Soul Searching

Family! Hello :)

Live like You Believe. Ha. That's funny. That's one that I hear SO much out here. :P haha. It has a very good meaning to the song though. :)

So as far as this week, I'd say this past week was definitely a soul-searching, learning week. This week was definitely a tough one. We did so much finding. And got rejection after rejection...but Heavenly Father definitely wanted me to learn this past week.

I find it very interesting that Bishop talked about Pride this past sunday. haha. Because one of the things I learned this past week was humility. This whole transfer has been a very humble transfer. Starting with seriously no amis. And on top of that, training. I've definitely learned how to better trust my companion and to listen to him. But this week, I've learned humility in a sense other than listening and trusting my companion. It's hard to describe it. But it feels like a humble love for everyone.

Thursday we had zone conference. It was so great. Elder Wallace LOVED it. As did I. :) In fact, the Zone conference was an answer to Elder Wallace's prayers!! He had been praying all week for a new method for contacting (out of the 100 he's already come up with. Seriously, he is THEE best missionary I have ever met!). The assistants presented to us Easter Egg Contacting!! Or in other words, since Easter is coming up, use it in contacting. They presented to us some good ideas to help us begin with using Easter in contacting/porting! We've already found that using Easter either opens people up, or gets through the people that don't care at all faster. It's pretty cool. We haven't found anyone new yet, but we're still trying! Participating in the musical number was amazing!!

So I was doing some studying and came across the story of the apôtres in the ship at sea. And Christ walking on the water. Les apôtres got scared because they didn't know who/what was on the water, but Jesus says hey, don't be afraid, it's me. Peter then asks if he can come to Jesus, on the water. Christ says to come. And as Peter is going, he starts to notice the winds around him. And starts to sink and cries "Lord, save me." Christ IMMEDIATLY reaches to save Peter and asks "O ye of little faith, where didst thou doubt?" This past week has been like the winds for me. But Christ was there the whole time. And just as I started sinking in the sea, I cried out for help. And Christ reached for me and lifted me up. Nothing really changed this week. Except for, through Christ, I was able to have the strength to continue.

I'm not really sure if that makes any sense, but I sure hope it does. :D ha. I'm sorry that I don't have too much to say this week.

Two things that really helped me this week though, and were a HUGE surprise, was the package from Grandma and Grandpa! (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!! I used the biscuit recipe last night. They were delicious!!) and also, the Young Women in our ward sent me some letters. Seriously, those helped so much. Both the package and the letters definitely came in a time of need. :)

I love you all! Thank you so much for all you do and all the support. It helps so much.

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Our Miraculous Week

Hello Family!! :)

First of all, thank you, Grandma. I can NOT wait to get those recipes!! :) 

This past week has been exhausting. Spiritually, physically, mentally, and in any other way possible. Ha. But, Elder Wallace and I have been so blessed this week. We started this transfer off pretty rough, but that was just a trial of our faith. I know we'll have other trials during the transfer, but as we work together, we'll be able to continue to help the Lord with His work. Our miraculous week started last Sunday. I'm not sure if I told you about it last week.

When we got back to the church in Cergy, we ended up missing the bus to get to the gare at Cergy Prefecture to get back home at Cergy Le Haut. So Elder Wallace and I decided to take that time to contact as we were walking to the Prefecture (it was only like a 20 minute walk; no biggie). As we started, there was a guy I felt impressed to contact. His name is Ludovic. We quickly found that he feels like it's hard to believe in a God because of all the injustice in the world, so we talked a little bit about Libre Arbitre (free agency) and how it's a gift God gave us, but because some people use their libre arbitre wrongly, they end up putting others, and even themselves, in situations that are...unjust, on peut dire. He asked us if we have a church so he could come the next Sunday. We gave him the address of the church and exchanged numbers and set up a rendez-vous for Saturday to talk a little more. Saturday, we had our rdv with him and he completely agreed with tons of things. Like Amos 3:7 and that God does speak to His people today. He also loved the Book of Mormon. He told us that when he lived in Africa, he asked his Catholic pastor a question. The bible is to the Jews. But what about the Blacks? The Chinese? The Indians? They all existed, too. And he said the pastor just brushed off the question. So he was excited to read in the BoM.

Sunday, Ludovic came to church! Which is a miracle of itself, if you understand the situation. The Cergy building is under renovation (sorry don't remember how to spell it.) so we take a bus to St. Ouen. The bus ride is about 40ish minutes. So instead of church taking 3 hours, it takes about 5-6 hours because of the bus ride to and from St. Ouen. We explained that situation to Ludovic and he basically said that he didn't care and that he wanted to come. He enjoyed church, too. He said that it was pretty normal. We had a lesson with him after church and talked about questions he had. One of the first questions he asked is "what do you have to do to become a member of this church? Is there some ritual you have to do? Or do you just have to get baptized?" So we ended up talking a little bit about baptism. One thing he doesn't understand is the "why" of baptism.

Honestly, Ludovic was a huge miracle for me. The Lord seriously blessed us by guiding us to him.

This past week, we found 3 new amis in total. Which, if you understand the work here, is pretty tough. I've only ever done that once before. We had a drought (figuratively) with finding amis the transfer before...we started this transfer with seriously nothing, but now, because we've been relying on the Lord and working as a team (The Lord, Elder Wallace, and I), He has blessed us.

Elder Wallace is seriously one of thee smartest guys I've ever met. He is very very intelligent. We brainstorm ideas together and are always trying to find new methods to contact people and to faire le port-à-port. I'll give you some examples of things we're trying. We try spreading our message of the family (plan of salvation), talking about how others found their faith in Christ, how God affects us in our lives, finding the importance of the family from others, asking bold questions, testifying (the most important thing to do. We try testifying in every contact anyways), and even offering to help others with their family history. There are tons of people in France who know "the Mormons" because of family history. And, now if we happen to see an opportunity where either of us can use our musical abilities, we have decided that we'll even try that. Elder Wallace is super cool and is always willing to try new ideas and come up with new ideas. Seriously, I love that Elder. I never thought I'd learn so much from training...but dang, I've learned SO much in these short two weeks with Elder Wallace.

I seriously cannot express with words how much being out here in La Mission Française de Paris means. I am seriously living one of my dreams right now. And I love it.

I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers. Keep up your work! And never be hesitant to invite.

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

I'll Be Tri-Lingual!

3/10/14

Hey Family!!

So this past week has been good, and hard, but SUPER good!! My new companion is Elder Wallace from....NOT UTAH!! He's from Vermont!! So far, (excluding the MTC) I've only had one comp from Utah, Elder Lerdahl. Speaking of which, he is now finished with his mission!! He may be paying you guys a visit, too! haha

So Elder Wallace is a STUD!! He is what a missionary who uses their time wisely in the MTC becomes. He's just super ready all the time to learn and work. And he knows French pretty well. He also has tons of great ideas that I haven't heard before on how we can help the work here move forward. Being with him these past 6 days has definitely been a humbling experience. He reminds me a lot of Jantzen, but not so...loud. And a little mild mannered. He also has been playing piano for 13 years, the last 3 he did jazz. He's super good! But...he can't sing...I believe I still haven't had a companion that can sing...haha oh well. :)

This past week we've been doing TONS of finding...because...well...our teaching pool is at 0 because of the inability to work last transfer and the fact that we've been totally dropped...so I guess you could say we're basically white washing. Also, along with finding amis, we've been trying to locate members and visit them to share a little spiritual thought with them. We're trying super hard to work with the members as much as we can to find some amis to bring to Christ. We have found that there are about 5 or 6 people on our list thus far that no longer live where the ward list says...ha.

One thing Elder Wallace and I have been doing is to make a new way of contacting every day and use it. And it's been helping us find tons of potentials! It's super cool. We've found about 6 or 7 potentials in the couple days we've been comps. :)

Yesterday, I relearned the importance of making sure we connect with the people when we contact. There were two guys we contacted last night after church, and I felt prompted to ask them their origin (which is something I ask a lot, out of curiousity and to try to connect and open up the people) and they said they're from the Congo...well back in Cherbourg there was a guy, Aimé de Dieu, who is from the Congo. Aimé taught me two phrases in lingala and after that, I've been wanting to learn more. So I said the two phrases in lingala to these two guys. Their reaction was amazing and it totally opened them up. We'll be meeting with them this Friday to talk about the Book of Mormon with them. They also taught me another phrase in lingala!! :) I'll be tri-lingual by the end of my mission ;) just kidding.

Weeeelll, I love you so much!! Thank you for all your support!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

The Phone Call

Hey Family! :) It's nice to hear that you're doing well.

I got the debit card. And I got my Flat Stanley!!For your information, Flat Stanley and I visited the Arc de Triomph. And Flat Stanley traveled around 5,000 miles to get here. (I think) ha.

So this past week was very interesting. We saw Pritish again on Monday. And he was super well, like seriously. The prayer he gave was one of the most sincere prayers I've heard. GOLDEN!! We had a RDV set up with him for Wednesday, but sadly, he cancelled. He then called us on Thursday and told us that he couldn't get baptized because of some family things. We have a RDV set up with him to go see him at least one last time.

So, IT'S FUN TO FIND, ALL THE TIME. YEAH IT'S FUN TO FIND! Especially from 6 to 9! (I may send you that song eventually.) We were able to get out and do some port-a-port! :) And a little bit of contacting too! Elder Young had a RDV with the Doctor again. The Doctor pulled out a piece of his nail that was stuck in his toe and was making it so his toe couldn't heal. And now, his toe is healing well. Elder Young was super stoked to get that over with. (It looked super painful...)

Friday, we did a service project for the DMP. We helped him clean his ceilings before they get painted. I believe we'll be helping paint them within these next two or three weeks, too. I'm stoked! Service is SO AWESOME!!! :D

Yesterday I went to stake choir (because it was right after Church was over). So far, there are only two tenors. Me and a son of one of the stake presidency, who has a shy voice. It was fun though. We started to learn an arrangement of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. Seriously, this arrangement is GENIUS! I'll have to find out who arranged it so you can look it up. I thought of dad a lot while singing it. I believe that's his favorite hymn. :) ha

Also, yesterday, I got a phone call from the Assistants. And guess what? I get to stay in Cergy for another Transfer yay!!! :) And here comes the news: I will be training. Wow. I didn't see that coming. At all. Like seriously. I didn't think I was ever going to train. But I guess that's what the Lord has in store for me. I'll be getting my new companion on Wednesday. Elder Young is being transferred to Meaux with...guess who? Elder Paitrault!! No way right? Crazy!! Elder Young was hoping to serve with a francophone, and now he gets to be with one of THEE coolest missionaries ever!! :) I'm pretty happy for him.

Okay, so, I'm kinda feeling like I eat the same things every week. Every week I do a burrito fête (burrito party), some meals with rice, pasta, or a sandwich. Could you possibly compile a recipe book of easy things to make in France? I was thinking that Aunt Valerie would possibly know of some easy things...ha. Thank you so much for the recipe for my favorite muffins!! :)

I love you all!! Thank you so much for all the support! It means a lot! :) 

Kaysen, stay away from the babes! ;) haha

Have a good week! :)

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Bryant's Favorite Muffins . . .

French Breakfast Puffs

1/3 cup soft shortening

½ cup sugar

1 egg

1 ½ cups sifted flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. nutmeg

½ cup milk

6 T. melted butter

½ cup sugar mixed with 1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix shortening, sugar, and egg thoroughly.  Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.  Stir in alternately with milk.  Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full.  Bake until golden brown at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Immediately roll muffins in melted butter, then in cinnamon and sugar mixture.  Serve hot.  Makes 12 muffins.