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

Week 38 (Dunkerque)

My first full week with a new companion since last year. Wow. Crazy how time flies am I right?

Or not. I just realized Zone Conference was this week! It seems like so long ago already. The crazy part was that there was nothing special about it, just a regular Zone Conference. It felt a bit weird after having two Mission Conferences back to back. It was still amazing though, we had a mini MTC reunion with me, Elder Poulson, and now Elder Bunker! More importantly, you could really feel the Spirit. Especially since Président Sorensen showed us videos of Elder Oaks and Elder Holland speaking at a Mission President Seminar. Their talks were amazing, they talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, respectively. One thing I loved was when Elder Holland referenced D&C 4 as the well-known missionary section, then turned our attention to D&C 5. There it mentions how the saints have under-appreciated the Book of Mormon. And it's true that sometimes we can take it for granted. It's a powerful witness of Christ, and we need to let its inspired words pierce us to our very soul.

We also had our first exchange of the transfer on Friday. Elder Wallace and Elder Hulet came to Dunkerque for the day and we did a bunch of street connecting and less-active member passbys. We also ate the best kebab in the Misson for lunch, so all in all, a great exchange. Elder Wallace also showed me his new favorite app, the LDS Pamphlets. They're great for teaching; they're interactive and have great photos and are super useful. We taught a lesson with it and it went really well. There's even videos made specifically for the app, which makes it even better. And now I sound like Elder Wallace, hyping it up, but it sure is a helpful app.

As for the rest of the week, we're trying to uncover Dunkerque's hidden potential. We spent a lot of time on the streets meeting new people and looking through our old paper Area Book to find people who want to learn more about Christ. It's not easy, especially not in France, but nobody said it would be. That's why we work, because it requires effort. And that's what makes it all worthwhile.

On y va!
Elder Wood

His new Facebook profile photo

Elder Rosales and Elder Wood selfie in front of the church building

Eating kebabs at their exchange. Elders Wood, Wallace, Rosales, and Hulet

Panorama of their apartment after their redecorating efforts

Food photo: Quiche they made

He liked the new lights they added to the bike parking at the train station

Week 37 (Dunkerque)

This week felt like it went on forever. I'd say it has to do with all the changes recently.

The biggest change was, of course, transfers. After dropping off Elder Koshiol in Paris Wednesday morning, I met Elder Rosales for the first time, then we went back to Dunkerque and got to work. And I have to say, after spending 17 weeks with Elder Koshiol, it was weird to see him go. The neat thing about Elder Rosales though, is that his trainer, Elder Clayton, was trained by Elder Mendoza! That makes him my mission nephew!

We had a cool experience the other day when we were heading to the bus stop. Elder Rosales saw a man on the other side of the street, and he said something to me before pulling a 180 and running off to the crosswalk! I took off after him asking, what is it?! He yells to me again, "That man's prepared!" so we cross the street and start talking to him. Turns out he's against religion, especially when it's imposed. But he told us, "What you do, it's good. You talk to people on the street and just ask them questions and talk. You aren't forcing stuff on them." We were able to leave him with a card and a good impression. So we were definitely a part of his eternal progression.

We also had a really interesting rdv. We were meeting up with an ami I'd never seen before, and we had a bit of trouble finding the place we were supposed to meet him. We finally all ended up at the Gare and started talking. He speaks Nigerian English, so just imagine a cool African accent throughout the following events:

We were talking about how he met the missionaries, and it turns out he's actually a member! He just never had his records sent here. He has a lot going on, he told us how he's stressed (which according to Elder Rosales, Nigerians are never stressed) and has to run all over the place to get everything in order. Then his younger friend showed up and started taking to us/him. Our ami/member told him, "Give them your number! They'll call you and teach you!" He asked us if we baptize people, and if we can baptize him to money, because he wants money ?? The rdv ended up pretty short too, because at some point he had to run over and hop on the bus. We basically had whiplash afterwards, saying, what just happened?!

And just in case you're living under a rock and haven't heard the news, a lot more has changed in the life of a missionary. We can now call our families every week! That's a lot more than the twice a year I signed up for! But the other lesser-known change is our email. They've changed all our emails to end in @missionary.org, I assume to better follow President Nelson's directions last Conference. But don't worry if you forget to change it when you're sending me an email, it'll be forwarded automatically.

Hopefully your week hasn't been as hectic, but I sure hope it was as fulfilling!

Passez une très bonne semaine!
Elder Wood

With his new companion, Elder Rosales, at their apartment

"At 'Consecration Hill,' where new missionaries go visit once they arrive in France."

Elder Koshiol and Elder Wood with the Golding family from their Dunkerque Branch

"Possible boyband cover photo, on the way to District Council" 

"Us posing for a photo" - I believe this is in Boulogne-sur-Mer, near Calais

Inside the dome from the previous photo

Food photo: "I ate fish & chips for lunch"

One more food photo: "A 'claw' of garlic"

Week 36 (Dunkerque)

It's that time of the month again, transfers are this week!

Right off the bat, since you're probably wondering, yes, Elder Koshiol is finally leaving Dunkerque! And I'll be staying here for another six weeks (at least). My new companion will be Elder Rosales, who's starting his third transfer, making him my first companion who's younger in the misson than me! This'll also be my first time staying while my companion gets transferred. So I'm going to be in charge of showing someone around for a change. That should be fun.

As for this week, we had to go to Paris for Elder Koshiol's Legality. So once we got that done with, we had some extra time on our hands and went to see the Eiffel Tower for Elder Koshiol's first time. He had a great time and we got some nice photos.

We also had a «Soirée Familiale» on Wednesday at the church. A bunch of people from the Branch came and we had a spiritual thought and some dinner. We were going to play games too, but we realized the ones at the church building were all really old, and so we just kinda talked. We also had one of our amis show up with two of his cousins, so we talked to them about the church and the BoM. We also got one of their numbers, so hopefully we'll get to see them again soon.

Today the whole district went to Calais' sector to see a huge aquarium before we get separated by transfers. It was great, and we got a lot of photos of fish and everything. But most importantly, we spent a great day together. Because relationships are one of the most important things we can make in this life.

À bientôt!
Elder Wood

With La Tour Eiffel

His district: Elder Bell, Elder Wood, Elder Hulet, Elder Koshiol, Elder Graham, Elder Poll

With Le Livre De Mormon, taken by Evan (a little boy in the branch) with his phone. He reports "there are many, many, more"

The huge tank at the aqarium. I believe the aquarium is named Nausicaa.

Aquarium tunnel through the sea life.

Fun with black light at the aquarium.

Food photo: A meal at O'Tacos, a missionary favorite.

"Elder Koshiol tried boiling eggs in the microwave"

Week 35 (Dunkerque)

Big news this week: we had a baby! The newest member of the Branch was born just yesterday to our wonderful Branch President and his wife. I've only seen a picture on Facebook, but as it always is, he's super cute!

We had our transferly interviews with Président Sorensen this week. It's always great to get to talk to him one-to-one. We also took the occasion of all being in Lille together to have our District Council. We talked about hope and not getting discouraged with what we go through each day, as well as how faith, hope, & charity are all inseparable.

We actually had a first for me this week. I talked to my first legitimate Flat-Earther. For about two hours. We were passing by a less-active's house one afternoon, and he kindly invited us in and offered us hot chocolate. But he quickly started telling us about how he realized the earth is flat. Nothing we said could convince him otherwise. Luckily we were able to talk about some spiritual stuff as well, but he's not really interested in coming back to church. But hey, now we know all the reasons why people could possibly think the earth is flat!

Then on Sunday we had a rdv scheduled with one of our amis. We called him beforehand and he said we were still good to come over, but when we got there, he wasn't home. But his brother was there, and funnily enough, we knew him already! We'd had a rdv with him before, but we had no idea he and our other ami were related. So imagine our surprise when he was the one who opened the door! But it goes to show, God leads us to specific people to accomplish His will. Because if we hadn't met him before, he probably would have been a lot more confused when we showed up!

À la prochaine!
Elder Wood

I told him I needed a selfie, and he obliged.

Snow!

"Our new friend, TJ. He's always chilling on our rail (you can tell from the bird poop) and knocks all the time."

They're adding a bus stop, I assume near their apartment