He's THERE! David with his Mission Pres and wife!

Feb 24, 2017

Bonjour!

This week was so crazy! Idk where to even start! On Tuesday I performed for the mission presidency and the visiting authority (Elder Schwitzer of the Seventy) in their private dinner thing (if you could hie to Kolob) and it was nerve-wracking but went well. They all talked to Elder Thomas and I for a bit and were super nice (they got my name right but kept calling Elder Thomas "Elder Hansen" for some reason, which was hilarious). Then Elder Schwitzer spoke about how we can be effective missionaries, in the devotional.  One thing that he said that I really liked was about "the Nephi principle" - how the Lord had Nephi (and us) do the improbable (get the plates) so he (and we) could later do the impossible (crossing the ocean safely). Anyways, it was a really great talk, and we (the choir) sang "Precious Savoir Dear Redeemer" which was super awesome. I also rearranged an arrangement of "Nearer My God to Thee", and accompanied four members of my branch (Sœurs Thorn and Quigley and Elders Thomas, Hillier and myself) when we performed for the incoming missionaries in their devotional this week. It was way cool because with the five of us, we had missionaries going to Lyon France, Madagascar and Montreal. I changed the song so we did the first two verses in English and the last in French (extra cool because the verse we did in French doesn't have an English equivalent). Anywho, that was awesome. What else... We also had in-field orientation yesterday, which was fantastic. Lots about street contacting and statistics and stuff. One thing I learned was how essential members are to missionary work. Member referrals lead to twice as many baptisms as regular missionary finding. Then last night we practiced doing door approaches and then went outside to do more street contact practicing and it was freezing! I'm starting to be really comfortable with French and caught myself thinking in French the other day! Not fluent, but not toooo stressed either. I think that's all the news I have, except that we're leaving in like three days!! Fun fact of the day, we say "how are you" to everyone here, but that's a big no in France. Apparently if you ask "Comment ça va ?" there you'll either get sucked into a huge conversation about their life or they'll be freaked out about why you care, so that's a habit I still have to drop... Anyways I think that's all for now. Idk when I'll be able to email next, but I'll be in France when I do :) Je vous aime ! Au Revoir ! 

Elder Suisse

February 17, 2017

Bonjour!

This week's been so crazy! We've been learning so much French and gospel stuff, it's awesome! As far as specific stories go, Elder Thomas and Sœur Thorn and I auditioned to perform for a devotional this next week, so idk when we're doing that, but it should be cool! After the audition, one of the sisters in the relief society presidency came and asked if I'd also play at a dinner for the presidency and whichever general authority is speaking, so that's crazy. What else... We also learned "head shoulders knees and toes" in French, so I attached a picture of that too. It's weird to think that we'll be in France in less than two weeks- our travel plans should be in later today! As for something spiritual, we've been taking turns pretending to be les amis (the investigators) in our lessons. Our teacher asked us yesterday to be ourselves, but without the gospel and it's given me a huge shift in perspective. So grateful for the gospel and all the blessings that come with it. I also have a bigger appreciation for investigators who join the church - that's a big life change. It's cool to see how the gospel can affect people in such big ways. I think that's all I've got for now, so here's a joke Elder Thomas told the other day. 

There are two cats on a frozen lake. One is named "one two three" and the other is "Un deux trois". Which cat made it to shore? 

"One two three". The un deux trois quatre cinq ! 

And on that note, I love you all a whole bunch! 

Elder Suisse

February 10, 2017

Bonjour!

This week was pretty great! Teaching and learning lots of lessons. French is coming along super well (as far as i can tell), and i realized the other day that i'm more than halfway through my time here in the MTC. I just want to get out and talk to people already! One bad thing about the MTC though is that all the days blur together and i can't remember most of the stuff that happened... Umm... We've been using the people in the "1 in 8 million" videos put out by New York Times as practice investigators, so that's been really cool. Definitely look those up :) The food is the usual, and I'm having a blast. As far as funny stories go, our teacher (who just got home from her mission in Lyon a couple of months ago) went to hug a sister that we were with and kissed her on both cheeks and everyone froze and was like "what?" and she got so embarrassed and kept apologizing and saying that she's been doing that accidentally since she got home. So funny, until we remember that that'll be us in two years... Anywho, j'aime le MTC, et j'ai beaucoup d'hate (i think the "a" should have a little hat on it, but idk how to type that) pour enseigner les gens de France!! I love you all tons!

Febuary 3rd 2017

Bonjour!!

This week was craaaazy!!! There's no way i'll remember everything that happened, so i might just quote straight from my journal. First we had a district meeting with the branch president on tuesday and he said a bunch of awesome stuff! My favorite things:

"Two people can do anything if one of them is God"

"You are the answer to somebody's prayer"

"The mission is the hardest thing I've ever loved to do"

"We don't know what our Heavenly Father knows"

Needless to say, there was a lot of crying ... 

It's been a tough week, but so spiritual. Honestly, if the MTC is this hard, I can't imagine how difficult the field will be. But if the MTC is this fantastic, I'm so excited to find out how uplifting and awesome the field will be.

In other news, French is hard but is going well. Elder Crockett said the other day that he couldn't speak French and I just had the thought "thank heavens God does". 

As for a funny story, we found out that we've all been saying "Holy Ghost" wrong. It's "Saint Esprit" with saint pronounced "sant" but we keep saying "cent esprits" which means 100 spirits. So apparently we've been telling our investigators that when they pray, they can feel the presence of a hundred spirits. At least we didn't say "sang esprit" which means bloody spirit... Anywho, that's all i can remember... Je sais que l'evangile du Jesus Christ et vrais, and I love you guys!

Elder Suisse