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