Week 30 Staying on the island

Matching sweaters we got on a smoking hot deal ;) 

Hello everyone! Such a great week. So, I'm staying in Ajaccio for this
transfer and I'm super excited :) some news is Sylvia and Noel are
getting married this weekend and us missionaries are going to be
witnesses! Then their baptism is 12 days :) so awesome. Here's the
week!


Monday: Monday was great! we went and visited Napoleons house and it
was closed but then some guy who owned a little shop told us he wanted
to talk to us on Tuesday (funny story) and then after that we wrote
emails! After that we went and passed Marie Rose and had our first RDV
with her as a member of the church!! :) she is soooo amazing everyone.
I love her so much and she is so happy now. There is a noticeable
difference In her visage since her bapteme. After that we had a RDV
with Sylvia and Noel and we retaught the retab with them. Great day.
Tuesday: So we went and passed Dominique who owned the store by
napoleons house and he was super nice but super crazy :) we have been
trying to "business contact" lately which is basically you go into a
little French stand or shop when no one is in there and you walk in
and look around and then just spark a convo with the owner and start
talking about the gospel. So we did that with Dominique and it was so
cool because even though he was a little crazy, we taught a lesson in
front of him and 4 of his friends who were really cool and we should
be seeing a few of them this week! Then we ported a lot. Then we had a
RDV with Sylvia and Noel and they brought some pizza over and Corsican
pizza is the best pizza I've ever tasted haha. But Sylvia was telling
us about her friend who was going through a hard time and how
basically Sylvia testified about the church and everything. She's so
amazing! I love them so much.
Wednesday: Okay so Wednesday we went and business contacted a photo
shop to print off photos of the baptism and frame one and give it to
Marie rose. Haha you can imagine us contacting him with the
photos..."Excuse me Monsieur can you help us print off some pictures?
Oh yeah that's a photo of a baptism. It's this really cool thing
where...." And then we left 45 minutes later after teaching him the
entire restoration :) good stuff. He was awesome and I think we are
going to need to visit the photo store this week to print off pictures
of a temple ;) so then we gave the framed photo to Marie rose and she
started to cry because she was so happy. Ah she's so amazing. She
immediately put it right on the front of her dresser :) so then we had
some porting to do. With the attacks in Paris president brown wanted
us to be inside our apartments before night time each day (5:30)
Thursday: So Thursday we had a RDV with Sylvia and Noel and Marie rose
helped us out with it! It's soooo cute because Marie Rose and Sylvia
went dress shopping for Sylvia's weeding together :) how cute. I love
Marie rose and Sylvia! So wE taught them and then we headed up to
Bastia to start our exchange and we got their later than we though we
would, so we stayed the night at their apartment!
Friday: So Friday morning all of us 6 missionaries woke up and watched
the sunrise over the Mediterranean and it was sooo beautiful! So then
we went back to their apartment and received our transfer calls!
Again, elder Johnson and I are staying and Richmond is leaving! From
Bastia elder Schettler and Landry are both leaving as well. But then
after transfer calls Elder Schettler and elder Landry came down to
Ajaccio with me and in Ajaccio we taught Marie rose, Sylvia and Noel,
and then went in for the night! Great day.
Saturday: Saturday morning we elder Schettler, Landry and I woke up
and exercised and then drove straight up to Bastia again to finish the
exchange! While we were in Bastia, we helped one of their Amis with
their horses, went and supported a member in a soccer game, and then
we went back to the church to watch a television broadcast to all the
branches in the world! Really cool. I love the small branch and all
the people here :) then elder Johnson, richhmond and I drove back to
Ajaccio and had a RDV with Soeur Antonetti and her daughter Melissa
and they fed us raclette which was so good :) then elder Richmond
packed a lot after. He has been here for 6 months and had a lot of
packing haha.
Sunday: We had a BBQ with the branch at Marie roses house! She is
honestly doing sooooo great :) then we gave Frere Colonna the
sacrament and then Frere Richmond packed and then we took the boat
Back to France! There was a tompete here again and so the boat was
absolutely rocking all night haha. Kinda cool. Also, we ate a bunch of
Tim tams thanks to the Carthew family :)

Anyways, today elder Johnson and I are in Marseille waiting for our
new companion Elder Hall! He will be in his 3rd transfer! I'll send a
pic when we get him! I love you all!

Alma 37:36- Happy Thanksgiving :)

Elder Wade

Alma 37:36

Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

Road trip with us and Marie Rose and Sylvia :)

 (I looked at wrong side of iPad)

The 6 Corsican missionaries in Bastia!

Giving a piggy back ride to Elder Richmond, Johnson, and Noel hahaha 

Our new comp Elder Hall! From Alpine, Utah and he's a stud I love

him already! :) 

Week 29 Marie Rose baptism and update on the attack on France

Hello family and friends! I do not have a lot of time today but I am
sending pictures still and pictures say a thousands words right? I
will just add the pictures to the bottom of this email! This week was
crazy so here is the quick recap!

Marie Rose was baptized :):) She asked me to baptize her and it was
absolutely an amazing experience. The day started out crazy as we
received a text from our President Brown telling us about the
terrorist attacks in Paris and that we weren't allowed to leave the
apartment for the day but eventually we got the green light for the
baptism so we went ahead with it. The baptism was performed in the
Mediterranean Sea and it was raining and blowing all morning and then
once the baptism time came it was perfect blue skies and then right
after it started to rain again. Really cool experience. After we got
out of the water I asked her how she felt and she said, "I know I have
found the fullness of the Gospel. I know God is there and I'm a
daughter of God." It was absolutely amazing. She is an angel. She has
had such a hard life and she told us that she finally feels the love
of Christ in her life. Gosh she's amazing. I am so happy for her and
for her decision. On Sunday Elder Richmond confirmed her a member of
the church and that was amazing as well. After, she got up and bore
her testimony on the spirit and on Joseph Smith and it was soooo
great. I'm not kidding when I say I had the biggest grin on my face
for 30 straight minutes :) She is amazing and I'm so happy for her.
Thank you for all of your prayers. I hope the pictures can explain
better than I can.

I'll give an update on our other Amis who are being baptized in 3
weeks. So Sylvia and Noel have scheduled a marriage date for the 28th
of November and then their baptism will be the week after. They are so
amazing and so ready. It's so amazing because their biggest goal isn't
even  baptism, it's a marriage in the temple. They were really touched
by our lesson on temples and want to be married their for time and
eternity. They are so amazing. I love them a lot. I am getting soooooo
excited for the Paris Temple that will be here soon. Wow that is going
to be an amazing day to have a house of the Lord on French soil for
the first time :)

We are teaching a lot of other people right now and working hard to
get them towards baptism and then eventually to the temple. The work
is amazing here and I've never been happier. Thank you for all the
prayers and support :)
Love,
Elder Wade

3 Nephi 22: 7-8

 7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.

 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.

Week 28 This is where I serve

This is where I serve 😍 we have everything here. The beach, and

then a 5 mi it's drive from the beach and you have these mountains :)

Hello family and friends! This week was another great week here on the
island! I want to start off with my thought of the week...my Ponderize
scripture for the week is Alma 36:21. I love it because it is when
Alma the younger is talking to his son Helamen about his experiences
when he was going against God and then in verse 21 he describes what
the atonement did for him. I love when he says, "Yea, and again I say
unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so
exquisite and sweet as was my joy." I know the atonement is real and
that it really can bring joy to people's lives that they never knew
was possible!
So this Saturday will be the baptism of Marie Rose so if you could
pray for her and so that all can go well this week that would be
awesome :) here's a recap of the week and it will probably be long
because it was an awesome week!
Monday: P day! So we went to Bonifacio (I sent the pictures last week)
and again it was the most beautiful place on earth. So then right
after emails we took the overnight ship back to the continent and it
was the worst night sleep I've ever had haha. We got caught in the
middle of a huge storm over the Mediterranean and our boat was rocking
like crazy the whole night. Haha a kinda funny story...so it's like
2:00 in the morning and I had been up for about an hour and finally I
just whispered "Hey Elders are you awake?" And I hear 2 voices at the
same time "Yes I can't sleep." Haha needless to say over the next few
hours we had some bonding time while the boat rocked all night long.
Super fun though :)
Tuesday: Zone conference!! It was so great to good back to mainland
France and see all the missionaries again (Again there is only us 6
missionaries on Corisca)! I saw some people who I love dearly and I
will be sending a lot of pictures home of these people! I also had a
great, great conversation about life with Elder Barnes :) I love him
so so much. I remember right before he left we were on his doorstep
crying saying goodbye for 3 years  and then like 8 months later we
were reunited in France hahah. It was super cool. We got away from
everyone and just had a really amazing talk. Love him a lot and I know
he's reading this as well ;) but conference was super good and we
talked about the importance of getting back to the basics in the
mission such as area book work and planning! And seeing President
Brown and his wife was awesome as well. I love them a lot as well. I
just realized that I say I love people a lot so much but it's because
it's true. There are some people in this mission that I have become so
close with and love! I also saw my old comp Elder Anderson haha. Love
him :) also I saw my MTC comp and my boy Elder Connell haha I love
that man. Just a great day with all the missionaries and I really
learned a lot. Honestly the mission is so amazing! After conference we
took the over night boat to Ajaccio and voilà!
Wednesday: So we woke up on the boat and then waited to get docked!
Then drove back to our apartment! Then we had a rendez vous with Marie
rose on the importance of enduring to the end and all that! Then we
had fixed a rendez vous last week and it was for Wednesday so we went
to it and the Book of Mormon we gave them was hanging on the fence
with a sign saying they weren't interested. Haha....that hurt :') then
we ported around and then had a rendez vous with Sylvia and Noel on
the importance of Jesus Christ. Super spiritual lesson. I love talking
and teaching about Jesus Christ there is always such a special spirit.
Thursday: So on Thursday we woke up and got our workouts in and then
drove straight to Corte to meet the other elders on Corsica for an
exchange and this time it was Elder Frost who came to Ajaccio with
Elder Richmond and I! Elder frost is from Arizona and is an amazing
missionary! I love him a lot! So we drove back and had a rendez vous
with Marie Rose and talked about baptism). Then after that we went and
helped Souer Antonetti with her move and she invited her hair dresser
lady as well...so we definitely seized the opportunity and talked with
her about the church and she loved it and we are seeing her again this
week :) after that we driving back to our apartment to have dinner and
change but we drove past a basketball court and there was people
playing and so we pulled over and went and balled and contacted hahaha
it was soooo fun. They were all super sparked and we got some numbers!
Then we went and had a lesson with Sylvia and Noel!
Friday: Friday we taught Marie rose the importance of the Holy Ghost
again :) then we had a lesson with someone we ported (porting is when
we knock on the doors...I don't know what the word is in English?)
into about 2 weeks ago named Marie Ange and we taught the restoration
and it was super powerful :) we are seeing her again this week! Then
we had a lesson with Sylvia and Noel on fasting and paying tithing and
they were so solid. Sylvia asked if she could start fasting and paying
tithing before she was a member...oui haha.
Saturday: Saturday was a crazy day! We had a BBQ with Marie rose,
Sylvia and Noel! Haha it was really so fun. and then Soeur Antonetti
called us and said the owner of her apartment needs her out by next
Tuesday and so us 3 missionaries basically dropped all our plans for
the rest of the day and went and helped her move for basically the
entire day haha. We also challenged Melissa (Soeur Antonetti's
daughter) to baptism again and she said she doesn't feel ready but she
really is! So we are praying for her! That's basically what we did
Saturday.
Sunday: Church! So great. So during church basically we sing, take the
sacrament, have 2 talks, and then we have a Sunday school lesson and
then we leave. Usually lasts about 90 minutes. We had us 3
missionaries, our 3 Amis and then 1 member :) I gave a talk during
sacrament and then I taught the lesson for Sunday school :) too fun
haha. Then we all went to Marie Roses house and ate lunch together!
Then we took the sacrament to Frere Collona again. Gosh I love him so
much! Every week even though he can't see he always is dressed in his
Sunday best.

So that's the week! Sorry again it's a little long haha. Again with
Marie Rose's baptism coming up it would be awesome if you could
include her in your prayers. Thank you! I love you guys and have a
great week :)

Elder Wade

Ajaccio Elders on the ship!

 Elder Barnes :)

Elder Connell haha he's a stud

My old companion Elder Anderson. Love him

 President Brown and I!

Week 27 "Livin' the life"

Not a bad place to read ;) hahaha so posed

Okay so Bonifacio is the most beautiful place I've ever been in my

whole life and we came here today for P Day and it's a bunch of photos

from this place :)

Hello family and friends! Honestly every week gets better and better
and I am absolutely falling in love with the mission. We had another
great week here and are seeing some amazing things happening! So for
General Conference this year i was able to watch all the sessions
except for the last. And the last session there was the talk by Elder
Durrant on Ponderizing the scriptures! So last Monday I read it and I
started my Ponderize scripture which was Mosiah 17:20. That is my
favorite story from the Book of Mormon because of Abanidi's boldness
with his testimony and so I chose that! So at the end I'll tell you my
Ponderize scripture of this week!
Here's the week :)
Monday: P day! So we went and just kind of hung out around Ajaccio and
eventually went to Les îles sanguinaires! Then we did emails. So after
we went to pass a family we ported into last week Sylvie(the mom who
we talked to last time) wasn't there and the husband answered the door
and was sooo nice. We were nervous because he wasn't there last time
but he let us right in and we talked and had such a good time with
their family! They fed us bread and Corsican cheese (strongest cheese
I've ever tasted haha) with some home made jam and it was so good
haha. Basically we spent the night with them and got to know them
really well and they own a charcuterie in Ajaccio and told us to come
in and talk to them about our message as well as eat! It was really a
miracle and they are such an amazing family!
Tuesday: Another great day! So, we woke up and did personal study and
then had a lesson at 9:30 with a girl named Yvonne and it went sooo
amazing! She told us how here husband had passed away and we talked
about the priesthood that has been restored and how avec this
authority she can have an eternal family. At the end of the rendez
vous we set a baptismal date for November 21st with her! we had a
lesson with Marie Rose and it was super awesome as we talked about
Jesus Christ and the role he plays in the Plan of Salvation. Super
amazing. Then at the end we asked her all of the baptismal interview
questions and she was awesome. So then after we went and helped a
Soeur Antonetti who is a member with some of her move she is having
right now! And a really cool experience happened where her non member
daughter Melissa asked me to give her a blessing because she is having
some problems in her life and it was really cool and I was extremely
grateful for the opportunity! She really felt the spirit and we talked
a lot about the gospel with her. Just a really cool experience! So
then we had a rendez vous with Sylvia and Noel and talked again about
temples and eternal marriage and the spirit was so strong there. I
know families are eternal. Just a great day :)
Wednesday: Gosh Wednesday was another great day. So we had a lesson
with Marie Rose and we walked in and she was sooo sad and distraught
and we asked her what was wrong and she said "Elders I smoked again
and I am so sorry. I've never felt so bad. I won't do it again." So we
then had such an amazing rendez vous about Jesus Christ and his
atonement and shared Alma 7:11-13 (most beautiful verses in the BOM)
and it was super cool. She quit smoking cold turkey 3 weeks ago and
smoked one on Wednesday but promised to not do it again! So, then we
had a lesson with a family we contacted into last week and it was
good. Haha a little crazy but still good :) we are hoping to see them
again. Then Melissa (Soeur Antonetti's non member daughter) called us
and needed our help so we went and helped her with her car. While we
were there we talked sooo much about baptism and how she felt the
spirit the night before during the blessing and how she knew it was
the time and she said she would pray about and November 14th to be
baptized! Really cool. Then after we had a cool miracle where Sylvie
(mom of the family we visited Monday) saw us in the streets and told
us to go pass her house because her husband is there! So we went and
it was so cool and we scheduled a family home evening for Tuesday of
this week! So cool :) then after we had a rendez vous with Sylvia and
Noel again and talked about the priesthood and temples again!
Thursday: 6 month mark!! Crazy Ive been out 1/4 already. I hope time
slows done haha. Another great day! So we had a rendez vous with Marie
Rose and we read out of the Book of Mormon and talked about alma and
how he believed everything because of the Holy Ghost and not because
of seeing an angel.  Really cool to explain the role of the Holy Ghost
:) then we had a rendez vous with Sylvia and Noel! Bad news...they're
marriage papers are taking a little longer so we will have to move
their baptismal date back. Good news...they found out they are getting
married on the 28th of November! So they will be baptized December
6th. But for their wedding they have asked me to be their 1st witness
which is going to be sooo cool and I'm so excited :)so after that we
had a rendez vous with Soeur Antonettii and her daughter Melissa which
was super awesome and we talked about temples as well as the Holy
Ghost :)
Friday: Friday was another great day. We started off with studies and
then showed up at the market here in Ajaccio (the markets in France
are just like the movies) and said hello to Sylvie and her husband at
their charcuterie and they gave us about 30 euros of cheese and 50
euros of meet for free! They are so awesome and we love them. We are
still trying to get them to commit to a family home evening but they
didn't have enough time to talk about it at work. We will keep pushing
it though :) after that we just went out porting for a while and then
had a rendez vous with Soeur Antonetti and Melissa again! We helped
them move for about an hour and then they ordered pizza and we talked
about baptism. She said she is scared to be baptized with everything
she has going for her so if you guys could keep her in your prayers
that would be awesome :)
Saturday: Happy Halloween!! Halloween isn't really celebrated too hard
here on Corsica. But, great day :) so we did some contacting in Ville
for a few hours which was great! After that, our Amis Sylvia and Noel
invited us bowling and so we took some P Day time and went bowling
with them and it was sooooo fun haha. I forgot how much I loved
bowling. I'll send a pic of us :) then after that we went and had a
rendez vous with Marie Rose and we all fasted for her so that she can
continue to have the strength to not smoke! It was really cool and so
we all fasted together :)
Sunday: I love church here so much!! We had 9 people including us and
it was so great :) it strengthens my testimony every time I go even
though we don't have a lot of people haha. So after church we wenand
and brought the sacrament to Frere Colonna which was awesome as usual.
He is the cutest grandpa ever haha he literally can not see and he
dresses himself up in his Sunday clothes every week when we come and
always has the bread and water ready. I love him. Then after that we
went and brought cookies to a bunch of families we ported into this
week and we are hoping to have some family home evenings with them
soon mm just another great day!

Ponderize Scripture: Alma 7:23

Sorry this email is super long haha and I left out so much but it was
a great week :) thanks again for all the support! I love you!

Elder Wade

Alma 7:23

"And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive."

  Almost taller than our ami Sylvia on my knees :)

  BOWLING :) love them so much

 Us with Sylvie and her husband at the market!

  District meeting!

 Comp photos ;)

 Comp photos model style

Bonifacio