Sunday 23 July 2017
I was supposed to go to Mass this morning
with Katrina, but she was at a concert with her host family last night that
didn’t start until 10 pm, so this morning she texted that she felt like staying
home, and so I decided not to go anywhere as well. I just felt like the day
wouldn’t be as fun if I was in Grenoble by myself all day. It actually turned
out to be a really great thing that we didn’t go.
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| The original Monastery which now houses the museum |
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| The monks rooms |
I thought I would catch up on some
writing, which I did in the morning. I had lunch with Helene and Rémi and it
was so delicious and amazing, and things I had never thought to prepare before. It was really simple, as are most of her meals but still, she sliced
tomatoes and red peppers and drizzled them with olive oil and vinegar, fresh
sliced basil, thin sliced white onions, and three large rectangles of feta
cheese, one for each of us. Another thing which had never occurred to me was to
serve feta whole, instead of crumbling it up. I don’t know how, but it tasted
so much better whole.
At lunch I explained how Katrina didn’t
feel like going, and so then Helene asked if I wanted to go on the tour of the
monastery in Chartreuse, and I was like, um yes! Who wouldn’t want to visit a
monastery in the mountains that is over 1000 years old?
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| Monks workshop |
The museum isn’t in the actual monastery
because the actual monastery is still in use today, and these are silent monks,
meaning they take a vow of silence. Even though they live in this compound,
they all have separate quarters and use this box in the wall system to receive
their meals. If they need to communicate they leave a note in the box.
We got to see how they lived anciently,
what their rooms looked like, and what they look like today. It’s very
minimalist, which I could totally appreciate.
After the museum, Helene wanted to take a
hike, so we walked up this really long road to where the actual monastery is.
It’s pretty huge, and it looks like a castle. It is surrounded by a stone wall,
so you really can’t see inside, and you can’t see the monks.
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| Monks room |
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| The road to the new monastery |
On the walk we started talking about
religions, mainly Catholic and Protestant. I feel like I really don’t know a
lot about Protestants, so I was asking Helene who started Protestantism, and
why it was started. She explained to me about Martin Luther, and how he thought
religion should be for everyone, not just the rich. He was especially against
the idea that you could buy your way into heaven by giving the Catholic Church
money, so he started the Protestant church in Germany. He also didn’t believe
the King of Germany was appointed by God, which made the pope really mad, but
the wise King of Germany allowed Protestants to practice anyways.
People started practicing Protestantism in
other countries as well, and in France the pope was worried about losing power
over the people. He instructed the King of France to round up Protestants and
kill them, so many of them immigrated to Germany. That’s the short version, but
really interesting history.
As we were talking, I asked Helene if she knew about how the LDS church was started. She said she knew it was started by a man named John Smith (Joseph Smith, but I didn't have the heart to correct her) but that was it. Anyways we started talking about Joseph Smith.
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| The new Monastery still in use today |
Usually I feel really weird talking
to people about religion, and I certainly don’t want to seem like I’m forcing
my religion on anyone, but the conversation continued very casually. So I
started explaining in French Joseph Smith’s first vision and ended with the story
of how he was killed. Rémi asked me to keep going, so I kept telling the history
until the pioneers came to Utah up to present times. Rémi said one time he was in Geneva and remembers talking to the
missionaries on the street. I didn't go on a mission, and I'm pretty reserved, so I have very little experience talking to people about religion outside of church. I was pretty nervous to talk about my church's history, but this turned out to be a wonderful conversation. It was so interesting to share our church's history, and didn't feel awkward at all as I had always feared a conversation about religion would be.
Then when we got home Helene and I were
eating dinner without Rémi because he was having dinner at his Dad’s house. I
couldn’t stop thinking about the Book of Mormon, because I’d told her about the
angel Moroni and how the book was translated and thinking that I had that
French copy I had brought with me. I thought I was going to finish reading it
while I’m here, but I actually never picked it up. Helene wanted to keep
talking theology, and explaining to me what Protestants believe and asking me
what Mormons believed and it was all very cordial, and it was enjoyable
learning about each other. I mentioned I had a copy of the book in French if
she was curious. After dinner I brought it out for her,
but then I had to call Mike as I do every night. Because of the time difference
between 9-10 pm is the best time to call him.
Monday 24 July 2017
The next morning at breakfast Helene was
very excited to tell me immediately that she understood the book was about
ancient people who migrated from Jerusalem to the Americas and became the Native
Americans. She said it was very interesting and such a wonderful thing that we
had this history. What I was most surprised about was that she treated the book
as truth. Maybe she was just being polite, but not once did she say or even
portray that she might be thinking Joseph Smith was crazy or that the Book of
Mormon was a fraud. I think I automatically expect people to be distrusting of Mormons and our beliefs, so it was wonderful to have a conversation that was mutually respectful. Helene is such a wonderful woman, I am so lucky I ended up at her house.
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