Hey Family!
everythings going well in France i suppose... the church is true here too haha. well i dont' really know what to write because so far not too much has gone on.
Like i said last time my comp. is Elder Eaton, and he's a lot different from my friends so i'm kinda starting to get a little homesick but don't worry, i'll be fine.
probably the biggest thing for me right now would be that it doesn't seem like we're doing as much as we can, and i use the excuse that i don't speak french but i know enough to start the conversations and turn them over to him, oh well, always have to be progressing.
on saturday was samedi sportif and we played some ping pong and basketball... only 2 members were there, Guillome who is preparing his papers for his mission, and Nicolas who is kind of...crazy haha. but ya, i won... :)
i'm starting to understand french quite a bit better, but its hard for me to find opportunities to speak because i don't know if i know what they're saying....its kind of confusing but i understand. haha
well thats about all i can think of to write have a good week!
-Elder Laws-
oh, we went porting (knocking doors) and i carried on an entire conversation by myself, just keep improving. yay!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Geneva Switzerland Mission Letter
Laws Family,
We are writing you to inform you that Elder Laws arrived safely in Geneva, spent a great couple of weeks with us and is now in his first area in St. Etienne, France with his trainer Elder Eaton.
We will try to take good care of this great son of yours. Weekly we hear from them through letters, and every three weeks we see them in either personal interviews or in a Zone conference training session. In between, we try to keep in touch with phone calls -- especially with our newest missionaries in the work. More important than all these efforts, we join our prayers with yours for these dear young people morning, noon, and night. We have learned that our Heavenly Father protects and guides the missionaries in a truly miraculous way as they strive to be obedient and faithful.
Switzerland Geneva Mission
We are writing you to inform you that Elder Laws arrived safely in Geneva, spent a great couple of weeks with us and is now in his first area in St. Etienne, France with his trainer Elder Eaton.
We will try to take good care of this great son of yours. Weekly we hear from them through letters, and every three weeks we see them in either personal interviews or in a Zone conference training session. In between, we try to keep in touch with phone calls -- especially with our newest missionaries in the work. More important than all these efforts, we join our prayers with yours for these dear young people morning, noon, and night. We have learned that our Heavenly Father protects and guides the missionaries in a truly miraculous way as they strive to be obedient and faithful.
Switzerland Geneva Mission
Mission Photos
This is a picture of Michael, his Mission President and wife, and the Geneva Zone Leaders that he spent the first few days with.
Here is a picture of all of Michael's group after they arrived in Switzerland.
Here is a picture of Michael with his new companion Elder Eaton. Michael's Trainer.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
July 23, 2008
hello family!
how's everything going?
thanks for the emails they rock haha.. (my preparation day is going to be changed from now on to monday so ya... just so you know) well on tuesday i got to go into the mission home and see all my buds from the MTC, and now i'm in St. Etienne in france with my trainer elder Eaton...je pense...haha just a sec, yup... good companion i am haha. well so i guess that this means that i have 16 transfers left.... haha. i've had some really good experiences already, and some not so new ones but i know that the work will always go forward and that with the lord on our side we'll succeed.
its good to hear from you all.
love you-
Elder Laws
My Address out here is:
Elder Laws (of course)
14 Rue Terrenoire
F-42000 St. Etienne
France
how's everything going?
thanks for the emails they rock haha.. (my preparation day is going to be changed from now on to monday so ya... just so you know) well on tuesday i got to go into the mission home and see all my buds from the MTC, and now i'm in St. Etienne in france with my trainer elder Eaton...je pense...haha just a sec, yup... good companion i am haha. well so i guess that this means that i have 16 transfers left.... haha. i've had some really good experiences already, and some not so new ones but i know that the work will always go forward and that with the lord on our side we'll succeed.
its good to hear from you all.
love you-
Elder Laws
My Address out here is:
Elder Laws (of course)
14 Rue Terrenoire
F-42000 St. Etienne
France
Thursday, July 17, 2008
July 16, 2008
Hey family how's everything going?
i arrived here safe and sound and got to work. President Peterson and his wife, and the Zoneleaders in Geneva Picked me up.
I'm with the Zone leaders now until the rest of my group comes next week. way cool. They're way nice, Elder Wain is from England, Leeds area. and he has only like 1 Month left crazy huh? Elder Vogelsberg is from bountiful utah, or New York depending on who he's talking to. they're showing me the ropes pretty nicely. so far i've had good days and bad ones (although there aren't really bad days) the first day i had porting went pretty good. we found 3 new amis (investigators), and ya went pretty good. right now a lot of the focus is getting members involved in the process and i think it's working idk... we've made a bunch of member visits and everything is going pretty well. the next day porting was not so good though haha... we ported for six hours finding 0 people. oh well. this place is way awesome so i wish that i got to serve here the WHOLE time haha.. its way awesome... an incredible change.
french... haha... well i can understand most of what is said...not necessarily the whole thing but at least the jist. and i can't speak that well but umm my companions say that i'm better off than they were and they are speaking french now. haha so i have high hopes. but ya. ummm thats all i can think of right now so have a sweet day.
E'Laws
i arrived here safe and sound and got to work. President Peterson and his wife, and the Zoneleaders in Geneva Picked me up.
I'm with the Zone leaders now until the rest of my group comes next week. way cool. They're way nice, Elder Wain is from England, Leeds area. and he has only like 1 Month left crazy huh? Elder Vogelsberg is from bountiful utah, or New York depending on who he's talking to. they're showing me the ropes pretty nicely. so far i've had good days and bad ones (although there aren't really bad days) the first day i had porting went pretty good. we found 3 new amis (investigators), and ya went pretty good. right now a lot of the focus is getting members involved in the process and i think it's working idk... we've made a bunch of member visits and everything is going pretty well. the next day porting was not so good though haha... we ported for six hours finding 0 people. oh well. this place is way awesome so i wish that i got to serve here the WHOLE time haha.. its way awesome... an incredible change.
french... haha... well i can understand most of what is said...not necessarily the whole thing but at least the jist. and i can't speak that well but umm my companions say that i'm better off than they were and they are speaking french now. haha so i have high hopes. but ya. ummm thats all i can think of right now so have a sweet day.
E'Laws
Letter from Switzerland Mission Office
Dear Bro. & Sis. Laws,
Elder Laws arrived safe and a bit tired. He was brought into the mission home and the Zone Leaders from Geneva came in to pick him up.
He will be serving with them until the 23 July transfer date. He will then be matched up with his trainer and given his assignment for the transfer.
On the transfer day he will receive his training with the other missionaries who will arrive at that time.
Until the transfer, preparation days are on Wednesday. You may hear from him today. Starting with the 23 July transfer, preparation day will change to Mondays. We are excited to have your son serving in our mission and look forward to our association with him.
Regards,
Sister Wirthlin
Mission Secretary
Elder Laws arrived safe and a bit tired. He was brought into the mission home and the Zone Leaders from Geneva came in to pick him up.
He will be serving with them until the 23 July transfer date. He will then be matched up with his trainer and given his assignment for the transfer.
On the transfer day he will receive his training with the other missionaries who will arrive at that time.
Until the transfer, preparation days are on Wednesday. You may hear from him today. Starting with the 23 July transfer, preparation day will change to Mondays. We are excited to have your son serving in our mission and look forward to our association with him.
Regards,
Sister Wirthlin
Mission Secretary
Monday, July 14, 2008
July 14, 2008
Val, Brenda and Keshia are in St. George putting the finishing touches on the house and packing it all up so that it is ready for closing on July 22nd. By the 24th or 25th of July we should be living in Idaho Falls. Keshia is going to go with us for a couple of weeks and then she will come back down to Cedar City to get ready for school at SUU. She'll probably live with Justin and Jesse until she is able to get into her dorm room. Michael flew out of the SLC airport (by himself) on Friday at about 4:30pm. He was on a non-stop flight to Paris (10 hours) and then had a change over for a flight into Geneva, Switzerland. He said that a mission assistant was supposed to meet him at the airport. So far we haven't heard anything from him so we don't know much. Just assuming that everything went ok and he's there.
July 11, 2008
I got a call from Michael on Wednesday saying that the Church Travel Office called him that day and told him he would be leaving the MTC today (Friday 11th) and flying to Switzerland.
They gave him just 5 minutes on the phone to let his parents know what was going on.
He said hi, told me the change in his travel plans (he was supposed to leave around the 21st), then bore his testimony to me in French and had to hang up.
They sent him all his mission paperwork clear back in Jan and he didn’t go into the MTC until May 21st.
He traveled to San Francisco back in late Feb. to get French and Swiss Visa’s and I guess they have to get him into Switzerland before his Swiss visa expires on the 13th.
That’s what you get for doing all the paperwork early and efficiently.
He was freaking out a little when they first told him but I think he is just excited now. I’ll let you know what his address etc. is when I know.
His email is still mvlaws@myldsmail.net for now at least.
They gave him just 5 minutes on the phone to let his parents know what was going on.
He said hi, told me the change in his travel plans (he was supposed to leave around the 21st), then bore his testimony to me in French and had to hang up.
They sent him all his mission paperwork clear back in Jan and he didn’t go into the MTC until May 21st.
He traveled to San Francisco back in late Feb. to get French and Swiss Visa’s and I guess they have to get him into Switzerland before his Swiss visa expires on the 13th.
That’s what you get for doing all the paperwork early and efficiently.
He was freaking out a little when they first told him but I think he is just excited now. I’ll let you know what his address etc. is when I know.
His email is still mvlaws@myldsmail.net for now at least.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
July 04, 2008
Hey Family!
How are you?
So nothing quite as exciting as 5 apostles happened this week... the gospel is still true though.. haha
One of the Elders in my District taught me how to do rubics cubes though and it's fun...
We taught for the first time in french the other day at the TRC, or Teaching Experience, and it was rough. We taught this Haitian guy who had this CRAZy accent... so it was hard to understand but my teacher said we handled it well. (didn't move on without understanding/answering his questions) so i felt good about it... always room for improvement.
that's about all i think.... we aren't required to speak french all the time but it's something that helps when you speak as much as you can..
I'm official out of the hostile phase i think haha!
i'm really trying to think of more things but i can't.... oh... wait. the temples closed so we didn't get to go this week or for the rest of the time that we're in here. BUT, next week we get to go help clean it which should be cool...
THERE'S a ton of different tenses and it's starting to fluster me... haha
well Je vous aime mon famille.
-Elder Laws
p.s. sorry its not that long... if you have questions send a letter or something.... (there's always dearelder.com)
How are you?
So nothing quite as exciting as 5 apostles happened this week... the gospel is still true though.. haha
One of the Elders in my District taught me how to do rubics cubes though and it's fun...
We taught for the first time in french the other day at the TRC, or Teaching Experience, and it was rough. We taught this Haitian guy who had this CRAZy accent... so it was hard to understand but my teacher said we handled it well. (didn't move on without understanding/answering his questions) so i felt good about it... always room for improvement.
that's about all i think.... we aren't required to speak french all the time but it's something that helps when you speak as much as you can..
I'm official out of the hostile phase i think haha!
i'm really trying to think of more things but i can't.... oh... wait. the temples closed so we didn't get to go this week or for the rest of the time that we're in here. BUT, next week we get to go help clean it which should be cool...
THERE'S a ton of different tenses and it's starting to fluster me... haha
well Je vous aime mon famille.
-Elder Laws
p.s. sorry its not that long... if you have questions send a letter or something.... (there's always dearelder.com)
June 27, 2008
Hey Family How's it going?
This week has been way good i think.. We started teaching the first lesson in french...(i don't knwo how well it went..) My compy has a hard time with french and doesn't understand what im' saying all the time so it makes it hard but we're working on it.. (and no.. i'm not the best in the class)
This past week has been the new mission presidents seminar thingy so it was way different stuff going on... BUT it was fun
On Tuesday we had our devotional and 5 of the apostles showed up!! Elder Robert D. Hales spoke to us and it was amazing. the others were Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Elder Richard G. Scott, Elder L. Todd Christofferson, and Elder L. Tom Perry (he's tall), oh and also Richard G. Hinckley was there. It was sooo amazing. that day was probably the best day here so far. That morning during personnal study i studied the Atonement and Faith in Christ.. then our teacher had My Companion and I, and the Soeurs teach Atonement and Faith.. AND THEN Elder Hales talked about the Atonement!!!! way cool.
Also on tuesday we went to the RC (reference center), and i dont' know if i've told you anything about my experiences there so far but the last couple of weeks have been rough.. on tuesday however it was GREAT!
this is such an amazing place YAY! haha.
on uhh... the day before yesterday which was...wednesday we had our weekly mtg. with one of our teachers and Soeur Graul assigned me to teach the class something the next day for like 15 minutes... she didn't say what or anythign....sooo, I went to the lord right and when i went to teach i kind of had an idea but not really and so i taught and it went SOOO well and it tied in with what the teacher was going to teach and ya.... the Lord provides. its awesome. don't hardly remember what it was :P . (trust in the lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding)
anywayz i love to hear from you all hope all is going well out there in the real world! (whats gas prices like :P)
Love you all!
Elder Laws
This week has been way good i think.. We started teaching the first lesson in french...(i don't knwo how well it went..) My compy has a hard time with french and doesn't understand what im' saying all the time so it makes it hard but we're working on it.. (and no.. i'm not the best in the class)
This past week has been the new mission presidents seminar thingy so it was way different stuff going on... BUT it was fun
On Tuesday we had our devotional and 5 of the apostles showed up!! Elder Robert D. Hales spoke to us and it was amazing. the others were Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Elder Richard G. Scott, Elder L. Todd Christofferson, and Elder L. Tom Perry (he's tall), oh and also Richard G. Hinckley was there. It was sooo amazing. that day was probably the best day here so far. That morning during personnal study i studied the Atonement and Faith in Christ.. then our teacher had My Companion and I, and the Soeurs teach Atonement and Faith.. AND THEN Elder Hales talked about the Atonement!!!! way cool.
Also on tuesday we went to the RC (reference center), and i dont' know if i've told you anything about my experiences there so far but the last couple of weeks have been rough.. on tuesday however it was GREAT!
this is such an amazing place YAY! haha.
on uhh... the day before yesterday which was...wednesday we had our weekly mtg. with one of our teachers and Soeur Graul assigned me to teach the class something the next day for like 15 minutes... she didn't say what or anythign....sooo, I went to the lord right and when i went to teach i kind of had an idea but not really and so i taught and it went SOOO well and it tied in with what the teacher was going to teach and ya.... the Lord provides. its awesome. don't hardly remember what it was :P . (trust in the lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding)
anywayz i love to hear from you all hope all is going well out there in the real world! (whats gas prices like :P)
Love you all!
Elder Laws
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