Contact Info

You can mail a letter to Elder Wilson in the PARIS FRANCE mission at dearelder.com or through the postal service:

Elder B. Stanton Wilson
49 Rue Marengo
72000 Le Mans
France

The mission home address is:
France-Paris Mission
23, rue du Onze Novembre
78110 Le Vesinet
France

Monday, August 18, 2014

A Year

August 4, 2014

Hello Family!

Kaysen, j'ai hâte que tu prendras les cours de français. Le français c'est le meilleur langue du monde! Bon courage en l'apprenant. :)

Well, this last week was pretty good. We're working hard to find new people to teach and to continue teaching our current amis.

Tuesday we had a double exchange, c'est à dire, the Elders from Nantes came to La Rochelle and both équips stayed in La Rochelle to work. I was with a cool Elder named Elder Louis. He is a STUD! We did some great work and saw some pretty awesome miracles. I also learned quite a bit.

One of the things that Elder Louis said during the exchange was "If you look for the bad, you'll find the bad. If you look for the good, you'll find the good." It's super true. And that's why I think it's so important that we look for our blessings each day. As we true to actively search for the miracles or blessings that we have, we will be happy, and we won't complain when trials come our way because we'll be looking for the good.

Thursday we had Zone Conference and interviews with Président Babin. I could definitely feel the love that he has for me as a missionary serving in this mission. I've been so blessed to have the two most wonderful mission presidents ever!

Hey dad, there's an Elder Ericson in my zone that is Canadian. Guess where from? Saskatchiwan!! Cool beans right? Did you happen to serve in a ville called Saskatoon during your mission? That's where he's from.

This week we were able to meet with Raphael and Christian. Raphael is doing well and today is supposed to be the day that he is no longer a smoker! We've been following up each day to make sure he's following the program and that he's doing well. I have faith that he's done smoking.

Christian is doing well too. We helped him start up on his family history. He's pretty excited to do his family history and then to take the names to the temple to do ordonances for them.

The Swanepoel's, we weren't able to see them this passed week, but we'll be seeing them this week. Bokke got a new job, which is what they've been hoping for. :) I'm pretty excited to go and see them this week.

And that was the whole week. We've also been trying to hunt down less active members to find out if they're even still in La Rochelle. We've had success in finding a few of them :)

Wow, my year mark is this Thursday. Pretty crazy right? I've been out for one year. I think one of the biggest lessons I've learned on the mission is probably come what may and enjoy it. It's super important to strive to enjoy the things in life. There is opposition in all things, but that doesn't mean we can't search for the things to enjoy in life. I also have strengthened my testimony probably in most aspects of the gospel, but the aspect that sticks out the most to me is prayer. I definitely know that when I pray, I am talking with my Heavenly Father. I know that He loves me and I love Him. I know that He hears and answers my prayers in His perfect way.

I also have learned the importance of understanding. I now am a strong believer that one of the biggest causes of contention is misunderstanding. We get frustrated with those that don't understand us. We get frustrated with those that we don't understand. But if we can take a couple seconds to breath, think, and pray, we can try to better understand each other before we break out in anger towards one another.

It's been a tough year. But it has been worth every difficulty. With every difficulty that comes, the Lord prepares a way to overcome it and to get through it. This next year I really want to focus on love and charity. Because I feel like love and charity are some of the most important things I could develop while on my mission. I do love the people here, though. I just feel like I need to take it to the next level and strive to love as Christ did. I also have some language goals for my mission. I'd love to go from at least from (I'd like to start now, but it rather depends on the companion I am with...) transfer 10 'til the end of my mission only speaking French. :)

I love you all so much! I'm glad you're all doing very well! Thank you so much for all the support you give me!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

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