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!

Finishing up in Saint Omer

This picture is from an old zone conference. 

Sister Munns wrote this about their Christmas Zone Conference:

We had 2 big Christmas Zone Conferences each with half the mission on December 10th and 11th! On the 10th we celebrated with the Bruxelles, Paris Est, Paris Sud, and Rennes Zones. We talked of Christ, His birth, had many beautiful musical numbers by our talented missionaries, gave a gift to Him for the year (written on papers put in a pretty gift box that was put under our tree) to help us keep our focus on Seeking Him ALL year, played a trivia game about Christmas, watched “The Christ Child”, made missionary clothespin ornaments like Elder Gong mentioned in his 2023 Christmas Devotional talk, ate good food together and we shared our family tradition of wearing Christmas pins (brooches) during December. Everyone got one to share Christmas cheer with all who see them! We all committed to share the message of the Savior and to spread the joy that comes only from Him in this season that we celebrate His birth! We love these missionaries so much and are so grateful for them!!🎄🌟

On December 11th we gathered with the Paris, Nancy and Lille Zones and had a wonderful time doing the same activities as the day before and enjoying the talents of these amazing missionaries!! They are so full of light and joy and are blessing so many lives as they share the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!🎄❤️

He loves to gather with all the missionaries and see his friends. 

The Reeds, a senior couple in the mission did an apartment inspection. Jonah said it wasn’t a big deal because they keep their apartment clean. 

After that they took them to a restaurant.  Jonah and his companion picked Indian food.

Jonah said the food was so good!

They went for a District PDay in Lille. 

He said they just walked around and looked at shops. They were hoping to go bowling, but it didn’t work out. 

They found some cool shops. 

He took this picture because his shadow looked like Batman. 

It was hard for Jonah to be away from home for Christmas. He is always very positive and says he is fine, but he did admit it was hard. 

They spent Christmas Eve with the Dupre family. They have three returned missionary sons that Jonah really likes, so he enjoyed spending time with them.  He said they had a huge meal. When they are celebrating they have a big meal with over five courses. He said they would eat one course and then sing some songs and then eat the next course. 

They also invited Bro. Masinski over and he played the saxophone for them. Jonah said it was a fun night and they ended up being out too late.

On Christmas Day they went to lunch at Sister Pruvost’s.  He said it was really nice and they were happy to have them. 

Jonah said there is a stray cat that hangs out around their apartment. One day the cat got in the apartment and Elder Grayson had to catch it.

Jonah was anxious to hear about transfers on January 3rd.  He found out he is going to Nantes. It is a big city in Western France. He was very excited to be going to a big city and back to a four man apartment.  He went to Nantes on January 7th. 

Saint Omer has been a hard area for Jonah.  He hasn’t been able to teach many lessons.  The friends he did find always ended up not responding. He did a lot of finding, which is hard because no one wants to talk to them. It was hard for Jonah, who is very social, to feel isolated.  He gave it his all and never complained and he met some great people and had some good experiences.  He said he will miss the ward, especially the Clabaux’s and the Dupre’s. He cooked a lot and I was impressed to hear he makes pizza dough and cinnamon rolls. I'm constantly impressed with Jonah's positive attitude and his ability to enjoy the good things and not focus too much on the hard things. 

Long Distance Christmas

 

We tried to include you in as much as we could for Christmas. We did our usual secret sibling night the Sunday before Christmas. It worked out great because it was also your PDay. We invited Sawyer over to join us and we played left, right center. 

Sawyer rolled for you and herself.  She lost all of your money right off the bat, ha! 

The game went on for a bit and Sawyer was the winner. 

After games we watched a video about Christ and had a little lesson and then we did the gift exchange. 

Wyatt had you.  Matt and Cody brought your present when they came to visit you. 

Wyatt picked out a flower tie that he thought you would like. 

You had Wyatt and you got him some cologne. You were both happy with your presents. 

After you all opened your presents we told Sawyer to take the phone and go into the other room where her present from you were waiting. Caitlyn got a vase and painted a SxJ on it and there was a note from you saying that she was going to get flowers once a month this year so hold on to this vase.  There was also a board that you can hang flowers on to dry them out and a calendar with pictures of the two of you.  The note told her that you guys would get through this year together and then it would almost be time for you to come home.  It was so sweet and she loved it! She said she cried. After that we gave Sawyer our present, but I didn't get a picture of it. She texted me later and said she couldn't stop crying when she got home because we made her feel so loved and special. 

You called at 8 AM Christmas morning.  I waited to wake the kids up so dad and I could talk to you for a bit. It was great to have that time without any distractions. You told us about your Christmas Eve and Christmas. 

At 8:30 AM we got the kids up and started opening presents. 

We took turns and put you in a spot where you could see everyone. 

You all took turns opening your presents.  I had the hardest time deciding what to get you. After the terrible experience mailing the credit cards to you I didn't dare send a package so I decided to go with Amazon France. I had Sawyer help me pick out things for you and then every time we talked, you would tell me that you don't need anything and you are running out of room so I would delete things from the cart. 

I was excited to get you this vest, Sawyer and I thought you would like that. When I finally ordered the stuff I got a message saying your vest would arrive in June, so I had to scramble and find a different one that could get there fast.  The vest ended up arriving in a see-through package so you saw it before Christmas. 

I know you are really missing goldfish crackers and you mentioned you were missing poptarts, so I found some of those on Amazon, they were expensive, but I figured it would be fun and then you wouldn't have to worry about space.  When I checked out it told me that I couldn't send those to a locker, which was how you were picking up your packages.  I had already missed the chance to send them to the mission home, so I was disappointed about that. 

You were such a good sport about all of it and told me you didn't need anything and you were excited with what we sent you.

You said you needed new, thick dress socks so I found some of those. 

You had fun watching everyone open their presents. 

You have been freezing this winter.  You said the winters in France and so cold, especially with the humidity. 

So I got you some thermals that you can where under your clothes. 

You told me that you wished you would have packed some long sleeve t-shirts so I sent you a couple of those. 

It was so hard to have you gone for Christmas, we missed you so much! I am grateful that you could be here virtually with us. 

Grandpa came over to eat eggs benedict on Christmas afternoon so you called back so you could talk to him. I was glad you guys got a chance to talk. 

Alexys came over too so you also got to talk to her. 

You wore your new vest and shirt on PDay so you sent me a picture.  You have slowed down a lot on pictures so I'm constantly asking for them.  You have sacrificed a lot to serve a mission and we are sure proud of you. I'm so impressed with your willingness to serve and sacrifice for your Savior. I know He is grateful for your sacrifice and you are building a bond with Him that will be such a blessing in your life.