Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas and I love my mission!

Bonjour tout le monde !

Well, this is it. My last weekly email. I can't believe it's been two years! So many good times and good people and aaaah, God is so good! This week was great - tons of rendezvous and miracles and work.

Tuesday we had our exchange with Valence. We visited a whole bunch of returning members and had a blast. 

Wednesday was our Christmas conference in Lyon. Tons of presents and songs and a great devotional from the Giraud-Carriers. 

Friday we got to visit the Langer family and ate oysters and smoked salmon, plus a bûche de Noël. I love our ward so much! 

Saturday we visited two returning member families and had awesome meals with both (including raclette!). 

Today we're in Valence for my last real pday. We watched Coco with the district and it was awesome and I'm so grateful for all the people I've met here! I'll be in Lyon next Monday and on the plane the next morning, so this'll be my last email. I'm so grateful for my mission! I'm also excited for Christmas tomorrow! What better time to be serving the Lord? I'm so grateful for my Savior and for all He's taught me these last two years. I know He's there for each of us and that God loves us despite all of our bêtises. How grateful I am to have been able to serve Him and learn about Him. I've always said that we as missionaries learn so much more than we teach. I promise that our Heavenly Father knows and loves each of us and that Jesus lived and died and lived again so that we can too. Stay as close to Him as you can and search for Him this Christmas season as diligently as those wise men did.

Je vous aime ! À bientôt :)

Elder Suisse

Pics:

Last pday with the bros! 

Dinner with the Langers! 

We were all wearing beanies so naturally we took a picture

Vive le vent!

Bonjour tout le monde !

Awesome awesome week! And, dare I say it, my second to last weekly! Here are my highlights!

-We had an exchange with Valence, which was awesome. Lots of contacting - I'm starting to really enjoy finding and am pretty sad to not the be able to do it much longer... Gotta enjoy it while it lasts!

-English class! Four amis came and we had a party again learning food-related vocab. 

-Christmas party with the ward on Saturday! So so fun! We had 14 amis show up and sang Christmas songs til our throats were sore. Fun fact, jingle bells is "vive le vent" in French.

-Church was great on Sunday, but then Elder Sprague was sick for the rest of the day, which was less great. So I got a nice long scripture study. I love the scriptures! How awesome is it that we have advice, straight from Heavenly Father, whenever we need it! 

-Today we're in Valence for pday. We visited an awesome chocolate factory and I ate way too much sugar. France is the best! 

One scripture from my study today comes from the Bible 

Matthew 6:22 - The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

What affects how we feel and who we are? How we act and what we think about! The best way to feel the spirit and be led by it is by focusing on things that bring light. So grateful for the scriptures and for all the light in my life! And for my mission!

Je vous aime ! 

Elder Suisse 

Pics:

Another castle pic from last week

We made African food with one of our members, Ella. So good!

Moving trip. I love our ward! 

Trip to the chocolate factory

Me frying plantains 😂

La fete des lumieres

Bonjour tout le monde !

This week was crazy but, as has become the pattern, felt even shorter than the week before! Here are my highlights! 

We had a rendez-vous with a super energetic lady named Nadia. We gave her a tour of the chapel and were planning on teaching the restoration of the church, but when we got to the computer lab, we started talking about family history and I ended up testifying about baptism for our ancestors who didn't have the chance themselves. She was surprised for a second, then she thought about it and was like "yeah, that makes a lot of sense!" then said she loves the idea and that she'll come to church on Sunday. Then the next evening we got a call from a random woman saying that her friend Nadia had referred her to us! So cool! 

We ate lunch one day at a member family's home and it was so good I decided to throw it in the weekly. They have this ancient French house from the early 1800s and it was awesome. Then we had district meeting this week and I gave my departing testimony. I love our district! 

Saturday we were invited to a returning member family's home to celebrate la fête des lumières (Google it, it's so cool) with their family. It's a mom and her two kids and it was so fun! The explained to us the origins for the holiday and it's so cool! On December 8 a long time ago the plague was hitting Europe and was heading for Lyon. Everyone got together and lit candles and prayed together, and the plague just passed on both sides of the city and Lyon was saved! Anywho, now on Dec 8, families in the Lyon area all put candles in the windows and talk about what they're grateful for! I'm totally celebrating it from now on. We ate tartiflette with them and put the candles on the windowsill. I thought about my mission and just how grateful I am for all of the members and friends and scriptures and prayers. Missions are miracles and I'm so grateful for mine!! And for my family and above all for my Savior! 

Je vous aime ! 

Elder Suisse

Pics:

Cool picture while we were waiting for a train

Our pday trip today! We were on a mountain in a castle, taking pictures of another castle on an island. So cool. 

It's December!

Bonjour tout le monde !

This week was pretty eventful! Lots of fun stuff and plenty of cool people. 

Monday and Tuesday was our exchange with the Elders in Grenoble. For pday we hiked this big mountain and explored the ruins at the top, which was awesome. The exchange itself went really well! I was with Elder Lewis and Elder Sprague - we passed a Spanish-speaking sister in he ward and planned on sharing the light the world video. But we get there and are let in by a few woman we'd never met, who only spoke Spanish. So I got to practice my high-school Spanish and we shared a different video and it went really well! Turns out they weren't members and were pretty interested in the message. Cool miracle!

Wednesday we had a big conference in Lyon, which was great! We talked a lot about how to plan for our amis and how to be lovingly bold. I learned so so much. I got to have an interview with Elder de Feo, which was really special. He asked how long I'd been out and I told him and he was like "oh, you're going home soon!" Then he asked me what my first name was and called me David for the rest of the interview and said I needed to get used to it haha! He told me to keep doing what I know I need to do when I get home and to set my sights on the temple. Super cool guy! 

Thursday was English class, which went great. We learned names for animals and played charades and I'm not sure I've ever laughed harder. 

Today we visited the Christmas marche with the Bellessas. We bought churros and chestnuts and it was fantastic. 

My spiritual thought today comes from Elder de Feo. At the end of the interview he asked if he could pray for me, and during the prayer I just kept thinking about how many questions I had and how I had no clue what to do now or after my mission or how it was all going to work out. Then right then he asked in his prayer "and please bless him that he may discern by the Spirit what he needs to do," and all the stress left. Heavenly Father answers prayers, and when we're stressed, n'oublions pas que tout ira bien un jour! God's in charge :)

Je vous aime ! 

Elder Suisse 

Pics:

Churros at the marché with the Bellessas 

A bunch of pictures from our hike last week