Church in France

I e-mailed the Bishop of the ward out here before coming to France. Fortunately, he speaks English well and was kind enough to arrange a ride for us. The only other members of the church in Cambrai happen to live like 5 minutes from us, how lucky is that?! And they have a mini-van…a rarity out here, and another stroke of luck for us, because otherwise we wouldn’t fit. I wasn’t sure who would be picking us up, but I did receive an e-mail Saturday letting me know someone would be at our apartment at 8:15am the next day. Church starts at 9am and is about 30 minutes away in a city called Valenciennes.

A girl about our age rang up to our apartment and Rusty wasn’t completely ready- per the norm :) so I buzzed to let her come up. She didn’t speak much English, so we said hello and then awkwardly waited while Rusty threw on his shoes and grabbed his tie to put on in the car. Her grandparents were in the car waiting. They also did not speak English, but were the cutest little couple. The grandpa had on a well-worn suit with three pins on his lapel- an American Flag, a Canadian Flag, and a gold bee. He managed to tell Rusty he lived in Canada for five years because his boss asked him to come there to be his driver. They played a CD of LDS church hymns the whole drive. I loved seeing their faith and devotion to the gospel. There’s just something so great about being around members when you’re somewhere that feels so foreign.

Church was held in a small square building right across from a veterinarian’s office. The floors are white tile and all of the doors are painted a robin’s egg blue, but the pictures of Christ and the bulletin board in the Relief Society room, made it feel like a typical LDS church, and made me feel right at home. They have sacrament the last hour, so relief society and gospel doctrine were translated by a girl who had served her mission in Washington DC. A guy from England translated Elder’s Chorum for Rusty and one of the missionaries (one was from California and one was from Utah) translated Sacrament.

The first counselor in the Bishopric asked us (in French) to come up and introduce ourselves at the beginning of Sacrament. The missionary who was translating for us didn’t catch what he said, so there was some confusion as we just sat there smiling and looking around haha. The British guy came up to translate our English into French for everyone, so we quickly figured out what they had asked. I introduced us, told everyone why we were here in France, how long we would be here, and where we are from. Rusty let everyone know how happy we were to see so many people (about 80) and what a blessing it was to have this ward out here. He said we didn’t know what to expect and had the congregation laughing within a couple minutes...classic Rusty, the guy who can never practice a sacrament talk- his first talk ever- and still have everyone eating out of the palm of his hand.

Another granddaughter (the girl’s younger sister) joined us for the ride home, so we put up the back seat. When we got to our apartment, the grandpa let us know “no church” multiple times; since we knew it was General Conference the following week, we understood what he meant.

I am grateful for the gospel. It brings so much joy and peace into my life. I feel so blessed to have a ward within driving distance and to have a members who are willing to go out of their way to accommodate our needs. 

Of course we snuck (is that a word?) pictures and video in the car...