First Week in France!!

Hey everyone, It's good to send some emails after 2 weeks. It's been crazy! Our flight was terribly long, and we lost our luggage on the way --  it didn't connect all the way to Lyon, but we got it the next day.  It's so crazy here! Everyone speaks French!  I can barely understand them, and they can understand me... sometimes.  I'm learning and it's going well. It's awesome here and I'm having a really good time. 

We started the week at Lyon and met the Mission President and wife again and worked in the city for a day, getting our iPads set up and all that and getting our legality settled for France. We also got to try some contacting in the city, and I did alright!

After our 1st day in Lyon, and what seemed like some seriously powerful jet lag the next morning even after my long awaited sleep (I had been up for 30 hours the 1st day b/c I only got 2 on the plane flights, and they kept us up to get us to be able to go to bed), and an awesome talk from our Mission President President Brown, I met my trainer! His name is Elder Ambursley and is super cool, fluent in French, and in his 2nd to last transfer, so I may end up being his last companion after all! Just like Nick, lol.. twins. (Another "coincidence" is that both Josh's and Nick's first companion/trainers are from Canada!) 

Josh with first companion, Elder Ambursley                   Nick with first companion Elder Oneda, 

who is from Canada and two transfers away                   who is also from Canada and also two

from the end of his mission.                                           transfers away from the end of his mission!

This "twin" thing is crazy!!!!

Our 2nd day we got to go around the city and do some other stuff including some more contacting, and then finished and went to bed, then the next morning got on a train to Toulouse then Tarbes. Met some cool people on the way and even some fellow Americans on a study abroad!  Anyways, we made it and Tarbes is great!  I'm loving it here, even if everything is way different and with the big city feel, though it's really just a compact city. Cities here aren't like back at home!  All the buildings are squished together like in San Francisco, but skyscrapers are nonexistent (though the apartment complexes are like 12 stories often). 

Cool city and I'm loving it, we have a super small branch with a lot of cool members and I got to meet most of them on Sunday and throughout the week.  My French is coming along, and I've already had a taste of some awesome food here, one of the members even made me a cake for my birthday and then her son taught me how to make a different French cake b/c he's a cook! Super cool. 

Anyways, I'm loving it and getting a feel for missionary work, though it's very slow, especially with the language. But it's so fun to just go and talk with people!  I'm getting better, and know I am working on the Lord's errand, and that He's watching over us and leading us in His work.  We've had a lot of miracles this first week, and contacted from a lot of people that haven't been heard from for a while, so it's really cool. Excited and psyched to be here!

Que vous soyez hereux et passez une bonne semaine! Je vous aime tout!

Elder Laney

Headed to France!

Last week at the MTC then it's off to Lyon France!  The MTC has been a wonderful experience and I am going to miss the fantastic teachers and missionaries here.  I have learned so much from them and am anxious to share these wonderful messages with the people of France!

Our District and Sister Echols, who is in the middle in the sky blue dress. Awesome teacher, we'll miss her tons! So happy to be part of such an awesome district here!

Our district with Frere  Sybrowsky (center). Awesome teacher! Gonna miss him a lot. He reminded me a lot of Mike it was so funny! Feels like home with all these people reminding me of all of you!

On Monday morning we boarded a flight in Salt Lake City, flew to Chicago, then on to New York JFK airport.  Then it was just a hop over the Atlantic to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, and on to our final destination of Lyon, France where we were met by our Mission President and is wife.  Here is an entire fleet of newby missionaries ready to take Lyon France by storm! (Now, if I only spoke the language...)

Longer letter next week, I promise!  

Love,
Elder Laney (Josh, not Nick)

MTC Week #5 -- Last MTC Update!!

Hey Everyone!

My last week at the MTC has begun!  I'm getting so close to heading out I'm getting so freaked out and antsy, I can't wait to get out to France! 

This week was super fun and really awesome, despite it being relatively normal for the MTC.  We started last Wednesday by welcoming 10 new Elders into our zone here, as Zone Leaders Elder Kelsey and I got to welcome them and give them the tour and orientation.  They are all going to the Canada Montreal mission, and it was super fun to meet them all and they're all really cool people.  One of them, Elder Bennion, even knows Nick! He hung out with him throughout his BYU track camp and they were good friends there, so really cool and funny he's in our zone!

We had a lot of fun this week, my funnest part of every day is gym each night.  Our zone always plays volleyball against each other and even though I am terrible, I always get a few amazing plays that make it all worth it and that I always freak out about and over-celebrate.  It's super fun, and we're all like family now, it's kind of sad to think we'll be leaving them all soon. 

When we leave for France our district will be split in half, the Elders on a 3-stop flight to Lyon, and the sisters on a non-stop to Paris.  It'll be sad to part ways, but it's been super fun with these really great girls in our class who are all so cool and caring and really like sisters to us while we've been here with them.  I'm excited to go to France!

Left to Right:       back:   Elder Zhu, Elder Laney (me), Elder Kelsey (my companion), Elder Carlson

                           front:   Soeur Tilbe, Soeur Vincent, Soeur Pace, et Soeur Woolley

Oh and that reminds me, we got our flight plans!! The Elders, like said before, have a 3-stop flight.  Me, Elder Kelsey, Elder Zhu, and Elder Carlson will be on a flight with the other Lyon missionaries to New York JFK, then to Paris Charles de Gaulle, and then off to the Lyon airport. Super excited. 

I've had a great week, and lessons have been awesome because we're teaching a real investigator now! It's cool, her name is Chrissy and she moved here with her brother to Utah and got a job at the MTC being an investigator for missionaries. Kind of a funny job position, but we saw her one day and her gold tag which signifies her investigator status, so we dropped by and talked to her and scheduled a lesson.  We've taught her twice since, and each lesson is really awesome.  It's been in English, which is really cool, and we've been really helping her understand a lot that she's been confused about.  She's about our age, so it's interesting to be teaching someone around our same age, its a really cool experience.

I learned a lot by teaching her this week about faith and the story of the seed in Alma.  In Alma, a book in the Book of Mormon, Alma, a prophet, speaks about a metaphor of a seed.  When this seed is planted, one sees that it starts to grow, and sees that it's good.  When they see this, they feel the desire to help it grow further, so they nourish it with water and take good care of it.  It then grows and grows until it becomes a sturdy tree, immovable, and beautiful.  In this analogy, the seed is faith, a belief in that which is unseen, but which is true. As this faith grows, one begins to desire to know more and to grow closer to God.  The tree is then a firm belief, a faith and knowledge unshakable, joyful and beautiful bringing them more joy than they could ever imagine.

What I realized in this is that one has to plant that seed, but it's not the missionaries that plant it.  It's the person, by opening their heart to the possibility, and to the influence of God through the Holy Ghost, to plant that seed for them.  However, to do this, I read Alma 32:27: 

"But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."

So to gain faith, one has to exercise just a little bit of it, even if it is just a desire to believe.  And if one exercises that little bit of faith, and thereby opens their heart to the very possibility of the truth of these things, and shows God that they do want to know, and believe, then He will plant that seed they have shown in their hearts, and they will grow to know, and He will answer them if they ask. 

Sorry for the long email, but I just wanted to leave that message.  Don't be afraid of finding out if something is true or not, or helping someone else to.  It is either true, or it is not.  If one wants to find out, they just have to know how to.  The way how is to show that faith, by asking God, because He will let them know.  Prayer, and reading the words of God, will lead to an understanding that can never be shaken, to a believe firmer than the toughest rock, and a conviction and knowledge and love in God that no one can take from them.

Sincerely,
Elder Laney

MTC Week #4

Hey everyone! 

The weeks are going by so fast now, I can't keep track.
It's amazing how God works with his missionaries, and we are all sincerely blessed here in the Provo Mission Training Center; our teachers are amazing and thoughtful, and we have one of the most special districts out there. Our zone is awesome, and I'm honored and glad to serve and prepare to serve next to such faithful and awesome missionaries.

Today we lost a good portion of our zone, 6 missionaries off to the Canada Montreal mission and 1 to Washington DC, Elder Zocca told us he's going to go baptise President Obama, he's rehearsed his opening statement with him many times already. 

Haha, we'll miss them a lot, but our zone is about to get a whole lot bigger! We received 5 sisters 2 weeks ago, and they are all awesome. We will then be receiving 10 new elders, all called to Canada Montreal, this Wednesday. So tomorrow we'll meet them and I hope we can make them feel welcome! We are in such a loving branch and zone, our branch presidency are all amazing men, and I feel honored to help lead these awesome people here.

I had a very fun week. It was the fastest yet, I'm losing track of time here. We had a fun 4th of July with a good speaker and devotional, and the next night was even better. We heard a recital by Jenny Oaks Baker, Elder Oak's (one of our twelve apostles) daughter. She's a professional violinist, and played with all her children (who are amazingly talented) and the music was beatiful. I really enjoyed it, and want to get better at the violin a lot more when I get back! I'm quite terrible at the moment, but hey, its never too late.

I'm having a fun time with the Elders here, and got to spend some time with my friends from BYU, Elder Sawada and Elder Summers. 

I'm only 2 weeks away and will receive my flight itinerary this Friday at the latest I believe.
     
To share a spiritual thought of the week, I want to speak on the Atonement, and specifically the comforting power and love of Jesus Christ. I have learned of myself that he can comfort us and help us in any situation, in his wisdom that we will be strengthened by Him. In Alma 7:12 Alma speaks of Christ and how because of his atonement, he suffered every pain possible, physical psychological emotional and spiritual, and therefore he can "succor" his people. This means that He knows how to run to our aid. so He can, because he has been through anything we have and will go through, know exactly what we are dealing with, and perfectly how to best help us in any trial.   This week at one point I struggled with a depression and sadness I remember and have fought often when it comes throughout my life, and as I began to dwell on it for a moment I decided not to, but instead I turned my thoughts to Christ. My troubled heart was sad, but I focused on Him, and remembered and thought on his love. When I focused on Him, my sadness in at one moment immediately swept away, reciprocally and proportionally replaced with a potent joy and happiness. I can't explain it very well, but I was so happy that I couldn't be sad. As Nephi said so long ago, "I glory in plainness, I glory in truth, I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul.." (2 Nephi 33:6), we can glory in Jesus, and put our joy in Him, and if we do nothing can bring us down because he has been through everything for us, for me, and for you. I know He lives, His love fills my heart when I seek it, and I have felt his presence in a love so strong I cannot deny his existence, His care for us all. I know that if we are ever troubled, we can take our burden, and lay it at his feet as we take upon ourselves his light burden, to pray and to seek him in our lives, and He will take away all our pain. We may struggle, we may have trials, but we will be lifted up and our heavy burdens in life will be made light, so we can't even feel them. I feel that now, and this is why I'm so happy, happier than I have every been before. 

Love you all, and I hope that the next week is awesome. 

Elder Laney (Josh, not Nick)

Je suis content and heureux, remplis par l'esprit de Dieu toujours au tant que je le trouve vraiment, et je sais que je suis ou je devais etre. Au revoir, et passe une bonne semaine!