Christmas Sharing, Feasting, and Drumming

Skyping with Joseph

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, here in France the Christmas was fantastic. For Christmas eve we knew not many people would want to talk on the streets, so we made a bunch of banana bread the night before, and carried it all out to all the members in Narbonne for Noel, for a truly rewarding experience. Not only was the banana bread good, every time they would answer the doors with big smiles, and we'd come in and have a great moment together talking about Christmas, and family, and love, and all the good things that come with it. At the one of the member’s houses, our ami actually showed up at the same time, which was a Christmas miracle, and we were able to talk to him all about Christmas: why it’s so special to us, and how great it is, right before he went off on vacation for the weekend. Then we went to a member’s house for the evening, and had a great dinner, where I ate a whole lot of large shrimp, delicious! Then on Christmas morning, we got to sleep in, the mission president authorized that for Christmas only, and we took full advantage, not getting up until 10 or so. We got to skype our families, which was super fun and great. It was so good to see all the faces I love a lot, then we went back to Narbonne and had a Christmas dinner at a less active’s house, comprising of cooked and spiced snails (they really are delicious), foie gras (I'll just let you guys look that up, its not so delicious), and lamb, which was great! We received pounds of chocolate from every member, and now our apartment is very very unhealthy, but it sure tastes good! Two days later I also got the chance to play the drum set when we were out going door to door, when a guy let us in. It was the best present yet! Hoping y'all are having a great holiday season, and have good plans for the New Year, life here in France is great, au revoir! 

With Members

Christmas Miracles and David Archuleta

We were able to fix six rendez-vous for this next week, so we're going to be busy, right up until we go to Bordeaux for our Christmas Conference! Being a missionary around the Christmas season is very rewarding, it is so fun to talk to people about the Savior's love in the Christmas atmosphere, and you can feel the Spirit in almost every conversation. It truly is incredible that the Savior came down to Earth to die for us, so that we can live again. We have this new progressing ami now, her name is Gislyne, and she really likes this church, she's just hesitant about fixing a date for baptism, she's not sure if she wants to commit. We're seeing her regularly, so we'll be sure to help her know it's true! Other than that, we discovered our other Ami, David, works for one of the members, so that makes lessons really easy, we just go to their house! They love it!

Last week we went to the Christmas conference for the western half of the mission, in Bordeaux, and David Archuleta was there, and sang for us. He is a really nice guy. He gave a small spiritual thought, and he has a testimony with a strength that surprised me. He is a really humble guy, who truly has gone through all the rigors and trials of a mission. He has been there, and has my complete respect. Plus, he has the voice of an angel, and his version of the First Noel was amazing. Then our mission president spoke, and talked all about the savior. It was truly powerful, and such an amazing conference. I saw so many missionaries I love, and heard such powerful testimonies.

Then a small Christmas miracle happened. When we were in Toulouse this weekend after the Christmas conference, we got there very late, and the Metro system (a subway system) was on strike, so it wasn’t working. We had to take a bus, and were very rushed and tired. After we got off the bus, we waited for a couple minutes figuring out what we were going to do, and then when we finally figured it out, I looked around for my bag and realized I had left it on the bus. My heart dropped, because that bag had my French scriptures, a new apron that half mission had signed, my flash drive, by cheesy book with all the signatures and notes of all the missionaries I had loved served with or around, my camera, our keys to the apartment, and worst of all, my journal. We have spent a few days in the Beziers equip apartment, praying fervently every night for the missionaries in Toulouse to find my bag. Then Dad emailed me, saying that a Spanish professor in Toulouse had found my bag, and wants to get it back to me. We are still working things out with the elders in Toulouse, and I should have my bag by Christmas. I am so incredibly grateful to Heavenly Father right now. This is such a miracle for me, and so amazing.

All is well here in Narbonne, getting ready for Christmas, super excited, I want to wish everybody a merry Christmas with a testimony that our Heavenly Father loves us, and blesses us in any situation. He sent His son to the Earth to die for us, and we could not receive any greater gift. I know that’s true. Merry Christmas everybody!

Microwave Thanksgiving and Caroling

We are kind of lacking in the solid ami's category at the moment, so we spend a lot of our time out on the streets talking with people and inviting, so hopefully we'll see some fruits of that soon! The church is doing a massive Christmas Initiative this year, the video is He is the Gift, and it’s a great way to share our church with the world. I hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit. France sure is. The Noël here as they call it is huge, they put massive decorations all over the ville, and lights are everywhere, plus stores are advertising like crazy.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. Our mission president is really pushing for us to become a more grateful mission right now, and told everyone to take one hour on Thanksgiving Day to reflect and ponder on everything that we have been given. It was a truly special thing, every minute as a missionary is precious, and so one hour was a gift he gave us. It's truly incredible to think on all the blessings that our Heavenly Father has given us, and how blessed we are to have all that we do.

We actually were in Montpellier on thanksgiving doing an exchange with the Zone Leaders, so we were able to eat this super good thanksgiving dinner with them, one of their families had sent him a bunch of microwave stuff and food for thanksgiving, so it was delicious. We've been trying to share the He is the Gift video with everyone we see, so I would invite all of you at home to do the same thing, it really is a special video with a special thought behind it. Heavenly Father gave us his son, so that we may live again, and that’s something we can never be too grateful for.

Elder Grant

I got a new companion, Elder Grant. He's super cool, so I'm excited! Last week we had a miracle; our entire zone was able to teach 20 lessons each in one week, meaning that 20 missionaries all taught that last week in the different villes! We had some of the other missionaries over on the last day, because we still needed four in Narbonne, and we all got them super fast! We all had to say a lot of prayers and have a lot of faith, but it worked, so that's amazing!

Cathedral in Narbonne

Funny story, one of our members dropped the bomb in sacrament meeting over the pulpit for testimony meeting that Santa Claus wasn't real, and the one family with little kids was trying to cover their ears. Really funny and it was a good thing there wasn't a ton of kids listening! We got to go caroling to one of the members houses too, with the other active family in Narbonne (yes, there’s only two), and we had such a good time singing to them, they were so happy.