Week of 16 August 2009

“The nearer we get to refined and beautiful things, the more easily our spirits are touched by God” (Allison Bryan, 16 August). Sunday’s highlight was our conversation with our daughter-in-law Crystal, who indicated she had gone to the Sterling Ward, in their former stake. The high council speaker was a Br Peterson. When she noticed in the program that the other speaker was Sister Peterson, she became a bit suspicious. Then when they related a story about a young plastic surgeon from China who had joined the church and who had been helped by a senior missionary couple to prepare some family names for the temple in Bern, which she was able to attend just before her return to China, Crystal was pretty sure they had just returned from presiding over the Swiss mission and were talking about Vivienne and us.

Lush vegetation in the medieval village of Yvoire, France

Monday afternoon, the Doyles took us and the three Geneva sister missionaries (Thompson, Nielson and Hammond) to the medieval village of Yvoire on the French side of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman). When we had visited the town in the winter with other senior missionaries, it had been really cold. Today it was nearly 85 degrees. The old homes displayed flower baskets of every type and shade – really beautiful. After an hour or two, it was refreshing to sample the local ice cream/sorbets. The black currant and the lemon flavors were particularly tasty. A woman noticed our name tags a we strolled thru Yvoire. When Dede started to explain a bit about the church, the woman replied, “I know why you have those tags; it’s so if you get lost, you can find yourself again.”






The Doyles and the Hinmans “found themselves” in Yvoire

Some beautiful sister missionaries also “found themselves” in Yvoire

While shopping Wednesday for our weekly supply of food, we noticed that our friendly checker Mark had returned from his vacation. Dede had him check our groceries, and I ran out to the car to fetch the replacement copy in Dutch, in which we had written our testimonies (the former copy had its cover upside down, and lacked any inscription). He seemed happy to receive it, and we were delighted to give it to him. When he offered to return the other copy, Dede suggested he could either keep it until it became precious as a collectors’ item, or he could share it with one of his friends.

Our favorite daughter Heidi called to tell us that she and Dave had been to the obstetrician and had seen their baby – it will be a boy! Thursday was the hottest day of the year – 97 degrees F. In between errands, we did the laundry (7 loads), worked on the Luxembourg trip, worked on the FHE/YSA issues, and I prepared a Sunday School lesson for the Geneva Ward – on missionary work, as scheduled per the Gospel Principles manual). Fortunately, the temperatures cool down at night (by 3-4 am), sometimes to the low 60’s or even mid 50‘s.

We felt a wonderful spirit at the baptismal service Friday evening where the Bustamante daughter was baptized by her father. The meeting was conducted in Spanish. Elders Zarate and Murrugarra beautifully sang “Families can be Together Forever” for the 58 people who had come (which is about the number who had been attending Sunday meetings). Among them were 6 of the Bustamante family who were not members, including the girl’s mother and her 4 sisters.


During the “intermission,” the sister missionaries taught a brief lesson about the Plan of Salvation. They had Dede and me come up to the front of the chapel (left side) to represent our Heavenly Parents. They asked Diego Castillo (age 10) and his younger sister Wendy (age 7) to come represent our children. They then “sent” Wendy down to earth (over by the chalkboard at the right side of the chapel, where one of the sister missionaries was standing) to “go to school.” The sisters explained that there had been an earthquake that allowed the formation of two lakes that prevented Wendy from returning home. While “at the earth school,” she needed and was able to “phone” her brother to come help her by building a bridge for her to cross the first lake, which she would need to do in order to get safely back home to her family. (The sisters put an irregularly shaped piece of paper on the chalkboard to represent the “lake” and Diego then went over and put a brown bridge-shaped paper across the first lake for Wendy to use before he returned to our side). The sisters then told everyone that there was a second lake Wendy needed to cross, and they put up a similarly shaped piece of blue paper with wavy lines on it. She was again “allowed to phone her brother” to come and help, but he “told her” that although he had the materials to build the bridge, she would have do to some things to help put it together. The sisters then had Diego go over and put the second brown paper “bridge” at the bottom of the chalkboard, well beneath the second lake. After he returned to our side, he “phoned” Wendy to put the bridge over the second water barrier, and then she was able to come back and be with us. The sisters then excused us all, and began to explain the symbolism. They turned over the paper representing the first “lake”) to reveal the words “physical death”. The first bridge – which Diego had put up across the lake, was turned over, and the word “resurrection” had been written on it. Then they explained that the older brother had represented Jesus Christ, who had overcome physical death by his resurrection. The second barrier was turned over to reveal the words “our sins” and the second bridge, when turned over, was “the atonement.” Christ had accomplished the atonement, but Wendy had to “repent” (and make effective the bridge Diego had provided) by putting the second bridge across the “water.” Once she had done that, she qualified to return to be with Diego and her “heavenly parents.” It was really an impressive lesson – all in Spanish, so I had to wait until afterwards until my wonderful wife explained what had happened. At the end of the service, Nelly Bustamante (the non-member mom) gave a beautiful closing prayer – that brought tears to everyone’s eyes.

When we arrived at 8 am Saturday at the chapel to pick up people for the ward’s temple trip to Bern, Switzerland, instead of the 27 people who had signed up, there were 35 who had decided to participate (again, more than half the usual attendance at church). To our amazement, all 8 members of the Bustamante family came, even though after a 2 hour drive they would spend their time walking around the grounds and shopping at the Distribution Center (they did buy a children’s songbook, a Spanish Bible, and some CTR rings). The same Counselor in the Temple Presidency who had helped Vivienne in January spoke to those who participated in the baptismal session. Not only did he speak very slowly and distinctly – in French, but we all felt the power and the spirit of his message. Both before and after the session, a spirit of love radiated from those who saw old friends and warmly but quietly embraced them. This is the kind of love we will feel when we greet our own friends and ancestors after we depart this mortal existence.

On our drive back to Geneva, we stopped for about an hour at the medieval lakeside village of Estavayer-du-lac. Bishop Volpicelli treated us each to an ice cream cone, which was very welcome in the 85-degree sunshine. We took pictures among the flowers out on the jetty, and the Bustamante kids and the two other little girls with us threw pieces of bread out to the swans which assembled at the edge of the lake. Mari Bustamante was even able to get a swan to take a piece of bread from her hand as she crouched on the rocks. We finally got home around 7 pm, read our chapter in French in the Book of Mormon, and I was able to finish preparations for the next day’s Sunday School lesson.

The Bustamante family, Lita, the Loza family, the Hinmans, and Bishop & Sister Volpicelli at the lake

Swans at Estavayer-du-lac