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... 

Zone conference and washing machines!

Salut!

This week was awesome! Pretty much just normal crazy office stuff until zone conference yesterday! I bought a bunch of train tickets, emailed some of my new proprietaire bros and did some other office-y type stuff. Pretty normal week :)

Zone conference was so goooooood!!! I had a super cool interview with president, followed by the greatest presentations! President talked about a lot of really interesting ideas about goal setting and planning, and he bore testimony on the power and reality of miracles. Then Sister Mustard sang a musical number and the Spirit was so strong. Then President took the zone to the backyard of the church and pulled out his giant bow and some arrows and started shooting these water bottles on the other side of the yard (representing how we need to really aim for our goals if we want to see progression)! He let a few other people try and it was literally so cool! We also got to play human sized hungry hippos with balloons (thanks Soeur Brown's object lesson on opening our mouths). All in all, super spiritual and really fun. 

Not a ton of time today, so sorry for the shortish email! Just know that I know that this church is true! Miracles exist and happen a lot more often than we realize! J'aime mon Sauveur, son Évangile et ma chére famille!

Love you guys! 

Elder Suisse

Pics:

Hungry hippo game in the parking garage. I love our mission.

President Brown being awesome

Our washer's been out of action for week (I've been doing laundry in the apartment next to the office for a while now), and we do laundry for the huge amount of missionaries that pass through our apartment, which has been adding up. Finally got it fixed today though, so all is well! 

Road Trips and other fun stuff!

Hi All!

This week was pretty great! I don't have a lot of time today, but I'll try to get everything!

Monday we drove to Gex, on the border of Switzerland, for a bunch of legal stuff, which was super fun! Road trips and Suisse chocolate? Sign me up! I also got to teach the retab while sitting in the prefecture to a guy we met. I've definitely been missing that, so it was a really nice refresher.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were super chaotic, but not to out of the ordinary. We also had district meeting, which was a blast! Our zone leaders promised that if our zone reached a certain number of new amis, we'd all get to shove pie in their face, and it happened, so that was a nice stress relief (; Then we had dinner with all the seniors, which was also awesome.

Friday morning, all the senior couples left for their conference on Corsica (basically a big vacation), so Elder Walton and I were the only ones in the office all day. Thankfully nothing went horribly wrong, and it was pretty chill. 

Today the plan is to send off this email, then we get to go to the baptism of one of the Assistants' amis, which should be really cool!

I realized this week, while driving to Gex, that we live in a pretty incredible place! Our mission alone has everything from the ocean to grape vineyards to the Alps to Corsica and big cities like Lyon! This world is such a testament to me of the reality of God! I know He lives and that He created all of this for us! Maybe the most incredible part is that He knows us personally! This huge earth with billions of people, not to mention every other one of God's creations, and He knows and loves each of us personally! I'm so grateful for this world we live in, for my family, and for a Savior who made it possible for me to be with them for eternity! Il est là, et Il nous aime infiniment! Je vous aime! Merci pour le soutien!

Pics:

District meeting! Featuring Elder Lutu, my old comp, now my district leader!

Road trip with the Chinese Elders, Walton and Nurse Kemp!

Saturday the 14th!

Salut!

So this week totally flew by! Like, super busy 24/7 but nothing too crazy... We took "the Chunk" (our giant van that we use on transfer days) in to get repaired, I wrote a bunch of letters to tax agencies (Nothing feels more official then getting to sign documents and use an official France Lyon Mission stamp. Class.) and called a whole bunch of missionaries and assorted utilities people, which was chill. Oh, then yesterday we got invited to eat at a member's house with the other missionaries in our ward, which was awesome! As office elders, we don't really get to work a lot with members outside of church on Sunday, so I've really been missing it. We had an awesome fall-appropriate dinner with potatoes and veggies and a homemade pumpkin pie!

In other news, it's October! I realize we're already halfway through, but it didn't really hit me til today. Elder Walton and I got to go check out a couple small parks by the office for p-day today, and all the leaves were red and orange and it was so great! Plus it's not hot outside anymore! 

Okay, that's about all I've got. Just want to make sure y'all know that this gospel is true! It's really hard to live sometimes, and never easy to apply, but it's always worth it! So excited to keep serving the Lord! Et je suis infiniment reconnaissant pour notre Sauveur! Grâce à Lui, tout est possible! La vie aprés la mort, le repentir, et les familles eternelle! C'est magnifique!

Je vous aime!

Elder Suisse

Pics:

Elder Mustard, one of the office couple elders. Love this guy.

Our washing machine broke! Funny story actually - we realized yesterday that it was October, Friday the 13th, and we were like "wow, nothing bad happened all day!" and then all of the sudden we hear this huge banging noise from the kitchen, and it turns out the washing machine's messed up, so that was what we worked on for most of p-day today haha.

The headset is probably my favorite part of being an office elder.

Cloudy shot with some buildings that look cool, but that I haven't seen up close yet.

Conference and good weather!

Salut !

This week was great! The office is starting to finally feel normal! Sorry if this email is all over the place, it's been super chaotic, but I'll try and remember everything!

Tuesday was the missionary leadership conference! All the leaders, from Geneva to Bordeaux, came in, and it was such a party! Most of them slept in our apartment, which was fun until we had to figure out the shower situation. The conference was so awesome! President gave a killer presentation, and then we played life sized hungry hippos, which Soeur Brown managed to relate to the gospel (; super fun conference

Thursday was district meeting, which was also a blast. I got to meet a bunch of the missionaries there for the first time, and I got to hang out with some old friends! Elder Lutu is my new district leader, so that was fun.

Then today was our pday! Coolest one so far! We went to the Confluence, where the Rhône and Saône rivers meet, and took a ton of pictures, then went to the museum right there. All in all a crazy, but super fun week.

One of my favorite conference talks was from Elder Donald L. Hallstrom about miracles. I've been trying to really notice the everyday occurrences this week as they truly are - miracles. What a difference it's made! So grateful for my family and friends, who I love with all my heart. So happy to be here in France, and I'm so thankful for my Savior.

Thanks for all the support! Je vous aime!

Gros bisous !

Elder Suisse

Pics:

Me and Elder Thomas at MLC! He's the new district leader in Saint Etienne, so we got to hang out!

All the office Elders still in the mission

The Confluence museum!

Le Confluence ! Perfect weather, so beautiful!

Me and Elder Walton

"Only Lyon" sign

Office Week 1!

Salut !

Such a crazy week! Sorry I didn't do this yesterday, we had some stuff come up and I didn't have time (apparently pretty normal in the office, yikes...). Anywho, this week was awesome, I'll try and sum it up!

Monday: All the departing missionaries came into the office. We helped them get all their stuff ready for them to go home, then we got to go with them to dinner and a final testimony meeting at President's house. They slept at our apartment and we stayed up til 11 pm packing their stuff into the van. 

Tuesday: Woke up at 3:30 am to get them all to the airport. Stayed there til 9 am, when the last one left, ran home, showered, and came back to the airport to meet President, Sister Brown and the assistants to pick up the new bleus! So cool to be able to see them come in with new suits and shoes and smiles! I got to meet Soeur Thorn as well! She was in the MTC with me, went home due to injury, but is now back out! So exciting! Monday was super trunky with all the departing missionaries, but Tuesday made up for it! We ate dinner and were at President's again, then the new elders slept at our place. 

Wednesday: Bleus conference! They got their trainers and most of them headed out!

Thursday: We helped the remaining Bleus get some legal work done and head home.

Friday: All the bleus from the previous transfer came in to get their legality done as well. Spent most of the day running between the office and the préfecture.

Saturday: Elder Walton was sick, so we got to the office later, then had to find some Bleus who had taken the wrong train and ended up in Bordeaux. Hence why I'm emailing today (; then we had an office conference watching potluck with the office seniors!

Et voilà ! It's busy, but super fun! And conference was so good! We watch the morning sessions live (in the evening for us) and the others when we have extra time.

I loved the talk by Elder Holland about God's expectations for us. Exactly what I needed. I know I for one need to avoid "toxic perfectionism". God knows we're not perfect, but He sees our potential! And He loves us despite our flaws! So grateful for Him and for my family and for this gospel! Love you guys! Thanks for the support!

Je vous aime et vous souhaite une bonne semaine !

Elder Suisse

Pics:

Elder Walton, Elder Stahl (my office trainer) and myself

Our office conference party!

Soeur Thorn back in France!

Us going to the airport at 4 am

The departing heros

Office!

Salut !

So this week was crazy! Lots of fun stuff, but probably the biggest news is that I'm in the office now! In Lyon! President Brown called me last Saturday, a week before transfers and asked me to come in Wednesday. Sunday was hard because I had leave all the members after only five weeks, mais voilà. I came in Wednesday, and went straight to the apartment to unpack. I'm with Elder Walton (who I served in Lausanne with!) and Elder Stahl. I'm taking over from Elder Stahl, so he'll be training me for the next few days, before he finishes his mission on Monday. He's from Switzerland, so we make lots of jokes about the Suisse Elder getting replaced by Elder Suisse (;

Sadly that means I won't be doing normal proselyting for probably the next four transfers (six months...). But I get to help welcome and pick up all the new incoming missionaries, as well as see off all the departing ones. Besides that, I'm in charge with Elder Mustard of apartments for the mission (finding new ones, closing the old, moving) and taking care of the cars. Elder Walton does finances, and we both do tablets and transfer madness. Originally I felt pretty down about not being in the field for another six months, but I'm really excited to see how it works out. 

Thursday was weird! I haven't been in the office elder apartment since I came into the mission (it's where all the incoming elders sleep their first night in France). We had an office planning meeting with the office couples, the APs and President and Sister Brown, where we planned out next week's craziness, as well as how we'll be doing our conferences and stuff. 

Friday was transfers, so we bought tickets to get missionaries to all of their new areas! I did not appreciate how much work goes into getting 161 missionaries across France and Switzerland to their respective villes. Got it all done though! Elder Stahl also trained me on a lot of things. I learned a lot of legal vocab... 

Our pday in the office is on Saturdays, so today was super chill. We went to Ikea to buy some stuff for the apartment, got lunch and just hung out. 

That was basically my week. Big change, but hopefully it works out. I definitely don't feel smart or able enough to take care of everything I need to do here, but I'm starting to realize that my capabilities will be enough if I rely on the Lord to take care of me. Guess we'll see how it goes! Next week should be insane with all the coming and departing missionaries! 

Cool miracle from Wednesday! I got into the Lyon gare by myself with all my suitcases, and my new comps were nowhere to be seen. So I wandered for a bit, trying to find the main exit, and I started feeling lost, when someone behind me was like "Elder Suisse!" It was none other than Nathan Gaillard (son of the Gaillard family in Dijon)! So he helped me with my bags til I found elders Walton and Stahl. Dieu est grand ! 

Je vous aime ! 

Gros bisous ! 

Elder Suisse 

No pics this week, sorry...