Brest is amazing. It is about ten or twenty degrees cooler here and always a nice cloud cover so I don't have to worry about the sun, basically my dream come true with weather. It is very very nice. My companion is Elder Weight from Montana. We get along very well and it is a lot of fun in the apartment even though it is just two of us in the city. Our area covers the northern west part of france and we are the closest to Great Britain, we are actually in Britain, since it is Bretagne and Great Britain is Grande Bretagne, but the British just call it Brittany, anyway. It is a good sized area and just a small branch. But I like the branch since I pretty much know everyone now and it is very close. Also, I got into town and found out I had a talk to give as well. That was an adventure, just prepared a few notes on how we do receive answers to our prayers and got up and spoke like a frenchman giving a talk. Talk about the gift of tongues, that was truly one of those moments, especially since I seem to be having a hard time speaking to people in French right now, could just be nervousness, not sure. And we cover most of the small villes between us and Quimper and a bit more east. The transfer by myself went better than I expected. I had help in Le Mans getting my bags off and on from one of the elders there and then got off the train at brest just fine and am glad I didn't have more stops or have to go through Paris. The internet arrangement is not the same, we are actually in a gaming center right now emailing since the library was closed, but it will be in on of those two each week since there aren't any computers at the church to use. The branch is a lot smaller since it is a branch, but it is just as good I think. Really nice members and I like it a lot.
The reason that I haven't emailed is because well on monday evening we went out to renne to stay the night. Tuesday Elder Weight had a district leader meeting in Angers, I didn't get to go and did exchanges with Elder Weber (from Germany) instead in Rennes. We got to teach a really cool guy named Araphat Muhammad the first lesson. It was really cool since we got on the bus and sat in a four man seat area. He came and sat across from us and we didn't talk. then we got off at the same stop and he left. We passbacked an ami who was sleeping and went to our other passback we planned. Well we didn't know the name and this Mauri guy let us in the bat (building) as he was going in. We go to the top and decide to port the bat because we didn't know which was there apartment. We get to a door and the guy from the bus answers and the guy who let us in was on the couch. Coincidence? I think not. So we taught them and it was really good. Then on Wednesday I went to St. Briec to do an exchange with Elder Schaunig (from Austria). It was pretty good and we did some more porting before a rendez vous and talked to two evangelicals for an hour and got a return appointment. Really good days. I also got a new suit from E. Schaunig that he bought in Austria but is too big now. Fit pretty nicely. Then we got back today and viola.
Thank you for the prayers and thoughts, I'll attest that they are truly answered and the Lord does help us. You are in my prayers too and I hope that everything is going good.
Love always
Elder Sanborn
July 18, 2010
June 20, 2010
June 2010
June 7th email: -Merci pour les corrections, et oui, j'ai compris qu'est-ce que vous ditez. Je sais aussi que vous etes mes parents mais comme un missionaire, je droit utiliser le vousvouyer.
That last bit was probably bad french too, anyway.
It has been a really good week, we made most of our weekly goals for starters and have four new investigators!! YAY!!! Today we did have fun stuff planned, we went to the castle YAY!!!! So I can now say I have been in a castle, it was really cool and the masterpiece of it was this huge tapestry of the book of revelations, amazing stuff. I bought a book on it so I can study.
The weather here is going crazy too, Saturday it was burning hot out but then it rained big thunderstorms that night and cooled down a lot, and now it is just overcast and supposed to get rain. But we will see, it is good weather except that I wore a suit out in the rain and the jacket got ruined a bit, so I need to take it in to see if they can fix it. It is my suit I bought from Mr. Mac back in April of last year or whenever that was.
Things are going a lot better than before and the work is picking up, partly because we are working more, funny how that works... The district leader is my companion Elder Gohier, so each week I get to do exchanges with another elder in the district so he can go visit them all. Last week we both went to Cholet and I forgot my quad there, but should be getting it tomorrow from them at Zone Conference. Zone Conference is once a transfer but usually it is just in Angers for my area, the only reason it was in Paris last time was because we had a 70 with us. Or something like that. French is going good, I beg to differ but my companion, members at church, and Grant Emery (my MTC teacher who was visiting Angers last week) say it is good, so I guess it is. I can understand a lot, but my speech is still not very strong. Makes it hard to talk in rendez-vous and on the street. I don't talk much over the pulpit, but I got to when I got here and will again when I leave. It is a hard mission, but we do find a lot of good people to teach and talk to. Like the two drunks on the street who decided to say that Jesus never said to dress up in costumes (white shirts and ties, suit is called a costume) and preach his word to people, that and other stuff like that. No fight but got to talk to them for a good 30 minutes after a good rendez-vous.
This week we had a really good experience with member referrals actually. So if you don't know, they are the best way to find people and this is why. We have a Chinese Recent Convert, Long Long, that we invited to come to our Saturday Ping Pong and Pancakes along with his friend Huai Xi, they both came and Long Long brought two of his friends that we are now teaching. They had a good time so we talked to them about coming to church and they both came and liked it. It was really cool to see new investigators that we didn't even plan on coming to church. Hopefully more news on them. Now we are teaching 4 chinese (Huai Xi and Long Long's friends, I think named Cheng and Fei, ---Huai Xi's GF Lei actually moved to Paris sudddenly so that was sad--, and trying to teach Wei Wei) 1 Angolese lady, and her Portuguese Husband. And no french people. It is very interesting. Never expected to teach that diverse to be honest.
June 14th--
Things are going good here. Had a zone conference with President last tuesday that was really good, all about putting off the youthful lusts. Kind of a rough subject to talk with a bunch of missionaries, but it was really good. His wife gave a good lesson on pride and how we need to get rid of all our pride.It was a really good conference. We also had stake conference on sunday with a broadcast from Elder Bednar and Packer. I understood none of it because they had it translated and no room for just english, but I got the shorthand notes from my comp after...I do have problems with going slow, but I am getting slower with each day and trying to relax. I learned that you can speak slow and no one will bite your head off, I always just tried to talk fast like a frenchman so i'd blend in. But I realized I can talk slow. I am stumbling and stuttereing a lot less though which is good.
Thanks for the package and I will keep my eye out for it, should only be about a week or two, so I shouldn't be gone by that time. And I'm going to try to stay in Angers for one more transfer, just going to tell my DL to put on the report that I want to say and president puts that into consideration when he moves people, but you can't change the Lord's will in anything, so we will see.
Missionary work is going really good, we actually have 4 new investigators, well 3 now since one moved on Sunday, so that is fun. Two are friends of a recent convert (one that left) and the other two are a husband to a lady we teach (the angolese) and someone from our area book we called (Chinese girl named Jing). So it gives us more lessons a week and it is all good and fun. We actually were sad this week because our best investigators Huai Xi and Lei moved to China and Paris respectively. Huai Xi will be back in three months, but unless I spend 5 transfers in Angers, I won't see him again. Was kinda sad but it's life. We are doing good with the lessons and trying our best to get our investigators to progress, but it is hard sometimes. We did go see the castle last week but besides that we haven't been able to see many others.
That last bit was probably bad french too, anyway.
It has been a really good week, we made most of our weekly goals for starters and have four new investigators!! YAY!!! Today we did have fun stuff planned, we went to the castle YAY!!!! So I can now say I have been in a castle, it was really cool and the masterpiece of it was this huge tapestry of the book of revelations, amazing stuff. I bought a book on it so I can study.
The weather here is going crazy too, Saturday it was burning hot out but then it rained big thunderstorms that night and cooled down a lot, and now it is just overcast and supposed to get rain. But we will see, it is good weather except that I wore a suit out in the rain and the jacket got ruined a bit, so I need to take it in to see if they can fix it. It is my suit I bought from Mr. Mac back in April of last year or whenever that was.
Things are going a lot better than before and the work is picking up, partly because we are working more, funny how that works... The district leader is my companion Elder Gohier, so each week I get to do exchanges with another elder in the district so he can go visit them all. Last week we both went to Cholet and I forgot my quad there, but should be getting it tomorrow from them at Zone Conference. Zone Conference is once a transfer but usually it is just in Angers for my area, the only reason it was in Paris last time was because we had a 70 with us. Or something like that. French is going good, I beg to differ but my companion, members at church, and Grant Emery (my MTC teacher who was visiting Angers last week) say it is good, so I guess it is. I can understand a lot, but my speech is still not very strong. Makes it hard to talk in rendez-vous and on the street. I don't talk much over the pulpit, but I got to when I got here and will again when I leave. It is a hard mission, but we do find a lot of good people to teach and talk to. Like the two drunks on the street who decided to say that Jesus never said to dress up in costumes (white shirts and ties, suit is called a costume) and preach his word to people, that and other stuff like that. No fight but got to talk to them for a good 30 minutes after a good rendez-vous.
This week we had a really good experience with member referrals actually. So if you don't know, they are the best way to find people and this is why. We have a Chinese Recent Convert, Long Long, that we invited to come to our Saturday Ping Pong and Pancakes along with his friend Huai Xi, they both came and Long Long brought two of his friends that we are now teaching. They had a good time so we talked to them about coming to church and they both came and liked it. It was really cool to see new investigators that we didn't even plan on coming to church. Hopefully more news on them. Now we are teaching 4 chinese (Huai Xi and Long Long's friends, I think named Cheng and Fei, ---Huai Xi's GF Lei actually moved to Paris sudddenly so that was sad--, and trying to teach Wei Wei) 1 Angolese lady, and her Portuguese Husband. And no french people. It is very interesting. Never expected to teach that diverse to be honest.
June 14th--
Things are going good here. Had a zone conference with President last tuesday that was really good, all about putting off the youthful lusts. Kind of a rough subject to talk with a bunch of missionaries, but it was really good. His wife gave a good lesson on pride and how we need to get rid of all our pride.It was a really good conference. We also had stake conference on sunday with a broadcast from Elder Bednar and Packer. I understood none of it because they had it translated and no room for just english, but I got the shorthand notes from my comp after...I do have problems with going slow, but I am getting slower with each day and trying to relax. I learned that you can speak slow and no one will bite your head off, I always just tried to talk fast like a frenchman so i'd blend in. But I realized I can talk slow. I am stumbling and stuttereing a lot less though which is good.
Thanks for the package and I will keep my eye out for it, should only be about a week or two, so I shouldn't be gone by that time. And I'm going to try to stay in Angers for one more transfer, just going to tell my DL to put on the report that I want to say and president puts that into consideration when he moves people, but you can't change the Lord's will in anything, so we will see.
Missionary work is going really good, we actually have 4 new investigators, well 3 now since one moved on Sunday, so that is fun. Two are friends of a recent convert (one that left) and the other two are a husband to a lady we teach (the angolese) and someone from our area book we called (Chinese girl named Jing). So it gives us more lessons a week and it is all good and fun. We actually were sad this week because our best investigators Huai Xi and Lei moved to China and Paris respectively. Huai Xi will be back in three months, but unless I spend 5 transfers in Angers, I won't see him again. Was kinda sad but it's life. We are doing good with the lessons and trying our best to get our investigators to progress, but it is hard sometimes. We did go see the castle last week but besides that we haven't been able to see many others.
May 16, 2010
May 4th email
The week has been good. We had a few rendez vous with less actives and new investigators as well as a fun day of service. We drove half an hour out of Angers and ate a big lunch. The cammembert is really good too. Then we moved some boxes out and waited for the truck. It came after four hours... But we got some good games of rock boules in and stuff. Elder Williams also has had the hiccups for the past five or six days so we spent a long night at the hospital this last week. And nothing came out of it. So ya, it was pretty intersting. France is amazing and I am glad to be out here.
Haven't been able to teach music or play it for the ward but it is all good. The day with the DL was good, walked around a lot and talke to people. Got my first chance at knocking doors. That was a whole lot of fun. I got to do one door and they understood me and then rejected me right away, but alteast they understood me.
The week has been weird. The work has been slow and haven't had a lot to do, but hopefully that will pick up soon. We had a really hot day here earlier in the week followed by a cold day today and rain yesterday, so the weather is all over the place, but it is still good. It is kinda dreary today and we didn't go play sports because of it, lots of clouds and wind. But we have a rendez vous tonight that hopefully goes through and if not we are going to pass by some old names in the area book. Hopefully something comes out of it.
I have gotten to drive and it isn't too bad, just weird driving on some of the really small streets that people park on so it is really a two lane but we use one and both directions use it, takes some getting used to. I generally yield the driving to another missionary but when it is just me and my comp, I get to take the wheel.
In Paris we didn't have time to do much besides take a picture of the eiffel tower and catch our trains. I did get to see my district which was good along with the rest of the missionaries which was cool. Mission conferences are once every few transfers I think. Not really sure. I hope you can get the money saved because that will be a really fun trip wth you here.
But life is pretty good for the most part. After church we generally have lunch with a member so they drive us there and then home and members are pertty good with giving us rides from the church after activities and such. I have had a few meals with members and had one with some people we did service for. A full french meal with wine and everything. Yes we denied the wine, and the cafe too. The ward is good and it is basically our whole area, still not sure of the cities in the area though. But it is pretty big. Just look at the surronding areas and you should find most of it.
Until the phone call
Elder Sanborn
Post Mother's Day call
Happy Mother's Day! The meeting went pretty good, we just answered a question that they had about which church is the true church then we told them how we knew of the truth, that you don't need to see God but you can feel the peace about it. And then their question about Noah's ark being found in Turkey as well I answered. But besides that it was pretty normal. Missed the bus by a few minutes and were forced to walk home in the slight rain so it wasn't too bad. Talked about our phone calls and other stuff comme ca. (like that). We are really trying to get this couple baptized but they aren't making the step to come to church like they need to before we can commit them to baptism and Huai Xi leaves at the end of the month to go back to China for three months, so hopefully we can either get him ready this month or teach Lei while he is gone and she how interested she is alone. Hopefully it all works out. We had a rendez-vous earlier today but got frujed so now we are emailing. (to get frujed means to have an appointment or an investigator and then it falls through. I guess there is a drink called Fruji that tastes good at first but the aftertaste is really bad. So when someone doesn't show up for an appointment we say we got frujed. anyways...) So not much happened today because of the rain too.
I remember reading or hearing something from one of the apostles of prophets that funerals aren't sad for us but more a celebration of life and it sounds like they really got that down at the funeral. Huai Xi and Lei actually asked that question; if we are sad or happy at a funeral. I made the comment that when grandad died I was sad because I won't get to see him again on the Earth but happy to know that I will be with him together after this life and that he can truly be free and happy now. I'm glad our church has that perspecitve on life.
I have learned to have fun out here, at times it is hard but I just realize the mission is what I make it, so why not make it good? and it works usually.
(This email was sent to us the Monday after our Mother's Day call--so this is just an exerpt of his email)
I remember reading or hearing something from one of the apostles of prophets that funerals aren't sad for us but more a celebration of life and it sounds like they really got that down at the funeral. Huai Xi and Lei actually asked that question; if we are sad or happy at a funeral. I made the comment that when grandad died I was sad because I won't get to see him again on the Earth but happy to know that I will be with him together after this life and that he can truly be free and happy now. I'm glad our church has that perspecitve on life.
I have learned to have fun out here, at times it is hard but I just realize the mission is what I make it, so why not make it good? and it works usually.
(This email was sent to us the Monday after our Mother's Day call--so this is just an exerpt of his email)
April 20, 2010
Bonjour from France
So we didn't get enough time at the church yesterday, my companion got none in fact i was the only one who had time, so we came by a internet cafe to email a bit more for them. So I decided to send a short note.
We have mission conference on wednesday which will be a lot of fun. Except that we have to wake up at like 5 so we can get ready and be on the bus at 6:15 to get to the gare for our train to Paris that leaves at like 7 or something. But the good news is, I will get to see Elder Ellsworth and Elder Lee there along with the rest of the Elders in the mission. Which will be way cool. Elder Ellsworth actually called me on thursday I think and we talked for a bit, we are both excited to see eachother again so that will be awesome. Also, I will get to go around Paris a bit after conference and probably see the Eifel Tower and maybe Notre Dame. Interesting fact, Notre Dame is actually white. They cleaned it in the past few months and it came up white not grey, so expect some pictures of that one of these days.
All is well here, I am very happy and am throwing myself in the work. It is still slow with the language but I am picking things up pretty quickly. It is nice having another equipe in the apartment to talk to and get advice on the American side, like calling cards and things like that. So that is nice to have.
But it is a lot of fun here and I am glad to be out. It was a hard decision at first and a lot of things came up that I could have just quit and stayed home, but I am glad that I came out. I have no regrets from leaving. I am glad that I don't have emotional baggage back home. School is always in the back of my mind but I don't worry about it. Life will be there when I get back so why should I rush it? I get two years to serve the Lord and live in France, what else could I ask for? Life is good for me now and I just don't want to lose that. Just thought I would let you know that I am enjoying everything and that life is good. Wish you could be here to enjoy it but maybe in two years you can.
Things are really beautiful here and I will try to get more pictures of Angers itself for next week so you can see the things like the Cathedral and the Castle and just the natural things as well.
Love, Elder Sanborn
We have mission conference on wednesday which will be a lot of fun. Except that we have to wake up at like 5 so we can get ready and be on the bus at 6:15 to get to the gare for our train to Paris that leaves at like 7 or something. But the good news is, I will get to see Elder Ellsworth and Elder Lee there along with the rest of the Elders in the mission. Which will be way cool. Elder Ellsworth actually called me on thursday I think and we talked for a bit, we are both excited to see eachother again so that will be awesome. Also, I will get to go around Paris a bit after conference and probably see the Eifel Tower and maybe Notre Dame. Interesting fact, Notre Dame is actually white. They cleaned it in the past few months and it came up white not grey, so expect some pictures of that one of these days.
All is well here, I am very happy and am throwing myself in the work. It is still slow with the language but I am picking things up pretty quickly. It is nice having another equipe in the apartment to talk to and get advice on the American side, like calling cards and things like that. So that is nice to have.
But it is a lot of fun here and I am glad to be out. It was a hard decision at first and a lot of things came up that I could have just quit and stayed home, but I am glad that I came out. I have no regrets from leaving. I am glad that I don't have emotional baggage back home. School is always in the back of my mind but I don't worry about it. Life will be there when I get back so why should I rush it? I get two years to serve the Lord and live in France, what else could I ask for? Life is good for me now and I just don't want to lose that. Just thought I would let you know that I am enjoying everything and that life is good. Wish you could be here to enjoy it but maybe in two years you can.
Things are really beautiful here and I will try to get more pictures of Angers itself for next week so you can see the things like the Cathedral and the Castle and just the natural things as well.
Love, Elder Sanborn
Elder Sanborn emails from Angers France
Bonjour from France and French keyboards, so if you see letters words messed up, it is not me. ok nevermind, I found the english button so it should be fine now.
Anyways, I am loving it here in Anger (Ahn-jay). It is amazing. We have a castle and a large catholic cathedrel in town which are really cool to see. We made it in okay with the volcano and the ones leaving left just in time from what I hear. I am not sure of my address here to be honest, but you seem to know the address since you googled it. It is on a street with a boulangerie/pattiserie right on the corner which is pretty cool.
The trip was good, they fed us a decent dinner and a pretty good breakfast so that wasn't bad. It was just long but I did get to sit by myself which helped my legs. And thanks again for the plane pillow you sent for my birthday, it was amazing. I got all my stuff in my bags which amazed me since before all my books I was under the weight limit by like 15 pounds. Really weird. I got to sleep for a few hours and experienced no jet lag afterwards which was really nice.
So, the first few days. We got off the plane and met the Assistants and president who led us to a car outside for our bags. After our bags were safely delivered we were lead to a large parking building in the airport and were met by the president again with pain du chocolat. They were absolutely amazing. Much better than anything here that is for sure. So then we took a train to downtown paris with the Assistants. I got to talk to a crazy frenchman who gave us a map to heaven. Ya, don't ask me either it was weird. But then we got off and were led to the church where our "moms" were. (The person that takes us out contacting is called our mom). My "mom" is Elder Walter, who "died" (getting ready to go home)last week so he won't be in the mission anymore. Me and him went out with a book of mormon and went contacting for about a half an hour. It wasn't too bad and we placed a pamphlet with a lady from Congo but that was it.
So after that we were led back to the church and the assistants took us to the mission home. We showered, relaxed, ate dinner, and then after a brief testimony meeting we went to bed. The next morning president woke us up at the normal time and we went up to a good breakfast of cold cereal. After that he took us into this office and we watched a short video and then he announced our first areas and our "dads" (trainers). My "dad" is Elder Boudet, yes he is French-the south of France. He is awesome and really good for me. So we then got into cars and drove to a place called Consecration point by the missionaries, Right outside a castle were Louis XIV lived. Which was cool to see. So we went there and got to meet our trainers and take a picture with them, which I will send to you in a different email probably. So then we got to go back to the mission home to get our bags and go off to our areas.
Our first stop was in Paris to get a Pizza Kebab (You will see the picture, basically a cheese pizza covered in tomatoes, lettuce, onions, kebab meat, and some sauce on the side. Really good) and a father/son tie. So we got that then headed off to a train to Angers. Long train ride but when we got there the other two missionaries in Angers, Elder Tom and Williams met us and we drove a bus to the church building. Yes it is an actual building about as big as the seminary wing on the stake center plus the gym. It is nice.
So we went there and had an english class which we hold each wednesday. After that we had a rendez-vous with a young chinese couple who seem very interested. Huai Xi and Lei. They are progressing pretty well so we will see what happens. Then finally after that the DMP (Dirigent de Mission de Paroisse - Ward mission leader) gave us a ride home. He is British and served in France so it was nice to speak english. After that I got to see the apartment and unpack. Long first day. The next day started a normal day with another rendez-vous and some contacting as well as buying my proslyting bag, yes i bought one and i like it. I saw some of the sights and that has been most days. We ride the bus everywhere which is pretty nice. Sunday I had a nice big headache. Got to the ward, which normally has around 80-100 members I think, and I got asked a lot of questions in a language i don't know, so i stayed close to Elder Boudet and let him talk. A lot of members made fun of our name because it sounds both like Sans Borne and Sans Born (withot limits/born) So they liked that. But it is pretty good.
After we had a mangez-vous (lunch appointment) with some members which literally blew my head because of all the French. But I lived. After we went on a nice walk with one of the members and he showed us the cathedrel. We went in while they were having a mass and it was interesting to see/hear. The organ was amazing to hear especially. It was just cool to see how big it was. Haven't gone into the castle yet, but i will. We see it most days.
I didn't write down where everyone is going. But I do remember that Elder Dykstra (the only missionary who was assigned to Belgium mission) is assigned to Brussels. Elder Ellis is going to Brest. And Elder Horne is in a suburb of Paris. But we are pretty much scattered all over. I think Elder Collette went to Normandy. The apartment is small, about the size of our living room and kitchen, maybe smaller. We have a washing machine and dryer in the kitchen, our beds in the main room, and the other two elders closet is our dining room. So it is compact, but I like it that way. First week has been good and tiring. I haven't had a crepe yet but I have had a pizza kebab, like I said, and a french apple pastry which was good. I do plan on having more when I get money..Speaking of money...
So they give us a JP Morgan chase card for our mission money. I went to take out some money from it so I could have some and it said the pin was wrong. Ok..so later that day I checked my pin and wrote it down so i could get some out later. When I went back i used the pin and it didn't work again. I looked at what i wrote down but still nothing. Now, in America the card would just get blocked. But in France, they detain your card. So the post office kept my card. We went back later and asked for it, (they didnt like my drivers license either) and they said because i used the pin wrong to many times they have to give it to the bank and cant give it back. Joyful so for the next week or so i dont have a french card. But I have been using my card when I need to. If you can, can you check the balance and send me the number every week. I want to do it, but it is hard to translate the dollars into euros...Anyways.
Elder Boudet is very helpful in teaching me the language and helping me when I need help. Although after bearing my testimony on sunday he said my french is very good, but i still can't talk much. And am lost in most conversations and lessons. My area is Huge. I thought it was just the city of angers but it is a big area. I don't know the exacts but I am sure you could figure out. We had to take an hour long car ride with the bishop to get to one of the members for a lesson.
Speaking of cars... We are a car misson. SUPRISE! Our area gets a car every 3rd week and since the French License costs about 3000 dollars and you need 6 months of class to get one, Elder Boudet doesn't have one, so in 3 weeks guess who gets to drive the streets of Angers. Yes me, and I am not excited. They are really good drivers here and the roads aren't too bad. But we will see. They are called Clios and are all stick shifts. So we will see how that works out.
Just so you know, we normally email from 4-6 but today we were playing sports for later than we wanted so we are at the chruch emailing. Usually we go to a internet cafe for it.
Things are well and i hope i answered all your questions and concerncs.
Oh i almost forgot. I need you to email my mtc teacher Frere Emery with the list of missionaries in Lille. He is doing and internship there and wanted to know. Here is the list
Dalton-Perez, Dungan-Neidhart, Curran-Pubst, Durhman-Porter, Carson-Christensen, Holcombe-Fanise, Hayes-Clark, Maxwell-Zarbock, Clauson-Hann, Perdue-Kirkland, Hood-Woyak, Scott-Nelson. His email is GrantPaulEmery@gmail.com. I would do it but he doesnt want us emailing him.
Also, can i get the recipe for chicken annalee, I am going to try to make it.
I love you lots and am happy to be out here. Until next week.
Elder Sanborn
Anyways, I am loving it here in Anger (Ahn-jay). It is amazing. We have a castle and a large catholic cathedrel in town which are really cool to see. We made it in okay with the volcano and the ones leaving left just in time from what I hear. I am not sure of my address here to be honest, but you seem to know the address since you googled it. It is on a street with a boulangerie/pattiserie right on the corner which is pretty cool.
The trip was good, they fed us a decent dinner and a pretty good breakfast so that wasn't bad. It was just long but I did get to sit by myself which helped my legs. And thanks again for the plane pillow you sent for my birthday, it was amazing. I got all my stuff in my bags which amazed me since before all my books I was under the weight limit by like 15 pounds. Really weird. I got to sleep for a few hours and experienced no jet lag afterwards which was really nice.
So, the first few days. We got off the plane and met the Assistants and president who led us to a car outside for our bags. After our bags were safely delivered we were lead to a large parking building in the airport and were met by the president again with pain du chocolat. They were absolutely amazing. Much better than anything here that is for sure. So then we took a train to downtown paris with the Assistants. I got to talk to a crazy frenchman who gave us a map to heaven. Ya, don't ask me either it was weird. But then we got off and were led to the church where our "moms" were. (The person that takes us out contacting is called our mom). My "mom" is Elder Walter, who "died" (getting ready to go home)last week so he won't be in the mission anymore. Me and him went out with a book of mormon and went contacting for about a half an hour. It wasn't too bad and we placed a pamphlet with a lady from Congo but that was it.
So after that we were led back to the church and the assistants took us to the mission home. We showered, relaxed, ate dinner, and then after a brief testimony meeting we went to bed. The next morning president woke us up at the normal time and we went up to a good breakfast of cold cereal. After that he took us into this office and we watched a short video and then he announced our first areas and our "dads" (trainers). My "dad" is Elder Boudet, yes he is French-the south of France. He is awesome and really good for me. So we then got into cars and drove to a place called Consecration point by the missionaries, Right outside a castle were Louis XIV lived. Which was cool to see. So we went there and got to meet our trainers and take a picture with them, which I will send to you in a different email probably. So then we got to go back to the mission home to get our bags and go off to our areas.
Our first stop was in Paris to get a Pizza Kebab (You will see the picture, basically a cheese pizza covered in tomatoes, lettuce, onions, kebab meat, and some sauce on the side. Really good) and a father/son tie. So we got that then headed off to a train to Angers. Long train ride but when we got there the other two missionaries in Angers, Elder Tom and Williams met us and we drove a bus to the church building. Yes it is an actual building about as big as the seminary wing on the stake center plus the gym. It is nice.
So we went there and had an english class which we hold each wednesday. After that we had a rendez-vous with a young chinese couple who seem very interested. Huai Xi and Lei. They are progressing pretty well so we will see what happens. Then finally after that the DMP (Dirigent de Mission de Paroisse - Ward mission leader) gave us a ride home. He is British and served in France so it was nice to speak english. After that I got to see the apartment and unpack. Long first day. The next day started a normal day with another rendez-vous and some contacting as well as buying my proslyting bag, yes i bought one and i like it. I saw some of the sights and that has been most days. We ride the bus everywhere which is pretty nice. Sunday I had a nice big headache. Got to the ward, which normally has around 80-100 members I think, and I got asked a lot of questions in a language i don't know, so i stayed close to Elder Boudet and let him talk. A lot of members made fun of our name because it sounds both like Sans Borne and Sans Born (withot limits/born) So they liked that. But it is pretty good.
After we had a mangez-vous (lunch appointment) with some members which literally blew my head because of all the French. But I lived. After we went on a nice walk with one of the members and he showed us the cathedrel. We went in while they were having a mass and it was interesting to see/hear. The organ was amazing to hear especially. It was just cool to see how big it was. Haven't gone into the castle yet, but i will. We see it most days.
I didn't write down where everyone is going. But I do remember that Elder Dykstra (the only missionary who was assigned to Belgium mission) is assigned to Brussels. Elder Ellis is going to Brest. And Elder Horne is in a suburb of Paris. But we are pretty much scattered all over. I think Elder Collette went to Normandy. The apartment is small, about the size of our living room and kitchen, maybe smaller. We have a washing machine and dryer in the kitchen, our beds in the main room, and the other two elders closet is our dining room. So it is compact, but I like it that way. First week has been good and tiring. I haven't had a crepe yet but I have had a pizza kebab, like I said, and a french apple pastry which was good. I do plan on having more when I get money..Speaking of money...
So they give us a JP Morgan chase card for our mission money. I went to take out some money from it so I could have some and it said the pin was wrong. Ok..so later that day I checked my pin and wrote it down so i could get some out later. When I went back i used the pin and it didn't work again. I looked at what i wrote down but still nothing. Now, in America the card would just get blocked. But in France, they detain your card. So the post office kept my card. We went back later and asked for it, (they didnt like my drivers license either) and they said because i used the pin wrong to many times they have to give it to the bank and cant give it back. Joyful so for the next week or so i dont have a french card. But I have been using my card when I need to. If you can, can you check the balance and send me the number every week. I want to do it, but it is hard to translate the dollars into euros...Anyways.
Elder Boudet is very helpful in teaching me the language and helping me when I need help. Although after bearing my testimony on sunday he said my french is very good, but i still can't talk much. And am lost in most conversations and lessons. My area is Huge. I thought it was just the city of angers but it is a big area. I don't know the exacts but I am sure you could figure out. We had to take an hour long car ride with the bishop to get to one of the members for a lesson.
Speaking of cars... We are a car misson. SUPRISE! Our area gets a car every 3rd week and since the French License costs about 3000 dollars and you need 6 months of class to get one, Elder Boudet doesn't have one, so in 3 weeks guess who gets to drive the streets of Angers. Yes me, and I am not excited. They are really good drivers here and the roads aren't too bad. But we will see. They are called Clios and are all stick shifts. So we will see how that works out.
Just so you know, we normally email from 4-6 but today we were playing sports for later than we wanted so we are at the chruch emailing. Usually we go to a internet cafe for it.
Things are well and i hope i answered all your questions and concerncs.
Oh i almost forgot. I need you to email my mtc teacher Frere Emery with the list of missionaries in Lille. He is doing and internship there and wanted to know. Here is the list
Dalton-Perez, Dungan-Neidhart, Curran-Pubst, Durhman-Porter, Carson-Christensen, Holcombe-Fanise, Hayes-Clark, Maxwell-Zarbock, Clauson-Hann, Perdue-Kirkland, Hood-Woyak, Scott-Nelson. His email is GrantPaulEmery@gmail.com. I would do it but he doesnt want us emailing him.
Also, can i get the recipe for chicken annalee, I am going to try to make it.
I love you lots and am happy to be out here. Until next week.
Elder Sanborn
April 17, 2010
Made it to France
Jonathan left for France on April 12 and arrived at the Paris mission home on April 13. We received a note from the Mission President, President Stahlei and he said that the missionaries arrived and spent the first day eating home cooked food, napping, visting with the President, contacting non-members in the heart of Paris and sharing testimonies in the mission home.
The next morning, April 14th, Elder Sanborn left for his first assignment to work in the Angers Area with Elder Boudet, Guilhem, who will be his trainer. Their apartment address is:
Elder Sanborn
Les Missionnaires
6, Square Alexandre 1er
49100 ANGERS
FRANCE
Letters would be great for him (though with the planes not flying--not sure how mail gets through). His mission president sent this scripture: Proverbs 25:25: As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.
We will update his blog as soon as we here from him, which hopefully will be Monday as that is the P-day for the missionaries in Paris France mission.
April 4, 2010
1 week to go in the MTC
...Priesthood session is still in the fireside room so we will just be living in there this weekend basically. So much fun. Classes are cancelled because of it. President Didier spoke this Tuesday, but besides that it has been pretty normal.
Thanks for reading the letter (to the Copper Crest Primary), I love hearing from the kids every so often. It is like amazing. Thanks for the advice too, I was just sick and a bit down but I am over that now. Feeling good and loving it here. Life is really good. I am enjoying being with my companion and everyone in my district. I am sad that I only have a week left of it. scary.
I really enjoyed the hosting experience this last week. It was fun to show the new missionaries around and have the families know that their son/daughter is in good hands at the MTC. It made me feel really old. Hosting was way fun and cool to see the new missionaries. I got to host 3 people, 2 elders and a sister. For the elders we take them to their class and residence but for the sisters it is just straight to the residence and two sisters take over to get her settled in. The sister had a big family and was really sad so we made sure to make her laugh and cheer her up. She lingered a bit with her family, but it was fine, no one was rushing her since she walked in like the old way.
I have not found out yet (when he leaves), but I will try to send an email if we find out at lunch or I will tell AnnaLee tomorrow when it is so she can call or text everyone about it. I think I can call, but am not sure. We usualyl get to the airport 2 hours early for flights so I will ahve time before I levae. There is a direct flight to Paris but I think they make us take a lay over. If so, I will probably call from there too or just from there. We will see though. The coat was a good idea and I will be sure to use it as a pillow.
I do like it here, we had a good experience in the TRC. I bore my testimony of the Word of Wisdom and answered their qusetions aboout life after death. The people we teach are real members that fake investigators. They are really good at faking it though. So it is interesting. Samantha is very good at faking it and has 20 - 40 missionaries teaching her weekly.
I am making a little note card about the plan of salvation in french and english and will get it laminated before I leave to have with me. I also made a new hymnmook. I took a french one and took all the binding off and put it into a 3 ring binder so I can play piano in church easier. And if I get music for prelude or stuff I can slip them in there and have them to play. It will be a good thing to have and I will send pictures of it before I leave so you can see it. I am raelly proud of it. Besides that the week has been normal. We get our plans today to leave and will speak only in french next week. Starting today. So it will be hard but worth it. I love it here and am excited to leave but at the same time wouldn't mind staying.
Life gets down every now and then but that is just life I guess. I am doing better and loving it here again. It is an amazing place and I am actually enjoying having Elder Horne as my companion. He is a great guy and I am starting to see him from new eyes. I am glad that he is my companion becuase he is more laid back and not uptight, which really makes life a lot easier. I see some other equipes and the argue over what they want to do, and we have that sometimes but we have learned to deal with eachother a lot earlier so it is pretty good. I am glad he is my companion. It was probably just a little bit of sickness and fatigue that I was feeling last week but I am free of that now, so it is all good. I still hate making my bed and am glad at nights where I don't destroy my covers so I have to start over (I actually learned to sleep with my feet covered believe it or not, we will see if it stays like that though). I have the top bunk and it is a hassle to change the sheets and remake my bed since I have to pull the bed out from the wall just to get around to tuck sheets in. But I do and we pass inspections each week. I think this "cloud" as you called it has lifted from me and that I do feel a lot better and ready to serve with all my heart might mind and strength.
I am reading a lot from the Book of Mormon and learning some great lessons. Like my new favorite story is about Abinadi. I mean this guy comes up to the people and calls them to repentence, the King gets mad and kicks him out. So he comes back in disguise after two years to tell them the Lord is going to punish them now, and when the King brings him before him he just slaps him in the face for all his wickedness. Then when told if he denies what he said to the people that he will be allowed to live. He then is bold enough to say that he would die rather than deny it. So they Flog him with burning sticks until he catches on fire. THEN while he is on fire burning to death he prophecies more. I mean seriously! Instead of screaming in pain to give them pleasure or what not, he prophesies. HOW COOL IS THAT?! Then we see the conversion story of Alma the Older. I think we overloook that story way to much. I mean here is a High Priest of a wicked king. He had concubines and harlots and commited a lot of other sins because it is what they did. He was nearly as wicked as the King. But he is touched by the words of Abinadi and after defending him is kicked out and repents. I imagine that the process of his repentence was not as hard as his sons, but definetly very hard. I never really read that much depth into it but it is pretty intense to think about. I have found so many cool things in the book as I have really read it this time through. I have also been marking different things in colors (like the names of christ in yellow, his words in red) and it is really amazing to see that nearly every page mentions Christ. It truly is a testament of Christ.
Love you lots,
Elder Sanborn
Thanks for reading the letter (to the Copper Crest Primary), I love hearing from the kids every so often. It is like amazing. Thanks for the advice too, I was just sick and a bit down but I am over that now. Feeling good and loving it here. Life is really good. I am enjoying being with my companion and everyone in my district. I am sad that I only have a week left of it. scary.
I really enjoyed the hosting experience this last week. It was fun to show the new missionaries around and have the families know that their son/daughter is in good hands at the MTC. It made me feel really old. Hosting was way fun and cool to see the new missionaries. I got to host 3 people, 2 elders and a sister. For the elders we take them to their class and residence but for the sisters it is just straight to the residence and two sisters take over to get her settled in. The sister had a big family and was really sad so we made sure to make her laugh and cheer her up. She lingered a bit with her family, but it was fine, no one was rushing her since she walked in like the old way.
I have not found out yet (when he leaves), but I will try to send an email if we find out at lunch or I will tell AnnaLee tomorrow when it is so she can call or text everyone about it. I think I can call, but am not sure. We usualyl get to the airport 2 hours early for flights so I will ahve time before I levae. There is a direct flight to Paris but I think they make us take a lay over. If so, I will probably call from there too or just from there. We will see though. The coat was a good idea and I will be sure to use it as a pillow.
I do like it here, we had a good experience in the TRC. I bore my testimony of the Word of Wisdom and answered their qusetions aboout life after death. The people we teach are real members that fake investigators. They are really good at faking it though. So it is interesting. Samantha is very good at faking it and has 20 - 40 missionaries teaching her weekly.
I am making a little note card about the plan of salvation in french and english and will get it laminated before I leave to have with me. I also made a new hymnmook. I took a french one and took all the binding off and put it into a 3 ring binder so I can play piano in church easier. And if I get music for prelude or stuff I can slip them in there and have them to play. It will be a good thing to have and I will send pictures of it before I leave so you can see it. I am raelly proud of it. Besides that the week has been normal. We get our plans today to leave and will speak only in french next week. Starting today. So it will be hard but worth it. I love it here and am excited to leave but at the same time wouldn't mind staying.
Life gets down every now and then but that is just life I guess. I am doing better and loving it here again. It is an amazing place and I am actually enjoying having Elder Horne as my companion. He is a great guy and I am starting to see him from new eyes. I am glad that he is my companion becuase he is more laid back and not uptight, which really makes life a lot easier. I see some other equipes and the argue over what they want to do, and we have that sometimes but we have learned to deal with eachother a lot earlier so it is pretty good. I am glad he is my companion. It was probably just a little bit of sickness and fatigue that I was feeling last week but I am free of that now, so it is all good. I still hate making my bed and am glad at nights where I don't destroy my covers so I have to start over (I actually learned to sleep with my feet covered believe it or not, we will see if it stays like that though). I have the top bunk and it is a hassle to change the sheets and remake my bed since I have to pull the bed out from the wall just to get around to tuck sheets in. But I do and we pass inspections each week. I think this "cloud" as you called it has lifted from me and that I do feel a lot better and ready to serve with all my heart might mind and strength.
I am reading a lot from the Book of Mormon and learning some great lessons. Like my new favorite story is about Abinadi. I mean this guy comes up to the people and calls them to repentence, the King gets mad and kicks him out. So he comes back in disguise after two years to tell them the Lord is going to punish them now, and when the King brings him before him he just slaps him in the face for all his wickedness. Then when told if he denies what he said to the people that he will be allowed to live. He then is bold enough to say that he would die rather than deny it. So they Flog him with burning sticks until he catches on fire. THEN while he is on fire burning to death he prophecies more. I mean seriously! Instead of screaming in pain to give them pleasure or what not, he prophesies. HOW COOL IS THAT?! Then we see the conversion story of Alma the Older. I think we overloook that story way to much. I mean here is a High Priest of a wicked king. He had concubines and harlots and commited a lot of other sins because it is what they did. He was nearly as wicked as the King. But he is touched by the words of Abinadi and after defending him is kicked out and repents. I imagine that the process of his repentence was not as hard as his sons, but definetly very hard. I never really read that much depth into it but it is pretty intense to think about. I have found so many cool things in the book as I have really read it this time through. I have also been marking different things in colors (like the names of christ in yellow, his words in red) and it is really amazing to see that nearly every page mentions Christ. It truly is a testament of Christ.
Love you lots,
Elder Sanborn
March 27, 2010
Learning the language
First things first, mail is amazing. You can use the free service at DearElder.com while I am in the MTc or you can write me directly. I enjoy getting mail and wish I got more. If you write me, I promise I write back that week. So please write.
This week has been long and short and good and bad and basically a normal week at the mtc. We shifted into our full French teaching at the TRC and it went pretty well. We had to order food from a cafe for our language activity, and with help from our "investigator", we did pretty well. Then we taught a lesson from the book of mormon, 1 nephi 7, which went pretty well too. Finally, we taught the entire first lesson in french. I felt it went really good and we were able to communicate well with her. The next day though, we had a lesson with a native french lady. I felt the lesson went really well. The week before we contacted her and left a little message and left her a book of mormon. Usually when we forget to bring one, we give her ours and then at the end take it back pretending she has one. She decided not to play a long. So when I went to take it back, she got sad about it. Big mistake, so I bought her one for the next week. I had a section i wanted her to read and was ready for it. We gave the first lesson and at the end I offered her the book. She said no, (we think atleast she said no) and that was that. We were out of time so i couldn't explain why she needed to book, but next week I will hit her hard with it, not with the book but the knowledge that she needs it.
We are learning a lot of French and our teachers aren't supposed to even talk to us in english anymore, which is hard sometimes when trying to get a point across. But it works. Most of us can converse basically with eachother in french and with the teachers. But sometimes we can't comprehend.
Another great story...Yesterday, we were going to practice the first lesson with our teacher. And the first thing we do is contacting so we can know how to apply the lesson to his life. So he randomly selects...me and elder horne. Okay, I thought, we got this, contacting is pretty easy and i can usually ask good questions to get a first lesson ready. So we get up to the door and knock and he opens with a look of "oh...it's the missionaries...great" Elder Horne introduces us and Frere Emery comments how he doesnt really care for missionaries. So I ask if he believes in god (usually everyones first question since it is the main point of the 1st lesson) He replies "no, I am educated, I don't believe in god" and this is where it got "fun". I retort "Well, I am educated too, but I belive" trying to imply you can be learned and a believer. Ya, bad move. It made him retort back and we had a nice bit of contention. He continued that church is bad and that we go and knock on doors and annoy people when we could be off in africa helping the people who need help. I try to nicely say how yes we do come knock on doors but we also donate money to help people in africa and places like Haiti. It did not turn out well. All it did was let him know that churches do some good. And we ended the conact after 10 minutes of discussion with basically a door slam. He let another group try and they did a lot better than me. But oh well, we learn by doing it wrong. So it was a good story for me to have now. yay stories.
I'm also working with an Elder Rock during gym. Well more he is working with me. He is going to try to get me into shape and hopefully it works. He is a great guy and I love talking with him. He's from chicago and is a big choir/broadway/musical guy. So we talk about lots of different stuff every day. It is just lots of fun.
We had a very great Devotional this last tuesday. We were singing prelude and the director gets up before the second song and says "We don't normally stand for the songs of Zion (I thought he was going to announce the spirit of God and would want us all to stand at this point), but if it so happens that an apostle walks in, we stand in respect". At this point we knew we were going to have an apostle come and give the devotional. The director had to hush us twice because we were so excited. So then it happened. We were halfway through the last prelude song and the doors open and in walks the MTC presidency along with Elder Cook. Needless to say, (though I'll say it anyway) everyone stood up and even though Elder Cook motioned for us to sit twice, we stood till he sat down. It was a really great talk about how to be effective missionaries. He used Doctrine and Covenents 112 as the topic. And statted off by telling us it was President Hinckley's favorite section. He shared some verses near the end of the section and talked about how it applied to us. Us being Emmissaries of Jesus Christ and our need to feed the flock. He then gave 3 points on how to be effective. The first was Teach with the power of the Holy Ghost. He related a story that the church polled recent converts and investigators and asked what they remembered the missionaries taught them. The most common things were the first vision and the plan of salvation. Elder Cook credited to an echo from the pre-existence, and the holy ghost bearing witness of these two things. Basically telling us that we need to teach with the holy ghost if we want to be a success. The second point was Think Deeply about chapter 11 of Preach My Gospel, the section about extedning commitments. Elder Cook said that commitments is how we call people to repentence and is a chance for the investigator to have an opportunity to change. The third point is Live so that the Holy Ghost can inspire you and them. This was a major point for me and I am glad I am living so that he can inspire me. He also shared that out of the apostles, Elder Holland him were ther only two to ever serve as missionary companions. Elder Cook closed by bearing testimony of the Savior and giving us a blessing. The blessing was directed towards the feelings of inadequecy on our mission. And that it is part of a mission but can be put behind us. It was really amazing and when Elder Cook left the room everyone stood and just watched him leave. And no one moved, besides to wave goodbye, until he was out and the door closed. It was really amazing and I am glad we got to have an Apostle come talk to us.
It's amazing how much a testimony grows in this place. I feel so on fire and ready to serve. But not just the French, I want my friends to know I know this is true. To know how amazing this gospel and church is and how true it is. I would really challenge anyone reading this to pick up a book of mormon, read the introduction, 3 Nephi 11-26 (it's near the end and is an amazing story of christ visiting the American continent and teaching the ancestors of the native americans), and just the whole book. If you don't want to meet with missionaries, ask me or anyone member friend questions or concerns you have. I know that this church offers nothing but a way to be happy for ever and ever. It truly is amazing. I really wish that everyone could feel the happiness this gospel brings. It is just amazing.
Anyway, I'm on my soapbox. I love you all and hope that you enjoy reading about my week, even though it isn't that amazing. Thank you for all your love and support.
Love,
Elder sanborn
This week has been long and short and good and bad and basically a normal week at the mtc. We shifted into our full French teaching at the TRC and it went pretty well. We had to order food from a cafe for our language activity, and with help from our "investigator", we did pretty well. Then we taught a lesson from the book of mormon, 1 nephi 7, which went pretty well too. Finally, we taught the entire first lesson in french. I felt it went really good and we were able to communicate well with her. The next day though, we had a lesson with a native french lady. I felt the lesson went really well. The week before we contacted her and left a little message and left her a book of mormon. Usually when we forget to bring one, we give her ours and then at the end take it back pretending she has one. She decided not to play a long. So when I went to take it back, she got sad about it. Big mistake, so I bought her one for the next week. I had a section i wanted her to read and was ready for it. We gave the first lesson and at the end I offered her the book. She said no, (we think atleast she said no) and that was that. We were out of time so i couldn't explain why she needed to book, but next week I will hit her hard with it, not with the book but the knowledge that she needs it.
We are learning a lot of French and our teachers aren't supposed to even talk to us in english anymore, which is hard sometimes when trying to get a point across. But it works. Most of us can converse basically with eachother in french and with the teachers. But sometimes we can't comprehend.
Another great story...Yesterday, we were going to practice the first lesson with our teacher. And the first thing we do is contacting so we can know how to apply the lesson to his life. So he randomly selects...me and elder horne. Okay, I thought, we got this, contacting is pretty easy and i can usually ask good questions to get a first lesson ready. So we get up to the door and knock and he opens with a look of "oh...it's the missionaries...great" Elder Horne introduces us and Frere Emery comments how he doesnt really care for missionaries. So I ask if he believes in god (usually everyones first question since it is the main point of the 1st lesson) He replies "no, I am educated, I don't believe in god" and this is where it got "fun". I retort "Well, I am educated too, but I belive" trying to imply you can be learned and a believer. Ya, bad move. It made him retort back and we had a nice bit of contention. He continued that church is bad and that we go and knock on doors and annoy people when we could be off in africa helping the people who need help. I try to nicely say how yes we do come knock on doors but we also donate money to help people in africa and places like Haiti. It did not turn out well. All it did was let him know that churches do some good. And we ended the conact after 10 minutes of discussion with basically a door slam. He let another group try and they did a lot better than me. But oh well, we learn by doing it wrong. So it was a good story for me to have now. yay stories.
I'm also working with an Elder Rock during gym. Well more he is working with me. He is going to try to get me into shape and hopefully it works. He is a great guy and I love talking with him. He's from chicago and is a big choir/broadway/musical guy. So we talk about lots of different stuff every day. It is just lots of fun.
We had a very great Devotional this last tuesday. We were singing prelude and the director gets up before the second song and says "We don't normally stand for the songs of Zion (I thought he was going to announce the spirit of God and would want us all to stand at this point), but if it so happens that an apostle walks in, we stand in respect". At this point we knew we were going to have an apostle come and give the devotional. The director had to hush us twice because we were so excited. So then it happened. We were halfway through the last prelude song and the doors open and in walks the MTC presidency along with Elder Cook. Needless to say, (though I'll say it anyway) everyone stood up and even though Elder Cook motioned for us to sit twice, we stood till he sat down. It was a really great talk about how to be effective missionaries. He used Doctrine and Covenents 112 as the topic. And statted off by telling us it was President Hinckley's favorite section. He shared some verses near the end of the section and talked about how it applied to us. Us being Emmissaries of Jesus Christ and our need to feed the flock. He then gave 3 points on how to be effective. The first was Teach with the power of the Holy Ghost. He related a story that the church polled recent converts and investigators and asked what they remembered the missionaries taught them. The most common things were the first vision and the plan of salvation. Elder Cook credited to an echo from the pre-existence, and the holy ghost bearing witness of these two things. Basically telling us that we need to teach with the holy ghost if we want to be a success. The second point was Think Deeply about chapter 11 of Preach My Gospel, the section about extedning commitments. Elder Cook said that commitments is how we call people to repentence and is a chance for the investigator to have an opportunity to change. The third point is Live so that the Holy Ghost can inspire you and them. This was a major point for me and I am glad I am living so that he can inspire me. He also shared that out of the apostles, Elder Holland him were ther only two to ever serve as missionary companions. Elder Cook closed by bearing testimony of the Savior and giving us a blessing. The blessing was directed towards the feelings of inadequecy on our mission. And that it is part of a mission but can be put behind us. It was really amazing and when Elder Cook left the room everyone stood and just watched him leave. And no one moved, besides to wave goodbye, until he was out and the door closed. It was really amazing and I am glad we got to have an Apostle come talk to us.
It's amazing how much a testimony grows in this place. I feel so on fire and ready to serve. But not just the French, I want my friends to know I know this is true. To know how amazing this gospel and church is and how true it is. I would really challenge anyone reading this to pick up a book of mormon, read the introduction, 3 Nephi 11-26 (it's near the end and is an amazing story of christ visiting the American continent and teaching the ancestors of the native americans), and just the whole book. If you don't want to meet with missionaries, ask me or anyone member friend questions or concerns you have. I know that this church offers nothing but a way to be happy for ever and ever. It truly is amazing. I really wish that everyone could feel the happiness this gospel brings. It is just amazing.
Anyway, I'm on my soapbox. I love you all and hope that you enjoy reading about my week, even though it isn't that amazing. Thank you for all your love and support.
Love,
Elder sanborn
February 27, 2010
Third feels like a hundred like the first
So this week has been great. It is officially my third week and feels more like my 100th, but at the same time it feels like my 1st. I am learning a lot and can form coherent sentences in French now, although my vocab is still very basic. And mostly gospel related.
On Tuesday we had Elder Jensen, of the presidency of the seventy, come and give the devotional. It was absolutely amazing. I took about 6 pages of notes and was writing the entire time. He spoke about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. And for the first time ever I saw someone announce a change to the closing hymn, and want to sing a hymn to invite the spirit. It was really cool and I wish I could share the talk with you, maybe I'll copy down some notes and send it some time.
I am currently working on two piano pieces to maybe play for at a devotional. I played piano in a Large Group Meeting, basically a meeting for a few zones that we learn some missionary principle (like how to get people to attend sacrament meeting), and afterwards a sister in the zone, Sister Hall, approached me and asked me if I would be willing to play a piece. She assured me it was easy and I took a look at it. It is Janice Kapp Perry's (who spoke to the Relief Society last sunday, which I could not attend for obvious reasons but I was really jealous) "In the Hollow of thy Hand". The piano piece was pretty easy and with a few more days I should have it ready. She wants to try out next thursday and I hope we can make it. The other piece came from someone in my district. Elder Stratford had a piece he had sung at his farewell that he thought I would enjoy. It is an arrangement of I know that My Redeemer Lives from an EFY year, I forget which one. It is way awesome but a bit harder than In the Hollow of Thy Hand. Hopefully with a few weeks of practice I will have it down and ready to play with hopefully an Elder in my district. I will keep you posted.
In case you were wondering, Dear Elder letters get printed off around 4:30 each afternoon and are in the mail that day, so if anyone sends one of those to me, I will get it the same day. And will write back that week to you. The regular mail comes both around noon and 4:30 each day, so we can get mail twice in a day basically. It is always great to get either regular mail or Dear Elder mail. It is a good boost for anyone's morale whenever someone gets it.
Donc...I guess I can write some French for everyone to see how well I can talk it... J'aime le MTC et mon zone. Le zone est hypercool et tout le monde est heureux. Mon instructures a servir dans le mission de Paris et ils ont beacoup histories au sujet de Paris et France. Frere Le Fevre a enseigner au sujet de Gnarf. Un petit creature que dit "Qu'est-ce que c'est???" et "pourquoi" en tout langues. un Gnarf est un main avec le grande main pour un tete et les autres pour pieds. Frere Emery deteste les Gnarfs, mais nous aimons les Gnarfs.
There. A nice french paragraph that won't make sense to anyone.
So the gnarf. Apparently when my teachers were in Paris, someone invented a creature called the Gnarf. An annoying little hand, using all fingers besides the middle as legs and the middle as a head. They walk around and love holes, especially swiss cheese. They can only say What is that? and Why? but they can say it in any language. They are born when a can of mayo is opened and can only be killed by the power of mayonaisse and snapping their necks. Frere Emery had a companion who did them all too often and really does not like them. And Frere Le Fevre will tolerate them but we avoid over using them. They are very weird and bring lots of laughs for our class.
The MTC is an amazing place and I love nearly every minute of it. I'm really glad that I came back, I know this is the place to be.
Oh, one more cool story. So I was reading my Patriachal Blessing and feeling down one night and Elder Ellis noticed and asked what I was doing, I said blessing, as if that explained it, and he took it as I wanted a blessing. I didn't refuse and Elder Figaro and him gave me one. The power and words that came out of Elder Figaro's mouth were not his, and I knew that he was called of God, as we all are. I witness to the truth of the church and our message. The Priesthood is real, God is real, this is all the truth. I'm glad to be here and would invite anyone curious about the church, or anything about it, to call the referral center or get a hold of missionaries in their area. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
On Tuesday we had Elder Jensen, of the presidency of the seventy, come and give the devotional. It was absolutely amazing. I took about 6 pages of notes and was writing the entire time. He spoke about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. And for the first time ever I saw someone announce a change to the closing hymn, and want to sing a hymn to invite the spirit. It was really cool and I wish I could share the talk with you, maybe I'll copy down some notes and send it some time.
I am currently working on two piano pieces to maybe play for at a devotional. I played piano in a Large Group Meeting, basically a meeting for a few zones that we learn some missionary principle (like how to get people to attend sacrament meeting), and afterwards a sister in the zone, Sister Hall, approached me and asked me if I would be willing to play a piece. She assured me it was easy and I took a look at it. It is Janice Kapp Perry's (who spoke to the Relief Society last sunday, which I could not attend for obvious reasons but I was really jealous) "In the Hollow of thy Hand". The piano piece was pretty easy and with a few more days I should have it ready. She wants to try out next thursday and I hope we can make it. The other piece came from someone in my district. Elder Stratford had a piece he had sung at his farewell that he thought I would enjoy. It is an arrangement of I know that My Redeemer Lives from an EFY year, I forget which one. It is way awesome but a bit harder than In the Hollow of Thy Hand. Hopefully with a few weeks of practice I will have it down and ready to play with hopefully an Elder in my district. I will keep you posted.
In case you were wondering, Dear Elder letters get printed off around 4:30 each afternoon and are in the mail that day, so if anyone sends one of those to me, I will get it the same day. And will write back that week to you. The regular mail comes both around noon and 4:30 each day, so we can get mail twice in a day basically. It is always great to get either regular mail or Dear Elder mail. It is a good boost for anyone's morale whenever someone gets it.
Donc...I guess I can write some French for everyone to see how well I can talk it... J'aime le MTC et mon zone. Le zone est hypercool et tout le monde est heureux. Mon instructures a servir dans le mission de Paris et ils ont beacoup histories au sujet de Paris et France. Frere Le Fevre a enseigner au sujet de Gnarf. Un petit creature que dit "Qu'est-ce que c'est???" et "pourquoi" en tout langues. un Gnarf est un main avec le grande main pour un tete et les autres pour pieds. Frere Emery deteste les Gnarfs, mais nous aimons les Gnarfs.
There. A nice french paragraph that won't make sense to anyone.
So the gnarf. Apparently when my teachers were in Paris, someone invented a creature called the Gnarf. An annoying little hand, using all fingers besides the middle as legs and the middle as a head. They walk around and love holes, especially swiss cheese. They can only say What is that? and Why? but they can say it in any language. They are born when a can of mayo is opened and can only be killed by the power of mayonaisse and snapping their necks. Frere Emery had a companion who did them all too often and really does not like them. And Frere Le Fevre will tolerate them but we avoid over using them. They are very weird and bring lots of laughs for our class.
The MTC is an amazing place and I love nearly every minute of it. I'm really glad that I came back, I know this is the place to be.
Oh, one more cool story. So I was reading my Patriachal Blessing and feeling down one night and Elder Ellis noticed and asked what I was doing, I said blessing, as if that explained it, and he took it as I wanted a blessing. I didn't refuse and Elder Figaro and him gave me one. The power and words that came out of Elder Figaro's mouth were not his, and I knew that he was called of God, as we all are. I witness to the truth of the church and our message. The Priesthood is real, God is real, this is all the truth. I'm glad to be here and would invite anyone curious about the church, or anything about it, to call the referral center or get a hold of missionaries in their area. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
February 21, 2010
MTC-second week and San Francisco trip
Bonjour Ma Famille. Comment-Ca Va? Ca va bien ici. Le MTC est tres incroyable.
So yesterday (Feb 11)was a "fun" experience. I got called to the Travel Office on Mardi, without even knowing it. (I wasn't giving a evengelcial certificate or whatever it is that says that I can be a missionary in France. So when me and Elder Horne got to the room with our other roommates, Elder Ellis was told he had to go to the Travel Office ASAP. So I decided to head over and ask about my certificate with the service desk while we were there. Well we went to the travel office and they gave Elder Ellis and me travel itenerary's and a voucher for 10 bucks for meals.) So anyways, we were told to be at the travel office at five in the morning to leave to the airport that day. So we got to the airport at 6:30 and our flight left at 8:30, before it was delayed half and hour for fog in San Fransisco. So we sit down and wait until it's our time. We get to San Fran in a small 50 or 60 passenger plane and meet up with a driver who drove us around that day. We got to the French Consulate and spent no more than six minutes putting our fingers on a scanner for them. And that was it. We left and got lunch and walked around for an hour waiting for our driver. We brought pass along cards in case we got a contact. As I was walking around to see the pier we got to talking to a street guitarist, Ron, who was sitting on the side of the sidewalk. We talked for a good five minutes and at the end I gave him a pass along card. I'm not sure what he will do with it, but you never know. Now for the "fun" part of yesterday. For some reason, the church put us on two different flights. One flight leaving at 3:30, the other at 5:30. Mine was 5:30, go figure. We tried talking to the travel agency about it, but all they could say is if there is room they will try to get as many of us on as they can, but that's the most they could do. Turns out the first flight was booked full so we had to wait two more hours for our plane to get there. Four hours in an airport seat is not fun at all. Oh, I thought about calling too and saying I was in an airport, but figured mom would have a heart attack before I could explain the situation, So I decided no call would have been best. Finally we made it on the plane, same size as one we came on, and made it back to Salt Lake with no problem. I even finished a whole crossword puzzle, with little help from the answer sheet when I needed to make sure I was right on an answer, and a hard sudoku puzzle. Anyways, we land and were told to go to passenger pick-up 7 and a driver would be waiting. We came down the stairs to a bunch of families with signs saying "WELCOME HOME ELDER so and so". And I mean a bunch of families, and they must have brought all their friends. Needless to say they got excited to see us, but that changed when they realized we weren't their Elder. Well we got to the pickup spot...and nothing. No MTC Van waiting for us. So we waiting a bit, Elder Ellis saw some friends and talked with them for a few. Then after about 5-10 minutes, we decided to call the travel office asking if a driver was coming. We called the opererator, who connected us with the travel office, which was closed. We pressed 0 to get to the Church Travel Opererator "for emergencies only". I figured this was one, so I pressed 0. I told them my situation, having to repeat it a few times since the phone wasn't very good and I was talking to fast, go figure. They connected us with the MTC, I think. And I told them the sitaution. They said that they don't send drivers to pick us up, which was clearly printed on our travel Itenerary, and that we should go to the express shuttle and use the church's account to get back. I hung up and explained to the other Elders, they were as confused as I was. So we called back again to try and get a better answer, and while we were on hold our driver came. We got back to the MTC about 10. And got to break into the cafeteria and get some chips and drinks for dinner. We then got back to our room in time for bed. So in short, we spent 6 hours waiting in airports for a 5 minute experience. But I guess it is better than waiting 3-5 extra weeks in the MTC while your visa clears.
I'm really liking it here in the MTC. I'm getting along with my companion and we had our first experience in the TRC on wednesday. After attempting to contact three people in french, and failing might I add, we got to teach the first lesson.
So my teachers are both really cool guys. They both served in Paris, have been home about two years, but not sure how long they have been teaching, and have a lot of stories about it.
Church works the same as it has before. Whoever is conducting will get up and announce the program and basically tell two elders, or sisters, they are giving their prepared talk. Then a member from the presidency and his wife will speak. Then we have priesthood after that then sunday school in our class with one of the branch presidency members. After that we study in the class and the Branch President will do interviews. And that is basically Sunday. I had to play piano in sacrament last week so that was fun to do.
Oh I almost forgot, you'll love to hear this Dad. We were in class and our teacher told his he got several emails from Elders in the field, both from the Paris mission and Brussels Mission. Apparently, the Brussels Mission is shutting down and merging with the Paris Mission. Not sure when this will happen, but now I will have most of dad's mission in mine, Geneva mission has Luxembourg now. So that Will be awesome to share that.
Well, it's going really great here and i'm happy that I decided to stay. Mail is always welcome, either snail mail or DearElder. And I would love some more friend's addresses so I can write them or send off some letters I have written.
So yesterday (Feb 11)was a "fun" experience. I got called to the Travel Office on Mardi, without even knowing it. (I wasn't giving a evengelcial certificate or whatever it is that says that I can be a missionary in France. So when me and Elder Horne got to the room with our other roommates, Elder Ellis was told he had to go to the Travel Office ASAP. So I decided to head over and ask about my certificate with the service desk while we were there. Well we went to the travel office and they gave Elder Ellis and me travel itenerary's and a voucher for 10 bucks for meals.) So anyways, we were told to be at the travel office at five in the morning to leave to the airport that day. So we got to the airport at 6:30 and our flight left at 8:30, before it was delayed half and hour for fog in San Fransisco. So we sit down and wait until it's our time. We get to San Fran in a small 50 or 60 passenger plane and meet up with a driver who drove us around that day. We got to the French Consulate and spent no more than six minutes putting our fingers on a scanner for them. And that was it. We left and got lunch and walked around for an hour waiting for our driver. We brought pass along cards in case we got a contact. As I was walking around to see the pier we got to talking to a street guitarist, Ron, who was sitting on the side of the sidewalk. We talked for a good five minutes and at the end I gave him a pass along card. I'm not sure what he will do with it, but you never know. Now for the "fun" part of yesterday. For some reason, the church put us on two different flights. One flight leaving at 3:30, the other at 5:30. Mine was 5:30, go figure. We tried talking to the travel agency about it, but all they could say is if there is room they will try to get as many of us on as they can, but that's the most they could do. Turns out the first flight was booked full so we had to wait two more hours for our plane to get there. Four hours in an airport seat is not fun at all. Oh, I thought about calling too and saying I was in an airport, but figured mom would have a heart attack before I could explain the situation, So I decided no call would have been best. Finally we made it on the plane, same size as one we came on, and made it back to Salt Lake with no problem. I even finished a whole crossword puzzle, with little help from the answer sheet when I needed to make sure I was right on an answer, and a hard sudoku puzzle. Anyways, we land and were told to go to passenger pick-up 7 and a driver would be waiting. We came down the stairs to a bunch of families with signs saying "WELCOME HOME ELDER so and so". And I mean a bunch of families, and they must have brought all their friends. Needless to say they got excited to see us, but that changed when they realized we weren't their Elder. Well we got to the pickup spot...and nothing. No MTC Van waiting for us. So we waiting a bit, Elder Ellis saw some friends and talked with them for a few. Then after about 5-10 minutes, we decided to call the travel office asking if a driver was coming. We called the opererator, who connected us with the travel office, which was closed. We pressed 0 to get to the Church Travel Opererator "for emergencies only". I figured this was one, so I pressed 0. I told them my situation, having to repeat it a few times since the phone wasn't very good and I was talking to fast, go figure. They connected us with the MTC, I think. And I told them the sitaution. They said that they don't send drivers to pick us up, which was clearly printed on our travel Itenerary, and that we should go to the express shuttle and use the church's account to get back. I hung up and explained to the other Elders, they were as confused as I was. So we called back again to try and get a better answer, and while we were on hold our driver came. We got back to the MTC about 10. And got to break into the cafeteria and get some chips and drinks for dinner. We then got back to our room in time for bed. So in short, we spent 6 hours waiting in airports for a 5 minute experience. But I guess it is better than waiting 3-5 extra weeks in the MTC while your visa clears.
I'm really liking it here in the MTC. I'm getting along with my companion and we had our first experience in the TRC on wednesday. After attempting to contact three people in french, and failing might I add, we got to teach the first lesson.
So my teachers are both really cool guys. They both served in Paris, have been home about two years, but not sure how long they have been teaching, and have a lot of stories about it.
Church works the same as it has before. Whoever is conducting will get up and announce the program and basically tell two elders, or sisters, they are giving their prepared talk. Then a member from the presidency and his wife will speak. Then we have priesthood after that then sunday school in our class with one of the branch presidency members. After that we study in the class and the Branch President will do interviews. And that is basically Sunday. I had to play piano in sacrament last week so that was fun to do.
Oh I almost forgot, you'll love to hear this Dad. We were in class and our teacher told his he got several emails from Elders in the field, both from the Paris mission and Brussels Mission. Apparently, the Brussels Mission is shutting down and merging with the Paris Mission. Not sure when this will happen, but now I will have most of dad's mission in mine, Geneva mission has Luxembourg now. So that Will be awesome to share that.
Well, it's going really great here and i'm happy that I decided to stay. Mail is always welcome, either snail mail or DearElder. And I would love some more friend's addresses so I can write them or send off some letters I have written.
February 13, 2010
"Bonjour ma famille et mes amis"
Our first letter from Elder Sanborn:
"My district is a blast and some really great guys. Elder Horne is my companion and is a cool guy. Also in my room are Elders Ellis and Collette. We have a great time together and get along very well. All four of us are headed to the Paris mission. The rest of my district are going to the West Indies. Elder Figaro is our district leaeder with his companion Elder Lunt. Then we have Elders Scwhab and Stratford. Everyone gets along very well with each other and its a really great group of guys.
Our teachers are Frère Emery and Le Fevre and they are probably the best teachers here. My old teachers are all gone, but Frère Emery said that Frère Larson was his roommate before he (Larson) got married. The class periods with either of them are a lot of fun and very insightful. They both served in Paris, which is great since they know the slang and accent better so we can speak better towards them.
The Zone was really small from what we were told, about 10 or 12 elders and sisters. When our group came we brought in 28 elders and 1 sister. We are now very large and it's hard to tell who the new elders are and who are the veterens.
Since I have been here before I have earned several nicknames from my companion an Elders in my room. Some of these include Elder Sneebly (since Elder Collette didn't fully know my name at first), Sacageweah (probably spelt wrong but it is because I know my way around) The Den Mother (since it's what I felt like when walking around leading my district around), The Key Master and Gate Keeper (since I always have my blue card to get into the building and key to get into the room), and our personal favorite, Waldo. Waldo came from a very interesting story. On the second day we went and took care of our immunizations. Since I had already been here once, they didn't have a paper for me so they can make sure I had all the required shots. So I had to go to a special line and get a new paper and get it filled out. Well I was done pretty quick and went into a waiting room they made for Elders whose companion wasn't done yet. So as I'm waiting, I guess my buddies were told to leave me, for some reason...so they did. After a half an hour of waiting, all the staff left for lunch, so I decided to go to lunch to find my companion. I got there and sat with some other Elders in the district and when we got back to class found my companion. So since I'm always getting seperated from my companion and roommates, they have dubbed me Waldo.
I love you all and miss you a lot. I would love to get some more mail, either from Dear Elder or from acutal letters. Some from friends would be very nice. It was great hearing from you on the second day though. My address is :
Provo MTC Mission
MTC Box #293
FRA-PAR 0413
2005 N 900 E
Provo Ut 84604-1793
Until next time,
Elder Sanborn"
"My district is a blast and some really great guys. Elder Horne is my companion and is a cool guy. Also in my room are Elders Ellis and Collette. We have a great time together and get along very well. All four of us are headed to the Paris mission. The rest of my district are going to the West Indies. Elder Figaro is our district leaeder with his companion Elder Lunt. Then we have Elders Scwhab and Stratford. Everyone gets along very well with each other and its a really great group of guys.
Our teachers are Frère Emery and Le Fevre and they are probably the best teachers here. My old teachers are all gone, but Frère Emery said that Frère Larson was his roommate before he (Larson) got married. The class periods with either of them are a lot of fun and very insightful. They both served in Paris, which is great since they know the slang and accent better so we can speak better towards them.
The Zone was really small from what we were told, about 10 or 12 elders and sisters. When our group came we brought in 28 elders and 1 sister. We are now very large and it's hard to tell who the new elders are and who are the veterens.
Since I have been here before I have earned several nicknames from my companion an Elders in my room. Some of these include Elder Sneebly (since Elder Collette didn't fully know my name at first), Sacageweah (probably spelt wrong but it is because I know my way around) The Den Mother (since it's what I felt like when walking around leading my district around), The Key Master and Gate Keeper (since I always have my blue card to get into the building and key to get into the room), and our personal favorite, Waldo. Waldo came from a very interesting story. On the second day we went and took care of our immunizations. Since I had already been here once, they didn't have a paper for me so they can make sure I had all the required shots. So I had to go to a special line and get a new paper and get it filled out. Well I was done pretty quick and went into a waiting room they made for Elders whose companion wasn't done yet. So as I'm waiting, I guess my buddies were told to leave me, for some reason...so they did. After a half an hour of waiting, all the staff left for lunch, so I decided to go to lunch to find my companion. I got there and sat with some other Elders in the district and when we got back to class found my companion. So since I'm always getting seperated from my companion and roommates, they have dubbed me Waldo.
I love you all and miss you a lot. I would love to get some more mail, either from Dear Elder or from acutal letters. Some from friends would be very nice. It was great hearing from you on the second day though. My address is :
Provo MTC Mission
MTC Box #293
FRA-PAR 0413
2005 N 900 E
Provo Ut 84604-1793
Until next time,
Elder Sanborn"
February 12, 2010
MTC
I am posting this for Jonathan--he went into the MTC on Wednesday February 10th. We have not heard from the MTC for his address, so I made a quick call and here is how you can get in touch with him:
Elder Jonathan Sanborn
Box 293 0405
2005 N 900 E
Provo, Utah 84604
His 20th birthday is coming at the end of next week and I am sure that he would appreaciate a card or note.
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