Tag: france

Paris

Thus far, I think Zone Conference is my favorite part of serving a senior mission. In order to serve a mission in France, the young elders and sisters have to have completed seminary, which they need in order to get a minister’s license here in France. In part, because of that requirement, the missionaries here are incredibly faithful and motivated. Zone conferences are run mostly by the young missionaries, with the assistants to the president, the zone leaders and sister missionary leaders making the presentations. The theme was chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel. “How can I improve my teaching skills” but they spent a lot of time on finding as well.

Sister Liz Hardy (Office Sister) with Catherine

President Léporé spoke at the end of the conference for nearly an hour. He encouraged us to “bind our selves to Christ”, and to seek those “look moments”, referring to the admonition of the angel that led Nephi through is vision, encouraging him to “Look”.

Our contribution to the conference, green salad and a large container of ranch dressing. It was the dressing that was a hit, Ranch is simply not available in France. (Some of the missionaries have eaten at our home and they know Elder Frodsham makes a mean green salad with so many goodies in it. When we brought the beautiful salad, the missionaries said “that’s an Elder Frodsham salad!!”)

Saturday morning we were up before dawn and driving to Paris. We wanted to make the 11:15 session at the temple and meet another couple serving as Welfare Self-Reliance missionaries in the Paris mission. Using headphones, I have listened to the ordinance session many times in French, but this was the first time I have attended a session entirely in French. I have been studying French for several years now, and it surprised me how much I understood as we progressed through the ceremony. (Cathy again…I had headphones to hear it in English but they didn’t work so I listened in French and knew what was going on. At the veil I had Bro and Sis. Allen from the US who was called to be a new sealer there.)The Paris temple is within walking distance of The Palace of Versailles. It does not have a huge front entrance and we didn’t get a picture of the front. We will have to do that another time. It is beautiful, and is the only temple in France. Many of the workers drive from all over France to get to the temple to work their shifts. We are very blessed to have temples close to us in California.)

From the temple we drove to the town of Évry to assist with a Welfare Self-Reliance devotional Saturday evening. It was a small ward, but there were nearly 80 people in attendance and many of them signed up for one of the self-reliance courses. Momo Djamai, our manager here in France gave the presentation. He had the baptism of a young lad in his branch a few hours before, was in a hurry to get to the Évry ward building and forgot his bag with computer and sign up materials. He borrowed a laptop from the Bishop of the local ward and gave a stellar presentation on the fly. He later admitted that the presentation he gave that night was far better than the one he had prepared.

WSR devotional in Évry

At the end of the devotional, Catherine and I stayed during the potluck meal just to chat with the members. One young woman took a liking to Catherine and came to our table several times to converse. Catherine asked her genuine questions about her life and goals, to which she answered honestly. I think she enjoyed that someone cared. We realized we were very late getting out and excused ourselves quickly to leave. The ward had music playing in the background, the the number playing at that time was perfect for a Hustle so we danced for a few minutes in the middle of the floor. I do not like to be the center of attention in normal circumstances, but I felt that we should show the members there that senior missionaries have a life as well and we can enjoy it.

We drove to Amboise to spend the night with our manager here in France, Momo Djamai and his wive Pascale. It was a 2 and a half hour drive and we did not want to arrive after 22:00. We were late, but not by much.

The Frodshams and the Snyders with Momo and Pascale Djamai

Pascale was an incredible hostess. She was born on the Island of Jersey in the English Channel, and was educated in Scotland. She welcomed us into her home with grace, charm and humor. The next morning, we traveled to Tours to attend Sacrament Meeting where the four of us spoke, all in French. Again, Catherine mingled with the sisters there with such ease, making fast friends.

Catherine with a young woman scheduled to be baptized on the 3rd of March

We spent several hours back at the Djamai’s home, eating dinner and conversing around the dinner table. I love the French custom of lingering over a meal to talk. Laughter binds us together and we made many bonds that day.

We lingered a bit too long at the Djamai’s home and knew we would not arrive back in Lyon until after nightfall. In addition, there was rain and high winds most of the way home. During the calm stretches, I went with the flow of traffic, and the tattle-tale electronics let the mission president know that I exceeded the speed limit of 130 kph (80 mph). I must tell you in all honesty I did not exceed 160 kph (100 mph) at any time . .(One would expect this of me…not of Tim ;-))

We do have a life in Lyon. Catherine celebrated her birthday the day after Valentine’s day and decided to made a cake to celebrate. Yes, I should have made the cake, but I was busily putting together a major presentation our manager requested at the last minute, and wanted us to present that evening to church leaders in Central Europe.

The best German Chocolate cake I have ever eaten

We enjoyed several slices and then shared with missionaries and investigators alike as they wended their way through our home.

We are also working on a humanitarian project, putting together the supplies for homeless kits the missionaries will use in their work. They will assemble the kits during zone conferences, add a card and personal note, and then distribute these kits as they travel through their areas.

No, Nutella is not part of our humanitarian project, but I am addicted to the stuff, and during our visit to a local “PromoCash”, a store somewhere between “cash and carry” and “Costco”, searching for homeless supplies, I couldn’t help taking a picture of the two things I love most. The other picture? Out on a walk, we discovered a tiny restaurant serving Kabobs. It’s sort of like a falafel, but with a French twist.

There are a lot of things going on at home and we are missing out on so many events in the lives of our children and grandchildren. There are always reasons to delay a senior mission, but my advise is to go. Go now. We miss our families terribly, but we can see the blessings our mission is having in their lives as well as our own. We love our Savior and have placed ourselves in His care as we serve as His hands.

Tags europe, france, grandchildren, missionary, Missionary work, missions, temple, travel

Mission

Friends, 15 February 24

Catherine and Tim Frodsham 15 Feb 24

First and foremost, Happy Birthday to Catherine. Her birthday is the day after Valentines Day, which makes it easy to remember.

This will be more of a photo blog of the people who have touched our lives in the first three months of our mission. When I was young and foolish, age having solved one of those issues, I loved to take scenery pictures. On walk-abouts with my children, I would focus on the scenery and take the occasional people picture. The people pictures are the only ones I look at anymore, so no, this is not going to be a travelogue.

These family pictures were taken when we were set apart to serve this mission the 4th of November, 2023. We entered the Missionary Training Center (MTC) on Sunday the 5th.

We flew from Sacramento to the Salt Lake City airport, and Adam Shaeffer and his family picked us up there and drove us to the MTC.

We met several young elders we knew while at the MTC. Tim was the home teacher, then ministering brother for the Istook family. The Rodriguez family were good friends in the Oregon ward as well. Gabby and Ella were Catherine’s seminary students, attending school at BYU. Sheila is a long time friend of Catherine.

Catherine is a magnet for friendship. At times, I step back in awe and watch her magic as complete strangers become lifelong friends. We worked with the Hatfelds in the MTC and the rest in training in Frankfurt, Germany. She still converses with her friends in Frankfurt, even though we were there only a few days.

Missionary couples we are working with in France. The Gannaways and the Hardys work in the mission office, taking care of the auto fleet, apartments, visas and finances for the mission. There jobs are much more defined than ours, which is a good thing. At times, we struggle a bit with the ambiguity of our mission call, but we love following the spirit to define many of our contributions to the saints in France

The McBrides serve as the mission medical for both the Lyon and the Paris mission. Bernadette McBride was right there to help when we arrived in Lyon, sick with COVID. They are stationed in Chalon, but we get together every time they come to the mission office in Lyon. We traveled to the Chalon branch the 2nd week in February to speak in Sacrament Meeting and to present the self-reliance courses the second hour.

Youth missionaries we work with in Lyon. Elders Guiernot, Dane and Last are Chinese speaking elders in the area (Yes, there was a transfer between photos). We spent a day with them, cleaning an apartment which had been locked up for months. Unfortunately, the last elders there turned off the refrigerator before leaving . . . We picked up Sister Nash at the airport, flying in from the Provo MTC. Her arrival was delayed so she was the last missionary to fly in for that transfer and there was no one in the mission available to pick her up. We remember our arrival in France, so we were delighted to welcome her to her mission.

The sister missionary trio are media specialists for the mission. They are teaching Machilo once a week in our apartment.

Most of all, are the friends we have made in the ward, or should I say, the friends Catherine has made in the ward.

After she bore her testimony in Relief Society, Soeur Meyer came up to her and exclaimed ” You have to learn French, and you have to do it now!” Yes, I used an exclamation point. For those keeping track, It has been at least a decade. She wanted so much for Catherine to push through the language barrier and testify to the people here in their native language.

In the collection, I had to add the shop keeper in the silk district who was Catherine’s best friend from the instant we walked into the shop. Also included is the street musician she befriended outside the Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière in Lyon. He was a charming, articulate gentlemen and they did their best to converse in between numbers he played for her.

Last of all, I am including some photos of us as we have worked and traveled in our mission. We are not here as tourists, we are here foremost to push forward the work of our Savior in France. During our assignments, we have a goal to visit Lausanne, Switzerland where my grandmother was born, Marseilles, France where Catherine spent some months as a youth, and Normandy, which has so much history for us as Americans.

The Frodshams at the Basilica Notre Dame, overlooking Lyon

Every day we grow to love our mission and the people of France. We miss our children and grandchildren terribly, baptisms, ordinations and as we just heard, the first wedding of one of Tim’s grandchildren. If we were to wait till there is nothing to miss at home, we would be waiting forever. We know that innumerable blessings will come to our family because of our service here, we have seen His hand already.

The Frodshams

Tags france, grandchildren, lyon, missionary, Missionary work, missions

Mission

16 December 23

We have been in France for nearly a month now. We are mostly over COVID although Catherine has some residual dizziness and balance problems. We walk a lot here. The mission office is just over a mile away, shopping is close with many bakeries, butcheries and markets surrounding our small apartment. When we go out, Catherine holds tight to my arm to keep her balance. The clinging to my arm is not a problem at all. We pray that her dizziness will abate.

After our home bound COVID experience, we traveled to Frankfurt, Germany to train on the tools and processes used in self-reliance and humanitarian projects. There were two other new humanitarian couples there, assigned to Spain and Poland. Several couples newly assigned to the area office also attended, both to train and to be trained.

Lobby of the Central Europe Area office

The staff in the area office are knowledgeable, gracious and faithful saints. While there, we spent an evening at the Frankfurt Christmas Market. I haven’t seen crowds like these since I was in China visiting my brother. Ether, the man on the right in the picture above and yes, that is his name, came from Italy to help with the training and chauffeured us around in a van owned by the area.

Frankfurt Christmas market

The integrated programs of welfare and self-reliance are taking off in Europe, with programs open not only to the Saints but the community as well. Humanitarian efforts in Eastern Europe are expanding as the Church learns how to manage projects in these foreign cultures.

Murals in the Central Europe Area office

The church is moving forward at a dizzying pace, reaching out with all it’s resources to lift as many people as possible.

We returned from Frankfurt just in time to attend a gathering of senior couples from the France Lyon mission. Once a year, they come from all over the mission to share a day of testimony and an evening at the Lyon festival of lights.

Smorgasbord set out for the couple missionaries

The spread awaiting us as we arrived the the mission home, assembled by the mission president’s very talented daughter.

In 1643, the city of Lyon was struck by plague and municipal Councillors promised the city would pay tribute to Mary each year if the town was spared. It is a celebration with homes throughout Lyon placing candles in the windows and an entire city celebrating light.

Cathedrale St John

The crowds were even larger than the Frankfurt Christmas market but were orderly and respectful.

Cathedrale St John

In several of the plazas, light shows were projected on the buildings, surrounding us with image and sound.

Lyon Fetes des Lumieres

The pictures from my phone camera do not begin to do this justice.

Catherine in front of Catedrale Notre Dame

It is not without it’s temptations here. A French patisserie on every corner, not to mention the chocolate shops, we passed at least six on our walk last night. Chocolate Christmas trees, chocolate nativity scenes, exquisite Yule logs on almost every corner.

Chhoooollllooooccatttttee

It has been quite a welcome to France. We are now settling into our apartment, gathering materials both printed and online concerning the responsibilities. The more we study, the more it is apparent to us that the Church is not standing still. The prophets and apostles are leading the Church forward as fast as the saints and the world can keep up. The programs and materials are inspired. They understand and work according the principle taught by Boyd K Packer:

‘The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. . . . That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel.’ (“Little Children,” Ensign, November 1986)

We love our mission. We miss our families, we miss them terribly. Birthdays and baptisms and other events will pass us by, but we are on the Lord’s errand and our families will be blessed. We pray for them each day, both collectively and individually.

Tim and Catherine Frodsham

Tags convenants, france, grandchildren, lyon, Missionary work