Making new contacts and seeing old freinds

I got to Montpellier and have barely been able to take a breath since. For different reasons, our temporary three man companionship was in charge of three teams of missionaries worth of Amis and members, which made for a crazy hectic week. It'll be a little calmer this next week, all the missionaries who are supposed to have arrived will have arrived, and so they'll take their normal Amis, but for last week, we had a blast! We have two Amis with baptismal dates, and one of them is approaching in the near future, a younger guy who is really chill, and is excited but still nervous for his baptism.

We found two new Amis this week, one was an African woman who is here for her studies, I contacted her on a tramway, and she was very interested, so we've been able to see her once since then. It went well, and so we're very hopeful. Another is a member friend, she works with a member who started talking a lot with her about the gospel, and she accepted to meet with us, and ended up really liking our first rendezvous, and has come church twice now. My companions and I have had a lot of fun, it's the south coast, so no need for gloves or scarves, we still wear coats but it's much much warmer than Annemasse. I'm so incredibly excited to get to work here, church was great, we had six Amis at church, and all seemed to like it.

We actually weren't together in Montpellier as companions too much this week, we went on three different exchanges, which was a blast, and made the week blow by. I went on exchange down to Perpignan, right next to Spain, which was a blast, me and Elder Whitmer went out and talked to everybody we could see for a long time, and talked with some cool people, then went and had a Family Home Evening at the church, where we played some games and gave a spiritual message. Then I went on exchange back in Montpellier with an Elder serving in Nîmes, which was good, we got to teach one of our Amis and talked with a lady who was really interested in English class, fun fun. We had our zone training on Friday, and talked a lot about the big push our Mission President has tale us about finding families. We all committed to try in every way we can to find the families who are ready for the gospel.

Then I had a treat, we went on exchange all the way up in Lyon, and I got to teach a recent convert that I taught once or twice before his baptism, it was so incredible to get to see him again, and see the progression he's made, and how strong he is in the gospel now. The best part of the week was when we were able to teach our ami on Sunday after church at our Elders Quorum President's house. She has a baptismal date in about a month, and is progressing very well. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and as we were teaching she told us about how her father had died when she was younger, and how as we were teaching this she was so happy to start understanding God's plan, and how she was going to see him again. It was a great moment, and I was so touched by her sincerity, she loves the lessons.

I spent the majority of my week outside of Montpellier, on exchange with three different missionaries, which was good. The first one was on exchange with an Elder in Carcassone, which has a huge castle in it. We spent all day contacting and porting, so I got to see the castle many times and get to know Carcassone a little, then in the evening we went with their bishop to visit a family out of ville, which went really well. Then I got a huge treat, I went on exchange in Beziers, the branch where I served the first six months of my mission, and we spent a lot of time working in Narbonne, my first ville!! There's no longer missionaries there, it's and outer ville in Beziers area, so the elder I was with wanted me to show him where some less actives and members lived. I got to see the dad of a family I had worked really hard to re-activate while I was there, and that is now coming to church every week, which was one of the best feelings I've ever had.




It was so incredible to see how much him and his whole family have progressed, how happy they are, and they still remembered me really well, which was even better. To finish the week we taught our incredible ami who has a baptismal date and is progressing really well on Sunday, and she committed to stop smoking, which was a big step. It's such an amazing experience to see how our Heavenly Father works with these people, and how much they can change, I love being a missionary so much!

New Assignment - Saying Goodbye to Annemasse

This is a bit short, we're pressed for time, it's transfer day, and I'm going far away. We got the calls on Friday, and President told me I was going to be moving to Montpellier, a large ville on the south coast very close to where I started my mission. I'm excited, I'll be doing exchanges in the ville where I started, so I'll be able to see people I know from the time I was there, it'll be very neat. I was sad to leave Annemasse, many of the members came up to me after church to tell me how grateful they were, and I took a large amount of photos with all of them, it was hard to leave.

The week was a very dull week, right after my companion got sick on Tuesday, I got sick on Thursday, so we were only really able to go outside and work on Thursday, but even so, with me leaving and all, we were able to get a less active member and two Amis to come to church, so I left on a very high note. I'm so glad I got to spend my last holiday season as a missionary in Annemasse, I was able to learn so much from the members and from my companion, things I'll always take with me. I hope everyone had a happy new year, I love you all, have a great week!

Christmas Cookies, Conferences and the Lion King

Live Nativity

It's Christmas this week! This last week was a ton of fun, we got to go to a lot of members homes and go caroling for many people. We went out to this Suisse/Argentinian family in our ward, and had a blast there, they took us to this old medieval village for our PDay, then we went caroling with them to all of their neighbors homes, who loved it. We went to one more members home during the week and had a good time, laughed a lot, and then up until Saturday if we weren't with members we were outside talking with a bunch of people, and gave out a ton of Christmas cards, and had some really cool convos because of Christmas.

Then this weekend was incredible, we spent Saturday running around, printing off a ton of photos we took to give Christmas cards to the members, while the other elders turned our apartment into a little bakery, making a bit more than 400 snicker doodle cookies to give out. Then we went to help set up for the gigantic Christmas Soirée the two wards put on, and to practice the little performance we did with a member from the other ward. The soirée was a success, we had around 200 people there, including our ami George, and our performance went well, a ton of people came up to us after to tell us how much they loved it. Then Sunday we handed out all the tons of cookies and photos to all the members in little bundles, and they loved it a lot. We


spent the rest of the day in two different members’ homes and then went caroling with one. Overall an incredible week. It's incredible to see the love all around during the Christmas season.

Talking to the Family in Texas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that you all got to spend  some good time with our families, and got to eat until you hated yourself, best parts of Christmas! Our week was incredible, we had our mission conference this week for Christmas, they pulled a lot of strings to be able to get all of the missionaries together in Lyon, which was incredible. We had a phenomenal conference all together, multiple musical pieces were performed and we all felt the spirit quite strongly, fun little surprise as well, we got to watch The Lion King!

We went to four different members houses on the 24th to 26th,and ate our minds out as well as acted out a live nativity, and received pounds of chocolate, a sweater, and a Swiss Army Knife from Switzerland, all from the members! The best part of the week though was on the 26th, we went out about an hour from Annemasse with the sister missionaries to a member's house for the entire afternoon. They took us out caroling, even though it was the day after Christmas, for the most of our time out there, throughout their entire apartment building, the one next to them, and the houses nearby. It was incredible, we sang for many people who were really touched by it, and even had some people say goodbye to us with tears in their eyes. It was a special afternoon, and we were all really really happy afterwards. I hope you were all able to remember our Savior this Christmas as well, and had a wonderful time with your loved ones. I love you all, have a great week! I love you all and wish everyone MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Member Missionaries and Curfew

This week was a really good week for us here in Annemasse, despite the fact we didn't get to go outside much. Earlier on, I caught the same sickness that my companion had all of last week, so we went out and into the church or members houses to visit them or teach lessons, but didn't stay outside for very long periods of time, to help me heal.

However, we were able to see an incredible spirit in our ward this last week and this Sunday. With all that happened in Paris a few weeks ago, the mission has been given a curfew, we are no longer allowed to stay outside after dark (around 5:30 pm) unless we are with a member, for our own safety.

The ward found out about this, and has reacted in an unbelievable way. Last week we were only inside our own apartment very little after dark, we were either at members’ houses or teaching with them at the church many of the nights. Yesterday in fast and testimony meeting, a large portion of all the testimonies given were all about missionary work, and in ward council they asked us and made absolutely sure we weren't in our apartment any night this week. I was so overwhelmed by the love that the ward has shown us, we have so many people here who want to help us so much, and we're spoiled to be here. This upcoming week we have so many rendez vous with members it's incredible.

We had a lot of real great days where we spent a lot of time with the members, and were able to see some cool things. One recently returned missionary took us driving around our area, going through the list of members to go visit them, and we were able to see and get to know a guy that hasn't been to church in a very long time, he seemed really happy to see us and we got to know him pretty well, it was a good rendez vous. The rest of the week was relatively normal, and we got to go many members homes, then Saturday was great.

We had a Samedi Sportif in the morning, then service in the afternoon, but on the way back from the church to eat lunch, we ran into a man that had come to an English class of ours a while back, but we had never gotten his number, so we talked to him for a bit, then got his number and invited him to church, and he said he'd come. Many people say that to us, but the next morning, as we were greeting people at the door, he showed up! His name is George, and is really quiet, but curious to know more.

The ward was great, they all introduced themselves and made friends with him, and we were able to fix a rendez vous with him for this Wednesday, and have a member coming too! It was super exciting, we're thrilled to start teaching him! That was the best part of the week, I want to invite everyone at home to help the missionaries this Christmas season. It’s a super special spirit when we can work together. I hope everyone stays safe and has a good week, I love you all, au revoir!

Giving Thanks and Forgiving

I hope everyone is excited for thanksgiving, and are thinking about all the many many things we have to be grateful for. One of the things I'm grateful for is that I'm staying a second here in Annemasse with Elder Bentley! We're both super stoked to get to be here for Christmas, and we're also excited to continue to get to work here in Annemasse, we want to really start building off the success we're finally starting to see. We had the chance to go to another baptism this week for the sisters’ ami, who'd been taking the lessons for about six months, and finally made the choice to get married to his girlfriend, who's a member and had been helping him along the way, and get baptized. It was a really cool thing to get to talk to him and hear about all the changes he's made in his life, and it made me really thankful for the gospel.

 One of the coolest things I remarked on this week was something a member said yesterday in Sunday School. He said that the gospel and the scriptures in particular are like the seasons of the year. They're always the same, never changing, summer, fall, winter and spring, but you'll never have two winters or two summers exactly the same. In the same sense, the gospel and the scriptures never change, but we can get something new out of them every time we read them. It made me even more grateful for the chance to study the scriptures out here on a mission, cool experience.

I hope everybody is gearing up and ready for Christmas, because it's the best time of the year! This week was possibly the longest week of my mission, though not because anything particularly horrible happened to us, but mostly because my companion was sick all week. We had a normal Pday on Monday, but then Tuesday morning Elder Bentley woke up very very sick, and didn't get any better.

Sooo, long story short, we were in the apartment from Tuesday morning to Sunday morning. I spent the majority of my time either cleaning our apartment, taking care of my companion, calling people in the phone I don't know, or just studying my scriptures, made for a monotonous week.

However, church yesterday was a really neat, I wanted to share something. In Sunday School one of the sisters shared a really touching experience with the whole class. She talked about at one point in her life she had lived with her older sister for a while, and that they hadn't gotten along at all. They had had many arguments and she left with a lot of bitter feelings towards he sister. Then, shortly after she had moved out, her older sister died suddenly, without any warning. She started crying at this point and told us how much she wished she could have had the chance to apologize and reconcile with her sister before she passed away. The lesson was on forgiveness, and so she encouraged everybody really strongly to forgive others while we still can, that no matter what they may have done to us, we will feel much better if we forgive.



I wanted to encourage everyone at home, especially in the spirit of Christmas, to try and forgive someone, and to right a wrong, and watch how much better your Christmas season becomes because of it. I love you all, and pray for you, have a great week!

Praying For France

Dear Everyone,

I'll start off by saying that I'm alright, I'm perfectly ok. We are a while from Paris, and so we were not affected in any large way by all the attacks. After a couple of hours of lockdown in our apartments we received the go ahead to go back to work, and so everything is alright at the moment. Thanks to everyone for the prayers on behalf of all those who were affected by the attacks, there are some families that we know here and an ami we're teaching who have loved ones in Paris, and were very concerned, but it seems as though everything has turned out ok for those friends.

It's inspiring to see how many people are supporting France right now, and to see the unity in the people here.

Apart from the attacks in Paris, this week was ok. We had a couple of meetings and service projects, and so were not able to do as much work in our sector as we wanted, but still were able to see a lot of people who we were able to help out. The best part of the week was easily the stake conference we had yesterday, where Elder Homer of one of the quorums of the seventy spoke to us. His entire talk was focused on the love of each other and how important it is for us to not judge one another. Only our Heavenly Father knows the desires and thoughts of all of us, and so we must try to work with others and interact with others and not judge them by our own limited knowledge of who we may think they are. It was an inspiring conference, and we all felt the spirit. Again, thank you sincerely for all the prayers for those affected here in France. I love you all, and wish you a great week!

Getting to know Annemasse

This week was a ton of fun for us, we got to go to many members homes kind of all over our sector's limits, so it was a lot of fun. We got on referral from an older sister in a ville north of Annemasse, and are still working on contacting it, so it should turn out well. Last week we also got to have a lot of fun with the zone, we went to a zone Pday with everyone after we did everything we needed to in Annemasse, so it was a blast. We got to teach our ami Nadia twice this past week, she's been seeing missionaries for many months now and loves coming to church, just has some very strong ties to her old faith, so we're hoping to get her to keep progressing. We had the chance to go to a baptism for the sister missionaries last Saturday, which was quite fun. It was great because their ami decided he wanted to be baptized in the lake, even though it's November, so it was a bit chilly, but a really neat thing.

Being Goofy in District Meeting

Today we had the chance to go out to Chamonix, a ville far out in our sector, to go for a fun hike with some members and eat lunch with a family who loves there. It's right below Mont Blanc, and is well known in Europe for skiing, so it was gorgeous, and a ton of fun. One thing I had the chance to do this week was kind of dive into the Book of Mormon in my studies, I just restarted it, and finished Lehi's dream. I love it a lot and am so grateful for the Book of Mormon, every day I find something new and clarifying that I hadn't seen before, I'd encourage everyone to read it every day if you can.

In Annemasse we spend a lot of time outside talking to people and visiting the members and less actives. We still are lacking in the amis category, but have a couple of potentials we're hoping to be able to start seeing regularly. The highlight of this week was the conference we had in Lausanne, Switzerland. Linda K. Burton, the General  Relief Society President, came to visit the Lausanne Stake, and so the two Switzerland zones, Geneva and Lausanne, had the opportunity to come and to listen to her for a missionary conference. It was fantastic, one of the biggest messages during the conference that I remarked on, was just how much the Lord will qualify us and change us during our missions if we are willing to let Him, and work hard.

Being Appropriate in District Meeting

At the beginning, it's like putting on a suit coat, the calling of a missionary, that is too big for us, we're not completely ready for it. As the mission progresses, the calling doesn't change, the suit coat, but the Lord will change us to fit that calling. We become stronger, more spiritually inclined, and more mature as we make the sacrifices required during a mission, and leave who we were behind to change into who the Lord wishes us to be, able to fit and fill the calling. At the end, when we are released, and the coat is taken away, the coat itself has not changed, but we inside of it have changed completely, to fill this calling, and are left a different person. It was a powerful message for us all, and inspiring to help us want to become that much better, and to make every effort while we're still here to become that what our Savior has in mind. Very touching conference.

We're starting to see some really neat things start to happen. We were able to find two new amis here in Annemasse, the first ones we've had in a while, with two other potentials who have told us they will come back to the church and learn more, waiting to see. The first one was a man named Nicholas, who was a referral from the elders in Nîmes, a ville near the south coast. He was very open, and happily agreed to a rendez-vous with us, and so we taught him on Wednesday. The other was a man who actually called us asking for a rendez-vous, and so we saw him for the first time last Friday, and will see him again tonight. It's really neat to see some small fruits of all the effort we've been giving here in the beginning.

We had both a district meeting this week and a zone conference, so they were fun, the whole conference was focused on how much more we could be using our planners, how much more we could the area book, and all the little tools we have to help us out in our missionary work. Other than that, we've just been working as hard as we can to keep going and finding more new people. It's a ton of fun with my companion, he's English, and it makes everything he says much funnier for it. I hope everyone had a good Halloween, and that y'all are staying warm. I love you all, au revoir!