Transfers

Jonah went into Paris this week for transfers to pick up his new companion. They were there for a few days so they had some time to sight see.

His new companion is Elder Drake, he is from Idaho Falls.  Jonah said they are hitting it off well. 

Jonah had to get a physical for his Visa so they stayed an extra day to get that taken care of.  Elder Pelaez was also in Paris for an extra day so the three of them went sight seeing together. 

They wen to the Arc De Trimophe. The Arc De Triomphe was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 to honor French military victories, it is an iconic symbol of French nationalism featuring engraved names of generals and battles, with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath its vault. This is a picture Jonah took inside of it. 

This is the view from the top of the Arc De Triomphe. 

The Cathedral of Notre Dame looks pretty cool at night. 

This is Lafayette, a fancy mall in Paris.

Jonah said it has all the very fancy brands, like Armani and Prada. 

You can go on the roof of the mall and see a great view. 

Here is Jonah on the roof of Lafayette. 

He ended up being stuck in Paris for an extra day because the train tracks flooded. 

Jonah was excited to see Elder Pelaez at transfers.  They had fun sightseeing in Paris. 

This is the view at the top of  Arc De Triomphe.

Elder Loosli and Elder Pelaez at the Louvre.

This is Dodd Osmond, he lives in Saint Nazair. There isn't a church in Saint Nazair so the members have to drive an hour to come to church in Nantes. The four missionaries went to visit Dodd and help him do service.  They told Dodd he was just like them with his missionary work so he wore Jonah's tag for a minute. Dodd has a car so he drives everyone to church, Jonah said he is a great guy. 

They visited a member and she made them dinner and sent them home with a lot of left overs. 

They met with Francois and gave her a spiritual thought.

The first sleeping picture of the new companion. 

They took some pictures at church. The lady on the right is the one they did service for the day before and Jonah gave her a blessing.  Jonah said he has been asked to give a lot of blessings on his mission. He said one Sunday he gave five!

Elder Anderson, Elder Housley, Elder Loosli, Elder Drake. These are the four elders in the apartment this transfer.  Jonah said he really likes all of them.

Jonah loaded a video of him singing in the train station.  Elder Erikson played a Adele song and Jonah sang, it was pretty funny.  I love seeing videos like this, I know the mission can be so hard and Jonah is so good at making things fun and finding ways to laugh. He actually has a really good voice. 

Jonah loves Elder Housley. I'm glad they get another transfer together. 

Jonah told us about an experience he had a few days before transfers.  There was a family that had just moved from Tahiti and the father got in an accident on his moped, he ran into a pole going pretty fast so it was bad.  They are new converts to the church and the wife wanted the missionaries to come to the hospital to give her husband a blessing. He was in critical condition in ICU so the doctors didn't want to let the missionaries in, but they she kept persisting and they finally let them in. Jonah said it was pretty intense being in there because he was in such bad shape. His name is Joe Michel Mote Etillage. Jonah anointed him, he said Tahitian names are really long and it's hard to remember them all for the blessing. Anyway, they gave him a blessing and his wife was very grateful.  Jonah said his wife had incredible faith and believed that their blessing could heal him and even though he was in really bad shape she said she knew he was going to be okay because she had just received her patriarchal blessing and was told that they would be sealed in the temple. Jonah saw her at church the next week and she said he was doing better and she knew it was because of their blessing. We have added Joe to our prayers and it helps me feel closer to Jonah to pray for the people he cares about. 

Elder Causse came to visit the France Paris mission. The church news filmed it and he posted a video on his social media. 

It was so fun to see Jonah on that video. The missionaries were singing when he and his wife walked in. It was really cool.

Here is the whole France Paris Mission with Elder and Sister Causse.  In the video Elder Causse talked about how meaningful it was for him to visit this mission where years ago missionaries found his parents and taught them the gospel. He talked about how grateful he is to those missionaries who are sacrificing their lives to share the gospel in France. Jonah said it was amazing to listen to him speak. 

After their meeting with Elder Causse Jonah and Elder Drake missed their train because Jonah was accidently scanning his ticket from the week before and couldn't understand why it wasn't working. 

When they finally figured it out, they had missed their train so they had to wait for the next one. 

They went over to the Eiffel Tower while they waited for their train. 

Last week Cody was staying with us when Jonah called so they were able to talk for a bit.  It was fun to just listen to them talk.  Cody asked Jonah a lot of questions about the mission and I think it was nice for Jonah that he could relate to him and understand what he is going through. 

The Mango Transfer

Jonah said he and Elder Housley "have been on a mango grind."  They buy a bunch of mangos every week and they love to buy the really big ones. They both love to eat them and they also get mango flavored protein shakes and they even have mango bodywash. Jonah said this is the mango transfer. 

 

They bought some Kebabs.  Jonah said they were really

 good.

They played chess on the train on the way to their interviews with President Munns. 

He lost.

Jonah said Elder Tupana falls asleep a lot and it's creepy how he sleeps with his eyes open.

This is in the city center where they go to find people. 

These pictures are from a park near their house. 

Jonah said he wanted a cool railroad picture. He said it looked cooler in person.

This was a gate in front of a house.  Jonah thought it was picture worthy. 

Jonah went on exchanges with Elder Housley. They visited with a new friend, Sam.  He is a fashion designer and is tired of partying and drugs and looking for something different.  Jonah said they had a really good visit with him and that he is a really cool guy. 

Nelly was baptized on Sunday. They found her through a reference a month ago and she has been very interested. She immediately started reading the Book of Mormon and wanted to come to church.  

This is her son, Yoann, he is 11-years-old. 

Brother Boloko, the Elders Quorum President from the ward baptized Nelly.  Jonah was also in the front to help get Nelly in the front and under the water.  She needed the extra help because of her disability. 

Jonah said the day was a little chaotic because Nelly wasn’t ready when one of the members came to pick her up for church, so Jonah and Elder Tupana went to help her get to church.  They rode buses and had to walk some and Jonah said by the time they got there church was almost over.  Nelly walks very slowly, but she also likes to stop and talk every few steps. Jonah said she says some pretty interesting things. It was also raining so they were holding an umbrella over her while they walked. 

Elder Erikson and Elder Housley had a baptism on Sunday as well. His name is Rosney. 

They got transfer news on Saturday. They found out that Elder Tupana and Elder Erickson will be leaving and Jonah and Elder Housley will stay and get new companions. Jonah has loved working with Elder Tupana and will miss him and Elder Erickson. 

Today is Elder Erickson's birthday so Jonah and Elder Tupana bought all the stuff to make him pancakes and decorated his desk.  

Nantes France

Jonah was very excited when he found out he was being transferred to Nantes, he is ready for a bigger area with more people to talk to and find. He was stressed about packing, but Elder Grayson packed it all up for him and he was able to fit everything.  On January 7th he went in for transfers and then went on to Nantes. 

He's always happy to see Elder Zeedik at transfers.

 

This is Elder Tupana, Jonah's new companion.  He is from Tahiti and he is just three transfers away from going home.  He has been in Nantes for one transfer. Jonah is excited to work with him and already loves him.

If you are sleeping near Jonah, he will take your picture.

Apparently Elder Tupana sleeps with his eyes open!

Jonah keeps growing his hair out as long as he can and then he gets a haircut. He doesn't like to get his hair cut because he says they don't listen to him and just cut it however they want. 

 I've seen a few pictures and videos with him in the vest we got him for Christmas. I'm so glad he likes it. Elder Erikson added a video of Jonah running with a guy at a park near their apartment.  He said Jonah lost at 'what are the odds' so he was down there sharing the Book of Mormon with the guy while he ran.  I asked Jonah how it went and he said, "actually pretty good, we have another appointment with him, but I am out of shape."

Jonah has been wanting to buy a beanie for a while.  He finally used some of his Christmas money and bought his beanie that he wanted.  He's very happy with it.

When we talked to Jonah after he had only been there a few days he was really excited and said he was loving the area. He said it was so great to teach lessons, it's been a while since he has taught lessons. He said the ward is great and big. 

He's excited to be in a four man apartment again.  The other missionaries are; Elder Erickson, from Heber and Elder Housley who is from Lehi and went to Skyridge. Jonah said he's really hit it off with Elder Housley. 

This is a tunnel in the city center and he thought the graffiti looked pretty cool.

This week they went into Versailles for zone conference. Usually they go in and out in one day for zone conference, but they were going to have to stay two nights this time.  Jonah was disappointed about that because he's so excited and ready to get to work in Nantes. 

Hopefully he will get to go into the temple soon and do a session.

He hasn't been to the temple since the MTC.

Elder Loosli and Elder Housley.

I love when Jonah adds pictures, it does my heart good to see him smiling!

Elder Loosli, Elder Tupana, Elder Erikson and Elder Housley. They needed a picture for their ward group chat, so they wanted a really cool one. 

Jonah said he and Elder Housley are bulking right now.  He said they buy a ton of eggs and a ton of protein shakes and eat those every morning. They protein shakes were on sale, so they stocked up. 

Jonah finally sent an email! The subject said: I love my mission:

Gang. Guys. Ça fait LONGGGGTEMPS! It has been too long. I've been hit with a NASTY snowball effect, where I feel like I have more and more to catch up on so I just don't 😭

Figured I'd hit the good ol check in and share a couple experiences with you

I'm sure you all have forgotten that you're even on this list but I PROMISE I've been thinking and praying about you all constantly. I love and miss every single one of you 🫶

I wish I knew where to start 💀I'll give you all a quick lil catchup to where I am now:

-For all those who don't know or forgot, my first area was in Charleroi, Belgium. HOLY blessed area. I learned so much there with 2 different trainers, and a 4 man apartment. I was there for 3 months. Absolutely could not have been brought into in the mission in any better way. 

-THEN I hit the ol moveski over to a small town in the north called Saint-Omer in France. I actually miss this place so much😭 It was very small but the branch was full of so many incredible people, who took AMAZING care of me during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. I learned a lot about myself and my true identity as a disciple of Christ. I was also there for 3 months. 

-ANNDDD NOW I'm back in the big city 4-man life, Nantes! It's on the west side of France and is much more south than my last 2 areas (which is so clutch because it is SO much colder up north😭). I LOVE it here. The members in our ward are so amazing and so ready to help us missionaries out🙏 This is also my first time ward sharing with the other elders, and it's such a grand ol time. My current companion is the coolest jit to ever live. His name is Elder Tupana, he's from Tahiti, and is just walking aura. I'm learning a lot of French from him. I've been here for about 2 weeks

I wish I could write up a whole essay now and take you guys through all of my amazing experiences 1 by 1. (I journal so don't worry) 

Since this is a broad catchup email it's hard to touch on all the little things. It's hard to sneak jokes and funny experiences the little miracles I see, when I have to let you guys know where I even am right now😭 makes me really want to write up some more so that I can show you all how BLESSED I've been with experiences (absolutely 0 promises but stay tuned😴😴)

We had the privilege of hearing from Elder McConkie and his wife at zone conference this last week. There is a lot I want to share from that, but we talked a lot about the language of revelation that is spoken to us by the Holy Ghost. It was incredible and left such a spiritual impression on me. 

Gang. I have the best mission in the world.

 I promise I'm right on this. Let me be the one to testify that God knows you and is in CONSTANT  pursuit of you and all of His children. I feel so honored and blessed to be trusted with this amazing work here in Paris. I'm also so grateful for the countless number of people who have changed my life as well. I know that God knows ME and is giving me so many opportunities to improve and be refined, as I focus on serving the people of France. 

So moral of the story thank you for all your prayers and emails! I'm so grateful for all the support from you all. Just wanted to check in and let you know that I am doing GREAT and I love the people of France so much. Please email me and hit me with an update, yall owe me now! 

Maybe à bientôt

Elder Loosli

(I'm so sorry JIT I completely lost the one I made for you💀 I'll make a new one I promise. 🍍🍍🍍)

Sister Munns posted these pictures and said: We had an amazing mission tour with Elder & Sister McConkie from our Area Presidency. We had some wonderful instruction and discussion about the language of revelation and extending invitations all in an effort to help our friends progress along the covenant path and learn how to better fulfill our missionary purpose! It was amazing and inspiring and we all left so uplifted!