Kingdom Come

Every day of this week looks pretty lame in comparison to Tuesday.

First of all, on Monday, we flew from Bordeaux to Lyon.

Tuesday was the mission conference and we got to meet Elder Christofferson before it all started. We shook his hand! After I let go of his hand, I said, "let's get a good picture" and then turned to the camera a gave a thumbs up. Definitely not the thing to do when you meet an apostle but it was definitely congruent with my character. Anyway. We all sat down and President Brown stood up to address us.
Now rewind-
remember that goal that we had to find 187 new people that say yes to baptism? That started the 15 of February. on Friday morning, we had 55 left. So, the whole mission knelt at sunrise to pray for guidance. Then, the miracles came endlessly. The mission was amazed as we found person after person, family after family. On Sunday morning, we got a text that said there were 10 left. So, we got to work and finished the day exhausted. We didn't have the total before the conference. Ok, now back to the conference- He said some great things and then choked up a little. Then, with great humility, he announced to an apostle of God that our mission had found not only 187, but 223 people that have started their path to baptism. How incredible. I looked around to see many missionaries crying (including myself) because of the miracles we knew had taken place.

We flew back to Bordeaux and then took a train to Perigueux. By this time it is Wednesday and I am on exchange with elder Rellaford. We saw the Garcias and we were eating together. Then, all of the sudden, the little boy (he's 5) says, "what the ____" I'm not going to type the word but it definitely rhymes with buck. I quickly told the mother that that was a very bad word in English and she immediately reprimanded all of the kids. The angel daughter said he knew it from grand theft auto. The mom stood up and took away the game. By this time everyone was really excited and the house was loud. The mom said "oh I need to get that video, that always calms them down!" She proceeded to get the restoration video with Joseph smith and put it on. All of the kids immediately went silent and calmly watched the video. WHAT. It was crazy and awesome.

This week we also passed the jam lady. That old lady that gave me and Elder Berry jam. She was really happy to see us but still hates God.

Also, on Friday, elder little and I wanted to make a cake for one of the ladies that lives in the shop beneath us because she is cool and shrilled us. So, we made a cake. Long story short, it was a disaster and it tasted awful. I walked into her store hanging my head and told her I was sorry. She said, "you forgot the cake?" Because I had previously told her I was going to make one. I then went on to explain that I just totally messed it up and it was the worst cake ever. We are going to try again this week.

I would like to end this email with some lyrics:
Demons seem so small/
They're the same ones that I fought in all my nightmares/
And conquered in my dreams/
We have won/
As we watch them fall/
I begin to realize my only enemy is me/
KINGDOM COME

I like these lyrics because demons are real, but they can always be beaten when we realize at we are the only ones that can stop ourselves from doing great things. God, may your kingdom come.

Love,
ancien sousbois

 Great to see Elder Berry

The group of missionaries that came to Lyon France October 2015

 France Lyon Missionaries

 Getting better at giving myself a decent haircut

 Flying to Lyon for our mission conference with Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Hurry up, they're behind you

Ok, so,

I don't know if I have explained this already, but I'm going to explain it again anyway. So, we are putting a big focus on families right now so we contact every family that we see. When the family has a teenage girl in it, I know exactly how to get them to stop. Basically, I just make eye contact with the girl because what French girl isn't going to stop for two foreign guys who speak English? They will all stop. And their family will naturally stop with them. Anyway, on Tuesday I m contacted a family using this exact method. But, a problem that I have never encountered arose. She stopped... But her family didn't! Eventually the mom yelled back to tell her not to talk to us. And she left. Later in the day, we met a guy working in his garden. I contacted him and he told me he didn't want to answer any questions. So, I said, "that's ok. We are also here as volunteers so would you like some help with your garden?" He responded that he didn't want to answer any questions so we left. The street turned so we ended up passing by him again and he called out to us and said, "why do you ask so many questions? Do I ask you questions?" So, sassy me responded, "um, yeah you just did." He said, "oh... Yeah I guess you're right. Now, ask yourselves the necessary questions." You can imagine that by now I'm a little confused so I just stood there until he turned around. I gave him a weird look only to see that his wife was watching the whole exchange from the window. Oops.. Remember that family I was talking about earlier? Ok let's go back to them. Later in the day, we we're walking across a bridge and they passed us from behind. I said hello again, but the mom didn't see that it was us. The girl turned and said hello again, so she naturally fell a few steps behind her family. The mother looked back to see why (at this point they were about 10 feet in front of us) and then said in a hushed voice to her daughter, "hurry up, they're behind you!" Now.. You don't just let someone say something as hilarious as that without responding, so I said, "yep! We're still here!" What a good day.

Wednesday, I was walking down the street and I turned around and saw Zoe Wadge's long lost twin. I literally almost tripped over my own feet. Then, later, I was walking down another road (we do a lot of walking down roads) and I saw out of the corner of my eye a father and a teenage daughter in a car that turned to each other, laughed, and then both looked at us. So, I knew that they were talking about us. Thus, the staring contest began. I caught eyes with the daughter and we kept eye contact. I assumed that once I walked past the car, she would give up. BUT she was a warrior in this battle of stares. They started to pull off so it was getting further and further away. Just as she was almost out of sight, I thought "wow, I haven't looked where I am walking for about 10 seconds. Then BAM I walked straight  into a pole. Classic.

On Friday, we went tracting around the Garcias and basically we just met a bunch of people that sit in the dark and wait for death. It's really sad, but in small French cities, there are a lot of old people that just don't do anything. And all the young people move off to big cities. Eventually, all those little French towns are going to die.

We at a lot of cake on Saturday.

A member bought me a plastic cup because I told her that I had 6 glasses and elder Berry and I broke 5 of them.

This week, elder little recounted to me many films. I love that guy. Sometimes, he's the only thing that makes tracting endurable.

Love,
Elder Marshall Underwood

We saw some Alpacas - where am I, Peru?

Pea sized hail - it hurt

Folles

Elder StortiThis Monday started out and it was pretty exciting. So, here's the thing, elder little is pretty good at making cakes and so he was making one while I was writing a letter in the other room. Then I heard something fall and "oh no." So I waltzed into the kitchen and it seemed as if he took the cake pan full of batter and threw it at the open oven. I immediately collapsed in laughter and then grabbed the kitchen roll to help him clean it up. The cake ended up being really good even though half of it was wiped off the inside of the oven.

So March started and we taught 4 lessons to less active members in a day. We also met a lady that told us to have a lot of sex while we are young because if we don't, when we are older, we will regret it like she does. Welcome to France haha. I also received the amazing shirt that the McIleece fam sent to me. Thank you ❤️

Elder Storti - a Frenchy on the right

For the Garcia lesson, I was with Elder MacArthur who is normally in Brive. We taught them about the law of chastity and they happily agreed to get married. Then, we taught the girls. I don't think that I have ever been more stressed in my life. While teaching, they were literally wrestling on the couch and there was no way to calm them down. They were literally insane. I feel so much respect for parents that can control their children. In the end, I ended up pulling them apart and sitting between them while I asked them questions one by one. After I did that, the lesson went smoothly but oh my goodness. They were insane.

On Thursday, well, this is how I would describe Thursday: Background info, I made meringue. When I was young, I wanted to help my mom make meringue. She told me specifically to not get ANY yolk into it or else it would ruin the taste. Now fast forward. I got yolk in the mix this week. It was literally nothing so I thought it was fine... When my mom told me this, was she right? 100%. My meringue was awful. Another question: if you are too impatient to wait for your meringues to cook in the oven so that you can put in a second batch, can you try to fry them? Yes. Will it work? No. Will your kitchen smell like burnt meringue? Absolutely.

Friday we had an apartment check and the senior couple said it was the cleanest that they had ever seen. It was also one of the garcias daughters birthdays so we texted them. It made them really happy.

The weekend was not that eventful.

But, Elder Little skyped his family so it was really fun to see them - It was Mother's Day in England!

Love,
Ancien Sousbois

Happy Leap Year!

This week started with some area book work. Elder Little likes area book work, but I absolutely despise it. I feel like staying inside to look through papers and call people makes me a lazy missionary. In reality, it is a good thing to do because there are people in there that once stopped meeting with the missionaries. but are now prepared. So, we took a couple hours and I tried to do anything and everything that we could. Tuesday ended with an English class where I had to explain to a member the difference between 'hustle' and a swear word that sounds a lot like askwhole. I was going to explain 'hassle' to him. but I decided it was too dangerous for a French person to try to say hassle.

Wednesday was my last day of being 18 and I wanted to work my butt off. We left the apartment at 8 am and we got back at 8 pm. Imagine a pumped up Elder Marshall Underwood racing through the French countryside from door to door while his companion struggles to keep up. I don't know where all of the energy came from but we covered about 8 km of ground that day. Also we taught the Garcias which went well as always.

On my birthday, we had an exchange with the zone leaders. At the beginning of the day, the one that would be with me wished me a happy birthday. I told him that it wasn't my birthday and I didn't know what he was talking about. This kinda made things awkward so I said, "thanks for wishing me a happy birthday anyway." We then went throughout the day and I had a ton of fun with Elder Richmond. Elder Richmond was also companions with Elder Berry for 3 transfers. Elder Berry and I talked a lot about him so Elder Richmond was surprised at all the random facts I knew about his life. At night, I made burritos and a cake. While we were eating this feast, Elder Richmond asked "is it really not your birthday?" I explained to him that it was and he got mad. So, I got away with tricking someone into thinking that it wasn't my birthday for the whole day. Sly.  Elder Berry also called me to sing happy birthday. Love that guy.

On Friday we had a zone training. It was great. As we were walking to the tram afterwards, I straight up walked into a pole. Smacked straight into a pole. It was so embarrassing. I didn't even try to pull of a joke like I normally would. I just took the shame. Also, some homeless guy grabbed one of the sisters hands and kissed it. What courage. At night, a member called us and asked to come give her nephew a blessing. It turns out that he was not a member and he just turned up at her house asking for a blessing. He left with a Book of Mormon and he was stoked at God can answer prayers.

Saturday was fun because of this: we went to eat with a member. This member invited a member that just left the church. He started out the night by basically saying, "alright I want to start with a scripture. I don't share this scripture to demean or criticize our friend here who just left the church or anyone else here but I just like this scripture that I read today." He then continued to read a scripture where Nephi gets mad at the Nephi tea because they had testimonies and then they left the church. "Now, it's easy to see that if you have a testimony, you can't leave the church. Now, you just left the church brother and you should really think about when you had a testimony. But, after that, you do whatever you want I guess." LOL this member is a savage. It was really uncomfortable.

The Garcia fam came to church except for the wife. She stayed home so that all of the kids could go together because their car isn't big enough. She's really great.

I also did the 2x2 Rubik's cube without looking. That was fun.

Love you all. Thanks for the birthday wishes

Elder Marshall Underwood

Amazing letter from A French member

Hello, I am writing to let you know something you already know, however I don't thing in this case repetition is a bad thing.  Elder Underwood is doing great.  We are so happy you were kind enough to share him with us to help us with our missionary work.  Thank for the piano lesson also.  You and your husband did a wonderful job of preparing him to be not just a missionary but to be a great missionary.

The main reason I am writing is to encourage you in keeping the commandments and accept the blessings that come to any family who sends out a missionary.  

If you have any questions for us or if you ever want to come to France just give us a little notice so we can kill the fatted calf so to speak.

Thanks and make everyday happy and prosperous 

Your Brother Louis Oziak

PS. Elder Underwood is eating his salad as instructed by you.

-- 
"The main reason for the failure of modern medical science is that it is dealing with results and not causes."
                           Dr. Edward Back "Heal Thyself"

This is great!

This week was just the best. It started out with some great studies on Tuesday. We have a goal in our mission to get 187 new people engaged to baptism by the 15 of March. So, I was studying and getting really pumped about it. It was only magnified on Wednesday when we went over to the Garcias and had a beautiful lesson. I gave the kids balloons on which I wrote "prier" which is the verb "to pray" in order for them to remember. They loved it. Wednesday's studies were also amazing and I was feeling the faith so strongly within me.

But then what happens? Like always, a chance to prove to God whether what he has given you has actually entered your heart. Thursday consisted of 7 hours of either contacting or knocking on doors. To tell you the truth, I haven't had that many doors slammed in my face on my mission. But, this day, I had many. I think Elder Little was a little surprised because after every slammed door, I would say "this is great" and confidently walk to the next door. This day was all made worth it because we found a beautiful family that we set a rendezvous with. I pray that it will go well because I know that their lives can change.

Things went great for the rest of the week. On Saturday, we ate with a member family who invited their friends to join us. We talked about prayer with them and by the end of the night, the wife of the family was asking about why there are so many churches on the earth. The member quickly explained the reasoning of the apostasy and it all clicked in her friends head!

Sunday ended the week with a bang because we had 8 investigators at church. Considering that that number was 0 consistently about 2 months ago, I'm happy with what's going on.

P.S. Elder Underwood sent a couple videos through icloud sharing - I can't figure out how to save them or upload them to the blog or youtube - I will post when I figure it out. Elder Little spoke on one video - awesome English accent.

I love you more than I can tell,
Elder Marshall Underwood

"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work And out of small things proceedeth that which is great." D&C 64:33

On y va!

This was one of the best weeks I have ever had in my life. But before I get to that, you should know that I am still in Perigueux and I got a new companion named Elder Little. He's from Charlie England and I love him a lot. Also, if you have the urge to call him Elder Weasley, that would be hilarious, but he's definitely heard it before.

On Tuesday, Elder Berry and I had to go to the hospital. We had been sick for a few weeks. The thing with the mission is that they have you go to the emergency room. So, Elder Berry and I with our coughs - went to the emergency room and the lady chewed us out for going there. Truthfully it was hilarious. They gave us a list of doctors in Perigueux and kicked us out. We ended up just not going to the doctor because we were just tired of it. I made some cookies when we got home for some families and Elder Berry could tell that I put extra vanilla in them. What the heck. This guy has a hidden talent. We taught an investigator and he told us that he wasn't too interested. But, we ended the day by teaching a part member family. The son wants to get baptized, the mom is less active, and the dad is not a member. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and it was incredible. Later that night, the mother texted us asking "do you really believe that someone can relive the way of God even though they lost it a really long time ago?" We of course said yes and then gave her some scriptures. It's amazing to see her son's desire to be baptized change her views.

Wednesday was very well one of the best days of my mission. We went to teach the Garcias. After we taught the parents, we waited for the kids to get home and then we taught their 2 older daughters. We taught them the restoration and they loved it. We gave the older one a Book of Mormon and she was so excited to read it! David took us back to Perigueux afterwards and his daughter brought her book with her in the car. She insisted on reading it in the car. She ended up not coming to Perigueux with us because she had to help her mom with something, but before she got out of the car, she asked, "When can we see each other again?" I told her that if she came to church, we would see each other there. To that she answered, "on y va!" (Let's go!) It melted my heart a little bit and I loved it so much. We taught a less active also that ended up coming to our English class that night. A member fed us. Then the zone leaders slept over at our apartment. What a day right?

We had a district meeting in Limoges the next day and then I went finding with Elder Rullaford. We hopped onto a bus to go out to a neighborhood and there were only teenagers on this bus. I was going to talk to some but I didn't. Then we got off the bus and knocked on a door and one of the teenagers that was in the bus opened the door. It was funny, but then we had an awesome conversation with her mom!

We all slept over in Limoges and then woke up for the calls. It was intense because everyone was there (because of the district meeting) and we got our calls one by one. Elder Berry left to be the zone leader in Ecully. What a goober. he was excited to go back to Lyon and I think pretty excited to leave Perigueux. My new companion is Elder Little. He is a really great guy and I am happy to have him. Technically now I am senior companion. Which is hilarious because I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING HAHA. We will see if Elder Little and I can avoid burning down Perigueux for 6 weeks.

On Saturday, we did a FHE because the members were sad that Elder Berry was leaving. He got a tie and a beret and a wooden African head from members. He's just a cool guy. He accidentally pressed a giant red button that cut all the electricity in the chapel so it got a little exciting.

Sunday: we at lunch with members and dinner with members. Didn't have much luck in finding people though.

Monday, I hung out in Bordeaux for 8 hours. Elder Berry and I said goodbye like we always did.... With a double high five.

Now I'm here with Elder Little. We will see what we can do!

Love lots,

Elder Marshall Underwood

P.S. Before Elder Berry left, I made my birthday cake because I wanted him to celebrate with me.

Transfers

Transfers are today. I'm staying in Perigueux and I am getting a Britt. His name is Elder Little. I will be senior comp. I'll send emails tomorrow.

Love,
Elder Marshall Underwood

Aurora Borealis Leopard

Good morning world and all who inhabit it!

What a killer week I have had!

This week was the chante de l'heure which basically means "crepe day" in my head. No one that I asked was really sure what it was, but from what they knew, it was comparable to Ground Hog Day in America. The day where winter either continues or stops. I tried to explain this, but I didnt know how to say groundhog so now there are some French people that think Americans celebrate "guinea pig day". It sounds ridiculous, but so does Ground Hog's Day.

Side note: Elder Berry and I both received packages this week. Fam, thank you so much for the presents. I love them. Basically I'm trying to figure out a way to eat that cake without someone singing happy birthday to me. It will be easy if I get a new companion. Elder Berry's family also wrote me Valentines and that was very nice. In the picture, I am wearing the mask that Sister Berry sent me and the blanket that my mother sent me. The original name of the blanket is rainbow cheeta, but Elder Berry guessed the name and he said aurora Borealis Leopard which I like much better.

The Garcia family is doing incredibly. The mother and father will be baptized with their daughter! They also came to church and loved it! They are just amazing.

Family Donadier. They are really sweet. We ate with them on Sunday.

I'm sorry that this email is really short. Not much new is happening. Except for the fact that we had 7 investigators at church which is fantastic! Basically, Elder Berry and I have exhausted any story that we have ever had and so now we just walk in silence. It is okay though.

I went on an exchange with Elder Allen. He is from Alpine, Utah. He goes home next week and let's just say that he's really excited and ready.

Transfers are next week and I don't know what is going to happen!

Love you lots,
Elder Marshall Underwood

Ro Roller Coaster

This week started with a zone conference in Bayonne. That is the south west corner of our mission. It was insanely beautiful and I hope that it will be converted through the pictures. After our training, we went out to the lighthouse that looks over the ocean, from that point, you have an amazing view of the beach and of Spain. It was incredible. At that time we had departing testimonies of some missionaries and it was easy to feel the spirit because we were so close to God's beautiful creations.

On Wednesday, we taught the Garcia family again. When we started teaching, there were two of the husband's friends there that we invited to participate. They both declined, but then he turned to them and bore testimony that what we teach would help their lives. At the end, we gave a Book of Mormon to one of them and it was amazing. Even the wife who hasn't learned too much yet - told them to listen by telling them that she just feels good whenever we come over.

I did an exchange with Elder Brill on Thursday. he has served in Perigueux and so he remembered this house that he had stopped by once where a lady was interested, but then he never got to teach her. So, we stopped by and she agreed to have us come back! I couldn't believe that he remembered that house, but it was surely a miracle.

Elder Underwood and Elder Brill

On Thursday, we went and ate with a group of members. ONE OF THE MEMBERS THERE MADE THE BEST HOT CHOCOLATE THAT I HAVE EVER HAD. ALL OTHER PALE IN COMPARISON. But really, we demanded the recipe because I cannot live the rest of my life without drinking that again.

Getting a ride with members

Saturday was a great day. All morning I just wanted to stay inside. Then, all of our meetings cancelled for that day. Once it was around lunch, I said to Elder Berry, "Can I be dramatic for a second? I have never been so scared to leave that door." Elder Berry said, "This is awesome. That means that something good is going to happen today or else Satan wouldn't be trying so hard." I prayed and felt better and we left and found a guy that set a meeting with us and talked to some other people. Not too many great things happened, but I really felt fulfilled and I knew that God was proud of me for overcoming my spirit of laziness.

Sunday was incredible. We had 5 investigators at church. Amazing! We were talking with one of them upstairs and then we started walking down. On the staircase, there is a picture of the second coming of Christ surrounded by angels. She couldn't stop staring at it. She told us afterwards, showing us the picture, "you see that robe that he is wearing? I had a dream last night in which I was wearing the same one. I have been reading the Book of Mormon and I know that God can communicate through dreams." Obviously he is trying to communicate something to her. She loves church. Also after church, this lady caught one of our members outside and asked when the meetings start and if we are a church that baptizes people. Needless to say, we talked for a while with her. She was great and she just wants God in her life and she said she has been looking for our church. She set two meetings with us and said she can't wait for church next week.

What an amazing week - am I right?

Here is a great scripture - Numbers 23:22

I love you all,

Elder Marshall Underwood

More incredible photos from Zone Conference in Bayonne

Baptisms in Pennsylvania