49th P-Day (42nd in France)

This week was a good one to be in France for! The World Cup, Bastille Day, Le Tour de France (which passed right by our city), and much more!

Tuesday started off with District meeting! It was our last district meeting this transfer, so we did a group photoshoot in case anyone was to be transferred. Look for those in my album this week. After that, we went down to visit Sylvain and Aline for the first time in almost a month. It was good and they bought us some ties, but they don't think they'll be able to come to church anytime soon... Which is the one thing holding them back from being baptized. 

On Wednesday we had a rendez-vous with our investigator, David. I'm always hesitant to go over to his place, but my companion insisted. Luckily, we got lost and only had 15 minutes to spend with him by the time that we got there. He still really wants to get baptized, but not for the right reasons (as mentioned in last weeks email). He obviously hasn't told my companion this yet, but I've told him about it. Elder Swensen thinks that we can change his intentions for baptism and still baptize him, so I'm going to let him take full management over this investigator. David was also talking about how much he hates one of the families in our ward, because they ignore him when he makes comments at church. The funny thing is that one of the members of this family was to be teaching sunday school with the investigators that coming Sunday, so I was a little worried for that. Oh well, David is just an interesting case! Then we had a rendez-vous with Zayneb. We gave her a practice baptismal interview and really the only thing she needs more knowledge of is latter-day prophets. She's doing so well! Then we went to the church and skype called some Sisters from the St. George temple! One of them is from Valenciennes and she is referring her non-member grandpa to us. She sent me her testimony to put in a Book of Mormon to give to him, and told us all about him. It was really nice and we were excited to do that for her!

The next day we had our weekly rendez-vous with Chantal and finally finished the whole book of 1 Nephi with her! It was so rewarding. Never once in her 10 years of being a member has she ever read more than 1 chapter in the Book of Mormon on her own. I also finally got a selfie with her, so I'll put that in my album so that you can all put a face to the name! We finished the day with a rendez-vous with Felisa up in Mons. It went really well and she told us that she wanted to come to church and work towards baptism! How cool!

Friday started with us going to the grandpa's apartment of the St. George missionary to give him his Book of Mormon. When we rang, he was super uninterested. Then I told him that we had a gift for him and he agreed to come down and retrieve it. The gift, of course, was the Book of Mormon. He wasn't too happy about this "gift", but once we showed him the testimony inside he liked it a lot more. We then tried to set something up with him, but he said he's not interested for the moment. It was really hard for me to report back to the Sister about that. I'm praying for a miracle here. This means a lot to her and it means a lot to me! After that we had another rendez-vous with Zayneb. We planned her whole baptismal program and set up a date for her actual interview. She didn't choose Brother Broadway to baptize her, as expected, but she did pick him to give one of the talks. Now it was our turn to tell him this and we were not excited to see his reaction. After that, we did a Skype call with SLC and missionaries in different missions throughout the World (England, South Africa, and Mexico), because my companion is the mission's tablet tech and the Church headquarters wanted all of our opinions on things. This is now going to be a weekly conference call for us, so that's fun. It was actually very informative and insightful, so that was cool. It also gave me a glimpse of how different all missions are. Then we taught Ledi at night. She was going through a faith crisis, so we decided to bear our testimonies and help her out. It went really well and she fed us. When we got home for the night, Felisa Facebook called me and it lasted 45 minutes LOL. I was able to teach her a little and we got plans in place for people to bring her to church. 

The next day we taught Margrate first. She said that she's willing to get baptized as soon as she has read the scriptures and receives a confirmation about it. She also made us crepes, so that was nice! Then we taught Hourya. This was to be the 100th time that we've gone over the Word of Wisdom with her, but it's really the only thing holding her back from baptism. We've touched it from so many different angles, but she doesn't understand it. Today was the worst it has ever been. She got super defensive and started arguing with Elder Swensen about how it's not really a commandment and how people in our ward told her that it's just a suggestion. She also said that if she has to stop to be baptized, that she'd rather not get baptized. I had to do some serious damage control, but it really didn't go anywhere. So sad. Any advice, people? Any other angles we can touch this on? We could use it! Then we had our first rendez-vous with Hiba in a whole month! She had been gone in Morocco, but we were happy to see that she was back. It went overall well and I can definitely tell that she's getting closer to baptism. It's just hard for her to recognize the Spirit and its confirmations. Any ideas on this?

Sunday was interesting. Felisa and David both came to church! I sat by Felisa and she brought us food. David tried following me around all day, so I found other people for him to talk to. Elder Swensen is way nicer to him and is always willing to talk to him, yet somehow he still prefers me haha.  Anyway, he finally cornered me at the end of church and told me about how much he hates the Ward, because they "ignore" him, and how he wants to get baptized to show them how cool he is. I guess that's Elder Swensen's new "baptism intention" he was hoping for with David haha! Anyway, then I thanked the wife of the 1st Counselor who picked up Felisa for church. She then got super serious and mad. She said that she's known Felisa for over 2 decades when there was a French speaking Branch in Mons and the missionaries taught her. She said that we need to be careful with her and that she's dangerous. Like what? This day was already so crazy haha. I asked her what had happened, and she said, "there was a reason that her investigator record was destroyed. She should've never been found again. We won't be driving her to church anymore. Always be cautious and safe when you go over to her house. Never leave your companion behind with her." I was shook. I still wanted to know what had happened, but she wouldn't tell me. She ended by saying, "I'm being very serious right now. Be careful." And walked away. I'm still confused, even as I'm writing this, especially because Felisa hasn't given us any warning signs before. Are both of our investigators who were at church this week dangerous? Find out next time on Keeping Up With Elder Anderson. 

Anyway, after the dramatic time I had at church, we went to give Sister Guillot the sacrament. It went really well and then she asked for a blessing because of her Parkinson's disease. Because I'm the Senior Comp, I gave it. First one ever, let alone in French. It went really well though, and I know that God was helping me, even though I made a few grammatical mistakes here and there haha. She had pre-prepared quiche and a pie for us as well, so that made me so happy. After that, we came back to the apartment and planned for the week. We caught a glimpse of the Tour de France as we drove back, so that was exciting. We had to be back in our apartment at 5 PM, because of the World Cup finals. And if you haven't heard already, FRANCE WON! Everyone was up partying all night long and I wish that I could've been out celebrating as well. I love the patriotism that's been going on here recently and it makes it harder to have these curfews haha. But I will for sure be coming back after the mission and partying with the French people 24/7! 

I hope you all had the opportunity to read my Facebook post yesterday. It was centered on service and how that's really God's Plan. We're here to love and serve others. I know that since I've been on my mission, I have seen how putting my own wants and desires on hold have blessed both myself and others. It's incredible. Follow Christ's example and get out and serve! It will change you and it will change your life. We all need love and we all need support. Go out and show that love and support to others and I know God will bless you. Love one another, folks. :) 

Thanks for all the emails and love. I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Connor Anderson

St. George sister's testimony in the Book of Mormon. I did a bad glue job though haha

Me & Elder Crane goofing around

Me laughing with Felisa during our 45 minute Facebook chat

 Road barrier for Tour de France

My awesome District

Me & Elder Kolziol

Chantal & Us

48th P-Day (41st in France)

This week was super tiring, but also rewarding! Guess that just sums up missionary work for you!

So last Monday was District P-Day in Lille. We all got sushi and then went bowling. Afterwards a few of us decided to go shopping and I was finally able to experience Hollister in France. Loved it. Then the metro broke down and the District Leader, his companion, and I had to walk all the way to their Ward Mission Leader's house for their weekly meeting. He was super chill and made us dinner too. It was a good day!

The next morning we did slack-lining for exercise! Let's just say that I need to work on my balance lol. It was fun nevertheless. I was with Elder Koshiol for exchanges and we did a lot of finding and then met up with the District Leader and Elder Swensen for lunch at a place called, "Pizza Cone." Look for the pics of this in my album. It was a nice reminder of America. After that we did more finding until we had a dinner appointment up in Belgium with a member. After that, we did two things. First item on the agenda? Correct Koshiol's hair color from his awful dye job last week. Got that out of the way. Look for the before and after in my album as well. Then I had the marvelous idea with my district leader to re-create a famous YouTuber's meme video (it's hard to explain), so we got face chalk and we did it. It has now been uploaded to my brother, Landon's, Twitter account and has since gone viral! So feel free to look it up and laugh. Too good! Nighttime shenanigans. 

Wednesday was good. We had district meeting in the morning and went super American. Burgers, fries, apple pie, etc. Great food, great company. The only interesting thing that happened the rest of the day was that we visited Felisa (the Chilean woman in Belgium). It was a good meeting and she opened right up to us about all of her problems. At the end she said, "I hope I didn't annoy you with all my drama," to which I responded, "I hope so too!" I obviously didn't hear her say what she actually said lol. It was overall a good 4th of July!

The next day was decent. We met with Chantal again and she said that she's going to confront the Ward about why they never let Elders visit her until now (she lives alone with her grandson), and how she's finally interested in the Book of Mormon and understanding it with us. That was a huge compliment. Then we went up to Belgium for our weekly Ward Mission Leader meeting with Adam. His son, Liam, was getting baptized on Saturday and after we started talking to them, they realized how much they weren't prepared. So, to ease their worries, I told them that the missionaries could handle everything... Which ended up not being that great of an idea, but I'll get to that later. Then we had our weekly dinner appointment with the Kabongos. They're so nice.

Friday was a slow day with a lot of finding and then a dinner appointment with Ledi. She's not really progressing, unfortunately, but she really loves us and the messages we share with her. Hopefully she'll progress soon! She's such a nice woman!

Saturday was the big day! We woke up at 4 AM to drive to Lille, pick up the Elders, and fill up the baptismal font for Liam's baptism. What made this even worse was that I couldn't fall asleep that night until 2:30! So I got less than two hours of sleep total! After we got to the church, Elder Crane (the District Leader) and I went into Centreville to get some food for everyone. Then we came back and set everything else up. Then they left, but the STLs got there. Everyone else started flooding in at this point. David (the creepy investigator) even came! Elder Swensen loves him, because he told him that he wants to be baptized... Little does he know that David told me that he wanted to have Elder Larson (my last companion) baptize him, because he has a crush on him, and he wants to be able to get married in the temple to him! I keep trying to tell David that Elder Larson isn't here anymore, but he won't listen and keeps getting mad when he shows up at events and Elder Larson isn't present.Yikes. Anyway, I'll keep y'all updated on David, because Elder Swensen doesn't believe me when I tell him all of this and all he sees is a "progressing" investigator, because he keeps coming to ward events/church. We can hope that David's intentions for baptism will change, but I don't know how logical that is. Anyway, the baptism went extremely well, even with David following me around the whole time, trying to talk about Elder Larson to me. Afterwards, the other Elders had me ask our Bishop if we could get any free food at his restaurant. I hate asking for things like this, but he was super chill and allowed us to go for free! Their family is awesome! So we picked up the other Elders and went out! Afterwards, they came back to Valenciennes with us for a "finding day" that was really poorly planned out. It did produce some results, however, so that made me extremely happy. We then drove them back and finished the night with Teodora. She cooked us some BBQ in her backyard and we ate it with her. I was so tired at this point and it took every last bit of energy I had to not fall asleep during our appointment haha. At least it was a really good day. 

The next day was fine as well. Elder Swensen gave a talk in church and it went really well. We didn't have a lot of investigators at church this week, because it's vacation season right now, but it's all good. After church we took sacrament to a woman in the Ward and she asked for a spiritual thought afterwards. I quickly pulled out the monthly message in the Liahona and winged it really well haha. She made us a cake too, so that was thoughtful of her. I love this Ward! 

Today we went up to Mons for some "Soldes" shopping & browsing (basically the black friday month of the year). It was a really relaxed day. 

I know lots of you have already seen my Facebook post, but if not I encourage you to read it. My spiritual thought for y'all this week is about our Ward families. I have a strong testimony in the importance of ward families and I know that they are here to bless us. I definitely saw that this week and it made me realized how blessed we are to have these people in our lives. 

Thanks for all the love and emails! Miss you all! Till next week! 

Love,

Elder Connor Anderson

47th P-Day (40th in France)

This week was interesting to say the least. 

Tuesday was Zone Conference in Lille. We drove up there really early in the morning, and the STLs quickly put me to work making the guacamole for lunch (which actually didn't turn out half bad). Zone Conference itself was decent but long as per usual. It's always great to see some of the fellow missionaries from MTC group and catch up with them. I'll attach some pics to the album. After Zone Conference, we stopped at a grocery store and bought Hourya a lot of different coffee substitutes to leave on her porch. I also wrote a note, explaining what everything was and when to take it. She seemed really grateful when she saw it all and texted us. I love doing little things like this!

The next day was pretty low-key. We had a rendezvous with Chantal that went really well. She told me that I'm the reason that she's studying the Book of Mormon for the first time in the 10 years that she's been a member, which was a huge compliment. She also said that she stays in touch with Sister missionaries all the time, but that I'm the first Elder she's ever met that she wants to stay in touch with after my mission because I'm "just like her." Haha! I love this woman! It's been a pleasure to see her testimony grow and I'm so happy that she's enjoying it. That night, our district leader decided to dye his companion's hair blonde without listening to my advice... Let's just say that it turned out orange because he used box dye and no bleach, which is a huge no-no. I'm coming to the rescue this coming district P-Day, so look out for my documentation of this in my album. If only people would listen to warnings before making irrational decisions. I now know how all parents must feel from time-to-time. Shake my head.  

Thursday we had a rendezvous with Teodora and her husband. They both told us that they'd read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, which we're super excited about. Then we had a dinner appointment with the Kabongos up in Belgium. They're always so nice and we were able to plan some rendez-vous for Saturday with their son, Fred, who just got back from his mission. 

The next day was a full on finding day. We only found success with two people. They were a 22 year old French guy, Louis, and his roommate, 60 year old Shirley, from England. I stopped them because they were speaking English and I was curious as to where they were from. Especially because you never hear English in small-villes like Valenciennes. They were super nice, but uninterested in the church. They never gave us their number or anything, but we gave them our card. In France, there's a 99% chance that no one will ever contact you back from us giving them a card. That's why we try as best as we can to get their numbers first. This, however, was a rare occasion, because they contacted us that night! They still weren't interested in the gospel, but they wanted to know if people were nice to us on the street and send us some well wishes. We can only hope that they'll be interested soon!

Saturday was one long day! We had rendez-vous with Chris (a new guy), Margret, and Hourya. Fred, the newly returned missionary from our ward, accompanied us for all of them. Chris went well and all of his questions were answered. Margret as well. Hourya, however, gave us some false hope. When we showed up, her coffee mug was gone! We were so happy! Then, as we started talking about the Word of Wisdom, she started to reject it again! We were so sad. She still wants to get baptized and is still excited to fix a date, but she refuses to stop coffee. Her reasons include: It's natural, it's not really a commandment (?), it's not as bad as the law of chastity, I need it, and my doctor prescribed it to me. It was super sad for us, but we have faith that we can get her there one day. I was just happy that we had Fred with us. He helped out a lot and he's a lot of fun!

Sunday was a regular Sunday. After church, Brother Broadway asked to have a meeting with us and our new DMP. In it, he accused us of saying things about him to the ward and such. We got everything cleared up with him, but it was still annoying. I hate ward drama haha. 

Today was district P-Day in Lille. We went for Sushi for lunch, then to bowling, and then shopping. Afterwards we went to a meeting with their Ward Mission Leader. It was overall a good day! Look for pictures later! :)

Thanks for all your emails every week. They mean the World to me! I hope everyone has a great week! Keep smiling and sharing your light with others! 

Love,

Elder Connor Anderson

Authentic, traditional Moroccan dish made by Zayneb for our mangez-vous with her.

Nancy District reunites at the Lille Zone Conference. Love these people that I started the mission with. 

Me with my District Leader, Elder Crane

A note that we put on Hourya's front door, with some stuff that we bought for her

The food/drinks we left for Hourya as coffee substitutes

Our apartment in Valenciennes

District P-Day

The before and after of the atrocious blonde box dye catastrophe in my district, in which they have called me to correct this coming P-Day. I'll send the improved hair update tmrw night. Elder Koshiol had to go 5 days with his hair like this before I could come up. I tried warning them against this multiple times. I'm bringing professional toners and supplies that I was able to find in a beauty supply store here. It cost a pretty penny, but he's paying me back half <3 Beauty definitely doesn't come cheap!