BONJOUR! 

These weeks just keep going by faster and faster! This transfer is almost over and that's crazy!! We get our transfer calls this Friday; I doubt that I'm gonna be going to another area but you never know! haha

So last week we had a bunch of stuff going on.. So last Wednesday, I went on splits with Elder Lindsey (the other equipe in our apartment) because we needed to make all of our meetings for both equipes work out. He and I went to this place called Cavaillon and visited this member Alain.

                                                  

We talked to Alain about the family and he said he is going to show us some stuff about his family the next time. After visiting Alain, we wanted to go to some tiny random ville in our area, so we chose this place called Velleron. we were hoping that no missionaries have ever been there because its so small. It's just this small little town with some cool old houses.

So we went porting in the neighborhood, and we met this lady at her house named Lucille! She said that she has been troubled by how the world is today and shes searching for the truth. She set it up easily for us and we talked about the Restoration haha! we are gonna visit her again next week and she seemed pretty excited to read the Book of Mormon.

Thursday, we had our district meeting in Marseille. Marseille is a super sweet place! we had our district meeting which was great, then that day I went on splits with the Zone Leader, Elder Olsen! Elder Olsen and I did some work back in Avignon for the day, taught a couple lessons, saw miracles (because they're everywhere if you look) and then went back in for the night! 

The next morning, we went to meet up with our friend Nabil. Nabil is a non-practicing Muslim guy that used to be a semi-professional Basketball player! Hes a great guy and super open to listen to our message. We usually start and play some ball with him, then we go into the church and talk afterwards. Later that day, we went to our friends house, Etienne! He's a really cool guy and hes got so much faith! he has almost figured out his work schedule, and he actually bought a small moto last week, so we're hoping to see him at church soon! Also, his wife actually got involved in the lessons, and we have been really wanting that for a bit! She really likes to talk about the family with us, because the family is one of the most important things for us :) Later that night, we taught the English class and thats always fun because we get some really cool people that come to it! 

Saturday, we went to our DMB's house, Frère Holman! (ward mission leader in English?? i forgot what its called) Frère Holman is Tahitian. We had our meeting for all of our amis where we talk about the branch and how we can have them help out. The DMB is really important because hes like the middleman for us and the branch! His Wife made lunch for us. It was some kind of noodles, meat, rice, beans, and some sauce. but it tasted amazing! Saturday night, we were talking to this guy Timmy. he's 18 years old, he's practically my homie, and he speaks practically perfect English. We haven't ever taught him, but we see him all over the place! We were talking to him, and he was talking about how he hasn't ever smoke, drank, or anything because he has seen how his family has been affected by stuff like that. I was just like Wow! He's already set up and he's got a great mindset! The other equipe have a rendezvous with him this week, and he said he would really like to come to church with us next week! I cant wait for that!

Sunday we had church (like usual, right?) it was our fast and testimony meeting!! Its interesting how in a branch that's so small, not a single minute of silence happens during fast and testimony meeting. The people in the branch work so hard and have so much faith and its amazing what they do!

We went to Soeur Protano's house that day, and she fed us Ratatouille! You know that scene in the movie with the critique when he first tastes it? It was pretty much like that. it was a great meal!! 

Random facts for this week: My area, Avignon, everyone does 3 Bizou's while most of France does 2.

Also, for French Stereotypes, the one where French people walk around with baguettes? Totally True. So many baguettes, but they're so good haha.

Passez une bonne semaine! 

Je vous aime!!

MIRACLES ARE THERE IF YOU LOOK!

Wow its been such a busy week!
So last week after emailing and stuff, we played this game called Petanque. its a lot like botchee (I don;' know how to spell it) but you use metal balls and its pretty popular in France! we played with these two members from Switzerland that were visiting Avignon for a little (I won, by the way haha).
Tuesday, we played basketball with this guy Nabil and his friend. Nabil is a nonpracticing Muslim that some other elders worked with, but we just came in contact with him last week and started meeting up again! We got to talk to him and his friend more about our church and what we do! Also, Tuesday night we went to a members home for family home evening! We had this quiche and it was super good!! 

Wednesday wasn't super busy for us, we visited our friend Andre and talked to him a lot about his family! he shared with us some recordings that his grandparents made. I couldn't really understand a lot of the french but it was still really cool! Then that night we again went to a members home, and she fed us spaghetti so that was pretty tight :)
Thursday morning, we helped this member move some stuff from out of his house because hes moving to Paris, that took a couple hours but it went smoothly! Thursday night, we hopped on the train to go to St Raphael for Zone conference! There was about 14 elders in this one apartment! I got to see a couple people from the MTC and I also met a lot of people! Also, because I'm the youngest, they gave me the bed for the night so that was really nice :) 

Friday was zone conference in Nice! We went to Nice early in the morning and we got to listen to President Roney, his wife, and the assistants speak to us! it was super great! The Roney family is pretty awesome! Then that night we went back to St Raphael, and all of us visited a member over there and sang our mission song to them so that was fun!
Saturday was amazing! We had to stay in St. Raphael for the weekend because we had Stake Conference the next day, so it would have been a waste of time to go back to Avignon. But we started off the morning by running to the beach :) the beaches in St Raph are super nice!! 

Then that day was super fun! All of us missionaries went to meet up with this guy named Max. Max is a super cool Polynesian guy! we played basketball with the elders, a couple members, and some friends of max! Max brought us food that day and we had a super sweet lunch! we also played soccer all together and that was sweet! then that night, we had the adults session of stake conference. after that, we went to a Chinese buffet called lets wok and had a great dinner! 

Max brought us a lot of miracles that day; we met a lot of his friends and now he wants to be super involved in missionary work. there is  a really cool story along with that, but I cant share it because it probably has too much personal info about other people. But miracles are there if you look!!
Sunday, we had Stake Conference which was great, and then a member drove us home to Avignon which was really nice!!
Check out my blog because theres pictures there: jakesjourneytofrance.blogspot.com

I love you all!!

These weeks just fly by! 

So last Monday night, all of us 4 Elders went to a members home (the Farinas) and had some dinner with them! We had crêpes for dinner with turkey and cheese in them, then we had crêpes for desert with nutella in them so that was pretty tight. 

Then Tuesday, we met our ami (by the way, ami means friend and investigators are called amis de l'Eglise, friends of the church) Amine and ate some Chinese food with him at a restaurant in Centreville, then we went and walked to the Pont d'Avignon with him. Its this pretty sweet bridge that was built a long time ago, there's some story with it but I'm not sure what it is.

After that, Elder Liechty and I visited this guy named Andre. Andre is this older French guy, he's been to church like once or twice but he loves the missionaries. He can play probably over 20 instruments, and also this crazy Argentinan Accordian thing, that probably no one can play as good as him haha. he also let us play his super sweet guitar; its a Fender Stratocaster from the 1950s and its still in great condition! We got talking to him about his family and he has a lot of stuff he wants to share with us, so we'll probably see him tomorrow and talk about his family.

On Wednesday, Elder Liechty and I took about a 40 ride to Orange, and we went to talk to some less active members there. We also took our lunch hour there, and we found this cool spot that's right above this super old amphitheatre and had our sandwiches there. After being in Orange, we returned to Avignon and visited our ami Didier. Didier is a co-owner at a guitar shop called Guitar Brothers. We played guitar a little bit with him and some of the workers, then had the chance to introduce The Book of Mormon to two of them!

Last Thursday, our district leaders came to Avignon and did some splits with us, so I went with Elder Cueva for the day! Elder Cueva is from Spain and he speaks like 5 languages. We had a pretty sweet day and met some great people! Then for the evening we went to Soeur Protano's for dinner. We eat there every week, but it was my first time going. We had this super good Italian soup, and then for dessert she made this bread things that were similar to funnel cakes. they were super good!

Friday we did some weekly planning, contacting and also taught an English class that night. And Elder Olivier gave me a haircut haha I was a little scared but it turned out well :)

Saturday we met Amine at the church and played some ping pong with him and then after we talked to him more about the Book of Mormon. Its pretty upsetting because Amine is leaving today to Vietnam for an internship for 8 months!  He is super cool, but we told him that we could let him know where church is over there! Saturday night we met up with a couple members and like 7 non members, and we went bowling. It was fun because we got to bowl with them and also to talk to them a bit about why we're here and what we do!

Sunday, we had church, they called me up (after being here for 3 weeks haha) to present me and i bore my testimony! Our goal this Sunday was to find 3 members/families that we can come over to their house this week and do service and give a lesson, and we got it!

Everything is still going well over here, and the food is still better haha I love you all! 

Bonne Semaine!

jakesjourneytofrance.blogspot.com

note from the editor (mom):  Jake would never even try soup at home other than tomato basil.  He is a really picky eater.  So him trying all these new foods is a miracle in of itself.  haha

Oh look at that! It's already been two months, that's crazy!!!!!

So this last week has been pretty interesting just like all of them. We had zone training last week in Aix-en-Provence, and that was fun seeing all the missionaries in the zone! then I stayed the night in Aix and went on splits the next day with our Zone Leader Elder Nye! 

We visited a few members that day, and taught a lesson to this older couple that lost their son 20ish years ago. We taught them a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and they loved it! It was cool to see the faith and love they have for their son.

Also, I had my first kebab, which is a Turkish food that is pretty popular here! They have a huge spit of meat thats usually chicken or turkey, then they shave if off and put it inside a bread sandwich thing with some lettuce and sauce. a lot of people are grossed out by the idea of it but it was super good! 

Last Friday night, the 4 of us Elders taught an English class at the church. Its pretty funny seeing how we should know our language super well but we don't even know proper terminology haha but its fun!

Saturday we met with one of our ami's étienne! (the french name for steven) he's a really cool guy from cote d'ivoire, and we've been working on getting him to church but he has had a hard time with his work schedule. but he told us that there is a guy who can switch his Sunday shifts so that's awesome to hear! we hope we will see him next week.

Church over here is interesting but still pretty great! I don't understand a lot of it right now, but it'll come! There is about 70ish active members in our ward and they are really awesome! (By the way, the sacrament is awesome in France because they use real french bread haha!)  but church is great. after church, all of us elders wanted lunch but its about an hour by bus to go back home, so it was funny because we were able to find some random things in the church and make some stuff! 

This morning we started helping this older guy move some stuff out of his garage. he has a lot of really old things that are sweet! We're going back Wednesday to finish, and he said that we'll be able to keep some stuff if we want. the coolest find we had was probably this really old xylophone that was still working!

Overall everything is going well and I'm loving France, the people, the language, and especially the food! haha  

check out the blog because that's where my mom puts my pictures up:

jakesjourneytofrance.blogspot.com

Je vous aime!!

OKAY WOW!

(sorry about my typing, I'm not use to European keyboards)

It's been a while since I have emailed,  we use an internet cafe to email, but a lot has happened since, and I'm not sure if I will be able to put all of it on.

So last week we went to the airport to see that our flight has been cancelled, so then they told us they were going to send us back to the MTC until Thursday and we were just like, no. So we all prayed and somehow they found 12 seats for us on the flight!!! That was cool. so we sat in the airport all day and then got a direct flight from Salt Lake to Paris! Then we took a short flight from Paris to Lyon. When we arrived in Lyon, we met the President and his wife and a couple missionary,  it was just like instant relief.  I  love President Roney and his wife! They are the best! 

Then some of us (the sisters) went in a car to the mission home, and we took the Metro into the city. the AP bought us some pain du chocolate (bread with chocolate inside) and it was so good! The French food was already better than American haha and the French food is also more photogenic than I am haha

We ate dinner at the Presidents home that night, had interviews and stuff and then we all went to the mission apartment and just passed out. I actually have adjusted really fast to the 8 hour difference!

The next day we got our call to our cities and our companions! I'm in Avignon now and my comp is Elder Liechty (pronounced lick-tee) He's from Cedar Hills Utah! we did some contacting in Lyon that night and it was pretty fun. I have a hard time understanding people but it'll come!

The next day we did some contacting stuff for a lot of the day (because we weren't in our area yet, we had to wait til Friday). that night, all the new missionaries, their trainers, and a few others went and sang at the Gare. The Gare is the train station and they have a piano in it that anyone can play, so we ,just went and did some hymns! there were quite a few people that stopped to watch and it was nice to see a smile on their faces :)

The next day we did all of our legality stuff and then Elder Liechty and I left for Avignon! Avignon has a lot of really old buildings and the Pope's Palace. A lot of Popes used to live here in the past.

On the train ride to Lyon, I slept for like the first hour or so but then this ridiculously drunk guy hopped on board and started talking to us. He kept calling me handsome, and he was singing and dancing and saying a lot of french words that I don't know haha  -  at the end he stole Elder Liechty's scarf and then walked away haha we decided he can have it as long as he was gone .

There's 4 guys in our apartment, moi, Elder Liechty, Elder Lindsey from St George, and Elder Olivier from Tahiti! Elder Liechty has been pretty sick this weekend so on Saturday I went out with Elder Lindsey, taught a couple lessons and did some contacting. we had a great day of work for my first day so it was sweet! then Sunday I went with Elder Olivier to church.  On sunday we had 108 people at church which is a lot for that week! Probably because it was Branch Conference. 

Elder Liechty

Elder Lindsey and Elder Olivier

I didn't understand most of the time what was going on, but I really like our branch! They are really great! it was branch conference so after church they had a lot of food and stuff and I met a bunch of cool people! I loved meeting Jonathan and Joshua Roll!!   (The Horrocks that live in our ward nephews) It'ss a very small world and they were super nice!! We got a ride home from church!

My P-days are Monday's, but we emailed today because I had to stay with Elder Liechty so he could get better!

check out the blog :) jakesjourneytofrance.blogspot.com

je vous aime BEAUCOUP :)  

FIRST COMPANION AND ADDRESS


2/4/15

Dear Family of Elder Steadman,

Elder Steadman will be serving with Elder Liechty in Avignon.  Their address is L'Oree des Remparts, Bat J  1171 Rte. De l'Aerodrome  84140 Montfavet.

I am attaching a photo...

Sister Clark

France Lyon Mission Secretary

February 3, 2015

ARRIVED IN LYON FRANCE!

Dear Family of Elder Steadman,

This is just a quick note and photo to inform you that YOUR MISSIONARY HAS ARRIVED IN LYON FRANCE! We are so excited to have them in this mission. We love them and we view them with the same care and concern as we would our own children.  They looked pretty good even though they were surely very tired. They will be doing some legal work for their visa and some training and interviewing. By their preparation day (Monday) they will be able to tell you their companion’s name and where they live. Thank you so much for sharing your missionary with The Lord and with this mission. In many ways, this is truly the most wonderful mission in the world and they will make it even better.

The flight was changed last night so that instead of arriving at 11:10 AM they arrived at 2:30 PM.  They just left for the mission home for dinner.

Thank you,

President and Sister Roney

France Lyon Mission

Note from mom/editor - 12 missionaries rode Frontrunner to the TRAX station at 7 am.  Then TRAX to the airport, upon arriving at the airport they found their flight had been cancelled due to bad weather in Chicago.   They thought they were going to have to go back to the MTC for a few more days but were able to get on a flight going to Paris instead of Lyon,  The flight wasn't until 5 pm that day and the Paris missionaries were joining them for that flight.   They were able to get a flight from Paris to Lyon,  hence the late arrival.   But gave us lots of opportunities to talk to him while he was at the airport.