The Ammon Approach

Bonjour!

Our phone died this week for no good reason so missionary work became a little bit harder but nevertheless the week was quite successful.

We took the Ammon approach to things and were able to find a lot of opportunities to do service for different members. We helped our branch mission leader get a huge tree stump out of the ground. That was quite the achievement. I thought detaching it from the roots was difficult... oh how I was wrong. Haha. The hardest part was actually just lifting it out of the massive hole we had made. Good thing I work out in the mornings because that was the easily the heaviest thing I have ever squatted. Ha. We also helped someone else clean their apartment by taking some of the bigger things to the dump. That was a little bit of an easier task but it was fulfilling nonetheless.

Our investigators are doing great as usual. We were able to see Bouchaïb and Herve a lot this past week and they are both progressing really nicely. The best appointment of the week, though, happened with Peti. He invited us to his home where he lives with his wife and 3 adorable kids. It was a super amazing appointment and a marvelous humbling experience for me. Peti is the happiest man I have met on my mission, but yet, because of their refugee status, he has to live in not the greatest of conditions. It was just a great lesson to me that no matter what are surroundings are happiness is a choice and we can find

it through Jesus Christ.

Have a great week. Love y'all. God bless

Elder Hein

Little Fire

Bonjour! 

The lesson Elder Johnson and I learned this week is to never plug a dryer into an extension cord. On Saturday, Elder Johnson started the dryer and then started screaming for me to come see something. The socket of the extension cord that we plug our dryer into was exploding with this huge electrical sparks. It was quite incredible. After a long day of running from store to store trying to find a solution, we just ended up cutting the plug off the cord and replacing it with another plug. It was a good thing we were home to stop the fire because if not our apartment would have been burnt down. Haha. So if you happen to have your dryer plugged into an extension cord, I would urge you to plug it directly into the wall. Haha

The plug from the dryer

Other than that the week was great! We were in Le Mans on Friday for district meeting. Our entire district didn't change during transfers!  It will be good to see how much work we can get done together especially since we have already known each other for 6 weeks.

The investigators we have are doing wonderful. We are seeing Bouchaïb 3 times a week to get him prepared for his baptism and he is making some really good progress. It's been a lot harder to see Xuantao because he is still busy with exams but we still have hope he will be ready for June 4th. Herve is doing incredible! We helped him do some weeding in his garden this week and got to teach him a few lessons. He just keeps soaking up everything we teach him. It is quite incredible to witness. I have never had an investigator who actually reads all the stuff we give them and then come back with questions for us! This guy really has a desire to learn. Maxime is the same old Maxime. He just needs to take that leap of faith. He knows it's true, he just can't commit.

Have a wonderful week! God Bless

Elder Hein

Actual Europa Cup

Bonjour! 

Europa Cup

This past week was fantastic. 

It started off on Tuesday when we arrived back in the train station and we saw an oddly decorated train at one of the platforms. We did a little looking around, and figured out it is a train museum for the Euro Cup. The Euro Cup
tournament will take place in France this year so the train has been going around to different train stations in France everyday.  On the inside of the train there is a marvelous free exhibition of the history of the Euro Cup. (For those who don't know the Euro Cup is exactly like the World Cup but only consists of European teams. It happens every four years alternating with the World Cup). The crowning jewel to the exhibition is the fact that the actual Euro Cup is actually on board and you can take pictures with it. As an avid soccer fan, this was one of the coolest moments of my life. Haha.


On Thursday we threw a barbecue for the branch. It was such a great success. We had around 40 people there. We ate good food, socialized, and played lots of different sports together. The branch president loved it so much that he decided to make it an event that happens every year.

On Saturday we got transfer news.... and I am staying in Tours with Elder Johnson. I was really excited to stay because I feel like the work here in Tours is just beginning to boom. If all goes well with our investigators, I will get to be apart of at least two baptisms this transfer and I couldn't be more excited for that.


As far as the progression of our investigators go, nothing huge happened this week. We saw Bouchaïb a few times this week and he told us that the Book of Mormon is truth that comes from God. Xuantao is doing great as well. He has committed to see us more often and we refined his baptismal date for June 4. Maxime is still searching diligently for the truth and Herve has made some great progress as well. 

Life is wonderful! 
Love y'all. 
Have a great week. 
God bless, 
GoStars, 
and Happy Mother's Day.

Elder Hein

Famous "Grosse Brioche"

Planning a ward activity!

Candid picture of Elder Johnson and I on a train.

Bonjour! 

This week wasn't the most exciting week I have ever had but
every week is fun when serving the Lord. 

We got to see Bouchaïb 3 times this week. He is doing super solid. He has been reading the
assignments we give him and he has been praying. If he continues doing
these things, I have no doubt he will be ready for his June baptism.

We only got to see Xuantao once this past week. He is super bogged
down in exams and such so he doesn't have much time. When we did see
him, we taught the Ten Commandments. It was interesting experience
because usually when we teach that to people they know what they are,
but because of the lack of Christianity in Xuantao's background we had
to really explain each one. It made me think a lot deeper on why we
follow these commandments and it turned out to be a great testimony
builder for me personally. 

The sisters in Tours found us a new investigator. His name is Hervé and he seems pretty legit. We got to go see him on Sunday after church. He has started to read the Book of
Mormon and he is really interested in what we believe.

As far as other miscellaneous news, May 1 is a huge holiday here.
Literally no one works. It's like French "chill" day. So we had to walk
home from church on Sunday which was about an hour long walk. Haha.
Honestly, French people have so many holidays. 

The missionaries are throwing a BBQ on Thursday for all the members in
Tours. We have been really busy planning all that so hopefully the
weather is nice and all goes well. We have been really trying to
increase branch unity. We also made a monthly newsletter that will be
sent out to all the members to inform them about Ward activities,
lessons, and such. This past transfer I have really seen that
missionary work thrives when members are involved.

I hit my 7 month mark this past week, so I bought a nice éclair to
celebrate. It's unbelievable to think I have been in Europe for 7
months. Time is flying by.
Love y'all. God Bless


Elder Hein