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

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