Bonjour everyone!

You all sound so great, thanks for writing me this last week :) So this past week has truly been heaven sent. At the start of last week I was a little bit nervous about how my comp and I were going to achieve the goals that we fixed for the sector but the Lord provided as He always does.

We started off with an exchange with the Saint Genis elders. I went to their sector and was with Elder Pien, a Chinese Canadian with a ton of energy. We started of by painting a gate for the Zinsius family and Fr. Zinsuis was on one. Afterwards, we passed some old Amis in the centre ville of Saint Genis. We talked to everyone in sight and we got several phone numbers and fixed a good amount of rdvs. We ran into a man from Tanzania who lives in our sector and Elder Loosle and I are going to see him tonight. After our exchange, we met back up in Gex and passed some potential Amis, Anthony and Christelle. They are the parents of a family of four. They were home and invited us in. We told them that we had some family booklets that we wanted to give them before and so we brought them and explained what we do. While we were showing them the family booklets I had the impression to ask the wife about her mother. I asked her about what her mom was like and what she liked to do. She talked about a very sacred experience that happened with her mother and her two kids before her mother passed away at the hospital. There were tears in her eyes as she felt the Spirit. She wrote down the story in her family booklet and promised to fill out the rest. Then the father asked, "what makes you so different than all of the other religions that come to our door?" I looked at Elder Loosle and we taught them the Restoration. When we told him that the Church has been restored he looked at us and said "c'est la bonne nouvelle ça" :) They loved every bit of it. The husband asked for a Book of Mormon before we even offered and we fixed another rdv with them this week.

The message of the Restoration really is such a great example of the Love of God.

After that awesome rdv, we went to the Zinsius's for dinner and I said good bye to them for maybe a very long time because they are going on vacation for two weeks and I may not be able to see them before they get back. He said he would drive to Lyon to say goodbye to me though, haha. The next day, Elder Loosle and I did some work in a ville called Ornex. We passed a single Peruvian sister there who invited us in. She had two of her nephews from Albania over and so we came in a sat down. So here is the fun part.

The two nephews ,who are about 27 and 23, only speak Albanian and Italian and the sister we visited only speaks Spanish and Italian so I taught them by speaking in Spanish and a little bit of the Italian that I learned from Sara in Toulouse. Holy guacamoles it was funny haha. We watched "Because He Lives" in Albanian. Then later that night we taught Aurore. We shared Elder Bednar's talk "Converted Unto the Lord" with her and talked about how there is a difference between having a testimony and truly being converted to the gospel. She was really touched by what we said and is starting to really make changes in her life. While studying this, I thought about how our testimonies are gifts from God given to us through the Holy Spirit and how our conversion is something that only we can give to the Lord through our own diligence and obedience in truly living the Gospel. After Aurore, we went to the Jardons and ate a classic Swiss meal. They gave us some amazing raclette and a great dessert with meringues and Gruyere cream.

The next day we went to Geneva for Zone Training. Afterwards, we went to the Thias for dinner and taught about the hope that comes through Christ.

The next day we blitzed a new ville called Chambéry. It is south of Geneva in France and guess who is serving there? Elder Spencer (my son (trainee)) and Elder Beck (from St Genis). I was with Elder Spencer and we had a great exchange. We got invited to a soirée with some really cool young people who we played soccer with. We had a bbq that night and answered a lot of questions about the Church. The next day we went to French class in Chambéry and then took a bus back to Gex. Time is flying by so fast. We just had a Zone P-day in Geneva where I played volleyball with Elders Schalk, Willits, and Pederson. It was like an MTC reunion!

I am so grateful for choosing to go on a mission. I have come to understand the Savior and His Atonement so much more. I am so grateful for this Gospel which helps me become a better person on a daily basis. I am confident that the Lord will always provide what we need and will help us to progress and develop our talents. It's a blast :) Have a great week everyone!

 

Elder Charlie Bollard