November 25, 2013

Hey everybody,

So this week was filled with different activites. Tuesday night we had the soirée musical put on by the music group elders. It was really good and we had a nice turn out. So how it works is they play a bunch of songs and have testimonies and spiritual thoughts inbetween. There were elders and sisters who sang, played piano, and violin. They are all really talented and one of the elders even has a degree in piano performance. They basically tour around the mission to all of the different wards to put on the show and then just work in that area for the rest of the day. Cool stuff. 

Wednesday we had zone conference. It is always good and uplifting to hear from President and his wife. He always has a bunch of cool insights and advice to give us. 

Friday we headed to Nimes so that I could start working on renewing my legality. So how it works is that certain cities are easier to get legality in so they try to send you to an easier one. They werent really sure about Nimes but it they thought it would be easier than Montpellier. So we went there and it turns out that you can't go without scheduling an appointment and you can only do that through email. So we headed back and did that but then found out that they dont have any openings for a couple of months. Legality is fun stuff let me tell ya. 

So this week for Thanksgiving we are all going over to eat at a members house. They are American and have got a whole bunch of good food ready for us. It is great that Elder Pedersen will be able to celebrate his first thanksgiving with real american food, even if it is in france.

Anyway things are going well here and the work is continuing to progress. I love you all and hope that you have a happy thanksgiving. Remember all of the many blessings that we have to be thankful for. I am thankful for the Savior, for His gospel, and for the chance that I have to share it with all of my brothers and sisters here in France. Love ya,

Elder Swenson

November 18, 2013

Hello again,

So things have been going well here in Montpellier. This week we had quite a few rdvs with new and old amis. One of the people that we saw this week was a young guy about 30. He actually referred himself through the church website. So we passed him a few times unsuccessfully and finally caught him home. When we got there he was really friendly and invited us in right off. He was curious about mormons and so he tried to find a book of mormon and that is what led him to the church website. He has a pretty strong faith. Both his parents are athiest but as he grew up he had questions about God and eventually converted to christianity. He is a really cool normal french dude who is an honest truth seeker open to religion. I can't tell you how rare this is. Any way hopefully we'll be able to see him more and help him to progress and find answers. He is a future bishop i tell you.

Other than him we have amis from all over including russia, maddigascar, reunion islands, mali, ivory coast, england, and of course a few from france. It is crazy to me to think about how even though we are called to one place we end up teaching people from all over the world. 

So it has been pretty cold here recently and we have been wearing scarves and coats all week. This means that we don't stick out now like we did in summer. In summer time everyone walks around half naked while we have on slacks and ties. But now everyone bundles up in dark coats and scarves. It is deffinately a different feeling not to have every one staring at you everywhere you go.

Well I have now been a missionary for over a year. It is crazy to think that is has been that long since i have been home. The mission has gone by both fast and slow at the same time. I love being a missionary though, and am lucky to be able to be out here. I love you all and hope all is going well for you. Take care,

Elder Swenson

A few pictures

Elder Crossman with a cat

Me with Elder Pielstick

Me and Elder Pedersen

November 11, 2013

Bonjour encore,

So this week we worked pretty hard. There was one particular day that was really hard. It was in the evening. We had some tombez-vous (fallen through appointments), after calling to confirm rdvs for the next day we had even more fall through, and we got insta-rejected by like 98% of the people we talked to. We still had about an hour left and while I honestly felt tempted to head back to the apartment and call it a night, we stuck it out. 

There is a scripture in alma that came to my head. It is talking about the sons of mosiah and goes something along the lines of, "When we felt discouraged and were about to turn back, the Lord comforted us and said, bear with patience thine afflictions and I will give unto you success." This comforted me and we finished out the night by getting rejected by alot more people. That evening after planning we reflected on the day and while we hadn't seen much fruit we felt confident that we had given it our all. The next day went about a million times smoother. We had awesome conversations, got multiple coordinees, gave out multiple BOMs, and set multiple rdvs. 

I have come to learn that at times the Lord decides to try our faith and our patience. Even when we are working diligently and obediently we will have those occasional hard days. But if we stick it out and continue giving it our all, He will give unto us success. We will see miracles. The Lord has promised us blessings if we do the things He has asked us to. While we wont always see these blessings immediately, I know that we will always see them. 

When hard times come and you face trials in spite of the fact that you have been doing all the Lord has asked, stay strong and continue on. Trust God. He has promised us blessings and He always keeps His promises. Those promised blessings will come soon enough. I know this because I have seen it over and over throughout this past year. In my life and in the lives of those I have been blessed to be around. I love this gospel. I love this work. I love you.

Elder Swenson

November 4, 2013

Bonjour,

So this past week was fun. We headed up to Lyon on tuesday to meet up with the bleus. All of the trainers had dinner and talked and such until the evening. The next morning we headed to the office to have a meeting about training and after lunch we headed to the church where we finnaly got to meet our comps. There were around 25 missionaries coming in this transfer so the chapel was pretty full. Of all of the new missionaries less than half were american which was pretty cool. There were missionaries from france, england, spain, brasil, germany, denmark, and finland. Anyway so they all went up one by one and read their calls to see where they were serving and who their trainer would be. We went through about 75% of them before someone finnaly read that his trainer would be Elder Swenson.

My new comp is Elder Pedersen. He is Danish. He is really cool and so far it has been really good working with him. His french is alot better than mine was when i got in. It always helps distinguish your companionship in big wards when your companion isn't the same old american elder that members are used to seeing. Unless your comp is Native american like Elder Tulley that is. We should be able to sneak ahead of the other elders and just behind the sisters in the dinner appointment department :)

So this past friday we saw a pretty cool little miracle. In studies that morning i was reading over my patriarchal blessing. There was a particular line that stood out to me that morning that said, If you strengthen your faith you will find that all things are possible. I repeated this phrase in my head throughout the day as we worked. When the evening came we had some free time that we had planned to go contacting in the park. The night before we had set the goal to either get a number or fix a rdv during this time. As we walked towards the park I remembered this goal as well as the line from the blessing. I said a prayer in which I asked for us to reach our goal, full of faith knowing that the only thing that could keep us from getting a number was God's will. I said amen. We then got a number from the first person that we contacted and set up a rdv for the next day. Miracle.

The rdv with him went well. We taught him how to pray and helped him say his first ever prayer. When we were explaining prayer he was like, "you mean you can just say what ever? And you can ask for blessings for you and your family? and that works? And its just like a conversation? Well that's easy!" It was really touching to be able to teach someone such a simple principle like that and litterally see the light go into them. It is just a big reminder of how blessed we really are to be in this church with a knowlege of the gosple. Prayer really is such a blessing and i can testify that i know from experience that it really does work. Sometimes we forget how true that fact really is. I love you all and wish you the best!

Elder Swenson