Hello everybody,
Wow, it's seems just like yesterday that it was time to email. Elder Gysler and I had a rather neat experience this past Sunday while doing some contacting en chemin. As usual we were talking to people and not too many people were overly interested or seemed to have the time to get in any real testimony about the Restored Gospel. As we continued down the street in the dark, we saw a stroller and two women walking with it. Elder Gysler opened his mouth and started. This was a three generation family. Both the grandmother and the mother mentioned that they have been asking themselves lots of questions and that they would love to belive in God and His Son and Their mercy. They had a particularly hard time with the treatment of the Jews during the War and were troubled by children dying young. As we testified of the saving power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that through Him all children are saved and will dwell with God they almost wept. I don't remember ever having seen the Spirit touch someone so deeply or so quickly while contacting on the street. We were able to exchange information and set-up a rendez-vous and the soeurs will be visiting them this week. It was wonderful.
I love all of you and thank you for your support.
Love,
Elder Marsala
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
11 November 2008
Elder Marsala with Elder Gylser and Brother Bandieri (older gentlemen) and friends -baptized 25 October 2008
This is Miles' Halloween costume. He went around all day dressed as Joseph Smith.
Bonjour tout le monde,
The Pyrenees, The Alps, and The Mediterranean
This past week Elder Gysler and I took a little journey. Because Elder Gysler is in charge of the apartments for the mission and there were some apartments being closed, off we went. We sent out Thursday after having received 13 blues on Wednesday. We started by heading towards Nîmes, well there was one wrong turn taken in Carcassonne and with the "help" of the GPS it took a little longer than normal to get to Nîmes. We were sent down smaller roads through small towns and vineyards. It was breathtakingly beautiful! It is early November and all the bushes, trees, mountains, and vineyards have decided to change colors. We drove through seas of color on both sides of us, deep reds, blazing yellows, burning orange and crisp brown. It was amazing to look on either side for as far as the eye could see, and only see this ocean compossed of waves of different color. It was, as my dad would say, "Marvelous, simply marvelous."
We eventually made it to Nîmes and thanks to some road construction en ville things were slightly complicated, but we made it and were able to deliver the elders there some new beds. Afterwhich we took a few more wrong turns and headed off to Vitrolles. It was nice to be back in Vitrolles, I hadn't been there in ten months, I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it there. We would spend the night there and leave behind a chest of drawers. Early the next morning we headed off to Avignon to make a quick delivery and then to Manosque to deliver a bed and do an inspection of the apartment. We left Manosque and headed to St. Raphaël. We made there and got to work emptying the apartment of the recently departed Myers. They had loads of stuff left behind. The Elders of St. Raphaël pitched in a helping head. After we had loaded the Trafic to maximum capacity we headed up to Antibes to unload the items into the chapel in Antibes which is no longer in use. We had no idea what we were missing at the chapel that night until the next day. After unloading we headed back to St. Raphaël and filled the Trafic to capacity again and then we parked and stayed the night with the Elders in St. Raphaël. The next morning we headed back to the Antibes chapel to unload again. Wow! So the Antibes chapel is a villa that has been slightly remodeled on the inside, it sits on a hill with a million dollar view of the Côte d'Azur, where one can see in one snapshot both the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea. It was breathtaking. We missed sunrise but the sun was blazing and it was gorgeous, I can't even explain. After taking a moment to soak in the beauty of the place we unloaded the Trafic and headed to the old Anibes apartment, with the help of the Elders from Nice we filled the Trafic up twice and took emptied it at the dump. After our day in Antibes we headed back to St. Raphaël to finish emptying the Myers' apartment. After we had once again filled the Trafic to it's limits there was still chairs and a lamp to fit in, so with no way to make it all fit, we were grateful to run into a neighbor who was delighted to take them off of our hands. With it getting late and time running short we left in a hurry, seeing how the next day was Sunday we wanted to get as close to Toulouse as possible. Aix-en-Provence would be our host Saturday evening and we had a great time. Very early Sunday morning we hit the road heading to Montpellier hoping to get there before there services started. We ran into the Elders and Soeurs as there were heading to church, with joy we gave them some things and after a quick laugh or two Elder Gysler and I climbed aboard for one last stretch. Going from Montpellier to Toulouse was an easy stretch of driving as far as conditeions are concerned, but considering the Elder Gysler doesn't know how to drive and I had already done so much driving I was spent and the drive became very tiring, I'd be happy to never drive the Trafic again after all the miles that we did in that thing! We arrived safely home and cleaned ourselves and made to church on time. We came home in the evening, ate the first real food we'd had in about four days and dozed off to Neverneverland a touch earlier than normal. It was great to sleep with the quilt that mom had made me, I had sorely missed it and it felt wonderful. Odd thing about the trip was as neat as it was to not wear a tie for a few days, getting ready for church it felt so relaxing to sleep on a clean white shirt.
Thanks to all of you for all of your love and support.
Love,
Elder Marsala
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
4 November 2008
Hello,
This past Sunday frère Vasco Santo Bandieri received the baptism by fire. Elder Gysler confirmed him a member of the Church and conferred upon him the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a beautiful blessing and it was a neat experience. One of our other amis, Philip, has been making some sweet progress in the last few weeks, he has stopped working on Sundays and coming to church, which was hard for him to do for about three months. Yesterday we again went to the family Thomas' home, but this time with Philip and his sister, it was rather interesting because the Thomas family doesn't speak too much English, hardly none at all, and Philip speaks practically no French, it was a rather amusing.
Today is the transfer and it's a big one, thirty équipes were changed and there are thirteen blues coming in tomorrow. But there are no changes in the bureau, so it's almost certain that will all be here until the new year comes.
Well I encourage all of you to go out and vote! I love you and thank you for everything.
Love,
Elder Marsala
This past Sunday frère Vasco Santo Bandieri received the baptism by fire. Elder Gysler confirmed him a member of the Church and conferred upon him the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a beautiful blessing and it was a neat experience. One of our other amis, Philip, has been making some sweet progress in the last few weeks, he has stopped working on Sundays and coming to church, which was hard for him to do for about three months. Yesterday we again went to the family Thomas' home, but this time with Philip and his sister, it was rather interesting because the Thomas family doesn't speak too much English, hardly none at all, and Philip speaks practically no French, it was a rather amusing.
Today is the transfer and it's a big one, thirty équipes were changed and there are thirteen blues coming in tomorrow. But there are no changes in the bureau, so it's almost certain that will all be here until the new year comes.
Well I encourage all of you to go out and vote! I love you and thank you for everything.
Love,
Elder Marsala
Thursday, October 30, 2008
28 October 2008
Bonour à tous,
This last week was great! We had the privilege of attending the baptism of our ami Vasco Santo Bandieri on Saturday. It was great, he was found about six weeks ago and he has been baptized. He's a very, very nice gentleman, with a good heart and a strong desire to do what is right. Frère Thomas had the privilege of baptizing him and it was a wonderful service with a pretty good attendance. This last week was Stake Conference and it was very well done, due to the conference frère Bandieri will not be confirmed until this upcoming Sunday.
Other than that this last week was pretty average. The weather has taken a sudden change to the cold side of Autumn. It was a beautifully warm and sunny October until a few days ago when it all changed without any warning. Luckily none of us have taken ill. There was an event rather out unusual this past Wednesday. It was Zone Development Meeting, as we left the bureau in the early morning we noticed a problem with our Traffic, our utility van, the bumper was missing! It was unusual there was no wreckage or damage to the vehicle, just a missing bumper, we found nuts and bolts and screws, and we came to the realization that it was stolen! Who steals a bumper?! Why?! We took it to the garage where they were quite surprised and confirmed our diagnosis that the bumper was indeed stolen. It caused some minor excitement and stress, but we all survived.
I love you all very, very much, I wish you all a wonderful week and a Happy Halloween! Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Marsala
P.S. I would like to wish a happy 88th birthday to my Grandma B
This last week was great! We had the privilege of attending the baptism of our ami Vasco Santo Bandieri on Saturday. It was great, he was found about six weeks ago and he has been baptized. He's a very, very nice gentleman, with a good heart and a strong desire to do what is right. Frère Thomas had the privilege of baptizing him and it was a wonderful service with a pretty good attendance. This last week was Stake Conference and it was very well done, due to the conference frère Bandieri will not be confirmed until this upcoming Sunday.
Other than that this last week was pretty average. The weather has taken a sudden change to the cold side of Autumn. It was a beautifully warm and sunny October until a few days ago when it all changed without any warning. Luckily none of us have taken ill. There was an event rather out unusual this past Wednesday. It was Zone Development Meeting, as we left the bureau in the early morning we noticed a problem with our Traffic, our utility van, the bumper was missing! It was unusual there was no wreckage or damage to the vehicle, just a missing bumper, we found nuts and bolts and screws, and we came to the realization that it was stolen! Who steals a bumper?! Why?! We took it to the garage where they were quite surprised and confirmed our diagnosis that the bumper was indeed stolen. It caused some minor excitement and stress, but we all survived.
I love you all very, very much, I wish you all a wonderful week and a Happy Halloween! Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Marsala
P.S. I would like to wish a happy 88th birthday to my Grandma B
Thursday, October 23, 2008
21 October 2008
There is something in a Sunday...
Bonjour tout le monde?
Comment ça va? I'm doing wonderful. This last Sunday was a bit hectic but it was magnificent in the end. So in the morning I received an early phone call from the assistants telling me that they had crashed the car in the middle of the Alps and were in a bit of a pickle. So that was a lovely start, but nobody was hurt so no real worries. We then proceeded to church in the afternoon which was fantastic. So it started with Philip. He's an ami from Ghana that speaks English and not French, he's been an ami for quite some time and even had a baptismal date. But he doesn't have much money so we can't see him as often as planned because he's obligated to work anytime somebody calls him and offers him money. This was also a problem because he has promised to come to church almost every week since early August and has never come. Saturday night we went over there with Julie Sordes and taught the Sabbath Day. He agreed to live it and said that he'd come to church. As we got to church we called him and he said he was at the metro, so Elder Gysler and another Elder went to find him while I waited for frère Bandieri. When I saw Philip walk in the door I threw my arms in the air and stated, "YES!" He came for all three hours and loved it. He also told us that that morning he had had a dream telling him to go to church. That morning he also received a call from his buddy offering him 50 euros to work that afternoon, but he replied, "No. Today is Sunday and I have to go to church."
Frère Bandieri came to church as usual and had his baptismal interview with Elder Nolan. It went well but he has some personal worries that we discussed. We then took him to the bishop so they could more formally meet one another and also get the bishop's help with these worries. It was a great little chat, the bishop spoke some rather inspiring words and really helped out.
Then we headed to Sacrament meeting, and in walked a young man in his mid-twenties. He sat by Elder Nolan for it was he that first contacted him on the street a few weeks ago. Elder Gysler and I had called him earlier in the week to invite him to church. Chris is sweet! We had the opportunity to teach him the Plan of Salvation afterward which really answered a lot of his questions about resurrection. He was very interested and sincere.
In the end we ended-up with three amis at church, I can only remember maybe one other time during my mission having at least three amis there. It was such a blessing! We were smiling ear-to-ear all day.
Well everyone, I love you all and I thank you for your love and support.
Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Marsala
Bonjour tout le monde?
Comment ça va? I'm doing wonderful. This last Sunday was a bit hectic but it was magnificent in the end. So in the morning I received an early phone call from the assistants telling me that they had crashed the car in the middle of the Alps and were in a bit of a pickle. So that was a lovely start, but nobody was hurt so no real worries. We then proceeded to church in the afternoon which was fantastic. So it started with Philip. He's an ami from Ghana that speaks English and not French, he's been an ami for quite some time and even had a baptismal date. But he doesn't have much money so we can't see him as often as planned because he's obligated to work anytime somebody calls him and offers him money. This was also a problem because he has promised to come to church almost every week since early August and has never come. Saturday night we went over there with Julie Sordes and taught the Sabbath Day. He agreed to live it and said that he'd come to church. As we got to church we called him and he said he was at the metro, so Elder Gysler and another Elder went to find him while I waited for frère Bandieri. When I saw Philip walk in the door I threw my arms in the air and stated, "YES!" He came for all three hours and loved it. He also told us that that morning he had had a dream telling him to go to church. That morning he also received a call from his buddy offering him 50 euros to work that afternoon, but he replied, "No. Today is Sunday and I have to go to church."
Frère Bandieri came to church as usual and had his baptismal interview with Elder Nolan. It went well but he has some personal worries that we discussed. We then took him to the bishop so they could more formally meet one another and also get the bishop's help with these worries. It was a great little chat, the bishop spoke some rather inspiring words and really helped out.
Then we headed to Sacrament meeting, and in walked a young man in his mid-twenties. He sat by Elder Nolan for it was he that first contacted him on the street a few weeks ago. Elder Gysler and I had called him earlier in the week to invite him to church. Chris is sweet! We had the opportunity to teach him the Plan of Salvation afterward which really answered a lot of his questions about resurrection. He was very interested and sincere.
In the end we ended-up with three amis at church, I can only remember maybe one other time during my mission having at least three amis there. It was such a blessing! We were smiling ear-to-ear all day.
Well everyone, I love you all and I thank you for your love and support.
Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Marsala
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
14 October 2008
Hello everyone,
Last night Elder Gysler and I had a wonderful experience. Frère Thomas in our ward had taught our engagé Vasco Banderi with us earlier in the week, Sunday at church he invited us and frère Banderi to come to there house for Family Home Evening with him, his wife, and their two young children. It was great! Frère Banderi really appreciated it and was grateful for the opportunity. We talked a lot about the importance of reading the scriptures everyday, the importance of the Book of Mormon, and our need to study it regularly. We then watched the short film about Parley P. Pratt finding the Book of Mormon and reading it all day and all night and then being converted. It was fun to have Family Night and to be able to be strengthened together. It was also pretty cool on Sunday, the Stake President of Toulouse was visiting our ward and he made the announcement about the baptism of Vasco Banderi.
We had a good zone conference this past week and learned a lot. Today we had five francaphone (French native) missionaries arrive, that was pretty neat. Well, have a great week everyone. I love you all and I thank you for all your support.
Love,
Elder Marsala
Last night Elder Gysler and I had a wonderful experience. Frère Thomas in our ward had taught our engagé Vasco Banderi with us earlier in the week, Sunday at church he invited us and frère Banderi to come to there house for Family Home Evening with him, his wife, and their two young children. It was great! Frère Banderi really appreciated it and was grateful for the opportunity. We talked a lot about the importance of reading the scriptures everyday, the importance of the Book of Mormon, and our need to study it regularly. We then watched the short film about Parley P. Pratt finding the Book of Mormon and reading it all day and all night and then being converted. It was fun to have Family Night and to be able to be strengthened together. It was also pretty cool on Sunday, the Stake President of Toulouse was visiting our ward and he made the announcement about the baptism of Vasco Banderi.
We had a good zone conference this past week and learned a lot. Today we had five francaphone (French native) missionaries arrive, that was pretty neat. Well, have a great week everyone. I love you all and I thank you for all your support.
Love,
Elder Marsala
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
7 October 2008
I would like to start today by wishing my dear mother and father a very happy 31st Wedding Anniversary that they celebrated yesterday, CONGRATULATIONS!
Wow! What an incredible weekend we had. Isn't General Conference just the greatest?! I was completely giddy about it the whole time and could hardly contain my excitement! It was wonderful to hear about five new temples being built, including Rome! What a step forward for Western Europe, I remember being at blues conference in August of last year with President and Soeur Merrell talking about a sister missionary at temple square from Italy that spoke to an Italian official and he was deeply moved my her words and the spirit at Temple Square. Then President Merrell held back tears as he stated, "And thanks to this sister missionary and her testimony, there will be a temple in Rome." And now the time has come.
I loved every single talk and was touched by all of them. I especially enjoyed Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, Elder David A. Bednar, and Elder Quentin L. Cook. I could just name all the speakers but that would be too easy. But I definitely think that my favorite would have to be Elder Quentin L. Cook's talk about difficult times and moving forward through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was just wonderful. It was rather amusing to hear "le Petit Prince" quoted over the pulpit, and of course it was by the French member of the Seventy. But after all is said and done, I think my absolute favorite quote was when Elder Neal L. Anderson quoted a four-year-old girl in saying, "Jesus will make everything alright." It couldn't be simpler and it couldn't be more true.
I love you all so very, very much. I'm eternally grateful for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How blessed I feel to have Thomas S. Monson as the prophet of God on the Earth and to be led by him, the First Presidency, and Twelve Apostles. What a great day we live in. Thanks for all your love and support.
Love,
Elder Marsala
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
