Creating a Fire and Removing a Stump

Hello tout le monde!

This last week was crazy busy, so we didn't have too much time to go out and proselyte, but at the same time was an incredible week. On Tuesday we had a conference up in Lyon, and President Brown brought up all of the missionaries who are going home in my group, along with everyone else who was already coming, which made for a ton of fun, getting to see everyone again have one last huge conference together.  It was a conference about what the big push in the mission is this transfer, and it was super inspiring. President Brown really wants the  mission this transfer to create a fire, a spiritual fire and have everyone light it up in their own areas. He said now is the time to kind of dig deeper and fight back, to make this our best transfer. He told us he had brought my group up to help spread this fire throughout the mission, with all of us in our last transfer, to help inspire all the fires around the mission. We talked a lot about consecration, and about making these last few weeks the best weeks of our mission, and to help all the other missionaries do the same. It really helped me remember why I came out here, and why this is so important to me, why I work like I do, and why I love doing it. I love the mission so much, I know some of the biggest blessings in my life have come from it, and I love being able to spread the gospel to everyone.

The rest of the week went really well, after coming back from the conference, the morning after we had a service project where we had to dig out and flatten the backyard of a member who wanted to put a pool up. This included me waging war on a super stubborn tree stump lodged in really rocky ground, and me winning that war after an hour of battle with my trusty pick. It was brutal, I was pouring sweat afterwords. We had my last zone training on Friday, and was phenomenal, talking all about what President Brown had told us, and sharing the vision for this transfer, I got to bear my testimony and was again reminded why I love this so much. We all got really fired up and excited for this transfer to come.

The rest of the week went well, went out contacting one day and the heavens literally opened, we got thoroughly soaked by pouring rain, but were happy anyways, it was a fun day. This week was a pretty hard working week, we didn't have any conferences or big meetings, with the exception of a district meeting on Friday, so we got the chance to really work in Montpellier. We found two new Amis this week, one of them is Spanish speaking, and really neat, he feels like encountering us was a sign from God to him that he needs to learn, and so he's been listening really well, and wants to learn more. We had the chance to finally go out and visit the bishop and his family, he works so much and is so busy this is the first time I've ever been out there, and it was a great time, his children helped us teach about faith in Jesus Christ, which was adorable and great.

With members

We had the chance to go down to Beziers for the district meeting Friday, and it was a really well done district meeting. We spoke all about what we can do as missionaries personally to become more consecrated this transfer, to change ourselves into what the Lord wants us to be. It made me really think about what I can do in these last few weeks to change and become better up until the end. I got really excited about it actually, and it was increased by what happened Friday night.

The Assistants called us Friday, and told us that because of a nationwide strike that will be going on with the trains and other things, we had to cancel the zone conference for our zone this transfer. However, our mission president told us that he feels strongly that all of these problems that we're coming across give us a chance to really prove ourselves, and launched a mission challenge to get one thousand new investigators over the course of two weeks, more or less the duration of the strike. It's a huge goal for our mission, but we're all pumped about it, it means more or less one new investigator per equipe each day, and everyone is really really excited to go out and find them all.

This week was fantastic, we were able to teach a lot of people, find new Amis, and generally work really hard this week. With a lot of train strikes, we haven't been able to do any exchanges, which has given us a lot of time in Montpellier itself, tell well spent. We saw a man that we're teaching three times this week, and he came to  church! He comes from Cuba, and really likes the message we're sharing, he says coming across us was a sign to him from Heavenly Father, he told after church this week that he really feels like he wants to baptized, something he'd been very hesitant about before during the week. This of course incited enormous high fives from my companion and I after he left the church to go home.

We had a very spiritual day Sunday, it was a region wide conference where general authorities addressed all of Western Europe through a broadcast, which was really neat and uplifting. My favorite was by Gerald Caussé, who is the Presiding Bishop, he is from France originally, and so does all his own translations, so what we heard was not the voice of the translator, but his own voice, making it that much better. He spoke all about how important it is that we keep ourselves worthy and clean for the temple. He spoke about how the new temples in Europe place an even larger responsibility on the members, and how we can all prepare ourselves more and more to go and take part in temple work. It made me think a lot about how much I miss the temple, and how often I'm going to try to go when I get home. Then we went to a member's house and had lunch there, they've been members for decades, and we're here at the beginning of the Montpellier Ward, right at the roots, and so it's inspiring to hear them talk about all the changes that have happened. The best part happened at the end of the day though, me and my companion had about 15 minutes before we had to be somewhere, and so we decided to try and talk to one last person. We contacted one woman, and found out quickly she was very believing, and super nice. We had a long talk, taught her about the church and the restoration, and were able to pray with her and fix a follow up rendezvous for this week. It was a big boost for us, we were really tired, and made the day super sick.

Coming down the Home Stretch, and a Baptism

Number of transfers - last one!

This week was a kind of crazy week, but a ton of fun at the same time. It started off with Elder Wiberg, the newer elder in the other equipe got a funny call on Monday from President Brown, telling him he was getting transferred to the office, and would be heading up there a little bit early. That meant that we got Elder Spencer as part of our equipe for his last three days in France, and we had a ton of fun. We went around all over Montpellier talking to people and teaching their Amis plus our Amis, and visiting the members before he went home. We got to go as well to District Meeting on Thursday, which went well, it was Elder Spencer's last one, and he taught and testified really well, it was good to see. We got our transfer calls on Friday morning, and Elder Thorne and I will be staying together for my last transfer!! We're stoked to go and work super hard for these next six weeks, it's going to be a lot of fun.

Saturday and Sunday we spent a lot of time with members, seeing as Elder Spencer was going home, and went to a Samedi Sportif on Saturday. Sunday was great, got to talk to my family by Skype for Mother's Day, which was a special treat and a lot of fun. This week I tried a lot to study charity and love for the people we're serving, which has changed things for me my whole mission. The more we love those around us and try to see them as our Heavenly Father, the more I can tell that our attitude towards the work changes. It's a neat thing to experience and have happen.

We spent a lot of time outside doing random errands, but at the same time, we got to talk to everyone, so conversation numbers were really good. There was a huge festival in Nîmes this week, which made it unsafe for the Nîmes elders to stay there, and so they came and stayed with us for five days, making a six man apartment, and only one shower in the mornings. Needless to say, the food and mornings were dire, but we've had a ton of fun! (We may or may not have had fast food three or four times this week)

Eating Heartily 

The best part of the week however, was the miracle the sister missionaries had. One of the members' wife has been taking missionary lessons and coming to church for the past five years, but never wanted to be baptized. The sisters had a lesson with her this last Tuesday, and they asked her what was stopping her from being baptized. She was silent for a minute or two, and then announced  that she felt the time had arrived, and that she was going to be baptized this Saturday. The whole family was shocked, and everybody looked at her, than started crying, and voila! She was baptized this last Saturday, after a couple of frantic calls to the bishop, last minute baptismal interview, and getting everything together, we ended up having a beautiful baptism for her, and confirmation the day after. It was an incredible miracle, and she was so happy and glowing after the baptism. That night a member took out for dinner at a restaurant and they had a friend with them, which was fantastic!

Working and Turning 20

Bonjour tout-le-monde! This week was one of the better weeks of my mission, both me and my companion were very happy with the results at the end. After a while of finding, we were able to find three new Amis this week, two of which seem very sincere and ready to hear the gospel.  We had the chance to teach one of them this last Saturday, and he said something to us during the lesson that really struck me. We had just spoken of receiving the conviction and response to our prayer of the truth of what we were saying, and right after he said that he thinks he can get the conviction, but that he was still going to need our help. He said we can receive the conviction in our hearts, but afterward, if we do not work on that, if we do not cultivate the faith that we already have, eventually no matter how strong the original conviction was, it will fade away without care, just like all other things in our lives. It was a huge testimony for me and a reminder from this man I had barely met, that the little things in our lives do matter, that daily scripture study and prayer, as well as doing our best every day to be righteous are some of the most important things we can do.

One incredible miracle, we lost contact with a young student here about a month ago, after having taught him twice, and having really good rendezvous. We found out a month later that he had had his phone stolen, but that he was more than happy to see us again! During the rendezvous he pulled out the Book of Mormon and told us he had read until the Book of Alma. He said he had kind of lost his faith for a little while, but that the Book of Mormon was really helping him to refund his faith and boost himself spiritually. It was one of the best rendez-vous of my mission, the spirit was there, we were teaching with a recent convert who bore his testimony, and we were able to fix a baptismal date for the 11 of June!

We also had the chance this week to go up to Aix-en-Provence, one of my old villes, for a large multi-zone conference, which was great. I got to see quite a few mission friends that I've known my whole mission right before they left, and to hear their departing testimonies, which were powerful and fortifying. A large portion of the conference was spent on the faith of the mission right now, pushing for the goal of 91 convert baptisms this transfer, which is huge. We're seeing so many miracles right now though, that I truly think we can get it!


We finished off the week doing a service project for a member on Saturday after playing soccer in the morning with our Amis, having a barbecue at the members home afterwords where they invited their non-member next door neighbors, and then teaching our ami that night who I spoke about earlier. It was my birthday, and it ended up being one of the best birthdays I've had, with the highlight being me getting to bear my testimony to our new ami in the evening, after giving him a Book of Mormon. Life is great:)

Finding and Teaching

Backpack Gallery

Hello tout-le-monde! This week was a very rewarding week in a lot of ways. On Tuesday I went on exchange in a ville close to Montpellier, and had a fun time, the elder there is going home in three weeks, and is working super hard at the end, plus we got along really well, so the whole exchange was really good. Then Wednesday we had our district meeting, which went really well, with the huge push in the mission right now, we focused on the ways we can get our Amis to church, which was really good, we had a great discussion. Then Friday and Saturday we spent a large amount of time on exchange and outside finding people, which yielded a couple results. One of the biggest things this week for me was a miracle we saw last night. We had spent all week trying really hard to find new people to teach, a lot of time outside on the streets and talking to people, which was exhausting, and we didn't see a ton of success, but we did give it everything we had.

Local Wildlife

Then last night, we were sitting in our bedroom planning for the next day, when one of the members called, saying he had a friend who was really interested in the Plan of Salvation, and was wondering when we could see him next week. We got off the phone, and me and my companion were so stoked, we started jumping around in our room! It was a huge testimony to me that if we do the best we can, the Lord will bless us for our efforts, even though sometimes we may not see the immediate direct results in the way were expecting.  I'm so happy He did, and so stoked for this next week.
This week we had four different exchanges in four different villes this week, which made for a lot of train time, but a ton of fun! I went down to Perpignan first, which is at the southernmost tip of France, right next to Spain, and had a good day teaching and contacting with an old mission friend that I knew from my time in Narbonne, so that was a ton of fun. Then I got to stay here in Montpellier with another Elder, and we got fed by two of the member families here in one day, which is rare, so that was phenomenal, plus we got some really cool numbers from contacting in the streets. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were all spent partially in Carcassonne and Nîmes, in Carcassonne we spent all of 5 hours outside walking all over Carcassonne and talking with people/passing old Amis and members.

The time flew by because we were doing so well, and it reminded me heavily of my first few transfers in Narbonne, so it was great. In Nîmes we had a service project to help a member move, so that went well, and then I came back for a transmission of Stake Conference. Before going to Nîmes I had a few hours in Montpellier with my real companion, and we had one of the best Plan of Salvation lessons I've had on my mission. One of the members worked with a man who had lost his father a few months back, and had asked him if he would be willing to meet with us, to talk about the Plan of Salvation. He agreed, and it was a great lesson. We shared one of my favorite scriptures, in Alma 40:11-12. It speaks of the peace and happiness we will have after this life with our Heavenly Father, if we have led a just life and strived to keep the commandments of God. We talked about it, and the man seemed much more at ease and assured about his father, which was rewarding to see that in his eyes. It reminded me how grateful I am for the knowledge that after this life we will be at rest with our Father in Heaven. I know that's so true, and I love it.

Inspiration from Leaders

This week was a more chill week, we had a whole lot of planning to do throughout, for the transfer and for the week, so we didn't get to teach or work as much outside. It was good though what we did do, got to see a family in the outskirts of Montpellier and share a message with them and their neighbor, plus taught our Amis all at least once. The highlight by far of the week though was General Conference this weekend. I particularly loved the talk given in the Priesthood session of conference, by Stephen F. Owen, talking about being a leader and follower. He said that in all of our lives, we will all get the chance to be a leader in some form of fashion, whether as a parent, teacher, or in some other way, and that the best leaders he knows were the best followers as well. He said if we stay true to following our own inspired leaders, and especially following the council of the best leader ever, Jesus Christ, we will be   better leaders in the small leadership roles of our own. It made me think about the ways I can better follow my leaders, like my mission president, to be a better missionary every day, especially here nearer the end.

This week was incredible, a very spiritually uplifting week, we had the chance to go up to Lyon for a conference with President Brown, who has just fixed the goal of 91 convert baptisms this transfer for the whole mission, something almost unbelievable to think about. He was so supportive and inspired during the conference, talking with an enthusiasm that was infectious. We all left with a huge hope and faith that we're going to get this goal. We had zone training on Thursday, which went well, then I went on exchange with an Elder to Carcassonne, which was a blast, we spent the entire time outside, and it was beautiful there, so we had a fun time.


This entire week we've been spending a lot of time in our sector finding new Amis, and it has been fun, we now have rendezvous fixed with many new people for this week, and we are excited to find new people. In my studies this week I've really noticed the power of the Book of Mormon, I've been finding answers to all kinds of questions in my daily studies, and have been impressed by just how much I need the Book of Mormon, I depend upon it so much. It truly is one of the ways I get so much closer to my Savior Jesus Christ, I'm so grateful.

Transfers across the Room

This week was one of the craziest weeks on my mission. It started off normal, we worked on Monday night and found a new ami, he's a young student here and is really curious to know more about our church, so that was fantastic. Then Tuesday we got to go do some service for a member in a smaller outer ville, which took most of the day, then went and did some contacting. We had two different district meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, then Friday morning was nuts! We got the transfer calls at about 9h30, and had the weirdest transfer of my mission. My companion will be changing to the second Montpellier equipe, and the elder who was already there, will be coming and joining me!! It was nuts, they're literally just changing bedrooms, which is crazy.





This week was a really good week for the work in one respect, we've really been focusing on the Book of Mormon, and trying to integrate it into our work, because during the conference with Christofferson he really emphasized how important that is in our work. It was really cool, because we saw the ami we found on Monday again, and he had read the first few pages of the Book of Mormon, and he said he was really able to kind of put himself in their shoes, and that he likes the idea better now. It's been really cool for me to see the effects of that, and a testimony builder of the the Book of Mormon, something that really pushes me to want to read it more and more. That's it for this week, but last little shout to my little brother Joseph, who just got his call to the Billings Montana Mission, he's gonna kill it!!! Au revoir!

Visit from an Apostle

This week the district meetings got canceled due to a nationwide problem with the trains. At the beginning of the week, all the Montpellier missionaries went to the beach for our Preparation Day, and we had blast. We played American football, and ran around playing catch for a long time, and overall had a super fun time. I was able to go on two exchanges, one down in a really pretty ville called Carcassonne, which is known for the huge castle inside of it, which was fun, we spent the whole day at members' houses or doing service for one of them, so it was fun, we were able to get some possible referrals.

I was also on exchange in Nîmes, and spent a lot of time outside talking with everybody we could, and finding some cool potentials for them. Then I got back, and we had soirée familiale, which was a blast, we had a good message on testimonies, and then played a fun game. Then the highlight of the week was Saturday, the sister missionaries had a baptism, and we were all able to go and attend. The person being baptized was named Karine, the little sister of a resent convert, and it was really neat to get to be able to attend, because it was her older brother, the recent convert of about two years, who baptized her, and they were both so happy, and glowing. We then went out and had a miracle hour with all the Montpellier equipes, talking with everybody and their dog as much as we could for an hour, and it was fantastic, we got two new potentials! Sunday was good, we did our planning, and contacted a bit, nothing big.

Tuesday we had another mission wide conference for the visit of Elder D. Todd Christofferson, one of the 12 apostles. It was incredible, he had an incredible spirit with him as he spoke to us, and we learned a lot. One of the things he said that touched me the most was when he opened it up to questions, and somebody asked for advice on how to do better on keeping our goals. Sometimes we fix good goals, and go hard for however long, and then we lost focus or motivation and never finish the goal we set for us, and he asked him how we could do that better.




He said it was the same thing as with the repentance process, one of the biggest things was simply our will and ability to recognize that we've messed up, and then to do everything we can to get back. He said as soon as we  recognize our error, it is then that we have the responsibility to do everything we need to as quick as we need to to fix that error. The rest of the week was good, got to go on exchange in my old branch and teach a family that just got baptized, really neat. Me and another missionary in our apartment went on exchange and got 33 conversations in one day, it was incredible! Life here is great, I love getting to work in Montpellier, it's starting to warm up a lot here as well. I love all y'all, have a great week!