August 25, 2014

Hello again

This past week was great. It involved many hours of trains and sleeping on the floor. After church on sunday we headed to bordeaux where i stayed for 2 nights and helped out all of the transferring missionaries. Then I headed to Lyon and slept there for a night and we met our new comps on wednesday. After a few meetings we hopped back on a train and stayed in my old apt in montpellier for another night before finally making it back to brive thursday afternoon. Being back in montpellier for a night brought back alot of memories especially since i was there with a bleu. It seems like so long ago that I served there and yet while i was there it felt like I had never left. I was glad to be able to see it again.

So my new comp is Elder Ottesen. He is from Washington. He is a stud and so far it has been great working with him. His french is great and he's got plenty of confidence for a bleu. Also in our apt is Elder Manwaring and his bleu Elder Nadauld. It has been fun having 4 of us in the ward again after loosing the other equipe last transfer. They are both great as well and we had a great end to the week filled with lots of service. We ended up helping with 3 moves this weekend. One moving into the ward, one moving out, and one moving to a different house within the ward boundaries. We have been kept pretty busy here and have even more service lined up for this week. I enjoy it though and even with all of the service and trainrides this past week we have been able to talk with some awesome people and share the gospel.

While on the train back to brive we ended up sitting by a nice girl who spoke english because she has moved around and lived all over the place due to her dad being a swiss diplomat or something like that. We talked for a good hour or more and were able to share our testimonies and help her understand more about the gospel. While doing service at one of the moves the member started talking to one of his new neighbors about the move and how he was glad that he had the missionaries to help him. He was able to introduce us to the man and we were able to discuss a bit about our beliefs and the members all came and talked and shared their testimonies as well. It turns out that he had actually met with the missionaries in the past as well. Even though neither of these two ended up wanting to change their ways for the moment, both of them left feeling uplifted and having a much better image of the church.

I love being able to share the gospel with others and especially in these situations. It is so much more natural to share the gospel with someone when you aren't walking around in the streets or knocking on doors. When you can just have a conversation with someone sitting next to you on a train or while doing service they see you as more of a normal person instead of some weirdo walking around trying to convert everyone. As we are simply being kind to others and taking interest in their lives they are alot more open. Instead of having to start up conversations about the gospel the people will just naturally see that something is different about us and ask us about it. 

Sharing the gospel is easy and doesn't have to be awkward. We just have to be ready to share it at all times and then look for opportunities to arise in our daily lives. I invite each of you to look for these opportunities this comming week to share the gospel with those around you and then don't let them pass by when you see them. Nothing makes you feel happier than being able to help Heavenly Father out in His work. I am glad that I have the opportunity to be a full time missionary but i know that i will continue to share the gospel when i return back home. We all have the privlege and responsibility to share the gospel at all times no matter who or where we are and I know that God will help us as we strive to do our best. I love you all!

Elder Swenson

August 18, 2014

Hey everyone 

So this transfer I am staying in Brive. Elder Ahlemeyer is heading back to Switzerland after just one transfer in France. Switwerland is a blackhole for all of the european missionaries because americans cant get legality there. This transfer I will be training a bleu so i dont know who he is yet. They are also adding another equipe back in brive so we will also have elder Manwaring who will be training as well. 

Because of training i will be spending the night in bordeaux with the elders here and will head up to lyon tomorrow. By the time we actually get back to brive it will be thursday or friday. I am excited to be training and to have more elders with us in brive again. It was fun having elder Quinn with us this past week. We had a blast. He is headed back to bergerac and will be serving with elder Kiser so that should be fun to see him again.

Due to transfer day craziness I don't have time to write more because we have to get back to help missionaries at the train station. Luckily we had about an hour break to do emails but the last missionaries comming in get here after 7:00 so we are litterally at the train station all day. We actually have already talked with 2 different groups of members from the states who are here on vacation today. It is also french vacation time so the station is packed and the villes are filled with tourists. 

Any way I have to go. I'll write more next week. Love you,

Elder Swenson

August 11, 2014

Hey everyone

So this week we actually will be in a trio. Elder Kirkpatric in bergerac got called to be an office elder and left today to be trained for that so his comp Elder Quinn is now with us until next week. It should be fun. Elder Quinn is awesome and i'm excited to have him with us. We will probably be going to bergerac for a day this week to have a few rdvs since there wont be missionaries there the rest of the week. Calls are on friday so you will find out next week whats going on. I honestly have no idea what will happen and can see anything happening so no predictions from me this time.

This week was a good one that kept us busy. I had district meeting in Perigueux and then an exchange in Bordeaux. We helped with 2 moves and did service in a members garden as well. Weeks like this make the mission go by alot faster. This transfer has absolutely flown by.

So a few days ago we were walking down the street and saw an old lady with grocerie bags. We decided to ask if we could help. Usually they just turn us down but she instantly agreed and so we started walking with her. She lived probably 5 or 10 minutes away but she walked so incredibly slow and we had to stop and take a rest as well. She litterally talked nonstop for a good 40 minutes but we were finally able to make it to her appartement. We thought we were in the clear but just then she sees another lady leaving her appartement and decided to share her history with this lady as well while we stood by. In the end she was very grateful for our help and we were glad to help. By the time we got back to where we started it had been an hour later. It is a good thing that we weren't walking to a rdv. We laughed about it for the rest of the day. 

I am glad to be able to help others all day long even if sometimes it is just listening to an 80 year old lady and helping carry groceries. We can serve people every day if we just look for the opportunity to help as we go through out the day. I invite you to look for these opportunites every day. Love ya,

Elder Swenson

August 4, 2014

Bonjour

Things are continuing to go well here in Brive. This week we have planned to see and serve a lot of members. I love the members here and we are doing our best to help them with their missionary work. We have set plans to meet with multiple member families and their non member friends. Being here in the mission has really changed my view of missionary work. Before I had always just seen it as the missionaries job and that it just consisted of knocking on doors unil they found and taught everyone. But I have really seen the importance of member missionary work and of being a missionary all through out our lives and not just leaving it up to the full time missionaries. 

Missionary work is more than just knocking on doors. It is reaching out to those around us and looking for ways to help and serve them. As they see how much we care about them they will be more open and receptive to what we have to share with them because they have already seen the gospel in action by the way that we live our lives. There are always opportunities to reach out and help someone around us. Whether they be nonmembers, new converts, or less actives, is our duty and responsiblity to help and strengthen them. And there are always people to help. Even if you live in utah! I recently read a talk given by Elder Bednar in 2008. Here is a quote i liked: 

"We properly pray for the safety and success of the fulltime missionaries throughout the world. And a common element in many of our prayers is a request that the missionaries will beled to individuals and families who are prepared to receive the message of the Restoration. But ultimately it is my responsibility and your responsibility to find people for the missionaries to teach. Missionaries are fulltime teachers; you and I are fulltime finders. And you and I as lifelong missionaries should not be praying for the fulltime missionaries to do our work!"

There is also a really cool video on the church website about member missionary work called "I'll go where you want me to go" from the hastening the work of salvation broadcast a while back. I invite you all to watch it and to pray for and be aware of opportunities to share the gospel. Every member is a missionary! I love you all!

Elder Swenson

P.S. heres a link to that video ;)

lds.org/media-library/video/2013-06-1031-ill-go-where-you-want-me-to-go