September 2, 2024

I love Chartes! It is a very beautiful area of France and a very cool town. The branch that I'm in also has an amazing group of youth. They all speak a little bit of English and I only speak a little bit of French. But we are still able to connect and have fun conversations. The ward is amazing! We have 2 member meals a week on average which is a blessing for the France Paris mission. 

French is crazy though. One example is "La foi" and "Le Foie" both are pronounced the same but "la foi" means faith and "le foie" means liver. So context is very important in french. I'm starting to pick it up. This week we also had my first zone conference and I got to listen to the testimonies of the Elders/Sisters leaving the mission field which was cool. All the sisters that my trainer came in with left this last transfer. Elder Rowley told me that it is super weird because he still has 6 months left.

Miracle: we do a lot of door knocking and street contacting and I knew going into this mission that I wasn't going to have the success as some of my other colleagues in other countries but honestly the work is progressing. In our mission each week we have 7 people on average being baptised and this year we already passed the baptisms of last year. The growth of the church in Europe is slow but moving. And I'm so grateful I get to be a part of it. 

Spiritual thought: I was challenged to read the Book of Mormon in my first two transfers here. As I was reading, one passage come to mind that really resonated with me: 

2 Nephi 2-24 But Behold all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things 

I know there's a reason why we're in the circumstances or spots that we are. It's all part of one great plan. We don't understand it now but we will. Love Ya 

Sincerely- Elder Smith (or Smis if you're French) 






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