Last week of transfer 6/26/17

Bonjour tout le monde ! 

I know this week was crazy, but I can't think of all that happened! It's the last week of this transfer, as you can tell from my subject line. We find out this Friday who's going where, so I'm super excited for that :) 

We had an exchange with Elders Wall and Pesnell from Yverdon, which was a blast. We're currently at Toison d'or with the elders from Besançon, writing our emails, which has also been super fun. Umm, we had some good rendezvous and did a bit of contacting too.  

Super busy week actually, but nothing huge... No big meetings in Switzerland, and cherry season's (hopefully) over, so less driving and cherry picking this week, which was nice! 

Oh yeah! On Saturday we got to do service with the ward, filling care packages with stuff for local refugees. We took a picture that they're submitting to the Liahona, so that was fun, then we had a picnic. 

We had a pretty sweet lesson with our new ami, Ségolène! I think I mentioned her last week? She came to church, then came up to us and said she wanted to take lessons, and we were like "sure!" so we went to our first rendezvous prepared with the first missionary lesson on the first vision, and she was like "no, I've already received all of the lessons back in Ireland," and we were like "oh, cool!" so we just talked the whole time à out questions she has. Super excited to see where that goes! Another lesson with her tomorrow, so we're pretty psyched. 

Anywho, that's about all I can think of from this week... Hopefully I'll have more to write about next time :) 

Avec amour, 

Elder Suisse 

Pics :

Me and Elder Wall 

Us with our classy service vests 

Edification, driving and a ridiculous amount of cherries 6/19/17

Bonjour!

So! This week was pretty crazy. Honestly, the title pretty much sums up everything. 

Monday was p-day, then we drove an hour to Besancon to pick up the Elders there, then like four hours to Annemasse. Tuesday morning we drove an hour and a half to Geneva (normally a half hour drive, but with the traffic it was triple). Then we had zone conference (more on that later, it was so good!), and it was about a four hour drive home. Then another hour to Besancon again Wednesday night, three more to Lausanne for district meeting Thursday morning, and three more home. Literally so much driving, but it was totally worth it!

Zone conference was so good! The Assistants trained us on how to train members on using Facebook to share the gospel (no Facebook for us yet though). There was a lot about finding interested people, and having the faith to invite people to baptism. Then Soeur Brown had us run outside and play charades while running back and forth between little inflatable pools of water (which was appreciated, it's getting super hot here). After that, the departing missionaries (Elders Pesnell, Herf and Mckee, and Sisters Thompson, Goreeba and Baetie) all shared their testimonies and it was so cool and so spiritual and everyone cried and it was awesome. At the end, President and Sister Brown bore their testimonies. President Brown said something that I really liked. He quoted a conference talk (I don't remember who's it was, but it's pretty recent), and said that as missionaries, and as members, we need to share the gospel with our eyes, and if necessary, use words. I really like that and I've thought about it a little since then. I think that those of us who have experience with the gospel all have the principles and doctrines that we're taught firmly lodged in our brains. We know the stuff. I believe that the purpose of the mission, and of life in general, is to get the gospel from our heads to our hearts, so it shows through our eyes. We've got a light, and it would be a real shame if we didn't share it with those who are stumbling around looking for the switch.

After conference, we had lunch, and I got to have my interview with President Brown. Let me tell you, that guy is 10/10 inspired. He solved like all my worries with a hug and like twelve words total. I've had a lot on my mind these last couple weeks, and it came pouring out when we sat down. He helped me figure everything out, and I learned a lot. Before I left, he said "Dijon is one of the whitest and most ready-to-harvest fields in the mission. It's just waiting for someone to go in and take care of it. Allez-vous le faire?" Talk about inspirational! Anywho, zone conference was a blast.

Wednesday was good. We picked cherries at Soeur Cuisiat's neighbor's house, then drove and had an awesome lesson with a less-active couple, then drove to Besancon.

Thursday was district meeting, and Elder Johnson gave a killer lesson. Lots about comp unity. I learned a lot, and I'm excited to finish this transfer strong (Crazy that it's already week five!). After that, we had our exchange with Bienne, so Elder Teuscher and I took care of some passbacks and it was great. 

Friday was pretty awesome. I got to open presents in the morning (Yeah! Nineteen years old!), then we drove and passed some super cool members and came back and contacted for a bit.

Saturday was pretty low key. We picked cherries at the Casagrande's for a while (third time doing that in like a week). (Okay, literally just got a text while writing this from Soeur Cuisiat asking if we can come over and pick cherries at her other neighbor's house when we're done with emails) So many cherries...

Anywho, pretty busy week, and it's nice to be back in Dijon! As far as miracles go, we've definitely had more than our fair share this week. Sergio and Ségolène, the two random visitors to church last Sunday that I think I mentioned in last week's email, are now for reals investigators, which is awesome. In addition, two other ancient amis (old investigators) are again interested, so we should hopefully be teaching them again this week. Super excited!

Okay, that's about all I can remember. All in all a pretty awesome week. Love you all, and thanks so much for your support! You da' best!

Elder Suisse

Pics:

Us at zone conference!

Random train when we stopped to stretch our legs between Geneva and Besancon

Chess and Missionary work! 6/12/17

Bonjour!

This letter's going to be pretty short, so apologies in advance, we've got zone conference tomorrow and we'll have to leave for Besancon in just a bit. This week was super hectic! We had an exchange with Besancon towards the start, which was super fun! Elder Moss and I did some awesome contacting, and I learned lots! 

On Wednesday, we headed over to Lausanne for an exchange with the zone leaders, which was a blast! Probably the highlight of my week. Switzerland is so beautiful! I got to go with Elder Johnson, and we contacted for a bit by Lac Lémon. We were walking and we saw a giant chess board on the ground and I was like "I feel like we should play chess and see what happens," and Elder Johnson was like "sure!" so we started playing. We had a whole bunch of tourists take pictures of us, which was weird, but then like five people came over and started taking sides and we met and talked to a ton of people! After we finished, this old retired Swiss dude wanted to play us, and this awesome Italian engineer guy who was there for a business trip teamed up with us, and we got our butts kicked. We ended up with a lot of contacts though, and I got to meet a ton of super awesome people! There was neurosurgeon from Holland who talked with us for a bit, and a businessman from Portugal. I'm pretty sure Switzerland's the coolest place on earth. After that, met up with a bunch of other missionaries at a Spanish couple's house for an awesome rendezvous and tasty food. 

Then on Sunday we had some cool miracles! One of our recent converts, Nomena, brought here friend who's from Madagascar, named Sergio, to church with her and he's super interested in learning more, so we'll be teaching him. And THEN, this other random girl showed up and said she also wanted to take lessons, so we'll be teaching her too. So cooool!

Anywho, those were just some of the highlights from this week. Sorry again for the short email, next week's should be a bit longer (Zone conference and district meeting! So psyched!)

Elder Suisse

Pics: 

Me and Elder Johnson by the Olympic countdown clock (Lausanne is the Olympic's headquarters, so they have a giant building by the lake)

A cheesecake made by a member that I took a picture of cuz it's awesome

Some cool old building in Lausanne

Us with the old dude who beat us and the cool Italian

Some pics of Lac Lemon

6/5/2017 Lots of driving and some miracles!

Bonjour!

This week was super super busy, but awesome as usual. We weren't in Dijon much, because we had MLC in Lyon, then district meeting in Lausanne, but it was a really good week. I got to do an exchange with the Port des Alpes equipe in Lyon, which was a blast. We had two other exchanges, with the elders from Bienne and Yverdon, and both of those went really well. Not a whole lot of craziness this week though. We got to visit a local museum here in Dijon, which was really cool (and air conditioned, hallelujah, it's getting super hot). It's been a blast working with Elder Johnson- he's super funny, and we get lots done. 

Honestly, besides all the meetings and exchanges, not a whole lot happened. We had an awesome rendezvous with Poe, and the spirit was super strong. He leaves on military duty tomorrow, so we have one more meal with him tonight, and then I might not see him again, cuz he gets back in July. Honestly, it's been super cool watching him and his family progress. It's crazy how much you come to love the people you serve. I love Dijon. I'd love to serve another transfer here, but I'm also so so excited to be able to see some more of France or Switzerland!

I had a pretty awesome spiritual experience the other day. We had a rendezvous with a member named Frére Nicolas, and it went okay. He's an older guy who is sometimes hard for me to understand and connect with, and I was ready to go home for the night. But then we went to say the closing prayer, and he asked if he could pray in English, for some practice, and we said yes. So he started praying in really broken English, and all of the sudden the spirit was so strong and I just had the craziest feeling of love for this older, kind of weird guy sitting on the park bench next to me. It was like God had opened my eyes and let me see his son Brother Nicolas like He saw him. Anywho, it was crazy, and I had to hurry and wipe some tears before he said amen. I love the people here in Dijon, and I'm so excited to watch that love grow. The mission is weird but awesome!

Love you guys!

Elder Suisse

Pics:

Us on exchange with Bienne, picking cherries at Soeur Cuisiat's

Me and Elder Thomas at MLC. Haven't seen him since the beginning of March!

Me and Elder Johnson in a very photogenic outer ville

Some awesome swords at the museum we visited

The sweet arch in Centerville

The palace of the Duke of Burgogne