late! This was another good week and we were really busy so it went
especially fast. Here are some of the main things that I can remember!
So we had 2 big multi zone conferences this last week! Planning for
them was really cool. Here's a good story! So our first zone
conference on Thursday morning was our biggest one here in Lyon with
the Zones of Lyon, Écully, Lausanne, and Geneva! We had spent quite a
bit of time planning with President and Sister Brown in the days
before, but we didn't really know exactly what we should talk about.
We were up seriously all Wednesday night trying to plan and we had
decided with President to talk about chapter 4 in PMG, but nothing was
coming to us! It was so weird we were seriously stumped. So we decided
to sleep on it and we woke up the next morning and tried to plan our
whole presentation right before conference but still nothing was
coming! So we eventually called President and basically told him that
we had been at it for hours and nothing was coming and we didn't know
what to do, and basically he said, "Brethren it's been the same for
me. I've been up all night and I don't know what I'm speaking on
either. I guess we will really need to rely on the spirit today." And
so we did exactly that! Presidents opening remarks were amazing and he
kind of did a question and answer because there has been a lot of
stuff happening in the mission lately for multiple reasons and he
wanted everyone on the same page. So once President was finished we
went up and the spirit helped us out so much and we were guided to
talk about a few things mentioned by Elder Christofferson specifically
for our mission when he came back in March. I feel like it went well.
For me the cool thing is that originally we were going to present on
chapter 4 in PMG which is all about relying on the spirit! And I like
to think that Heavenly Father just wanted us to have more faith in Him
and rely on the Spirit during our presentations, so he was kind of
testing us! Because seriously we spent a lot of time planning for the
presentation but nothing was coming, so we needed to rely on the
Spirit! I like to think of it that way because the other answer is
that we are bad at planning and i hope it's not that haha!
So after our conference here in Lyon, we drove down to Nimes for the
Montpellier, Nice, and Aix-en-Province zones! The Nimes conference was
super cool because during it we went to the big Coliseum in Nimes
that's been there since basically the birth of Christ! President
talked a lot about the early persecution of Christ's church and how
even in the coliseum where we were, there had been mass murders of
Christians shortly after Christ's death. Honestly it was really
powerful. On our way back from the coliseum I was able to have a cool
experience as all 60 of us were on the bus and a couple asked me what
we were doing and I was able to explain to them what we believe and
give them a Book of Mormon and they were really touched and wanted to
learn more and asked for the number of the elders in Nimes! It was
really cool. It's always good to see all the missionaries and be
around them!
All of these conferences means one thing...road tripping with the
Browns!! Which is one of my favorite things ever! Haha they are soooo
funny! Sister Brown is seriously so cute I love just talking to her.
On Friday night we were getting back into Lyon from Nimes and they
took us out to eat at a restaurant here in Lyon and honestly we were
laughing so loud the whole time! President Brown was just pulling joke
after joke and we were all dying. I love them so much and I really am
grateful for the moments when we are around them.
I was also able to go on an exchange this week with Elder Thorley! He
is from Davis High School and is currently serving in Toulouse right
now! We figured out that for 3 of my 4 years of French in high school
he was in my class!! Haha so that was pretty funny. But he is a big
time stud and I loved our exchange and I was able to learn a lot from
him. One of the things that I learned from him was to always pray to
confirm decisions or if we felt like we needed to change them. I was
able to see how important that was when we were lead to people with
whom we were able to fix rdvs!
So some sad news with Renée! She told us last week that she was having
phone problems and needed to get her phone fixed. And so long story
short we haven't been able to see her because we have no way of
getting in contact with her! But all is well :)
One of my favorite quotes from conference was by Elder LeGrand R.
Curtis Jr., and in talking about the Book of Mormon he said,
"I encourage everyone receiving this message, including the Aaronic
Priesthood bearers convened in this meeting tonight, to discover the
power of the Book of Mormon...That testimony will help you resist
temptation. It will prepare you for “the great call of diligence … to
labor in the vineyards of the Lord.” It will stand as a sure anchor
when accusations or slanderous statements are used to challenge your
faith, and it will be a rock-solid foundation when you are challenged
with questions you cannot answer, at least immediately. You will be
able to discern truth from error, and you will feel the assurance of
the Holy Ghost reconfirming your testimony over and over again as you
continue to read the Book of Mormon throughout your life."
I especially loved the part about being able to discern truth from
error. I know that every time I have been in the Book of Mormon I have
been able to clearly see situations in life and know what I had to do
I have also been studying the talk, "God is the Gardner" by Hugh B.
Brown and have decided that it's one of my top 3 favorite talks of all
time. I know that God truly is the Gardner and that His ways are
higher than our ways, and that everything happens for a reason. He
sees the bigger picture. In fact, he sees the whole picture.
Anyways I'll save you from my missionary ramble ;) but this next week
will be good! We are in Bordeaux and have conference tomorrow and then
have a few cool things throughout the week!
Elder Wade
