Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away!! Letter 09/30/13

My week was GREAT! ;) Just like you hoped haha. It started getting really cold last transfer, and then the day before Elder Stucki got here it heated up like crazy, so we have had 2 weeks of warmth, which is great! But now it's cooling down again, so we probably won't see the sun again till May. It rains a ton usually, which is really nice. I always loved the rain before my mission, but I REALLY love it now :) It makes porte à porte a lot easier ;) The leaves haven't started turning too much yet, but that will come soon.

We don't have tons of Portuguese here, more Spanish, and lots of Spanish in other parts of the mission. But, once you know French, it's tons easier to learn Spanish if you learn Portuguese first. It's kind of a melonge of the two.

So... Elder Stucki is from American Fork, Utah. He's really fun, loves to sing and play guitar and basically take it easy. He did a semester of college before, but once they changed the age he decided to hit the field asap. He was available in January, but he got called for April. I'm the only person in the mission that I've heard of that has been called for their availability date. He just turned 19 in June. He's about 2 transfers older than me, so about 3 months older in the mission. We've got some young'uns in Épinal! But he is an awesome missionary, very kind and comfortable with the people, which is super important. I'm sure he's related to the Idaho Stuckis somehow, but we're not sure haha.

The work is going well here. We've really had to adjust our mindset about missionary work. I'm still kind of new and getting used to it, and Elder Stucki has served in 2 other big villes. But that's not slowing us down! We've been finding tons of new quartiers full of families and we've been teaching and talking with lots of people. One guy answered his window, (because everyone likes to make the missionaries strain their necks rather than answer the door ;)....) and as soon as he saw us he came running to the door and let us in, took us upstairs, sat us down, and got us drinks of water before we could even introduce ourselves. Apparently, he has met with missionaries in the past so he recognized us and is a big fan of young people that are willing to serve the Lord :) We'll repass him this week!

Also, we had a few visitors in church yesterday! These 3 men came walking in and one of them came up to us and said, in English, that he didn't speak French but that they were all Romanian. He is an ami in Romania right now, one of the coolest guys I've ever met. After Sacrament he asked me to sum up and explain the talk I gave (we give talks all the time here) because he didn't understand French. Then he said that one of the other men was his uncle, who lives here in Épinal and speaks French. He said that his uncle wants to quit smoking and change his life, and he knew that we would be the perfect people to do that!

We met with M. Ricordeau again, and he fed us an AWESOME meal. We taught him and his son, Sebastien, about the importance of the Book of Mormon. They didn't accept the invitation to come to church, but they're interested, and we're meeting again tonight. Oh, and he's cooking for us again haha.

The Saitovics are doing well with the Serbian missionaries. We're not always sure what's happening, but it seems to be going really well! Please keep them in your prayers, that they can follow the Word of Wisdom and be prepared for baptism.

We usually have Zone Conference every other transfer, but the schedule got thrown off so we have another one this transfer. So, I get to go to Paris again this Wednesday! I didn't get the package yet, I'm hoping for today! I'm not entirely sure about conference, I just know that we're going to watch it on the computer at the church and that we're buying TONS of snacks for it today :)

Kylee didn't say anything about where she got called to!!!! ahhh!!!!! She just said she was getting it soon.  But, I saw Trace in the pictures, he looks super happy! I'm so excited for his baptism, that is such an awesome choice that he has made! Ok, I miss the temple soooo much haha. All of the missionaries talk about how we get homesick for the temple more than anything else. Someday, I'm definitely coming back to go through the temple in Versailles!

I got Lindsey's letter, and WOW! I was definitely a little shocked, but happy as well :) That's a big choice, but I know she'll be an amazing missionary! I'm super proud of her :) I haven't heard from Elder Devine, little turd! Haha, I really want to know where he's at, I'll try and email him today if I have some time. I can't believe Taylor (Ritchie) is almost home, he just left! The time really passes too fast. Crazy Rigby gossip!  Lots of people getting engaged! I hope Cassie (Davie) recovers soon, she is awesome!

I'm excited for the Holiday season to start! The church is growing here in France, and I'm so blessed to have a front row seat to all of it! I love you all so much and can't wait to see you at Christmas! Wow that is not very far away! I'll try and send something to Boston, I'll probably end up buying something in Paris while I'm there this week (or if I get transferred, then I'll be there in like a month anyways). Bonne semaine!

Love,

Elder Martin

P.S. Random Epinal Fact: The river here, la Moselle, is perfect for kayaking, so they often have awesome kayaking competitions! I'm sending some pictures today :)

The Doctor/Elder!

Found this phone booth in the park and thought of Tristan!

Polly Wants the Gospel!

We ported into this guy who answered the door with this bird on his shoulder! He wasn't interested, but when we started talking about the bird, he let us in, let us hold it, and then let us pray with him! Bird is the word!

L'Imagerie

The sign for this awesome museum just down the road from our apartment, it's basically the center of the ville.

Kayaking!

We've been hoping for a kayaking competition since I got here, and they finally had one!

Super French!

Just take a minute to appreciate how totally French this is right now. Sometimes it takes something like that to remind us of what a beautiful ville we live in. I've actually heard several people say it's one of the prettiest villes in the mission

Le Basilique

Beautiful shot of our cathedral at night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Companion!

Bonjour!

I know what you mean about the weeks flying by! It is a little unreal sometimes haha. I literally feel like I was home just 2 weeks ago, and I'm hitting my 3 month mark in a few days. Crazy! I'm right about at the point of being 1/8 of the way done with my mission, which is a real eye opener. So my big focus this week has been soaking in every second of it!  Elder Stucki (his new Companion) is awesome! He's from American Fork, UT and is actually only 2 transfers older than me! He's hitting his 6 month mark next week, so they've got a couple of young-uns out here in Épinal!  But, we've been doing really well and I'm really excited for this transfer. My only worry is that there is a really good chance that I'll be transferred to another ville after this, which kind of stinks, but ça va.

I'm super pumped for that package! We still eat pretty well, we're masters of simple recipés haha. I haven't bought gloves yet, but sometime in the next few weeks. Also, there is a slim possibility of me buying a book on how to learn Portuguese! That is one of my goals for the next few transfers, so I'll let you know if I buy the book. I'll start thinking about Christmas and let you know. The only thing I can think of right now might be garments, because they're starting to show some signs of wearing (you would think that I wore them while walking up and down hills and knocking doors all day or something) but I should be good for a while, at least till Christmas. 

Kaitlin (Perrenoud, who just got her Mission Call to Cleveland, OH) emailed me, it sounds like we'll probably get home like the same week! And I'm super excited for Kylee (Nielsen, who is getting her Call this week) too!  That is so awesome. Dang, I miss Tanner (Lusk, his best friend who is leaving for Russia in a few weeks) a ton. I'm so proud of him, he's always been an awesome example for me. That's cool that the Welkers (our neighbors from across the street who moved away 5 years ago and are moving back) are coming home! I missed Nathan a lot, that's so cool that he's finally in the field (Boston, MA speaking Haitian/Creole). And we speak languages that are almost not completely different! Tell Tristan that girls are crazy ;) haha. He did an awesome thing and I'm super proud of him. He's such a gentleman, what a stud! (Tristan asked a girl who just moved to Rigby to Homecoming to help her get to know people.  She turned him down because her "college boyfriend" didn't want her to go.  Ironically, "college boy" dumped her two days later)  Congrats to the football team too! yeah! (They are undefeated, a huge miracle in Rigby)

That's crazy with dad's foot, I hope everything is ok!  (Rob is having surgery on October 3rd)  I'll be praying like crazy for him, I know that feeling of surgery and crutches and bed rest. He and I are super similar, it's terrible for us to be off our feet! I've been praying SUPER hard to not have any troubles with my knee. It always hurts a little from the day to day stuff, but I don't think it's anything beyond that. That's too bad about Kade (Fenton, his friend who came home from his Mission for a back injury)! I hope everything goes well and that he'll be able to return to the field soon! 

So with the Saitovics this week the Internet failed haha, so we tried to teach them, without tons of luck. But, they came to church on Sunday and stayed for the whole block, for the first time! They usually leave right after Sacrament because they don't understand what's going on. But they always feel the Spirit at church and see it's importance.

With our new amis this week all of our leçons fell through because of various reasons, so that kind of stunk. But, we had a lot of potential amis that we taught this week, and we've been doing tons and tons of porting, which is way more effective than contacting. We're teaching a guy named M. Ricordeau, and he is way cool. He says he just saw how his old church was corrupted and couldn't follow it anymore, but he's looking for someway to come closer to the Lord. 

Tell Connor thank you so much! That is the sweetest thing ever, I just about cried when I read it! (Connor had to write his own talk for the Sacrament Meeting Presentation about how having a brother on a mission helps him to prepare to serve a mission)  I love hearing from all of you so much, and I'm so glad that you're being blessed for my work! Honestly, some days that's what keeps me going is thinking "Ok, just keep pushing on so that your family will see the blessings". You are all such examples for me! I have felt your prayers, and I know that this work is true! Every day is another testimony of this work! I love you!

Love, 

Elder Martin

P.S. Random Épinal fact- One of the high schools here sits on the bank of the river, and the students go kayaking after school every day! (Kind of Jealous)

 

This is what happens when we teach Gospel Principles on Sundays!

 

Two Transfers Gone Already - Letter 09/16/13

Bonjour!

I'm super glad you got those pictures from Soeur Chaston, that means I have a few less pictures to worry about sending today! We love our Sr. Couple in this district, they really are lifesavers!  I REALLY hope that I stay here next transfer, we'll find out for sure this afternoon. Assume that I'm staying here, but I'll send you another quick email if I'm going somewhere else. The transfer officially ended yesterday, so everything is kind of up in the air for the next few hours! 

One thing that might be super helpful is packets of like taco mix or ranch or whatever seasoning packets. We do pretty well here, and Elder McKechnie is a great cook. But it's always nice to have something to shake it up! :) Also, that shouldn't be too tough to fit in. If it is, don't worry about it. I might be getting some new gloves before winter starts, because the gloves I have are like snowboarding gloves, and they just don't really work for missionaries. I actually sent my letter before the pictures, so that's super weird that it came so late. We're writing pretty early today, which might be the way it stays for next transfer. The multimedia center's hours have changed for Autumn, so it generally works out better in the morning for us. 

That's so cool that Kylee and Kaitlin are going to be getting their mission calls! I'm super pumped for them! Kaitlin told me that next week I'm supposed to read her email before yours so that she can tell me herself haha. Sounds like the boys are really enjoying school so far! I can totally see Tristan dressed up like that, it's awesome!  Also, so cool about the football team! I'll have to tell my Zone Leader, he is from Firth so we always joke about our terrible football teams! I can't believe Kaden is so old! Tell him "Joyeux Anniversaire!" Congrats to Tristan on his calling, I know that he is prepared for it. It is going to be such a blessing for him and will really help him prepare for his mission. (I know I've said this before, but send the boys to Cedar Badge! Every day I am literally amazed by the fact that this program designed by an old Navy man is one of the best missionary training tools I have ever seen!) I haven't seen too much new of Epinal, but we walk past and cross the river all day, every day.

Our Skype leçon was awesome! They're being taught by the Assistants to the President in Serbia, so they really are getting the best of the best! But, they can only do that like once a week, so we're going to continue teaching them, and then the other missionaries will cover the more difficult things like the commandments. Right now they're praying about the 19th of Octobre for their baptism date, and we're praying so hard that they will receive their response! Their son Daga got out of surgery, and everything is great! He seems so much happier and healthier now, and he talks with us and participates a lot more! OH! I almost forgot, they got their legality! They're going to stay here! They called us first thing after they got their papers, they were so excited! I've never seen them so happy before! The next big step is to find jobs and an apartment, because they're still living in the hotel for right now. Keep them in your prayers! We sure love them so much!

So this transfer has been SUPER slow as far as finding new people to teach. All of our potential amis (investigators are called 'amis' or 'friends' here haha) have dropped out on us for 5 solid weeks. So this weekend we were knocking doors (porting) in a super sketchy apartment building on the hill behind our apartment. They use these microphone doorbell things on the outside of the apartment for each person, so nothing is really face to face, which really takes away from our message. So we tried one man, and he didn't say anything, but buzzed us up! We started look at the letter boxes for his name to go to his apartment, but there wasn't one there! So we started at the top floor and said a prayer to help us find a new ami. The first door was a super friendly black guy named Richard. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation, and he got SUPER pumped to have us back to teach him again. Then just across the hall, we met a young man named Nicholas. He didn't have enough time for us to teach him, but we set up a rendez-vous for Sunday night. When we got to his building, we called him to buzz us in, but he said something came up and we had to push the leçon back to 20h. Then out of nowhere, some guy walked up and just opened the door for us and let us into the building, then took off! We started porting again, and found a super cool old guy named Mr. Ferrari! He is a super charitable guy who loves the Savior and wants to do everything he can to follow Him and help others! We taught him part of the Restoration, and we're going back Tuesday to teach him again. After, we had our leçon with Nicholas. He was super open and accepting about what we taught him, and he even accepted a soft invite! (That's basically when you say "When you know if these things are true, will you be baptized?" But you don't set a specific date yet.) He totally said that if that was the way he could follow the Lord, he was totally up for it! So, after a 5 week dry spell, we found 3 new amis in the same apartment building in the last 2 days of the transfer! Wow!

Well, I'm so glad everyone is doing well and that life is good! I pray for you soooo many times a day, and I've really felt your prayers. The Gift of Tongues is so real, I feel like it really is possible to reach my goal of being fluent before I hit my 4 month mark! I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for your support for me! Love you!

Love,

Elder Martin

P.S. Random Epinal Fact: The branch here actually covers a HUGE area, we had dinner at a member's house last night in Lunéville, which is actually about 15 minutes from Nancy!

***********

Hey we just got the repertoire, I'll be staying in Epinal, but Elder McKechnie is leaving! :( I really didn't want to get step-daddied, but I gotta trust the Président and the Lord! So no worries, my address will stay the same for the next 6 weeks at least. Ahhh! did not expect that!

That definitely ups the responsibility, cuz I do not know this ville well enough to teach it to someone else! I better start studying my map! Ahhh!!! At least I'll still have a trainer, I can't imagine that changes just because it's someone different. This actually has me way more nervous than anything else I've done so far, and missionary work includes lots of scary things haha. Je peux le faire! love you!

P.S. my new comps name is Elder Stucki

Love,

Elder Martin

Our super cool castle in the rain!

Even the houses here always have a smile!

I tipped my bowl over this morning and accidentally broke gravity. Oops!

Letter and Pictures from Elder and Sister Chacon

What a fun surprise to open my email and find a kind note and pictures from a Senior Couple serving in France with Elder Martin!

We had a few pictures that we wanted to share with you and let you know how much we enjoy working with Elder Martin.

He is such a great missionary and has added so much to our area since he has been here!

We are having transfers and are praying that we can be blessed to have him stay a little while longer in our area.  I know the Lord knows what is best for him.  He and Elder McKechnie are doing a great job in Epinal.

Thanks for sharing your son with us!

Elder and Sister Chaston

Nancy District

Elder McKechnie and Elder Martin

What is Happening with the Time!!!??? Letter 09/09/13

Hey!

Thanks so much for all of your prayers, I have really felt the difference. It's such a miracle to me! I'm really starting to feel like it's (the language) coming along super quickly. He (Elder McKechnie) does have a little bit of a Scottish accent when he speaks French, but it helps me understand him better than I understand anyone else haha. Apparently, it is very similar to the Quebecois accent. That is so cool about Brother Kenney (a pianist in our Ward who is working to have a CD produced), I'm so happy for him!

Super sad about that young Elder (that was killed in a car accident this past week), I'll be keeping his family and companion in my prayers.

I can't believe everyone is leaving on missions so soon, I felt like I just got out here last week, and my release date is 21 months from today! Crazy! I can't believe school started and I'm not there, that is a weird thought for me. Have Tristan tell Mr. Swanson "Allez, Coco!" Maybe they didn't say that when he was serving in Quebec, but it's more common here in France haha. Tell C-Mack congrats on the game! I'm glad Linds and her family could come to the game.

It would be super helpful if you could send me a jump drive. We use them a ton to hold conference talks, pictures, and P90X videos haha. We are staying in Epinal for another 6 weeks (I think). We should, but there's always the possibility that I could get 'stepdaddy-ed' and finish my training with someone else. I really hope that doesn't happen though, because I love Elder Mckechnie and the people here in Epinal!

That's so cool that we have French blood on both sides of the family! Such a testimony to me that I'm here for a reason! Also, I love the story from Elder (Justin) Love. Luckily I haven't had any of those yet (Knock on Wood!) I sure do miss him!  (He and his companion in Thailand invited an investigator to the church to share a message with him.  It turns out that message and rice in Thai sound very similar.  Poor guy thought he was going to get some rice and all he got was a message.)

We weren't able to meet with Michael this week, but we hope to meet with him Wednesday. Tony has been off and on, but I really hope we can set something up with him. Elder Mckechnie taught the famille Saitovic while we were on exchange this week, and a total miracle is happening! Last week when I emailed President Poznanski I told him about our language barrier problems, and he called us up later that day. He said that we could set up missionary discussions with the missionaries in Serbia over Skype! That will help the famille so much to understand the gospel and prepare for baptism! I'm so excited to get that set up for them! Also, their oldest son, Daga, had surgery this week, but everything went super well and they're all back home from the hospital! They'll find out about if they can stay in France or not in a few days, so I'm praying that whatever happens will be for the best.

We had a cool miracle last night! We have been praying and fasting for 5 weeks to find a family to teach, and we haven't found a single ami the whole transfer. Then last night we were tracting some apartments with the doorbell that has the microphone on it (I hate those!) We had one lady who said she'd like to hear more, then the line went dead and the door didn't get buzzed open, so we thought she was just saying yes but not really letting us up. So we moved on to the next batiment and then after a minute we heard someone yelling "messieurs!" Turns out, the sonnery had cut out while we were talking to the lady, but she still wanted to hear our message! She invited us up, and we taught her the Restoration! Her name is Melissa, and her and her boyfriend have 1 little daughter and are expecting their second sometime in the next few weeks! She was super receptive and we gave her the Book of Mormon, which she was super interested. She genuinely has the desire to read it and know if it's true. The Lord really blessed us there! We have had a huge push on finding families in our mission, and we did it! Now we just have to continue to find more! We have found that using The Proclamation has been one of the most effective tools ever. So many people read it and say, "This is right, I totally agree with this, everyone in the world should read this!" So cool!

Other than that, nothing too exciting this week. Just feeling the Spirit and doing the Work of Salvation! I really love being a missionary, and I can't believe how fast the time is going. I feel like I was just home last week, and that was really 11 weeks ago. I'm 1/8 of the way done with my mission... Scary! I am soaking up every second of it, because it is so true that the time is gone before you know it. Thank you all so much for everything, you are so amazing! I pray for you everyday, and my testimony of eternal families has been strengthened so much out here. I can't believe I get to spend eternity with you! That is such a miracle, such a gift! Now I just need to share that with everyone I meet so that they can be as happy as I am! Je vous manque beaucoup! Love you!

Love,

Elder Martin

P.S. I know I've dropped the ball on these, but I'm repenting and improving :)

Random Epinal Fact: While Mitt Romney served his mission in France, he served in the small, eastern France town of Epinal!

 

 We got rid of the coat racks that were our closets and finally got closets! (Along with a microwave and a toaster... I had no idea that we were the only apartment that didn't already have those!)

 

 This is what I find when I leave town for an exchange! haha

Legality Day

Bonjour tout le monde!

This week has been so good! Yesterday was legality stuff, and that was an adventure haha. Imagine a typical physical exam, but entirely in French haha. It was interesting. But it was great to be in Paris again! Also, I got to be with all my friends that came here with me from the MTC, which was awesome! Elder Davis is in my district, and Elder Christiansen is in my zone, so I still see them sometimes. But it was awesome to see Elder Nelson and Elder Alfaro yesterday! We actually didn't see any cool stuff, we were super pressed for time. While we were doing our legality, our trainers all got to go to the Eiffel Tower and all that fun stuff, but I still haven't been! I know that at some point I'll serve in Paris and see it though, so no worries. 

I've decided that traveling is not my favorite. We were supposed to take a train Sunday night to Nancy, then catch a train Monday morning to Paris. However, we messed up on the schedule and there wasn't a train Sunday night! So, we had to wake up at 4h50 Monday morning to make it to Paris on time, and got home about 21h20 last night haha. Crazy! Tell Tristan the train is only cool for so long. We have 2 trains. The TER is kind of normal and not super exciting. But the TGV, which takes us to Paris, is nuts! Somehow, yesterday we got first class tickets, so it was super comfy. Also, it goes almost 200 mph, so that was pretty cool. 

I'll probably get my new proselyting bag today, because when we're in the city we have to carry it in front of us so we don't get robbed, and my bag right now is way to big to hold in front of me comfortably. So I'll get a nice little man-satchel haha. It should hopefully be somewhere around 30euro. 

I'll try not to 'wither away' haha, but if I keep eating at member's houses that won't be a problem. We had soooooo much food on Sunday! And it was so delicious, I can't really describe it. It was also super good to get to know Frère Erhard better and to have Jean-Pierre there to become more comfortable with more branch members. The language is coming along, I hope that it will start coming more quickly though haha. Yesterday I actually had a conversation with a woman in the OFII office from Camaroon (the place that Elder Naughton is serving right now). I actually got to teach most of the Restoration by myself and understood what she was saying! It was awesome! 

The building you saw on Google Earth is actually the church, our apartment is kind of right behind it. So that's why it says the Church's name on the window :) Unfortunately, you can't really see our apartment from the street. 

This week we weren't able to make much progress with la famille Saitovic. The language barrier is really kicking our butts right now, so we made an executive decision to start learning Serb! Actually, by the end of my mission I could potentially speak Spanish and Portugese as well, so that should be fun! That's what one of our zone leaders has done during his mission.

We committed our ami Michael to be baptized this week, he's just waiting on his response to see if the Book of Mormon is true. Once he knows, he's actually super pumped to be baptized. He kept saying that was how he wanted to show the Lord that he was willing to follow Him, which is perfect! He has tons of faith in Jesus Christ! We also met a gendarme named Tony Martin (we decided that we must be cousins) and taught him the Restoration, and he's super open to it. We're gonna keep meeting with him this week. 

I can't believe school is starting and I'm not going back! Tell Tristan that French is great and Mr. Swanson is the bomb! Also, tell him to pay attention in case he gets called somewhere French speaking, because that probably would have been super helpful haha. I usually write to everybody I can every week, but sometimes it's tough. 

That is crazy news! I don't know Adam Millet, but I know the kids that were in the ATV accident. That's so sad, I hope they're ok! That's crazy that Abby got married, who else from my class is getting engaged right now? That's a super weird thought, glad I've got a while before that is on my plate haha. That's so awesome that Trace is getting baptized! I'm so happy for him, this is going to make him so happy. The gospel really does bring joy! I email Tanner every week, and I am so excited for him! Love that man, but not in a weird way haha.

So today we went to this awesome cemetery, and I had a thought. I could have ancestors there and not even know it! Could you possibly go on FamilySearch and start looking at some of the villes that the Martin/Casault/Larose etc lines come from? If I ever have ancestors in villes where I'm serving, I'd love to know about that :) We actually use Family History as a huge missionary tool, so the more I know the better! Also, could you have Dad maybe write me a letter or an email telling me his conversion story? It's really sad, but I've realized that I'm out here speaking to people about the gospel and trying to help them join the church, and I don't even know how it really happened with Dad! That would be super cool. Anyways, thanks so much for everything. I love you all! The Lord really has blessed me because of your prayers, and I'm so thankful for that! You're all amazing examples to me!

Love,

Elder Martin

This pretty much sums up missionary work!

Rows of mausoleums, there was easily a mile of rows like this.  Cemetery in Epinal, France.

Part of the military cemetery for soldiers in Epinal, France.

Maybe a relative? I said a quick prayer to find a relative as we walked through the cemetery, and this was one of the last names that I passed!