Author: Catherine Frodsham

Our Ukrainian Refugee Friends

Post author By Catherine Frodsham
Post date May 3, 2025
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Catherine Frodsham 3 May 2025

This is Tatiana and Ilya Chekaramit. They are Ukrainian refugees that live in Athens Greece. He has a doctorate in Agriculture Science. They lost their large home and their farm in the Ukraine war. They live in a very small one bedroom apartment with two small single beds, a little desk, an old computer, three small old wooden chairs, one shelf, a little sink in a kitchen closet area, a drawer with a zip lock bag of old pictures, one small fridge and a hot plate. They have no table for meals, no TV and no music.

They don’t speak Greek or English. They are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints and have been sealed together. Our Athens branch had a temple trip and 4 people went with our Senior sisters. They went. They were so happy to go.

I remember one Sunday maybe a month after we came from Lyon, France, we were still getting to know the branch members. It was a fast & testimony meeting. Ilya got up and walked up to the front and he didn’t stay at the pulpit, he stood behind the half wall in front of where the branch presidency sits. He bore his testimony in Ukrainian. I was not even aware of that because I just assumed it was Greek. Brother Price stood up after and started to sob and he said we just witnessed a miracle. I asked Bro. Price what he meant and he told me after the meeting that these two wonderful Ukrainian Refugees come every Sunday and they don’t understand Greek or English or any other language. They understand their covenants. We had witnessed a miracle in our little Athens branch.

Family photos. All they were able to save from the war

They understood the importance of the sacrament and partaking of the sacrament each Sunday. I would watch for them to come through the door. If I was playing the keyboard they would come and give me a hug before taking their seats. I LOVE THEM. We communicated – not through words but through love. I knew they loved me, and they knew I loved them.

Ilya had a stroke a few weeks ago. While Tim and Elder Kanellis went to his hospital room to give him a blessing, I waited with Tatiana in the waiting area, and we talked through google translate on our phones. It was so hard because some words do not translate so we knew, kind of, what each other was saying.

Luckily Ilya has recovered enough to go home. He can walk some, but he is very weak. It is too hard to come to church so the missionaries take the sacrament when they can. It is a harder life here in Greece. Most of our members do not have cars. Everyone has to walk, take buses or the metro to church. It even takes us an hour to drive to the metro and then go all the way down in Athens to church. It is a struggle for all members to get to church.

Tim and I went to say goodbye to Brother and Sister Chekaramit last week. Our mission is coming to an end, and we are going home. My heart hurt seeing the conditions they live in. They were so happy to see us and had us come in. Since they only had three chairs…Ilya pulled up a plastic stool and sat on that. We had brought food for them, and I helped Tatiana put it away. She was telling me about her big house and now look where we are and she smiled and shrugged her shoulders like, Oh well!

I am in awe of these stalwart pioneers. No matter what, they hold on to their testimonies of our Savior Jesus Christ. They keep their temple covenants and their baptismal covenants. They love others. They are happy and know who they are. They know God loves them and that possessions are not what brings happiness. They are grateful for their lives and know they will live with Heavenly Father again if they endure to the end.

I want to be just like them. I love this son and daughter of God. I will always remember them and will look for them when we all return to our Heavenly Father. I am grateful to call Tatiana and Ilya, our eternal friends.

Tags bible, christianity, church, faith, Greece, jesus, Missionary work, temple, testimony, ukraine

Mission

An Apostle in Greece

Catherine Frodsham 28 March 25

In October of 2024, Elder Stevenson of the Quorum of twelve Apostles visited Greece, speaking with members and missionaries. During his visit, Elder Stevenson shared a meal with an official from the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR). Elder Stevenson explained in profound detail the four pillars of the Church of Jesus Christ: Live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Invite all to receive the gospel, Unite families for eternity and Care for the needy. He ended with care for the needy and bore powerful testimony of the humanitarian work done by the LDS church.

Elder Stevenson and the young missionaries on Mars Hill

Pres. McConkie of the Central Europe area presidency came a few days before Elder Stevenson to set things up and meet with priesthood leaders. His wife Lauren came and she is delightful as well. Tim and I were asked by our Mission President to please pick up the McConkie’s from the airport and take them to their hotel. It was fun to meet them and visit as we drove them from the Athens airport. They asked about us and our mission and how the seniors are treated and the blessings of serving as senior missionaries. They had not been home more than 4 days in Frankfurt Germany in the month before they came to Greece. They are very busy and do many things for our Area. They came to church with us in Athens and both of them spoke. Sis. McConkie is such a pleasant, beautiful, kind and loving sister. Everyone loves to listen to her because she is like your best friend. Pres. McConkie is the same. That night all of our missionaries came from Cypress, Crete and Thessaloniki to be here to meet President Stevenson on Tuesday. Monday our mission rented a bus to take all of us to Corinth. Isn’t that so cool that we live only an hour away of CORINTH where Paul taught the Saints.

We had to drive up two missionaries that needed to do a medical exam to renew their visas. So we met every one in Corinth. Then we had to leave early to drive our mission president and Sis. Nelson back to Athens. Tim and I had been working with a man named Manolis from UNHCR -. Pres. Stevenson wanted to know if there were any Humanitarian projects that he could be involved in by giving them a plaque or a thank you, etc. So we had given them several ideas and waited to see what he wanted to do.

Manolis of UNHCR has been working with the church for several years, but Elder Stevenson’s visit opened doors we had only imagined. Not long after his visit, two ministries of the Greek government, the Hellenic Police (National police force) and the Ministry of Migration and Asylum approached Manolis for help from the church. As a result, we are implementing a series of projects to bring bedding and hygiene supplies to tens of thousands of refugees.

Members came from all over Greece to meet with Elder Stevenson

Elder Stevenson ended up wanting to have dinner with Manolis (who is not a member of the church but has contacts within the government) The church likes to establish friendships with the governments so that down the road, when we want to build a temple they know we are friendly, kind and helpful to a country. So at the dinner was the Stevensons, the Nelson’s (mission president and wife), The McConkie’s, Tim and I and Manolis. It was so interesting to listen to Elder Stevenson bear testimony to Manolis about our church and why we do things. He bore testimony about family and our Savior Jesus Christ. Why we do humanitarian work throughout the world. I wish I had a recording of all that he said. I was in awe. He looked right into Manolis’s eyes and touched his soul.

We had to hurry because Elder Stevenson was supposed to drive across town to our church building and speak to all of the members and missionaries in Greece. There were about 30 missionaries young and old and about 40 members and friends that came. So Elder Stevenson, the Nelsons and the McConkies got in their car with their driver. I wish they would have taken Manolis. I think he would have felt so special. But Manolis , Tim and I got a taxi to drive us to the church. They beat us but they had a driver and one thing we have learned in Greece is – if you hire a taxi they get paid by time and distance- ugh. Our taxi driver was going so slow because of time. We should have thought to pay him 20 euros more to get us there quickly. So we rush in about 9 minutes past 7:00 and the missionary choir that I AM LEADING had just stood up. I run up to the front and Sis. Christensen handed me my binder. I smile and we begin! hahah! It was great. We have very talented missionaries.

(Note, we are nearing the last month of our mission and are cleaning up and publishing posts that have been languishing in the drafts folder. Since Elder Stevenson’s visit, we have worked extensively with Manolis of UNHCR and have developed a fast friendship. We will miss him and many others we have worked with in Greece)

Tags christianity, church, leadership, missions

Mission

Our Area Presidency

Catherine Shaeffer Frodsham. 14 March 25

Tim and I have had the wonderful experience of meeting and talking with all members of the European Central Area Presidency in the last few months. They are President Ruben Alliaud, Jack Gerard 1st counselor and James McConkie III second counselor. They are all wonderful men with wonderful wives. It is a joy to be around them.

Elder McConkie was the first to come just before Elder Stevenson and his wife came to Athens. He came to make sure everything was in place and ready for the visit of our sweet Apostle. Tim and I were asked to pick up the McConkie’s from the airport and take them to their hotel. We had a very pleasant chat in the car as we were traveling. They are such kind and engaging people. Sister McConkie made me feel as though we had been friends for awhile. They came to church the next morning and both spoke to our little branch. They have such a way with speaking and motivating people around them and bearing testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. Sis. McConkie spoke of being thirsty and what that feels like. She told some sweet stories of quenching our thirst and then related her talk to how we should year to quench our thirst of the Savior and knowing Him and seeking Him. I wish I had her talk to post here. I need to take better notes….

President McConkie

Then we get to President Alliaud. Tim and I got a call right after we had just returned home from visiting a refugee camp near Ioannina. We spent a couple of days there visiting the Habibi group that our church funds to help refugees with food, clothing and teaching languages and skills so they can learn to be self-reliant. We were tired and we thought we have nothing his weekend except church so we can just rest and catch up on sleep and some projects we were working on. Late that night, our mission president, Pres. Nelson, calls us and asks are you guys home? We said yes. “I need you to pick up Elder Alliaud from the airport and then go pick up our branch president and take them to a sisters home so he can bless a room in her home. She will be translating the temple endowment in Greek.” Pres. Alliaud had been given a letter from Pres. Russel M. Nelson, our prophet to do this right away. So Tim picked up our branch president and then went to the airport to get Pres. Alliaud. They then went to this sisters home and Tim watched as they blessed a room in this sisters home. She can only use that room to do the translating. The Lord has things done in such a special way to keep the endowment sacred and special. We have a room in our church building upstairs that had also been dedicated for the translation of temple ordinances. Then Tim took our branch president and Pres. Alliaud around to visit members of our branch.

The next morning was Sunday and Tim and I picked up Pres. Alliaud up from his hotel and took him to church. He spoke to us and it was so touching. I wanted to write things down to remember them. Here’s what he said:

He said that he gets to see the Apostles and the first presidency often and they attend the temple together. The leaders were having lunch together. President Nelson our sweet prophet was eating soup. President Alliaud said President Nelson always eats soup. Pres. Alliaud said that was amazing you announced 20 temples in Conference. He said Pres. Nelson didn’t even flinch or stop eating he just said, you haven’t seen anything yet. The best is yet to come.

Pres. Alliaud said a lot of older people look back at the past and talk about things long ago. The First presidency looks to the future! He said when they sent to the temple he saw 4 wheelchairs lined up – the first presidency and one for Elder Holland. He said sometimes they act like they are racing each other. Elder Alliaud said Elder Bednar calls Elder Holland “Lazarus the 2nd”. Because he was brought back to life! He also said Elder Holland gets up at 4 am and has a two hour dialysis treatment every morning then he goes to work. Elder Holland is amazing. We have such strong leaders in the church.

Elder Frodsham, President Stimagkiotis, Gogo, President Alliaud

About 6 weeks later, Pres. Gerard and his wife came to visit Athens on a mission tour. We all met at Mars Hill for a testimony meeting. It is a tradition in this mission that all new missionaries and those going home bear their testimonies on Mars Hill right next to the Acropolis. It is special to be there on that high mountain near the Acropolis and know that the Apostle Paul stood right there to preach his sermon “The Unknown God”,

It was that time that Aubri and Ben were visiting with us and they were able to go to Mars Hill and hear the testimonies and meet our fellow missionaries!!

How blessed we are!! I am grateful to be a member of this church. It is true and we are led by men of God.

Tags christianity, Greece, Missionary work, missions

Mission

Returning to France

Catherine Shaeffer Frodsham. 19 January 2025

We loved having our young missionaries in Lyon over to our apartment and having their “Amis” (friends) over to have dinner and talk with them. We loved being able to testify of the truths they were teaching. Oh how we loved our missionaries. We consider them our grandchildren!

We kept in touch with them when we moved to Athens, Greece. Elder Tate Last and Elder Enzo Patelo messaged me to let me know that one of our friends who I love with all my heart named YeBei was going to be baptized. I was so excited!!! I had told YeBei that when she was ready for baptism we would fly back. So in October they said come back. I would do anything for YeBei.

I contacted our mission President , President Soulier to see if we could stay in our old apartment that was still vacant since we left. He said check with the office and its OK by him. So we bought out tickets.

A few days before we were to leave for Lyon, the missionaries called me and said there might be a problem. YeBei needed to ask her husband for permission to be baptized. We knew that might be a problem because he was not happy about YeBei meeting with the missionaries and attending our church. He referred to it as a cult. In Preach My Gospel missionaries are told to try and keep peace in families and harmony in the home. When YeBei asked her husband he said no. We were so sad for YeBei. But we went anyway because we had our tickets and our friends were going with us. We had friends from Oregon, the Petrowskys that were coming to visit us in Athens the same time. We said come for a day to Athens and then we are flying back to Lyon for a baptism. They agreed and we were grateful. We rented a car and after we landed we went back to our apartment. I must tell you that it was a bittersweet moment! It was like going home – kind of a weird feeling. I love Lyon, France and we have some very sweet memories there and wonderful friends.

I called our sweet missionaries and they said come to the church building we are meeting with YeBei. So we surprised YeBei and went right to the church, walked in the chapel behind her and she jumped up and we hugged. She apologized for making us come all the way and there was no baptism. We were happy to be there and to let her know we loved her and would support her in anyway we could. It was so wonderful to visit all together.

We went to church the next morning and saw our wonderful special friends in our old ward! It was so nice to see them again. It was wonderful to see Machilo and Munashe and little Elsie! Oh how we love them. Then we say our sweet friend Jeannine Roux who Tim and I love so much. Martine Meyer is so special to me and Teresah and her kids and my sweet Relief Society President Laeticia! Laeticia said her daughter Helena had some news she wanted to tell us. She got her mission call to Washington D.C.!! She is so excited to go. Laeticia and Patrick her husband are going to pick up Helena after her mission and take her to BYU. We are looking forward to having them to our home in Bear Lake when they come. Segolene my sweet, beautiful friend was there! So nice to see her. So wonderful to see our young missionaries there in Lyon!

Then that night I had a dinner at our old apartment and invited the missionaries (6 of them) and YeBei, Machilo, Munashe and Elsie, Martine, Teresah and our friends the Petrowskys. It was a wonderful visit to feel the spirit our good people that we love. I know that YeBei will be baptized. In the meantime, she is involved in the Porte Des Alpes ward and the ward loves her. I am so happy to have met my wonderful friend YeBei. I look forward to the day that we can go to the temple together.

The experiences we have on our mission have taught us how thankful we are to have been able to get to know wonderful, kind, loving , interesting, strong, spiritual people wherever we go. We LOVE YOU OUR FRIENDS IN LYON!!! THE RELATIONSHIPS WE HAVE MADE ARE ETERNAL!!

Tags Baptism, christianity, church, faith, france, grandchildren, lyon, missionary, Missionary work, missions

Mission

My Niece Emily

by Catherine Shaeffer Frodsham. 11 January, 2025

Sometimes things happen for reasons we don’t even understand. When the call from our Area came to move from the Lyon France Mission to the Bulgaria/Greece Mission we were a little confused, but not for long. Tim and I both believe that when we are asked by our leaders we will do it if we can. We took a week to say goodbye to friends, our sweet missionaries and members we loved and moved to Athens Greece.

I wondered if it was to reconnect with my niece Emily who is around the same age of my daughter, Aubrie. Five years ago Emily married a man Thanasis from Greece and lives in Athens. I contacted her right away when I new for sure we were moving to Athens. She was excited and so was I. We even sent a bag of our stuff to her home, not fifteen minutes from our Greek apartment. She and her husband took us out to a Greek restaurant a few days after we arrived. She calls me “Auntie” and I love that!! Thanasis calls me “Auntie” as well.

It has been so fun to see my niece and to have “family” here. She has taken me to lunch and shopping at “JUMBO”! Probably a cross between Walmart and a dollar tree on steroids. It is a 3 story building with moving ramps from each floor. You have to start at the top and work your way down. If you miss something you have to go back to the top and start over – haha! We giggle as we are shopping!!! Greece is very different from France.

When our sweet Apostle Elder Gary Stevenson came to Athens, I invited Emily to come to our church building and hear him. She was baptized at 8 but lived with her dad and was not active. She came out of love for me. I respect that and I love her for it. It was so nice to have her there. I led a choir of about 25 missionaries which I seem to do a lot of in my life and she was there to hear that.

We had Christmas dinner at her home with the Thanasis family. It was like that movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. Although all of them are beautiful people – no over weight ones but me! They were so pleasant and kind and made a beautiful Greek meal. Thanasis’s dad does not speak English and they were all translating for him and then for Tim and I. It was so fun to be with them and to see how they interact and love each other. It was also wonderful to see how much they love my niece Emily. They adore her and she adores them.

I just found out that Emily is pregnant with her first child!!!!! They are so excited. I am excited for them. I want Emily and Thanasis to experience being parents. Being a mom has brought me such great joy I could not have had unless I was a parent.

I am so thankful that Heavenly Father sent us to Greece to serve part of our mission so I could be connected to my sweet niece again. It will be hard to go home and not be able to see my Emily whenever I want….

I LOVE YOU EMILY!!!

Mission

Our Syrian Refugee

by Catherine Shaeffer Frodsham 5 January 2025

December 27, just after Christmas, we met a pleasant, quiet young man, a refugee from Syria, who joined our church last May 2024. Here, we will call him Zain. When he was in Turkey he found Jesus Christ. It wasn’t with our church but he found Jesus. At that time his Dad disowned him. You see in the Muslim religion, leaving the religion can be a death sentence, literally. He can NEVER go back to Syria. He has had no contact with his father since then. He does secretly contact his mother and a couple of his sisters and sends his mother money when he can, but dad will not accept anything from him.

Zain was just laid off when he talked to our branch president, who sent him to us as Welfare Self Reliance missionaries. In some countries where we have more members and leaders, we have self-reliance groups that can help people get help getting resumes up to date and how to get a better job. In Athens we only have a small branch of about 30 members and do not have the man-power to have self-reliance groups. Through the Central Europe Area, WSR couples are teaching 3 self-reliance groups or classes online, starting Jan. 16. Tim and I will be teaching “Emotional Resilience”. All of Europe and even in the world can join through QuickReg online. Although the time difference would prevent some from taking it outside of the Europe Area.

Zain came to talk to us. Before we looked at his resume or his CV as they call it in Europe we sat at the table and I started asking him about his family and his life in general. Here is his story. He is 23 years of age and has lived in Athens for 5 years. At the age of 16, with his parents, two older and three younger siblings, he left Syria for Turkey. While in Turkey he attempted a boat crossing to Greece. He was put in jail for 20 days and deported back to Istanbul. He tried again in 2018 at age 17 1/2 and paid $700 Euros for a place in a crowded dingy with about 45 people on board. They helped each other throughout the voyage, including the landing on the rocky shore on what we think was the island of Leros. The boat included families and teenagers, with several unaccompanied minors such as himself. After several hours at an army base, they were put in a camp for refugees. There, they gave up their passports to apply for asylum. It is better if you are age 17 or younger as you get more help and there are more programs to help unaccompanied minors. He was there for about 4 months.

During that time many more refugees from other countries came to the island. A large group of Palestinians came and caused riots in the camp which had been very peaceful up to that point. He said some of the Palestinians told them to climb to the highest part of the church – the bell tower and jump to kill themselves. It was very dangerous and Zain was moved with other children off the island to the mainland of Greece.

He was welcomed into a shelter for unaccompanied minors called HomeProject and had a safe place to live. They also helped him receive surgery for his cataracts. He later worked at HomeProject as a caregiver, night guard and translator. He learned English from Habibi. (an NGO that the church has funded for several projects). He then learned more English at Global Connect and received his GED certificate there. Global Connect was started a few years ago by Carolyn Rounds. She served as a full-time senior mission for our church in Greece, fell in love with the people and culture and saw a need that she could help. She held English classes and invited the full-time missionaries to come and help teach and tutor her students.

Zain was one of those students. He felt the Holy Ghost through Carolyn and the missionaries and asked to learn more. He was taught and was baptized in Athens 8 months ago. He worked as a translator, care giver and night security guard, but was recently laid off. He gets a small stipend since he does have his papers and is legal here in Greece.

It has been a journey for us, learning about the refugee situation in Greece, visiting soup kitchens, community centers and refugee camps, and then working personally with a young man who has survived it all, been disowned by his family and yet looks at the church and his future with optimism and hope.

He wants to serve a mission, is trying to save money to pay his living expenses and was looking at a start date of late 2025 or 2026. He did not realize that he could get help from the church to serve a full-time mission and would not necessarily have to work a year or two to save up enough money to do that. We are talking to the branch president on Sunday about Zain starting his mission papers. Can you imagine a Syrian missionary preaching about Jesus Christ. He is a strong, powerful young man. He said, “do I need to know a lot, so I can teach?” He speaks English, Turkish, Arabic and a little Greek. What an asset to the Lord’s Army in Gathering Israel!!!

This young man is in Greece with no family, only members of the church who love him. He just went in November to the Frankfurt Temple to do baptisms for the dead. He loves the temple. How special Tim and I feel to be on a mission in this beautiful country of Greece at this time and to be able to help Zain in any way we can. We are in awe of his courage, his strength, his love of family, even his dad who has disowned him. He loves his Savior Jesus Christ and wants to serve as a missionary. He has had many tragic events in his life but says he learns from all of his experiences, even the bad ones.

We met again today January 1st, 2025 with Zain. Tim helped him get his CV or resume all up to date so he can go find a good job. Tim talked to our branch president, Pres. Anastasios Stimagkiotis, and a new MLS senior missionary couple who just came last month. They are the Kannels. He is a wonderful man who has lots of experience in leadership in the church and is now in the branch presidency. Tim mentioned that Zain wants to serve a mission so they are both taking him under their wing to help fill out mission papers and get him on a mission. That makes us VERY happy. Sometimes we have the feeling that we came to Greece for certain people. Zain is one of those reasons. We love this kind young man.

Zain said today as we ate lunch that the difference in our church and any other church and especially the Muslim religion is “LOVE”. We have love in our church. He felt it and wanted that in his life. What a powerful thing to recognize. May we love all people, all religions, all races, the way Jesus would.

May we all be more like Zain!

Tags bible, christianity, church, missionary, Missionary work, missions, Refugee, Syria

Mission

Aubrie and Ben’s Visit

Catherine Frodsham, December 2024

Aubrie and Ben came to Greece a few weeks ago! This momma’s heart needed this visit. It was a short visit but we packed it full! They flew in from San Francisco, layover in London, then flew to Athens. We picked them up and took them to our apartment. We ate Greek food, then they needed some sleep because we were leaving at 9 am in the morning to drive 3 1/2 hours away to Meteora, Greece. Meteora is in northern Greece near the Albania border. It is a beautiful unique mountain area with huge sandstone mountains that rise up and the monks built monasteries on top of these peaks. It is so amazing they could build these so long ago. It is so worth seeing. We stayed the night in Meteora and walked through the town and had several authentic Greek meals. The food is amazing in Greece!

We had a beautiful hotel and then got up and drove to Delphi that is on the way back to Athens – kind of. That was also so beautiful. We could see the Mediterranean Sea through the drive. In fact, after Delphi, we stopped at the Sea and got out and put our feet in the water – well Aubrie did. It was so beautiful! Greece has so much water all around and in and out of Greece. There are 300 islands small and large. One thing we discovered though that it is a 2nd world country. Lots of needs here.

We got back to Athens and went to dinner at our favorite restaurant, about a 5-7 minute walk from our apartment. It is great food. Although , I think Ben ordered lamb sausages and I don’t think he liked that. Aubrie had Moussaka. I had Giant Beans. We all had Greek salad that you can only get in Greece. Greece is known for its feta cheese. You have a huge slab of feta on every Greek Salad. It is very yummy. There is no lettuce, only tomatoes, red onions, olives, cucumber, g. pepper and feta and olive oil and spices. YUMMY.

The next day was Friday and we had a Zone Conference. We also had a few missionaries going home so a tradition in our mission is a testimony at Mars Hill early in the morning to watch the sun rise. The departing missionaries bear their testimonies and the new missionaries just coming to the mission also get a chance to bear their testimonies. Aubi and Ben got to be with us at Mars Hill to witness that special event. We also had Pres. Gerard and his wife from the Europe Central Area Presidency with us for our mission zone conference.

Tim went to the zone conference and Aubi and Ben and I walked over to the Acropolis. It is a lot of stairs and I have been there a couple of times so I sat on a bench and watched the people all around me while Aubi and Ben enjoyed the Acropolis. We then met my niece, Emily in Monastraki square for lunch and she took us to a cool place with more ruins and the museum. Emily married a Greek man 5 years ago and lives in Athens now. It has been so fun to have her here to visit and have family so close. She and Aubrie are the same age and have enjoyed keeping in touch over the years on Facebook and were excited to see each other.

We took the metro back to Emily’s car and she took us to a beautiful outdoor restaurant by her home. She only lives about 15 minutes from me. That was a miracle for us to be so close in this HUGE city of Athens! We had great pizza and visited with her husband , Thanasis. Tim drove to meet us there for dinner as well.

The next day on Saturday we decided to take a boat to one of the close islands – Agenana- the Pistachio island. There are ruins there too. ACTUALLY there are Greek and Roman ruins EVERYWHERE!!! We bought tickets and took the metro down to the port in Athens. There was a BIG storm coming in that day and our first ship cancelled. So we went to another bigger ship and they went for it. So we took that boat to the Island. It was so cool. I think Aubrie got a little seasick. But she was tired too. So it took an hour to get to the island.

On the island Ben and Aubrie decided to take a motorcycle to tour around. Tim and I walked around the little port and had lunch and shopped. It was a great day. It started to rain alot so we found a restaurant to hang out in until our ship came back. It was several hours but so fun to visit and eat and enjoy each other.

The next day was their last day!!! It was Sunday, so we drove to church. Our little branch meets in a hotel right now and it seats about 70 people. We sometimes have up to 50 visiting tourists but we didn’t have that many that day. We have about 30 members that come. So Aubi and Ben were able to see our little branch. There are lovely people there and wonderful missionaries. There was a young man who comes every week but he is not a member. He translates into English for us. IN fact, he was just called as a non-member to be our branches translator. WE LOVE HIM!! His name is Costas.

Costas is the young man making the peace sign

The picture above is at our apartment in Athens and all of the young and senior missionaries serving in Athens. We are few but we are mighty!

Side note: A miracle just happened last week we invited Costas to come to dinner at our apartment along with all of the young and senior missionaries in our branch. The missionary who found him a year ago and taught him the gospel is back in Athens and I invited Costas to have Elder Wahl teach him again in our home starting next Sunday. He agreed!!! We love him. We believe in miracles and things don’t just happen. The Lord is in charge and we know that. We just say what do you want us to do Lord!!

So after church we came back to our apartment and packed up Aubi and Ben. WE love those two so much. We took them to the airport and I cried all the way home. What a wonderful visit. THANK YOU FOR COMING Aubie and Ben!!

Tags adventure, athens, Aubrie and Ben visit, Emily, europe, Greece, Meteora, travel

Mission

Zane’s visit

Catherine Frodsham, 21 August, 2024

WHOOP WHOOP!! My son Zane and his family are here to visit! They had a rough time getting here. Flights were cancelled and they missed a connection, but they made it to Geneva, Switzerland! We met them in Chamonix, France. It is a beautiful little town near Mount Blanc, high in the Alps. We got there in the early evening because we had to get plot plans notarized at the US Embassy in Geneva for our home in Bear Lake. That took us a few hours more than we thought. Trying to mail it back to the States did not happen. UGH! Therefore, we were later than expected to Chamonix! It was so wonderful to see Zane and Lexi and our grandkids, Zane, Weston, Bennett and CeCe. They were jet lagged and needed to go to bed early. We walked around a little, had dinner and then went to our Airbnb. The next day we took a train ride up to the glacier, it was so beautiful!!! When we got to the top, Zane, Tim, Lexi and the kids all went to see the Glacier. It looked slippery, and I didn’t want to walk down those stairs. My knees and feet aren’t doing well lately. My family and friends all know how I love to slide downstairs on ice…;-)

Here’s some pictures of the train ride and the glacier:

When we came back to Chamonix on the train, we went to an amusement park area with some different rides…. ha-ha…The kids found one and said Nana we want you to ride this ride for our souvenir!! I told them all I would get them a T-shirt or anything they wanted. They insisted and, well, I couldn’t resist!! This has gone viral through our family. It was noted as the best video of the year for the Shaeffer family by Aubrie!! Haha. We can’t post a video here, but here are other pictures of the rides. We had a lot of fun because not too many people were there riding the rides!

We had a great dinner, ate crepes and ice cream and enjoyed the scenery of these mountains in the Alps. Zane, Lexi and the kids had tickets the next morning to ride the Aiguille Du Midi tram up 15,000 feet. Tim and I did that with Elise and Mike and the girls a few months before and we made it to the top but got altitude sickness, so we did not want to go again. We said good-bye and left to come back to Lyon for some missionary duties. Zane and family drove through Italy and down to southern France. I’m sure it was a beautiful drive!

They enjoyed Antibes in Southern France and then a few days later we met them in Beynac along the Dordogne River. It was a 4 ½ hour drive for us and a 7-hour drive for Zane. Zane had secured a beautiful Airbnb near the Castlenaud Chateau. It was BEAUTIFUL. We had tickets to ride a Hot Air Balloon the next morning, but the weather was not good, so it was cancelled. So we went to visit several castles in the area. The Dordogne valley is known as the valley of the thousand castles. They are everywhere and so beautiful. Zane and the kids played in the Dordogne River and had fun. We tried to eat dinner at 5 but nothing opens in France for dinner until 7:00 p.m. They eat so late here.

Here are pictures of the castles we went to:

We had asked the hot air balloon company if they could change our reservation for Wednesday morning before we had to leave. They said they would try. They told us at 2:00 pm on Tuesday that the weather looked favorable. YAYAY!! We were so excited, but we had to get to bed early because we had to be at the place at 5:45 am. So, the next morning we all got up and we had to wear long pants and closed shoes. We piled in their jeeps and left with our pilot. There were 3 pilots and 3 balloons. It wasn’t cheap. It cost us about $199 Euros a piece. This has been a dream of mine since I was little and on my bucket list!! We got to the field, and we received instructions on what to do in the basket and what not to do. Then the pilot asked Tim and I (I think because we are old and might have a hard time getting in the basket quickly, to get on the ground and get into the basket sideways on the ground. HAHA! Zane thought oh no my mom can’t do that!!! I did and I was on my back down in the basket waiting for it to be up righted. It finally did and then he said everyone in. You had 5 minutes before it started rising!! I never would have made it. Oh, my heavens…. talk about a dream come true!!! It was so peaceful and beautiful. We wish it was a little clearer, but you will see in the pictures. What a beautiful place to be and be with my sweetheart and my son and Lexi and my cute grand kids, Zanie, Weston, Bennett and Cece. CeCe did get a little scared before we took off because of the sound of the gas as it lit on fire to heat the air in the huge balloon.

Our Pilot was the best. He does this year-round. He goes to Morocco and other places to give rides. He said it is hard in the Dordogne valley because of places to land?? Well, we had an hour up in the sky and it was time to land. The Balloons go up and down. You can’t really steer them. The Pilot knows how to use the wind to steer. Well, he found a farmer’s hay field to land in. No animals in the field and the hay had already been harvested into bails. But the farmer was not happy!! He started yelling at the pilot and the guy who was watching for where the balloon would land. He follows it with the jeep and the trailer. We finally got out and they started deflating the balloon. All men were helping them deflate and fold it up. The pilot said, I love Americans because they all help us. After that we loaded the basket and the deflated balloon on the trailer and got into the jeep to go have breakfast of croissants and coffee. Wait, we don’t drink coffee. He had an apple juice for the kids and we all drank that!! It was so beautiful and fun and an experience we will never forget!!

Here are pictures of the balloon ride:

We said goodbye again: Zane and family started up north to see Normandy and Mt St. Michel and the D-day historic sites. Tim and I drove back to Lyon. We had new missionaries coming in. We had made 10 lasagnas before we left for our Dordogne trip for Sis. Soulier (Our new mission president’s wife) (I love her) who is waiting to get into the Mission Home, where she has a kitchen. They were for the missionaries going home and the next night the missionaries coming in to the mission. We made it home in time to help with the dinner of the new missionaries. That was fun. President and Sister Soulier are very kind and wanted all of us senior missionaries to be a part of the dinners.

Then Zane and Zanie, Weston & Bennett drove from Paris on Sunday July 14th to Lyon. We were waiting in the street just like when Aubrie came to visit. It was so fun to see them drive up. We dropped some baggage off, and Tim and I got in their car to all go to our ward. This was the best church day ever!! It was fun to show them our underground parking and we had to take the car elevator to the 2nd floor parking. It is so different!! We walked in a few minutes early and our Bishop Nelson (an American) came off the stand and asked the 3 boys if they would help do the sacrament. They all agreed. Zane and Weston ran down to the car to get their white shirts and ties. The bishop asked Zanie if he would break the bread, but he wouldn’t have to say the prayer. But he forgot to tell his 2nd counselor in the Bishopric who also helped with the sacrament. I was called on to lead the music, so I was on the stand. It is a small chapel. After the sacrament hymn Zane and the member of the bishopric stood and he asked Zane if he wanted to pray in French or English. He only saw the French card, so he knelt down…… I looked at my son Zane he looked at his son Zane and we both thought NO!!!! He doesn’t speak French. But Zanie read it like a pro. We were shocked! The bishop looked at him and nodded he got it right!!!! After the sacrament the bishop got up and said that was evidence of the gift of tongues!!!! hahaha!! I was so proud of Zanie! Way to go! Way to have a feeling of service and a spiritual experience with the sacrament! We will never forget that!! That night France celebrated Bastille Day and there were fireworks! We walked to the Rhone River bridge and watched the fireworks there. It was very cool.

See the picture of our Bishop Nelson and Zanie a priest, Weston a teacher and Bennett a deacon. And the Bastille Day fireworks.

The next few days we took the metro to see the beautiful city of Lyon. Lexi and Cece had flown to Milan Italy to see Taylor Swift. They flew to Lyon on Monday evening. On Tuesday, we took all of them to see the Cathedral of Notre Dame and the Bartholdi fountain and Old Lyon. We ate crepes and ice cream in Old Lyon. See pictures: Then we had Raclette for dinner at our home. We had to say goodbye early in the morning. It was hard to see them go. What a fun time we had exploring France together. We miss you already!!!

Mission

Sweet Missionary Moments

August 5th, 2024 Catherine Frodsham

Tim and I have been serving as missionaries in Lyon France for 9 months now. We are halfway through our mission. We have had some sweet miracles that I don’t want to forget so I am going to write about a few of them.

We had some missionaries (Elder Adams and Elder Brown) call us and ask if they could come over and bring one of their special “Ami’s”. They said you will like him. So we set up a time and they came for dinner in May 2024. This young man just turned 21 and is one of the most Christlike individuals I have ever met. He met the missionaries last January 2024. He had just left the Jehovah Witness congregation and noticed our missionaries wearing white shirts, ties and name tags. He started asking them questions. Those two missionaries were Elder Sumsion and Elder Beard. They were our zone leaders in Lyon and some of the best missionaries. They taught him about the church. He soaked it up like a sponge. He has since gone through several missionaries and when we talk to him, he knows more about the Book of Mormon and Bible than most members. He wants to be baptized but his parents are Seventh Day Adventist, and his grandparents are Evangelists I believe. They are not happy that he has broken with their traditions and their faith. He was told if he was baptized, he would have to move out and take care of himself. Basically, they would disown him. Oh how sad. He is such a good young man. So, for now, he attends church every week and participates in every way but has not been baptized. We had him over a few nights ago for the second time and the missionaries as well. He said his parents are on vacation for two weeks. I said, “Yes, you can get baptized, and they will never know!!!!” Haha. He did chuckle but wants them to support and be happy for him. So, in January it will be a year that he has chosen to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We are hoping and we pray that Clemont’s parents’ hearts will soften and can sustain him in his decision to be baptized. I hope he will be baptized while we are still here, or we will have to fly back – I love this young man that much. When I looked at him, I told him – we are here for you. He is one that we are in Lyon to support. Maybe his parents will come to dinner at our apartment. I do know that the Lord puts people in the paths of others for reasons. Here is a picture of Clemont, Elder Adams, Elder Brown, Tim and me.

Also, the two missionaries that first met him. Elder Sumsion and Elder Beard who are home now.

Another sweet missionary miracle is Segolene Perez. Segolene is in our Port des Alpes ward in Lyon. I would see her on Sundays sitting by an older woman and man that I just found out are her parents. They did not smile much and were very quiet. We have lots of French members that do not smile much and are private and quiet. It seems to be the culture here until you get to know them. So, I taught Relief Society a month or so ago. I had written some of my personal stories that I wanted to tell them in French, and I wrote the words phonetically so I could read it correctly. I have not learned French as I hoped. But I don’t let it hold me back. I had a power point with quotes in French and pictures of my family so they could get to know me. I never shy away from telling my weaknesses or what trials I have gone through. I have been through some tough tragic events that I believe I went through so I can help others go through tough times. I am not afraid to tell hard stories if it can help someone else. So, I told a few from my life. I told of how members of our ward and stake had shunned my sweet daughter and me because she had gotten pregnant at a young age. I talked about how it is our choice to be offended if someone treats us badly or we think they are treating us badly. Sometimes we think they are being mean but most of the time people just don’t know what to say or how to act. It is out of ignorance on their part. There was a new older widow in our ward in Relief Society that Sunday named Jennine Roux. I asked her when her husband died was there anything we could do to make her feel better? She said no. I said what about us coming up to give you a hug and tell you we love you? She said that was comforting. I said the only thing we can do is not ignore but at least offer love and maybe take a meal in or give them a ride or take them grocery shopping, etc. Ignoring someone when they are hurting is the worst thing to do. I made a comment about being on the floor when my husband died, and I couldn’t get up. I prayed and Heavenly Father sent angels to lift me up off the floor. I talked about let’s be each other’s angels to help us off the floor when we need help. So now I get to the story of Segolene. She had never talked to me before, but I could tell she was touched in the lesson. She came up to me and said, “some of us in this room today are still on the floor.” What a profound statement and I gave her a hug. The next Sunday she came up to and told me she is married to a man who is not a member. He has started to ask questions. I told him about your lesson last week and he said I could invite you and your husband over to dinner at our home. MIRACLE!!!! I said we would love to. So, we went over last week. Tuesday, July 30, 2024. They have a lovely, very nice apartment on the 7th floor of a nice building. It has a deck around the entire apartment and air conditioning. We had a wonderful time. Her husband’s name is Serge. He was so kind and pleasant. We want to be friends, and we are friends. We talked about his family and our family, hobbies, jobs and education, etc. We laughed and enjoyed each other’s company. We will have them over to our apartment when they are back from their vacation in a few weeks. We are here in Lyon for Segolene and Serge Perez.

Here is a picture of Serge and Segolene Perez and Tim and me.

Tags faith, france, Mission, missionary, Missionary work, missions

Mission

Here Come my Girls

I was jumping up and down on the sidewalk outside our apartment in Lyon. My GIRLS are coming to visit!!! Whoo hoo!! Aubrie and Ben landed in Paris on June 22, toured Paris and Normandy, and then visited a castle in the Loire valley on the way to Lyon. France is a beautiful country full of history and castles. I am thrilled to have my daughter Aubrie and her family here. I see them!!!! The first one I see is Little Penelope sitting on her mamma’s lap in the front. They stop in the middle of our tiny one way street, which is what the French do, and turn on their hazard lights. Penny gets out but the door is in the way and I can’t grab her and hug her so we walk around the parked car and I take her into my arms. YAYAYAYAY!! Then Mae, Reese, Eva, Aubi and finally Ben. Hugs all around. Tim and I are excited to host our family! We take them into our apartment while Ben and Tim go and park their car. Parking is hard here in Lyon. Sometimes you have to drive around for a while and then you have to pay for parking. So Tim parked our car in a parking space earlier in the day, then pulled out so Ben could park his car while Tim parked our own car in our underground parking garage.

I took the girls and Aubi to our mailbox and told them “here is what we do everyday”. We walk up, open the box and say “nobody loves us”. Of course I was a bit over dramatic, but I think it worked. We put all of their bags in our tiny elevator and Aubi went with the bags. We ran up the one flight of stairs to meet the elevator on the 1st floor. I opened the door and they were able to see our apartment and all of the pictures of our grandchildren and families that are taped to the wall. Lots of pictures of Jesus and temples as well. It is a missionary apartment for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for sure.

They were all famished, so we heated up some taco meat, made burritos and had some fruit, French bread and cheese. I also bought some croissants, plain and chocolate, and some assorted desserts from a Patisserie. After showing them around we went for a walk down Roosevelt Boulevard to the Rhone river. We then decided to cross the bridge to see the beautiful Bartholdi fountain, designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi who had earlier designed the Statue of Liberty in New York. It was fun to talk them to some beautiful parts of Lyon. Eva stayed home and slept.

The next morning Tim took Ben, Aubrie, Eva and Mae on the metro to the Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière. I needed to stay at home and save my feet from our trip to Avignon that afternoon. Penelope, Reese and I stayed at our apartment, drew pictures, laughed, talked and enjoyed just being together. I sure love these girls.

We all loaded up and drove to Avignon which is about 3 hours away. I had arranged for us to stay in an apartment very near the Popes Palace. Parking was terrible. We enjoyed seeing the huge palace and we walked through some shops. The girls love to shop. We had a great dinner and headed to bed. We had hoped to see the Lavender fields of southern France. We did see some but to see the hills covered with Lavender we needed to drive off the main road, so that was a bust. The next morning we got ready and drove 2 1/2 hours to Annecy. On our way to Annecy we lost Ben and Aubrie and their phones didn’t work so we had no contact. We had Penelope and Reese with us and drove to the hotel, which was our only meeting point. Finally, Aubrie and Ben stopped in Annecy, borrowed a man’s phone and texted me. I gave them the address and we met there at the hotel.

Annecy is known as the Venice of France. It is a beautiful city in the Alps by a lake and the town has canals and bridges like Venice. WE LOVED ANNECY!! See the pictures. We sat and put our feet in the cool water and walked all around. We ate ice cream and had a yummy pizza dinner outdoors like the French enjoy doing. It was such a lovely day and we were so blown away by the beauty of this beautiful French town.

We got back to the hotel, showered and my heart started to feel heavy. I knew I was going to have to say goodbye to my girls the next morning at 5:00 am. It was hard to sleep. We got up and the girls got ready. I gave big hugs because I knew I would not hug my sweet girls for another 11 months. ugh! Little Penelope walked down the hall and kept looking back and my heart sank. I miss my family more than I can bare sometimes. I am trying to stay focused and commit to my Savior as His disciple. Sometimes it is very hard and then miracles happen, like the miracle we had at church the next Sunday, but that is another post.

I love you Ben and Aubrie! Thank you for bringing Eva, Mae, Reese and Penelope to France to see us. It meant the world to me. Now you know where I am living and can relate to things you see in pictures. May 6, 2025, Nana and Tim will be home.

Tags annecy, Chamonix, europe, france, grandchildren, lyon, Missionary work, travel