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.