Elder Chase Player: Summer is here...

Mormons in France

Bonjour Tout le monde. Another week has flown by and once again it's a holiday here in France. The Pentecost! I've come to know that if you want to go where you have a weekly holiday France is the place! This week we've also had the arrival of summer weather. Lots of late night thunder and lightning storms. We've also been able to teach some amazing new people, millionaires, along with our other amis.

Last Monday, after emails, we decided to go to the Eiffel Tower and walk under it and around in the gardens. As we got of the metro there is a bridge in the movie, Inception, that's right there so we got some cool pictures of that. On the way to the tower there was a girl that looked so familiar and as she turned around I realized it was one of the people from the Business Scholars Program at the U that I had done projects with. It's so crazy to see people that I know. As we continued to walk we ran into a "study abroad" group from BYU and one of the girls was Jennica Overman from high school. So in 5 minutes I had run into 2 groups of people that I know...in Paris!!! Crazy! As we were talking two of the girls whispered that we were so awkward but we heard them and called them out on it. We said, "We know we're awkward!" So now it's official we are awkward missionaries in non-missionary settings! HaHa

We were able to see the Eiffel Tower and this time it was even decorated with a huge tennis ball for a tournament that was being played. P-day was great but the week that followed was better. We were able to teach Sebastien last Monday night and eat with him, Cedre and their children. They are doing great and we will see them again this week. We saw Jean yesterday and he is reading the Book of Mormon and doing great.

Tuesday night we decided that we had lots of potentials in our phone and needed to contact them. We started to make calls and we were able to set up some rendez-vous with them.

The first one was with Bernard on Thursday. We met him at the RER stop and then walked to the church together. Bernard is about 65 and is an ambassador for the UN. He was an investment banker in the US for 35 years. Now he is managing refugees funds and doing food orders to send to them. We gave him a church tour and as we did he kept proposing deals to us. Like turning the church into a computer training center for refugees so that they can do good things after school. We said that really wasn't our purpose. We told him we were here to baptize and help people come unto Christ. He was very nice and took a Book of Mormon because he thought his wife would be interested. At the end he asked if we could cut our contract with the church short and come work for him. He said he'd train us but we said no and so he gave us his contact information for after our missions. He did say we could go out to dinner with him and talk to his wife about the church so hopefully we will get to meet her this week.

One of the other contacts was Charles. We set up a rendez-vous for Sunday afternoon. Getting to his house was difficult because the bus routes have been changed due to construction. It took us over an hour to get there but we finally made it and started to talk to him. He had watched a documentary on the church in Salt Lake and loved it and wanted to learn more about what we believe. We continued to teach him about the restoration and he was so excited and said he believed. He asked how he could continue to progress and become a part of church on Sundays. We gave him all the information and he said he'd be there on Sunday. We read about prayer from the introduction of the BOM and how the Holly Ghost can help you know that it's true. He was so happy and when we gave him the Book of Mormon to read he said, "For me?" It was obvious that he had been prepared and so we asked him if he'd be baptized and we set a date with him right there. He asked, "So, I can be baptized and all? Yes, I want to do that!" So cool and we can't wait to go back and teach him again this week. Just another amazing example of how people are prepared for us by the Lord.

Highlights:
...Stake conference on Saturday night in Torcy and then a regional conference that was broadcast from Switzerland for 31 stakes in France, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and a few other countries. We were able to hear from President and Sister Uchtdorf, Elder Andersen, Elder Teixeira and Sister Reeves of the Relief Society. It was awesome and was focused on "Hastening the Work" and how we can all participate.
...Taught Frere Malasse and had an awesome rendez-vous full of the spirit. He expressed his desire to do ordinances for his parents and siblings who have already passed away. Such an amazing moment and really increased the importance of eternal families and temple work for me.
...Had two lessons with the Vasile Family. One was an object lesson where we made brownies to get the children involved. Every ingredient was part of the gospel and showed how when we use all the ingredients and follow the "recipe" given to us we will have a great reward at the end. Brownies or eternal life and happiness with our family. The children loved it!
...We were able to see Joe this week and he's doing awesome. He is so devoted to studying the scriptures and he should be getting the Priesthood next week!

Out of time but I hope you all had a great week too and know how much I love you! Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially mine. I love you lots and miss you. Have a great week and enjoy the summer weather.

Love...
Elder Player