3 December, first week at church

Today is Sunday Dec. 3, 2023. Tim and I went to church for the first time since we arrived in France. The first 10 days I was very sick with Covid and was in bed most of that time. Luckily, I had a good mission nurse in France and a good mission doctor in Spain who started me on antiviral medicine and Exomuc which is just like it sounds: “get rid of the mucus”! I already had an inhaler to use to help my lungs. I always felt at peace that whatever happened I was in the Lord’s hands. Tim was positive for Covid as well but did not get as sick thankfully.

Preparing for Christmas in our apartment

Our mission President, Roland Lepore and his wife Aimee are wonderful, kind people and not much older than our oldest children. They have been serving a long time in France as a Stake President and now Mission President. We are serving as Welfare/Self Reliance missionaries, but we can also do humanitarian efforts as needed. We have a WSR Manager and church employee over us named Momo Djemai. He is a joy to work with and is a very humble servant of the Lord. Tim and I are very happy and feel blessed to be on this mission/adventure together. We love the people already and enjoy the beauties of France.

Today was fast and testimony meeting. They had put our picture in their ward bulletin for today and gave us a warm welcome. There are 3 sister missionaries and 2 Elders that are Zone Leaders working in our ward. The ward meets in a large building that might also hold apartments? not sure but we have several floors and an underground parking garage with a very tight opening for small cars. 😉 We chose to park on the street which is also very small with very small parking that take work to fit our car in! Tim is very good at manipulating the car in tiny spots. I have not wanted to drive yet. I usually love to drive but I’m holding back.

Shopping
We parked and started to pay at the kiosk on the street and a beautiful sister came up to us and said we don’t have to pay on Sunday to park. We thanked her and realized she was going to our church. Her name was Sicily. So, we walked in to our church and were greeted by the Bishop and the missionaries. Alot of people speak English and seems as though they like to speak it with us. The bishop said we would like you both to bear your testimonies first. We said OK. (Just before we left our apartment this morning I felt as though I should bring my testimony that I had typed in French.) Listen to those whisperings of the spirit. There were about 80 people including missionaries. It is not a huge chapel. ON the first floor there is a gathering place and Bishop’s office and a place to hang your coats then you go up 3 flights of stairs or an elevator to the 2nd floor to the chapel. There is a 3rd floor that has a baptismal font and a large wood floor room where we held Sunday School. In the chapel, the primary was practicing for their program which will be next week. Oh, how I love the little children. I always love to go to primary to see if they need a substitute or a music helper. So next week is the primary program. YAY!! They don’t have that many children, so I am so excited to see it. I met Vanessa who was all alone and Liz and Lydia and Teresa and her son Ceasar and Alicia and others. I am going to try and remember people’s names. It is so important to remember names. I will try hard.Shopping

So, it came time for Tim and I to bear our testimonies. I don’t get scared speaking in front of anyone actually but it’s very different when I don’t speak their language. So, I went first, and I said slowly into the microphone – Je ne parle francais. (I don’t speak French) Everyone smiled at me. I called up Tim to translate for me and I said “I am excited to be a missionary in France. We are newlyweds. Both of our eternal spouses died about 10 years ago. When we got married 7 months ago (Tim said 8 and people understood I said 7 and he said 8 and they started to laugh! Haha. He was right in fact, its nearly 9 months!) When we got married, we both wanted to just go on a mission together. I was a difficult teenager so at age 16 my mom sent me to live with my aunt in Marseille. So, when we opened our mission call I said, “I’m going home.

We have 11 combined children and 40 grandchildren. “Then I told Tim I would do the rest by myself. I pulled out my testimony I had written in French, and I read it. It was from my heart. It was a wonderful feeling when I told them I loved them. I feel that they love me as well. When senior missionaries and even the young missionaries leave their homes to serve any ward or area in the world, we do it because we love God’s children, and we are here to serve them anyway we can. Tim and I honestly feel that love for our new ward. We felt Gods love in church today and I didn’t have anyone translate for me. I didn’t want that. It is distracting for all around to hear that, so I tried to understand words here and there, but I knew what they were talking about because of the spirit.

I wish I could have had all our children and grandchildren with us to know and feel what it is like to attend church in a different country and culture and feel the same spirit that we feel in our home wards. The church is the same. We testify of Jesus Christ throughout the world. We love one another and offer service to each other even those not of our faith. We are all God’s children on earth. We all have stewardship to love one another.
God works through any of us who have ears to hear and willing hearts to serve His children. May all of us have ears to hear and willing hearts this Christmas Season as we remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
I sure love you all!
Cathy Shaeffer Frodsham
((inside story: After Sunday School a cute Dad from Belgium who speaks great English came us to us and said his son was listening to my testimony and he said, “Dad how can they have 40 grandchildren in 8 months??????!!!!!!” hahahahahhaha. We all said at least he was listening.))