Week 24, Montpellier, France

Bonjour,

I just finished my first week in Montpellier and it was amazing.  My new companion, Elder Adamson, is a super, great missionary and we work really well together.  We are constantly laughing about something and having a great time.  It is hard not to be happy all the time in Montpellier where the sun is always out and the city looks so cool.  We are in a super tiny apartment in centra ville right next to the tram stop.  We spend a lot of time on the trams and buses getting around to places.  There is a really cool river that runs through with a park around it.  There is also a big square and cool buildings everywhere.  I have not been to the beach yet but we are going to a ville by the beach this week.

Monday I got to Montpellier and started working.  We were with another missionary, Elder Cueva, for the day and on Tuesday because he is getting a new missionary.  Then on Tuesday afternoon we went to a funeral for a former bishop of the Montpellier ward.  It was sad but the wife gave a really good talk and the family knew that they would see their dad again.  There was a man who spoke that used to be a mission president in Portland, Oregon.  I also got to meet a lot of the members there which was great.

We do a lot of activities here that are put on by the missionaries.  One of them is a English class that we have 2 times a week and we also play soccer every Saturday.  We also do a workout thing that is like P90X that is really fun and we have a lot of people come.  It is also really hard and I have been in a lot of pain all week but I think once I get in shape it will go away.

There are a lot of members and new members that we worked with this week.  We had dinner at a Spanish lady's house and she invited her neighbor and younger member of the ward who is a student here and his two friends.  We became really good friends with the friends and they came to English class and then had a lesson after.

Miracle of the Week:
Two times this week we went to the river that I talked about and talked to the people there.  As we talked to people we told them that we have a unique message to share and instead of setting up another time like usual we just asked if we could take 30 minutes and give them our message right then.  We were able to teach 5 people doing this and got to know them really well.  there are so many cool people here that are nice and open to new things. This Sunday we went to church and I got to meet all the members.  They are all super nice.  The ward here meets in an actual chapel and there are a lot more people that come to church than in Valence.  There is a really nice family with a baby girl, the Clark's, who are good at finding missionary opportunities all the time.  I had to give a testimony in sacrament meeting which I did not know about until right before when they said my name but I think it went well.

Bonus Miracle of the week:  When we were at church a man showed up and said he came from a ville that is far away because he saw our church on line and wanted to find out more.  We taught him a little bit and set up a time to meet with him again this week.  People are literally just coming up to us ready and willing to be taught? It's crazy!

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

Elder Bake

Fun French Fact of the Week:  The French do not drink much soda but they love juice.  They also like to drink this syrup stuff that they put in their water.  Most of it has grown on me except for the mint flavor.  That stuff is terrible.

Week 23, Montpellier, France

Bonjour,

Yesterday I took a train to Lyon where I said goodbye to Elder Dover who is training a new missionary this transfer. Then I took a train that passed back through Valence and took me down south to Montpellier ( North Algeria). It is so hot here but I love it!!!! I also love my new companion, Elder Adamson. He is from somewhere in Utah and is the district leader here. There are two other companionships in Montpellier; they are the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders. So basically everyone in the district is some kind of a leader.

Back to last week. I do not have time to think about what to say and I don't have my old planner to look at so this might be short. I think I already talked about the hike I went on. It was great. We had some really good lessons with Michel. I really love that man and it is so cool to see how much his faith has grown since I started my mission. There have been many times when he has felt the spirit very strongly and I have too. I know that the power of the Holy Ghost is very real and necessary for people to be converted. If we did not have the Holy Ghost we would have to just convince people that our church is true which sounds really hard. But we do have the Holy Ghost because this is Christ's Church so it is actually pretty easy. 

Miracle of the Week:

Recently our mission has been working with members a lot to do activities with their friends. This week we had two awesome activities. One was making cookies with a new member and all their family. The other one was playing Rugby with a bunch of professional rugby players. I was actually not there for either of them because I was on an exchange in Grenoble. It kind of stinks but Ca Va.

I actually stayed two nights in Grenoble this week because I did an exchange and then the next day was district meeting. I did the exchange with Elder Herdt who was in the MTC with me. We had a lot of fun and had some really great conversations with some cool people. One thing that is great about Grenoble and Montpellier is that they are college towns so there are a lot of younger people who tend to be more open.

On Friday we got calls from President to find out what we are doing this transfer. My companion is staying in Valence and is training a new missionary. Most people call new missionaries Blues because that is the French way of calling someone new or a greenie. He was really exited about training because this is his first time and I am exited for him too. I will definitely miss Valence but I know that it is my time to leave and do something new. I know that I am in Montpellier for a reason and that there are people here that I can help come closer to Christ. For the last few days of the week I tried to meet as many of the members and amis as possible to help them as much as I could before I left and to say goodbye. We had some awesome lessons and helped a family move. We also visited a man in the hospital who I have worked with a lot. I have never seen him so happy when we visited on Sunday. He was very open and talkative and I was very happy that I could see him one last time. There are a lot of things about Valence that I am going to miss; the streets that I walked on everyday and the tiny church that is just a few rented out rooms. I will mostly miss the awesome people that I worked with and members I got to know really well. I have met a lot of the great people in Montpellier but I will talk about that next week. 

Love 

Elder Bake

Fun French Fact of the Week: There are a lot of adds on the road and at bus stops and whenever there is a new add they have the same add on almost every billboard in every ville in France.

Week 22, Valence, France

Bonjour,

Well this is the last week of my third transfer and I will find out what happens for the next one on Friday. I am really trying to make this a monster week, as we call it, so that if I leave Valence I can leave knowing that I did my best and left it a better place than I found it. The reason this email is later is because we went on a big hike in the morning. It was really cool and probably the highest I have every been other than on airplanes. We hiked way above the clouds and had an amazing view. I sent some pictures but I don't have time to send them all.

So last Monday we went to a Rugby game because one of the members plays for the team in Romans. It was really cool to see a Rugby game and see someone we know playing. On Tuesday we ate this same members house who plays Rugby for the team in Valence. They are a really cool family with a little new born girl. The husband used to play in the highest league in France and it was really funny when he was telling us how he use to play Rugby video games and play himself.

On Wednesday we went to an amazing small village called Crest and met some cool people. We were looking for a member who lived there named Fillip. While we were there I was talking to a guy and I saw Fillip who was working doing road cleanup. When I was done talking to the guy I met we tried to chase down Fillip but could not find him. We spent the next half hour running through the tinny streets of Crest looking for him. Finally we gave up and went back to the train station. When we got to the train station we happened to see Fillip and were able to talk to him.

On Wednesday we gave cookies to the workers who are building the new chapel in Valence and had a lesson with Michel. Then we had dinner at the Giberts and taught a lesson to her grandkids.

Miracle of the Week: So this actually started last week but continued to this week. I don't know if you all remember me talking about one or our amis Gilbert who we taught a lot last transfer. Well we lost contact with him about 6 weeks ago and he never answered his phone. We assumed he did not want to meet us anymore. This was really hard for me because I got to know Gilbert really well and love him a lot. Last week we decided to go to his house even though we had tried doing this many times before. When we got there his brother was there and said that he had moved. Then he took us to his new house and we saw Gilbert there. He was very happy to see us and explained that his phone was stolen so he could not call us. Last week we had a rendez-vous with him and now everything is back on track. We have another Rendez-vous planned for this week which is really exiting. We still have a long ways to go but I am really exited that we could get back in contact with him.

On Thursday we had district meeting in Grenoble and I learned a lot about making goals and working with members. We also did and exchange with the Elders in Lyon. Both of them are from Texas so there was me and 3 Texans in our apartment on Thursday. Friday was our Music night which went really well. We had about 20 members come and 4 non members. We had the new sister who plays the violin really well and an Elder from Grenoble who is really good at singing sang Bring Him Home in French. We had been planning the music night for a long time so I was glad that it all went really well.

The ward had a baptism this week for a little girl.

Love you all

Elder Bake

Fun French Fact of the Week: In honor of this weeks events; most cars in France are hatchbacks. In fact pretty much all of them are. I cant remember the last time I saw a trunk or a truck.

Week 21, Valence, France

Bonjour,

This week went by way too fast. I hope everyone is enjoying their last month of summer break. I can't believe July is over! So on Tuesday we went to St. Etienne for our Zone conference. Normally it is in Lyon but they decided to mix it up this time. Every 12 weeks we have the president come to our Zone conferences and do interviews with everyone. My interview was very short but I was glad I had it and learned a lot. President Roney is a great President and I have learned a lot from what he has taught us. In a year from now he will be done with his calling as mission president and we will get a new one. That will be interesting but ca va.

St Etienne

We went to a family home for lunch this week who live in the country. They have an amazing view of the mountains. The Reynauds are an older couple and we've got to know them really well. Fr. Reynaud showed us his gun collection. He has about 30 guns that he has hanging on the walls! Most of them are French guns and he also modified a lot of them. The Reynauds became members of the church when they were a young couple and it is cool to see how happy the gospel has made them and blessed their family. They have a collection of the Book of Mormon and some of them where really old which was cool to see.

We have been working a lot with members this week to help them strengthen their faith and motivate them. It is cool to see how much they appreciate what we do and how it really helps them.

Miracle of the Week: On Saturday we had a sports activity with some of the members and a guy that we met on the street about a month ago attended and he brought his friend. We had a really fun game and got to know them really well. I am looking forward to doing more with them another time.

We are still working with our ami Michel a lot. This week we taught him about Baptism and the Holy Ghost. It is really cool for me to see how much Michel's faith has grown since we have been meeting with him. Almost every Rendez-vous with him he talks about how he feels something different when he meets with us and prays. He says that he feels peace and I know that this feeling is the Holy Ghost testifying to Michel the truth. We have been working a lot with him to help him realize that when he feels the Holy Ghost that is the answer to his prayers. On Tuesday I was talking to him on the phone and he was saying that he was just reading the Book of Mormon because he felt stressed about something so he decided to read the Book of Mormon to feel at peace. I was so happy to hear that and I know that reading the scriptures and following that commandments of Jesus Christ can bring us a lot of peace in our lives.

Yesterday at church we meet a new family that moved into the ward. The mom is from the States and the dad is from Fiji. They have a little girl and a new baby. The dad plays pro Rugby for the team in Valence. We have another member in the ward who plays for the team in Romans which is another ville in our sector. Today the Romans team is playing the Valence team for the first game of the season and we are going to watch it!!! It is our preparation day today so we get to do fun stuff like this once a week. I am really exited to see this game today. The new member is injured so he can't play but we will be able to see Fr. Lutongo. I have gotten to know the Lutongo family really well since I have been here and I really like them. They have been members all their lives but just started coming to church about a year ago. It is so cool to see how happy they are now. I will have to talk about how the game goes next week.

Also yesterday I got Juiced for Jesus. It was really sticky.

Love

Elder Bake

Fun French Fack of the Week: Since I was talking about rugby: the most popular sport in France is Soccer. Everybody loves to play and watch soccer all the time. I would say Rugby is second.

Pictures sent from Anders' ward mission leader. Taken on a hike during Monday's p-day.

Tourniop Cliff