I'm going to Rennes, France!

My address is:

Elder Taylor Thomas
2, rue Molière
35700 Rennes, France

Hope to hear from you soon!

Have Faith...

The mission is doing super well this week. We had an amazing zone conference on tuesday with Elder Ballard. Elder Ballard is super funny by the way. It was amazing to be in the presence of an apostle of the lord. Someone who knows him personally. We also had elder texiera of the seventy and bishop caussé of the presiding bishopric who is French. They really brought a huge boost to the mission. We were already progressing well but now the mission is booming. Elder Ballard talked about how the work is excellerating right now. He then talked about how we are like electrical conduits through which the holy ghost works. We have to keep that conduit clear and clean in order to have the power of the holy ghost in this work. He talked about how each of us has the ability to call upon the powers of heaven to touch the hearts of these people. We just need to be obedient and do all that we can. It really gave me the boost that i needed and he answered many other questions that i had.

This week was a ton better than the last. A ton... We ended up finding nine new investigators! It was kinda rough in the beginning of the week just because we had a lot of random things that we needed to do. So we didnt have a ton of time to do any finding. We were finally able to see the valenzuela family again this week. Its been too long haha. They are just too funny. We ended up spending a while at their house becaus each kid had to explain and tell us a ton of stories. So funny. Then we ate with them and then the mom asked us if we could give each of her children a blessing. So we took turns giving them all a blessing. It was so great. They are having a hard time and the kids are mean to them at school. Im so grateful for the priesthood that i hold and the ability that i had to give those blessings.

Friday night we were porting... knocking doors... and a man named nordine let us in. He was born muslim but doesnt agree with the religion. He let us in and we talked about our purpose of bringing others unto christ and talked about prayer and invited him to do so that night. He had never ever prayed. But he refused. Then we saw him sunday night and he is a tough cookie to crack! But we actually got him to pray for the first time last night and he got pretty excited about it. It was cool. Hopefully we can help him continue to progress.

We consecrated our saturday to finding new investigators and heavenly father really answered our prayers and efforts.
That night we went porting again and knocked on a door in an appartment building. A lady answered and asked if we were jehovas witnesses. We said no and she just got a huge smile on her face and said entrez! Or come in! She is named mimose and is from haiti. We taught her and her five kids!!! She also has a sibling who is a member of the church. They are super believing in christ and are very interested!!!! It was so awesome to find such a big family. Sunday night we passed by claudines house and they let us in. She was there with her daughter carol and some friends. We ended up teaching seven african ladies. We watched the restoration movie with them and they loved it. Heavenly father has really pulled us through as we just kept our faith and put forth an effort to consecrate our whole day to diligently contacting and finding.

Until next week, have a great week and talk to you soon! Loves!
Elder Thomas

Pics from Conference with Elder Ballard!

Elder Thomas is in the very center of the pic!

What goes up must come down...

Well I guess what goes up must come down... haha. I certainly experienced that this week. It wasnt exactly the most exciting week of my mission or the easiest haha. But its all good. On monday we were able to see Anthony and fixed a baptismal date for the 30th of June! He is pretty cool. But then we lost contact with him until last night. He lost his phone. Other than that we werent able to see anyone else. We had around 18 lessons either not show up or get cancelled. Rough! So yeah. Most of our week was spent waiting for peopel to show up to the lessons and then realizing after a while that they just werent going to come. It was definitely a trial of our faith. And I'll be honest I needed it. The last couple weeks ive been getting a little proud of all the good things that have been happening.

This week after praying to know what was going on I came across the scripture Jacob 4:7. I can do nothing without God. This week has helped me to realize that i need Him more than i thought. And that i need to rely on Him for His work. So yeah. Basically it was a rough week. But i am glad that it happened that way. I just hope i dont have to learn a lesson like that again.

Xavier is still doing well and we are getting him ready for the melchesidek priesthood. We are going with anthony to a members house tonight for FHE. Should be good.Tomorrow we get to go to Versailles to hear from Elder Ballard!!!! I forgot to tell you that last week. I am so excited for that!!!!!!

Sorry the email is a little bland this week. Im not sure what to say. Writers block... Love you tons! Have a great week!
Elder Thomas

My comp Elder Jensen and I

An Amazing Experience...

Hey! Paris is doing super well. How is sunny arizona? i will try to give you an update on everyone and all that has happened. There were some cool miralces this week. We had to move the baptism. First We moved it to the 23rd but realized that that is stake conference so that won't work. So we have to do it the 30th. But that will be good. Going to The eiffel tower was great with xavier. He is just too awesome. I cant wait for you to meet him.

Okay so heres how this last week went. Monday night we went to a familys house with xavier and ate a monster salad haha. Renu is doing okay. She is kind of getting swept up by the evangelist church. She has some memorized prayers that she uses... And she already has friends there and it is in her language. So we may lose her soon. Vigin is super busy but we did see him once. He is doing well. Xavier brought us another friend named antony or anthony. He is super cool. Not sure if i mentioned him last week or not. But he speaks english and accepted to be baptized. Most likely for the 30th. Super cool!!! Ness is doing well. We saw her once and she invited her sister too. Kinda weird teaching two twenty year old girls haha. But it was really good. They are super curious and really want to know more. But they had some kind of family problem this week and so they couldnt see us or go to church. Zackie is doing well. She is slowly learnign and we have been trying to get her to pray to know if these things are true. But she just hasnt done it. The last time we were there i was pretty bold and a little frustrated. mainly because my whole life i never really prayed for an answer myself. I know how terrible it is not to know for sure and i know how simp)le it is to get an answer. But i think that she could feel my sincerity and understood.
I had quite a few opportunities this week to testify boldly to people. It feels great haha. Claudine is doing super well. I dont know if you remember or not their story. but I will tell it again because it is a huge miracle so far. So last transfer we were early for a lesson and so we prayed to know what to do and decided to try to get into an appartment building. So we started ringing the doorbells and someone finally unloked the door. So we went into the building and one of the doors was open. So we knocked and then a lady let us in after seeing Jesus christ on our badges. She sent she never lets people in but let us in becquse of that. So we went in and taught her and her 20 yr old daughter. At the end of the lesson the daughter asked if she could say something. She said that she had been praying for years to know if god was there but never got an answer. So she wasnt sure if He was there. She was depressed all the time. That day she was having suicidal thoughts and prayed to get an answer. But she could feel a bad presence keeping her from praying. So she sang a hymn and at the end of the hymn we rang their doorbell and came in and taught them. She said that she knew that we were sent of God to save her and answer her prayer. Then the next lesson we taught just the mom claudine about the restoration and watched the movie with her. The next lesson carol the daughter and her other daughter muriel were there. The mom told the other daughter that we are called of god and were sent to their home as representatives of christ to bring them his gospel. It was an awesome intro! She then basically taught them the restoration lesson. Then yesterday we dicided to just drop by and give them two more book of mormons and leave them with the dvd. And they ended up letting us in and the mom said that her daughter muriel had something to telll us. She said that the last time we were there while i was saying the closing prayer she saw two angels in all white leave my comp and I While i finished the prayer. The spirit was so strong. We sat there for a moment in silence and then i felt the need to testify to them. I told them that i dont know what she saw nor can i interpret it for her. But i do know that we are called of god and that he sent us to your home last week for a reason. I said that i know that this is the true church of christ and that god is trying to help them to see that what we are sharing is true. It was a very intense few minutes. We ended up talking for a bit. There was just a sense of peace there. I am super excited to go back there hopefully tonight. I know that miracles exist. That God is watching over me and all of his children. He hears our prayers and he answers them. I know that he is helping that family to find the truth and recognize that our message is true. I am so grateful to be able to be an instrument in the Lords hands. This is His work.
I love you guys so much! Miss you tons. Know that i pray for you often and that i love this gospel! Talk to you soon. Loves!
Elder Thomas

At the Eiffel Tower with Xavier. Me in our apt.