Bastille Day and Back to Rodez
July 14 was Bastille Day, or Fête Nationale Française.
Claude Monet depicted its celebration 100 years later
in this famous painting:
The holiday highlights parallels between France and the U.S.A.:
Both overthrew monarchies for social equality and economic reform;
Took place within a few years of each other, in 1776 and 1789;
Both conflicts led to constitutions and forming republics;
Both have celebrations in July, on the 4th and 14th;
Both flags honor the Red, White and Blue;
🎇Both celebrate with a national holiday, picnics, and fireworks.🎇
On July 9-10 we enjoyed a Seniors Conference
in Lyon for the 34 seniors in our mission.
and attended inspiring gatherings.
and we loved getting to know them a little better.
They are all dedicated, happy, and hard-working.
Now we are back in our small branch in Rodez.
We are staying in a temporary apartment with a great view of the city.
We were both asked to speak in church this Sunday.
Here is one of the stories I am going to share in my talk
(only I'm practicing to give it in French 😊) :
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One of the senior missionaries in our mission told
a story about when he was a young missionary. He was full of energy and wrote
every day in his personal journal. He loved his mission and loved the gospel,
and had a strong testimony that he expressed in his journal.
When he went home from his mission many years passed and his
life changed. He was a successful businessman but he had problems in his family
and over the years he eventually stopped going to church.
One day when he was about 60 years old he found his old
missionary journal and started reading it. In his journal he had written about
Lehi’s dream from the Book of Mormon, where Lehi saw the tree of life and the
iron rod. He had also written about the great and spacious building, full of
people who mocked the people on the path to the tree of life.
He realized that in his new life away from the church, he
was just like the people in the dream who had tasted of the fruit but later
fell away and joined the people in the great building. Reading his journal
brought back memories of the joy he once had in the gospel. He felt like his
journal was his young self sending a message to his older self. He started that
day to rebuild his testimony and he is now active in the church again.
This example shows the value of writing in a journal and making note of our personal experiences. As Pres. Eyring has told us many times in conference, we should write down our spiritual experiences. In the Book of Mormon on the title page it says it was written to remind the house of Israel "what great things the Lord has done for his children."
I hope you will all write down what great things the Lord has done for you. I also hope you will look in the Gospel Library and explore under Church History > Global History. You will find many fascinating stories about people who have helped build the kingdom in these last days.
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And if you want to practice your French:
L'un des missionnaires seniors de notre mission, a raconté l'histoire quand il était un jeune missionnaire. Débordant d'énergie, il écrivait chaque jour dans son journal personnel. Il aimait sa mission et l'Évangile, et avait un témoignage fort qu'il exprimait dans son journal.
À son retour de mission, de nombreuses années ont passé et sa vie a changé. C'était un homme d'affaires prospère, mais il a connu des problèmes familiaux et, au fil des ans, il a fini par cesser d'aller à l'église. Un jour, alors qu'il avait environ 60 ans, il retrouva son vieux journal missionnaire et commença à le lire. Il y avait écrit le rêve de Léhi dans le Livre de Mormon, où Lehi vit l'arbre de vie et la barre de fer. Il y avait aussi parlé du grand et spacieux édifice, rempli de gens qui se moquaient de ceux qui tenaient la barre de fer.
Il réalisa que, dans sa nouvelle vie loin de l'Église, il ressemblait aux personnes du rêve qui avaient goûté au fruit, mais qui s'étaient ensuite éloignées et avaient rejoint les méchantes dans le grand édifice. La lecture de son journal lui rappela la joie qu'il avait éprouvée autrefois dans l'Évangile. Il avait l'impression que son journal était un message que son jeune moi envoyait à son aîné. Ce jour-là, il entreprit de reconstruire son témoignage et il est maintenant de nouveau actif dans l'Église.
Cet exemple illustre l'importance d'écrire dans un journal et de noter ses expériences personnelles. Comme frère Eyring nous l'a répété à maintes reprises lors des conférences, nous devrions noter nos expériences spirituelles. Dans le Livre de Mormon, sur la page de titre, il dit « Le but de ce livre est de montrer au reste de la maison d’Israël les grandes choses que le Seigneur a faites pour ses pères »
J'espère que vous noterez tous les grandes choses que le Seigneur a faites pour vous. J'espère aussi que vous consulterez la bibliothèque de l'Évangile et lirez des histoires de personnes qui ont contribué à l'édification du Royaume en ces derniers jours.
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