Tournai, Belgium & a sweet Sunday

What a day! Church was nice this morning at the Lille ward; there was a new member from Bulgaria who also speaks Russian so…a sister missionary who is still working on French had her husband translate from French to English in her ear and she then translated from English to Russian in the member’s ear. She understood everything. Another proof that the gospel is true.
I had a very unexpected opportunity to share a little of the gospel today. Cédric picked Kami and me up from church and he asked how it went and if the ceremony is the same every week, so I explained that there are three parts: the sacrament, Sunday school, and Relief society, and told him what they were. Then he started asking a ton of questions: do you believe in Christ? Do you believe in the Trinity? Do you believe in the resurrection? Why are you different than Catholics? I answered him the best I could then Kami tried to read the first Article of Faith but since he was driving and wanted to look at it he said he’d look at it later. One of the previous interns had given him a Book of Mormon and he asked if that was our Bible. I explained that it was another book testifying of Jesus Christ that we read

along with the Bible and that reading them together makes a lot more sense. The French don’t like to discuss religion so I was surprised it hadn’t gotten weird for about fifteen minutes but then it did and he changed the subject. But at least I got to tell him that my favorite part about what we believe is that we believe after this life we can be with our families for eternity. He mulled that over and said it was “un grand mystère” a huge mystery to the Catholics as to what happened after this life and who would be saved. Gavin reminded me that in the priesthood blessing my dad gave me before I left he promised me that I would have missionary opportunities. And though they aren’t coming in the same way that those in Paris did, I still feel like I’m planting seeds in little moments like this one.
Well, upon arriving at the Lepoutre home I must say the countryside where they live is situated 20 minutes from Lille and in the middle of beautiful wheat fields. Their house is unlike any I have ever seen. Over a hundred and fifty years old, it used to be a house for sheep, and after that it was a small candy factory. It is not shaped in a square; there are five parts and they all branch out in different direction and in the middle there is a veranda with glass walls and roof. Véronique Lepoutre greeted us-two kisses on the cheeks-and then we met their three daughters: Manon, Camille, and Pia-14, 11, and 5 respectively. They are adorable girls and led us to the living room where we sat down and had juice and nuts before eating. There were thick wood beams traversing the living room and the walls were a deep red brick—argyle. I love the terra cotta floors that are so common in France. After chatting for awhile we went to the veranda for dinner. The ambiance of this outdoor-indoor room was lovely. For the first course Véronique had made tomates farcées, tomatoes stuffed with a baby shrimp mixture. I quite liked it. The second course was a courgette soufflé, a squash, egg, and goat cheese dish that was absolutely delicious. Next she had made her own sorbet with strawberries and crème fraiche which was my favorite part. We had a relaxed meal and then walked around their garden.
Later in the afternoon Cédric, Véronique, Pia, Kami and I set out to spend the rest of the day in Tournai, Belgium. This village dates back to 1100 but ruins were recently discovered underneath the cathedral which suggest even earlier. Belgium has a slightly different feel than France does. We first went through the Tournai Cathedral which is the biggest cathedral in Europe. It is enormous: unbelievably high ceilings and arches. Unfortunately they are restoring a lot of it so I didn’t get pictures of the inside. However, Cédric paid for us to get into the treasury and it was a fascinating room. There were bones of Catholic saints preserved in relics, old robes of bishops from centuries past, enormous tapestries depicting the lives of saints, etc… Next we wandered around the belfry and into the village square where there was a small symphonic band playing and a ferris wheel. Cédric claimed that the view would be better from the top of the wheel so we rode it up and he was certainly right! The cathedral spires at eyelevel and the red roofed houses were breathtaking. After only four times I was sad to see it end but we then went on to taste the specialty of Belgium: waffles. We each carried a waffle around, which by the way are tasty, while we walked through another church and down the streets. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Véronique; she is a classy French woman though she looks older than she really is.
All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a more pleasant day; the Lepoutre family was so lovely. Tomorrow begins another week and I can’t wait to see what it will bring.