickle and some German member kids who were visiting them, and taking off their life jackets near the end of the trip. OK until one of the Diemer kids grabbed a branch and got sucked out of the raft. She couldn't swim and Jerry had to rescue her. He finished with the story of a church leader in Detroit who looked at a bad magazine on an airplane, and eventually had to be excommunicated. Watch yourself!