Jakes Journey to France

PRAY FOR PARIS

This week was a week of lots of ups and downs.. My prayers go out to

those in Paris and those who have been affected!

PRAYERS FOR PARIS

We received a text Friday morning at 4:30am, and being kind of an

office elder, that's never a good sign. I woke up, woke my comp and up

and read the text. It came from President Brown, he explained what had

happening the night before, and instructed us to stay in our

apartments until further notice. At about 9am, we got the okay to go

out of our apartments. Elder Acheson and I had to drop some boxes off

at Presidents house, so we made our way up there. We got to talk to

president briefly about the stuff that has happened. He even let us

watch the news for a second haha! He instructed us to avoid any public

transportation, public gatherings, or being out after dark. We had

planned a trip to Montpellier next week for apartment stuff, but it

looks like we're not going anymore.

Super cool miracle though; we were super busy on Friday night in Lyon,

so we had to make our trip to Switzerland short. We came home Friday

evening, and woke up Saturday after all the crazy stuff that had

happened. Because of all the stuff, the borders were closed. I figured

that last Friday night was the first Friday night this transfer that

we've actually been in Lyon. So essentially, we would have been stuck

in Switzerland if we hadn't needed to come home earlier!

As far as I know, the missionaries in Paris are safe and were on

lockdown this weekend. I have a couple friends up there (Elder

Bytheway, and other MTC buddies). For the moment, we aren't doing as

much contacting. So we've been in before 6 for the last couple nights.

Usually we go in, have a nice dinner, and then try to be productive as

possible. Our area book is looking good, and I'm finally catching up

on journal writing :) (sorry mom)

Sunset in Lyon

NOTRE AMI

So this week was a really interesting week with our ami Gabriel. I'd

say it was good and that he has grown a lot! Our goal this week was to

see him every day. I think we saw him or had contact with him 6 out of

7 days, so that was good!

We had a rdv (rendezvous, appointment) with him on Tuesday. We sat

down and had kind of a DTR (define the relationship) and explained we

want to see him as much as possible before his baptism! He was cool

with that. Then we simply finished our night getting destroyed by

Gabriel in ping pong (I tell people he's the ping pong champion of

Nigeria).

Wednesday we had a mangez-vous (it's a play on words in French, it's

just a dinner appointment) with Elder and Sister Sweeney, the couple

in the office and in our ward! Gabriel came, and he even brought one

of his friends, Okasha! We ate Navajo tacos (Sister Sweeney is a great

cook) and had a good spiritual thought. We talked about God as our

Heavenly Father. It was interesting because we didn't plan on Okasha

being there, and Okasha isn't Christian, so we had to change it a bit

for him. It went super well though!

Thursday we called President Brown and asked him if he would be

willing to do the baptismal interview for Gabriel; 

He said the only time he is available is Friday evening, the next day.

Us having only known Gabriel for 3 weeks, we haven't been able to

teach everything. So President Brown told us to go over baptismal

questions and fill in any gaps. So on Thursday, we went over the

questions with Gabriel; he understood and accepted everything!

Friday came, Gabriel didn't show up and we didn't have any contact

with him..  We went to his apartment, and the landlord said he moved

somewhere else..

Saturday came, we still haven't heard from him. His phone wasn't

working. Saturday was a super weird day for all the missionaries. We

didn't know what to do; rules kept on changing and we were confused.

But we went home before 6, and I started doing area book work. Acheson

made some dinner, and I was calling people and inviting them to

church. Out of nowhere, I got this call from a random number, and it's

Gabriel! He was super distraught and sorrowful; he said he was super

sorry he couldn't make it; everything is coming down on him right now,

and things are a big mess. He's having issues with certain papers,

school, and his apartment. He said that he might be on the streets

soon if he can't solve the problems.

I explained to him that in preparation for his baptism, Satan will do

all that he can to make sure he doesn't get baptized. He understood

and said he really needs to see us. He was tempted to skip out on

church, but he wouldn't give into the lies of Satan.

I shared with him Psalms 34:19: "Many are the afflictions of the

righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all."

Sunday, he came to church! he was still stressed out about stuff, but

he felt better after coming to church.

We plan to see him this week; for now, we moved his date to the 28th.

We will talk to him and figure more things out on his situation! I

might actually talk to president at presidents Pday, to see if he

could delegate someone so his baptism can be this Saturday! But I

expect that he will only grow from these experiences, and soon enough

be baptized :)

GENÈVE ET MARTIGNY

We made a quick trip to Geneva and Martigny to move stuff. The usual

moving stuff around! Super fun haha. But it's cool! We got to see

really pretty stuff in Martigny! We took a nice detour during our

lunch hour (where we eat lunch and see sights at the same time)! Now

that I have seen Martigny, I have seen every Suisse sector in our

mission! I've been able to see some super cool spots and areas that

most American missionaries wouldn't! We got some cool photos In the

mountains.

 Martigny is squeezed in between mountains, so it reminded

me of Utah! The fog was down in the canyon, so it was super cool!

D'AUTRES CHOSES

We've been trying new restaurants in Lyon lately.. Had an Asian grill

that was good and a Tandoori Buffet with some awesome Naan hahah

We went to dinner with Elder Taylor and Boynton (the true office

elders) at master tacos with Ahmed. Ahmed is going to get baptized

this Saturday; he's a super cool dude!

Went bowling last week and I bowled 163 for a lifetime high hahah

Today is presidents Pday so we all Just get to hang out at presidents

house; Sister brown usually makes amazing American food for us and we

do a bunch of fun stuff!

Well that's all! Have a great week everyone! Stay safe! Love you!