November 1, 2010

Bonjour à tout! It was kind of a crazy week! I went on two exchanges. The first was on Wednesday with Elder Zobiri and we stayed in Nice. E Zobiri is from Paris and speaks only French, so that was an awesome experience to work with a native and speak only French all day long! Then after zone training on Friday in Aix-en-Provence, I went on exchange with Elder Yang (one of the Zone Leaders in Aix) for Friday night and Saturday. Holy cow, Aix-en-Provence is beautiful! Saturday morning we did a service project for a family in the ward there. They have a plot of land in the countryside where they're going to build a house, and we went there with the other Elders in Aix and planted 100 of these little trees called "charms" for them. They are obsessed with these trees! haha. We also cut down a bunch of huge cherry trees that were overgrown. It was pretty fun and we got to see the beautiful countryside. The wine vineyards in the fall are all orange and red and they're all nestled between rolling hills with green trees. What a beautiful place! After that we had a couple rendez-vous and one of them was in Chinese (Elder Yang is a Chinese speaking missionary too). I didn't understand anything, but it was cool to be there and still feel the spirit that came even though I had no idea what was going on! Saturday night I returned to Nice and we went to "La Soiree d'Halloween" at the Chapel. I was surprised how many members came! Halloween is hardly celebrated in France. We as missionaries participated in most of the activities, and for one of them, everyone got to dress up me and E Blosil however they wanted from a pile of clothes. I looked pretty crazy! The best part was the leopard skin jacket they put on me. It's weird how well they knew my taste. Then E Blosil and I got to lead the kids through a little haunted house thing where they could touch the insides of a Mummy which were hot dogs and stuff. It was a fun night!
The work was a little crazy and scattered this week with all the exchanges and the zone training. We have an investigator named Hakim who is just awesome. He has a baptismal date for the 20th of November and I'm so stoked for him! He came to church yesterday and I sat with him during Sunday School. Afterwards he told me how much he felt the Spirit during the lesson and how good he felt. It was awesome to be able to testify to him that what he felt was the spirit and after baptism he will be able to have that feeling with him always! He seriously has such a great spirit. He's so humble and so willing to follow his heart and to follow Jesus Christ. This week my Faith increased greatly. I've been opening my mouth and it has been filled. I've felt the influence of the Spirit so much more since I've started showing my Faith more. I have a much stronger testimony of my calling and the power that it brings. We had a "mangez-vous" in Aix (eat at a member's house) with this super sweet Sister of about 40 and her 6 year old son. She explained to us during dinner how one of the Sister missionaires came back and visited her after her mission, and how something was very different when she saw this Sister missionary after her mission was over. She said there was a power missing when she talked with her and it just wasn't the same as it was when she was a missionary. It was pretty powerful to hear that testimony from a member. As a missionary, it's sometimes hard to feel the power and authority of your call because you're just used to being around it all day. But that strengthened my testimony so much about my calling. I know that I have been called by a prophet of God, and therefore by God, to be a representative of Jesus Christ and teach His word to His people. My calling is truly divine, and that knowledge helps me to open my mouth when I have fear and to keep going even when I feel like I could sleep for a day and a half straight. I know that this is the most important work that needs to be done in the world, and I'm honored to be called to the work!
Today we have a sweet p day planned. A member named Benjamin is going to the Church with us where he will teach us to make pain au chocolat, croissaints, and all kinds of French baking goodness. Then toinght we're going to Monaco to eat with a family who is friends with Elder Blosil's dad. It should be great! I'm so thankful for all of you. I think of you when I work and you motivate me to do my best work! I love you! à la semaine prochaine!

Love,
Elder "Tu dors"