Interview with Elder Norby

July 31st, 2016

Click on the following link to watch an interview with Elder Richard Norby made by KSL. He is the older missionary who was injured during the incidents in the Brussels Airport on March, 2016:

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=40863366&nid=148

Make sure to watch the video on the beginning of the page and the one towards the end of the page. They are different.

Lots of Villes

July 25^th, 2016

Bonjour à tous,

This has yet again been another great week in the Mulhouse sector of the France Paris Mission, July 2016 A.D.

We went to Nancy this week to do an exchange with the Zone Leaders, Kelley and Stephenson. It was really fun. We went to their DMP's house, then we worked for a little bit, then we had family home evening with the young adults there. We had a water balloon fight. It was so fun. I think I mentioned this before but the Nancy chapel is huge! And it has an elevator! Pretty cool, huh?

I got a few pictures of Nancy, so enjoy.

We also went to this small town called Thann that's like 30 minutes away on a train to work with some members over there. It's a really pretty old French town.

We had an awesome mangezvous with this African member Sœur Zang. She's an old African lady who seems like she's never in a bad mood. She made us a nice French dish, I don't remember what it was exactly, but it was really good.

It was really hot again this last week, so I'm getting a nice tan.

Our previous rendezvous with our Ami, Marveen went alright. He did not like the Book of Mormon and said it didn't come from God. However, yesterday, he apologised personally and said he shouldn't have spoken like that to us, because he considers us as friends. Which was great to hear. Our other ami Abdul is going alright, too. He's currently living in a small town outside of Mulhouse, but he plans on getting a place here in the city and he's also looking for a job. It would be awesome if that happened cause it would be easier for us to see him often and to know that he'd at least be a little stable. But things are looking good for him.

I think that's it for this week. It don't know what else to say. The repertoire comes out this Saturday so we'll find out our futures. I've now done 3 transfers in Mulhouse so I could leave after this one, but who knows.

Yes mom, we exercise every morning and we do service for the members like almost every other week.

Vive la France!

Elder Aburto

The Sunrise this morning!

Muchos pueblos

25 de julio de 2016

Bonjour à tous:

Esta semana también ha sido fabulosa en el sector de Mulhouse de la Misión Francia París, julio de 2016 d. de C.

Durante la semana fuimos a Nancy para hacer intercambios con los líderes de zona, los élderes Kelley y Stephenson, y fue bien divertido. Fuimos a la casa del líder de la obra misional de ellos, trabajamos un rato y luego ahí mismo tuvimos una noche de hogar con los jóvenes adultos solteros. Tuvimos una batalla con globos de agua y nos divertimos mucho. Creo que ya se los dije antes, pero la capilla de Nancy ¡es enorme! ¡Hasta tiene elevador! ¿Qué tal?

Tomé unas cuantas fotos de Nancy, disfrútenlas.

También fuimos a un pueblo que se llama Thann que queda como a 30 minutos en tren, donde trabajamos con algunos miembros. Es un viejo pueblito francés.

Tuvimos una deliciosa mangezvous con una hermana de África, Sœur Zang, Quien es una hermana ya mayor que parece que nunca está de mal humor. Nos hizo un delicioso platillo francés, no recuerdo el nombre exactamente, pero estaba buenísimo.

Esta semana también hizo bastante calor, así que me he estado bronceando.

La rendezvous que tuvimos con nuestro Ami Marveen estuvo bien, pero no le agradó el Libro de Mormón y dijo que no venía de Dios. No obstante, ayer se disculpó y nos dijo que no debió habernos hablado de esa forma, ya que nos considera sus amigos, y pues eso estuvo muy bien. Con nuestro ami Abdul la cosa marcha bien también. Por ahora vive en un pueblo pequeño que está en las afueras de Mulhouse, pero tiene pensado buscar un lugar donde vivir aquí en la ciudad y también anda en busca de trabajo. Eso estaría muy bien, porque sería más fácil visitarlo más seguido y también saber que al menos está más estable. La cosa pinta bien con él.

Creo que por ahora eso es todo. No sé qué más poner. El repertoire será el sábado y entonces sabremos cuál será nuestro futuro. Ya llevo tres cambios en Mulhouse, así que es posible que esta vez me manden a otro lado, pero quién sabe.

Sí mamá, hacemos ejercicio todos los días y hacemos servicio para los miembros más o menos cada dos semanas.

¡Vive la France!

Élder Aburto

Les Vacances

July 18th, 2016

It was a good week for missionary work.

As many may know, it was Bastille Day this past 14th of July. It's the holiday of the independence of France from..... themselves I guess? I thought it was going to be lots of fun with parties all over, but on the contrary. Everyone was inside and sleeping.

We went to Belfort to work with the elders over there for a couple of days. It was great fun. Elder Farnworth, the bleu, is amazing. In the mornings we were there, we ran two 5k's. It was very tiring and my feet were killing after the second time. But if you can run a 5k every morning, what can't you do?

It was another week of vacances, which means another week of everyone being out of town, and not being able to keep in touch with our Amis, so it was a lot of finding this last week again. Plus we had our Mulhouse Finding Day, too. It was a long day, but we saw success as many people were willing to talk with us. 

Papi, it's interesting that you just talked about success, because that's exactly what I talked about in district meeting. That many times us as missionaries fall into comparing ourselves with others and feel that we aren't making much of a difference compared to others. But just because our numbers are different doesn't mean we aren't making just as big of an impact. Usually we forget that this is about serving other people than about our desires. 

And today we met with a Muslim-Spaniard dude. His name is Abdul and lived in Valencia for a long time. He's here in Mulhouse to find work and is very open. He doesn't speak French, so it was awesome to finally use my Spanish in Mulhouse. Though, I am a little rusty with church vocab since I use French all the time. It was a great time. It was just me and Abdul talking in Spanish the whole time and my comp could just only sit there. It was kind of funny.

Mom, I agreed with what you said about prayers. We have to understand that God wants to hear us talk and not just a robot who says the same things over and over. My relationship with Him has improved as I've been more genuine with Him.

The weather is warm, the prices are low, what else can I ask for?

Sincerely,

Elder Aburto

Think Positive

Hola amigos,

How is it going? It's going pretty good here in Mulhouse. Outside of the fact that Les Bleus choked last night... It's been pretty hot lately. But that is beside the point.

This week was very fulfilling because we finally had interviews with the boss and her husband, or Sœur and President Babin. Sœur Babin gave me some reassuring words in our interview. She told me being a District Leader is not a big deal. If I behave and act like a missionary should act in the first place, I have no worry to have a leadership position because being a good missionary is already being a natural leader. It was good to hear. 

Right after interviews, we had our district meeting with the Babin's. I gave a little formation about the power of the spirit. It was actually a big help to have President there because he always participates and he always has something insightful to say. I learn something new and useful every time I see him. He's awesome.

The next day we had an exchange with the Belfort elders. I was with Elder Farnworth, who's a bleu missionary. But you know what? We saw great success together. We found a Malagasy family while porting in an apartment building. It was the first time that I saw success while porting! We also found a really cool Italian lady in the same building! I was astonished at what the bleu had done. It was amazing. The Sœur missionaries also found us a Kosovan dude who speaks English and Albanian, which is perfect because we have a lot of Albanians in this ward. We have a rendezvous scheduled for later this week.

Yesterday, our bishop sent us out to a neighborhood 20 minutes away from the centreville of Mulhouse to find a man he met at school. He said he felt he should send us out there to find him in that day. He told us he was Peruvian and his name was David. He didn't know his address but he knew the area where he lived. We searched for like 4 hours and walked a very long ways... But we couldn't find him. We'll go back soon to keep looking for him. The only way we're going to find him is by the spirit.

And France lost yesterday. But it's ok, Papi, because the SF Giants are leading their division! Let's Go Giants!!!!

I am very tired today because we walked a LOT yesterday. So that's it for this week.

¡Adiós!

Elder Aburto

P.S. We call the greenies “Bleus” because back in the day, the new members of the French military would wear blue coats.

Watch out for the J.Ws

July 4th, 2016

Hey, so this week went by fine, outside of Belgium's humiliation against Wales...

We spent a lot of time contacting and porting as well, but we did manage to see our Amis Michael and Marveen. It's been hard to reach them, but we finally got a hold of them. Michael's life is still very hard with his Word of Wisdom struggles and with family problems. But he's still opening the door to God in his life. We gave him a blessing of comfort for all that he's been going through. He's a very believing man. He just has a few commandment issues. I know he will get it together one day. The question is only when that will be.

Yesterday we went porting in an apartment building and we ran into a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses. Yikes. We began by telling them who we were and the message we share, and then they told us they're J.W.s and then started bashing us on how everything we do is wrong. We tried correcting them out of love, but they would never listen to what we had to say. But they felt so inclined to tell us everything they knew to be "true". We tried getting out sooner but we were there for almost two hours. It was not fun. The spirit just wasn't there for the whole time. I hope that never happens again.

The other day we had a drive by spitting. Two guys on a motorcycle drove by and spat on both of us. Elder Taylor felt so gross because of it, that he took a shower right after. It was quite an experience!

On the contrary, I gave my first district meeting this last Friday. President Babin was not there that time, but he will be there for the next one this Wednesday. The Zone Leaders were there on Friday. The formation was just about presenting the vision of the mission to the district. It wasn't too bad. I just have to survive the next one with President and then I'll be good for the rest of the transfer.

I guess that's all, folks. See you next time.

Elder Aburto