Own Our Sector!

Last Monday we went and hung out at Sainte Catherine and walked around

the shops a bit. We were hanging out with a guy named Naj. Naj is from

the Philippines and he's learning from the missionaries in the other

ward. He's super cool and we hung out with him. We were with the other

six missionaries in Bordeaux. Pdays in these larger Villes are more

fun just cause we get to hang out with other missionaries!

We were in a sporting goods store for a couple minutes, and I found

some skates... So I asked the dude if I could put them on.. Haha I put

them on and I was the happiest person ever! I'll send the video so you

can all watch. #ILoveDiscoSkating 😄

That evening, President Brown, Sister Brown and the assistants arrived

in Bordeaux to do some interviews in the evening. I had a really good

interview with President Brown and I enjoyed it.

Bourdeaux

We had zone conference on Tuesday. It was all about put on the armor

of God to increase our spiritual and temporal well-being. Elder Barben

and I got to present along with the sister training leaders. We talked

about our Titles of Loyalty, which are similar to the titles of

Liberty we learn about in Alma 46. We took some white shirts after

lunch and we all made a title of Loyalty for ourselves describing our

loyalty to the Lord and his servants.

Zone conference and title of loyalty with STLs

It was my first time presenting at zone conference with President

Brown and the assistants being there.. So that made me somewhat

nervous at first. But we feel like we did a really good job. At one

point, we had everyone in the zone and say one sentence of why they

are on a mission. It invited the spirit so strongly and it was way

cool! We also had President and Sister Brown share with us. We felt

really good about the whole conference; President Brown made some very

kind remarks about the presentation that we four gave. He said "if all

the other presentations in the mission are half as good as this one, I

would be very pleased." Talk about morale booster 😄 President talked

a lot about owning our sector and making sure that we take good care

of it.

Zone Conference

President and Sister Brown are so great for our mission. I'm very

thankful for all they do for us

Add cElder Sumter and I have very similar suits from the same store!aption

Selfie with Soeur Brown and Elder Sumter (he's the driver for the APs)

After conference we started an exchange with the Brive Elders. I was

with Elder Carlson. I met Elder Carlson in his very first transfer and

I was in my 4th, and so he and I know each other pretty well. He served

in the office moving equipe just after me, so we reminisced a lot

about the fun memories we had in that. We had a rdv that fell through

in the evening, so we just shared a spiritual thought with our DMP.

Wednesday we had Rcm in the morning, went to HFC for lunch, and then

Elder Carlson and I went porting in the afternoon! We didn't have much

success finding people, but we were able to have some good

conversations between each other haha. That evening we exchanged back,

contacted, found some cool people, taught one of our Amis Christianne,

and went home. Christianne is a really nice woman, but she's difficult

to teach because she gets off topic pretty often.

Thursday we went with the Eysines elders to teach one of their Amis,

because Elder Barben was the one that found him. And since elder

Barben left and the Eysines whitewashed, we went to help our friend

Michel transition to the new elders. We passed some members in the

evening, and it was so nice! We literally haven't been able to visit

members these last four weeks because neither of us know members...

And it was so nice to be in a members home!! They even invited us to

come eat on Saturday, so we'll have our first dinner appointment of

the transfer! We also saw a recent convert named Emmanuel in the

evening. Emmanuel is a single, 22-year old guy and he's super nice and

loves the church!

Friday we went to Lormont to do a baptismal interview for an 11-year

old girl. Elder Barben did and she passed so that's sweet. Then we

came home and went to visit Christianne again. It was again a

difficult lesson because she doesn't really focus super well. We went

to the church after and had yet another appointment fall through.

Saturday we played some sports in the morning and that was fun. We did

weekly planning in the afternoon, and then we had a DINNER APPOINTMENT

that evening! Haha it was the first one in our four weeks of this

transfer. It was so great! Haha because we whitewashed in, we haven't

had many appointments with members because it's the month of vacations

and we don't know very members yet.. But it was great!

Sunday we had church. Not too much happened. We were supposed to have

a rdv at 6:00 Pm that night with a family, but they cancelled on us at

last minute.. So we had about 2 hours to go contacting, we went to a

park near the church and ended up teaching three lessons. It was super

cool! We found some new potentials so that was cool.

This next week should be really good. We're trying to get twenty

lessons, which is a big goal in the mission right now. It should be a

good one!

#ThugLife S/O to elder Loosle

SHORTEST MISSIONARY EMAIL EVER!!

Hello everyone

Our Pday got really busy, and my week was really busy

 and so I have absolutely no time to write because

of interviews with President and preparing for Zone Conference

tomorrow.

Bourdeaux

My week included contacting, porting, service in Frere Cadeau's

garden, and a plane ride to Lyon for a fun two day exchange with the

assistants.

Exchange with APs (we all balled)

Love you all!

Bourdeaux

Talence Chillin

Hey sorry this is gonna be pretty short.

We had a pretty cool week. Last Monday was busy and we hardly had a
Pday because we went to Bergerac in the morning to help some elders
with something, and then we got back and walked around Bordeaux a
little bit. Then we caught a plane to Lyon and ate master tacos! It's
been a while since I've had it so I was stoked to eat it again.

We had mission leadership counsel the next day. It was very spiritual
and powerful. President talked a lot about loyalty and obedience. We
went on a  little field trip to Mont Thou above Lyon and we talked up
there and had some time to figure out what we need for our zone.

Wednesday we had a grind day and we got to do some pretty cool stuff,
the night before we had planned to get a miracle at exactly five
o'clock. Long story short we found a new investigator at exactly five
o'clock. It's a Portuguese woman named Ana and she's interested.
Unfortunately she'll be on vacation for a couple weeks but we're going
to visit her and her family soon!

Thursday we had our zone training and that went really well! Our zone
took everything well and participated a lot.

Friday we did a baptismal interview and then we had crepe night with
some members and Amis! It was way fun

Saturday there was a baptism for other elders so we went and supported them.

Sunday I gave a talk at church that they asked me to do on Saturday
night.. Haha it went well.
Sorry I don't have a lot of time this week. I love you all! Have a great week!

Ballin in Bordeaux with Barben

Hello everyone!

I don't have a lot of time this week because our Pday is getting cut
pretty short as we have to take a flight into Lyon for missionary
leadership counsel. I'm going to be pretty brief for the email this
week. We had a really good week though!

Monday was transfer day where I left Toulon at 7am and got to Bordeaux
around 9:30 after many connections and delays. We got to the apartment
at about 10:30. The apartment was an absolute disaster and it smelt
really bad.

Bordeaux, this street is famous for being one of the biggest
pedestrian only streets in Europe.

So Tuesday we took some time to clean the apartment and now it's
absolutely beautiful. It's actually pretty large and quite nice! That
evening, we did some door knocking and we were able to find someone to
be pretty interested and we got a rdv with them.

But I'm really enjoying my new area! It's very different from other areas I've been in.

Bordeaux is split into three different wards,and my ward is practically like the suburbs 

of Bordeaux. So we don't have a lot of people on the street compared to my other areas, 

and we knock a lot of doors.It's going pretty well so far and I'm enjoying it. The ward is

really cool and the chapel is really nice. My new comp is Elder Barben. He's from Layton

Utah. He and I get along really well already! 

We're actually whitewashing into our sector, so that's been
interesting.. Elder Barben was in another ward in a different part of
Bordeaux, so we're both trying to figure this new one out. Our sector
consists of mostly homes and not very many commercial areas for
contact. So we have a lot of door knocking to do! Fortunately I kind
of enjoy door knocking.. It can be pretty fun!

Wednesday we met with Bruno, a recent convert of one week and he
somewhat told us his life story. He's doing well and a member and he
seems really sincere and engaged in the gospel. We also made a new
friend named Miller. He's from Africa and he love the bible and he's
interested to learn more about our church. He also wants to learn
English.

Elder Barben and I already have some good inside jokes. It's great!
(Shout out to elder Barben: topehopivopa)

Thursday we did some more porting and passes. We were able to find
another person interested! We were able to get three new people three
days in a row. It was great! We also picked up the Eysine elders at
the gare because the senior comp, elder Osborn, is whitewash training.
We slept at their apartment because we had to show them where it is
and we got back late.

Friday we have Miller a chapel tour, and we met with Emmanuel for a little bit.

Saturday we had samedi sportif and that was super fun! We played
soccer and volleyball, and there were some members and Amis. Elder
Barben and I did a little wrestling game in the sand because there was
some big wrestling thing going on for kids, so they asked if we wanted
to try haha. Elder Barben is 6'5" and weighs 30 pounds more than me..
He won 2-1 haha I'm proud of myself for the one time I got him down ;)

lder Barben beat me on wrastlin'

Sunday we went to church and met some members! It's a super power ward
and I'm stoked to work with them. I got to bear my testimony to
introduce myself. There was an American family that was visiting from
Mapleton, Utah, so elder Barben and translated for them. The dad had
me come up with him to the stand so he could bear his testimony and I
could translate it for him. It was pretty cool! A lot of the people
talked about temples and also about all the events happening in the
world these days but the peace we can feel of we search for it by the
hand of God.
We also had a good rdv with a woman named Lucette later that day.

I'm writing this email very fast with not much commentary because I
don't have very much time, but this week has been incredible and im
stoked for the next five weeks I have here. I imagine I'll stay here
until the end of my mission and I'm grateful for that. Bordeaux is
really cool!

I love you all, have a great week!

Porte d'Aquitane

Bordeaux, Boats, Ballin

Hey everyone! I don't have much time to write so I'll be somewhat
brief.. I'm getting transferred out to Bordeaux.. It's been a really long day. I left around 7AM and I'm finally arriving in Bordeaux a bit after 9PM. There were a bunch of late trains, missed connections, and lay overs.. So we got in pretty late!I'm pretty upset to have to leave Toulon after just two transfers...But Bordeaux will be a new, cool adventure! I've been called as a zone leader... So that will be pretty interesting. I have no idea what I'mdoing, but we'll manage I guess. My new comp is Elder Barben; I don't know much about him yet. He's in his last transfer so I'll be finishing his mission with him, which means I have a guaranteed two transfers here, which probably means I'll finish my mission here. It's crazy to think about that! Time is really flying..

TOULON AND MARSEILLE



















Well here's my week.. I don't remember much
Monday we shopped and then had FHE at Frere Sassi's
Tuesday we visited these two Africans from Nigeria.. One is a woman named Efoma and she's been taught for a really long time. But her brother was there for the first time so we got to meet him and teach him. He accepted a Book of Mormon and he seems fairly interested in the church. We then had our missionary reunion with our ward mission leader 
Wednesday we went with Xavier to the chapel to do some geneaology work with him and a member who is a specialist in it.

At the same time, we worked on making some CDs with the Book of Mormon in French on them. We just made about ten copies; it's for some aged members that can really read the Book of Mormon, so we put it onto some CDs.
Thursday we had dinner with the Patous and Sister Martinez. They ordered pizza and we had a good rdv.

Friday we had Antibes with us on exchange. We got our calls that morning and we were all surprised about all of our calls. The mission was changed up quite a bit.
Saturday we had a really intense rdv with a excommunicated who's very depressed but wants to come back.. I won't go into detail on it because there was a lot of things that were discussed, but it was very spiritual. Then that evening we went out to eat with Gabriel, the American, and Gabriel the Brazilian and his mom.

The American Gabriel could only stay for 15 minutes or so, but he ended up buying our dinner and leaving. It was super nice of him and it was a super good dinner!

Sunday we just did packing and a lot of goodbyes and stuff..
Sorry I don't have time to finish. We finally got to our apartment last night around 10:30PM.. We had a really long day!
Love you alll!


The Nonu family (Ma'a is the rugby player)