Week 42 (Dunkerque)

Another transfer has come around! Place your bets as for what will happen!

Ready? OK. The big news: I'm going ... nowhere! I've officially become Elder Koshiol, I'll be in Dunkerque for a fifth transfer. And I've got nothing against Dunkerque, but this is a long time to stay in one place! If you do the math (which is dangerous as a missionary) 5 transfers is scarily approaching one third of a mission!

On to another topic, we had our second round of exchanges this week. We were in Calais this time, and I had a great day with Elder Hulet. We ate lunch with a family in Calais, and since we both thought we were going to leave, we took pictures with them. But now we're both staying 6 more weeks, so even I might get to see them again!

We also met with someone cool this week. I'd actually met him on the bus two or three times before with Elder Koshiol, but we just recently exchanged phone numbers. He's really cool, and has lots of potential to be baptized! We're great friends, but we just need to make sure he's converted to Christ. If he's only converted to us or even to the members, that's not a conversion that will last. The only thing that keeps people (us included) active in the gospel is a love for Him whose gospel it is. Christ is the sure foundation that we must build our testimonies on to ensure we can endure to the end.

Prenez courage!
Elder Wood

"I'm officially Dunkerquois, I'll be spending enough time here to merit it. So I bought the pin to commemorate." (Translation of the pin is roughly "I didn't choose to be from Dunkirk, I just got lucky.")

With the family from Calais

Exchange selfie with Elder Hulet

A photo from last week's district visit to the beach on Preparation Day.

Also from last week, on the bus back from the beach. Elders Poll, Wallace, Wood, Bell, Hulet, and Rosales.

Food photo: "This happened by accident one time while cooking"

"TJ visited again!" (TJ is their friendly neighborhood bird.)

Week 41 (Dunkerque)

Another busy week, but I'm never sure what to say!

We had a nice amount of rendez-vous this week, and it was great to teach everyone about the gospel. We had one rdv that was amazing, our amie was not afraid to ask questions, so we got a really great discussion going. It went longer than we thought it would, but it was good nonetheless. She now has a pretty deep knowledge of the Plan of Salvation.

Sunday was great too since we had a bunch of people show up! We had two families come from other wards, and we celebrated the anniversary of the Relief Society's creation. All the sisters got up and bore their testimony about an important woman in their life. It was cool to hear what kinds of women have impacted them, pretty inspiring.

Today we had a great time in Calais, the whole district went and played some soccer and such at the beach. It's always great to get some exercise and spend time with friends. Two very important things, especially for a missionary.

Bisous!
Elder Wood

With an éclair 

Week 40 (Dunkerque)

Another busy week, can you believe it?

We had a weird experience on the way back home from a rendez-vous this week. We had just taught a great Plan of Salvation lesson, and on the way to the bus, someone stopped us. We had said bonjour, but then he asked if we were the missionnaires. We talked briefly before he invited us in his house and gave us a drink and a snack while we discussed further. Turns out he'd met the missionaries about a year ago, but they never taught him about the gospel. It was a really interesting discussion, mostly because it's always cool to pick up where others have left off. Some sow, others reap.

The highlight of the week was definitely Brussels. Yep, I went back to Belgium! For a day. Since I'd started my legality back when I served in Charleroi, I got to go back and do the next step. Which meant I got to taste belgian frites and chocolate once again! I also got to see a couple old friends again which was nice. All in all, Brussels is great!

Dunkerque on the other hand gets a bit crazy this time of the year. This is when they have Carnaval, a huge party with who-knows-what that spans like two months. Each day is centralized in a different part of town, and on Sunday it wasn't too far from our apartment. So after church, we came straight home to avoid the craziness. Then we stayed inside the rest of the day. It was weird. We didn't see much of the party, but there were people on the street dressed up we could see from our window. A member showed us a picture he took of it last week, so many people! So here's a friendly reminder, inspired by the SafetyZone (our new friends as missionaries), don't do stupid things, and stay safe out there!

À la prochaine!
Elder Wood

Happily reunited with his Belgian frites!

St. Omer district council meeting with their zone leaders - food photo at Subway! Around the table from the left: Elder Bunker, Elder Rosales, Elder Wallace, Elder Belka, Elder Hulet, Elder Bell, Elder Poll, Elder Wood.

Photo of Carnaval in Dunkerque, taken by a church member from their branch

"Chocolate explosion!" - Elder Rosales was trying to open a bag of brownie mix. Sadly, they may not have gotten to make their brownies.

"We found the city of Ascq on the way to Belgium (and not the Villeneuve kind)." - He was serving in Villeneuve-d'Ascq for one week before being emergency transferred to Dunkerque (where he remains 5 months later!)

Week 39 (Dunkerque)

How is it that it's been so long, but only one week? I'm not sure that will ever make sense.

We met with lots of people this week, the first of which was the ami who turned out to be a member we met a couple weeks ago. He's super cool. He was telling us about how he has a master plan to help us "win souls for Christ" as he put it. He wants to introduce us to all of his friends and help them get baptised! He was giving us a pep talk about how we were going to go about it & he got so in to it! It's going to be great.

Later in the week we visited a less-active member on a whim. Her kids are members, but not her husband. But when we were talking to them, it turns out her husband is super cool! His personal beliefs are just like the gospel, which made us wonder why he wasn't a member. He honestly could have some serious potential for baptism, he'd just need to feel and recognize the Spirit.

We also passed by an address we had for an inactive member, and luckily he still lives there! He and his family to be exact. He remembers the missionnaires and the Church well, and was glad to see us. It was just interesting to wonder why he ever stopped coming in the first place. Since there didn't seem to be any specific reason, it might have just been a gradual slip out of activity. Who knows? But what's important is that we need to avoid it. We need to make sure our testimony is strong enough and built upon the rock of Christ. Because then, nothing can erode our sure foundation.

Bâtissons!
Elder Wood

A photo from their Lille Zone Conference last week

He got a haircut!

Food photo: Eclair!

Food photo: Brioche!

People celebrating Carnaval

Making crêpes for breakfast