Is this the most beautiful time of year?

The lavender is in full bloom!

The lavender fields are outside of Manosque

right next to the sunflowers

Unusual building where the Manosque Branch has met for over 20 years.

We assisted with an Open House for the branch.
Elder Harevaa made this video about the Open House.

Our assignments include documenting historic sites in France.

Each ward and branch we visit has its own fascinating history.

Here are some examples of the places we saw:

Brive Ward in Brive-la-Gaillarde

Perigueux Ward

Montauban Branch

The Carcassonne Ward has a beautiful building
in this historic city.

The citadel of Carcassonne was built in the 13th century
and restored to a remarkably good condition in 1879, 
now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
(Click on picture to enlarge)

Aix-en-Provence

Beziers Branch where we met missionaries from Arizona,

one we discovered was  a relative from Snowflake.

Clermont-Ferand Ward

Geneva stake center in Switzerland

In this suburb of Geneva, we saw a Statue of Voltaire.

Voltaire was an influential and controversial author.

He was critical of the Catholic church
and vocal in defense of freedom of speech and religion.

He was born in Paris but lived many years in Ferney, France.

This church history interview was for women-only,
 in Arnas north of Lyon.

And for a change of pace --

P-Day golfing in Rodez,
with two historic churches on the horizon.

These two medieval churches represent the divided city. 
The nobility built the church on the left 
and Bishops built the larger cathedral on the right.
In the 1500s each section had a its own town hall and laws.
A large wall separated the two feuding factions for three centuries.

CHURCH HISTORY MOMENT

Lucie Lodomez was born in Belgium and was greatly affected by WWII in her childhood. When she was nine, her father Marcel was arrested by German troops and was treated harshly for three years in German POW camps. When the war ended, he had tuberculosis and was sent to a sanitarium for three more years. When no further treatment was available, they sent him home, not expecting him to live long.

Meanwhile Lucie’s mother was introduced to the Church by a friend. Missionaries came often to teach the whole family and they all wanted to be baptized. Marcel was a smoker and was finally able to stop smoking after learning about the Word of Wisdom. The missionaries told him during a Priesthood blessing that he would fully recover from the TB. Soon afterward, a new medication became available and within five months he was completely healed. Marcel lived to be 77.  

Lucie was musically talented and had a beautiful voice. She originally planned a singing career, but after being baptized at age 15, she changed her plans. She admired the missionaries for their sacrifices, and decided to serve a mission herself. When she left for her mission to Switzerland in 1958, missions for women were relatively rare. She had a good friend in college named Charles Didier, who was not a member of the church. During her mission she heard that he was baptized. She was surprised when at her last transfer, Charles’ sister Jacqueline became Lucie’s mission companion. Jacqueline invited Charles to a concert where Lucie sang a solo during the last week of her mission, and as soon as Lucie was released Jacqueline encouraged the two to start dating. A year later they were married.

When Charles and Lucie were both 35 years old they were called as Mission Leaders, and five years later Charles was called as a General Authority Seventy. For the next 30 years Lucie supported him in his assignments and went with him to Germany, Ecuador, Brazil, Reunion, and Lebanon. Lucie’s mother had been living with them and being in good health, she often accompanied them on their travels until she died at the age of 102.

To read other posts in our Mission Blog,
click on the arrow or 3 lines to the left of NEVILLES IN FRANCE
then click on ARCHIVE to see a list of all posts.