"One of the coolest things that has developed this week is that one of our investigators who we thought was kind of wishy-washy is now solid and wants to be baptized (or so we have heard). Jackson is engaged to one of the members of our ward. They came to church last sunday and at church his fiancee told us that he wanted to be baptized!
"We have really tried to focus on the less-actives this week and that has been tough just because we have tried passing by their houses and so many aren't there. It's kind of like for every 10 houses we pass by, 1 or 2 let us in. So that is always lame but it has been good to try and talk to them and get to know them.
"So one day this week I decided to try a new way to study the language. I had a jump rope and so I went outside and just tried jump roping while going through all the different tenses and conjugations for different verbs. Ha it was good and fun and it felt good to get the exercise... the only thing that was bad was just that the next day I was really sore and so it made it hard walking up and down the escalators for the metros or just any stairs for that matter.
"Oh and a crazy thing I ate this week - the Aussie burger at the Durand's home. It's a burger with a fried egg, guacamole, pineapple, and tomatoes, and cheese! It actually wasn't too bad! the worst part was just that it was so big and it kind of fell a part on me!
"Halloween is definitely different here, but in many ways it is the same! Ha we aren't allowed to go proselyting this wednesday because of it. Ha there are a lot of people who deck their houses out and it gives people an excuse to dress less modestly than normal (not saying much). ha And it just fits in with their superstitious culture. But oh well. We don't have to dwell on that. "
*******
I am sure Travis experiences a bit of culture shock as he gets used to seeing different type of people- people that he has not seen because of his life's circumstances. His experiences will definitely broaden his understanding and maturity.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
"Choose Ye"
Life is full of mile stones that center around age. For members of the church, our milestones look something like this: 8 years old you are baptized, 12 you join young men's or young women's, 14 you can go to dances, 16 you can date and drive, 18 you graduate from HS and attend college, and now at 18 for young men, 19 for young women, you can serve a mission.
Between all of the age mile stones, personal growth and development take place, and you are hopefully found where you want to be when the opportunity calls you to be there.
I have been impressed by the importance of personally developing, especially developing spiritually. Along life's course, our testimony's transform from external influences to internal drive. At what point that is depends primarily on the individual and their personal choices.
Joshua teaches us in the Bible to "choose ye this day whom ye will serve..." I love his clarity. Choose today, not tomorrow, next week, or when you aren't in the middle of something so important. Choose today.
It's important to know early "whom ye serve". All of life's choices hinge on that personal declaration and decision. So much of life's misery stems from being in opposition to the creator of our souls, but not wanting to subject our will fully to Him. It is difficult to separate yourself from "worldly" trends and fads. It is difficult at times to stand out as different, especially when that difference finds you alone. But, it is worth it.
Every personal sacrifice to be found on the Lord's side is worth it. In comparison to the ultimate sacrifice, that being the atonement of Christ, our sacrifices are minimal, and if there are any damages they are not ones without eternal repair.
To the follower and believer there is significant and real change to the deep happiness felt in your life. It may be dismissed or undervalued to persons of disbelief, but it is a real guiding force that naturally brings peace, happiness, and comfort during all situations of life.
To choose faith in God is a consistent choice. It is a choice worth making every day. The results aren't hidden; it is the choice that brings fulfillment in this life and peace in the eternal life.
With the new opportunity for more young people to serve missions, this choice will be given to many more seekers of truth. It is humbling to realize the implications of this. The gospel has filled my life with joy and direction, and though not all will accept it, so many more people will have the chance to hear it and choose for themselves.
While I will not be going out and serving a mission any time soon due to personal circumstances (being a wife and young mother), I know I am not missing out on the opportunity to be involved in missionary work now. Through my faith, the way I live my life, and my personal attentiveness to seek after and do what I can for individuals who have strayed from the path or never found it, I can be an instrumental member missionary. I can help people "choose this day" to slowly come back to the source of all happiness and direction.
Our personal decision to have a working testimony can enable us to be an angelic minister of God. While our actions may seem like day to day living, our opportunity to good enhances, and we can find ourselves being inspired as to how we can help others.
May the challenge be given: "Choose ye [each] day whom ye will serve... "
And the decision be made: "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord."
Love,
J.
Between all of the age mile stones, personal growth and development take place, and you are hopefully found where you want to be when the opportunity calls you to be there.
I have been impressed by the importance of personally developing, especially developing spiritually. Along life's course, our testimony's transform from external influences to internal drive. At what point that is depends primarily on the individual and their personal choices.
Joshua teaches us in the Bible to "choose ye this day whom ye will serve..." I love his clarity. Choose today, not tomorrow, next week, or when you aren't in the middle of something so important. Choose today.
It's important to know early "whom ye serve". All of life's choices hinge on that personal declaration and decision. So much of life's misery stems from being in opposition to the creator of our souls, but not wanting to subject our will fully to Him. It is difficult to separate yourself from "worldly" trends and fads. It is difficult at times to stand out as different, especially when that difference finds you alone. But, it is worth it.
Every personal sacrifice to be found on the Lord's side is worth it. In comparison to the ultimate sacrifice, that being the atonement of Christ, our sacrifices are minimal, and if there are any damages they are not ones without eternal repair.
To the follower and believer there is significant and real change to the deep happiness felt in your life. It may be dismissed or undervalued to persons of disbelief, but it is a real guiding force that naturally brings peace, happiness, and comfort during all situations of life.
To choose faith in God is a consistent choice. It is a choice worth making every day. The results aren't hidden; it is the choice that brings fulfillment in this life and peace in the eternal life.
With the new opportunity for more young people to serve missions, this choice will be given to many more seekers of truth. It is humbling to realize the implications of this. The gospel has filled my life with joy and direction, and though not all will accept it, so many more people will have the chance to hear it and choose for themselves.
While I will not be going out and serving a mission any time soon due to personal circumstances (being a wife and young mother), I know I am not missing out on the opportunity to be involved in missionary work now. Through my faith, the way I live my life, and my personal attentiveness to seek after and do what I can for individuals who have strayed from the path or never found it, I can be an instrumental member missionary. I can help people "choose this day" to slowly come back to the source of all happiness and direction.
Our personal decision to have a working testimony can enable us to be an angelic minister of God. While our actions may seem like day to day living, our opportunity to good enhances, and we can find ourselves being inspired as to how we can help others.
May the challenge be given: "Choose ye [each] day whom ye will serve... "
And the decision be made: "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord."
Love,
J.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Week 6 in the Field
"Last week I told you that I was not expecting Elder McMurrin and I to be transferred. However, after much mission gossip and one AP and one ZL asking me if I was ready to train... the last thing on my mind was that Elder McMurrin and I would stay together and that the other to elders in our 4-man would stay together as well. But that is exactly what happened. Which is good because we are really wanting to start a more member-centered approach to the missionary work here and it just makes it that much easier that we have 2 up-to-date elders working on this instead of some other combination.
"With the flush continuing (but winding down) we had to open up a couple new areas and so the west side of the island for french got split into two. So that adds another team to our district which is cool. Because of that though, our car was taken away (well... it shouldn't have been there in the first place, it was just an extra car and so they let us have it for a little bit). This will complicate things a little bit, but it will be fine. We will do the work we need to solely on metro bus and walking... ha there are times (several I might add) in the past few days that we have had to walk an extremely long ways and have actually beaten the bus! Got to love power walking! (It's what you do when it's really cold outside to just stay warm!!!)
"We had a couple cool stories this week! So as we were walking to find a less-active's house, we heard a sound that was really weird. Turns out it was a car that had just gotten a flat tire. They were going the opposite way as us and weren't stopping. So we didn't help them. But as we crossed the road, another car had the same thing happen to them and they pulled over close to us and so we went back and helped them. We spent about an hour trying to get the tire to fit properly on the wheel again but to no avail. It made matters worse when we saw a huge hole in the tire. So essentially we couldn't help them... but it was a neat family from the Dominican Republic and so we got their number and we are hopefully going to see them this week!! It was really cute because as we were working on the tire, the back of their van was open and then all their little kids were there just saying Hello to all who passed by! Ha super funny.
"The second story comes from church yesterday. There weren't too many people in church to start off, but after the sacrament passed and the doors opened up a whole bunch of people came in! And one of them happened to be our investigator with his finacee! We didn't really think that he was going to come and yet he did! That technically means that he has gone to church three times and meets the requirements for baptism! But we'll see about that in the coming weeks!
"Third story - again at church. There were a whole bunch of people that came in that we didn't know. It turns out that one of these families is from the bahamas - moved here a month ago and they speak english. Ha but they were at the French ward. So they are all members but for some reason they have 2 daughters (16 and 20) who aren't members. So if they start coming to the english ward they will become our investigators and will be super awesome! They have a 12 year old boy in the family and he only speaks english - so E. McMurrin and I took him to the English branch with us and he is just super cool! I loved being somewhat of an older brother to him! It was really funny to see him use his sweatshirt as a pillow and sleep during sacrament meeting. He slept right through the closing song and prayer and even a little bit of us trying to wake him up by talking next to him. Such a great family.
"Fourth- we recently got in touch with a less-active from our french ward. It's really neat because I just took my communications class at BYU and so I still remember the things we talked about then. Turns out he is a technical director for one of the TV stations here in town and so we had a good time talking about all sorts of TV things and cameras and video cameras and editing programs. It was really neat to talk with him about all those different things and also made me miss the wonderful Canon 7D. Hopefully he will start coming back to church soon. He was really strong for so long! He really wants to go to the temple again.
"So we have had some hiccups in the changing of knocking to trying to work with members and help them in their missionary efforts (like how they can share the gospel - or ideas of how, how we can help them in their ward mission plan, all sorts of things like that). Hopefully those will be taken care of as we just keep going and keep doing what we can to be better missionaries."
"With the flush continuing (but winding down) we had to open up a couple new areas and so the west side of the island for french got split into two. So that adds another team to our district which is cool. Because of that though, our car was taken away (well... it shouldn't have been there in the first place, it was just an extra car and so they let us have it for a little bit). This will complicate things a little bit, but it will be fine. We will do the work we need to solely on metro bus and walking... ha there are times (several I might add) in the past few days that we have had to walk an extremely long ways and have actually beaten the bus! Got to love power walking! (It's what you do when it's really cold outside to just stay warm!!!)
"We had a couple cool stories this week! So as we were walking to find a less-active's house, we heard a sound that was really weird. Turns out it was a car that had just gotten a flat tire. They were going the opposite way as us and weren't stopping. So we didn't help them. But as we crossed the road, another car had the same thing happen to them and they pulled over close to us and so we went back and helped them. We spent about an hour trying to get the tire to fit properly on the wheel again but to no avail. It made matters worse when we saw a huge hole in the tire. So essentially we couldn't help them... but it was a neat family from the Dominican Republic and so we got their number and we are hopefully going to see them this week!! It was really cute because as we were working on the tire, the back of their van was open and then all their little kids were there just saying Hello to all who passed by! Ha super funny.
"The second story comes from church yesterday. There weren't too many people in church to start off, but after the sacrament passed and the doors opened up a whole bunch of people came in! And one of them happened to be our investigator with his finacee! We didn't really think that he was going to come and yet he did! That technically means that he has gone to church three times and meets the requirements for baptism! But we'll see about that in the coming weeks!
"Third story - again at church. There were a whole bunch of people that came in that we didn't know. It turns out that one of these families is from the bahamas - moved here a month ago and they speak english. Ha but they were at the French ward. So they are all members but for some reason they have 2 daughters (16 and 20) who aren't members. So if they start coming to the english ward they will become our investigators and will be super awesome! They have a 12 year old boy in the family and he only speaks english - so E. McMurrin and I took him to the English branch with us and he is just super cool! I loved being somewhat of an older brother to him! It was really funny to see him use his sweatshirt as a pillow and sleep during sacrament meeting. He slept right through the closing song and prayer and even a little bit of us trying to wake him up by talking next to him. Such a great family.
"Fourth- we recently got in touch with a less-active from our french ward. It's really neat because I just took my communications class at BYU and so I still remember the things we talked about then. Turns out he is a technical director for one of the TV stations here in town and so we had a good time talking about all sorts of TV things and cameras and video cameras and editing programs. It was really neat to talk with him about all those different things and also made me miss the wonderful Canon 7D. Hopefully he will start coming back to church soon. He was really strong for so long! He really wants to go to the temple again.
"So we have had some hiccups in the changing of knocking to trying to work with members and help them in their missionary efforts (like how they can share the gospel - or ideas of how, how we can help them in their ward mission plan, all sorts of things like that). Hopefully those will be taken care of as we just keep going and keep doing what we can to be better missionaries."
Week 5 in the Field
"Can you believe that transfer calls come this Saturday! My goodness! I highly anticipate Elder McMurrin and I to have the next transfer together! It will be great if that happens. We're trying to do a lot with this area! As has been said a little bit before, we have a struggling French stake right now. And we really want to remedy that problem and help them out. Our plans are not formally finalized and so I will spare you the details right now, but I am very very excited about what we will do and hopefully success will follow. One thing I can say is that we are going to be doing Fireside type deals every week starting the 8th of November. The purpose of these firesides will be to bring less active people who don't come to church because it takes too long and introduce them with our members - and even to bring investigators to them. They will be used to build unity with the area and for sure to spiritually strengthen our members here.
"We really want to work with the members and get their support and trust. That is for sure the most effective way to do missionary work.
"So President Cannon just got back from a mission conference and he wrote the mission saying that it is basically confirmed! We are going to get a lot more missionaries - especially sisters! Ha It will be a great help to have more missionaries for sure!
"This week was splits again - so I went over to our district leader's area and worked with him! It was so great to see how he does the work and I definitely came away from that experience with a lot of ideas for how to help our area grow. It was really exciting to me to feel like I am doing something positive for the area and that I can receive revelation for this work. I'm excited to see what impact the ideas have.
"This week has been filled with crazy people, lessons, progress, friendship and so much more! Elder McMurrin and I definitely became better friends this week as we worked and tried to get on the same page! There really isn't a lot of time to tell you all of the things that happened. I might be able to send more later on, but that is a maybe - and I wanted to tell you the most important things - That I am doing well and that this area of Hochelaga is great! I love the letters and support I get from all of you! It seriously helps me continue on and be better!"
*********
There is a young man in our ward here in Vegas that reminds me so much of Travis (they look so much a like!) As I sat behind the organ (I'm the chorister...) waiting to take the sacrament, I looked over at "Travis" and felt that sting of missing my brother. I felt great joy though as I watched this young man administer the sacrament and remembered that my brother is administering in another way.
It is impressive to hear of Travis problem-solving. One unique aspect of a mission is that it deprives you of the immediate counsel you would seek from people like your parents, siblings, or friends and forces you to take that counsel to the Lord and even problem solve with a companion you don't know as closely. I am sure this is part of the Lord's design to help our young people of the church learn where to turn for direction in all circumstances of their lives.
I'm thankful for the blessing of having a brother on a mission.
Love,
Jessi
"We really want to work with the members and get their support and trust. That is for sure the most effective way to do missionary work.
"So President Cannon just got back from a mission conference and he wrote the mission saying that it is basically confirmed! We are going to get a lot more missionaries - especially sisters! Ha It will be a great help to have more missionaries for sure!
"This week was splits again - so I went over to our district leader's area and worked with him! It was so great to see how he does the work and I definitely came away from that experience with a lot of ideas for how to help our area grow. It was really exciting to me to feel like I am doing something positive for the area and that I can receive revelation for this work. I'm excited to see what impact the ideas have.
"This week has been filled with crazy people, lessons, progress, friendship and so much more! Elder McMurrin and I definitely became better friends this week as we worked and tried to get on the same page! There really isn't a lot of time to tell you all of the things that happened. I might be able to send more later on, but that is a maybe - and I wanted to tell you the most important things - That I am doing well and that this area of Hochelaga is great! I love the letters and support I get from all of you! It seriously helps me continue on and be better!"
*********
There is a young man in our ward here in Vegas that reminds me so much of Travis (they look so much a like!) As I sat behind the organ (I'm the chorister...) waiting to take the sacrament, I looked over at "Travis" and felt that sting of missing my brother. I felt great joy though as I watched this young man administer the sacrament and remembered that my brother is administering in another way.
It is impressive to hear of Travis problem-solving. One unique aspect of a mission is that it deprives you of the immediate counsel you would seek from people like your parents, siblings, or friends and forces you to take that counsel to the Lord and even problem solve with a companion you don't know as closely. I am sure this is part of the Lord's design to help our young people of the church learn where to turn for direction in all circumstances of their lives.
I'm thankful for the blessing of having a brother on a mission.
Love,
Jessi
Week 4 in the Field
"Can you believe it! It has been a month. Ha General Conference was for sure amazing, as always! I loved being able to watch it and hear what they had to say. It was for sure crazy to hear that the age has changed to 18 and 19! I think it will be really good though. Obviously there will be more situations that arrive, but I think it is also showing just how much more we are being trusted and that we ourselves need to take the next step to do better and be better. A lot of friends at BYU told me how jealous they were that I could go on a mission at 19 and that they had to wait until 21. Ha I guess we'll see how this plays out in the next few months! It reminds me of the mormon messages given by Elder Bednar about light and how he says that receiving light isn't always easy and how that is probably because "He trusts us." I feel like the same thing applies here. "He trusts us" to act our part and be missionaries.
"I really like the area I'm in right now. Hochelaga and Montreal East are great wards/branches to be in and the people here are always nice!
"It's been really neat to get to know more and more of the people in our wards. Because of conference, we've been able to eat with the members at the church for the last two days and I can definitely tell that there is a change in our relationship with them and I totally feel like it is for the better! Yesterday we ate lunch with the French bishop and his family and it was funny because we were just talking and they were asking about our talents. So I said that I really liked to play sports and especially soccer. Ha they were so excited with that because they like playing it too! Elder McMurrin said that he likes to play it... but that he isn't very good at playing it. To which the bishop responded "C'est en vous. It's in you. It's a gift from heaven to play soccer!" Oh goodness I loved it.
"This past week we've been trying to focus on getting ourselves organized and prepared if we do have people smurf us - so we've been color coordinating our ward lists, making appointments to see them and also coordinating who lives close to which investigators so that we can go see them if our appointments fall through. It's been good to go see these families who are less active and see how we can help. Each time we have gone they have been way friendly to us and have offered us food.. so obviously as missionaries we love that! It feels good to share a spiritual thought with them and then just feel the spirit there testifying of the truthfulness.
"The people here are a mix. There have been times when we have had someone come up to us and say "I respect you and your religion. But leave it as soon as you can!" and then ride his bicycle off. Ha There are some really unfriendly people who you say hi to and then they don't really notice you, but there are also others who are also nice and are really excited to talk to people "Who bring the good word." For the most part, African descent people are the nicest. But there was a really nice man who is Qua, he is from here and whatnot but he was way nice! He gave us a ride the other day all the way back to our house. We went back this week and had an appointment with him, showed him some mormon messages and where he can watch general conference. It turns out he is one of the most friendly people ever and a great benefactor to the people here. He has a farm for the mentally ill where they can be around animals and have space. Another business that helps kids who don't have money. And another which funds those two."
*********
"The missionary opportunity of a lifetime is yours. The blessings of eternity await you. Yours is the privilege to be not spectators but participants on the stage of priesthood service" (Thomas S. Monson).
How wonderful that so many more young people have the opportunity to serve a mission, and the added emphasis to prepare for it early!
Love,
Jess
"I really like the area I'm in right now. Hochelaga and Montreal East are great wards/branches to be in and the people here are always nice!
"It's been really neat to get to know more and more of the people in our wards. Because of conference, we've been able to eat with the members at the church for the last two days and I can definitely tell that there is a change in our relationship with them and I totally feel like it is for the better! Yesterday we ate lunch with the French bishop and his family and it was funny because we were just talking and they were asking about our talents. So I said that I really liked to play sports and especially soccer. Ha they were so excited with that because they like playing it too! Elder McMurrin said that he likes to play it... but that he isn't very good at playing it. To which the bishop responded "C'est en vous. It's in you. It's a gift from heaven to play soccer!" Oh goodness I loved it.
"This past week we've been trying to focus on getting ourselves organized and prepared if we do have people smurf us - so we've been color coordinating our ward lists, making appointments to see them and also coordinating who lives close to which investigators so that we can go see them if our appointments fall through. It's been good to go see these families who are less active and see how we can help. Each time we have gone they have been way friendly to us and have offered us food.. so obviously as missionaries we love that! It feels good to share a spiritual thought with them and then just feel the spirit there testifying of the truthfulness.
"The people here are a mix. There have been times when we have had someone come up to us and say "I respect you and your religion. But leave it as soon as you can!" and then ride his bicycle off. Ha There are some really unfriendly people who you say hi to and then they don't really notice you, but there are also others who are also nice and are really excited to talk to people "Who bring the good word." For the most part, African descent people are the nicest. But there was a really nice man who is Qua, he is from here and whatnot but he was way nice! He gave us a ride the other day all the way back to our house. We went back this week and had an appointment with him, showed him some mormon messages and where he can watch general conference. It turns out he is one of the most friendly people ever and a great benefactor to the people here. He has a farm for the mentally ill where they can be around animals and have space. Another business that helps kids who don't have money. And another which funds those two."
*********
"The missionary opportunity of a lifetime is yours. The blessings of eternity await you. Yours is the privilege to be not spectators but participants on the stage of priesthood service" (Thomas S. Monson).
How wonderful that so many more young people have the opportunity to serve a mission, and the added emphasis to prepare for it early!
Love,
Jess
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Week 3 in the Field
"So some cool things that happened this week - we had an 80 year old investigator who we were kind of ready to drop because we just didn't think he was too interested or accepting of our message - we got smurfed on our return appointment - but we decided to pass by the other day. It turns out that he has read all of the book of mormon up until Mormon 2 (at the point we visited with him)! Can you believe it? It was only a week in between appointments! We committed him to baptism and even wrote it on his wall calendar. Nov. 10th is the date. We still have almost all the lessons and commandments to teach him but it was way cool to see the change in just a week!
"So it's funny to hear my trainer call me out on "still being a greenie"! Like we'll be crossing the street and a car will be coming and so I will run to the other side of the road to get of the way (like we do in small towns) and then he'll casually stroll across the street. Ha he tells me that I haven't learned the way of montreal yet. Or we'll be in a crowded bus and he tells me my face looks so funny and just like I'm sending out a beacon that I'm not from there. It's funny - especially because it just reminds him of when he was a greenie and doing the same things - like making most all contacts awkward! But hey - at least I'm trying!
"So with that said... it is way funny because we had true greenie splits the other day! Elder Foster and I (both only 2 weeks out) took control of Hochelaga and Montreal East! Ha We got lost a few times - walked a lot farther than we had to in search of a bathroom - spilled soup at the dinner appointment on ourselves (me) and the table. Chased after busses! Taught a lesson on the bus... which made us miss our stop by a long ways and made us lost - tried teaching lessons... couldn't understand the questions - and had a lot of fun!!! Ha it was seriously the classic greenie split. But we did get home on time. And slept very well that night.
I definitely think my legs will be in great shape by the end of my mission. We have walked and walked and walked... a lot like the pioneer children! We have tried singing and walking... usually doesn't happen for too long though.
"Another funny story is that when we're on the bus sometimes I will bump in to people on accident and I will say sorry in french to them. So they say "C'est correct" which is to say - no big deal - it's correct. Ha but at first I was taking it literally and was thinking "Wait, it's correct that I'm sorry? Ha that's not cool!! Lame!" But then I realized they were actually being nice and not mean! Ha
"It's been good this past week. I've really felt like my comprehension of the language has improved. I've been really happy with that and felt blessed. I still have a long ways to go, but I think it would be cool to compare my level now with my level at the MTC. Some things - mostly the easier things to say in French - are becoming a lot more automatic."
****************
I am grateful to hear that Travis is continuing to progress in his mission. I laugh because as he is asking for sweaters and warm hats, we are sitting in 95 degree heat!
While he is not meeting instant success, he will have much to be grateful for when he does come in contact with those who are ready to receive truth.
The gospel is true and such a joy.
Love,
Jessi
"So it's funny to hear my trainer call me out on "still being a greenie"! Like we'll be crossing the street and a car will be coming and so I will run to the other side of the road to get of the way (like we do in small towns) and then he'll casually stroll across the street. Ha he tells me that I haven't learned the way of montreal yet. Or we'll be in a crowded bus and he tells me my face looks so funny and just like I'm sending out a beacon that I'm not from there. It's funny - especially because it just reminds him of when he was a greenie and doing the same things - like making most all contacts awkward! But hey - at least I'm trying!
"So with that said... it is way funny because we had true greenie splits the other day! Elder Foster and I (both only 2 weeks out) took control of Hochelaga and Montreal East! Ha We got lost a few times - walked a lot farther than we had to in search of a bathroom - spilled soup at the dinner appointment on ourselves (me) and the table. Chased after busses! Taught a lesson on the bus... which made us miss our stop by a long ways and made us lost - tried teaching lessons... couldn't understand the questions - and had a lot of fun!!! Ha it was seriously the classic greenie split. But we did get home on time. And slept very well that night.
I definitely think my legs will be in great shape by the end of my mission. We have walked and walked and walked... a lot like the pioneer children! We have tried singing and walking... usually doesn't happen for too long though.
"Another funny story is that when we're on the bus sometimes I will bump in to people on accident and I will say sorry in french to them. So they say "C'est correct" which is to say - no big deal - it's correct. Ha but at first I was taking it literally and was thinking "Wait, it's correct that I'm sorry? Ha that's not cool!! Lame!" But then I realized they were actually being nice and not mean! Ha
"It's been good this past week. I've really felt like my comprehension of the language has improved. I've been really happy with that and felt blessed. I still have a long ways to go, but I think it would be cool to compare my level now with my level at the MTC. Some things - mostly the easier things to say in French - are becoming a lot more automatic."
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I am grateful to hear that Travis is continuing to progress in his mission. I laugh because as he is asking for sweaters and warm hats, we are sitting in 95 degree heat!
While he is not meeting instant success, he will have much to be grateful for when he does come in contact with those who are ready to receive truth.
The gospel is true and such a joy.
Love,
Jessi
Monday, October 1, 2012
Travis' Address in Canada
Hey y'all!
I thought we should give everyone Travis' address in case you want to write to him in Canada. You can send a letter to the following address:
Elder Travis Lee Mortenson
Canada Montreal Mission
470 Rue Gilford, Suite 300
Montreal, QC H2J 1N3
Canada
I'm sure he will appreciate hearing from you. Thanks for taking an interest in him.
hugs,
Anne (Travis' mom)
I thought we should give everyone Travis' address in case you want to write to him in Canada. You can send a letter to the following address:
Elder Travis Lee Mortenson
Canada Montreal Mission
470 Rue Gilford, Suite 300
Montreal, QC H2J 1N3
Canada
I'm sure he will appreciate hearing from you. Thanks for taking an interest in him.
hugs,
Anne (Travis' mom)
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