Rolling forth (Week #5 Transfer #11)

Hello everyone! I can't believe it's week 6 already... This transfer just zipped by in about 2 seconds. Amazing how time flies!

Frenchman in progress...

This week flew by extremely fast since we were mostly just on trains for a good bit of it, but.. I finally got my legality!  We have to renew our visas after a year, and after a long arduous process it is finally in check and we went down to Aix to pick it up.  Great to be in that region again, got to stay in Nimes with Elder Aitcheson (who I did an exchange with when he was a blue in Gap) and Elder Little (who I also met when he was a blue).  Man, they grow so fast... 

Plaza in Nimes

Besides that though I really enjoyed the beginning of the week where we got to have zone conference!  What an inspiring message, President Brown was really on fire and it was just a super cool experience. We all learned to better follow promptings of the Spirit and how we can be  more courageous as missionaries.  I really was impressed by Elder Skousen's example following this later that week; I felt like we should pass someone and I doubted as sure, and then Elder Skousen told me "Well, let's go!  No sense in doubting it, you know what Sister Brown said. Trust it and go for it!" So we went and on the way ran into a neighbor of a member, and they have had some disputes and it was cool to talk to him and we had a really good encounter. Elder Skousen has been a really good example to me of just following the Lord.

Nimes Colloseum

We were able to see Vincent and Kael this week, and though they are having a hard time I feel like they will come back later, that they just need some time.  It is sad to have those you care about decide not to see you anymore, but I really don't think it's the last time, they do want to see us later, just not right now. But while we wait we will focus on those who are ready right now. Which is a huge miracle as far as Sunday goes, we had 3 amis at church!  Mind you, they all came and went at different times haha, Jaqueline was at Sacrament meeting which was cool, Janine came for the meal after and Frere Bernier's friend Gladness came half way and stayed the whole time!  So it was really great to get to know all of them and we should be seeing some other member's friends this week and getting a family home evening activity for the branch going as well as English class next transfer.  So things are moving and though its a bit slow, its going forward :) I want you all to have a good week, and remember that sometimes things can be a little hard in life, or trials may seem slow and to last longer than usual, but as we persevere patiently with trust in the Lord, and in ourselves and our families, all is well. And after a time, great things happen and it is so cool. I've learned how much good there is in life even when at times the bad seems so present, and how we can always focus on the good. We had a good week, and it was really fun, and I hope you all have a happy and a fun week too! Make the most of it!

Love,
Elder Laney

ps: transfers are next week so i'll let you know what happens

Captain ..France? One of our new friends in town

A Great Week (Week #4 Transfer #11)

Bonjour tous et toutes! I hope you all had a good week. This week was a fun one, we got to go out to Pau and do 2 exchanges which is super fun, with Pau and Tarbes, and had district meeting with Agen and Bayonne there. Super fun to see all the missionaries, and we'll see even more tomorrow at Zone Conference! So cool! and apparently we'll be using this new app for missionary work which I am super pumped for to help us keep track of everything. 

The District

My favorite part this week (besides teaching Felix and his mom, which was super cool), was actually this self reliance program the Church is doing that we were introduced to which helps people search for and start their careers, aiming towards being independent and self-reliant temporally (money and stuff) and spiritually as well.  Such a cool program and we will be trying to help our amis get going to it, that will be really cool to be able to help them in their search for careers and such through these groups. I even got to look a little into a future job for me when we were all at the presentation. Sadly our amis didn't show up but we'll be able to take it to them to help them out. 

Kebabs with the old group

Got to do service for Jean-Louis' ami and Jean-Louis is awesome. His friends had some questions about the church, so Jean Louis just starts sharing the gospel and all about the start of the church with them, so they seemed interested and we'll try to teach them more soon. Our other member Frere Riviere taught some of the plan of salvation to a friend and we'll be helping introduce the Book of Mormon to her soon.  So our members are just doing so much cool missionary work and sharing the gospel to all their friends!

Kebabs with the new group!

One miracle this week was with Felix's mom. We dropped by to pay Felix a visit and he told us his mom was awake so we could say hi to her too. We did and after a bit we asked if she needed help with anything. As usual she said no, but then we kept talking and before we left I asked again. This time she said she needed some help with the yard, so we fixed a rdv to go rip some acacia's out of her yard with Felix. But something was telling me to ask if she wanted another blessing, so after a bit I brought up the blessing the last time, asking how her health was, then she said how when I was asking if she wanted something she actually was thinking about that blessing and really wanted another one. So I asked if she would like one there and she said yes. I then asked who, and she said "I don't understand him very well (pointing to Elder Skousen)... I want him to give me the blessing." So Elder Skousen got to give his first blessing in French!  It was really cool, and he talked a lot about opportunities with the gospel. So I thought about if she would want to learn more and asked, and she said she noticed that in the blessing and was curious, so she said yes!  We got to teach her 2 times that week; I think we were able to touch her and that she will want to learn more.  It was really cool and its important to follow our feelings, the Holy Ghost can know exactly what the desires of someone's heart really are :)

Love you guys and I hope your week is good! God bless.

Love,
Elder Laney

French freeways...

A Time to Learn (Week #3 Transfer #11)

Hello everybody!  Bonjour I mean, I should include more French in these emails.

Exchanges with Elder Jacobson

Well another good week went by, especially good with our amazing weekend of General Conference!!  So cool, we got to hear from the prophet and many of the apostles and be edified and learn so much. I got to watch 3 sessions in English too!!!  best part haha. Also got to watch it in French with our members across the street which was super fun, got to eat Raclette with them too! It's that time of year again and I love the hot meals.  

Merci pour le fromage!

Our week went well, we were able to see Kael at the start which was great, he's doing really well and loving the Book of Mormon, ran into him doing groceries today which was fun, he's super awesome. We got to see a new ami Marie-Claude who is really nice, and though she wasn't sure why she was meeting us we got to just share and connect on a lot of terms and different points in the gospel, and then she was talking about how she loved beautiful buildings and Cathedrals and the like, so we were like "Hey we know about a beautiful building that's going to be in France soon" and then we showed her the Paris temple and the "Strength Beyond My Own" video in French.  She was so happy and kept going "Oh c'est beau!!! (oh its beautiful!)" and was asking for the music after haha. Great video in every language I really recommend watching it, you can find it on lds.org. Anyways she was super touched and afterwards was open to meet again so I'm excited for the next time we can meet.

Ping Pong on P-Day.  We dominate!

So things are happening! I'm happy to be here to help and its really a great experience. Today we got to help Jean-Louis and his friend with some service, we ate at his friend's house after. Jean-Louis of his own accord just basically taught his friend about the first vision during dinner and it was really cool to share about the church with them. Great food too (his friend and his wife used to be chefs). Great week, great weekend, great p-day, and we're just going to have more great times ahead. 

One thing that stuck out to me in conference is how to have a great time almost all the time. I was really touched by a talk by Elder Hales on prayer and coming closer to God and His will. I realized at this moment how important it is for us to just open ourselves to God's will and put our trust in Him. Easier said than done, but I came to a different and a fuller understanding. Basically if we open ourselves, and with some effort change our desires to a standpoint saying, "thy will be done", and if we just kind of open to the work there is to do, we won't care anymore about ourself, and we will want to help others. Our love for them will grow when we serve without complaint and without restraint or a desire not to, having opened our hearts to let them in, and leaving our own selfish desires behind. So let us all serve one another, I tell you you will be happier. 

Love you guys and have a great week; Make it one :)

Love,
Elder Laney

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