Week 39!! Friends in France

 Elder Barnes and I :)

Hello everyone! I don't have a lot of time today to write but it's
okay there isn't too much to write about this week honestly haha. We
weren't able to see Micca or Emmanuel which was super sad because they
were really busy. We did an exchange with the assistants which meant I
was able to be with Elder Barnes and Elder Haws! Finally Elder Barnes
and I were able to catch up and we talked all night long haha. I'm
super sorry this letter is going to be bad but I really don't have a
lot of time. To be honest this week was a harder week in terms of the
work, but I learned a lot for sure. Hahaha I'm so sorry this weeks
email is so short but I'll do better next week when I have more time!
I sent off my pictures though so hopefully you can look at them. Thank
you for the support!

John 4: 13-14
I know this is true. We may not always have all the worldy things we
want, but if we truly put the gospel as the number one priority in our
lives, we will always be happy and have enough.

Elder Wade

John 4: 13-14

13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

  Elder Haws and I...zags ;)

 Some super nice guy we met on the road out contacting. Gave us some oranges :)

  Ajaccio elders

 This cross is at the top of a mountain in Bastia and though it was a cool pic haha

 Mountains of Corsica...plus me posing lol

Week 38 Wrong elevator number and fish head

 Kissing a fish head...kinda a girly selfie mais voilà

Hello everyone. This week was absolutely incredible. We experienced
some great things and 2 absolute miracles with Micca and it was
overall an amazing week. Voilà the week.

Monday: P Day! Soldes started up here again and so we basically did
that all day! Then after that we wrote emails and then went to Frere
Antoni's house and had some fresh fish and taught his non member son
Kevin before he went back to Australia. He's going to start taking the
missionary lessons in Australia so that will be good!
Tuesday: Okay Tuesday was super great! So we went and passes Micca and
his family because it had been over a week since we last saw them, and
they weren't there. So we were feeling pretty discouraged about them
and then we went out of the apartment building and Micca was just
getting out of his car! So we talked to him and he told us that him
and his wife were starting to have some doubts about baptism, but long
story short, Elder Hall started showing him pictures of Sylvia's
baptism a month ago and the spirit was really strong. He is so awesome
and he's so humble! It's amazing. But we had a good day out porting
and got some rendez vous fixed. So then we went and ate at a kebab
shop for dinner and sparked the owner and he gave us free ice cream so
then we sang "Love one another" for him and he loved it haha. Okay so
another bad moment with cake this week haha...so someone had given us
some cake and we walked past this guy and offered it to him and he
just started freaking out and just started saying the craziest things
to us and threatened to go get his gun and shoot all 3 of us if we
didn't leave the apartment complex hahaha....ya we left the apartment
complex.
Wednesday: Miracle day! Okay so we scheduled 6 RDVs this day and it
was so cool! Cool story...so about 4 weeks ago Elder Hall and Elder
Johnson were sending something in the mail and I was just outside the
post (still within sight and sound of them don't worry ;)) and I
contacted a group of middle aged men and taught them the restoration
and we got 2 numbers out of it but we weren't able to see any of them
yet. So on Wednesday we were porting and we happened to port right
into one of the guys who gave us his number (Patrick and his wife
Claudine) and so he let us in and after 5 minutes there was a knock
out the door and it was his other friend (Joseph) who was the other
one interested! So we retaught the restoration and gave them both
Books of Mormon. So as a companionship we have been working on talking
to everyone we see and most importantly to families (that's the big
push in our mission right now is talking to families) and we were
leaving an apartment and We saw a family waking into another building
and we all just looked at each other and then I just ran and held the
door right before it shut and quickly explained who we were and they
accepted a follow up rendez vous!
Thursday: Thursday we passed Marie Rose after lunch and then went and
passed Claudine and Patrick and Patrick wasn't there so we taught
Claudine a little bit about the Book of Mormon! She loves it. And then
after that we went and ported for a long time and didn't see too much!
We tried to pass a few potentials who weren't home, and then we headed
up to Bastia because we had Zone Training Friday morning! Also just a
fact, on Corsica there are only 2 companionships of 3 missionaries. Us
(Ajaccio) and then Bastia. So that's why you always read about Bastia
haha because on the island they are the only other missionaries we
ever see.
Friday: So we woke up in Bastia and then drove to the church for Zone
training! Zone training was held in Nice so we just skyped in from
Bastia and it was great! Our focus is mainly in families right now
which is great because that's where we have been having most of our
success lately! So we got back and ported a little bit and then we met
with Sylvia and Noel! Good stuff.
Saturday: Okay so Saturday was Part 2 of the miracle with Micca! So we
were out porting in a random apartment and we finished the 4th floor
and we had a RDV at the 7th floor and so we hop onto the elevator and
elder Johnson hits floor 0 instead of 7 and so we started heading down
and we hit the ground floor and guess who was waiting
there.....Micca!! Haha I couldn't believe it. We all freaked out! We
were just in a complete random apartment and he happened to be there
visiting his brother. All the little details that led up to that were
crazy. We happened to be in the same random apartment building and
elder Johnson accidentally hits 0 instead of 7. And so we talked to
him about baptism and we just felt like something had changed and he
wasn't excited about it and stuff. So we were a little nervous. But,
he said we could come over to his house Sunday night! So that was a
cool miracle. So we had some rendez vous lined up for the whole rest
of the day and they were great!
Sunday: Sunday! Okay so we had church and Joseph and his wife
Francoise came! It was the first time we met with Francoise and she is
awesome! She has been reading th Book of Mormon a little since we met
Joseph and she said she's been interested in our church for a while!
So we taught them after church. They are great. then after church we
went and passed a few potentials, and then we went to Micca and
Immanuel's house! So it was just a miracle to be honest. So we went to
their house a little worried and nervous with them. We taught them the
importance of praying and reading the scriptures as a family and it
went good. You could just tell there was something holding them back.
So we asked a few questions and and Immanuel had a problem with the
priesthood being restored and then we started talking about the
priesthood and about what the priesthood does. And so Micca said
"Elders could you give our home a blessing or something? We need it
for comfort." (SIDE STORY: Immanuel was in a big accident about 20
years ago and almost died. She suffered no brain damage but is
handicapped on the left side of her body) And so we volunteered to
give Immanuel a priesthood blessing and she said yes and she asked me
to give it to her. So we gave her a blessing and at the end of the
blessing she just sat there and had tears coming down her face. No one
said a word in the apartment for 5 minutes straight as the spirit just
bore witness to her and to Micca that the priesthood has been restored
again on the earth. Honestly words can't even describe the spirit that
was there. It was truly incredible. When Immanuel could talk she just
thanked us and said she felt a feeling of love and comfort she has
never before felt and then she started crying again. It was a very
spiritual night for everyone there. They have been pretty wishy washy
with rendez vous but after that they asked us to come back Tuesday
night and explain more that we know. It was an amazing experience.

My spiritual thought comes from Alma 26:26-30. Read it. There is no
way that Joseph Smith could have made up the Book of Mormon because he
didn't know what it was like to serve a mission because when he was
translating the book, no one he had ever known had served a mission or
anything like it. So if you read the details that go into these
verses...only a missionary could have written them and at the time, no
one had ever gone on missions. The Book of Mormon is true.

Thank you all for the support. This week was a very amazing week for
us and we are very grateful. Thank you for the prayers as well.

Elder Wade

Alma 26:26-30

 26 But behold, my beloved brethren, we came into the wilderness not with the intent to destroy our brethren, but with the intent that perhaps we might save some few of their souls.                                                                                                                                                           27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.                                                                             28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.                                                                                           29 And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their synagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been stoned, and taken and bound with strong cords, and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of God we have been delivered again.                                                                                                    30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

 Selfie with Micca, Immanuel and Samuel after the RDV :)

 Us 3 with Marie Rose. She has come so far since her baptism!!

 At the kebab shop with the owner haha. He was so funny.

 Skyping into Zone Conference from Corsica!

Frere Colonna!!

Week 37 Cake and wrong doors

 SNOW. We saw snow clear up in the mountains while coming back from

an exchange and had to take a pic.

 It never snows in Ajaccio so it was good to finally see some snow!

 Exchange with Elder Hansen from Davis High in Ajaccio!

Hello everyone! Another great week here on the island. The work is
picking up like crazy and we are so happy about it. Here's the recap
of the week!
Monday: P day! Pretty normal. We were going to go to a cool Ville
named Porto but the weather was bad so we didn't do a lot! Sylvia and
Noel came over and it was great. We are using Sylvia right now to help
teach Noel and it's been going great and we have been seeing some
progression lately.
Tuesday: Tuesday was a really crazy day! So we had 5 lessons fixed at
different times on Tuesday and all 5 of them fell through which was a
little discouraging. But, Tuesday night we found out that it was The
birthday of the mom of Jacob and Casper haha so we grabbed a cake and
went over and told her happy birthday and other funny sentences in
Polish (remember, Jacob and Casper speak French but their parents
speak polish and only a little French) it was so funny. She was
laughing so hard at us because we couldn't pronounce anything haha.
Also, kind of a funny story that goes along with this....we had the
biggest brain crash right before we went to Jacob and caspers
apartment and knocked on the apartment door one floor above theirs and
when the guy opened the door we realized that it was someone who
chewed us out a few days earlier haha. Needless to say he definitely
was not happy to see us a second time (even when we had cake in our
hands... like come on??) haha so anyways, after that we met with
Sylvia and Noel again. I love them so much. Christ taught us to "love
one another" and for me that is such a simple yet profound statement
and honestly, Sylvia and Noel do such an amazing job at loving people.
Wednesday: Okay really good day. So we went on an exchange with Bastia
and Elder Hansen from Bastia (and Davis high:)) came down to Ajaccio
with elder Johnson and I. So we went and passed Marie Rose and had an
awesome time together reading "the first great commandment" by elder
holland. Right after that we went and had an awesome lesson with Jacob
and Casper and we taught them about the Book of Mormon and we
committed them to be baptized for January 30th! It was super awesome.
So please keep them in your prayers. They are exactly what the little
group here in Ajaccio needs. So then after that we had a rendez vous
that the people didn't show up to, and it was about 8:45 so we went
porting and hoping for a last minute miracle and we drove to an
apartment and went up to the top floor and the first door we knocked
on was a cute family of 5 who let us in and they were all soooo nice.
They didn't have a lot of time, so we fixed a RDV with them for
Thursday! It was really cool :)
Thursday: So we finished the exchange and then came back to Ajaccio
where we did some service for Marie Rose around her house. Then we
ported and contacted a little bit. Then we went to the rendez vous
with the family we ported into the night before and it went so well.
We shared a video of Christ and started to talk about him and then
Joseph and Elizabeth (the parents) both talked about how they have
lost family members in the past. It was really cool because we
testified that God had created a plan for us and that we would explain
it to them the next time we came over. So we scheduled another rendez
vous for this upcoming week and left. Really cool experience.
Friday: great day. We ported a lot haha. So then we went and visited
Frere Colonna because we all felt really strongly that we needed to go
visit him. And when we got there we started talking to him and he
talked about how it had been a long time since he had heard the story
of Joseph Smith and the first vision, so we read Joseph Smith history
with him. It was so awesome.
Hahahaha okay so the funniest thing happened...so Frere Colonna is
basically blind right and can't really see anything and he always
makes jokes about how he can't see haha so Elder Johnson jokingly
asked him when the last time he took his little motor scooter on a
ride and Frere Colonna straight up answered "8 days" hahahaha we
almost died. He honestly can't see and he's riding his scooter around.
He is riding his scooter 100% off of faith I'm not kidding haha. What
a man. I love him sooooo much!!!
Saturday: Saturday was great because Frere Antoni's son isn't a member
and he's here on vacation for a few more weeks and so he wanted to
play basketball with us and so we showed up and we had invited a
friend named Robin who was awesome! So we played basketball with them
:) and afterwards we taught Robin the restoration and it was great. We
are going to try and fix a RDV with him this coming week again! So
then after that we had a few RDVs scheduled that all fell through
again so that definitely wasn't the best so we ended up doing some
contacting. Then we had a RDV with Sylvia and Noel. I love them so
much they are such great examples of loving one another.
Sunday: Sunday! It was awesome. It was held in our apartment again.
It's kinda cool that no matter where you take the sacrament...it's
always the same. I gave a talk during sacrament on the sacrament :) so
then after we went and gave the sacrament to Frere Colonna. Honestly
that's always one of the huge highlights of my week is going to give
him the sacrament. He's such a faithful member and incredible example.
Then Soeur Antonetti had us, Sylvia, Noel, and Marie Rose over for
some cake! And then we contacted for a little bit and then had 2 RDVs
fall through so we contacted more :)

Alma 5:48
I testify that Jesus is the Christ. I know that he sacrificed himself
for us and then 3 days later he was resurrected. I know he lives and
that he is at the head of this church.

Thank you for the support!

Elder Wade

Alma 5:48

I say unto you, that I know of myself that whatsoever I shall say unto you, 

concerning that which is to come, is true; and I say unto you, that I know that Jesus Christ shall come, yea, the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace, and mercy, and truth. And behold, it is he that cometh to take away the sins of the world, 

yea, the sins of every man who steadfastly believeth on his name.

 Kinda blurry but I won a cake game called "galette des rois" and voilà

 Basketball with some Amis!

 Pic of Vivario with a rainbow and some snow on the mountains

Selfie with the recent converts Sylvia and Marie Rose :)

Week 36 Happy New Year !!

Marie Rose is getting ready for the temple ahhhh :)

Hello everyone! We received transfer calls and all 3 of us are staying
in Ajaccio! :) I'm super excited. It will be my 3rd transfer with
elder Johnson and my 2nd with Elder Hall. I love them a lot and I'm
excited to stay in Ajaccio because the work is really picking up like
crazy! Also, Happy New Year to everyone! 2015 was such a good year and
I'm hoping 2016 will be even better as I'm fully on the Lords errand
:) So here is the week!

Monday: P day! Haha it was a crazy p day because we had 4 lessons
during the day and so we basically only had time to write emails which
was great. So after e mails we went and passed Micca and his wife
Immanuel and their 6 year old son Samuel! We shared Alma 5: 45-46 with
them and talked more about the role the Book of Mormon plays! And then
we set up a huge dinner for Tuesday at our apartment :)
Tuesday: Such an amazing day! So we contacted throughout the day and
passed a few potentials and then that night Micca and his family came
over and we cooked them big American cheeseburgers, played uno, and
then talked about the gospel and the Book of Mormon and it was soooo
amazing. We asked them to be baptized and they agreed! There are still
some things that need to happen before they get baptized but we are
super happy for them! We were teaching about temples and eternal
families and Micca said "I want to be there one day." It was awesome.
I felt especially touched because I was showing them a picture of my
family in front of the temple and it was just a really neat
experience. I love my family a lot :)  nights like Tuesday are nights
that I'll remember for the rest of my mission for sure.
Wednesday: Haha another great day :) so, we passed Marie rose and we
have been working on getting her prepared to go to the temple and
we've been working a lot with her on familysearch.org and guess what??
She has already 6 names printed off and ready to go to the Paris
temple when it gets dedicated this autumn :):) ah we are so happy for
her and what she's doing and the changes she's made and where she's at
right now. It's so amazing. After we went out porting and met a super
nice Peruvian Old couple that let us in and practically fed us. In the
end they weren't interested, but still a fun experience.
Thursday: The best New Year's Eve ever!! So to start off the day,
Bastia elders came down and we had district meeting and it was on
"Unleashing the Dormant Spirit" which is a super good talk and the
whole meeting was really uplifting and spiritual! Then after that we
did exchanges and I was with elder Johnson and then elder frost and we
went around and did tithing settlements with the members here in
Ajaccio. We made the drive to Frere Colonnas house and he is just
incredible and so faithful. One thing he said that I wanted to share
was, "Because I've paid my tithing, I've never had to run after or
chase money. Yes money hasn't always been there, but in paying my
tithing, I've never had to run after money." And I gained such a
testimony right then that paying tithing is such a blessing we have
and the Lord blesses us so much for it :) then later that night all 6
of us missionaries on Corisca went to Marie Roses house and she fed us
and we all sat around on family search telling stories of our
ancestors...and wow! I caught the family history fever big time I
can't lie. Before Thursday I never really was interested in it but it
hit me so hard how much I loved it and felt the spirit of Elijah while
reading all of my ancestors stories. I felt so close to them and so
grateful that I have had people already putting in information about
my ancestors so that I could read them. (I spent every free minute I
had the rest of the week reading about my ancestors and their stories
and I can say that the keys of Elijah have been restored)
Friday: Haha so at about 11:50 pm on New Year's Eve fireworks starting
going off and they didn't end till about 2:00 am. It was one of the
craziest things ever hahaha. Corsicans are super crazy and the
fireworks they were letting off were sooooo loud and honestly going
off everywhere haha I thought we were straight up in a world war. So
anyways, when we woke up we got our transfer calls and we are all
staying together for another transfer here in Ajaccio and all of
Bastia is staying together as well! So after that we went and ported
for the rest of the day and then passed Marie rose to see how she's
doing!
Saturday: Ah such a great day :) haha it was one of those days where
we woke up and had no rendez vous scheduled and so we prayed about
where to go and what to do for the whole day and we saw sooo many
miracles. Probably one of the most miracle filled days of my mission.
We just porter into so many people who Let us in and we fixed 4 RDV to
Come back :) just so cool.
Sunday: Another incredible day! So we had church at our apartment
again which was great again :) Sylvia bore her testimony for the first
time and it was incredible I am so happy for her!! Then after church
we went and gave the sacrament to Frere Colonna and then we took Frere
Colonna to his cousins house who lives by him. She is a non member but
was happy to see Frere Colonna! After that we had a huge miracle...so
we ported into a Polish family on Saturday and we went and visited
them again on Sunday and they let us in. As we walked in, the parents
walked away and didn't join us for the lesson but we taught their 3
sons and they want to be baptized! So we are going to talk to their
parents about a date and voila! It was super awesome :)

I am learning so much and I wanted to share something that was really
on my mind this week...Heavenly Father has given us everything we
have, and so in return he could take it all back. He could take
everything we have away from us if he wanted to. But, there is one
thing he can't take away that is completely our own...and that's our
free agency. Our free agency is the only thing we have that is
actually ours. But, something very special happens when we take the
only thing that is actually ours to give (our free agency), and give
it to him. Special things happen. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and
know he lives.

Alma 12:33...I love this because it shows our Heavenly Fathers love for us.

I love you guys thank you!

Elder Wade

Alma 12:33

But God did call on men, in the name of his Son, (this being the plan of redemption which was laid) saying: If ye will repent, and harden not your hearts, then will I have mercy upon you, through mine Only Begotten Son;

  Actually a pic from a few weeks ago when I was in Nice with the

Cresto's :) I love love love them

 Micca, Immanuel and Samuel at our apartment eating burgers :)

Took this picture out porting haha how beautiful is the view...and

the swimming pool

Converted them....😈😈

 Photo with Frere Colonna and his cute nieces