Stacked Wood

Bonjour. 

I'm going to apologize in advance for this email. I jammed my fingers playing basketball earlier today so I am currently typing a lot slower than usual in an attempt minimize pain. But don't worry. I still won the game. Haha. 

We had a pretty busy week in Lille. We had 4 days in our sector so that really helped boost our own work. We had exchanges early on in the week with the Amiens Elders. On Wednesday we helped a member with service in her backyard. Ill attach a picture of the final results but basically they had this area that was just a huge pile of wood. We had to pull all the wood out, cut it into less than 2 feet chunks, and then pile it neatly in the allotted area. I was on cutting duty for most of it, but unfortunately the only tool available was a bow saw. It would have been a lot easier with an ax. It took us quite a while to finish the task but it was well worth it. 

Thursday (I was incredibly sore from that bow saw) was a good normal missionary day with finding and lessons. We finished it off with a dinner at the Gouttin family's home. It was absolutely delicious. 

Friday and Saturday we were in Amiens and V dasq for finding Days. Amiens had some really good success. They were able to find 14 new investigators and over 30 numbers. Sunday was planning on planning. We did get to meet with a man named Alfa though. He doesn't really seem interested. We will see though. In other news, our baptismal date Maxime doesn't want to see us anymore and our other investigators just don't pick up their phones. Starting from ground zero again:). The Lille sisters were suppose to have a baptism on Saturday but he did not show up. 

I'm working hard and having fun though and that's all that matters. Oh I forgot to mention a man named Josue we met on Wednesday. He is super cool and I have lots of hope for him. We are going to see him tomorrow again to explain more about the Book of Mormon. Have a great week! God Bless!

Elder Hein

Stacked Wood

Work, Work, Work

Bonjour! This past week was definitely hectic. 

On Tuesday we went to all three district meetings in the zone. This means we were in Dunkirk during the morning, Amiens in the afternoon, followed by the Lille district meeting. It was a lot of trains but it was good to see everyone in the zone.

Wednesday and Thursday we were in Paris for exchanges with the assistants. We had a good time. Friday we were in St Quentin for a finding day and than Saturday we were in Calais for another finding day. They both went well. I kept track of stats pretty intensely this past time and I learned that in those two cites I contacted around 120 people and only got 8 conversations with only 2 appointments set up and another guy gave us his number. Calais and st Quentin are notoriously known for the hardness of people's hearts. Haha. Fortunately I met a lady in Calais who was from Zambia. She was super cool and actually was close to getting baptized in our church in Zambia before she came to France. So hopefully something happens there. 

Sunday we had two dinners thanks to members! We went to our ward mission leaders house for spaghetti and then the Tessa's for lasagna. It was really good. 

We have been working recently with a guy named Evrard. He is a recent convert in Lille who is already less active, but he has been making some incredible progress. He went to the temple open house on Saturday with the ward and just stopped smoking cold turkey. We will see how long that lasts but it seems like he really wants to change. 

We have just been out of our sector so much recently it's hard to see things develop. We should be home for 4 days next week though. 

Well thats all I got! Have a great week. God Bless and Go Jazz 

Elder Hein

One of my favorite people in Amiens!

Temple....

Bonjour!

At the Paris Temple

Well since my last letter was written on Wednesday I don't have too much to report on, although on Thursday we got to go visit the temple open house. All I can say is wow. They really put some time and effort into that building. It is pretty amazing. The french people have been waiting for this for over 100 years and it is definitely worth it. I'll attach some pictures. 

Friday we had our first normal day in a while but got stuck out in a small city for a little bit because one of our investigators didn't show up. It was good though to get some contacting in and feel like a normal missionary. 

Saturday we got to play some soccer with investigators and members followed by a few lessons and more contacting. We have a lot of potential investigators who aren't really going anywhere right now so we are kind of in a finding stage right now. 

Sunday was weekly planning and ward roster work for the clerk. He often sends us out on wild goose chases to find inactive members. It's entertaining but not really effective all the time. 

Today we went to the Lille zoo. It was pretty cool. The monkeys were real crazy today but the best part was it was free. Well thats all I got this week. Have a great week. God Bless and Go Jazz

Elder Hein

Paris Temple

The District

The Boyz

French Toast and Zone Conference

From left to right: Thomas, me, Fanja, Elder Mansfield, and Lula

Bonjour! 

Sorry I did not write on Monday! We had Interviews on Monday and then zone conference on Tuesday. So, we decided to take pday on Wednesday. It's been a good 10 days though. It was tough saying goodbye to some of the members in Amiens but I've become a pro at it after doing it 6 times already. Haha. 

Wednesday we moved into the Lille apartment and boy was it a mess. We have already put so many hours into cleaning it up. It's just terrible. Don't get me wrong, I love a messy room, but this apartment hit a whole new level. Haha. Thursday was filled with planning for the Zone and then we went to a meeting with the ward mission leader to learn about our new sector. The work has been moving along pretty well here. They had a baptismal date with a guy named Maxime and they also have another who is close to a date, Cristo. Cristo made it to church this week and we were able to see maxime on Sunday after church. He is a pretty cool 20 year old french kid. He is actually a referral from the church website. 

Friday we went into Paris for most of the day for mission Council. I got to see some familiar faces, Pande, Silva, Nagloo, Lamothe, and many more. It was really fun. I don't know if I mentioned this last week but Elder Silva, my son from Charleville, replaced Pande in Paris as zone leader. I'm a proud father. Haha. Saturday we played soccer in the morning with a bunch of members and investigators. The rest of the day was more meetings and then a ward cooking activity. 

Oh update on a situation from a few weeks ago: so remember the time Mansfield and I played against some people in futsal and got wrecked? Well we later learned that that was a team that competes on a national level in france. Haha. No wonder we lost so hard. Haha.

Easter Sunday went well. We had church and then got invited to eat at an American members home with 10 other ward members. It was a lot of fun. I even got to drink root beer and eat ritz crackers! 

Monday we had Interviews with president Babin and then we set up and cooked for Zone Conference the next day. We made/bought french toast, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, cereal, fruits, and juice. It was a huge success but took a lot of time in the kitchen. 

Tuesday was Zone Conference and it was really focused on the consecration of ourselves in line with the fact the temple in Paris will be consecrated soon. Sacrifice is what helps us pass from something good to something better and then from something better to something "best". 

Have a terrific week. God Bless and Go Jazz

Elder Hein

Zone Conference

Jefferson

Amiens Branch

Moving to Lille!

Last primary lessons with these clowns!!  Love them!

Bonjour. 

So I will just start with the exciting news first, Elder Mansfield and I are being transferred to LILLE! The mission realized that it didn't make sense to have zone leaders in Amiens for multiple reasons, so they decided to keep us together for a third transfer and move us to a more central location. I am super excited to be moving to Lille. It's a big city, the members are cool, and I get to be with Elder Mansfield for another transfer. It will be sad to leave Amiens though. The members and investigators have been incredibly kind to us and it feels like leaving a family. 

This past week was super busy like always. Tuesday and Wednesday was filled with a ton of rdvs so that we could leave Thursday, Friday, and Saturday open for different cities. We were able to see Djamal on Tuesday. He is doing incredibly well. I was able to teach the restoration again to him and he gets it. The church has Conference translated in Arab already so he was super excited to hear Thomas S Monson speak. It was a really cool appointment. Thursday we were in Arras, Friday St Omer, and Saturday Lille for finding Days. They all went really well. Saturday evening we had a farewell dinner at Thomas and Lula's place, and on Sunday we packed all day. 

All in all it was a great week with lots of blessings scattered throughout. Have a wonderful week. God Bless

Elder Hein

Candid picture of the 4 Amiens Elders

Fanta and her cool car

District Photo

A little B-Ball, Finding and Conference

Bonjour! 

I'm going to start with one of the fun parts of the week. On Wednesday we got invited by one of the young adults to come play basketball with his non member friends. We cleared up some room in our schedule and headed down to the local street courts. It was fun!!  One of them had the ugliest bank shot I have ever seen from the 3 point line but he never missed. I played really well myself.  I don't know if that is just how it is when you play basketball as a missionary, or if the rims in France are bigger, but I was on fire. They couldn't handle me - Ha Ha.  

The rest of the week was great. We got to have dinner at two members homes and found ourselves in Valenciennes and Calais for finding Days. On Friday we had 11 missionaries in Amiens to contact for 4 hours. We got 13 new investigators and 28 other potentials. It was a lot fun. There is just an indescribable feeling you get contacting in the same town square with 10 other missionaries. It's really fun. 

Sunday we watched 3 sessions of general conference at the church. All 4 of us missionaries brought our comforters and lots of snacks to the church for a long day full of inspiring talks. I really enjoyed Elder Choi's talk (and the sour cream and onion pringles). It was a great day. 

That's all I got for this week. Have a good week. God Bless

Elder Hein

Finding New People.......

Bonjour! 

So Tuesday we were in Paris on exchanges with the assistants. I got to teach a lady from Haiti who spoke creole and limited french. That was an interesting experience and she is totally interested in baptism. 

On Wednesday we had the Calais elders come in to Amiens for exchanges. Since this was our only day in the sector we had to see all our investigators, recent converts, and less actives. It was a busy day. Djamal is doing excellent. He is just blowing through the Book of Mormon, Bible, and any pamphlets we give him. He now understands the importance of Jesus and we are slowly moving into the restoration with him. We discussed apostasy and he asked who the next prophet is. He is just one of those investigators who gets it. I love investigators like that. Once his English and French improves baptism will happen shortly thereafter. Other than him we are working through new investigators. We get anywhere from 4 to 6 a week, most of them don't stay around, but just like anything in life missionary work is a process. 

Thursday we were in Dunkirk, Friday we were in Lille, and Saturday we were in St Quentin. We did these things called Finding Days where, put simply, we find all day with an entire district in one city. It's tiring but rewarding. After having a week of 24 new investigators in the zone we pulled in 54 new investigators this past week. Out of 7 zones in the mission, our zone accounted for approximately 30% of the new investigators found. We were really happy. 

The only other big news is when we were in Lille we found a restaurant that sells pizza in a cone. Yeah, PIZZA IN A CONE. Genius. So we for sure tried it and it was pretty good. Nothing life changing but not half bad. 

Thanks for reading. Have a good week. God Bless

Elder Hein

St. Quentin

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