Sonic Mole Remover

March 2, 2015

Hello Family!!

This week was really great! Also, we had quite the experience.

So, Tuesday night, while porting about, we received a call from a guy named Charles, telling us that he was an old ami of the missionaries and that he found our number "par hazard" (randomly) and was wondering if maybe we'd be able to see him sometime. We didn't immediately fix a rendez-vous with him, but we told him we'd check our planning and see if we could see him this week. We finished the night then made our way home and looked in the Area Book to try and find the teaching record of a Charles, since neither Elder Davis nor I could recall having read a teaching record of a Charles.

Well, we didn't find one. So we thought, ah, we'll call him tomorrow and see if we can see him. So we did. And we talked with him. Charles said that he has met with the missionaries since 95, but hasn't gotten baptised yet. He said it's one of "ses projets de la vie" (one of his life time plans) to be baptised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. So we let him know that we are here to help him, it'll be hard and it'll take time, but as he keeps the engagements we give him, he will be prepared. We felt inspired to invited him to be baptised the 11th of Avril. He didn't accept the invitation because he said he wasn't sure if he'd be ready, we explained that the date can change, but we promised him that if he keeps these engagements he will be ready for the 11th.

So rendez-vous finished, all was well, we were both feeling pretty skeptical though, and it was just to be so because it's not often that eternal amis come out of the blue as such and then tell you they want to get baptised. As we were leaving we asked Charles what his last name was so we'd be able to sonnor (ring his little ringing thing in his appartement) for the next time. He just replied with a little laugh like "a-ha". Well, we thought that was super weird that he didn't give us his last name. So on the way out, we checked the mail boxes to try and find a "Charles" somewhere. Didn't find one on any of the boxes, although we did make an interesting find. "Raffi". That is the last name of an Eternal Ami we have in the area book who has been noted to waste missionaries time...we immediately realized Charles has lied about his name to us. We deducted it was because he thought if he told the missionaries his real name, it would be a pretty low possibility of them coming over to help him out with "ses projets".

Saturday, we saw him again and told him in a loving manner that we know who he is and asked why he didn't tell us his real name. He answered just how we had expected, so we're giving him a chance because he seems sincere and we believe in repentance. Anyways, we asked him if he had read the Book of Mormon, he said he has not. But he shared with us this book that has been written about the Mormons (it's not anti-mormon, it was written by two french guys that love the US) that helps him understand the doctrine better and understand who mormons are better. We told him, if he truly wants to progress, to give his reading priorities to The Book of Mormon. We engaged him to read the first three chapters in the Book of Mormon and told him we'll call him to set up another RDV. We let him know that if he does not keep his engagements he will not progress and that we won't be able to help him, that this démarche is up to him, we're here to help him with it, but if he doesn't keep his part, there's not much we can do.

This all probably comes off a little harsh, but the spirit was present. It was really cool. The spirit filled us with the words we needed to say to help him understand that he needs to commit himself.

So, obviously that was a big part of the week. ha :)

But other things that happened were Zone Conference on Friday!! Zone Conference was super great! We also had interviews, which was splendid! And then, we had a surprise. We got to watch Meet the Mormons...or atleast, we were going to get to watch it...but the Assistants left it in Angers at their last Zone Conference...so instead we watched Ephraim's Rescue...I've already seen Ephraim's Rescue quite a bit during the mission, it's one of the few approved films we can watch...so all the missionaries that have seen it quoted along with it. It was pretty funny.

Sunday we had Stake Conference in Paris. Guess who else was there? Elder Kearon. This was my third Conference (whether that is a stake or a missionary conference) with him. He gave a super great talk. Something that really touched me was his story about Moles. He talked about how he had a beautiful lawn, then one day, he had a hole from a mole. The next day, he had more holes, so he decided to take care of it. So we went to the store and asked what he can use to get rid of moles. The manager came back with a nice little machine called the "Sonic Mole Remover" which is a little thing you stick in the ground and it sends out sonic waves that repelles moles. So he tried it out. Well, the mole didn't stop digging and didn't go away. So he decided to take a shovel and wait by one of the holes. As he saw the dirt move, he started shoveling super hard and fast and got the mole out of the earth. He then released it on his neighbors lawn (just kidding...that was the joke he said though...ha). He actually released it on the road and it went away and never came back.

He said sometimes, in the Gospel, we have things like the Sonic Mole Remover that seem really cool complicated, but don't necessarily work. Most times, we need to take a shovel and dig. It may sound simple, but that's what will get the job done. But what do the shovel and digging represent? Daily Prayer, Scripture Study, Family Home Evening. He invited us all to listen and do what the Stake President has advised for us. Do these simple things.

It was a great conference and a great way to end the week.

I feel so blessed to be a missionary in the France Paris Mission. I love it here.

And I love you all. :) Have a great week!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Rillettes du Mans. . . It's one of the things Le Mans is known for. Basically what it is is liquified meat. They take Pork, throw it in a blender, then add some goose fat to it and put it in these containers. It sounds super gross, and looks gross, too, but it tastes SUPER great! :)

Elder Davis and I...the day I got Pink Eye. ha :) (don't worry, I'm better now.)

Ward Council & Everyday Miracles

February 23, 2015

Hello Family!

This week went well, we had some pretty cool miracles happen! :)

First off, Tuesday, we felt impressed to pass by a less active that we had tried many, many times and had basically given up because he never answered. But we went for one last time. And he was there! He let us in and we shared a scripture with him. We told him that we loved him and that we missed him at church and that we'd love him to come back. He said he'd come back if someone picks him up because taking public transportation is "too far" for him. We left knowing what that meant. But finally, we were able to meet him and invite him to do something. If he isn't going to do anything, there isn't anything more we can do than invite.

Wednesday, we had to go to the Gare to search for train tickets for the upcoming zone conference (this upcoming Friday) and Stake Conference (this Sunday). We decided to do so after District Meeting. While we were there, one of my old amis from Cergy walked into the Gare. We found out that he'll be living in Le Mans for an internship for the next six months. We're hoping to being to meet with him to teach him more about the Gospel.

Thursday we headed down to La Flèche to see our less active buddy livin' out there. We tried confirming beforehand but Marvine didn't answer. So we went anyways with faith that we would see him. When we arrived we made our way to his apartment and called him. Again, he didn't answer. We noticed the door was open, so we let ourselves in and climbed the stairs to his apartment and knocked. He was home! And he remembered we were coming, too. We watched the Restoration DVD with him and then talked about it. Let's just say, he's got a lot to learn, but we're going to help him with that. Also, good news, he's working on getting his drivers permit so he can drive to church! We have no idea how he's going to get a car without a job, but judging by his huge TV and his bumpin' sound system and giant tiger plushie, he'll get a car somehow...ha

After getting back in Le Mans, we set out contacting people in the street. We ended up sharing the Book of Mormon with a younger woman in the street and praying with her...in fact, she even said the prayer. It was pretty cool. And at night we went out porting and prayed with a muslim lady at her window. It was a pretty cool experience.

Friday, we went and visited a member that has recently been struggling with activity in the Church. He is one of the ward missionaries as well. We read through Doctrine and Covenants 4 with him and talked about it. After the spiritual thought, we asked if there is anything we can do to help him and he said yes. Come every week and give me spiritual thoughts like this. So we'll be seeing him again this week.

Then Saturday we had Ward Counsel. Normally, in Ward Counsel, the missionaries are expected to be there, but when we talk about what we need done, the Ward Counsel makes excuses as to why it's not important and they don't really take the missionaries seriously. Well, for the first time in my mission, this was not the case. We had things to get done that day so we asked if we could go first and leave promptly after. So the Sisters asked the questions and got the things done that they needed, as well did we. And then we discussed a baptismal goal for the year. As we started discussing this, one member of the ward counsel stated "let's not just set an empty number like we do every year. Let's work with the faces that we have. The amis that the missionaries find and are bringing are not staying, but we have other amis that have been in contact with the church that the ward knows already." They then proceeded to list 8 names of people that were in contact with the church that aren't members and we set a goal based around the people that we have already. Finally, the members are starting to realize that the amis found by members are more likely to join than those found by the missionaries. It was the most productive Ward Counsel I have attended.

Later, we had an Après-Midi Familial (Family Home Afternoon) with the Young Adults. Elder Davis and I planned it out and organized everything so that we could get the Young Adults unified together and give them an activity to invite their non-member friends to. We'll be doing it once a month at the least. It was a success, even though only 4 of the 7 Young Adults came. We watched a Mormon Message (https://www.lds.org/pages/flecks-of-gold?lang=eng) and talked about the "Flecks of Gold" in the Gospel. After wards, we ate cookies that the Sisters made and Elder Davis taught them how to play Bang! (since Bang! is a western style game and Flecks of Gold is a western style Mormon Message).

Overall, it was a super great week! :)

Miracles happen every day. It's up to us to look for and recognize them. As we do so, we start to see more and more and realize just how much the Lord plays a role in our lives.

I love you all!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Thanks for taking care of all my college stuff, mom and dad! I love you! :) I'll get you that video later today.

Sick and Pink Eye

February 16, 2015

Hello Family!

I'm glad you all had a great Valentine's Day! :)

This week was a pretty great week but sadly, a very very sick week.

I'll start out with the bad news. 

Thursday I woke up with a head ache...it still hasn't gone away. Friday, I woke up and felt super sore all over. And I woke up with stuffed sinuses and a swollen tonsils and a nice sore throat. Saturday, I didn't feel sore anymore but I felt super super tired with a sore throat that had worsened and the tonsils and the sinuses. Sunday woke up feeling a little better, except my left eye was pretty red. Then by the end of the day, my right eye was itching like no other and was oozing puss-like liquid. In short, I think I have pink eye right now. :D but I'll call the nurse today to get that confirmed. So, needless to say, because I've been pretty sick, we haven't got much work done this week.

BUT things still did happen before AND during my sickness!!

Before the sickness, on Wednesday, Elder Davis and I set off to go finding. We ended up praying with two people in the street, one of whom we gave a Plan of Salvation brochure. When we first contacted her, she said she didn't believe in God, but by the end of the contact, she admitted she did, but that she had had a hard life and that it was getting harder for her to believe. We prayed with her and left her with the brochure.

We then made our way to the Ajako's. They invited us in to tell us they couldn't meet with us because their little daughter has chicken pox...so we said a prayer with them, blessing their home so that they can heal of the sickness. I'm not sure it was chicken pox though...I think it was probably another sickness though...

Thursday night we went over to a family's house. They're Adventist. They made it clear they didn't want to be taught and that they weren't willing to change...so it ended up being a rather social meeting with them. They were super nice though.

Saturday we met an ami. We ound out that he is under house arrest until October. Which is good and bad for us. It's good because now, there is no way he can miss a rendez-vous with us. The bad news though is that on the weekends, he can only leave his appartement from 14h00-17h00 which means he won't be coming to church until after October. But he seems to have a clear desire to change his life and to stop messing up. So we will help him as much as we can.

Sunday, after church a member in the ward took us to his house to eat with him and his family. The Rossi's are such a great family! Frère Rossi made this super delicious tofu stuff. It was a rice dish. The sauce had in it his homemade tofu, dried banana's, 8 different spices (cinnamon, cumin, curry, black pepper, ground cloves, ginger, and two others that I can't remember), and almonds. It was super delicious. 

And that was about how the week went. :) I'm hoping this week to heal to be able to get back to working super hard.

I love you all! :)

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Diligence and Patience are the Keys

February 9, 2015

Hello Family!

This week was...really long and rather difficult. But it was so worth it in the end.

So it was transfer week, and it tends to seem a little long when there isn't a change in companions. Thus was the case with this week, except it was really tough. But it was all worth it.

Now what was so hard about this week? Finding. Almost every day. It wears on you. Especially when you meet really rude people, which it appears this week, we met some of the rudest people that we have yet on our missions. I don't think I've ever taken so many insults and met so many people that wanted to offend us. But we pushed through.

Wednesday, we ended up teaching 3 people in the street, all of whom didn't want to meet again with us. We also passed by the Ajako's for the first time in a while and tried teaching as simply as possible, but they didn't understand at all. It was a discouraging day. We taught people, but nobody was progressing. We haven't had a progressing ami for 6 weeks. But we pushed on.

Finally, Saturday came along. We had 3 rendez-vous scheduled. One with a Congolais named Mr. Pino, another with a french guy named Fabrice and another one with a Guadaloupian named Kevin.

We've been trying to see Mr Pino for a while, but because of family problems, it's taken some time. It was well worth the wait. He is a golden ami. We taught him the Rétablissement. He accepted everything super well. We invited him to baptism, he thought about it, then accepted. The spirit was so strong. We'll be seeing him next saturday as well.

Then we hopped on a bus and made our way to Fabrice's house. He referred himself through the church website. He's actually a non practicing muslim. He converted to Islam a couple years ago. He wanted to know about Mormon's after seeing a "reportage" about the "Mormons". It was a documentary about the polygamists, so we were able to teach him about REAL mormons. We'll be coming back next saturday to teach more. He also is willing to come to the Chapelle and see how it is chez-nous.

Then we got back on the bus and went over to Kevin's house. We were teaching him the Rétab, when he started expressing concerns of his illiteracy. He is 25 and he is legally illiterate, but he is dying to learn how to read. He's been paying the JW's 25 bucks a week for reading lessons, which is basically just them teaching him how to read by indoctrinating him with false doctrine. (It's no wonder we can't teach English classes here with people doing that...) Elder Davis and I decided, that if we can, to try and help him. We'll be seeing him again next Saturday as well.

We were also invited to a Priesthood activity...BOWLING! We tried really hard finding an ami that would be available, but couldn't find anyone. But we went anyways, and one of the members had brought a non member to the activity! So we talked with him during the bowling activity. It was really cool!

And so the week ended on a super great note. Diligence and Patience are key in the Lord's work. As we are patient and we work diligently, the Lord will bless us.

I love you all! :)

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

To address your questions, I have not yet bought new shoes, still looking. I did receive the letters! :) It was a nice surprise! 

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. :)

Object Lesson

January 26, 2015

Hello Family!

It's good to hear that you're doing well.

As for Elder Davis and I here in Le Mans, we are seeing success. I'm starting to feel like the same things happen in all of my villes. I come into a ville and immediately we lose contact with all our "golden" amis. Then we work super super hard for the next 6-9 weeks searching for new amis, then little by little we are blessed and we get create a teaching pool with amis that we are able to see at least once a week.

This past week, we started out with exchanges in Alençon! But with a suprise! At district meeting, there weren't two elders that showed up from Alençon, but three! Elder Madsen and Elder Connelly will be serving with Elder Raveneau, a visa waiter called to serve in Canada, until Elder Raveneau gets his visa.

District meeting was pretty cool, I was volunteered by my dear companion for an object lesson during. For the object lesson, there were two plates of chocolate pudding with whipped cream. We had to suck up the chocolate pudding to find the "prize." I found mine super fast, then continued to suck up the chocolate pudding (I mean, who doesn't like chocolate pudding?) while Elder Oviatt (Zone Leader in Tour with Elder Smith!!!) sucked up all of his without finding his prize. After he was done, District Leader Elder Madsen handed him his prize. It was then compared to finding amis. When we go out finding, we all have the same goal, to find an ami. Sometimes certain équipes find new amis faster than others, but if we are diligent, we will win the prize.

Then after the meeting and district meeting meal (Burrito Fête!) Elder Davis and I went over to Alençon for our exchanges. I was with Elder Connelly and Elder Raveneau. It was like a pretty normal day. We went out finding and contacted people with the usual responses. Then Wednesday afternoon, we went and passed by one of their amis. They have been trying for the past two or three weeks to get in contact with him, but haven't been able to. We were blessed and he was finally home. We shared a quick spritual thought with him and then set up another RDV with him.

Elder Davis and I then took our trains to get back to Le Mans. We had a rendez-vous set up with a potential ami named Jackie. We called him when it came time for our rdv, but he thought it was supposed to be at 19h30, not 18h30, so we just contacted around for an hour until he would be able to be there. He came and brought a friend with him, Pauline. We talked about our purpose as missionaries and then shared Joseph Smith's story with them and gave them a Rétab pamphlet. The spirit was so strong as we testified of the Rétab and the 1st vision. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His son Jesus Christ. I know he was called as a prophet to restore the true church with the proper authority, the Priesthood, on the earth. We invited them both to baptism, Pauline accepted, sort of...and Jackie declined, mostly because, at least what we deduced, he's not really sure what he believes in. But he is willing to learn and he seems willing to act and keep reading engagements.

Sunday, after Church, I had a really cool experience. As Elder Davis was making short cakes, I decided to make some called to set up some rendez-vous with amis. I saw a fiche (pronounced as "feesh". That's just France Paris Mission lingo for an amis' teaching record.) of an ami who had been taught a couple times, but there wasn't a reason as to why he was dropped. So I called him. After a 30 minute conversation I decided to just end the dialogue, politely, and we won't be seeing him. He said blantly that the message we share doesn't make sense and that he'll never believe it, so I proceded to try to understand what he didn't understand. And basically, he didn't understand anything. There's a reason to this experience that I'm sharing with you though. While I was talking with him, I had no troubles with French whatsoever. I didn't stutter, I was confident, and I stayed calm the entire time, too. I know that the Gift of Tongues is real. It was super cool to literally be the mouth piece. The spirit was speaking, not I. I really hope sometime in the future this ami decides to change his mind.

And that was my week. It was a really great week. :)

Also, here is a photo of Elder Davis and I on our way to Strasbourg a couple weeks ago for his legality.

As for the application, yes, I'm working on it, and I plan on having it done if not this week, the next week. But I do think of the questions in the "spare" time that I have. I really want the scholarship.

I love you all!! Have a great week! :)

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

A Trip to Strasbourg

January 19, 2015

Hello Family!

Wow, sounds like the TJ's (JW's) are trying too hard! Ha I'm super impressed by the way you handled that, Mom. Also, just for fun, there are scriptures in the New Testament that talk about how Christ, after his death of the cross, went and preached to the dead. 1 Peter 3:18-22. There is actually tons of doctrine in these few verses.

This week went by pretty well. Remember those 10 rendez-vous we had set up? We ended up only seeing three of the people. But they were super great lessons. I feel like this week was a great success. We did our best and made the best out of every situation.

We finally saw Yannick again, after a couple months. He is doing super well. He wanted to know our viewpoints on the whole Charlie Hebdo stuff that happened, so we quickly referred to the plan of Salvation. Yannick loved the Plan of Salvation. The spirit was so strong, we invited him to baptism. He declined because he doesn't think he's good enough, and because apparently he's been baptized "republican" (I didn't know we could be baptized into a politcal party...ha) but we reassured him that he is good enough and talked about authority. He said that he would pray about it. After the rendez-vous he kind of asked about temples and wanted to learn more about them, so we said we'd teach him more about temples next time.

Another ami we saw is called Flori. He is from the Congo. (Nzambe a pombo la yo! Lingala for "God bless you.") We taught him for the first time. We gave him a very brief outline of the missionary lessons and then taught him about prayer. The spirit was so strong that we invited him to baptism. He accepted and then asked a couple questions. He told us that he could come to church this week because he'd be in Paris, but that he really wants to come. We set up another time to see him and we'll be seeing him this week.

Friday, I finally had the opportunity to go to the East side of France. Elder Davis started his 2nd year legality there...but never received his Titre de Séjour, so we got to go to Strasbourg to go pick up his Titre de Séjour. While there, we were invited to go to a Soirée Familial with the Jeunes Adulte (JA's, pronounce "gee-ah"s). Elder Nicholson (one of the Elders with whom I was at the MTC) gave a super splendid spiritual thought on Jeffery R. Holland's testimony of the Book of Mormon. After which we ate some food and played a couple games. The game we played was called "Big-Booty". I'll have to teach you how to play it. It's pretty fun. :) We also played BANG!

This past week was also very serendipitous. It seemed as if every where we went, while we were in Le Mans, we saw either one of our amis, or a member of the church. It was really cool. Sadly, each time either us or they had some where specific to be.

Sunday night we had the occasion to eat with a member and her less active son. Soeur Lecourt invited us over to come and eat with her and try to help her 16 year old son. We talked with Tristan, her son, while she cooked and got to know him a bit. We had prepared a spiritual thought on Prayer, but while talking with him, we felt prompted to talk about the Atonement. We shared with them Alma 7:11-13. I encourage you, as a family, to read it together and to discuss what it means to you individually. (Family Home Evening idea?) The spirit was really strong as we testified about the Atonement of Christ and shared the reasons for which we are on our missions.

I love this Gospel. I know it is true and is the Gospel which Christ preached while He was on the Earth. I know that through Him, we can be cleansed of our sins. I love Him and I love our Heavenly Father.

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

P.s. Could you send me Shelby's email? :) ha I'm glad to hear that Ky's doing better, and also I hope that Skyler gets better soon.

Tender Mercy

January 5, 2015

Hello Family!

This week passed pretty well.

Monday we had a pretty cool Tender Mercy from the Lord. We went out porting at night. We got on the tram and got off where we felt impressed to go porting. We started knocking doors and got the usual responses "ça ne m’intéresse pas." But after about an hour, we knocked on the door of an older lady, who was speaking on the phone when she answered. We told her that we came to pray with her to invite the Spirit of God in her home. She then told that with whom she was speaking that "deux anges sont venues." (two angels have come). She then let us come in and we explained prayer to her then prayed with her. It was pretty cool. She gave us her phone number and we told her we would give her number to the Sister missionaries. :) It was a nice little tender mercy.

Tuesday we had district meeting at then did exchanges. I was with the District Leader, Elder Madsen. It was pretty legit and super fun. We had a great exchange and did some great work. It was really fun to work with him. A cool miracle that happened during exchanges, while we were porting, we ported into an old guy that said he wasn't interested, but he didn't shut the door on us, so we kept testifying. We were able to pray with him and leave him with a Plan du Salut brochure.

New Year's Eve we went to a Patricia's house with the elders from Alençon. Patricia is a single adult, and since there were four of us missionaries, we were able to all go, which was super great. Patricia had her grandchildren over, too which was super fun. We ate raclette and then we played music and sang together. It was super great! :)

New Year's day we received a call from the family with whom we were going to spend the afternoon saying that they had all gotten sick, but that they were trying to set something else up for us for that day. The bishop then called us and invited us to go to his mother's house with him, his wife, and another single adult in the ward to go and eat. It was super nice of them to have done so. We ate escargot! It is super delicious! :)

Saturday, we had the chance to go teach an old ami named Andersen. Elder Davis and I felt impressed to share the plan of Salvation with him, since his teaching record indicates that he's only been taught the rétablissement. The lesson went by super well. The spirit took over and taught. The spirit was super strong and we all felt super edified. We'll be seeing Andersen every weekend now. :)

And that was the week. I feel a little better, health-wise, although I still have a cough. But I am feeling better! :)

I love you all so much! I hope your week goes by super well!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Lift Up Your Voices

December 22, 2014

Hello Family!

This past week went by pretty well. Not too much happened, but some great stuff did happen, nevertheless.

Wednesday, we had a rendez-vous with an old French guy named André. I don't know if I told you about him. He came to the ward Christmas party a while ago, because he received an invitation mysteriously. He liked the party so much that he decided to come to church the next day. Well, we fixed a rendez-vous with him and had it this past Wednesday, with the DMP, Frère Tréhet. It went very well, we talked about the Book of Mormon and engaged him to read it. After the rdv, Frère Tréhet took us to his house to eat with him and his wife. It was super delicious.

Thursday was the Christmas conference. It was super great! Elder Texiera is a super fun speaker. He also apparently loves to tell stories, as, he kept saying "You want to hear a story?" or "Do you like stories? Hears another story." He talked about many different things, notamment of how to let our amis clearly understand why we are there teaching them. His version of "How to Begin Teaching" really clarified things and showed me how to properly do establish expectations. It was really cool.

Saturday we met with Kouassi again, this time it was chez-lui with his Uncle. We applied the new "How to Begin Teaching" and then taught the Restoration and Book of Mormon. We invited them to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it, they accepted the invitation. We'll be seeing them hopefully after this week. :) It was a pretty cool rdv. The spirit was super strong during the 1st vision and while we bore our testimonies of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

Sunday was pretty cool as well. Sunday night we set out to go porting. As we started getting to where we had planned to port, we saw a guy on the other side of the street, who was looking at us, so we said "Bonsoir". He stopped and asked if we were English. We then told him that we're from the U.S. and gave him a card that had the website for the "He is the Gift" video. He then told us that he believes in Christ but that the way he lives doesn't reflect his beliefs. So we testified of the power of the Atonement. We then asked if we could pray with him, so we did. The spirit was so strong. After the prayer we asked if we could share with him the unique message, he accepted and we set up a rendez-vous. It was a pretty cool experience.

The Spirit will guide us and fill our mouths with words. There is no need to have fear of what to say. "Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men; For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say."

I love you all!! :) Have a great week! Joyeux Noël

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

For skype, I'll probably be skyping sometime between 3 or 4 P.M. relative to the time here in France.

As for the package and the letter, I got them both. But I didn't know that was the Christmas package, so I already opened it...but I haven't eaten the Reese's yet! :p sorry.

I love you!

Christmas Party Investigators

December 15, 2014

Hey Family!!

So Tuesday was my last day with Steve Carrel (Elder Jenness), it was a pretty good day. An older couple in the ward took us out to a Chinese buffet. This was my third Chinese buffet in France!! I think I like them better in France. I ate four plates of food plus two bowls of ice cream and one plate of dessert. Oddly, I didn't feel terrible after eating all that food.

Wednesday, we went in to Paris to drop off Elder Jenness and to receive my new companion. My new comp is an Elder Davis from Seattle Washington (or Warshington, if you're a true Washington-ite). He was fast tracked in the MTC, so he's only been on his mission for 2 weeks longer than I have. He is in his 13th transfer, I'm in my 12th. Elder Davis is pretty cool, a little loud at times, but basically, he and I have a lot in common. It's been rather odd. Also, he sings decently, which is great! Actually, he and I and the youth in the ward here will be singing une Cantique de Noël this Sunday!

Thursday, we had three rendez-vous set up. We'll, we got frudged by all of them. Crazy right? Well the last RDV that was scheduled was at 6 at night. After waiting a bit, and not being able to get ahold of the potential ami (Kouassi), we assumed he wasn't coming. We were supposed to meet right next to one of the tram stops. Well, I heard someone singing and playing guitar, so I made my way towards that. Elder Davis asked me "So, we've been frudged, what do you want to do?" and I replied "We're going to wait until after this song, then I'm going to ask if I can play a song." The person finished her song and I asked, and she let me play a couple of songs. After which we talked to her, found out her name is Sarah and she is 18, and that she speaks english pretty well, then invited her to come to our ward's Christmas party on Saturday. She asked if she could have the lyrics to the last song I played (the one that Jantzen wrote), I said I would write them out and give them to her.

About an hour and a half later, we received a call from our potential ami named Kouassi telling us he would be at that tram stop in about 20 minutes, so we went back there and met him and taught him and his friend, Colbert. We talked to them a little about why we're here (How to Begin Teaching, PMG Ch. 10) and ended up talking about prayer. At the end we set up a return rendez-vous with them. That was pretty cool. :)

Saturday, we spent the day at the church first with Ward Council, then with helping the ward set up for the Christmas party. The Christmas party was a blast and very successful and very effective au niveau de l'oeuvre missionnaire (in terms of missionary work? Sorry, I don't remember how to say that in english). The primary children did two different "sketch"'s (skits), the primary girls did the parable of the 10 virgins, the boys did a sketch about the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's when they gave up their weapons of war. After that, we all ate.

Before we started to serve ourselves, Sarah showed up with her little, 10 year old sister! Cool right? We made sure to introduce her to many of the young women and other members. She asked me why I chose to join this church and I started to talk about the importance of the Book of Mormon, then handed off the conversation to a member sitting right next to her. He then explained what the Book of Mormon was and we gave her one. Then about half an hour after she came, an old man showed up. His name is André. He received an invitation from a member and decided to come. He loved it so much that he decided to come to church the next day!

I am very thankful for members who really are welcoming and loving to new people that come.

Elder Davis and I used the Christmas party to talk to as many members as possible to get to know them better. I feel a lot closer to the ward now and feel like they trust us more now that they know us better. Also, I had no troubles being myself! As a missionary, we tend to feel like "I'm a missionary, I have to be a missionary and can't be who I really am." But that is not true. It's something that district leaders have told me before that I've been working on, and finally I felt at ease being me. I held to missionary standards, of course, but I was me, instead of being shy, I was able to go out of my way and talk like I was talking to my best friends. It's really great to see how the spirit can really comfort you when you make good decisions and you work on your weaknesses.

Sunday, I was asked to confirm Albertina (the person that was baptized last week) a member of the church. It was my first confirmation that I've ever done. It went well, and I didn't mess up. :)

After church, I had the lyrics of Jantzen's song with me and a couple of the young women in the ward asked me to play it and sing it, so I did, since it is a rather uplifting song. When I looked up after playing it, all of the young adults, young men and young women, and even the sister missionaries, and a couple primary age kids were all standing around the piano. Then I asked if they wanted to all sing a song together, so we started to sing christmas hymns together. The lady in the ward that leads the music heard us singing and decided that we were going to all do a music number the following sunday, as stated earlier. :)

I find it truly amazing how much music can really bring in the spirit. I love music, I love spreading the gospel, even more so by music. It's been my dream to use music to help others during my mission. I'm very thankful for all the opportunities that the Lord has accorded me during my mission thusfar to use music.

I love you all, have a great week! :)

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

P.s. About the drum set, I was kinda bummed, but just as long as you don't sell the bell kit. :) The cymbals are worth more than the drum kit is, by the way. Ha, but I think selling the kit is a good idea. Maybe when I'm rich I'll buy an electric kit myself. ;) Remember when I used to always talk about when I'll be rich? haha

It Will Be Given Us

December 8, 2014

Hello Family!!

What the what? Kaysen is HUGE!! Dang... :)

So this past week was kinda a downer. We got frudged a lot, but we had a super great ground breaking moment with one of our amis!!

We met with them, finally after a while. We started teaching about the nécessité of Authority, because they haven't really understood authority. After a bit, Benito started to ask us some questions that went along with the Plan of Salvation, so we started to teach them about the Plan of Salvation instead. And then Benito opened up and told us a couple things to why he wasn't coming to church! He had a really bad experience back in his own country going to a catholic church, and since then, he has never gone to church. We told him that he is always welcome chez-nous. The spirit was strong and Elder Jenness and I both felt so much love for them.

It's amazing, if we listen to our amis, and they feel that we care and love them, they will open up to us. And we won't have to worry about what we need to teach nor what we need to say. It will be given us.

Yesterday, the Sister missionaries here in Le Mans had a baptism!! It was an "eternal" ami, that finally decided to get baptized! It was a great experience and her husband was very happy. He got up in fast Sunday and bore his testimony about persevering until the end. It was very powerful.

I felt very blessed because the Sisters asked me to do a musical number for the baptism! I got really excited and thought to myself "Yes!! I'll finally be able to sing a solo!!" but the only person that can play piano wasn't able to be there. So instead I was blessed with the opportunity to play the piano for sacrament meeting and for the baptism. The musical number I did was my own version, based off of Paul Cardall's version, of I Know That My Redeemer Lives. The ward thanked me a lot for it afterwards and many said that it was perfect and very powerful. I really am thankful for these opportunities the Lord gives me to play music, même si ce n'est pas des occasions de chanter.

So we are at the time of transfers once again! Elder Jenness is getting transferred to Luxembourg!!!!!! I'll be staying in Le Mans and receiving an Elder Davis as my new companion.

Well, I love you all and hope this week passes well!! :)

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

As for skyping time, I have no idea. We haven't been invited for Christmas yet, and I'm not really sure what's going to happen. ha.

Also, I haven't yet received your package you sent...when did you send it? ha :)

A Finding Week

Hello Family!!

Hey, this past week went well. Even despite the fruging that happened, buh c'est la vie quoi.

This Tuesday we had Exchanges. I was with Elder Connelly this time, again in Alençon. Elder Connelly and Elder Miller were put in charge of making pies for our District Thanksgiving Meeting, so we made 3 pies and went out contacting. 

Wednesday was a rather tough day, it was all finding. But there was one guy that we stopped and talked with named Mr. Hocher. He was super cool and told us that he has a huge respect for Americans because of what the American soldiers did during World War II. He wasn't interested at all in learning about the Gospel, but he was super nice. It's nice to talk to kind people every now and again.

Thursday was THANKSGIVING!! Our District did Thanksgiving together. Elder Jenness and I were put in charge of the Turkey, but turkey is expensive so we had chicken for our Thanksgiving. :) It turned out really well. It wasn't quite like home, but everything was super great. After that, we all played a game called Loups-Garous (pronounced loo gar roo, it means Werewolf) all together as a district. I'll have to teach you all how to play it. It is super fun!

Friday was another finding day. Towards the end of the day we met this guy named Abu who is from Soudain. He is a non practicing muslim and is open to learning about other religions. We shared the Book of Mormon with him and then prayed with him in the street and set up a time to see him the next day. He gave us his phone number and address.

Saturday we went over to Abu's house and he asked us a couple of questions, that lead into the Plan of Salvation. We taught him about where we come from and the next time we see him we'll discuss the creation and what our goal on earth is.

This week we started doing Christmas Contacting and Christmas porting!! Yay!! :) Christmas contacting is just regular contacting, but we relate things to the Birth of Christ. We really focus in on Christmas. Christmas Porting is even better!! We knock on peoples' doors and ask them if we can sing them a song of Christmas and pray with them, to invite the true spirit of Christmas during this period of Christmas.

Last night we sang to and prayed with one person, an old lady named Bridgette. We sang "Douce Nuit, Sainte Nuit" (Silent Night). And then after the prayer we offered to come back later to share a message about the birth of Christ, sadly she refused, but it was still really cool that we got to sing with her.

Sorry this letter is so short, I really tried hard to write a lot, but I guess that's what happens in all finding weeks. I always try looking for miracles to share with you, though.

I love you all!! :)

-Elder B Stanton Wilson

P.s. Ricky told me that he is going to Snow with me. I'm pretty excited. As for the shoes and waterproofing, I haven't yet. I don't know of a place in Le Mans, and when I was in La Rochelle, the closest place was 30 minutes by bus. I will use that money to buy some new shoes. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!! :) I'll buy those new shoes during soldes (January - February) because it'll be less expensive.

A Visit in Versailles from Elder Cook and Elder Texiera

November 24, 2014

Hello Family!

I'm glad that everything is going well. This week went by pretty quickly.

Tuesday, we had exchanges, I went over to Alençon with District Leader Elder Miller, who by the way is from Boise area and went to Valley View High School. He is also related to a Holmstead Family. His name is Alexander Holmstead Miller, I wonder if he's related to Uncle Stephen?

Our exchange was pretty cool. It was really neat to go and work with him, when he testifies of the Plan of Salvation, you know that he knows that it is true and you can feel his deep devotion and love for Heavenly Father. We taught one of their amis, named Charles, who is from Nigeria. Charles is a bouncer at a local night club, even though he looks frightful at first sight, he is a huge teddy bear and wants friendship and love from others. The lesson was super cool, you could feel the love, and I even felt love for Charles, even though that was the only time I had met him.

Thursday, Elder Quentin L. Cook came with Elder Texiera. Seriously, that was the coolest conference I have ever been to. First off, there was a musical number done by some younger missionaries (one of which is an Elder Wilson!! A different one though). The three of them did super well, it was an instrumental version done with a Violin, a Pipe of some sort (sounded like a SUPER expensive recorder flute) accompanied by a piano.

Elder Texiera exhorted us to use Preach my Gospel EVERYDAY as missionaries and promised that if we use it, we will become better missionaries.

Elder Cook talked about many things, but the things that stuck out to me was when he talked about 4 of the deciding factors in assigning missionaries to missions. These factors are impressions that they recieve from the spirit. Some of these impressions are if they feel like a missionary needs to be under a certain mission president, or go to a certain culture to learn from it, or learn a certain language to use it later in their life. So I am here in France because of one or more of these impressions. The effect of a mission is eternal, not just one those that get taught by the missionary, but also on the missionary himself.

He also talked about the 4 relationships on the mission, Elder Cook referred to them as 'The 4 Loves'. The first one he talked about was love of the mission president and his wife. We, as missionaries, need to learn how to love our mission presidents. The next one was love of the people. When we learn how to love the people as a whole, that is when we start having success. The next one is love of your companion. We need to love our companions, if there is contention, that empêche (blocks? Sorry, I forgot how to say the word in english) the spirit and we won't be able to do the Lord's work in His way. The last love is love of the Lord. We must love the Lord and be willing to do things in His way and in His time.

The conference was probably the best conference I've been to. The spirit was super strong and I felt very edified by the time we left.

Also, before it began, Elder Cook wanted to shake hands with each missionary. So we all shook hands with Elder Texiera and Elder Cook. Elder Cook is definitely an Apostle of the Lord. You can feel it in the way he talks and in just being in his presence. It was fantastic.

Friday, we had a meeting with out DMP and his wife. They brought these puff ball things that were super delicious and a champagne-like peach flavored drink. The sister missionaries in Le Mans gave Elder Jenness and I brownies that were super delicious as well. Elder Jenness made Break-up Brownies on top of that, as well, which is a layer of cookies, that you put oreos on top of, then you put brownie batter on top of that and cook it all together. It was super delicious.

And that was the week.

As for Google Hangout, yes, that will be fine.

I love you all!! :) Have a great week!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Oh, here is a picture of "Steve Carell" eating a break-up brownie, and then a picture of us at a bus stop catching the last bus after Porting on Friday night.

Transfer to Le Mans

November 17, 2014

Hey Famille!!

So to start off, Transfers went well. I had about 5ish hours of trains on Wednesday, but 7 hours of trains total for transfers...ha. We took a train from La Rochelle to Nantes Tuesday night (2 hours 15 minutes ish), then Nantes to Paris Wednesday morning (2 hours and 15 minutes) then I took a TER (the slowest of all trains) to Le Mans, which took 2.5 hours.

Cool miracle that happened, when I got off the train at Le Mans, I accidently left my shoulder bag on the train. I realized about an hour later when I couldn't find it as we were heading out after eating. We went to the gare and asked the SNCF workers if they had found it, they helped us get to where we needed to go to ask the right people. They said they hadn't found it, but they called up the train depot and they had it! I then recieved my bag about 2 hours later. With everything in it, including my camera. I am so thankful for kind SNCF workers. :) I'm super blessed!

My new comp is "Steve Carell." He's from Indianna and his name is actually Elder Jenness, but he looks like Steve Carell. I'll send pictures next week. :) He's 22 and he is in his 5th transfer. And he CAN SING!!! You know what that means right? Singing in the morning, no more of me carrying the tune and my comp trying to follow along but can't because he can't sing. Our first comp study, I got super excited when we sang. Also, Steve Carell (Elder Jenness) is pretty legit. He's a hard worker and ready to go out to go and find! He has a great desire to do his best and is very fun to work with. Elder Jenness likes to cook and also likes to get up at 6 to workout. So we've been getting up at 6 to workout, it's been tiring but great. And we eat very well.

Le Mans is pretty cool. There is a tram here, so basically public transportation here is going to be really great! :) Le Mans is a very beautiful ville and our appartement is very well placed.

Speaking of Primary Programs, the ward here in Le Mans had one this week!! It was super great and I was smiling during the whole thing. The little kids were adorable! And a couple of them even did some funny things ;)

So this week, we have a conference in Versailles, Elder Cook will be coming!! He's coming the day before my birthday, I'm pretty excited!

So here is my new address, bien que je vous aie dit de ne pas m'envoyer des colis. ;)

Elder B. Stanton Wilson

49 Rue Marengo 

72000 Le Mans

France

Speaking of sending me things, could you send me the recipe for Rolled Cookie Dough (the pillsbury recipe) and Yum Yum Cake? :) Thanks :)

I love you all! Have a great week! :)

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Pizza Delivery

November 10, 2014

Hey Famille!

This past week was pretty good. A little long, but also super great. Counting our two mangez vous that we have today, that will make seven mangez vous in seven days.

On the subject of food, I've learned quite a bit about the human body during my mission. When I eat terribly, I feel terrible. When I eat well, I feel very well. When I eat way too much, no matter if it's healthy of not, I feel terrible. That's something that members in general don't understand about missionaries. They are just like normal humans. But members normally think that missionaries need to gorge themselves with food, so they give us giant portions expecting us to eat everything. But I have found that this can be rather handicapping at times....ha But despite that, I really am grateful for the members that really do take time to give us food to eat. It's great to get to know the members.

So, with this week being transfers, we kind of knew that I would leave, so we had a Rendez-vous with Mehdi one last time to find out why he stopped the lessons and also to say good bye and exchange info so we can stay in contact. Mehdi is seriously super cool!! It's sad to me that he stopped with the missionary lessons, but I am glad that he still wants to be our friends. He has super amazing standards and will go on to do great things.

The Fitt's did a little Tours trip to check the apartments there (that's where Elder Smith is at), and Tours is known for their giant Tours Religeuse. The Fitt's brought Elder Godfrey and I each our own Tours Religeuse, which still hasn't been eaten. We're hoping to finish them by tomorrow.

This week we taught a young, 20 year old guy, Richard, and his girlfriend. The way Richard was found was a complete miracle. A couple weeks ago, we were walking down a street at night and a pizza delivary guy asked us to use our phone because he forgot his. So we let him use it. After he gave the pizza to the person, he then gave us his number and told us that he had talked with the Elders in Togo, and that he'd like to talk with us sometime. When we had the rendez-vous, he brought his girlfriend with him. We taught them about the Restoration and they seemed like they really were touched. We set up a return rendez-vous with him.

So, here is the news, after six months, I'm leaving La Rochelle. I'll be going to Le Mans, which is just east of Angers. It's in the Tours Zone!! So Elder Smith will be my Zone Leader, how cool is that?

Today, the Fitt's fed us, they did a "birthday dinner" for me before I leave, even though I won't be here for my birthday. They also gave me an Apron for when I cook!! :) Sister Fitt has a super great memory. I've really appreciated getting to know them. They've basically become like another mother and father to me, out here in the mission field.

So, I have a question, I know there are many Wilson's, but are we, by chance, related to an Edward Donald Wilson who is married to a Lynn Ann? They are a new couple in the mission, I haven't met them yet, but I was just curious.

I love you all!! :)

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Baptism

November 3, 2014

Hello Family!!

This week was a tough week, not gonna lie. But it was also such a rewarding week.

So, Wednesday, we had district meeting. One of the Sister Training Leaders gave a formation on using analogies and object lessons in our teachings. It was a pretty good teaching...even if we are encouraged not to use analogies nor object lessons because that can complicate teachings and sometimes, teach false doctrine. But it was a pretty fun formation nevertheless.

Thursday and Friday were all finding days. It was pretty tough. These past weeks have been rather finding weeks, which can be uplifting...but it rather tends to get a little discouraging. Sometimes. Friday night, both of us were feeling pretty down. We still had some time and had NO idea what to do. Then we prayed and felt like we should go pass by a non active member. I had to pee, so on the way, we found a place where I could do so. Then we went onward. As we were going to this member's house, we contacted a lady that was super believing and super into hearing more. She told us many times "It's so good what you're doing. Continue well. Don't get discouraged." That was exactly what I needed at that time to help me keep going. We talked with her for about 35 minutes and shared the Restoration with her and gave her a Book of Mormon and prayed with her in the Street. She actually lives over in a place called Cognac, which is more than an hour away from La Rochelle, and it is in Bordeaux Stake, which isn't in our mission. I hope that the missionaries in the Angoulême branch can make their way out there.

Thursday night, we went out to the Bishop's house with the Fitt Couple. We were going to go with Mehdi, but he decided that he doesn't want to get baptized, and so he declined the offer. But the Bishop still wanted us to come despite that. It was really neat to be their and talk with him and his family. For our spiritual thought, we focused on the children. We talked about Joseph Smith's story and had the kids explain what happened. It was pretty cool to hear the story in the words of children. Right before leaving, we discussed with the Bishop about his personal missionary work. We invited him to invite some of his friends to join them for a family home evening.

Saturday, was a finding day as well. But it seemed a little better than Friday. And then Saturday night, we ended up walking about an hour to go to someone's house to visit him. His name is Gendry and he is very, very much so evangelical. Which is great, but it makes teaching really tough. You need to know the bible super well to teach avid evangelists. He ended up asking us questions on some things, like authority, laying on of hands and stuff. He doesn't believe that you need the laying on of hands to recieve the Holy Ghost. Which is sort of true. You don't need the laying of hands to FEEL the Holy Ghost. But to receive the GIFT of the Holy Ghost, which is the right to have the Holy Ghost with us at all times as long as we are worthy of it, it must be given by the laying on of hands. Sadly, we didn't know scriptures to help him understand that, but now, we know some scriptures for future reference. Hebrews 6:1-2, Actes 8:14-17. It was a pretty cool rdv even with that. It was just awesome to be around people that really love the word of God.

Sunday, the day that made the whole week SO much better!! :) Kicked it off with a super missionary minute. Every Sunday we have a Minute Missionnaire (missionary minute) in Priesthood Meeting that we use to try to get members excited about missionary work. Normally, missionaries just share miracles that happened during the week, which is good, but I've learned during my mission that there is a block between missionaries and french members. First, we're missionaries, we're supposed to see miracles every week. It's expected. Second, normally we're American. So what we say automatically doesn't apply to them because they are French (just a little bit of the French mentality in general.) But I have learned that when we ask the members to share their experiences and encourage them to pray to have missionary experiences, they listen, they get excited, they apply it to themselves. This Sunday, three leaders shared their missionary experiences. The spirit was strong and the members seemed like they were actually listening to them. It was cool.

Then, after church was the Swanepoel's baptism. The spirit was so strong. Honestly, I got the same feelings that I used to get performing. But it felt better. It was super strong. Everything went well with their baptisms and confirmations. We then had a ward dinner after and ate and conversed. It was so awesome. That experience is probably the best experience I've had on my mission. Being able to be one of their missionaries. They were definitely prepared for this time. Bokke and Georget were both smiling from ear to ear after their baptisms and confirmations. We'll be starting with the New Member lessons for them this week. I'm so excited. :)

And that was the week. Hey, you finally got the package back!!! Haha. Elder Paitrault tried sending it to Cergy, but they never gave me a notice that I had a package...ha. The Post has some problems in France... I guess I'll benefit from that after my mission alors.

I hope Kaysen stops growing. ;) I gotta stay the biggest. :) He can have the biggest feet, but I need to be the tallest. How much does he weigh?

I love you all. Have a great week. :)

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Catholic Mass

October 28, 2014

Hey Family!!

 

I got your email. We had to change our P-day this week because of baptismal interviews with the Swanepoels.

 

So, this past week has been pretty long. But, it was still great nonetheless. It kicked off really well on Tuesday with Exchanges down in La Rochelle. I was with Elder Nielsen this time, Elder Godfrey was with Elder Tarbet. Elder Nielsen and I headed over to the church to meet someone for a rendez-vous, but we were frudg'd. He didn't show up, so we started walking back to the appartement to have dinner. As we were making our way back, an older gentleman pulled over and motioned for us to come over. So we came over and he unrolled his window...then was just silent. So I asked "Est-ce que vous cherchez quelques choses?" He replied "Vous êtes des Mormons, n'est-ce pas?" We replied in the affirmative, (which I normally don't reply that way. Usually I say that we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that people nicknamed us the Mormons.) He then said "I was in contact with the Mormons 30-40 years ago. Here's my card. I live over in that building over there. Can you come over at 15h00 tomorrow?" So we looked at our schedule and we "squeezed" him in. (haha, kinda like in the Best Two Years.)

 

We went out porting that night and prayed with two different people. It was pretty cool and miraculous. We even gave a Book of Mormon to one of them. Sadly, they weren't interested to learn more though.

 

So then Wednesday, Elder Godfrey and I headed over to that guy's appartement. His name is Christian and he was baptized in Marseilles. He was ordained to a priest. He then went away from the church because of little things that bothered him (calling each other brother and sister and small stuff like that) and because of his work. He was in the French Navy basically since the age of the Dinosaures. He's moved around quite a bit. He saw us walking and decided that he'd try to come a sunday or two. He was a very nice guy and I hope that he comes...he lives a five minutes walk from the church. (Or, because I have read it recently, And it was a five minute walk for a Nephite.)

 

Wednesday night, we received permission from Président Babin to go to a Catholic Masse for a student ward in La Rochelle that we were invited to. The service itself was really confusing and didn't make too much sense to me. The "Father" (the priest) read some parable and "expounded" on it...but didn't really actually expound on it...and then there was one part when a bunch of the students just fell on their knees at the same time...Elder Godfrey and I had NO idea what to do. Ha. It was very interesting. I don't think I'll convert over to Cathotholism. I'll stay in The Church of Jesus Christ. Afterwards, there was a dinner for everyone, and many students insisted we go, so we did. It was really cool to speak with people our age. Real, believing young adults. It was a really neat experience.

 

And then the rest of the week we went our searching for people who'll listen to us. We saw this guy on a bench playing guitar, so we went and listened to him. After he finished his song, he asked us who we are and what we're doing and stuff. We ended up teaching him the Restoration right there. He then let me play a couple songs with his guitar, it was pretty cool. We set up a return rendez-vous with him for this Thursday.

 

Yesterday was quite the stressful day. The Swanepoel's let us know that Bokke would be playing Rugby the sunday after their baptism, which means they wouldn't be able to come to get confirmed (we do all our baptisms in La Rochelle on sundays, so that all the ward members can be there). So we called up the bishop to explain the situation, he then told us that if we got permission from the mission president, we could do it all the same day. So after a 15 minute call with the mission president, we called the bishop letting him know that we received permission to do so. Then we called the Swanepoel's back and let them know that, they then asked if we could do the interview Wednesday instead...so we asked if it was at all possible for them to do it today, and they pushed back the interviews about an hour. It was pretty stressful, but everything with that went really well. :)

 

On another great note, I am now officially legal for my second year in France. I'm legal until the 13 of September in 2015.

 

About Halloween. The French don't really celebrate it. Last Halloween I think I saw 5 kids dressed up. If that. Halloween isn't big at all. Especially those that are part of the Jehovah's Witness. But that religion doesn't celebrate like any holidays. Some French find it rather atrocious, others think it's super weird, others would love to celebrate it, but don't want to alone, and then others don't care and celebrate it themselves.

 

Sorry this week is so short. We don't have too much time. :P

 

I love you all and hope everything is going well! I'm glad that you're having fun showing everyone my "frost-bitten" feet. Here's a quote for you, if you get it "His feet have the black!!" :)

 

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Zone Conference in Angers

October 20, 2014

Hey Everyone!!

First off, so I don't forget, I hope Dad's birthday went well a couple weeks ago. And also KAYSEN!!! (pretend like I'm singing at the top of my lungs and being a super, awkward creeper.) "15 Years ago you were born, yeah that's right it's your special day (on sunday). So have a happy birthday!!! Happy birthday!!"

Bon, buh this week went pretty well. We taught Mehdi (the ami) about the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week. He is such a smart guy. He understands everything perfectly. He's been such an example to me. Any time he has some kind of issue that comes up, he prays about it. And then he feels at peace. And then later he talks to us about it. And it's pretty cool. He resolves his own concerns. Most of his concerns tend to be more moral things, as in "a group of people that I was with started drinking and they started to get rather agressive, so I left. But they aggressed someone in the group that was drinking. Should I have stayed and helped out the person out? Or did I act well in leaving?" And he's noticing that he's changing as he's getting closer to Christ and Heavenly Father. He says that they've been really good changes. After our very first rendez-vous, he stopped drinking and smoking completely. He said he didn't smoke or drink very often as is, but he decided that doing those things didn't help him at all, so he decided to stop them completely.

Thursday we had Zone Conference in Angers. I love going to Angers it is probably the Utah of France, on a cleanliness level. Seriously, you could eat off the streets in Angers. All the formations (France-Paris Missionary lingo for presentations) were really good. The Zone Leaders' formation was about having a "Friendly Exchange" meaning making the most out of exchanges. And in the end the goal is to make every day a "Friendly Exchange".

The Babin's did a scripture chase with us to emphasize the importance of knowing scriptures. Reminded me of a game we used to play in Seminary. It was very fun and very instructive. :) Then the interviews went really well. The interviews were basically just nice, loving conversations. It didn't feel like an interview at all. :)

The Fitt couple rented a car to drive down in (because their car is, as they say, sick and needs to go to the doctor.) and they took us down, but we got to take a train back, because they needed to do appartement checks and so they were staying overnight in Angers. Our train left from Angers at 17h00. We had a correspondance in Tours, then took a train from Tours to Poitiers (which isn't in the Paris Mission...but it's okay. Missionnaires don't directly order tickets, we command them through an office couple, then they order the tickets for us. So I've been outside the mission boundaries twice now...once when I came to La Rochelle, and then this last trip.) Poitiers looks like a super cool ville. Elder Godfrey and I took pictures so we'll always remember our trip. Ha.

Sunday, I played the piano for sacrement meeting. We sang Because I Have Been Given Much, C'est Sur La Croix (don't remember what that one is in English), A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, and Love One Another. It's been a great experience to play the piano for the ward. And my piano skills are improving. It's been pretty cool.

That was the week this past week. I'm glad you had a great laugh about my foot "disease." ;) I'll see if I can get some water proofing stuff. We're gonna go look for new shoes for Elder Godfrey today (he really, REALLY needs new shoes...) and the place we're going to will have some stuff I could possibly get.

Well I love you all!!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Missing Letters

Here are a few weeks that hadn't been posted yet:

September 29, 2014

Hello Family,

So, this past week passed really well.

Monday, during our P day, we headed over to a store called Lidl to go and buy some juice...now, Lidl is like one of the cheapest stores ever...it's kind of like Ross, but for produce/food. BUT Lidl has THEE best juices ever. So on our way, our ami José saw us and stopped in his car to talk to us. Turns out he needed some help getting a website for his work online, so he asked us if we could help him. We said we could try, he ended up being able to get it up himself later though. But it was really cool to be in the right place at the right time.

Then later Monday night, we went to the Razamadraibe's house so that I'd be able to say goodbye to them, since it was a high possibility of me leaving. It was really fun. By the way, the game Cranium is very, very difficult in French. :)

Tuesday we had our last District meeting of the transfer. It was pretty good. It was mostly just a discussion on the Spirit and promptings from the spirit. We ate our lunch together afterwards, and then took some district photos. I forgot to bring my camera to emails today...so no photos for you. :/ Désolé.

Wednesday we met with the Swanepoel's at the Church in La Rochelle and taught them with Frère Forbes, who is a Rugby player for La Rochelle's team. Even though the Swanepoel's boys were screaming the whole time, Frère Forbes bore a powerful testimony on the truthfulness of the church and of Joseph Smith. It was really great. The Swanepoel's both talked about how they know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. They are definitely getting more and more ready for their baptisms.

Thursday morning, I had a rendez-vous for my second year legality in France. The RDV went really well...except, remember a year ago...the whole Afgahn thing? That came up again. Apparently I've been an Afgahn the whole past year. Bahaha!! The lady that was going through my papers and stuff was very kind and was able to change my nationality from Afgahn to American. So, I think I'll stay American for the rest of my life. :)

That evening we had a rdv with our ami Mehdi. We shared with him the First Vision and bore testimony on it. He said that what we told him really spoke to him. He also said that we are both smart and know our stuff, then he added, "It's not an intelligence from the brain, it's like...an intelligence from the heart. Like you've really reflected on this and pondered it, and that you know without a doubt it is true." That really was a cool compliment to receive. If our testimonies come off strong like that, it's not only because of us and our experiences we've lived, it's because of the spirit. The spirit was so strong during the lesson. Mehdi accepted the soft invite to baptism. He invited an invitation to come to church as well. He also had brought his guitar, because he wanted to hear me sing, and then he asked  for some help on a song that he's working on. It's in english, so he asked us if he is pronouncing everything correctly. He's pretty good. He held his engagement to come on sunday. :)

Friday, we met the less active Mehdi. We were originally going to meet at his house, but 10 minutes before the RDV he asked if we could just meet at the Chapelle, which was a GENIOUS idea! It was the first time he had walked into a church in the last 5 years. That was a really big step for him. We talked with him in the Sacrement room where he expressed his feelings that he had being there. He even came to church this sunday for the first time in 5 years!! The ward was SO great at welcoming him in. :)

Saturday we went to Niort to teach Christian, then to do a Samedi Sport with Josué, one of the Razamadraibe sons. During our lesson with Christian, he called us telling us that he had a music event and we'd need to push back basketball a bit, he then invited us to come and told me to come and play a couple songs. We came and I was able to play a couple songs. (I guess this was a rather musical week...haha) Then basketball ended up falling through. Josué's friends weren't able to come and play.

Transfers, we received a rather surprising call Saturday Morning from Président Babin, guess who is going to Tours as a Zone Leader? Elder Smith and I weren't expecting that, but he'll do a great job. So, it appears that I'll be staying at least 6 months in La Rochelle. We totally thought I would be leaving, but the Lord has higher ways and still has more for me to do and learn here in La Rochelle. I'll be welcoming in Elder Godfrey, who was at the MTC with me. He's pretty chill, so I'm excited. He is a beast of an Athlete. Or at least, he was in the MTC, let's hope a year on the mission hasn't changed that. ;)

With Elder Smith parting to Tours, I've accepted a new calling as the Ward Pianist. It's not really a calling, because we're not set apart for it, but I'll be taking over for Elder Smith. We trained each other. For two transfers, he was training me to become the Pianist of the La Rochelle ward and I was training him to become Zone Leader. (that's just the joke he and I have been cracking ever since we received that call.)

I'm pretty excited for this new transfer, the news was rather surprising, but it's gonna be great. It'll be sad to say goodbye to Elder Smith, he and I have become pretty good friends over these past 12 weeks.

Don't worry for you, I'll look for you at GC. Look for Elder Tripp during the Priesthood Session!!! He's going to be in the MTC Choir!!

Also, we just recently were given a Crock Pot, so could you send me some awesome crock pot recipes that you've already tried? I'd love to use it more. Elder Smith and I make Café Rio Pork last week and it turned out SUPER! We used a recipe that I got from an Elder in the mission. (I didn't want to try the one you sent me because the Salsa in France is gross. Tastes more like a very sweet, chili-powder jelly...ha) Also, could you send me the recipe for Rolled Sugar Cookie Dough? The pillsbury recipe. :) Thanks!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Stay Fly!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

September 15, 2014

Hello Family!

It's good to hear that most all is going well. It's too bad to hear that momma was/is sick. Reposes-toi bien maman!

Last P day we went Bowling with the Fitt's. Guess who got over 100? :) I know that's not too high, but hey, for not bowling for QUITE some time, I'd say that bowling a 104 isn't too bad. I'll send you some pictures.

Buh, this week was a different week. The Fitt's went on a Tour de France all week, so it was rather odd being in La Rochelle with out a couple missionary. By the way, when I say Tour de France, I mean appartement checks in Bretagne. They seriously went through all of Bretagne in like 5 days. Bless their souls, that's TONS of driving. They were a little wiped out from their trip.

Meanwhile, In La Rochelle, Elder Smith and I had double exchanges (meaning that both équipes work in the same secteur) Tuesday/Wednesday with the District leader and his Comp in La Rochelle. I was with the DL, Elder Nielsen, from Tremonton. The exchange went well. It's very interesting how much the plans that are made, that may seem inspired at the moment they are planned, can change so fast.

After Dinner, we were going to go somewhere to do some porting, but as we started approaching the area on the bus, I felt like we should pass by Geni (the ami that got super offended when I was with Elder Rigby). So we did. He happened to be there, invited us in to talk and to eat dinner with him and his wife. He did mention that he was still offended at "Collin" (he likes to know our first names, then he likes to call us by them. Lucky for me, he can't remember mine to save his life!!) about not being able to come in our appartement, which being interpreted means, he is still offended at the missionary rules and doesn't understand them. He was very nice though!! We shared a scripture with him, something along the lines of "come unto Christ" (the one in Moroni 10 near the end of the chapter) and invited him to church. He said he might come, it depends on his sick mother. He did not attend church this week.

Even though Geni is still offended, he did seem happy to see us. I do feel like that impression to visit him was from the Spirit. It is SO important that we follow the spirit every time he prompts us.

Wednesday, we finished the exchange and sent the Elders back off to Nantes.

Thursday we went and printed off a picture of the Paris Temple (what it is supposed to look like) to go give it to a Less Active member, who, a few weeks ago, we had promised to bring her a picture of it after she talked about her experience when she was 15 in doing baptisms for the dead at the Geneva temple. When we gave it to her, her face lit up. It was pretty cool. I hope she will soon get the desire to come back to church.

Friday we finally were able to see the Swanepoel's!!! Yay!!!!!! We got to take a train to Niort, then a bus to Fontenay, then waited a bit for Bokke to come pick us up. They fed us lunch, which was a SUPER delicious spaghetti, and a millefeuille for desert. We then shared with them Moroni 7:13 and invited them to continue to pray about the Book of Mormon. Bokke says he hasn't really received an answer yet, and that he feels like it's more of a story than some kind of biblical record, but he agreed to continue to pray about it. Georget though, she said she has recieved her answer. Before they received the BoM in their native language (Afrikaans) they had it in English. They sat down together to read it after we talked about it, they struggled for 15 minutes trying to read one page. And didn't understand any of it (now, they speak english very well, but when it comes to reading Old English, it's a little harder). Georget prayed for something for God to give her a reason to keep reading the Book of Mormon. The next RDV, we gave them Books of Mormon (or is it Book of Mormons? *insert winky face here*) in Afrikaans. Georget said that that was her answer.

Interesting information on that, we could have given them the Books of Mormon in Afrikaans before they had their experience, but when the Fitt's asked us if we should give them to the Swanepoel's, we both said, hmmm, maybe, we'll see. Then at the last minute we decided not to, for some odd reason.

We also re-fixed baptismal dates. November 2nd! We've almost finished all of the lessons with them. It's been super great to teach them!!

Friday night, Sister Rigby invited us over to eat with her and her husband Allen, who isn't a member. Allen is SUCH a hoot!! He switches accents a lot and it is hilarious. At one point, Sister Rigby was talking about all the apostles that Allen has heard in person, and she mentioned Spencer W. Kimball. Allen then said in his American accent, "I had heard he was quite the Kimball Wizard." Elder Smith and I laughed pretty hard. :) Our spiritual thought we shared was Moses 1:39.

Saturday we took a train to Niort to visit Christian. We finished the Restoration with him. His youngest son was there, so we were able to teach him with Christian. It was pretty cool.

We were supposed to have another rdv with a potential ami, but he apparently was working. So since we had time, we passed by a member that lives not far from the Gare and talked with them for a couple minutes before catching our train.

Well, that was the week! I hope you enjoy the pictures. I also included a picture that we took while we were in Niort.

Have a great week!

Cheers!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson