Week 55 The 3 Musketeers!

La famille Chiesa!

Hello everyone! This week was another good one here in Geneva

highlighted by us getting Elder Battezzato and and Elder Barnes

turning the big 20! Haha I seriously love my companions so much. Elder

Battezzato is from Sicily, Italy (Catania) and is a stud! He is in his

6th transfer as well. But it was another excellent week! Here is the

recap:

Monday: We officially became the 3 Musketeers! We were on "Gare Duty"

for most of the day which means that we stayed at the train station

and helped missionaries get on and off trains going to their new

sectors! Then around 7:30 we got Elder Battezzato!  Again to explain

the situation...I lose my ability to drive a car this transfer because

of European laws, and so President sent us Elder Battezzato and I'm so

happy he's with us! He will help us with all of our normal  duties

such as helping us present and taking care of transfer stuff! I love

him so much :)

Tuesday: At about 10:00 we went and helped the Volpicelli family with

some yard work! Sister Volpicelli made us some lunch which was nice of

her. Then we drove out to Nyon to help our DMP with some house work as

well! Fidalgo is such a stud, I love him! Then we went and visited Ali

in the hospital and he is doing a lot better. Its so cool to see how

much he is trying to change to be baptized. We are grateful he is

getting the care he needs to help him stop drinking and smoking. We

talked about baptism with him and he is thinking about June 11th right

now. Later that night we went and visited la famille Chiesa and taught

their son about baptism! He is getting baptized this week and his

parents asked us to come over and explain what baptism is a little

bit. Afterwards she fed us food as well :) they are such a great

family and are all great examples for me. And they have Italian

origins so Elder Battezzato was able to sparc them up :)

Wednesday: haha Wednesday was kind of a weird day. So now that is

starting to warm up the office wanted us to take the car into a

dealership and have them change our tires. So voilà we went and it

took about an hour or so. Then we had to really quickly drive to Gex

so that I could do my Legality (basically once you pass 1 year in

France you have to get it renewed). So we drove there and I didn't

have enough passport photos so I wasn't able to do it haha. So we

drove back to Geneva and passed a few old Amis. Later that night we

ate at the Mueller family home! Again if anyone wants to see who they

are, there is a Mormon message about them! It's so cool to see how

positive and funny Frere Mueller is even though he can't see. He

compliments us on the colors of our ties and stuff so it's pretty

funny. We had a really spiritual thought with them about Elder

Hallstroms talk "I Am a Child of God" from this past General

Conference. Honestly that is one of my favorite parts of the gospel.

Just to know that we have a loving father in heaven is such a

blessing. I love teaching people about it. Anyways, it was a really

great night and I love being around them. They are such a happy and

cute couple.

Thursday: Exchange! I was in Salève with Elder Price! This was our 3rd

exchange together and I love him! Again he's from Layton high and

played basketball! But before we started the exchange Elder Barnes,

Elder Battezzato, and I met with the STL's and talked about what we

are going to do in the zone this transfer. Haha this transfer is going

to be so sick, and especially with Elder Battezzato with us! But

anyways, we started our exchange with Salève around noon and all ate

lunch together! Right after lunch we drove to Gex to do my legality!

All went all this time because we stopped and took some photos in one

of those photo booth things so I had enough passport photos! When we

got back to Salève we passed one of their members who is in a rest

home! As we walked into the rest home there was some guy presenting to

all of the people about the island of Corsica! And as soon as we

walked in they were talking about Ajaccio and seriously I almost

yelled to everyone that I served there for 4 months. Ajaccio has such

a special place in my heart! Anyways so we visited him and then we

went and ported for an hour or so and then we helped someone move! It

was good to be with Elder Price again. Haha we always have such deep

talks in the car and I love him. Haha also, meanwhile Elder Barnes was

in Geneva with elder Battezzato and Elder Trapani who are both from

Italy and it sounded like he had a good time ;)

Friday: So we drove back to Geneva and switched back! Elder

Battezzato, Barnes, and I spent a bit planning for the transfer. The

cool story is that we were invited to eat at the Clement family later

that night! We have been trying to get to their house since day 1 here

in Geneva because they are such a great family and all of them are

members except for the Dad and he is such a good guy. So anyways we

really prayed to know what we should talk about and we had a feeling

to talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ and then invite him to start

to take the missionary lessons. So we went over there and we ate

together and had a great time and then after we had our lesson and the

spirit was so strong. Seriously it went really well and I was very

grateful for the spirit that was there. At the end we asked Frere

Clement if he wanted to start and take the lessons and he said he

would have to think about it. And then we asked him if he had any

questions and he said, "No you guys answered them all tonight." And

the spirit was so strong I'm serious. So if you could include him in

your prayers that would be awesome :)

Saturday: Exchange! Also a lot of cool things happened. So, we were on

an exchange with the English elders and I was with Elder Mauss and

elder Battezzato! We went and played soccer with a bunch of people and

it was super fun. Then we had a RDV with someone named Alain! He is a

referral from a member and we met him at Place de Neuve and just sat

at a park and taught him! He was pretty funny and liked to talk a lot

so I'm not sure how much he remembers but the RDV still went pretty

well! He told us he would come to church (which he did). Then we went

and passed Ali in the hospital and read with him out of the Book of

Mormon. He is still recovering but it is going well. Then after Ali we

were going to pass another ami but for some reason we felt like we

needed to go pass Soeur Zahnd and Anthony! They said they were too

busy to see us this week but we went to pass them anyways...and

luckily we had some cake in our car that we could give them ;) they

were home and were happy to see us! We were able to teach about

baptism and about sacrament. Soeur Zahnd hasn't come to church in

about 4 years so we really focused on that! We told her that Sunday

morning we would show up at their house and walk with them to church.

So she agreed and we left! Then we went and passed Serge and he wasn't

there, but his wife and all his kids were and we were able to fix a

RDV for this Wednesday with the whole family! We prayed with them at

the door and it really touched the wife. It would be so awesome to see

this family baptized :) so then we switched back later that night and

got back elder Barnes!

Sunday: Happy Birthday Elder Barnes!! :) haha it's so crazy that we

got to spend another birthday with each other. I'm so grateful that he

is my companion and I love him so much and he has taught me so much

over the past 3 months! But church was great! We woke up and went and

walked to church with Soeur Zahnd and Anthony and it was sooo cool to

see he back at church :) we've been working on it for the last 3

months and all the members were so excited to see her again! We hope

Anthony will be baptized in the next month! Also Alain came and had a

great experience as well and wants to learn more about the church.

After church we went and had cake at the Austin's house and Sister

Austin made such a goof cake. I seriously love them so much. Then we

went and ate dinner at the Cornetta family home! I love them so much

as well!! Samuel is such a funny kid and seriously reminds me of Josh

so much it's unreal haha.

My spiritual thought comes from "That I Might Draw All Men Unto Me" by

Elder Renlund from this past conference:

"A friend of ours in South Africa shared how she came to this

realization. When Diane was a new convert, she attended a branch

outside of Johannesburg. One Sunday, as she sat in the congregation,

the layout of the chapel made it so that the deacon did not see her as

the sacrament was passed. Diane was disappointed but said nothing.

Another member noted the omission and mentioned it to the branch

president after the meeting. As Sunday School began, Diane was invited

to an empty classroom.

A priesthood holder came in. He knelt down, blessed some bread, and

handed her a piece. She ate it. He knelt down again and blessed some

water and handed her a small cup. She drank it. Thereafter, Diane had

two thoughts in rapid succession: First, “Oh, he [the priesthood

holder] did this just for me.” And then, “Oh, He [the Savior] did this

just for me.” Diane felt Heavenly Father’s love."

I love the sacrament and I am so grateful for it. I know that Jesus is

the Christ.

Have a great week!

Elder Wade

Exchange! Elder Mauss, Elder Battezzato, and me!
Mueller Family photo!

Exchange selfie with Elder Price!  We took it in the car to represent all of our deep talks haha

Selfie with elder Battezzato:) I love him!

Elder Barnes birthday at the cornet family home :)