Week 73, Lyon and Agen France

"My father and son"

 

The street that our apartment is on.

Bonjour,

This last week was a blast! To start off I went on a long train ride to Lyon from Agen where I dropped off my old companion, Elder Pien. I stayed in Lyon until Thursday. I was in a group with about 8 other missionaries that were also training new missionaries. We stayed in the office Elders apartment which was fun because both of the office Elders use to be my companions. Elder Taylor was my MTC companion and Elder Whiting was in Aix with me. I did not see them that much though because they were running around doing their duties the whole time. Because the office Elders and the AP's were busy with the new missionaries etc. they sort of left us on our own to figure out what to do.

 

On Tuesday we met up with some of the missionaries in Lyon for a special assignment. Right now the mission is trying to put a big push on teaching about families and relating these teachings to the temple. So we sort of became the special ops team that put this to the test. We talked about what we could do and then practiced actually doing it in Lyon. I worked with Elder Davis who was sort of leading the whole thing. It was really fun to be working with him because he was my trainer. We got to spend some time doing what we used to do every day more than a year ago! Elder Davis is going home in a few weeks so it was great to see him again. I also got to see a bunch of other missionaries and former companions for the last night of their missions Monday night because we were all in the office Elders apartment. So it was a pretty fun week for me seeing a lot of good friends and making new friends. We went out to eat a lot and got a little spoiled. We were also able to do some good missionary work and help out the mission with this new temple project.

 

Wednesday was the day that we met our new companions. We were not allowed to see them before to make it more exiting. Then we walked into the room with all the new missionaries and had each one read a letter that said where their first area would be. The first missionary who got called up was this really tall guy and his letter said he would be going to Agen with Elder Bake. I did not really know what to do so I just ran up and gave him a big hug. 

 

On Thursday we came back to Agen and got right back to work. We have been really busy and have been able to teach a lot in the last few days. Elder Wilson, my new companion, is awesome. He is doing really well with speaking French and is patiently putting up with all the craziness.

 

Miracle of the week: Kari came to church this week! Kari is a great lady that came to church a few times but has not been in a while. She came today and might be able to come to our branch activity this Saturday. 

Have a great week!

Frere Bake

FFF of the Week: the French words for cold, faith and liver all sound the same.

 

 

Pizza with all the trainers

My District

My new companion, Elder Wilson

 

The stairs to our apartment

Week 72 Agen, Bordeaux, Mezin, Villeneuve and Lyon, France

Villeneuve, France

Bonjour,

So right now I am in Lyon at the really cool institute building they
have here. I will be here for most of the week because I am going to
be training a new missionary!
Earlier this week we did a good amount of tracking and talked to a lot
of nice people. We met a lot of older people and got some more
people to give us some water. Ha. Ha. - It's still very hot. We also had a really great district
meeting in Bordeaux and learned about the importance of having
love for everyone. Friday is when we got our calls from the mission
president to tell us what is happening for the next six weeks. Elder
Pien will be leaving Agen and go to a town near Switzerland. It is
three times smaller than Agen but has a ward. He is also going to be
with my last companion Elder Walters! We had a really great lesson
with Ludovic. We taught really simply the importance of faith repentance and baptism.
We also talked about the Holy Ghost and how great a blessing it is.
Later in the week we went to Mezin and visited the Samson family.
Then on Saturday we spent a good amount of the day in Villeneuve with
Jean Lou. He is doing very well now and is has his family from
Canada coming to visit next week. On Sunday we had a really great time at
church. We had 22 people come and Elder Pien gave a great testimony
because it was his last Sunday in Agen. We had a yummy branch meal
after and then in the evening went to the Zambos for diner. Today we
took a six hour train to Lyon. We passed through Sete, Montpellier and
Valence which were all fun to see again.
I am not near a computer so I will send some pictures next week. Have
a great week!

Frere Bake

Week 71, Agen France




Elder Higham, Elder Miner and Elder Bake

Bonjour,
We spent a lot of time outside this week
and now I have a nice suntan. Earlier in the week we spent a lot of time
knocking on doors we met a really nice guy that is a truck driver and
has a little boy. We also talked to an older lady that gave us some
juice and talked to us for a while. She said that she knew the
missionaries when she was a little girl in Bordeaux. We visited the
Zambo's this week just to talk about the branch because he is the
branch president. They are a really great family that really want to
do all they can for the branch here. Frere Zambo was a missionary in
2009 in Canada and likes to talk about his mission and what he
learned. We stopped by a family that used to see the missionaries a
lot in the past but they have not seen the missionaries for about a year
and a half. They were happy to see us and we are going to see them
again next week. They have a lot of faith in Christ which is very
inspiring and nice to see.

On Friday we went to Bordeaux to meet our
new mission president and his wife, the Browns. They are so great and I
am very excited to have them here. They are a bit older and don't have
a bunch of kids with them like the Roneys did but they are very energetic
and bring excitement to the mission. One thing I noticed with President Brown is he
is very humble and listens to the spirit. He is not as much of a
jokester as president Roni but still very funny. He use to be a
missionary in Southern France and was the branch president in
Montpellier as a missionary. This was crazy for me to hear because when
I was serving in Montpellier it was a very big ward. Maybe Agen will
be a big ward someday too. His French  is not too bad but I am sure he
will pick it up soon.

After the conference I stayed in Bordeaux to do
an exchange with Elder Minor, it was a lot of fun he will be done with
his mission in a week. There are a lot of changes happening but it is
all good I might be emailing next week from somewhere else but I hope
I can stay here in Agen.

On Sunday a really cool family, that came once before,
moved into the branch! They have two little kids and will be a huge
support to the branch. They are very nice and have very strong faith.
My companion gave a great talk on our life on earth and why we are
here. I passed the sacrament and conducted the music.

Miracle of the week -Later on Sunday we had the chance to talk to a
girl who is not religious but has some questions about life. We were
able to offer her some answers to these questions. She actually lives
in Bordeaux but was visiting a friend here are we are going to give her
the number of the sister missionaries in Bordeaux and she wants to
talk to them. I hope you all have a great week!

Frere Bake

FFF of the week
Most houses have a cement wall in front of the yard instead of
fences and it does not just separate the yards but goes all the way to
the road and hides the whole yard. I do not know the point in doing
yard work or having a keeping your house nice if no one is going to
see it.

Agen

Agen

Week 70, Agen France



Sunflowers in Mezin

Bonjour,

Well this week was super, super hot but great. We talked to a lot of
people this week. On Wednesday I celebrated Canada
day with my Canadian companion. I also went on an exchange with Elder
Herdt who was in the MTC with me. We had a good time catching
up. His older brother just left on a mission which is really exiting for him. I have not been able to see
very many people that I was in the MTC with so far but I have been
able to see elder Herdt a good amount and we have become good friends.
During our exchange we went to see  a couple who is a little older
and really liked to talk. The woman told a story about being taught by a sister missionary who went home thinking she had not done anything. Later this lady got baptized and then they both saw each other at the temple because they where both getting married! She said this sister
missionary was from Aix-en-Provence and I realized that it was Sr.
Alenic who I know really well from living in Aix. It's a small world.
Miracle of the week
About three weeks ago I talked to this lady named Sandy from Agen and we
exchanged numbers but we were never able to get ahold of her. Then
last week I decided to call her again and we were able to talk to her
and see her on Friday. We had a great lesson with her about her family
and the plan of salvation. We talked about how God has a plan for her
and each of us and at this is possible because of Jesus Christ. We
also used some scriptures from the Book of Mormon and gave her a copy.
Then yesterday she came to church with her daughter and had a great
time. She originally said that she could only stay for the first half
but then she stayed for the entire time.

We traveled to a town called Mezin to see Sr. Samson. We are hoping to come more often to teach
her husband. We talked to a guy there who was a bit older and had a
very strong accent from this area. He pronounced Mezin like Mezaing.
On Saturday we played sports with some of the kids in the branch.
There is a really nice family with four boys that love church but do
not come because their Mom does not. We try to do what we can with
them. They are all really great kids. We also passed by this lady on
the way back from a lesson who we met before and when we showed up
she invited us into her yard and gave us some Juice. We said we had to
catch a bus soon so she gave us a bag of soda and a big cantaloupe. We
wished her a happy Independence Day because she loves America!
One Sunday after church we tried to find a lady that the missionary's
used to teach and it ended up taking a really long time to walk to
her house. It was really, really hot and we were fasting so we almost
died but eventually we got home and ate our cantaloupe

Have a great week

Frere bake

FFF of the week:
In French you can use the same word for learn and teach so when people
try to talk to us in English they get this confused and say, "you
learn me English"

Canada Day

 

Cantaloupe lady

Mezin

Happy 4th of July

Mezin

Sr Samson