December 30, 2013

Hello all,

First off, sorry that this might be a little short. It was great getting to skype with you this past week. I hope that all of you had a great christmas. We spent alot of time with members this week and it was great. It's hard to feel homesick at this time of year when the everyone in the ward treats you like a part of their family. 

So we (the 8 missionaries in Montpellier) decided to make christmas cards and pass them out to members. We got to share the Saviors love with alot of people this past week as we visited their homes and hospital rooms. We felt love and the spirit and saw smiles and tears as we expressed our love and the Saviors to everyone that we could.

As this Christmas season comes to a close and you box up all of the christmas decorations and turn off the Christmas music, make sure that you don't pack away the spirit of Christmas. Instead keep the spirit going by sharing the Saviors love with everyone. Take every moment every day to serve help and uplift someone. As we constantly strive to serve those around us our love will grow and we will be truly happy. We can keep that spirit of joy with us all throughout the year. I love you all and know that I am truly blessed to be part of such an amazing family! Happy new year!

Elder Swenson

December 23, 2013

Merry Christmas everyone,

So it has been super hard for us to see some of our amis. The ami who we had been seeing regularly and had a baptisimal date had dropped off the face of the earth and another had been too busy to see us as well. Well hooray for christmas because both of them showed up to the christmas party we had on this week. It was great getting to see both of them after the long drought, and we were able to fix rdvs with them for this coming week.

Last tuesday we went to an amazing rdv. It was with a man who we had contacted weeks go who finally aggreed to see us. In all honesty we weren't too sure how he would accept the message but it turns out he was amazingly open. He had actually met the missionaries about 4 years ago in another ville and that is a part of why he saw us this time. We taught one of the most powerful first lessons i have ever taught and he told us that he would read and pray every night, prayed infront of us even though he was scared to do so, and accepted a soft baptisimal engagement. We set up a return appointment for after the holidays and we are excited to see him again.

So we had zone conference in Aix this week and it was great to see everyone and talk about the Savior. We were all nice and edified from the messages that were shared. The only downfall is that afterwards it was pouring rain as we walked to the trainstation and all of our packages that we had just recieved were soggy and falling appart. The good news is that there was no serious damage to the contents even though the boxes took such a beating. 

 

This week we are well taken care of for the holiday. We are lucky to be in a ward with great members. I hope that all of you have a great Christmas and that you remember the most important things about this great time of year. I love you all. Talk to you soon!

Elder Swenson

December 16, 2013

Hey everybody,

So last week was pretty crazy with millions of missionaries staying in montpellier getting to and from Lyon. There were a couple of days where we just had the other missionaries contact or sing in a big plaza while we delt with picking people up and taking luggage to appartments and getting sleeping bags and such set up. This cut into our proselyting time a bit but it all evened out because we recieved multiple coordinees from other missionaries like families who asked them to come back while porting and a girl who gave her info as well as the address of one of her friends who she also thought would be interested. Basically if we are out serving and doing our best to help others, even other missionaries, God will bless us by giving us more occasions to serve His children.

Yesterday during personal study I randomly felt like I should pull out an old conference liahona and read a talk. I flipped it open and started reading a talk by Elder Andersen about trials of faith. In it he shared the story of a mission president he knew whose daughter had gotten in an accident and even after much fasting and prayer had passed away. He went on to talk about how this trial which could have shaken their faith ended up strengthening it. Later that night we went to a members home and he explained to us how he had just found out that his brother had died. I was able to share elder Andersens story with the family and they were touched by it. 

I have come to realize that personal study often isn't for us personally, but rather we are inspired to study those things that our brothers and sisters need to hear. How lucky are we to be the means through which God can reach out to and strengthen His children. I love this work!

As we enjoy this Christmas season and the spirit that comes with it, let us look for ways that we can serve others. Let us strive to help God in reaching out to His children. In doing so we will be filled with a joy that is much more satisfying than any gift or present we might find under a tree. I love you all!

Elder Swenson

December 9, 2013

Hello everyone,

Records have been broken this transfer as i will be staying with a companion for more than one transfer and staying in the same ville for more than two. Crazy. I didn't even know that was possible. That's ok because i love working with elder Pedersen and am looking forward to spending another transfer with him.

So i have a story this week. Once upon a time about a transfer and a half ago i was on exchange with elder Taylor. It was about nine so we were working our way back to the appartment. As we are walking up the hill a girl jogs by and we say bonsoir because we are missionaries and that's what we do. As she jogs right past us she says "yay missionaries!" in very american english. We laughed and then after about 5 seconds we realised what had just happened and that she just spoke to us in english and that she didn't call us TJ's (Jehovahs Witnesses; our rivals who the french dislike very much and confuse us with all the time). We quickly turned around to talk to her but she had already run out of sight never to be seen again. Until last night...

So last night we were out contacting and we run into this same girl but this time she talks to us. It turns out that she has been here about three months for school and that she is a less active girl from nevada. She told us that she had stopped going to church some time ago, but that she felt guilty for it. She said that her sister had even told her to go to church here but she never really got around to it. Any way so we asked if we could help her in any way and offered to have a member pick her up next week, and she asked if we could call her sunday morning to help her get up. She didn't have her phone with her so she wrote down our number but then she instantly just said bye and left before we could get hers. Rats!

So later that night we get in and Elder Pedersen is saying the prayer to start planning. I kid you not, litterally less than a second after he prays that this girl will get in contact with us we get a text on the phone, right in the middle of the prayer. The phone was right next to me and so i took a sneeky peek to see who it was and it was an unregestered number. No it can't be! He finishes the prayer and we check the text and it was her! What!? It was basically the exact same as that scene on the movie the best two years. 

We asked if there was anything we could do to help and she asked if we could give her a blessing. She said that the only thing was that she wasn't sure how the family she was staying with would react to us so she asked if we could meet somewhere else. Long story short she is now going to be coming with us to a FHE at a members house tomorrow night. One that we had just felt inspired to set up earlier that day with an awesome english speaking family. Crazy right? Once again i feel as though i have been sent to montpellier to help all of the non french people who just happen to be here. 

Well i hope that everything is going well back home and that you are enjoying all of the snow. I am enjoying the sun down here by the coast ;) Until next week, Love ya,

Elder Swenson

December 2, 2013

Hello everybody,

I hope you all had a great thanksgiving. Mine was great as we got to spend it with some awesome members who made a ton of delicious food. I have to say that it was nice to be able to have all of the food on your plate at a time. I've gotten so used to millions of courses with just one food at a time as is the custom here in france. Being around a huge table with lots of food and people reminded me of home. I was definatly lucky to be here for thanksgiving. 

So this past week went well even though i feel like we set a record for number of fallen through rdvs. We are still chugging along and i feel like we are able to help people every day even if it is just in little ways. We have a streak going of teaching english speaking people from African countries who are just here for a week or so. We teach them about the restoration give them the book of mormon, and then pass their information on to the missionaries where they live. Now we just need to find people who are willing to learn more and are living here.

Another quick story about helping missionaries in other countries, we had a fallen through rdv and the member who we were with suggested we go to a place where they had just put up christmas lights to do some contacting. It is a place that was a little out of the way and where we don't generally go to for contacting. While we were there we bumped into a less active girl who is from california. In talking with her we found out that she was just in montpellier for the day and was just getting ready to leave. she told us that it was a real surprise for her to see missionaries and we got to have a nice little talk. It was definatly not just chance that we were there at that moment. God knew that one of His lost sheep was at that place and so He sent us there to talk with her. It was a testimony to us that God always knows where we are and will do His best to reach out to us.

Any way the ville is beginning to look more and more christmasy with all of the lights and booths and number of people shopping. I hope that the spirit of Christmas will help people to be more cheery and open to talking about Christ. This time of year is always nice because it just seems that every one is happier.

This is the last week of the transfer so next week I will let you know of any changes. Will elder Swenson finally stay in a ville for more than 2 transfers? Will he finally stay with a comp for more than 1? Tune in next week to find out. Love ya,

Elder Swenson