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This was a sweet week. The beginning started out REALLY slow, but has turned into one of the best weeks of my mission so far. 

The time has finally come and I am being transferred out of Caen. I've been here since the start of my mission and have grown to love it. Even though it rains everyday and the people can be a little hard to love, through Christ, he has let me love them as he loves them. Thinking back on my many experiences here it is hard for me to pinpoint a specific reason why I was sent here. I don't really think I can do that now, or ever, but a few experiences stand out to me more than others and I'd like to mention them briefly. 

1. Meeting Constantine
What some might call an "Eternal investigator" was quickly my favorite investigator. He speaks Russian, no french, and a little english. He grew up in Soviet Russia, moved to France with his wife and has two beautiful daughters who now speak: Russian, French and English. He loves God and has a strong desire to draw closer to him. Whether in this life or the next, I feel that he will be baptized and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a MASSIVE language barrier trying to communicate with him which prevents his growth, but we are a Church that believes in miracles and something will work out for him. I taught lessons to him where I saw the Holy Ghost working on him. When we taught about temples and the plan of salvation, I could see in his eye the want and the desire to go to one of these holy houses. The spirit testified of the truth of our message many times to him. Constantine became a great friend to me and I to him, I don't say that in a boastful manner, but I think I could understand him in a way others struggled to and because of that created a bond with him. When he left for his trip to Russia that was the last time I was able to see him, I look forward to our reunion one day!

2. The Caen Ward!
This ward has become like a family to me. They knew me for six months, probably couldn't understand what I said for most of it, but our friendships grew either way! They are a ward with a more "chill" attitude, so I liked it instantly. Over the past few weeks I have been able to go to many of their houses and teach them one of the Missionary Lessons and I have felt the spirit that each of them carries and they have given me invaluable advice on how to speak better and be a better teacher. I find it incredible that so many people who you have known for such a short time can love you so much. They invite you into their homes, feed you, and talk with you as if you had been friends your entire life - I've never seen anything like it. I was able to become friends with the Young Adults of the ward and have loved every minute of that. I am just filled with gratitude for such a great ward.

3. The Work
This might be a theme throughout the mission, but, work in Normandy is hard!! I still find it slightly amusing that anyone will talk with you until you mention the word Church. That never stopped myself and my companion though and I have still met people who respect what we do and wish us good luck. I've also knocked on more doors these past two transfers than, probably many missionaries. Knocking doors was great, we didn't find our Golden French Family, but one day we will. I met a lot of people and have learned so many - so many lessons. The work has been hard, I've been slightly reluctant at times, but through it all I have grown and learned. 

4. Normandy!

Normandy is way similar to New York weather, so I think that was a tender mercy serving some place that feels so much like home!

As for the week, we taught a few members and our investigator Maud.

On Friday we went to Frere Destribois house and taught him the plan of salvation. He gave me a lot of good advice but the main lesson to be learned from him was that I needed to stop being so scripted and worrying about hitting every point in the lesson and be more free. I needed to allow myself to feel the spirit and be guided, so that I could better address his needs and allow the spirit to testify through me. He then demonstrated how to do it and I took note. 

Later that day we went and taught a young adult member, Jean, who is a student in Caen. He has two years left of school until he graduates as a Nuclear Engineer and then wants to leave for a mission. In France if you stop school for over a year, you have to restart everything, so that makes leaving on a mission more difficult for those in the middle of school. I think he was reactivated a few years ago, not sure, anyway. We taught him the plan of salvation and I used the structure and ideas that Frere Destribois had suggested and the lesson was so much better! It flowed and it testified and I was able to feel the spirit, it was incredible the difference that is made if you just let the spirit guide. 

After that we took Jean and taught our investigator Maud with him. We taught about baptism and then Jean and I got a little bold. Jean wanted to know why she couldn't just do a little more and get baptized and she got a little defensive. I was really feeling the impression that I needed to ask her about not working on Sunday, but I had no idea how to phrase it so that it wasn't a complete bash on her. The opportunity came for me to speak, so I started going and the words just flowed from my mouth. I bore testimony of baptism, Church attendance, and then simply asked her to pray to God and ask for a solution, a way, to be able to attend church on Sundays. 

Saturday we had dinner with Nicolas and his Family. They're super awesome, I had a great time - I'll miss them! We had meat pie and I had to choke down some chocolate cake, but all in all, it was a relaxed night. 

Sunday was just filled with good-byes, oh but I did accidently volunteer myself to teach Elder's   Quorum because the teacher never showed up. It actually went pretty well though. I just suggested that everyone shares something they learned from their scripture study this week. There was a lot of participation from it. I tried to explain the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's which was WAY hard in French, but I managed. One of the cool things I learned this week was that the little foreward to the Book of Mormon is Original! It came from the Gold Plates and was not written in modern days, I thought that was way cool. 

Alright cool, see you all next week with a picture of my new companion Elder Shenkal.

-Elder Molinari

Ok the photo is...

Top left Nicolas and his Family

Top right Frère Destribois

Middle left is Clement and I

Middle left is Guilloume

Bottom left is Jean

Bottom Right is Frère Richard 

Another Article from France

This week was pretty sweet, lot's of fun experiences!

Recently Elder Taylor and I have been making appointments with members so that I can give them a missionary lesson. They are just short 30-60 minute meetings and they are benefiting me SO much, since I haven't had the opportunity to teach, in french, the restoration, plan of salvation, or the gospel of Jesus Christ while I have been in Caen. 

So we visited our Ward mission leader this week on Tuesday and I taught him the restoration. He was super happy to have us over at his house. We could really see how much joy it brought him, since he used to have the missionaries over every single week when his wife was active. His wife and all of his children, except one are inactive and having the missionaries over causes contention between him and his wife, so we usually can't go over. This day she was not home though, so we took advantage of that. 
The gift of tongues was working way hard during that lesson and the spirit in that room was so strong you could almost grab it. The faith of Frere Richard is incredible and I was completely humbled to get to teach him a lesson in his home. The words seemed to flow from my mouth and for the most part of the lesson I did not have to think about what I was going to say, the words just came. Both Frere Richard and Elder Taylor were impressed with my lesson, but I take no credit for it. I know, without a doubt, that it was the Spirit of the Lord allowing me to speak. There is no other way I could have spoken like that.
It was an incredible learning experience for me. As I would finish a gospel truth, Frere Richard would add in some additional information about what I had just taught. Each time that I used a scripture or when I quoted the first vision, Frere Richard would say it all from memory with me. His faith is incredible and I am blown away by how strong his testimony is even after facing terrible opposition against him. He told us some stories about his life and when his wife went inactive. All in all it was an amazing experience to be able to talk with him and give him a lesson, which we all knew was true by the confirming spirit that bore witness to our hearts.

The next day we were able to give another member, Clement, a practice teaching as well. He actually leaves for his mission tomorrow! So we came up with a super sweet idea. We would have Clement teach, with me, the restoration to Elder Taylor. I think it was way helpful for him and for me as well. We went through the lesson and it really tested me on my comprehension and understanding of the lesson in French because I needed to be able to pick up where he would stop and explain any principles he left out. It was a sweet lesson and we were able to critique Clement after the lesson, he was super grateful. 

Friday and Saturday we were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I started the day with Elder Chang. We went and taught an ami in French. To continue the theme of the week, I saw the opportunity to reteach him the restoration because he did not remember any of it. It was very difficult for this man to comprehend what we were teaching him, so we taught him as simply as possible and by the end of the lesson we could see his potential coming through. It was sweet to see that some french words I had never really used came to my mouth as I spoke and I was able to deliver the message in a more clear manner. 
We switched companions later in the day and I was now out with 

Elder Christensen. We went street contacting for the rest of the night, which was a little tough at first since I have been knocking doors for the past four weeks or so. I would stop a person and deliver my door knocking message, which finishes with "are you interested in our message" and then I would just wait because that's usually where they say no and close the door, but there are no doors when you are street contacting, so the first few contacts were pretty awkward when they would wait for me to continue speaking and I would have a blank mind! I got over that pretty quickly though. 

Elder Christensen did something that I realized was way awesome afterwards. Every person I stopped was my contact. He would let me explain who we are, what our message is, and if the person asked me a question and I looked at Elder Christensen to answer, he wouldn't say anything, which then allowed me to comprehend the question and I would answer. It was WAY useful and I think my french got so much better in just those few hours because it was pushing me to actually use what I know. Elder Christensen also helped me notice how some people would not be interested in what we had to say, but the longer we spoke, the more interested they would become. It was cool to see the spirit working through them in such a short amount of time.

When we got home on Saturday we went to Clements farewell party, which was pretty fun! A lot of the ward was there and we had this open testimony meeting sort of thing, where you could get up and say something nice about Clement. I got up and said a few words along with a bunch of other ward members. Then we played some trivia games about Canada and the scriptures. I had to recite  a scripture from memory in French, which did not go very well... Fun times though. I was able to talk with a lot of members and one funny moment was when I was talking with Nicolas, a member, and the other missionaries and the sisters and my companion stood up and got some more food or something. So Nicolas's wife came over and sat down and asked me if it was Nicolas who was making the sisters laugh. He gave me the death stare and told me to tell the truth, I, naturally, got a mischievous smirk on my face and just nodded my head in her direction. She punched his arm and he pretended to punch me, it was really funny - they're an awesome member family.

Sunday was sweet! We had ward conference, so a bunch of the stake leaders were there and I talked with almost all of them - in french! I passed the sacrament as well and they all commented on how they thought I was a young man because I look way young. I met a lot of cool people though and had a long discussion with the Paris Stake's Patriarch, who is way young as well. He knew all about New York geography, so we had a nice little chat. It was a really nice day and I was able to say the final good-bye to Clement! Was kind of weird to see a missionary leaving! 

Way sweet week, I'm having a way fun time in Caen, especially with the ward members. We have set up a few more practice teaching visits this week, which will all be on the Plan of Salvation. I am excited for the progress that will come from teaching these important truths! Nothing is more important than this Gospel and sharing it with others, and I am humbled and grateful beyond measure to be able to share it with others every day!

Bonne Semaine 

Elder Molinari

Week Two of September

Salut,

Tuesday was a sweet day- we went porting all day and had a great lesson with our investigator, Maud. We taught her the law of tithing and she went from saying she wouldn't be able to pay it, to saying she probably could and would pray about it. She will be retired by the time she is baptized though, I'm not even sure if retired people have to pay tithing??

Wednesday we went porting again, some lady told us we could come back at another time, so we are going to go back this week, see if how interested she really is! 
We walked by a house that had an actual bell as their doorbell, Elder Taylor didn't want to ring it, (I didn't either for that matter, but I grabbed the bell and rang it! The woman wasn't interested, but she was pretty amused and surprised that we had rang her bell.

We had Zone Conference on Thursday! President gave a formation on his goals for the mission, I actually respect his goals. He has his standards of excellence, but he made it clear that baptism is not the main focus. If we are working hard and no baptisms come, then we are still being good missionaries. Success isn't measured by how many baptisms you have. 
The Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders gave formations, which were pretty good. The Zone Leader's formation was about doing member missionary work and finding investigators through them and the Sisters did a formation on stress management. 

In my interview with President he told me I need to practice teach at least five members a week. This is because in my entire mission so far, I haven't taught the Restoration, or the Plan of Salvation, or the Gospel of Jesus Christ in French. All of our amis have been English speaking and any of our French amis have already had the lesson taught to them multiple times. I've set up a few short 30 minute lessons this week so that I can practice the lessons. 

Saturday we went and did service for the LeCaviliers. Their daughter jumped on their bed and broke it, so they needed help bringing the new bed to their house. That took most of the day, but was way worth because service is so fun! They bought the bed at Ikea and then for lunch we had swedish meatballs, was way good.

I forgot Friday! Friday was sweet, we had a lunch appointment with the LeFoyer's and I got into a debate with Brother Lefoyer on who knows more about the Beatles. I could have won, but I have a hard time understanding him. I'll rematch him later.
Later that day Elder Taylor and I went porting! It was POURING rain,  I mean POURING rain. You've never seen rain until you come to Normandy. My shoes were completely soaked, felt like I was walking in a pool with shoes on. Elder Taylor doesn't have an umbrella, so he was 100% soaked - but we knocked on doors any way! 
So we knocked on this one door and met this young guy named Yassine. He is a non practicing Islam who is very interested in religion. He let us in and we gave him the first discussion, he was very happy to take a restoration pamphlet and our card. So hopefully he calls us back and we can go meet him again. 

Not much else has happened this week, Don't really have any crazy  spiritual thoughts this week, so I will just leave you with my testimony.

I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christ's restored church on the earth. I know that if you follow the teachings contained in the Gospel, then you will find happiness beyond measure in your life and you will know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are really there and want us to return to live with them some day. I am grateful for the blessing I have to share the gospel with others and see this joy enter into their lives as they repent and draw closer to their father in Heaven. The Book of Mormon is another Testament of Jesus Christ, Thomas S. Monson is the prophet on the earth today, the work is true and I love the work. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

See you all next week!

Elder Molinari

A member took us to the American cemetery again today, the first photo is of the artificial port made during wwll.