3/25

I dont think that Andrew should keep saying that I'm almost done... cuz im NOT!!! haha. Not even halfway. (Every time Andrew writes to William, he says something like "you are almost done with your mission." or "see you soon".)

(I asked him about P Days and e mailing.)  We do our emails at a cyber café and there are only 5 computers....Today I got the one with the broken spacebar on the keyboard. haha.

 

So for Pdays we get up at 6:30. Exercise from 630 to 7. Then from 7 to 8 we get ready and eat breakfast. Then from 8 to 9 we do personal study. From 9 to 10 we do companion study. Then we clean. Then we go do stuff. We only have 1 hour for Emails.

This week Elder Richards came and it was really awesome, except it was super stressful to get to Paris on time. We had to get up at 4 and get to the train and there were other missionaries sleeping at our house and we all had to get there on time and then run through the metro. But it was SOOOO good. At the beginning of his talk/formation it started just like General Conference (and I cant wait for General Conference!! On your mission General Conference is like the superbowl!) but anyways he taught about asking simple inspired questions, and he used me as a demonstration. He taught me about the First Vision. The spirit was sooooo strong! I was getting weak in the knees. It literally felt like he was talking to my soul, and not my ears. And then after that he locked elbows with me (and touched my bicep).

How are the bees doing? There was a bee in our apartment.

I think that I will probably get transferred next week, but I don't know.

This transfer we have averaged about 10-11 lessons a week, but we are teaching a lot more with members.

(We asked him why there was a guy in the picture he sent last week wearing a sling.)  Frere Aubril is the guy with the sling. He was running in the forest and fell and broke his collarbone.

Thomas (the mission leader in their ward there) is doing great. I'm happy because he's going to go on his mission soon. (Salt Lake City)

 

Right now in the ward the sister missionaries are doing very well and bringing a lot of amis to church and the ward always thinks they are our amis. They are having a baptism on the 30th and people think that its our baptism. 

(William needs new glasses.) So about the glasses.. I don't know if I can use our insurance or if we have insurance or what.. I don't have social security.. so it'll be pretty expensive. I'm thinking about 200 dollars... I feel bad. Is there a way that when I buy them that my account could be out of money... (even though I don't have any). Or maybe another Bday present. I still didn't spent the 50 that you gave me.. and grandpa just gave me 100. So should i just do it?  (We told him "yes", but he wont get that e mail for a week!!!!!!)

Nothing that funny happened this week, but it was really good. We taught and found some cool people and I'm becoming really good friends with the members. They are giving us their friends to teach and doing a lot of missionary work. We have the best members in the ward.

I love being a missionary!

Paris in Winter

William didn't take this, I found it on Twitter, but it's really beautiful, so I thought I'd share it here!

3/18

Pretty weird and cool week. First of all, one of the weirdest birthdays I've ever had. A lot of stuff happened. 3 less active members came back to church finally.

That guy that we found last week in the rain is now like one of our best amis. He went to church in Paris on Sunday.

So of the 3 ladies that were sisters that we have been teaching, 2 of them stopped listening and the last one we had a couple more lessons left and then when she got a spiritual response that the Book of Mormon is true she talked to her evangelical pastor about it and he hunted us down and tried to teach us (from the Bible) how our church was an abomination. It didn't work very well for him, but the less active member that we were with (A___, who we baptized Dec 29th) was getting fired up because he was atheist before he read the Book of Mormon and he has a super strong testimony now and that guy called him a fool. some great pastor...

On a way happier note, the dad who was sitting on the couch with the baby came to church yesterday and all of the people remembered him and loved him and he was so happy that he started crying.

Another weird thing happened on my birthday, a man that we found in Dec who I thought was dead showed up again at church and members invited him and us and E__ (the guy we baptized on Feb 16th) and another YSA over to their house for a birthday lunch. It was the same people who invited us for Christmas.

So this week I've been really learning the difference between being just a missionary and being a servant/representative of Jesus Christ. One of the things that our prez has been trying to teach us is boldness. I made a lot of bold promises this week and they all came true. I have been really getting a lot more confident in the authority that I have to promise blessings to people.

My companion is the district leader.. if I was the district leader I would have told you... haha

 

(Andrew asked him if he counts how many doors they knock on each day.)  We don't count how many doors we knock on, but we do count how many people we teach. At the beginning of my mission I wondered why we don't count how many doors we knocked on, but then I realized that the number of doors we knock on doesn't matter, and that if we think that because we knocked on 1000 doors in one day that it was a successful day, it wasn't.

(Andrew asked him his favorite french word.)  My favorite word in french... probably hyper its pronounced EEEE-pear. You use it to create emphasis "je suis hyper-pressé" I am super duper busy. It's really funny.

Pictures

I made friends with Elder Guymon's companion's mom and she sent me some pictures William hadn't sent me, so I thought I'd share them.  Hope she doesn't mind. 

3/11

 

     This week we did a mini mission with 2 priest in our ward. It was really fun to see them bear their testimonies on the street. I don't even think I could do it (even in English) so I was really proud of them. They were sad to be finished when it was over. Their parents were really worried about them doing well, but one thing that I found out on my mission is that when a testimony comes from your heart, its real. I have a really strong testimony, but since I say it all day everyday it kinda loses its effect, but one of the mini elders told me that it was the first time he really told someone that he knew the church was true, and when he bore that testimony it touched him more than the person he told it to. So it was a really good week. I really invite you guys to look for occasions to say what you know. It's pretty easy.

     Another really awesome thing that happened this week was we literally saw the hand of God.  We were porting and a RANDOM thunder and lighting storm came really low and DIRECTLY over us. It was raining soooo hard, but it was really really fun. and FINALLY (and for the first time in my mission) we got the pity card of someone letting us in because of the rain. He was remodeling his house and he thought we were crazy. He said he's really Christian but all of the churches are wrong.  He has looked around but none of the churches teach the Bible right. So he just reads the Bible and prays. He had never really heard of our church before but he had actually filled out his pedigree chart on Familysearch.org. (that's the 2nd person in 2 days who has told me that). And he was really interested on why we did family history. I told him we could tell him more about it if he came to a FHE with us tonight. He said he would love to and then we talked about how he's remodelling and I told him I did a lot of stuff like that with dad. It was also the best lesson that Elder R_____________ and I had together yet. And then when we were about to go he was like, "this was a great moment" and he really wanted more, but we went back out into the rain and started walking home. When we got to the end of the block the rain instantly stopped. And, in fact, the thunderstorm only hit like a 6 block by 6 block area. It didn't even rain anywhere else in the city but like right over our heads. perfect.

     Something I've been realising is that were not here to tell people that the church of Jesus Christ has been restored, but the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ has been restored and we know exactly what to do to return to live with God and our families forever and the only way we can do that is by doing sacred ordinances that only priesthood holders can do. So that's why were here.

     Yeah, T______ told me about when he said I "hardly work" instead of "work hard". He learned english in 5 weeks! He's so good.

and not tryna hate on dad but any noob should be able to beat dads "tricky" questions (Whenever we have the missionaries over for dinner, they try to teach a short lesson or leave with a spiritual thought.  Scott always tries to stump them with his questions or comments....the last time they came over, the "experienced" Elders made the newest Elder teach the lesson and he was really good at putting Scott in his place and answering his questions!)

     St. Patrick's Day is celebrated here just how it is celebrated in Chico.... yup. and also there was some french college students talking about crazy California parties on St Patrick's Day... in Chico!!! Crazy how everyone knows about Chico State. Even Elder B______ who is from New Zealand had heard of Chico.

 

     Yeah, I think the best thing would be for you to send me my prescription for my glasses so I can get some here. First of all they would have to fit my face and second of all not trying to be a fashion diva but they are going to have to look good on my head or else I wont want to put them on my face. When you sent my glasses they were all scratched and the frame that holds them on is bent and where it "clips" around my ear is cracked. I guess that will be my other birthday present? or my Easter present?

     The ward here is so great! (and a lot of them are getting excited for my birthday.  I don't know if that's good or bad.)

 

yeah i would hate if a big fish bit my leg or hand. i hate when bluegills bite my legs. (Scott told him about the catfishermen who go into muddy water and stick their hands and legs in fishes mouths to catch them.)

I'm not even halfway done with my mission Andrew. (Andrew told him that he was almost done with his mission.)

 

3-3

hey guys! Everything is really good in Angers. On the 14th there is a member of the Seventy coming to talk to the missionaries, so were doing a lot to be prepared for him to come here. I'm really excited.

The suit that I bought is just plain black, but has a lime green inside.

So we saw a lot of the members this week. Something that president told us to do was to go to the members' homes and bless them so that they'll be a "pôle d'attraction" for people who search the gospel. That means that people who seach the gospel will be attracted there, like a moth to a light. The word for moth is "papillon de nuit" (butterfly of the night) haha

We saw a lot of members this week and did that. I could really feel the power of the priesthood and I'm so grateful to hold the priesthood, I know that its really the power of God.

This week was pretty weird, we didn't see ANY of our amies because they all rescheduled or cancelled, so we did a lot of finding and every single lesson we taught was on the streets.

Testimony meetings here are pretty much mostly like in America. The bishop stands up and says keep it short and don't tell stories.... and then people get up and tell long stories, reminds me of home.

I got my glasses and they are pretty bent and don't really fit on my head. and also the frames are cracked. but I don't really think there is anything we can do about it.  Also why did you send them in the stereo case? Now where is the stereo going to go? Does the jeep even get used?

Thomas, the ward mission leader, is super great at his calling. Sometimes he is a little too good. He wants to go at 100 miles per hour all the time, even when we cant, so that's good and bad, but hes super great.

dad- I'm glad you're getting a lot of work. I hope my mission isn't too expensive for the family.

Andrew- when you said "flapjacks" it made me think of flapjack "a hundred pieces of candy... that's like a MILLION pieces of candy!!!!"  My new comp doesn't like the tv show Drake and Josh, so I cant say anything funny, because all my jokes come from Drake and Josh.

Bradley...you're right 5 years is not a long time before you go on your mission, so get ready now because you're going to go to Africa.