In France, Near Switzerland, British Companion

Hello everyone!

Elder Bentley from Leeds

These last two weeks have been a little bit nuts, but the best part is that I am leaving the office and training a new missionary in the city of Annemasse! It's a very small ville that's directly up against Geneva, so still in France, but almost a suburb of Switzerland, so it's really neat! The last week of the transfer was good, it was hard to say goodbye to all the members I'd grown really close to in Ecully, I'd been there so long I knew all of the members super well.

I'm very excited to leave though, my new companion is fantastic, he's excited and ready to go to work, so it's going to be a good transfer! His name is Elder Bentley, and he's from a city near Leeds, England; so I got a British companion. We've been going through all the area books, the notes the old missionaries left us, and are really really excited, it seems like there's a lot of potential in Annemasse, so it's going to be a blast to serve here!

We’ve  been working really hard, and are already seeing some small fruits here in Annemasse. We spent a large part of the rest of last week walking around, getting to know the ville, and talking to everyone and their dog on the way, trying to teach, and we've been able to fix a couple of rendez-vous for next week and get some numbers of promising potentials. One of the most rewarding parts of the week was getting to go to church this last Sunday, and finally meet the Annemasse Ward. They were incredibly welcoming to both me and my companion, and have a lot of faith for the work here in Annemasse, the missionary spirit that we could see and feel in sacrament meeting and in ward council afterwards was incredible, they are really working hard to invite others to all kinds of activities and events, and to make those possible.

We got invited over to multiple homes this week, for service, to share a message, to talk about the work here, and one that we're really excited for, a partial member family where the wife wants us to work with her husband. It's shaping up to be a very very good transfer, we're stoked to really get to work here, and see the fruits of it. I hope everyone is alright at home, and that nobody is too cold, here it's starting to get very chilly, we're up in the mountains on the Switzerland border. I love you all, and pray for you, have a great week!
Elder Whiting

The Importance of Being Friends

Bonjour tout le monde!

This week was a fantastic week here, we had a general authority come and speak to the mission on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and it was a powerful spiritual experience to get to hear from him. His name is Elder Adler, from the third quorum of the Seventy. During the conference he, President Brown, their wives, and the local stake president spoke to us on a number of subjects, but one of them that I most remarked about was of how much importance it is in our missionary work to find friends for the amis that we find in the wards and branches we're serving in. He told and exhorted us to start a habit of offering a deep and sincere prayer with our companion every Sunday morning, pleading with Heavenly Father to find those in the congregation who would be good friends for those whom we teach coming to church. He expressed how it saddens him that too often the only friends our amis have are the missionaries who taught them, and how this is not in itself a bad thing to be their friend, obviously, but how hard it can be for them after we leave if we are their only friends. He told how when a member becomes a friend for your investigator, all of a sudden this constant source of support springs up for them in the church, another reason to want to come, a person who will be there for years afterword, who can support and take them to the temple to receive the blessings there. It was a powerful reminder to us all, and helped us think more about how we can do so with all the amis that we have right now, in bringing them closer and closer to Christ.

The conference went very smoothly, which was a blessing for all those involved with the logistics, and overall was phenomenal spiritual experience. I want to invite everybody at home to take some time to talk to the missionaries in your own wards and branches, and see if maybe there's someone they're teaching that you could become friends with. I hope everyone has a good week, and stays safe, au revoir!