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Rue de l’Abondance
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From the Institute on Pessac Square, this is the 63rd weekly, weekly email of Elder Hall. (I hope most of you got that) If you love chocolate and hearing God speak to us through living prophets, then chances are you'll enjoy the following email. Personally, I love those things, and so that's why I liked this past week so much. A lot of great and random things happened, and if anything negative happened I can't remember it so that's nice! Well, without further ado, (whatever that means)...
After doing emails last week, Elder Steadman and I got to go to a super great restaurant with 2 Americans, Jeff and Paul. They were over here teaching for a week and Jeff is a member, but Paul isn't. We translated for them at church and they wanted to take us to dinner, so we went to Entrecôte (the same place we went with the senior couples on my first transfer in the office). SOOO good! We got to talk about our missions and the gospel, and Paul was very struck by what we are doing, and was impressed by our convictions and standards. We left him with a Retab brochure because he already had a Book of Mormon at home! It was great and reminded me what Americans are like (very loud yet sincere :))
We went to do service for our DMP with our ami Jordan on Tuesday in his garden. Here in France they have big community gardens (which I always thought were gypsy camps lol) but we went and plowed and weeded and harvested and it was actually so fun! I realized I have always taken doing garden work for granted and it felt like home haha. I wouldn't say I'm a real cowboy but I do better appreciate how my dad helped me to become a good outside hard worker!
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our exchange in clown clothes
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We also got to go on an exchange with the assistants! We flew back to Lyon and they picked us up. I got to be with Elder Wade! I love him so much haha it was so fun, and very unexpected because we were planning on going to do service by helping some members friends move, and what was supposed to be a 2 hour service lasted 12 hours haha. Luckily elder Steadman and I were both moving elders so they had the right equipe there to help! The people were super nice and it was fun working with the assistants. Also, at one point elder wade, elder battezatto (the Italian driver for the assistants) and I went to teach an ami of theirs. We didn't have any Sunday clothes with us and we were pressed so we asked the Ecully elders to bring us clothes to the church. They brought me the fattest, ugliest outfit ever and the ami thought I was a clown haha. Anyway, that was great, and just spending time with elder wade was the best part.
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P day with the Bordeaux kids
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I also went on another exchange, but not a real one... Elder Steadman and the sisters and I were in a store called Casino doing some dinner shopping for General Conference, and there is always a stand at the front of Casino that has chocolate. This time, there was a woman working and giving out samples, so of course I made my way to there immediately. We talked and ate chocolate and went on our merry way. About 5 minutes later we passed by on our way to checkout and she stopped me and a sister named Soeur Filbrandt and told us that some people thought we were TJs (jehovas witness) and she told them we weren't and stood up for us. She went on to tell us that there are so many churches that interpret the Bible in so many ways that she doesn't think any of them are correct. So we looked at each other and got a Book of Mormon from our companions and a card. She took the card but said she couldn't take the book since she was working. We told her we understood, but then she was like "maybe I'll just hide it in the stand". So she opened this small door at the back of the stand the put the book in her bag there super sneakily. It was so awesome haha. I'm praying that she reads it and gets baptized. And that, my friends, is the converging power of chocolate.
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fountain
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General conference was so amazing! We got to watch 4 of the 5 sessions, and in English. There was a separate room for the English speakers. Wow, it was just so powerful! The talks were all so simple, and focused on such simple principles of the gospel. I love listening, taking notes and being recharged. I always feel like that after general conference, recharged and ready to get back out and share what we know with the world! Some of the talks that really touched me were Elder Uchtdorfs talk in Priesthood session, Elder Nelsons about joy, Elder Oaks about member missionary work, and Kahuziko Yamashita who said "Be ambitious for Christ!", but there were a lot of others that touched me as well. Hearing the words of the prophet and apostles is amazing, and it's only in our church that we can! During conference as I was thinking about the gospel, the fact that we have prophets and scripture and the same organization as Christs original church, I wrote this down: Our church has everything! It just makes sense, it is just true. Looking back, it's a simple testimony but it's what the spirit whispered to me. And en plus, I believe it 100%! The leaders of the church are inspired, God once again speaks to His children here on earth, and we have the opportunity to listen! I don't have a lot more time but that is my testimony and my challenge (because I'm a missionary) is for you all to reread Elder Oak's talk and really pay attention to the last 7 points.
I love you all! Thanks for your prayers, your examples and your continued love and obedience to our Savior Jesus Christ and our loving Heavenly Father! Have a great week! Happy October!
Avec amour,
Elder Hall
(Any reproduction or copying of this without written consent is prohibited 😉😁)
Your Favorite Missionary
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