This Week was INSANE!

Monday night, we left on a train to go to Lyon because the next day was a big meeting for the leaders in the mission (my comp is the DL). That night we ate at this place called Master Tacos. Its this super popular place in Lyon, its popular with the missionaries, and the workers there know the missionaries pretty well. But to be honest, its better than Cafe Rio. Hahah

But Elder Price and I stayed at another equipes apartment that night in Lyon. Elder Sorenson (DL in a Lyon Area) and Elder Mauss. Elder Sorenson went to Alta and graduated in 2012; we talked for a bit and knew a lot of the same people. I don't think I ever knew him in high school but he's a bro.

I went on splits with Elder Mauss the next day. He and I are both district monkeys so we went and did some work in Lyon. Elder Mauss is super funny; he and I had a good time together! At one point in the day we met up with more district monkeys/Lyon Elders and did some contacting in this big square place. I actually went on splits there with Elder Loosle; he and I came in at the same time, so we're two little 2nd transfer Bleus trying to speak french. He and I actually got quite a few conversations and even gave like a 20 minute lesson on the street! It was pretty cool. The gift of tongues is real. We returned back to Besançon that night by train!

Wednesday, we did splits in Besançon with the ZLs. Both our ZLs are from England, and they're pretty sick dudes. We met up with this guy in a small ville called Pontarlier; he wanted to take us to his friends office. His friend is actually a Pastor of an Evangelic church haha! They asked us what we teach so we gave them a pamphlet. It seemed to be pretty well received, but it was interesting with the Pastor haha. 

Then Wednesday night, we went to Switzerland.

There was District/zone meeting on Thursday and our entire zone is practically in Suisse! So we stayed in Yverdon for the night at the ZLs apartment. 

The next day we had zone and district meeting and that was super cool; we have some big plans for this transfer. But in the Zone, there are 6 Americans, 2 Englishmen, 3 Tahitians, 1 Austrian, 1 Hungarian, and 1 French guy. You can only serve is Suisse if: 1. you're not American 2. if you have a suisse/European parent that can qualify for citizenship. So for me, its pretty lucky that I got to be there! Even though I slept on the floor for 3 nights, it was totally worth it.

We stayed the night in Yverdon, then the next morning we went to Bienne (Still Switzerland) to do a zone finding day! In simple terms, we had a bunch of splits and teams with all 14 missionaries in this one Ville. Bienne is the only ville that's shared in our mission; its like 50 percent German speaking and 50 percent French speaking. But We all worked super hard that day; we had set goals and we were able to accomplish all of them! One of them was to teach 15 lessons and we ended up with 21 :) the purpose of it was to build zone unity; it really worked. :) There were Numerous miracles that day!! 

We found out in church yesterday that we will be able to watch general conference in French; the priesthood session and the Saturday afternoon session. Elder Price and I are gonna talk to our branch president to arrange for it in English.

Have a great week everyone! I love you all!!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Hello everyone!

My first week in Besançon was pretty good. Its a super pretty place! Its really clean and there's a lot of college-age kids.

 

Elder Price and I are getting along really well! He's a pretty sick dude! He's been out for about 9 months. And he makes a pretty good Pizza haha.

Last Tuesday was St Patricks day, right? I saw a couple guys in kilts. haha France doesn't do anything but drink for St Patricks day. But they drink a lot!! Long story short, this guy on the tram threw up, it didn't get all on me but it got on my shoes and a little bit on the pants. It was all beer and his buddy was like "I told you!" 

But we had a pretty cool miracle that day; for comp study, Elder Price and I practiced introducing the Book of Mormon li on the street.  But later that day, we had been contacting for probably 3 hours and nothing really came about from that. but we had to walk to the Gare (Train Station) to pick up some tickets, and as we were walking, this guy said "Bonjour, Les Elders!" and we were just like what the? We started talking to him and he said his brother is a priest for a church and he had been studying the Book of Mormon. We asked if he has one and he didn't. We said "you can have this one!" and he wasn't that interested, he said he was "pressé" which means like pressed on time. but we asked if we could explain to him what it was, So i got the chance to explain the book a bit, and he accepted it! 

It was just funny how we had practiced that the same morning then I did the same thing later that day. As missionaries, it seems that we kind of just work aimlessly but diligently. But God truly knows where you're supposed to be going!

Last Wednesday we went to this place called Vesoul and tried passing a few less active members out there and we talked to some people out there too. Vesoul is practically the highest that we can possibly go in our mission, the Paris mission is right next to it. But that night we went back to Besançon and we had branch counsel. I got to meet some of the members so that was fun!

In Besançon we have this recent convert(January)/less active and he got to teach him Thursday! Long story short, he told us in the lesson that his heart is on the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and Islam. We were kind of puzzled by it haha but we asked if he would come to church on Sunday and he said he would. 

Thursday night, the missionaries teach institute! there's only 2 or 3 that come, but its with the president and a less active comes so that's pretty cool.

On Friday, we got up at 4AM to catch our 5:30 train haha! The train took a couple hours but we went to Lyon! It was blue's conference that day! President and Sister Roney talked, and then 2 of the assistants talked (by the way, our mission has 7 assistants, they usually have 2). It was nice seeing all of the MTC group again! They were all doing really well.

Last Saturday night was interesting; the office elders called us last week and told us that we need to go apartment shopping because there will be an older Missionary couple in Besançon soon! So basically we met with this guy and went to look at apartments.

Sunday, church was pretty interesting. our church is the floor level of this big apartment complex. and its actually under a lot of construction right now, so we can't use a lot of the rooms. But the recent convert came and he had a really good time at church. He called us later that day and said he has found his path that he wants to follow, which is the church of Jesus Christ! That was great to hear from him!

Last night I also learned how to skinny a tie and it turned out pretty well. its pretty sweet!

Have a great week!!

ALREADY TRANSFERRED???!!!

Hey everyone, I've already been transferred hahah! I got transferred to Besançon. its this sweet place that's super north in our mission, and its really close to Switzerland. My zone stretches into Switzerland, so it looks like I will end up in Switzerland a couple times this transfer!! My new companion is Elder Price. He's been out since August, he's from Layton Utah and he's a pretty cool guy!! He Speaks really well.

Anyways, my last week in Avignon was great! Last Monday and Tuesday, we had a couple reunions with our amis and those went really well. Lately, we were able to come in contact with quite a few ancient amis! (remember, ami means investigator for us). But Tuesday night we went to the Farinas for dinner. She made us fish! I'm usually not a huge fish fan, but it was actually really good haha! 

Then last Wednesday, Elder Liechty and I

went to a place called Parnes les Fontaines; its a small ville in our sector, and its has a lot of really cool buildings! During the summer time they have fountains all over the city, hence the name Les Fontaines. Its super cool! We walked to visit this guy that requested to have a Book of Mormon delivered a couple months ago; we had to walk a bit out of the town, and it was the first time I felt like a true french missionary because I was walking on a long road in the countryside in a short sleeve shirt. It felt pretty nice to be honest! 

After doing some work in Parnes les Fontaines, we had to catch a bus to take us to a bus that would take us back to Avignon. Unfortunately, the bus was late, so we missed the connecting bus by a couple minutes, and we were running through the town in hopes of catching the bus! It didn't work though, so after running a mile trying to catch the last bus of the night, Elder Liechty and I decided to eat away our worries with a Kebab. Then we got a call from the other Elders saying that they got us a ride back to Avignon from a member, so that was really nice of them and the member! The members in Avignon are great. 

Friday morning is when we got our calls! I actually didn't even hear what President Roney said,  but we were able to figure it out by finding our where Elder Price is.  Friday we went to Frère Barray's house to do some service; he also fed us lunch (fish again, and it tasted pretty good haha) Then we went and visited this family that they were inactive for a bit, but they've been coming back and now they want the missionaries to teach their kids (the kids are probably 9 and 11 years old) and see if they want to be baptized! They all live in L'Isle sur la Sourge, I don't think I got any pictures but its a sweet place so feel free to look it up.Then that night, we went to Soeur Protano's, and she fed us crêpes! Crêpes freaking rock.

Sunday was a special day because our friend Timmy that we have been talking to because we see him all the time (we haven't ever formally taught him), he came to church with us and he really seemed to enjoy it! he got along well with the members and I could tell he enjoyed it. I even got to bear my testimony because it was my last Sunday. After Church we said our goodbyes and stuff to the members; the members there are amazing and they have so much faith! I hope one day I could potentially return and serve there again during my mission, or just visit after! 

Monday we have just been doing trains all day, but I will  make sure to get some good pictures here in Besançon because its a great place!

I love you all! Dieu vous aime!!

My new address is

Les Missionaires

Elder Steadman

34 Rue Gabriel Plançon

25000 Besançon

France

BONJOUR! 

These weeks just keep going by faster and faster! This transfer is almost over and that's crazy!! We get our transfer calls this Friday; I doubt that I'm gonna be going to another area but you never know! haha

So last week we had a bunch of stuff going on.. So last Wednesday, I went on splits with Elder Lindsey (the other equipe in our apartment) because we needed to make all of our meetings for both equipes work out. He and I went to this place called Cavaillon and visited this member Alain.

                                                  

We talked to Alain about the family and he said he is going to show us some stuff about his family the next time. After visiting Alain, we wanted to go to some tiny random ville in our area, so we chose this place called Velleron. we were hoping that no missionaries have ever been there because its so small. It's just this small little town with some cool old houses.

So we went porting in the neighborhood, and we met this lady at her house named Lucille! She said that she has been troubled by how the world is today and shes searching for the truth. She set it up easily for us and we talked about the Restoration haha! we are gonna visit her again next week and she seemed pretty excited to read the Book of Mormon.

Thursday, we had our district meeting in Marseille. Marseille is a super sweet place! we had our district meeting which was great, then that day I went on splits with the Zone Leader, Elder Olsen! Elder Olsen and I did some work back in Avignon for the day, taught a couple lessons, saw miracles (because they're everywhere if you look) and then went back in for the night! 

The next morning, we went to meet up with our friend Nabil. Nabil is a non-practicing Muslim guy that used to be a semi-professional Basketball player! Hes a great guy and super open to listen to our message. We usually start and play some ball with him, then we go into the church and talk afterwards. Later that day, we went to our friends house, Etienne! He's a really cool guy and hes got so much faith! he has almost figured out his work schedule, and he actually bought a small moto last week, so we're hoping to see him at church soon! Also, his wife actually got involved in the lessons, and we have been really wanting that for a bit! She really likes to talk about the family with us, because the family is one of the most important things for us :) Later that night, we taught the English class and thats always fun because we get some really cool people that come to it! 

Saturday, we went to our DMB's house, Frère Holman! (ward mission leader in English?? i forgot what its called) Frère Holman is Tahitian. We had our meeting for all of our amis where we talk about the branch and how we can have them help out. The DMB is really important because hes like the middleman for us and the branch! His Wife made lunch for us. It was some kind of noodles, meat, rice, beans, and some sauce. but it tasted amazing! Saturday night, we were talking to this guy Timmy. he's 18 years old, he's practically my homie, and he speaks practically perfect English. We haven't ever taught him, but we see him all over the place! We were talking to him, and he was talking about how he hasn't ever smoke, drank, or anything because he has seen how his family has been affected by stuff like that. I was just like Wow! He's already set up and he's got a great mindset! The other equipe have a rendezvous with him this week, and he said he would really like to come to church with us next week! I cant wait for that!

Sunday we had church (like usual, right?) it was our fast and testimony meeting!! Its interesting how in a branch that's so small, not a single minute of silence happens during fast and testimony meeting. The people in the branch work so hard and have so much faith and its amazing what they do!

We went to Soeur Protano's house that day, and she fed us Ratatouille! You know that scene in the movie with the critique when he first tastes it? It was pretty much like that. it was a great meal!! 

Random facts for this week: My area, Avignon, everyone does 3 Bizou's while most of France does 2.

Also, for French Stereotypes, the one where French people walk around with baguettes? Totally True. So many baguettes, but they're so good haha.

Passez une bonne semaine! 

Je vous aime!!

MIRACLES ARE THERE IF YOU LOOK!

Wow its been such a busy week!
So last week after emailing and stuff, we played this game called Petanque. its a lot like botchee (I don;' know how to spell it) but you use metal balls and its pretty popular in France! we played with these two members from Switzerland that were visiting Avignon for a little (I won, by the way haha).
Tuesday, we played basketball with this guy Nabil and his friend. Nabil is a nonpracticing Muslim that some other elders worked with, but we just came in contact with him last week and started meeting up again! We got to talk to him and his friend more about our church and what we do! Also, Tuesday night we went to a members home for family home evening! We had this quiche and it was super good!! 

Wednesday wasn't super busy for us, we visited our friend Andre and talked to him a lot about his family! he shared with us some recordings that his grandparents made. I couldn't really understand a lot of the french but it was still really cool! Then that night we again went to a members home, and she fed us spaghetti so that was pretty tight :)
Thursday morning, we helped this member move some stuff from out of his house because hes moving to Paris, that took a couple hours but it went smoothly! Thursday night, we hopped on the train to go to St Raphael for Zone conference! There was about 14 elders in this one apartment! I got to see a couple people from the MTC and I also met a lot of people! Also, because I'm the youngest, they gave me the bed for the night so that was really nice :) 

Friday was zone conference in Nice! We went to Nice early in the morning and we got to listen to President Roney, his wife, and the assistants speak to us! it was super great! The Roney family is pretty awesome! Then that night we went back to St Raphael, and all of us visited a member over there and sang our mission song to them so that was fun!
Saturday was amazing! We had to stay in St. Raphael for the weekend because we had Stake Conference the next day, so it would have been a waste of time to go back to Avignon. But we started off the morning by running to the beach :) the beaches in St Raph are super nice!! 

Then that day was super fun! All of us missionaries went to meet up with this guy named Max. Max is a super cool Polynesian guy! we played basketball with the elders, a couple members, and some friends of max! Max brought us food that day and we had a super sweet lunch! we also played soccer all together and that was sweet! then that night, we had the adults session of stake conference. after that, we went to a Chinese buffet called lets wok and had a great dinner! 

Max brought us a lot of miracles that day; we met a lot of his friends and now he wants to be super involved in missionary work. there is  a really cool story along with that, but I cant share it because it probably has too much personal info about other people. But miracles are there if you look!!
Sunday, we had Stake Conference which was great, and then a member drove us home to Avignon which was really nice!!
Check out my blog because theres pictures there: jakesjourneytofrance.blogspot.com

I love you all!!