6 months down! 7/17/17

Bonjour!

I can't believe I've already been gone for six months! That's a really long time! I'm starting to realize how important it is to make use of the time you're given! 

I love it here! This week was pretty crazy! I'll see if I can remember everything that happened! First off, Dijon is still awesome. Elder Lutu and I had a lot of fun this week, and saw quite a few miracles. Weird to think I'll have to leave this place eventually haha...

We had a couple cool lessons with our awesome amis this week! We taught Segolene on Tuesday, which went super well. I love lessons with her because 1- she's a fluent English speaker, so it's easier for me to get thoughts out how I want during rendezvous, and 2- she's already received all the missionary lessons, so now we're just trying to help her find answers and solidify her faith. Our lesson was great. We ended up just talking about what she's worried about testimony wise, and sharing things that helped us. I had the opportunity to just testify of my Savior and his Atonement in English, and the Spirit was there. Really good lesson, but she's still having troubles. I just love these people so much and it's frustrating sometimes when they won't or can't accept what you know will bless their lives. Ah well, it'll work out. Anywho, we also got a new ami! Eloise is the fiance of one of our members, and I'm excited to see her progress! What else did we do this week... We did a lot of contacting and became familiar with some more of our parks. Dijon is so beautifuuuuul! I love France!

Oh yeah!! We also had district meeting in Lausanne, and we got some big news! Come the beginning of August, every France Lyon missionary will have a Facebook account to help with the work. Idk how that'll work out, but we're excited to see! What else... After our meeting, we drove to Besancon for an exchange with Elder Moss and his new bleu, Elder Nasman. Love those guys! We contacted around a lot, and had some good lessons. Weird to be doing missionary work somewhere other than Dijon! We spent the 14th there in Besancon and it was cool to hear all the fireworks. Just ten days later than I'm used to back in the USA.

We also had an awesome rendezvous with Poe on Saturday! We went to a river and had a barbecue with him and his cousin and their families. Awesome discussion about forever families and the temple. Guys, this gospel is so cool! I'm so excited for the opportunity to help people find happiness in their families for the next two years, then to do the same myself afterwards. I love the temple!!

In other news, I've been thinking a lot about the Atonement lately. I've realized that every aspect of our life here on earth and the plan of salvation, especially repentance, is for our well-being. Even the consequences of sin exist to help us learn and become more like God. I don't fully understand everything my Savior has done for me, but I am so grateful for Him, and I'm so excited to share His love with those I love for the next year and a half, as well as for the rest of my life. God is real, and He love each and every one of us infinitely. 

Love you all! Gros bisous!

Elder Suisse

Pics:

Papa Moss and his bleu, Elder Nasman asleep on the way to Lausanne

The offset chairs in the Lausanne subway. Fun fact: Lausanne public transport is the steepest in the world. It's built on a bunch of hills!

Our newly organized district. Shoutout to the bleus!

Some awesome camping pics with my favorite islanders

Bonjour ! 

This week was great! Lots of changes, and some pretty awesome miracles! First off, Elder Lutu is super cool! He's in his 13th transfer, and he's way chill. He's from Idaho (Boise), but his dad is Samoan. He came in Monday, and we just worked hard all week. We did a lot of driving to outer villes, and had a lot of mangezvous with members. We also did a ton of contacting, which was less fun, but still good. Funny story, one day we were in a small village looking for a less active member, and this dude stopped us and asked who we were looking for, then started freaking out at us and asked us for identification and being super rude. Turns out there had been some robberies or something in the neighborhood and he was just extra suspicious, but we still had to practice some charity and not get mad at him. 

But I'm honestly so glad that I get to stay another transfer! I realized the other day that I'll be in Dijon for a quarter of my mission. Super excited to be able to keep working with the ward that I love here! Also our awesome amis ! I love Dijon :) 

This week has been reeeeaaaallllyyy hot, like hotter than Dijon has been for a long time. But it also rained a lot the last couple days, like huge storms, so that helped a lot. 

In other news, the Tour de France passed through our secteur on the 7th. We couldn't go, sadly, but some of our awesome members came to church Sunday with a bunch of souvenirs, so that was sweet. It's a big thing here, and everyone gets super excited about it. They closed down a bunch of roads in our secteur so they could come through, which actually messed up some of our plans haha. Really cool to be here for that! 

We had a really cool experience on Tuesday with Ségolène! We were there with one of the young women in our ward who's preparing for her mission, and I asked about how expérience with our last week's invitation went (she had no real religious background and was unfamiliar with the idea of having Christ as her Savior, so we asked her to fast, pray and study). She said she'd worked on it all week, and I asked her what she learned. She looked at us and just said super simply "yeah, I know He's my Redeemer." So cool! So we talked some more about something of her questions, and at the end of the lesson, we invited her to baptism on July 29th and she said yes! So we're hoping and praying that she continues to progress. Really really cool lesson! She texted us later with some other questions and concerns. She said she's worried with finding answers, so we asked her how she had gained the testimony that Christ loved her, and she said she didn't know for sure until we asked her in the rendezvous, then she just had this overwhelming feeling that she could and should say yes. So we're trying to help her realize how much faith she really, and how she personally receives revelation. Super awesome person! 

Also! I got to see Poe again! I thought I'd be transfered, so I was so glad to be able to hang out with him for another six weeks! He and Tatiana had their baby! Her name is super long and I can't pronounce it, but she's adorable! Love those guys! 

Anywho, pretty simple week, but really good! Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement, I love you guys! 

Elder Suisse 

Pics:

First comp pic! 

Poe, Tatiana and the baby! 

One of our cathedrals with the stormy sky is  the back - awesome! 

Transfer Madness! 7/3/2017

Bonjour ! 

Okay, this week was crazy! First off, transfer calls were on Friday! I'm staying in Dijon, and I'm receiving Elder Lutu. Four transfers in Dijon, I'm super excited to be able to keep serving the people I love here! It was weird to say goodbye to Elder Johnson and still stay here, but I'm super excited to stay. 

In other news, the work is really progressing here! We had a couple lessons with Ségolène, which went super well. One less active family contacted us and said they want to have their 9 year old daughter baptized, so we'll be starting lessons with her as well. 

We had some other cool lessons with some less active members. Miracle of the week: we were passing some less active members I'd found on our ward list in this tiny village. We had passed a couple other families and none of the visits had gone well, so we were feeling pretty down about it. We (Elder Shirley and I) rang the doorbell and this old dude answered the door, and we were like "ugh, here we go..." but then he invited us in! He gave us juice and a tour of his house, then we talked and hung out for like an hour. Then his wife got home and she was like "missionaries! We haven't had contact with the church for 30 years!" They asked for our number and the address of the church, then gave us a while bunch of homemade honey and told us to come back next week! Little miracle and much appreciated! 

Other fun stuff: had a primary water balloon activity. It ended up being super cold, so all the kids were throwing balloons at each other in coats. Super hilarious. 

Anywho, I'm in Lyon rn waiting for Elder Lutu to get here, so pretty psyched for that! I can't remember a whole lot of other stuff that happened. I've been thinking a lot about the Atonement this week, and I've learned a lot. So grateful for the plan that has been prepared for us! It's not easy, but that's what makes it so great and allows us to grow. I love you all, and I can feel the support. 

Gros bisous ! 

Elder Suisse 

Pics :

The primary activity

Selfie with Ségolène, Nomena and Elder Shirley

A TWO-WAY country road. Insane. 

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