Week #1 Tranfer #5 - Hakuna Matata

Hey everyone!! This week in Manosque was great! I will tell you it was the hardest working week I've had so far haha. Literally the entire week every day all day we contacted people on the street and went porting (port-a-port which means door to door), and so I was a little exhausted but that's all right. Me and Elder Garside are having a fun time together, similar work ethics and we get along great, so no complaints haha. We're going to make his last transfer a good one, that's our goal! Manosque is a cool little city, hahaha much like Tarbes, I walk everywhere and the church is a 30 min walk from our apartment so basically the same. Lol. It's a gold mine here though, as Elder Garside put it. We met so many cool people and are meeting a ton of them this week!

Manosque from my apartment window

Favorite part of the week comes in 2. 1st, I read a letter to a missionary by his dad known as the Ricciardi letter. I believe this may just be changing my mission. The perspective I now have includes the change I can have on all people, including myself. That's what a mission is for, by following Gods guidance by the spirit and doing our best when left to our own, we find and baptize those who are prepared and ready, while changing ourselves in ways we could never have. Try to go into every day with the mindset that it is full of opportunities to grow, enjoying the journey and learn and improve and help others as you try to do so, in every day life!

Manosque at night

Second favorite: We met 2 people yesterday after church who both are new Amis now! We had to skip the ward lunch, which here is uncommon and looked sooooo good, because we had scheduled a rendezvous at 2, and an hour after church people were still talking next to all the food and hadn't prayed and started eating yet (France lol) so we had to skip it. We were also didn't think either of the rendezvous would happen since both the people we met showed the typical signs they wouldn't show, one even gave us the wrong number. But we went anyways and tried to find some faith on the way over. 7 minutes after the scheduled time we were waiting on a bench when we saw who we thought was Patrick, a man from Africa we had met during the week and who we were waiting for. Turned out to be him! So he came over and we had the coolest 1st lesson ever! ( the first lesson is where we share the story of Joseph smith's vision and how we can know God is there and if what we are teaching is true) At the end when we were finishing he told us in his heavy Kenyan accent "I am happy!" He had already fixed another meeting with us and it was so cool to see how happy he was after our message, I just knew he felt the spirit as he said those words, I had felt it strongly in recounting the vision that Joseph smith had of God the father and Jesus Christ. We had another slightly less doubting experience meeting our 2nd new ami Adil who came too and is interested in learning more and wants to find the truth! So cool. And the Best part, speaking to Patrick it turns out he speaks multiple languages including English, a little French, and Swahili. So my companion elder Garside asked him to teach us some. First he taught us habadiako which means hello, and then said "here's anatha, I don't know if you know this one, you may have heard it: "Hakuna Matata." It means "no problems!"" Haha, just like saying "no problem", I had no idea that was a real phrase! Me and Elder Garside loved it. Haha he and Adil are so cool and I'm so excited to teach them!

I hope you all have a wonderful week, My invite is to go do something nice and when someone tells you thank you or asks you to do a favor you can reply with Hakuna Matata :)

Public restroom here are a little TOO public!

Also our beautiful faces in case I forgot to share with you a pic of me and my new companion! 1st pic with elder Garside last Monday. In Aix trying not to spend all my money today. All the sales are in full swing, soldes as they call it in France.

Elder Laney and Elder Garside

Week #6 Tranfer #4 - On the Road Again

Surprise! I'm moving again! I'm currently at the Toulouse train station waiting to take 2 more trains and a bus to get to my new ville, Manosque, which is a little north of Aix en Provence, so I'll be in Provence! 

Lavender fields outside Manosque

I've heard it's beautiful. Also my new branch president is the best friend of President Bernardi, branch president of Albi.  Haha the connections between French Mormons are crazy. I'm finally leaving the Toulouse zone, it's been fun and I'm really going to miss it.

here's a little castle on the hill along the way...

 I've seen all the villes and met a ton of super awesome men and women, and it will be sad to leave, I'll especially miss Albi, it's been such a blessing to serve here and I'll miss everyone and my basically 4 comps as we spent so much time with Rodez :) I'll also be leaving Elder Zhu who I've been with the whole mission since I got dropped off at the MTC in Utah!  He's going to a French companionship in a different zone too to learn French though so that will be cool.

The amazing Elders of Rodez and Albi.  Gonna miss these guys...

I will say it has been an eventful week!  Besides getting transferred half way across the country, Elder Omohundro has not been eating like anything recently so we got him checked out and it turns out he has gall stones, so we spent half the week with Elder Wall while he went to the hospital and today Elder Wall is coming to Toulouse to pick up Elder Omohundro's 2 new companions while Elder Omohundro goes to the hospital with Elder Woodward from Rodez.  Oh ya, by the way Elder Robards got transferred too, he's off the Jex which is right by Switzerland, quite a different climate to where I'm headed.  Anyways, should be an interesting day. Pray for Elder Omohundro and that he gets better, he may have to undergo surgery but I think that even if he'll be alright.

Anyways this week was pack full of member visits and some super cool miracles. My takeaway: when you see something good, or identify a good cause, go for it. Yesterday our ami Bridgette couldn't come to church due to some grave circumstances with her family, so we got a call from a member suggesting we see her. I thought it sounded like a good idea, so we put packing to leave Albi on hold and me, Elder Robards and Elder Wall , (Elder Omohundro wasn't feeling well) drove 40 min to her house hoping she was there. After we said a prayer and got out of the car, as soon as we got to the door Brigitte opened it and got super surprised, but super happy to see us. She and her friend Eric were on there way to go to help with her situation and we had walked up exactly as they we leaving the house. Haha her friend Eric, who we know and is super cool and who had been super gung-ho for her baptism even though he's not a member, anyways as soon as the door opened he pointed at us and told her "c'est une signe!" (It's a sign!). Haha he thought it was so cool we showed up at that moment. We talked for some time and she was feeling so much better afterwards. We were able to help her know that no matter what situation God is there to help us. And when we got home we were able to pack in time too! Haha so it all worked out.  From all this I know God works through us to help others
in trials.

New year service project!  Stocking the woodshed

I hope you all Have a great week and I love you all!

Elder Garside, my new companion!

Avec amour,
Elder Laney

Week #5 Transfer #4: Toulouse, Lyon, Albi

I would like to start this email with my thoughts, love and prayers to Mimi Descamps, a member here in Albi who passed away Tuesday. We got the call and we weren't expecting this so soon, I've been seeing Mimi twice a week since I got here, it was always the highlight to have dinner at her home. Despite this sad news, I know she is now happy and at peace, able to walk again and smiling. We had the funeral service on Christmas eve morning, and it was one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever had in my entire life.  In the words of Elder Omohundro, "heaven and earth really did come together today", something our mission president had talked to us at the conference this week.  We all felt the spirit, and heaven and Mimi with us that day. This experience was really special and we will all remember Mimi and know she's with us.  After the funeral we had gotten out all our emotions and then made a decision to celebrate lots for Mimi and for Christmas in honor of her!  So that's what we did this week :)

Lyon Mission Conference

We started the week in Toulouse for P-Day, I parked the car and got out, then scrambled on my jacket to find my nametag which wasn't there!  So I wore Elder Duckworth's (my old zone leader) tag for a day and then wore Elder Zhu's full Chinese plaque for the rest of the week at the Mission Conference.  Haha!  Many people were confused.  We boarded next morning at 4 on the bus and all 4 buses in the mission rounded up all the missionaries and got us to Lyon! 

We had a blast there with an awesome devotional with games with President and Sister Brown in an aquarium, and then toured the aquarium, and then all got to watch Lion King in the ampitheatre there eating Master Taco's, a super good burrito place in Lyon.  

Lyon Musee de Confluences, where the Rhône meets the Saône

Best night, it was so fun!  On the mission we don't watch movies for these 2 years to stay focused, except on Christmas, and President surprised us with an extra movie then!  Next day we had a cool conference and I got to see all my friends then and the day before including Elder Kelsey.

Josh and Elder Kelsey (from early MTC days in the mission)

We got home from all this on Christmas eve, then had the funeral, and then went hard and had a lot of fun for Christmas, starting with exotic sea food and escargot at the Bernardi's home Christmas eve night. 

Eating escargot and oysters on Christmas

Christmas was so cool!  We spent the night with Rodez elders and opened presents in the morning, and then we visited Frere Mausse in his super cool french countryside home, then spent the rest of the day at the Allal's!  We watched How to Train Your Dragon 2 and it was amazing. We watched a few others too. And I got to Skype the fam which was so cool!  You all are growing up so fast!  And you adults are all looking great!  We do have a very youthful looking family don't we? 

Skyping with the fam!  Got to talk to Nick as well (on the phone from Salt Lake City)

The rest of the week we did service for Frere Mausse and moved a ton of wood, then spent dinner with Mimi's daughter and son-in-law and their adorable baby, as well as Mimi's caretaker for 13 years.  So cool, she was so touched by everything that had happened, and accepted a Book of Mormon when I explained what we believe.  Since Mimi's passing she's felt a difference, and she knows there's something more. So as Mimi tried to give her a Book of Mormon multiple times, she was finally able to accept it on Saturday night!  I know Mimi's spirit just touched her and helped her know she's still with us, she was with us that night at dinner it was so cool.

Christmas dinner with the Bernardi family

It was one week I will never forget. I love you all.

Elder Laney

Week #4 Transfer #4: Toulouse, Rodez and Albi

Week 4 done, the weeks are going by very fast now!

Lunch with the Toulouse Elders!  

This week was a really cool one, we had a ton of awesome experiences finding people. One day we met 4 guys who were all on the rugby team and super cool and even bought us hot chocolate and cookies! We shared a brief message after hanging out with them for a bit after a guy Elder Robards had seen earlier got back. He, Dan, is from New Zealand and has family who's Mormon, and is looking for a church to go to! He's planning on coming next week and we got all their info and should see them soon! They were all so cool.

Our Rugby Pals

The rest of the week was fun, went contacting people on the street with a member, met some awesome new people, we also met a less active and are teaching her sister now who's super interested! We had a whole day of meeting new potential Amis and they all fell through, but We finally got to meet Ritta that night, a member who hasn't been to church In a long time, and she was so cool. Her sister who isn't a member was staying with her, and we got to share the new Christmas Video with them. Her sister even started to cry during it and was super touched by he message, and afterwards Ritta explained a bit about the church. Elder Omohundro then gave her a little lesson on the Book of Mormon and we gave her one. I then asked her if she was interested and she nodded with a smile and said yes! She actually really wants to learn more and we will be teaching her! We had planned on 3 new Amis, and the new friend we made we didn't even know! So cool and I feel really blessed to have been able to share this with her.

Octogonal Tower of Saint-Amans-Soult

We Got to have a fun talent show at the church later in the week and us and Rodez all did a skit that is normally really funny to Americans... no one laughed and it was super embarrassing but I didn't design the skit so that's ok haha. We still had a ton of fun with all the members and got to do a lot with them throughout the week and after!

Chapel door of church of Saint-Amans

That about sums it up! We are going to our Christmas conference tomorrow in Lyon and I forgot my plaque and planner so it should be an adventure! We'll see how I solve this challenge...

Rodez and Albi Elders.  From left: Elders Robards, Wall, Laney, Omohundro and Woodward

Anyways Merry Christmas to everyone and I hope this week is the best!!!!!!  I'm so excited to see you family and hope everyone of you has the best week of the year!

Joyeux Noël et Avec plein d'amour, (Merry Christmas and with lots of love)

Elder Laney

Week #3 Transfer #4

Hey everyone!!!!

This week was a fun one and a tough one lol, we had a lot of rejection on the streets but also the most successful day of contacting people on the street that I've ever had! 

Christmas lights in Albi

Our beginning of the week we had a really good visit with our ami Brigitte and our less active Eda, some super fun member visits, including with Soeur Delouche in her harry potter house (the inside is covered in well tended plants and ancient books, literally looks like something out of Hogwarts, so cool, and she gives me a Coke while i'm there so highlight every week). 

Soeur Delouche's amazing Hogwarts-style plant-filled apartment!

The rest of the week Thursday through Saturday we spent the whole day talking to people on the street about Christmas. Our first day of that, Thursday, was the coolest contacting day I've had my whole mission! We met multiple people that we could seriously start teaching, our first contact we got to share the video with them and well meet with them in a week. We then met a man from Africa who had more energy than I've ever seen someone use to talk!  Haha, anyways, he had had a near death experience that was super cool he shared with us, and he believes we are their to help him find the path he's been searching. Later Elder Omohundro met a lady who wants to learn more too. Then while walking I stopped a french couple with a baby to ask if they'd like to do the questionnaire and it went really well, they want to hear our message seriously and even are making us a traditional french snack tomorrow!

We are in the midst of developing the perfect pizza!

The rest of the days we didn't find anyone but we tried anyways!  Haha, it was good though, still got to pass our cards and share the video and brighten others days, as well as do card tricks for people that our district leader is doing for fun to spice up our conversations with people.
 So cool. 

Beautiful French countryside near Albi

The Christmas season is full under way and lights are everywhere so its super beautiful here! Rodez has the coolest lights, something resembling a river flowing down the cathedral made out of blue and white Christmas lights that move. The lights in Albi are also super pretty. I'm so psyched Christmas is in only a week!!!! I'm going to watch some Disney movies as we're allowed to on Christmas and i'm so excited to Skype the fam and to celebrate Christ's birth. It'll be super fun, different away from home but we'll make the most of it! 

I wish you all a wonderful week and that you have a ton of fun with your friends and family! 

Avec amour,
Elder Laney

Week #2 Transfer #4 - Albi, Toulouse

It's starting to feel like Christmas! Christmas is my favorite holiday by far because it's the best, so I'm psyched!

Bridge over River Tarn in Albi

This week we started off with P-day in Toulouse!  Haha, it turned out a kind of a nightmare, we tried to find the mall we were looking for so we went to a KFC near it. Turned out to be the wrong KFC, so we ate there and went to another.  Still wrong, so we selected a bowling alley in the mall, turned out to be the wrong bowling alley!  So we went bowling and had a lot of fun and even got the 3rd game free because the lady there was super nice! Super fun p-day quand meme (still). 

Righteous Bowling

We had an exchange with our district leader Elder Woodward who is super cool, and we met a ton of the people who work in Albi including an artist who has some amazing paintings!  It's so fun to just meet tons of people. 

We had our zone training and it was for Christmas!  We all got santa hats with "Toulouse" on it, which made for a stunning zone Christmas photo.

Toulouse Zone Christmas

We then got a bunch of cool stuff to share with people on Christmas including these new cards sharing the church's new video which is super awesome. Here's a link, its only 2 minutes long if you have time: https://www.mormon.org/christmas

Elders Robards, Laney and Omohundro

We then had the best lesson with our ami Brigitte and our recent convert Eda than we have ever had with them!  So cool, we helped them understand a lot that they had always had questions on.  Brigitte we are refixing her date for baptism and she's super happy with the progress she's made.

Berbie Palace Albi

We met a cool less active family who are all super nice too! They haven't seen missionaries in a while and were super cool and friendly and we all had a really good time together.  Then we finished the week with an awesome Sunday where both Brigitte and Eda came to church and lol Brigitte knows everything!  She answered all the questions in amis class and had all the answers, haha she was super happy to realize she knew so much. 

Berbie Palace Gardens in Albi

Anway, so psyched for the Christmas season!  Joyeux Noel tout le monde! (Merry Christmas everyone!)

avec amour,
Elder Laney

3 of 11 Week #1 Transfer #4 - Albi, Ambialet, Rodez

Hey Everyone!

Staying with Elder Omohundro and Elder Robards is funny because it still feels like the same transfer! Haha I keep referencing to last transfer meaning back in Tarbes and forgetting I was in Albi, still feels like transfer 3 but extra long. 

Elder Omohundro and Elder Robards in Ambialet

On P-day we got to visit this super cool city called Ambialet which is really beautiful. We took a ton of cool pictures. Bonus to having a car! Today we are off to Toulouse for shopping. 

Church belltower in Ambialet

This week we got to see a lot of less active members and both of our amis, which meant lots of driving for me! I almost ran over some people, they're crazy here,at any moment they'll just run out from in between all the parked cars in the streets instead of using the crosswalks like 30 ft away. Lol i just drive very slowly and carefully, but i'm feeling a lot more relaxed now and it feels more normal. My favorite was Friday driving b/c on an exchange with Elder Wall from Rodez we got to go see a member who fed us a ton, and even though i spent 4 hours driving that day, 2 of them were in the beautiful countryside south of Albi with a speed limit of 90 km/h which is roughly 60 mph which is way too fast for those roads so i get to choose my speed. I drive safe though, but its fun! 

River Tarn Ambialet

I got the chance to give 2 blessings this week to the sick. I just know God helps us and gives me the words these people as long as make sure I'm prepared and its so cool. This is my testimony that blessings and the priesthood are real gifts of God. 

Ambialet

I wish you all a happy beginning to December this week and the Christmas season! We finally broke out the Christmas music in the car and all the Christmas hymns at church so I'm pumped b/c Christmas is my favorite time of the year! Maybe we'll get a little snow at some point to make it even better. I also had a great thanksgiving to kick off the Christmas season, we ate and played cards with Soeur Delouche on Thursday and then spent the night with Rodez where Elder Wall cooked us a delicious thanksgiving dinner that was amazing. And the next day on exchange with elder wall the less active we saw prepared an even bigger thanksgiving dinner!! Elder Omohundro and Elder Robards were unhappy to find out the exchange landed on that day, but we ate great muahaha. Haha they had a good meal with a member in Rodez too, just not as good. Even tried some very fancy French ice cream that looks crazy, and is slightly less good than the stuff at home. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that this next week is great!

 

Elder Laney in Ambialet

 
Je vous souhaite une bonne semaine pleine de joie et l'esprit de Noel. Je vous aime tant!

(I wish you a great week full of joy and the Christmas spirit. I love you all so much!)

avec amour,
Elder Laney

Bridge into Ambialet