Week 19, Valence, France

Bonjour,

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. It is hot here but it has also been raining a lot recently. I like it when it rains because it reminds me of Oregon. One thing I have been forgetting to mention is that our mission set a goal to have a mission wide baptism on July 5th.We presented the names of the people we thought could be baptized on that day to Elder Andersen when he came to visit our mission. Normally we have about 5 baptisms in the mission per week but on July 5th, after a lot of faith and hard work, we had 21 baptisms! This day was definitely a miracle and I am so glad that I was able to be a part of it. I know that this is the Lord's church and that miracles still happen today. When Elder Andersen came he said that this mission will change and will continue to see amazing miracles. To celebrate this day the mission president gave us permission to stay up last Monday and watch fireworks! Monday was a big holiday in France that is like the 4th of July in the States. We went to a Crocodile farm and we also went to a really cool village with a big castle. Then at night we went to a park in the middle of Valence and saw a really cool firework show. It was probably my most fun preparation day of my mission.

Bastille Day, 14 Jullet in the Village, Grignan

Castle in Grignan

This Castle is connected to the Marquise de Sevigne whoes letter's to his daughter are famous in French literature.

Crocodile farm in Pierrelatte

This week we had a lesson with a new ami named Ludavic. We talked about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. He had read some of the Book of Mormon and we really hope that he will have the dersire now to pray to know if it is true. This was one of the best lessons I have had and I really hope that we can continue to meet with him.

I have been working a lot on my pronunciation this week so that I can sound more French. My companion has been helping me a lot with this. One day this week we helped a family put in the floor of a room in their new house. We had a zone meeting in Lyon this week and another Zone was also there. I saw my MTC companion Elder Taylor and Elder Frost and Elder Herdt from the MTC. There is a member that invites us to her house almost every week because she has 3 kids that live at home that do not come to church. I have been able to become pretty good friends with one of the kids. Sundays is always one of my favorite days because I get to go to church and see all of the awesome members in the ward. I really like the members in Valence and have built really good relationships with a lot of them. Until next time,

Elder Bake


Fun French Fact of the week: The windows do not have screens.

Miracles of the Week: When we had our Rendez-vous with Ludavic he said he normaly does not invite missionarys into his house but when we came he said he felt something and knew that we where sincere. He also said that he felt good when he read the introduction to the Book of Mormon. He was definently feeling the spirit and so was I.