Somewhere in the Swiss Alps .... January 21, 2014



Chere Famille,

What a incredibly crazy week. And it got crazier reading all the emails I've gotten. How awesome, and wonderful is my Heavenly Father to be blessing me so greatly.

First and foremost, I've been transferred. But before I go into that I'll give my love to Perigueux. Oh I loved that branch. The love I felt from the members was incredible. And I am excited to go back and visit afterwards if I can. 

Our week was very cool. I had the opportunity to go on an exchange with Elder Moeller my district leader and fellow elder in Perigueux. It was incredible what miracles we saw. We found a man on the street that had been inactif for 5 years and he took our meeting as a sign that he needed to return to church. We then went porting. Started with a prayer and were impressed to port a road that had already been ported several times recently. After getting yelled at a couple times, we had a woman invite us in to eat with her and her British husband, then taught the Restoration to him in English. 

Then we went and did home teaching with a member and then we asked that member (the old branch president) if he knew of a less actif we were looking for that had a bad address listed. He knew exactly where she was and we went and visited her, and she committed to coming to church Sunday. There were plenty of others but I need to move on.Needless to say it is so wonderful to see the Lord accomplish miracles, and we get to be a part of it.

Friday we got our transfer calls. I got called to go to Gex, France. Now as an American missionary I cant live in Switzerland. But I had a secret dream that somehow the Lord would let me visit Switzerland. Yesterday I spent about 10 hours on trains from Perigueux to Bordeaux to Lyon to Geneva. And Gex is a suburb area of Geneva about a 30 minute drive from downtown Geneva. I am actually currently during my email from the old church administritave center for Europe (that is now in Frankfurt Germany). We have a huge ward with plenty of multilinguists. From our apartment building we can see Lake Geneva and Mount Blanc and the Alps. Its about as close as I can possibly get. Our secteur has plenty of small villes, Gex itself is rather small. As a result we have a car that is shared between the two teams of missionaries here. My new comp and I will both be learning to drive stick in the coming days in order to use the car.

Next, my new companion. His name is Elder Ambursly, he is from Toronto, Canada, and is beginning his 3rd week in the mission. He dislocated his shoulder in the MTC and so he was late coming into the mission. He is the man. He is 21. He played semi professional soccer in Holland. He is the only member in his family, and most importantly his drive to learn and to grow is fantastic. And I'll be training him. It will be a big learning experience for both of us as neither of us know the area at all. But boy this will be fun. I am stoked to see the miracles and progress we are going to see this transfer.

I am both excited and nervous to be here. New town, new responsibilities, and new opportunities.

Before I left Perigueux, the old branch president, that i mentioned earlier,  came up to me and got about 5 inches from my nose. And told me this line that Id like to leave you with. (He has one lazy eyelid so it was easy focusing on his one open eye:) 

"Jamais est un homme plus grand que quand il est a genoux devant Dieu."
"Never is a man greater than when he his kneeling before God."

Then he shared the the ever applicable President Hinckley quote:
"With any problem that you ever face remember always to Get down on your knees and pray like it all depends on the Lord, then get up and work like it all depends on you."

I love you my family. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that we have a Heavenly Father that loves us and watches over us every day. Never forget to pray.

Beaucoup d'amour,

Elder Montgomery

My new address:)

Les Missionnaires
Les Chanterelles Batiment 17
514 Rue des Vertes Campagnes
01170, Gex France