Week 99 (Amiens)

I would have thought that as the quarantine goes on it would get pretty monotonous. But new things keep happening to keep it interesting!

This week we started watching MTC Devotionals, the Missionary Training Center started broadcasting them for all the missionaries doing online training, as well as us already out in the field. They're amazing, and they address topics that are super relevant. For example, they've talked about how this pandemic is a hard thing, but the hardest thing was done by Christ when He atoned for the resulting difficulties we are all facing. But also how if we endure with faith, God will make all things work together for our good. So not only will Christ use His atonement to help us through these troubling times, but He will use them to help us become who He knows we can be.

This is a great period of change that we're living through. The coronavirus has the potential to end lives, but its effect on the world has the potential to change yours for the better. So don't just go through this time in your life, let this time in your life go through and change you into the person you're meant to become. There's no better time than now :-)

À bientôt!
Elder Wood

Elder Hill and Elder Wood got official masks to replace their home-made ones

Enjoying the daily walk past Amiens Cathedral to the church building

A backlit Elder Wood with the cathedral

Repurposing the coat rack as a mask rack

Missionaries from their zone meeting virtually

Food photo: They made granola!

Elder Hill drew this self-portrait with his eyes closed. I was impressed!

Week 98 (Amiens)

Another great week in quarantine! But we don't have to stay in our apartment all day long anymore!

Président Sorensen talked to us (and most of the other missionaries) about letting us go to the church to be able to use the wifi there. It's only about a two-mile walk, so he seemed excited for us to see the sights and get some exercise. Now every day since, we've made the trek to the church, and it's great having real wifi! I've also gotten some nice photos of the Amiens cathedral :-)

We also had our Zone Conference this week. It was a little weird having it via videoconference, but it was still a revelatory experience. We discussed the importance of the Book of Mormon in missionary work, and how all we ask people to do is to read it and sincerely pray about it. That's it. That's our invitation. If people just do that, the rest follows.

The highlight of the week was when Sister Eubank of the General Relief Society Presidency joined us for a mission-wide videoconference. She spoke to us about how life never really goes as planned, and it's all about dealing with what comes our way. Christ is there to help us overcome the unexpected and mend what has broken. It was really powerful, especially during this time of uncertainty. And it's this hope and comfort that we share with everyone, especially during these unprecedented times.

Prenez courage!
Elder Wood

Elder Wood and Elder Hill at the Amiens Cathedral

Delicious Toblerone chocolate...

... Thanks to the half-off post-Easter candy sales

Signs of spring on their walk through town!

More signs of spring at the roundabout

Sunlight on the cathedral

Another view of the cathedral

Food photo: Bean soup from a recipe provided by Soeur Sorensen (his Mission President's wife)

Elder Hill & Elder Wood enjoying their soup

I don't know how to caption the video, but this is at 8 PM when everyone claps and rings bells in honor of the healthcare workers.

Week 97 (Amiens)

Happy Easter Monday! Apparently it's a thing here in France.

But I hope you all had an amazing Easter Sunday as well! It's such a great time of the year, especially when we get to celebrate Christ's resurrection. We had quite a few video calls yesterday to talk about it with various people. We had Sunday School with the Branch, then we called a few of our friends to have pseudo sacrament meetings with them.

We also had the worldwide fast this week! It was really cool to unite as children of God to fast and pray to overcome this trial together. There were lots of people who joined a Facebook group for it, many of which are not members of the Church! It's amazing how we can all come together in face of difficulties despite our differences.

And despite the quarantine, we were still able to have a virtual temple tour with one of our friends, Célia. It was so neat to have the spirit of the temple even in our current situation. If all goes well, she's planning on being baptized at the end of the month!

I'll leave you with a scripture that the Europe Area Presidency sent us this week. Even though we can't leave our apartments for now, they pointed out how the Lord tells us to send our testimonies there were we can't go!
D&C 84:62

Bonne continuation!
Elder Wood

Breakfast time - Nutella crepes

The view from their apartment window

Food photo: Crepes

Newly announced church logo in French

Fun stacking juggling balls

Seeing how the sun faded most of the chair

Sign in the elevator for a neighborhood balcony gathering

Week 96 (Amiens)

Another week of quarantine, but this time with General Conference!

For any of you who might have missed it, you should definitely go watch it right now! It's not like there's much else to do during the pandemic. And it was so good, there were lots of uplifting and Spirit-filled messages. I'll even give you the link!
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/general-conference/2020/04

We also had the opportunity to teach a really cool man the other day. It was our first time teaching him, so we were talking about prophets and read Amos 3:7 in the Old Testament. At this point he stopped us and told us about how he believes that God must call prophets today. As he was sharing scriptures with us and explaining his thought process, I started feeling the Spirit super strongly, and we got excited to see someone who seemed to already understand the Restoration! It was going great until he concluded by telling us that the prophet called in our days was this man that I'd never heard of. But we presented our beliefs as well and introduced him to the Book of Mormon. He was curious about it, so we gave him the link to download the app and promised that he could know it's the word of God if he prays and asks.

So even in these difficult times, God is still preparing His children to receive His restored gospel! And as was said in Conference this weekend, we need to share this light with those who need it. Because we all need the light of the gospel in our lives!

Bonne quarantaine!
Elder Wood

Their mission president's wife, Soeur Sorensen, did a virtual cooking class where they made bacon burgers

Food photo: Bacon burger! He said it was pretty good.

Elder Wood & Elder Hill in the elevator with the keyboard they were allowed to borrow from the church building

Watching General Conference on a phone with a small speaker. This was the Paris Temple's cameo appearance.

His home-made mask (paper towel and rubber bands)

Waiting at the bus stop during their weekly grocery run

Lots of masked photos this week!

Week 95 (Amiens)

HELLO_WORLD_
Yes, I'm still alive! We're holding down the fort out here in Amiens. We don't really go out because of the quarantine, but we manage to keep ourselves busy.

The days all sort of run together since they're all the same, so I'll give you the run down! We wake up at 6:30 to start off every day, then we go on a quick run to get some fresh air. Then we'll come back, shower, and eat some breakfast to get ready for the day. Afterwards we'll do some studying, then we often call or message people until it's time for lunch. After eating we'll message people on Facebook or set up rendez-vous, then we normally have a couple rendez-vous with our amis in the afternoon. We'll often end off the day by listening to a General Conference talk and eating dinner. Then we'll get ready for bed and go to sleep by 10:30.

To change it up a bit we've gotten into baking. We made chocolate chip cookies to snack on last week, and today we baked some banana bread! I wonder what we'll bake next!

But what I'm really looking forward to is Conference. Not only is it the 200th anniversary of the First Vision, not only is it going to be unforgettable, not only is it something to take our minds off the quarantine, but with all these missionaries going home and everyone being quarantined in their homes together, this General Conference will be watched by more complete families than any other in history! This is a spiritual experience just waiting to happen! So I hope you've all listened to President Nelson and that you're all ready for an amazing experience this weekend!

Allons-y!
Elder Wood

Elder Wood with his newly baked banana bread

Food photo: Delicious banana bread

There aren't any lines left at the grocery store as everyone minimizes their trips

A quick moment outdoors with the sun a huge ball of fire in the sky

The exterior of their apartment building

A view from the apartment window, including a helicopter potentially out looking for those breaking self-isolation rules

Their study area, with the American and French flags

Week 94 (Amiens)

A week in quarantine. But still a busy week.

As opposed to almost every other missionary I know, I'm still out here doing missionary things amidst the pandemic. For those who don't know, most missionaries serving in foreign countries are going home because of worries about the coronavirus, but I guess they're not worried about us here in Europe! So all my friends who were serving in South America, the Philippines, etc. are gone. But in quarantined France, the work continues thanks to technology!

We've been teaching a bunch of people through video calls, and since the entire country is on lockdown, everyone is free all day long! We've also been talking as a mission about how we can be more effective online. Despite being stuck inside, we can still be a light to the world through the power of the internet! So whatever our current difficulties, be assured that it will all turn out, and we'll be able to make it through. The Lord is on our side, and if He is with us, who can be against us?

Bon courage!
Elder Wood

"A picture hanging on our wall, past missionnaires must have made it"

Quarantine photo: They've added a clear partition on the bus so the people riding can't pass germs to the driver

Quarantine photo: They have plastic wrap around the cashier stations at the grocery store, again to prevent virus transmission

Food photo: They made a quiche

Food photo: And they made delicious-looking cookies!

I guess this also qualifies as a quarantine photo - he stayed in the house for almost 24 hours over the weekend

Week 93 (Amiens)

I would have thought that being quarantined meant a boring week with nothing to talk about. I couldn't have been more wrong!

So yes, in case any of you hadn't heard about covid-19, they've shut us up in our apartments for the time being. And at first that sounds pretty boring, but when you're actually living it, you realize how much you still go out, especially in my case! This past week, the restrictions have escalated pretty quickly, moving from just "don't shake hands" to "stay in your apartment unless completely necessary." They also sent home all the missionaries at risk from coronavirus (senior missionaries, those with respiratory issues, etc.), including my companion, Elder Black. So when Président Sorensen announced the beginnings of the quarantine, we only had a couple days before he took a plane home.

And even with the quarantine going on, we had plenty of reasons to go out and about. When the time came to get to the airport, we packed up all our things and left Tours behind. We met up in Paris with everyone else headed home and said our goodbyes, then I and my new companion, Elder Hill, made our way to Amiens.

On Monday, we went to Paris again, this time for Elder Hill's legality. He needed to go pick up his Titre de Séjour, so we took a train and braved the Paris metro system to get to the Préfecture. We stopped by the mission office to pick up the payment, and had a nice chat with the new Office Elders as well as Président Sorensen. Then when the other companionship that was going with us showed up, we started walking over. But when we arrived, we found the Préfecture closed because of the coronavirus. So we turned around and started the long walk back. But we were glad to get the exercise instead of being stuck in our apartments!

In the meantime, when we have been in our apartment, we've been keeping busy. This Sunday we actually one of the busiest I've ever had. Now that everything is closing, people suddenly have more time than they know what to do with! So we're able to call and teach them all about the gospel. People have been comparing these times with the "Freeze" in Ghana, when the government shut down all Church functions for over a year. But because of all the attention it brought, the Church grew dramatically. It shows how the Lord uses opposition to hasten His work, and it's exciting to be a part of it!

Lavez-vous les mains!
Elder Wood

Farewell to Elder Black!

Outside the Amiens Cathedral

Amiens Cathedral, also known as Notre-Dame d'Amiens

Elders Wood, Hill, Jensen, and Wilson meeting up at the mission office.

Elders Hill, Wilson, Wood, and Jensen on their way to the Préfecture

Food photo: Enjoying O'Tacos

Préfecture closure notice