Monsters

Our week started with a long tracting session. Now let me tell you, I have had a lot of these long sessions but this one was one of the most enjoyable that I have ever had. One lady answered the door and immediately yelled, "JOSEPH?!" She was a little disappointed when I was not her nephew that she hasn't seen in years. She said I look just like him. I was really confused but I pulled my crap together and we gave her a Book of Mormon at the end! From that neighborhood, however, we went and tracked a building and literally everyone hated us.

We were lucky enough to find another neighborhood that also hated us. It was quickly dubbed our favorite neighborhood. We left there and started another neighborhood and I was convinced I would see a miracle. I did. A dog came out of this gate and started following us. I walked past one house because I had no clue where the front door was and, when I arrived at the next house, I learned what it means to have a stupor of thought. I actually then followed the dog back to the house that I skipped and the lady opened her window and quickly said she wasn't interested. To make a long story short, after that, we ended up teaching her a lesson and setting a return appointment.

Turns out that the return appointment was a service appointment and it happened on Wednesday. We were pooper scoopers for about 2 hours for her horses and it was a good time. I was feeling pretty good and we went to go pass by a guy that we met a few days earlier. He set a reluctant rendez-vous with us and so I didn't think it was going to work out. However, he let us in straightaway and he was really interested in the Book of Mormon! He's going to start reading because he knows that if its true, it's pretty important to know.

On Thursday we held a district meeting by skype and it was fun. We had a really good discussion and set a goal to hand out 42 book of Mormons by the end of this transfer. Later that day, we got let in by some jehovas witnesses. They were very nice and I challenged the two boys to a soccer match. I don't think they wanted to. Probably because they know that they would lose.

I got a cedrat-citron hybrid. It looks like a giant lemon and I made good juice.

On Sunday we had a branch conference so we had some people there from the stake. It was a really good time. I almost forgot what it is like to have a room fun of people all singing a hymn. How quick I am to forget the spirit that comes in to those meetings.

All in all, great week. Love you much.

Love,
Elder Marshall Underwood

 Branch Lunch

 Branch Counsel 

 Some Branch members

Give Him The Spirit to Soften Hearts of Stone

Hiyo,

This week I hit nine months and I don't know where the time is going. It's kind of weird.

But other than that this week was a blast! I got to go on a exchange with Elder Otteson and Elder Thangaraj down in Ajaccio. Elder Otteson is an amazing elder so I learned a ton and elder Thangaraj is just the biggest bro on the planet so we had a good time together. That exchange lasted from Wednesday until Friday. That was great because I got to see Sylvia and Noel and Mary rose, which were all people that I have heard a ton about but that I have never met. I got to eat a Mary rose cake and it was delicious. Basically, the Ajaccio sector is on fire and we invited someone to be baptized down there. Elder Thangaraj also got a shirt from off the back of a guy. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he refused not to give us something back so he just took off his shirt (which was pretty dang cool) and gave it to elder Thangaraj.

On Friday we had a zone training. It's kind of weird because we Skype in so it feels really separated but it is ok. During zone training, the vendassis talked way to much haha. They had to comment on everything.

The most important things about this week are the things that I learned. First of all, I learned that I hate talking to people that literally don't want to listen to a word you say. I spat the quickest French just to keep up with this guy and he still didn't listen to me. I then found a lot more patience for the rest of the day. Also, lately, we have been having doors get opened to us and usually the first sentence out of the persons mouth is "no thank you, bye." And then a couple minutes later I find them asking a question and me answering it with a story from the Book of Mormon. It's amazing to see the spirits way of softening hearts. We taught a lot of lessons this week from the Book of Mormon because everyone has a question, you just have to find it. The last thing I have noticed is that my attitude for missionary work has changed. It used to be just something that I would do for 2 years and then go back to real life. But sometime (I don't know when) I subconsciously decided that this was just my life and it changed everything. There's no more reluctance or fear, just faith.

All in all, great week right?

Love,
Elder Marshall Underwood

Elder Hansen's Homecoming

Cole and I were able to attend Elder Hansen's homecoming in Kaysville, UT.

Stanky Leg

Well, on Monday we caught the boat back to Bastia and it was fun. Some guy on the boat got mad at us because we don't give our money to the poor instead of using it on a plane ticket to Europe. He didn't realize that missionaries are not rich. But that's okay. We got into our room and I ran into the bathroom. When I came out I said, "I hope you didn't have to use the bathroom elder Wilkey. You can only flush once." He didn't believe me and just went anyway.

Since elder Pesnell is in the branch presidency, he got stuck at church all day Tuesday and elder Wilkey and I went and knocked on some doors. We ended up teaching some people so it was a good time.

At zone training last transfer, president promised us that if we role played using the Book of Mormon in our contacts, we would have opportunities to use them during the day. This week it totally worked! I got to share Alma 32 with a lady but she didn't end up inviting us in but it was still a good time. That same day we knocked a door and watched a bear walk around the corner making the lowest growl I've ever heard that shook me to the core. The man answered the door confused and said "the dog let you in? That's surprising!" And then all of the sudden the dog turned into a giant teddy bear and just wanted us to pet it. This further confused the man and he left. The next door, a lady answered and jumped out of her socks. She yelled "what happened?" Like we Erie the police coming to tell her a loved one had died. That conversation didn't go anywhere. Later it started to rain really hard and elder Pesnell said "I'm staying here until I get one more conversation!" We didn't. All we got was really wet.

Elder Pesnell lost the phone and we had to look for it for a long time. Someone ended up finding it and they stuck it in our mailbox.

On Saturday we went to a catholic mass because someone that we knew was getting confirmed. It was a great experience but I was so confused for the most part. I can't believe that I haven't been to a catholic mass before my mission.

We saw the Hansen family who came back to visit and they are awesome. I forgot how much I love to hear little kids pray. I haven't heard it for a long time. Papa Hansen gave a talk in church and it was really powerful. It's hard for me to connect emotion to French because sometimes the words just don't mean anything.

On Sunday I was really determined to find someone. I ran up the stairs to to ladies house and knocked on the door. She came out and I just said "are you sylvie" because I had seen her name on the door and she said yes. After some other random elder underwood phrases, I made her laugh and she said "do you want to come in?" And then we taught her and we will go back again next week. She's really nice and she committed to start praying again. Little miracles like this happen all of the time.

Love you very much,
Elder Marshall Underwood

 Elder Underwood, church member, Elder Hanson, Elder Pesnell, Elder Wilkey

Hansen family picking up their son and visiting the mission

 ALL WET!

A Couple Surprises on Sunday

This is a message from mom - Carey Underwood. It was a fabulous Sunday. I woke up and when I turned on my phone - I had a message from Elder Hansen's family. They went to pick up their missionary and tour his mission. Today they were with Elder Underwood.

This afternoon, we got to go to Elder Berry's homecoming. What a joy it was to listen to this fine young man. He and Elder Underwood will be life long friends. He had on very nice French suit and shoes.

The British are coming

Well,

What did I even do this week? On Tuesday we got a call from a less active that told us to come over and it was pretty late but we went over because we love teaching.

On Wednesday we got to see that family that we found a little while ago. The one with the member parents. We went over and played cards with the kids and they loved it! The daughter said a prayer and it's obvious that the mom teaches them how to pray.

Ok here is the really cool part of this week. This guy called us to set up a meeting and we had no clue who he was. Anyway, I was standing by the door at this meeting and after ten minutes he didn't show up so I got mad and went to play the piano. Then, a few minutes later, this young attractive guy shows up and basically asks to be baptized. I was amazed and on top of that, he had a very specific smell. It's a smell that I know very well and it made me feel weird. It was the exact same smell as Cierra Breen. Anyway, he was super normal and really smart. What a miracle right?

On Sunday we did some knocking and elder Pesnell and I refused to talk because it was elder Hansen's last day! He's gone now.

Now we are sitting her with our knew companion elder Wilkey. A British lad. It will be a good time.

Love very much,
Elder Marshall Underwood

 Helping someone move

Mother's Day Skype - even Mazie was excited to see Marshall

3,000 Onions

Hello everyone,

This week on Monday, I was sitting on the beach and I watched a wave come in that dropped off a beautiful shell. I've never ran so fast to get something. I got it.

Tuesday was a really good day because we went up into the mountains to help one of our friends plant onions! There were 10 people there and 30,000 onions to plant for the day. It was fun! Basically imagine 10 people sitting on horses but then take away the horses and make them stand like that for hours while bending down to plant onions. There were a couple girls there and one of them was flirting with me with her eyes and it was a weird moment because sometimes I forget that normal people do that kind of thing. I just went back to planting onions and destroying my hamstrings. That not, we taught a guy named Emmanuel that told us to come back. He's a professional guitarist. The lesson went great and then afterwards he played for us!

Wednesday was a good day and we got on the boat to leave to the continent. It got windy outside and so we all went in. Sister Vendassi asked if we are allowed to proselyte on the boat and we told her no so she was sad. I wanted to see Corsica so I went outside on the deck. Brother Vendassi stood there explaining it. We saw a lady walk by and she did a 180 and headed straight for us. She asked if we were pilots and I said "no, we are missionaries, he's just explaining a little bit of the island to me." She went o to explain that her son just finished his pilot training and they were heading home. We talked a little bit more about that and a little more about what we were doing there and it was nice. The conversation then got to a point where I expected them to say have a good night and walk away. But then, taking me by surprise, elder Vendassi said "he holds the priesthood, I hold the priesthood, we can bless you." They said that would be cool and he replied, "now?" Before I knew it I was leading her and her son inside to receive a priesthood blessing. It was an amazing experience and they really felt blessed to have met us.

Thursday was spent in aix kinda getting ready for the conference and doing some other missionary stuff. Really not big stuff. Except elder Hansen ate two giant. Burritos and it was remarkable.

Friday was a zone conference. It was really fun to see a lot of people that I didn't think I would see again and also president brown. It's amazing to me the love that missionaries have for their mission president. They always hold a big spot in their hearts. We didn't get any pictures because he conference went a little long and people had to leave but that's okay. Elder Hansen gave his final testimony and it was really good. I also heart elder Quinn who was in the Bordeaux zone with me bear testimony and it made me cry a little bit. We drove back to our boat and instead of leaving at nine, it left at midnight. Oh well.

Saturday was memorable because a lady told us to go..... Hmm. Those aren't appropriate words. If you translate what she said to us from French, it's really close to "go make yourselves lightning" but that's with changing one letter in the French sentence. Oh well I think you probably get the point, but if you don't I'm sorry.

Sunday was a beautiful day of knocking on doors in the rain. It is such a foreign concept to me now that people can just cancel plans because of bad weather.

Love bunches,
Elder Marshall Underwood

The sunset in Toulouse

 Sleeping quarters on the ferry

 Monday emails

Gets a little cold outside