tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37964552325251673642024-03-12T16:19:53.380-07:00Elder Landon Hall - France Lyon MissionJuly 2015 - July 2017Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-64175693573239359972017-06-26T16:18:00.001-07:002017-06-26T16:18:53.992-07:00Ce N'est Qu'un Au Revoir<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="s1">how beautiful are the feet!</span></div>
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It's weird how nothing changes except for our feelings. The days are still full, the people are still there, the work is still moving forward, and yet I have a feeling that everything is ending and it's so weird. TV shows always wrap up storylines, send away characters and include a couple nice musical montages before the finale, and that's what I feel is happening. This past week was great, we talked to quite a few people and had some cool experiences. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to contact Alexandre again... I'm not quite sure what happened to him, but I know someday it will be his time (I feel like a already said this a couple weeks ago haha).</div>
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This week we did service for a member who is kinda interesting. She has a lot of interesting ideas, and she needed help with one of them... so what we did was drive to a construction site, with large buckets and some pasta strainers and shovels and we sifted dirt for 3 hours. We ended up sifting 60 liters of dirt (which is a lot) and the construction workers were just sitting in their little hut watching us. Then we cleaned her floors. Come to think of it, I've cleaned a lot of people's floors here in Geneva!</div>
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<span class="s1">Our 🚂 </span></div>
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Another funny story is that I was on a bus and this little kid in front of me kept looking at me, so I talked to him. Turned out he loves math (he was only 6) so for the next 20 Minutes he quizzed me on multiplication problems, but the embarrassing part is that I haven't done math in such a long time, I got most of them wrong. But to be fair they were like 54 million times three hundred thousand and that's hard! But the lady next to me helped me, and then I was able to talk to her about what I do here. It was cool, because his mom was also curious after that.</div>
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<span class="s1">Pizza!</span></div>
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A couple months ago, I contacted this young man on a bus and talked to him and gave him a card. Well, this week, he found the Spanish sisters and came to the church, saying that he wanted a Book of Mormon because he needs something more in his life and he has felt that this is it. It was cool to talk and testify of repentance and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. And it was cool to see the fruits of a little contact.</div>
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Also this week, we had a couple game nights to invite our potentials to. Only a couple people came, but they were still fun! Lorrane came to one of them, and because her phone was the only one that had a certain app to contact a potential, when he called, she answered. We could tell that she's learned from the missionaries because she this is how she answered, "Hello. We are the members of the church, please come to the church. It's very important. We have a lot for you to eat." Hahahaha we died! She also took us on a fun tourist train ride around the lake after a lesson, but it went by the beach and so we had a good tour of the our train car floor haha.</div>
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<span class="s1">black and white</span></div>
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On Sunday, the sister had the baptism of Mael, the 11 year old boy of the less active mother we found last transfer. I was asked to baptize him, and it was an honor. I found that the baptism pants I bought 2 years ago had become more tight than they were the last time I wore them (2 years ago) haha, but it was an amazing experience as I watched this little boy make such a big step in his life. I was able to watch closely as he emerged from the water and for a moment I saw him being washed clean, being reborn. I am so thankful to my Father in Heaven that I was able to have that experience before I finished my mission.</div>
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<span class="s1">Finally got to baptize</span></div>
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And this is it. In one week I will be a Landon instead of an Elder. I will take off the plaque and loosen the tie, but I will never take off my title as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and I will never loosen my grip on doing the things that have taught me how to love, serve, and teach others. I would like to say that I've changed myself, but all I can say is that God changed me. I understand now the importance, more than ever, of this calling, of this gospel, of my Savior and His Father. These past 2 years have been much more of a blessing for me than for anyone that He has put in my path. I cannot forget the people I've met, I cannot deny the feelings and responses I've received that have come after prayers, or in buses, or in lessons. I know that what I have been doing and saying for the past 2 years is TRUE. JESUS CHRIST LIVES- Through Him, we are SAVED (after all we can do!) JE SUIS UN ENFANT DE DIEU, and so are you! TEMPLES ARE HOLY PLACES, FAMILIES ARE ORDAINED OF GOD TO BE ETERNAL. I know it with all of my being. Even though this is the end, it's really only the beginning, because I now know how to apply this gospel. And I intend to do just that. So, as they say in French, "Ce n'est qu'un au revoir."</div>
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Have a great week. I will see you all soon. *roll credits*</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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</style>Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-25891991992208602602017-06-19T17:50:00.000-07:002017-06-19T17:50:34.905-07:00100<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="s1">2) elder Mendel exchange!</span></div>
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I can't believe that I've been here for 100 weeks. If i had the time I would tell you my top 100 mission experiences, or 100 acts of service I've done, or 100 different times I've eaten chocolate here but instead I'll just tell you how week 100 went. Disclaimer: it went well.</div>
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<span class="s1">mixing our 15 kilo meal</span></div>
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So first off, we had our big multi Zone conference this week. On Monday night, us and the STLs with some other missionaries spent 5 hours preparing lunch for 50 people. We prepared 15 kilos of meat, rice and beans to stuff inside tortillas, we cut 6 watermelons, and made 5 kilos of sauce. My companion cut his hand and threw up, but not in the food, and so it was a successful night haha. The next day we had our Zone conference. I was asked to conduct, and then Elder Hoffmann and I presented on how to help our amis keep commitments to read specific passages in the Book of Mormon. It was good, but short, because there were so many missionaries who had to give their departing testimonies, me included. It's weird because I've watched my whole mission as groups of missionaries give this last testimony and I've stressed about what to say and I never thought I would actually have to do it haha. </div>
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But as I started, I was able to talk a little bit about the other missionaries going home and what they have contributed to this mission, and then give my very simple testimony of the church of Jesus Christ, the restoration and the Book of Mormon. I love how I was able to see my growth even as I was testifying compared to the elder Hall that left 2 years ago. But it was a good conference, one of my favorite ones of my mission. Before I left, President caught me and said, "What this mission will miss about elder hall is his love." And that really touched me. If that's the one thing that I leave here, I will be pleased with my service.</div>
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Also, this week Alexandre texted us and said he was just in Italy on a last minute trip! He said he's still been reading in the Book of Mormon and he was going to come to church but he didn't... that's okay though, because I know that we will see him and he will continue down this path!</div>
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We also had a couple exchanges this week. The first was right after district Meeting, I went with Elder Thompson, who just came off of Ajaccio, so it was so fun to talk about the members and the work since I've left (which has been over a year!) He is a hard worker, and really loves the work, so it was great. We gave a few blessings and then we met up with Elder Hoffmann and Eklund and had a pizza party! Haha</div>
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The second exchange was in Lyon, and I got to go with Elder Mendel, who I came into the mission with. He's from Germany, I have already told you about him, because we are super good friends, but it was so great to spend time with him. On the exchange actually, at one point the assistants had to go pick up a new couple so Elder Hoffmann and I went to the Ecully chapel to clean it, but none of the other missionaries who were supposed to come, came. So we did it all alone, but then all these members that I know from there showed up for a smoothie Father's Day party and I was able to see them and have smoothies! It was so great, and I can't believe that Elder Mendel and I are that old...</div>
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Otherwise, we have an ami. Sayid, from Ethiopia who followed us on a train to an outerville just to see us! He is so cool. We showed him the Hope of Gods light video, and he loved it. He's not sure if he believes in God, so it was great. Then we had a picnic with the Soeurs and Lorrane and Celine. It was so much fun and Lorrane taught us karate so now I'm a black belt! And on Sunday after church, we had a missionary fireside where we played a game that elder Hoffmann and I created about connecting anything to the gospel and to Christ. It was a lot of fun, and I even got to see Elder Brady Haug (Fabian) who came to visit!)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this is a man-don haaha (comme Landon)</td></tr>
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So this week gets 100/100, and I can't wait to see what these next couple of weeks have. I was asked to baptize Maël, the child who's mom is a less active that we found, that the soeurs have been teaching, so that will be this week. I feel so blessed from the Lord during this time. And I'm still trying to give my 100%, as much of it as I can anyways. I know that the Lord carries us when we can't do it ourselves. I can testify of that as I've seen it through my life and my mission. I love you all and thanks for your prayers! Have a great</div>
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week!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-33424953046951247372017-06-12T15:40:00.002-07:002017-06-12T15:40:48.561-07:00Hall monitors<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<span class="s1">"its elementary my dear Hoffmann" </span></div>
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Another week bites the dust Hall monitors. It's getting harder and harder to write emails, but I'll keep trying my best. This week was great! We had an exchange and a fake out exchange haha also, when we were doing our shopping today, there is this guy in Ferney (where we live in France) who always finds us and gives us his spare change because he says he never gives anything for Jesus so he counts it as filling his dues. haha</div>
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So our exchange was with The English elders, and I went with Elder Caramelli! It was a great exchange, and we were able to go to the Wyss' house to help them with family history and eat. There was a giant storm though, so the sisters were late, so we ended up staying there for longer than expected, but we had some other RDVs so it was a good exchange. I love that Tahitian, he is just so sincere and kind. I learn a lot from him after every exchange, and he is the only one that has been here in Geneva as long as I have.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">picnic!</td></tr>
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Elder Hoffmann (whom I lovingly refer to as Elder Collègue 90% of the time) and I went to teach this referral we got from the Spanish elders. His name is Mario, but he was kinda crazy. He reminded me of a chameleon because his eyes were also kinda crazy. But he said he didn't quite agree with some of our doctrine, yet he has never read or prayed about it, so we tried to explain that in order to gain knowledge il faut put in the effort but he didn't want to. Something that I've learned is that everyone has their agency (whether we like it or not). That's one of the most important parts of the Plan our Heavenly Father made for us.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spanish elders = chauffeurs</td></tr>
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And in speaking of that, we invited Alexandre to come eat with us at the Cornetas house (our bishops family), and we didn't answer our calls or texts. We even made cookies to deliver to his house for his family, and for some less actives, and still no answer. I have faith that he will be touched by the spirit at some point, because he is a good man, very in tune with the spirit. Even if his time isn't now, I know it will be at some point. But we will keep praying for him!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">poop pillow party</td></tr>
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On Friday we went to three members houses in a row, the Cornetas, the Muellers, and the Fidalgos. I love all these people! We wanted to bring the fidalgos something so we went to the store and bought them a little emoji poop pillow family 💩. They loved it! They are so hilarious, and I always feel at home when we are with them. And the Muellers are as amazing as always.</div>
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The work is still going well. Geneva is great because there are so many different kinds of people to talk to and teach. I love the feeling of warmth and truth that comes when I testify of the truthfulness of this church and our Savior. I love the boldness that I have acquired in doing this work, that I can testify without any doubt, and speak the words the spirit puts into my mouth. I am not perfect by any means, and if there is anyone that can improve dramatically, I would say that person is me, but I love this calling.</div>
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Thanks for all your prayers and love. Have a great week!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-30049420936953986552017-06-05T14:22:00.000-07:002017-06-12T14:23:11.102-07:00Raining Down Miracles<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEnIHmx6UUKieRYzgHzIrg6P-n9clwFhH3g2lU8_TC3nkkJOCgFnKdIgUkWC6lPA2c7AJnmvLrKa2PeVdj2KLSV_zQ0WAERmaLTWZd0cppvTfcEqgvWeRjDCn8edlq25cgnNeeI8D8SZE/s1600/image4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEnIHmx6UUKieRYzgHzIrg6P-n9clwFhH3g2lU8_TC3nkkJOCgFnKdIgUkWC6lPA2c7AJnmvLrKa2PeVdj2KLSV_zQ0WAERmaLTWZd0cppvTfcEqgvWeRjDCn8edlq25cgnNeeI8D8SZE/s320/image4.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="s1">lying on the grass being missionary models haha</span></div>
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At MLC this past week, President Brown reminded us that now that the temple is dedicated and running, Heavenly Father is ready to pour down His blessings upon us like rain, and I can tell you that if that's the case, this week it was raining cats and dogs! I can't wait to tell you all of the amazing things that have been happening here!</div>
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So, this week started off in Lyon. We were there for my last MLC, which in total makes 11 that I've been to. I've been going to those things since my first transfer in the office... it was a special MLC though, because every one in my group, the 111's, so the missionary's who came in and will go home with me, were all there! There were 30 of us who will all go home at the end of this transfer, and it was so so so great to see them all! It's incredible how fast it has gone, because I remember when we were all sitting there in that same chapel as bleus, waiting to get our trainers. It was such a good conference, we talked about how, now that the temple is finished, what's next? Well, what's next is inviting people to come unto Christ and be baptized. It was so cool to watch as we received revelation as a mission leadership to know that we can engage 170 people to baptism before the end of this transfer. Which leads to the other miracles.</div>
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<span class="s1">My missionaries 111</span></div>
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So, you remember Gustavo, that really cool Venezuelan man we met on Sunday? We had a rdv with him on Thursday and we engaged him to baptism on the 18 of June. He said that he would because he feels like this is truly the path for him. He is so cool, and has so many good questions. He has seen the hand of God in his life, and it shows in his faith. Unfortunately, the spirit told us that he should probably be taught by the Spanish elders so he can better understand, so we passed him to them, even though he said he loves us the best haha. But he came to samedi Sportif and it was a lot of fun!</div>
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And then one of the biggest miracles of my mission. On Wednesday we got a call from a member who was at the church and a random guy showed up. He gave him our number, and we thought we had his right number but it was the wrong one, so we could only pray that he would call. HE DID! He called and we fixed a rdv for Saturday. He showed up and we showed him a little tour of the chapel, he took it all in. We talked about the Plan of Salvation (which was the only pamphlet the member could find to give him) and he had already memorized the kingdoms of glory. He said that he has been looking for Jesus for a long time. His name is Alexandre and he is so so cool! Luckily, there was a baptism at the same time, and we went to show him. He said that he wants that, he wants to be cleansed. The spirit told us to invite him to be baptized on the 18 of June as well, and he accepted! He is honestly one of the most prepared people I've ever met. He asked when we could meet again! Pray for him to continue to prepare!</div>
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<span class="s1">waiting for our ride</span></div>
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We also did a lot of service this week, with members and their friends. We helped Soeur Muller and her friend put up IKEA things, but they are both so stressful in certain situations so it was like trying to work under two little mice who were trying to do everything! Hahaha her friend kept trying to use one of those hand winding flashlights to help and it was giving no light haha. We helped the Benteles do yard work, and it felt so good to do that again! Then we helped the Volpicellis with their friend, who is going to come to FHE soon!</div>
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We also carried a couch through the streets of Ferney Voltaire and everyone thought we were thieves, either that or just Mormons haha.</div>
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That was our week. I feel so blessed to be seeing so many miracles, even as my mission is coming to a close. I can't believe this is happening, but I've had to start facing the facts, even if it makes me feel sick haha. I'm trying my best to do everything I need to to finish strong. I know that I am being carried by angels, whether they are in the form of missionaries, members, amis or strangers, or real angels. I love this work. I love these countries, these people, this calling. I wouldn't trade it for the world, not even when I sit down and immediately fall asleep because I'm so tired haha. This is the work of Salvation, and it is rolling forth, and I am so lucky to have been rolling right along with it!</div>
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I love you all! Thank you for the prayers and thoughts! Have a great Week!</div>
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Love,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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</style>Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-33816507668773927662017-05-29T16:24:00.000-07:002017-06-12T14:14:53.672-07:00La Suisse<div style="text-align: justify;">
We were chez la famille Mueller this week when Soeur Mueller said this quote that I think is pretty true: "Les Suisse ont, a la place des cœurs, les montres et à la place des cerveaux, les portefeuilles." (I'll let you translate that one haha). But this week we did a lot of problem solving, which involved a crashed car, abonnements, and service. Between all of that, we were able to see some really cool miracles, and start off the transfer, as always, on an interesting note!</div>
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A funny story I forgot to tell you all about was a couple weeks ago, a member asked us to come give a blessing to her sick friend at the hospital, so we showed up in the evening and she told us that he's been screaming a lot lately. So we took the elevator up to the floor, and we heard an awful screaming as the door opened. We walked down to the end of the hall and the screaming was so high, like a toddler, I was scared! The member opened the door, and said, "Bonjour, ça va?" All the while he was screaming until she asked if he was okay and then he stopped very suddenly and just said, in a low, normal voice "ca va". Ok, well it's a lot more funny to me than to you... anyway, we sang for him and were able to give him a blessing and he stopped screaming after that.</div>
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We also found this less active family that hasn't been to church in a long time. We were doing passbacks and we decided to go to their apartment. The first thing she said when she opened the door was "Oh, the missionaries, I've been meaning to call you. My son wants to get baptized." It was super cool! We were able to do service for her. The family has some problems, but her son is 11 and he seems to really want to learn more. The sisters are seeing them now, because she's a single woman, but it was cool to find and help a lost sheep!</div>
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We were with the Muellers a lot this week, we did service for them, and met their friend who asked us for service as well! We also helped them with genealogy and a surprise party for Sr. Zahnd! They gave me a really cool Swiss wood chess set that we have put to good use! We also went to the Bentele's, who bought us more than 100 francs worth of sushi! They are so cool, I love them, and their dog is giant. Another family we visit often is the Wyss family, an older couple who we are</div>
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teaching to do family history. They feed us so well and we are trying to get them to invite their friends as well. The Volpicellis are still amazing and we were able to give them a blessing of counsel to know when they should serve a couples mission! Woohoo!</div>
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Saturday was cool, because a member invited us to a Philippine indépendance celebration! We had food and talked with the people and watched their cool dances. I'll send some pictures, but they are so kind and we were kind of like celebrities because we were missionaries and so they wanted pictures with us too!</div>
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On Sunday, a man showed up to church who is from Venezuela, who doesn't speak a lot of French, but wanted to know more. His name is Gustavo. We were able to teach him and give him a blessing, then he came to a returned missionary fireside which he really liked. He said that recently he's been feeling God a lot in his life and he knows that God is trying to tell him something, and he wants to know more because he feels something different at our church. We asked him if he wanted to go to the Spanish ward but he said no, he wants to learn French and he also made some friends in ours! We are seeing him again this week and will engage him to baptism. (Funny thing is that I've been speaking a lot in Spanish, so people now think I speak a lot more than I actually do, and my French is at an all time high, so I feel so good about the overall sounds my mouth makes).</div>
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I've been reading in the Book of Mormon, where Christ came to visit the nephites, and it's such a powerful passage of scripture. I love how He taught them, then he left them to practice what he taught for a little bit, then he returned to help them more. One of my favorite parts is when He prays for them. I has never occurred to me that Christ prays on our behalf to the Father, but the spirit taught me as I was reading that it's a part of the Atonement, that He would be our mediator, even in prayers. It was pretty cool.</div>
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Anyway, have a great week! I love you all! The church is true!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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</style>Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-68529223716264026242017-05-22T18:38:00.000-07:002017-05-22T18:38:19.099-07:00l'Esprit du Dieu Saint<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I spy</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Hoffman </td></tr>
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There are times in life that where we visibly see the love of God for us, and this week was one of those times. So many things happened that I want to tell you about, but the obvious climax of my entire mission happened this past weekend and I think that that's probably the most important thing to explain. Also, you should know that I received my last real transfer calls on Friday, and the news (another tender mercy) is that I will stay here in Geneva to finish my mission with Elder Hoffman! I am so excited to work as hard as I physically can and finish off strong in a sector and with a collègue that I love.</div>
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I was able to go on an exchange this week in the Spanish sector with Elder Gottscheck. It was a lot of fun, and I prayed a lot in Spanish haha. We also were stuffed to the brim with delicious Spanish food. Also, because I was practicing all day, my Spanish even improved a little and I could communicate, but interestingly enough, our day was full of RDVs and we taught in English, French and Spanish. I loved spending a day with elder Gottscheck for the last time. I love that kid!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our tri lingual display</td></tr>
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We were also invited to a lot of members houses, and we helped them find ancestors for the dedication. With one family, an older couple named la famille Wyss, we were able to find an entire tree already done of family members starting from their great grandma that they didn't even know existed!!</div>
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On Friday, in preparation for the temple dedication, we asked all the missionaries in Geneva to come to the church and clean it really well so that it would be perfect to act as a temple during the consecration, and we dusted, scraped, vacuumed, mopped, wiped, scrubbed, and organized. Afterwards we felt so proud of the work and the building felt better. I know that all of us were blessed by the small part we did in helping prepare for the dedication.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cleaning! </td></tr>
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Saturday was a big day because it was the cultural celebration! I was so excited because I have never seen one before, and because all of the youth from every stake in Francophone Europe would be participating. We invited a lot of people to come, and unfortunately not a lot were able to come, but we took our seats with those who did and it started. It was separated into stake, and each stake had prepared a presentation about their specific area of France, their history and culture, and they presented it through song and dance. It was so so so so cool to watch all of the areas where I have been blessed to either serve or travel through and see be represented. And not only was that good, but the best part was seeing all the kids, the youth with whom I have served and loved on my mission. </div>
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I saw some from Lyon, when I was first a blue and learning how to speak French, who patiently helped me. I saw some from when I was an office elder, who laughed with (and at) me, who recognized my presence even when the adults didn't (you know the life of those office elders ;) ). I saw the youth from Bordeaux, who paid an hommage to missionaries and their work in France, and I remembered teaching them and teaching with them, encouraging them and serving side by side with them. I saw the youth from Geneva, who have inspired me, who have lifted me and whom I have been able to share special moments with. We cheered, we sang along, we laughed and we watched as these youth of Zion expressed their heritage, not only of France, but of the church. It was absolutely incredible.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the temple for a day </td></tr>
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On Sunday, we got up early, fasting, put on our best, dry cleaned suits, our cleanest pair of church shoes, and our nicest ties. Two years ago, I never would have thought that I, serving in the south of France, would be able to go to the temple on my mission. However, we drove in reverence with the Spanish elders, we parked our car, we presented our green temple recommendations, and for the first time in a long time, I was able to enter the House of the Lord. Now, of course it wasn't the real temple, but for one day our chapel was set apart as a special branch off of the Paris temple. I sat quietly while the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sung, and then they showed the Celestial room, filled with faithful members who have been waiting for this much longer than I have, but who were filled with as much excitement and anticipation as me. I watched as President Eyring, Elder Anderson and Bishop Causée, servants set apart by the Lord, walked into the room. The Spirit filled my soul as the choir started singing, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw who was singing in the choir. It was members from Bordeaux, and who else but one of my favorite families of all time: THE VENDASSI'S!! I watched them sing and felt so much gratitude for another tender mercy Heavenly Father gave me. </div>
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The talks were inspired, the music was beautiful, all in French (of course) which added to my joy, and when it came time for President Eyring to give the prayer, and dedicate the Paris temple to our Heavenly Father, I prayed to be filled with the spirit as a confirmation that what I have been telling people for the past two years was truly about to be fulfilled. My prayers were answered as I felt an indescribable warmth and love flow from my head to my toes and as I felt this same feeling déverse itself upon the land I have grown to love. France was changed forever in that moment, and so was I. We sang hosanna to the Lord, and at the end, I felt that I was physically there in the temple. It was amazing to feel the spirit so strong. During the prayer, President Eyring asked a special blessing upon all the missionaries, past, present and future, and those they are teaching and the members, so they can invite their friends. It was so touching. It was also incredible to sing "L'Esprit du Dieu Saint" in French with all of the members of francophone Europe. We were able to assist all 3 sessions, I translated the second session from French into English for the English speakers, and Lorrane came to one of them! She loved it, and said it has inspired her to go to the temple. She felt the spirit strongly and loved the prayer.</div>
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I cannot begin to express my joy and love for this experience, which took my entire mission, validated it, and, if I may express this in my own terms, put it into a beautiful musical montage that served as a perfect finale of a great season. 😁Now, rejuvenated and full of power, I plan to make the most out of these next 6 weeks, which I'm sure will go by way too fast, but which will be filled with miracles.</div>
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I love you all, I know this church is the true church of Jesus Christ, and that He truly has given us the greatest gifts of all: families, forgiveness, and the temple. I testify in His name, even our Savior Jesus Christ, amen.</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our paparazzi</td></tr>
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Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-21864076858451350812017-05-15T15:22:00.000-07:002017-05-19T15:23:39.872-07:00Green Temples and Tender Mercies<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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So I don't know if anyone reads these besides the people I already saw yesterday, so if you do you I think you're great haha It was so fun to see my family, although I felt like they aren't real, and it was all just staged because after everything went right back to normal missionary life and it felt like a dream. But anyway, that's life as a missionary! This week was so full of things to do, we hardly even had any RDVs yet we were constantly busy.</div>
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On Tuesday we were trying to fix some things we had forgotten about in the way of stake business that we usually take care of, but we couldn't use the computers because the room in the church was being painted so we had to go to this sketchy part of town and use a cyber cafe to do all that (haha just writing this makes me sound so spoiled haha but seriously who goes to cyber cafes nowadays?) Then we tried to plan for Zone conference, then took a train to Lyon for our exchange with the assistants. We had a great conversation with this evangelist young African on the train, and it made me again thankful for the knowledge I have in this gospel. Then we were crossing a street and a guy stopped us and talked to us for about 45 minutes. He said that whenever he sees the missionaries we are dressed so well, our teeth are so good and we have a light. He was super funny and at the end he said "I don't know how many people thank you for what you do, but I want to be one of the ones that does. Thank you for making the world a better place." That really touched me, because that was the first time a random person has actually said thanks for the work I have been doing for 2 years here. It was a tender mercy.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">exchange with elder underwood</td></tr>
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My exchange was with Elder Underwood, and it was really great! I love doing exchanges with the assistants because I served in their ward for 3 transfers so we can go visit members that I love! We saw Sr. Barachant who is as cute as ever, another Soeur who is my friend, and had a great rdv with their ami who just needed to feel loved. Then we saw The Zinn's! They are the amazing American family whom I just love. It was so fun because all the kids remembered me and we were just able to laugh and laugh haha</div>
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We came back and the next morning we cleaned a ton for our apartment inspection, and the Austin's did it, and the best part were the cookie bars she brought us! We did some shopping for Zone conference food, then we had our interviews with president. It was great to see them, and my interview was good as always, plus I got my recommend for the Paris temple dedication on Sunday! Elder Menzel joined in our équipe for the next couple days, and it was so fun to spend more time with him!</div>
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On Friday we had Zone conference, and it was all about Eternal Marriages and temples. Elder Hoffmann and I gave a "green temple report" talking about how our zone is doing in helping people find ancestors to bring to the Paris temple dedication. We made a big sign with the Paris temple on it made out of the names of the people our zone has helped, and overall we have found 1117 names to do ordinances for! Then we also made little green temples (like the ones on family search but with the Paris temple instead of the salt lake) and hid them everywhere so they had to find them! So fun! Then the Soeur presented about eternal marriage and it was cool to learn and think about, especially since that's (weird to think about) the next stage of my life. EEEEKKK! For lunch Soeur Austin made my favorites: homemade macaroni and cheese and meatballs!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">delicious Italian food</td></tr>
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We also had stake conference this past weekend and it was really good. My favorite part was when the stake president said that sometimes the Spirit gives him "un grand coup de pied dans les fesses spirituelle" hahaha</div>
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So there, a very busy but very good week. Lorrane is still doing well every week! Geneva is warm and I love it!</div>
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This week for our presentation, we read in Luke 15 about the parables Christ gave, when three things were lost and found, we hope much joy the people had when they were finally found. Just like in D&C when we are told that our joy is great when we help bring but 1 soul to Christ, so it is greater when we bring many. I feel that joy as I participate in missionary work for both sides of the veil. I feel the spirit as we teach and testify about temples and families and as I see people change and turn towards Christ. How great has been my joy! I know that this is true and I testify of it!</div>
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I love you all! Have a great week!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-64274540277464437932017-05-09T15:03:00.000-07:002017-05-19T15:08:16.256-07:00Paris Temple Video<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-31186510738180897202017-05-08T15:00:00.000-07:002017-05-19T15:01:23.666-07:00En Bref<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">thug life</td></tr>
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What a week, rainy as ever but luckily I found a nice big umbrella that doubles as a walking cane in our apartment. It's super classy (by missionary standards haha) and so it made a good sidekick. This week we did some stuff. I'll cut to the chase because I'm tired now haha</div>
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We gave some more blessings this week to missionaries and members, and even blessed an apartment for a member who needed it. As always it feels so great to exercise the priesthood and know that I have been entrusted with such a sacred responsibility. I hope to be always ready and worthy to use it. We also were able to do some service for an older Soeur in our ward. She needed us to do some courses for her, but then we had to go back and forth from the same two tram stops for 2 hours because everything kept going wrong...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">waffle party!</span> </td></tr>
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We had a great lesson with Lorrane this week. She is doing super well. She has a lot of great questions and is able to piece a lot of gospel things together. She also has made a kind of commitment to herself to stay with it, seeing as sometimes she tries to leave but then the Spirit makes her not, so she finally said that she will hold to her faith and defend her beliefs. She is integrating well and receiving a lot of blessings. Well, at our rdv we invited Celine (her friend from America who is here as a student) and Sandrina (the bishops daughter who is Portuguese and just got back from her mission) and we taught and talked then we prepared Belgian waffles for them all to get to know each Other! It was super fun and delicious, they are all great! After, Celine didn't have anything to do, so we asked her if she wanted to come do some passbacks with us and she did! We had her first porting experience, we contacted people and did the passbacks. She really enjoyed it and we are hoping that she'll feel the spirit of missionary work and decide to go! She was like our little blue but is a girl haha</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">service with elder Eklund! </td></tr>
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We also had an amazing district Meeting, we talked all about Christ and his connection to the temple. We talk a lot about the temple but sometimes we forget why, but it's true that it's all really about Christ and how we can become like him and learn from Him. Plus the Paris temple is getting so close to being dedicated! I'm so excited!</div>
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I went on an exchange with Elder Eklund, he's in his second transfer and he is such a stud. We were able to visit a ton of members, do some service and has some funny conversations. He's a stud and it's impressive to me how good of a missionary he already is!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">some of the African food we ate</td></tr>
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Then we finished off the week by eating with Suzanne and her family and the soeurs. She made us SOOO much African food and it was so good. She also showed us some funny African pastor who makes inspirational music videos. They are funny people, and I loved being there with them!</div>
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Sorry this isn't super long, but we are doing well! Things here are great, we went on a beautiful hike today and everything is awesome! Keep letting your lights shine and blessing the lives of others!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-41361656347960259062017-05-01T14:39:00.000-07:002017-07-22T08:15:39.965-07:00Soggy Socks and Hot Milk<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's been a rainy, slightly dreary week here, with soggy socks and hot milk. Let me explain, and as always, we can start with the beginning! Well, we will start with the before the beginning beginning. Here in Swiss, after Easter, the stores put all the chocolate on sale for 1/2 off, so I bought a bunch of chocolate, and one of them is a blueberry one and wow, it's wow. Hahaha, also, if you saw a video of us singing in a train with a random mec, ya on our way to Lyon we were standing in the back of the train because there weren't enough seats and there was a ukulele so I started playing, then a couple other missionaries did, then this guy came back and was like "I like to play too" and he pulled out this belt and I thought he was going to kill us, but it was just a ton of harmonicas and a guitar and we just jammed for an hour and a half! It was so so fun!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Curtis!</td></tr>
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Ok, now to this week. It started off with an exchange with the English elders here in Geneva. I was able to go with Elder Curtis, who is from Arizona. He's super funny, and I've known him since the beginning of his mission. We had to go to a doctors appointment for my head, because (I didn't want to say anything until I got a professional opinion so now I can tell you all) we went to get my haircut by Vanessa, our Brazilian ami, and she was cutting it and then was like "you have a mushroom on your head" and her husband, who is a geimocologist (wow I don't know how to spell that) was like "ya, that's going to eat your skin and your hair will fall out" so I fixed a rdv chez the doctor and we went. Fortunately, the doctor looked at it and assured me that it's just a mole hahaha so don't worry!</div>
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Fun fact: mushroom in Mongolian is "moog"</div>
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But then we were able to do some passbacks on our exchange and we contacted some cool people. It was super rainy so not a lot of people wanted to talk, and the hole in my shoe made my socks all wet, but it's okay! Then I lost my contacts because they fell out of my eyes so I was blind for the rest of the exchange, but we got to our RDVs ok. There were some sisters in our zone who needed some blessings, so we were able to help them. They both asked me to give them the blessings, and as always, I love the feeling of letting the spirit speak through me, even if I am nervous. I know that with faith, everything will be okay, and one of them is already free of her problem!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hot milk</td></tr>
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On Wednesday night, we were invited to mutual to talk to the young men about missions. We should them our schedules, the app, we talked about experiences we've had and answered their questions (which were all about the scariest things that have happened to us haha), then we did role plays with them on how to respond to questions and criticisms from friends and strangers. One kid didn't quite know how to respond, so he told us that we cannot disprove him if he's doing push-ups and then proceeded to start doing push-ups hahaha. It was fun to teach them, and it made me realize how much I have learned and grown on my mission, and how I can comfortably talk to people about the gospel now. They were all super excited about the idea of serving a mission, so it was great!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">samedi Sportif ft. Darge! </td></tr>
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On Saturday, Darge (dar-gee) came to samedi Sportif, and played volleyball with us! Then he asked us to help translate for him to buy a bus pass, so we did. He is so great, like a little child, very trusting and humble and willing to learn. We explained a little bit about the word of wisdom when he asked if we wanted some coffee as a thank you for helping him. Then he insisted on taking us to a cafe and that we would all drink hot milk instead! So we went to a cafe, sat down and ordered hot milk hahaha surprisingly it was super delicious and now I'm hooked! He is progressing well and came to church (even though he was supposed to go to the English ward haha). He also told us that in Ethiopia cows wander around like dogs and then come back at night to sleep haha Also, his favorite new food here is cereal, but with cold milk. ;)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">me finding my ancestors haha</td></tr>
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We also have been working on helping people find their ancestors, and even finding our own! I have been finding many of my ancestors, including French ones, who need the ordinances of the gospel! As we have been doing this, it's been so cool to see miracles happen and people's hearts turn towards their fathers, just in time for the temple dedication! I LOVE FAMILY HISTORY! There is really such a cool feeling that comes when we find a member of our family we didn't even know existed. They are so anxiously waiting to be found and to be helped, and it's only us that can help them! I can't wait to go to the temple and be a small part in helping save my family. I feel so close to them. I know that it blesses all those who engage in the work, and so I encourage you all to take some time and find out where you are from! It will bless you so much!</div>
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Have a great week! I love you all! Try some hot milk.</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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</style>Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-42972208621603868812017-04-24T14:30:00.000-07:002017-05-19T14:31:02.325-07:00Ethiopians and Lost in Translation<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOcNr7avhiIyVsp8PwqPpIpIINxu9Xcz0oDYVlYaCI7FtV2H65zl27DqbLLq3seP5H4V_UdSWjRe-xurZ_rc4d7nOA65WOKPatUPEw6eaXS8mL73A1txZowLEz3exkIvkWUKOdHkHbmvk/s1600/image4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOcNr7avhiIyVsp8PwqPpIpIINxu9Xcz0oDYVlYaCI7FtV2H65zl27DqbLLq3seP5H4V_UdSWjRe-xurZ_rc4d7nOA65WOKPatUPEw6eaXS8mL73A1txZowLEz3exkIvkWUKOdHkHbmvk/s320/image4.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">p day on lake Geneva! </td></tr>
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I find myself asking how it's possible that time keeps on passing when I am trying so hard to slow it down! Haha another week flew by... it was a good one! It started off in Lyon and then ended up back in Geneve (c'est normal). The work has slowed down a lot since last transfer, as our ami pool kind of shrunk during vacation time here, but we are trying to find some new people to teach! First, I'll give the rundown on my companion:</div>
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Elder Hoffmann is a super hard worker, he speaks great English and is really funny. Because my way of speaking and my vocabulary is kind of different than other English speakers, I say a lot of stuff that he doesn't know, so then I teach it to him. For example, this week he learned:</div>
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"Howdy buckaroo"</div>
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"Hoity toitty"</div>
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"I'm gunna punch you right in the sucker"</div>
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"Dirty, rotten, good for nothing..."</div>
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And I learned this: "T'es dans un etat d'arrestation. Bouge-plus! Jevais te tirer dessus!" But that's only for extreme cases 😉 hahaha</div>
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Other than that, we get along great and I feel that my French is really improving!</div>
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So, in Lyon we went to MLC, and it was really cool. We talked about a topic that is near and dear to <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<span class="s1">Office elders (I am the grandpa)</span></div>
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my heart. If you know me, you may know why I liked it so much... FAMILY HISTORY!! So our mission goal for this transfer is to help our recent converts, less actives and members find ancestors to print and bring to the Paris Temple dedication (which will conveniently be the last Sunday of this transfer, May 21!) we have already been able to bring 2108 amis to partake of the sacrament last transfer and 30 baptisms as a mission! The Lord is truly pouring out his Spirit on our mission and His Work. It's amazing to watch! And already, I have been blessed to have found ancestors who need ordinances done, and even to find that some of my ancestors are French! Quel bonheur! Hahaha</div>
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Something else that was fun that happened this week was in the genre of contacting. So I was sitting on the bus and this man comes and sits down next to me. I felt that I should talk with him, so we started talking, but in English. He told me he was from Ethiopia, and is new here. We talked about Christ and families and he gave us his number, his name is Darge. Well, we also fixed a rdv and he came to get a tour of the chapel. He likes what we teach and is down to learn more. He even said that he is going to teach us how to make Ethiopian food and he wants to exercise with us at the park. He's super cool! But then, we started meeting all the Ethiopian people in Geneva! We meet 2 more back to back, one was even when we ran into Darge and he was teaching us some words in Amharic (the language) and this other guy was like "I'm from there too!" It's funny how as soon as you find one type of person, you find them all!</div>
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We also did service for the Volpicellis (shrubs have never looked so good), we had 3 giant meals in the course of 8 hours (an African meal, a Mongolian meal, and a Spanish one), and we have had a lot of RDVs with less actives. It's fun to work so much with members!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Geneva Zone!</td></tr>
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Something that I want to share is just the power of the gospel. Thanks to the gospel, I have seen lives change, my own life has changed, I am able to testify of the power of the priesthood, I am able to exercise the power of the priesthood, I feel happiness and reassurance that nothing in this world can bring, and I see the eternal perspective on small problems and small successes, I can love those I serve while serving with love, I can overcome any trials, weaknesses and faults that I am prone to have. I love this gospel and everything it has made of me. I am so lucky to be able to share it with everyone!</div>
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I love you all! Have a super fantastic week!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
<br />Elder Hall<br /><br />Your Favorite Missionary<style type="text/css">
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Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-44260741094909621172017-04-17T19:18:00.000-07:002017-04-18T19:20:05.925-07:00Easter Bells<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="s1">the picture we made for Easter</span></div>
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Joyeuse Pâques tout le monde! I hope you all had such a wonderful Easter weekend! I think I did, haha, it wasn't anything super special but it was okay! I guess the thing that makes it special is that we get to focus on Jesus Christ, so from that perspective, yes, it was very special! Well my first week with a francophone was great! It's funny to serve with someone whose native language isn't English, it leads to a lot of funny "lost in translation" moments, but he speaks really good English so we have a lot of fun. Elder Hoffmann is from Charles-Le-Roi, Belgium and he is basically a Belgian version of Jason hahaha. Honestly all of his motions and even the way he answers the phone reminds me of him! Also in our apartment building, the Spanish elders are both frenchies so I am, for the first time in my mission, the only American, I am the minority!! It's interesting at times when they go off in super French slang I don't know at all so I just sit there like "lol don't judge me" but it's a new experience and I am enjoying it! I asked them about my accent, individually so that they wouldn't be swayed by each other, and they all said that my accent is "cute. Like a little French boy" hahaha oh, ok. </div>
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<span class="s1">atoussa came! </span></div>
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So the transfer started off with an interesting morning. We got a call at around 4:30 am, and it was a sister in our zone who was pretty sick all night and couldn't find anyone to help her. So we called the Spanish elders (who have a car) and asked for help. Elder Gottscheck was like "you need help at 4:30 in the morning?!" So we drove to a little ville called Annecy and Inwas asked to give the blessing. It was cool because I was pretty tired, but I felt the spirit speaking through me, and we left. When we called to see how she was doing a couple days later, she told us that everything I said in the blessing was exactly what she was worrying about and had expressed to her companion the day before. That's a testimony of the power of the priesthood! </div>
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We also had a really cool rdv with Ali and his daughter (who was baptized exactly a year ago) Atoussa, and we really were able to connect with them and talk to them about their spiritual progression. It must have really worked because Ali came to church for all 3 hours for the first time ever as far as I know, and Atoussa (who hasn't been to church since I've been here) came to the ward buffet and was swarmed! It was awesome! </div>
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<span class="s1">We sang in a cart on the train and a guy joined us, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">ill explain it next week haha </span></div>
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We also met with Lorrane, who said that she's felt great all week, super calm and peaceful. It made me so happy to see that the Holy Ghost is already influencing her life! </div>
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Also, a follow up on Rodgers: he kind of told us that he is going to make his own church online and then one day when he has enough followers he will combine it with ours. So that's good for our membership I guess haha ;) </div>
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<span class="s1">me, a rabbit and a chocolate bunny haha</span></div>
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And then one day we were at the gare helping Elder Pesnell and his blue pass through, and there was a big guess how many chocolate eggs are in this box thing so we went to play it and then this lady came up and was like "you can't do that, that's a vice" and we were like "it's just a game" and then she was like "no" so she took a picture of me standing there probably red like a tomato. Haha but it's okay because then I didn't play it because I felt bad! </div>
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But for Easter, we made a picture with a scripture to give to all of our members. I was able to really study the last week of Christ's life and then I taught the lesson in gospel principles about his life. It was amazing how, as we went through the timeline of his time on earth, how the spirit witnessed to us that he truly did walk here, heal here, teach here and suffered and died here, and how, best of all, he was resurrected and LIVED here! I felt so touched by His marvelous life and ministry, and all he did for us. On Easter morning, I heard the traditional French church bells ringing and I realized that, just as he lived and rose, He will come back, and on that day all the bells will ring, sounding his triumph over evil and death, and we will feel the scars in his hands and feet and truly see our Savior. I know it with all my heart! </div>
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I love you all, have a wonderful week! </div>
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Avec amour, </div>
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Elder Hall </div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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</style>Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-8791172666263184682017-04-11T19:30:00.000-07:002017-04-18T19:38:25.209-07:00When You're A Missionary<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtcI9Cj5dDu37hOMJI5qgmhQlfsQrJEj64PXqQf1awHwiCCNyyFZORkXfmdu7PtnZQvVzo4TxmVgfqoazUqX7BMJsdRd33aeBCtZxxo3IAV1zp2o4v4w-uLSs2dhhuFs7SBr5PJtaFos/s1600/image5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtcI9Cj5dDu37hOMJI5qgmhQlfsQrJEj64PXqQf1awHwiCCNyyFZORkXfmdu7PtnZQvVzo4TxmVgfqoazUqX7BMJsdRd33aeBCtZxxo3IAV1zp2o4v4w-uLSs2dhhuFs7SBr5PJtaFos/s320/image5.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="s1">SPRING </span></div>
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Wow. I can't really explain this week, because so many things happened that were all so surprising! I guess on a mission we never really expect anything that happens and that's why it's so darn stressful! But I will get to all that and more, it before I go any further, I'll let you know what's happening with transfers. It was the last week of the transfer so we got our calls, and I will be staying here in Geneva and my new companion is named Elder Hoffmann, he's from Belgium so he's a native French speaker, but his English is great too! I'm excited because it will be my first non American companion, and I guess it's about time. But I was super sad to see Elder Pesnell go. We became such good friends over our 2 transfers together, I learned a lot from him and laughed a lot. Almost everyone in our zone said that we were they funniest équipe of Zone leaders they've ever had, and I think its because we are so weird haha. But he's going to train, so that is super fun!</div>
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<span class="s1">exchange with Elder Van Woerkom</span></div>
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So, my week started off with a last minute exchange with Elder Van Woerkom. His grandparents are actually my neighbors chez moi, but I've served around him for a couple transfers now and he's so fun! He's a great missionary that speaks the language really well. We focused mostly on contacting, how to talk to people, so we were talking to people all day on trams and buses and all those kinds of places. We were able to talk to a lot of cool people, and we were even full with RDVs as well like a mangez vous chez les Cornettas (our bishops family who feed us every week), and Lawson. The thing we learned was that when we really love the people, there is good to see in everyone, and then we can point it out to them, making it easier and more sincere to start a conversation.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_eq2U8gs1-jJ8i5Zfjc_cKipsfsSR6HWOafCBHuniDQcerPREIgF5QOW4Y37dCy6x6WCuRhy3sxZkuKaeHXmlplKMU862eafk4JLkXsU1M7Rpco9hIkNCv6u9QabfsTb1WhwxNTF65-8/s1600/image3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_eq2U8gs1-jJ8i5Zfjc_cKipsfsSR6HWOafCBHuniDQcerPREIgF5QOW4Y37dCy6x6WCuRhy3sxZkuKaeHXmlplKMU862eafk4JLkXsU1M7Rpco9hIkNCv6u9QabfsTb1WhwxNTF65-8/s320/image3.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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We also were able to teach Lorrane the rest of the principles before baptism. We taught with the Austins, they are super! And then on Friday, with elder Pesnell, we went again to the Volpicellis with her and Celine. Well, she told Celine about how she moved her baptism, and Celine was so sad because she couldn't be there because it's Easter vacation and she will be in London (they are bffs now, so that's why it was a big deal). But Frere Volpicelli gave her a triptych (side note: is that really how that's spelt? What a weird word...) and the lesson went well. That night we got a text from Lorrane that basically said sorry for being so difficult, but can I be baptized this Sunday so that her friend could be there? WE FREAKED OUT! We called the bishop to see and he said yes, so we started making arrangements. She had her baptismal interview early Saturday morning, then we had the executive secretary send out an email, we texted people, prepared talks and clothes and the font and luckily it would be fast Sunday so we wouldn't have to worry about food haha</div>
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<span class="s1">the baptism! </span></div>
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Sunday came and we headed to the church early to prepare every needful thing haha Frere Volpicelli was going to baptize her, so he showed up, and the members started coming. We had to do it all in the little baptismal font room because there was already the other wards who were going. We all the sudden realized that we had forgotten to tell Celine! THAT WAS THE WHOLE REASON SHE CHANGED IT! So us and the sisters prayed and asked Heavenly Father to inspire and push her to the church, since her phone wasn't working. 20 Minutes later, she came walking up to the door! It was a miracle! So we had Celine, but we were mission something very important... it was 11h30 came and Lorrane wasn't there! So we prayed again, and she sent us a text saying that she was on her way. She got there, got ready and we started the meager service. She was really nervous but Soeur Burton gave a great talk on baptism, and then right before the actual baptism Elder Pesnell and I ran out to get a quick picture, and the picture is a perfect description of the whole situation haha. Anyways, the baptism went great, she said she felt so calm afterwards. I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and then voila. An hour later, she was confirmed in Portuguese by Frere Cornetta (who is Portuguese) and it was so cool! I actually understood almost all of the blessing, which was incredible, I don't know why or how, but I did! The Spirit was strong and filled the room. After the confirmation, it was completely silent and as I walked back to my seat and saw the faces of everyone that I've worked with here (even all the 29 less actives and amis that were at church), I was so touched. She was so happy and so were we! What an amazing surprise! Haha</div>
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So there was the end of our transfer. It was such an emotional rollercoaster because baptism aren't meant to be planned and carried out 24 hours beforehand! But I am so thankful to the Lord for allowing us to see this whole process unfold and letting Elder Pesnell be here for the end. I feel so blessed that I was able to watch the spirit change someone's life completely, and can't wait to see it keep working!</div>
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<span class="s1">samedi Sportif (but I forgot my clothes haha)</span></div>
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We were able to see a lot of members this week too, the Manseya's, the Fidalgo's and a part member family named the Dudoit-Elkhaims, who invited their neighbor just randomly over and turns out he's already been taught by missionaries before! Wow! But something that touched me this week was what a Soeur in our ward described to us. She said that missionaries are like angels who bring a peace and a light everywhere they go. She said that her kids look up to the missionaries and that when we visit, we recharge them and give them the hope and the force to keep on going. It's so strange because I don't feel like I do any of that... I am just a 20 year old kid with my own problems and weaknesses who's trying his best to serve and love others. But I have felt the power of the Holy Ghost Work through me, and I have seen miracles because of it, but it comes with the job! It's not that I'm anything special, it's just that I am dedicated to the Lord, and that is what makes all the difference. After all, if He can turn water into wine, He can make me into whatever He needs me to be.</div>
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I love you all, and thank you for your prayers! Have a great week, and an amazing Easter!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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</style>Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-59952900815813304432017-04-05T19:41:00.000-07:002017-04-18T20:01:39.883-07:00God Given<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<span class="s1">Our private chef</span></div>
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As always, I will start with the most interesting thing I did this week to explain why I am emailing today: Elder Pesnell and I were asked to go to a church owned property in Geneva to help people park for a UN conference on Freedom of Religion, so we did but no one really came in cars, so we parked four cars and then nothing. So the couple that was over it invited us to attend and it was very interesting to learn about the role of freedom of religion in countries and what is happening to make it available for people all over the world. Then we were able to go to the fancy dinner, but, since we were the peasants, we ate while hidden in the back kitchen where the professional chef was. We became good friends with him, Clement, and he gave us all the delicious, gourmet, French food our little stomachs desired. What a fun service activity! </div>
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<span class="s1">Breakfast at the park</span></div>
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Anyway, our week was great! I had a lot of cool experiences this week. Our amis are doing well also! We were able to meet with Lorrane a couple times, and when we do it in the mornings we just go to a park. Well, when we showed up, she had a breakfast there for us and the Austins (the senior couple we were teaching with). It was so kind! We taught fasting and told her of the ward fast and prayers for her to understand and receive an answer. She told us that at the same time, that night, she was trying to sleep and couldn't get to sleep at all. She eventually decided to pray and that's when she got her answer! It was so cool to see the results of faithful fasting and prayers! We also went with her to the Volpicellis house, with another member, Celine, a foreign exchange student from Maine who is the same age and height at Lorrane haha. (Were trying to convince Celine to go on a mission) And then Lorrane came to conference and loved it! She said she really liked President Uchtdorfs talk. She also wanted to move her baptismal date to the Sunday of Easter, so that's what it will be now, and since transfers are on Monday, I hope I'm still here! She also gave us breakfast again, and is going great! She was a little frustrated that MacDo was giving away free coffee last week for the first time ever, but she didn't give in! </div>
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We also had a ward activity on Friday, and the ami of the soeurs came. She knows the church is true and just won't talk about baptism. I felt that I should talk to her, so we talked for an hour about baptism and what's holding her back. It wasn't going anywhere until the end, when the spirit prompted me to ask her if she thought God would tell her the truth if she asked. She said yes. I asked her if she had already prayed about baptism. She said no. (This is where the spirit got super strong) I said "Put him to the test" and all she could say was "Bien dit". I know if she really asks she'll get an answer! </div>
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We also went to lunch with this super nice old member Soeur. But she walks very slow and talks very a lot, so she bought us crepes and then we listened to her, but the only problem was that we were done with ours in 2 minutes and she didn't take her last bite until 45 minutes later haha but everyone needs to feel loved, so it was worth It! </div>
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We also were given a referral of an ancien ami who lost contact with the church for a couple months but is now ready to be baptized! His name is Lawson and he's African, and has a sincere desire. We just need to fix a couple things so it may be in a little bit, but I'm excited to help him! </div>
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A cool little story is that I was contacting a man on the bus who spoke English. We were talking about commandments and how following them makes us happy. He said "what commandments has God given you?" So I started saying love others, go to church, etc. And he stopped me to correct himself. He reposed the question, " what commandments has God given you." I felt the spirit put an answer in my mouth and I said "He commanded me to go on a mission." I received yet another confirmation that this is what I am supposed to be doing right now, and that I have been following God's personal commandment to me for a long time now! It was a cool experience. </div>
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I really loved General Conference. I feel comfortable saying that this is the first conference I've ever listened to where it flew by and i was left wanting more! All of the messages, as always, were inspired and I felt the Spirit so strongly as I listened to the Prophet and Apostles of God bear fervent testimony. I loved President Nelsons talk about coming to know Christ and learning of Him. I also really liked Elder Sabins talk and what made it even better was that I was able to meet him a couple of months ago, and he even made a joke about me in front of everyone so I felt a connection there. And of course, President Monsons talk was so amazing and so full of power. I LOVED IT ALL!! We are so lucky to have this opportunity! </div>
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Other than that, we had district Meeting, were able to give a lot of blessings, ate with members and testified of Jesus Christ as every opportunity! I love this gospel and I love my Savior! I have complete faith in Him and His plan for me and each one of us. I can truly say that these past years have been the best of my life! </div>
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Avec amour, </div>
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Elder Hall </div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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<span class="s1">this week we went to the regional church office-</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> IM MAKING MY WAY UP hahaha</span></div>
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This week we received one of the best texts anyone could ever get! I don't want to spoil it right away, so I will start with the fact that I got the package you sent mom! It was so wonderful, and Elder Pesnell and I have much enjoyed all of the green candy but mostly the samoas! They don't have anything like that here so it was amazing! It's been such an incredible week, I can't wait anymore to tell you the story, so here we go!</div>
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You remember last week, I told you about our last rdv with Lorrane, where she dropped us and the spirit was very strong anyways. Well 5 days later, on Tuesday morning, we got a text from her that every missionary wants to get saying that she knows now that God has a plan for her, she believes everything we have taught her and she asked to be baptized as soon as possible!!!!! Of course we couldn't believe it, my jaw dropped on the ground and elder Pesnell ran around knocking chairs over and then belly slid on the floor! We called her right away and fixed a rdv, and she was crying as she told us that she got her answer!<br />
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<span class="s1">Kebabs with Lorrane</span></div>
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Our prayers were those of gratitude and my smile wouldn't go away (I think I was freaking people out as I said "bonjour" to them grinning like a maniac haha). We have since had 4 RDVs with her, we fixed her baptismal date for the 7 April, the Friday after conference, and in lessons she just testifies and accepts everything! The commandments, the scriptures! She said that within those 5 days she stopped drinking coffee and alcohol and she has never felt more free and happy! She loved church and the members love her, she is so prepared and so humble to have received a response, even if it wasn't what she was expecting. And don't worry, English isn't her first language so when she said "I love you" last time, she was referring to both of us as good friends haha. (That's our bad...) We also went to get kebabs with her, because she's never had one before! Please keep praying for her, because we know that her faith will protect her, but sometimes the adversary tries to creep in. I know that faith, prayers and the power of her ever increasing testimony will bring strength and protection. She's so excited to go to the temple! I feel so thankful to a loving Heavenly Father that gives answers to those who sincerely seek them, and I can't wait for the baptism!</div>
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<span class="s1">Our green lunch!!! </span></div>
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In other news, we went on an exchange with Elder Wade this week. It was our last time serving together since he goes home in a couple weeks. And it's funny because he's basically a national celebrity, but he's still just Elder Wade. For anyone who wants to know, he is super humble and hard working even though all that basketball stuff is going on at home. He's a great example to me! It was a different kind of exchange, because he came up with President and Soeur Brown alone and stayed with us for a day so Elder Pesnell and I were with him. We were able to see some members, teach Ali and, let me tell you, it was a lesson that could convert anyone, and Elder Wade did such a good job teaching! For dinner we went Chez la famille Fidalgo, and then Elder Menzel and Underwood (the other assistants whom I love so) and had a great night! It was so fun! We also played a little bit of basketball, so ca va.</div>
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We had Zone conference and interviews as well. It was cool to see president Brown and talk with him. He is always so inspired and gives the best advice that I know always comes from the Lord. For Zone conference, elder Pesnell and I did a presentation about how the Atonement leaves no trace. It was cool to prepare, even though it wasn't easy haha. In the end we presented two quotes:</div>
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"However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made … , or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines"- Elder Jeffery R. Holland</div>
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"The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something happened, if we truly repent, He has promised that He would atone. And when He atoned, that settled that. There are so many of us who are thrashing around, as it were, with feelings of guilt, not knowing quite how to escape. You escape by accepting the Atonement of Christ, and all that was heartache can turn to beauty and love and eternity. I am so grateful for the blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ... for the power of redemption, for the Atonement--the Atonement which can wash clean every stain no matter how difficult or how long or how many times repeated. The Atonement can put you free again to move forward, cleanly and worthily, to pursue that path that you have chosen in life. I bear witness that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that the Atonement is not a general thing that is for the whole Church. The Atonement is individual, and if you have something that is bothering you--sometimes so long ago you can hardly remember it--put the Atonement to work. It will clean it up, and you, as does He, will remember your sins no more. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." - President Boyd K. Packer</div>
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If you didn't read those, go back and read them haha. I learned that the Atonement is truly something that, if used correctly, has the power to erase any mistakes we have ever done. Of course, we need to allow it to, but when it does, there is no better feeling! It's what Lorrane is feeling, it's what I have felt, it's what we can all feel! Don't just take my word for it, try it for yourself! I promise you it will work.</div>
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We have all of our other amis still and we have a new one named Juan, who is a member coordonnée, but I'll explain more next time. I explained all the most important things!</div>
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I love you all! Have a great week!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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<span class="s1">Elder Carlson!</span></div>
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Ok. Well, to say this week brought some of the most unexpected circumstances I've yet to have on my mission would be appropriate. But it was a really good week anyway, and we saw some cool miracles as we went on multiple exchanges and worked as hard as we could! So we shall start from the very beginning, it the very best place to start.</div>
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We can start with our exchanges! This week we went on 2 of those, and I was able to be with Elder Carlson for the first, and Elder Caramelli for the second. Elder Carlson was in the moving équipe my first transfer in the office (before it got closed and thrown onto our shoulders haha), so we are already pretty close and it was fun to spend some time with him again! </div>
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We went to an FHE chez la famille Volpicelli, the super cool couple in our ward who love missionary work! We also ate at our bishops house, Évêque Cornetta (we eat there every week), and we did some passbacks and contacting in a little place called Bernex, where it's super tranquille. We got to see some less actives we've been trying to get into contact with, which was great, and I was able to learn a lot from him about diligence and teaching. He's such a stud!</div>
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Then I was with Elder Caramelli, he's Tahitian but his dad is Italian, so he's a stud too. We spent the day doing a lot of passes, trying to find all of the less active young adults in our ward so we can help them come back to the fold! We found a couple people, some young, some not so much, but a lot had moved. There was one apartment though, where we were able to get in and when we asked if the man lived there, the woman who answered the door said no, but the spirit prompted us to testify of eternal families and ask if she would like to learn more and she said yes! So we will return this week! Then we got to go to our DMPs house for dinner and it was a lot of fun!</div>
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In other news, we started teaching formerly Crazy Steve, now Rogers, and he is actually progressing. He understands now the importance of church and priesthood lines and authority and everything he needs to do in order to be baptized (which he really wants to be, but he needs to be ready first). He help set out the books before sacrament Meeting and is even wearing a shirt and tie now. The gospel really does change people!</div>
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Then we have Lorrane (and this is where all the weird stuff starts happening). She texted us and told us she didn't want to see us anymore, so we convinced her to have one last rdv. We met her in the park, and she asked if she could say the opening prayer so she did but she prayed so that we knew this was the last time we would see each other. She said she was heartbroken to have to stop seeing us, but she has some things she doesn't want to give up. We testified and answered questions, but she wouldn't be swayed, even though she told us she knows it's true! At one point, I was testifying really hard and started to cry and then she started to cry, but super biblically, that is, like wailing, and I was trying to get intelligible words out and she was like "bleingnsjwldkdh" and then she said she loved me and I stopped the waterworks and gave her a pamphlet and we told her when she's ready she can always come back. She felt the spirit to say the least.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">tulips for relief society! </td></tr>
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We had a great rdv with our part member family, whose dad is our ami, Michel. We laughed a ton, talked about prophets and he got to know us. He's super nice and has overcome a lot of trials, but is still going strong! He is almost ready to be baptized and the family is ready to be eternal, so we're excited to see what the future brings!</div>
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Then we have Maria, who came to church on Sunday and said she really enjoyed it! Today, we got a very unexpected text from her saying that she likes me... oh my... I feel so... flattered? I just don't know what they see in me!! Luckily, our other amis are either married or guys so I think I'm safe now! Haha</div>
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Another weird story, we were waiting for our bus one afternoon and a group of kids walk up to us and start shaking our hands. Well, I thought we were going to get mugged, but they seemed nice enough to us. They started asking us questions like where we were from and what "elder" meant, then they cut to the chase and asked us how much we wanted for it. For what, you might ask? Well, they thought we were drug dealers and they wanted to buy drugs. We quickly explained that we, in fact, are the opposite and we have nothing to sell them but if they wanted something that would make them feel good, we had just the thing. They weren't too interested, and pushed a little more just for good measure and the left.</div>
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We went back to the UN to take down the exhibit, and then Sr. Holsinger (the couple missionary who works there) took us on a super cool tour that you only get if you are "in" with someone! We got to see all of the important rooms, we walked down the secret hallways and the gardens outside and even got to stand at the UN pulpit! Then, since it was St. Patrick's Day, we went to the UN cafeteria and ate with them, Irish Cornish. It was such a cool experience! After that, we delivered tulips to a bunch of relief society sisters in our ward to thank them and celebrate the 175 anniversary of the Relief Society. They were so thankful, and it was fun to make their days!</div>
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Something that I can take away from this week is that God never intended for life on earth to really flow smoothly, exactly according to each of our personal agendas. No, our loving Heavenly Father sent us here to learn and grow through experiences and trials that may seem pointless, but that shape us, little by little, into the spiritual and physical beings He knows we can become. That's a reason we all have agency, so that we can choose what we do with the trials and setbacks, and when we aren't choosing the right, those in fact, become more difficult to handle. When we strive to choose the right and look at life's experiences, easy or hard, we will feel ourselves changing, and we will eventually be turned completely to God, and what a great direction to be facing.</div>
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I love you all! Hope you had a great St. Patrick's Day and que Dieu vous bénisse!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-37795282043262255652017-03-13T21:20:00.000-07:002017-04-18T22:16:55.441-07:00Christ's Car Wash<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">car show </td></tr>
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This week flu by. Literally, flu. The beginning of the week we did a lot of stuff but towards the end I came down with a case of "Le grippe" which destroyed me so hard. Je ne suis pas sure si jamais j'ai eu tant des choses qui sont sorti de mon corps... (that's in French because it's kinda gross haha). Anyways, no need to worry because I'm feeling better now so life is good, plus it's actually starting to be spring here! The flowers are s'épanouir-ing! Hahah</div>
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So, ami run down! </div>
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1) Lorrane: this week she sent us this incredible text saying sorry for all the questions she asked and that she really wants to come to church! That night, we saw her on the bus and she told us that she had read in the Book of Mormon where we asked her to and that she prayed and received an answer! She said that she knows it's true, and she looked up the Restoration movie and believes in Joseph Smith. She said that ever since she's met us she has felt happier and has had the feeling of peace in her life, and she started doing things she loves again, like drawing and reading. It all just miraculously clicked, but not the biggest miracle of it all is that on fast Sunday, our ward fasted and prayed specifically for all of our amis, and what we asked them to pray for Lorrane was "so that she can receive a confirmation of the truthfulness by the Holy Ghost"!!!! It was a direct answer to prayers! Unfortunately I was sick for our rdv so we didn't see her, but we will this week! </div>
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2) Vanessa: our Brazilian family is going well also, they seem to have more sincerity and willingness to act. But every time I think of them I get a little sick because she gave us this gross chicken sandwich casserole and it was the last thing I ate before... you know... </div>
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3) Nelson: we have a returned missionary in our ward who has a friend who messaged him one day asking about our church, and we had a rdv with him! His name is Nelson, he is 20 years old and he is Suisse! That's incredible because young people don't usually care! He is super open and came to church and said that he thinks this is the path God wants him to be on!</div>
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4) Crazy Steve: He came to church this week and to our ward buffet after and he seems to be getting less crazy. He wore a star tie with a white polo shirt, so at least he's starting to understand a little bit.</div>
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We are seeing so many cool things here right now. I feel blessed to see this sector go from almost nothing to so many steady amis! We also had MLC this week, so we were in Lyon for a couple days. It was so fun to see all of my friends, because the district leaders came too, so almost our entire MTC group was there! Plus every companion I've ever had was there! We talked about faith, and how it's something so simple</div>
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but how it is the first principle of the gospel, and it brings miracles!</div>
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We painted at one of our members houses this week, I have surprisingly done a lot of painting on my mission, and I attribute my experience to being a janitor haha.</div>
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Then on Saturday there were 3 baptisms, 2 for the English ward and 1 for the Spanish ward, but I was sick so I just sat there through them, but it was so good!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christ's car wash </td></tr>
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Today we went to the Geneva International Motor Show and saw some of the coolest cars I've ever seen. I got to sit in them and touch them and even look at them! Haha The most interesting thing I saw was a car wash, it was called Christ Car Wash. I took a picture next to it and as I went throughout the rest of the day, I kept thinking about it. For something so silly, it was actually quite profound, because of the truthfulness behind it. By going throughout life, we get dirty. We sin, we make mistakes, we fall short. However, we know that anytime we need too, if we are looking a little too muddy we can go through Christ's car wash. It is there, waiting for us to use it! Best of all, it's free! The price is already paid, we don't need to scrounge for coins, it is free and open to all who are willing to make the trip. When we come out we are spotless, ready to tackle whatever road lies before us. I invite us all to take advantage of the gift Christ has given us, to repent every day, and make that trip to the car wash. As we do so, we will feel His cleansing power.</div>
<br />I love you all!<br />Avec amour,<br />Elder Hall<br /><br />Your Favorite Missionary<div>
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Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-83070729010203559912017-03-08T20:23:00.000-08:002017-04-19T20:39:22.837-07:00Serving the World<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">birthday party for Soeur Burton!</td></tr>
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Hello from Geneva! I'm super excited to tell you all about this past week. It was the first week of the transfer and it started things off so well! We taught a lot, we ate a lot, and we did a service project for the whole world (on peut dire... 😉)!</div>
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So we had RDVs with a new person almost every day this week! It started with Maria, then we met with a man named Edward, who is from Iran but lived in London for a while. He is Jewish and our rdv was actually kind of interesting because he liked to talk a lot so he would go off on random spiritual things he's learned throughout his life of being Muslim then Christian then Jewish. Well we thought it went pretty well, but alas, we talked to him on Saturday night to invite him to church and he told us he had a dream about cutting an electrical wire and interpreted it as he should stay with the Jews, sooo.... Also, we contacted and met with this family, and when we showed up, it was a bunch of women from Brazil with all their kids haha... one of them was baptized in Brazil and is less active, another is our new ami, and the less actives sister is very skeptical of us. Then the ami, Vanessa, made her teenage son listen and he looked so miserable hahaha They quizzed us about temples and stuff, but we were able to testify of the blessings that they bring to families, and that they can know for themselves if they read the Book of Mormon and pray. En plus, I learned a little Portuguese, and they gave us a lot of food after!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">elder Pesnell and I in the Swiss mountains</td></tr>
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I don't remember if I told you about the Italian that showed up to church randomly last week as he was walking by to learn more about what we believe in our church... well we taught him and he came to church this week! He said that it was interesting, and he liked the songs because he's a professional singer and he sang so well! Also, Crazy Steve (Roger) came to church, and, although he is still so crazy, he is very, very slowly progressing to a point where we can kind of teach him. Hahaha</div>
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We also went with the Spanish elders to a mangez-vous and, because I speak fluent Spanish now, I was the life of the party! "Yo soy muchos guapos", "Yo tengo el dono de polo" and other such phrases spouted from my mouth for an hour haha... when I get home I'll speak 12 languages!! We also got a call from our ami, Ali, and he was like "hey, if you come clean my house I'll give you Chinese food" so we went to his house and I mopped all of his floors... that was definitely a first.</div>
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And about the service project we did... so one of the couples who is assigned to the U.N. asked Elder Pesnell and I if we could come help set up an exhibit for them. So we met them at the gate and went through security and got a special pass, then we walked through the campus to a building where we would be doing the project. We had about 15 minutes so we got to explore the building, we saw a big conference like the ones you imagine with the plaques of all the different countries, and art that was donated by countries all over the world. Also, it was Mother Tongue day, so everyone was dressed up in the traditional dress of their respective countries, so all the women looked like Disney princesses and all the men looked like spies haha. </div>
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But we started, and what we did was set up the exhibit with all the big posters, arranged them, moved heavy things and made it all look good. The exhibit was on human rights around the world, and one of those human rights is the right to worship whomever, whenever, and wherever we may. That's why it's so important for the church to have good relations with all of the worlds countries, because in order for the gospel to be spread everywhere, the countries need to understand that it is a basic human right. It was a lot of fun, we worked with people from all over the world in helping these world leaders see and understand fundamental rights of all the children of God here on earth. It reminded me of the children's primary song that says, "We are children holding hands around the world, like an army, with the gospel flag unfurled. We are led by its light and we love truth and right, we are building the Kingdom of God." I testify that we are all truly Heavenly Fathers sons and daughters and that in seeking to bring others to this knowledge, whether it's by mopping their floors, inviting them to church, or educating them on the value of each human soul, we can see and feel His love.</div>
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Also, they sell little smoothies with little knitted bonnets at the store by our house and, oh we love them so.</div>
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Have a great week!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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</style>Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-78396407180753688022017-02-27T21:02:00.000-08:002017-04-19T21:16:25.892-07:00God Sent Another Mademoiselle<div style="text-align: justify;">
I think I jumped the gun on the whole spring thing haha... it feelsnice but I remembered that it's not even march yet so I take it backand reserve the right to write the exact same thing in a future email 😉 haha well today is transfer day. I am staying here in Geneva with Elder Pesnell, which I am happy about, because I am coming to really like it here, and I absolutely love elder Pesnell, we have such good times together, and I feel like we are always laughing because our personalities somewhere just clicked! He's a great missionary and a wonderful collègue. And things are starting to finally pick up here! If you want to know how, read on!</div>
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So this week we decided to start doing more personalized things for members, to show them how much we appreciate what they do for us, and the first family we started with was the Muellers! What we did was take my ukulele and write a little song for them using a tune that we already knew. When we went over to their house we played and sang it for them and they loved it! It sparked them so hard! Haha we decided to do that because Frere Mueller is blind so he can't see if we have him anything, but with music, even cheesy missionary music, he can enjoy! And he did! It was so fun to make their day.</div>
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There was also an interesting experience on a bus this week, I was sitting there and the bus stopped at a stop and an older madame got on. It got starting moving faster than she could hold onto something and she fell back on her back and head. I gasped loudly, and quickly went to help her. She kind of got sitting up and I was like "madame, are you okay" and then I didn't really have any immediate reaction run through my mind of how to help, until I was like "okay... maybe... oh ya! I can help her get up, that would work!" So I got under her arms and helped her sit down on the seat and made sure she was okay. I felt a lot of sympathy because one time in Bordeaux I got laid out on a bus and it really hurt and in that instance there was also another old lady who I fell on top of but my glasses flew off and it was all just a giant mess.</div>
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So this week, we have been eating a lot of food at members houses and one night I was so full and when I woke up in the morning I felt like I got hit by a truck, so I decided to fast, you know, so that I would have a good excuse to not eat any more food, and since I was already doing it, I prayed for some help to find new amis. So we went throughout our day and I felt much better at the end of it, and the senior couple here made us homemade mac'n'cheese! Well, the next morning we were en route to a members house and we were kind of late, but we got off of the tram, and I started walking when I noticed a young woman who was looking at me on the tram, and she stopped me and told me that she'd seen my plaque and wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ and our beliefs and I said "well, fine... I guess we can fix a rdv... ugh... 😒" hahaha just kidding, I was so excited to meet someone, especially a young person, who wants to get closer to Christ! It was an answer to my fast, and I am so thankful God let us be late to find her! We had a rdv with her today, she's named Maria, and she is so prepared to hear about the gospel. She said that she doesn't believe in coincidence and thinks she's on the right path. She's super cool!</div>
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Also, we were able to talk to Lorrane a lot this week. It seems like nowadays I'm always just talking to young women... it's so stressful haha but she is always on the same bus as we are going home, so we walk and talk and leave her with little tidbits of gospel knowledge. And she's starting to grasp the message! We had a rdv with her and some other elders and she had a lot of good questions, and when we asked her to read in Moroni 10:3-5 in Portuguese, she finally understood that she needs to read and then pray to ask God. We are praying that she will get an answer, because she will be baptized one day, she just needs an answer! But it is funny how Heavenly Father is just sending us all of these madamoiselles, and maybe one day we can teach a man haha.</div>
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And last but not least, Elder Gottscheck, the Spanish elder, was sick with the flu this weekend, which meant he couldn't go to church on Sunday, so what we did to help them out is a little exchange. I went with Elder Brady-Haug to church on Sunday, the Spanish ward first then our ward. So I sat through 3 hours of church in Spanish, and learned how to say simple missionary phrases like "que tal" and "appastados una buena semaina" so that the members would trust me. Then I was asked to say the opening prayer in priesthood and I started and ended in Spanish and did the rest in French. It was fun! Then in our ward, we had 4 amis come to church but it was so stressful! Crazy Steve (Roger) came, as did Ali, Lorrane and a part member family ami. Everything was going crazy when Ali left to buy a taco, Crazy Steve wanted to give us the blueprints to his model Arc of the Covenant, and Lorrane showed up late. Eventually all was well, but I was so tired after church! We then went to a Spanish family mangez-vous and I feel so comfortable with my Spanish ability lol.</div>
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This week, I just want to testify that I know that God hears and answers prayers! He is a living God of miracles! I know it.</div>
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I love you all! Have a great week!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-18081074515510078842017-02-20T20:17:00.000-08:002017-04-19T20:20:49.366-07:00As I Have Loved You<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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And just like that it's Monday again, and the last week of the transfer. This transfer has gone by so fast, and its gone from super cold to pretty warm nowadays! Spring is in the air and that's putting some air into my spring! Valentines Day was great, and it kind of continued throughout the week. I guess it can always be Valentine's Day if we tell the people we love that we love them, but then it just wouldn't be as fun! This week we got to go back to Lyon! I always feel like I go home when I return to Lyon, even if it's just for a little bit. Anyway, I'll stop being so vague and hop into the good stuff! </div>
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We were traveling to Lyon for most of Valentine's Day day, so we didn't have a chance to do a lot with members, but we did sent texts to all of the missionaries in the zone with the reasons why we loved them! In Lyon, we went to the office, because we had a special night planned with the Mahaffeys! We helped out in the office for a bit, then they drove Elder Pesnell and I to a restaurant called Entrecôte for dinner (a double date haha). We talked and laughed and we planned on paying for them but then they stole the bill!! Haha but we gave them a giant goodbye and thank you card because it was the last time we'll see them here. We then spent the night with the assistants because we would be on exchange the next day. Fun fact: not only have I been with elder wade for both thanksgivings on my mission, but for both Valentine's days also! </div>
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So the exchange was so good, I was with elder wade, which is always so fun! I love him so much, and feel so blessed to have found a friend on my mission who is so different from me yet so similar. Also, it was fun to prosélyte together in a different setting than we ever have: just us two, taking buses, contacting. We had a cool experience where we were walking down the street and there was a little girl outside with her dog, so we started talking to her and eventually Elder Wade asked if we could go inside and talk to her mom, so we did, we explained all about what we believe, and left her with a Book of Mormon and a commitment to read and pray about it! We also were able to go pass some members of Ecully ward who I love and haven't seen since I left that ward. Sr. Barachand is an older sister, and we totally surprised her, she didn't know I was coming and we spent some time talking, she offered us lunch and we caught up. She is so cute and sweet! It was an amazing day and I learned a lot from Elder Wade, just like always. </div>
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We had a few parties this week, where we invited amis but no one came :(. They were still fun anyways! One was a Mongolian night that the English elders were doing. A member in their ward from Mongolia made a ton of delicious traditional food and we ate it, did a spiritual thought and played Loup Garous. Unfortunately, all of the Mongolian people that came spoke neither French nor English so the lesson was translated both ways by the member and I think it was good, but I'm not sure haha. We also attended the Spanish ward Valentine's fiesta and there was a lady there who elder Pesnell had contacted so we spent the night helping her integrate and it was also full of fun and food and Spanish music... haha </div>
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Also, quick backstory before I launch into church yesterday... a man contacted us on the street this week and was like "are you the elders?" So we said yes and usually that's not a great sign because the only people that actually contact us are crazies... well... he was. He told us he had a gift for the prophet and we told him we couldn't take it because we don't know the prophet personally so he said he was coming to church on Sunday. He came, and it was ward conference and i sat by him and it was a very... interesting experience. He leaned over to whisper something in my ear every two minutes at least, but they were things like "what is the 24th letter of the alphabet?" Or "to you is the word 'mopo' a parable or a play on words?" He then asked me to be his "bra doight" which is his right arm, and a member of his trinity. Oh boy... unfortunately it didn't stop there because he came to Sunday school (we taught him alone in a different room) and priesthood, but he would go off on things like Egyptian traditions and numbers that relate to Star Wars references and the stake presidency was there and I had a big headache. Ugh... haha but eventually he left, and we had a rdv with Lorrane, our sane ami. </div>
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She came with a lot of questions of things she'd read on the internet. We had some young members who speak English teach with us, and we answered all of her questions by explaining the Plan of Salvation and the Book of Mormon. As we taught, the spirit witnessed to me that it's all true once more, and we were able to testify that we aren't just here to convince people or try to add numbers to our church, we are here because we have felt the life changing hand of God in our lives, we have experienced His love and mercy through the Atonement of His son and we know that it's all true! She said she wanted to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know for herself. She started out with an attitude of "I'm going to prove you wrong" and it finished with a spirit of understanding. It was so cool! </div>
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This week, I've tried to think about love, especially Christlike love. On my mission I've learned that God shows His love to all of His children. There are those that choose to see it and by consequence are happier, more grateful and more full of love themselves. There are also those who choose to ignore it, who become bitter, and angry and who rely on the world to find acceptance. And in both cases, His love is still there. It never stops. I try to love people as best as I can, sometimes it's hard (like with that crazy guy who really tested me), but most of the time it's pretty easy (like with my amazing companions, past and present, the members, amis and missionaries who I have served and who have served me), but it will always be worth it to show, and express our love. Christ commanded us to "love one another, even as I have loved you". I testify that true love, shown sincerely, can do more to help this world and the people in it than any law, holiday or TED talk ever can. :) </div>
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JE VOUS AIME! </div>
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Have a great week! </div>
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Avec amour, </div>
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Elder Hall </div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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</style>Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-82870464901450407642017-02-13T19:46:00.000-08:002017-04-19T19:48:47.103-07:00No Hablo Espagnol<div style="text-align: justify;">
Okay people. I think I have spent more time this week doing spanish than french, and I realized how much more I actually like French! Spanish is just like.... you know.... taco. Its good, but as for me and my house, we will stick with French lol. So this week was interesting, I dont have a lot of time so I am just going to jump right into everything.</div>
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We went on an exchange with the spanish elders, and it wasnt a planned exchange, but Elder Brady Haug was sick for a few days, and they had an engage who needed the rest of the lessons before her baptism on saturday, so I went with Elder Gottscheck and we worked in our sector for a little bit. We actually went to do a service project for a family in our ward with the young men and the elders quorum. We made a ramp in their front yard so that the soeur can easier walk up to her front door, because they are older and kind of sick and stuff so that was fun. It was freezing and we were working with cold water and cement and dirt, but it was still fun! We went to the church and taught the spanish elders engagé. Her name is Beky, and it was mostly me doing the teaching, adding a few spanish words here and there, and Elder Gottscheck translating. The Spirit was there as the teacher so dont worry, she understood that we have a living prophet, and not that I was showing her a picture of my grandpa hahaha. After that, the spanish ward invited us to FHE, so we went and I lead the music but I had no idea what sounds to make so I just followed, but they werent the best singers in the whole world either... Oh well. The spanish doesnt stop there, because the bishop of their ward asked all the missionaries in Geneva to do a musical number for her baptism on saturday, so we sang "I like to look for rainbows" but in spanish. That also took some practicing. At the baptism, which was all in spanish, I fell asleep during the talks haha but it was nice, and the song brought the Spirit and Ive learned how to say a lot of things in spanish this week. Buenos noches. (par contre, I have no idea how to spell it haha)</div>
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We also visited the Muellers again this week, and I was able to again give soeur Mueller a blessing. I love going over to their house! They are so funny! Frere Mueller accompanied us to some RDVs but he is blind, so he held onto Elder Pesnell's shoulder while we walked. Afterwards, when we were taking him home, he was like "les elders, would you mind helping me stock up on provisions?" Which meant taking him to the store to buy chocolate and candy because his wife doesnt like when he eats it, so he buys it and hides it, but he needs help getting it, so we went with him and helped him choose his favorite kind and then he smuggled it in! HA! I was dying laughing!</div>
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We also had an opportunity this week that Ive never had on my mission. Here in Geneva, the zone leaders work very closely with the stake and the stake president. He took us to lunch and we discussed how we could improve the member missionary work here. Then, later in the week, we went to the High Council meeting and presented. It was intimidating, and didnt yield the results we were hoping for, but the stake president is a great guy, and he'll help us out!</div>
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Amis time!! So when I got to Geneva, our equipe was kinda dead. All of their amis had dropped them and so there hasnt been much on that side for a while as weve been trying to find people and work with members. But we have one ami named Ali, he is from Iran and is the father of a recent convert young woman. He knows that the church is true, knows the Book of Mormon is true, and invited us over to read and discuss with him every week, but he doesnt commit. Its hard because he has his reservations, which are mostly just excuses, and in RDVs, every time he starts feeling the spirit he gets up and leaves to make us something to eat so it will stop. Ugh! He comes to church though, and we hope that he will start making more progress. </div>
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Another ami is a young Portuguese woman we found on a bus. Her name is Lorrane and she speaks English, Spanish, Portugese and is learning French. I contacted her first, and got her number, then she didnt text us back. We saw her again on the bus and talked to her and she started responding to our texts, and then we saw her again, and she said she had some questions for us. We said we would be happy to answer them and invited her to church. She came! But it was in french, which she is working on, and she stayed for all three hours then left quickly, and said it was interesting. But she said she wants to learn more about Joseph Smith and what we believe, and she is really cool. We will probably have to pass her to another equipe, but I know she will find answers to her questions here. </div>
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Last thing, I gave a talk in sacrement meeting here on sunday. My theme was 'Servons notre Seigneur, proclamons la vérité", so basically missionary themed. Well, I felt that I should talk about serving those around us, and as a result sharing our testimonies and beliefs with them. Its something easy we can all do, so I shared the story of my family on vacation in South Carolina when we stopped to help a woman named Liz. En bref, her car needed help, so while my dad and brother fixed it, my sister and I talked to her about the gospel. She invited us to her hotel to give us breakfast (because thats what she did for work) and all of the employees had heard about the mormons that helped Liz. I dont know what the results of all that were, but I do know that those people were able to benefit from the fact that we served our neighbor, and then proclaimed the gospel to a softened heart! Its so simple, but it works! How best to serve Christ than to simply serve our neighbors, and how best to serve our neighbors than to give them the restored gospel which will bless them for eternity? And luckily, the talk was in French, not spanish! haha</div>
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I love you all! We have something special planned for Valentines Day, and you'll hear all about it next week! Spread the love like nutella and have a great week!</div>
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Je vous aime tous!</div>
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Avec amour, </div>
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Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-75890031699270234032017-02-07T19:57:00.000-08:002017-04-19T20:11:31.230-07:00Fermentation and Reconstruction<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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Wow... I don't even know where to start with this past week. The reason I'm writing today is because we had our Zone conference yesterday and our interviews on Sunday and I'll get to that, it was really good! I guess to sum up this week, I will just say that I went on 3 exchanges and weird things happen on exchanges... who am I kidding? Weird things happen when your a missionary!</div>
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So the week started off with an exchange with Elder Duffy. He was in Bordeaux Zone with me and I love him so much, he always makes me laugh so it's a lot of fun to be around him. We went to visit a less active member of the English ward who needed yogurt but was sick. We went and got her some yogurt and we thought of a good message to leave with her: we are like yogurt. Ça veut dire, the process that makes yogurt begins with a perfectly fine dairy product, and then they let it grow bacteria and ferment a little bit. Finally after a while of the yogurt going through a tough process, it turns into the wonderful thing we all love to eat! (It sounded a lot better when we explained it haha) and as with us, sometimes in life we have to go through some processes that may ferment us a little, but in the end we are better for it. (Little did I realize that I needed to learn this lesson myself as well). We passed some less actives and potentials in our ward as well, and in Suisse, there are not sonneries, there are only codes to get into buildings. If you don't know the code you can't get in unless someone lets you in. Well, miraculously we were able to get into every building, and then get the code for them! We found some less actives that haven't been seen in a while and a couple told us they would come to church, and they did! For dinner, we went to a "nice" Indian restaurant, except there was no one else in there and they had some weird Bollywood going and we just ate our food so fast and ran away haha!</div>
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We were also able to go give a blessing to a little girl in the hospital. She has some mental handicaps, and her mom is less active, but she had surgery on her back, so her mom called and asked us to come. I was able to bless her, and it was such a cool thing to bless a little child, especially one that's already perfect. I was able to relate through the spirit to her and her mom that she chose to come to this imperfect body, and that she is a blessed daughter of God.</div>
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On the way out of the hospital, we met a Sri Lankan man who needed help finding the hospital so we helped him. We got on a tram and then a few minutes later took our connection and he was just sitting on it somehow and he was like "bus 10" and we were like "uh... ok come with us" so when we got to the stop with the connection for the bus he was like "no way José" and then he didn't get off and we are sure he never found the hospital haha.</div>
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On my second exchange, it was with a younger elder named Elder Wall. As we were talking, we figured out that we have the same birthday of the same year. Then we found out that we were born in the same hospital. It was a lot of fun. He's a marine, so he told me all about boot camp. We were able to pray and follow the spirit to find people to talk to and pass. One of which was a super cool woman with a baby that we contacted on the tram. We talked about eternal families, and Christ and she gave us her phone number with a commitment to come to church! It was a great exchange, and we topped it off by eating raclette in our apartment. Raclette is a traditional regional food, boiled potatoes with cheese that we melt ourselves in a little machine. Then you add meat and whatever else. It's really heavy haha. The next day for lunch, we ate a ton at a members house and I felt like I was going to pop.</div>
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So President and Soeur Brown came for interviews and Zone conference, and they came with an assistant, Elder Underwood. They called and asked us if we wanted lunch and we said yes of course, so Elder Pesnell and I went to a Mexican place with them and it was so fun to catch up and have great fajitas! I love the Browns so much, and I am so appreciative of the chance I've had to get so close to them on my mission. On Sunday I was able to have my interview with him, and I asked some questions I had. For the last part of this week I was really discouraged and confused. Elder Pesnell really helped, and my interview with President changed everything. He shared with me a quote by CS Lewis that I wish I had but don't have yet. </div>
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It talks about how God is making us from small cottages into large palaces or temples. If someone could look that up and send it to me please, I would love that. It's a much better analogy than yogurt hahaha! I finally figured out in my interview that my whole mission, my whole life actually, Heavenly Father has put me in situations where I feel helpless and then He changes me and qualifies me for them. I can't believe I've never figured this out before! He knows so much better than me what I need, and it's only by Him changing all of the things that make me comfortable that I realize my dependence on Him, and that's when I grow. It's a process that I'd take the privilege to compare more to destroying and constructing a building than making yogurt hahaha. In any case, it's always for our good, I have no doubt of that!</div>
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Zone conference was good, and it was so fun to have the zone together! I love them all! We presented for an hour, and it was completely conducted by the spirit, because we didn't get to half of what we planned! Haha it was a great ending to a super week!</div>
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I love you all! Happy February! I can't tell you how much I love my frenchies, my faith, my family, and my Father. I am eternally grateful for this mission, and this life I have been given to fulfil! Hooray for fermentation, hooray for reconstruction!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-32916253537650937642017-01-30T20:05:00.001-08:002017-01-30T20:05:50.057-08:00Bear It<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="s1">fun from on high</span></div>
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Dear Hall Monitors (you thought I would forget about that but I haven't! 😉) I'm pleased to tell you that this week my eyes didn't get frostbite! Haha jk, it wasn't really that bad, but this week it was actually not as cold. We have a pharmacie across the street from us and I look at the temperature on the electronic sign they have and it got up to +2 so I was thrilled! (That's Celsius btw, so it's not as bad as you were thinking haha). We had a lot of fun this week. Last P-Day our bishops wife, Soeur Corneta, took us and the sisters to the main cathédrale in Vieux Geneve, so that was pretty cool, and I think I hit a record for the most I've played fut in one week (ca veut dire 2 times ((2 times too much haha)) ).</div>
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<span class="s1">I forgot to tell you about the singing lesson we had with the English </span></div>
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<span class="s1">elders potential who is a professional singing teacher.</span></div>
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We've visited a couple families in the ward. There are a lot of older people, but we have had some good RDVs with younger families too. The family we went to eat lunch with the Soeurs is our DMP, Le famille Gerino, and they have 3 adorable little kids that speak English fluently, but with little bitty accents and it was so cute. We also went chez la famille Müller, I don't know if I told you about them, but they invite us over pretty often. They are an older couple, the sister I gave a blessing to, and they love missionaries and missionary work. Right now, I am helping her with her family history (because I love family history!) and they want to have us come over with some friends, so that will be great! Another family we are going to visit tonight is the couple Volpicelli, who are so great too. A little backstory: President and Soeur Brown came to our ward yesterday and talked about helping the missionaries and member missionary work. Afterwards, Frere Volpicelli came up to us and was like "hey, I had a crazy idea while president Brown was speaking. We've lived in the same house for 30 years and have never invited our neighbors to a fhe with the missionaries. Do you think you can come do that with us every Monday night?" We said we will have to think about it... JK of course we will!</div>
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Funny story real quick. There's a Soeur in our ward named Soeur Humez. She is very sick with cancer and can't go outside because of the cold, so she will call us randomly to run little errands for her. Well, she called us over one day and when we arrived, we asked her what we could do for her. She gave us her credit card and pointed at her bathroom and said, "The flooring in here is 40 years old and I want something brighter. Take this and go buy me some linoleum, and make sure it matches the tile on this wall." Well the tile was a weird pinkish color but we accepted. We went to a couple stores until we found good linoleum. Luckily, this isn't the first time on my mission I had to do some interior decorating haha. We chose a good kind and brought it back to her. She was happy, so she gave us her blender haha (we already bought her a juicer).</div>
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We started samedi Sportif again. So that's why we played fut twice, once for P day and once on Saturday... WHY AM I CURSED LIKE THIS?! Oh well, I play the best when I don't try at all so there.</div>
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<span class="s1">THE AMAZING BORDEAUX CREW look how wonderful! </span></div>
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This week we also had MLC, so us, the sisters, and the ZLs and STLs from Lausanne (the other Suisse zone) took a train to Lyon on Wednesday night, because there was a worldwide missionary broadcast, so we all watched it at the office. The executive missionary committee talked about how we can continue to teach repentance and baptize converts. They talked a lot about things said in last years broadcast as well. I took a lot of notes, but something that marked me was when I was looking through my notes from last year and this year, I saw something interesting. On both, without even knowing it, I wrote "BEAR TESTIMONY", all capitals and very indépendant on both. It must have been the spirit telling me to continue bearing testimony, to do it at every chance I have! It was a cool reminder that I have the opportunity to do it all the time, and I need to take advantage of that. And you all can too! BEAR TESTIMONY! It's as simple as that!</div>
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Some other changes were made to the mission schedule, for example we have more time on P days to accomplish our tasks, we can go to sleep a little earlier at night if we need it and we only have 30 minutes for lunch. It is interesting, and we will see how it works! Our mission schedule was adapted from the schedule that the apostles presented, so its particular.</div>
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So that was our week. We are passing a lot of people, and trying hard to work with members. We are going to deliver a bible to a man that stopped us and asked for one. Besides that, we are trying to bring a little bit of fire back to this sector! Please keep praying for us!</div>
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Have a great week, I love you all and don't forget to BEAR TESTIMONY!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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</style>Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-33501234352119956512017-01-23T20:18:00.000-08:002017-01-30T20:19:28.677-08:00The Last Taxi Out of Geneva<div style="text-align: justify;">
So my first week in Geneva is past and gone. For your information, the biting cold went away and know it's just a gumming cold (lol get it?). But even though it's still cold, everyone said that the worst days were Monday, tuesday and Wednesday, the first days I got here... Well anyway, it's a little different over here in Switzerland (in French it's Suisse, so I will refer to it as that from now on). First off, we live on what's called "La frontière" which is the French country which surrounds Suisse, and our ville is called Fearney Voltaire. It takes about half an hour to 45 minutes to get to a working part of our sector in Suisse because we have to take multiple busses which don't come all that often, but I've had some great conversations with some really nice people! In Geneve, you could hear seven languages on the same public transport because there are people from all over the world here, and there aren't a lot of poor people either, but still almost everyone speaks English. Mostly it's pretty well off politicians, businessmen, lawyers or scientists, etc. The buildings are pretty modern and so is the art. We pass the UN every day, it makes me feel so important! Haha Everything is super expensive, so we get extra money. Also, we live in the same building as the Spanish elders equipe, so we spend a lot of time with them! So there's the down low culture wise.</div>
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We had such a funny experience on Wednesday which will explain the email title, and for those of you who know me, you'll understand how much I loved this. We took a bus to the airport to catch our connecting bus home late that night, and we waited and waited, a bus came and people got on, then the driver told everyone to get off and we weren't sure why. Elder Pesnell and I were discussing what happened, and a bearded man jumped into the conversation, letting us know that the Chinese president was in Geneve and so all the Chinese people were having manifestations and roads were blocked. We started talking to him, because he's a business man here for a trip he didn't know which bus to take. He is Finnish and grew up in Canada. Then a couple other people, also curious about how we were going to get to Fearney Voltaire joined in; a young Chinese woman and a young Pakistani man who were both physicists. We decided to catch some other connecting buses and go back into Geneve, and so here we were, two American missionaries leading this tiny clan to France. Well, at the gare (where you can usually find a lot of busses), we were informed by two men that none were running anymore that night.p, and it turns out that the men were coworkers of the Finnish guy, and they were both Swiss German. So we all decided to see if we could catch a big taxi on the other side of the gare to take us back home. On the way, the Spanish équipe called saying they were at the gare too and stuck in the same mess we were, so we told them to hurry to the taxi place, where there were only two remaining. Everyone had already piled into the big van and were impatiently waiting for us when the elders ran out of the gare and I took Elder Goettcheck (a French elder) with me in the big taxi while the other two grabbed the smaller one. Our taxi driver was a crazy maniac, and not only did he drive us exactly to the hotel of the Chinese president being guarded by armed vehicles and military, but then he drove on the sidewalks more than the actual road itself! The business man ended up paying for the whole thing, but we were able to talk about our beliefs, give out our cards and even got the Chinese woman's email! I took a selfie as proof. But that was one of the most diverse adventures I've ever had... and of course it was something that would happen in a tv show. 😉</div>
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We also went and helped the Spanish elders teach a lesson because it was a single woman and they couldn't find a member. Basically the whole lesson was in Spanish, I understood maybe 20% (because Spanish is close enough to French) and my contribution was "Feliz compleonos" or however it's spelt because I saw a happy birthday sign hanging up haha. But that was fun, and it gave me a little taste of what missionary work chez Jason might be like (pardon, Elder Fox) haha.</div>
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En plus, we've visited a couple members, and one of them is a couple that actually has a Mormon message, the Mullers. They are older, and he is blind, and she is very bio haha. They are so so nice though, and she asked for a blessing of counsel and also healing because she had some thyroid problems and I was asked to give it. I felt the spirit telling me exactly what to say, and even though it wasn't what I would have said myself, I felt inspired! At church, she told me that after that, her week was so much better and her health even. She also said that while I was bearing my testimony at church, she looked up and said I looked exactly like Joseph Smith. Sooo I think that's an appropriate compliment..? Haha but I'm slowly starting to love it here.</div>
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Something odd happened this week in relation to the spiritual thought I usually leave at the end of my emails. I was sitting on a bus and I had the thought to ask you all "when was the last time you had a missionary experience?" For those that have served missions, and those that have listened to the prophets and apostles ever, you know that member missionary work is so important. Are you doing your part to pray for, search for, and take advantage of missionary opportunities? The time is running out, and God has given us the commandment to "go into all the wold, and preach my gospel unto every creature" (D&C 18:28). This is a gospel of love and salvation, we can't keep it for ourselves. If you feel like you need to step it up regarding missionary work, step it up. If you think you can't, it's too hard, it's not for you, think again. Take a minute to ponder the sacrifice of Christ, because I promise he didn't say any of those as He was atoning for every one of us, including those who may not even know that yet. As members of His true church, it is our responsibility to do missionary work. All He asks of us is to open our hearts, open our mouths and let our light so shine! Don't let the blessings pass you by.</div>
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I love you all! Have a wonderful week!</div>
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Avec amour,</div>
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Elder Hall</div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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</style>Michael Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08404211590265893920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796455232525167364.post-86575173649519474482017-01-17T20:23:00.000-08:002017-01-30T20:30:54.171-08:00Utah or Bordeaux?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<span class="s1">Elder Pesnell and snow haha (ignore </span></div>
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<span class="s1">my red eye, my contact was acting up) </span></div>
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Well everyone, there's a reason this email is coming a little bit later than usual, and it's because... I have been transferred. I was on a train all day yesterday, because I have been asked to come to Geneva, Switzerland to be the zone leader. My new companion is Elder Pesnell, he came in with me, and we have actually served around each other a lot, I'm excited! Before anything else, it is absolutely freezing here. No exaggeration, I think I might lose some extremities haha... but leaving Bordeaux was so so sad. I kinda thought I would be, so we fixed a ton of RDVs with our people, and let me tell you, I felt like a 100% Utah missionary this past week. There's a lot of stuff to talk about, so let's get to it! </div>
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From Friday of two weeks ago to Saturday of last week, we have eaten 13 meals with members. Because I think Elder Sebra and I broke some kind of record, and to prove I'm not lying, I'm going to tell you who we ate with and what! </div>
<br /> Emmanuel- pasta<br /><br /> Magré- Chinese chicken<br /><br /> Vendassi- raclette<br /><br /> Moutoumalya- duck<br /><br /> Villin- raclette<br /><br /> Scott- enchiladas<br /><br /> Genes- spaghetti <br /><br /> Le camus- lasagna<br /><br /> Lerbsher- rice and chicken<br /><br /> Adam, Bernice, Thomas- Japanese<br /><br /> Lancelot- chili <br /><br /> Yuwai- soup and spinach pork<br /><br /> Vendassi- pizza <br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<span class="s1">a small rodent is bigger than this European car haha</span></div>
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You have to also understand that in France, there isn't just one course, so that was the main course and then with them all there was bread, cheese, salad, and dessert. Mmmmm... the best part of it though was the time we got to spend with the members. They are honestly so wonderful. </div>
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At church, it was hard saying goodbye. It was hard saying goodbye to Antoine Villin (our ami in the part member family), he even said that one day when he gets baptized, he will think of me, and that gives me hope that he will be baptized, and their family will be eternal! </div>
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<span class="s1">primary selfie </span></div>
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I loved serving with Elder Sebra, we have become best friends. When people see that missionaries get along as an equipe, it brings a whole different mood to lessons and contacts. I am so thankful I was able to serve with him. In our transfer call, President told us that we have transformed the Bordeaux Zone, but I know that none of it was me, it was all the Lords hands and the amazing missionaries that we had there. It changed from a "black hole" to one of the highest baptizing, hardest working zones in the mission, and I am so thankful I was able to witness and be a small part in that! </div>
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<span class="s1">last RDV with the Vendassi's </span></div>
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We were the témoignes for another baptism of a different equipe BTW. Also, one cool contacting story- we were trying to find a bus stop and we were kind of lost, and this African walked by us, and even though we were in a hurry, I found myself stopping him all the sudden to talk to him. Turns out he is a potential that we already had in the phone, but he loves Jesus and we fixed a RDV with him! I won't be there for the RDV, but it was a cool miracle! </div>
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So here I am now, in Swiss where the chocolate is beautiful, the snow capped mountains remind me of Utah, and the prices of everything are 10x higher! Haha I'm excited for this new adventure, and can't wait to see what Heavenly Father has in store for me here. I just need to follow the spirit, work my heart out, and stay warm! </div>
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I love you all, have a great week! </div>
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Avec amour, </div>
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Elder Hall </div>
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Your Favorite Missionary</div>
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<span class="s1">saying goodbye to the villins</span></div>
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