Share The Gospel With Your Friends!!!

 This week was super busy. But it was good. On tuesday We said goodbye to a few members for elder canadian and then wednesday we got up at 5 to take a train to paris! Woot! haha. I met up with my new comp elder smith (who is cool by the way. He replaced me in Bruxelles. so we talk about it all the time) Then we ended up helping the bleus or new missionaries out. We took them all down to notre dame haha. It brought back memories to my first day. Weird haha. Then we took the long train back to Rennes  and saw Fely! We fixed a baptismal date with him for the 13th of october!!! He is still searching for his answer and confirmation from the spirit but he wants to be baptized and will work towards that goal. He is doing super well. We saw him a few times this week. He has such a faith in christ and just wants to do what is right.

 On thursday we had some cool miracles. We went to lunch with a member family and they invited some of their non member friends! It was really cool. We just got to know them and shared a spiritual thought about christ. They loved it. Then we ate with them all. Hopefully they will be interested in learning more! Then that night we went to another members home and he invited his best friend to eat with us too! We also shared a thought about christ and she had tons of questions about the church! I also ate giblets for the first time that night haha. They are pretty She is really interested and wants to see us again. It was great to see members sharing the gospel with their friends.

 Then friday we went back to paris at 5 in the morning for mission council! It was super good. We recieved great trainings from prez and sister poznanski and the assistants. We got the vision for the transfer and talked about what our next new goal will be as a mission. Should be good!

 Tomorrow we will give a training to the zone about spiritual finding. It should be good. I love giving zone trainings. Who would have thought that i would actually enjoy speaking in public?! This weekend we did a lot of planning for the transfer and zone. There was a baptism for a kid in the ward,  a guy that we found named rishard came to it and then to church on sunday. We will teach him this week. The cassais family is good. Still cant get them to church... And reis went to Algeria for about a month. 

Well thats about it for this week... they are just ticking away. Talk to you next week!   

Elder Thomas 

  

Training the new Zone Leader...

Well it was a pretty awesome week with the conference this weekend. I will be staying here in rennes this transfer and probably finishing the mission here. We will see. I will be getting a new comp and Training him as a zone leader... It will be his first time. SO that should be really good. Excited for that.

We were able to teach the muslim guy Reis a few times. He is progressing pretty well. Hopefully we can see him tonight. He leaves for algeria for the rest of the month tomorrow. The cassais family is good. Havent seen them for a bit because we were gone all weekend and they were busy.
But Fely is back! Not sure if you remember him. He has the brother that won the nobel peace prize. He is back from paris. SO we were able to see him this week twice and he is doing well. We saw him friday night at a member family's home and it was great. We did a FHE together. He has a lot of health issues and it is really hard for him. I felt impressed to give him a blessing at the end. I offered and he accepted thankfully. It was a great experience. I got to give him the blessing and it was really cool. He is progressing well and really seeking the will of the lord in his life. Its amazing to see. The mongolian family was in nantes this week so we didnt get to see them. But a couple in the ward actually brought the 13 yr old daughter to the conference and she loved it! We will see them this week.

THis weekend was crazy and awesome haha. On saturday we took a four hour train... there was work on the line so it took that long instead of 2 hours. We rode it with the sisters and they decided we needed to do a picnic haha. So they made sandwiches and candy and we got veggies and dip haha. It was a lot of fun. Our sisters are awesome. Amazing people. They keep us in line haha. Then we had some time to walk around downtown paris and then stayed the night in antony. Got to hang out with elder jensen. We then got up at 430 in the morning the next day to get ready and make the trek to vesinet le peq for the conference. It was great though. They rented a huge auditorium for the 3000 members. Elder Oaks was awesome and really funny. He talked about the stakes and how France is now covered in stakes and about the new temple. He also talked a lot about covenants and their importance. Its always great to be in their presence.

OUr train didnt leave for a while sunday so i got to see some members from antony and we just ate lunch out front of notre dame haha. NO big deal haha. Then we took the 2 and a half hour train home! Fun stuff haha. It was a great conference though. The work is progressing and miracles are happening! Im super excited to stay as zone leader too here. I love serving the other missionaries.
Hope you all have a good week! LOVES
Elder Thomas

Big things are happening in this Mission!!!

Hey! It has been a good week. Still a little tough but it looks like things will pick up soon. This week i wasnt in rennes very much haha. On tuesday after our district meeting i went to vannes for an exchange with our district leader who is from la reunion. He is super awesome!! We had a great exchange together and we both learned a lot. Im so grateful to be able to go on exchanges and teach other missionaries and help them learn and improve. Its a very humbling responsibility. Then on thursday my comp and i both went to the city lorient to do another exchange. I wen twith an elder from my group back in the mtc. It was such a frustrating exchange. He doesnt want to be here and is just doing it to look good and please his parents. SO that exchange was interesting.
We were able to see the cassais family this week too. They are doing really well. We taught them half of the plan of salvation and they loved it. Their cousin norline is doing super well too. She told us that she really feels the spirit strong when we are there and when we speak.
THe sisters talked to a man from algeria and passed him to us. We saw him last night and taught him about the restoration. He is muslim but interested in christianity. He has so many questions. All of which we can answer! It was hard to not just sit there and answer all of his questions. He also already believes in chastity and he asked us if we drink and we said no and he high fived us haha. SO he should be cool.
I dont know if i told you about the mongolian couple who has been coming to church. They are members who live in laval a city that is a 45min train ride from rennes. tHey were at church yesterday and brought a thirteen yr old mongolian girl to church who isnt a member. They told us that they are friends with her family in laval and that they want to meet with us! It is a family of five! SO we will see them this week. Super excited for that. Thats about it for this week haha.

THis upcoming week will be a historical one for france. Elder oaks and elder ballard will be in paris all week preparing for sunday. They are closing the district of lorient which is out here in the brittany area and it will be incorporated in the new rennes stake which is moving from the angers stake. They will also open a new paris stake and work on the temples foundation which begins this week!!!!! Thats huge! France will no longer have districts but will now have all stakes! Super big stuff happening here. SO grateful to be a part of it and to be a missionary speeding things along. SUnday will be an awesome day. Im also hoping to be able to see some of my recent converts in paris while im there. Mainly Xavier.

This week There was an elder that finished his mission in our ward. He had his homecoming yesterday and i couldnt help but picture that first sunday back... haha, Okay enough being trunky. Love you guys so much. The time is flying by and im just trying to do all that i can with it! Have a great week. Love you so much! Je vous aime

Staying Positive Despite Trials...

Well with good times there are always bad times too... sadly haha. It seems like every good week is followed by a tough one. This last week was pretty rough. It started out monday night when we were supposed to have a rendezvous with marko. He got there before us and there were a few members at the church. He had a little problem with one of them and left. So we didnt see him that night and he was furious. We were supposed to see him the next day but he cancelled until wednesday. He cancelled again and then thursday night dropped the bomb that he doesnt want to see us again or be baptized. So that was a big trial. It was so hard to see him get so close and then fall. I dont think he will come back this time either. We also didnt hear anything from Pierre this week. No answers or calls from him. So it doesnt look like we will be seeing him again. Not sure what happened. So we were a little bummed this week. Two huge blows. The rest of the week was rough and we werent able to find anyone to teach. We did find one man who we saw on thursday who seemed really cool and said he would come to church with his son. But no news since then... So we are at square one for the moment.

But on a huge bright side we have had a goal since the start of last transfer in the mission to get 100 baptisms before the 15th of september. Thats when elder oaks is coming to france (including Rennes) to create another stake and reorganize our stake here in the brittany area. It's Big news! Well this weekend we hit 100 baptisms!!!!!!! That means we did it in 10 weeks! Just In the month of august which has been the toughest month in france for missionary work because of the dreaded french vacation, we were able to have 52 baptisms!!!
Prez looked back at the past 20 years in the mission and we have never come close before. So needless to say miracles are happening in the mission!!! We were supposed to be able to meet as a mission to hear from elder oaks in two weeks but he will be so busy that he cant see all of the mission anymore :( But I should be able to see him since i am in rennes. We will go to paris for the conference where they reorganize the stakes. It will be a huge deal. So we are super excited about that in the mission :)
I am doing well and staying positive despite the trials. I know they are for a reason. I just keep trying to do my best and push through. Love you tons!!! Have an awesome week and let everyone know i love them!!!! Tootles!