Week 11 January 13, 2015 Terrorists Attack Paris

So I had a very interesting week... The terrorist attack in Paris has caught France by surprise and people are appalled... It is very sad... It has made people very weary to talk to us also... If we start talking about religion, they start talking politics and about how the world is a horrible place and it's this government's fault and that ambassador’s fault and we try to teach them of the goodness of God and it is very hard for anyone to see that after the attack... Even the Ward in Cannes added more security during church... Please pray for us. Pray for the missionaries. Please pray for the people of France. Please pray for those affected by this attack... It is so sad and the only way we can get through this is uniting together and coming unto Christ. He is our shepherd and will protect us from the wolf. He has, in fact, laid down his life to protect us from the wolf. Nobody else has the power to redeem our souls and save our lives except Jesus Christ. 

The rest of the week has been rather quiet. Not many people out, school has started up again so the kids aren't out shopping and the streets are almost deserted. I guess when Christ said "seek and ye shall find" there was an unsaid understanding that sometimes you have to seek a little harder than just stepping out the door. Life takes action and I am excited to move! I have never walked so much in my life! Haha but nothing worth having was ever easy.

 

I am excited that President Roney supports my relationship with Julia! He said that he was impressed! Haha that made me smile ;) 

The Zone Conference was really good this week, too! We were taught about self-examination and looking inward to better ourselves and become more like Christ, more perfected in Christ. There is something that I really love about the Atonement that many people over look. It is explained well in the talk entitled "The Meaning of the Atonement" by a general authority. It talks about why the Atonement had to happen and it talks a lot about the enabling power of the Atonement. So, when we look inwards and try to become more like Christ, we can get on our knees and plead unto Christ, repent, change, and Christ can provide us with the power to become stronger than we are. We can have power beyond our own. That is what I love about the Atonement. If you have not, I challenge you to read the Book of St Luke and St John. That will show you how much Christ really loves us.

This is what my scriptures look like when I go through them. I have never studied them like this before. I thought a good time would be now. Haha Thanks for the coloring book ;)

Yeah I am staying warm. It is very warm where I am compared to the rest of France!

 

Tell Patsy I say hi :) 

 

Yes! Antoine is the brother of the boy you saw on Skype! He is really cool! Into the same games, he makes music and is actually really popular in France and has people from Hollywood calling him to make music for their artists! Big name artists!

 

I will try to take as many pics as I can! And videos! You will enjoy going through them with me! I will tell you the stories behind every picture. I try to meet new people, but I am still very quiet because I am out of my comfort zone. I know that in order to get better, I need to break out of my comfort zone, and I will do that!

Well that’s all that I have to say for now :) I will talk to you next week! I think I am going to Grasse to a perfumery store! A world renowned one apparently, so I will see what is there to get you :) oh and our new mission president is a Scott Brown from Salt Lake City. He is a lawyer. See what you can find out about him! (haha I liked that part, I get to be a private investigator)

Love you so much!!
Elder Nick Benjamin Martin :)


So this is a view from the chapel in Antibes :)



Here is a panoramic. It does very little justice of how beautiful this actually is. There is a man in our ward that has been all around Europe and says this is the most beautiful view from any chapel in Europe.

 


A cool statue of dolphins!

My new bag!!

Week 8, December 22, 2014 Christmas on the French Riviera

Hey!! I'm excited to see everyone this Christmas!!! YES!!!!!! I will be Skyping the 25th of December at about 6 pm my time and it will be about 9 am your time so be awake!! I can't stop smiling now haha! :) I miss everyone....

So I did not buy my bag... the bags that I want are expensive and so I will wait until "soldes" or sales to buy the bag I want. They are sometime after Christmas running into January. It's winter clearance pretty much. I have bought some cool new khakis though!! you will get those pictures next week because I haven't got any pictures in them yet, but I will! 

I got my hair cut today as well and you'll see that on Thursday! I also bought a pair of tennis shoes too. I got a good deal on them too! We actually played tennis today so they have been put to good use :) our ward mission leader owns a tennis club here so we are really blessed! After this we will go do more singing and try to get some contacts!

The weather here is absolutely perfect! I can wear my short sleeve shirts here at night even and still be perfectly fine! it cracks me up because all of the people here are bundled up as if it were 20 degrees haha :) the reason why it looks so cloudy in my pictures is because that is Lyon and it is more North of us and way more cold! And sadly, I have spent more time there than in Antibes!! And out of the times I have been here in my sector, I have spent more nights at the other elders' apartment because they live closer to the church and the activities! and then tomorrow we go to Nice for zone training and are out of our ville yet another day.... it's rough but I guess it's what God needs us to be doing right now.

We are seeing many miracles. The other day, we were doing service at the church and the members brought us about a weeks worth of food which was really great because we are running low on money because I haven't got any reimbursements back for certain things. It was the sweetest thing every :) 

and I was afraid I would not get the package that Julia was sending me.... But then for some reason, we were at the apt at one in the afternoon and there was a knock on the door and it was my package!! it was the sweetest package ever! she even decorated the inside of the box. It made me cry when I saw it. 

We saw David Archuleta!! I got to shake his hand and meet him and he is really short, but very nice and has striking green eyes and a really great voice! To hear him sing to us was so heavenly :)

Another miracle I had was when I had a migraine and couldn't function at all or hear anything without it hurting and then there was an elder who was carrying Advil in his bag for "no reason" (obviously inspiration) and gave me some and then I passed out on the primary room floor and when I woke up, my pain was gone and I felt so happy and was so great to be alive :) 

I honestly don't think that I have seen the influence of the Holy Spirit more strongly in any point in my life than I have these past two weeks in France. I know when we are lost. I can sense the presence of pure spirits within people. I can feel motives and thoughts of others. I can feel the persuading to choose the right at every turn of my life. I think the only thing that I can't see is the angels that are around me. I know they are there. I can sense their presence. Sometimes I feel them brush my shoulder. God just hasn't found it necessary to open my eyes yet to see the numberless concourses of angels all around me. That's ok if I can't see. I know. They make me feel relaxed and happy and whenever I walk out of the apartment, there is a constant smile on my face because of the Spirit that I feel. It is amazing. If I wasn't converted before, I am converted now. 

I love you mom!! I am excited to get to see you! And the rest of the family :) I love you so much! talk to you Thursday!! Merry Christmas!!

Love always 

Elder Nick Benjamin Martin

PS if you haven't been sharing the church's "He is the Gift", start doing it! It's a great message and I guarantee that you will brighten people's lives :)

He sent this in another email. I can just feel his frustration and sorry I had to chuckle too:

So I have spent the past thirty minutes trying to download pictures but apparently I downloaded a virus on to it and I am pissed.....I'll try to fix it but its hard without English computers......

Week 7, December 15, 2014 Antibes, France

We spent a lot of time in Lyon before we came down to Antibes. These keyboards are really weird and the letters are mixed up so I am typing extremely slow... But in Lyon we did some contacting and I actually talked to my first person all by myself!! It was scary, but I did it! And now I have a goal to talk to one person and lead that conversation. I know very little about what the people are speaking though so it’s really hard... But I know that this is the way that I will get better and learn the language so I submit myself to the will of the Father.  

We haven’t done much work in our village yet either, so idk when we are going to get to do something... we are going around to the members today so we lose three hours of p-day... we will be taking three hours off of Friday to do some shopping that we missed out on... make sure there is a good amount of money in the account because idk what the things I need will cost... we have an hour and a half for email so that’s nice.

I can’t sleep and it sucks so I’m always extremely tired... not so bad right now... I slept on the floor and got the best sleep since I’ve been here in France... sad, huh?

The area is beautiful though! Everything is old! The apartments lack light though and I am not a fan... one small dangling bulb per room is not adequate light for my liking. And the floors are cold and the walls are plain and everything echoes... I’m going to try to make this place more warm and homely and livable! I cleaned our sink today and you’ll see the picture, but mom would be proud of my cleaning ability. It was gross. I was afraid to use it!! But now it’s nice and white thank goodness!!

We will have to get things in order! Sometimes I feel like the trainer lol :) mom would be proud of me too for making a meal plan for the week so we would know what to cook and what to buy at the store! You two have prepared me well for living on my own! Thanks!

I think the biggest thing I stress about is the language. It’s tough and I’m not good at all... but I know that if I keep working at it, I will get better. The members love us! Our ward mission leader is F. P. and he is the happiest and coolest man here in France and I love him, so much! His son actually just got back from his mission last Thursday and has promised to help us out with lessons as much as he can so that’s just perfect! We do a lot of walking and I am thankful I have my gold bond!! No chaffing!! ha-ha and the good shoes are great :) the only thing that bugs me is my bag... every time I take a step it squeaks and I am about ready to throw it into the sea!! lol

And the food could be... more I guess ha-ha we haven’t eaten at a members’ house yet. Only President Roney's house and that would have been a good meal, but I was so stressed that I couldn’t eat anything... But we have some good meals planned out and some members want to feed us for Christmas so that will be delicious!

I am excited for Christmas here in France! No snow.... :(  but I'll live! I wear my short sleeve in the middle of winter and am comfortable! It’s great!! Can’t wait to skype everyone! Should be awesome!!!

Well I gotta run! Talk to you soon!!  Love your son,   Elder Nick Benjamin Martin

PS. I still want your testimony please!! I haven’t forgotten and I hope you haven’t either! Love ya!!

 

District Selfies

Selfie in front of Lyon

Selfie with the famous Elder TJ Haws!! Haha I asked him for his autograph and his face went beet red!! He is Elder Landry's trainer

 

Selfie with my "father" Elder Garside when we went caroling in Lyon. It's way colder in Lyon than Antibes

A cool shot I got walking home from church. Needs improvement, but I thought it was cool!

Looking out our apartment. You can see Nice and you can see the Alps on a good day. Each room has a set of doors that lead out to the balcony and the shutters are amazing! We be gettin some when I get home!

I just wanted to show off my amazing cleaning skills! the sink mostly! it was lost but now is found ;) haha looks brand new!!

December 11, 2014 First Companion-Address

Dear Family of Elder Martin,

Elder Martin will be serving in Antibes with Elder Garside.  Their address is 5 avenue pasteur, Palais de France  06600 Antibes.

I am attaching a photo below.

Sister Clark

France Lyon Mission Secretary

Only four new missionaries arrived.

Elder Garside and Elder Martin, First Mission Companion

December 9, 2014 Arrived in Lyon, France

Dear Family of Elder Martin,

 

This is just a quick note and photo to inform you that YOUR MISSIONARY HAS ARRIVED IN LYON FRANCE! We are so excited to have them in this mission. We love them and we view them with the same care and concern as we would our own children.  They looked pretty good even though they were surely very tired. They will be doing some legal work for their visa and some training and interviewing. By their preparation day (Monday) they will be able to tell you their companion’s name and where they live. Thank you so much for sharing your missionary with The Lord and with this mission. In many ways, this is truly the most wonderful mission in the world and they will make it even better.

 

Thank you,

President and Sister Roney

France Lyon Mission

President Roney, Elder Martin and Sister Roney

 

Week 6, December 6, 2014 D-Day, My Invasion Of France Begins

D-Day is this Tuesday! That's when my invasion of France begins! I touch down at 11:10 local time! It's my last P-Day here at the MTC and I was given time to email and pack and such. So yeah!

I'm really scared... And nervous and I have anxiety and my stomach hurts and I'm losing hair and the hair I have is turning silver.... I'm super stressed... But I know God will take care of me. I know I have nothing to worry about.

This week I gave a blessing to our investigator, H. First let me say that they have been the perfect investigators and have committed to being baptized by the missionaries in the Spanish Branch they have been attending recently. They were so touched by our lessons and our love and care for them that on our last day with them, they gave us each little boxes of candy and chocolate with a little note on the inside that made me cry even more! But the blessing I gave to H was.... Powerful... It was a blessing that doesn't happen every day for sure... But I can't really give out details because it was personal... Maybe when it's not so real for me will I talk about it.That was the second blessing I've ever given and both have been so amazing that mighty miracles were performed. 

Well I hope the game is going great! Make sure you tell me what the score was! You know I'm still apart of the team!!

I love you a lot! Talk to you in the airport this Monday and hopefully Tuesday!! I will probably buy a messenger bag when I land in London so just a heads up if there is a transaction there lol :)

I love you so much!! Talk to you soon!!

Love,  Elder Nick Martin :)



I am a giant!

This is my district pointing at where they are going to go! The Mexican sister is Sister Matos. The other sister with dark hair is Sister Higgins from New Zealand. The red head is Sister Chisolm. The last is Sister Ulrich. On the far left is Elder Bracken and to the right of him is Elder Carman. On the far right is Elder Brown and to the other side of me is Elder Landry.

This is my favorite teacher here at the MTC!! Brother Adams!! He is the most awesome person here in the MTC! He has gotten me more motivated than anyone else in the whole campus!!

This is my district! I love this photo! The tall sister is Sister Worsham and she was our other teacher! Jk... She wasn't in that photo.... But the other sister is Sister Hafen and she was the sweetest thing in the world!!

Week 5, December 2, 2014 Last Week at the MTC

I'm doing good! Really tired. I got really good at falling asleep during class lol! But when I get out to the field next Tuesday I will be constantly active and won't be sitting much, so a lot harder to fall asleep! The language is coming along. I think I should do alright.... I just can't hear French and understand it well, so I need to hear the language more before I can instantly respond instead of taking ten seconds to figure out what they said lol! 

This week we got to hear from Elder Dallin H Oaks for our Tuesday Devotional, Elder David A Bednar for our Thanksgiving Devotional, and BYU Vocal Point for our Sunday night devotional! We have been pretty blessed with good speakers and devotionals! Choir for the devotionals were really good too! I have gotten the opportunity to sing in every choir since I've been here and it is so powerful! 

I got my flight plans!! I leave Monday December 8th from SLC Airport at 11 AM and go to Chicago and from Chicago to London and From London to Lyon! And then I will end up there at 11 AM! So with the eight hour difference and the four hours of layovers, I have about 12 hours of flying!! Super fun! :) I am nervous about the language... I've heard that about on average it takes 6 months for the language to click so I'll just keep enduring!! :) 

I have seen Elder Austin Forsyth and Elder Jason Hopkins! Hopefully I can see Elder Chance Carver this Wednesday when he comes! Also met a Sister Beo from West Richland!! She's going to the New Mexico Albuquerque Mission!! Super awesome Sister :) 

Other than the language, I'm excited to leave the MTC and get into the field! I've already seen so many miracles, but I know that it will increase tenfold in the field! I miss you all and am excited to hear from you in the future!!

I love you lots and miss you so much!! Keep supporting me! I need it!

Love always,

Your son,

Elder Nick Benjamin Martin

We have a picture of Nicholas Cage baptizing the man from Lonesome Dove!!!

In the Christmas Spirit :)

Week 4, November 25, 2014 Thanksgiving Week

So this week was rather interesting.... It snows, but it never sticks! I got released as a zone leader, so I have a lot more time to focus on my French now! That's going pretty well! There is no way that I could be learning this fast were it not for God helping me! He really loves His missionaries! 

We have been teaching an actual investigators hired by the MTC, and they love us! H and J are their names and they are from Guatemala and they just adore us! They are constantly telling the other missionaries that they love us. We teach with the Spirit and are reverent and have touched them more than any other missionary they have ever been with! I have truly grown to love them and strive to serve them to the best of my abilities! We invited them to be baptized in our lesson today and they agreed!! So we set the date for the 6th of December. And hopefully we can be the ones to baptize them! 

Other than that, I'm tired... I get very little sleep... Always waking up in the middle of the night multiple times.... And then I fall asleep in class sometimes.... Oops! I can't help it!! I'm sorry haha :) but I love my teachers and they love me! One said that my comments saved some of our lessons. It goes to show that teaching by the Spirit is more important than being fluent in French! 

I love my skinny jeans!! Haha they have become a part of me now :) I didn't think I would ever like them, but now I do! But just these ones! Hopefully I don't come back too European ;) haha you know how much I love America!! Anyway, All is well! I am alive! Like a pitri dish! You have no idea how many illnesses have gone through me!! haha but I will live ;)  

Oh yeah...Happy Thanksgiving to you mom and to all the rest of the family and friends!!! 

Week 2, November 11, 2014

This last week was long... we got up super early and went to the temple so the rest of the week we were falling asleep... I got sick yesterday and went back to my room and took a four hour nap which was really helpful... I can't sleep much here... idk why... just not home...

Mom I love you <3 I am thankful for you and raising me right!  Au revoir. Love Your Son

Elder Nick Martin

Me and my Companions, Elder Brown, left and Elder Landry, right.

My Zone! Half of them left yesterday. We are a lot smaller now.

One of Julia's friends from her Stake Toulouse! (Towloose) He is Elder Urbani :)

The Sister Training Leaders. Sis Ladd on the left aka Sister Sassy Skirt and Sis Delgado.

My District or aka My Class  :)

OK, I didn't think you would believe me if I said that I like these pair of skinny jeans that I'm wearing, so I took a picture of them on. I find them surprisingly comfortable!