Week 17 - January 26 - Evry

Week 11 in France

This week was a pretty good one!!

Monday: Today I bought a racklette maker and had it that night and we love it. Its probably the best food I have ever had. Every Monday now we do racklette night. After some racklette's we went over to the church for family home evening and it was a pretty good turn out. 

Tuesday: Today we had district meeting and then went over to a members house to do some more painting. We did that like pretty much all day and then did some door to door in Etoile to finish off the night. Etoile was super cool but I forgot my flippin' camera!

Wednesday: Today we taught Alain about the plan of salvation and then had a dinner appointment with a family in the ward from Madagascar and they were super nice. After that we did some contacting in the park and taught a white guy and he seemed interested but later we found out he gave us a fake number.(That was the first white guy I taught on my mission so far) Dad I know you know how it is.. haha 

Thursday: Today I had an exchange with one of the zone leaders, Elder Tryon from Texas and he was pretty cool. We taught first a dude named Frank that Elder Ireland and I found and we watched the restoration video with him and he loved it. After that we taught Alain again and finished teaching the plan of salvation with him. Then to finish off the day we taught a WHITE Muslim named Hamza and we watched the restoration video with him also and gave him a book of Mormon and told us he was interested.

Pretty sweet day. 3 lessons and 3 new investigators.

Friday: Today we headed back to Chatelet an hour away to meet back up with my comp and Elder Tryon's comp to finish the exchange and then got back and taught a lady named Elise on the street and we are meeting up with her again next week. After that we taught Jean-Louis and watched the Testament's with him and he loved it. After we watched the video Jean-Louis gave me his hat and brought us a super good cake. 

Saturday: Today we had five appointments and they all frooged us, so we had to go porting and contacting all day. Pretty sucky. But on our way there we talked to a inactive member and told him that we miss him and wanted him to come to church this Sunday, and he did! 

Sunday: Today at church we had 3 investigators show up. Jean Louis and our new guys Frank, and Simon. Simon brought his friend and he loved our church. We got his number and we are teaching him this next week. Pretty sweet.

After that we headed to a members house to help move her bed from her old apartment to her new one. After that we went contacting and found a catholic pastor that wants to come to our church next Sunday, so that will be interesting.

Love all you guys!

Missions rule!

love, Jackylegs
 

 Racklette Night!!

The Evry District!

 ​Jean-Louis at family home evening

Week 16 - January 19 - Evry

Week 10 in France

TERRORIST ATTACK!!

Haha just kiddin I'm fine here in Evry, there isn't that big of a problem with Muslims in Evry. Just a lot of black people so don't worry.

Monday: P-day!! Today we got some groceries and shopped at the mall because its soldes right now. Almost everything is 50 percent off or more, so I found some super cool cheap stuff.  After that we went to family home evening at the church and not many people from the ward showed up. 

Tuesday: Today was legality so we headed to Verseille where it was and I got to hang out with my favorite companion from the MTC. It was pretty fun though. We got fed a really good lunch and got a training from president Babin. He is the man. Super inspiring. 

Wednesday: Today we did service at a members house and painted the inside of her house and ate a super good dinner. After that we went to ward council and they chewed us out for not having enough investigators show up to church on Sunday's. They also told us we need to work with members more and said that they will try to get the ward to get us people to teach. After the meeting we asked a member (whose house we were going to eat at the next day) if we could bring one of our investigators to the dinner appointment and he said "no". Haha we tried!! But we really do need more investigators, its killin' me.

Thursday: Today we taught Jean Louis and just read the Book of Mormon with him and helped him understand what he read. After that we did a butt load of contacting and porting and found no one. After that we went to a members house to eat and we had these things called raclettes, they are super good. Its mashed potatoes, Some weird cheese, and duck meat. Definitely buying a raclette maker next week.

Friday:Today we went to Corbeille to go street contacting and there was way too many crazy muslims there so we're probably not going back there for a while either haha. So basically now there are only 3 towns we can go to in our sector that isn't completely full of Muslim's. After that we did weekly planning and then met up with our new member Allain. We taught him about the priesthood. It was a pretty good lesson.

Saturday: Today we went to another members house to do service and it was pretty fun. We painted a part of his apartment and watched "The Testaments". After that we contacted some more and found a pretty solid homie from Africa that wanted to learn more about us.

Sunday: Today at church we had 1 investigator, Jean-Louis. But church is really nice now because I can participate and understand more things now. After church we went contacting and porting for the rest of the night, it was pretty bad. 

We taught a total of 2 people this whole week. It is pretty frustrating but we are trying some new stuff next week to see if we can get some success. I have come to really appreciate the times that we do get to teach and the baptism we had. 

I love you guys!

Aimez Toi, Elder Carson

 Kabob's

 First snow in Evry!

 The Library where they Email.

Week 15 - January 12 - Evry

Week 9 in France

Week 9,

Monday: Today for p-day we didn't do anything too cool just relaxed, did some emailing and then had family home evening and a ton of people showed up, it was awesome. 

Tuesday: Today I had an exchange with the district leader Elder Amaya. We went to a place called Chatelet and there was absolutely no one there. We knocked on a ton of doors and a nice lady let us in and we talked for a couple minutes with her but she wasn't interested and told us not to come back. We found some super mean giant geese and I ran up and scared them. As I was walking away they started chasing Elder Amaya and I. Funniest thing of my life. Amaya was mad at me for scaring them. After that we went to Allain's house and watched finding faith in Christ and they loved it. Also today Elder Ireland gave me the phone so now I have to do all the phone duties.. I can't ever understand anyone face to face let alone on the phone, but it has definitely helped me with my french a ton.

Wednesday: Today we had district meeting and met this super homosexual guy on the street of Evry and told us he would love for us to come over! He never said he was actually gay but I know one when I see one. I have been to L.A. Ireland doesn't think he is gay so we are going over there next week. So that will be interesting. After that we went to the train station in Corbeille to pick up this guy from Africa and he didn't show up.. Classic African. I'm not racist, it has just happened way too many times for me to count, ha.

Thursday: Today we went to this old lady members house and talked to her for hours. She has been alone for a long time now and knows a ton about the scriptures. She calls us every week to come over. She loves elder Ireland. After that we contacted for 6 hours straight and we found a guy named Edner. He is from Africa and loves Jesus. 

Friday: Today we met with Jean-Louis and read the book of Mormon with him because he never does it on his own. We talked to the bishop about him being baptised without the spouses permission and he said they can't do it without the approval.. Jean Louis was super depressed but we just kept telling him to keep asking her until she says yes. Hopefully he will be able to be baptised soon. We are just going to keep building his testimony and keep trying to talk to his wife.

Saturday: Today we contacted In Grigny and it was super Muslim infested. We were death threatened a few times, cussed at and harassed. It was super scary. We aren't going to Grigny for a while until all of the terrorist stuff is cooled down. Every Muslim here is going nuts. Tons of protests and signs everywhere. Apparently the thing that made everyone mad is a journalist named Charlie writing bad things about the Muslims religion and how it is ruining France (which is true) and how they need to be kicked out. So some Muslims killed him and got away. They finally caught them Sunday night. After that we went to go to the only families house that let us in a few weeks ago when we caroled for them and right as we got there they were bringing in groceries, so we helped them and showed them the restoration video. It was super good. The kids loved it and the parents are super interested.

Scariest morning of my life. 

Sunday: Today was soooo sweet. We had 4 investigators at church today including the new family (Pierre) we taught Saturday. We had some super good talks at church and the kids loved it. After church we did some contacting and then went to the church to wait for this African dude Edner. He didn't show up after an hour of waiting so we left to do some door to door. I have walked so much already, my shoes are getting wrecked. I'm lovin the hard work and learning so much everyday. Missions rule!

Love, Elder Carson

The Evry Elder's outside of this famous building in Evry France.

 

Update on Terrorist Attack in Paris

Here is a letter the Mission President wrote today on Facebook!

Dear all,

We understand how stressful it may be for all of you to hear what happened during those few days in Paris not being able to be in contact with your Missionary. 

All the missionaries are well tonight and have received the recommendation to stay in their appartment to avoid any risk this evening. 

As you know the terrorists have been killed by the police but we will stay very prudent during the next few days. 

Warmest regards

President F.Babin

I wanted to also share a post that was on our Missionary Families facebook page. I think these types of posts are great for Jaxon to hear about when he returns home. Stories he will be able to share with his Children.

 Sister Maryanne Vandenbergh Posted this on Facebook. I love to hear how the lord has his hands in everything, especially our Missionaries!

Here is a story of inspiration and proof (from this Paris tragedy) that The Lord watches over his servants:
I just got off the phone with my good friend and neighbor. Her parents are serving in the France Paris mission. Their apartment is only a HALF of a block away from where the shootings took place on Wednesday at the Charlie Hebdo office. Her parents were just leaving their apartment and they normally turn right (which is where Charlie Hebdo is) to go to the metro station. As they were leaving, they saw the apartment manager and decided to stop and talk to him for a minute. As they were doing so, they heard the gun shots (that killed 12 people), followed by police sirens.
Had they not stopped to talk to the manager, they most likely would have been right by or in front of the office when the shootings were talking place. There are many more details to the story but that is the short version. Such a miracle. God is so good and so mindful of our missionaries.

Sister Ponanski responded with this:

Oh yes we found this apartment for elder and sister Maynard when they arrived. It is really close where the shooting took place and I was wondering where they were when this tragedy happened. So happy to hear this great story. Don't worry I know that our missionaries are protected. 

Sister Maryanne Vandenbergh responded to Sister Ponanski: 

YES! It was Brother and Sister Maynard!! Their daughter lives two houses down from me and she was also my daughter's Young Women's president here in our ward. (My daughter, Haylie, who is serving in Mulhouse.) The story is even more miraculous than how I explained it--it also involves Sister Maynard deciding, at the last minute, to go make an appointment to get her hair cut--a decision that ALSO kept them away from the horrible scene. I was shocked when Kristie, their daughter, was telling me all this! I had no idea they lived so close to where all this happened. They were truly blessed.

There was also a post from a French member who posted this. She compared it to our September 11th attack for the people of France. (I'm not sure anything can compare to that, but maybe for the French it did)...  What a sweet little lady.. Our prayers are going out to all of them.

Suspects are dead but four hostages are dead too and too many people, they where young police officers, a young father and a very young women all the country is choquing (sorry if not the good word) but now we know it is finsih dont worry ! be quiet ! it was our 11 september for a lot of us ! we are choking but alive ! just 111 police officer dead, too much ! and all of the Charlie equip... your french Sister sorry for my bad englih

 

 

Terrorist Attack in Paris - January 7 2015

Terrorist Attack in Paris 

I thought I would put some information on this blog so our family and friends can see what is going on in Paris with the Attack. Our prayers are going out to all those affected by this and for our Missionaries. Please pray for our Missionaries throughout France.  This is what the Mission President posted on Facebook this morning. 

Dear all,

-You have heard of this horrific tragedy in Paris. All our missionaries are safe! The entire city will see an enormous increase in the security presence, but our
missionaries received today some recommandations and should simply be cautioned to watch out for anything out of the ordinary, and be completely compliant if confronted by police or military personnel. 

-They all were asked to check the security of their apartment doors, and entrances to church buildings.

- They have been advised to avoid the area of the shooting for at least the next
72 hours, in order to stay out of the way of police investigation.
Missionaries have been advised also to increase their awareness in some areas,
as the police and residents will be on edge, at least until the suspects are
apprehended. 

-We will be watching very closely those areas and if they become violent, we will consider pulling missionaries out altogether for a time.

- Missionaries have been advised also to avoid getting into conversations with
street contacts of a political nature of any kind.

Hope those few lines will reassure all of you that we are watching over our full
time missionaries and that they are doing very well.

President F.Babin

This is an Article on MSN of the Attack. 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/eleven-shot-dead-at-french-satirical-weekly/ar-AA7Spbm 




 

Week 14 - January 5 - Evry

Week 8 in France

Week 8, 

Salut tout les monde,

Monday: P-day! Elder Empey and I went to the mall today and printed off some pictures and ate some weird stuffed waffle things that were pretty good. After that we met up with the other elders in our apartment and played risk, it was super fun. Elder Ireland is a super bad loser though haha. After that we had family home evening with our investigators and some families in the ward and it went super well. 

Tuesday: Today was district meeting and it was pretty good. After district meeting we taught Allain and his wife Judith (recent converts) and showed them the restoration video and the wife cried a ton. That video is super solid for missionaries. To end of our day we headed to a town called Corbeille just 10 minutes away from Evry, knocked on some super ghetto houses and did some street contacting. Not one person stopped to listen to us that night except for one super high chick.

Wednesday: Today we decided to fast and contact until new years eve at 6:00 so we could find someone to teach. We found 5 black guys on the trains and 2 other black guys street contacting. We were super happy about all the people we found. The fasting, prayer, and hard work definitely paid off. After that we headed back to the apartment and just hung out with the other elders. New years is a huge Holiday here in France. We heard super loud music and sirens all night. 

Thursday: New years day! Today they didn't allow us to proselyte so we headed over to the basketball courts and played some ball. There was absolutely no one outside but billions of whisky bottles, confetti and fireworks. After we played basketball we headed back to the apartment and played some risk and hung out in the apartment the rest of the night studying and listening to music. Super solid day.

Friday: Today we did weekly planning, and called up all the people that we found on Wednesday but only three ended up actually being the right number. Frigance, Tresheur, and Presner. We are meeting up with them hopefully next week. In the evening we headed over to the family we found last week while Christmas caroling and just talked with them and invited them to church again this week because they didn't come last week. We called almost the whole ward to come and meet them at the doors of the church and talk to them. 

Saturday: Today we met with Jean-Louis and read with him the first 5 chapters of the book of Mormon because he hasn't been reading it at all. it went pretty well because he loved the story of Lehi and his family and now he is reading a lot every day. After that we started our fast for fast Sunday and contacted the rest of the night.

Sunday: Today was sooooo good. We had testimony meeting and we convinced Jean-Louis to go up and bare his testimony and he did! It was so sweet. he was tearing up the whole time telling everyone about the letter he sent to President Monson about Elder Ireland and I helping him "find the light", then he compared the Mormons to a giant ship that can't sink and compared the Evangelist church (his wife's church) to a small broken ship. After the meeting almost every member went up to him and told him how happy they were to have him in the ward. He just needs to be baptized! His baptismal date is February 14 and we are just trying to meet with him as much as possible until the baptism so he doesn't get cold feet.  After that we headed over to Djaphets house in Grigny, 30 minutes away from our apartment and he wasn't there so we stayed and talked to a lot of Muslims. Every Muslim here can talk about their prophet Muhammad and the Koran for hours. 

It is getting a little frustrating here not being able to teach as much as we would like, but still a super solid week! Missing all of you guys and hope you all had a good new years!! Love you all!

love, Elder Carson

Here is some of what he sent in a personal email to us!

Mom and Dad,

Right now I am going off my mission by one scripture. It is also my goal for the year:

Helaman 10:4-5 "Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for i have beheld how thou hast with unwearyness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works...." I like this because it has the goal I want to set, which is to work hard with unwearyness, and also tells you the blessing from finishing the goal. Blessed forever. Mighty in word, faith and in works.

love you guys!!

love, Jax

 Jaxon in his apartment playing Risk with all the Elder's on New Year's Eve. They ate Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Played Risk and went to bed at 11:00.