This week was enjoyable and full of traveling
Monday - P-Day, we went hiking with Christophe and a huge wind storm came up us and it was super sketchy so we went back down and went to family night at the institute with him. Also had, our weekly wrestling match in the appartment ( elder claflin wrestled in the past and I think I am bigger than I am. so practically every week I end up trying to take him down and then he puts me in in really uncomfortable wrestling moves and then he teaches me how to get out)
Tuesday - We taught our ami Carline, that is doing well. We taught the plan of salvation with a convert that got baptised 7 months ago and is super super cool, he is getting ready for a mission. Carline has been reading in the book of mormon and she told us that she feels happier and that she feels better in her life, she wasn't able to come to church because her family took a week end trip but we are going to try to get her to come to institute with us this week.
Wednesday - we did an exchange with the missionaries in toulon and we also did some shopping for the zone at ikea, president murdock did a tour of the zone and because we have the credit card with out limits we had to by tables and chairs and stuff for all of the appartments. we did that early in the morning and then we did the exchange, i was with elder stephens , he is from provo, and we worked in toulon. we taught a new investigator and we knocked some doors and talked with a good amount of people but we didn't meet any elect that wanted to learn more.
Thursday - wow, I left the appartment at 8 in the morning at got back inside at 11 45 at night. don't worry we called president, we went to marseille for a district meeting and we went to nice to do a baptismal interview and there was train problems so we had to get home late. that was super tiring to be in transport (4 trains, 4 buses and 2 metros all day) but it was a really great baptismal interview. I felt a very strong spirit as i was able to talk with the young man that got baptised, he is 20 and wants to serve a mission as well.
Friday - We went out to a little village to visit someone, but they weren't there, so we decided to go pass a less active sister. She needed us and we were touched by the spirit, she lost her son 4 weeks ago in a moto accident and she wanted a blessing, her husband isn't a member and he has had a really really hard time with the death of his son. we are going to trying to go back and help them this week and maybe be able to teach her husband.
Saturday - we painted the appartment of one of our amis, Francoise, which was kool. We are hoping to be able to start teaching her daughters and friend that were there as well. Then we knocked doors for while and taught our ami Christophe about the law of chasity. He is engaged to be baptised in 2 weeks, but he has lots of changes to make in his life, he has started and it is really realy cool to see him repenting but we will see if he can be ready for the 8 oct.
Sunday - Church and the start up of institute for the year. it was great! we have about 20 young adults that we are going to try to teach with!
I am out of time but I love you all! I love my mission and to answer your question dad - YES! I am having lots of fun! The best moment of my life!
Love Elder Smith
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Rejoice!
Friends, Relatives, Countrymen lend me your ears! -
So this week went well we did an exchange with the elders in avignon and I loved it. We did lots of finding, because the universities have started up we were right out in front of the library and we were talking about the plan of salvation with everyone, we talked with quite a few people and we met a couple youngsters that were interested in life and the book of mormon. It is strange to be able to teach people that are my same age, because we have been around the block the same amount of times, but I am able to give lots of “wise advice” (the gospel) and most of the students that we talk with don’t have a clue why they are here on earth and what they can do to be happy. I love being able to testify in those moments that there is a prophet on the earth and the fullness of the gospel is on the earth so that we can find the answers to both of those problems! The gospel is sooooo good! We are spoiled to have it in our lives.
This week we had stake conference that it went really well, there was a 70 that came and talked to us about the small and simple things, he testified a lot about the family, the book of mormon, pray and obedience. It was nothing new or very special but he testified with the spirit because it was the things that he had lived. We were able to go on Saturday night because we had an investigator that was able to come, that was really great as well and I was able to see lots of members from Nice! There was a brother that came and picked me up off the ground in a huge huge and another brother that grabbed me and kissed me on the cheek, It was kinda of like the reunion of ammon and is brothers. I realized how much I love my mission and that people that I have met here. I am so grateful for the chance I have to be a missionary and to meet and be with the saints of god in France! I love it so much!
During the conference the temple in paris was made official and the spirit was very strong, there were many members brought to tears, because they have been waiting there entire lives to have a temple in France. It was really really special and I will never forget it.
Our ami, Christophe is doing well, he came to conference and today for p day we are going hiking with him, it should be pretty cool and I think it will be good for him. We also have another amie carline that is engaged to me baptized on the 15th of October. She is really sincere about finding the true church, she is 24 and she is really really cool, I really think that she will be baptized!
Rejoice! The gospel is restored!
Love Elder Smith
Ps I did meet sara’s friend, turns out that she lives in manosque which is another branch in our area ( I don’t know if I told you that, but we take care of a branch and a ward) She is the wife of the branch president but I didn’t know. She singled me out at stake conference by talking to all of the other missionaries. She was nice and I think that I will be seeing her again in about 2 weeks
So this week went well we did an exchange with the elders in avignon and I loved it. We did lots of finding, because the universities have started up we were right out in front of the library and we were talking about the plan of salvation with everyone, we talked with quite a few people and we met a couple youngsters that were interested in life and the book of mormon. It is strange to be able to teach people that are my same age, because we have been around the block the same amount of times, but I am able to give lots of “wise advice” (the gospel) and most of the students that we talk with don’t have a clue why they are here on earth and what they can do to be happy. I love being able to testify in those moments that there is a prophet on the earth and the fullness of the gospel is on the earth so that we can find the answers to both of those problems! The gospel is sooooo good! We are spoiled to have it in our lives.
This week we had stake conference that it went really well, there was a 70 that came and talked to us about the small and simple things, he testified a lot about the family, the book of mormon, pray and obedience. It was nothing new or very special but he testified with the spirit because it was the things that he had lived. We were able to go on Saturday night because we had an investigator that was able to come, that was really great as well and I was able to see lots of members from Nice! There was a brother that came and picked me up off the ground in a huge huge and another brother that grabbed me and kissed me on the cheek, It was kinda of like the reunion of ammon and is brothers. I realized how much I love my mission and that people that I have met here. I am so grateful for the chance I have to be a missionary and to meet and be with the saints of god in France! I love it so much!
During the conference the temple in paris was made official and the spirit was very strong, there were many members brought to tears, because they have been waiting there entire lives to have a temple in France. It was really really special and I will never forget it.
Our ami, Christophe is doing well, he came to conference and today for p day we are going hiking with him, it should be pretty cool and I think it will be good for him. We also have another amie carline that is engaged to me baptized on the 15th of October. She is really sincere about finding the true church, she is 24 and she is really really cool, I really think that she will be baptized!
Rejoice! The gospel is restored!
Love Elder Smith
Ps I did meet sara’s friend, turns out that she lives in manosque which is another branch in our area ( I don’t know if I told you that, but we take care of a branch and a ward) She is the wife of the branch president but I didn’t know. She singled me out at stake conference by talking to all of the other missionaries. She was nice and I think that I will be seeing her again in about 2 weeks
Monday, September 12, 2011
Robin Hood, Baptism and the Cops....a good week
Missions are great, lets get started
Robin Hood - As you can see from the pictures I did a little bit of exploring this week. Let me explain. So we went off to teach our ami, sophie, she is super super nice and into nature and natural healing and all sorts of good stuff like that. She lives about 10 minutes from Aix by car, out in the vineyards and just on top of the hill next to her house are these ancient Celtic ruins that look like a Robin Hood movie. We went and saw her and she gave us some drinks and a pie, that was delish, then we embarked on our little journey, We walked for about 8 minutes and we were there. It was actually pretty cool, we took some pictures and then sat down on some rocks and talked about the gospel. she is really nice and has a huge heart, but she doesn't really agree with some commandments, she loves jesus christ and it is always uplifting to be with her, she doesn't have a testimony of joseph smith and that is often what we discuss, either his story and how he came to be a prophet or a teaching that comes from him, word of wisdom, the book of mormon etc etc. Needless to say it was a cool experience and we were able to feel a neat spirit while we were out in the woods a little bit. We finished because it was getting dark, and we left with the spirit
Baptism - We were doing a little door knocking and we had an hour left last night and I had the feeling that we should pass by an ami. We headed off to the car and drove over to his apartment and rang the bell, but he wasn't there. We were headed off when I gave him a call and he told me that he was down in town and that he could be at the church in 5 minutes, so we headed off to the church. Our appointments with him, often go off in all directions and we have a hard time getting the spirit, so we decided we were going to have a very very small lesson and then fix another moment for today. We sat down and shared one scripture and then were about to pray. We could tell that he had diffferent spirit about him than normal, we both had the impression to testify of repentance and baptism, I felt the spirit telling me to invite him to baptism, when i looked at my companion and he opened his mouth and invited him to be baptised. We looked at the ground for a couple of seconds and then nodded his head and said "yes I need to be forgiven of my sins" the spirit was strong and we fixed a date with him for the 8th of october, his name is christophe and i am excited to work with him
I am almost out of time so this will be short
Cops - We were knocking doors when 3 people in civialian clothes came up to us asking for papers, we asked why and they then informed us that they are the french version of federal agents, they frisked us and searched our bags because we had left our passports in the apartment, I tried to give them a book of mormon and then unfortunately didn't except. We had to go to the city building right after and show our passports, there was no problem but it was kinda of funny. It was just a random check, they were looking for some kinda of person on the run
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love Elder smith
Robin Hood - As you can see from the pictures I did a little bit of exploring this week. Let me explain. So we went off to teach our ami, sophie, she is super super nice and into nature and natural healing and all sorts of good stuff like that. She lives about 10 minutes from Aix by car, out in the vineyards and just on top of the hill next to her house are these ancient Celtic ruins that look like a Robin Hood movie. We went and saw her and she gave us some drinks and a pie, that was delish, then we embarked on our little journey, We walked for about 8 minutes and we were there. It was actually pretty cool, we took some pictures and then sat down on some rocks and talked about the gospel. she is really nice and has a huge heart, but she doesn't really agree with some commandments, she loves jesus christ and it is always uplifting to be with her, she doesn't have a testimony of joseph smith and that is often what we discuss, either his story and how he came to be a prophet or a teaching that comes from him, word of wisdom, the book of mormon etc etc. Needless to say it was a cool experience and we were able to feel a neat spirit while we were out in the woods a little bit. We finished because it was getting dark, and we left with the spirit
Baptism - We were doing a little door knocking and we had an hour left last night and I had the feeling that we should pass by an ami. We headed off to the car and drove over to his apartment and rang the bell, but he wasn't there. We were headed off when I gave him a call and he told me that he was down in town and that he could be at the church in 5 minutes, so we headed off to the church. Our appointments with him, often go off in all directions and we have a hard time getting the spirit, so we decided we were going to have a very very small lesson and then fix another moment for today. We sat down and shared one scripture and then were about to pray. We could tell that he had diffferent spirit about him than normal, we both had the impression to testify of repentance and baptism, I felt the spirit telling me to invite him to baptism, when i looked at my companion and he opened his mouth and invited him to be baptised. We looked at the ground for a couple of seconds and then nodded his head and said "yes I need to be forgiven of my sins" the spirit was strong and we fixed a date with him for the 8th of october, his name is christophe and i am excited to work with him
I am almost out of time so this will be short
Cops - We were knocking doors when 3 people in civialian clothes came up to us asking for papers, we asked why and they then informed us that they are the french version of federal agents, they frisked us and searched our bags because we had left our passports in the apartment, I tried to give them a book of mormon and then unfortunately didn't except. We had to go to the city building right after and show our passports, there was no problem but it was kinda of funny. It was just a random check, they were looking for some kinda of person on the run
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love Elder smith
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
BONJOUR!!!
So this past week was good, we went to Marseilles on Saturday to help our investigator move that was a cool. She started giving us books and plates and stuff that is like 300 years old. She is moving to New York City, and she need help clearing the stuff out of her old apartment. We also spent a the whole day in Marseilles on Wednesday with transfers and that is when I met Sister Bartlomé. That was pretty cool to get to see her on the other side of the world, she is companions with Sister Lala, who is french and super super cool, they will have a great time in Nice. We found a couple of new investigators and we went and did some more service on Thursday (helped someone move into their apartment). We were kind of running around all week just trying to find 1 or 2 hours here and there to teach and to find, but we invited everyone to church and the Lord blessed us on Sunday and we had 4 of our investigators out to church.
We had a lesson with Greg, the husband of a member that served a mission at Temple Square and it was really great. He asked all 4 of the missionaries in Aix to come because he likes to here lots of opinions and hear more than 1 or 2 people teach. He had prepared a list of questions about the plan of salvation and about the commandments and about prophets and how to get a testimony. The lesson kinda of went in all directions because we were talking about some many different subjects. Normally we would try to just set up another appointment but they were leaving for salt lake in 2 days, so he really wanted just plain and clear answers to his questions. It seemed that every time he asked a question there was one of us that had a feeling, scripture, or experience that we could share with him, we were able to answer lots of his questions and we left him with scriptures for the other ones. The appointment ended very well, we were talking and everyone one just kinda of went quiet and had nothing left to say. I felt prompted to share my testimony of Joseph Smith and how I had come to know that we has a prophet. I testified that I had been taught by the spirit as I watch the Joseph Smith movie in Salt Lake and that he would have that same chance, We invited him to offer a simple prayer of "God, was Joseph Smith a prophet?" every time he was in question while he was in Salt Lake, my companion then testified powerfully of Jesus Christ and Greg left the appointment with a great desire to know the truth for himself. He is now in America and he will be visiting Salt Lake in about 5 days. I am excited to see him when he gets back and has his testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel.
This Monday we spent the morning on a bullet train to Lyon and and then we had a meeting with President Murdock for about 5 hours, we then spent another 3 1/2 hours on a train to Besançon. We went and saw the city a little bit, ate at SUBWAY!!!!! ( God bless America) and then went back and crashed in the apartment. The next morning we woke up early and when and got at line at the visa office, we then hurried of the aix and took another bullet train for 4 1/2 hours to Aix en Provence ( I was very happy to see that we weren't on a slow poke for the return). we got back to aix and hurried off to another service activity with a brother that need help in his garden. We have been doing lots of service lately and we don't get a lot of time in our area. Today we will have about 6 hours of contacting and I am excited to finally get to work. We are going to knock a building that I saw the other day and I felt the spirit when we passed that there was good things waiting for us, I will let you know if there is anything exciting for you next week.
This week during church I was doing lots of praying and trying to find out what the Lord wanted me to do this week, I hadn't felt anything special during all of the meetings and I was praying during the sacrament and I felt a peace in my heart that witnessed to me of the importance of the Book of Mormon. I wanted to let you know that I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, the spirit has testified to me that it is the proof of God's love. Through that knowledge I know as well the Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith is his revelator and prophet and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is his kingdom restored again to the earth. I love the Book of Mormon and I love the Lord.
Thanks for all the updates recently, Mom and Dad, the Sealys, the Ben Smiths, the Poulsens all did a great job this week, and last week I had the Tres Smiths and the Packs........Jodi what are you doing?
Glad that the New Yorkers are safe, and that Both the Ben Smiths and the Poulsens will be keeping the newborns inspite of the objections of the children.
I love you all!
Elder Smith
PS Congrats Charlie, I was so happy to hear about your babtism, I wish I could have been there! I love you bud!
1. Did you get both packages? I got both of the packages and the debit card, and I even got a package from the sealys!
2. Are you Tiffany Bartlome's zone leader? Yes See attached pictures
3. Is Fall nipping the air over there? A little bit but not that much yet, I am still in short sleeves
4. Have the students returned to Aix en Provence? They are starting to show up, the big university starts in 2 weeks and a couple of small ones have started
5. Sister Wallin came over to the Zucchini Swap and she has been to Aix en Provence and has a movie that was filmed there she is going to loan us. This wasn't a question.
6. How is the apartment building that you were tracting out last week? Pretty good, we are working with a woman named Francoise that is from Africa and is honestly looking for the truth.
7. How was Elder Clayton? He didn't come, he got an emergency phone call and had to go to New York City, that was a bummer. But we did get the chance to see President Murdock though.
We had a lesson with Greg, the husband of a member that served a mission at Temple Square and it was really great. He asked all 4 of the missionaries in Aix to come because he likes to here lots of opinions and hear more than 1 or 2 people teach. He had prepared a list of questions about the plan of salvation and about the commandments and about prophets and how to get a testimony. The lesson kinda of went in all directions because we were talking about some many different subjects. Normally we would try to just set up another appointment but they were leaving for salt lake in 2 days, so he really wanted just plain and clear answers to his questions. It seemed that every time he asked a question there was one of us that had a feeling, scripture, or experience that we could share with him, we were able to answer lots of his questions and we left him with scriptures for the other ones. The appointment ended very well, we were talking and everyone one just kinda of went quiet and had nothing left to say. I felt prompted to share my testimony of Joseph Smith and how I had come to know that we has a prophet. I testified that I had been taught by the spirit as I watch the Joseph Smith movie in Salt Lake and that he would have that same chance, We invited him to offer a simple prayer of "God, was Joseph Smith a prophet?" every time he was in question while he was in Salt Lake, my companion then testified powerfully of Jesus Christ and Greg left the appointment with a great desire to know the truth for himself. He is now in America and he will be visiting Salt Lake in about 5 days. I am excited to see him when he gets back and has his testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel.
This Monday we spent the morning on a bullet train to Lyon and and then we had a meeting with President Murdock for about 5 hours, we then spent another 3 1/2 hours on a train to Besançon. We went and saw the city a little bit, ate at SUBWAY!!!!! ( God bless America) and then went back and crashed in the apartment. The next morning we woke up early and when and got at line at the visa office, we then hurried of the aix and took another bullet train for 4 1/2 hours to Aix en Provence ( I was very happy to see that we weren't on a slow poke for the return). we got back to aix and hurried off to another service activity with a brother that need help in his garden. We have been doing lots of service lately and we don't get a lot of time in our area. Today we will have about 6 hours of contacting and I am excited to finally get to work. We are going to knock a building that I saw the other day and I felt the spirit when we passed that there was good things waiting for us, I will let you know if there is anything exciting for you next week.
This week during church I was doing lots of praying and trying to find out what the Lord wanted me to do this week, I hadn't felt anything special during all of the meetings and I was praying during the sacrament and I felt a peace in my heart that witnessed to me of the importance of the Book of Mormon. I wanted to let you know that I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, the spirit has testified to me that it is the proof of God's love. Through that knowledge I know as well the Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith is his revelator and prophet and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is his kingdom restored again to the earth. I love the Book of Mormon and I love the Lord.
Thanks for all the updates recently, Mom and Dad, the Sealys, the Ben Smiths, the Poulsens all did a great job this week, and last week I had the Tres Smiths and the Packs........Jodi what are you doing?
Glad that the New Yorkers are safe, and that Both the Ben Smiths and the Poulsens will be keeping the newborns inspite of the objections of the children.
I love you all!
Elder Smith
PS Congrats Charlie, I was so happy to hear about your babtism, I wish I could have been there! I love you bud!
1. Did you get both packages? I got both of the packages and the debit card, and I even got a package from the sealys!
2. Are you Tiffany Bartlome's zone leader? Yes See attached pictures
3. Is Fall nipping the air over there? A little bit but not that much yet, I am still in short sleeves
4. Have the students returned to Aix en Provence? They are starting to show up, the big university starts in 2 weeks and a couple of small ones have started
5. Sister Wallin came over to the Zucchini Swap and she has been to Aix en Provence and has a movie that was filmed there she is going to loan us. This wasn't a question.
6. How is the apartment building that you were tracting out last week? Pretty good, we are working with a woman named Francoise that is from Africa and is honestly looking for the truth.
7. How was Elder Clayton? He didn't come, he got an emergency phone call and had to go to New York City, that was a bummer. But we did get the chance to see President Murdock though.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Besancon
Hello family I am next to switzerland today and I am up in the northern countries, and it is cold and I have to wear a suit coat, I had to sleep with the windows closed AND with a blanket. I hadn't realized but after this summer I have become a southern boy. We are up here in Besançon because Elder Claflin had to get his visa renewed, he applied for it up here so it is where he had to applie for it again. We spent all day yesterday in Lyon with President and the other zone leaders. THAT MAN IS SO CALLED OF GOD!!!! I love listening to his teachings and I love the spirit of his teachings even more. We came up here just for the day and by tonight I will be back in Aix and I will try to write. I have got to go catch my 7 hour train!
LOVE Elder Smith
LOVE Elder Smith
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