November 3, 2014

Hello hello,

So this last week was fairly eventful and not at all what we expected. As i mentioned last week we drove to bordeaux on tuesday to drop off Elder Bleak who just arrived. So we picked him up and drove to bordeaux getting there around 8:00. So we decided to stop at a restaurant near the elders appartment to get something to eat. After eating we started walking back towards the bordeaux elders apt when Elder Walker realized that he forgot his bag in the restaurant. We hurried back and when we got there we saw some kids sitting at the table where we ate. We asked them about the bag and the told us that when they sat down they saw it and asked if it belonged to anybody and some dude claimed it and walked out with it. I went with the kid to see if we could find the guy but he was nowhere in sight. The bag was gone. Luckily Elder Walker had his wallet on him but unluckily the keys to the car as well as to our appartment disappeared with the bag.

So there we were trapped on the opposite side of the mission without keys to the car. Inside the car were the things that we had brought to spend the night as well as all of Elder Bleaks luggage. Because Elder Kearon was comming to visit the mission there were two conferences scheduled. One in Bordeaux on wednesday and one in Lyon on Thursday. Thus half of the mission was staying the night in Bordeaux with us. We ended up sleeping on the floor with around 20 other missionaries.

Our original plan was to leave on wednesday morning so that we could catch the conference in lyon on thursday. So we hadn't broughten suits or study materials with us. Since we were trapped in Bdx we decieded to go to the conference which required us to borrow other Elders suits, neither of which fit very well. The conference was really great though and the rest of the day was spent trying to figure out a solution to our problem. 

Because the office had a spare key to the car they decided that they would mail it to us using overnight shipping. This meant that we spent another night in bdx and around 10:30 the next morning we got the key. By the way Elder Bleaks final destination was Toulouse. He was supposed to be meeting his new companions at the conference and then going back with them on the train. However, since all his bags were in our car and because they hadn't yet bought him a ticket he ended up staying with us a little longer and then on thursday we dropped him off in Toulouse which btw added about 2.5 hours to the already 6.5 hour road trip. 

We ended up getting back to lyon around 7:30. Unfourtunately unlike the car key, the office hadn't yet aqquired spare keys to our apt. So we stayed the night in lyon. The next morning the office gave us some numbers for locksmiths in the area and we headed up to Villefranche. Unfourtunately by this point our phone had died and we were unable to call to set up an appointment. We ended up passing by a members house and they let us use their phone to get ahold of a locksmith. We then met him at the apt and he broke in and then changed the lock for us. We finally made it back into our apt late friday afternoon. 

Unfourtunately, in part due to us being gone the whole week and in part to some concerns on her part, Danièles baptism ended up falling through. We're not sure if she will be baptized this week or not. We have faith that she will be baptized, it just might take more time then we had originally thought. 

Anyway this past week was crazy. We're hoping things go a little better this week. Please keep Danièle in your prayers for us. I love you and will see you soon!

Elder Swenson

October 27, 2014

Bonjour

This past week was kinda rough due to dropping a few amis that we were excited about. The good news though is that all is looking well for our ami Danielle and so she will be getting baptized this week.

This past week i did an exchange and we held district meeting in St Etienne. It was great going back and seeing it again after over a year. I have always enjoyed going back to past areas and it is fun to see what has changed and what has stayed the same.

I feel like this week will go by pretty fast. Tomorrow we will actually be driving clear over to Bordeaux because there is a new missionary arriving and due to the office and everyone being busy with the zone conference he will need someone with a car to drive him over there. I knew i had another trip accross the country in me before the end of my mission. We will be driving over there, spending the night, and then heading right back wednesday morning. I believe it should be around 5 hours each way.

This thursday Elder Kearon of the seventy will be visiting us for a conference so it should be great. I feel like we've been having quite a few visitors to the mission lately with Elder Andersen, Elder Ballard, and now Elder Kearon. I really like Elder Kearon so i'm excited to hear from him again. The good news is that since we live here close to lyon we wont have lots of travel and wont have to deal with sleeping on the floor of another elders appartment.

Friday should be the only normal day that we have and then on saturday there is a big geneology activity going on and after that of course will be the baptism. 

Things are going well and I feel like the next time i blink the mission will be over. The best news of all is that i only have to write one more of these emails before i come home. I always struggle knowing what to say. Love ya

Elder Swenson

October 20, 2014

Hey everyone,

Things have been going well here. Our amis are doing well. Danielle is progressing very well and will be baptized here in 2 weeks. We've also met some other really cool people lately. One is a 19 year old kid who invited us to come teach him at his house. His mom and sister were there as well and we were able to teach them the restoration and leave them with a few copies of the book of mormon. They were very touched by the message and invited us back this week to come eat with them and teach the plan of salvation. I really like it in the villefranche area because alot of the people there haven't had much contact with the missionaries and so they seem to be more curious and willing to talk with us. 

This past week we were also able to do some service for members in the ward. We planted trees at the stake presidents house and were able to give 3 blessings to various members. All three of the people we blessed had long names that were neither english or french and so we had a fun time attempting to pronounce those. 

Yesterday there was this big meeting in lyon for all of the young adults. It was crazy seeing members from all of the areas that i served throughout my mission as well as some of the returned french missionaries who served in this mission. My mind was litterally flooded with memories of my whole mission. At times it seems like i haven't been here all that long but at other times i realize just how much i've done and how many people i've met these past 2 years. I had this same feeling as well when we were at the stake presidents house earlier this week and they were talking about various members throughout france and i knew them all. I guess that's just how it is when you've served in 9 different areas. 

I really love the mission and am glad that i've had the chance to meet all of these people and make all of these friendships. Looking back and remembering all of these people makes me wish that i didn't have to leave so soon. I'm so glad that i was called to serve here!

I love you all!

Elder Swenson

September 29, 2014

Hey everyone,

This past week was good. So I am staying in villefranche with Elder Walker for my last transfer. I'm still getting a hang on things here as it is a newly opened equipe as of 3 transfers so we don't really have any old amis to work with. We've just been doing alot of finding but we do have one super awesome ami who we committed to baptism this week. She is super prepared and excited for her baptism which will be nov 1 if all goes well. She is one of the most prepared amis ever. She has good connections with the members and she even plays motab quietly in the back ground of our rdvs. The only difficulty with her is that she has to look after her very old and sick mother who lives with her and because Villefranche is like 30 minutes away from Lyon, she has a hard time coming for all of church because she cant leave her mother for a long time without having someone look after her. But she came to church this week and was so excited about her baptism that she was telling everybody when it would be. Keep her in your prayers!

Any way even though we're staying together it is still transfer day and in order to help people out with trains, emails gets cut short again. sorry. love ya

Elder Swenson

September 22, 2014

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the lack of emails the last few weeks. I actually dont have much time today either but i will do my best to fill this up somewhat with the half hour i have for emails today. First things first I am no longer in brive but am now in Lyon due to another unexpected emergency transfer. Well I'm actually in a little town just outside of lyon called Ville Franche but serving in one of the lyon wards. We have a car so we drive about a half hour to get to lyon for church on sundays. I promise it wasn't my fault but something on the other end:) President called my on friday afternoon and i was on a train all day Saturday. My new comp is elder Walker. He is in his first transfer. Real transfer calls are this week and i imagine that there wont be any changes but you never know. 

So the last Pday of every transfer President invites all of the lyon missionaries over to his house to play in the back yard and eat lunch. There are quite a few missionaries here due to there being 4 wards. It was fun getting to see everyone. We played petanque (a popular french game where you try to throw metal balls close to a small one on the ground and who ever is closest to the little ball wins). It was fun because my team beat presidents team and he never loses at anything.

This past week in Brive was good. Although actually most of it was held out side of brive. We went to lyon earlier this week to do elder ottesens legality which took up all of monday and tuesday. Wednesday we actually had time to work and met some really cool people. Thursday we had district meeting in brive and immediately after I headed to bordeaux for an exchange. We headed back to brive on friday and i recieved the call from president while i was on the train. The rest of the day we had a few rdvs and then passed a few members to say goodbye. All saturday was spent at trainstations or on trains and we got in to lyon at 10:30. We just went to the closest elder apt to the gare and slept there. We headed to church the next morning and finally sunday afternoon i made it to our apt in ville franche. The good news about brive though is even though we didnt get much time to work we met a good number of new people and were able to set up plenty of new rdvs for this week. I was sad to leave Brive but I am also excited to be in a new area for the last few weeks. Especially one in lyon which means i wont have to be on trains all the time now like i did in brive due to all the the exchanges and conferences being in different villes.

Any way my time is up so I'm gunna have to cut this short. Sorry. Have a good week! Love you

Elder Swenson