Week 32 June 8, 2015 Transfer and Re-Transfer

Week 32   June 8, 2015

Good morning to my family back in the states and good afternoon to my family here in France. The events that have passed this last week are too large too large to share with everyone multiple times, so I will do a large email for everyone to read. (Encores je sais que vous parlez angles aussi mais c'est le seul message je vais envoyer en anglais. Toutes les restes don't en frainçais. S'il vous plais, traduisez le message pour les enfants)

Most of the events took place over the weekend, starting with transfer calls. At first I was supposed to go to Vitrolles. It is a small branche next to Marseille. I was so excited when I got the call because Julie H. lives there and she is a wonderful friend of mine! I have heard nothing but good things about her and I was looking forward to spending six weeks (minimum) as part of her family. Then I got another call from President with a change of plans. It was "brought to the attention" of president that "Julia visits Julie all the time in Vitrolles" and therefore I was moved to Dijon... I was infuriated!!! How could this be?? I was leaving my family and going to somewhere that I knew somebody and then I was transferred again to somewhere completely unknown and new to me.... Without anyone.... All alone.... I fell to my knees and wept... I begged God for forgiveness... I didn't know what I did, but I thought I was being punished and I was so saddened.... I felt all alone.... Then, as clear as day, I heard a voice saying to me "My son. What have you done? You do not need to be sorry. I am doing this for you. This is My plan." At
that point I received an assurance that all was well and indeed I would be taken care of and that I AM in the hands of the Lord.

Saturday we went and played boules with Céleste and Mathias and Elena and Sam and I had such a fun time! Merci, Elena! Vous êtes le meilleur :) et, oui! I LOVE ELENA ;) hahaha

Then my last Sunday at the ward of Cannes.... Oh, I dreaded this day.... I was leaving my family.... The place that had taken care of me and given me love and given me a home. Gosh.... I cry now just thinking of them.... Thinking of you. Words cannot describe what you have done for me or the love I have for you. Eternal. I think that would be the best word. We are an eternal family and will be forever, through good times and bad. I know I will always have a home. The testimony I offered was minimal when compared to my feelings....It touched everyone, though. I am so amazed at the way I was able to touch lives. I don't know how, but I did, and I will thank God every day for this amazing gift he has given me.  At the end of the meeting, all of the youth flocked to me. Fr. Perez came and hugged me and made me cry and then I had to talk to all the
beautiful jêune fille with tears in my eyes haha oh those girls are amazing haha and then all of mes garçons ;) haha the youth are where my heart and love lies. They are who I will miss the most. 

Then there was the baptism of Hugo. I was able to participate as a witness and to confirm him a member of the church. Talk about a feeling of responsibility that rests upon your shoulders as a
priesthood bearer.

We spent the rest of the evening at the house of the family of Laurent G. We were graced by Gaël and his mother and also Olivier and his family. Those will be my last memories of Cannes. Bouncing on the trampoline with some of the most beautiful and innocent girls I have ever known, getting thrown around by the boys, and seeing a truly happy family soaking wet as they chased each other around the yard with water bottles, Elena, getting me wet.

Then I went home and wept.

This week has shown me the importance of "Living Where Your Feet Are." Had I not lived every moment with my family here in Cannes, I would have no memories. And, since we all must depart at sometime, whether to another sector or to another life, we must live life to the fullest because you can't change back time. I will never get those moments back, but at least I have a family that loves me. I have left my impression and you have, too. I want you to know that I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!! I thank God every day for you! I will come back next year with my parents, and when I do, you better be ready to party!! Haha ;)

Je vous aime! Vous me mounquez!!! Priez pour moi. Il n'est pas facile. Mais avec Dieu et vous, je peux le faire.
Avec amour,     Elder Nick Martin :)

 

She is 13, but she is still pretty amazing! I love her to death!! This is Elena G :) her little sister is Stella and her dad is the one behind her dressed as an Indian for the cowboy night!!

My feet in the water for the first time and probably the last. 

My Friends!

Courtesy of Elder Ghirelli :) at Eden Roc

My friends, When the sun sets, without fail, it will raise again.

**I just love this picture!

Week 31 June 1, 2015 French Mother's day

Week 31   June 1, 2015

Wow.... You said you were going to go to bed like three or four times in there and kept on going haha so Happy Mother's Day again haha I sang yesterday with the young women's for the mothers. Well all the missionaries sang. I wasn't alone. And on Saturday there was a Cowboy Night! Oh my gosh, it was the cutest thing ever to see all these French people dressed up as Cowboys and Indians and try to line dance. Their cowboy meal was hotdogs and some chili haha but when we went out of the party to go home, one of the teenage boys came up to the car window and said "wait! We need to bisou!" (That is the way that the French greet and say goodbye. It's that little kiss thing on the cheeks.) and he "bisou"ed me right in front of all the girls and then there was one girl who said in English, "I am jealous! I want to bisou him!" Hahaha it was the funniest thing ever! 

The ward is really my family now. They have taken me in and have loved me and I really don't want to leave. It is more possible for me to leave because I have been here for four transfers (6 months) and I don't want to leave. I mean I want to because the work here has killed me, but I have put my everything into this ward and into this work and it has become my home and my family and I don't want to leave.... I am glad that I have made a family here because now I definitely have a reason to return after the mission, and when you come with me, you will see what the ward thinks of me. It will be so great! So happy will be the reunion. I'm looking forward to it already! I have to get emails!!!

That is so awesome that the missionaries are teaching in our house!! Oh my gosh! I wish I could be there to help out! Haha that makes me happy! I am glad they are having success! I know that our ward is very hard to be a missionary in. Tell me more about the people they are teaching!!

I got an email from Julia's dad haha it is super awesome :) it makes me so happy! He likes me, which is good!  ;) 

Well I am off! I have some other people to write to. I hope that you have a wonderful week and I will get to you next Monday (maybe a day later if I have to move very far) and tell you whether I stay or have gone!

I love you so much mom! You're the best mom that I could ever want! Julia all the time tells me about how "cool" you look. She really loves you. You have become a second mother to her. Remember that you are doing a lot of good for those that are around you :)

Elder Martin :)

Week 27 May 4, 2015 Picnic in the Park

Week 27   May 4, 2015

I'm tired... I have an inexplicable sense of tiredness and a weight that is on me pressing on me.... but I am good other than that :) I love you too!!

I forgot to tell you that I got the other two cards that you sent in the mail! I haven't read them yet! I will read them on my birthday this Saturday! I have two meal appointments this Saturday on my birthday! That is insane for France!!! Haha and these people are known for feeding you a lot so I will be well taken care of on my birthday haha 

Skype, though!! That will be on Sunday at about 7 or 8 am your time! you send me an email on which time you prefer and I will check on Wednesday :) I am super happy for this!!

So last week was alright. I got my new companion and I have been showing him the ville. We are assuming that we will follow the pattern that has been set in Antibes and I will stay four transfers (so this is my last) and then I will leave. I hope I leave... I am tired of this ville.... it is killing me... I put so much work into this and all I can contact are tourists...those missionaries in the north of France, Italy, and England better be getting these guys we are talking to!! 

Actually we have ventured into the ville, into the suburbs to try and knock on the doors of those who are permanently here. We had a little luck. We knocked on a door of a 14 year old girl and she talked with us for a long time and eventually took the Book of Mormon from us! Now I can here you all saying "wow, he swooned a 14 year old girl!" haha well not really! We actually offered it to her; she said she wouldn’t read it, but to offer it to the old woman across the way. We worked out a deal with her and said that if they wouldn't take it, she would gladly take it. God had a plan for that girl, because every single woman across the way shot us down faster than a lead zeppelin! So I would like you to please pray for this girl, Alice, and that she will read the Book of Mormon and know for herself that it is true!

We got to eat at the F. Family this Saturday for lunch. They live in a house that as soon as you enter, you feel like you went back 500 years haha He is a huge man with a huge beard (like a dwarf) and the house looks like a medieval cottage! And it is so cool! He also had a knife collection, and let us take what we wanted! That was so cool! haha

I got to go to a ward picnic on Friday and it was at an abandoned airbase that the city of Saint Raphaël salvaged and turned into a giant park. It was the perfect place for kids! we played soccer had a meal and hung out! the ride back was fun because I got to ride in the back with the bishop's kids and joke around and take selfies with them! Oh my gosh I love those kids!! I got to hang out with them more at the ward meal after church. They do one for every fast Sunday! I love that idea! we need to do that in America! but I got to teach these kids a lot of cool things and most importantly be a good role model for them. their parents tell me all the time how much their kids love me :) it makes me smile to know that I am at least doing some sort of good work in my sector, even if I can't see it :)

Well that is all for now!! Know I love you all! thank you for your prayers! keep them up haha

Have a good week!     Elder Martin

These are the Bishop's kids. M and C in the back, and D between me and Elder Rellaford

This is Antibes

Week 23, April 6, 2015 Happy Easter and Conference Weekend

So this Sunday was Easter and it was the most special Easter in my life. I got to spend it watching General Conference down in the basement of the Cannes chapel in the genealogy center. The Sunday Morning session came on about 6 pm for us, which is 10 AM MST. We watched and the talks were all very powerful. There were two people from over here that spoke. The Portuguese man who is the regional director of this side of Europe (or something like that) and A Frenchman who is in the Presiding Bishopric. That was cool. But I think the thing that hit me the most was the talk given by Elder Jeffrey R Holland. Before conference started, I wrote down the question, "Who is my Savior?" My question couldn't have been answered more loudly. Elder Holland came up and gave a talk so powerful on the Savior that I wept and couldn't write any notes. This talk still shakes me. I want all of you to watch this with the same question in your mind: "Who is my Savior?"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/04?lang=eng&vid=4154894180001&cid=10

 

Elder Martin


Wait let me take a Selfie!

That's me in a Bentley! :)



Me and Elder Lago

Week 22, March 30, 2015 Happy Birthday to My Sis Mysti!!

Happy Birthday to my oldest sister, Mysti. She just had her shoulder replaced so I am praying for her recovery.  Wow that sounds a lot like Lyon and Paris! Here in Antibes it is super nice and I can't stop smiling! The sun works a magic in me :)  (We, Mike, Jake, his friends and I went on spring break to Long Beach, Wa and Nick and I were comparing the weather on our beaches.) 

 
 

Mom's door from Astoria Oregon

His door from the French Rivera...he wins.

This week was pretty uneventful.... a bus caught on fire on Tuesday, I got sick with a head cold, and a lot of walking around trying to talk to people and spread them the gospel!!

 

I bought Dad a present today!! I don't know how I am going to get it to him though..... It's a tricky one....

 

I am busy all the time which is good! I feel like I am actually doing work!! I really am so thankful for Elder Lago. Seriously. I feel like he is my brother and we joke around and beat each other up. It's really fun! I am enjoying myself so much and I am having a great time!

 

Today was actually a really cool P-day! We got to visit and look at a couple of Cathedrals and it was free, too!!

This is the Cathedral that overlooks Cannes. It is the one with the clock tower I love taking pictures of.

We went to the beach and swam! Ok.... maybe we didn't swim, or go on the beach... There are starting to be tourists and that means it is hot here for them and so they are in bikinis and that's not good for us. So we now have to stay away from the beach unless it’s the morning when we go on our runs. But it really is beautiful here!!! They have been getting ready for the Cannes Film Festival!! If I am here next transfer, I will be able to go and see that!!! soooooooooooooo awesome!!!!!!!! I can take pictures of the red carpet and all the stars!!! hopefully I see Clint Eastwood!! that would be sick!!!!

I am excited! 5 months is a long time!! It has already been one year since me and dad went to conference together and threw up from all the excitement!! That seems like yesterday!! It will go faster and faster!! You will be picking me up before you know it!!  

Love you!!!!

These are my two "girlfriends" in the Cannes ward haha they are pretty good friends of mine and they are characters!

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!

Week 17 February 23, 2015 le Cowboy

"This is the song that I sang for our Spiritual night at the Ward! They loved it and now I am known as "Le Cowboy"

 

So this week was full of fun and interesting in the sense that we did a lot and yet not very much at the same time!

On Monday night we visited our special old couple named George and Jeanne. They are 89 and have this amazing house. They don't get many visitors so they love having us over. The weird thing is: I feel the Spirit every time we go and visit them. They have expressed that they have no interest in converting, but as long as we can bring people closer to Christ and help them feel the Spirit, we are doing our job.

Tuesday we went to Cannes and did some street boarding for our free English class! We handed out at least 50 flyers and had a lot of people say they would show up on Thursday for the class! I talked to a lot of people by myself which is very good for me because my skills need to be improved. We met a man that said he had been on a search for Christ and when he saw the name of our church, he took it as a sign and wanted to meet with us again! (We still haven’t heard from him yet so we will call him tonight!! this man was golden!)

Wednesday was an average day. But we ran into this big tall man from Arkansas who had the most American accent I have ever heard! He had been living in France for 50 years!! He was really cool and it was so nice to hear an American accent again!

Thursday was alright... I got in a better mood for my companion and I started liking him again. I read a talk on pride and I asked God to forgive me for being prideful and to help me really love Elder G and it worked!! We are doing really great! It was also English class! I was so excited and expecting a lot of people!! But then we got there and nobody showed up except for a Portuguese member and his daughter.... It was pretty disappointing... But for some reason, I was still really happy and I felt like nothing could bring me down!

 

Friday! Oh man... we have some drama in the district.... Elder G is the district leader, so he is stressed about it and it stresses me out and I am starting to lose hair again.... I am not happy and I am thinking about having a talk with this Elder if he doesn’t grow up. The Zone leaders have ever expressed that he is being childish and needs to grow up! Gosh....

Saturday we had samedi sportif (Saturday sports) but then nobody showed up so that wasted our time lol.... But then we went home and made about 96 no-bake cookies for the ward on Sunday! They absolutely loved us!! Everyone wants the recipe now haha so we have to make copies of that!

Sunday was super great :) I felt the Spirit so strongly! I was asked to bear my testimony and say the closing prayer afterwards, and I was so overcome by the Spirit that I had to stop in the middle of the prayer to keep myself from breaking down and sobbing :') I love feeling the Spirit like this :) it makes me so happy!

Monday: Now we have to go clean our apartment for the inspection tomorrow!! Super (not) fun hahaha but that is life! Not too much to clean thank goodness! It is usually pretty clean :)

This week for stake conference, President Boyd K Packer is coming to speak to the Nice stake!!! And I will be at Nice for that!! Super cool!!! And hopefully I can meet Julie Hotz, a friend of Julia's! That would be so cool!!

Well take care! I love you lots!

Elder Nick Benjamin Martin

That was the sunset chez moi :)

This one is something that I though would make a cool desktop background!