Week 21, March 23, 2015 Working Extremely Hard in Antibes

So my new comp, Elder Lago, and I are working extremely hard to get Antibes back on track... The effort and nurture that is required for this ville has been lacking. Let's just say that me and E Lago have done more work in this past week than was done in the past two transfers. So naturally, I am exhausted. When I come home at night I can barely stay awake! But I have progressed so much! I have a couple of things that motivate me to get up and get going.
 
I need to develop the qualities of a perfect husband. I still have a lot of work to do, so that's why this is one of my motivations. The second is to give away an entire box of copies of The Book of Mormon. That's 24! By myself!! And Elder Lago has the same goal! So we made it a friendly competition, and the first one done wins a prize! We haven’t discussed the prize, yet, but we will make it good! I am in the lead, too!! I have given away 2 and I have 3 others that I need to deliver to people who have asked for them! This is really good because it forces me to go off by myself and learn how to talk to people and is the best way to improve my French! And it helps me win haha ;) 

My challenge! And I challenge you to give away a book of Mormon!! Everyone!!! All of you in the family!!! I will follow up next week!!!!

But I am stressed out about something, and I don't know what it is.... I wake up at 4:30 and roll around until I have to get up.... I have been losing more hair.... Yeah.... I don't know what it is because I am really happy. I don't know. I guess I will just be bald.... Dang....
 

Monday: After emails we helped the new Sisters move their entire luggage into their new apt! They got Pink Washed(this means both the sisters got transferred to a new location) and now they are really stressed out about it! Haha but oh well, there are lessons in every trial.

Tuesday: We visited a less active and her son. Apparently the son is really good at cooking and wants us to return so he can cook for us! I am not going to pass that up! After that we went and contacted a little bit. We did some area book work (we have A LOT of that to do still. it has been neglected for a long time). 

 

Wednesday: In the morning we did some contacting! Today a few Italian girls came up to us and contacted us!! It was so funny!! They waited around for us to finish talking to a woman and then they approached us. They were obviously interested in more than our answers haha I mean we are a pretty handsome équipe!! Hahaha :) I am getting better at my French! Slowly, anyway. Then we rode bus lines and did some scouting for some neighborhoods to port. A pretty quiet night until choir! Then we sang a song that is too difficult for the ward members. I hope it gets better.

 

Thursday: Thursday we went contacting in the morning and I gave away a Book of Mormon to a woman named E. She was on vacation visiting her daughter, but she seemed receptive. I hope that she will be touched later and remember. Planting seeds. Laying the path. Then in the evening, we went to D. B.'s house! He has the cutest little family!! His daughters are adorable and his wife is so sweet! They are actually moving to somewhere in British Columbia this May so I want to visit them after the mission! D. was actually born in Canada when his parents worked there for a couple of years. That is where they were introduced to the gospel!!! So cool!!! And then they had to return and relearn all of the terminology when they got to France because the words are very different haha 

 

Friday: Today the Assistants to the President came to Antibes and helped us in our attempts to find amis!! It was so cool! So we had 5 missionaries on the street all day talking to people and getting numbers! It was so great! In the first half of the day, I took the car and hunted down some people that were in the area book that we couldn’t call. Elder Huntsman is a very good driver! That was when I met a Chinese man named J. L. He was so cool!!! He wanted a book of Mormon and I told him I would come back and give him one in Chinese!! Then I switched and was with Elder William Montgomery from Georgia! Oh man! This guy is so cool!! He is a super missionary and I just felt comfortable around him and I had this happiness that was so great!! When I was with him, I saw this group of girls, and I told him, "Hey, let's go contact them!" So without even thinking about it, I walked up to this group of 10 girls and started talking to them. I got nothing but blank looks..... Because they were all Italian and didn't speak French hahaha so we tried to talk with them but just ended up telling them to have a wonderful day because we couldn't communicate with them! But that impressed E Montgomery so much! He was impressed with my faith! Towards the end of my time with him, he sat me down near a fountain and had a heart-to-heart with me. His words I will never forget. "Elder Martin, you have a lot of faith, and your faith will carry you in hard times. When you are a leader, a senior companion, a trainer, a district leader, you have to make sure that your faith keeps you going because even if you don't want to keep going, others will be looking to you for strength and guidance. You're going to be a great leader. The mission needs you. Keep up the good work." That made me realize that God has not forgotten me. He still needs me and has a work for me to do. I need to be ready for Him. 

 

Saturday: We contacted and I met S. from México!! I told him we will be stopping by to give him a BoM in Spanish!! I am so happy e Lago knows Spanish!! Then we went porting and met some really cool people. I found the middle aged people of Antibes!! They are at the bus stop Roi Soleil!! Hahaha 

 

Sunday: Church was great!!! Oh man I love the youth of the ward!! All the young men look up to me, literally! Haha no but they see me as a brother and treat me as one, too!! I got a wet Willie yesterday for proof!! :) Then we went over to the Famille T. and we had them teach me the first lesson because S., the wife, is a recent convert! She did really good!! 

Monday: Cleaning, emails, shopping soon, and then I have to go on a train to Saint-Raphael because Elder Lago goes to Lyon for a conference!! Wish me luck! I will be with a missionary just one week in his mission haha!  

 

Thanks for everything!! I love you so much!!!!  

Elder Nick Benjamin Martin :)



I was so hungry I ate the sun!



Morning Mangos on the Edge (must be code for I'm exercising on this wall by the Sea)

 

Week 20 March 16, 2015 Transfers

Transfers were great!! I got what I wanted: change! I am staying in Antibes. I got a new comp named Elder Lago. This is his last transfer, so I want to make this his best! I just felt the desire within me and it came from nowhere! So I have a really good feeling about this! :)

And I love Jake so much! I miss him a lot!! I hope he wants to serve to.... I need him out here.

Hey!! That is awesome to see the family working together!!! Yay teamwork!!! :)

I pray every day for her and her surgery. I know that everything will be fine.

So I have maybe an hour today. I spent 5 hours in the Marseille gare.... train station... waiting for my comp and our train.... yeah.... I did a lot of standing.... but I got to talk and make new friends and meet new missionaries and I had a blast, so I can’t complain!! But right now I have to go and show the new sisters where their apartment is! The sisters in Cannes got pink washed, or both got replaced, so they have no idea where anything is!!

I love you so much and promise I will write more next week!!!! I love you with all my heart!!!! I miss you :)

Love

Elder Nick Benjamin Martin

 I snagged this shot by chance and i think it is really cool!!

Week 19 March 9, 2015 The Caterpillar Train

A row of caterpillars, about 6 feet (2m) long!!

This week blew by so fast! I felt like it was just Monday! Which is good for me because I hate being away....? I love working but I really miss home. 

It is always sunny over here!! And when it isn’t, it rains and then is sunny the very next day! It is a beautiful sun, too! Warm and it makes me happy :) takes away the dark feelings that the winter leaves. 

I don’t really miss TV, but I miss being in the loop haha movies come and go and I’m like, well ok! Haha

Tell those lovely women, Patsy and Kay, I say hello back!! I wish I could be playing tennis again!! I play now and again, but my goal is to play on a clay court while I am here in France!! I want to keep playing when I get back from the mission!

Monday: We ate dinner with our bishop! His family is so cool! Two boys about 14 and 16 and a girl of 18. Such a crazy fun family!!

Tuesday: We did some service in the morning! helped a little old lady move her bed and replace it with a better one! then we went to a major school/business center with thousands of businesses. There are parks there and we were going to try and meet people and contact them.... except it was vacations here so the parks were deserted.... Then we went to G. and J.’s house!!! They are the cutest little old couple in the world!!! They are just like my great grandparents that I never had hahaha so G. grew up on a potato farm and his dad was a potato farmer, so every time we visit, he asks me how the potatoes are doing hahaha!! He is so cute!! So this time as a surprise, I brought him a potato!! He busted up laughing and he said when he eats it with butter and salt, he will think of me! I feel the Spirit every time I am over there. They really are special.

Wednesday: We cleaned the Antibes chapel and got it ready for District meeting. Then we ate at a member's house! T. and S. he is Tahitian and she was just baptized last month!! They fed us tahitianized chow mein and they showed us a video of Tahiti!!! I now want to go there on my honeymoon!!! It was so beautiful there!!!!

Thursday: District meeting. we have a huge push on finding through family history and it is called "Project Elijah".... It is a good way to find and contact, but they want us to use the "My Family3 booklet and it is really awkward to use on the street. Then after District Mtg, I went on an exchange to Nice with the Zone ??, Elder S. The city of Nice was beautiful as always, and I taught English class to a couple of nonmember bus drivers! oh man they were hilarious!!! I could definitely see them getting baptized! 

Friday: We went to RCM and CDP. On the bus ride over, I was sitting there, and I saw a man who kept looking at me. I heard a voice in my head tell me "He knows who you are. Talk to him." I asked him if he knew the Mormons, and he said that 30 years ago there was a young girl that took him to the ward activities! I thought that was so cool!!! He was born in '68, but he did not look that old!! I asked him if he would want to come to our church again, but he said he had a church. Then as I spoke to him about religion, the old lady next to him chimed in. I asked her if she went to the same church and she said yeah, but that she didn't go every Sunday like him. Then I asked her if she wanted to go to church!! She shot me down, but then I turned to the kid next to me and asked him if he wanted to go to church because he was the only one not talking! Then as I asked him, haha both the Catholics looked at me and said "no!! he has a mosque!!" hahaha French people loll! But as I spoke to this man about his beliefs, the whole back of the bus seemed to turn in and listen to me. Two teenage girls couldn’t help but lean in closer as they stood nearby and stared intently. The man behind me turned in his seat and was listening. The Mom and daughter next to us were fixated on our conversation. Even my comp was glued to this conversation!! It was so amazing! God really has given me a gift: a powerful voice that people cannot help but listen to. I have seen it before, but never to this magnitude! I feel so honored!!

Saturday: We interviewed the sister's baptism candidates.... they both can't be baptized.... they are ready and worthy, but they don’t have permission from the father, and they are living with a man who generously took them in during their time of need.... it is a very sad and frustrating situation..... Lots of tears.....

Sunday: Oh my gosh this day was a miracle.... It was so great. I had a couple of experiences that I cannot begin to describe. They are really personal too and I hold them sacred. But I know that God lives and that I do His work. I can feel His power behind me and in front of me and in me. This is the Church of Christ. This is Him.

Well it has been another great week!! I love you!!! thank you for your prayers :') I appreciate the help <3

Your son,        Elder Nick Benjamin Martin

Me and Antoine! My twin! lol

Week 18 March 2, 2015 Nice Stake Conference

 

Monday: I don’t remember what else I did on Monday.... lol

Tuesday: I went on an exchange with Elder Herring down in Toulon!! That was a very fun day!! We bought a 1kg croissant and chocolatine!!! They were huge!!!! The windiest I have ever seen it without there being an accompanying storm haha I went down on my hands and knees on the pier to touch the water, and a giant gust of wind picked up and almost blew me into the water!!!! I had to scramble to get away from the edge but the wind kept pushing and I almost went in haha!! But we taught an ami that was a lot like the baboon from the Lion King! He was really cool! And we visited a less active couple and they made us the best hot chocolate I have ever had!!! It was way better than anything I have drank! It was a force to be reckoned with! I really enjoyed this exchange because Elder Herring is a very down to earth missionary. He is very cool and fun to be around and he has very easy going philosophies on life. He made me feel like a brother and I was joking around with him instantly. He made doing the work fun and I really admire that because this work should be fun! We are spreading happiness for goodness' sake!!! We should be happy!!! haha

Wednesday: I got back from the exchange, did some studies, went to choir, and started another exchange with Elder Walter. This is the first time that I was left in charge of my Ville!! Thankfully, I did not burn Antibes to the ground hahaha the bad thing was that Elder Walters kept talking until midnight.... And this was the third day I had been up late... I wasn't too happy about that.....

Thursday: So I am in charge of the ville. We do our studies and go out to pass a member and a less active. I led the visit for the first time with the member and the LA wasn’t there.... So we went contacting until we had to go! I took Elder Walters exploring and discovered really cool and old sections of town that I must visit on another p-day to get better pictures!! Then we went to Cannes and I met up with my comp (Elder Garside; I don’t remember if you know him), and we went and taught English class!!! Except nobody showed up.... So we went to McDonalds with the Sisters and then went back home. We also house two more equips of elders this night! We were once again up late! They came in for Zone conference. Elders Barnes, Amerjan, Brill and another whose name I remember not....

Friday: Zone conference!!! It was pretty cool. Got to see President Roney! That is always great! We also watched Meet the Mormons! The older missionaries loved that because they had heard so much about it haha then we went to Cannes with the missionaries that were with us and went contacting!!! It was kind of a waste of time though because there weren’t very many people out who were willing to talk at 8pm

Saturday: The Elders left and then I did studies and we went out to go contacting for a while. Then went to Cannes for the adult session of stake conference!! Took up the rest of the night. We met more elders in at the gare so they could stay with us again for the Stake Conference. Elders Fisk and Johnson

Sunday: NICE STAKE CONFERENCE!!!!! It was really cool seeing everyone there!!!! It was like having three wards at the 108 building, not a stake, but it was so great!!!! I saw Julie Hotz!!!!!! She is a cutie and super sweet!!!! She is Julia's friend! When we made eye contact, she smiled so big haha she had been waiting to see me for a while, too!!! Then she took a selfie with me so she could send it to Julia!! Ahhh so sweet!!! We talked for a while (as much as I could with my terrible French) and she is so cool!!! This day made me really really happy :)

Monday: We played tennis today!!! It was so fun, as always! Though I miss not playing with people that know how to play, i.e., Paul, Javan, Jake, etc. We did some shopping so I could get some khaki pants for this hot weather coming up! I love the clearance racks!!!! Haha and that was my week!!!

It is so nice to get to talk to you! I love you!! Send some pictures to me of Lake Chelan: the ones I took with the night sky and the trees and the one with the night sky and the willow that is illuminated! Everyone is dying to see them!!

Talk to you next week! Feel free to send letters too! I appreciate them :) Off to Mysti!!! Bye

Love

Elder Nick Benjamin Martin

PS the picture is me holding half of this giant croissant we bought!! It was awesome!!!!

 

That is a ship made of concrete coming out of the building! It is his favorite spot in all of France! This one is me and Elder Herring!! He is from San Fran!!! so cool!!!!! He is I mean haha

A tower in Cannes.

That's Julie Hotz!! She is a great girl!