Monday, June 27, 2016

Marry My Daughter

Hello! I hope you're ready for a two week summary.

On Tuesday a couple weeks ago we met a nice guy that took us into his wine cellar. He offered us some and I didn't have a reaction to say no. That was a little funny. I ended up saying no and explaining that I don't drink alcohol. He said, "that's okay it's not too great for your health."

The next day we had some rough tracting. I don't think anyone opened the door. But, that night we went and met with a lady from a course in miracles. That's an interesting philosophy. Or religion. I basically studied the same philosophy in school but I think someone just threw God in it and called it a religion haha. She was really nice and invited back to dinner on Saturday. This will come in later in the story.

I did a district meeting. It was really great because it was elder ottesens last one! He's a great missionary that inspired me a lot.

We got our calls on Friday and Pesnell is now gone to be a big bad zone leader in Lyon. That day during tracting we defended Muslims against an old white lady by using the bible. That was interesting. We also got to see claudias family and they making great progress. They all came to church!

Ok now it's Saturday and we are going back to that lady's house. We walk in and there are her daughters that dressed up a little (you could tell). The rest of the night was spent trying to avoid the flirting of the one daughter. They gave us a bunch of food at the end that was meant to say "marry my daughter." I was super uncomfortable. I felt like a giant walking green card. Or at least that's how they saw us.

On Sunday we went to a rdv to find the Book of Mormon in a bag outside the door. He returned it to us. How kind.

On Monday we went to the continent and it was stressful because our card that we pay everything with wasn't working. We got through it though. There was a lot more change in the car than I thought. Sitting in the train station on Monday is always weird because I never see the other missionaries during the transfer.

Let me give you an image of Bastia tracting: knock a door, grab some plums from a tree on the street, knock a door, eat a fig that someone took from their tree for you, knock a door, walk out with a bag of lemons, knock a door, teach a lesson. Ok, so that was a little lucky. The rest of the day didn't go quite so well but people like to give us fruit.

This day, the 24th was a basically perfect day. We had rdvs in sisco, luri, and borgo. So we were in the car a lot but they all worked. At night we played soccer against some guys that we know. I said if they win, we would come to their house and do service and if we won we would come to their house and eat. They agreed and we won so I'm going to get some dinner.

The next day we did some service. The work ethic of Americans is much different than the French. We also got to see claudias family again and it was great. That night, we did some tracting and got let in. They were super nice but they kinda tried to set me up with their daughter. I set another meeting and they said jokingly that they would try to get the daughter over. I sure hope they were joking. Unless she wants to know the gospel. I can teach that.

Sunday was great. Found some new investigators. Church is always good.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this. Don't worry, I won't come home married.

Love,
Elder Marshall Underwood











Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Email fail


I tried to send an email from the Marseille train station but it didn't work. Next week I will send a summary of the two weeks.

So sorry.

Basically elder Pesnell left to be zone leader in Lyon and we got elder Ramsey down here. He is a big dude. I'm with two giants down here.

Love you,
Elder Marshall Underwood



Monday, June 20, 2016

Transfer Day

No email as of yet from Elder Underwood. Today is transfer day - he didn't expect to be transferred, but he may have had to go to the mainland to get a missionary that was assigned to Corsica. Going to the mainland is an all day travel experience - hopefully we will hear from him tomorrow.

Monday, June 13, 2016

Satan got wrecked

Dear family,

I would like to base this email on a challenge that came from God for our mission between the dates of June first and June eleventh. The challenge was to find 1000 new Amis in the mission between those dates because they were the dates of the strikes here in France. Satan thought he had us good when the strikes started, but this is how we punched him straight in the kisser.

On Tuesday, elder Wilkey and I went tracting together because elder Pesnell got stuck at the church for about 7 hours doing branch affaires. It's a little bit of an interesting dynamic when your comp is in the branch presidency but we deal with it.

The next day seemed foreboding because of the endless tracting, but we were ready and willing! I didn't stop laughing all day basically. We were on exchange with elder Thangaraj who I love. The events most memorable events of the day included elder Pesnell stepping in poop, elder Pesnell getting peed on by a dog, and elder Pesnell getting pooped on by a bird. He was pretty done with this day and he answered a phone call. Me and elder Thangaraj went up to this gate overrun with weeds and vines. I went to walk away because it looked like no one lived there but the spirit told me otherwise. I pushed open the door and walked onto the porch. After I knocked I said to elder Thangaraj, "if we find someone here, I'll flip." As soon as I finished those words a 30ish year old man came to the door. He ended up asking us to come back and share our message. What a miracle!

On Thursday, we drove from Bastia to corte to end the exchange and get back elder Wilkey. Then we drove to Macinaggio to teach someone. Then down to luri to teach someone else. And then back to Bastia. I took a bunch of phone numbers to call people in the car in order to show my faith. Over about 6 hours of driving, I had no one really even answer the phone. I was a little discouraged. Anyway, the person in Macinaggio became a new investigator so that was number one for the day. At the end of the day, we knocked on 5 doors and got 3 new investigators! Bam! Satan got jacked up.

On Friday a guy that knew elder Wilkeys brother took us to lunch and dropped €107. It was really nice and I'm so great full. We did a lot of finding that day and got 4 new investigators. Bam. Satan RekD. We finished the night at the home of a partial member family and we taught a ton to the kids. The mom sings primary songs with them and they showed us that they had it memorized. They are such a great family.

On Saturday we found three new investigators. Bam. Satan got bodied. We ate in the evening with an atheist couple that loves us. They are vegan and they fed us some good food. They are really cool. It was just a normal night with some normal people which was actually pretty odd.

In Sunday we ran church because our branch Prez wasn't there. Then we did some work.

We ended the challenge by finding 13 new investigators which is pretty much unthinkable here on Corsica. But, we did it. I pray that they will be able to learn of Jesus and come to him.

Love,
Elder Marshall Underwood













Monday, June 6, 2016

Subject


Hello!

Not a ton of things to share this week but I'll do my best.

On Monday night we had a meeting with a part member family. She cancelled it and I was pretty mad. However, I felt like there was someone that needed to be found that day. Well, we went to work and found him! He is a baker that was really interested in what we had to say to him. There's a miracle!

Tuesday was packed full of rendezvous and driving. We got to see a few people and teach them. You know, normal stuff. That night we had the chance to meet with that part member family and it went really well. We played a board game and ate pizza and the boys asked a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon. I was surprised by how much they know.

We got a lot of Corsican sausages while knocking doors on Wednesday.

Thursday was a great day. I got a priesthood blessing that was specifically powerful. I received a lot of answers that I was hoping for. I'm so grateful for the spirit that speaks to our souls.

Just one more story to tell. We opened one of our investigators gates and the dog ran out. We ended up chasing this dog through a Corsican forest but lost it. I was scarred for what she would think when I told her that her dog was lost in the mountain. I walked back to her house with elder Wilkey and elder Pesnell to tell her. However, right then, from the other side of the street, we saw the dog coming back. I don't know how that dog teleported like that but it was amazing.

Overall, I'm having a really good time here with elder Wilkey and elder Pesnell. Sometimes it's hard because we are relatively young but we work hard and these guys are great friends.

Love,
Elder Marshall Underwood




Elder Wilkey had to go to the hospital and it was the grossest place ever