Another Good Week (Week #5 Transfer #6)

Hello family and friends,

To give you a recount of this week I'll start with our conference in Lyon. We all got to go to Lyon which was fun and we were able to meet Elder Christofferson, one of the members of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. He was cool and I got to shake his hand for like 4 seconds - haha.  He told me it was a pleasure to shake my hand. I don't know, my hands are always really cold which is what the French tell me, so anyway it was fun to meet him for a sec!  He and one of the members of the 70 and their wives and President and Sister Brown all talked to us and gave us some cool inspiring messages. What stuck out to me was that if one reads the Book of Mormon they will receive a witness of its truth by the Spirit of God, and they'll feel and know it's true.  I know this to be true, but I just loved how matter of a fact that became when I heard it from an apostle.  Some people may not act on it he said, but they will have a witness. I love the Book of Mormon and it helps me so much each day, the stories and the accounts I can read and learn from every day. I thank God for the blessing of scripture written by his prophets and am so happy to share that and have that with me daily. Its really amazing, I always learn something when I read the Book of Mormon.

Lyon Mission Conference with Elder Christofferson

The rest of the week we spent trying to find some new investigators as we haven't had the chance to see any of our current ones for a long time. We started teaching Malo; I've been playing soccer with him and our member Jonathan since last transfer. He's so cool and it was amazing to see how prepared he was as well to hear this message. I met some other interesting people during the week and just made a bunch of new friends in town. It was fun, got dinner with a man we met who knew missionaries before.

Basilica of the Rosary, Lourdes

Have an awesome week everybody! My challenge this week is to be happy! I notice we can really choose to in our life to let different things influence us, so if we let ourselves notice the good and not the bad, and focus on what's important and what promises and blessings we know we have we won't have to be sad, but can be always happy. A scripture I love is 2 Nephi 33: 6 which says

 "I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus for he hath redeemed my soul from hell."

I love this scripture and what my Book of Mormon class professor at BYU taught us about it: how life is simple, and its our truths we can rely on and when we put our glory in things our happiness is based on that. So if we glory in Jesus Christ, who is our Savior and perfect and will never fail us, we will never fall.

Elder Laney and Elder Strong beneath the walls of the castle in Lourdes, France

So every time you get a negative thought this week or a complaint (I have too many too often) remember Christ and how He's there for you, I promise you He is.  Also try what I've tried: say 3 things immediately related to the negative thought or complaint for which you are grateful. I promise you your outlook will change dramatically and immediately as you do either or both of these things. 

Love,
Elder Laney

The Grotto of Massabielle is a sacred Catholic site of St. Bernadette's visions of the Virgin Mary in 1858. The Blessed Virgin is said to have pointed out a previously undiscovered spring in the grotto and instructed Bernadette to drink from it. The spring water from the grotto is believed to possess healing properties, and the Roman Catholic Church occasionally officially recognizes miraculous healings.