Bordeaux, 3

Dearest family and friends,

Well, there goes another transfer.  I swear that the longer one stays on a missionary, the faster the mission flies by.  Its kind of scary actually.

I spent the weekend without Elder Emal.  He received a phone call on thursday afternoon from president, calling him to be his new assistant, so he took off on friday morning to go receive some training and I stayed here with another companionship in our area.  I will be staying here in Lormont, Bordeaux for another transfer!  This morning I received my new companion, Elder Johnson from Kaysville, Utah.  He was a good friend even before the mission, we went to BYU together and got to know each other as we spent some time at President Roneys home in Provo.  We even texted each other the day before entering the MTC, hoping that we would be companions, and then ended up in the same district.  It is going to be a pleasure serving with him.  He is the smilest, hardest working, most obedient missionary on this side of the Mississippi.  The Lord has blessed me so much during my mission with my companions, I feel like he is really trying to form me and to help be more Christlike by sending me extraordinary missionaries as companions.  I'm going to miss Elder Emal a ton, he is a very good friend and there is a reason that he is in Lyon serving next to president.  Every mission needs more missionaries like him and the world needs more men like him.

I am SO happy to stay here in the ward.  I don't know if I've stressed this fact enough in my letters, but this ward is CELESTIAL.  The members here are full of so much Christlike light and love and I feel like I am just here basking in it and learning from their amazing examples.  Elder Johnson and I want to work extra extra hard this transfer in their presence to bring someone unto Christ.  We're going to baptize this transfer!  We have a lot of potential right now, and we just kind of need to tap into it.  Daniel and Rute (the portuguese couple) are progressing well at the moment and they have a ton of potential.  We gave them the Book of Mormon in Portuguese this last week and they accepted it with gratitude and asked us to bear our testimonies of it.  They had already read the pamphlet on the Restoration that we had given them and were ready to dig in.  Alvine's grandmother passed away this last week, so she will be spending a few weeks in Cameroon, Africa to attend her funeral and be with her family.  Marie-Louise has been travelling a ton lately, but we're going to be seeing her this week.  We will be praying and working with the spirit to guide us to God's children who have been prepared for the message of the Restoration of Christ's true church!

This last week, I didn't get to spend a ton of it in Bordeaux.  I travelled and was able to do some exchanges with younger missionaries, which is always a delightful experience.  I was able to travel to the cities of Pau and Bayonne this week, and was able to see some pretty cool things in other areas.  On the way to a district meeting in Bayonne, we met a woman on a bus who told me that she didn't believe in God.  I bore my testimony of prayer and promised her that if she would try praying out, she would be able to feel God's spirit.  I gave her a card with my number on it as she got off the bus.  During the district meeting, I got a call from an unknown number and answered it.  She told me that she was the woman who I talked with on the bus.  She told me that she had followed my recommendation and prayed and that she wanted to confess to me!  I told her that I was not a priest and that we did confess that way in our religion, but I explained to her a little bit more who we are, that we are simply here to draw people closer to Christ.  I told her that there are very kind sister missionaries here in Bayonne who would kindly talk to her and explain more.  She said she wanted to see them that afternoon!  Missionary work is pretty fun stuff.

Elder Kunzler is doing very well!  Thank you so much for your prayers and for your letters.  I love you all so much!  Keep exercising your faith every single day because it is the best way to live and I know that Heavenly Father gives us a ton more happiness if we do it!

Avec amour,

Elder Kunzler

Très Bien

My dearest family and friends,

The Church is true!  I know it better now than I've ever known it before and I'll know it better tomorrow than I knew it today!

I have some pretty awesome miracles to tell you about, but before I get started, I'd just like to tell you a little bit about what I was able to do this morning.  There is a member in another ward in Bordeaux who is a professional opera singer.  Every single day during the week, he goes and rehearses at the great and beautiful Bordeaux Opera House.  That's what he does for a living.  This morning he was so kind and generous to take a few of us missionaries on a backstage guided tour of the opera house.  He let us in through the artists entrance and got us badges for free from the security guards and showed us everything there was to see.  It was huge and beautiful, very detailed.  It reminded me of Phantom of the Opera (except that one is in Paris) except there was no phantom.... or was there???  France is a fun place to serve a mission.  You can take your own little guided tour of the Bordeaux Opera House here:http://mormon.org/alexis/

This week we got to learn from another 70 here in Bordeaux.  At our Zone Conference, Elder Richards, who spoke about the Atonement a few General Conferences ago came to teach us.  He taugh us about teaching clearing, simply, using little words and many questions, so that even a child could understand (like Jesus Christ taught).  It was a great learning experience and amazing to be in the presence of a holy man of God.  He knew the scriptures like the back of his hand.  A missionary would make a comment or ask a question and he would reply, "Paul said that.." or "As Jacob in the Book of Mormon says... "  "If we turn to D and C Section..."  So epic.

After this conference we had an exchange with the Assistants.  Elder Gouttin, a French missionary from Lille, worked in our sector.  That day we had planned on visiting the Soulé family, a wonderful family in the ward that I've grown really close to (Frère Soulé's sister lives in Keizer, OR... 15 minutes from our home).  At the beginning of the visit, he remarked Elder Gouttin's name and said, "Oh, that's strange, I know some Gouttins in western France."  Elder Gouttin responded that he has family in Western France.  Frère Soulé refused to belief that he was even French, he said that he had an American accent (he thinks that I have a French accent when I speak English...)  Eventually, they figured out that Elder Gouttin's great-uncle was the one who taught Frère Soulé with the missionaries and performed his ordonnance of baptism 44 years ago.  It was a miraculous coincidence (not) that brought tears to his eyes that his great-nephew would now be on a mission in Southern France and come across this family which was brought into the church decades ago and is still very active in the gospel!  Tender mercies!  The work in France is amazing and my oh my is it rolling forth.

On Saturday, Elder Emal and I found 3 new investigators.  2 of which are a young couple that comes from Portugal (I was able to use some of my Portuguese skills in the lesson).  They have passed through some difficulties recently, for example, all of their parents have passed away.  But they are very faithful people, with a great love for the Savior and they have a lot of hope that they will see their loved ones again.  We were able to teach them about the simple principle of prayer, pray with them and share spiritual experiences.  That's what I get to do every single day.  Teach simple principles that help people to feel more of God's love and be happy.  It's wonderful.  Their names are Daniel and Rute.

Wonders, well it's the last week of the transfer (already) and we've got some cool things ahead of us.  I will going to Tarbes tonight to do an exchange with a missionary there and then I get to go to the beautiful city of Bayonne on Thursday.  We will be working with the Lord and his angels to help people come closer to Christ!  Yes!  I love you so much family and wish you the most wonderful of summer weeks this week!

Avec amour,

Elder Kunzler

PS.  Happy Father's Day! I love you so much dad!

La Vie Quotidienne

Family!

Sorry about last week, I had very little time because we passed an awesome P-Day on the coasts of Southern France.  It was a beautiful day and we got to spend with a wonderful French couple (part member family... cool missionary opportunity).  They started off by taking us out to the bay and they fed us LIVE oysters (des huitres vivantes).  They tasted like the ocean.  I will include a few photos.  Then we had a picnic on the beach of Arcachon, a charming little French coast town.  We finished the day by mounting the Dune du Pilat, the largest sand dune in all of Europe.  It was an abosolutely beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean and the Bassin of Arcachon.  France is a pretty cool country.

Well my friends and family, the miracles continue in France.  The last few weeks have been excellent weeks to be engaged in the service of the Lord.  Last Sunday was Stake Conference.  Last time I came to Stake Conference in Bordeaux in November, Elder Andersen of the Twelve and his family spoke.  Bordeaux kept the fire up by bringing in two 70s (powerhouses)  and our dear mission president, President Roney and his wife.  The focus was MISSIONARY WORK.  This stake has SO much desire to share the gospel and they are receiving such inspired guidance from the Lord's servants.  This part of the world is really going to flourish... it is going to require a lot of concentrated efforts on the part of the both the missionaries and the members.

After the conference, we were able to introduce a recent convert, Lilian, from El Salvador and Sarah, our amie, to Elder Limer, a Seventy from Germany.  He was able to give some inspired advice to Sarah, since he had similar obstacles when he converted to the church at 22 in Germany.  He told his conversion story and bore testimony of the Lord being able to lead where he wants us to be, even if our families have rejected our decision.  He lost contact with his family for years after being baptised.  It was quite an incredible experience to be a part of an intimate conversion with one of the Lord's appointed servants and people who are searching for the truth and those who have recently found it.  He patted me on the back for translating for him.  I felt his love for the work.  :)

We have lost most of our investigators of the church.  Sarah moved back to live with her parents to start doing an internship closer to home, making it impossible to continue to teach her.  We'll just have to stay in touch by phone and invite her to keep reading and praying.  Marie-Louise has been in Paris and has been working a ton, so we haven't seen her in a month.  Alvine has been really busy, but she is still reading and progressing slowly (we're certain that she's going to get baptized, but it will just take time).  So we're taking this opportunity that the Lord has given us to work more closely with the leaders of the ward (who are absolutely incredible people) and the members (equally celestial) to try to cultivate new people to teach from this missionary energy which is in the air.  We have also been working more closely with less actives of recently.  The work here in Bordeaux is progressing little by little.

This work is true and the One who is leading is all-wise and all-powerful.  It's cool to get to see His hand in it every single day.

I love you family and wish you a wonderful week!

Avec amour,

Elder Kunzler

Photos

1, with love, from France

2, une tortue!!!

3, des huitres vivantes

4, crouching tiger, flying german

5, into the ocean

6, en tant que quatre

PS

HAPPPY BIRTHDAY TWINNNNSSS!!!!

I love you SO much!!!

Arcachon

Dearest family and friends,

I just wanted to send you an email really fast telling you that I am not dead.

I spent my entire preparation day at Arcachon and the Dune du Pilate (largest dune in Europe).  I ate live oysters for lunch.  I'll send you pictures next week.

I love you and know that we can feel the Spirit more abundantly as we pray more fervently.

I'll tell you a little more about what happened this week next week.

Avec amour,

Elder Kunzler

PS.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYYYYYYY BIRTHDAY JACOB!§§§§  Je t'aime. Joyeux anniversaire!

Il a tant aimé le monde

Dearest family,

I know that the Lord gives you sheaves when you work in his field.

I'll try my best to show you how I know it.

Even though Elder Emal and I only taught one lesson this week, we were able to find people to help come unto Christ.  Marie-Louise, Laurentine, Marie-Sophie, Sarah, are all either going through some tough moments or are very busy, so we were not able to see any of them.  But we found.

One day Elder Emal and I were walking through a park and we found a woman playing with her granddaughter.  She had a difficult time communicating with us in French, seeing as she was from Romania.  She told us that her husband was going to be entering the hospital soon and that she would be returning to Romania the following day.  She really felt the Spirit though and told us to go and visit her daughter.  She pointed in the general direction of where she lived and gave us her last name.  The next day, we were in the neighborhood, looking diligently for this person, but found nothing.  A few days later, we happened to be in the neighborhood and my companion pointed out a new street that we had not yet checked out.  We went and sure enought, there they were.  She greeted us kindly and told us that she would be very interested in the message that we have.  She just went through a divorce and some tough times, and has really been softened and prepared by the Lord.  We look forward to bringing her a message that can fill her life with joy and hope.

Yesterday, we were to catch a bus in the evening to go to visit a recent convert and teach her and her non-member daughter.  Unfortunately, we missed the bus.  It was the last bus. We were quite disappointed.  But then, as if from nowhere two people came up to us, one of them saying that he wanted to become a Mormon, he had talked to sister missionaries in the past, but had lost their coordonnées.  The other wanted to know if there is a God.  God led us to a couple of his children who are searching for him.

Alvine is doing very well.  She came to church and we taught her yesterday evening.  She knows that the church is true, but she just has quite a few fears.  She doesn't feel ready to be baptized.  She feels the spirit when she comes to church, when she reads the scriptures and prays, and she knows that she needs to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost to have these feelings with her all the time.  But she's just having a hard time putting all of the pieces together.  She wants to know everything before she becomes a member of the church.  She doesn't understand that we continue to learn and progress and follow Jesus Christ for the rest of our lives and that we do not have to be perfect before baptism.  We're taking it step by step with her.  We're going to try to teach her in another family's home, to help her to feel the spirit and love of God.

God loves his children so much.  He loves us SO SO much.  I am so grateful to feel this love every single day for his children here in France.  It is so true that if we come closer unto Him, he will draw nearer unto us.  Let us all reach out to Him and show to Him our thankfulness and our desire to be a light for His children.  To share the same love that he showed to us in sending His Son.

I love you!

Avec amour,

Elder Kunzler

Si tu pouvais jusqu'à Kolob

Ma chère famille et mes chers amis,

Je pense que je vais cette lettre en français, si ça vous va. MUAAAHH.  Non.  Faisons-la en anglais.

I trust that you have a passed a wonderful week and that you are all preparing well for summer vacations!  For French people, vacation time is one of the most important parts of life.  Missionaries love vacation time because we get to work extra hard to find those families which are together and waiting for the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Missionary work is really fun.  Like Elder Andersen said, it's not missionary work, it's missionary fun.  There is a woman in our ward who understands this principle pretty well.  She has been dating someone, who is not a member of our church.  She decided to give this man the Book of Mormon and a week or two ago she explained that ever since he received it he has not let go.  He flew right through Nephi.  She explained to him that there are full time missionaries in the church whose job it is to respond to questions and to help people to understand the teachings of the Book of Mormon.  He told her that he had some questions that the missionaries would never be able to answer.  This member decided to test us and we sat down this week with the both of them and discussed the finer things of the kingdom while munching on a raclette.  He had questions, some of them quite profound about the beginning of the Book of Mormon.  He was really quite interested.  He told us that he was going to continue to read and we invited him to prayer.  Its as simple as that.  My companion and I know firmly that this woman will be blessed to help this man come closer to Christ.  And that this man will be guided in his quest to the truth.  Missionary "work" always works best with the members, in their homes.

Alvine (remember, the one with the 2 daughters, whose mother has been a member for a few years now?  I showed her how to make a good pasta sauce? Yes.) well, she came to church.  She came to church!  This is such good news!  My companion and I have been working really hard for 7 weeks, teaching a lot of people about the restored gospel and inviting them, but we've been having a hard time really getting anyone to come to church.  Alvine came!  And boy did she love it.  Everything was just perfect.  The members showed her so much kindness, the gospel principles class was about the Holy Ghost and it was very edifying. Sacrament meeting was excellent.  She expressed to us afterwards how much she appreciated it and was touched by the Spirit.  She's been reading the Book of Mormon on her own and we'll keep you updated on her spiritual progress in the coming letters.

Marie-Louise is doing well, but very busy.  We were not able to teach her this week, and she has still not come to church.  She asked us if we could hold off seeing her for a couple of weeks while she finishes her job (she'll be quitting at the end of the month) and then she'll have a lot more time to give us and to really plunge into the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  If you could keep her in you prayers in the meantime, that would be wonderful.

All is well on the western front.  There are beautiful things on the horizon.  6 stakes have been formed in Europe and there are 6 more expected in the near future.  There is a missionary buzz in the air.  I don't know if you're catching it over there in the states, but if not I invite you to.  Give someone a Book of Mormon with your testimony in it.  Tell some one of the beautiful teachings of the Savior.  Invite them to meet some missionaries who you trust.  The Lord is hastening his work and he is right there on our side!  I love you and wish you the best!

Avec amour,

Elder Kunzler

PS.  Que votre coeur ne se trouble point et ne s'alarme point. :)

Ce fut un plaisir.

Dearest family

It was such a pleasure to see your smiling faces yesterday!  I don't know if I already did, but mom, I wish you a very happy mother's day!  You are wonderful I love you so much.

So I only have a couple minutes to write today, it is transfer day and, as usual, I will be spending all of it at the train station helping arriving and departing missionaries in and out of their trains.  Elder Emal and I, thank heavens, get to spend another transfer together!  There will be another équipe of coming into our ward, which is something that the ward is super excited about!  At least 6 more weeks in Bordeaux... YES.

So a couple of cool stories before I must bounce.  I told you, family, a little about how Marie-Louise is progressing, she is doing REALLY welling, reading, praying and taking her engagement for baptism pretty seriously.  She was very touched by the film of the Restoration and she told us that she knows that it is true, that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God.  She is doing very well.  Other than that, it has been difficult getting to teach some of our other amis, since it is vacation time right now and many of them have been out of town.  But we got to do some cool missionary work nonetheless.

On Saturday evening, we paid a visit to a recent convert originally from El Salvador to do some missionary work with her.  She took a phone call from her daughter in Paris about halfway though the visit.  She decided to give me the phone and told me to introduce myself (since I am still fairly new and hadn't talked to her before).  She was very kind and we talked for a couple minutes and got to know each other.  Then I invited her to meet the missionaries in Paris.  I told her that they are really cool and really nice and that they would be able to teach her about things that would change her life forever.  She said that she was pretty busy with work and school, but said that she would have some time on the weekends, and that that would be fine.  Radical!  The recent convert was SO excited!  She said that it was one step closer to her family being eternal!  It was a cool experience to help someone who I've seen or met in person, on the other side of the country to come a little bit closer to Christ by accepting to met his representatives.

I must be going, but I love you family and I wish you a wonderful week in may.  Dieu soit avec vous jusqu'au revoir!

Avec amour,

Elder Kunzler