Et voilà quoi, je suis arrivé à Gex

With the Bishop of the Bourdeaux Ward

Hey tout le monde! It is a beautiful day here in Switzerland. Yeah, that’s right, I was transferred! I am now serving right outside of Geneva, Switzerland in a little ville called Gex.

                                                                        The LDS Chapel in Gex

It was a long trip from Bordeaux haha :) So, basically this last week was absolutely nuts. I dont even know where to start. So, at the start of the week we taught our ami Yann a few times. The RDVs were amazing! He understands well and is making alot of progress. They are extremely spiritual rdvs as well. He is just simply awesome. It really is so cool to see the beginning phases of someone's conversion.

 

We missionaries are lucky because we get to witness conversion often. Earlier in the week, we reviewed Alma 32 and 2 Nephi 31 with Yann. These are chapters that we love and know very well but seeing his reaction to these scriptures really touched me. It made me think about when I first starting reading the scriptures and felt like the Lord was really speaking to me. I feel like sometimes we tend to lose the savory taste of the Gospel and forget the awesome feeling and experiences that we had in the very beginning.  Just like Laman and Lemuel (two people from the Book of Mormon)did, we sometimes forget how great the Gospel really is. When I saw the joy and conviction in Yann's eyes it made me feel so grateful to have had those experiences.  I am making the effort to have that same excitement when I read the scriptures every day. It was difficult to say goodbye to him and to our other amis and members. It’s crazy how attached we get to people on our missions. I feel like I am going to get attached to the people of Gex as well because the ward is just awesome!

Anyways, after I packed my bags we took a bus to Lyon where we saw Elders Kearon and Nielson of the Seventy speak to the whole mission. IT. WAS. MARVELOUS. (as elder Keaon would say in his dope South African accent). They presented iPads to us.  And WOW - things are going to get intense. Missionary work is going to change like crazy. We will be getting Facebooks and now we will be proselyting online. I saw so many that I love while I was in Lyon; former comps and great friends. It hit me that I am getting pretty old in the mission. Apparently, I only have 2 and a half transfers left..... that is crazy.

Anyway, I will write more about my area and district next week. My district is the district of Lausanne Switzerland, so I will be going there often for meetings. I hear that it's a beautiful city.

 

Hanging with locals in Agen, France

HAVE A GREAT WEEK. LOVE YOU!

Nous allons à Lyon!!!!!

 Walking through Bordeaux

Lunch

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well. Because my comp and I are "in the steam!"  We just had a super great and amazing RDV with our ami Yann. But first I will talk about the week. SO this week was great. After emails on Monday, we went to a sister's house and had dinner in her backyard. Her name is Soeur (Sister)Yonnet. She is such a funny woman. We were cracking jokes all night! We shared a message on Alma 37 on the story of Alma telling Helaman about the Liahona. It went really well!

 

Then on Tuesday, I went to Agen on exchange with Elder Berry from Utah. It was a great exchange and Elder Berry is a great missionary. We taught a family about the ressurection and it was really powerful. The kids said that they wanted to come to church. On Wednesday we had the Agen Disrict Meeting and then after we took a train to Limoges. Which is a BEAUTIFUL city!  Wow, it is so French and pretty.

 

On Thursday we went to the Limoges District Meeting and I did an exchange with Elder Jacob Pettingill. He is an amazing missionary. I love that man so much. He is one of the funniest people I know, haha. We had some pretty funny experiences on that exchange :)  Then on Friday we taught our ami Adriano from Angola the Restoration and he loved it. Even though he didn't understand all of it..... we will have to teach with a Portuguese member. After that, we went to the Caussé's house for dinner. Yes that's right, the same Caussé as the Presiding Bishop of the Church. It was his childhood home that we went to. Just his parents live there now and they are super nice.

 

On Saturday, we had a super fun day in the vineyards of Bordeaux. We took a train and then a car ride through some of the most famous places in France to go visit some members. We taught them about the "my family" booklets that the Church does and it went really well. On Sunday, we had a great Sacrament Meeting and taught a Ukrainian man outside of the chapel. He barely spoke English and didn't speak fFench at all. I tried my Russian on him and he thought I spoke fluently :) Also, we taught Yann at the church with like 5 members. It was awesome. He is awesome! One of the most prepared people I have taught on my mission.

 

Which brings us to the RDV that we just had. We taught him the Plan du Salut (Salvation) with a frere (brother)from the ward. He loved it and he explained the spirit in such a perfect way. He says that every time he leaves our RDVs or the chapel, he feels like he is on a cloud. He is well into First Nephi in the Book of Mormon now and he just keeps going. He has accepted an invitation to baptism. We just pray that his wife will be okay with letting him be baptized. 

Anyways, life is good. The Church is true and the book is blue. 

Oh yeah, and this week the whole mission is going to Lyon to get iPads on Saturday. Elder Kearon and Elder Nielson will come and give them to us. We are neck deep in planning for this. We are taking our Zone and the Talence zone across the country on a bus HAH. It is going to be fun. I will send pics next week. Also check out the pics I posted today.

YOU ALL ROCK, the Lord loves you and knows who you are and what you are capable of. Trust Him. 

CIAO

Spring Break Missionary Style

Voici une semaine à Bordeaux #miraclecity

 

  

 Hey crew. I hope everyone is doing well! This past week has been franchement amazing.... We did three exchanges (Bergerac, Perigueux, and Brive) and saw beaucoup des miracles and funny experiences. Okay, so for starters, Monday night we had a rdv with an ami who wanted to learn English.  So we thought it would be a good idea to watch Elder Holland's General Conference talk in English. hah! He didn't understand the first minute... so we switched it to French and he really liked it. He testified to us about Jesus Christ and it was really cool!

Then on Tuesday, I went to Bergerac with Elder Lindsey and we rode bikes like no one's business. It was super cool to ride throught the countryside to a super small ville and perform service for a member. After that, we did an English class. Then the electricity in our apt went out during planning so we just laid on the floor in the dark and I played the guitar for Elder Lindsey.

Then on Wednesday, I had an exchange with Elder Thompson! haha. We were in Bordeaux and had a good time. We visited our ami Maia and prayed with her. Also, on Thursday, we had some super cool experiences! We went contacting by Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux and I met a man named Steven. I walked up to him as he was looking over the water and I could tell that he was having a rough day. Long story short, his day was REALLY rough. I prayed with him and talked to him about God and His love for him. He was in tears and thanked me. It was a really cool moment and he was going through some really hard things. It just goes to show that the Lord loves us and he wants us to know it. After that we blitzed Brive and had some cool miracles there too. We found a Dominican man and taught him and his kids. It was a great experience!

THEN, biggest miracle ever. On Saturday, we had a rdv with a man named Yann who scheduled the meeting with us! He is an evangelical but has grown tired of it all and has started searching. He found some members on Facebook in Paris and they gave him our number. We taught him the Resoration and he LOVED it.  It all was what he searching for and he felt the Spirit very strongly. He also watched General conference by himself at home and he loved it. He came to church yesterday and we are excited to see his progress. Pray for him!

Hey I love you all. Today we went to a city called Arcachon to see the Dune du Pilat. It's the biggest sand dune in Europe and it was super fun! Have a great week and know that God loves you :)

Heureux Tous Pâques

 Salutations everyone! HEY it was Easter and HEY it was General Conference weekend! What an awesome experience it was to watch conference with the other missionaries in Bordeaux at the chapel. 

This past week was super rad. After doing emails on Tuesday, we saw a less active member named Stephane. He has cancer and is a super cool guy. We watched Because He Lives (lds.org) together and the Spirit was felt so strongly. I was in tears watching that video with him. I love this Church and the Savior Jesus Christ!!!  On Wednesday, we visited another less active member and invited him to conference. He came and loved it.  After seeing him, we went to one the home one of the counselors in the Bishopric. His name is Moise (French for moses) and he is Tahitian. Man, do I love Tahitians!  We ate raw fish (poisson cru) and feasted together!  It was a great night. Moise invited a less active  member and 3 non members!!!  We shared our message on Christ and watched Because He Lives with them. They all wanted to do another soiree like that again :) On Thursday, we started our exchange with Agen. It went!  I was with Elder Pien and we made some awesome memories!  Despite the oppostion of cancelled appointments we had more than a dozen really good conversations with others and we ate at a Bistrot called le Grand Louis (look it up online). I plan on taking my family there when they come in August - haha ;) 

The week was great and the weekend was better! It was such a great conference! I loved the messages on the family along with the solid testimonies of the Atonement and the Savior. I love the prophet and the brethren. Their testimonies and love for others is something that I want :) I cannot express my joy for the ressurection of Christ and for the fact the we will all be ressurected! This knowledge brings me so much joy :) This church is true and the gospel is our anchor. HE LIVES!!!!!

I love you all have a great week

Elder Bollard