Teaching with Members

February 2, 2015

Bonjour la Famille!

This week was kind of a really tiring week. It was the last week of the long, 8 week transfer!! It was also a finding week.

So, transfer news: Elder Wilson, you have been called.......*drum roll, please* to stay in Le Mans with Elder Davis for another 6 weeks!! Yay!! Yoopie! (pronounced you-pee. It's the French way of saying yipee! Or however that is spelled.)

We started the week off super great, Monday night with our ami René (earlier called Kouassi, until we found out his prénom). We taught René and his Uncle and his girlfriend this past Monday with Frère Demmin. Before the rdv, Frère Demmin told us that he had told the missionaries for years that he'd love to come teaching with them, but the missionaries never asked him, and they are CRAZY not to have done so. Frère Demmin is a SUPER member to teach with. We went over the Rétablissement and Joseph Smith's story again (since it'd been about a month since we'd seen René). The Spirit was super strong. Sadly, René works in Paris, so we wasn't able to come to church this week, but he's working on moving his store out here in Le Mans.

Tuesday, we had our last district meeting together...of the transfer that is. Our district is staying exactly the same! The subject was on teaching simply. It was a pretty great formation. I'll send you pictures of our end of the transfer picture together.

The rest of the week we spent searching for new people. We couldn't seem to get a hold of our amis we already had, or if we did, they couldn't meet with us. Three of our amis were in Paris this whole week...ha.

We did get invited over Sunday night to the household of the 1st counselor in the Stake presidency, Frère Hitoto. They had their Soirée Familiale (Family home evening) and gave us the lesson. Elder Davis had a great object lesson idea with a clémentine. He had all the kids close their eyes and close their ears. One at a time, he'd tap on their shoulder and they could take their hands off their ears. Then we'd tell them to either listen, smell, or touch the clémentine. After that, we hid the clémentine and asked them what it was. They had a hard time deciding what it was, so we showed them what the object was. We then compared that to the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost makes things more clear to us and help us see clearly what is true and right. We shared Moroni 10:5 with them and had the kids talk about what it means to them. After that, the kids asked us questions about being missionaries. I didn't realize how much the kids in France really look up to missionaries. It was super cool to talk with them. We then ate les crêpes with the family. It was super good!! :) As we ate, we talked about missionaries experiences we have had and gave them some ideas of ways they can invite their neighbors. It was super spiritual and super great!

Although the week was tough, the beginning and the end made the whole week worth it. :)

I'm really sorry that this week is super short...I really don't have more to add about the week.

As far as shoes, I haven't yet bought the shoes, I'm looking for them though, and I'll explain why I haven't bought them yet.

So, the season of "Les Soldes"...is comparable to a gentleman's Black Friday. Many, many stores discount their products to get rid of the old "collection" and make room for the new "collection" of clothing/stuff. The first week, they discount their old collection up to 30 percent off, this is called le Premier Démarque. The 2nd or 3rd week, they discount their stuff up to 50 percent off. This is le Deuxième Démarque. Then the 4th through the 6th week, whatever is left is normally discounted up to 70 percent off. This is le Dernier Démarque. There is quite a bit of good stuff still left by le Dernier Démarque, so I've been waiting until then to hopefully find some shoes around 50 euros.

Now, you might be thinking, why on earth would a missionary go to something that is compared to Black Friday? Reason: It's very gentlemen like. Since it happens over 6 weeks, nobody goes crazy like in the States on Black Friday. People here get excited, but the stores aren't jam packed with people to the point they need the SWAT team to come. Nobody gets pushed or shoved. Everybody just minds their own business, buys what they want, and leaves. It's pretty cool. :)

Well I hope you all have a great week! And Kaysen, about soccer, make sure you go to EVERY open gym possible! Just a tip. :)

I love you all!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

P.s. The questions will be answered by next week. I've been thinking about them, and I came up with quite a witty response to the candy bar question. I think you'll like them, and I hope that SNOW likes them.

P.P.S. Here is a picture of the district. And a picture of the kids that we got to eat with last night. :)