Bonjourrrrr!!

Hello! Here's my week..

Monday we went to "jardin public" and had lunch with the other six missionaries in Bordeaux. After we did a little shopping and then came back to the institute to do emails. Nothing too interesting. 

Bordeaux

Tuesday was interesting... we spent a large chunk of our afternoon at IKEA. Our apartment is really lacking a lot of stuff, so we talked to the office and they approved of us going to ikea to get what we need. And as I was in the moving equipe and Elder hall was in the office, we knew exactly what to get. Our motto was "Be frugal but not too cheap." And so Friday morning we'll be getting a nice delivery with all of our stuff :)

I'm literally considering taking up a summer job at IKEA next year.. I know that place so well now. I love it. haha

Wednesday we had an exchange with Angoulême. I was with elder Duffy for the day and we had a day full of rdvs! (We actually had nothing planned... so we planned to teach lessons on the street haha it was a pretty cool day. Elder Sorenson (who is from draper) was with my comp elder hall. Between the four of us, we were able to teach 14 lessons in one day! It was really cool and we had a great day. We met a lot of people that seem pretty interested. So it was. 

Thursday we went to Limoges early in the morning for district meeting... it was soooooo cold! Haha it took three hours to get there.. and another three to get back. District meeting was great! And one of the elders, Elder maiava, went all out on lunch and it all looked really nice. We came back from Limoges and went straight to our first English class! There were 5 people that came so that was pretty cool. They were people we all know pretty well so it was a very chill English class, but it was fun!

District Meeting

Friday we got our IKEA delivery (our apartment needed a bunch of stuff) so we spent all morning setting stuff up. After we went to visit Bruno but that didn't work out, so we went contacting for a little bit. We didn't have much success. In the evening we met up with a potential investigator to learn more about him but we won't be able to teach him because of certain circumstances.. he's a really nice guy but he's not in a good position to receive the gospel and be able to follow everything. That evening we went out to dinner with the sisters and Yuwei, who is one of their amis. She's Chinese! A few weeks ago I asked her if she knows any good chinese hot pot places in Bordeaux.. which led us to setting a day and time for all of us to go get Chinese hot pot! I had Chinese hot pot for my first time in Toulouse last year and it was super good, but this time was even better! 

Let explain how it all works..

On the table is a small burner for a pot. You choose the kind of soupe you want (I chose a spicy one with chili peppers and stuff) and then you put the pot on your burner and let it heat up. After that you can order all sorts of stuff à volonté (I dont know what the correct way to say it is but you can have as much as you want.. for example there's beef, pork, ham, vegetables such at carrots, noodles, rice cakes, shrimp, etc) and then you place the food in the pot, let it heat up and then you pull it out and put it in the little bowl of sauce that you've made, and then eat it. It's SO GOOD! Like absolutely amazing. And apparently I really like shrimp now, so that's new. (My family just knows how much I didn't like seafood before the mish)

By the way it's  now sweater season in France so that's always a wonderful thing!

Saturday we played sports in the morning and we played soccer. We met some cool people and there were some members there. After we came home and ate, then we went back to the church for a rdv that didn't actually happen cause the girl didn't come.. but we taught the member that came and that was nice! Afterwards there was a baptism for a girl in our ward and we stayed for that. There were quite a few nonmembers and we were able to talk to them. We had our missionary meeting with our ward mission leader and then came home!

Sunday we had church.. our Ami Jordan came so that's good! He's hesitant to accept a baptismal date, but he's super integrated and loves the church and the ward and the doctrine. So we'll see what happens with him.. after church we contacted and then went to Frere (brother) Defranchi's for a little spiritual meeting with some young adults and  Jordan. It was really good. Frere Defranchi Is an opera singer in Bordeaux; he has an "Im a Mormon" video if you want to try to find him! He's super nice and loves helping us. 

Afterwards we contacted to try to get our 20th lesson of the week and we taught the first person we met! She wasn't super interested but it was still good. But we were happy to get our twenty lessons! We were able to meet some really cool people that we hope to see this next week. The whole push of twenty lessons comes from Elder Neil L Andersen's promise of "if you teach twenty lessons a week, you will baptize once a month." So we're striving to get that! 

Our week was pretty crazy but still went really well. The spirit is here with us and it is helping us be where we need to be! Thanks for your support and all you do. 

Love you all!

L'Entrecôte and GenCon

Bonjour everyone!

So last Monday like I mentioned, we went to dinner at l'entrecôte with Jeff and Paul, the two Americans. Jeff is a member and Paul isn't. Because we translated for them on Sunday they offered to take us out to dinner on Monday. I didn't really know what l'entrecote was (it means like meat from the rib, which I already knew, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into). The restaurant opened up at 7:15PM, and at 6:45 there was already a line. Fortunately on a Monday night there isn't too many people, but apparently on Saturday, there are easily 50 people waiting in line 30 minutes before it opens up. It's a nice restaurant with multiple levels and tables, and it fills up quick. There's only one thing on the menu: steak. The only thing that the waitress asked us was how we want our steak cooked. They start you off with a salad (which was simple yet good) and then they bring out a plate with lots of fries and your initial steak. I can honestly testify that those fries are the best fries in the world! Never before have I tasted fries so good.. it had the perfect combination of crunchy and soft, and the taste was impeccable. The fries are also bottomless, so you can always get more. They put the initial slices of steak on your plate, and then your second steak on a platter in the middle of the table with the buttery sauce that you can pour over your steak and fries... not to mention, we were in line pretty early so we got some good seats on the third level with a nice view of the middle area of Bordeaux. 

 Entrecôte

In the end, it was one of the best dining experiences I've had in France. 

And plus it was such a great evening spent with Jeff and Paul! They're two business men that are here teaching and a private business school, so I really enjoyed talking with them. Paul, who is unfamiliar with a mission, was super impressed at what we do! Haha he was saying that at 20 years old he still was just messing around and not doing much with his life. 

Thank you Jeff and Paul!!

On Tuesday we went with Frere Cadeau to do some work in his garden. We went with him and our Ami Jordan. It was pretty fun! It was great being there with Jordan. I feel like our relationship with him is really good because we do a lot of other good things with him rather than just only sitting down and teaching him. He's getting involved in service in the ward, and this week we might even go get kebabs together haha. 

After that we we got home and went porting in a neighborhood for a little bit. The neighborhood was filled mostly with pessimistic, non-religious old people that just laugh when they open the door. Haha there wasn't too much success, but we did meet a cool college kid. He wasn't super interested to have us come back, but we taught him about God and invited him to ask God if he's there.. so hopefully that he did and that it will make a difference in his life, and he'll see the missionaries again in the future. 

I forgot to mention something in my email from two weeks ago.. when President Brown was talking to us at MLC, he shared a story from his mission. He had written "I can baptize" on a piece of paper and posted it to his wall. His trainer, who was a wise man, came over and crossed out the "can" on the piece of paper and instead wrote "will." President explained to us that this is faith that we need to have in our mission... instead of the "I can" faith we need to have the "I will" faith. I though it was pretty cool! It made me think of young missionaries that have seemingly unrealistic faith, but really it's the young (bleu) missionaries that work so many miracles in our mission because of the great faith that they have! 

On Wednesday we went into ville in the morning to do what we call a "Mount Thou" experience. I think I mentioned it in my email a few weeks ago, but basically we go to  a high spot where we can see our sector and we pray. We pray to be able to have the faith necessary so that we can find a family. President brown promised every area in the mission that we will be able to find a family that will be ready to hear the gospel. So now we're trying our hardest to find that family! 

Later that evening we taught a new guy named Florent. Florent is a really intelligent guy but he's pretty open. And he's also French! He was very respected and he seemed pretty happy that we would give him a  little tour of the chapel. He said that he accepted the Book of Mormon the first time because we gave it with a heartfelt offer. He said he will read it and pray about it. A member named Stephane was there with us and I haven't mentioned much about him.. but Stephane is a really nice member that helps us out so much! He's about 30 and he served a mission. He's been a member for about 6 years. The missionary that found him was one of my MTC teachers so that was cool to see that connection. 

Thursday was district meeting and it was pretty fun. Especially with the nachos for lunch haha. After that we met with Emmanuel to work on some genealogy stuff, then we went out to Lyon on the plane. Lately I've started disliking airports.. I think I take them for granted but I just hate waiting in the lines for what seems like ages haha but the one hour plane ride is not bad. It's better than an 8 hour train ride. 

Random story: when we were getting off plane and headed into ville, Elder Hall was like "what do you want to eat?" So I was like "Mexican!" Haha mostly as a joke because Mexican food in France is rare because these frenchies can't handle any spicy food.. so instead we went to Burger King in the huge Lyon mall, and it turns out that they are putting a real Mexican taco burrito place right next to Burger King! I don't want to be disrespectful or sacrilegious, but I took that as a nice tender mercy from our Heavenly Father! Haha that Mexican place will be frequented often by missionaries. 

Bordeaux with Elder Hall

Friday we had our exchange. Originally we were going to help a family move some stuff like an hour or two, but then we realized the task would take a lot longer. Long story short, my days of being a moving elder were once relived, but instead of moving apartments, we moved a house of a non member family from Ireland, and it took us from 9:30AM to about 9:00PM. It was long and tiring and I'm still sore from the lifting, but it was so much fun! I went on exchange with elder Landry, who is one of the only three missionaries in the mission that are is older than me Haha. I feel so ancient. But it was super fun to do that. By the end of the day, it was elder hall and I, the assistants, the secretary, and the two ZLs in Lyon, plus an American member. So we got the job done and the family was super grateful! The family knows the missionaries and isn't super interested in the gospel.. but service can go a long way! 

Saturday we returned home to Bordeaux, and by the time we finally got back from the airport we went straight to the chapel to go watch general conference! I love general conference. Sunday we spent all at the chapel as well with some members watching conference. We were able to watch all the sessions in English :) no offense to the French, I just naturally prefer it in English because of the tone of the voices!

One of my favorite talks was President Nelsons on joy.. I thought it was so great! It made me reflect on my life and my mission a bit and to think about the joy that I have in this life. The joy I get from living this gospel is great! I was studying more on joy this morning, and I came across the scripture in Luke where he angel announces "good tidings of great joy." This joy is literally Jesus Christ! It can still be a joy in our lives if we just put our faith to the test and try it :) 

McDo with Elder Landry

Love you all, have a great week!!

WORKING IN THE VINEYARD!

Hello everyone!

I don't remember too much of this week.. I was sick for most of it. 

Last Monday  we had a short Pday and then went out to Lyon for mission leadership conference. We had master tacos that night so that's always wonderful. We had MLC on Tuesday and that was pretty good. Last time was kind of a chastisement, this one wasn't that much of one hahah it was very spiritual and really good. 

Plane to MLC

Wednesday we had a bunch of preparation and errands to do for zone training on Thursday. In the evening we were able to go to institute with Jordan. Institute went really well and it was super interesting! Our Ami Jordan enjoyed it as well. 

The next day was zone training and we had a lot of fun and learned good stuff. I kind of prefer presenting to a larger group of people rather than a few people because there's more participation and ideas. We did IKEA meatballs for lunch and that went really well.. because who doesn't love ikea meatballs? After zone training finished we cleaned and stuff. I wasn't feeling super good, so I laid down on the floor in the library of the church and took a small nap... haha I woke up feeling somewhat better. But that evening we met with Jordan and Frere Cadeau and we continued talking about temples. We asked Jordan if he would like to go to the temple some day and he said of course! So we're trying to work to get him to accept a baptismal date so that he can do that and go to the temple afterwards. 

our zone

Friday we had a crepe night and that was fun with amis and members (and the crêpes of course)! Jordan came and enjoyed it. 

Saturday we had samedi sportif and weekly planning. I didn't bash heads with anyone this time ;)

Sunday was church and these two American guys came. They're teaching at the university for the week. The one is a member and the other isn't. We translated for them and stuff for all three hours of church. The nonmember isn't super interested but he still enjoyed church and all. Afterwards they were like "hey can we take you out to l'entrecote sometime this week?" (L'entrecote is a French steak restaurant chain.. I've never been but apparently it's  really good.) so they're takin us to dinner tonight.. I'm pretty stoked! 

We also had two pretty cool miracles on Sunday... we had nothing planned in the afternoon so we planned two lessons. One at 3:00 pm and one at 5:30pm. Exactly at 3:00 pm we taught two guys from Africa and fixed another rdv, and exactly at 5:30pm we met a girl on the street, taught her and we're going to try to see her this week! Miracles happen if you just try God. :)

Random Vineyard while out contacting (how many other missionaries get to say they're working in the Vineyard?!)

Love you all, have a great week!

Hospital Trips, Bordeaux Chillin, and Long Week

Hello everyone! This week was pretty long.. We had missionaries sleep
in our apartment from Sunday night to Friday and it was a pretty crazy
week. I won't go into to many details, but I'm fine :) also Elder Hall
is great and we get along well!

Last Monday was just filled up with running around ville doing stuff
and making sure people getting transferred got on trains and stuff.
There were multiple moments where we were pressed on time and we had
to run after a few buses for about a kilometer trying to catch it but
not catching it.. Also done in missionary shoes, which lead to some
shin splints for the week haha. I got my new comp Elder Hall. Like I
said, he was the office elder and I saw him start his mission so I
already know him pretty well.

Cathedral in Bordeaux

Tuesday was an interesting day. We had a normal day planned and then
we had to go help out some other elders in Bordeaux. I ended up going
on exchange with Elder Utia who is from Tahiti.

Wednesday we had a few rdvs. Frere Defranchi invited us over to eat
and teach his friends. We knew the one guy and met and taught the
girl. Frere Defranchi actually has an "I'm a Mormon" video. He's a
opera singer for the Bordeaux opera. He's also a really good member
missionary! He has a few of his daughters in the states. But it was a
really good meeting. Later that day we also saw one of our new Amis
named Safiella. She's from French New Guinea and she's really cool!
She's studying chemistry here. She enjoyed seeing the chapel and
talking with us. She really wants to come to church!

Miroir d'Eau

Thursday We saw Jordan and that went really well. Jordan is really
progressing and understanding everything. We also saw one of our
friends Jimmy in the evening. It was our first time meeting him but
he's super cool! He's from Haiti, but he's a medical student here that
loves God. He was so interested and picking things up so fast! He said
he'll read the Book of Mormon.

Friday was a bunch of contacting but we didn't really get much out of
it.. I don't remember what else happened.

Saturday we went to play sports in the morning with some people and we
were playing soccer. It's this small, turf field right next to
Bordeaux river in a big sports park. It's a really fun spot and
there's a lot of other sports you can do. But at some point in the
match there was a high flying ball, and so I went up to do a header,
but I went up at the same time as a sister missionary (soeur
filbrandt) and my forehead hit her and somehow her teeth caught me...
I felt super bad cause I had wrecked her jaw! So i was seeing if she
was okay then she was like "Elder Steadman you're bleeding!" Haha at
that moment I knew exactly what was happening.. I had a gash in my
head, I couldn't feel the pain because of the adrenaline, it was
bleeding a lot, which mean that I need stitches. It wasn't a first for
me. So we stepped off the field and one of the members had a little
first aid kit by hazard and he used steristrips and taped it to close
it and put a bandaid on. So then we went to the hospital. This
hospital in Bordeaux is a student hospital and kinda sketchy. First
off a lot of the lights were burnt out which is never good for a
hospital situation. And it was funny because as they were bringing me
into the room they were like "oh we need to clean up." So they're just
cleaning up the blood of the other person while I'm just laying on the
bed haha. Literally everyone in there was fascinated at the fact that
I'm American and speak French haha. It seemed like four different
people took a look at me, but they concluded that I didn't need
stitches because it wasn't deep enough.. Yay! So there's my experience
at the French hospital.. 

My head (it looked a lot worse when it first happened)
(and note from mom, he did get a haircut right afterwards)

Sunday we went to church. Jordan came to church but none of our other
Amis did.. But it went well! We taught a lesson in the second hour
(which is the second week in a row where someone asks us the morning
of to teach if) and it went well. No one in the class was over the age
of 29, so it made it a little more comfortable on my part.

Bordeaux

This week was a little more difficult because of a lot of different
factors.. Hospital trips, shin splints, being sick, dealing with
difficulties from other missionaries, and loss of a loved one at home,
but I know that it's all worth it and this is the work of the Lord. He loves
us and here there for us in this life and especially in the life to
come.  

I love you all, have great week!

Final 12 Weeks - Transfer 15

Hey everyone!

We got transfer calls and I'm getting Elder Hall. I know him pretty
well already and I'm excited to be with him.

Last Monday We Spent Pday in Bordeaux. We went to eat at a brasserie
and it was pretty good. After we just went shopping for a little bit
in Bordeaux and ate some ice cream. We just chilled and walked around
Bordeaux. That evening we went to family home evening with our ami
Jordan. It was a super fun night! There was a spiritual thought, a
game and some food. There were two American dudes from California. One
of them is a member and the other was his friend. They're college
students from Santa Barbra. Haha they're super chill dudes and it was
fun talking to them.

pday

On Tuesday We played ping pong and taught Jordan in the morning with
Frere Cadeau. The lesson was going pretty long, so we stopped and ate
lunch while Jordan and Frere Cadeau kept talking. They talked about a
lot of stuff and it seems to have been pretty cool. After that we went
out and contacted for a while and taught a few lessons. We also
visited Emmanuel and that went well. We passed the Picard family and
talked to them briefly!

On Wednesday We met again with Jordan in the morning. We invited him
to be baptized but he said not for the moment. Afterwards we went to
Arcachon to do some work. It was all tourists and we didn't really
have much happen. We ported and nothing happened, but it was still a
really cool ville to go to. Probably one of the prettiest Villes I've
seen so far. After that we came home and went to institute with Jordan
and that went really well.

On Thursday We contacted for a little bit until we realized that
Barben didn't have his badge. We went and bought some Champomy
(martinelli's in France) and took it to Frere and soeur Cadeau for
their wedding anniversary. They were pretty stoked about it about it.
After we went home, got his badge, and then went to the Dorat. We
passed some people including this guy named Stephane. It was an
interesting lesson but it went well.

Frere and Soeur Cadeau

On Friday We saw Jordan in the morning and then had an exchange with
the Lormont elders. I was with elder Duncan. He's a pretty tranquille
dude and we had a good exchange. We went to go pass a member and got
lost in some woods, but we still made it to the members home. We went
to visit the family Coppens, but we had no idea who they were. Only
Frere Coppens was home but he's super cool. He let us come in for a
little bit and their house is way nice. There is a castle across the
street from them. He gave us some juice and we just talked for about
an hour. It was a really good moment with him! He then showed us some
new houses that aren't too far from him and said that we could go port
them. We didn't have anything special happen, but it was still nice to
see him help us.

Saturday We had samedi sport in the morning. Our ami Jordan came and
we shot some hoops and played a little game. Afterwards we went and
got tacos with Emmanuel, Benjamin, the sisters, and Arnaud. We went
home and Elder Barben packed. We went and contacted for a little bit
after, and then that evening we went and had dinner with Michel,
Helena and the Eysines Elders. It was a pretty good dinner even though
there were some seafood stuff.

Sunday we had church and then we sent off elder Barben to go to
Montpellier for the night! I spent the rest of my night with two other
elders that had their companions going home. They had to leave on
Sunday because it takes like 9 hours by train to get to Lyon..

Random castle In a neighborhood

Well that's all for this week. It's crazy that I'm in my final
12'weeks of the mission! I hope to make them the best!

Love you all!

FINDING FOREVER FAMILIES!

Monday we went and chilled in Bordeaux the day time. We just went to
different shops and stuff. In the evening, we went out and contacted a
little bit in the evening.

Bourdeaux

So school goes back in this week in France, and so people are finally
coming back from vacation. It's been super awesome because so many more
people are in ville, and because we're right by a university we meet a
ton of college kids. They're usually pretty chill people and open to
talk. They're not quite stuck in their little prideful realm that most
French people tend to yet, so it's a good

Tuesday we tried passing some less actives but didn't have much
success in coming in contact. We saw Emmanuel, a recent convert, and
he explained to us how he wants to go on a mission. He said it
wouldn't be possible because his grandma is against is and the rest of
his family likewise (they're not members). But we told him that if
he's received an answer from God to go on a mission, then it's
necessary that he "goes and does what the lord commands."

Later that day we had a few rdvs fall through but that gave us some
time to go contact. We had some decent success contacting that day,
including a Brazilian woman. She was super cool, but unfortunately she
lives in the other sector in Bordeaux.. We've literally had to pass 8
people over 11  - Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil.

Wednesday we had district meeting in Bordeaux. We went with a member
and the sisters to go give a blessing to a sister in the ward named
Sister Petit. Afterwards we just went to go contact in the park and we
were able to teach three lessons and find a new person to teach. It's
a girl from French New Guinea and she super interested to come to
church.

Thursday we had a district meeting in Perigueux. Perigueux is a small
village that takes an hour and a half by train to get to. But it was a
fun district meeting and we went to some bagel shop in ville
afterwards. 

District meeting and number of transfers

It's been well over a year and a half since I've eaten a
bagel! But the funny thing is that I decided to get a cheeseburger
when I got there because they looked good... Haha so I still haven't
had one. But I miss my Einsteins! That evening we got home and
contacted around the park.

Friday we had a few rdvs set up, but two of them feel through. We had
one in the morning with a guy named Jordan from Guadalupe. He's 19 and
He's so cool!! We had a lesson with him and our ward mission leader.
Jordan knew the missionaries from before. But he just loves God and
Jesus Christ and he loves being around all of us! Our ward mission
leader who's about 65 has just taken him under his wing and helped him
so much already. There were some members cleaning the chapel when we
had finished, and Jordan offered to help out and did some stuff! Hahah
in my mind I was joking "yo you're not baptized, you don't have to do
that!" Hahah I didn't say it, but it just shows how cool of a guy he
is.

We also had a rdv with Bruno, a recent convert. He had disappeared for
a few weeks and we were getting worried, but it turns out he just went
on a little two week vacation to un-stress a little bit. But he's
alive and doing well, so we just visited with him for a bit.

We had another rdv fall through on Friday evening, so we contacted
more... Literally we've been contacting harder and more this week than
ever in my mission. Elder Barben and I have been getting really good
at turning most conversations into a lesson. Our mission has a goal of
getting twenty lessons (to Amis) a week.

Saturday we had ward council, and then we did service for the
Catherine family. We had to move a bunch of heavy stuff from a
delivery into their apartment. They're building a home, and so they
received a lot of supplies and stuff. They got a lot of boxes of tile
and a bunch of grout.. I recognized all of the stuff they got, but too
bad I didn't work with my dad enough on tile to know how to do it
all..  Haha

After we contacted for a bit (are you seeing a nice pattern of France
missionary work? I usually don't mention contacting in my emails). It
included multiple rejections but also two nice lessons with some young
college students. College students this week have been my favorite
because they're so open to talk to you, easy to relate with, and super
chill! And plus, who wouldn't want to talk to some Americans? Haha
being a foreigner is great.

There was a family home evening activity at the chapel that evening
where we played games, had a spiritual thought and had some food. It
was fun and we had one ami come hang out for a bit.

Sunday we had church. Our friend Jordan came and he got integrated so
fast! He's met a lot of members and he seemed so in tune when he was
there. He was participating and everything and he seemed to like it.
We're going to a FHE thing with him Monday evening to go with the
young adults and have some fun.

After church we went out to try to get two more lessons to reach our
goal of twenty lessons, and the first to people we talked to were
super open and they listened to us. We weren't able to get any follow
up info on them, but the guy took a Book of Mormon and the girl (who
said she's atheist) said she would try praying to God.

We also had dinner with some members that evening. It's a family where
the mother is from Madagascar and the dad is from Guadalupe. It was a
really good dinner appointment!

For contacting, we've been trying to talk to more families and it's
been going well.. we are still waiting to find a family that wants to
meet with us again, but the other families have been at least touched!

With this goal of twenty lessons a week, it might seem like all we
care about is numbers, but I can feel the power that all the
missionaries have and I can see the work improving. In our zone, we
had 5 of the 10 equipes achieve this goal. The past few weeks, only 1
of the 10 has been getting it. Just this week we were able to find 5
new investigators. For those of you that served in South America, it
might not seem like a lot... But the lord is working miracles in this
land in preparation for the temple in Paris!!

Love you All!!

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