Toulouse- la Terre promise

Bonjour!

What a week! So much happened! I'll try to remember as much as I can!

Tuesday through Thursday we met with a lot of our amis and members to say goodbye, which was really tough - I'll miss my dear branche de Martigny! 

Friday we drove to Geneva and I said goodbye to Elder Wilkinson and caught a train to Lyon with a bunch of missionaries and we slept in Lyon.

Saturday morning we jumped on the train and four hours later I was in Toulouse! I love this place! We had a rendezvous that evening with an awesome family in the ward (Toulouse Captitole ward) and everyone is literally the coolest! Elder Johnson is just about the nicest person I know and I'm super psyched for this transfer!

Sunday I met the ward! I love this place already! The bishop is incredible, and all of the members I met are so solid! Apparently the ward moves like clockwork and loves the missionaries and I already love them all! And the missionaries here are so much fun - the sisters are from Colombia/Luxembourg and Scotland, and the Concorde Elders are American. 

Today's p-day was awesome! First off, groceries are like half the price as they were in Switzerland, so that was real nice. Then we went clothes shopping in downtown Toulouse with all the missionaries and it turns out Toulouse is basically Lyon but cleaner and mixed with Spain, from what I can figure. Then we met up with a recently returned missionary in our ward and went to a golfing range for a few hours. This place is the greatest and I'm so excited to meet our amis and get to know the missionaries in our zone!

In our rendezvous with la famille Sono on Saturday, we shared a thought on the temple. The daughter, about thirteen years old, had just gotten back from a trip to the Bern temple with the Toulouse stake. She said that when she got there, she cried because she hadn't wanted to come. Then at the end, she cried because she didn't want to leave. I'm so grateful for the temple, and for a loving Heavenly Father who encourages us to be sealed together forever with our families. I'm so grateful for my family too! And I'm so grateful for the chance I have to serve the people of Toulouse!

Merci, je vous aime! Allons-y!

Elder Suisse

Pics:

Us and the Concorde elders trying out the sunglasses at H&M

The squad

"We had a little extra time on pday... we're hilarious!"😉

Legality and transfers!

Bonjour!

This week was super exciting! We had some great rendezvous with our amis and members, and the weather is beautiful and I just love my Martigny branch! 

Thursday and Friday - Elder Wilkinson and I drove like six hours to Béziers to finish my legal work (I'm officially legal to live in France for another year!), and stayed the night with the elders there. Friday morning was our transfer calls! I'll be going to Toulouse to serve with Elder Scott Johnson - one of my mission heroes and I'm so psyched! Due to crazy French greves (strikes), transfer day will be this Saturday, which meant this Sunday was my last in Martigny... We got plenty of pictures with members, and ten of our less-active members showed up to say goodbye (I love everyone here so much!) 

Bref, I've so loved my time here in Switzerland and I'm excited to get as much done as I can this week! This has really been a transfer of miracles! I know that God loves us and is 100% aware of everything we do. He's with us in every happy moment and every heartache, and I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve Him. 

Je vous aime! Bonne semaine!

Elder Suisse

Pics (including goodbye selfies...):

More awesome mountains

Us and the Collards eating choux à la crème

Me and Marvin, basically my adopted brother

Les beau gosses de Martigny

La famille Grangier being serious, except for Abygaël

Zone conference and new amis!

Bonjour tout le monde!

This week was great! We found a lot of new people to teach and had an awesome zone conference! Also it's finally Spring here! Everything's green and covered in flowers and it's not cold anymore! I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I love Switzerland!!

Anywho, the week!

Tuesday we had a great exchange with the Renens Elders and had a great time hanging out with them.

Wednesday was zone conference! I got to present with Elder Tehahe on the converting power of our testimonies, which was a lot of fun. Then President Brown spoke about Easter and the beautiful opportunity we and our amis have been given to change our lives, thanks to the life of our Savior.

Saturday was super busy - we had a fantastic rendezvous with one of our amis, Andrew. We taught about the Restoration of the church and he got so excited. Afterwards he kept thanking us and saying we made his day, which made our day. Then we drove to Fribourg to do a baptismal interview for their investigator - it still kind of blows my mind that the Lord trusts 19 year old guys to take care of things that important. I was grateful for the opportunity though, and it's always a really uplifting experience :) After that we came back and had a lesson with a new Portuguese ami who was referred to us. Turns out his roommates were also interested and now we have a bunch of awesome new investigators.

Sunday was nice. Lots of less-active members came to church, and the room was full of people. None of our amis could make it, but testimony meeting was powerful and it was cool to see so many new faces.

Pday today was super chill - we bought groceries and cleaned the house and relaxed.

Anyways, it was an awesome week and I'm feeling great! Happy to be here doing what I need to be doing. I'm so grateful for the chance I have to serve and for the people that I meet. 

Merci pour le soutien, I love you guys!

Elder Suisse

Pics:

Classy black and white picture of some mountains

Some freaky zombie gnome statues we found in Monthey

Conference Generale

Bonjour !

This week was so crazy! District meeting, two exchanges and general conference! Lots of fun though! 

Tuesday we had a great exchange with the Lausanne elders. I got to see members I haven't seen since I was in Dijon! I love Lausanne! We ate tons of crêpes and did service and it was a party. 

Thursday was my last district meeting in Lausanne. It's weird that I have to leave at the end of this transfer (darn Suisse foreigner laws) - I love this place, and I love my district!

Friday we had an exchange with the Fribourg elders, which went well. We had some awesome lessons and got to do some door to door work, which is always a blast. 

Saturday was super chaotic. One of our amis fell through at the last minute, but then we got this random text from an Italian member who was vacationing in Sion and wanted to meet up. Then we had to drive as fast as we could to Lausanne for general conference, which was so good! We slept in the Renens apartment that night and were back in Lausanne on Sunday to finish watching the conference. 

I loved Elder Taylor's talk about what it means to be a child of God. I know that we're all children of a loving Père Celeste who "rejoices with every step we take towards Him". We're of noble birth, and we've got more support than we realize! I am especially grateful for this Easter season, when we celebrate God's greatest gift to us - His Son. I love Him and I'm so grateful for the chance I have to serve! 

Je vous aime ! 

Elder Suisse

Pics: 

Our district (proof that God does indeed stack districts) 

Us with our DMP eating the best burger I've ever consumed

Crêpes between conference sessions! 

Pday with the Renens Elders