Bye Bye February:)

Hello my lovely family,

February is finished! On to another month - how exciting! I have been out of New York for over a year now, so that is kind of interesting. But, this Sunday was cool because Elder Peel and I attended an English speaking branch.

So there is this branch in our area that is English speaking. There are a few American military bases and a big NATO base as well, so there are a few english speaking mormons who work there! We are only allowed to visit this branch once every trimester. Elder Peel was asked to speak, and I was asked to give the closing prayer! Elder Peel gave a great talk and then a Platoon Commander that I think recently moved in with his family gave a talk as well. His talk was really good as well, and pretty humorous, he totally embarrassed his wife when he introduced them. He said how they met at college and she fell in love with him before she even knew his name because she saw him in a swimsuit! She looked horrified, it was great. Honestly it was super nice speaking English at church - wow. Other than me chuckling every time we sang a hymn or someone gave a prayer, I really liked it. It was super weird singing and hearing prayers in English. Also, the English hymn book is like holding a textbook - I mean, my hand was physically tired from holding that up! The French one has probably 150 less songs or something.

We participated in Sunday School and the teacher was glad to have us because missionaries are gospel textbooks, so he had us for backup. Honestly though, he didn’t need us because the members are participated really well - I was impressed. The only counselor in the branch presidency had us go say hello to the Primary children - so they could know what missionaries look like… It was honestly very sad to see how much this branch loved having missionaries there. They were so grateful to just have in the meeting - we sat on the stand as honored guests and everyone was so kind and expressed how much they miss missionaries. Kind of stinks that they don’t have missionaries there.

In Priesthood the discussion was on family counsels and the example used was from the parenting manual and a conversation between a son and a father. I know it will sound weird, but I am very opinionated on parenting and like to think I know a thing or two, so I was an active participant in this conversation. It was pretty cool to see how open all of the men were, they expressed problems they have with children and how it should be handled. I gave a little thought on how we, as parents (talking as if I am one ha), should try to never respond with anger to our children because it will never result in a constructive outcome. As hard as it is, it is crucial to listen to the entire problem first and counsel with your child in a loving and calm way. This builds and solidifies trust and confidence between you and your child. Everyone agreed with me, which was weird because I have no experience to backup that statement other than multiple parenting manuals and church talks! I even left a few of them with a homework assignment to read the talk “Within the Clasp of Your Arms.” It is a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland from the April 1983 General Conference. His son also speaks right after him. The talk is all about the parent-child relationship and had a very profound effect upon me, so I challenge all of you with children to read it and even if you don’t have children (aka me) still read it because it is incredibly good.

Once I got over my English headache, I really appreciated being in church meetings where I was able to fully understand and follow everything. I have gotten over that fear of not wanting to share anything, when you have something to say and Sunday was kind of a “test” day to see if I would actually speak more and I did. It is very rewarding to share an idea and have others bounce off of it and then you can bounce off of others ideas as well. Frankly, you should never feel scared or embarrassed to say anything that may help another person.

After church we talked with the Branch President’s wife, who was super nice. Her daughter is heading off to Spain for her mission in a few months. The wife is also hooking me up with AMERICAN cereal - oh lala I am so excited. There is an commercary area for all of the people that work in the NATO building with food from all over the world for super cheap. So they are getting me Life, Captain crunch (one of those huge walmart bags - I  KNOW RIGHT!!), and some Basic 4 cereal as well. Literally what a blessing. The entire branch wants to invite missionaries over, but they don’t know if they are allowed to - pretty sad.

We went and visited one of the members, who had a referral for us, after church and ate lunch with him and his daughter. We ate macaroni and cheese! The father made a joke about how I would write home about eating macaroni and cheese! He was a little embarrassed he hadn’t had time to prepare something better! But that is ok it because I can write to all of you about it!  We shared a spiritual thought and he told us all about his job and some history of the area we were in. Super cool actually because, I think he said, one of the first conflicts was held on the bridge just outside of his house and also the last right parallel to that bridge a little ways down the river. He was pretty entertaining to listen to and it was just super chill and fun. He explained how easy it is to talk about religion in the NATO base because you are allowed to in Europe. In America or in American military bases you can not speak of religion, but in NATO Europe, you can say whatever you want! So he has people on the daily asking him about being Mormon - what incredible potential to share the gospel!

I guess you can figure out what the highlight of my week was haha. My last thought will be our lesson with our friend Jonathan. We taught him the entire Plan of Salvation with a member and his friend, Elder Kabango. We trekked long and far to teach that lesson and we had 1 hour and 40 minutes to do it - I know over 45 minutes! But, it was just enough time and we used the scriptures to explain the entire lesson and it went great. Jonathan accepted it and is progressing well. I am very excited for him and to be a part of his conversion!

The rest of the week was very difficult and none of the people we came in touch with responded to calls or texts! But, that is ok because we can not control their agency and we will never try to do that! It is important for us to remember that even if people do not listen to us, or answer their phones, or texts, that we need to not become discouraged and know that we have been successful because we did what was required of us. Yes - that is a good thought to end on.

I hope you are all doing well. I continue to pray for each of you every night and hope that you will continue to draw closer to your Father in Heaven and his Son, Jesus Christ. Remember that prayer is not a one way communication and if you ask the Father with a sincere heart for help, you will receive it.

Bless you all and much love,

Elder Molinari

I have pictures, but I was too lazy to transfer them here. Maybe I'll send them tomorrow morning or something - sorry :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ok, Hello Everyone and Happy Valentine's day, 

I hope you enjoyed your time with loved ones. I spent mine with Elder Peel two days after he got dear johned!! 

I am behind in my journal writing this week, so I don’t really have anything to go off of for this week, but I will try to remember the best I can.

Wow, I honestly have no idea what happened on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I know what happened on Thursday, so no worries. Thursday Elder Peel and I had exchanges with the Zone Leaders, Elders Laplante and Mendoza. I was fortunate enough to be with Elder Laplante who served in this area when he entered the mission! So our whole day was filled with visiting members, less actives, and old potentials that he had taught over a year ago! We saw great success with that and so many people were so happy to see him again. We randomly ran into about three or so people on the street that he had met before. The best part of the day was going and visiting the Family Cordier, who were potentials that Elder Laplante found, but since he left nobody has been able to get in touch with them. So we made it to their house and the wife was home, but the husband wasn’t and so we couldn’t enter, but just then Madame Cordier’s husband comes home and we had a lesson with them! They remembered Elder Laplante and still expressed a desire to learn more, so we got a phone number that was actually reliable and have since set up another appointment with them!

Then on Friday - what a day! We went and did our service at the soup kitchen and before we left the owner invited us to a party he was having that night for the volunteers that have been working there for quite some time. We were a little hesitant because he told us there would be alcohol, but we could really see how much it meant to him that we were there, so we told him we would come.

Fast Forward, later that day, after visiting with some members and visiting another person, we had a facebook video lesson with our investigator Jonathan and his friend who is serving a mission in Washington D.C. The lesson started and it was very last minute, so we didn’t really have a plan, but Jonathan starts by telling us that he has really been praying to know if baptism is right for him and if this is truly the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and he told us that he believes it is and wants to be baptized! So we gave him a date for March 17th!!! Super exciting, It is very soon, but we believe it can happen because he is doing so much on his own already. He is accepts all of the engagements without question and is reading and trying to make it to church. Unfortunately he didn’t make it to church yesterday because his train was cancelled! So happy for him. He expressed how grateful he was for this gospel and the missionaries because it has already changed his life. He is so nice, I am glad to witness his conversion.

So, after that lesson, we were both pumped, and ran to the Soup Kitchen for the party and made it a little late, but it was ok because the food hadn’t been served yet. It was actually just a bunch of old people, and wasn’t anything bad. So we sat down and started talking with the people around us, and ended up getting the phone number of a woman named Stephanie, who is recently coming back to religion and believing in something. She seemed very interested by our message and so we made an appointment with her and will meet with her later this week! The important lesson to learn from this experience, is that there are interested people in the Gospel all around us, we just have to be willing to open our mouths and share the amazing message of good news that we carry.

As far as everything else is going, I am very happy and excited to get the work moving here in Nivelles. We are meeting with our Bishop and Ward Mission Leader this week to discuss increasing the Member missionary work and less active effort in the ward. As I was preparing my thoughts to discuss for that meeting, I had no idea what to talk about, so I just started writing and idea after idea came to me how to increase efforts. It resulted in a, I think, really good plan of action to take. It is an incredible feeling to know you are being guided by the spirit. In all of our efforts to increase the member missionary work and less active effort here, we have felt the inspiration of the Holy Ghost guiding us. Every time we do not know what to do, the direction and course of action to take is given to us. I am so grateful for the Gift of The Holy Ghost to guide and direct us in our lives and to help those around us!

I wrote this all in about tenish minutes because I am pressed on time!! So I hope it all made sense and you can get something out of it!! :)

Love you all,

Elder Molinari 

Photos are of the opportunity we had to do service at a members house cleaning out his Horse boxes and a random selfy I forgot I took on our new smart phone! It was really fun doing farm work, I have never felt more out of place in my entire life, but It was fun. Elder Peel loves it because he feels right at home because he is a farmer - I think that is so cool!!!! 

Also here are some Carinval pictures. Everyone was dressed up and playing instruments and drinking large amounts of alcohol - it was interesting.

(no subject)

Hello my dear friends,

First off, I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and words of encouragement. That means a lot to me, knowing I am loved by so many, I pray for you all as well. God bless you.

This week was pretty tough on Elder Peel and I, but we had the chance to meet some amazing people! Honestly, we were finding all week and didn't add anyone to our teaching pool, but that’s alright, I’m grateful for the experiences we had.

So, on Saturday we went and taught a lady named Lily, who lived right by our old apartment, but she had never been asked if she was interested in taking the lessons, so we asked and she accepted. We stopped by on Saturday and gave her the first discussion. The spirit was there and we knew that she was feeling it, but when we offered her the Book of Mormon she denied it. She said she believed everything we taught her, but she was fine being Catholic. I was a little dumbfounded myself, but I respect her decision. It was the exact situation that Preach my Gospel mentions when you will teach people the truth and they will know it is true, but still deny it. She said we could come back any time though, so, we’ll stop by from time to time and maybe her heart will soften towards learning more.

After the lesson we decided to go knock some doors - which, logically, didn't make sense because it was a beautiful sunny day, for once, and Saturday afternoon, so we knew there would be people out. But, we felt inspired to go back to a neighborhood that we had previously visited. We arrived there and walked down a street that I had felt prompted to go down the last time we were there, and we started knocking. The second house we hit, a woman answered and knew who we were! She also began speaking english to us, and invited us in because it was cold outside! Her name is Marie Pierre. We chatted for about an hour and a half and found out her mother had just died three weeks previously and her father had died many years ago from cancer. She told us how she was questioning what was after this life, recently, because of this change in her life. She asked us if we knew what would happen after this life and Elder Peel and I both responded "Yes!" We taught her the Plan of Salvation and gave her the Book of Mormon. We did that all in English and it was way hard. Like, I have zero idea how to teach in english, I was stumbling over my words and had to switch to French a few times just to get out what I was trying to say. She didn't want to make an immediate return appointment and told us that she would read what we had given her and then call us back to meet again. Even though we don't have her number, I feel strongly that we will receive a call from her. I could tell she was touched by the message we brought. It was truly a moment of being guided by the spirit to someone who was prepared.

After her, we went and stopped by the house of Jean Marc, a man who had been very nice to us the first time we knocked the area, but was adamant on not meeting with us because he was content with not believing in God. We knocked his door and he was a little surprised to see us. He told us he hadn't read the pamphlet we gave him, and again said he was content not believing in God. But, I reminded him that the last time we spoke he told us that if there was a God and there was truth out there, he would believe it. We told him the truth he is looking for is in our message. He still wasn't very interested, but we kept talking and found out more about him and how he lived in Boston for a while, and he is married, and has children, and I told him how I would love to just talk more with him because his life is so interesting and I am sure he has great counsel for someone as young as Elder Peel and I. He looked at me and said "You know what, you come by again, not next week, but in a few weeks. I will read your pamphlet and you can come back and we can sit on the patio and have something to drink and talk for an hour or two." It was a testament to me, that being yourself, and showing love for others can really soften their hearts. Jean Marc didn't become an investigator at that moment, but he did become our friend.

Last night we visited an American family. There is a military base here in Belgium and an English speaking ward, so this family invited us over. The Thompson’s were very nice, and we went and visited a friend of Brother Thompson, but he was working (he is a farmer) and so he couldn’t chat for very long. We went back to their house and ate Beef stew, and I had American Whole Milk for the first time in about a year. Wow. You guys don’t know how good you have it, that was literally like drinking the sweetest cream I have ever had - Incredible. Brother Thompson was super nice and gave me a box of Life cereal as well! We shared a spiritual message about Christ and how he helps all of us and went home. Funny side note, I said a prayer in English and totally said the Family Thomas instead of Thompson and then had no idea what to say in the prayer because I am so used to praying in French - the struggle. It was a fun night.

I recently found a scripture that I liked. It is Hebrews 6:10-12, 15. It is a very touching scripture about how God will not forget our labours of love that we render here on earth. He asks us to be diligent and not slothful and to have faith and patience that we will inherit the promises, the promise being eternal life. Then verse fifteen tells us that after we have patiently endured, we obtain the promise. I thought that was a really nice set of verses and applicable to all aspects of life.

Love you all,

Elder Molinari

P.S. We went to the Waterloo museum today for P-day, so I’ll attach the photos on here!

P.P.S. I had my first Waffle and it was one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted in my life.

First of 2018!

Hi Everyone!

I don’t really feel like saying much this week. It will suffice me to say that Elder Johnson and I get along really well and we are working well together. Missionary work is so fun when you enjoy working with your companion! He is helping me through a lot of the stuff I have been struggling with lately and he also makes me speak french basically all day. I am getting French headaches and having a hard time switching back to English because we speak French so much. My french has already improved by a lot because of his diligence to help me! So we are doing really well, I am really happy to be serving with him.

I would just like to talk about the biggest lesson I have learned this year and thus far on my mission. I do not remember if I have already mentioned this, so if I have I apologize, I want to talk about it again.

My mission thus far has been quite the rollercoaster ride. I have had good times and bad times, and a lot of hard times! But through all of this I have come to know who my Savior really is. Before my mission I understood what Christ had done for me; I grew a lot through my experiences with repentance and utilizing the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Even though I had been through the repentance process and understood how to use Christ’s atonement - to a degree - I still didn’t really know who Christ was. My first MTC teacher gave me the assignment one day to try and figure out who Christ is. He said I know what he did, now I need to figure out who he is. I tried to study Christ during the MTC and came to the conclusion that Christ was Merciful. That is true but I don’t think that encompasses all that he is.

So, how did I find out who Jesus Christ is? I am honestly not sure, maybe it was through bearing testimony of him and trying my best to become like him and going through so many trials. Maybe it is because as a missionary you give your entire being to Christ and furthering his work. Maybe it is like Elder Holland said, something along the lines of, we are walking side by side with the greatest being that has ever walked on the earth and we are experiencing a little bit of the pain and sorrow he felt. Either way I am not one hundred percent sure, but I feel like I know Christ in a much more personal way. I have the 1983 oil painting of Del Parson’s depiction of Christ on my desk - I look at it every single day. I had the same photo on my desk at home and looked at it every single day. I start off every single day by looking Christ in the face. I start off the day by remembering why I am here. That picture has become something very personal and precious to me. I feel like it really depicts Him, somehow it was painted in a way where he looks stern but loving at the same time - I love it. That picture has gotten me through a lot of hard times because it makes me feel a lot closer to Christ - it reminds me of him. Even though I have had my hard times on the mission, and in life, Christ has always been there for me and he will always be there for me and for you!

I bore a testimony in my district meeting last transfer that I have never forgotten. The whole meeting had been centered around Christ and I was feeling the spirit and we were ending the meeting by bearing our testimonies. Usually when I bear a testimony - it might be the same for some of you - I finish and then immediately think of something better I could have said or a better way to word something. For this testimony I felt like the spirit just gave me the words and I was perfectly content with what I said. I’ll try to bear that same testimony here for you all.

Jesus is my friend, He is my savior, my redeemer, He is my brother, He is my God and my King. The soldiers of World War II, especially the ones from D-day, have always had a very profound effect on me. I was blessed enough to serve in Caen, where the D-day beaches are, and I was able to see the American Cemetery, with over ten thousand graves. All of these young men, traveled thousands of miles to help save a people they didn’t even know. Jesus Christ traveled many miles, suffered many afflictions, felt the pains, and the sorrows of the world. But, He died for people he did know - for us. What a touching thought. Our brother, our friend, our Savior, chose to die for us.

So who is Jesus Christ to me?

He is my Friend. He understands me like nobody else and he comforts me like nobody else. He is there for me and he watches over me. I love him so much for all that he has done for me. He truly is my Savior.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love you all,

Elder Molinari

Talk Warning! Sorry:) (Truth about his mission)

The view from our Apartment

I’ve decided to write a pretty “real” weekly this week because I don’t really feel like sugarcoating anything and I want you to truly know what I have been feeling the past little while on my mission. I’ll include some of my thoughts on Belgium at the end, if this email isn’t too long!

You often hear in the church that missions aren’t easy. You immediately think it is because of the physical load that is placed on you, working for 14 or more hours a day, walking miles and miles, bearing with the weather, etc etc. Those are all challenges, but I don’t think that is what most returned missionaries are talking about. Honestly, I have found it is the emotional battle you have with yourself. You are expected to be at your best at all times, but you are in a system where being absolutely perfect is not possible. So you constantly have this battle with yourself of not measuring up and beating yourself up because you could be doing something better. You can go so far as to question your faith, or doctrine, and so forth, until you have finally spiraled down into a deep pit of despair, discouragement, resentment, all that fun stuff. I could be generalizing, but for the most part I think all missionaries feel this to some degree or another.

The past few months I have been struggling with finding a reason to stay on my mission. I disagree with a lot of what is going on in my mission and where the focus of the work is being placed and it has resulted in a pretty competitive and foul atmosphere - in my opinion. To me over the past little while it has made much more sense to take myself out of the situation that has been causing me so much stress and unhappiness and go back to what is easy and normal for me. I feel a lot of my past problems on the mission were very miniscule things. I had problems with diligence, talking with people, confronting people, etc etc. But, none of those are really “problems” any more. I know how to work hard now - I still move slow, but that’s another story - I can talk with people, I am comfortable with who I am, and I’m not really afraid to confront someone if they are in the wrong. But, to me, trying to find my testimony of missionary work, again, has been an actual issue for me.

I feel like as I have matured throughout the mission, I have begun to ask more questions and I wasn’t really finding the answers to them. I think I told my dad that “I wasn’t finding what I thought I would on my mission.” I’m not really sure what I was looking for but, I’ve struggled all my life with feeling peace and a sense of happiness, and I think I have been looking for that in the mission, but over the past few weeks I have not felt any of that. It has been completely my fault, looking back, I can see that now. All we can really control in life is our attitude and I was choosing to have a pretty foul one. I had lost myself in my thoughts. My criticisms of myself and others had increased, my frustration had increased, and my patience decreased. I had been trying to do an incredibly hard work by myself and it was not working at all.

Fortunately, Heavenly Father has blessed me with some wonderful missionaries who have really helped me discover what is most important. All of my past companions, and the ones I have lived with. It is interesting that each has been, age wise, older and much older in the mission. Their experiences have shaped me and helped me become a better missionary. And, of course, Heavenly Father has let all of this happen according to his plans.

It is curious that throughout this battle in my mind of whether or not I want to go home, I have been guided. I recently discovered one of the main reasons why I was in Cergy - which includes an incredible story - and now I am here in Belgium with a transfer three missionary and an area that has very high potential. I do not think it has been by chance that I have learned from older missionaries and difficult experiences, to now be in an area where I can put that all to practice.

This past Sunday was fast sunday and I decided to fast for myself. I fasted to feel Love. I fasted to feel a reason to stay on my mission, to know why I am here. Let me tell you that God really does hear our prayers, he really does know our struggles, because he answered my prayer. I had really been quite sour towards the mission up until Sunday, but as soon as we started sacrament meeting, it vanished. I will always believe nothing happens by chance and that is what I believe about coming to Belgium. The ward here is incredible. I have never felt so much love in my life. Each testimony shared was in gratitude to another member and to their Father in Heaven. Each testimony was so sincere and it struck me to the core. I felt love for so many people I didn’t even know and I felt the love of my Heavenly Father.

We went to a member’s house that night and I was able to listen to their stories. Miraculously, as soon as I arrived in Belgium I began to understand almost all the french. I can understand and speak. So, Sunday night was very enriching for me as I heard such wonderful histories of the lives of this dear family. Our spiritual thought consisted of reading 3 Nephi 11:8-17 and then watching the video “For God so Loved the World.” The spirit was so strong, we each bore our testimonies and the emotion was present.

Thinking back to another visit with a member, I was distracted by my thoughts of leaving, and I wondered to myself “Why do I stay?” The answer came in a still small voice, and it said, “Because of them.” I was humbled by that answer and I returned my focus on the dear sister we were teaching.

My experiences have been quite the refiner’s fire. It seems I am too stubborn to be humbled without these difficult experiences, but I am grateful. I know this is where I need to be. Whether or not I am the missionary others want me to be, I feel I am the missionary God needs me to be. I know this is how my mission is supposed to play out. There are so many days when I feel like breaking down and giving up - but, I can’t. Instead I can look up. I can look up and Thank Heavenly Father for this opportunity to grow, to learn, and to be happy. In our lives we all face trials and afflictions, but we don’t have to do it alone, and we don’t have to be unhappy.

We each have a work we need to do, but we never have to do that work alone. God is there, pushing us along. Along with God we have his son, Jesus Christ, our savior and redeemer who can take all of our burdens and sufferings away from us. Remembering them makes such a difference. I’m grateful for these experiences and I am grateful I have another year to help others. To listen to them, and bring a little joy into their lives as well. So if you are experiencing difficulties in your life, instead of complaining about them, Thank Heavenly Father for this opportunity to become better than you were before.

Here’s to another year!

Much Love,

Elder Molinari

P.S. I’ll just mention real quick after my discourse, that Belgium is FREEZING and it is completely different from France, and I keep telling people we are missionaries in France for two years, but the Fries are good and I need to try a waffle still!

My new companion and Ward Mission Leader

Random scenery

Me and a statue

(No Subject)

WHAT'S GOING ON MY FRIENDS!

Well everyone... It turns out that I'm leaving France. It's been a good 11 months, but it's time to move on because... *drum roll please* I'M GOING TO BELGIUM! Yeah!! I know absolutely nothing about my new town. It is called Neville and we have a car which means it is way small, which is so nice because big cities take too long to figure out. Frankly I am way excited because I'm finally leaving Paris - long story, not getting into it - but I am out! On the flip side it really stinks because elder Johnson and I are total homies and we found some super cool investigators this week and progressed with Gaelle so much! I was thinking yesterday how everything seems really good for us right now, then I got that feeling when everything is going well it's time to move and sure enough. Elder Johnson is also leaving, he is heading up to Cherbourg, which is in my old district. I'm optimistic about the future and what it holds with my new, transfer three, companion. On to the next adventure. 

We had the opportunity to see Gaelle this week and give her a chapel tour with a member, brother Franco. It was a really great lesson. We have taught her the Restoration and plan of salvation, so everything we explained about the chapel made sense. Gaelle is highly intelligent and remembers everything she is taught. I told her to listen well in our first lesson and she has. Brother Franco did a great job of explaining everything and the spirit was there! The chapel tour was a fantastic way to reinforce everything that has been taught and we were able to talk about genealogy and temple work as well. Brother Franco bore his testimony at the end and asked Gaelle if she loved her children. She Said yes - of course and then he asked her, then why wouldn't you want to be a family for eternity, not just or short time in earth. She agreed and then he bore testimony how he had rediscovered the fullness of the gospel (he was inactive for a very long time.) He told her that although he knew, and the missionaries knew all of this was true, it didn't matter because she had to find out for herself. She agreed. I closed us with a prayer and when I finished everyone opened their eyes and Gaelle's were a little bloodshot. What a powerful experience. For most of our lessons with Gaelle, she has seemed very distant and a little wary, but after this lesson she invited us to her home because she wants us to meet her whole family. Unfortunately that will not be possible, but I hope she will continue to progress and find the truth she is searching for. 

We also did another church tour with a new investigator who came up to elder Johnson on the tram. He really liked what he saw and is interested in learning more. We did the tour with a convert of less than two years, Patrick, and he had a really good time teaching with us. Working with members is sooo important!!! Members, ask the missionaries if you can teach with them, they will forever love you! You will have a great time as well. We also taught a self referral we received on Sunday, and she seemed super awesome and interested to learn more. She had a lot of questions about doctrine and was very interested in ours. I shared the first vision with her and the spirit was there - so awesome!

Elder Johnson and I had a good P day today. We went and saw the arc de triomphe, the Louvre, and had lunch with his old seminary teacher who works and lives in The heart of Paris. He took us to an authentic French restaurant and it was wayyyy good! I had Lapin, which is rabbit, and great pasta. Then I had a crème brûlée, sooo good. We had a great last day in Paris, really going to miss Elder Johnson.  I totally met a family from upstate New York too! The dad was wearing University of Buffalo clothes and a Bills sweatshirt, I walked up and was like "eyy you're from upstate New York, my debit card has the bills on it!" We had a nice little chat, their son is going to school at the university of Buffalo. They asked why I was in France and I said for my mission, they were like "oh that's super cool, how long are you here?" And I says "two years." 

"...TWO YEARS!? How long have you been here already?" "One year." "Wow, a whole year left." I guess for Mormons the two years is just like brushing the dust off your shoulder, but for everyone else two years is two years! That was fun.

I was going to write something demand inspiring, but I completely forgot what I wanted to write, so instead, I'll tell you that I completed my first ever sudoku in my life this week and then another one and with the help of Elder Hidalgo, an expert sudoku. So far on my mission I have learned how to juggle and do sudoku, two things I thought were impossible - I am satisfied. 

Alright see you all next week from Belgium!

Elda Molinari