Transfer Trois

Bonjour à tous!

What a great week! Sadly it was my last week in Caen...psyche, I'M STAYING HERE! I'm officially no longer a bleu (greenie, beginner, etc). Third transfer, I'm pumped. My new comps name is elder Taylor, know nothing about him other than he is in his 14th transfer; which means he speaks french,  so I'm safe.
I'm just going to go over the week briefly, I learned some lessons this week that I want to write about and knowing me, I'll have a lot to say about my thoughts! So grab your popcorn and let's begin.

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday... yes, I remember now, WE COMMITTED CONSTANTINE TO BAPTISM!! We taught him this great lesson on baptism and receiving the gift of the holy ghost and I felt like extending the invitation and he accepted. Lots of work to do with him still, but I know he can make it. I've seen the change that has taken place in him as we've met and I know his testimony is growing each day.

Wednesday the district went to the beach for our district meeting. Never thought I'd go to the beach in my Sunday best, especially on my mission. We took our district photo and buried elder Walton and elder Egbert in the sand, as their "dying" photo. It was so hot that day. I can't even put into words, I've never felt heat like that before. But in the words of President Hinckley, "it'll be a lot hotter if you don't repent." This heat was worse than New York in the summer and that's saying something. Man, we got ice cream after we finished at the beach and it was so good. I got this melon flavor, which was the bee's knees, mhmm.  

Thursday elder Walton and I sat in the church for most of the day teaching lessons to our investigators, very nice day. We also went and got our haircuts and they look fantastic. I have no idea how to say anything about hair in french, so all I told the guy was "propre," which means clean. He did a pretty good job with absolutely no help from me. 

Friday we had a finding day and the Rouen sœurs came to our part of town. We only found two new investigators and that's fine. Elder Walton felt prompted to give the two women he found to the sœurs, so we did! I ate my first wrap in my entire life, was actually surprisingly good; I even willingly asked for tomatoes! 

Saturday elder Walton and I travelled to Bayeux to try and get in contact with an inactive, but her house didn't exist... so we looked around the town, lots of potential I think. It's about 15 minutes outside of Caen and everyone seemed much kinder than in Caen! 
Sunday - you'll hear about it in a second. Although we did have a great lunch with some members. We had steak, rice, vegetables, great meal. I'm so spoiled here, I love it.

Surprisingly my french has drastically improved this past week. How? I think I figured it out. Many members have been complimenting me on my improvement and even I have been surprised by my improvement and my increased understanding, but do I take any credit for it? Plain and simple answer is No. I've never thought that I had the mind to learn languages, it just isn't one of my strengths, there's no beating around the bush. There is only one way I could have improved so much and that is because of heavenly father. I have been praying so much to be able to understand and talk. Have I changed my study habits at all, a little but not much, but I did change something else. I stopped thinking about myself so much. I stopped worrying and stressing over what I would say, I stopped caring about making mistakes, I stopped caring about the way people look at us. I started caring about everyone around me, I started to open my mouth, I finally have begun to put everything in the Lord's hands. I'll make mistakes, I won't understand a lot, but I can continually improve on everything I do. The members are willing to help me learn the language, they don't laugh if I make a mistake, if anything they are happy I did because it means I'm trying. 
So often we look at our struggles and difficulties from such a cynical and discouraging way. We have the atonement of Jesus Christ for a reason, USE IT! He is there to help us, he Is there to carry us when we can't walk, he Is there to make the impossible possible. He suffered for all of us, for every sin, which means he knows how hard it is to learn a language and he knows what each of us is going through. 
I've really begun to love the people here. As I focus on having more charity towards all, I can capture a glimpse of how our heavenly father sees each of his beloved sons and daughters. No matter who they are, they have a divine birthright and should be given the chance to receive their eternal inheritance. Elder Walton said it's interesting that every time we are struggling, if we turn outwards and help others, then our problems seem to disappear. It is a common theme within the gospel, that as we become more like Christ and exemplify his attributes, then we become more like him and truly take hold of the improving lowers of the atonement of our savior. 

Here are a few examples of what happened to me this week when I stopped worrying about making mistakes or what to say. 

- I have been understanding and speaking more  
- I could follow along in most of our lessons 
- I translated primary for some American visitors 
- When I gave the missionary minute in priesthood I did it without thinking about what to say and without asking elder Walton for help. My mind turned french and the spirit gave me the words I needed.
- I had many conversations with the members, in which I could follow along for the most part.

As we forgot ourselves and turn outwards, our father in heaven blesses us in ways we can not comprehend. I love the quote President Hinckley's dad gave to him, while President Hinckley was struggling on his mission. "Forget yourself and go to work." Christ only thought of others and he told each of us, "what manner of men ought ye to be? Even as I am." Helping and serving others is the way to eternal salvation and the way to draw closer to your father in heaven. 

Salut,
Elder Molinari 

P.s. elder Walton finishes his mission this week, he will be on an airplane this Thursday! Crazy. He has grown to become a great friend and I am grateful for his example to me, he'll do great back home. 

New hair cut

Elder Walton and Elder Molinari with their new do crashing a wedding

Better Late Than Never

Hey - how you doin?

Ok let's jump into this.

Tuesday A senior couple, the Vandivers, came over and inspected our apartment. They were blown away by how clean it was. All they talked about was the state of the apartment when the elders in Caen were taken out and how they had left the apartment completely trashed and had left a dead fish. Pretty sure their mouths dropped open when they saw the work we put in to clean the apartment. 
After they left Walton and I went to the church to order train tickets and while we were there we got a call from the Vandivers saying they had some Putty stuff for eEder Walton, so we met up with them before they inspected the sœurs apartment and they invited us out for lunch! They bought us all subway, which was so good because it's exactly the same as it is in the US. I got this delicious meatball sub, mhmm that was so good. Super nice of the Vandivers as well, grateful for their generosity. 
Later that day we brought some water to this old woman who always says she is too tired to see us - except when She needs more water. She answered the door in her bathrobe and had obviously been sleeping, but she was so happy to have her water and see us. I was carrying the water and when I brought it in she was so thankful. She started to thank me and was patting my shoulder and then slowly felt her way all the way across my chest. She did this two more times and I was so caught off guard; it took everything in me not to burst out laughing. She's super old, so I really didn't care, I just thought it was really funny. 

Wednesday Elder Walton and I went to cherbourg for an exchange, Elder Walton's last exchange there ever! We spent most of the day teaching lessons, which was a blessing for me. Wednesday was one of those days where you beat yourself up and think about all of the worst case scenarios. I was feeling pretty inadequate and started to have those terrible thoughts, such as: I'm never going to learn french, I shouldn't have this much responsibility, etc etc. I'm telling you this because I learned a few important lessons that day - one being, if you let doubt crowd your mind, then Satan will do all he can to replace your faith with doubt. I kept thinking about President Uchtdorfs quote, "doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." I began to doubt my doubts and that entire day I had the opportunity to bear testimony of the divinity of this work. I thought of all of my sacred spiritual experiences, experiences that were undeniable and only possible through a loving father in heaven. A special spirit entered my heart and I realized how selfish and foolish I was being. God doesn't give us any challenge we can't overcome, he doesn't give us any weakness that we can't strengthen, and he most certainly doesn't leave us alone in time of need. Bearing my testimony of the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ reaffirmed what I knew and erased any doubts in my mind. Whether I feel inadequate, or the language feels like a hopeless pursuit, I know that I don't walk alone. Wednesday was a strong testimony builder for me. I learned that no matter what point you are at in your journey with the gospel, the plague of doubt can always find room, but if you are firmly rooted to the gospel and trust in him, who is our savior, he will make "weak things become strong." 
The rest of that exchange was very enjoyable for me and I'm grateful for the lesson I learned. 

My second lesson learned was on Thursday. One of the elders going home told me that he really looked up to me. I thought that was an interesting remark; one because he's older than me physically and two because he is also done with his mission very soon. I have been pondering on that remark for the entire week and it has really become a motivator for me. I realized that even if I'm feeling inadequate, there are people out there who might need to support themselves on my testimony. I don't say that in a prideful way, what I mean is that people, members or not, are always looking for answers to prayers, a little extra support, comfort, or just need With gospel questions or concerns. If I can be firm and strong in my testimony and always have the guiding companionship of the spirit where others can rely on me for support, then I will make sure I'm always qualified to help our heavenly fathers children. One of the main principles of the gospel is to serve others and I believe that if we are rooted to Jesus Christ and his gospel, then we can be a great aid to others even when we feel inadequate ourselves. The spirit doesn't care if you are young or old, new member or old. If you are worthy to be directed by it, then Heavenly father will enable you to help everyone you come in contact with. 

We returned to Caen, home sweet home. My new orthotics were ready, so we went to pick them up. My podiatrist is a really young athletic guy and he was talking to elder Walton about sports, while I'm standing on this jelly mold thing. Elder Walton asks him what sports he plays and he lists off: tennis, squash tennis, ping pong and basketball. Elder Walton mentions he has learned how to play ping pong and my doctor perks up and goes, "I'll take you on right now." So they stand up and leave. Eventually they came back, laughing and joking around and by the end of our visit the doctor tells us to call him if I have any problems or if we want to lose in ping pong again. Really nice guy and experience. 

Friday we had zone conference, which was President Babin's last zone conference! Elder Walton and I walked around Paris after the meeting and got a sweet picture in front of the Opera House. 

Only thing on Saturday was that we finally debunked one of Constantine's big question holding him back and ever since then he seems to be progressing. The question asked was why are good people born in bad families? We couldn't answer it directly but we used the plan of salvation to explain why and he said he was content with that answer. 

Yesterday, the reason I didn't write, was because Elder Walton's bishop was in France and took us out to Omaha beach, Pointe Du Hoc, and the Caen memorial museum. It was a really fun day and they even treated us to dinner at an ITALIAN restaurant - mhmm the food was excellent. It was so hot yesterday though, I got a tad bit sunburned. 

See you all next week and remember that you are always being observed by others and they may look to you for help and comfort; be the person who they can rely on. 

Your Weekly Letter From Elder Molinari

Salut friends and family

This week was full of great learning experiences. 

On Tuesday elder Walton and I taught a lesson to Constantine with a member! The members name is Jean and he is a student at the university here, studying nuclear engineering. He speaks English fairly well and was able to contribute a lot to our lesson. We began to teach Constantine the Gospel of Jesus Christ and started with faith. He had a lot of questions and tried challenging us a little with what he asked, but we were able to answer all of his questions using the scriptures! The lesson went very well, Jean gave a great testimony on the power of prayer and then I did as well. I felt the spirit as I spoke and knew what I was bearing witness to Constantine of the power of prayer. 

I've had a lot of chances to work on my French this week. Elder Walton and I went to a members house and we did a practice teaching of the plan of salvation. He let me give the entire lesson and the members helped me and critiqued me as I taught. It was a very productive practice. During one of our language studies Elder Walton sat down with me and wrote out some common verbs and phrases the French use and helped me learn them. He also gave me some really good advice for learning french, that I just need to know the French words. I have to get to the point where I just know what the French words mean. I need to know that, for example, bonjour is just bonjour and it's a greeting in french, not that I translate it from hello to bonjour or vice versa. I've been trying to work on that and just recognize french words as french words and it is helping a lot. Putting a picture to the French word is also very helpful. I also started reading the children's book of Mormon in french, I can read the little summaries, look at the pictures, and also listen to an actual francophone speak it as well. It has really been helping me. I'm still struggling to learn and understand this language and to have the patience I need, but I know as I remain diligent in my efforts to learn, the lord will help me. 

Elder Walton and I went to Paris on Wednesday for an exchange with the zone leaders. I started the day with Elder Silva and we went to follow-up on a referral they had received. The woman wasn't answering the doorbell from the gate, but luckily a woman went in the gate next to the one we were ringing and we had noticed there was a back entrance, so we sneakily snuck behind the woman and through the gate as well. Of course the back gate was locked as well and so we walked back to the gate we came in and of course that gate was locked as well. Normally there is just a button you push to open the gate, but this one had to be unlocked on both the inside and outside by card. As we were faced with this dilemma, we realized we had snuck into an elementary school. Elder Silva didn't want to go to french prison so we decided to do the only logical thing and jump the fence, which was about 10 feet high. That's our exciting story together. 

In the afternoon I switched companions to elder Christensen and we managed to accidently make our way to the louvre. After being in tourist central for a few minutes, elder Christensen got a terrible bloody nose and had blood all over himself. It was actually pretty funny and we were making jokes he could just lay down and everyone would start flipping out. Any way, so he was leaning over a trash can with blood pouring out of his nose and then flings his head up and asks this old couple if they have any tissues. They were so caught off guard, it was so funny, but they gave him a whole pack of tissues and saved the day. 
Second story with elder Christensen. We were invited to a Catholic blessing ceremony by one of the zone leaders investigator; Not completely sure what it was, but it was super cool. The entire church was packed with people and we were all singing and listening to the priest speak. I felt the spirit as we sang and it was a cool experience.  The priest began to walk around with this golden cross Which was supposed to be An actual representation of Christ. He walked around the church blessing all of the different groups of people and when he saw elder Christensen and I he walked right up to us and blessed us with it. Caught me a little off guard because he had done our whole group and then just us. But cool experience nonetheless and their investigator went to our church yesterday.

Saturday was Elder Walton's 20th birthday! We taught Constantine again. This time our lesson was about repentance and for the most part the lesson went well. He got a little side tracked because he made a reference to baby boss and the plan of salvation (can anyone confirm this connection??) And when we told him we hadn't seen the movie he got annoyed and said it was hard to talk with us because we don't watch movies. Either way the lesson went well. 
In the afternoon elder Walton and I went to his birthday mangezvous with the mother of a member back home in his ward. Her name is Madame Agluare and is 84 years old, if I remember correctly. She served us this wonderful lunch. The first plate was tomatoes, beets, eggs with some fish eggs or something on top, turnips and seasoning on all of it. It all looked super tasty, so I said a quick prayer to enjoy the tomatoes and for the first time in my life I enjoyed tomatoes - I actually enjoyed them the most. Then we had something, no idea what it was. It was some green thing wrapped up by pork and oh my was it delicious. I was so full after that, but we still had two more dishes. We had salad and cheese after and then chocolate cake. I said another prayer to enjoy the chocolate and it was the least disgusting chocolate I've had, but I still don't like it. 
When we walked in she had the soundtrack from Legends of the Fall playing, which is one of my favorite movies, so we bonded over that! She also told us about world war two! She was 11 years old, living In Caen, when the Germans invaded. She told us how terrible and cruel they were and everyone tried to avoid any contact with them. She also told us how her uncle had been in the resistance and would give his young son important documents and then send him on a train to deliver them. Wild stuff!! She also told us about the day the Americans came and the sky was filled with airplanes and after the town had been liberated it was literally flat. There was nothing left of Caen. She spoke very clearly and articulated all of her words, so I was able to follow almost all of it in french. She lived in Versailles for 20 years and knows President Babin as "Fred" and Gérald Caussé as just Gérald. She is a devout Catholic and loves the Mormon tabernacle choir! Super cool woman and super cool experience.

Not much else happened, elder Walton and I have been cleaning our apartment all day because we have an inspection tomorrow. Other than that, it's been a good week. 

Elder Molinari~

If you have any suggestions on how my emails could be better or if you think they are too long, please send me your ideas or tell me to shorten them! Just want to make sure they are worth everyone's time!

Didn't really take any photos this week, here's the opera house from Phantom of the Opera.

Three Months Already

Caen from a castle point of view

Bonjour chaque frères et sœurs!

Not much excitement this week - actually a rather slow week, but I've got the highlights! 

On Tuesday the sœurs, elder Walton and I went to our ward mission leaders home for dinner. Frère Richard has a beautiful home and garden. He has been working on this garden for seven years and has a large variety of fruits, vegetables, and flowers growing. Our salad that night was made from the lettuce from his garden. His wife is inactive and doesn't like him inviting missionaries over. She was out of town for a few weeks, so he took full advantage of the opportunity. Its rather sad because they used to have the missionaries over ever week, so it was a part of their life and frère Richard misses that a lot. We helped him peel potatoes and mushrooms. I've never peeled potatoes before and it was actually pretty fun. Frère Richard thought it was funny how much I enjoyed it. He served us a really nice five course french meal. We started with cantaloupe, then fish, salad (which is just lettuce in France), bread and cheese, and then yogurt. Overall it was a super nice evening and I was able to practice my French. I'm very grateful for his generosity. 

Something happened on Wednesday, but I remember what.

Thursday most of our day was spent going to the middle of no where to get a package for one of the cherbourg elders. We began that journey at 10:30a, and finished at about 2 or 3pm. Only one bus takes you out to wherever we went and only one takes you back and they pass about once an hour. We missed the one taking us back by 10 minutes. So in a rather posh little town elder Walton and I sat down on the cement, because there were no benches at this bus stop, and watched johney lingo. Eventually the bus came and we left. Later that day we went to a lesson with the sœurs because the woman wanted a blessing. I had studied all that day to know how to give a blessing in french, but luckily elder Walton did it.
This lesson was the most spiritual lesson I've been to thus far on my mission. So the woman is married to a less active man, and the husbands brother is a bishop in one of the local wards. Her husband had told her about the book of mormon and she decided she wanted one, so her husband got her one and she began to read it. She read all of the pamphlets for the missionary lessons and had read from the beginning of the book of Mormon into most of Mosiah. She called the missionaries because she needed another book of Mormon and that's because one of her colleagues at work had said she needed some help in her life and this woman gave her her book of Mormon. (I'm sorry I forgot her name, it was super super french, I'll refer to her as Madame.) So Madame needed a new book of Mormon, wanted a priesthood blessing, and said she wanted to be baptized. Can I get a WOW? She did all of this missionary work and study by herself, without ever knowing about missionaries. 
The blessing really set the tone for the rendezvous. It touched her husband, Mark, so much that he was very emotional the entire meeting. At one point he was trying to share his testimony on prophets and he could barely speak he said "there are a lot of emotions flying around in this room. I couldn't understand most of what was being said but I could feel the spirit so strongly. Marks wife basically gave US, the missionaries, the restoration lesson and they were both glowing. You could just tell that the gospel had already changed their lives so much. They were such a faith filled family and they have 4 young children as well, so that would be awesome for the entire family if they come to church. 
I realized after that lesson that I really want to figure out the language because there are people like that out there and I want to be able to communicate with them and be able to find them.

Friday we had a professional piano player come play for us, Robert Nakéa. He was incredible and the concert was so refreshing to listen to. I was able to watch his hands as he played and was blown away by the speed of his hands. He's been playing since he was six years old and played in the Honolulu symphony orchestra when he was 15. I was able to talk with him and his wife and they were both super nice. They both speak fluent french, Italian, and English. He speaks Norwegian as well because he wanted to be able to read the Norwegian music. I'm guessing he speaks more than that as well. I thought it was really cool that he and his wife are taking time out of their vacation schedule to perform for the people of France and help out the missionaries here. I really respected how generous they were. 

Nothing else really happened, I'll tell you two funny stories that happened though. 

At frère Richards, he makes this special salad dressing, which is full of vinegar, and of course he puts it on my salad for me and drenches the thing in this vinegar dressing. As we all know I hate vinegar, so I was choking it down with a smile on my face, but screaming on the inside. Well frère Richard left the room for a moment and when he did I quickly transferred the remaining salad to elder Walton and he quickly ate it! Life saver.

On Sunday I had to get up and share the missionary moment for priesthood and knew exactly what I was going to say. I was going to mention an experience elder Walton and I had walking home for ward counsel on Wednesday night, we met a really nice man who's daughter was a member and had been praying her father would meet missionaries. So I got up and said with confidence in my voice, "Apres la parole de sagesse nous avons recontré deux hommes." Then elder Walton quickly whispered "conseil de paroisse," and I quickly fixed my statement. I started laughing though and everyone else in the room did as well. Frère Richard was sitting behind the stand and was laughing so hard. It was a really funny mistake. In English what I said was, "after the word of wisdom We met two men." I was supposed to say after ward counsel. 

I've been realizing lately what people mean they say missions are tough. Physically it's demanding, yes, but for me it's really a mental battle. Constantly it feels like I have thoughts of how inadequate I am, how I can't speak or understand, and just a storm of negative thoughts and doubts. It's really hard to keep yourself motivated, when all you get is rejection from taking with others. I made a goal for myself to keep more positive thoughts, so hopefully that will help. I've been praying a lot and I think I'll be praying even more because to me this work seems impossible in France, but I know that anything is possible with Jesus Christ by my side and I'll work hard to remember that. Finding joy against such odds is difficult, but I know that if I put my trust in the lord then I will see success. That success might be with investigators or it might be within myself, but I know that the Lord will help me along the way. 

That's all from me, 
Salut, until next week

Elder Nicholas Molinari

Oh almost forgot, someone snatched 20 euros out of my hand while I was in the grocery line today and I didn't even notice. Maybe I'll laugh at that memory later in life. 

wooly mammoth remains