Heavenly Prescriptions

fly air Canada and all your dreams will come 

true (we spend too much time at the airport haha) 

On Sunday we had a mangez-vous with some members, and they are famous among missionaries for making beignets and stuffing us full. Well, I ate 16 of them, and it really hurt. 

Hello loved ones! If you thought that my weeks couldn't get anymore interesting, then you are sorely mistaken. Everyday is just a big surprise waiting for me to open it, and if I dont open it, the surprise just jumps out and scares me haha. I hope that was some good imagery. En tout cas, we went on a moving trip this week, so you can be sure that we had some good experiences, and theres a weird exodus happening right now too, so thats not fun. Overall, I was (and still am) pretty sick this week, but I didn't think anything of it until we were 550 kilometers away from home. 

R&R with the Metcalfe 

We drove to Toulouse. Its a pretty far ways away, but Toulouse was the only zone that I've never spent a large amount of time in. Other than that, I have been to almost every sector in our mission, and the opportunities we've had to travel around the south of France, AKA one of the most beautiful places on earth, have been such a blessing. We went to Toulouse, this time to furnish a new apartment! When we got there, we realized that we didn't bring the keys for this apartment, and the elders there had no idea where their copy was. Seeing as it was also a holiday on Monday, the poste was closed. Oh France... So we took the elders to a fun dinner and planned what the heck we could do all of the next day, since we couldnt do what we were planning on. Well, while we were thinking, Soeur Mahaffey called and said that (because there was basically a mini transfer between 5 equipes of missionaries), some from Lyon were coming down close to us and were bringing the keys! So the next day, we swung by a place called Tarbes to pick up a new bookshelf, and guess who was there? Elder Brown! My second comp ever haha. We werent there very long, but then we left to Perpignan to pick up the keys. By the time we got there, we had been driving for about 5 hours. I couldnt drive because I was so sick, so Elder Wiberg took the wheel all day while I tried to not die. We got the keys and returned to Toulouse, where we spent the next couple hours putting on our best interior designer goggles to try to make the new apartment match and look nice. 

dinner in Toulouse

My condition wasnt much better the next day, and because I didn't have a voice and felt like a sack of tomatoes (emphasis on toes), everyone knew I was sick. So while we were setting up all the IKEA furniture, we got a call from Elder Mahaffey, who had called President who had then prayed and later told us that he instantly recieved revelation that we were not supposed to drive home that night (like we had planned), and that the Lord had prescribed a dose of rest and relaxation. We were instructed to drive to Beziers where the senior couple there (the Metcalf's), would give us dinner, let us sleep as long as we needed, and feed us breakfast in the morning. We couldn't argue with that, so we went and did as the Lord had commanded us! It was just what I needed, and it helped a lot. 

We came back to Lyon, and on the way we were called by President, letting me know that at the end of this transfer, I will be leaving the office, and from today on, I will be training my replacement, Elder Johnson! Wow!! That was a shocker! 

Christelle!!! 

We also got to see an ami. Do any of you remember Christelle, one of my first ami's ever on my mission? She moved to New York, but is visiting Lyon and we got to see her yesterday and have a gospel discussion! It was SOOOO cool to be able to meet up again and testify to her, and tell her that if she has even a tiny grain of faith that this church is true, she needs to pray and take steps towards baptism! It was just such an amazing tender mercy! It's cool how connecting with someone by the gospel creates lifelong friendships. It was just what the doctor ordered. 

We had a lot to do back in the office. Work really piles up when you are gone, but even more than that, we were told that we would be taking 3 more missionaries home this weekend. Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning consecutively. The first one was this morning, and last night we had the opportunity to give him a blessing. I was asked to give it, and it was so cool to feel the Spirit speak through me. Especially last night, the words that I was supposed to say just came so clearly to me, letting him know of the love Heavenly Father has for him, and the blessings he will get as he keeps moving forward with faith. It was his blessing, but it was a blessing for me as well. I have a testimony of God's love for ALL of his children, all of His missionaries. It is hard to leave early from a mission, especially knowing that people on the other side might not be accepting or understanding. My plea to all of you is to just love these people. They need love and support as they work through their trials, use the atonement or try to be healed from plaguing illnesses. The Lord is so proud of them and their work and their faith. So am I. 

Elder Brown!!

That was our week! Don't worry about me, I think I am starting to get better! It helps when you have some earthly as well as heavenly prescriptions to boost your imune system. Thank you for your constant prayers on behalf of missionaries everywhere! I love you all! 

Avec amour (mais pas des bisous parce que je suis malade...)

Elder Hall