Week 34 (Dunkerque)

What an amazing week! Mostly just because we got to listen to an apostle.

It was great to get to listen to Elder Andersen, he talked about lots of great stuff. We also all got to take a picture together and shake his hand! When he talked to us, he started out by talking about how difficult missionary work is in France. He knows through experience, he served both as a young missionary and as a mission president. It's just how people are here; Christ's Church grows differently in different parts of the world. But he told us that when he was a mission president, he felt sorry for his missionaries with all the challenges they had. But when he knelt in prayer, the Lord told him that he need not apologize for their call to France. It was Him that called them here because He knows who they are. And if they come unto Him, He will comfort them. Such a great thing to know.

And it's officially winter now, we got snow! The day of the Andersen Conference, we were walking in a winter wonderland having a great time. We also got to catch up a bit with everyone we haven't seen in forever. But there's something about snow that just makes everything better, isn't there? It's a lot better than rain, that's for sure. And it makes you feel like a kid again, just for a bit. It brings back those good memories or something I guess.

In any case, I had to give a talk in church yesterday. I got to choose the topic (yay.) so I finally decided to talk about faith. I used in large part Elder Andersen's October 2015 talk, "Faith is not by Chance, but by Choice." I'd highly recommend it, it's a good one. But the main question it starts out with is this, "How does the Savior see my faith?" Is it strong or weak, shining brightly or almost not at all? So I'll leave that as a challenge for you this week, determine what you feel Christ would say about your faith. And while you're at it, find out what you can do to grow it, since I'm sure none of us have perfect faith.

Bonne chance!
Elder Wood

"The winter wonderland on our way to the Mission Conference"

With Elder Blake, whom he knew from his original area in Charleroi

More winter wonderland. (And hooray, he's getting use out of the gloves we bought him!)

All of the attendees at the Mission Conference

Elder Koshiol in the snow (in Dunkirk?)

Food photo - "We made a quiche"

Week 33 (Dunkerque)

Another week, another update. I hope these are more entertaining to read than they are to write :-)

District Council this week was great, we talked about our missionary purpose. Our District Leader, Elder Bell, told us how his purpose has matured over the course of his mission. We all have various reasons why we came out here, but the most important is a love for the Lord. If it's not the most important one when we head out, hopefully it becomes so at some point. If your mission isn't centered on love, it becomes a lot more difficult.

We also had our exchange this week. The Saint-Omer Elders came to Dunkerque for the day, and we passed by some less active members of our Branch. We found a couple people that were interested to see us again, so maybe they'll be able to make it back to church one day.

The other Elders also helped us with a Branch Activity we had. It was all about missionary work, and how members can get involved. We talked about sharing what has brought us joy with our friends, and how to work with the full-time missionaries to help people come unto Christ. It went well, and we even finished it off with some galettes des rois!

We had a fun surprise at church yesterday. The alarm system was acting up, so you could hear it beep every once in a while. But then as we were about to sing the Sacrament Hymn, our High Councilor came in and the alarm did not like that. Pas du tout. It went off and we couldn't figure out how to shut it off/up. It finally quieted down after a few minutes and we were able to start singing. I guess that's what happens when the only person that knows how to work it is on vacation in Africa.

Now we're headed off to spend the night in Paris. Elder Neil L. Andersen is coming tomorrow for a mission-wide conference! It's great to have the chance to listen to an Apostle of the Lord speak directly to us. We're for sure going to be looking out for any revelation that could help us move the work forwards here in Dunkerque! It'll be like a mini General Conference, just for us! So exciting, I can't wait to write about it next week.

À plus tard!
Elder Wood

"A moon picture, non eclipsed. Just a bit artsy." 

The moon during the Super Blood Wolf Moon eclipse.

Moon coming out of eclipse.

"We made a 'tortilla'" - maybe this is a joke because it looks like a pizza to me?

I guess this is the food photo of the week. "We got kebab for lunch on our exchange." 

Week 32 (Dunkerque)

Brace yourselves, this has been the week of miracles for Dunkerque! We now have amis who actually want to progress!

The main difference is that we now have Guy-François! He's been too busy with work until just recently, but now he's super excited to help us whenever he can! Having members at rdvs is irreplaceable, so of course every rdv we brought him to was the best one ever.

Speaking of the best rdv ever, we had our first rdv with our amie Miriam. She's super cool, she has so much faith and can already tell when the Holy Ghost is present. She told us during the rdv that she could feel Him there! And of course, Guy-François was amazing. He shared his testimony/conversion experience and it was just great overall.

We also had a rdv with an American! His name's Ray and he's been living in France for like 10 years now. We walked between like 5 different places as we talked for a long time. He shared with us some of his theories about the Bible and we shared some things from the BoM. We also talked about a lot of other unrelated things, since we had the time to fill. But it was great to get to know him better and also relate over being Americans in France. He also took a BoM and promised to read it! Super cool guy.

And on Sunday we had even more miracles. Out of the blue a member from Valenciennes showed up to church. Turns out he's been inactive for a long time, but just a couple days ago he felt he needed to come back to church. It's crazy! He's staying in Dunkerque for the time being, so hopefully he'll keep coming and we can talk more, help him continue to rebuild his testimony.

We also had a rdv the same day with Remus. He has a lot of faith already, but the miracle happened when his brothers called in the middle of the rdv. When they heard we were there, they came right over to see what we had to share. They're all interested in the BoM, so we fixed a rdv for next Sunday to come back and give them some. It was so cool, we barely did anything and we found two new people to teach! And they're super interested in our message. It goes to show that not only is God a God of miracles, but that He is aware of our situation. We had set a goal to find 3 new people by the end of the week, but on Saturday we only had one. And after meeting Remus's two brothers on Sunday, we somehow met our goal. With God's help, anything is possible!

C'est vrai en plus!
Elder Wood

"We helped an amie with some yard work. I had a hammer." 

"I realized we got Belgian pralines from our members for Christmas!" 

"We ate galette des rois at a member's house, I got a fève!" (The Galette des Rois is a traditional cake eaten on Epiphany. The fève is a charm baked inside that one lucky person eating the cake finds.)

He bought himself a belated Christmas present

Week 31 (Dunkerque)

I feel like nothing even happened this week. I guess that comes with having last P-day on a Wednesday.

We did have a cool lesson with a less active member since last time though. We shared this week's message from the new Come Follow Me program, I am responsible for my own learning. We talked about how we need to take the initiative with our learning. We shared and talked about the video where Elder Uchtdorf talks about the six blind men trying to describe an elephant. It's important to realize when we don't understand the complete picture and need to learn more.

We also had a few rendez-vous with amis scheduled this week, but they all fell through. So after having one of our members where the local market was, we were left there with no lesson to teach. So we helped her do her shopping instead. It was cool to see some French market shopping, and she was glad to get to talk to us and have us carry her groceries.

The one rendez-vous we did have was amazing though. After missing the first three this week, we came to know the reality of having a fourth-watch God. The best part of the lesson was when he explained to us how he needed to know if what we were sharing is true. We told him he was exactly right, and if he asked God, He would answer him. And because God can't lie, he can know if what we're teaching is of Him. The best part about it is that the same goes for the rest of us, no matter what the question. God loves each of us, so if we ask Him with a sincere heart, He will answer. Always.

À la prochaine!
Elder Wood

They went to the carnival with the Goldings, a part-member family in the branch.

Elder Koshiol on the bumper cars.

A care package they got from the branch members

Week 30 (Dunkerque)

Bonne année! A new year means a new transfer for us in France, so that means I get to tell you all about my new ville & companion! Or I would, if either of those had changed. Miraculously, Elder Koshiol is staying here in Dunkerque for a fifth round of six weeks. We were only mostly surprised. Elder Calabuig is leaving St. Omer though, and he's being replaced by a bleu, Elder Poll. Which means Elder Bell is now a trainer, and our new District Leader!

It was a good last week of the transfer though. One member couple invited us over for lunch, and they fed us lamb. They'd asked us if we'd heard of any French specialties we wanted to try, so we counseled with our demi-francophone District Leader to see what we should ask for. The result: one tasty French lamb served for lunch.

We also had our last exchange on Friday. I went with District Leader Elder Calabuig in St. Omer's car to go do member passbacks in some of the farther-out towns. The other Elders went with some members to do a few that were more centralized. We realized we'd taken on a bit of a daunting task after the first hour or two. We hadn't set a firm ending time other than "when the other Elders finish up." Well, after they finished, we were still out in the countryside doing a couple more trying to make our way back to downtown Dunkerque. And thus we see the importance of good planning, as well as good communication.

The highlight of the week was probably the baptism in Calais. Even if it wasn't in our branch, it was still great to see a sister enter the waters of baptism. You could really feel the Spirit. It was a great experience, both to be there just to be there, as well as to be there to support the newest member in Calais. It's always nice to see the beginning result of all our work out here, helping people start down the covenant path. Because baptism isn't the end, it's the door to the rest of eternity.

Bon continuation! (as people always tell us on the street)
Elder Wood

Baptism! Elder Wood, Elder Hulet, Elder Koshiol, New member of the church, Elder Calabuig, Elder Graham, Elder Bell

One more Christmas photo. Elder Wood and Elder Koshiol

View from the top of the "beffroi" (belfry)

Looking at the ice rink and Ferris wheel from the belfry

"Eloane posing for a cute photo"

A shirt they saw. Roughly "I didn't choose to be from Dunkerque, I just got lucky"