Hey guys! So this week went pretty well. Life has been good.
We had a fairly busy week and I spent a fair amount of time growing
spiritually (sometimes that happens against our will haha) and being
outside of my area. So it was kind of fun.
The highlight experiences were our zone conference (whew I don't have
too many left now), our exchange with Elder Fonua in Meaux (way east
in the Paris area so basically southeast of us), and our Finding Day,
the first one I've hosted in Compiegne. Zone conference was great, we
were uplifted and taught a lot of really good things, for example how
to use the Book of Mormon in street contacting and teaching, also how
to involve ward and stake leaders in missionary work, and how to plan
effectively on the transfer level. There you go! So those are the main
events, this week was good for the most part, still kind of hard, but
no complaints. It's just when you have days that are long and you
don't have any appointments, you know? That's what makes it hard, in
part. But thankfully we were able to visit quite a few people this
week, so that was good! Lots of spiritual growth, lot of joy, I have
really enjoyed getting the inspiring emails from you all, and Brother
Hughes has uplifted me quite a bit his last couple emails, even more
than usual, so it's been great.
All right, now let's go through a few more of the day by day events, shall we?
Monday, we did emails and shopped and did a bit of contacting.
Tuesday, like I said, a pretty empty day as far as appointments go,
just walked around and contacted. ALSO had a great ray of
sunshine--DMP meeting with Francois!! Oh man I love that guy. So cool.
So tranquil. Doesn't let anything bother me and he's definitely got a
good idea of what missionary is, he's definitely one of the better
DMPs I've had out here.
Wednesday was a SWEET zone conference. Got to see a bunch of my
missionary friends. Obviously, there are those I see on a weekly
basis, like Elder Kaonohi, the people in my district, but I don't see
most people in my zone very often. So it's always cool to see them.
Got to give some advice to a newer elder named Elder Asato, he's a
really cool guy and reminded me quite a bit of Kogan actually. Very
logical guy, needs really concrete actions, it was cool. You could
kind of see, he had some of that "new missionary" haze and
he seemed
pretty down so I hope I helped him feel happier a little bit. Also got
to see other people I know, like I know everybody in the zone, I've
been here for seven months so yeah. :D haha I talked with President
for a second while we were eating pizza for lunch, and I was like,
"Yeah, you know it's cool, I've been here so long I know everyone!" It
really is kind of cool. I feel like I'd kind of be out of my element
if I got transferred out now. If I end up finishing here, I'll have
done a solid year in one zone so we'll just have to see how it plays
out huh?
Thursday, we finished our exchange, I got to contact around Disneyland
Paris [Mom comment -- that's pretty cool!!] and also a big mall not too far from there called "Val d'Europe"
and it's pretty dang big. Like it has its own train stop. O.O It was
fun. Also had a good Ward Council, got to chill with all the peeps
from the ward, like Brother and Sister LeBras, Bishop Joly, Francois
Joly (DMP or ward mission leader), and Momma Joly, and Brother and
Sister Judas. Solid members. Things run a bit slower and a bit
differently here than what I've been used to in the recent past, but
it's still good. Right now, I'm just cranking out a solid vision I can
have for our ward and area so I can just take the plow and PUSH. We're
the workhorses, we will push. And we will not give up. The missionary
work of a ward depends enormously on the missionaries and whether they
have a vision, whether they have the Spirit, whether they work hard,
,etc. There must be a well-tuned communication between missionaries
and members, and between the spirit as well. No failure must stop us
from charging or from doing our work. So, living up to this, I have my
work to do this week.
Friday, we did some stuff. ? Can't remember
Saturday we had a our SWEET finding day. Only seven people were
involved; we announced it last-minute to our members Sunday (whoops
our mistake) and so only three could make it out; also there have been
a lot of train worker strikes in France, like for a long time, several
weeks, so trains made it so four of our crew of eight missionaries
couldn't make it out, so us and Meaux trucked it and we had some
really good experiences with our members. Frere Francois, of course,
and Frere Judah (brother of my bishop in Nogent--who would have
thought!! I know like their whole family now haha), and Frere
Requillard. We had four great contacts with Frere Requillard, me and
him in the morning, (boy that guy's a beast!!!), street contacting in
a little town called Lacroix St. Ouen, gave a really kind lady a Book
of Mormon, prayed with her, then had some more really good experiences
going door to door in the afternoon with Frere Judah and Elder Fonua.
Talked to one lady for like 30 minutes at least! Literally! Maybe an
hour! Frere Judah taught me a lot. It was insane how ready he was just
to get right back into it, he served his mission like 7 or 8 years
ago, and he just jumped in, starting the first door, I was like,
"Dang, all right, go for it man!" Literally talked forever. About
anything. He told us that whenever anybody says no, you should at
least try again, like ask a second, unrelated question, such as, "Hey,
I've never seen a dog like that before, what breed is he?" Or "Wow,
your shirt says 'Boulanger,' do you like making bread?" So yeah. Haha
the second door was this weird looking dude who was just like, "No,
I'm not interested in your stuff" :D hahaha it cracks me up sometimes.
Anyway, long story short, got to go contacting a bit with Elder Fonua
after a few more doors (with Frere Judah for two hours or so). It was
a big motivation booster, because me and Fonua talked about getting
more fire for missionary work, and Compiegne has snuffed out a lot of
mine. But I can get it back, will take working out more seriously,
will try and lose some of this face and belly fat, get back into the
swing of things. Sometimes I forget to really try and talk to as many
people as possible, and have joy doing it, and testify, and that's
something I ought to continually remember. Every day, a missionary
should have a sense of joy about what he's doing.
Sunday was a good ol' day, no amis at church but still good. It was
actually the Western European Area Conference, so that was really
cool. Got to watch it in English with a few other members. Also got to
visit Ariel and Monica, the Mexican part member family, went by with
one of the Relief Society sisters who speaks both English and Spanish
so that was good. We're hoping to get lots of member friends set up
for them.
Today, we're just chillin at the church, I'm just loving my family and
my friends. Hope you guys are all doing great. :) I learn so much
every day. Lord is helping me understand how important it is to become
a man, to learn how to do everything necessary to become independent
and stand on my own two feet as much as it is possible, and I like it.
The Lord is really helping me grow up.
We have the most fun and are the happiest when we are ourselves, but
focused on serving others.
Love you guys!
Have a great week.
Looooooveee you family!
Elder Edwards
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