chargé!

Bonjour !

Oh la la this week was so busy! We were out of our secteur almost every day - it's nice to be home!

Tuesday was MLC, which was awesome! We talked about really making sure that our amis are ready for baptism, and then it was President Brown's birthday, so we sang and ate cake and it was great. We also stopped by the mall and bought three kilos of steak haché (hamburger meat) while we were in Lyon, as meat is worth it's weight in gold here in Switzerland. I've literally been eating vegetarian the last eight weeks. 

Wednesday we drove to Renens in the morning to do a baptismal interview, then had an exchange there on Thursday which went super well. I never get tired of telling members that no, my name's not a joke and that I'm 10/10 American (oui, je m'appelle Suisse, mais je vous promet, je suis très américain). 

Friday was district meeting! I feel like it went really well. We talked a lot about our purpose as missionaries and how importance church attendance is for us and for our amis. Then we had planned on making breakfast burritos, but somebody forgot the meat, and the tortillas, so we made crêpes. Side note: I can now make and flip a perfect crêpe with 85% accuracy. Bref, after district meeting I got to do another baptismal interview for the Lausanne elders and it was so cool! Their ami had the strongest testimony and taught me a lot in the fifteen minutes we met together.

Saturday we had our branch Easter party, which was awesome. Elder Wilkinson and I were given our weight in chocolate bunnies and chickens (mind you, this is real Swiss chocolate, not that fake American stuff), so we've been doing well these last couple of days.

Then yesterday Aurélien and Abygaël were confirmed during church - what a cool experience! I love those two so much! 

Today I took Elder Wilkinson to visit the castle and cathedral in Sion, and the weather was great and I just love Switzerland! 

Anywho, I'm doing well and loving my mission. I'm so grateful for all that God has given me, and I'm mindful as ever of all I have as we approach Easter. I know that I'm loved, and I know that, thanks to Christ's sacrifice, I can improve and fix the mistakes that I make, and I can live with my family forever! 

Je vous aime! 

Elder Suisse 

"Je veux me faire baptiser aussi!"

Bonjour tout le monde !

This week was so exciting! We're currently driving from Geneva to Lyon, so apologies if this is a little scattered. 

Elder Wilkinson is the coolest! We get along great and he laughs at all my jokes, so that's nice. He has to drive now that he's here, and he's definitely never driven on the right side of the road before, nor has he driven a manual, and also the roads here are tiny and wavy and steep, so that's been exciting - we only almost died a few times when he hit the brake thinking it was the clutch. This transfer will be great! 

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty chill - we got lost in a sketchy part of Sion, which was pretty exciting, and then I made the greatest omelettes - definitely à highlight of my week. 

Thursday was so fun! The Lausanne elders came into Martigny to do the baptismal interviews for two of our amis, and it was a blast! 

Saturday was crazy! We did some service and had fondu with some members in the morning, then we got a call from the Hill Cumorah visitors center - apparently they'd received a call that a 79 year old sister had been in a skiing accident and was in the Sion hospital and needed a visit. It just so happened that we were driving past the hospital right that second, so we were able to stop in and give her a blessing, then we took her the sacrament on Sunday and set her up with members. Turns out she's a math teacher in Sudan, but is originally American, and has lived everywhere from Mongolia to Berlin to Latvia. Bref, it was super fun to get to know her and a big miracle! 

Sunday was incredible! We had an awesome time at church - five of our Amis showed up! Then we had a great lesson with one of them - Carine - and a member family and talked about the plan of Salvation and the spirit was so strong! Then to top it all off, Aurélien and Abygaël were baptized! I'm realizing now that I probably haven't talked a lot about them. They're 10 and 9 years old, respectively, and they're from a part member family, and they're the coolest kids ever! The program went great, and it was so cool to see them make such a big and good decision. Awesome day! 

Then today we visited Château Chillon on lac Leman (look it up, it's awesome) and I love Switzerland! 

Anyways, this week was so good, and this next week should be fun too (and super busy). Funny highlight - there was this little kid making noise during the baptism and at one point he was yelling "Je veux me faire baptiser aussi"- "I want to be baptised too!" 

Anyways, I'm loving the work and I'm having fun. 

Merci et je vous aime ! 

Elder Suisse 

Pics:

Lac Leman in Lausanne, from the window of Château Chillon

We (I) accidentally threw away the parking ticket, and elder Wilkinson was awesome enough to dig through la poubelle to find it

Our omelettes

The baptism ! 

Transfers

Bonjour !

Yesterday was transfer day, which is why I'm writing this today. Elder Maxwell left to Poitiers, and I received Elder Wilkinson (another British elder - cheerio!). 

This week was full of goodbye meals from members and tons of miracles! We've been seeing so many blessings lately - our teaching pool has grown so much, and it's been awesome! One thing I've really learned is that it's our job to work hard, and God provides blessings - but we don't choose what form those blessings will come in! Case and point, we've been working hard all week and hadn't really been seeing a lot of success from our actions. Then on Sunday one of the young women came to church with a friend who was interested in the church. We taught her and she loved it! She's progressing and has been loving every lesson. We saw miracles, even though they weren't directly related to all the work we'd put in this week. 

Anywho, sorry I don't have a lot of time today! But I'm loving the work and I'm so grateful for all the miracles we've seen this week and the everyday miracles that surround us! And I'm so excited for this transfer - my last in Switzerland before I have to head back to France - let's make it good!

Bonne semaine ! 

Elder Suisse 

Pics: 

The UN as we drove past

We visited CERN before we left Geneva and it was so cool! They wouldn't let the public see the particle accelerator itself, but it was still awesome

Elder Wilkinson and I in standstill traffic (what better time to take a picture?)

Miracles and Springtime!

Bonjour!

Okay, this week was the greatest! Like, so many cool things! First off, it's warm again! We got tons of snow last Tuesday and it was bitter cold, but then we walked out of the apartment yesterday and it was all gone and the sun was shining and it was beautiful! I don't want to jinx us, but we're hoping that means winter's ending?

Okay, so Tuesday was zone conference and wow, so good! It was all about the Book of Mormon and how we can better apply it to our lives and the lives of our investigators and members, and it was just such a blast! They had all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders take popular Book of Mormon stories and do something fun with them, and it turned out great! One elder played Samuel the Lamanite and stood on the stage and preached repentance to us while we threw balls at him, and I got asked to play Nephi and berate Laman and Lemuel (my ZLs) while 6.5 foot, Tahitian Elder Tehahe played God and narrated in his booming voice. It was such a great conference, and I learned a lot about helping our amis really understand what they read. 

Friday we had a "Ping pong and pancakes" activity at the chapel. Our pancakes were actually crepes, and almost everybody ditched at the last second, but it ended up being super fun! One of our awesome amis showed up and we had a great time, and my crepes were pretty fantastic if I do say so myself (;

Saturday was so cooool! So many things happened, but my favorite was a rendezvous we had with a new ami named Andrew. We had passed him previously, and he was busy, and we weren't feeling so positive about how our rendezvous was going to go. We showed up, he let us in, we started teaching and he got so excited! He pulled out a notebook and started asking so many questions. He loved the Book of Mormon, and kept marking all the verses I'd work into the lesson. At the end we invited him to be baptized and after we talked about it for a bit, he pulled out his planner and wrote down the date and was like "well, we'd better start meeting regularly then," and we just about died! My favorite part of the lesson was when we were talking about the pre-mortal life and told him that we'd lived with God, who we called Heavenly Father, being the Father of our spirits. He went quiet and then said that his whole life he'd called God "Dad" when he prayed and never knew why, but that he understood why now. It was such a tender moment!

 

Sunday we had another cool miracle. Two of our amis ended up not coming to church, and we were pretty bummed out about it, but then all of the sudden, in walks an ami that we had lost contact with a week earlier! He had walked, taken a bus, then a train, then walked another twenty minutes to come to church! We were so excited, and had a great lesson with him. 

This week was a great reminder that God's in charge! We'd been having a tough time, but it was cool to be reminded that we never know when things will turn up - we just have to stay positive and keep living how we know we should. Anywho, I'm loving my mission, and I'm so grateful for the chance we have to serve!

Merci et bonne semaine!

Elder Suisse

Pics:

The view from one of our member's houses because I love these mountains!

Geneva/Lausanne zone conference, with a giant wooden Book of Mormon