Exchanges in beautiful Toulouse!

Bonjour tout le monde !

It'll be brief this week, lots to do! 

We had such a great week! Our amis are still being pretty flaky, but we're working hard and finding plenty of new people to teach. 

Tuesday was our exchange with the assistants. I was with with Elder Agnie, from French Polynesia. We're actually best friends, and the exchange was so much fun. We had some killer rendezvous, found tons of new people and ate with a Tahitian family in the ward - la famille Gournac. We sang some hymns in Tahitian, and it was decided that I'm actually an islander myself.

Thursday we had an exchange with the Carcassonne Elders, and I was with Elder Wagner, from Logan, Utah! We were invited to a "Soirée partage" at an ami's house, and Elder Wagner got into a major Bible bash with an evangelical preacher while I had a nice conversation about eternal families. Then we taught some folks and had a good time reminiscing about Utah.

Saturday was the baptism of a young boy in the ward, which was so fun! Lots of food, and a lot of amis showed up. I love our ward so much! 

Yesterday we had a barbecue with a Nigerian/French family and it was great. You meet literally so many great people on mission. I love my mission! The ward is fantastic and I'm reminded every day of the love that God has for all of His children. Don't ever forget how much you're loved!

Elder Suisse 

Pics:

Selfie with a Scot, a Canadian and a whole bunch of my favorite islanders

Artsy photo of some buildings, as I didn't take many pictures this week

Zone conference and tortillas!

Bonjour tout le monde !

I can't believe it's been a whole week since the last time I sent one of these! We're already halfway through September! It's been cooling off here, which is much appreciated. Still not cool enough for a sweater, but we don't melt anymore when we step outside! Life's good here in Toulouse :) 

Not a ton happened this week, but we got a lot done and did a lot of service, so success! 

Tuesday was zone conference. We had like 70 people at the chapel and all over Toulouse and it was crazy but really nice go see everyone. Elder Thomas and his companion came in the day before and we got to visit a member together - first rendezvous together since the MTC! Conference was fantastic. We talked a lot about goals and seeing the needs of those around us. The Giraud-Carriers were so good! They were joking with everyone and testifying and wow I love them. Good conference but it's nice to have our apartment back! 

Thursday we did a ton of service. Gardening and cleaning and organizing for a few people in the ward. I used to feel like a day doing service was a day not doing missionary work but honestly, service is a great way to go missionary work, and a key aspect of charity. I love our ward :) 

Friday we had a family home evening with this older lady in our ward named Mercedes, plus the sisters and another sister in the ward. Mercedes made us tortillas - not your run-of-the-mill taco covers - it was like a Spanish omelette potato quiche onion thing. 10/10 would recommend. She kept called Elder Keir and I Tom Cruise and John Trevolta and we all laughed til our sides hurt. 

We didn't get to see many of our amis this week, which was tough, but we're pressing on with smiles. We met two new young people who are interested to learn, and we have rendez-vous with them this week, so more on that later!

I've been studying lots about discerning needs and I've been learning a lot. We're all different! One ami might need to be taught the Word of Wisdom while the next is longing to hear that families can be together forever. We all have different needs and have had different experiences in our lives - the one common ground we all share is that we having a Father in Heaven who loves us and who just wants us to find joy! Child of God is the only label that can truthfully be applied to any and all of us, and I'm so grateful for the chance to let others know they're not alone :)

Je vous aime ! 

Elder Suisse 

Pics:

Elder Keir and I helping to organize stuff for a family who's moving.

Me and Elder Thomas! 

MLC and district meeting

Bonjour tout le monde !

This week was super busy but apologies in advance for the short email. Tomorrow is a big multi-zone conference and there are about 12 bazillion missionaries in the chapel and a short email is all I can muster up.

Tuesday was MLC! We flew in Monday night and slept in Lyon. MLC was so good! We talked a lot about the importance of studying and planning and I learned a ton!

We also had district meeting this week, which was fantastic. Elder Wagner did a great job. We talked about comp unity and made pizza baguettes (10/10 would recommend).

Other than that, my favorite rendez-vous this week was by Skype with a referral we received from Paris. His name is Gildas and he's so cool! We talked about the gospel and he loved it and kept saying "yes! Thank you for you testimony." At the and we invited him to be baptized and he was like "mm, no I don't feel ready. But I'm visiting the temple in Paris at the end of the month, so we can fix a date after that." We were so stoked. 

Anyways, this week was great. Lots of the missionaries in Toulouse were sick, so that was rough, but there were a lot of miracles too. I've realized that God tends to work like that. Lots of hard stuff, but lots of good stuff too! It's all going to happen regardless, so we might as well focus on the good! I'm so grateful for the gospel and the chance I have to better myself every day! 

Je vous aime ! 

Elder Suisse

Pics: (only one this week sorry)

Part of the park by our apartment with some of the district. As you can tell I have my arm back! Physical therapy this week but no more cast!

Insert fun subject line here!

Bonjour tout le monde, 

This week went by way too fast. Nothing too crazy. It's kind of hot, but not as bad as it was a few weeks ago. Basically we had a lot of rendez-vous planned that we were pretty excited for, but most of them got canceled... But we did a ton of service and I love the people here!! 

Tuesday we went to Tarbes and did the état des lieux for an old apartment to close it down, so we were there all day. 

Wednesday we helped a lady move out of her house, which was fun with the cast. I got this system down where I would carry things with my left foot and right hand and everyone was very impressed. 

Thursday we saw our ami Rodrigue and our member Malika! We had a barbecue at his house and chased butterflies with their daughter and it was actually so fun. 

Saturday we had another barbecue with a member family and some other people we'd never met before. Very tasty, 10/10 would recommend. 

Not a ton of rendez-vous this week, but we did a lot of service, ate a lot of good food and did a ton of planning, so all in all, pas mal! I thought a lot about joy this week. God wants us to be happy! Even the hard times are meant to help us appreciate the good! Président Giraud-Carrier quoted Elder Uchtdorf last mission conference and inserted the word "joyfully" at the end of our mission purpose. If you're following Christ and don't feel peace and joy, something needs to be fixed. This is not a gospel of long faces! I love it and I hope I smile every time I talk about it for the rest of my life :) 

Je vous aime ! 

Elder Suisse

Pic:

Cute park in Tarbes 

Transfers! Toulouse!

Bonjour tout le monde !

Sorry for not writing last week, I was too busy and too lazy. This week had some fun stuff though! I'll try to sum up the last couple of weeks. We have a lot of really cool amis, but they were pretty flaky this week, so we didn't see as many as we would have liked. Our members are awesome though - I love Toulouse! 

Highlights! 

We visited a sister in our ward named Sœur Bonbon! I think I've talked about her before. She's got two cute little girls and lives an hour and a half bus ride away, but we've been meaning to visit her for two transfers now, as she's a little isolated. We had a great time out in the boonies, then walked for an hour and a half to the nearest town and took a forty minute train ride home. I'd do it again in a heartbeat - she was so happy to see someone from the church and the first thing she asked is if we could help her pay her tithing! 

Later in the week we visited a Columbian couple and their adorable daughter and ate arepas, which are like sandwiches but Columbian and fantastic. 

This week! 

We had a movie night at the chapel and watched Meet the Mormons. Five people showed up, but we had a blast quand même :) 

Friday we had transfer calls! Everyone's staying in Toulouse! I'm staying with Elder Keir, and none of the Sœur équipes are changing. We asked why and Président Giraud-Carrier was like "if it's not broken, don't fix it!" We're pretty excited for this transfer! 

We visited another Spanish speaking family on Friday, and I had the chance to practice my high-school Spanish. It could use some work, but I understood just about everything! They only laughed at me a little haha

Anywho, this week was busy, with some highs and lows. We did a lot of service and made a lot of rescue trips to visit members, and I'm so grateful for everyone I meet! I've realized that I have never ever regretted an act of service. Service makes us happy and helps others. There are really no cons, so go serve someone this week! I promise you'll be grateful you did!

Elder Suisse

Pics :

Dinner chez Fara with the crew! 

View of Toulouse from the ferris wheel 

Us with Sœur Bertea, who we visited this week

Elder Keir took pictures of me while I was walking, and I actually liked this one

Me and Jaelia, one Soeur Bonbon's daughters. She always dances and shouts "les missionnaires!" whenever she sees us

Pau and lightening!

Bonjour !

This week was awesome! Basically the subject line says it all. It's starting to cool off here and we're hoping it stays like that because Toulouse in the summer is pretty toasty. 

Tuesday and Wednesday we were in Pau for an exchange with our chèrs Elders de Pau ! I was with Elder Hunter and it was a party! Actually everything went wrong but it was so funny. Rain and getting lost and rendezvous getting canceled and phones no longer working, it was chaotic. But Elder Hunter handled it great and we laughed very hard all day long. Plus I got to do a baptismal interview with their awesome ami who had more faith than just about anyone I've ever met. 

Friday we had an activity at the church and advertised it as a "Soirée Fraîcheur" with watermelon and air-conditioning and games, and tons of people showed up! It was tons of fun :)

Saturday we ate fancy Italian ice cream and then visited this old lady in the ward with the Sœurs and sang songs with her and ate cookies and it was great. 

Last night we were walking back from the church with a large metal bowl and an umbrella, and it started raining and all the sudden there was lightning everywhere and it was crazy but we made it! 

Today we had our district into Toulouse for a district pday! Sœur Curzola made us Italian pizza and we played games and chilled. Good times! 

Overall a very successful week, I'd say. Lots of good times and a few harder times, and laughed pretty much the whole week. I'm realizing that that's not what effects our happiness - it's our attitude. Smiling is so much easier than frowning, and it's contagious :)

Merci pour tout ce que vous faites, je vous aime ! 

Elder Suisse

Pics:

District pday: chairs = number of transfers 

Mercedes and Maria Dupre and us! 

Exchange photo with Elder Hunter - Pau is so beautiful! 

Heat wave and zone conference

Bonjour !

The subject line kind of says it all. It was so hot and humid this week! We've been asked to not go outside more than necessary and to always be drinking water. So lots of planning. Every air conditioned breath is a tender mercy. Besides that it was a pretty sweet week! 

Thursday we had our zone conference! Elder Keir and I had a fun time presenting and playing games with our fantastic zone. Hopefully I'll have the group picture for next week. Side note: I love Président and Sœur Giraud-Carrier! They're so funny and it was great to have them in Toulouse. 

Right after conference we had our exchange with assistants, which went really well. Elder Schulzke and I got to teach some really cool people and we saw some real progression in a few of our amis! We taught our friend Joseph at the patriarch's house, and the lesson couldn't have gone better. We taught about a bunch of stuff, but Joseph probably taught us more. Cool how that usually ends up being the case. 

Friday we went to IKEA, which is always an adventure. Now that we're the only Elders in Toulouse, all the Elders in south-western France will be sleeping in our apartment when a big conference comes around, so we're remodeling to withstand anything. 

Today we made spaghetti with all the équipes in Toulouse and had lunch, and now we're taking a train to Pau for an exchange - should be good! 

This week was really good. Toulouse is great, Elder Keir is awesome and I love being a missionary. I'm learning a lot about being happy with the cards you're dealt. This gospel is one of joy! Yes we're trying to become better and we're always going to mess up, but if you're a practicing Christian and are not happy, something's wrong. We are that we might have joy, even when things don't go how we've planned. So take my advice and smile until you're happy, then help other people to smile too. God will be grateful for the effort and so will you! 

Je vous aime !!! 

Elder Suisse

Pics:

Spaghetti and garlic bread! 

Quick exchange photo before the APs kicked us into the blazing sun

The Capitole