Monday, January 30, 2017

1-30-17!

Hello everyone! Here is what we did this week-

Tuesday - I had an exchange with Elder Mason! We saw a less active, Sr. Mar. It was great!

Wednesday - We had a mission worldwide broadcast, it was great!

Thursday - We had MLC. We learned many things!

Friday - We gave Sister Bri a blessing, because she was sick. We then had dinner with J. It was really great. Elder Ramsey got dog hair on him and J got a wet towel to rub it off. For some reason he rubbed Elder Ramsey's posterior when there was no hair. Maybe because I said that there was hair there. Hahahaha!

Saturday - Exchange with the assistants! I went with Elder Wade. It was great. We got lots of time to talk to people, invite them to church, and testify of the Paris temple.

Sunday - We had church, it was wonderful. We had Stromboli at the Z's house!

Today I bought a 50 dollar suit! It was way cheap. And a few pairs of shoes too!

I love all of you!
Elder MacArthur

Calvin couldn't find the Rubik's cube haha!

Mission Leadership Conference

Monday, January 23, 2017

Sorry :)

Ahhh I will catch up next week I promise.

Photos for now!

Love, Elder MacArthur

Elder Geddes. What a man.

Yummy cake after a baptism!

K Family!

Look who's on the right!

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

1-16-17

Hello everybody!!

This week was great! We received transfer calls, and I will be staying here with Elder Ramsey in Ecully. We are excited for another transfer together. The other elders in our Ward are staying too and they are receiving Elder Underwood, a good friend of ours. I have served around him a lot and Elder Ramsey served with him in Bastia. They are a trio again, which will be really fun. When they go in mission conference tours and stuff, one or two of them will stay in Lyon and get to work with us! We are excited for that.

This week we had a really cool miracle with a man named Brother H. We felt Impressed to pass by him, so we rung and he opened up! We got into his door, and we see J, a recent convert of two months, sitting on the couch! Turns out, they are family. This less-active man, named SH, was hoping for God to help him get out of his current life situation. Us coming by was an answer to his prayer.
He told us that he knew Heavenly Father had sent us, and that he wanted to turn his life around. So that was an awesome miracle!

We also had a great lesson with mama H. She told us to be patient that she isn't baptized yet, and that our service and love for her meant a lot to her.  Her prayer for us at the end of the lesson was a million times better than any prayer I have ever offered. It was so sincere, heartfelt, and clearly invited the spirit. She is an amazing woman!

I love all of you!
Have a good week!
Elder MacArthur

Our Ward mission leader and his cute baby L!

Saying goodbye to Sister Pelucchi!

Snowy view from our apartment.

Monday, January 9, 2017

1-8-17!

Hello everyone!

We just had p-day with our mission President so this will be really short!

This week we spent some time evaluating the zone and doing recommendations for transfers. We went to Grenoble for baptismal interviews! I interviewed a girl named E, she was super cool. I love doing those interviews, knowing how well they have been prepared for baptism, and getting to approve the ordinance, it brings such a joy.

In Grenoble we got a huge kebab. Almost as big as my arm.

We helped Brother Mab move some more this week, saw the Q family, passed and made contact with a less active.

Sunday, we had our normal routine, and got a cool RDV with the T family. We were able to follow up on their friends and give them good ideas on how to build relationships with their friends and acquaintances. It went really well and they are catching the missionary spirit.

With transfers next week, we are wondering what will happen. We hope to stay together! We know Elder Wade will be leaving, that will be sad. We are super close with him and Elder Menzel, it's so great to have such good friends in the same city.

Today for pday, we played basketball a lot, and got to chat with everyone there, some 30-ish missionaries.

I love you all! Sorry for the short letter, I'll give lots of photos then :)

Elder MacArthur
Bas's baptism!

Funny French ad

Grenoble has mountains! Really cool place

Me and my double chin and my sweetheart kebab

Chez la famille C for New Years!

President's pday!

The T's daughter. So cute!!

Monday, January 2, 2017

1-2-17!

Hello hello!
This week was great! One of the best weeks ever!!

Monday: pretty tranquille pday. We fixed up our apartment a little, Elder Ramsey did his Christmas Skype, and I did some genealogy for Sister G. We went with the Ecully Sisters to have dinner with Mel., a recent convert. It was really fun!

Tuesday: we did lots of service for Brother Mab, a cool guy in our Ward. He's moving into a new apartment, and we started the painting on his walls. For a bunch of  young hoodlums qui ne savent pas peindre, it went pretty well. We went with the Val de Saône Elders, it was really fun. Brother Mab is English, and Elder Smith connected with him really well. He made us lunch, and we worked for about 3 hours. Afterwards, we came home, showered, and did lots of calls and planning. It was Elder Ramsey's birthday, and we went with the assistants for an Elders' night out! We went to a fancy restaurant in Vieux Lyon. It was super super good. We had all sorts of cool stuff: salmon, liver, trout tartare, duck, and some good desserts. It was a great way to celebrate a birthday.

Wednesday: we helped brother Mab again with his house, lots more painting. We found out that he was the guy who introduced Oreos into the French market! Before he worked for Kraft marketing, and Oreos didn't really exist in France. So cool. He was also a successful DJ! He's got a really cool story. We helped him for a few hours, then we went to sister Mar's for 30 minutes with the Geddes couple! It was a great RDV. I know Sr. Mar's aunt from my time in Nice, so we talked a lot about her. Sr. Mar (here in Ecully) has a hard time getting to church because of work, so we're trying to strengthen her and get her kids interested in the gospel. We ended the day with dinner chez Sister Bar, toujours with the Geddes couple. It was awesome!! So tasty. Sr. Geddes brought Sr. Bar flowers, and upon receiving them, Sr. Bar went to the kitchen and brought out flowers for Sister Geddes! Great minds think alike. Sr. Bar lost her husband on December 31st, 2015. It was her first holiday season without her husband, so she has been a little sad. She is such a great example of courage and positive thinking! Even with all the hardships she's faced, she is a true disciple of Christ.

Thursday: we had lunch with the Elu family and the sisters. It was great! Except forgetting my jacket upon leaving the Elu's house and finding long ginger and brown hairs all over. Nothing is more unsettling than that. The Elu family is great though, they have 4 kids, they are all pretty tall. Brother Elu was converted in Lyon 25 years ago, and his wife isn't a member yet. He's a wonderful guy. We then helped brother Mab again for 2 hours, we moved stuff from his garages to his apartment. He was reminiscent when he pulled out old stuff he hadn't seen in years, like his mission journals. He loves talking about missionary work and his mission. Hopefully he'll read some stuff to us sometime. We then came back, and had a mini exchange with Val de Saône. Elder Ramsey and Smith got the fun RDVs; Elder Laurens and I sat at the church and taught Ah. He gave us a kilo of fresh Algerian dates. Delicious.

Friday: we taught Bas about the priesthood! It was the last lesson before his baptism. He is ready! After, we went to help Frere Mab move some more stuff. It was fun as always. We are really tight with him now. At about 8:20, I had the feeling hat we needed to go pass a potential amie at Carrefour. So we went and passed. The last few times we have tried, she has not been there. But this time, she was there and wasn't busy! We got her number and she is very interested to talk with us! She had seen the sisters come in and buy stuff an hour earlier, and the sisters were thinking about her when we called them to share the miracle. Her name is Eug, and she's awesome! We're excited to meet with her next week hopefully.

Saturday: Bas's baptism! It was wonderful. Lots of people were there, even the Browns. People brought lots of food too! Elder Wade baptized Bas on the first try, especially impressive considering that Bas is afraid of water. After the baptism, we weekly planned, and then went to the C's house. Their neighbors gave us chocolate  with edible gold in them. Needless to say, they live in a nice neighborhood. Brother C was entertaining the whole night. He gets excited when visitors come over. We went with Elders Menzel and Wade, so we had someone to laugh with.

Sunday: happy new year! We started off the new year with Bas's confirmation. It was wonderful. We assisted in the confirmation, and it was a wonderful experience. Then we went over to the Kab's after church with the Geddes couple, Sister Kemp our mission nurse, and the sisters from our Ward. Sr. Kab made lots of African food and it was INCREDIBLE. Wow it was honestly so good. Best Congolese food I have ever had.

This week was great to see the work pay off. We followed the counsel of President Brown by teaching part-member families. We did it together between the three equipes. We did things the right way, the Lord's way. And it worked! I'm happy that we were able to all work and teach together to prepare Bas for his baptism!

I love you all!! Jesus Christ lives and loves all of us. More than anything this year, He wants us to turn towards Him and follow His example. I know that we are blessed as we do this.

Love, Elder MacArthur

With the Geddes couple and sister Bar!

Algerian dates from Ah

The Roquefort cheese was too strong 

Sister Kab's cooking!