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Salut tout le monde ! 

This week was crazy! We started off with an exchange here in Béziers with some new Elders whose comps were in Lyon for MLC. I got to hang out with Elder Weber all day, which was super fun. I don't know the ville very well so we definitely just got lost all day haha. We worked a bunch with the Klemasz couple in training members on their responsibilities as far as missionary work goes. 

Then on Thursday we went to Perpignan for our district meeting, which was awesome! Love my new district! The meeting went well - big news - we got Facebook! We're just supposed to use it for missionary purposes (posting spiritual thoughts and contacting amis), but it should be really cool! 

Then on Friday we organized an awesome branch activity where we played games with everyone (bowling, made people eat donuts off strings, etc) so we could invite amis and get to know the members and they all had an awesome time. I love my branch already! 

On Sunday Elder Shirley gave a killer talk, but none of our amis ended up showing... Hopefully next week though :) 

Today we got to spend time with the sœurs in Perpignan, who were here for their legality stuff, which was a blast! We checked out a sweet cathedral and got some lunch. 

Anywho, gotta go but I love y'all tons! 

Gros bisous ! 

Elder Suisse 

I forgot! Crazy story for the week! I had a freaky/ended-up-being-kind-of-cool thing happen the other day! There's this super odd older less active lady in our branch named Aimée, and she has tons of issues. Like, she texts us all the time saying she's being attacked by demons, and asks us for blessings like three times a week. So then the branch president told us she's actually on like eight different drugs and is supposed to be in a mental institution and that he doesn't feel comfortable with us seeing her until she gets some professional help. She seemed super nice, just kind of weird when we talked to her before, so we didn't really believe him. But when she texted us Friday to come visit, we didn't respond, and like two days later we got a text full of french cuss words and really vile, passive agressive stuff from her. So long story short we were super confused and mad, and were thinking about just going over to her house to confront her and get her to talk to the branch pres about her problems, but then we were praying about it, and in the middle of the prayer I suddenly realized that "Aimée" means "loved" in French, and I had this feeling like "whatever you do about the situation, remember she's loved by Someone." Anywho, we're still going to try to get her to a mental hospital, but it was a pretty cool experience. 

Okay love you guys have a good week!

Pics:

Little French and Romanian kids eating donuts with their faces

Us eating donuts with our faces

Cool alley in Béziers with umbrellas hanging all of the place

Sick organ in the cathedral 

The sisters doing some door to door

Wake Up Béziers! 8/21/17

Salut tout le monde ! 

Hello from the Mediterranean! This week was fantastic and so fun and so spiritual! Also so hot! It's finally cooling down, but we still have five fans going full time around our apartment. We also have this giant bottle of water that we freeze and put in front of the fans during the night to get the room almost down to room temperature. So good (; 

Anywho, what all did we do this week? Good question! We've been so busy, it's all kind of a blur! We only had one Ami when I arrived, so we contacted a lot this week in this super cool park with all these awesome statues of famous people. Elder Shirley tells me it was made in the early 1800s, so that's cool. We've had one or two rendezvous with members, and I love these people already! I'll do a little sum up of our branch in just a sec. Oh yeah! We almost visited the Mediterranean the other day with the Klemasz couple. It's in our secteur, and we had a rendezvous less than five minutes from it, but there were so many people, and we didn't have time. Next time though :) we also had some elders come here to work on legal stuff, so we got to do an exchange, which was fun. Most of the time though, we have so many rendezvous we're rarely in our apartment! 

Sunday was so good! It was my first Sunday ever in a branch! So different than a ward, but so cool! Everyone was so nice and friendly! I got to give my testimony, and even though there were no more than thirty faces looking back at me, every one of them was smiling! 

Some of the members I've met so far:

Patrick - deaf guy and incredible cook who really should be translated by now. Literally so much faith. 

Steve - our DMB (branch mission leader) who comes from Haiti and speaks English and French and works as a radio announcer 

Carlito - cool guy who just got back this week from his mission in Tahiti. Super psyched to help us with lessons! 

Les familles Matai et Tomescu- Two Romanian families. French is hard to understand, but idk if I've ever felt so much love from one group of people. The Matais came in Sunday with their family of six, and every one of them hugged me when I tried to give them a handshake. Love them already! 

And so many babies! Like, it was kind of hard to focus in sacrament because they were so cute. There was one African baby and one French baby sitting in front of us just speaking gibberish to each other and laughing the whole time. 

So one of the most wonderful parts of our beautiful Béziers is the Klemasz couple! They're our awesome missionary couple who live here and with whom we work almost every day. They've been here for one transfer but we're gone for most of it, so they're about as new as me. They're from Australia and are both converts to the church. Their job is to train the leadership here and to help us with the work. They definitely spoil us. They had things to do in Switzerland the other week, and they brought us back so much Swiss chocolate! Soeur Klemasz is basically my second mom or grandma or something. She's an awesome cook who speaks a tiny bit of French, and so nice. Elder Klemasz is the coolest dude! He used to fish for sharks all the time, and was a stake president in Australia before coming out here on a mission. He provides an awesome mixture of spiritual wisdom and super lame dad jokes. Example: today Soeur Klemasz said something and Elder K yelled "surely you can't be serious!" and elbowed Elder Shirley in the side (get it? Shirley, surely?) Anywho, naturally we're best friends. Neither of them really speak French, so lately we've been going over there about once a day to help translate for branch members they're training. 

So we have an alarm on our phone that's just this dude singing "wake up Béziers!" Sister Klemasz heard it and thought it was super funny, so now every time there's a miracle (which is often if you just keep your eyes open), all four of us shout "wake up Béziers" and wave our hands in the air. Honestly, I'm so excited and happy to be here and to help wake up Béziers. I've also started to realize how essential faith is! This week we've found two new amis, and I know if we keep giving God the chance to work through us, we'll see miracles! Keep up the prayers you guys, we need them :) 

Anywho, what else is new?

-I bought a couple new short sleeve shirts for this weather, and I'm happy to say the initial sunburn has finally faded! I'm finally starting to tan! 

-We don't have a car, and I definitely miss that. Thankfully the Klemasz couple does, so we did groceries with them today. Hallelujah!
-I haven't had to pull out Google translate since I got here!
-I solved a Rubik's cube for the first time ever!
-Elder Shirley has been teaching me to play the guitar. Goal is to be tan and able to play a couple songs on the guitar in a couple transfers. Well see how that goes.
- The Klemasz couple has rubbed off on me. I've started saying "rubbish" in place of "garbage" and "chips" instead of "fries"

Anyways, awesome week, it's awesome here. Spiritual thought for the week comes from a picture that someone gave me (I think it was Elder Laney? I can't remember, sorry Papa Laney). Anywho, I'll send it with this email. I made it the background on my tablet. It's a painting of the Savior reaching down into the water towards us, with a smile on his face. This week I've thought a lot about my Savior and how he can reach us NO MATTER how far we've sunk. He's sunk lower than us all. I love him with all my heart and I'm so grateful for everything he did and does for me and my family. I also realized that, as members, or job is to reach down and help our brothers and sisters rise. That's why we're here as missionaries! We help people realize there's a way out of that water, and the look on their face when they realize how sweet that air tastes is the most wonderful thing. I'm so glad for the opportunity I have for the next two years to be the representative of my Savior, ready to grasp someone's hand and guide them out of that water. I can't help but draw a parallel to baptism. I love being a missionary. It's hard sometimes. People can be really really mean, and it's definitely not always fun. But it's so worth it to find that one! Christ did everything for us and would do it again in a heartbeat. It's the least we can do to open our mouths :) 

Love you all so much

Gros bisous ! 

Elder Suisse 

Pics:

Christ reaching for Peter 

Cool super-old fountain thing in a park

Freaky statue. I think it's the devil? Idk, it's weird. 

Bienvenue à Béziers! Welcome to Beziers!

Salut !

Holy cow, crazy week ! First off, we got transfer calls on Friday! I'm currently writing this from our wonderful little chapel here in Béziers! It's in the south of France, right next to the Mediterranean Sea. The south is so crazy! It's really really hot and humid, and the accent is not at all what I'm used to. Imagine moving from Washington down to somewhere sketchy in Southern California. That's pretty much what happened. I love it so much though! I really miss Dijon, but I'm so excited to see what the Lord has planned for me here in Béziers! 

I'll run over everything that happened real quick:

This week was filled with awesome rendezvous with members and some pretty cool miracles. We went to Besançon for one last exchange with Elder Moss (he's officially finished his mission!) which was a blast. 

I gave a talk Sunday (first one totally in French) with the subject "j'irai où tu veux" (I'll go where you want me to go), which was especially appropriate considering our transfer calls had been that Friday! Anywho, after church I had to say goodbye to all of the Dijon members I love so much. So very grateful for everything they've taught me the last six months. I'll love them forever :) I love my bleuville! 

Monday morning I drove myself and Elder Moss with all of our bags to Lyon, where I dropped him off and picked up Elder Trapani (awesome Italian guy who I think I've mentioned in past emails? He was moving from Renens, Switzerland to Limoges, France) and we drove three hours to Montpellier. It was crazy to see the landscape change as we went further south! And so nice to see the sea! In Montpellier we gave the car to some other elders (Au revoir, ma belle voiture. Six months and over 17,000 kilometers...) and I met my new comp, Elder Shirley ! We served right next to each other when he was in Besançon, so we're actually really good friends already - so excited to serve with him!

Anywho, we took a train from Montpellier to Béziers, and I had my first real encounter with a southerner! This shirtless drunk man started yelling at us in French to stop speaking American and start speaking French "ou Arab. C'est meilleur." He was too out of it to be a real problem and he definitely wasn't the first person to shout at me on the mish. Best part was when we were trying to get all my bags off the train. This nice lady, who'd been trying not to laugh the whole time he was shouting at us, smiles and says "bienvenue quand même," and laughs and gets off the train. Bienvenue à Béziers ! 

Besides the heat and the insane accent (example:

-English: Do you want some bread? 

No thank you, it's good

-Normal French: Vous voulez du pain ? 

No merci, c'est bien

-Southern French: Vous voulez du PANG ? 

No merci, c'est BEEANG) 

, I love this place. The apartment is nice, the city is beautiful, Elder Shirley is the greatest, and we have a senior couple here who we work with (Elder and Sister Klemasz. They're Australian.) Right now is "La Feria," a Spanish-influenced fair with bull fights, dancing and parties. All things we can't go to as missionaries. It started on Thursday, ends tonight, goes til like 4 am every morning, and means we are advised to stay out of centre-ville due to large crowds and large amounts of alcohol, so I've been mostly unpacking and stuff. I haven't met any amis yet and only one member, but I've heard lots of good things and I'm super excited to see what the Lord has planned for me here! 

Okay, I think that's everything for now! 

Love you guys! 

Gros bisous ! 

Elder Suisse 

Pics:

Zone Conference two weeks ago

Me and the crew (Elder Moss, Elder trapani and Soeur Yee On- My favorite people!) 

An insanely expensive watch

Our "How to use Facebook" fireside 

Me with the Nizets

One last pic with Poe and Tatiana 

La Famille Serrano 

La Famille Casagrande 

Pics part 2:

Frere Bassi

Me and Trapani - Road trip

Palm trees - We're not in Dijon anymore

The sea

A cool mall

La Famille Gaillard

Our new chapel - a remodeled home

Zone Conference and S'mores!

Salut!!!

This week was pretty great! I remembered to bring my journal with me today, so I should be able to remember a few things this week! 

First off, I love Dijon! It's starting to sink in that transfer calls are this Friday, and I'll probably be leaving my wonderful bleu-ville! I just love the members here so much, and the ville is beautiful, and it's just so awesome! But I'm also super excited to see some more of France or Switzerland, and meet some new people, so it's chill. 

Highlights of this week included:

Two awesome rendezvous with our new ami, Katinia. She's the almost-nine-year-old daughter of a less-active Samoan family, and we're hoping her progression has a good effect on them! Every time we teach a lesson, her job is to teach it to her family for family night, and it's honestly the awesomest thing! We also had a great rendezvous with our other new ami, Gloire! He's from the Congo and speaks French and Lingala (idk how to spell it), and he's super chill. Hopefully he keeps progressing this week. 

We ate s'mores on Tuesday with a family in our ward. I have not been able to find marshmallows ANYWHERE, but apparently Haribo makes them, so that was good to know. Not exactly the same as the U.S., but a good effort and a nice reminder of home. Speaking of food, I decided I wanted to eat healthier (I'm worried that all the cheese and chocolate will start adding up), so today when we were shopping, I bought a bunch of fruits and stuff, and I was going to buy cucumbers and stuff, but guess what?! Ranch dressing is not a thing here! So that was a big disappointment. On the bright side, pistachios are super cheap, so that was nice to find out. 

We've had pretty crazy weather this week. It's either like 40° C and humid and awful, or it's pouring rain and lightning, so that's been cool. I'm still counting my blessings that I got to serve up north during the summer!

On Friday we had zone conference! Always so much fun! President brought this giant sword for part of his presentation on how Facebook will be a double-edged weapon, helpful but potentially dangerous, so that was interesting. We also got to hear the departing testimonies from three of our awesome missionaries, including Elder Moss, who's been in Besançon since I entered the mission. I literally love our zone so much! Everyone is so great! Go Lausanne! 

Today we decided to do the full official tour of Dijon for my possibly last p-day here. We stopped in a couple of museums and got very sunburned walking around. I'm gonna miss this place, but I'm excited :)

Spiritual thought this week comes from some thoughts shared by our awesome members this fast and testimony meeting. First off was a couple with a daughter out on a mission who talked about missionary work and how they are happy to make the sacrifice of not having their child with them for a while, because they've seen the joy that the gospel brings to their life, and know it has to be shared. Then an older sister gave an awesome testimony about the Atonement. She made the observation that, as hard as the physical pain involved was, the mental and emotional agony had to have been worse. A perfect Being willingly took sin, something totally opposite to everything he was, upon himself for us. So grateful for Him and everything He's done for me. I get to live with my family forever, and all it takes is my best effort, as imperfect as that is. I love this gospel you guys. We are so blessed! Love you all, thank you for your prayers and keep being great!

Je vous aime!

Elder Suisse

Pics: 

A cow in one of the paintings at the museum. Couldn't resist taking a picture.

Awesome sunset in Besançon

Cool buildings in centre ville

Giant swords in one of the museums. Literally taller than me.

More cool buildings. Dijon might not have an ocean, or mountains, or any cool hikes, or even a Burger King, but we have a lot of cool buildings.

I love our Mission!

Bonjour tout le monde!

This week was great! We spent most of the week out of our secteur, which was fun but I'm so happy to be back here in Dijon! It's been raining quite a bit here, which has been a huge blessing! So tired of the heeeeaaaat...

Monday we ate dinner with Soeur Cuisiat, Jean and Ségolène, which was a blast! Jean is super old and is confined to a wheelchair, but he was so sassy, we were all dying the whole time! We talked about patience and how that applies to receiving answers to prayer, which really helped Ségolène, I think. Plus Soeur Cuisiat makes a killer chicken and mushroom rice, so that was a nice plus.

Tuesday was pretty lowkey. We saw Ségolène again in the morning and had a great lesson on the Atonement, then made passbacks and contacted for the rest of the day.

Wednesday was also very chill. We had a rendezvous with a less-active member, proselyted for a while, then drove to Bienne, Switzerland! That place is so cool! It's the only city in our mission that overlaps with the German mission, so we got to meet the Bienne German elders, which was cool, then we slept at the French Elders' apartment.

Thursday we woke up early and drove to Lausanne, where we had an awesome district meeting (Shoutout to Elder Moss. He's been in Besançon since I got to Dijon, and he's finishing his mission in two weeks!). I love our district so much! After our meeting, we drove back to Besançon, where I got to do an exchange with Elder Nasman, a brand new bleu! We contacted and talked to a lot of people, and I got to reminisce about my first transfer days. So weird we're almost to number five already! Time's moving too fast! That evening we ate wtih some members there, and I got to try raclette for the first time! Definitely one of my top five favorite foods ever (pictures enclosed).

Friday we continued our exchange, and I got to meet some really cool people! We had a lesson in one of the parks with a girl named Henriqua, and I met a cool little kid from Sri Lanka. He spoke French and some English (but pretty much only swear words. He asked us for some new ones, and I almost had him convinced that the word "monkey" was super offensive). It was actually really nice to meet some people outside of Dijon. I'll miss this place when I'm gone, but I'm excited to hopefully see some more of France or Switzerland in a couple of weeks!

Saturday we did some service at another member's house and ate hotdogs with them before driving home. That evening we went with Ségolène to a Chinese buffet that we'd found at the other side of Dijon, which was super fun. I learned the hard way that "seiche" is French for "cuttlefish," which made Elder Lutu's day... Also, we got some sad news. Ségolène is leaving with her family for Portugal on Tuesday and won't get back til the end of August, so I probably won't be able to see her again. She'll keep progressing though, and I'm super excited for her and happy I had the chance to get to know her.

Sunday was a blast! We had so many visitors! Apparently there were like three different stake things going on, so we had like fifteen extra people from that. Then we had a random woman and her daughter show up (relatives of one of our members maybe), and they were super interested in learning, so we should start teaching them soon! I didn't have to translate today, so I got to sit with our wonderful amis. After that, the young adults got together and had pizza and invited us, which is always cool. Then that evening we saw an awesome miracle! We passed a less-active family that we've been trying to get a hold of for AGES (la famille Taukafa). They're Tongan, and are never home. But yesterday they were! So they let us in, and Frere Taukafa told us how he wants his almost 9 year old daughter to be baptized, and she agreed, so we taught her the first lesson right there! They fed us some awesome island curry and invited us to come back tonight for the next lesson! Super cool!

Today we played ping pong with an older member, then took advantage of the July soldes one last time before they're over (I bought two sweet ties, in case y'all were wondering). 

Anywho, sorry for the giant email, but it was a crazy week! Lots of fun stuff and some sad news, but overall a blast. So glad to be here in this beautiful place surrounded by incredible people. I love this church! I know it's true! I'm so grateful for a Savior who lived a perfect life so we don't have to. Thank you all for your prayers and emails and I'll talk to you later!

Gros Bisous!

Elder Suisse

Pics:

The raclette maker thingy. You melt the cheese on the bottom, grill the meet on the top, then put it on some potatoes. Dream come true.

Me and Elder Nasman at an awesome park in Besançon

Me and that one kid who only knows cuss words

Miracles! And it's not as hot as last week!

Bonjour tout le monde!

This week was pretty awesome! As shown by my subject line, it wasn't nearly as hot as last week, and the high for this next week is supposed to be 28° C, which is better than it's been for a while! So that's been really nice. Other than though, it's been a pretty low-key week. Lots of passing less active members and a good number of rendezvous. We were in our secteur all week, which was nice, but I'm excited to travel some more this upcoming week. We should be in Bienne, Switzerland tomorrow, followed by Lausanne for district meeting, then an exchange in Besançon. Super psyched!

Let's see if I can remember everything that happened this week - last week's p-day feels like yesterday! I'll try to hit any highlights... 

Monday we played ping pong with Frere Ollivry, an older, classically French man in our ward, and he definitely kicked our butts.

Tuesday we had a really cool miracle!! We were contacting, and I was feeling pretty discouraged about it, as we hadn't had a single conversation all day. We were going to work our through centreville back to our apartment, and Elder Lutu stopped this girl about our age. We started talking to her, and she was like "Uh, je ne comprends pas," and we were like "Oh! Do you speak English?" and she was like "Yep!" So it turns out she was born in Macedonia, had lived in Canada all her life, and was on a week long vacation here in France by herself. We talked about the family for a bit, and she told us all about her life. After a bit, she was like "do you guys want to go sit at a cafe and talk for a bit?" and we were like, "uh, of course!" So we sat and gave the entire first and second lessons (Funny side note: She ordered coffee, and we ordered water, but the waiter messed up and brought us three coffees, and we laughed so hard). She'd been born Catholic, but didn't really believe in God. It turns out she was like 20 and had had a really hard life, and was here alone in France to "find herself". She'd seen missionaries before, but all she really new about Mormons was from the musical (we were like, "yikes"), but she was super interested and asked a lot of really good questions. We finished talking about the plan of salvation, then ended up just talking about life and books and popular TV shows (Elder Lutu wasn't home to see "Stranger Things," so we filled him in). Then we started talking about the gospel again, and had literally the coolest conversation! It was like everything that came out of our mouths hit her right in the heart. All three of us ended up sharing a lot about the troubles we'd been dealing with lately, and it was really cool! Honestly, it was an awesome conversation that touched all three of us. We ended up talking for three hours right there in the cafe. We only had french Books of Mormon, so she took a plan of salvation pamphlet. Anywho, as we were leaving she said "After today, I'm not sure I believe in coincidences. You've blessed my life." So cool! Favorite quote: at one point, she shared something really difficult she was dealing with, and me and Elder Lutu were like "Well, our problems are literally nothing compared to what you're burdened with," and she corrected us and said "there's an old Macedonian proverb that says 'we've all got our own mountain to carry.' We can't compare one person's burdens to another, because we're each unique." And that is so true! The only person who can understand us is our Savior. This is true for each and every person who has ever lived or will ever live on this earth. He came here, lived and died, and was resurrected for us and would do it again in a heartbeat. I am so grateful for Him, and for the opportunity I've been given to let go of the mistakes that weigh me down, and progress. I also realized what a difference our view on our origins makes on our lives. When we have the knowledge that we are sons and daughters of an Almighty God, with infinite potential, all of the sudden this life has meaning, and every person you meet on the street has value. I am so so thankful for this light that we've been given!

Anywho, sorry for the huge story there haha. The rest of the week was awesome too. We visited a bunch of members (including Poe, who made me eat more food than I've ever eaten in my entire life), and la famille Guerin (who made a pistachio raspberry cheesecake. Life changing.)

Sunday was awesome!! We ended up with a whole bunch of visitors and people that don't normally come. There was one guy visiting his girlfriend, who lives in our ward, and he didn't speak English, so I got to translate for the first time. It went super well! I was able to keep up probably 90% of the time, and had no problems translating when he wanted to answer a question. Awesome! We also had three catholic visitors who no one knew and who showed up separately, so that was interesting. During sunday school they kept saying stuff like "No, I'm pretty sure infant baptism is the way to go," and then agreeing with each other, which was awkward. But we got to teach them the first lesson after church, which ended up being super cool.

Anyways, awesome week and super full of miracles! I'm so grateful for the chance I have to be hear learning about myself and my Redeemer! Final thought, we sang "Mon Dieu, plus pres de toi," (Nearer my God to Thee) in sacrament on Sunday. It's also the song we got to preform in the MTC, and I love it so much! Not sure if I've shared this before, but the French version of the song has a fourth verse that the English one doesn't, and I really like it (forgive my translation mistakes):

4. Au plus profond des bois,

Dans le désert,

J’ai vu, tout près de toi,

Ton ciel ouvert.

Mon âme emplie de joie,

A pu trouver ta voie!

Mon Dieu, plus près de toi,

Plus près de toi!

4. In the deepest forest,

In the desert,

I saw, very near to you

Your open heaven.

My soul filled with joy,

I could find your voice!

My God, nearer to thee,

Nearer to thee.

I love this gospel you guys. I love my God, I love my Savior, I love my family, and I love every person I meet here in France (no matter how many times I hear "ça m'interess pas" (; ). I'm so grateful to be able to feel God's love and to know that He is there. It's this knowledge and my desire to share it with those I love that keeps me here, away from my family and friends. It's hard, but I've never felt closer to my Savior.

Merci pour tout le soutien and l'amour! Je vous aime!

Elder Suisse

Pics:

The inside of one of our many cathedrals here in Dijon

The coolest name ever

Elder Lutu, ready to battle the massive spider on the bathroom door

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