April 29, 2013 - Grenoble, France

Abide with Me, 'Tis Eventide

fam-

bonjour!! How are yall doin??? This week was awesome! Well, minus Vaber not getting baptized, but his wife wasn't ready for that big change. He decided to wait a little while before, so that his wife will at least accept this. He was like, I dont care what my wife thinks, but it will effect my family too much. And he wants his home to be a Christ-centered home, and you can't get that when your wife really really hates you. So..we're working on that. Keep praying for him!! And dan is going to the temple this weekend with our ward missionary leader, brother barta! So cool!!!!!! ahh!!!! Super stoked for him! OH my goodness, seriously! How cool, for him to be able to go! We were super super excited for him when we found out that they were going this weekend. 

So on tuesday we had a miracle! We had 6 rendez-vous set and you know, sometimes people dont show up so you have backup plans. EVERYONE showed up for their rendez-vous! EVERYONE! We had 6 lessons in 1 day! Which, serving here, is a LOT. Hence so many CAPs. haha. But it was really cool. and we got a new ami! We are also teaching this guy, Yannick, who is originally from the Congo. He was a cordonée from the elders in Lyon and we have begun teaching him and he was a little skeptical in the first lesson of it actually being the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon being the word of God, but the second lesson he was super into everything we were teaching and asking questions to make sure he understood and when we finished we asked him to come to church and he was like, of COURSE! You dont have to ask! haha. and when we asked him to pray to end the lesson, he was like, wait we're already done? cant you teach me more?? It was really cool. And we taught Caterina twice this week, and the second time we taught her we were really firm with her and kind of gave her an ultimatum, because she just doesn't seem to want to have the faith to recieve answers to her prayers, or even to pray! And she was like, no I really do want to have this! So we re-committed her.  She would just keep disagreeing with what we were teaching and as soeur addis said in the lesson, she was trying to find the reasons of why things happen, not actually trying to feel the spirit or receive revelation for herself, and then she told us that she thinks that one day scientists will find out that God doesnt exist. I laughed at her. out loud. Soeur Addis thought that was pretty funny. Then I apologized but then was like, if you believe that, how are you having faith that God will answer your questions? and we had a long discussion about it all, and we are praying that she is going to have a real desire and to have the faith to pray with real intent. It was intense! But she's a good sport. I told her that she's stubborn like me, and she was like, yeah I know! haha. We laughed. Good times. Well, dont have a lot of time, but I love yall so much! And dont think that I'm a mean missionary, I'm not usually saying stuff like that, or laughing at people! I just broke! But it was fine, and we have another rdvz with her for this week. 

Saturday we had a "Fiesta" activity with the young men and young women where we had them make guacamole and fed them mexican food and taught them to dance (elder loera). it was a really good turn out and the bishop danced also! hahaha it was great. Love this ward!

We had zone conference on wednesday and it was great cause it was talking about how we need to have love for everyone and show it! I love this. Goin back to the roots of President Roney's reign in this mission!!! Great memories from this counsel makes for a great rest of the mission having the counsel again and having 6 months left to revamp it!!LOVELOVELOVE I want your LOVE! hahaha. No reference. ..

The church is so true and I am so happy to be serving a mission here in the France Lyon mission! It's where I'm suppose to be! I know that we truly can get answers to prayers and that Heavenly Father hears our pleas. Transfers are on May 13! Got a little less then 2 weeks to work some more miracles with soeur addis before she heads home! Wish us luck! 

 I love yall and pray for you daily!

love always,

devaneaux

My Ecully Zone in Lyon!

April 22, 2013 - Grenoble, France

Israel, Israel, God is Calling!

fam,

k, this is once again going to be short since I like reading emails and I like replying. Quick. okay! so! this week was great! We have a baptism on saturday, Vaber! He needs your prayers that his wife will be okay with him getting baptized, though he will be getting baptized with or without her permission. He is doing really great and we will be seeing him every day this week to make sure he is absolutely ready. He is so pumped and its so cool!!!! AHH!! We had a talent show and I played the uke and sang "come thou fount of every blessing", which was pretty fun to do. I like performing. it’s a little energy boost. And we had like 7 friends brought to the talent show that we got to meet!! Yeah for ward missionary work! I love how Elder Nelson said in his conference talk, "Trust the missionaries: the Lord trusts them!" I love that. Looove. Our members are beginning to do that.

My year mark? whaaaaaa??? and we...didnt really do anything. I don’t really know what sister missionaries do! burn a skirt? No way. I like my skirts. maybe when I go home.. hahaha.

So cool contacting experience this week! we were about to leave the apt and deciding where to contact, and so we prayed and soeur addis asked what i felt like we should do, and i said to go out and turn left and then go across the tram and turn left again, then she was like, well i felt like we should port our building..so we ported, (no success), then we contacted and did what i felt we should do and we found 2 people who gave us their numbers and were interested in that 30 minutes of contacting!! And they were like at perfect times, one was right when we left our appt and the other was when we were about to be back at our appt! We were like, miracle! only if we had ported before hand would we have found these potential amis. so cool. miracles everyday. love the gospel!!!

I love yall!! Stay safe and pray for vaber!

love always,
devaneaux

ps; happy birthday, tyler!! I cant believe he's as old as my mission!!!!!! ahhhh I'm an old lady!!

April 15, 2013 - Grenoble, France

I'm walkin on sunshine! woahh!!

ma famille,

bonjour! once again short because I was trying to write back to everyone. first off, I can email friends now!!! as of two weeks ago, but i forgot to make it known to everyone. so yeah, cool!! 

so vaber is doing great but is having so many problems with his family and now his work!! they wont let us go to his work to teach him cause the woman who owns the building says we're a sect. so dumb. SOO DUMB!!!! oh my goodness. sometimes. I cannot handle it. some people are very prone to believing anything that they see or read, especially here, and it just is hard to go about regular work without people saying this to us. n'importe quoi!!!!!!! ahhhhhh!!!!! but anyway! 

things are going good, its funny cause when vaber has people telling him he cant, he wants to do it even MORE. ahaha. so..just pray that he's getting baptized for the right reasons and understands the covenants he's making. But he really is progressing, he at first didnt want the priesthood, and we kept on trying to explain to him the priesthood, so finally we just gave him the liahona and asked him to read "the joy of the priesthood" from president Uchtdorf, and so the next time we saw him we asked him if he liked the talk and he totally had a different idea about the priesthood and he said that its a great thing and that he doesnt at this moment feel worthy of having it, and we were like, yeah youre not! thats why you continue to progress and get baptized! and he was like, yeah okay, and so yeah! voilà! he's great, just has a lot of issues when it comes to the people around him. But we're praying for him!!


We had zone training and that was really cool, just got super spiritually pumped to continue to work hard and to work harderrrr!!!! I got bens package of tea (thanks ben!!!!!!) and a "package" from soeur bertolio!! hahaha. It was funny. It was in a whipped cream bowl (which doesnt make any sense since they dont have that in france) and
covered with a pink piece of paper that was taped. lol. so silly. love that soeur.

So we taught caterina and she first started off our lesson by asking what we thought of gay marriage. And we taught that we believe that marriage is between a man and a wife, but that we dont hate people with those feelings. And then we got into a little bit of a not-debate because she was getting upset and we didnt want to argue with her, so I just said, have you read this book? and held up the bom, and she was like, no, and I was like, okay, well when you read this book and pray about it, you will begin understanding why marriage is between a man and a wife. If you pray and if you read. and then we went to get a "the family:a proclamation to the world" brochure and we came back and she was crying!! and we were like, are you okay? we're sorry if we were harsh! and she told us that we were fine but then she opened up and told us about her really hard life and her really bad parents who did bad things and just her sad story and we testified and taught about Jesus Christ and the atonement and that she can feel peace and love even with having experienced hard things that she had to experience. it was a really long lesson. but she was doing a lot better after and I really feel like she is beginning to have the desire to change herself, to be better and do greater things; to have faith in Christ. This is what we are praying for for her. she is athiest but the more we see her the more she seems to want to have this faith. its really cool.

we taught marie-france about the restoration and she had a lot of good questions about authority of baptism and such because she was baptized catholic. it was a good lesson!


well, I have to go. but things are going great here, people can be mean but we contacted in lyon and the people were even meaner!! so i'm happy to be here. lol. and its my ville, so you have more love for them. okay, well, gotta fly, but i love yall!!! the church is true!!! I love the scriptures!!!!!!!!!!! The Book of Mormon is the word of God!!!!!!!!


I love yall so much and I'm sorry if I'm not able to write to yall every week.


love always,
 devaneaux

April 8, 2013 - Grenoble, France

Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee

famille,

sorry this is going to be super short and aint got no time because things got screwed up with computer times with elders and blahblahblah. anywho, so conference was so INCREDIBLE, as always! LOVE conference! and Vaber came to a session and it was the session that they talked about world peace v personal peace and it talked about the Ivory Coast, which is where vaber is from!!! and we talked to him after the session about what he thought and he was like, that talk was for me. it was so great! things arent going great with his wife, but this week we taught him and after we asked if he had any questions and he was like, "yeah, what do I need for the baptismal service? do i need white pants?" it was SO COOL because he was asking not about gospel things and questioning stuff (though we appreciate and love questions), but was asking about what he needed for HIS BAPTISM!!!! please pray that his wife will be touched by the gospel and see his change and though we dont need her permission, give her husband permission to be baptized. Its so hard for him! But he's strong and has really recieved an answer to his prayers. ahh hes awesome!!! caterina's heart is unmelting and she came to the same session of conference, though she was an hour late, she came!!! and she really listens to our teachings, and is a lot less likely to question our lessons and stuff. its really cool. she LISTENS. wowwww the gospel is so TRUE!!! I love it! I am so proud to be a missionary for this church! for the real church of Jesus Christ! And listening to the Prophet and his apostles speak just about killed me it was so good! every time I just get soooo spiritually pumped!! woww!! thats all I have to say!

we have been contacting like mad-women this last week (our new goal is 50 people a day in the mission!!) and we contacted this one guy and he was like, bonjour! and took his ear phones out and he was like, oh what church are you from? and then we told him and he was like, yeah, how long are you serving? 6 months? 12? and we were like 18! and he was all, wow! then we asked if he would be interested in learning more about Jesus Christ and he was like, yeah! I'm protestant but I'm interested in learning more! then we asked for his number and he was like, yeah! and just gave it to us like that, then he was like, okay, see you guys later! and walked away and we were like, wait...how was that so easy? did that just happen? lol!! we laughed for a bit about that. then we called him yesterday to set up a rdv and he was super willing and open to a time and day, so hopefully we see him on wednesday at 4:30! Pray for us! and him! His name is Phillipe. Miracles!!!

okay, gotta fly, but I love yall so much and I am so grateful to have been raised in a Christ-centered home. They were talking about that A LOT in conference, about keeping the home a refuge and i really feel blessed to have had that and to still have that. Thanks, fam. Youre the best. :)

I love yall and I love letters! I hope to hear from yall soon!!!!

love always,
devaneaux

p.s: what byu choirs sang at conference?? it was SO GOOD!! I was very
impressed, especially the Jesus the very thought of Thee and the
sopranos!!! so beautiful!!! love it all!

court- the oh happy day blog is a mormon! one of our members is
american and went to paris and met her in the international ward up
there!!! haha craaay.

April 1, 2013 - Grenoble, France

I Believe in Christ, So Come What May

ma famille,

how you doin? I'm embarrassed I forgot the "are" in that sentence, but it was funny so I'm leaving it. Just sounds gangsta. Anyway. so....I'm STAYING in Grenoble!!!!! I'm KILLIN SOEUR ADDIS!!!!! and this means that I get to go up to Lyon to drop her off and see my MOM!!!!! mom being soeur BERTOLIO!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS GOD LOVES ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I love soeur addis, so I'm soooo freakin stoked to be with her for another transfer!!!! this is the first time that I've stayed with a companion longer than a transfer since my trainer!!!! Crazy, huh? Its like I'm a really bad comp or something!... lol. nah jk..? but really, its crazy. soeur bertolio for my first 3, then soeur raney for 1, then soeur marker for 1 (she just died!! she's going home tomorrow!! so sad!), then soeur bicchierri for 1, now soeur addis and our second transfer!!! I am seriously so happy. Since friday I've been like, neither of us have to pack! we get to do everything we wanted to this transfer! its not all just words!!!!!! lol. I got a little emotional; I mean come on, switching companions practically every month since the end of october can mess with ya. lol. but yeah! and now we seriously DO have to do everything we planned, because soeur addis is going HOME after me! so if she doesnt go into a catholic cathedral with me, she would have NEVER gone into one in France or Suisse!! (yeah..i dont know how she hasnt! but it will happen). And her wanting to speak as much french as possible her last transfer? that has to happen, too. lots of things to live up to. Gotta make her have a ridiculously incredible last transfer, spirit-filled and all!!! lots of miracles waiting to happen, lots of things to focus on that dont have to do with home, and lots of fun times!!!!!!! so stoked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and we have already had a miracle today!!! first day of the transfer!!!! so last week we told vaber we have to see him 3 times a week at least, and hes like, i dont know if i can do that, im really busy working and blahblahblah, then we were like, fine, 2 rdv, and the third time we see you is at church. and he agreed. so he came to sacrament yesterday (its the last hour of church here in france), and then he texted us after (cause he ran out to catch his bus after church cause it only comes every 30 min on sunday) and asked if we could see him monday and wednesday mornings! So today we met with him, and we HAD planned on teaching him about the sabbath day because he has only come to all 3 hours once or twice since the missionaries began teaching him in the fall. so we planned the lesson, but we werent sure if we would go through with it. so we taught with a member, Aina (who has an 'i'm a mormon' video!!! she goes by aina, ps. http://bcove.me/gu1j0bo4 or http://mormon.org/reine) and and her son, jared (he's 2 so he didnt really help us teach..ha) and vaber asked me to pray and so I began praying and I just began giving thanks for the restoration and for living prophets and just all this stuff from the first lesson, it was super weird, and at the end of the prayer I was like, wait why did I just pray for all that? we're teaching sabbath day..? then soeur addis was like, we were planning on teaching you about the sabbath day, but I really feel as though we need to teach you about the restoration. and so we taught him the first lesson again, and really tried to clarify for him why our church is different then other churches. SUCH a testimony builder testifying of the Book of Mormon and the way that it works together with the Bible and not just testifying, but PROVING it through the scriptures!! Oh my goodness it was-out-of-CON-TROL!!! So I have been studying the Bible a lot since I began serving, trying to read it from beginning to end (new testament but also trying to read about dispensations and such in the old testament) and I can totally see how it has helped me in teaching! Not only just learning the stories, but knowing what our Savior was trying to teach and how those same principles are taught in the Book of Mormon! So he was saying these things about how hes not sure if he believes in religion, but in  Ephesians it says one God, one baptism! I told him that. And it just works so well together!! To prove this through scripture, I shared John 10:16 corresponding with 3 Nephi 15:21, so we read this but also read the rest of the chapter in 3 Nephi, then the first 3 verses of chapter 16 and asked him what that meant to him, and he said that it said that Jesus Christ visited everyone, not just the people in Jérusalem, but the people in the americas and the people in africa and other places, and we were like, YES! Our Heavenly Father loves ALL of His children so He had His son visit them! then he asked where that was, if it was all from "our" Bible, and I was like, les deux! and he gave me a smirk, like, you got me, and I testified that they were there to work ensemble (together), that its not "our" Bible, but the Book of Mormon, which is ANOTHER testament of Jesus Christ, not "the Bible", and that they testify of each other! And then soeur addis began testifying and he asked if she was a convert and she was born into the church (like me!) then he was like, well you were born into the church, blahblah and being rude! and then I  got all defensive of my companion and her testimony(!) and stopped him and told him that it doesnt matter if we were born into the church, but that we each personally recieved an answer of the Book of Mormon being the word of God, and that we can explain the teachings of the gospel and show him scriptures, but we cant convince him, and that he has to pray and ask for himself and we committed him to read the Book of Mormon daily (he had only been reading the Bible and a little bit of Doctrine and Covenants) and to read that day Moroni 10 and after reading to really pray and ask our Heavenly Father if this book is  true. So he agreed and we shook on it, and yeah. it was kind of intense. I had to control myself a lot. Missions teach you patience. Lots and lots of patience. haha. so! He texted us about 4 hours later when we were at our apartments just chillin (pday and the grocery store is CLOSED because its a holiday. "the day after easter" holiday. not even kidding. and half of them are athiest. Thats france for ya), but he texted and said that he prayed and asked if the Book of Mormon was true, He got the answer that it was! And we replied, good! what does that mean? and he said, that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the church is true. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I dont think I could end on a better note. His baptismal date is set for the 28 of April and he has been free of smoking since last monday. Thanks, dad. :) But he really needs your prayers to stay faithful and to really be a great example to his wife and family. He doesnt need permission from his wife, we called president and asked, but we would all still like her to be okay with it. Yesterday for easter so MANY members gave us chocolate!!!! like we have so much chocolate at home, its kind of crazy. so we basically got easter baskets. lol. and we bought lindt bunnies for each other sat and hid them for each other during lunch after church, so taht was really fun too. during our gospel principles class we watched "finding faith in Christ", and I seriously want to watch that every Easter. its such a great way to really think about Christ. Anyway! we found a brazilian who speaks anglais! hollah!!! and our bishop is so freakin cool!!!!!!!! he has such a missionary spirit!!!!!! okay, love yall, gotta jet!!!!! the
church is so true!!

love always,
devaneaux