Howdy everyone!  So this past week has been BUSY! Let me break it down:

Monday:  We had a really good soiree familiale with the bishop's family where we taught his less-active brother.  The lesson was on being able to open your ears and listen to the Spirit.  We shared 3 Nephi 11 and talked about how we don't want to be like those Nephites who only heard the voice of the Lord on the third time.  We want to always be ready to listen to the promptings of the sprirt.

Tuesday:  We were supposed to go to Tarbes and I was supposed to give a baptismal interview to a man named Jean-Marc.  There were some hesitations and he ended up cancelling.  BUMMER.  So that day we had nothing planned and we just hit the streets.  It was a good/tough day but at night we were able to teach and play basketball with our ami Sam and his girlfriend.  She is a miracle and knows alot about the church.  

Wednesday:  We had the most fun English class ever and taught our ami Antya after. She is progessing!  Then we picked up the Zone Leaders from the Gare to start our exchange!

Thursday: We did an exchange with the Zone Leaders. We taught miracle couple Roger and Marie.

Friday:  Miracle. We met Antya's family and they agreed to letting us teach them.  They are a family of 6!  We also ate some dope Chinese buffet with Sam and a family in our ward.  Then we taught them.

Saturday:  Samedi Sportif. We played soccer and I scored 3 goals....... Also taught our ami Sylvain who also came to church yesterday.

Sunday: I gave a talkin Church! hahahah. It was on faith and logic and 1NE 17

This was a great week filled with some super cool miracles. There were some slow days but the city of Pau is great. I was reading in Alma 37:40-41 this morning where I had some mind blowing revelation.  It talks about Nephi's family and the Liahona and how they used faith and diligence to produce miracles.  We know that miracles have not ceased.  Miracles are indicators of the faith and trust that we put in God. By "small means" can we be shown "marvelous works."

LOVE you all!

PS - if any of you have sent something to the Pau apt I didn't get it. Make sure to put that it is Entree 1 and that you write les missionnaires.

One Love

 

Elder Bollard

A tender mercy from Elder Andersen:

Dear Brother Bollard:

We were in Nice, France and were happy to see Charlie there. He is doing a wonderful job and you can be very proud of him. I was grateful to get the report from President Blake Roney that Elder Bollard is one of the very best missionaries he has. He has been a missionary of great courage and devotion allowing his faith to carry him through the difficulty of this past year. I knew you would appreciate this picture of us together. Please know of our respect and appreciation for you and your family for all that you have done to build the Kingdom.

Sincerely,

Neil L. Andersen

Elder Bollard parlez-vous-ing a lesson

Mission Conference in Nice

 

Charlie traveled to Nice this past week to attend a Mission Conference presided over by Elder Anderson - a true Francophile.

 

Elders Bollard and Andrew

Tori Bollard's nephew, Elder Cole Thompson, serves in the same mission

Elder Anderson teaching the missionaries



Charlie's Dad here.  I just had to share this email sent from one of the other missionaries in Charlie's mission to his parents:

-------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Elder James Taylor <12jtaylor2@myldsmail.net>
Date: Sat, Jun 7, 2014 at 8:32 AM
Subject: Elder Bollard
To: Brian Taylor <briantaylor14@gmail.com>, Jill Taylor <jillerbean7@gmail.com>

I would imagine that you have heard from someone, but if not I would like to add my testimony! 

As I recieved my first call to train I recieved just the day after a letter in the mail from Mamma G explaining a missionary who we be coming in to the mission very soon, and who was great friends with the Swartwood family! This Missionary, as you have guessed, is Elder Bollard! The letter went on to explain that his mother had cancer and that when he said goodbye to his mother at the MTC, that would be his last goodbye in this life! I remember the feelings that I felt and the love I immediately felt for this Missionary and had the feeling that I would be training him that next transfer! I thought of the faith that he has to accept this call when his mother was really on her death bed! I thought of myself and started to cry for the love I feel for you mom and the feelings he must have had as he walked into those doors of the MTC! I remember thinking at that very instant, he truly is a man with faith and is one of my heroes! 

A couple days later, I walked into the chapel where the new missionaries were sitting and picked out Elder Bollard very quickly thinking I would be training him! That did not happen but I was able to be close with him throughout the mission as we have been in neighboring cities so we were able to see one another often! 

It was conference weekend as I was serving in Ecully, and I next to Elder Bollard during conference! The session ended and we began to talk. I remember thinking about many different things, but what came out was, "How is your family doing?"  He explained to me that his mother had passed away just a month before!  Elder Bollard went on to say how his testimony of this Gospel has grown and how his testimony of the Plan of Salvation is perfect!  I was then able to look him straight in the eyes and tell him how much I looked up to him for his faith. I told him how much I loved him and we were able to really feel a sweet spirit at that time!  We cried together a little before going to lunch and had a very tender experience! 

Elder Bollard is an example of extreme faith, of love, of diligence and obedience! He truly is an amazing missionary and I hope to be able to serve with him someday! I cannot even imagine losing someone i loved like you, or one of the brothers or sisters. That truly would be a scary thing that I am not sure I would be able to handle at this time of my life. But how I was able to see Elder Bollard take that news as he put his shoulder to the wheel and carried on with an even greater push to serve the Lord was just incredible and very inspiring!

I have taken it upon myself to look out for Elder Bollard since I saw him in that chapel of Ecully as a new missionary and will continue to do so as long as I can! In return, I learn so much from him that I will be able to keep for a very long time! 

This truly is the work of the Lord, I know he lives and that knowledge grows deeper and stronger each and everyday!!

I love you Mom and Dad, you truly are my greatest examples and biggest heroes, I love you so much!!!

Love your son,

Elder Taylor

Exactness

Je vous aime 

 Elders Taylor, Andrew and Bollard

Hellooooooo everybody!  j'espere que tout le monde va bien! Hey, so this week was so great. I love Pau (my new area) and the missionaries in our zone.  We had some really cool experiences. K quick miracle...

SO, at the beginning of the transfer I contacted these two friends from Martinique (a French island) and we were just absolute homies right from the start.  It is a lot easier to contact people when you are just being yourself and not embarrassed, reserved or shy.  Anyways, it was a really cool visit but they told me that they were on vacation and really busy so they couldn't set up a rendezvous because they were leaving in just 10 days. Well, fast forward to two days ago and guess who we ran into on the street!  The same vacationers!  They are leaving to go back to Martinique today, but we were able to have a rdv right then and there. We taught about the restoration of the Gospel and the spirit was super strong. Just when I was reciting the first vision, there was a really cool ray of sunlight that hit all of us and it was legit.  They each took a Book of Mormon and promised they would read it.  I really feel they will.  It was such a miracle because that day we had 3 rdvs set and 2 had fallen through. We worked really hard and the Lord blessed us!

We had dinner with the Fakelelus this week. He is a Tongan rugby player for Pau and he is so cool. He and his wife have three kids and we had a great time. 

I have posted some pics of Pau on the dropbox. It is a beautiful city.

 

Okay, so next week will be one of the craziest weeks of my mission. The entire mission is gathering in the city of Nice for a mission conference.  Elder Andersen, one of the Twelve Apostles, will be training us on Tuesday.  The assistants gave me and Elder Andrew a special job that they haven't told us yet for the venue (probably bodygaurds).  Also, on June 13 we are going to Lyon for an exchange with the assistants!  I am going back to Lyon. 

I love you all and this Church is growing because of the truthfulness of this Gospel. We have great priesthood leaders who guide us and help us be efficient in the work.  I testify that this work is moving and that the Lord loves us.

Elder Bollard

Hey everyone, Happy June!!!  May was a great month and I learned a lot from my experience in Lyon.  But now we are kickin' it up a notch.  My first week in  Pau on the western border of France has been a blast. We are changing lives out here and it is so much fun!  I love my comp. He is a stud and we are killin' it.  If you get the chance you should look up Pau, France on Google.  It is beautiful and I want to come back and visit it after the mission for sure.  The people here are super laid back and love to talk. It is very different from the Lyonais big city type deal.

I spent the night in Toulouse on Monday night and it was so much fun.  I met an elder that reminded me so much of my friend Brent back home.  I almost died.  Haha. Then we arrived in Pau on Tuesday. Right as we arrived, we got a text from the two amis that Pau had and it turns out that they did not want to see the elders anymore. SO, I get here and there is absolutely nobody in the teaching pool.... 0's.

So Wednesday we just went hard in the paint all day and we fixed RDV's like crazy and repeated the same thing the next day. Long story short - we picked up 3 new investigators and a partial member famly by the end of the week.  We worked really hard and had so many miracles. This city is amazing and I dont wanna leave!

I called my district last night and they are doing really well!  It is a district of 6 and they are great missionaries. We have Zone Training in Bordeaux this Friday and I am stoked!

 

I love you all and I thank you for all of your emails and love. I can feel it. Please pray for us this week so that we can have even more success.

I was reading a talk by one of our apostles, Elder Andersen (who is coming to our mission June 10th) and it talks about a Chinese member of the Church who was moving back to China where the Church isn't established yet. He knew that it would be hard to stay active and strong in his faith but he asked the question to himself "it's true isn't it?" "Then what else matters?"  As my Dad always says, the best part about this Gospel is that it's true. I love you all. HAVE A GOOD WEEK

 

HERE IS MY ADDRESS

3 Bd. Jean Sarraih Résidence Carlitos II

F-64000 Pau

France

Please write and send food :)

 

Elder Bollard