Montpellier 1927-1928

While living at Montpellier the missionaries ate in 'pensions" which is the equivalent of American boarding houses. There was a university at Montpellier and so there were a lot of students who also ate at these pensions; While the food was not bad it was quite different from what I had been used to and there were quite a number of dishes that I had to learn to like. When we went over to Marseille for this conference we decided the first evening to all go out to a good restaurant to eat. We picked one that advertised chicken on the menu and I thought that for a change I would have something that I could eat and relish. We all ordered chicken, and then much to my sorrow they brought in several chickens, cooked with their heads on. They had their heads poised on top of the chicken looking up at you just like it was ready to cackle. That finished me for that meal. I don't believe I ate any of the chicken. I might say that it was not long before I became used to the manner in which meats and other foods were prepared and could eat right along with any Frenchman. I found out that it was all in your mind, and I learned to eat almost everything.

Grenoble is a university town of about 40,000 located up in the heart of the French alps. When I arrived I found that my junior companion was to be Joe White who came over with me from the United States. This created a rather awkward situation as we had both spent the same length of time in the mission field and yet I was his senior companion. Joe had not learned the language nearly so well as some of the other missionaries and so could not assume the responsibilities of a branch president and senior companion. Joe had worked in Grenoble since arriving and knew all of the saints and friends of the Church. This was a big help and we got along very well together. It was not too many months before he was transferred to Belgium and made a branch president.

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YEAR (FILE ) SUBJECT
---- ------- ---------------------------------
1928 (9032) Missionaries playing Dominoes
1928 (1053) John Griffin and Missionaries
1928 (1419) Postcard - Besancon Train Station

LETTERS
--------------------------------------------------
(L280607) John Griffin to Mother / Montpelier, France
(L280611) John Griffin to Mother / Grenoble, France
(L280702) John Griffin to Mother / Grenoble, France
(L280708) John Griffin to Mother / Grenoble, France
(L280802) John Griffin to Mother / Grenoble, France
(L280809) John Griffin to Mother / Grenoble, France
(L280901) John Griffin to Mother / Grenoble, France
(L280904) President Rossiter to Elders Griffin and Middleton
(L280907) John Griffin to Mother / Grenoble, France
(L280913) John Griffin to Mother / Grenoble, France
(L281008) John Griffin to Mother / Grenoble, France

(MISSIONARY JOURNAL OF JOHN GRIFFIN - page 16)

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