Mother's day around the corner!! .... May 5, 2014

Très Chère Famille

Is it really already mother's day? That snuck up on us geez! How awesome.

This week was maybe just as fast as the last. And we had some really cool experiences, I just love being a missionary. (how many times that thought has crossed my mind)

I got to do two exchanges this week! How lucky! I get to do missionary work in even more places. Both with missionaries that came into the mission with me!

The first was Tuesday with Elder Powell in the other side of Bordeaux, the Talence side.

The second one was in Pau! a 2h30 minute train ride from chez nous.

And I got to spend the day with Elder Ardeche a frenchman from Nantes. He is among my favorite people. He just is crazy energetic and really well intentioned. And its always being cool with francophone and seeing the differences in how they see the world vs. how I see the world. And I love speaking french all day. Among the many blessings of being a zone leader is that you get to see different parts of the mission. Pau is so beautiful, it is such a wonderful area. Elder Ardeche and I went and taught an ami, Clarisse as she worked in her kebab (the french-arab delicacy) shop. It was quite the experience. We taught her standing up and the shop was so small that the young french couple that was eating in there was very much engaged in the "lesson". Near the end a friend of Clarisse's came in and somehow knew our church or had been before, and was totally backing us up on everything we said. It was both hilarious and a tender mercy of the Lord. In the end we convinced Clarisse to come to the church and do her genealogy, which she agreed to and to which her sympathetic friend agreed to accompany her to make sure she came. It was rather amusing.

Next up was zone conference, where we had a really uplifting experience and it a cool twist up to the mission doctrine. One miracle we saw concerned the lunch for zone conference. Usually a member from the local ward makes food when President Roney comes. However our member bailed the day before, while we were in Pau. Overhearing our discussion, The Elders of Pau, namely the Austrian Elder Hladcky volunteered his efforts to cook a wonderful Austrian dish. Long story short we got some efforts from different missionaries around the zone and had this super good lunch. We still believe in miracles.

My interview with President was enlightening especially as I turn the page into a new part of my mission life. He gave me some good advice that he has given a million times but I just applied it to myself this time. He is a really successful guy like very successful, temporally and spiritually. I expressed my frustration to him with not knowing how to personally progress, He told me:

"to picture the family I wanted in 20 years. My family, my wife, my kids. How would the man worthy of having that family act? What kind of missionary would he be? how would he treat his wife and kids, how would he act when they arent around, how would he treat others."

He listed off these million questions, then said, when you decide on all that, Do what that guy does. Just do it. If its not you now then make it you. Make goals and plans, down to daily plans. then do it" Changing ourselves is good. That is one of the great myths of our age is we should stay who we are because thats who we've always been. Nope. It was a really wonderful experience to see the application of the gospel in my daily life.

I love you all very much I'm excited to see you on Sunday!!

Beaucoup d'amour,

Elder Montgomery