General Conference, Rugby Matches and Street Preachers

Bonjour Toute le Monde! Everything is still good in Narbonne, and even though this week has been rough, we have faith it will work out! We currently have no investigators for the first time since I got here, but we're working really hard to change that! It struck me that at the last conference a lot of the talks were about following the Prophet, and so this week I've really been trying to go over conference notes, read past talks, and stuff like that. It’s amazing how much these men are inspired, I truly love reading their teachings. Makes me think of D&C 1:38, and really reflect over such a blessing we have in this time. This week we had Zone training, and our zone made a Title of Baptistry, just for our zone, and then we all gave each other blessings, that we may work hard, and be blessed in our sectors, that we can baptize. Super powerful experience, I'm so grateful to be here in this mission right now!

We had a service project on Saturday, and painted a house, and then we got to go to a RUGBY MATCH!! It was super fun. One of the less actives we are working with is a professional rugby player, so we got to go see his game, the mission president gave us permission, it was super cool! I want to learn more about Rugby now.

Last week we were in Beziers for conference, and walking down the street we came across this African guy dressed in ceremonial African gear and stuff, and referring to himself as "The Prince." He was a super funny guy and we started talking to him, and eventually the Beziers elders got a lesson fixed with him. Halfway through our conversation, these two young women walked past, and he said, "Bonjour, mesdames! [pause].... Jèsus vous aime!" Translation: “good day girls! Jesus loves you! We were laughing so hard!! All is well in the south of France, au revoir toute le monde!

Trials and Tearing up New Shirts

Hi everybody! this week has been crazy, so let me start off. it started off really sad, our engagee, (an investigator with a baptismal date fixed) has now ignored our calls and texts for a week, and we believe he has dropped us completely, which makes us sad, but maybe a miracle can happen in the next transfer. Speaking of transfers, Elder Costa got emergency transferred this week, and now I have a new companion, his name is Elder Taylor, and he's from Riverton Utah, apparently he knows my cousin Nikki, small world! He's super cool, and super clean, so that will help me out a lot I think! He's only in his fifth transfer, so we're a young equipe in the mission, but we can both speak French, and we have a lot of hope for this next transfer!

The Sacrificial Shirt

This week our mission president has a super cool idea, and had us all make a Title of Baptistry. Taking Captain Moroni's idea, he tore his shirt, and wrote upon it a title for our mission, and invited us all to do the same, it was great! We were all really inspired, and he gave us a lot of hope! I have loved conference with a passion this last weekend, and invite everyone to listen to all the talks and really reflect, I learned a lot and hope to apply a lot of new principles in my life. I would especially recommend the talk given by President Uchtdorf where he talks about, "Lord, is it I?" It really made me reflect, and try and be better. All is well here in Narbonne, hoping everybody is good at home, au revoir!

Title of Baptistry with Elder Taylor

Being the District Monkey

Hi everybody! this week was actually semi boring, or as boring as missionary life gets, we got occupied a few times with housekeeping or missionary office stuff a little much, so we didn’t get to work as much as wanted, Elder Costa's bike broke and stuff like that, but it was still good! My trainer is actually the District Leader, and tries to go on an exchange with every Elder in our district, so I'm what they call the District Monkey, I get to go on exchange with everyone too! it was a lot of fun this week, I got to go on an exchange with an Elder in a ville called Nîmes, and it had a big old Roman Gladiatorial Colloseum, which was super cool to see, it brought back a lot of fun memories from Latin class. I also got to contact a lot there and help fellowship two less actives, who are both really cool, and who I really hope go to back to church.

I think I actually was able to help them get a new Ami (investigator). We met a girl on the street who we contacted and seemed super interested in our message, we were able to set up a Rendez-vous with her, and I really hope that worked! We had a little Birthday Party for my trainer this week, he turned 21 on Thursday, so a family of less-actives we've been fellowshipping for a while now threw him a party, and we were able to get quite a few members there, and our Investigator with a baptismal date there, it was a great night to build ties in the branch and help introduce the less actives and our Ami to the branch! I also got to go on an exchange with the zone leaders on Saturday, and it was really cool, I got to help teach the mother of a recent convert in their area, and heard a real story of how the mom is taking the lessons because of how Gopali (the daughter) told her mother how she received a response to the question of whether or not the church was true. It’s inspiring to see how the Spirit can touch people, and how much their lives can be changed; I'm truly growing to love the mission! All is well, we get our transfer calls this Friday, and I'm honestly hoping I get to stay in Narbonne, I'm loving the people here so much. Au Revoir!

New Tie from Peru