Week 91 - Visit from President!

Hello everyone!

This week has been a great start to a new transfer. After spending pretty much the whole day at the train station on Monday to help those who were transferred, we got to work on Tuesday. We saw Patrick, Aurélien, Frère Sousa, and then the Amador family before finishing the day with a dinner with members. 

Wednesday went a bit slower. I had started feeling sick on Monday, worked through it on Tuesday, but Wednesday we had to stay in to let me recover. That being said, we were able to get a WHOLE lot of things done. The apartment (which was already well kept) got even cleaner, our Area Book was put all the way back to date, some organizational things with the ward list were completed and I even got to work for a bit on my sadly outdated journal. That evening, we took a train down to Perpignan in order to start an exchange. 

Thursday I spent the day with Elder Eberhard in Perpignan. We had a good time together and talked to a whole ton of people. However, I think the highlight of our exchange was a strawberry and whipped cream tartlette that we bought on our way home. I am going to miss stuff like that form France.... That evening, we hopped back on a train and returned to stay the night in Montpellier.

Friday morning we said goodbye to the Perpignan elders and took another train ourselves to begin an exchange with the Nîmes elders. This transfer we are trying to get a bit of an earlier start on our exchanges so that we don't have to do more than two a week. That makes everything less stressful, and it gives us our whole last week to work in our own sector! In Nîmes I picked up Elder Swanson and we returned for a day of work in Montpellier. After our studies we got to see Patrick again, and then had the weekly FHE activity at the church. It went well, and near the end, Elder Shaw and his family that came to pick him up from his mission showed up. Though he hasn't yet been fully released, it was odd to see Elder Shaw out of regular missionary clothing.

Saturday was possibly the best day of my mission. Elder Whiting and I left early to the church in order to prepare everything for Aurélien's baptism! President Brown himself came down to attend, which was a wonderful experience. He served in Montpellier on his mission 38 years ago, back when there were only two or three people coming every week. Things have changed since then! He was happy to see old familiar faces and to see the progress of the ward. The baptism went beautifully, there were plenty of people who came, and afterwards there was a nice potluck lunch. We spent a lot of the rest of the day planning and cleaning up the chapel after everyone had left, then after a correlation meeting and some contacting we had dinner with President Brown and his wife! 

Sunday was exceptional. We confirmed Aurélien a member of the church, and were able to hear President Brown talk. He so filled with love for the church and for the gospel, it is inspiring to hear him speak! After church and lunch Elder Whiting and I were able to go out for some more contacting and then wrap up the evening with our weekly planning. All in all, it was a stellar week!

I hope all things are well with you, talk to you soon!

Elder Blake Levi Spencer

Week 90 -

Well, this week was good, though not quite as productive as some other
weeks. I spent Tuesday in Nîmes on exchange with Elder Williams and we
had a god time. We spent most of the day in an outer ville and found a
few potential Amis, and then after working a bit more in Nîmes itself,
a torrential rainstorm started, and we got thoroughly soaked. So, we
made our way back to the train station and after a soggy ride home,
ended the exchange.

Wednesday was a district meeting for the Béziers district, held all
the way out in Carcassonne. All went well, but due to limited train
connections, we were not able to get home until almost 5. We had some
time to go out finding, and then mad our way back home for some
dinner.
    
Thursday was another District meeting , this time in Montpellier.
Elder Shaw, now a district leader did the presentation, for his very
last District Meeting (he went home this transfer), and it was great!
The District Leaders were given no outline this time around, so both
meetings were completely unique. Afterwards, we met with a few Amis,
as well as Laurent and then finished off the day with a wonderful
French meal with a family we met contacting a few weeks back.

Friday morning transfer calls!!!

Nothing too exciting is happening. Almost the whole zone stays
together, Elder Whiting and I included. Two companionships are
training next transfer, so we'll will have 5 total blues, and Elder
Shaw is being replaced by Elder Thorne in our apartment. Following
that, we had a nice full day of work and a good turn out for the
weekly FHE activity.

Saturday started off with quite a bit of rain, which made our football
match all the more interesting. We were all thoroughly soaked, but had
a great time. We had some more appointments later in the day, and then
used our time to plan for the upcoming week and transfer.

Church on Sunday was nice. Unfortunately, we had less Amis come to
church than usual. Still, things went well, and we were able to teach
a new ami afterwards. After some more finding, we met up with Aurelian
for his baptismal interview. Everything is set for his baptism next
week! We are super excited!

Have a great week, see you soon!

Elder Blake Levi Spencer

Week 89 - Nice is nice

Well, we spent a lot of this week out of town. Tuesday was an exchange
with the other Montpellier elders, partly because both Elder Whiting
and Elder Shaw were sick, so the exchange afforded them an opportunity
to rest for a bit without grounding all four missionaries.

Wednesday we spent almost the entire day traveling over to Nice for a
zone conference the next day. We spent the night in Antibes and took a
short train back in to town the next morning for the actual
conference. It was great! We talked a lot about the different
missionary tools that we have, and how we can use all of them to their
fullest depending on the situation. Unfortunately I only got to take
notes on half the conference, because I was asked to translate for the
rest of it (English to French). After a delicious lunch, we all headed
over to a beautiful park, and finished the presentation of zone
conference. We also received some really big news! Elder D. Todd
Christofferson will be visiting the mission next month, and starting
next transfer, Americans will be allowed to serve in Switzerland! So,
seeing as transfers are this week, that opens up some new options as
to where I could go. That being said, I would love to stay in
Montpellier. That evening we only travelled as far back as Toulon, and
after a sketchy kebab, crammed 14 of us into a small apartment. Not my
most comfortable night.

The next day we got home and met with a few of our Amis (Elder Wiberg
and I were together again), and attended the Ward FHE activity.
Saturday began with a fun game of football and then a whole lot of
appointments. Sunday started off a bit rough, but ended up being
wonderful. The whole Amador family came to church, as well as some of
the other people that we are teaching, so we have a total of nine Amis
at church! Missionary work is progressing wonderfully, and Aurelian is
already prepared for his baptism in two weeks!

Today we had a small cooking course from a member who is a
professional chef, and so needless to say our lunch was delicious, and
for the rest of the day we will be taking it easy and getting some
haircuts. Hope all is well with you, see you soon!

Elder Blake Levi Spencer

Week 88 - Moving towards Baptism!

Wow, this week has just been overflowing with miracles!

While it feels like I barely spent any time in Montpellier due to
exchanges, we sure did get a lot done. So, here goes the highlights...
Tuesday we spent on exchange, but I got to stay in Montpellier with
Elder Whitmer. We had a great time teaching a bunch of our Amis, and
were able to fix another baptismal date with Patrick. He is still
progressing, but he could really use everyone's prayers! We were also
able to see Sabrina who is still doing awesome before we caught a
train down to Perpignan to spend the night.

Wednesday I was back with Elder Whiting in Montpellier, and we had the
chance to teach the Amador family in Sète. They are progressing
wonderfully and have also accepted baptismal dates! If all goes well,
there should be four separate baptisms of our Amis in the next eight
weeks! We also saw Aurelian who is doing wonderfully, and Soeur
Fontaine.

Thursday I got kicked out of town. I went to Carcassonne in the
morning, and we spent almost the entire day contacting. We got to talk
to heaps of people and even found a few potential people to teach. The
next morning I stayed on exchange, but switched out Elder Burri for
Elder Sanders in Béziers. We did our studies together then went out to
find some people and then had a few appointments (one of which
included cutting a member's hair). Lastly, we returned to Montpellier
that evening, and I finally got to be back home. :)

Saturday, all six of us elders in the apartment went to Samedi Sportif
and we had a great turnout, and one of the more fun games that we have
had so far in Montpellier. We got to play on a bit bigger field since
so many people came, and it was quite refreshing (and also
exhausting). Afterwards, we taught English to Yiwen and Daniel as
normal, and then had an unfortunate string of RDVs that fell through.
Oh well!

Sunday was good, church was pretty good, and afterward we got to teach
a new amie named Zhang Qi. She is a student here from China, and is
quite different than anyone I have ever taught before! Afterwards we
saw Sabrina again, and then finished up with some planning for the
week.

Everything is looking bright and beautiful here. Today it got up to 68
degrees, which does not feel at all like February, how strange! Cold
temperatures will have to hit some time, right? Anyways, have a great
week, talk to you soon!

Elder Blake Levi Spencer

Week 87

Ok, well, I guess I have some work to do since I missed last week...

This last week has been pretty exciting, with three exchanges
throughout the week, luckily though I got to stay in town for all of
them. On Monday evening, the Carcassonne elders arrived, in order to
start the exchange the next morning. Originally, we had planned for me
to go to Carcassonne with Elder Kimble, but after a special invitation
from a member, I got to stay in town, and Elder Whiting went to
Carcassonne with Elder Burri. Tuesday ended up being pretty packed
with appointments, and was topped off by an FHE with the Bouali
family, who had called us the night before. David, one of Soeur
Bouali's sons left for his mission this last Wednesday, so we had one
final FHE with him before he left. He and I have grown rather close
since I got here, so it was a wonderful opportunity to see him off for
his mission to Benin.

Wednesday morning we headed down to Béziers for district meeting, and
re-exchanged companions then headed back up to Montpellier.
Unfortunately after all the traveling we ended up with not a whole lot
of time to work before we had to tune in to a worldwide missionary
training broadcast from Utah. After a few connection problems at the
beginning, the broadcast went great, and we got a bit more direction
on how to refocus our missionary work.

Thursday was another district meeting, this time down in Nîmes. The
presentation went well, and after eating lunch together, we headed
back up to Béziers to start another exchange. I realized about this
point that I had completely forgotten my name tag at home, so I just
went around as a TJ (Jehovah's Witness) for the day until I started my
exchange with Elder Zhu and he lent me a mandarin tag. He kept the
French one that he had, which is funny because I don't speak mandarin
and he doesn't speak French yet...

Otherwise, our exchange went really well. One of our new amies,
Sabrina is on track for baptism, and we fixed a goal for temple
attendance as well! We also saw Laurent, who is still doing well, and
we saw the Amador family, a miracle family that contacted us, and they
committed to coming to church. ( Hopefully we can fix baptismal dates
soon).

Friday afternoon, we ended our exchange and Elder Whiting came back to
Montpellier. After the weekly FHE activity we helped a member to move
an appliance (with the help of our ami Patrick) and then ended the
day.

Saturday we went on exchange with the other Montpellier Elders, who
live with us. We started off the day by playing football, and then had
English class with Yiwen. Next was a visit to a family that recently
moved in to the ward. Elder Wiberg and I had a great time getting to
know them. Also, though he has only been here for a week and a half,
Elder Wiberg is killing it with missionary work. He speaks better
French than many other missionaries that I have met and is
appropriately bold in teaching. It was really cool to see such a young
missionary doing so well. Afterwards, we went to our missionary
correlation meeting and then saw the Fontaine family.

Sunday was AWESOME. We had eight Amis come out to church and the Ward
took great care of them. I gave a twelve minute talk in sacrament
meeting on missionary work which was well received by everyone and we
even participated in a surprise musical number. The following classes
went well and everyone had a good experience in coming. Yay! After a
mini Ward council, we went and ate lunch with Sabrina and Frere Sousa
and taught, then took care of some business for planning the exchanges
for the upcoming week and finally made it home to plan the week!

This week has just been full of miracles. We have a lot of people
progressing towards baptism and are even continuing to find new people
to teach. I really hope that I still have a while to serve in this
sector! I will really be sad to leave when the time comes!

I hope you feel a little caught up on what's going on over here now,
have a great week, talk to you soon!

Elder Blake Levi Spencer

Week 85 - Trio Power

Well, this week has been odd to say the least. As I said last week, we have been a trio this week, with Elder Whiting, Elder Shaw and myself. It has definitely been a weird dynamic, but we got a whole lot of stuff done. We have been BUSY. We have been handling the work of all three companionships here, so this next week should give us a bit of room to breathe. That being said, I love it here.

Transfer day went well, a lot better than last transfer at least. There were a lot less messed up trains. Throughout the week we were able to see pretty much everyone in all three teaching pools, and even found some new people to teach. Another really exciting event from this week was that Laurent, who was baptized December 5th, got to go to the temple for the first time this week! He flew to London with another recent convert and our Ward Mission Leader. It was quite a miracle to get him there so quickly, but sometimes a miracle is just what needs to happen!

Other than teaching this week, we have been working on finishing up the new Montpellier Sisters' apartment. A few trips to the store, and a lot of IKEA instruction books later and we have almost finished. All that's left is a few updates in the Area Book. This next week will be the start of a long list of exchanges, so hopefully I can get back to full health before that starts (we were too busy this week to stay in for the sniffles and a fever). 

The future here is looking bright, miracles are just falling from the sky everywhere, the Lord's work requires it! Sorry to be short in writing, but we have got to run. Love ya! Have a great week!

Elder Blake Levi Spencer

Week 84 - Bonne Année

Hello everyone!

Well, another week and another transfer are gone, so, let's get transfer news out of the way up front. I stay in Montpellier for another transfer, but will be pairing up with a new companion (that I know already), Elder Whiting. Elder Shaw stays too... He will be training this next transfer, but his new missionary doesn't arrive until next week, so he will be in a trio with Elder Whiting and me for a week, and then will be moving into the room across the hall to whitewash the other Montpellier companionship (both Elder Duffy and Elder Hansen leave). This should be interesting. For this first week we will be juggling the work of three companionships, so we should be pretty busy.

Tuesday morning we headed down to Perpignan for an exchange. After the train ride we switched companions and I stayed in Perpignan with Elder Duncan. After some studies we had an exciting day of... Contacting! Though there wasn't really anything planned, we  did end up talking to a whole lot of people.

Wednesday morning we took an early walk to the train station and headed back to Montpellier, and after re-exchanging we headed to District Meeting. Despite my best efforts, Elder Shaw alerted the district to the fact that it was my birthday, and they promptly sang to me. Ok, I guess it wasn't all bad. Afterwards, we headed out to Sète to teach the Amador family, and then returned to Montpelier to have dinner at a member's house with the other elders. 

Thursday we took another early morning train down to Perpignan and attended their district meeting. It went well, but finished up late, which led Elder Stutz and I, who were starting an exchange, to walk just as fast as we could to catch our train! Once back in town we taught Patrick, then spent the evening with the Esmieu family for New Year's Eve.

Friday marooning we got our transfer calls, then re-exchanged companions and returned to Montpellier. Patrick took the four of us out to KFC to say goodbye to those who were leaving, and then Elder shaw and I did some planning and made our way to the church to teach Sarah and then to stay for the FHE activity. For the game we played spoons, and I managed to make it into the final both times, and won the second time!

Saturday we started with football, then did some organization at the apartment, and headed over to the church to teach English class. Afterwards we helped a new family move in to the ward, and then taught Aurelian at the Comédie. He accepted a baptismal date, so please keep him in your prayers! 

Sunday church services went well, especially during fast and testimony meeting. Afterwards, when elder Shaw and I could finally get home, we went to work fixing appointments with everyone that we need to work with this week. Three and a half hours later, we finished! This week is going to be busy. When we had finished, we went over and visited Soeur Fontaine and her children. Then evening was a bunch of fun, and a great end to the week.

This week has been great, and I am looking forward to this next transfer, it should be awesome! Talk to you soon!

Elder Blake Levi Spencer