Turning weaknesses into strengths

Bonjour à tous!

Well this week was pretty fun! It's been raining constantly here. But it was sunny as well though, with some fog here and there. Really, the weather is rainy rainy and more rain, with about 2 hours of sunshine. I'm going to be incredibly pale when I get back and I'm gonna burn so easily, but ça va.

We had exchanges this week with the Cherbourg elders. Which was a blast, we did a ton of finding and contacting, got wrecked a few times, and then went to an Asian buffet. That was a really nice way to end the day! I think I had 6 plates and I think that the manager was starting to get angry at us for eating so much. They didn't take into account that we were four hungry American missionaries, haha!

This week has just been full of finding. We met a cool refugee from Afghanistan last night, he should be coming to our English class. 

For Christmas, we are going to be just about everywhere. We tried looking for service opportunities at food banks and stuff like that. But nobody wants three missionaries helping them out. Some organizations are pretty against religion. But, we did get permission from our leaders to go and visit all of the people in our ward that may need some company! Normally we'd have to have a member there with us when we visit some of the older single women, but our leaders said we could visit anyway because they could really use a visit and it could be a great service! So I am way excited for that because the people here in Rouen love us, and we love them, so it's all good. 

Anyway, today we are going to go on a hike, because I just love getting outside of the normal city life. And I haven't had a really fulfilling P-day in a while. I will try to send pictures later today.

Something I've been learning recently on a very personal level is the idea of just how small and weak we all are. Now when I say that, of course I mean our physical, imperfect bodies. I have been coming to terms recently with the fact that I really am weak. My whole life, I've been trying really hard to be strong and specifically to be strong enough to do everything I need to do. I hate the feeling of not being capable of doing something. But I realized recently something that struck me to the core. It's simply "I'm not strong enough". When we say "I want to be strong enough to do anything I want or need" we are effectively saying "I don't want the help of others" which is a form of pride. When in reality, we need to realize 1. That we need others help and 2. We need God's help always. Once we start to be strong, we start to get prideful, and we start to shut others out of the equation, including God. But we will eventually be humbled and realize that we can't do it alone. We simple aren't strong enough. One of the prophets once said "the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" think about how true that is! And Henry B Eyring once said "When I find myself drawn away from my priesthood duties by other interests, and when my body begs for rest I give to myself this rallying cry, Remember Him.". I try to Remember Him when I am tired, I realize, though, that the first thing I think about when my body "begs for rest" is not always the Savior. But I also find that every time I say those words in my head, I do remember him, and that gives me just enough strength to take another step, and I find myself every Sunday with just enough strength to say to God during the Sacrament "I do remember him". Yes, times may be hard, trials are meant to test us to our limits, that is how we grow. Sometimes trials may last a week or a month or even years. But our Heavenly Father makes us these two promises:

1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Ether 12:27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

We'll that is what I have been learning recently. I hope you all have a great week! I love you all! Don't forget to eat lots of Christmas food for me!

Sincerely
Elder Payne 
France, Paris Mission

Rainy in Rouen

Bonjour à tous,

We'll this week was kinda rough. Elder Banton was really sick for two days with the flu as well as a cold. I don't even know how that works but okay....

Anyway, so this week was a really slow one, it keeps raining, and it won't stop. I like the rain, but only when it rains a lot. In France you have this constant mist. Not even rain, just mist. But then when we do go outside, it rains harder. I'm getting pretty tired of it, it just never ends!!

On the bright side, we have a lot of fun as a trio! Even through the hard times, we joke and laugh, so that's good. 

I am way excited for Christmas! It's coming up fast! I don't know exactly what we're going to do, we already have a member that wants us to come over. We might just do that. 

We'll I'm sorry I don't have a lot to tell! Have a great week everyone!

Sincerely
Elder Payne 
France, Paris Mission

Parent's note:  The Mission President has been keeping us informed about our missionary.  There is some protesting and other not pleasant events happening in France right now.  Jay (and the other missionaries) are safe.  If they encounter any gathering of protesters, they are instructed to stay/get away from the area.

Acting on Spiritual Promptings

Bonjour à tous!

So I just wanted to share a cool experience this week!

I am in a trio right now. And one of my companions loves to skateboard. So, Since today was P-day. We decided to look for a skate park. We wandered around town a little but couldn't find one. We finally just settled with a bike trail. 

While we were playing around, a woman passed by and I remember feeling something was off as she walked by. I didn't think much of it and we just kept playing around with the skateboard. We decided it was time to head back and we started down this bike trail. We come to somewhat of a dead end, but it was more like a random wall in the middle of this bike trail. Well the woman was sitting of the ground leaning on this wall and as we passed by, I could immediately tell that she was very sad. But we just passed by as I made eye contact with her.

As we were walking away, the thought of turning around and talking with her replayed over and over again in my head. Finally, I came to terms with myself and recognized it as the Spirit, and I knew that I had to do something about it. 

I had fallen behind the others for a moment at this point because I was rather caught up in my thoughts. And God, just to seal the deal, somehow made it so that one of my companions actually passed me the skateboard. So I took the skate board and just started going back to the woman, signalling to the others to come with me. I finally made it over back to the wall. The others caught up to me and I told them, "That woman is sad and we are going to help her, let's say a prayer." And before they could say anything about it, I prayed. 

I then we went over to the woman and sat down next to her. I don't remember everything I said, but she cried and told me everything about her life. Her mother had died recently, as well as her sister. And she had lost her job, and was just totally wrecked emotionally. I basically just told her that God loves her and then suggested that I pray with her. She agreed and I prayed for her, I blessed her in my prayer and did my best to listen to the Spirit. 

After that, I told her that we needed to go. I told her that everything would be okay. Then we left.

I hope with all of my heart that she will be humble enough to continue to pray. I know that if she does, she will be guided to the truth. 

That is the cool experience that I had today, and I definitely felt that truth of the principle that the more good things you choose to do, the more light you have in your heart.

Well I love you all! Have a great week!