Elder MacArthur's Mission to France : 10-5-15!

Bonjour everybody! I had a great week this week! It was legendary.

Events I experienced:
Monday was awesome. We had p-day as usual. And then our water heater broke! And our carbon monoxide detector went off! So we called the water heater fixer uppers, and they came, said it was busted, and it was leaking CO when turned on. So they turned it off, and they will replace it asap. So for the next week or so, cold showers! No hot water! I empathize with missionaries who had to serve whilst living in less-than-elegant circumstances. Then we went to the church for FHE! Only 2 people showed, S and a less-active named St!! WHO I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO CONTACT FOR NEARLY 4 MONTHS! We sent out the FHE text as usual, and I guess he finally decided to come this time! He is really cool, very African. Very believing, very philosophical. Direct quote from him: "God eats love, he cooks it, it is His happy meal." Hahaha such a cool guy. We invited him to come to general conference and he accepted! He told us the Spirit had been telling him to FHE today! He also said it told him not to go to church since May, so we have our work cut out for us there, but still! COOL!

Tuesday was sweet! We did some service for the B family, and had lunch with their neighbor Mar. It was lots of fun! We shared the parable of the Good Samaritan. Elder Hansen mentioned that his brother is getting married this weekend, and Frère B just said, "he's losing his soul, then..." And I mentioned my sister is getting married soon, so I asked, "is my sister losing her soul too?" And Frère B responded, "no, she gains one!" Haha we laughed a lot at that. Sister B was less amused hahaha. After that, we taught an ami named Fra at the church. He's very very nice, but I'm not sure he gets the point of our discussions. We've talked about baptism, the temple, and the purpose of our life on Earth with Fra, but we need to emphasize our purpose as missionaries again I suppose. After that, we had some sweet contacting, gave out BEAUCOUP de pass-along cards, and had dinner with the bishop's family. They are really cool and cook VERY well so it's always a good time chez la famille Jacas.

Wednesday was district meeting! I was pretty sad because I have a real possibility of leaving after this transfer, so it might be the last time I see lots of those missionaries in a while! After district meeting, we had a finding activity here in Carcassonne! We got lots of numbers and rendezvous fixed, it was an awesome miracle! After that, me and Elder Shaw started an exchange. We taught a new ami, Phi, and we did a lot of contacting! It was an awesome day. (I cried as we sung Angels We Have Heard On High at the end of DM. Our mission song is the best, it's even better in French. Elder Perry, my favorite missionary I've ever met, was standing next to me and he wasn't singing! I looked over to find out why, and it was because he was crying too. Ahh the spirit was so strong, we were all having a sister moment haha.)

Thursday was awesome too! We had 3 lessons, and gave more service so that's always fun! We also went to S's birthday party which was really fun. Pizza always helps. I love Elder Shaw, so it was really fun to get to do a long exchange!

Friday was tranquille. We did lots of boring stuff kinda, like area book stuff, our weekly missionary/ Ward mission leader meeting, cleaning out old phone contacts because our phone memory is filling up, weekly planning, iPad audits, comp inventory. We did get to have English class and a rendezvous with Phi, so that was awesome! It feels like we did nothing, but we really did haha. Any day without contacting or porting feels like we did nothing haha.

Saturday! We had a lesson! But not really! Our ami was way drunk! So we left! And then General Conference! It was awesome! So awesome! All good talks! So cool! We are so fortunate to have living prophets who speak to us!

Sunday was awesome as well. We studied, had meals, had a lesson with our potential ami Abd's family, and watched general conference. Abd is super nice! We keep on forgetting to ask him his last name haha, so he only name I have for him is his prénom. He's Muslim, so our views differ a little, but he's really open and super nice. We're still trying to work with him and get him interested in taking the lessons, but he likes the Bible so we share Bible stories with him. We just met his family today, his wife and daughter are very nice too! His daughter is a little too nice. And she is coming to English class now. Soooooo we'll see how that goes. On a happier note, general conference was awesome! SO AWESOME! I highly recommend it.

Lessons I learned:

Notes from President Uchdorf's first talk!
-sometimes as spiritual patients of the Savior, we are not very patient
-often we ignore reliable truth and seek to do it our way
-how do we know if we are on the right spiritual path? ask questions!
-is my experience in the Church blessing me? If so, why deviate from what we know to be true?!
Why does the Church work for some, but not for others? Do we:
-over-complicate our complicate our discipleship?
-we need to focus on the weightier matters "Living the Gospel does not need to be complicated!"
-focus on the fundamentals, and "the gospel will work better for you"
-start where you are, God will work with you regardless of what state you are in!
-look at your life through Heaven's eyes! "Exaltation is our goal, discipleship is our journey."
-by simple means, we can be taken from where we are now to the Celestial kingdom
-we can make the gospel of Jesus Christ work for us!

(free) Advice I have:
"No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character [to do so]. He is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments.” -George Q. Cannon

Luke 4: 61-62
And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Once we have covenanted to follow Jesus and build His kingdom, we cannot look back! We cannot leave this work unfinished! The Kingdom of God, or nothing.

Thanks everybody! I love you all! The Church is true and Jesus Christ is at the head of it.
Love, Elder MacArthur