When I was a young missionary serving in the France-Switzerland Mission (1974-1976), missionary work was difficult. When we would go door-to-door, there were typically two responses to our sincere desire to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. One response was: “I am not interested.” The other response was given with great emphasis: “That ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT interest me. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER come back here!”

As missionaries, we were blessed to meet with the small number of faithful saints in the different branches of the church. Yet sometimes I wondered if the church would ever grow there, let alone have a temple.

Thirty years later, in 2005, my wife and I were able to visit France and attend church in Aix-en-Provence. Where there had been a branch meeting in a home converted into a meeting house, now there was a ward with its own building! They had been part of a district and were now part of a stake.

Now there is a temple in Paris and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Gérald Jean Caussé, who is from France! In January 2025, we were able to attend the Paris Temple for the first time and to see the large numbers and to feel the great faith of the French members.

President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency shared a similar experience1:

“As a young man, I was called as a district missionary where we worshipped on Sundays in the only chapel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Today there is a temple and four stakes.

“I left Albuquerque to go to school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There was one chapel and a district that stretched across much of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. I drove the hills of that beautiful country to sacrament meetings in tiny branches, most in small rented facilities or little remodeled homes. Now there is a sacred temple of God in Belmont, Massachusetts, and stakes that spread across the countryside.”

“What I could not see clearly then was that the Lord was pouring out His Spirit on people in those little sacrament meetings. I could feel it, but I could not see the extent and the timing of the Lord’s intentions to build and glorify His kingdom.”

I am grateful for how the Lord has poured his spirit over the people of France. And it has been a lesson for me to see how the hand of the Lord has moved over His children over time. Hopefully, I have learned more deeply to trust in His timing even when I cannot see the end from the beginning.

May the Lord bless each of us with a patient heart, a humble heart, and a grateful heart this Thanksgiving season.

Notes

1 Eyring, Henry B., Gratitude on the Sabbath Day, General Conference, October 2016.