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

Live Rounds (Week#4 Transfer #10)

Hey everyone! Week 4 was awesome, my favorite part was conference and interviews in Toulouse! We had President and Sister Brown share the most powerful and inspiring message I've seen in a conference so far. We as a mission are becoming more prepared and obedient and who we need to be to see great miracles. This is phenomenal and I'm so happy to be a part in the work here, and I know I'll give my best.

On the train to Marqueze

President Brown also told us we're loading live rounds against Satan and going on the offensive, haha I love President Brown, we're all going to work hard to beat the opposition against us through our obedience and our fearlessness to do the lords will and help others.  I know this end of this year will be cool, we are aiming to baptize 250 people who are prepared, this is a goal many of us participated in making and we know we can do it with the Lord's help. He is there with us. I'm excited for what happens :)

Pretty French farm

The rest of the week went well, we haven't been able to see very many people and are on the lookout for new Amis as usual, and we have found a lot of people we will see this week.  My favorite part was yesterday when we were porting, we passed this South African family and they weren't home, and we didn't know what to do.  So we said a prayer (something Elder Nelson had taught me to do is to pray when I don't know what to do and ask God, it has worked every time and we've been more effective because of it) and then we said another when still unsure. I thought we should knock on the door one more time and so I did, and the wife was there!  Had a great conversation with her and we are excited to come back and see them later, it's really neat how prayer can help us out so much in times of trouble or indecision.  I
learned this week the importance of prayer in all things , and so if you need to really just talk to you Heavenly Father and learn more from the endless amount of knowledge he has for us, or need help don't be afraid to stop and say a prayer. When in doubt, pray. It's worked for me and is really cool.

True French farmers...

Fake French farmers...

All we visited a cool old farm place last P-day, and this P-day I got new shoes!  My current ones have some considerably sized holes and may be a bit warped... So I got some new ones to wreck until the mission is done :) then I'll buy some nice ones to bring home haha!

Tired old shoes...

Happy new shoes

Love you guys and have a good week!!!

Love,
Elder Laney

1st Trimester (Week #3 Transfer #10)

Hey everyone! This summer has been the mildest i have ever seen in my entire life, I thought that last summer was how it normally is in the south of France but it looks like it's usually a mix of a ton of rain, a ton of sunshine and a few hot days. July was basically just rain haha, but we've seen some really nice weather recently and a few hot days this week.  


This week went well thought, had an exchange with Elder Robards and Elder Berget from Agen, as well as Elder Gaspar and Elder Brown from Tarbes.  It's super funny to be doing exchanges with the Elder Robards haha, still doing work together here on the Mont.  We had our district meeting which went well, no baptismal interview this time, but it went really well.  Got to see Felix this week and give his mom a blessing which was really cool, she really appreciated it and was happy to see us, I'm just glad we were able to go. We made a few new Amis this week, one who's name is Kael who was super cool, haha I'm not sure which Christian religion he belongs too, he kind of told us 3 but anyways he's super awesome and wants to learn more.  Besides him we met a lot of other really really cool people this week and I can see the work here for their help progressing a lot in the near future. 

Elder Nelson and Elder Laney

Highlight of my week besides giving Felix's mom that blessing was talking to this man from England who lives in a mobile home and is obsessed with physics.  I love physics so that was an awesome conversation.  Also, turns out he has a Book of Mormon!  He found it in a dump one day and likes the miracles in the stories, he believes science and religion should go together.  I hope we get to run into him some more, he's super cool. 

Well anyway, the weeks are passing fast!  Love you all and have a great week, Elder Nelson and I are doing well here and he's making a ton of progress as always. Thought for the week, I learned this week from reading the scriptures that sometimes if we really want a response and help from God, and feel we should, we just need to pray until we get it :)  I've had some really good experiences with prayer and know Heavenly Father listens to us and helps us out if we take enough time to really truly listen to Him.  So try a prayer this week that will be longer than usual, just enough to have a really special experience.   Have a good week!!

Amicalement,
Elder Laney

Another Good week (Week #2 Transfer #10)

Hey Everyone!

This week was a fun one, went by pretty fast.  We got to do service for Jean-Louis twice at the beginning of the week which was fun, he needed help with putting away wood and then distributing some papers so we got to spend some time with him.  It's so cool to get to know members and how they are doing, the members here are so cool.  And each time we go, Dominique bakes us fresh home-made croissants which are the best things in the world, so that's always a bonus.  Elder Strong told me I'd love seeing them! 

Found a fancy car in Toulouse!

We got to go to zone training which was enlightening and inspiring.  I am grateful for a truly inspired mission president.  I know our mission will improve again and again as we all work hard.  Here in Mont-de-Marsan we have been working hard, we had an exchange and got to see a member (Claude) as well as an ami who sadly we had to drop.  I know we'll find those who are prepared soon. 

Toulouse Cathedral

We saw some cool miracles this week.  I got to go on an exchange with Elder Blackham here.  So in zone training we were invited to do this activity in Preach My Gospel where we choose a time of the day to teach someone a short lesson we practice in companion study.  So we did that, and we had about 20 minutes to do a little bit of finding.  So we are getting to the bus stop with our 20 minutes, and we see a man sitting on a bench and we go talk to him, teach him the Book of Mormon, and he was super happy and enjoyed it and took a copy, even if he isn't living in town he said he'd contact the missionaries up where he's going.  So that was super cool!  Me and Elder Thorley my zone leader did the same thing and it was so cool to see how we were able to teach 2 lessons in a specific place, one of which started because a man stopped us and wanted to know more about who we were.  So I know the Lord really does inspire our leaders to help us out, and us in the work!  I'm excited for more cool experiences like that.  So make some plans of something that you will do to help someone at a specific time today!  You may just have a miracle :)

Have a great week as always!

Love,
Elder Laney

Mont de Marsan District