Already November?!

Salut mes petits choux!

So this week was actually insane. Imma try to get all my thoughts straight, so sorry if it's a little chaotic!

First off, it's November! Happy Halloween last week! It's starting to get pretty cold here, so thank heavens for a climate controlled office! I've ended every day this week with a hot chocolate, and life is good.

I got a new companion! Elder Ruben is from Murray Utah and he's awesome! We've been a trio for the last week and a half so Elder Walton can train him in the ways of office work. We'll probably be comps for the next three transfers (4.5 months), so I'm super excited! Elder Walton is being transferred to Nimes on Monday, so I'm really crossing my fingers that I picked up on everything I needed to, cuz I'm now the senior office elder (yikes). 

Pretty much the whole week has been planning for transfers next week and trying to hectically learn everything we can before Elder Walton leaves. We had our transfer planning meeting with President and the assistants, and we finished buying all the train tickets today, so hopefully it all works out!

In other news, our mission has this giant monster of a vehicle that we've named "The Chunk", which we use when we need to move huge amounts of people or luggage or whatever, and guess who's now the designated driver? Me. Like, you have to pull the emergency break when you shift from reverse to drive on a hill, or it'll roll backwards. And we have a huge moving trip coming up next week (Lyon to Montauban to Pau and back to Lyon - approx 18 hours of driving), so keep us in your prayers y'all!

Today was P-day and we got to go to a castle with the Mustard couple! Le Château Flechere - like forty minutes to Lyon. Coolest p-day so far - pics included!

Sunday was stake conference and holy cow, definitely one of the most uplifting meetings I've ever been to! Elder De Feo in the Europe area presidency spoke about the story of Jairus and Christ, where Jairus's daughter is dying and the Christ heals the lady with the blood issue. He made a couple comments that I looooved! He invited us to imagine what Jairus must have been thinking when the Cure to his daughter's eminent death stopped to heal someone else! Elder De Feo made the comment that perhaps this was the moment when Jairus's simple hope was tempered into real faith. Then the people come to tell him that it's too late, his daughter was dead and there was no need to bother the Master. But then Christ delivers the most powerful sermon in just one sentance - « Ne crains pas, crois seulement » - "Be not afraid, only believe". So often we are tempted to feel that all hope is lost, that it's too late, we've messed up, or maybe that God doesn't notice someone as insignificant as us, that He has bigger things to worry about. Well that just isn't true! He loves us infinitely and He can indeed cure all ills - physical, emotional and spiritual. We need only to persevere and keep our faith. I am so grateful for the chance I have to serve here in France. I love my mission, I love my family and my friends and I love my Savior. I understand that life is hard and will keep being hard, but I really believe that nothing negative is permanent with Christ. 

Thanks for all the support, je vous aime!

Elder Suisse

P.S. Also! Idk if you remember Roc Durrand and Kellis Ndugu, from my emails back in Béziers, but they were some amis that Elder Shirley and I worked with, and they got BAPTIZED last week! I'm a little sad I didn't get to see it, but I'm so so happy that they made the decision to come nearer to God! 

Pics:

A bunch of pictures of the Château and the gardens around it

Elders Ruben, Walton and myself treating ourselves to some Halloween patisseries

Me with... The Chunk...