May 27, 2013

Bonjour toute le monde,

 

This week was full of miracles. So earlier in the week we decided that we were going to try to stop by each of the members houses and try to endear and serve them. One evening we decide to stop by a young family and share a little message and offer service. We go to the door and they open and say "look who it is!" We look in and see that there are also two of the JAs from the ward who are preparing to go on missions there in the house getting ready to have dinner. They invite us in and insist on feeding us dinner. We have a good night and spend some good time with them all and at the end we shared our message and offered service. They said that the best way that we could serve them would be to go and see their friends and share the gospel with them. No joke. We come to offer them service, but they serve us by feeding us, giving us a chance to talk with some future missionaries, and then just give us this coordinee like that.

 

But it doesn't end there. later in the week we have a big day planned with a couple of rdvs. We decide that we are going to pray every hour that day because we needed all the help we could get. That day we taught the wife of a recent convert who has just moved to France, passed and gave a blessing to a less active brother, and decided to go try to pass the friends of the family from earlier. This is the best part. It's getting kindof late so we are rushing to their house with cookies. We are getting soaked by the rain because we forgot our umbrellas in the rush. We get to their place and they invite us in. We give them cookies and talk offer them service. We then start talking about their religious background and they tell us that they are just left with all these questions. Then we tell them that that is why we are here as missionaries is to help answer peoples questions. "Oh really, Do you have a few minutes then?" they ask. We go in and have this awesome talk with them about famlies and the book of mormon. They are the coolest family ever and they said they would read the book of mormon and come to church.

 

I have been waiting my whole mission to be able to teach a family like this. They are such a strong and awsome young family with a good religious background. Plus they have one of the best member families in the ward as friends and neighbors to help fellowship them. Please keep them in your prayers so that things go well with them.

 

More good news is that we have refixed the baptismal date of the kids I have talked about before. And now their other sister has decided to be baptised too. They are all really strong and ready for their baptism in 4 weeks.

 

I love this work and being able to share the gospel with everyone. I love being able to teach families and working with members to find the strongest people. I know that this message is true and have seen what a huge impact it has on improving peoples lives. I am so grateful for this gospel and the impact that it has had on my own family. I hope that everyone is doing well and will keep you all in my prayers. Until next week,

 

Love Elder Swenson

Pics!

Here are some pictures of a service project we did: chopping weeds with machetes!

They have these pictures of dogs on the streets around here, I think they are funny.

My new companion Elder Wheat.

May 20, 2013

Hey everybody,

 

Another good week in the city with nonstop rain. Luckily today happened to be one of the rare days that it is sunny. My umbrella is officially out of commission. I need to another one up soon because we dont have any spares in the apt. Other than the weather i really like saint etienne. The members here are all great. Yesterday at church we had 2 members show up with friends that we have now set rdvs with. Member work is definately the best way to do missionary work.

 

Since Elder Wheat is new we got bombarded with dinner appointments this week. I love going over and sharing spiritual thoughts with families in the ward. Everybody over here is like a big family. After church in Utah every body is out of the building the second they say the closing prayer but here everybody is still at the church talking and eating and playing for hours after.

 

There is a recent convert here and his wife and kids just moved here from africa. It was really awsome getting to meet the family and see how happy they were to be together again. My favorite part was when he was introducing his family and he rubbed his 2 yr old sons head and said that he was going to be his little missionary. Awesome. We're hoping to start teaching his wife the lessons starting this week.

 

This past week went well. We started teaching a new ami named Camara and we met him in a park for out first rdv. We ended up teaching under umbrellas but it still went really well. My favorite part was when we had him read moroni 10 and asked him what he thought. Usually you just get a response where they just kinda repeat what you said but he started testifying about each point and breaking it down bit by bit. He was super excited about it. It was awesome. It was even more awesome when we called him 2 days later and he was already 14 chapters into the book of mormon. I hope that things keep going the way they do.

 

Anyway I love you all and hope that all is going well for everyone.

 

Elder Swenson

May 13, 2013

Hey everybody,

This might be a little short. Pdays always get shot on transfer day. For those who don't know already I am staying in Saint Etienne and my new comp is Elder Wheat. He is an awesome missionary and i know that we will work great together this transfer. Elder Jackson is moving to Nimes. He was a great Elder and i'm glad i got to work with him.

It was great getting to talk to you on mothers day. The boys are getting so big. I hope that all is well for you and I hope that all the moms had a great mothers day. This past week was a good one as usual. We found a couple of new amis that we are teaching and they seem awesome. Last week we did service for this family in the ward. The service involved chopping down a bunch of weeds with homemade machetes. It was awesome. It was pretty crazy though because even the little kids were swinging those things around. I got some pictures that i will have to send you next week when I have a little more time. I'll also try to do better at answering all of your questions. Any way i have to prepare a lesson for family home evening tonight so i'm going to have to cut this letter a little short. I will write more next time. I love you all,

Elder Swenson

May 6, 2013

Bonjour à tous,

Another good week here in Saint Etienne. This transfer has flown by. Calls are this Friday so i will let you know details next week. We'll see if I continue the pattern of having a new companion each transfer. So there are like 20 sisters coming in this transfer. At conference president told us about how there are only about 12 sister trainers in the mission right now. Basically every sister in the mission right now is going to be training. Crazy. Speaking of calls, I am looking forward to being able to talk to you on mothers day. Should be great.

Last monday in France was labor day so there was no public transportation. That morning also happened to be the craziest rainstorm yet. The streets were like rivers. The raindrops were huge, and the it was pretty windy. We decided to go out and contact. It was crazy but there were actually some people on the streets and we had some good contacts. Unfortunately my umbrella sustained some battle wounds from the storm. After lunch it was a really sunny, beautiful, not a cloud in the sky type of day. I think we got rewarded for our diligence earlier that morning.

So yesterday was the first fast sunday I had in St Etienne. It was awesome hearing all of the testimonies. There were super powerful testimonies given and the spirit was super strong. The other morning I read D&C 27 about taking on the armor of God. I'm sure you're all familiar with it. It's in the scriptures a couple of times. Anyway it talks about taking upon us certain attributes that will protect us like a spiritual suit of armor. Breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, etc.. Any way if you notice in there all of the things are defensive like shields and helmets. We have things like faith and righteousness that will protect us from the wicked things of this world. However we have also been given one offensive weapon, the sword of the spirit.

The spirit pricks the hearts and pierces the souls of others each time that we bear testimony. As members of this church we are members of Gods army. We have each been given armor to protect us, but more is expected of us then to just protect ourselves and bide our time until the end. We need to fight off wickedness with our sword of the spirit. Only by using this powerful weapon that we have been given we will be victorious in the great battle between good and evil. We need to use this tool we've been given. Bear testimony every chance you get. A simple heartfelt testimony can make all the difference in the world. I challenge you all to look for those occasions to bear testimony to others.

I love you all and testify to you that i know that this church is true. I know that sharing the gospel with others brings us more happiness than we can even understand, and I am so lucky to have a part in such a great work.

Elder Swenson