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.