Week 26 - March 30 - Evry - 6 months down!

Le Semain du Baptem!

(Week of the Baptism)

Monday: Today we did the usual shopping, cleaning and studies and then played some basketball in the park. It's super nice to have a court here, the older missionaries say that they never have had a basketball court so close. After that we headed over to the church for FHE and learned about non doctrinal opinions of Kolob. It was really interesting.

Tuesday: Today I went on exchanges with our new district leader Elder Shenkel and it was super sweet because he comes from Switzerland and speaks German so I got to finally use my 3 years of German from High school with him.

We taught Charly that day and also finished his interview for the baptism and he has a super solid testimony.

Wednesday: Today we had district meeting and then cleaned the church. After that we went to Jean-Louis house and he introduced us to a ton of his friends and set up appointment's to go back the next week. After he introduced us to like everyone who lived in that building, he took us back and cooked some super good Indian food for us. Also when we were there we found alcohol and coffee on his counter, so we asked him about it and he felt so bad. He said that he messed up last month when we told him he couldn't be baptised because of his wife (which I still don't understand why the church policy is that) and it hit him pretty hard. Super sad but hopefully he can get baptised soon.

Thursday: Today we met up with a guy from Portugal and his family at their house and watched the Restoration video with them and they loved it. We taught them after that about authority and the priesthood, and then asked him and his wife if they would be baptised and they said they wanted to be baptised as soon as possible! haha they are so golden and a super cool family. 

Friday: Today we did weekly planning and taught Alain and Judith, our new converts and asked Alain to Baptise Charly, he was super pumped to do it. After that we taught Hubert (our only white investigator) about prayer. He is progressing pretty well and hopefully he will be ready for his baptismal date for the 18th of April. 

Saturday: Baptism!

Today was nuts.. We went to the church 6 hours before to make sure the font would be filled and get everything ready for the baptism. When we got to the church we couldn't find where the thing was to turn on the faucet for the font. We finally found where the thing would be to turn on the faucet but it was in a locked door, and we didn't have the keys for it.. So we called up a member in charge of all the keys and he came over, opened it and turned it on. But when we turned it on, pouring out of the faucet was a ton of black ink, so we turned it off, cleaned it out, and then tried it again. It was going fine until the member checked back in the water heater room and found a huge leak from turning on the font. So he turned it off, called a guy to come fix it, and then said sorry and left.. We didn't have any way to get water so we just started throwing buckets of water in from the sink's. That was going too slow and we only had 1 hour until the baptism, so we hooked up this hose to a faucet in the custodial room into the font and then started getting huge garbage bags and filling it with water from the other bathroom's. And by then all of the hot water was gone, so the water in the font was freezing cold for the baptism, but we finally got enough water in before the baptism started and everything went smoothly from there. Super spiritual experience for me. Satan really did not want that baptism to go through..

Sunday: Today at church the family that we taught showed up and hit it off with all the members that spoke portugese. Also in the sacrament we confirmed Charly a member of the church and he is getting the priesthood in a few weeks! After church we went to Villabé to teach the guy that told us to come back another day and he wasn't there.

Thanks for all the prayers and support!!

Missions rule.

love, Jax

Week 25 - March 23 - Evry

Bonjour!

Monday: P-day! Today we played risk with the apartment and then played some basketball in the park. After that we headed over the the church for family home evening and had a bomb lesson taught by one of the members about the second coming. 

Tuesday: Today we went over to a new area that we have never tried before called Val de sein and there was absolutely no one there.. It was a huge waste of time. After that we went to a young couple members house to have dinner and it was pretty awkward because they were both super shy.

Wednesday: Today we went contacting in corbeille for 5 hours and not one person stopped to listen to us. I don't know what was up with all of the African's there. They usually love to talk to us. After that we went back to the church and taught Jean-Louis about missionary work and he is super pumped to give us some referrals!

Thursday: Today we went less active finding for this guy that lived super far away. Once we finally found it after 2 train rides and a bus and we get to the door and he opens it and says "Not the Mormon's again!" and slams his door.. So that sucked. But after that we taught Charlie and he is super ready to be baptised. We went over to the church and he tried on some of the baptismal clothes and says that he has no questions or concerns at all, so we are both super pumped.

Friday: Today we went contacting in a place called Essones Robinson and this black dude from Portugal came up to us and said that he has seen us a lot in his country and really likes the Mormons so he gave us his number and we told him that there are a lot of portugese members in the ward and he was super pumped to talk to them. He is so golden. After that we talked with Jean louis and he said that he told his buddies about the Mormons and our beliefs and they want to be baptised! haha so we will see what happens. We are supposed to meet with them next week and told Jean louis that he could teach with us and he is super pumped.

Saturday: Today we had an appointment with this guy we met a couple of weeks ago by the park and it didn't go well. We taught him the restoration and then I asked him to be baptised and he said "No. I'm Catholic and I am stayin' that way til the day I die". And then we told him that he wasn't baptised with the authority of god and he got super mad. I then told him to pray and ask if it was the restored authority of god and he refused. Then I asked him if God came down and told you face to face that this is the true church then what would you say? And he still said "I'm stayin' Catholic".

Classic.

Sunday: Today we went to church and they announced Charlie's baptism in sacrament and priesthood and all the members came up to him after church telling him how excited they were for him. He was so happy to almost be a member.

After that we taught Hubert about faith and then watched finding faith in Christ and he liked it a lot.

Favorite Scripture: Doctrine and Covenants 88:41-47

this is my favorite scripture because it explains why I have always believed in God and why I always will believe in God.

I can't believe the people I meet every day here telling me that they do not believe in God.

The earth is too perfect, too beautiful to be something else.

Missions rule!

love, Elder Carson

 Goin on splits with Elder Jacobson!

 ​Elder Blackham and I in front of the huge cathedral in Evry.

Week 24 - March 16 - Evry

Sulut mes fréres et soeurs 

(Sulut my brothers and sisters)

This week I am gonna have to make it short because we are going to play some basketball today!

Highlights:

Monday: Today at FHE we had our new investigator come and he loved it.

Tuesday: Went to the last district meeting of the transfer and then went less active finding and we found this less active Arab dude that said he wasn't coming to church because someone offended him at church, but we ended up convincing him to come to church the next Sunday and we got an appointment set up with him and the Bishop on Sunday, so hopefully that works out.

Wednesday: Today we taught Charlie about the baptism, and he is super excited to be baptised on the 28th of March! He has been reading the BOM and is really progressing well.

Thursday: Today while going door to door, we were blessed to be able to teach this guy in Villabé and he wanted us to come back. Super solid guy.

Friday: Today we went and did service for this less active family and then taught Jean Louis about the last days. We told him that these were the last days and the end is close and he freaked out. Every time I see him now he tells me "It's the end of the world eh?". Jean Louis is my favorite person here in France right now. he calls us every day to see how we are doing and always buys us food. Such a homie. Its gonna be sad to leave him and go to another city next transfer!

Saturday: Today we got to see who was leaving to a different city and ends up we are going to have the same apartment and same comps! After that we taught our investigator Hubert and it went super well until the end when I asked him to come to church tomorrow but he refused. I kept telling him how important it was and he ended up just saying maybe. 

Sunday: Church turned out really well. We had 3 investigators show up (not including Hubert) and there were some really good lessons in the meetings for our investigators.

The church is true and I have no doubt in my mind that it is TRUE. I have studied the word of God, prayed and fasted so much to know it is true.

Gaining the knowledge of the scriptures has changed my life and its all because of the mission.

Study the word, pray, and he will respond. 

love, Jax

 

Week 23 - March 9 - Evry

Evry Life!!

Monday: Today we played some basketball in the park and then had some Raclettes for dinner. After that we headed down to the church for family home evening and had a super good lesson from one of the members.

Tuesday: Today we had district meeting and then headed over to a super cool town called Boignville and we found an old lady that wanted us to come back to her house. After that we went over to a place called villabé to do some door to door and no one let us in.

Wednesday: Today we taught our solid recent convert Alan and his wife Judith about temples and they loved it. After that we went contacting the rest of the day.

Thursday: Today we taught Charlie and asked him all the baptismal questions and he did really well. The only thing he didn't know is that our prophet is Thomas Monson, and that is because we haven't taught him about that yet so it went really well. After that we met up with this new brotha we found named Owl. he took us up to his ten foot wide ten foot long appartment, and when we got in there he had porn all over the walls, whisky on the counter, and two packs of cigarettes on the coffee table. We taught him how the gospel blesses our lives and the Book of Mormon. After that we taught a guy named Hubert and set a baptismal date for the 18th of April. It went super well.

Friday: Today we did weekly planning and then headed to the church to wait for our new friend Owl but he never showed up. After that we studied the Book of Mormon with Jean-Louis and watched some videos on LDS.org. After that we street contacted the rest of the night.

Saturday: Today we went contacting in the park and then went contacting in Corbeille Essonnes. After that we went to a meeting with our ward mission leader and then headed back out to Villabé to go door to door the rest of the night.

Sunday: Today we went to church and saw that our investigator Charlie has been making a ton of friends in the ward and participates in classes, its so sweet. I am pretty confident that he will go through with the baptism on the 28th. After that we went contacting in Etoilles, then back to the church to teach Hubert about 3rd nephi. And to end the night we did some more door to door in Villabé.
 

missions rule!!

Love you all and miss you!

Love, Elder Carson

Week 22 - March 2 - Evry

La vie du Missionnaire

 (The life of a Missionary)

Monday: P-DAY! Today we headed out the heart of Paris to check out the cool places and we saw that famous bridge with all the locks on it, then over to the Arch De Triumph, and then went to see a mansion/castle, it was nuts. After that we headed back and went to FHE and the teacher taught about the Abrahamic covenant to our investigators. They were pretty confused.. We finally talked to our bishop to tell him that he can't teach that to them, so we will see how it goes.

Tuesday: Today we went to district meeting and then headed over to our homosexual investigators house Charlie. I have been the most stressed I have ever been in my life teaching this guy. haha.  After that we went knocking on doors the rest of the night in a super nice, super rich neighborhood and didn't get let in. classic.. ha 

Wednesday: Today I went on an exchange with our district leader in Melun and it was boss. We taught 5 lessons and found 2 new investigators. Best day I have had on my mission stats wise. After we taught those lessons we headed over to their ward council. Super solid exchange.

Thursday: Today we headed first over to a lonely old Lady's house in the ward and we were there for an hour listening to her talk about her life. She loves us. After that we did some contacting and then went over to a members house to eat. I told the mom that my sister was on dancing with the stars and she freaked out. She was looking up videos of her on youtube the rest of the night while we were there. People know you in Evry, France Wit! 

Friday: Today we taught Charlie and then headed over to the house of our super solid recent convert Alan and taught him and his wife about the temple. It was the best lesson I have ever given and it felt so good to be able to give a lesson so smooth like that one. After that we went to teach Jean Louis at the church. We just studied the Book of Mormon with him and talked a little bit about baptisms for the dead.

Saturday: Today we started off by weekly planning. Then after that we went to stake conference for the adults. Elder Kearon from the first seventy talked to our stake and it was super good. After that we headed over to a members house and ate some super good fish. 

Sunday: Today we went to the stake conference for everyone in a place called Noreville and Elder Kearon talked to us again. After the conference we taught our new investigator named Hubert and watched the Restoration video with him. It went super well. After that we headed over to a place called the Coudray Montceux to visit a less active member and that went super well also. He said he hasn't been coming to church because his work and because he doesn't have any friends in the ward but we told him that we would just chill with him the whole time at church and he said he would come, so I hope he does!

Missions rule!!

love, Elder Carson

Famous bridge in Paris with all the locks!

 

Arch De Triumph

 Famous Castle/Mansion in Paris!