Hello all,
We just returned from Stake Conference, held in Lausanne. It was presided by Elder Gerald J. Caussé of the First Quorum of Seventy / Second counselor in the Europe Area and former president of the Paris Stake. He was accompanied by an area Seventy, Elder Michel Paya, former president of the Nice Stake and former mission president in Spain. There was a change of stake presidencies. The old one, a French Canadian (with a strong Quebec accent) is named Ochs (pronounced Oaks!), and we have to suppose that’s because he has some German in his father’s line. He was the first stake president of the Lausanne stake, which was split off of Geneva about 4 years ago. The new stake president is a young man, bishop of Yverdon ward, about 40, and his name is Märki. That’s a Swiss-German name. . .two dots above the "a," so I suppose he married a French speaker and moved to Yverdon.
It was a very nice conference. The Sat. evening session was held in a nice chapel in Lausanne. The chapel seemed to be in a different place than where I remember the chapel was when we lived in Pully (suburb of Lausanne) for 3 months in 1972. But maybe, just maybe, after 37 years, it isn't that the chapel has been moved, but that the area has changed a lot. I’ll have to ask someone we know from those days, and whom we see almost every week at the temple, and whom we saw again today: the De Pierraz family. They are our age. Back in ’72, they took us (Rod, Eric and us) to visit a chocolate factory one Saturday.
The music for this conference was by a fairly small choir that sang a cappella. i.e., without a piano accompaniement. They sounded really good, even though there were only 18 of them! The quality of most of the talks was pretty good, and those by the visiting authorities were really outstanding. Of course they get plenty of practice! Both Elders Caussé and Paya have tremendous leadership skills and have done very well in their professions. About a month ago, they changed the stake presidency in Nancy Stake (and called our friend Rui Sousa of Strasbourg as a stake counselor). I am expecting they will make a change in the temple presidency here this week. . . one counselor will very likely be released.
It was fun to see several people at conference that we see at the temple. Not only did we recognize them, but they even recognize us. We had the privilege of driving the 2nd Counselor of the temple presidency and his wife to this morning’s session. Last night, we took the same route, from Bern to Fribourg to Vevey, on Lake Leman, and into Lausanne. Very nice drive, and loads of beautiful mountain scenery. You would think you were driving from Layton to Provo, except that the mountains are even higher, still covered with a fair amount of snow; plus lots of green farmland (instead of wall-to-wall city), and just before coming into Canton de Vaud, the Canton of which Lausanne is the capital, we got a beautiful view of the lake with the very high mountains on the other side (south side) of the lake. But as we drove west along the lake, the height of the mountains quickly became lower, so that by the time we got to Lausanne, there weren’t any mountains to speak of on the south side of the lake. Get a map of Switzerland and take a look at our trip. Unfortunately, there was more haze in the air today, so it was less impressive. Still, Pres. and Sis. Brouillet were pleased that they came with us.
The Church is considerably more mature than it was in ’72, or even ’85 (when we were in Angers, France). We would like to have seen more youth, however, and that was the theme Elder Caussé discussed last night. His General Conference talk in April 2008, a talk in which he cited a famous French story called “The Little Prince,” was about that too. He seems to be homing in on “Teach the youth. . . the next generation.” Our young people need to be having good experiences in their homes and at church that will build their testimonies!
Sister Brouillet told us about an LDS Youth Camp they were involved with about 30 years ago. Apparently it was really quite an experience, as about 40 French kids climbed the Alps, and then got into a position where they couldn’t get down. A path that was supposedly available, which had been used by WW II Resistance fighters, had overgrown and become unusable, and in 1970, it wasn’t good enough to be used by this group of kids. They were on a steep mountain, late at night, but luckily it was July, not January. They had to be careful, because there were steep cliffs nearby that they could have fallen off of. The leaders (Bro. and Sis. Brouillet) knew about the cliffs, but the kids really didn’t. Wow! Quelle émotion (what a hair-raiser)! They spent the night on the mountain, and were able to get back down the next day, I guess. I told her (Sis. Brouillet) that we need to have things like that written up and deposited in the Church Archives!
Elder Caussé was in the temple the other day, visiting with the Temple President. He was walking fairly fast in one direction and I was walking the other direction. He was shaking peoples’ hands , and as he came to me, he stuck out his hand and looked at my name tag and said, “On a tous les deux le même prénom.” (We both have the same first name.) I said, “oui” (wee = yes.) (What else could I have said. . . now really?) Then we kept on going our separate ways.
Speaking of names, it’s fun when people come up to me, look at my nametag and say, “You really don’t have an American name, do you?” And recently I’ve been saying, “No, I don’t have an American name like “Dances with Wolves” or “Sitting Bull” or “Crazy Horse.” * Those * are the people who had American names (meanings names of people who are not immigrants), you know! “ Then I wink. What they really mean to say is “You don’t have an English name.” And then I continue, “You know, my ancestors are from near here. . . just about 40 kilometers away. I am a descendant of native speakers of French.” Then some of them get really confused. Some want to know if I really am from here, or was born in the US. It takes some explaining. I need to be out in town, or over in Neuchatel (find that on the map!), instead of in the temple, explaining why my French-speaking ancestors were motivated to move to Utah!!
We now attend Bienne Branch, and if I were living where all the Giauque family originally came from, the village of Prêles, I would be. . . a member of the Bienne Branch. . . where we attend!
As usual, I just ramble when I write. We would like to hear / read some of *your* (written) ramblings! Especially if you are one of our relatives (grand-children or grand-nieces and g. nephews) who are aged 12, or 10, or 8, or 7, or so. You know who you are! WE know who you are! You could write out some of your thoughts on paper and ask your parents to scan and send them to us (and/or to other relatives). Or you could actually type them on the computer. I think more and more that it’s important to write, especially if you keep a copy for yourself, which you can read in another 10, 20 or 30 years. We still have some of the notebooks our kids wrote when we lived in Angers, France.
The Gospel is true!! Elder Caussé said, “The Gospel and our families are not different! They are the same!” (He was saying this, because many French people want to spend time with extended family, but at the expense of attending their Church meetings.) We want our children, grandchildren and extended family (including grand nephews and grand nieces) to know how important we think it is to “hold to the iron rod.” How blessed we are!
So. . . we’re looking forward to seeing some writing!
Luv,
Dad & Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Gerry and Alice, etc. etc. etc.
