Power (Week #2 Transfer #11)

Hey everyone!

I realize I think I've started every weekly email with the same salutation. That's ok. We had a great week here in the Mont, got to stay in town a bit and help out the people of this corner of France. Our ami Kael is doing really well and we got to see him Tuesday and taught him with the Blanchons who are so cool! I called later and it turns out he's reading the Book of Mormon every day at work now! He loves it too and says he can't stop pondering and thinking about what he's reading. We got to see our ami Vincent on Monday, and the Spirit was so strong during the lesson and he even prayed at the end, which is crazy since at the beginning he was telling us he just wanted to know more about our church out of curiosity and that he never would join or anything more than that. We got to see Rose too, which was a fun lesson and it's been a while since we saw her. 

Toulouse Zone

We saw a lot of miracles porting too, one at the beginning was Monday night where we went porting and ran into someone we met on the street, and later met this nice old woman, Bernadette, who we were able to teach, and she was so happy she gave us some ham and duck as we left and wants us to pass by again when we can, so we're going to go this week and I'm excited to see her again. We also from some prayerful porting ran into an ancient ami de l'eglise who's husband used to see missionaries all the time, so I'm excited to see them later. Besides all these cool miracles and many more this week was just awesome. I feel really blessed by the Lord and am grateful for all the experiences we get to have out here all the time. 

Introducing Elder Skousen to French pastries!

Fun stories for the week I think I had my worst and best cooking just yesterday. Made fried rice with ALL the correct ingredients for the first time, and it was wonderful (didn't forget the eggs and had carrots and peas). Then I decided to make a soup from scratch... and that was not good haha. Tasted super bad and burned and hurt for some weird reason, apparently leeks are.. spicy? I have no idea. Trying to learn how to cook out here... 

Scary soup

Anyways I really enjoyed this week. I learned that if we have faith, something that was shared in zone training was that we must bridge the gap from faith to knowledge by accepting the Lord's will and by believing it WILL happen. I did this this week and now feel like we really will baptize, I know it. Its a cool experience. I invite us all to bridge our faith to knowledge by daring to believe what needs to happen will, and then we will no longer doubt anymore.

Have a great week and love you all! 

Love,
Elder Laney

Genuine (Week #1 Transfer #11)

Hey everyone! This week was a pretty fun one, on monday I got to go all the way up to Lyon with Elder Nelson and Elder Orr where Elder Nelson headed off to Chambery in his new car (not far from Lyon) and then I got to stay the night with all the trainers. We had a fun day the next day contacting in Lyon and sharing ideas on how to be better trainers and then on Wednesday we got our blues! My new companion's name is Elder Skousen! 

Elder Skousen and Elder Laney

He's super awesome, from Albuquerque, New Mexico (he doesn't know any Walter White..) and is excited to be out here. I think he is my shortest companion! Only 3 inches taller than me haha ( how short do I really look? I always wonder when I see people I think are short who are actually taller than me..) and we had a good first week together. Got to do his legality on Thursday and headed off home, ran into some train troubles and barely made it to Montpelier where we got to Toulouse for the night, and then got into Mont de Marsan the next day at 2 o'clock haha. So for the 3 days this week we were actually in Mont de Marsan - it went really well, we got to meet some really cool people on the street, and we were able to fix some rendezvous with one of our amis Vincent, our ami Kael, and an ancient ami who's name is Melanie who is super cool and we'll see next Sunday. 

Train to nowhere...

Our meetings fell through so we passed Melanie and she was home! Been meaning to for a while, and it worked out, she is super cool and I hope we are able to help her find what she's looking for next Sunday when we meet. Sunday went well and I really liked church, had triple duty (blessed the sacrament, gave a talk, taught priesthood) and I didn't have any trouble staying awake this time (the chapel is usually super super warm and so is the suitcoat) since we have air conditioning on full blast now, and I was giving a talk and lessons haha.

I learned a lot at the "Trainer's Training" this week, one part of the missionary handbook stood out to me, when it speaks on leaders it says "They should feel that the leader is motivated by a sincere concern for their welfare, not by his or her own interests." I really like this little excerpt because it reminds me of the value of being genuine and really striving to love others. I know it can be hard at times, and sometimes we have a work self, or a home self, or a French missionary self (guilty) but if we can just focus on others, really just them, and just how we care for them, and not pretend anything but just show our actual love for them, our lives will be happier and others will care and respect and appreciate us more.

At Albi with Elder Robards and Elder Omohundro we would always share our strength during what is called "companionship inventory" to help each other know each other well and to improve. I remember we would often tell Elder Robards he was really "genuine", and it hasn't been until now that I realize how important that quality is, and how I learned from him to be so. I know I'm happier as I am more real with those I know and love and those I meet and do my best to love from the start! 

Have a great week and gros bisous as the French say! 

Elder Laney

To Lyon! (Week#6 Transfer #10)

Hey everyone!  So transfers again, and Elder Nelson is off to the Alps!!!  And to replace him, I'm getting another blue!  I can't ever really replace Elder Nelson, and have had so much fun serving with him and I'll miss him a lot, but I'm really excited for him and for my new companion too.  I'll let you all know next week who it is!  I like how training works in this mission and how it's a surprise;  makes things super fun.  We're heading all the way to Lyon together since Elder Nelson's new zone is the other Lyon zone. Will be a fun week then! 

The legendary kebab lunch!

This last week was really cool.  I had the chance to go to Pau and give a baptismal interview to their ami, a husband to a member who's been going to church here and there and learning for over 10 years and decided to be baptized two weeks ago.  He said his wife asked him if he wanted to go to the temple with her to be married for eternity and he gained his testimony then and is now doing all he needs to get there.  It was a tender and a special moment to interview him and hear his testimony, the spirit was so strong just sitting their and sharing testimony.  He got baptized on Saturday and the Pau elders said it was an awesome experience.  Besides that we had a miracle where we ran into Kael, who we hadn't heard from in a week, at the grocery store and he comes up and tells me his entire work schedule and wants to meet with us more to talk about the Book of Mormon.  I'm super excited to see him and help him, it's a real blessing to be able to help him and teach him, we have been working hard and I believe that God is showing us those who are ready to hear the gospel now.  Bit by bit. 

Mont de Marsan District

We got to see some members and had an awesome elders quorum dinner which was so cool and uplifting, a great experience.  The next day we met the Blancheons!
They are a new senior missionary couple from Bordeaux who have gone on a mission  and been assigned to Mont de Marsan where they will be with us here for a year! With them and another young couple who will be moving here in some months  permanently, Mont de Marsan is blessed and I'm so grateful.  This next transfer is going to be one  full of miracles and I know we will have a baptism in Mont de Marsan before the end of the year, I have faith in it :)

Lunch with Pres Moulis

I learned this week we can find peace in doing our best. This life is tough sometimes, but we can do quite a lot ourselves, and we have been given a lot we can do, so just do it :)  I'm learning to just get work done and not worry too much, haha,  I'm a bit of a worrier, but it all works out you know.  I love you all and have a great week as always!

amicalement,
Elder Laney

Climb the Mount (Week#5 Transfer #10)

Hey everyone! This week has been an inspiring one and a cool one, I want to say how cool it is to see so much going on! We had a good week and had a really great miracle where we engaged our ami Kael to baptism, he is so cool and has seen God bless his life ever since he met us and wants to come closer to Him. So I hope everything will go well with him, he really is a cool person.  Besides that I've been seeing tons of miracles all over our district with amis who've been investigating the church for over 10 years all the sudden decide to be baptized, to hearts being touched by prayers with people on the street, to members going crazy and introducing the gospel to others, its really cool.  I've seen how our goal this year of 250 baptisms really is going to happen, I've never seen so many amazing things happen in my vicinity in such a short amount of time and that's just started so I'm super excited. Anyway, cool things! 

Going native...

This week we got to go on 2 exchanges and have district meeting;  it's so fun to spend time with the other missionaries and work with all kinds of different people, and we had a lot of really great conversations and touching moments throughout the week just going and talking to people on the street.  District meeting was really a neat experience, we all prepared a lot and shared and the spirit was really strong, I learned quite a lot myself about a few things.  One of those was about climbing our own mountains.  We read a talk called "Rise to your call" by President Eyring, and it talks about going to the Lord and then fulfilling what we need to do.  I really liked the message on prayer, and really seeking, just like Nephi and other prophets, to go into the mountain and pray.  Well, despite the name of this place as the Mountain of Marsan... there is no mountain, but we make do! :)  

The crew at The Mont

I've really seen my prayers become more meaningful as I seek to just talk with my Heavenly Father. So I invite you all to take a moment, and talk to Him like you mean it.  Something our member Lemuel said at church was that we need to take a moment each day also to just be quiet, that it's then where we can reflect on our lives and all we have been given.  I tried that this morning and it was cool.  So that's another cool thought :) anyways love you all and have a great week as always! This next week will be transfers and I'm excited to see what happens. 

amicalement,
Elder Laney