TERRY and TAMI MORSE
WBF Missionaries to
FRANCE
Jan. 18, 2005
Dear Friends,
This will be the last letter from this address (106306.1750@compuserve.com)
as I will be canceling the service very shortly. We now have ADSL in our
village, and it is a great savings for us. Our new address will be...
terry7w7morse@hotmail.com.
We had a good turn out for our Christmas banquet for the church. We are now
planning the St. Valentine's Banquet, and the men will do the cooking.
Solofo suggested Chinese for the menu, and he has had courses in that kind of
cooking, I believe. We are limiting it to the church adults, with perhaps 2 -3
invited couples. That will be the 12 of Feb. and we will decorate the church
again as a restaurant for the event.
Tami and I visited with Jeanine (the lady with pancreas cancer at St. Collomban)
last week. She was glad to see us and is starting to identify with us, that is
to say, in a conversation, she calls herself a believer like us. But I do not
believe that she has accepted Christ. We have one prayer request this time, and
that is to pray for her, that the Lord would pour out His Spirit on her, that He
would give her enough faith to make the step toward Him and be saved. (Her full
name is Jeanine Martin- Garin.)
I would like to share with you some of the conversation that we had with her,
concerning the lives of the people in this valley. She lives in a valley off
from the Maurienne, even more secluded than we. She talked about her mother,
who at the age of 7 found her father dead on the mountain just in front of their
house. He was cutting wood, and most likely had fallen and had a large hole in
the back of his head/neck. Then Jeanine said that her mother was 40 when she
found her husband (Jeanine's father) who had hung himself. Her mom has 2
brothers, who live only several miles apart. But they never talk to each other,
who knows what the problem is. The one, whom we have met, and is about 83
yrs old, lives by himself up the mountain, and just received in the last 10
years water and electricity to his cabin. He has no refrigerator and no
appliances except for a radio. But can you imagine passing your brother in
town, and not talking to him?
That generation, she said, especially her grandfather, would go to Mass every
day at 6AM. Today there are very few priests left in the whole valley system,
and none where she is. (The priest here at St. Remy is over 80, and in poor
health. Nearly all the priests are past retirement age.) Jeanine told us
also that during the last generation the parents would "lend" their children,
usually starting at the age of 7, to a chimney sweep in the large valley. They
would work for him during the summer, cleaning chimneys, often going down the
large ones to clean it from the inside. They would receive a meager fare
to eat, and a straw bed for sleeping. I cannot imagine sending out my children
at the age of 7 to work because of a lack of food to feed them. Can you? But
their lives were so sad, and continue so today. I see such sadness in their
eyes. Jeanine speaks of it, she says she is empty. Her husband has become very
remote toward her, and her two children are gone all week to college in Lyon.
She says the only ones that come to see her come out of curiosity.
The people here are such unhappy people. So sad. Tami characterizes them as
having "no peace." It is peace that forms the foundation for happiness in our
lives. Even with the modern times, and all that we have at our disposal, they
strike me as a people searching for happiness, and the men usually try to find
it in wine or women, but with little success. I suppose that is why they revere
their vacations so very much, almost to a point of being their god. But is that
not the case for much of our world? Pleasure is the god of this world, but
it does not bring happiness to the pleasure seeker. Only Christ can do that,
and the people in our valley are so obstinate in their rejection of Him, to the
point of passing through death's door without seeking Him, clinging to a false
hope that there will be no judgment or condemnation in the next life.
Such a need. I recognize that the work here is very difficult, in terms of
reaching the people. But even with the small visible results, we cannot go
elsewhere. Christians like us are the only hope for the people in our valley,
and our church is the only one here, other than the empty Catholic churches.
Please continue to pray for us. Pray that God would pour out His Spirit upon
this people. He is slowly doing a work in the lives of the Maurienne people.
The Bible says that He is calling His people from all nations of the world, and
we are here to find and direct those in our valley to our Lord and Savior.
God bless you all for praying for us,
Terry Morse
Le Verney du Pont
73660 St. Remy de Mne.
France
PS. We are praying for two more families for the church before we leave for
furlough this summer. Would you pray for this as well?