62nd P-Day (55th in France)

Hey everybody! I don't have a ton of time today, but I'm still going to give you the ultimate run down on what happened this week. 

After all of the P-Day events from last week, we winded Monday down with a last visit to my favorite member, Chantal's, house. She made us dinner and we ate it with her and her grandson. I'm going to miss her a lot! At the end, she bisoued me (the French kiss on the cheek). Each time I leave a ville, I realize that some old lady in that area won't let me leave without a hug or a kiss. Technically not allowed, but they kind of surprise me with it lol. I'm going to miss Valenciennes!

The next day lots of members wanted to meet, because they found out that I was leaving. The only problem was that I still had all my packing to do. Anyway, I still decided to see them all. The first item on the list, however, was watching the last session of general conference with our district in our pajamas. So, we headed up to Lille and watched it. We all brought breakfast foods and shared them as we watched. It was actually really fun! Then we changed and came back to teach Steven (our investigator with a baptismal date). My companion wanted me to be there to teach the Law of Chastity, because apparently I'm nicer with it and I don't offend people (Steven's gay, in case any of you are wondering). It went really well and he accepted to live it, so that he can be baptized! I'd call that a success! Then we met up with Zineb (our new convert) for one last time. She was sobbing the whole time, saying how I was the first missionary to teach her and how I was the witness at her baptism. It was so sad and she said that she'd come down to the temple ASAP if that meant seeing me, so I guess my relocation isn't such a bad thing. I think it will also get Steven, Felisa (my Chilean BFF investigator), and even Sylvie from Epinal, to want to pay their own way as well. Obviously I shouldn't be their sole purpose for coming to the temple, but if I help them get there, I think that's a win! Then we went over to visit Teodora and Joel (some of our investigators). She was really sad that I was leaving and gave me a gift from her home country, as well as some cake. It was so nice of them. Then I was packing until 2 in the morning. That was the worst haha. 

The next morning I woke up at 5 to get ready and to Paris on time. 3 hours of sleep definitely takes its toll on people. I was out of it! Ana Gabriel, a recent convert in Lille came to the train station to see me and a couple of others off. She even bought me breakfast. I love her! Such a cool woman! Once to Paris, I met up with my new companion, Elder Bunker, and then we were off to Versailles. The mission had just taken away the Versailles Elders' car last transfer, so we had to get me a Navigo for public transport... It's super fun to have to manage public transport again haha. Upon arrival, I unpacked in my own, personal walk-in closet. The apartment here is so nice and super close to the temple, so that's a win! Immediately after unpacking, we taught an investigator the Plan of Salvation. Elder Bunker is only in his 3rd transfer, so it's interesting "polishing" a missionary and having someone so young again. But he's really good at French with where he's at, so that's nice! Then we went to the temple and I SAW SISTER MAYA ETHINGTON! For those of you who don't know, we were like BFFs throughout high school and then she got called to the same mission last year. I hadn't seen her since my farewell in Utah until this week, so it was over a year of waiting. It was awkward and felt weird to not be able to hug her, but a handshake had to suffice. We didn't get a pic though at this time, because she was too busy, but I was determined to get one ASAP. 

Thursday started off with us getting lost after taking a wrong bus... Took us like 45 minutes in the opposite direction, so that was fun. My companion is also used to having had the car here, so navigating Paris for us without a car is fun lol. The rest of the day involved a lot of contacting, which is so different here than anywhere else in France. People are definitely a lot more open, so that's nice. 

Friday included a lot of finding, but had a good ending! And I got to see Maya at the temple for a 2nd time, but she was too busy again for a picture :(. I was still determined though. We eventually had a rendez-vous with our baptismal date, Julien, at the church. He's way cool and brought us a cake. His baptism is this coming Saturday, so that's exciting. Then we had ward council. The Sister Missionaries in Versailles came as well. It definitely helped me get to know the ward better. They are all really nice and it was good to get to meet the leaders. 

Saturday, I put my cookie baking skills to the test! We visited a potential family that they had previously found to try to get them re-interested. Well, it worked! The wife wasn't home, but the dad was! They had not been responding to our texts since September 23rd and we thought it was because they were annoyed with us. Turns out that the dad was stabbed around the heart in Paris on that day and he had been in the hospital until last week. What an experience I'm sure that was! Anyway, the cookies made him really happy and later that night his wife called us and said that they'd come to Julien's baptism this coming Saturday and also church the day after. I'd call that a success. Then we went to the temple, where I saw one of my mission BFFs, Elder Crane, with his family. We took some pics and chatted. It was fun! 

Sunday was intense. The ward put me in charge of translating for the English natives and/or tourists in the congregation for sacrament meeting. I, luckily, got to switch off with a Versailles Sister, but it's definitely not my favorite experience to have. I gotta suck it up though, because I get to do it every Sunday LOL. I have to listen intentively to every speaker, translate what they say in my mind, and then whisper the translation in English (like an ASMR video) into a microphone for all of these people wearing headsets as fast as I can. There were two African women that I definitely got lost during their testimonies. Those two translations of mine were a mess, but the other ones went really well, so I'm proud! The rest of church went well and I really love this ward already! I'm so excited to work with them! Later that night, we met with a woman that we contacted via areabook finding. She agreed to meet at the temple so that we could give her a temple tour thing with the Sisters there. She was awesome! She loved it all. She's from the Ukraine and there was a Sister there from the Ukraine as well, so they were able to speak Russian and French to each other. She didn't have a lot of time that night, but she said that she'd come back with her 22 year old son later this week for more of a tour! I'm so excited. She was so cool! And I FINALLY got my picture with Sister Ethington. Look out for this in my album. 

My invitation for this week to y'all is to re-read conference talks that you didn't originally think much about. I promise you will find something super special/important in it that you didn't find when you first heard it. 

I love you all! Thanks for all the love each week! Till next week!

Love,

Elder Connor Anderson

Aparment in Valenciennes

Paris Temple grounds

Zineb and her kids

French family that bought us a pizza! Don't even know them, but their son just got back from his mission!

Finally a picture with Soeur Maya Ethington!!

Saw Elder Crane (BFF) with his family at the temple

Gift that Teodora gave me before leaving Valenciennes

Valenciennes apartment

Paris Temple

 Me with Teodora & Joel

Pizza truck by the temple

Street art in Valenciennes

 Temple

Rue des Missionnaires

Christus statue at the Temple

Watching general conference with the Lille district

Leaving Valenciennes-- heading to Versailles

61st P-Day (54th in France)- Transferred to Versailles!

Hey, everyone! Some big changes are coming for me-- I'm being transferred to Versailles and I am so excited! It will definitely be a huge (and maybe challenging) change, but I'm ready for it. I will be living so close to the temple which is such a blessing! Make sure you read next week to hear about what it's like there!

Monday night I spent doing a recent convert in Lille's English homework for her lol. Look out for a screenshot of that in my album.

On Tuesday we took our district pics, because it's the end of the transfer. Look out for those in my album!

The only interesting thing that happened the next day was that I did another member's English homework. It took a while, as I did a job resume all for her. This included things such as a cover letter, etc. Why are people coming to me for this stuff? I don't really know, but it's always during our dinner hour, so I don't mind. Look for pics of this in my album as well. 

Thursday we did our last set of exchanges. I was put with Elder Crane. We went up to Mons for a few different reasons. First, we taught our investigator, Felisa, and gave her a baptismal interview. She's definitely ready! I'm so excited for her. Then we met up with other missionaries over acai bowls. It was so good! After that, I had previously gotten permission to artifically bring my hair back to its natural color, so I decided to go to the professionals to ensure that it would be done correctly. It was a disaster and ended up being so bad lol. I would've stayed and demanded that they fix it, but we were already late to a dinner/teaching appointment with a member family and our new investigator, Steven, so we had to go. Look out for pics of their terrible job in my album. NEVER. AGAIN. Haha. Then we went to the meeting and we taught him the Plan of Salvation. It went really well, so that was nice. 

Friday morning Elder Crane and I went to the store to get a box dye to correct this mess. Well, that ended up being really terrible as well, as you'll see in my album. So, I put Facebook to the test and decided to search up homemade remedies to fix the problem. I then concocted a mixture of baking soda, head and shoulder's shampoo, and dish soap to make into a hair mask. I left it on for 30 minutes, and voila! It was perfect. My hair is fried, but back to normal so I am blessed! I'm an 19 old male and I'm better than the professionals; what a scam haha. You can look for pictures of the finished result in my album as well. After that nightmare was over, we went back up to Lille for a lunch appointment with some members over there. They fed us so much and they're awesome! I love people. 

The highlight of my day on Saturday was GENERAL CONFERENCE. We headed up to Lille to watch it with the rest of the take, buying snacks beforehand of course. Because of the time difference, we were only able to watch one session before curfew, so we had to wait until Sunday for the rest!

Sunday morning we watched the Women's session (because of technical difficulties) with our investigator, Steven, at our church in Valenciennes. We also watched some mormon messages and it went really well. Then he followed us up to Lille for the rest. There we watched the Saturday afternoon session with the stake. It was so good. After that, we headed back to Valenciennes to eat dinner and watch the Sunday morning session with an in-active family, the Gillots. It was nice to watch it with them, as they obviously haven't watched Conference in a long time haha. They also fed us and it was a good night!

Today we found out that I'm moving to Versailles. After this, we went up to Lille to do an escape room with the Elders up there. It was Sherlock Holmes inspired and it was so fun! Look for pics of this in my album as well. Now I'm scrambling to get packed/write emails!

I encourage you all to watch General Conference! We received some wonderful council/revelation that I know can help everyone! After watching it, think of one thing you can change in your life. I know you won't regret it and you'll be able to see the difference that it makes in your life. 

I love you all! Thanks for all the emails! 

Elder Connor Anderson

60th P-Day (53rd in France)

First and foremost, I want to give a "Happy Birthday" shoutout to my sister, Brooke. I hope you have a great day. 

-Sincerely, your favorite brother <3

This week was definitely better than last lol. I know that's not saying much, but it really wasn't that bad!

We started off the week with a rendez-vous with our old investigator, Mambo. I used to meet with him frequently when I was here with Elder Larson, but hadn't seen him since. He wasn't progressing and would get mad at me for forgetting to call him "Sir" everytime that I would address him, so he definitely wasn't my favorite. You could probably guess how excited I was to see him again. This rendez-vous went as I had expected, just like old times. We didn't get anywhere with him and he really just wants us to give him free Liahona magazines so that he can resell them to his people in Africa, as he has been doing for years. Then we went to Iwuy and had a rendez-vous with Sylvain and Aline for the first time in a while! It went really well and they even gave us a referral, their friend, Bruno. They've been really flakey with us recently, so it was a miracle that they were actually home and available at the time of the appointment. They have a wedding date for October 20th, but I'm losing hope on this. Everytime we get them super close to progressing further, something takes them 3 steps back. Not to mention the fact that they don't respond to 80% of our calls/messages anymore... I hope all is well for them. Please pray that this wedding idea progresses into something that actually happens. We could use all the help we can get with them! After that, we got a call from an old investigator that was in the phone named Steven. He was found and talked to 3 years ago by missionaries, so I've never met him in the whole 7 months I've been here. He said that he wanted to come to church and be baptized! We were shook. This never happens, especially in France. This was definitely a highlight to our day. We planned to meet with him the very next day. Then we went to Lille for district meeting. 

Wednesday started with a rendez-vous in Douai with Huge. It didn't really go anywhere; he just wanted us to give him a blessing like every other time we've visited him, so that was fun. Side note-- It was really a huge blessing that I was able to remember how to get to all of the people/places we visited this past week without a GPS. I didn't drive the whole time Elder Swensen was here (and I never paid attention while he was driving which isn't super good of me lol), so the last time I drove all of these routes was back in May. God was definitely helping me out with directions. Then we came back and met with Steven at the church. He was really cool. He's 23 years old and first learned about the church from a class in school he had. Our church was listed on a list of "sects/cults" that the students had to research. Well, as luck would have it, he studied ours. Later, he was contacted by the missionaries. By this time, he still wasn't terribly interested in our church, but each experience opened his mind up little by little. Eventually, he discovered David Archuleta on YouTube and fell in love. He searched David Archuleta and found out that he is a member of our church. This spiked his interest like none other. He then proceeded to watch Meet the Mormons and everything and knew that this was the church he wanted to be a part of. He had previously been a member of the Catholic church and actually worked for the Pope and travelled with priests, so he was really high up in their church. Now he's ready to change and wants to be baptized as soon as possible. He even has a car, so there is no need to worry about getting him a ride which is such a relief for us! Then we went up to Mons and had our weekly meeting with Adam. 

The next day I was back to Paris to finalize my 2nd year legality. It was nice to get that over with. On the way back, we stopped at the mission office to pick up an old GPS that they had found for us. The GPS was so outdated that we have to update it before we can use it. Well, the Valenciennes church computer doesn't work, so we decided to use theirs. Upon starting the update, we got a notification that said that it would take 2 hours minimum to update. With our train home leaving in 1 hour, that wasn't possible, so we took it with hopes of being able to find another computer to update it on. The rant that I have about this, is that several senior missionaries have told us to just buy a new one with our mission cards for 169 euros, but the senior missionary over finances refuses to allow this, because he found the old one and our mission is "broke." IDK how any of these financial problems occur, but I'm going to ask you guys to also pray for the GPS. I may know my way around our sector, but France is terrible at posting speed limits and there are cameras everywhere. If anything, I need a GPS to keep me from getting a ticket. Following the speed of traffic doesn't work here either, you have no idea how many tickets France is giving out. Everyone speeds 24/7 and seem to not care about being ticketed for whatever reason. 

Friday was pretty relaxed compared to the previous days. At night, we had a dinner appointment with the Kabongos in Mons. We definitely ate well! After this, we made a late night stop to the new American family, the Fontana's, house in Mons. She made us some homemade enchiladas and other things to take home and eat later. She has been giving us food every week, what a Queen. We love her. 

Saturday involved another lesson with Sylvain and Aline that didn't happen. So sad. On the positive side of things, we met with Felisa later that day up in Mons. It went well and we FINALLY thought of a family that could bring her to church (because all of the others refuse to do so) and it's the American Fontana family. Their presence in this ward has literally blessed us so much. They agreed to bring Felisa and she was thrilled. Now we're one step closer to getting her baptized! After this, we drove to Orchies to meet up with a crazy sister that lives in our boundaries but goes to church in Lille, Sister Merabet. She has given me multiple referrals every transfer that I've been here, which I'm grateful for, but they've all been terrible. Every single one has gotten mad at us for going over and visiting them, because apparently they had all told her that they were not interested in our church one bit. For example, one referral she gave us was apparently so uninterested and annoyed by her that they blocked her phone number. She proceeded to look up their family on the internet and found a gravesite in their family. From there, she was able to find their address and all of their personal information. She literally stalked this family to refer them to us and didn't tell us about any of the backstory. We almost went over before other missionaries warned us about what had actually happened. Had we gone, we probably would've had the cops called on us. She was to be giving us a referral again this day, so I was not excited. Luckily, this one was more receptive than any other one that she had ever given us. That's still not saying much, because he was still not super interested, but at least he'd hear us talk about it. We met with them over dinner at a terrible Chinese restaurant that Sister Merabet loves, but it wasn't an awful experience like the other ones were, so I was grateful for that. She also proceeded to roast us on not keeping in touch with any of her referrals and said that we should make them our priority in our missionary work, and that we're being bad missionaries for not doing so. Sorry that literally all of them told us to not contact them again, Sister Merabet. Geez. She's crazy haha. Glad she likes doing member missionary work, but she definitely needs a lesson on how it's done correctly and how to take "no" as an answer. 

Sunday was probably the highlight of the week. Steven and Felisa came to church! 1st and 2nd hour were incredible. Our lesson in 2nd hour was about eternal marriage in the temple, which was great because Steven is gay and we didn't want to have to teach that principle to him without a member being able to help us explain it to him. He took it really well and said that an eternal family is what he desires for himself, so I feel like he'll continue to progress. I was nervous to see how he'd react to it, but he took it well and is still planning on progressing towards baptism. Felisa also really enjoyed it and made even more Latina friends who are in the ward which is awesome. They were all able to speak Spanish to each other and she seemed right at home. One of the Latina women in our ward (who is in-active) kept coming up to me and calling me Ken. Lol, it will never stop. Then she proceeded to tell the rest of the ward that Ken the Barbie is in the ward. Oh boy. The good news with her is that she invited us over to eat and watch conference with her and the rest of her in-active family next week, so I'm looking forward to that. Then we took the sacrament to Sister Giulit. She was so cute and made us a dinner quiche and a dessert tarte. I love her!

Today I got a haircut. You're welcome, mother. 

I know that I asked you all for a lot of prayers for different things throughout this email, but they really do mean so much to me. I've seen the power of prayer work so much in my life and especially since I've been here in France. It's incredible. Prayers can literally change every situation. God is always there to turn to and He wants you to talk to Him. He will help you out every single time. It may not always be how you think He will help, but He always does it somehow. Now is the perfect time to start/continue praying. With General Conference just around the corner, I invite you all to pray for inspiration and guidance with what's to come. Prepare yourselves spiritually and it will be your favorite conference yet. For those of you who are not members of the church, I invite you to simply pray. Pray for anything, it doesn't matter. God will be so happy to hear from you and I know that you'll feel peace and joy from doing so. 

Thanks for all the love! I love you all! :) 

Elder Connor Anderson