Elder MacArthur's Mission to France : 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