End of "M" week (Jacob-Toulon)

Dear Family,

Well this has been an amazing, faith building week for sure. As a mission we had this thing called "M" week. It was up to us what the M stood for (for example: Monster, Miracle, Magical.. etc) It was a week that we were going to work as hard as we could and the Lord was going to show His power. It  happened. We started off the week Monday night where as a mission everyone was going to have 10 good conversations with people during the 3 free hours at the end of the night after P-day. We already had planned an FHE at Frere Sassis and so it was going to be some what harder for us. We had also planned to get another lesson taught during that hour. So finished P-Day and immediately we were just on the hunt for people, with whom we could talk and teach (not to mention the fact that it was raining pretty hard and was pretty cold.) We basically were running from person to person trying to find that one who was open and sincere. No one was super interested and we got lots of rejections. We got our conversations within about a half an hour and so we looked at each other and decided that it was time to teach. We walked across the street and the first person we talked to was interested! So we taught him right there in the middle of Centre-ville and then went to Frere Sassis and finished the night. The Lord is extremely merciful and when we go forward with an eye of faith and a willingness and readiness to accomplish, He gives us miracles. 

Another cool little thing that happened, but has nothing to do with "M" week, was at Zone Training this week in Nice. I met one of the young men who was in Grandpa Lewis' branch in the Canary Islands! He is now a missionary here in the Nice Zone and is serving in Cannes. He said that when he heard that there was a Pettingill in the mission he was soo excited! His name is Elder Gonzalez-Martinez.

He also said to mention several other young men who were in the Los Christianos branch. Two brothers named Fabritio and Stephano Cena who also went on or are on missions right now in the US. It is cool to have connections around the world!!! When I told him that Grandpa was on his 5th mission he was impressed :). That was a cool experience to go along with Zone Training which was super amazing and helped me again refocus on the most important things! 

As far as the work is going, we have been finding and teaching a lot. It has been crazy because I feel kind of like the senior companion and Elder Blythe basically lets me make all the decisions. I have so many opportunities to improve my French because of that. I am also the one with the phone all the time so I get lots of chances to practice in difficult situations. I don't mind but I have seen some of the stress that comes and what Elder Frandsen has been feeling. I feel some good appreciation for the work he did!! I have gotten really good at what is called the "checkbox". The planners that we have are inspired of God!!! It is amazing how clear your mind can be when everything is written down somewhere, where at the right time can be looked at and then done right then!! It helps everything get done and has helped me to organize the many things that go into being a missionary! We got two people engaged to baptism this week, Rulon (15/2/14) and a new ami Marc (30/11/13)!

I got a nice package of letters this week from the primary that was so awesome! It was so fun to hear from many little kids that I don't know in the slightest! It was so awesome too because it was right in time for our ward primary program that we had on Sunday. The only difference between the the one in the US and here are numbers. The entire program was run by 6 kids, but it was just as cute and just amazing as the ones in the US. It is amazing to see how the spirit can testify even when the singing isn't that good, or when the talks aren't that profound. It was great! 

One last thing. Elder Blythe has this book that President Rony studied on his mission and he approved it. I read a little bit of it already and really like it. It is called The Greatest Salesman in the World by OG Mandino. I was wondering if you could send me a copy of it so I can mark it up and study it a little during my free time. 

Thanks so MUCH!!

Au revoir!!

Elder Pettingill