BASKETBALL CONTACTING AND FAMILY HISTORY!

Bonjour ma famille et mes amis!

This week has been pretty well. Last Monday we went and balled again. Actually, we got approval from our zone leaders to do "basketball contacting." haha honestly we've met a lot of people through just playing ball! so we might do that like once a week. 

Last Tuesday we went to Pontarlier. After getting some McDo for lunch, we went porting before our RDV. The First door we knocked, he let us in! We didn't even have to try hard. We got in and said we're here to share our message and talk about about families and family history. Then he's like, wait a second. He steps in the other room, then comes back with these two large books. It was him and his wife's family history from 1650 to about 2007 haha this guy was on top of it! We taught him about the Book of Mormon. He's a practicing Catholic (that's not common in France anymore) and he was a really nice guy. He even gave us some orange juice :)

Wednesday, our whole zone came to Besançon to all work together! It was a super fun day. We met a lot of people and gave out a bunch of BoMs! Half of us went to a members house and sang to her and her kids. I love our zone unity! 

Last Friday we had a RDV with a very catholic guy and a protestant pastor. We gave them Book of Mormons! i was afraid it would turn into a bible bashing session, but it went super well! they loved it. they said that the vision that Joseph Smith had is very possible. They want to meet some of the members in our ward. So that was super cool!

Saturday, we went to a members house. they live in an outer ville. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from it. We worked on their house; we painted and stuff. But they live in a super beautiful area! and they fed us. We ate some cow tongue! hahah

Church yesterday was branch conference. tons of stake people were there. Our church attendance doubled because of that, but after church, everyone brought some food and it was super fun! We made some American cookies haha! 

Have a great week everyone! I love you all!

WHAT A FUN WEEK!

Last P-day we played some ball in the afternoon. We met a couple bros there. We met this guy who all his friends call him ViperGhost. Its his rapper name. Next time we see him I'll probably ask for his mixtape hahah!

And that night a member called us and wanted us to come over and teach her boyfriend! So we went and did that and it turned out pretty well. He was a really cool guy and he's not sure if God exists or not. But it went really well and we hope to see him this week!

Tuesday I was pretty sick so we stayed in that day.

Wednesday we went to Suisse! So we got to Yverdon around 5 at night. There are 4 elders in Yverdon. We went with Elder Joly and Elder Wolfhart. We went to middle of nowhere town in Suisse. They dropped us off on the street while they went to find a less actives house. So Elder Price and I knocked some doors in the middle of nowhere hahah but it was pretty chill.

Thursday we had zone training. Before zone training, we usually play a game for a bit for some zone unity. So, we played 4 square. Haha it was super fun!! but our zone training was all about iPads. We still don't have them yet but they said expect it in the next 3 weeks! That night after the training we went on splits with the zone leaders. We had a lesson and dinner planned so that was sweet!

Friday we met this guy on the street. He's an ambassador from Central African Republic! He starts talking about his family that lives in the US right now, and he showed us some pictures. Then he was like here's a picture of me and my family shaking President Bush's hand in the Oval Office! Haha we were like what the!  Super cool guy though!

Sunday we got to skype our families! That was super exciting. First skype in the mission for me! But the Spackmans fed us dinner and then let us use their technology to skype. So we're for sure super thankful for them!

Skyping with the Family

Dinner on the Spackmans new patio furniture

Pretty chill week though.

Bonne Semaine! Je vous aime!

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PREMIER MAI AND STAKE CONFERENCE

Hey family and friends!

Last Monday it rained all day, so Elder Price and I just took it easy. But then Tuesday was cool! The Spackmans helped us out with these two coordonnées that live in a middle of nowhere place in our sector. haha our sector is literally over 100 Kilometers. but the places out there were super pretty! a lot of country side. We also were able to find the two coordonnées and fix a return with one of them.

We went  to Pontarlier last week which is where one of our engagées live! We also did some porting (door knocking). but our friend out there told us he is going to try to move to another small ville in our sector! He said that he would be able to come to church more if he was there, so that's super exciting! We're hoping to have his baptism sometime in the next month. 

Friday. Premier Mai or the first of May. its the work holiday in France. and everything shuts down haha. of the 94 bus and tram lines in Besançon, only 4 of them were running. and the 4 that were running weren't very useful for us haha but everyone gets the day off that day! Usually people do protests and stuff  in Centreville but it was raining so everyone stayed in.  In the morning, one of our RDVs we had scheduled called and cancelled on us, but then we got a call from the Spackmans and they asked if we wanted to have lunch with them! It was a nice miracle! They made us Croque Monsieur. it was super good and super nice of them!

Last Saturday we went to Lausanne in Switzerland. We had to take 3 trains and a bus to get there; there were a lot of problems with trains and I think one got derailed. But on our way over, we met an Italian guy that offered to buy us a couple beers at our next stop, but we said we have to go, so he gave us his phone number and address so we can come back for a couple beers on the house? haha and on another train a super drunk college student that was trying to get us have some of his vodka because we had Jesus on our badges.I was offered more alcohol in 3 hours than my entire semester at college haha.

We got there, and we were told to meet at a certain spot at 8:30 at night. But we got there at like 7. So we ate some McDonalds, and then went to the Lausanne Olympique Parc close to the Gare! Apparently Lausanne is like the Olympique Capitale. 

Sunday was Stake Conference!

President and Sister Roney were there and they spoke. They both spoke in French. It really sounded like a farewell talk haha they have less than two months left! Also, Elder Homer spoke. I think he's an Area Seventy or something like that. He spoke in English, but there was a translator that would translate everything. Also, the Bern Switzerland Temple President and his wife were there! So that was super cool. They spoke too! The Suisse Stakes are pretty cool.

But that's about all this week! I love you!

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Definitely a week I will remember.

Last Monday was a pretty sweet Pday; Elder Price and I hadn't received our calls that day, so we decided to go to touristy stuff. We saw the huge St. Jean Cathedral so that was pretty sweet! and then we went to the Citadelle that's on top of the mountain in Besançon. 

There's a zoo and museums up there; we didn't have a lot of time so we didn't pay money to go in, but we saw some monkeys that we just chillin out in front that we could see haha.

Then later that night we went to the Broch's house for FHE. We went with the Spackmans, so it was their first mangez-vous (A rendez-vous that you eat at).

At the Broch's house they have this huge recorder that's like two feet long (like the one you played in 4th grade). By the way I've been brushing up on my recorder skills. Elder Price probably wants to kill me haha

Tuesday we were porting in some small neighborhood on the outskirts of Besançon, and we met this Russian guy and he let us in his house. he was pretty cool. he said he would prefer a Book of Mormon in Russian, so we told him we would come back!

Wednesday we got our calls!! The news is that I'm staying in Besançon with Elder Price. So nothing changed haha but it'll be pretty sweet! he and I get along pretty well so that's good. Our Zone is down to 12 elders now, which puts us as the smallest zone in the mission!

Thursday we went back to the Russian guys house. his wife was there this time and she was super nice! We introduced the Book of Mormon to her. They told us that they are Muslim and that they will probably stay that way. But we told them we do service for people and they seemed really interested in that. I think they really like us so that's good! They're super nice. they always offer us tea or coffee. So I mean its  pretty generous hahah but we don't take it :)

We met a lady last Thursday on the street. After a pretty good conversation with her, she was talking about how she works with handicapped people. She told us that what we're doing is good, so she tried giving us money (which is against our rules). She gave us 5 euros, but we wouldn't accept it. She wouldn't take it back either. So what we did, we pulled out a Book of Mormon and told her that this is a gift to her. I was holding the Book of Mormon, and I opened the front cover a little bit. Elder Price slyly put the 5 euro bill in the cover of the book without her noticing! We gave her the book and walked away. I hope she had a pleasant surprise when she opens it up to find the 5 euros haha :)

And dang last Friday and Saturday were sweet. Friday night we took a train in to Lyon for Mission conference the next day. We get to the chapel there (because we heard there's free pizza for the missionaries) and literally all 240ish missionaries were there haha! It was sweet. I got to see soooo many people again! and all the missionaries that are finished with there mission on Monday! 

Random note, on our way back to where we were sleeping, these guys on roller blades skated into the road with lights and reflective vests. They then blew their whistles and stopped all traffic. Next thing I know, there's like 300 people on roller blades all skating together. I lost it hahah it made my night because it was just too cool! too bad I didn't snap any pictures in time.. 

But that night we stayed in a hotel. The hotel had a TV so we could have been apostate missionaries and stuff, but we didn't so no stress.

Saturday, we all went to the chapel. Again, the entire mission is there. We got to hear from Elder Kearon and Elder Nielson from the 70. Elder Nielson gave the talk this last conference about the Prodigal Son and his sister Susanne. 

The whole conference was about ipads! We're getting them soon. They joked about how we have the ipad cases, just not the ipads yet. They said that they will be here within the next two weeks, so that will be pretty sweet. I'm excited to add another tool to our mission that we can help bring others to Christ!

Missionary work is pretty sweet.

I love you guys! have a great week!!

MIRACLES UPON MIRACLES!

This week was pretty tight. Last Monday after emails, Elder Price and I went to play bball on the court next to Le Doubs. Le Doubs is the big river. We played against some french bros so that was pretty fun! 

Last week we went to Suisse for district meeting in Yverdon. If I get transferred that may have been my last time in Suisse! We get our transfer calls this Wednesday! It was supposed to be last Friday but then they switched it.. but who knows what will happen! 

Last Friday, we helped the Spackmans move in. They're the new senior couple in Besançon! They lived in California before! They are super excited to be here and we're super excited for them to be here too! So we helped them move some things in and stuff. The Spackmans will be able to help us with a lot of stuff! So we're super excited. 

Also last Friday we went to Dijon so Elder Price could interview the girl in Dijon for a baptism! It went well, so then she is getting baptized the next day! So that night we returned to Besançon. the next morning, we helped out with some more things at the Spackmans apartment (Soeur Spackman bought us croissants so that was super nice of her). Then the Spackmans drove us to to Dijon so we could go to the baptism!

The baptism went really well. It was a college age girl from Madascar that has been coming to church for a long time, so it was nice seeing her get baptized! She has a really good spirit and testimony! There was a second baptism about an hour later too so we decided to stay for that!

The 2nd baptism was great as well! It was some sisters in Chalon. They aren't in our zone, but the Dijon church was the closest with a font. But the girl was named Vanessa. I found out that in my 2nd week of being in France, i did splits in Aix en Provence. That day, the zone leader and i taught this couple. When we taught that couple they were super engaged and really picking it up! I later found out that they decided to be baptized about a month after. After their baptism, they told there daughter about it; their daughter is a single mom, but when she heard about the church she said she wanted that in her life. So we got to see the her baptism, and it was cool because her parents came all the way, and I talked to them and they remembered me! They told us that the missionaries have baptised a super strong family. They have so much joy in their lives so its been really cool to kind of see the beginning and the end :) Miracles upon miracles. 

Then yesterday, I gave a talk in church, the french is coming along haha. But yesterday evening Elder Price and I were walking toward the church, and we saw the Spackmans along the way. we stopped and talked to them for a second. in the middle of our conversation  two guys walked by and stopped to look at our badges. We started talking, and they were both super religious guys that enjoy talking about Jesus! We gave them a BoM. It was perfect timing and everything. The Spackmans are already bringing us many miracles :) 

And today is 420, so me and my comp celebrated by eating a Kebab on Le Doubs river. 

Have a great week everyone :)

I FEEL LIKE TIME IS FLYING HERE!

So the mission life keeps moving along! I feel like time is flying here. I'm almost 4 months out...

But this last week has been pretty good. Besançon is starting to warm up a lot! We've been wearing long sleeves and sometimes we're too hot in that haha. But Besançon is pretty cool when it gets nice outside; a lot of people go sit on the grass that's right next to the Doubs river. They are also having a lot of random events; last Saturday there were a ton of people in centre ville because there's this sale thing that goes on like every few months. There were a bunch of homies that brought drums and a bunch of n'importe quoi going on. haha

But last Tuesday I went to Dijon for some splits. Dijon is a pretty cool place! We just did some work in that area. Dijon is pretty close to Besançon; Dijon has the very furthest north sector of our mission. We always joke about how we're gonna fall asleep on a train and wake up in Paris because that's the stop right after Dijon!

Last Wednesday night we went to Switzerland for zone conference the next day!

We had zone conference in Yverdon. President Roney and his wife were there; they both talked to us so that was pretty good! We also did interviews with the president; its practically everyones last interview with him, so that was pretty cool. He took more time than usual with everyone! 

Last week we decided to start calling up some of the amis from older missionaries, and we were able to get in contact with one then start teaching again! He's a pretty cool dude from Haiti. He already knows a lot so that was nice, and he loves talking about God. We're planning to see him again this afternoon!

Then Fast Sundays in a ward with about 25 Active members are interesting. Surprisingly again, there weren't any moments of silence!

But everything is going well! Our mission has a conference next week on the 25th. All 250ish missionaries will be in Lyon. Its pretty confirmed that we're getting iPads next week. The change from paper to iPads will be weird haha

I love you all! have a great week!

4/6/2015
Conference was pretty amazing, huh?

Conference is always like that though haha. But fortunately, I have been able to watch all but 1 session in English! We made it all work out though so that was awesome! Conference is pretty tight!

But this week has been interesting but still special.

Our cute Easter Pictures!

One thing of news is that we finally found an apartment for the missionary couple coming to Besançon, so they should be in like next week! 

We went to a small ville called Pontarlier last week, and we had a RDV with our baptism engagé. Turns out, he brought his friend along. We were planning to talk to him about some things that someone brand new to learning about would have no idea whats going on. But after 15 minutes of talking and eating some chips, Elder Price somehow made it perfect so that he was talking to our Baptism engagé about these later lesson subjects, while I was talking to his friend about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration! His friend is about 20 and from the Congo, he told us that its nice to talk to people in France about his age about God; he feels that most people our age just want to party and stuff. He then told us he's moving to Besançon soon. so we definitely got his number and stuff! Flippin sweet miracle. I literally see a miracle every day. God is always there.

We did a lot of less active visits last week; we stopped by this guy that hasn't been to church in a while. So far the weirdest RDV I have had haha; He wasn't sober and there was just a lot going on and it was super confusing. But we hope he felt the spirit! We'll probably return this week.

This week rained literally everyday. We met a lady last Tuesday, and she talked to us about how during the Easter week, it always rains. But then Sunday, BOOM it was shining and the sun was bright. That's some pretty cool symbolism!! 

This Easter season was super special for me. I have had so many miracles, but right now not enough time to explain them in depth or how I want to. But I want to end this saying that God is there. Jesus Christ is there. They will never leave us. Even after years of being in darkness, you can always find the light back to safety. And because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that light will always be there.

I love you all. Have a great week!

Elder Steadman

And a big thanks goes out to the Horrocks family for taking a package all the way to France for me!