Elder Ian James Smith

 March 31, 2025 We're still here in Paris !!! I love being here, the pace of work here is awesome and every day we get to meet super amazing people and fun people.  One day we were doing some metro contacting, all of the sudden I see this man on the metro solving a rubix cube. So I did what any normal person would do and I pulled out my rubix cube and challenged him to a race. I got smoked, he solved it in like 20 seconds! For comparison my record is 1 minute 30 seconds. He was so nice he started showing me other ways to solve a rubix cube. His rubix cube that he was using was 55 EU which is insane. It's electronic so you can time it with your phone. He sadly wasn't interested in coming to church, but it still was a cool experience.  To all the missionaries learning a non-latin based language, I've got a lot of respect for you. We had a friend come to church yesterday who speaks Persian and a little French. We were able to invite our new convert to help us with the less...

 March 24, 2025 Paris Lilas pt 4! We are running it back here in Les Lilas. It's weird to think that I will spend 1/4 of my mission in Paris. Of all the places to be stuck in, this is the best one! Serving in Paris is one of the coolest experiences. Everyday we meet someone new from a whole different background and beliefs. On one tram ride we talked to someone who is Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist. All three were so kind and didn't have any problem telling us their beliefs and letting us tell them about ours.  We also met one guy who said that God doesn't understand French or English, only Arabic? So we asked him if he believes God is all powerful and if he thinks that God can learn a language he responded with a "maybe". We ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and exchanging numbers, but he hasn't gotten back to us. We had "raclet" at a member's house, which was delicious. It's essentially melted cheese with meat on potatoes endlessly. It'...

March 17, 2025  Bonjour! I am staying in Paris! I didn't expect this to happen. I had already been in Paris for 3 transfers, 18 weeks and I'll be here for another 7 weeks so a total of 25 weeks in Paris. Of all the places to be stuck, Paris is definitely the spot. I love this ward and the work here.  We also had the opportunity to go to the temple this last week and do baptisms with our ward. The temple is super amazing, there is always a special spirit there. (Side note: I can't pronounce French last names, it's actually so difficult). It's also so cool when we have the opportunity to go to the temple, our ward is super cool here too.  Miracle time! We had our first baptism for Les Lilas Equipe 2. We had been working with our friend Zeinab since I got here, we had our first call on November 24th. So it's been a minute. She has come to church every Sunday and is super amazing. On Sunday we had her baptism. I was able to baptize her and my companion was able to g...

 March 10. 2025 Bonjour à tous! I'm enjoying these last couple of weeks in Paris. I'll find out on Saturday if I'm leaving on the next transfer, and I'm really hoping to stay. I love the fast pace of the city – there's always something to do, and time is flying by. It truly feels like I've only been here in Paris for four weeks, not four months. We had some other really cool experiences this past week. We were able to get eight friends to church, which was an absolute miracle and an answer to our prayers. We also have a baptism this Sunday! Our friend who is getting baptized this Sunday night is absolutely amazing. I've loved seeing her progression and spiritual knowledge grow since I arrived. She was one of my first lessons here and on our first call we talked about coffee and tea. She even made us some incredible food yesterday! We're always finding new people to talk to. Everywhere you go in France is a new and different experience. For example, one d...

  Bonjour à tous, Things are moving at lightning speed here in the Paris France Mission. There's a saying that "Paris time is different from other time," and it's so true! Our days are jam-packed and fly by, so I'll do my best to share some highlights. We experienced an absolute miracle with one of our friends. She's been attending church for the past 12/13 Sundays, but whenever we brought up baptism, she always said she wasn't ready. This Sunday, we had a wonderful discussion, and later that day, we sent her a conference talk that I found particularly inspiring. A few minutes later, she texted us and said, "Hello Elder Smith, I think I'm ready for baptism".  It was an amazing miracle, and we're so grateful for the many prayers that supported her progression. We also had a fantastic zone conference and visited the temple. I was able to take my own name and do an endowment session in French, which was a special experience. It's so rewa...