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

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 !