SARDINES....REALLY???

Salut

This week was rather crazy... We had missionaries sleeping in our
apartment about 4 nights this week haha.

L'ANGLAIS ARRIVE
Last Tuesday the Bastia elders (Bastia is on Corsica) had to come to
France a day early for Zone conference because there were no more
ferries the next day. So they came in and all three of them came and
worked with us in our sector. We split into a team of two and a team
of three. I took Elder Wilkey, whom I know very well because he was in
my apartment in Valence for a month and we went and did some work!

It was a very interesting afternoon.. We started out by knocking on
some doors, five to be exact. The first one answered, he said he is
interested but occupied and that we should come back later in the
week. The second door didn't answer; the third said he's also occupied
but he wants us to come back later that week.  Fourth door didn't
answer; fifth door this guy answers and is like "I'm very believing
and you won't convert me." But so then we get talking to him and he
was like "it's pretty hot, do you want to come in and have a drink?"
So of course we go in. We meet his wife and they turn out to be a very
cool, believing couple. They weren't super interested in the church
but they enjoyed talking to us. I believe we might go back this week
just to visit them.

But it was a good hour of knocking doors because we had no rejections :)

So then we went to our friends houses in the neighborhood, Pierre and
Didier. We show up and Pierre, Didier, and their neighbor Danny are
outside doing a little barbecue. elder Wilkey went and sat by Pierre
and I say by Didier. I talked to Didier about the Book of Mormon and
followed up on him. I got talking to Danny their neighbor about the
plan of salvation, and then we followed up on Pierre with his reading
and stuff. They're not super into it and they have a little slower
understanding, but they are nice guys anyway. They made barbecued
sardines and they weren't too bad.... I somewhat liked them. And
that's saying something especially from someone who doesn't like
seafood.. The mission does miracles people!

Afterwards Elder Wilkey and I just went to a meeting with the ward
mission leader, and then all five of us missionaries went and got
Mexican food!

LA CONFERENCE
The next day we had a zone conference in Aix En Provence. Aix is a
really nice ville with a lot of University people! We had a good
conference; I was able to see a lot of old mission buddies. I saw my
bleu Elder Kahn; he's doing well other than the fact that he's had
kidney stones the last few weeks... But he's doing better haha!
#Shoutout

The conference was really good though. President Brown talked a lot
about the opposition in our mission right now. He gave the full story
from his perspective of the Nice attack and how he was trying to reach
us all night long. It was interesting to hear his side of things and
how much faith and prayer he has. President Brown is such a  spiritual
power house!

We had dominoes for lunch, and we also played a game with Sister Brown
using water balloons and towels. We launched water balloons at
eachother. The idea was that we need to be prepared for whatever comes
at us. It was super fun! President and Soeur Brown are a great couple
and they balance out really well.

After the conference, we headed back to Toulon and we ate dinner the
Ajaccio elders and the st Raph elders. The st Raph elders stayed the
night.

ET LES JOURS APRES
Thursday was a mission wide Declutter day. We decluttered our
apartments of any old stuff and the APs made it into a competition
(which we did not win even though we got rid of a toilet that's been
on our balcony for a few years..). We found a bunch of old records in
the apartment and so we went to a store to try to sell them.. The
store didn't take them, but some guy in there wanted to buy one of the
records we have for 10€. So to make his day we just gave him all the
records for 10€ haha he was stoked about it and we were able to get
the records off our hands. The Bastia elders also stayed the night
before going back to corse the next morning

Friday we had an exchange with the Antibes Elders. Elder Arne and I
did some door knocking where we were able to get into the home of this
couple that went to salt lake some years ago.. They weren't interested
but they offered us a drink and were very kind to us! We played some
basketball with some friends that evening and the ended the night with
some Mexican food and getting called "Les garçons" hahah that's an
inside joke just so I can remember.

Saturday we visited the family Michel! It's a couple that has been in
the church for a little over twenty years and they're doing lots of
missionary work. They had some friends of theirs come to Church a
couple weeks ago, and they were interested but they live near
carcasonne. Long story short, we sent the elders their information and
now they will be getting baptized in carcasonne ward in september!
Member missionary work really works. :)

oLD FRENCH VILLE

Sunday we had like 20 tourists at church.. There were a lot of people
that i didn't know and come from different areas in France. There was
also a family from Germany. But on a good note we had a random guy
come to church! His name is Abraham and he's from Nigeria. He's coming
back next week and we're going to try to teach him.

Du coup I don't have a lot of time left, but have a great week
everyone! Love you all!

KNEEL FOR NICE!

Bonjour à tous! 

LES PRIERES POUR NICE

Okay so we're gonna get the big stuff out of the way first. Many of you don't know anything about the geography of France except Paris (even then we as Americans are rather oblivious) but I was in Nice the night of the terrorist attack. We had an exchange with the zone leaders that day, and so we stayed the night as well. There was six missionaries there and we were all safe because we were in the apartment at the time we were supposed to be. The apartment we were in is about five blocks away from promenade des anglais. We may have heard stuff at the time that it happened but we didn't recognize it as what happened. One of the elders even said "that doesn't sound like fireworks.." It's sad to think about all the victims and their families; please pray for them. It's crazy to think about how I was on that same road that same day. I'm sure you've all heard more than I have, but France is staying strong and won't let something like that ruin the country. 

Nice

President Brown is absolutely amazing; I feel bad though. The zone leaders phone was on silent, the other companionships phone was in the other room, and president didn't know we were in Nice. They started calling around midnight and didn't stop all night long. We all woke up and between the two companionships there was over 100 missed calls from president, presidents wife, and members in Nice. Apparently members came to our apartment at two in the morning and they were ringing our doorbell to make sure we were okay. Unfortunately the bedroom door was closed and we had the air conditioning running that night, so none of the six elders in the apartment heard it. We woke up, got in contact with president; he sounded very panicked but also relieved to get in contact with us. I'm grateful for President Brown and his wife and their love and concern for all of the missionaries in this mission. 

We were instructed to stay in the apartment for the rest of the day until further notice. We got to call our parents for a few minutes to let them know we are okay. We tried our best to occupy our time productively. I'm grateful for the members of Nice; there were two member families that brought us food to eat. There was six of us in the apartment and not a lot left to eat, so they brought us some food. Very grateful for them! President gave us the okay to leave around 8pm the day after. So four of us decided to just go walk around to get out of the apartment. We didn't go near promenade des anglais for obvious reasons. And plus it was blocked off to the public. We were able to catch a train the next day after a while... There were some problems at the gare and so they had to evacuate it, so we missed our train and avoided that area. We finally caught a train and got back to Toulon around 3pm. It was a relief to be in Toulon; everyone in nice was upset and the spirits there were really low.. 

It bothers me that some people take religion as the scapegoat for attacks like this. We had a man confront us saying that it's because of religion that the attack happened (for the record: the terrorist was said to be "little practicing" in the Muslim faith, but he was severely depressed and his motives were unknown and not relatively linked to religion). Satan is trying to tear the people's faith down. But that's where our role as missionaries comes in so that we can build up their faith to stand strong in the rough trials. 

Nice

LA SEMAINE

The rest of the week was not bad. We saw Xavier, who gave his first talk I'm sacrament meeting yesterday. We visited and had dinner with the Sanderre Family; Frere Sanderre is a sarcastic French man that loves his country and his food. We had some good laughs about Americans and French people. It was a really good dinner and meeting! 

Xaviers talk

The next day was rather interesting... We went and met up with a guy named Pierre (original french name) and we had three members there with us... Which was way too much because Pierre wants to speak, the members want to speak, and we want to teach a lesson... So it wasn't a very solid lesson, but we did answer some questions and spark his interest. Pierre told us that his neighbor is also very believing, and so our DMP (ward mission leader) was like okay can we go knock on his door? And Pierre was like yeah go for it! So next thing we know, Pierre gets up to go do something in his house (we were sitting at a table in front of it) and our DMP grabs us and we walk over to the neighbors house. He knocks the door and was like "Pierre told us we could come visit you, can we come in?" And the dude was like "yeah for sure" so now we're in this dudes house teaching him the restoration in a manner of three minutes with opening and closing prayer and a new appointment fixed.. Loveland and I were baffled at what had just happened. Hardly anyone in France let's us come in, say a few words, fix an appointment and come back another day. Especially after meeting eachother for three minutes! This new guys name is Didier and he's really receptive and humble. Our friend Pierre is somewhat receptive but he's quite a talker because "il est corse" (he is Corsican.. It's understandable if you know the difference between a Corsican and a frenchie).

We were so confused... But the miracles are happening! The work is alive and progressing! We originally had fixed a rdv for Saturday, but we were kind of trapped in nice, so our DMP and another member went and taught both Pierre and Didier! 

After that, we went to nice on Thursday. I had a good exchange with Elder Sauro who is from Montreal. We had a some rdvs throughout the day and then went back home in the evening, with the story that followed from above. After some hours of running around in nice doing random tasks and trying to catch a new train after the gare was evacuated for a security reason, we finally got home Saturday. We then went and played some basketball with one of our friends and went home. Sunday had church and we went to Saint Raphael on Sunday evening. We had to do some things their, but I profited of the time and was able to go contacting with my homie elder Loosle. We met this cool group of students from Strasbourg, and one of their American friends that was with them! We only stayed until Monday morning in st Raph and then we got back home then continued our day. 

 Saint Raphael

Well, there's my week. 

I love you all! I appreciate the support from everyone. Pray for the people of Nice. Pray for those affected. Pray for the world. ❤️

Here is the email that was sent by President Brown

5 juillet 2016

Dear France Lyon Missionaries and families of the France Lyon Missionaries. This is President Brown. All our Nice Missionaries are safe and accounted for (and well rested). They will be staying in place in their apartment until authorities have signaled a return to activity. Our Toulon Companionship is with our Nice Elders - and all are safe.

We express our love and gratitude for your faith, prayers, and constant support. We invite your continued faith and prayers for the victim's of this past evening's terrorist act, and their families. Please be assured we will keep you advised pending further developments.

Love,

President Brown

Birthdays, Brazilians, Battlestar Galactica

Hola!

This last week was chill. And there was no Battlestar Galactica
involved, I just heard Dwights voice from the Office in my head so I
thought "why not."

Things are going really well and the working is moving. We engaged two new people to baptism last week so that was really cool. We have a total of five people engaged for baptism (2 of them are engaged but they won't be baptized for a long time because they have to get divorced from former spouses and then married) but it's the most I've ever had on my mission at one point. Five people! That kind of gives you an idea of our mission. In our zone of 8 companionships, there's only six people engaged for baptism and we have 5.. So things are actually going really well for our equipe in Toulon! 

Last Monday I already talked about where we just spent the day in
Nice. That was pretty fun. Met some cool people.

Tuesday was Elder Lovelands Birthday. For lunch we made a bunch of
tacos from that taco kit my family sent me (thanks, you guys are the
best) and enjoyed that. We went and played some basketball with some
friends (everyone here always wants to play basketball with the
Americans.. But it's fun because we find new people!). After that we
went out to eat as a celebration for both of our birthdays. So we did
the annual eat at a fancy restaurant and get a nice plate. I did the
same thing in Toulouse last year, so this year I wanted to do it on
the Mediterranean! A normal person would probably get some "Fruit de
la Mer" (fruit of the sea) plate, but I hate seafood. So instead I got
some steak. We found this nice restaurant that looks out over the
coast. It was soooooo good! I'm always afraid these restaurants will
let me down, but it exceeded my expectations!

Ok enough of the Worldly stuff.. Let's talk about miracles.

On Wednesday morning, we got a call from the sisters in
Aix-En-Provence. They're like "hey we got a call from a guy this
morning, he was taught by missionaries about three years ago... He
said that he felt a bit too pushed by the missionaries and that things
were moving too fast. Now he lives in your sector and wants to meet
with missionaries again. He said that after all this time he has
decided that he wants to baptized!!!" Haha so that was a
miracle that we had. He lives in a place called Brignoles, and we have
to take a bus for about an hour and a half to get out there.

On Thursday evening, our ward mission leader, Frere Sassi threw us a
little birthday celebration with a few members. There were about 9 of
us at the table. Frere Sassi asked us in advance what we would want..
I had no idea... So he was like "aimez-vous les grillades?" (Do you
like grilled meats?) hahah what a question... Of course! We started
off with a couscous salad with tomatoes. And Then he grilled us a
bunch of meats and we ate that. There were a few kinds of sausage, one
including Merguese which was my favorite one. There was also some lamb
ribs that were super good. To top it all off, he got us a birthday
cake from a bakery that was made à la fraise! (Strawberry). It was one
of the best French meals I've had on my mission. I hope one day that
my family can come and enjoy the food here.. Hahah

Friday we had district meeting in Cannes. That went well I guess.

Saturday was a nice day.. We took an hour and a half bus ride to this
ville called Brignoles. Its a pretty small place but it was a Saturday
and it seemed as if everyone had left their homes! There was a huge
marché (market) and the Ville was lively. We met with our new miracle
friend, Frederic. He's super cool and willing. Our first rdv with him
we gave him a baptismal date for about three weeks out. It was all
super smooth and went well. His only problem is that he doesn't have a
car and can't get to church by himself.. Turns out that this ville has
two members living there, and one of them is literally a three minute
walk from his home! He just has to come to church then he can get
baptized. Unfortunately he wasn't able to make it on Sunday; we're not
sure why but we have a rdv set with him for Tuesday so we'll get him
there soon enough.

After that rdv, we just waited for the bus in Brignoles and it was
burning hot. We got talking to two business students from the north!
They're going to sell wine hahah classic French people.

Saturday evening we visited our Brazilian friends Ananias and Gabriel
and talked about the five principals and ordinances of the gospel.
Gabriel told us that it's always been his dream to be baptized and
that he would like to do it the same day of his father. Gabriel hasn't
come to church yet, but he said he would love to come! (It's been nice
getting a little taste of a Brazilian mission hahah)

Also France lost in the euro cup :( sad day.

Love you all! Have a great week!!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

"I bear my solemn and sacred witness that the United States of

America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth. We ought to

love it and we ought to talk about it" - Bishop Featherstone, October

1975 General Conference.

Hey everyone, sorry about the late email. We were super short yesterday on time. But

this last week was great! It'll be a little shorter email..

Last Monday we went to Antibes for the day with the Elders and did a

hike with them and some members! It was right on the coast of the Cap

d'antibes and it was super beautiful! We had a really good time.

The next day I took Elder Berget who's in his fourth transfer back to

Toulon with me and we had an exchange. It was a very hot exchange but

it was good. We talked to some people, visited the Patous couple (the

Amis that are super nice), and we turned an almost aggression into a

decent conversation. Some guys from northwestern African decent came

running up to us and they were pestering us a bit. I felt calm when

talking to them so we just talked about who the Mormons are and what

we believe in. We cleared up some false ideas that they've heard from

television (the classic polygamy, live in communities, Amish, etc.

haha) and they turned out to be somewhat nice.

On Wednesday we went and played some ball with some people and met a

couple guys. One dude was from Paris but he'll be in Toulon for a few

months on vacation, so we got his number and we're hoping to play some

ball with him soon and hopefully talk to him about the gospel. He

seemed like a very open, nice dude. And plus he loves Americans (like

every other French person 🇺🇸)

On Thursday, my comp had to go to Nice to do his legality stuff, so I

went and chilled in St Raphael for the day with one of my best mission

homies, Elder Loosle! (His comp was also doing legality so he went

with my comp.) honestly it was the funniest and most fun exchange I've

had on my mission. I've known Loosle since the MTC and we just had a

good time! We met some cool people such as law students.. But the next

day was zone training, and to go there we ended up on a train that was

coming from Paris, so it was a night train... Long story short, we

ended up in a room on the train with beds and so we laid down and fell

asleep while looking out at the Côte d'Azur 😎 ☀️🏖🍹

Zone training was good. We ate lunch at a nice spot in Nice.

S/O to Ethan Davis! We saw him outside the gare in Nice and talked to

him for a bit.. He was one of the assistants when I first got into the

mission and I got to know him a bit.. I instantly recognized him! Haha

super fun

On Saturday Loveland wasn't feeling very good so we were inside most

of the day.

Sunday was my birthday! We went to church and then after church our

Brazilian ami invited us to come to lunch (he didn't even know it was

my birthday, but it all worked out well!) then Sunday evening we took

a train and went to Nice! We had ten elders in the apartment and it

was a fun time!

Monday we spent Fourth of July playing some soccer in the morning,

eating some KFC for lunch 🇺🇸 and shopping out in Nice in the

afternoon. Not bad we actually talked to a lot of people

that day and we weren't even searching it out.. It was pretty cool! We

met some Americans as well,  I sat next to a woman on the train and we

talked the whole time! We found out she lives in our sector so we

might see her again.

Well I think that's all for this week! S/O to my family for the great

birthday gifts! #TacoNight

Love you all!