The Last Email of 2017!

My socks (It was Christmas, don't tell anyone) 

Merry Christmas Everyone and Happy New Year!!

In case you don't have time to read my email (or just don't) I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I would also love to thank all of you for the prayers and support that you have given me over this past year. I have almost been out for an entire year now and it is wonderful to know and to feel the love from all of you. That love has been a very large help for me throughout my time here. I pray for and thank Heavenly Father every night for all of you, so thank you very much - I couldn't do it without you!



As for the week, I'm just going to tell you about Christmas and Christmas Eve because those were easily the best days! 

Oh wait - I will introduce my companion as well. His name is Elder Johnson he is from Calgary, Canada! He is age 24 and has only one semester left at College before he graduates. He is major in Theatre and Dance. He is actually super cool and I am really excited to work with him. He is physically older, but younger in the mission (Transfer 5), so he is mature, realistic, and has the energy to work. He is realistic with the way missionary work is and how it should be done so, we are trying something new this transfer as far as missionary work goes, so hopefully it will pay off - I'll talk about it more once we have all the logistics sorted out. Fun facts about him, he can Tap Dance, Jazz, Salsa, and a few others. He can also do this really cool thing where he raises the volume of his voice and he can get it SUPER loud. He gave me a few drills to do so that I can speak in a louder voice - Way fun haha. He has been in a bunch of plays and musicals and was part of BYU's Theater program. 

Christmas Eve was super nice, we had dinner with the Family Brialy and to accommodate  for President's rule about being home by 9:30 they moved the dinner from their house to the church so that we could be home on time. The meal was wonderful, we had Foie Gras, smoked salmon, lots of different appetizers, cheese, and baguettes of course!!! For the main dish we ate Turkey, potatoes, and vegetables. The turkey was so good, wow, one of the few times in my life where I have actually enjoyed turkey. The dinner was great, but the dessert, WOWEE that was unreal good. We had Bûche de Noël which translates as a Christmas log. I don't really know how to describe it, it had different layers and looked like ice cream but had the consistency of cream. Either way it was WAY good and I told Sister Brialy It was the best dessert I have had in France...because it was. I was honestly overwhelmed by their generosity and love. Not only did they invite four other missionaries but they also invited six other members who did not have any family to spend the holidays with. We didn't originally have any plans for Christmas day and they invited us to have dinner with them if nobody else offered. Like, holy smokes their Christlike love was manifest to me. They gave up their comfortable christmas eve meal at their home to spend it with others and make sure we had a great Christmas season. The Brialy Family is a great example of what the Christmas season is all about.  

Christmas day was pretty fun, Elder Johnson and I went handing out cookies in the morning to everyone and we tried visiting some less actives and people we knew wouldn't have anyone to spend the holidays with. I made a vlog of the whole day, but I don't know how to combine all the clips together, so maybe you can see it when I get home. Either way, we had a fun time and it was a pretty beautiful day as well. For our dinner we had been invited over to the Family Boquillon to eat with them. It was super nice of them because it was so last minute and they were kind enough to let us intrude on their Christmas day celebration. I had a great time and the meal was wonderful. I tried oysters for the first time and they were WAY good too. I'm discovering that I like a lot of seafood, no idea why, it just tastes so good. Again I was impressed with the generosity of the members here who offered us their home for the Holidays. The love the Boquillon's and Brialy's showed us over these two days has really had an impact on me and hopefully I will be able to reciprocate their actions one day as well. We had a fun afternoon with them and then we headed to church for our calls with our families.

It was so nice to SEE and TALK with my family! We had a great talk and they just let me talk, which was nice because I had a few things I needed to get out and they gave me great advice. It is very encouraging to know your family is there rooting for you and supporting you. Yeah, that was really nice to see all of them and I was able to talk to my Grandma through the phone, which was extremely special. I just love my family so much, I'm so happy they put up with me because I don't know where I would be without them!

Well that sums up those two days. Thank you again, Merry Christmas and Have a Happy New Year!!

Love,
Elder Molinari

Bûche de Noël

LATE EMAIL

Hello everyone

Sorry I didn't have any time yesterday to write and today I am stressed for time as well. I am writing this quickly while we are traveling into Paris and I can't really recollect everything that happened the past week; so I will just explain a lesson we had with Paula and what happened yesterday.

Yesterday we received the transfer news and I found out I am staying in Cergy. Unfortunately both Elder's Shenkal (my companion) and Seymour are leaving. Elder Shenkal is going to finish his mission in Dunkerque and Elder Seymour is going to Strasburg. I will be receiving a transfer 5 missionary who is coming out of his starting city and Elder Hidalgo is receiving a transfer 4 missionary from his starting city as well. I am a little nervous. Mostly because I'm the senior companion and now have the responsibility that comes with that. I still struggle quite a bit with my comprehension of French, so this will be quite the refiners fire during lessons. This is my chance to really break out of my shell and open my mouth, so I am excited and scared at the same time. I know that there will be a lot of prayers coming from me these next few weeks as I try to be the best example I can be. When it comes to this situation and missionary work, all I can say is that I will not leaning on my own understanding, I will be leaning on the Lord. I know as I am obedient and trust in the Lord, then he will qualify me for this great calling. 

Most of yesterday was spent moving some people around in Paris and visiting members. We had lunch with a member named Mana, who has been a complete blessing for our lessons with Paula. Then we spent the evening with the family Pettitt and the young adults. It was a very fun day and very tiring as well. 

Our lesson with Paula this week was on Thursday - I think - and it went great! We had prepared a lesson for her and felt inspired to extend the baptismal invitation. So we went and taught her with Paula and Sister Chesnal and as we were beginning the lesson, Paula asked us a few questions about the restoration and so we decided to answer those questions! In doing that, the entire lesson was changed and we were teaching her, not a lesson. We never even brought up the lesson we had planned. It was a highly effective lesson and was tailored to her needs. We didn't actually get the opportunity to extend the baptismal invitation, but we will next time! The next lesson is actually tomorrow, it will be great! Paula is progressing and learning very well, it is really cool to see her learn and to recognize the spirit in her life. 

Merry Christmas Everyone! I love you all, enjoy this special time of years with your families and don't forget the true meaning behind Christmas - our Savior's birth! 

Love you all,
Elder Molinari

"All men should have charity"

Their musical number

Salut mes amis,

Tuesday was a day to be remembered for me. You must be wondering why, what could be so important that would make Elder Molinari start his weekly with it? You could be thinking any number of things, but after 9 months on a mission, on Tuesday, I stepped in my first dog poop - on accident. I forgot about that, glad I remembered for the weekly. Some cool events transpired this week and of course I’m here to provide the juicy details!

On Thursday this week we had a lesson with a new investigator that was referred to us by our good friends Buki and Rejoice. Her name is Gaelle and she is awesome. She attended the baptism of Buki and Rejoice’s daughter, Holly, and came to church the next day; she accepted the invitation to be taught by the missionaries.

Well on Thursday we had our second lesson with her and we decided to teach the Restoration. We had two of the Young Adults with us, which is always a blessing because it is so much easier for a native speaker to explain something than for us Americans! I am trying to open my mouth more and during this lesson I was really trying to focus on what Gaelle was saying and contribute when I felt any sort of prompting. By the end of the lesson I was pretty into the lesson and I could tell she was as well. It was my job to finish up the Restoration with the Joseph Smith story, so I began speaking and had her read the First Vision. Then I bore a testimony about the truthfulness of everything we had taught her, the words just flowed off my tongue without me giving any thought to what I wanted to say. When I concluded she whispered a quiet “Merci.” This response to a testimony is always a confirmation to me that they felt the spirit. That for a moment they remembered who they really are, a child of God!

Friday we were invited to the Family Rochet (pronounced Roh-shay). They are an elderly couple who are super nice. I started talking with Brother Rochet and he mentioned how he used to be a fireman! I have always wanted to be a fireman, so this was very exciting for me, and we had a great conversation about his service. I asked what color his helmet was and he said Silver! And as we all know, a silver helmet is the coolest and also means you are Chief! Yes, indeed he was the chief fireman and after he told me that he got up quickly and went and grabbed this neat little trophy he had been given for serving as chief and a firefighter for so long. It was super cool, really enjoyed it. I love hearing the stories from the old days. They fed us this incredible meal! The appetizer was salad, oysters, fruit/cheese kebabs, pigs in a blanket, these cheese cremepuff things, and little blocks of cheese - wow so good already! After that Sister Rochet brought out these huge, probably half pound, steaks, with potatoes and roasted chestnuts- wowee. I was so stuffed I couldn’t finish the meal, I felt so bad, but I was so full and so was everyone else. Then she brought out this homemade cake that she made us all think was from a patisserie store. They are so kind to us and are a true example of service.

Elder Molinari thought it didn't snow in France!

Saturday we had our Ward Party and our investigator Paula said she was going to come with her daughter. The plan was for us to go pick them up and bring them to the church. But right as we were about to leave Paula called and told us her daughter had a fever and she wasn’t sure if they could make it to the party. We said we would come and meet her either way and give her daughter a blessing. So we went and administered a blessing of healing and Paula decided they could probably go. So we took the train to a station and had a member come and pick us up. Worked perfectly and we had already set up a ride home for Paula and her daughter.

The ward party was fun and Paula and her daughter had a fun time. The missionaries performed a musical number with a member and it was...interesting. We had a great time and I was super happy that Paula could make it. The member who brought her home even offered to drive her to church next Sunday, so we am super happy about that!

Missions are so exhausting, in a way that can only be explained if you have experienced it, but I know this is where I am supposed to be and am glad to be here - even if it is hard! Nothing can replace the experience of seeing and giving others the chance to accept the Gospel.

Much Love,

Elder Molinari

Week 41 of Our Adventures in France

Bonjour Friends and Family!

This week was so packed with stuff I have no idea where to start and what to include because I am well aware I write way too much. Alright I will focus on three things: The Visit by Elder Gary B. Sabin and his wife and the success of Light the World! Ok, on y va!

We were privileged enough to be visited by Elder Sabin and Sister Sabin. He is a member of the European Presidency and a member of the First quorum of the Seventy (if that has no relevance to you, refer to Lds.org.) So they gave us a wonderful formation about missionary work, but the advice can be applied to everyone!

One of the best things he spoke about was how missionaries should view numbers. Elder Sabin said in effect that numbers are important, but they aren’t just numbers. The number represents a person and it is our job to remember them as people not as numbers. Just as our Father in Heaven knows us personally, he also has numbered his people.

The big focus of Elder Sabin’s formation was how to judge our success and what to focus our teaching on as missionaries, and this can be applied for member missionary work as well. When it comes to teaching others about the Church of Jesus Christ we need to focus on one thing and that is The Plan of Salvation or the Plan of Happiness. A very big issue many people have is that they just do not understand who they are and the potential they have. Our message is the Plan, we share the plan and they learn who they are and what great things they are destined for. Every question anyone has, can be answered with the Plan of Salvation. Long formation short, Heavenly Father gave us the choice to decide if we will be exalted or not. We make our choices because of our agency, we can do whatever we want in this life, but an eternal law must be remembered, that we do not choose the consequences of our actions. So do your part and learn about the plan and then teach others and you will reap the blessings of heaven, rather than the consequences of choosing sin.

I really enjoyed how Elder Sabin determined how we are successful. He used the story of Nephi in the Book of Mormon. This is in the book of Helaman, when the Nephites are incredibly wicked and Nephi is not sure what to do any more and he prays to God and this is the response he receives. The Lord in effect tells him that Nephi you are not blessed because of the amount of people you have baptized or the amount of people you reactivated, but he said blessed art thou for trying your hardest. That was the theme of his message. We are not blessed because of numbers or because of the praise of man, we are blessed by how hard we are willing to work. Obedience is key to this principle and I will not claim to be perfect about following rules because I fall short a lot, but it is important to remember that we have not failed until we quit trying. So as long as we are working hard and trying to become better through the Atonement of Jesus Christ then we will reap the blessings.

Elder Sabin used this great analogy about the Commandments. In my mind I pictured the commandments as a giant wall, and he said that we can be beating ourselves up with the commandments or we can be blessing ourselves with them. It’s our choice to decide if we want to run into the wall and break ourselves or we can simply follow their teachings and enjoy a life that is full of the Light and Love of Christ. Follow the commandments and we will be blessed, it is that simple. Elder Sabin said, concerning happiness, “Smile because you know what you are doing is the will of the Lord. We don’t find happiness in everything, but we should in knowing we are doing what the Lord asks.” The life of a disciple of Christ is the best life and although it is hard and we will all face our ups and downs, I know the ups will always outweigh the downs and the joy we receive knowing we are worthy in the sight of God will be far greater than anything the world can offer us. Elder Sabin said we do not have to see success to know what we are doing is right and in my own words, Being faithful is more important than being successful.

Alright this email is long, so I will keep the rest of this short. We have been seeing a lot of success from the Light the World initiative. Truly the spirit of Christmas helps others receive the light of Christ more fully in their lives. We worked pretty hard this week and plan to work even harder this next week to find those who have been prepared to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is FREEZING here and it snowed as well, oh lala, we walk around in low 30’s and high 20 degree weather and it pierces you to the bone, but it is worth it! Light the world with your testimonies and your service and you will be blessed for it! I’ll invite everyone to watch the Light the World video again and determine to share it with someone else if you liked it.

Merry Christmas, I love you all and bonne continuation,

Elder Molinari