Over here, people park in either of three directions, and on the sidewalksUnexpected Testimonies: Happily, we arrived 5 minutes early for the fast and testimony meeting at Rive Gauche. All three members of the Stake Presidency came in, and we thought there must be some mighty change about to take place in the Ward’s organization. Instead, they had come to share their testimonies with us and to get a better feel for our members. The meeting ended with each of them in turn bearing testimony, concluding with that of Pres Bonny. At the Geneva Ward meeting, perhaps the most unforgettable testimony was given by an 18-yr old young lady (not a member) from India (her name is pronounced Sierra). She began with a quotation from Shakespeare about love; a couple of times she accidentally used the name of God in an exclamation; she told us how as a Hindu she had thought that all other religions were totally inferior to Hinduism, but that they should be tolerated, even if disdained; and she told us how amazed she is that our young missionaries devote 2 years of their lives at their own cost to sharing the message of Christ’s gospel, and that she is now thinking about being baptized. Dede also bore her testimony and shared her conversion story, thanking people in her life who had had major roles in her obtaining/regaining a testimony (her mom, her sister, and her dad). After the meetings, we and the Jones and the Doyles drove to the Volpicelli’s for dinner.
Bishop Volpicelli’s story: Seventeen years and two daughters after their marriage, Sis V asked their neighbors (the deGuzmann family) about their church. She had noticed the crowds of people who often came to their home, often bringing food. Bp V said the missionaries made a serious mistake. They had offered to answer all his questions. Consequently, it was at least 7 months of questions and answers before they were even able to begin teach the Volpicelli’s the lessons.
After dinner at the Volpicelli’s: no wonder we’re grinning
Meanwhile, they had decided to let their 16-yr old daughter Chiara continue her catholic catechism lessons. He would drop her off at church, drive home, then return 90-100 minutes later to bring her home. One day, he felt impressed to wait outside the church. Within a few minutes, Chiara came out, walked to the car and asked what he was doing there. He asked why she had come out so early. She replied that she felt she was wasting her time; she didn’t believe the things being taught, and rather, she wanted to be baptized into the Mormon Church. The V’s were thrilled, since it is usually very difficult to convince a teenage child to accept a new religion after the parents have become converted. This way, she was the first in the family to make that decision. Bp V’s parents were upset; his father refused to speak to him for > 6 months. Interestingly, as his father’s health began to fail in advanced age, the gentleman began to fear death, and he asked his son many questions. He could never accept baptism, but Bp V hoped he was able to reassure his dad. He also hoped that what he told his dad was accurate, or his dad would really be mad at him. Not long after his father’s death, Bp V had a couple of repeated “dreams,” in which his father returned and told him “It’s just like you said it would be; I’m very happy here.” 
Sister Doyle caught us on last week’s boat ride
Bible, a Bible, who’s got a Bible? Around 9 pm, Dede and I tried again to deliver the Bibles to Dr Raj – but again he didn’t answer our knocking on his door. Our convert friend Ruvimbo was working the reception desk, so we left the bags of books with her along with a note to him. She also suggested we might return between 7:30 and 10 am (checkout time) to see if we could deliver the books personally. Monday morning, we got up a6 6 am so we could leave at 7 for Dr Raj’ hotel. We parked the car at 7:28 and walked to the entry, where we saw the two bags of bibles we had left, and our note. As we started to explain to the clerk, Mrs. Raj came past towing a suitcase. She was followed by Dr Raj, who greeted us warmly. He had not checked his email, and had supposed we had either failed in our efforts or had forgotten him. We were all very happy, but he had just a minute before loading his suitcases into the car for their trip to the airport (so no pictures). We noted how kind God had been to help things work out; he invited us to come visit if we ever get to India; we shook hands, and they drove off. When Dede and I returned to our car, we offered a prayer of thanks. It was now 7:39. Had we been one or two minutes later, we’d have missed him. That evening at the Spanish FHE, there were 38 people present for Br Castillo’s lesson, 14 of whom were non-members. Dede had been inspired that afternoon during our planning session to get me to type a attendance lists for people to fill out with their names, addresses, and a spot to indicate if they were inter
We found a nice little French restaurant next to the carwash: Thursday evening, President and Sister Murdock, the Hansen’s, and the Doyles met us at the restaurant Beaucaire for a lovely dinner – mostly to let the Murdock’s know about the place, but also to share with them our miracles of the last weekend, with taking Shideh to the temple and our interactions with Dr Raj. Friday at Yverdon, the seminary teacher secretly asked Dede if she’d help in introducing their lesson on witnesses by “stealing” the teacher’s watch from where she would place it on the piano. Class members would then be asked if they could identify the “thief,” to see if two witnesses would provide a more accurate report than that by a single individual. Meanwhile, Bp Bonny and Stake Pres Maerki came into the building to pick up some materials for a camping trip/bishopric retreat in the nearby Jura Mountains near St Croix. This made the situation more interesting, in that any one of the three could have been the “thief.”
Football, clear over here in France: The refrigerator needed defrosting Saturday, but by using Dede’s hairdryer, it only took about an hour to melt the couple of inches thick layer of ice that had built up. After a visit to the large flea market near the Institute with the Doyles and the Geneva ward potluck opening social, we got home in time to listen to the BYU football game against Tulane on the internet via KSL radio. Meanwhile, Dede made 2 batches of cookies for tomorrow’s baptisms, and during half-time, I vacuumed the carpet and cleaned the floor. Unfortunately, the six-hour time difference between here and there kept us up until 1 am. We sure love this mission!
The banker & his wife shopping for treasures at the flea market 
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