A Mission of Service and Love - Une Mission de Service et d'Amour (T #16 Week 5->Week6 [End of Mission])

Well, here the mission ends. Well, in a week actually, but this is my last email I will have the honor of sending you all during my full time missionary service at this time. It has been a great experience and without a doubt the most influential I have ever lived. I have never grown closer to God, my fellow brothers and sisters, and this beautiful world than in the last 2 years. I find it strange to think that all this will change, that I will go on to other things. It still hasn't really hit me yet! Haha, that will be interesting to see when it does. Well, I'll still always a missionary anyways :) But I know that this experience has been my call, and I know it is for the next week. 

I found James in France!

It's going to be a heck of a way to finish as well with the dedication of the Paris temple. I bore testimony of it on Sunday and how it was where I started my mission, and how I now will be ending with it. What an amazing experience.

Paris Temple

To add on, this last week we were blessed with an amazing zone conference about the temple (and a lot about temple marriage which was... different for missionaries is all I'll say. I think me and Elder Kimble got the hint from President haha), and immediately after we had the privilege of attending Poe and Tatiana's marriage, and then Poe's baptism and confirmation in the days following. I can't be more grateful than to have been able to teach them, and to teach and help the others I have met on this mission as well.

Poe's baptism!

All of you whom I have served have changed me in this service. It is amazing to be able to bear testimony of these things I know and have learned over this time, of which I had the occasion this last weekend to share, and of such occasion I will take now. I know this Church is true. I know God lives. I know Christ saved us. He suffered and died, and He lived again, and still lives, promising us to live again too. If we desire so He can heal us. He can clean our guilt, heal our pain, make burdens light, and make our days brighter with hope. I've learned this hope is something we gain by working for it, because then we are confident everything will work out if we've done our part, and when we mess up, because we always do, we can ask Him to save us. We just have to always turn to Him. We have to get back up. I know this is true and has carried me through my imperfection throughout my mission, and has made me to be a servant in the Lord's hands. It wasn't always easy but it was worth it every time I tried. And so will every effort you make too for something right and good. Thank you all for your support and for your love, I miss you all so much and cannot thank you enough for being there, for your prayers, for your thoughts, and your notes. I will see many of you soon, and some of you perhaps I may need to say goodbye for a time, but until the next time we have the chance to meet, A bientot :) 

Lots of Love,
Elder Laney


Bon, ici finit la mission. Fin, elle finit dans une semaine en vérité, mais ce message est le dernier que j'aurai l’honneur de vous envoyer en tant que missionnaire a plein temps. La mission a été une grande expérience et sans doute l'expérience la plus grande de ma vie. Je n'ai jamais devenu si proche à Dieu, mes êtres chères, et cette belle terre que dans ces derniers 2 ans. Je le trouve drôle de penser que tout va changer, que j'irai voir d'autres choses que dans la mission. Je n'en ai pas encore vraiment rendu compte.. bah ça va être drôle quand j'y arrive! Je serai toujours missionnaire dans mon cœur après tout. De tout façon, Je sais que cette mission a été mon appelle, et elle la sera pendant la prochaine semaine. Quel événement de finir la mission avec la consécration du temple de Paris! J'en ai rendu témoignage du temple ce Dimanche dernier, et que la construction du temple était la première chose que j'ai appris en venant en mission, et l’événement même de sa consécration sera la dernière chose que je verrai en mission aussi. Quel expérience sera-t-elle. Et en plus nous avons été bénis d'avoir une conférence émouvante sur le temple cette dernière semaine (et aussi par rapport au mariage éternel... un sujet un peu particulier d'entendre en tant que missionnaire. Je crois que moi et Elder Kimble ont su ce que President voulait nous proposer a fixer comme prochain but..). et immédiatement après nous avons eu l'occasion d'assister le mariage de Poe et Tatiana, et ensuite le baptême et confirmation de Poe dans les jours suivant. Je ne peux être plus reconnaissant pour l'occasion de les enseigner, et d'enseigner et d'aider d'autres que j'ai rencontré pendant cette mission. Vous m'avez change. Rendre témoignage de tous que je sais et de tous que j'ai appris pendant ceux la et aussi pendant ces deux ans était merveilleux ce weekend dernier, et j'aimerais bien prendre l'occasion de le faire maintenant aussi. Je sais que cette église est vrai. Je sais que Père Céleste vie. Je sais que son fils, Jésus-Christ, nous a sauvé, Il a souffert, il est mort, et il est ressuscité, il vit, et en conséquence il nous promet a pouvoir être ressuscité aussi. Si nous le désirons, il peut nous guérir. Il peut faire disparaître notre culpabilité, guérir nos peines, alléger nos fardeaux, et éclairer chaque jour avec l’espoir. J'ai appris que cet espoir est quelque chose que nous acquerrons en travaillant, parce que c'est seulement après ça que nous aurons la confiance en Dieu que tout ira pour notre bien, si nous avons fait notre part. Et quand nous échouons, expérience qui nous arrive tous les jours, nous lui demandons de l'aide. Nous devons seulement nous tourner vers lui. Nous devons nous relever. Je sais que cette acte de se relever marche, et est le seul moyen que nous pouvons avancer, parce qu'en faisant cet action j'ai trouve la force a me soutenir a travers toutes mes imperfections et difficultés pendant ma mission, malgré les erreurs. Et c'est ça qui m'a fait un outil entre les mains du Seigneur. Ce n'a pas était facile, mais ça valait la peine a chaque fois que j'ai donne l'effort. Et nous aurons le même résultat avec chaque effort donné envers quelque chose de juste et vrai. Merci a tous et toutes pour votre soutien, amour, et encouragement. Merci encore pour votre présence, vos prières, vos pensées, et vos écrits. Il y a beaucoup d'entre vous que je verrai bientôt, et aussi d'autres a qui je dois peut être dire au revoir pour le moment. Mais jusqu’à ce que Dieu nous donne l'occasion de se revoir, je vous dis: A bientôt :)

D'un cœur remplit de gratitude,
Elder Laney


Fin

Batter Up (Transfer #16 Week 4->5)

Hello everyone!

Well we had yet another week and we will be having yet another even greater one this week! We got to see Poe and Tatiana and he is heading well towards his baptism this week, all he needs is to  get in the water now :) He is doing really well and is so so prepared. Its been interesting how the Spirit has guided our efforts in teaching him to prepare him for this vital event in his life, I've seen us get exactly what we need to get him as prepared as can be. 

Exchanges in Lausanne

We also had a great district meeting in Lausanne and taught Felina, she is really searching now to see if these things are true. Besides a super fun exchange with Bienne we reached out to a lot of people who haven't seen the church in a while and it was good. I was impressed by Elder Suisse when after I made a comment on a cool house he said "well let's port it then!" so we did, and we had a great conversation with literally the nicest lady on earth. At one point I saw a man while we hadn't talked to anyone for a while and thought "I need to talk with this man", turns out he has seen the missionaries in the past and was super happy to meet us right then and there. Another experience similar to that happened earlier during the week when I stopped a man because he reminded me of Nick, my twin brother, and then we set up a rdv with him since he's interested! We didn't get the chance to talk to a lot of people this week but hey the Spirit sure helped us make it count. It is amazing how the Spirit can guide us through its interesting ways. As usual, a good week :) Now on to the next one, and then the last one. so crazy

French cows...

As with my final zone conference, Poe and Tatiana's marriage on Friday, and then Poe's baptism on Saturday it is going to be quite eventful. I am excited. The Lord really is blessing me with the chance to take part in such wonderful events at the end of my mission and I am so grateful to be able to! It's going to be awesome. We will be dedicating the temple in just 2 weeks. I am super excited. I will leave you all with my final email next week! Til then, God bless et que son esprit soit avec vous. 

lots of love,
Elder Laney

Seriously?  A little parting gift from the mission sisters ...

A week in Dijon (Transfer #16 Week #3)

Well time is going by really fast! This week just flew by, and it was awesome since we got to stay in Dijon for the entirety of it. We got to see a lot of people, it was a bit rainy but that's ok, the cold and the rain should be gone next week we are hoping. 

Last time I'll see these guys for awhile!

Anyways, highlights of this week: we got to start teaching Felina, Nomena's (our recent convert) friend. We haven't had the chance to teach her herself yet and this was a really cool opportunity since we got to help her really figure out what we do as missionaries and what she wants to know. We are seeing her tomorrow and we are excited to start teaching her regularly now. We also started teaching Regine regularly, an ancient ami who I called one day when I saw her name on our map, and she recently is going through a hard time so this has been really really cool to be able to help her out, she is really grateful each time and we just barely started fixing regular rdvs with her. So we have a few new amis! It feels great, we've been looking for new amis and its cool to start teaching them for real now. Besides that the highight of the week was probably our lesson with Poe on Sunday after church. The ward announced his and Tatiana's marriage and his baptism!! We are so excited!!!! We will be able to attend the marriage now too since our zone conference got moved (God works miracles!) and it should be super super awesome. 

Driving to Lausanne

So that's a rundown of this week, we are doing well, and in preparation for the 21st we are searching for ancestors! We want to be "Prepared for Paris", and so we all helping others find their ancestors for whom we can do temple work to be ready to do so by the Paris dedication. When was the last time you found an ancestor? My invitation is to check out your geneology and find one in the coming 3 weeks. I know it will be cool and I already have felt their help in pushing me to do this great work for them. I know it works. Have a great week and lots of love,

Elder Laney

Road trips, genealogy and fun (Transfer #16 Week #2)

Hey! So this week went very well. Well, we drove for about 19 hours total, first we had a conference in Lyon where we had to drop off Elder Suisse in Fribourg so me and another elder could drive to Lyon, that was super fun though and the conference was awesome. We were shown a super simple technique to find ancestors who had not yet had temple work done for them yet.  Basically you go far down a line of ancestry and then view all the descendants of someone down that line up to 4 generations and you look for the green temple icons! Super cool, I found some already! Anyways, we are going to be helping a lot of people get their genealogy going to prepare for Paris! And my invitation to you this week is to also try that little tactic in your genealogy, it is super cool and you may find some people you can help out!!! It's super easy too. So take a look at your genealogy anyways, its super cool.

Exchanges in Lausanne

We saw Frere Owusu this week and got him pumped on the temple too, and then had district meeting which was great, and then we got to help out in an Easter activity for the Primary which was a blast. Lastly, Sunday went well and we ate with and taught Steve and Loveth, and we had a great experience with them and helped him understand a few things, we are hoping he will be more available to start really looking into the church soon, he wants to know if its true and is just trying to pass his exams at the moment. Great guy. 

Conference in Lyon

Anyways it was a great week in all, including a super fun exchange in Lausanne and i can't believe how much I love these people here! Perhaps the greatest news was a change of date of our zone conference by 1 day, making it possible for me and Elder Suisse to now attend Poe and Tatiana's marriage!!!!!!!! We're so excited!! Oh my gosh its so cool, Heavenly Father is working miracles and that one was just for us. Anyways I'm so pumped and this next week should be a good one here in Dijon with some exchanges, I'll keep you up to date. Bonne Semaine! 

Love,
Elder Laney 

Dijon District

Tiny Terracotta Warriors

Good times as usual (Transfer #16 Week #1)

So our week 1 went well, we got to see Poe and Tatiana at the end who fed us like kings, we forgot to eat dinner later since we were so full, anyways they are getting married on the 12th May and then Poe is getting baptized the day after!!!!! It's going to be tight but should work out, if you could say a quick prayer for him I know it will help. He is so awesome, and I can't wait to see him take that choice and continue.

Porting in Dijon

I'm also super excited for our recent converts Nomena and Arnaud who are both doing super good and have both been to the temple now for baptisms! They both loved it and thought it was the coolest thing, so that is so so awesome. This week we saw some less active members and got in contact with an ancient ami named Regine who I hope things go well with, we hope to see her this week as well! We also got to visit the Poepaert's who are awesome and the Cuisiat's as usual, but this time for an Easter feast, and she brought out all the nice silverware and plates so we ate literally like Kings. 

Frog's legs - DELICIOUS!!

We get spoiled here! Anyways we made the dessert for that... a cheesecake that kind of was just a really good crust with what resembled melted ice cream inside. We'll keep working on that... 

Cheesecake attempt #1

Great week though, a huge miracle and lesson I learned once again this week is how God gives us the words we need to share to help those in need, especially when giving Priesthood blessings to those who are sick or in need emotionally. It is a great thing to take part and to give such a blessing, which is like a prayer given to promise and help someone know what the Lord wishes for them, to promise them blessings and give them a blessing of health or recovery. It is a great thing we get to do and it helps a lot of people. 

Love,
Elder Laney

Colza fields

Final Lap (Transfer #15 Week #6->T#16)

Hello everyone! Well, here it is, the last transfer. I'm excited and so is Elder Suisse since we are staying together. It is going to be a good transfer full of miracles and joy in the work, and we are both pumped. Crazy how time flies, it is odd to think I have been in France for so long, and also odd to think I have been anywhere but France before! Feels kind of like a dream I remember of home. It is good here and I am lucky to serve with such wonderful people as well as spend so much time in such a beatiful country sharing with it the coolest message ever. It's quite the experience! I highly recommend it :) And I've never seen myself grow more or change more for the better. Well enough sentiment you'll have the full rundown in about 5 weeks. til then...

Springtime in France!

This week went great! We had a good experience seeing many active members, passing them out in their towns while doing some work or looking for less active members who were in the area as well. It was so great to get closer to these awesome pioneers in Dijon, and to hear their experiences and what makes them tick in the gospel. It was moving to hear their testimonies and comfort them in their fears. It is amazing, I realized this week, how often we feel the Spirit of God in each visit and rdv and even conversation on the street, it is here frequently testifying through us, and we feel it's joy and love and happiness and peace each time. We shared that video I shared last week like 20 times this week too, haha, showed it to everybody, it was awesome! I love that video. Besides this we viewed the beauty of the sunlit hills, fields and vineyards of Bourgogne, what a sight! And, as far as our gourmandise, we tried, for the first time ever on my mission and in my life... Frog legs! They were pretty darn good, like little tiny chicken legs, tasted great and Ii was a fan. Soeur Cuisiat is literally our hero and came to our rescue making us those. Anyways, a great week, and more to come. We are seeing a lot of people this week and it should be fun, we are also focusing on finding new amis since we have a few (Agne, Hadye) who are taking some time at the moment and don't wish to currently be taught, but we have faith and keep them in our prayers, and until their time is ready we will go find who we are meant to teach now. 

Local church - (looks kinda like Provo City Center Temple!)

This transfer is going to be the best, with Poe and Tatiana's wedding in May with his baptism and then the temple dedication in Paris on the 21st.. I can't wait. Have a great week everyone!!!

Love,
Elder Laney

By the words of my Prophets (Transfer #15 Week #5)

Hey everyone! 

So this week went by SO fast, I don't even know, we did a lot of porting and contacting and met some cool people. By some interesting miracles we were able to get back in contact with Agnes as well as get some more experience in finding! Great week, and it was a breather to get to do some good old finding after a long time of too much driving.

Road trip to Lausanne

Beautiful springtime in France!

It was good. District Meeting also went well, we all shared good ideas on how repentance and hope bring us to have confidence due to what we know we are worthy and capable of, once we have prepared ourselves to be so.

Dijon District

This weekend we got to watch General Conference again! It was so great, and I learned a lot, some things I'm doing well, some things I need to work on, and tons of tools and ideas on how to live a better life. I just wanted to emphasize the importance and blessing of a modern day prophet and apostles who guide us. One of my favorite messages was from Elder Holland on respect and acceptance in the Church, how God loves ALL his children, no matter who we are, what our past is, what our opinions or ideas or tendencies, he loves all of us. And so He will accept all who prepare themselves to meet him, conditions of purity are focused around abiding by his commandments and believing in Him, and any who do these things are fit for the kingdom of God. I loved that and it shows how much we love everyone, no matter who, and how God looks at us all differently. In a talk by President Eyring he also referenced an experience of his meeting someone who had drunkenly run a car into a bank, yelling "Don't shoot! I'm a Mormon!" After, when President Eyring shared this, he said he prepared to use a little bit of fire in his speech to make this man feel remorse at his large and embarrassing error, to correct him, but when he sat there he heard the words "I'm going to show you how I see him" and after his image of this man changed to a glorious and noble son of God. He afterwards treated the situation so much differently. So no matter where we are in life or what we've done, we can always come back through Christ. I know this and love Him for what He did so we could do this, and know that peace can come. I hope you can all feel this peace, and I know He is the Prince of Peace as pronounces this awesome video the church recently shared. I invite you all to watch it and ponder upon the love and grace of God and Christ and how we much all love each other for our eternal worth and potential no matter whom we are. Have a great week and love you all! 

Love,
Elder Laney