Bonjour tout le monde! Pleasantries from France :) Its still nice over here, although its pouring rain right now and has been for a couple days, but I like rain so ca va. I heard everything at home is going great and that the Area Conference from Elder Ballard was tres bien! It was 9/11 this week so Im sure that everyone over there was being patriotic but it was weird here because it was just another day, but we remembered before we went to bed and said the pledge of allegiance. Let me just start this off with my second week noticings of France.
First of all, whoever told me that there are no kids in France was sorely mistaken! There are obviously not as many here as there are in murica but there are always ladies pushing their kids in strollers and the little parks have kids in them usually and also there are always children running around the church and I usually dont even know where they came from haha And then there were dogs. So many dogs. They just do their business on the sidewalks and keep on going! People will bring them on the buses and stuff and they are all so small and shaky and pathetic looking haha But I like them because I love dogs so its fun to see both children and pooches. Sometimes when were walking down the streets I will just realize that Im in France and get super happy haha I really do love it here!
Our ward is amazing! We had 3 mange-vous this week, which are just dinners and a lesson, but the food is great! We got tacos one night, a french cheesy potato thing another, and at an African couples house they gave us fried bananas, plantaines (which I accidentally called placentas), these awesome sauces, chicken, and plums and we ate it with our hands. The sister just kept piling a ton onto my plate and I ate it all. It went right through me haha But it was delicious! The members help us so much in our work as well! They will come visit amis with us and fellowship them at church. Its exactly how member missionary work should be.
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me eating a millefeuille (good luck pronouncing that)
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I had my first patisserie this week and mmmmm it was delicious! Ill send a pic of me with it haha And then on the opposite end of the spectrum, our zone is doing a pushup contest for a week and it started on Friday, and since then Ive done 650 pushups. I hurt yesterday. I couldnt move my arms haha but I am way strong now so its all good! ;)
K, lets talk missionary work! So last monday, just a couple hours after I emailed you, an amazing experience happened! We were texted out of the blue to meet with one of our amis, Hana, and she said her mom was coming too. So we met with them, taught them the Restoration, and the Spirit was super strong. Then right before we were going to end, the mom, Sonya, said "I want to come closer to Christ. Can I be baptized?" :O It was so cool! We set a baptismal date for the 3 of October, and then this week she moved into another sector so some other missionaries in our zone are teaching her. Weve handed off 3 of our amis this week to other equips (companionships) but its ok because as long as they are coming closer to Christ it doesnt matter who teaches them!
I set a mission long goal to "feed 5000" like Christ did, but do it by having conversations with random people, plant a seed of faith and trust, and give them spiritual nourishment or just a little love. Its helping me go outside of my comfort zone way more and I know Heavenly Father is putting people in my path to talk to!
We had a Zone Training this week on being exactly obedient and it was great to learn more about how I can improve as a missionary! They said that the key to missionary work is work, and if we are working hard, we wont have time or energy to be disobedient. Missionary work is hard but its so rewarding! God blesses us when we are obedient, when we serve others, when we love our neighbors! He does! My companion is such a great example of this! He always wants to be obedient, work hard and be a great missionary. I love getting to serve with him! 1 Nephi 3:6-7 talks about being favored of the Lord because Nephi didnt murmur. While both he and his brothers went and did, the difference is that Nephi went and did with a good attitude, having faith in God. This week I want to allez-vous you all to try and be more obedient to the commandments of God and the council of our prophets and apostles, and do it with happiness! I promise that you will be blessed as you do so, and you will see the hand of the Lord in your lives!
I love you all so much!
Je vous aime!
Elder Hall
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