Fasting Works

2/10/14

Hey Family!!

Sounds like all's well for you all. :) 

So um, Happy Valumtimes Day. Tines, tines, tines! (Jaret will get it. #TeenGirlSquad)

Okay, alors, the toe of my companion is making progress!! We had a rdv (rendez-vous. Ha, I'm getting the French text language DOWN!) avec the Docteur this past Mercredi pour voir comment va his toe. It is no longer infected!! Now it's scarred and is healing. So that's great news!! We're able to pick up the work, slowly. If his toe hurts, we gotta take a break. Also if it rains, we can't go out. :P Cherbourg taught me to love the rain...buh tant pis pour moi. :P

We did have a cool rdv with the Docteur though. He asked us who we are after he was done looking at the toe and stuff. (He speaks English BTW's. He LOVES speaking English.) So we told him that we're the Mormons. GREAT ANSWER TO HIS QUESTION!! :D The first thing he said is "YOU GUYS DO GENEALOGY!! Right? Can you help me out?" So we gave him the number for the genealogy office somewhere in the region of Paris. We also told him our proper name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so he asked why others call us Mormons. We taught him about the Book of Mormon. He asked us if he could borrow the one we showed him (which was in his native language, French!) and of course we said, "You can keep it. It's yours." He got SUPER excited and said "You have to write something in it. Both of you. For souvenir" (souvenir means "to remember". Basically what he meant is to remember us.) So we did. And when we gave it to him he said "I promise you, I will read it!" Seriously, that was a cool miracle! Even when we have rdv's with the docteur, we STILL get opportunities to share the gospel.

So fasting works. Like really. Yesterday, I fasted. I was getting pretty discouraged with the work. We were doing what we could with the circumstances we had. But it was pretty discouraging. Every call/text we did just resulted in "I'm too busy right now." Or "I'm too busy this whole week. And next week." Pretty upsetting...well, Yesterday, I basically pulled an Elder Murray from The District. I fasted so that we could have a baptism. And so that we could find new amis. After church was over and we were waiting for the buses to come to take us back to Cergy, (we meet in the St. Ouen building for l'instant a cause de notre building being under renovation.) singing in the choir. As we started, we received a call from Pritish, telling us that he wants to get baptized. Next Sunday. And so now we'll be seeing him like 3 or 4 times this week to make sure he's ready and make sure he understands everything. Seriously, miracles happen. God lives and hears our prayers. He answers our prayers.

I'm sorry I don't have more to say. Today I'll be baking though! :D I'm making brownies and a chocolate pie for district meeting for tomorrow. :D #stoked ;)

That's super funny about the trololo guy's music in the opening ceremony of the Olympics!! Haha. Too bad it probably wasn't the original performer, Edward Khil. He died January of 2012, or 2013. I don't remember which year. Ha. :P

Happy Valumtimes day! And mommy, I'm so sorry!! J'ai completement oublié à propos de ton anniversaire! J'espère qu'il était bien! (P.s. You're old now, too. ;) haha! Just kidding)

I love you all! Thank you for all your prayers. It means tons to me! Always remember the hand of the Lord in your life.

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Diarrhea Since Easter

2/3/14

Hey Family!

Sounds like all went well with the superbowl! Haha just kidding...too bad the Bronco's didn't win huh?

Well this week was pretty tough work-wise. We weren't able to get out and do very much work because Elder Young's terrible toe. We were able to get out though! Yay!! haha.

We weren't able to see Francoise this week. She cancelled the rendez-vous and then she later told us that she's not in the Parisien Area. But she'll be back in like 15 days, alors on va attendre pour le jour quand elle reviens.

This week we were able to see this guy named Rodolph. On a fait le contact avec lui dans la rue, il y a une semaine. When we first contacted him, he told us he had never heard du Livre de Mormon, but that he'd like one to read...now this is the catch to all of it, he then told us that he can't read French. And that he's not so great at reading English. So we asked him what language he can read in. He replied "Tamil." It's some language from South India, apparently. We were able to find a Book of Mormon in his language and then we met with him. We weren't able to have a legit lecon because he didn't have time, but he did say that if we wanted, we could set up some rendez-vous with him in the future. I'm pretty stoked!! :)

We saw lots of members this week. We ate at 3 different members' houses. It was all pretty good. Although, I definitely think I'm getting fat. Not gaining weight fat, but my muscle is turning into pudgy fat. :P Oh also, one of the member's we ate with, la Famille Louima, they're haitian. I've ate over there quite a few times. Soeur Louima always gives us some awesome Haitian food, which is like rice with some meat/veggie sauce that has TONS of cloves in it. This last time though, I think there were more parts of the cow than I've ever eaten before...and that night (Saturday night) let's just say that "I had diarrhea since Easters." Church was fun with that little problem. :D haha. But now, I'm just fine.

Haha, well, I'm hoping this week we can get out more. Elder Young has to go to another Doctor for his toe...I'm hoping for some good news. On verra.

I love you all!

Kaysen, keep ballin' it up! :)

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Transfer #4

1/20/14

Hey family!!

Sounds like you had a really exciting week. :) I'm stoked to see how the 4 wheeler turns out!

We always use public transit. There aren't very many villes that use cars. So if I do get to drive a car, I'll tell you. :) Cherbourg used to have a car, but the year before I came in, a couple missionary came in and got the car. Cergy is in the Parisian area, and so we have a NAVIGO for all five zones which can get us to anywhere in the Parisian area. (There are 5 zones in the Parisian area...Cergy is in zone 5.)

This past week was really good. We have transfers this week! And guess who gets a new companion!! :P Elder Wilson does. I'm staying at Cergy though. Elder Kendall is going to Metz...which is right by Luxembourg. I'm starting to think that my companions don't like me...ha. I'm starting transfer 4 and getting my 4th companion...haha c'était une blague. :)

Um..so we received a referral from a dude that lives in Lyon for his friend named Simone. We passed Simone a visit and she is SUPER! She loved the message of the restored gospel AND she said she'll come to church this next Sunday!! :D

Also, we contacted a guy in the street named Ives. (sounds like Eve. Not Eevz) We were able to set up a rendez-vous with him. Well, we went to his house and he was all like "Oh man, I completely forgot! Come in, we'll still talk." We found out that he lives with his sister who is like in her 30's. We were able to teach them both about the restoration...and we have another rendez-vous with them le samedi prochain. I'm stoked!! It's pretty exciting, this work that's going on!! :)

I'm seriously so glad I chose to serve a mission. It's been one of the best things so far! I'm lovin' it! I can't believe it's been about 6 months already. I feel like I just graduated from shool (yes, :D
shool) yesterday.

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

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

A SUPER Week!

1/13/14

Hey Famille!

This past week was SUPER!! Seriously, it's weeks like last week that make everything worth it.

Now, I'm not gonna lie, this transfer has been so hard. Not because of my companion, I love Elder Kendall, but because we've been working so hard to find new people to teach. Every day we've been going out finding. But every day we've gotten back to the appartement with just been rejected all day...everyday until last week!!

Last week, on Monday, we received a call from someone who apparently met with the missionaries in the past. She was having some troubles with something that we didn't quite understand, so we went over to her house the next day, and she vented to us about someone she works with...we testified tons and tried helping her, I finally shared a scripture with her in Alma (I forgot the reference) but it talks about the word "restoration." After we read the scripture she was like "oh, I feel good now. I think I should go talk to her and resolve the problem." ha...

But then on Tuesday night, we were contacting at the Prefecture and we met a Haitian woman. We were able to teach her about the restoration and give her a book of Mormon. She didn't want to give us her contact information, so we gave her ours and she said she'd call when she has questions.

Wednesday afternoon, we contacted a guy and were able to teach him about the Restoration also. And gave him a Book of Mormon. And we'll be following up with him today. :)

We did splits this past saturday, I was with Elder Ireland. We were supposed to have three lessons, but everyone fruged us. We went to a baptism in Versailles for a little 8 year old boy in our ward, while the other equipe stayed in Cergy. That's the first baptism I've seen on my mission so far!! :) The missionaries didn't have any part in his baptism. The family had invited the missionaries to come...so we went to support him and the ward.

This past Sunday, the missionaries sang a musical number with the Famille Pettitt (the DMP and his family). We did Homeward Bound. In French. It was so beautiful and the spirit was so strong! Apparently the last time missionaries in this ward did a musical number, it wasn't...so...beautiful...and so the musical number yesterday redeemed the missionaries...ha :) It was so fun to share that talent with the ward. :)

It's so amazing how the Lord blesses us. We were definitely blessed this week. After persisting for 4 weeks with rejection after rejection, after being patient, and just as we started getting discouraged, the Lord blessed us. I'm so lucky to be here serving as a missionary in La Mission Française de Paris. I know that I was called of God to serve here. Je sais que c'est eglise est vrai.

I love you all!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Frog Legs & Francis Chopin

1/6/14

Hey family!!

Okay so this week...New Year's Eve and New Years!!

New Year's Eve was pretty fun. We did work like normal and then at 5, we were supposed to stop proselyting. We went to a member's house to eat dinner that night. They took us out to a Chinese restaurant. We went to a little Chinese buffet called Le Pousse-Pousse. We ate tons of Chinese food. And they had some cuisse de grenouille. Frog legs. So I decided to try them...and let's just say that I'm not too big of a fan of grenouille. It wasn't bad. But it was very much...like eating meat-flavored rubber...ha.

New Year's Day was basically the same as Christmas: we spent all day at a member's house. We went to the famille Louima's house. They are Haitian, so I got to try some awesome Haitian cuisine. It's pretty good stuff! :) very strong in spices, especially cloves.

So as far as work goes, Elder Kendall and I go finding every day, still looking for new people to teach. It's pretty tough, but the Lord blesses us. Just yesterday we went contacting before church and met a guy who wants to learn more. We're pretty excited. We have a rendez-vous with him on Wednesday!!

With the reference from the Lyon mission, we were able to have one rendez-vous with him and that's it so far. He's pretty golden. He wasn't able to come to church this week, but he told us he'll be there next week, so we're definitely praying for that!

I'm doing better. My ear infection has healed and I'm not so stuffed up anymore. Elder Kendall isn't sick either. :) His chicken pox are done for good. 

Today for P-day we went to a cemetery.  :) I got to see the grave of the famous Francis Chopin. It was...pretty lively ;) 

Well, I love you all! Hope all goes well with the sewing machine.

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Here's me at the Eiffel Tower!! :)

The Family Pettitt

12/30/13

Hey family!!

This week was pretty good. Christmas was pretty weird. It was weird to see all of you...ha. I've just gone so long with just emails that actually hearing your voices and seeing you felt really weird...ha. This Christmas was pretty much my favorite Christmas of my life. It was so awesome to spend the whole day with the Family Pettitt. They're legit. We also (we as in ALL the missionaries in my mission) had permission to watch a Disney movie on Christmas...and so we ended up watching Mulan. Not in French. In English (because the family Pettitt speaks english, french, german, and spanish.) It was really weird...and cool. Basically I have the whole movie memorized and was quoting it as it went along...hehe

So along with this week being good...it was also really hard. Elder Kendall and I got discouraged this week. We felt like we were doing everything we could...but not getting the results we really wanted...and then we recieved a referral from the Lyon mission for a guy named Pritish. Like British, but with a P. He is from India. We were able to meet him on Saturday...and...oh my goodness, talk about a missionary's dream!! He knows all of the doctrine that we teach already. He feels like he needs to get baptized soon, too!! Isn't that awesome?! I almost died when he said that to us!! He also does have some questions about how he can really know if his prayers are being answered and stuff like that, though. We're going to continue to meet with him and hopefully help him come unto Christ through baptism. I'm super excited!!

So, today I went to le Tour Eiffel et L'Arch de Triomphe. And I can't send the photos...but I will eventually. :D

And that was my week since Christmas. Sorry it's not so long! There's not many details. I added as much as I can.

Love you!

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson

Christmas

December 25, 2013

Skype is seriously the best thing ever! Elder Wilson looked happy! It was so fun to see his crazy personality come out, since it doesn't come out so well in his letters. He's a nut, and we love him so much!