Merry Christmas!!! (week #2 Transfer #13)

Hey !!!! Merry Christmas everyone!!!!  In a week anyway but well, I'll just tell you in advance :) We had a really good week! We got to head to Lyon for 2 days for a few conferences and it was really fun to run into and meet a lot of missionaries I love dearly who I have not seen in some time, including Elder Kelsey, Elder Carlson, Elder zhu and many more.  We actually had all the gang from the MTC back together :)  Super fun.  We were really taught by the Spirit as Elder Sabin from the Area Presidency of Europe met and spoke with us, along with his wife and President and Sister Brown. It was a really great experience, and I learned a lot, especially as I prepared for Conference and gained some answers to questions I have had for a while now. I know the Spirit really does teach us.  

French-y Christmas tree!

Anyways I got my Christmas package from home (thank you family!!) and we got a Christmas tree from a  member and decorated that well, and we are all planned for Christmas so it should be a fun experience, especially getting to see some of you on Skype! So pumped. 

Christmas goodies!

Well it will be a great week again and we have a lot to do this week, we have many of our Amis who can see us and it will be great to pay them all a visit to share the wonderful spirit of the season. I wish you all a Merry Christmas!  Have fun and live up this occasion for family to come together.  That has to be one of my favorite parts of Christmas, and I'll do my best to fit in :) 

Lighthouse in Toulon harbor

I hope the memory of the Savior and his birth and all that means brings you all some joy, I know He lives, and He loves us all and is so happy and glad to have done what He did, and it means that we can all be happier because of it.  Love you all and have a great week :)

Season's greetings,
Elder Laney

Week 1 miracles (week #1 Transfer #13)

Hey everyone!  Our week went well, My new companion Elder Thorne is a standup guy and we're doing well working together. Elder Golightly is also a stud and I'm excited for all of us to work together. 

Elder Thorne and Elder Laney

The week was a bit long, nothing  but of the ordinary but we did have some cool experiences and some cool miracles too!  e got to see Azam who is doing really well, we had a great rendezvous where we just got to know each other better and I feel like he's getting to know people better and is more open which is really cool. Didier is doing well too, just super positive now and looking towards baptism.  His mom even got interested in the lesson last time and asked for the brochure to the Plan of Salvation which was really cool.  We also saw a friend of Frere Sassi and were able to bless her home and give her a blessing as well as she's been having a hard time, she really felt the Spirit and was so grateful telling us how she got way more of a spiritual boost than she was asking for haha.  It's cool how the Spirit works. We also taught Bernardino again yesterday, he's super cool and accepted a Book of Mormon, once again the rendezvous upped his spirits and he was super receptive. 

Enormous avocado tree

Also we saw the Consales Family who are new, husband is not a member, so we taught them and he accepted a Book of Mormon and told us he would read it.  We also on Thursday night were making some calls to clean up some unupdated referrels to be sure in case they weren't able to contact them, and Elder Thorne calls this one lady.  She picks up and after finding out her husband is having a hard time, she tells him that maybe his call is a sign. She goes on to tell us how her husband even had a Book of Mormon and reads it from time to time and loves it.  So we fix a rendezvous and see them on Saturday, he had been back to the hospital but she was there and at the door we were able to refix the rendezvous and give her a restoration brochure.  She actually took it and with a huge look of gratitude gave the brochure a kiss and told us thank you.  I'm excited to meet with this family, they are really nice and so cool.  Then we met a lady from Ireland doing groceries and traded numbers, she's "big on Jesus" as she put it haha.

Gotta love a bowl of fresh free avocados!

 We've  been super blessed this week which is just awesome, God knows when His children are ready and for what step. It's cool to be His hands in small occasions as these. I know He watches over us and will do what He can, including promoting us to do our part, to help others progress and return to Him. That's my testimony. Love you guys and have a great week!!!! Also Joyeux Noël and can't wait to see you all soon :)

Lots of love,
Elder Laney

Light the World (week #6 Transfer #13)

Salut! Comment ca va? 

Well it's official, I am now an old missionary. I lived out my youth to its best, but now as I approach the next 6 months I am going head first, I'm excited and really looking forward to the experiences and miracles to come. Today Elder Tehahe and I sent off Elder Richmond and Elder Steadman, who will be heading home soon as their missions finish today! So crazy, I'm pumped for them and to hear how the normal life is going. Here I am receiving Elder Thorne and Elder Tehahe is receiving Elder Golightly, who was in the zone just up in Avignon, so I'm excited to have him down here. Elder Golightly is a boss and I've only heard good things about Elder Thorne so I'm super excited :) it's going to be the best transfer yet!!! 

 "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul." from Invictus

This week was really well spent, first off I'll start with yesterday, so we'll just recount this week backwards. Yesterday I met Soeur Manoa who came to church for the first time in a while, turns out she's from California, and for the first time someone from California told me they were from San Francisco!  (Most ppl end up from LA haha) and en plus she's from Concord!!!  What the heck! When they found out I was from Danville they flipped, talked about how they passed Danville all the time to go to In-N-Out. We had a good time, her husband is on the rugby team here in Toulon and they invited us for dinner so we all had a good time, so cool!  Anyways I love America :) it's super cool to meet someone from the hometown, 1st time I've met someone from right at home. So cool. And he gave us all free USA rugby jerseys too. Basically just like the best night of my mission so far.

The Family Monoa and free rugby jerseys for the Elders!

Soeur Manoa and Elders 

Anyway, the week went well, got to see Azam and play some ping pong with him, he wrecked us!  Turns out he trained in ping pong as a kid haha.  He's doing good, came to church and we'll hopefully be able to start seeing him more often now.  Got to see one of our members and her husband who are both really cool, he's open and might be interested in the lessons so we'll see where that goes. Trying to get into contact with some of our Amis, including Abraham. We were sad to have to push his baptism a bit further, we haven't had contact.  Anyway, I know he wants to and had faith in God, and he's ready, so well just help him jump on a bit more and he'll make the decision. We do what we can but in the end it's up to each of us to make our decisions, and this one is his, as it is for all of our Amis. We will do our absolute best to help this happen.   

Wonderful Family Home Evening dinner with elders, members and amis

Well I hope you all have a great week. Sorry about last weeks message; apparently part of it got cut off, so I'll just repeat it this week!  So my little thought today is to #LighttheWorld :) This December the Church has a program inviting us to go and serve someone every day. Each day before Christmas we have an activity or 2 we can do to help others, and a small video to watch that goes along with it to make Christmas a greater experience as we turn outwards to others. It's at www.Mormon.org where you will kick off for the season starting December 1. 

I love how much happier I am when I am focusing on others, and I think the program they have is super fun. Love you guys and I hope you all have a great start to winter :) again I am so grateful for the Christmas season, and also for this beautiful world God has given us, nature is always a testimony of Him to me, and I love this world's natural beauty. I'm grateful to have had a chance to see such beautiful sights today. 

Love you all and have an awesome week! 

Love,
Elder Laney

Light the World (week #5 Transfer #12)

Hey everyone! First, thanks for all you do and I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  I'm really grateful for my family and friends, you all mean the world to me.  It's so amazing to know I have the chance to know you all.  I love you guys and hope your week was good :)   My last week went well, having some trouble seeing our Amis but Dominique has made insane progress, we saw him and he was saying how he'd quit smoking by January, then Elder Richmond bore testimony he could do it then and there. Then Dominque said "why not".  So we got him some gum and he's been doing great!  Not quite there but nearly!  I'm pumped for him and for when he quits and is baptized :)  Abraham should be baptized this Saturday finally, we are going to get everything planned tonight :) Anyway, things are going well here in Toulon. We got to climb a mountain today on the coast, super cool, here's a picture.

Climbing mountains in Toulon

Well, my little thought today is to #LighttheWorld :) This December the Church has a program inviting us to go and serve someone every day.  Each day before Christmas we have an activity or two we can do to help others, and a small video to watch that goes along with it to make Christmas a greater experience as we turn outwards to others. It's at www.Mormon.org where you will kick off for the season starting December 1.

I love how much happier I am when I am focusing on others, and I think the program they have is super fun. Love you guys and I hope you all have a great start to winter :) again I am so grateful for the Christmas season, and also for this beautiful world God has given us, nature is always a testimony of Him to me, and I love this worlds natural beauty. I'm grateful to have had a chance to see such beautiful sights today. Have a great week! 

Love,
Elder Laney

Hey! (week #4 Transfer #12)

Hey everyone! This week was great :) Literally so many blessings.  Abraham had his baptismal interview a week ago and should be baptized this Saturday!  Gotta confirm the date is good for his family, but normally it should be good.  I'm super excited.  He's so awesome. Also Dominique and Azam are both doing awesome and approaching their date in 2 weeks, and we're going to work really hard so that this works out, I know through God all things are possible.  Anyway, they are all doing great, Didier and his mom too, I believe he might be making plans for baptism soon too if all goes well, he's changed so much and is so much more positive now.  I'm really excited for all that's going on.

Ping Pong Tournament

This week was great though, Monday through Thursday included seeing Azam and some other people from the Ward, a lot of planning for our festive conference on Saturday, including a honey glazed ham which Elder Richmond and I were really proud of haha:)  Conference and interviews went really well, the rest of the zone made some really good food and it turned out great, we all did some skits too which was really funny.  I played David in our skit and Elder Tehahe played Goliath.

We played ping pong and I hit it at his head to win, that was the real story of David and Goliath.


Fun stuff. Good week though, the coolest part was after church on Sunday (Azam and Dominique came :) ) we went to see Abraham, turns out his sister who is having a really hard time is living with them now for the moment, but we went over to see him and met her, she stayed for the lesson, and it was so cool because during the lesson her mood changed and by the end she had changed from tears to a more positive mood and to follow God, and said she trusted Him. It seems that Abraham's family is coming unto Christ. 

Zone Conference

I know we can trust Him and he never lets us down.  Have a good week and happy thanksgiving!!!!!  Write down what you're thankful for and share it with someone, I'm really thankful for so much. 

Lots of love,
Elder Laney

Learning to make croissants with Christopher, a member here in Toulon

The fruits of our labors.  They may not look professional but they tasted spectacular!

Positivity (week #3 Transfer #12)

Hey everybody!

This was a good week once again, a lot of cool things happened.  Highlight of the week, Abraha passed his baptismal interview!!!  He's so prepared and really excited to be baptized soon, we'll be doing the baptism as soon as his sister and brother-in-law are back in town to come to it.  Besides that we got to see Dominique again who is doing great, he's made so much progress and has so much faith, he's willing to do what he needs to be baptized and it's really cool.  He even came to church yesterday for the first time!!  He has been telling us for a long time he would come and our rendez-vous on  Saturday he said he had been saying and saying he would, so he had to.  Then he did!  And he liked it too. We should be seeing Azam this week and hopefully Jean Yves, but it seems things are going forward with their progress which is really cool.  I believe Dominique will really make his baptismal date.  Didier is doing really well too and his mom came to church for the first time too!! So cool.

The week went well anyway, we got to go to Lyon for a meeting with all the zone leaders and it was really inspiring as any meeting with President and Sister Brown is.  Had zone training and got to meet the zone, all great guys and our sisters are really cool, had a ping pong tournament during lunch, looks like I need to step up my ping pong, really fun though.  We got to take our initiative from the missionary leadership conference and share it with everyone, we are focusing on part member families and working with members to help them receive and strengthen each other in the gospel.  Met with bishop Durant (my first bishop in the mission lol) on Sunday and he's on board, I'm really excited to work with him and all the awesome members we have here.

Good week, started the next one off with some hot chocolate and American sized croissants and pain au chocolat, I believe we found where our two cultures meet:

American sized pastries...

Love to you all and have a great week!!

Elder Josh Laney

The House of the Lord (week #2 Transfer #12)

Hey everybody! We had a fun week. We got to see Azam like 3 times and he came to church!  He's doing really well.  We didn't get to see Abraham like the whole week, he's from Africa and super cool; we should be having his baptism soon, but we got to see him yesterday which was great.  Turns out he's been reading a ton in the Book of Mormon, he's all the way to Mosiah!  So crazy.  We also have a new Ami/engage named Vikram who is also from India!  He's super cool too, haha but he speaks English and zero French (where Azam is a fluent French speaker and knows some English).  We've been really blessed to see  a lot of progress with our amis and to have so many people here to teach, they are all really prepared which is cool.  Got to make a quiche with Didier and his mom, he moved here from French Guinea a year or so ago and he's basically a member, he's so cool, came to church too! Also got to meet the district which was fun, great missionaries and we had a fun time.

Authentic quiche lessons.  

One highlight of the week was a rendezvous with our DMP (Ward mission leader in French) Frere Sassi at his friend's house.  His friend Rene has been an Ami for years but hasn't really made progress. 1st up Rene's friend was there and we got to teach her and set up a return appointment with them both.  She's really interested to find out more about what we teach as missionaries.  Then, after she left, we talked about genealogy and family history with Rene.  We ended up saying very little as the Spirit took over while Frere Sassi shared his testimony about temple work for the dead.  His experiences were powerful and we all felt the Spirit really strong.  I shared a bit how I know it will be joyeuse to do temple work for my ancestors later.  I know that works, I really felt so during the rendez-vous and invite you all do research, and to help out those we love to receive baptism.  It's really cool and I'm going to do my best to be more  involved, I've always had fond experiences and in this meeting I learned and felt so much of it's importance.  Rene afterwards agreed he wanted to know more and go to the temple, he felt the need to help in temple work for the dead as well, and he is going to be taking the lessons more seriously I believe. I know this church is true and the only one with temples where we can give our loved ones who have passed on the chance to be baptized and receive the same blessings we have when they cannot do so for themselves.  I testify of that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

The daily commute, Toulon style!

Have a great week and love you all!

Elder Laney