Adam's Letter, Sept, 19, 2016 - Less active lessons and pumping up members

Hey mom and dad and family!

Love you guys!

So yes, I am staying in Compiegne, sorry for some reason that email
didn't make it or something, maybe I was just pressed for time, but I
am staying, I finish here, and Elder Burgoyne is still with me. It has
been good. We're starting off this transfer pretty strong. :)

Man today a lot of people contacted me telling me about home, how much
time left it was and all, and I was just like, "WHOA." Haha it was
weird. And the mission sent me my airplane information. So it kind of
makes me sad. I'm a little bit in denial. But, actually, I take that
back--i'm not. No reason to be. Just a lot of mixed feelings, you
know? I am, of course, happy I get to see you guys soon. It'll be
great. Haha. I'm keeping my focus on, though.

This week was really good. We didn't get a ton of rendez-vous with
investigators, but we did with members and less actives. We are
working on pumping up the ward about missionary work. And that is
going pretty well! Slowly but surely! And fairly quickly even,
sometimes! Last week, Sister Gaydu testified about the lesson where
she was there with us. This week, yesterday, Bishop testified about
the power  of missionary work, and how it's an act of faith,  and
things like that. And so that was nice to hear. He even directly
invited the members, saying, "I want you to  spend more time with the
missionaries." :) So that was  awesome. We hope to  keep this momentum
going.  I love the Lord and am grateful for Him.

A couple highlights from the week:

1.Tuesday -- We went to Soissons and visited a member who lives in
soissons, the only active one, and he talked to us about some tips for
how to teach our Muslim investigator. That was cool. Then we were able
to visit with a less-active, elderly sister in the same building. She
seemed to really open up. We tried to express to her how much love the
Savior had for her, and how He wanted her back. And so she said,
"Yeah, okay, I'll talk to that member," and accepted to come to
church. We also left her with a Book of Mormon. She'd been bitter for
so long about the branch in Soissons being closed 7 or 8 years ago,
and so we explained that maybe it was time to forgive.

2. Noyon Night -- Wednesday -- we went to visit Elizabeth in Noyon
with the bishop, and there, we were able to do some less-active
finding, and also the visit with Elizabeth went great! Turns out she
was able to get everything she needed for her visa, so thanks for the
prayers guys! Non-member friends helped her out so pretty cool stuff.
She's doing great, which was a huge relief, because for two or three
weeks, we couldn't get ahold of her by phone. We then went to the
bishop's house afterward, and so enjoyed a good hour or more of
driving time with him round trip. That was fun. :)

3. We visited with Seye about he Priesthood. He's great, warm guy,
that's always fun.

4. Visited with the Requillard family, at last!! Went to their house,
had a good dinner, got to eat some salmon, that was good. And taught a
little lesson to their little 8 year old boy. Was a sweet moment,
looking back, because I seem to recall a French elder with a very
strong accent coming to visit me when I was 7 or 8 and preparing fo
rmy baptism inUtah. So it was a sweet little reversal of roles there.
Also got to see some horses and kick a soccer ball around with them a
little bit. :)

5. Saturdayy--Beauvais day! Had a great experience being guided
directly to one door by the Spirit. He said he was Catholic and not
active in his church, but  he still took a card, and I really just let
it loose and testified about how we're here to open the doors of the
Atonement to people. Man it was awesome. Read something called the
Donaldson papers which is really good, recommend it for all other
missionaries serving.

6. Visited the Gaydu family. Great as always. The ward just seems to
be drowning us in food and member love. :D they sent us home with a
bag of food.

7. Sunday--had a great, spiritual sacrament meeting. It was one of
those times when the Spirit just tells you volumes, and you're just
soaking it up, and it's answering a lot of your personal questions. Icried several times during it. It was a beautiful experience. I
testify that efforts in being more spiritual are worth it, guys.
Heavenly Father wants to hear from you.

Plus, at the end of church, for the last hour, Ariel and Monica came,
and that was AMAZING! I hadn't expected that at all!! We weren't even
sure our appointment was going to be good for that night! But they
came, it had been MONTHS, boy it was just beautiful! And I want to
testify to you that Heavenly Father sees every little family that
exists, who is in contact with this church, and He wants them to go to
the temple. We were able to visit them last night and set a baptismal
date for Ariel.  Please pray for him folks!  We set it for the
weekend  after conference, so we really need him to progress.

Anyways, that's our week... Full of miracles and spiritual
impressions. I loved it. I'm going to finish out well, going to keep
my presence here. That is important, because the Lord and the people
need me here. But I will adjust mentally enough as well so that when
I come home, I will be present there, too.

Let it be a glorious end. :)
"If we fail, we fail with glory..."

God speed the right!
God speed the right.

Elder Edwards

P.S. Mom and dad, when do I need to start registering for classes?
Sorry to ask so many questions. Thanks for everything guys. Love you!