Elder Jesse Wade: The real week 40.. Riding around the Island with friends :)

Selfie with Simone!! :) haha it's the only one I have with her. She is so funny.

Hello family and friends! Another great week haha. It was a grind it
out week but sometimes those are the best ones! Voilà the recap.

Tuesday: so we ported and ported and ported haha. That sums up the
whole day. But at night we had a RDV with Francoise and Joseph and we
went over the Book of Mormon and we committed them for baptism on
March 19th! So that was cool :) Francoise is sooo great and she's an
incredible person. I'm happy for them. Also Marie Rose helped us teach
them which was awesome :) she's only been a member for 2 months and
she's already helping us teach :) Then we saw Sylvia and Noel after!
Wednesday: we ported and ported and ported and ported and ported haha.
Then we saw Soeur Antonetti and her daughter Melissa! I wish we could
engage Melissa more but she isn't very interested at all and we've
been trying for 4 months. But we are still working on her!
Thursday: Thursday was honestly so cool and we had an amazing
experience. So instead of porting in main Ville Ajaccio, we felt like
we should drive about 20 minutes out of Ville and go port this random
village. So we had honestly been porting for about 5 hours and we had
some sketchy experiences (read 2 Nephi 5:4 and that will tell you all
you need to know hahah) and we were about to head back for dinner and
we ported one last little patch of houses and the first door we
knocked on and a man opened up and we could hear a baby crying and he
said he couldn't talk then, so we fixed a time to come back. So we
kept porting and then we were about to leave and we walked past the
guys house and he was working out in his shed and so we just walked up
and talked to him and we started talking about how amazing and
important families are and so we showed the Mormon message "père
terrestre père céleste" and halfway through he just started crying. So
we talked to him about how he loves his family so much and that these
feelings he has for them can last forever. He expressed to us about
how right now his family isn't doing too great and he may be getting a
divorce. We testified of the atonement of Christ and because Christ
sacrificed himself for us, he knows exactly how we feel and he can
help us and we testified that Christs church has been restored to the
earth. We asked him if he would pray and ask God if he's really there,
and if what we said was true. At the end of this conversation, with
tears in his eyes, he promised us that he would pray for the first
time in 40 years and truly ask. Honestly it was a special experience.
It was cool to think that on the random island of Corsica we were led
to a man who specifically needed to know that there was hope and that
God is there and loves us.
Friday: Friday morning we woke up and drove to Bastia because we did a
service project in the mountains above Bastia for a members friend.
Haha so I don't think I've ever taken any time to explain, but
Corsicans are sooo freaking funny and crazy. Like they are known for
being crazy and for being free spirits and it's so true hahaha some of
the daily stuff we see here is just so crazy that it's funny. I love
Corsicans so much. Haha anyways, after the service we had a big
barbecue and then we did an exchange with the Bastia Elders and I went
on my first exchange in Bastia with Elder Hansen and Elder Szuch. I've
been here for 3 transfers and we're the only companionships on the
island and so we only do exchanges with each other and finally I went
to Bastia! It was great! We went and passed some less actives and had
a good time together. They are such great guys and it was so fun
working with them. The Ajaccio and Bastia equipes are super tight and
this is the 3rd month we've been together and so we are all great
friends. Just a great day. Then Elder Szuch gave me a haircut as well.
Elder Szuch is a freak athlete and is thinking about playing soccer at
Gonzaga after the mission now :):)
Saturday: Saturday was a little different day. As I've explained in
the past, Ajaccio is a lot different because we do lots of things to
try and strengthen the members here because there are so few and the
missionaries have only been here for a little while, so lots of the
members rely on the missionaries for different things. So we had a lot
of weird things come up with members that we had to take care of. But
long story short we had to go pick up Frere Colonna for a big BBQ for
our group Sunday afternoon. So we went and picked him up and dropped
him off at Soeur Hermoso's house for the night. Haha honestly on a
side note Soeur Hermoso takes care of her super old mom (selfie on the
way) and Frere Colonna and her were the funniest together. They were
soooo old and so cute and funny. Haha anyways...after we went and
ported! Great day
Sunday: Sunday! So we went to church and it was great. We had 12
people in all. Since the church is still super new here and all of the
members are pretty good recent converts, some of the lessons get
pretty interesting and sometimes we need to clarify things up haha.
Ahh I love the people here so much. So then after we had a big BBQ at
Marie Roses house! She is doing so great. The gospel has changed her
life so much and it's been so fun to see the changement. So we
contacted a little and ported a little and then had a few RDVs that
fell through! So voilà!

On another note, Corsica is soooo beautiful. Every day I just get
blown away with how beautiful it is. We went to another very beautiful
place today but I'm too lazy to try and get the photos off my camera
right now so I'll do it next week!

Alma 41:10. I love this scripture so much and my mom would tell me it
all the time :) there is no happiness like the happiness that comes
with living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love him and will never be
able to explain my gratitude for what he has done for me.

I love you have a great week!

Elder Wade

Alma 41:10

Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.