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