Three Miracles

Hello Family!

Sounds like you're all having quite the party haha.

About the American food in Paris. American food is already overpriced here and on top of that, in Paris, pretty much everything is even more expensive. And also I don't go to Paris too often, AND when I do, I don't have time to go to different places. Ha.

So this week was pretty good! We went to Rouen (I found out that I've been spelling it wrong all this time...ha :P) for Interviews with le Président Poznanski, district meeting, and a very small zone conference. I love my mission President!! Seriously one of THEE coolest guys ever!

Elder Paitrault is the district leader for the Caen district (which includes Cherbourg and Caen. ha) and he gave THEE best district meeting I have EVER had to this point. It was HILARIOUS!! He started with a "TV Show" called "Petro's Show: l’émission qui plaît trop!"
Ha...did you catch all the puns? (Petro, plaît trop. They both sound close to his name: Paitrault) Well, what he would do was ask a question...but SUPER fast and if you didn't answer in about 3 seconds, you got the question wrong. He had one question for everyone. It was to demonstrate how missionaries can tend to be with with their investigators. They will just throw up all this information on them and then when their ami doesn't understand something, they just move on. It was super good!

So Thursday, we had three miracles happen. So Cherbourg, the area covers Cherbourg and it's surrounding villes. Not just Cherbourg-Octeville. There is a ville called Querqueville and I've had the biggest impression to go there for the longest time. Since week 2 (as in week 2 in France...) to be exact. But finally, we went!!

Miracle 1: Earlier that day, we were supposed to have a rendez-vous with a cool dude named Ashim. But he didn't show up. As we were waiting for the bus to come, he ended up passing by this stop and he came and talked to us. He still wants to meet with us and get baptised. And he told us the best time to get a hold of him. So we will continue to try with him.

Miracle 2: When we arrived in Querqueville, we started porting. At about the 4th door, an older couple answered. They were interested to hear our message but the house was their daughter's and they were just visiting. And their daughter wasn't home. So they told us to come back in about 30 minutes. So we did. And just as we did, their daughter pulled up in her car and we were able to give them a Book of Mormon and we plan to go back to teach the daughter.

Miracle 3: This one is very touching for me. During those 30 minutes we did more porting. We ended up porting a house where a little girl (probably like 6 or 7 years old) answered. So we asked if we could talk to her parents. Her dad came to the door and said that now wasn't a good time to talk to them because they're busy. Just as the door was closing the little girl said something like "it says Jesus!" (meaning our name tags). Her dad told her "they're just here to talk about Him." And this little girl said the sweetest thing I've ever heard any young child say. Elle a dit "Jésus? J'aime Lui bien! Je veux, je veux!" Which means "Jesus? I love Him! I want to, I want to!"Seriously, it was super awesome! And so the dad told us that we should come back another time.

Well, that about sums up my week! Oh and we invited an ami to Church, elle s'appelle Sylvie. She came!! She said that she loves our church.We invited her to get baptized. She told us she would like some time to ponder on it though. So our next rendez-vous, we plan to get a baptismal date set.

Thanks for the package!! I haven't picked it up yet, but I plan to get it today!! I hope all is well for you! And I'm eating lots of fruits and veggies...but I'll try to work out more :D hehe...

I love you all!!

-Elder Wilson :)

Come Join With Us

11/11/13

Family!!

Comment allez-vous? Jaret needs to come to France and buy a French suit. He'd probably love all the clothes here...except he'd die when he sees the price of everything...ha. By the way, random fun fact: gas here is like 1.45 a liter here...which is really close to like 5.10 a gallon...which is like 7 or 8 USD a gallon.

It's nice to hear from y'all. Ha. :) this week was a tough week for me. Although I have some GREAT pictures of the morning horizon!! You'll love them!!

This week we had our Zone meeting and District meeting (the same day ha) in Ruon. It was really good! The theme of the Zone meeting was based off of Elder Utchdorf's talk from the last Conférence Générale "Come Join With Us." I don't remember much of what was said, but I do remember how I felt! :D haha. The spirit was tres fort! It was good!

So we've been working really hard with our old amis lately. Two of these amis are a couple: Francois and Annie. Francois is very agnostic and doesn't really like talking about religion, but he's super nice and a great friend. Whereas Annie is very believing and into religion. We had dinner with them last night at their house. It was good. And we talked about Prophetes and invited them to do what Joseph Smith did.

This week we also started giving the new member lecons to the new converts (that were baptised two transfers before I came...ha). So far we've started with Aimé. And we are planning to start with the other three today and Wednesday.

So there is a drink here, that I have been trying to find since the first time I heard about it (week 2 during my first transfer). It is called Pschitt. Well, I found it at one of our amis' house!! She had some just out on her table, so I asked her where she bought it, and Elder Paitrault and I are gonna go to that store either today or next week to go buy some Pschitt. Bahaha!!

Oh, so this morning, I found some maple extract (from America. The French don't have maple extract) and made maple syrup and french toast!! It was SUCH a great meal!

And on that note, the power of prayer is so amazing! I realized again this week just how important it is to pray sincerely. It's so important that one prays everyday. I don't know how I went without daily prayer before my mission. I know that Heavenly Father is there and that he answers prayers. He hears EVERY prayer.

Okay, so yes, I do have time to practice music. In fact, I play music like every P-day. And in fact, yesterday after church, the branch choir strongly invited us to stay and practice with them [there were 4 dudes and like 5 girls. Just like our choir at home!! ;)] So I would actually love it if you sent me that sheet music! Could you also send me "All Of Me" by Jon Schmidt? (Jon Schmidt is approved to play and listen to in my mission.) It's somewhere in my files on the computer. Thanks :D

I'm SO ticked about the language thing (Grantsville Elementary will begin language immersion next year in French)!! That would have made learning French SO MUCH easier! Which comes to answer another question of yours: Yes, my comp helps me with French. And in fact, I help him with English as well. It's pretty legit!

We are just over one branch. Ha...our branch boundaries are bigger than Tooele County. It's about the size of Tooele County and Salt Lake County combined.

Well, I love you all!! Hope all goes well with the primary program!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

P.s. Our primary is like 4 or 5 kids. :) No primary program here.

A Native French Companion

11/4/2013

Maman! Et Famille :)

First of all, French people are cool.

I was SUPER surprised that they transferred Elder Lerdahl. Normalement they don't do that. And I was SUPER scared of being with a native French missionary...thoughts of "How are we going to communicate?" and stuff like that came into my mind. But, it's okay! He speaks English well enough that if he doesn't understand something I say, I can say it in French. But we both have to talk to each other in our native languages very slowly. Ha. Mornings are funny. We both wake up and start talking in our languages to each other at a normal speed...and then we both end up saying "Vous parlez tres vite!" Ha. :) It's hilarious!

Elder Yohan Paitrault (sounds like You-ahn Pay-troll) is a cool dude. We work hard and pretty well together. He LOVES to talk though. But that's good for me...because then I don't have to...JUST KIDDING! I still talk ha. En fait, my French is progressing SO much better with him. We speak French outside the apartment and anglais dans l'appartement. :) It's cool. Fun fact about Elder Paitrault, he eats. A LOT. More than me. I never thought I'd ever say this, but I got out eaten by a Frenchie. En fait, I get out eaten by him EVERY meal.

This week was weird, but number wise (don't worry, I'm not a stat-monkey though!) it was the best week I've had so far! We did lots of calling people this week so that's good!

Yesterday we started the new member lecons avec un homme qu'il s'appelle Aimé

 de Dieu (yes, his name is Loved of God). He is a refugee from Africa. And he also speaks Lingala...he taught me a couple things in lingala! It was cool! Kombo na ngai Elder Wilson! Sango nini?

Not a lot happened this week...but one of our amis (who is...not really an ami anymore...but he's still a GREAT friend!) paints pictures. And at our last rendez-vous with him, I asked him if I could buy a painting he did of a beach...and he gave it to me FOR FREEEEEEEEEE!!! So now I have a painting...that I should probably send home. Ha. :)

To answer about the Powdered Sugar and Graham Crackers. Powdered sugar yes! Graham Crackers pas de tout. (not at all) I would LOVE it if you sent me some!! Oh...and if it is possible...maybe a jar of your amazing green beans? :D Merci bien! :)

Well, I'm doing well. I'm glad all is well back at home!! :) Love y'all so much!! Have fun with your sleeping test, mommy! :)

à bien tôt!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson