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